Back to index of "this and that in my life" pages by Donald Sauter.
Dedicated to the proposition that every thought that's ever been thunk may be of use or interest to someone . . .
ME to traffic columnist for the Washington Times: With the 4-way stop
sign protocol now a normal part of driving life, has the 2-way stop protocol
changed?
I haven't *heard* that it has changed, and I can think
of good reasons why it shouldn't, but I am antsy now at 2-way
stops with someone else, wondering if he thinks the protocol
is first-come-first-serve, as at 4-way stops.
Occasionally in this situation, a driver tries to wave me on (into a left-
hand turn). If he is doing it out of politeness, he isn't doing me a
favor; I feel strongly that driver-to-driver communication has the
potential for great danger.
In this case, for example, the driver going straight may wave the
driver turning left on, when the driver turning left does not feel
he has a big enough gap in the traffic. His choices are to pull out
into a dangerous situation, or stay put and confuse the guy who was
telling him to go.
The safest thing is to follow the rules.
ME: Wed Nov 12 1997
Yoko's art made page 1 of my Sunday paper. How about in yours?
THEE: Your idea for having the club get on the Internet together is an
excellent one. I think that, as a group, it would be more entertaining to
participate in those types of discussions [rec.music.beatles] than it would be
on your own. It's alway more enjoyable sharing a funny moment with another
live person, when possible.
I read some of your web site. Question: Though unarchy has potential,
what about the inherent disparity of two individuals' abilities to
represent themselves? If a person committed a crime, chances are they may
have a predisposition to lie. What if the acused is simply not that
smart? It would seem like you would need some sort of fair representation
at the very least. Just food for thought.
I also read about your UFO sightings. Crazy stuff. I believe all that
stuff, though I've never seen anything like it myself. A lady I work with
once saw a big "cigar-shaped" object (vertically aligned), alongside a
more traditional-style spaceship at night hovering just above the trees in
a parking lot at a shopping center. She and her friend got out of their
car as did the people behind them. After a few moments the two objects
(both of which were illuminated and apparently fairly sizable) just kind of
zipped off at acceleration rates which defy our laws of momentum.
Afterwards, my workmate turned to the others and said "Did you see what we
saw?". They had. Pretty wild.
THEE: Today, I keep hoping someone will ask what I did this weekend. No
one has (and I thought England was a cold place). If someone does ask
what I did, I'll say, "Oh, not much. Well, I did smile as the puppets
dance in the Court of the Crimson Kiiiiiing. Ah-aah-aah." Organ.
Tap. Tap. Tap. "Aah-aah-ahh." etc.
ME: Really enjoyed Seatrain after all these years. No reason anybody
else would. Sounds kinda like Blood Sweat and Tears. Still, I
like most of the songs.
I think there is another King Crimson album that ends with some strings
tuning up. I know I played something like that for a friend once and got a
good response. This would also explain why the cover is not the
one I was looking for.
Should also say that Seatrain reminds me of Lon And Derek van Eaton
some.
ME: Thanks for the unarchy feedback. I will never tire of defending
the idea.
About proficient liars: a) What about lie detectors? Their use
has come before the Supreme Court recently. The question is, if
they are so reliable in hiring, how come they're worthless in
court?
b) Let's say a liar is really superb. Ok, he may get away with it
the first time, but could he keep pulling the same stunt? This
guy slips in a McDonalds and sues. Wouldn't the jury find it
strange that he slipped in a different McDonalds last month, and
another one the month before...?
c) Isn't the fact that you are very concerned about one of the
participants being an expert liar evidence others will be, too?
Wouldn't the average person think long and hard about "what does
the accuser stand to gain from this? Does the accused have any
sort of history of behaving in the described way?" etc.
THEE: But you didn't address the reality that people have differing
abilities to defend themselves logically (some people are just more
persuasive communicators). What about that imbalance???
The rooftop thing was in reference to an article you included in the letter
you sent to me with a paragraph circled and a note suggesting that my group,
The Feeling, try something like that.
ME: Here's the Scrabble status report.
In the second game there were 3Q, 2U and no blanks. Diana ate 2Q, David ate
the other Q. (Not to mention there were 2Q in the first game.)
There was one bingo, played thusly for 91 pts:
S
O
N
IMAGING
ME: Regarding justice, looks like we'll have to hash this out in person,
where I can wave my hands and get all high-pitched. For now, let
me ask: How does our current system prevent the inequity you are
concerned about? Are all lawyers created equal? Never mind that
neither side addresses the facts in the case.
THEE:
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar
Subject: GFA Roundtable Guitar Society List Announcement
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997
A mail list for Classical Guitar Societies has been established. You
can view the charter and instructions on how to subscribe at
http://www.cyberg8t.com/gfa/soclist.html
Briefly, the list is designed for Classical Guitar Society active
members and those who are starting, or thinking of starting a society,
and the discussion will be limited to Classical Guitar Society issues.
