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 interest to some crazy fool . . .
THEE: I enjoyed getting to know your writings. Heck, you might
be the next Cecil Adams.... You've certainly got the witty
style.
ME: In my Ebay ad, I try to scare people away from sending tiny
checks by asking for an extra $1 for handling. Think about the
overall labor that goes into processing a check, and think about
how rarely a piece of mail is actually lost, especially if the
address is correct and legible, and there's a clearly printed
return address.
And one final favor: would you please list your various
identifications together in one place? For instance:
Name; Ebay ID; email address.
It's very easy to lose track of who you're dealing with when
someone goes by a name here, a user ID there, and an email
address somewhere else. Thanks!
THEE: Came across your games page on the Internet while searching
for information on Family Feud. We'll be playing this over the
holidays, and I made my own list of questions. I was wondering
if you could share with me some insight on how many points to
award?
Basically, I have 12 questions, which I have divided into six
rounds. Then I have 6 questions which I'm calling Bullseye
questions, since the top answer for each is very obvious. For
those 6 questions, only the top answer will be accepted. I'm not
sure how many points to do for each answer, or for the bullseye
questions. I tried finding a board game so I could get the
instructions, but didn't have much luck with the stores in my
area. Then I tried finding the internet version of the game, but
came across many "page not found" messages.
ME: family feud
To be honest, I've never figured out what to do with "home-made"
questions for Family Feud. The problem is the questions have to
be made part of a survey, and given to 100 people. The point
value given to each answer is just the number of people who gave
that answer in the survey. So, a very popular answer may be
worth 65 points, say, and a poorer answer may be worth 5 points.
All I can suggest is to sit down with some friends and come up
with as many reasonable answers as you can think of, and give
them each a point value you think reflects the goodness of the
question.
I've only ever played Fast Money rounds that used the same sort
of questions with "weighted answers".
Hope that helps some.
ME: where do i live
Had a good time the other night. I really am very impressed with
your guitar reading and playing abilities. Without working at
it, your reading is almost as good as mine, and better than 99%
of guitarists, and your playing is better.
One discussion point that needed another word: You strong-armed
me into accepting that books I got after receiving Apollo 13 are
not at all relevant to the question of why I haven't started
Apollo 13. But of course they are; they provide an explanation
for the time period starting when I got them.
I forget, do you know Straight Dope Cecil, from the City Paper?
Among other questions I've tried to ask him, here's one I stuck
at the end of a letter. I'm curious about what your response to
this is. I suspect I know. I suspect that, even though nobody
knows what a city is, I'm the only one who knows he doesn't know.
Here's my question:
P.P.P.P.S What is a "city"? I've managed to get by all my life
without knowing this - by always giving my post office whenever
someone asks for "city", for instance - but things have changed.
When I call my local directory assistance, they say, "What city,
please?" as they have always done. But now, they absolutely
refuse to accept "Washington, D.C. metropolitan area". They
demand that you name a "city". In fact, they generously allow
you to guess at 2 "cities". In Maryland, everybody lives in
counties (except for Baltimore City, and I never understood how
that is fundamentally different from a county. Likewise, I can't
see how Washington D.C. is fundamentally different from a state.)
I understand that a miniscule fraction of place names one sees on
a Maryland map are "incorporated cities" (whatever that means),
but am I really expected to know which of those thousands of dots
are true "cities", and which are just names of crossroads? The
other question, of course, is why, with our modern computer
technology, can't directory assistance tell *me* where the
requested party lives.
Perplexed in PG County.
THEE: Oh, Yoko
So, when was Yoko on "Larry King" last? What those guys said was
no more outlandish than some of the things I get from my Arthur
Conan Doyle discussion group, though the old boys on the ACD list
watch their language more scrupulously.
We went to Boyds this afternoon to get a Christmas tree. it was
fun and invigorating and all that, but it took half the day.
Christmas sure does seem to take a lot of work!
THEE: Re: where do i live
Wedensday night was, as usual, very fun and much appreciated.
thanks for your compliment re: my sight reading. Again, I am
nothing short of amazed at YOUR sight reading skills; recall the
piece that I just couldn't handle, and you suggested we switch
parts. You then went on to effortlessly sight read for Part I
(the part that I botched horribly within the first 8 measures!).
Now, this is, for sure, a subjective experience. But, your
genorosity at my abilities and modesty at your own reading skills
aside (to quote you, you state my reading skills are "almost as
good as mine [yours]" -surely an understatement of the
century!), you have to admitt the disparity in sight reading
skill after we switched parts was obvious and apparent. You
simply kick butt - please admitt this in your reply.
RE Appolo 13: My "strong-arm" tactic was to simply clarify with
you the fact that you had started reading books you had recieved
AFTER I had loaned you Appolo 13 - I was jokingly acting slighted
(at least I hope it came out jokingly)!.
Put definition of "cities" in your list of discussion topics.
THEE: Re: family feud
Thanks! I did survey a pretty large group (an Internet playgroup
I'm in, they all sent me their responses). So I'll use the
percentages for each question as the point value.
Thanks again! Loved your page and all the info in it!
ME: what city please
I lined up a job to play guitar music at a retirement home next
Monday. This'll be the first time I've played alone for money.
Been spending some time putting a gig book together. Non-players
could never know the amount of labor involved in preparing even a
short piece. Never mind learning the thing - just solving page
turn problems could take hours. And that for a piece you might
only play in public for a grand total of a few minutes in your
life.
Part of the reason for the impulse to send you that
rec.music.beatles message was that it was by Fred Seaman.
Regarding outlandish, believe me the next few messages in that
thread go way beyond outlandish. I don't even want to think
about it. Yuck.
