I hope her birthday was wonderful. Here’s an “Ask Me Anything” question: When she was a kid, did you ever make her listen to “Lydia the Tattooed Lady”?
Of course, her birthday was terrific. She has such wonderful parents.
Before I answer that, I should remind you of a post from ten years ago about naming the child.
No naming after any family member, living or dead. I want her to have her own identity.
No unisex names: Terry, Madison, Lynn, e.g., This comes directly from the fact that my father AND my sister were both named Leslie.
It had to have two or more syllables, to balance off the shortness of Green.
It should have a recognizable spelling.
No names beginning and ending with A.
Lots of rules
That post was based on a post I wrote in my first month of blogging in May 2005.
“So, Lydia, it was, named in part after a woman in Acts who was rich even to put up the apostle Paul and his cohorts. Only later, a friend pointed out that the church I attended as a child, Trinity A.M.E. Zion, was on the corner of Lydia and Oak and that I walked down Lydia Street every day on my way to school. Obviously, I knew this to be factually true, but never crossed my consciousness.”
Then I wrote: “The only downside to her name has been those streams of choruses from Marx Brothers’ fans of “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” a song that had TOTALLY slipped my mind.
“So, even with RULES, tattoos happen. But so do encyclo-pidias.”
When she was days old, my friend Walter observed that song, and I groaned. All my rules and planning, yet that song slipped by me. It’s not that I would have necessarily changed the name, but the information would have factored into the thought process.
To the actual question I asked my daughter since I couldn’t remember. She said that I told her about it. I might have even shown her a video clip, probably in 2013, since someone’s comment prompted that post.
The Party of “Family Values” Sees No Irony in Axing Child Labor Protections
In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Pearson and Jones, from the state Legislature for “breaching decorum” in their role in a protest that called for more gun control after a school shooting in Nashville. This move has occurred twice in the state since the aftermath of the Civil War. Rep. Johnson maintained her seat. Outrageous, even though they were both reinstated,
Related: Education Week’s 2023 School Shooting Tracker. One Nation, under gun violence: America tops 100 mass shootings in 2023. Also, radicalizing against guns
From 1440: The Maryland attorney general has accused officials of covering up and failing to act in the sexual abuse of at least 600 children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore since the 1940s. The 463-page report named 156 former clergy, deacons, teachers, and other employees and revealed some children were subject to abuse by multiple abusers. Church officials were also accused of silencing victims and dismissing or ignoring abuse claims.
‘Poverty, By America’ shows how the rest of us benefit by keeping others poor
High Unemployment Continues for Young Minority Men
He Wanted to Unclog Cities. Now He’s ‘Public Enemy No. 1.’ Researchers like Carlos Moreno, the professor behind a popular urban planning concept, struggle with conspiracy theories and death threats.
Russian defector sheds light on Putin paranoia and his secret train network
Mark Russell, Piano-Playing Political Satirist, Dies at 90
Louisiana Army base to be renamed for Albany’s Henry Johnson. Currently known as Fort Polk, the base in June will bear the name of the World War I Medal of Honor winner
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Best Fiction Sports Movies Ever Made, Part 1 and Part 2
“You Must Have Learned Something in 20 Years”: reflections on two decades of blogging by Doug Muder
Now I Know: The $1 Hotel Where Privacy Isn’t Included and The “I Don’t Care” Collect Call Scam and The Man Who Didn’t Work For a Living and When Make Up Boxed Out Makeup
Coverville 1436: Cover Stories for Poison and Sugar Ray and 1437: The 60th Anniversary of Please Please Me, and 1438: Cover Stories for Pharrell Williams, The Eels, and Vangelis
“Good morning, friends. That awful feeling of shame and panic when you remember saying something dumb years ago is your nervous system trying to protect you from perceived danger. Try telling your body, ‘Thank you for wanting to protect me. We’re safe now. It’s okay to let it go.'” from Good Morning, Friends: Gentle Suggestions for the Start of Your Day. I have been there!
US Secretary of State Denounces Uganda’s New ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill
‘Legal Lynching’: ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws reflect legacy of white supremacist vigilantism in Deep South
Why green might be the most important color for humans. But of course!
Understanding Your Form 1099-K. “The law is not intended to track personal transactions such as sharing the cost of a car ride or meal, birthday or holiday gifts, or paying a family member for a household bill.”
Former Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s rights, dies at 82
The indomitable spirit of Willis Reed. I watched that Game 7 NBA Finals game in 1970 on TV. It was remarkable. He died at the age of 80.
‘Fosbury Flop’ high jumper Dick Fosbury dies at 76
John Jakes, Author of the Miniseries-Spawning ‘North and South’ Trilogy, Dies at 90
The attempts to make a modern Little Nemoin Slumberland film
Now I Know: The Slave Who Shipped Himself to Freedom and A Cute Way to Prevent Traffic Deaths and Why Movie Theaters Have Red Seats and The Problem With Living in the Center of America and I Guess You Could Say They… Excel and The Little Bit of P-Word in the Coke and This Cupcake Recipe Isn’t The Bomb
MUSIC
Please keep voting for the niece Rebecca Jade at the San Diego Music Awards in categories 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27. Also for Peter Sprague in category 4 for an album that features Rebecca.
Dry Bones – Delta Rhythm Boys. A recent Old Testament scripture was Ezekiel 37:1-14. By coincidence, I was playing that week the soundtrack of the movie Rain Man, which included a version of Dry Bones by the Delta Rhythm Boys, though not precisely that take.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture
Let It Burn from Paradise Square the Musical, featuring Tony Award Winner Joaquina Kalukango
The Destruction of Negro Communities and the Birth of the African American
Mapped: Which Countries Get the Most Paid Vacation Days?