Best regards,
Mike Oliver, President
Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, Inc.
http://www.bcgs.org/
The Mailing list charter, which is subject to change (any input welcome),
is as follows:
1. To discuss issues related to the formation, maintenance, operation
and success of Classical Guitar Societies.
2. To cooperate with each other in making better more informed decisions
about concerts, membership, fund raising, education, outreach and other
community functions of Classical Guitar Societies.
The list WILL NOT be a place for discussion of such things as how to play
the guitar, what guitar to buy, discussion of music theory or formal
music performance, and no solicitations for sales of products or
services, except products or services that may be relevant to guitar
societies in general will be permitted. This will also not be a place
for concert level guitarists to solicit concerts, unless the group
agrees.
The idea is that we can all benefit from the knowledge, success, and
mistakes, each of us has made. The list will encourage persons who have
not yet formed a society to join, and to seek assistance in forming a
society.
THEE: Perhaps not all lawyers are the same. But let's say instead of arguing in
a court of law to decide who wins, you had two people ARMWRESTLE. I think
I'd like to have the OPTION to hire someone with bigger forearms than
me...My point is that, theoretically, professional representation bridges
the gap between the disparity of "debatability" of untrained common folk.
THEE: Loved your Snow page ... it had me ROTTCL. I'll write more on that later.
ME: So you want to hire someone with bigger forearms? Sounds like your
point is that the richest person should always win.
Anyhow, (watch out this point will blow you out of the water) under
unarchy, there is no *law* forbidding you to bring anyone along
for support at the trial. And there is no law forbidding you from
calling those people "lawyers." Go for it. Just remember that
a smooth-talking outsider may be viewed very suspiciously by the
regular folk on the jury.
ME: ROTTCL. Must be getting old; used to be able to put words to
acronyms. How does a TC compare to an F?
Still have to talk about getting connected to search engines. Yahoo
accepted me last week. Still, my guestbook is going nowhere, boohoo.
(Poetry was strictly accidental.)
ME: Another Times sighting: what do you make of page A16, Monday,
Nov 24, 1997, Paul Craig Roberts column? I know you don't need
any internal evidence to find a Times article off-base (you figure
that's a given) but this guy has always been sensible. As I was
reading this one I kept figuring he was being sarcastic and poking
fun at conspiracy theorists, but it finally hit me that he wasn't.
Is what he's saying known to the public? Known to you? Believed
by you? Help.
THEE: Good comeback. I like that. I think I'll let you slide for a
while on this unarchy business. I certainly agree with you that our judicial
system is in desperate need of revamping.
Did you see Paul McCartney on Oprah yesterday? I taped it but caught a couple
minutes of the beginning. Oprah really blew it in terms of her interview.
Why in the world would she ask him trite questions about the Beatles such
as...you know, I don't even need an example here because I know that you
know what I'm talking about. Come on Oprah. A real Beatles fan would be
respectful enough to avoid all that rehash crap. Didn't she watch the
Anthology? How about something relevant such as, "What's going on now?
How's Linda? Anything new with the Fab Three? Any tours planned? What's
it like being the most famous father to grown children?" You get the
picture I'm sure.
I don't know how celebrities put up with such ignorance. Oh well, maybe
the rest of the interview was more interesting.
THEE: Do you remember this guy (Boyce Rensberger)? Check out how he defends
his beliefs!! By the way, last Night--Gary Parker debated 2 evolutionists.
It was a "spectacle" to say the least. He demolished them!!
ME: Dear Pete Du Pont and NCPA,
I agree with the ideas in your editorial, "Is the jury out on our
justice system?" (Washington Times, 30Nov97) Generally, I don't think
they go far enough. Please look over my ideas on justice as detailed
in my website. Thanks! I really appreciate it.
ME: I found much more of interest on the continuation of the Making of
A Hard Day's Night. Wasn't happy about the first part. By the way, what do we
know about the Beatles writing the HDN songs on a holiday in the
Caribbean?
A bit bummed when I went to track down an email address for the
immortalized Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich that he is no
more. Ousted by somebody named Alexis.
THEE: I know nothing about A Hard Day's Night" songs being written in the
Caribbean.
Why are you interested in Robert Reich? He was a loyal Clinton
booster. Then he quit and now seldom misses an opportunity to complain
about what an awful town Washington, D.C., is and how happy he was to
flee north--not that he's necessarily wrong. He has the lead article in
the latest "New Yorker," by the way.
ME: I needed to track down Reich to invite him to my Northerners web page
wherein I roast his butt (that's the intent, anyway.) Your off-the-
top-of-your-head knowledge about such bit players is astonishing.
ME: Tell me what you know about the origins of the well known phrase,
"keep on keepin' on." This is important. (To me.)