By the way, it's just about as bad in the classical guitar
discussion group. Maybe all the groups have been taken over by
world-class jerks. You can see my mild dig at the end of my most
recent posting:
Subject: The Beatles in National Geographic
I've recently put up a page with a few Beatles mentions I found
in National Geographic magazine. In the same vein as my Beatles
in Boy's Life page. Nothing earth-shaking; maybe a little fun
and interesting. It's at
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/bng.htm
By the way, before posting this, I looked over the current list
of threads being discussed in rec.music.beatles. If you got
here, it had to be an accident. Sorry about that.
***
Been plugging away trying to hear all my new records and tapes.
Slow going - as you well know. I liked a few songs on the
Archies album. The one that supposedly teaches you to sing a few
songs in Spanish only succeeds in proving that you could never do
it in a million years. That one originated from Montgomery
county, by the way. Really enjoyed an album of turn of the
century pop songs. The carillon album is what record-collecting
is all about.
THEE: I am learning to play guitar, I play by ear and
tabulature, I was wondering if it's possible for you to explain
to me how I can tune my guitar half a step down. Do I use a
certain tuner ? from your page it seems that your an expert and
the right person to ask.
THEE:
I. What a wonderful '54 gift! [a 1954 encyclopedia yearbook.]
Sure beats those commercial year dated cards by a mile. Thank
you.
II. Politics
Did you know we handed over 18 million acres of Yosemite to the
UN Biosphere, meaning it is no longer US property, probably
guarded and off-limits. This happened a couple years ago, but I
just got an E-mail address today.
I've been told WTO is "THE FORCE" now so it's good some citizens
are actively paying attention. The few disruptives were not
admonished by police thereby confusing any real message intended
by legit protestors.
Maybe politics are designed to enervate through frustration.
ME: Just listened to Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha tonight.
Bought it at a library sale. Didn't like it when I borrowed it
from the library 25 years ago. Enjoyed it very much this time.
I got 26 other records at that sale, about half opera-related.
THEE: Sanyo MBC-550
I live in Central America. I read on a webpage (a poem really)
that you used to have a Sanyo 550 computer back in the mid 80s. I
was wondering if you still use that machine... You see, I have
one of those machines as well, and I've been trying to do
something useful with it. I've been looking all over the net for
users groups, newsgroups, or anybody out there who still uses the
little machine, in order to get ideas. Do you know of any users
groups, web pages, or newsgroups about the Sanyo that could help
me out?
ME: Went up to Baltimore today. Only one bingo in 2 games of
scrabble: SHOOING.
Had a mostly distressing and infuriating meeting with Hself's
lawyers on Wednesday. She needed a lift there, and I want to
understand what's going on, anyhow. The lawyers were very put-
offish and put-downy. Don't understand why that should be when
they get a big chunk of whatever Hself is awarded.
Got a big surprise from my sister in Florida - an email. I had
set up an account for her and told her about it in a Christmas
card, but didn't know if she had access to a computer. I guess
she used one at a local library.
ME: yo es gringo
Well, I played guitar at a holiday party today. The place was so
big! And there were 200 people! So my little guitar didn't get
heard much. Kind of ridiculous - a musician you can't hear. Oh
well.
A huge branch fell off of a tree in my yard a few weeks ago. It
didn't land on my head. I finally got it cleaned up.
THEE: How?
I don't understand computers at all. How did you manage to
acquire these addresses and with such straight-forward
names? Do you pay for these and do they have a permanent life
span? It's very considerate of you but I'm overwhelmed with
not-knowingness (ignorance). Just asked a ten year old playing
Pokemon how to double space.
Thank you for introducing all of this to me,
THEE: Wanted! Guest lecturer
33 years ago: One of George Martin's proudest production moments
occurs today as he and assistant Geoff Emerick splice together
two takes of John Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever," and
adjust the tempi of the two so that the splice is fairly smooth
(1966).
If you feel like it, you could rewrite this one to be included in
tomorrow's mailing.
ME: I spun up to Baltimore tonight to hear my niece play in her
high school orchestra. An added bonus was the school's steel
band. They burned up Drummer Boy for an encore. You would have
embarrassed everybody by jumping up in your seat and dancing.
ME: sff forever
There lives a man who wonders if the edit was such a miracle.
Were the two versions in different keys to start with only
because tape speeds were fiddled with? In that case, you would
*expect* the keys to match up when the speeds are corrected.
The question is, did John record his song in different keys?
Poking around rec.music.beatles again, I see that Francie
Schwartz is actively involved in threads that discuss Body Count.
She also has a website, and there's an interview at the mining
company. Is she in one of your fairly recent Beatlefans? In any
case, she seems to have mellowed since the time frame of her
book. Seems quite human, in fact.
ME: Re: How?
>How did you manage to acquire these addresses and with such
straight-forward names? Do you pay for these and do they
have a permanent life span?
It was easy, and it didn't cost a thing, and that email address
could very well serve you for a lifetime. The point is, even if
you get another email account somewhere, like with a business or
a provider like AOL or Prodigy, you can keep using
Hself@email.com, and just set up that account to forward your
mail to your new account. (I think I just made that sound a lot
more complicated than it is.) That's very handy - you don't have
to send out "change of address" notices to everybody. You're
Hself@email.com forever! [yeah... right.]
>It's very considerate of you but I'm overwhelmed with not-
knowingness (ignorance). Just asked a ten year old playing
Pokemon how to double space.
People think they "know" or "don't know" computers, but keep in
mind what we're really dealing with is the minds of the people
who program the interfaces of computers with people - what you
see on the screens, and the various commands and prompts, etc.
It's a matter of getting on these people's wavelengths - and that
can never be completely done since everybody has different minds.
For instance, on the web, there's always an element of guessing
what you might get when you click on a link.
>Thank you for introducing all of this to me,
I don't feel like I've taught you anything, and you're an
instant pro. If I were to say what the typical person needs
most, computer-wise, it's 4 things:
1. learn a word-processing program.
2. email
3. make your way around the web
4. discussion groups (www.deja.com is all you need here.)