Indonesia unveils the construction site of a new capital city, Nusantara. Jakarta is experiencing overpopulation, infrastructure problems, and chronic flooding. The current capital is quickly sinking into the Java Sea, and parts of the city could be entirely submerged by 2050. But the new “project may lead to substantial rainforest deforestation, threaten endangered species’ habitats, put Indigenous peoples’ homes at risk, and more.”
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The Colon Club calls attention to the disease.
Why are nurses quitting? Ask the nurse no hospital will hire.
Idaho Murders: As a Small Town Grapples With Sinister Rumors, Media’s True-Crime Obsession Grows and The Case the Internet got wrong: A new investigation sheds light on Lindsay Buziak’s unsolved murder, revealing a vast web of misinformation. These are as much about the rush to judgment by amateur sleuths as the crimes themselves.
Worst Civil Engineering Failure in US History – March 12, 1928: St. Francis Dam Disaster
And more
John Cleese was confronted with three men who kinda looked and/or kinda sounded like his character, Basil Fawlty. He had to guess which one did the impersonation professionally.
Chaim Topol, Tevye the Milkman in ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ Dies at 87
Now I Know: The Dark History of Groomsmen and Baseball’s Strangest Trade and When Space and Physics Don’t Mix and Why Beer Comes in Brown (or Green) Bottles
I’m happy about the results of the Academy Awards, although I did not watch the program. It’s been my experience that people who saw EEAAO in the cinema, as I did, enjoyed it FAR more than those who watched it at home.
The Big Lie, redux
To me, it’s all one big, continual story. The Big Lie about the 2020 election, including the allegations about rigged voting machines.The January 6, 2021 insurrection. Dominion voting machine’s defamation case against Fox News and the information that came out during the trial’s discovery phase.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave Fox News exclusive access to raw footage of Jan 6. Tucker Carlson, one of the verified liars in the Dominion discovery, had footage of Jan 6 edited to suggest that the insurrection was just a sightseeing event, a claim so absurd that the White House and Senate Republicans from Mitch McConnell to Thom Tillis rebuked Carlson.
Coverville 1433: The Rihanna Cover Story and 1434: Cover Stories for Nik Kershaw and Nina Simone, and 1435: Album Cover: Dark Side of the Moon’s 50th Anniversary
It’s not Lou Reed … and it’s not Jefferson Airplane, either.
Mr. Ma answers all the cello questions you never knew you had!
Burt Bacharach’s Clever Key Changes – David Bennett Piano
Ten classical music songs you know, but you may not know their names
“We’re willing to sacrifice our egos for the good of the band” – interview with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran.
Please keep voting for the niece Rebecca Jade for the San Diego Music Awards daily in categories 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27. Also, vote for Peter Sprague in category 4, which RJ sang on.
Pictured: Sydney Joyner, Caitie Grady, Rebecca Jade, Joy Yandell, Janaya Jones & Angela Chatelain Avila.
Manufactured outrage: phneh and giving a horse an apple and Super Bowl edition
How Poland, Long Leery of Foreigners, Opened Up to Ukrainians
SCOTUS will consider whether tech giants can be sued for allegedly aiding ISIS terrorism. You need to know about Section 230, the most important law for online speech.
MTG’s dream of a “national divorce” deserves a serious response
Masks Revisited. Despite common misreporting, a recent Cochrane review, limited in scope and problematic methodology, does NOT show that masks do not work. Check out this
Now I Know: The Crows Didn’t Mind Dick Cheney, Though and When Bees Get Too Buzzed and The Worst House Money Can’t Buy and The Secret Writer’s Secret and The TV News Program’s Key Mistake and Why This Reindeer Looks Like It Has a Lightsaber Hat
Culcha
BAFTA Awards. Two days after the awards came out, someone told me several of their friends posted online that the Oscars had taken place. Nah, it was lost in translation; probably, the friends missed that it was the so-called “British Oscars”
The book “Side by Side in Eternity:” by James Robert McNeil and J. Eric Smith is now available. I have my copy. There’s a chapter about Apollo 1, one defining event growing up.
The six-year making of the Wait But Why book What’s Our Problem: a self-help book for societies
Ana de Armas Thinks Social Media Has Ruined the “Concept of a Movie Star.” “For the most part, we’ve done that to ourselves — nobody’s keeping anything from anyone anymore.” This has been self-evident for a long while.
Milestones
60 of 23 and Michael Jordan donates $10M to Make-A-Wish for 60th birthday
Rebecca Jade, the first niece, was nominated for FIVE San Diego Music Awards, which will be taking place on April 25. You can VOTE EVERY DAY. Vote in category 20, Best R&B, Funk, or Soul Song for Show Me; category 21, Best R&B, Funk, or Soul Album, for A Shade of Jade (available for $9); category 25, Artist of the Year; category 26, Song of the Year; and category 27, Album of the Year. You could also vote in category 4, Best Jazz or Blues Album, for Peter Sprague Plays the Beatles – Day Tripper, featuring vocals by Rebecca Jade, which one can download for $10.
Rebecca ALSO appears in a musical called RESPECT about the great music of the female singers of the 1960s at Lamb’s Player Theater in San Diego through April 9. (Picture above.)
Kelly from the Buffalo area wrote:
The Party of “Family Values” Sees No Irony in 
“Good morning, friends. That awful feeling of shame and panic when you remember saying something dumb years ago is your nervous system trying to protect you from perceived danger. Try telling your body, ‘Thank you for wanting to protect me. We’re safe now. It’s okay to let it go.'” from 
Is it 2008 again, or not? 