THEE:
=> ROTTCL. Must be getting old; used to be able to put words to
=> acronyms. How does a TC compare to an F?
The typical TC has a net strung across the middle. 2 or 4 people stand on
either side with rackets and hit a ball back and forth.
=> Tell me what you know about the origins of the well known
=> phrase, "keep on keepin' on."
It was first used by Eric Clapton on his song, "Blues Power", off his
album, DEREK AND THE DOMINOES LIVE. I don't think it's an official
lyric from the song; he just shouts it out as he's jamming.
You don't buy that? I did a web search for "keep.on AND keepin.on" using
AltaVista and I got about 50 million hits on people's guestbooks. The fact
that nobody has told you to "keep on keepin' on" in your guestbook should
probably tell you something.
There are probably some books out there that give the origins of the
phrase. It might be from the swing era or something. Sorry! :(
I did look at GeoCities; I browsed through their various neighborhoods
looking for a 9091 [one after 909] address, but they were all taken.
P.S. I looked for you in the pictures of the Scrabble tournament that
appeared in THE WASHINGTON POST recently. They also had an article about
Stu Sutcliffe's art.
THEE: Here's something that appeared in today's "Washington Post":
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/102l-120497-idx.html
I doubt that anything you ever sent to the "Times" has ever been so
savaged. I'll send you my original version sometime. For now, I'll
note that i think I only wrote the second half of the first line.
THEE: Subject: The true story of the Donner Party
Further to my previous message, here's what the "Post" meant to run
this morning:
That hapless band of westward immigrants known as the Donner Party
became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter of 1846.
The story of their attempts to survive is stirring and heartbreaking
but most people just know that some members became cannibals. Now,
thanks to the web, we can all join the Party and, ahem, sate our
appetite for the full story.
Probably the best single Donner Party site is by Daniel M. Rosen.
The centerpiece is Rosen's own very long account of the story, told as
a day-by-day diary. The site also includes new photos of Donner Lake
and Donner Pass, period prints, maps, an excellent bibliography and
many links. All in all, Rosen's page is a model of what inspired
amateurs can accomplish with the web.
Mike Haller's Donner Party site is less comprehensive but does
contain an invaluable collection of complete texts of survivor diaries
as well as two important 19th century books that tell the story.
Donner fans will be disappointed to discover, however, that Haller has
yet to post the entire text of the guidebook that got the Party into
so much trouble, even though he's said for months that it's "coming
soon."
THEE: Do you happen to play electronic Scrabble on Microsoft's The Zone? I've
found there are people who do this there - simply because there is a lack of
people in the "Professional" rooms. I've started making lists of them so I
can avoid playing with them. You would think that since Scrabble is more of
an "intellectual" game, that people would at least tell you they use obscure
words.
My use of obscure words is usually limited to just getting rid of odd
letters, like Q, J, X, and Z. I know a "few" words that use them, but
almost never get to play them. Like you, I detest people who memorize lists
without knowing the definitions. I almost always challenge them. Of
course, their excuse is "It's a valid word in the OSPD, so I don't have to
know what it is.", which doesn't wash with me.
THEE: I scored an awesome version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by
Peter Nero last night.
I also saw an LP by Isis last night. Were they associated with
Yoko? I saw no reference to Yoko on this LP. However, the band members
were all naked (but painted silver) on the cover.
ME: Yoko and Isis are *almost* associated. I think they were considered
as a backing band for Yoko. I forget who nixed the idea. The best
source on this is a great interview with Yoko by Joe Pope in an
old Strawberry Fields Forever zine.
THEE: Subject: Monopoly House Rule #2
I find that a toned-down version of your 2nd house rule works well.
I agree that the player can't roll again until they've paid their rent.
Allowing them to roll again (to pass Go or whatever) is silly.
However, we do allow deals, with the provision that the deals are all
cancelled if the player can't come up with the money needed to pay rent.
This allows Player A to offer $4000 for Marvin Gardens to Player B when
Player B lands on Boardwalk (owned by Player C, and with a hotel on it).
This provides a reasonable balance between preventing Player B from
ripping off Player C (e.g., by selling everything to Player A for $1 and
giving that $1 to Player C) and allowing players to make the deals they
need to stay afloat.
ME: I think your "toned down" version of my 2nd house rule sounds good -
quite sensible. I'll keep that in mind in the future. I suspect I'll
still slightly prefer my slightly more straight-jacketed version.
Monopoly is just *too* wide open...
ME: Even in elementary school I could never grasp how prepositions were of
secondary importance in titles, etc. Now I can't see how articles are,
either.
THEE: Been here yet?
http://bmi.com/repertoire/title.html
I've tested "Suzy Parker" (bingo) and "Thinking of Linking" (nada).
Awesome!
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