ME: If I want to tune my guitar down a half step, it's pretty
easy. Just tune the high E string to the 4th fret of the 2nd
string. Then I tune the low E string down to match the high E
(which is now an E-flat). Then I just tune all the other strings
to those 2 as you normally would - match the 2nd string, 5th
fret, to the open first string, etc.
THEE: Re: Sanyo MBC-550
I used my Sanyo 550 until about 2.5 years ago. It developed a
problem and I did everything I could to find a user group that
might give me some advice on fixing it, or replace it cheaply. I
had no luck. I'm afraid there's probably no more Sanyo user's
group. Good luck, though. At the time I moved up to a 286 - now
I have a 386!
THEE: Re: Sanyo MBC-550
I have my Sanyo 550 on my desk right now, but I can't get it to
boot. My main computer is a Pentium II machine, but I also have a
Linux computer and thought it would be interesting to turn my old
Sanyo computer into a dumb terminal for my Linux server... so far
I haven't had much luck.
p.s. I also have a Sanyo 555 computer in my closet. What was the
problem that killed your computer?
THEE: Re: Sanyo MBC-550
Ha, ha, ha! ROTFL! Ha, ha, ha! ROTFL! (Revenge for the time
you fell down laughing at me on the tennis court.) The MBC-550
Lives On!
Hself writes:
=>... I've been trying to do something useful with it.
Is that possible?! I hope you helped him out.
HAVE YOU HEARD THE WORD was definitely done by the Beatles.
(I've been listening to a tape of it on my way into work the past
couple of days.) Dudley Moore could have done the vocals perhaps
and the Lennonesque piano, but the backing vocals, etc.? Has
Dudley Moore ever admitted to being the one to do the song?
Merry Christmas to you and your family. You'll probably do that
crazy Yankee Swap thing again, another idea, like the Sanyo,
whose time has come and gone. Have fun anyway!
P.S. Poor George Harrison - has he completely dropped out of
the music picture? I've been going the rounds of the CD stores
(Best Buy, etc.) and I think I found *one* BEST OF-CD at *one*
store and none of his other albums at all.
THEE: You ask about Francie Schwartz. Coincidentally, I'm
currently reading the March-April 1999 "Beatlefan" (I'm slipping
again) and today I read in "Devil's Radio": "Former Dakota go-
fer Fred Seaman has been posting lots of controversial bits on
rec.music-beatles while ex-McGirlfriend Francie Schwartz stirred
up the Macca-L mailing list by joining. Meanwhile, Francie says
she's working on a new book, 'The War on Sex: Life After Paul
McCartney,' that will include previously unpublished Beatle
reminiscences, 'with emphasis on John Lennon, Yoko Ono and, of
course, my former lover, Paul McCartney'..."
ME: close encounter
I played guitar duets for a tea at Strathmore Hall in Rockville
today. We got lots of nice comments. I goofed up bad once and
skipped a line in Greensleeves - it was the dim lights!
And guess who I saw in K-mart? Our lawyer pal Mr. Hself! He
didn't seem to recognize me so I didn't say anything and snuck
away.
ME: Mostly, I still want to prove or demonstrate that the main
charm, if not value, of the web is what people say about
themselves. Spend a few minutes at Hself's new website [GONE
WITH THE WIND/Barbie Fan Page]. Note that only one of the links,
"all about me", from the main page works.
ME: a nice letter; must be christmas
I enjoyed Hself's page immensely. She sounds like an adult (so
I know you didn't help her with it!) I forwarded your letter
with the url to my sister.
Changing our tune on geocities, eh? Won't even let your own kid
use a crumb of your website, huh?
Hey, I can't remember the tennis court incident of which you
speak. I'm sure I would never humiliate anyone, 'specially in
public. Did you dream this thing?
You know, I've gotten very rusty on a lot of Beatle issues. I
forget what the finally agreed upon status of HYHTW [have you
heard the word] was. I know that nobody thinks it's the Beatles.
You know, it was a real record release, and the label credited
the Futz.
I played my first-ever solo guitar job a few days ago for a
holiday party for a new retirement home. The room was way to big
and there were way too many people for a puny wood box guitar.
I wouldn't worry about George; he'll do whatever he wants.
About those JOVE keystrokes... Now I need some that will go
forward and back a word, and BOL and EOL, and page up and page
down.
What's your opinion, does Y2K start in 2048 or 2049?
THEE: Greenfleeves
My dad always calls it "Greenfleeves," in honor of the old-
fashioned "s" that looks like an "f." I think he stole that one
from Bob Newhart.
I was just reading a July 1958 review of Keely Smith's "I Wish
You Love" LP, which I have. They love it. They also say it's
available in mono on LP or stereo on real-to-reel tape. That's
an interesting transitional measure, I thought.
ME: christmas stories
Here's a page with some Christmas stories. The Happy Prince is
good. How Billy the Elf Saved Christmas is for plumbers. The
Selfish Giant has a surprise ending.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7134/Christmas/chrstories.htm
ME:christmas in honduras (kaboom)
After just learning about firecrackers in Honduras at Christmas,
I stumbled on this web page:
Christmas in Honduras
By Alex Inestroza
Christmas in Honduras is very different from Christmas in the
States. First of all, we really party in our homes, jobs, clubs,
bars, and even in churches. It doesnt matter what your social
position or religion is, people everywhere prepare for several
weeks before Christmas Day. They prepare parties for their
families, friends and co-workers. We have several traditional
foods like pork, tamales, eggnog, beer and Aquardiente.
We usually have a dinner with the family. Then we drop by the
homes of our friends and neighbors to drink, eat and dance. We
usually end up stuffed with delicious food and drink. Then, at 12
oclock we all hug and say "Merry Christmas!" to each other. At
the same time, firecrackers and cherry bombs are exploding
everywhere. It looks like a battlefield. There are usually little
boys who are responsible for all this noise, but they are the
ones that really enjoy Christmas because they only eat and
explode firecrackers.
After 12 oclock, the young people usually go to bars to drink
and dance until the sun comes up. The preparation before
Christmas is usually made in homes and stores. Everybody cleans
their homes; some even paint. But we all set our Christmas tree
up and adorn it with lights and many other decorations. We also
put little light bulbs outside our homes. And, of course, the
kids make their list to Santa.
For all these and many other reasons, Christmas in Honduras is
different from the ones in the states.
ME: christmas stories
The cookies I brought were true-spirit-of-Christmas cookies. I
don't know if you know, but Lanham has a beggar man. He stations
himself at the bottom of the hill before you get back to the
beltway. I was stopped at the light, and I found I could reach
my cookie tin in a bag on the back seat. When he looked my way,
I showed him the opened tin and he came on over very
enthusiastically. I invited him to take a handful, but he said
he would just take 2. Then, guess what I said? "Merry
Christmas." Ok, so it's not Charles Dickens, but at least it's
all true.
THEE: Christmas!
I got two neat gifts for Christmas. Hself bought me an original
Yellow Submarine Corgi toy on eBay, but before she did that, she
bought me a reissue. So, now I have one to play with and one to
start a Beatle Museum with. I was completely caught by surprise
by this gift, even though one night Hself said "Yellow Submarine"
in her sleep.
The highlight of the season was a tour of the inlaws' old
neighborhood in northwest D.C. yesterday, a neighborhood that's
seen better days. It was their 40th wedding anniversary and we
wound up at Mass at the church where they were hitched. We were
treated like returning heroes by the priest and some of the
parishoners. It was very nice!
THEE: Brain teaser: rolling one quarter around another
Last I checked, the SAT is given to 11th graders as a step to
getting accepted to college. I don't know why you keep
mentioning that 300,000 7th graders were taking this test.
ME: Last night at my brother's place I emceed a couple of
rollicking Family Feud games.
Today I picked up Hself from Providence Hospital where her mother
is in for a mild stroke. She wanted to go to the Catholic U.
Cathedral, and there was a mass just starting. The reason for
the visit was her former husband's birthday. More evidence that
Hself's headed for sainthood, considering the evilness of that
man. She even observed the tradition of making some of his
favorite foods. All of this was unquestionably heartfelt, and
not out of any sense of obligation.
I suspect we're at opposite ends of the opinion spectrum
regarding the significance of the Brittanica goof on Sherlock. I
figure it would take a lifetime to thoroughly fact-check any
single sentence - if it can be done at all. Anybody who writes a
true sentence should get a Noble *and* Pulitzer prize, combined.
I came close to buying a battered Yellow Submarine at a Beatles
convention once. Does Hself really talk in her sleep, and, if so,
how often?
Thanks for organizing the, to me, much anticipated reunion
tomorrow. (Now that you've turned me on to this, to me, new
sentence structure, I can't figure out how else to say the same
thing!)
ME: major news in the scrabble world (rotten)
Another holiday activity that I forgot to mention was playing
scrabble with former scrabble friend Pat Cole on Monday from 2
until about 9:30. The impetus for getting back in touch is that
she's recently found out she has cancer. It's gotten to
everything and I'm told she only has a few months left. She's
just about my age. She has a big reputation in the online
scrabble world. Although we went down different paths scrabble-
wise, she credits me and my little New Carrollton scrabble club
with getting her into tournament scrabble.
Cancer stinks to high heaven.
THEE: Survey says!
The, to me, pleasure is mine, re: reunions.
That sentence from "Sister Carrie" has been a topic of our
conversation for about 10 years, since her professor pointed it
out. Thanks to the search key and a complete e-text, I was able
to finally find it in the novel after only a moment's looking
(and it occurs two other places in the novel).
Hself talks in her sleep constantly, and always has. Her sister
used to interview her while she slept when they were children.
ME: a grammar thesis
Had a nice New Year's Eve in Greenbelt. The fireworks were great
- maybe best ever for me. The countdown clock was off by a
minute, or a minute and twenty seconds, depending on what
reference you were using. I told you I had called TIME that
morning, but I have reason to believe they lied to me by 20
seconds. Even on the television coverage, there were conflicting
countdowns. I don't get it. Even if setting clocks were a
problem, which it's not, wouldn't you think people would have
made an extra effort for this particular occasion?
If we had played 5 more seconds of my tape in your car, we would
have gotten to a beautiful music Don't Worry Baby.
Doesn't the sentence, "The, to me, pleasure was mine" need an
adjective before "pleasure" for the adverbial participial phrase,
", to me,", to act on? What do the perfessors say?
ME: Re: monopoly
I think the first scenario you describe is actually the proper
one: Joe *must* sell houses back to the bank (they can never go
from one player to another), and he mortgages all his property
and hands the money and mortgaged deeds over to Mary.
As far as I know, the boxtop rules still allow the "ugly"
scenario you describe. I think it's completely unacceptable.
That's why I insist on the house rule described in my web page:
transactions must be handled in the order in which they occur.
If Joe owes money to Mary, he has to face that before getting
involved in any other deals.
THEE: We jumped in the car, raced home, grabbed the puli, and
headed east. We might have made it by midnight except that we
ran into a lot of fog, which made driving tough. We were about a
half hour from our destination when my digital watch sounded.
That's OK. We achieved our goal of being on the beach when the
sun came up in the morning, and it was as beautiful as we could
have hoped for.
ME: proprieta artistica e letteraria riservata
Glad you got a nice New Milennium sunrise.
I believe telephone time is off because I can't believe my watch
gained 20 seconds in half a day. Admittedly, I can't know which,
if any, of all the different times I saw New Year's Eve was
right, but none agreed with my watch. When I went to the
community center office to report the countdown clock was off by
a minute, a guy there said he knew it was off by 1:20. I can't
face calling TIME again to run some tests on their times.
I mentioned I tried a number of modes of attack on the yellow
jackets making their home at the bottom of my lamp post, one of
which was my wet-dry vac. I finally got up courage today to
empty it out. I counted 25 yellow jacket carcasses. So I can't
say I decimated them, but at least it makes up a little for the 2
kamikaze attacks on me this summer.
Been making good progress on the DChron tape series. You wrote
you almost forget why you included Judy Collins' "Anathea". I
think you told me that you either played some of that early Dylan
tape for some friends, or maybe Sebastian Cabot's great album, or
somehow the plot-line to Seven Curses came up in conversation,
and a friend identified it as "Anathea". Sound about right? I
think that "Farewell" only appears to this day by Dylan on my
tape, which was from an Italian album called "A Rare Batch Of
Little White Wonder". They call it "Farewell Angelina", which is
a different song, of course. I don't know why it seems to have
fallen through the cracks.
You know, The Gunfighter has a great Dylan tie-in. His biggest,
most cinematic song, Brownsville Girl, makes big references to
the movie. The song is about acting of all sorts. I like the
line: "There was a movie I seen one time; I think I sat through
it twice." It wasn't until I saw the movie that I understood the
line quoting Gregory Peck: "Turn him loose. Let him go. Let him
say he outdrew me fair and square. I want him to know what it
feels like to every moment face his death."
Notice that http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/farewell.html does
not list any albums that contain it.
Got a kick out of Principal Skinner imposing metric time and
dates on Springfield. (Does that have anything to do with me?)
Did I ever mention that my sisters Hself was horrified that I got
her an email address? I'm trying to get hselfsauter@email.com
deleted now.
ME: p.s.
who is dabney coleman
THEE: Time in its tide
I think you have to face your demons and call TIME again. I
wonder how successfully you can link your computer to the
observatory's clock. Supposedly, I have a software program that
does it for me when I boot up here at work. It seems to work OK.
I'm sure I put that metric reference from "The Simpsons" in for
you just because you are of a scientific bent.
PS. Tell me what you know about Alvino Rey.
PPS. Dabney Coleman is an actor who usually plays meanies in
movies and television. His biggest role was probably as the boss
in "9 to 5." He was in an amazing sitcom called "Buffalo Bill,"
which was canceled, probably because it was the only show ever to
feature a thoroughly mean man as its hero.
THEE: The song "Ben Bolt" was written by Nelson Kneass. He was
the mayor of a town in West Virginia. Do you know (or can you
find out) what town he was mayor of?
THEE: The raves are pouring in!
Hself particularly liked your question about the 1964 Kansas City
concert (or non-concert, I can never remember). He adds:
Charley O. Finley was the owner of the KC Athletics, which he
would later move to Oakland. He was a colorful, if tyrannical,
owner, outfitting his team in white shoes and encouraging long
hair and mustaches (HOF reliever Rollie Fingers had an awesome
handlebar).
Finley also tried to bring hockey to Oakland with the NHL
expansion Seals. First the Oakland Seals, then the California
Seals and finally the California Golden Seals, the team was
notable for its white skates (another Finley innovation) and
little else. Doubtless, those skates discouraged better NHL
players to sign. More than one player, I belief, remarked that
they made the Seals look like a squad of figure skaters. Learn
more at http://www.eskimo.com/~pem/oakseal.htm
THEE: Happy New Year
Hself surprised me at Christmas with a diamond ring and asked me
to marry him. I said Yes, even though I had resolved never to
do it again. He is a good man and I am happy.
ME: do not inhale
Thursday I went in to James McHenry Elementary because the
superintendant of PG schools, Iris T. Metts, was making an
appearance to present a check to the school. I shook hands and
said hi, but didn't identify myself as the person who wrote the
letters she got recently with my radical ideas.
Just finished a very interesting book, The Neck Of The Giraffe,
by Francis Hitching. It's amazing how badly Darwin's theory
stands up to observation (like not at all), and how people still
cling to it.
Today In Pop indicates Gregor Mendel is Austrian, which is
confirmed by my dictionary, but the above book says he taught in
Brno, Czech., and delivered his paper there. If Darwin had known
about it, it would have saved him much handwringing.
On my latest bank statement I got hit with a service charge for
using the bank's phone line to transfer money from my savings to
checking account. How many things are wrong with that picture?
I went in to the bank today [friday again], naively figuring they
would waive the charge (for one reason, since the never told me
they had implemented such a charge), but they stood their ground.
Truly, I would stick my money in a shoe box and buy $.25 money
orders when necessary, except for one thing. Without a bank
account, what do you do with checks you get?
Oh yeah, about Skinner and his metric system, I don't know if you
know how close to home you hit. One of my soap box issues for
decades has been the superiority of the base 8 system. Not that
we're likely to change now, but those Sumerians or whoever really
messed us up big time with base 10.
I still claim whenever you mention "superstar" Donald Fagan, you
should say briefly who he was. I mean, *I* know he was the
genius behind the Flying Burrito Burger Brothers, but I doubt the
rest of the world does.
THEE: Hang Eight!
I know NOTHING about mathematics. However, I do know that I was
born with 10 fingers and 10 toes and that base 10 is therefore
good enough for me. I have a feeling that the Sumerians and I
think alike on this point.
THEE: Your Candidacy
We recently learned that you are running for the office of
President of the United States this coming November. As editor
of 'Smearm,' a nationally recognized commentary and humor
magazine, I'm very interested in your story. If you would grant
us an interview, your candidacy would be known to an additional
five thousand politically consciencious voters, and with only ten
months remaining until the election, underdog candidates need all
the help they can get. If you are interested, please let me
know.
ME: Re: Your Candidacy
Thanks for your interest. My policy is "no interviews." If
there are outstanding questions that haven't been addressed at my
web site or vote-smart.org, I'd be happy to answer those.
My position on everything is the same - every presidential action
will be dictated by majority will. If any members of the media
feel that idea is worthy of coverage, it's up to them. Thanks
again.
ME: BUT OF COURSE...
The reason you "know nothing" about mathematics is *because* of
base 10!!! Actually, you've always impressed me with your
ability to do mental calculations.
My flu is now mostly a painfully raw throat and runny nose. I
tried NyQuil Monday night. I still claim there isn't a drug ever
created that could alleviate any of my ailments. I'm afraid you
have to be a believer for them to work. And I hate that feeling
of drugs in my system. Want a slightly used bottle of NyQuil?
I've been eating mountains of ice cream.
What do you know about Smearm?
THEE: Smearm!
Smearm!
Dunno what that means! But I like saying it.
Smearm!
I finished reading "Beatlefan" 117 (March-April 1999) this
evening. It's another goodie. The highlights were articles on
missing video footage of a "Double Fantasy" recording session and
an article on Vee-Jay's release of "Introducing the Beatles."
Also, in a review of a video, Al Sussman says that Francie
Schwartz "now looks disconcertingly like Barbara Bush."
I finally made it to side 12 of "The Swing Years." There's lots
of good stuff on it but it's taken me forever to get through.
Next album on my backlog is "150 Songs, Ballads, Jigs and Reels
of Ireland," also from my sister-in-law. That's five LPs!
ME: Subject: NPAT answers for Donald Sauter
I just checked over my NPAT answers online this evening. It's
almost perfect. In the category, "Budget, Spending and Tax
Issues: Part 4 Taxes (b)", my answer was missed. The web page
said
8) Other: Did not answer.
What I had answered was:
8) Other: Presidential action concerning taxes will be dictated
by majority will. Regarding super-majorities in Congress, it
seems unlikely that a populace that chooses majority rule in the
executive branch would want minority rule in the legislative
branch. But you never know.
I hope it's not a problem getting that in there. Other than
that, I was slightly disappointed that in all of those lists that
requested a 1 to 6 and ended with "Other Other Other", my
descriptions of the "Others" are not included. This makes those
answers completely valueless. I did enough poking around to find
one other instance of a candidate supporting "greatly increased
funding" for an unspecified "Other", so I'm presuming your web
format isn't designed to present what the candidate wrote on the
hard copy NPAT. That's unfortunate.
I'd hoped my answers would look something like,
n) Greatly increase funding - as dictated by majority will.
o) Greatly decrease funding - as dictated by majority will.
p) Eliminate funding - as dictated by majority will.
although I see now they would have come out,
n) as dictated by majority will -- Greatly increase funding
o) as dictated by majority will -- Greatly decrease funding
p) as dictated by majority will -- Eliminate funding
which is ok, too. In any case, consider this note one vote for
working the expansions of the "Others" into the web format.
And, if feasible, could anyone correct the spelling of
"questionnaire" in my Presidential Priorities category. Some
people make such a big deal of typos.
Thanks again for all of the hard work.
ME: Subject: baby dolls
The doll store sounds neat. I'd like to hear more about it
sometime - although email is such a miserable way to actually
communicate something. Takes ten times as long to say a tenth as
much in speech...
I had a nice holiday season. Saw great fireworks on New Year's
Eve. Still think about Ashton...
About Hself's story, she hasn't gotten to the incredible stuff
yet. Did your high school Spanish get you to her story where, as
a little girl, her mother cut off all of her hair as punishment
for something?
ME: What's the use of getting caught up on email when you only
get behind again?
See if you think this is funny. I'd been getting some family and
friends a good email address of the form johnsmith@email.com
(like mine). I got hself@email.com for (guess who?) I told her
about it in my Christmas card. Well a few days later a get a
call from Hself which starts, "Are *you* in *big* trouble!!!" I
figure that's what's in store every time my phone rings anyway.
It seems that she doesn't want an email account - too dangerous
or something, I dunno. So I got it deleted for her.
THEE: Subject: webring
Thanks for the invitation to join the Meet The Beatles Webring.
This is the page that has the webring html. Check it over:
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/bring.htm
ME: blueberry swirl
What the heck is "Il Pagliacci"??? Ohhh, you mean "Pagliacci".
*Now* I understand. (One must be careful when one talks to
experts in their fields.) That radio broadcast historical note
intrigued me. I wonder what the quality of radio was in 1910. I
know in the mid '20s it knocked the stuffins out of the record
industry, it sounded so much better. Did the quality get better
and better, or did it just take that long for people to get
radios? And did our buddy Mapleson plunk any cylinders on Lee's
head?
Started "The Beak Of The Finch" today. In spite of the flow of
the titles, it "proves" the exact opposite thing as The Neck of
the Giraffe. Review so far: lousy and blah. Doubt if I'll stick
it out.
Still sick, but on the upswing. Eating regular foods is starting
to cut into my ice cream consumption.
THEE: Subject: Addition to Meet The Beatles
Your site has just been added to WebRing:
Ring: Meet The Beatles (beatlefan78)
Site ID: 28
Title: A bunch of Beatle goodies.
URL: http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/bring.htm
E-mail: donaldsauter@email.com
To edit your site information, enter your Site ID and password at
the URL
http://edit1.webring.org/cgi-bin/membercgi?ring=beatlefan78&edit
Meet The Beatles
Beatlefanatic86@hotmail.com
THEE: Any luck solving my two fuses/wicks riddle? Want my
"hint"?
ME: fake trees
Your Christmas tree story reminded me: I had forgotten that I
even had a little one stored away until a week or so after
Christmas. I put it up and decorated it Jan 5 2000 when a couple
of friends visited. I bet that was the latest one the got put
up. You know, it just occurred to me - I bet I was the *first*
person to put up a Christmas tree this *millenium*!
Maybe it has part to do with being male, but I can't figure what
everybody is so afraid of. Like I told Hself on the phone,
somebody doesn't have to know my email address to sneak in my
house at night and slit my throat. They don't even have to know
my name - or address. All these psychos running around out there
have to do is think, hey, there's a house. Must be somebody
inside. Might as well go inside and kill him.
A while back I had four instances in a few days where I asked
somebody for somebody's phone number - and their eyes go all big
and they start backing away like you're the incarnation of
Jeffrey Dahmer and Gary Gilmore combined. Criminy, what are
phones for anyhow??? What is this big "privacy" thing? I guess
it gives people's lives meaning.
ME: Subject: submittal from candidate Donald Sauter
Dear SelectSmart,
Thank you for your invitation. Here's the information you
requested. You made it very easy and painless. Thanks again.
Donald Sauter (no party)
CANDIDATE'S PHOTO (not available)
Abortion issues: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Affirmative action: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Campaign finance: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Crime: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Defense spending: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Drug policy: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Homosexual issues: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Education money: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Environment: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Evolution: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Foreign policy: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Gun control: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Health care: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Moral issues: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Social security: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Tax policy: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Trade issues: Presidential action dictated by majority will.
Notes: none.
THEE: plastic is better
As you may know...plastic is better. A real tree dries up and
drops needles all in the carpet..UGH. NOT to mention the real
fire hazzard it is!! A neighbor of a former co-worked was burnt
really badly when their old tree caught fire. She was a young
kid...and might have been playing with matches...young teen I
think, but she was damaged badly. Plus, I always got a rash when
we carried those real christmas trees up from the field, so I'm
probably allergic
Congrats on being the first person to put UP a Christmas tree in
the new millenium!
E-mail stuff doesn't freak me. Phone numbers...that's something
else. Did you ever notice how Pizza places KNOW where you live
once you give them your phone number. ALL our vital statistics
are easy to find with a phone number and SS#. Shades of the
apocalypse.
So, giving out a phone number without the person's permission has
become the same as using your feet to hold your fork. No,
wait...worse. People would probably enjoy the feet tricks.
'Spying' on AOL members. What I mean, is that if you know
someone extra screen name...and you have an extra screen
name...you can follow them into chat rooms...see how they talk
when you aren't around. Stupid...huh...
THEE: Gourmet Peanut Butter
Dear Donald, I read your notes and would like to send you a
sample of the first Gourmet Peanut Butter. Please send me your
address, You can visit our web site www.gourmetpeanutbutter.com
to read about our history. We are just bringing our product to
market and we have won raves from peanut butter lovers
everywhere.
Herb Dow
Chairman of the Board
Sorrells Pickard Gourmet Peanut Butter Company
THEE: DNA swirl
We had to put off going until Saturday morning, because Hself had
got us tickets for the latest pantomime from the dreaded British
Embassy Players for Friday night.
The Embassy Players gave us "Dick Whittington." It was silly, as
expected, but amusing. The cast did give us a round of "WCWIO,"
[we can work it out] which is the least they could do,
considering the beastly way they treated the Fabs at the embassy,
way-back-when.
I'll testify that I've heard of "Pagliacci" referred to as "Il
Pagliacci," but, heck, you're the opera guy.
My source for the 1910 radio broadcast said that it was
experimental, and that such broadcasts didn't catch on until the
'20s, when radio technology had significantly improved.
ME: Yeah, I guess I'll never quite figure out what world
everybody is living in. I guess things are different for people
like me who have never ordered a pizza. If I protected my phone
number, the *only* people who would have it would be the
telemarketers.
And my SS# is 214-63-3493. How's that for guts!!! Now that
that's out somebody's gonna club my head in for sure.
A new Gourmet Peanut Butter company found my web page and wants
to send me a sample. Now I'm sure there are about 99,000 reasons
why I shouldn't give those psychos my address, but for some free
peanut butter (gourmet!), I figure it's worth the risk!
My little tree is down now. The record, as far as I know, is my
grandparents Sauter left a tree up till Easter once when Pop was
a kid. He mentioned this once and nobody believed him so he
managed to get my sister to bet him and they called our
grandmother who confirmed that they left a Christmas tree up till
Easter one year. I'm sort of proud of that, even though I wasn't
there then.
Not experiencing big regrets, but wondering if I want to stay
connected to the Beatle ring. The pro is more traffic (maybe),
the con is being associated with a bunch of crummy sites. It's
rough being an elitist! :)
Make no mistake, I am amazed and impressed with your email speed
and quality. My friend Hself is the same way - it's apparently as
easy and natural as talking. I've probably mentioned, when I was
in school, if I had to write any sort of essay or report for
homework, I could stare at a blank page all night.
ME: Subject: pb
I mentioned the new Gourmet Peanut Butter company who got in
touch with me tonioght. Guess what? Nothing is Beatleproof -
not even peanut butter.
The full name is the Sorrells Pickard Gourmet Peanut Butter
company. The name registered with me as a country music star,
but I didn't give it further thought, figuring it wasn't the same
guy anyhow. Then I visited their site and found out it was none
other than Ringie's own Sorrels Pickard! He wrote some of my
very favorite songs on Beaucoups of Blues.
Here's the lowdown:
http://www.gourmetpeanutbutter.com/ihisty.html
ME: Re: Gourmet Peanut Butter
Dear Herb,
I had to write again after visiting your site. I've been a big
Beatles fan all my life. I bought Ringo's Beaucoups of Blues
back when it came out. I always liked that album - and my
favorite songs on it were by Sorrells! It's so crazy crossing
paths like this 30 years later because of peanut butter.
Tell him I said hi and good luck. If he has any little, nice
memories of the sessions with Ringo, prod him into putting them
up on the web. Or I'd be glad to put them in with my Beatle
pages. I was always wondering if he wrote that line at the end
of $15 Draw, "I got my dawg, and he's reeeal mean!" or whether
Ringo was goofing around. That's cool.
THEE: Hmm...putting your SS# in an email...on the internet.
Probably the beginning of the End. In 2010...when Eddie Vedder
has 'predicted' ...'watch it go to fire'...they'll be able to
trace the chain of events back to that simple action on your
part. YIPES!! Just teasing of course...though he does have those
lyrics.
Talk about a fire hazzard!! Was it a potted tree that your
grandmother left up? I don't think they had fake trees when
your father was a kid! Hope Easter was early!! Was it in the
same house that I was in a couple times? Does you father remember
WHY they left the tree up? Pretty funny story.
About your beatle ring, I guess you are promoting crummy
sites...but just imagine how uplifting it will be for people who
arrive at your site from these crummy sites.
I find emailing EASIER than talking. Don't have to worry if
stuff is stuck in my teeth...if I'm dressed ok (touch of
insomnia...I'm in my nightgown now)...I don't end up staring at
the stuff in the other person's teeth. Course, my emails depend
on the other person's response too. The easier they are to
write...the easier it is for me to write. If I feel respected,
and free to say anything...I do. You're very good at emails
too.
THEE: Incidentally, I gave the game to my daughter, who is the
Beatle Fan Extrordinare, and she was most impressed...as I on
the # of ?s that she got right. Her comment was, "Awesome".
You can pass that on to whoever needs a recommendation about the
games' worthiness.
THEE: Subject: PB, read it, eat it!
I just listened to disc one of "150 Songs, Ballads, Jigs and
Reels of Ireland." Side two clocked in at almost 36 minutes.
Surely that's some sort of record.
THEE: Significa
Just finished watching an "Avengers" episode called "Dial a
Deadly Number." I pulled out a book called "The Avengers
Dossier" and learned that the episode first aired on Dec. 4,
1965, and what's this?
"Incidentally, Philip Norman's 'Shout' describes the Beatles
watching an episode of 'The Avengers' at Newcastle City Hall in
December 1965, and it is most probably this one."
Wow, "Shout" keeps tempting me to give it a reread. Confirmation
of this claim about "The Avengers" could be something to do
tomorrow.
THEE: Re: Gourmet Peanut Butter
I called Sorrells and he was happy to hear someone remembers the
album that well. Ringo added that line to the end of $15 Draw.
And I agree how amazing it is crossing paths over peanut butter
now.
Herb
ME: psychic?
Played another lunchtime session at Strathmore Hall today with my
guitar partner. The stage is tiny and the sweat was running off the
walls. [cavern reference]
Got an answer back about Ringo's last line in $15 Draw. How's
that for first-hand Beatles research? And who was that dumbell
who once laughed off the internet as "the CB of the '90s"? (Oh
yeah, that was me. You win some, you lose some, I guess.)
ME: Subject: guitar music?
Are you looking for guitar music on-line? Try the American
Memories area of the library of Congress site. Also check the
Levy sheet music site.
If you're wondering where my music is, it would take over a 1000
Mbytes and an army of people to put it online. It would also
take a lifetime to print out, would be extremely expensive and
still wouldn't look as good as a modern photocopy. Not the way
to go yet.
THEE: I fear that Tuesday's traffic nightmare might pose a challenge
to your famous Snow in Washington, D.C. page. I've been telling
everyone that I didn't have a ruler small enough to measure the
accumulation but that my 15-minute bus ride took an hour anyway.
Speaking of pages, it would be improper to refer to your take on
Evolution as a "page." I printed it out--it's 40 pages. I'm on
page six.
PS. Dunno nothin' about the history of basketball. That bit was
from the Library of Congress, which should be reliable, however.
One of the teams' coaches had known inventor Dr. Naismith a few
years earlier.
ME: pratie fries
Enjoyed the Beatlefan. Was quite surprised to see that VeeJay
stamped records in Owosso, MI. I just heard of it a few weeks
ago in an editorial by the president of the Gazette, Chuck Lyons.
He was waxing nostalgic about Christmastime in his small Michigan
hometown, which we only found out via a letter to the editor in
the next issue was Owosso. The editor of a paper there who was
visiting here saw Charlie's editorial and provided an update.
Neither article mentioned Introducing The Beatles. By the way,
Owosso is just west of Lennon.
I happened to be out in that snow on Tuesday, and I'm here to
report that depth and frictionlessness do *not* go hand in hand.
In fact, I'm sure there's an inverse relationship. Not only did
I do plenty of sliding myself, but I saw cars that couldn't make
it up the gentlest inclines. Believe me, it wasn't in our heads.
Still, I'm an open-minded sorta guy. When somebody can explain
how (or just demonstrate that) northern cars can drive normally
on frictionless surfaces, I'll shut up.
I looked out the window about 11:10, but couldn't see the moon.
I'm doubtful that it's because it was eclipsed, though.
ME: christmas in april
Whaddaya mean how did them gourmet peanut butter guys find my
site? I've had a boss recipe for the stuff up since the
beginning of time, and I guess these guys needed to check out the
competition when they went online. Now that they see somebody is
giving out a *free* recipe to the world, I suppose they want to
butter me up.
About the infamous, 4-month Christmas tree, I'm sure it was your
standard, lopped-off-at-the-bottom, in-a-red-and-grean-stand
model. It wasn't till decades later when people started putting
up potted trees. I thought it was kind of weird when we did it
when I was younger. The tree in our front yard was a Christmas
tree once, maybe some others.
THEE: My dear boy!
I forgot to tell you that my current read, "The Fall of Saigon"
by David Butler (1985) sports a back-cover blurb from Gloria
Emerson. How do I feel about Ms. Emerson?
Me the Beatlefan: An old fogey whose close-minded debate with
John and Yoko redefined the term "square."
Me the student of Vietnam: Perhaps our most perceptive critic
on one of the nation's biggest modern tragedies.
(A friend of Hself's, who knows all about the internet, assures me
that, yes, the JPG format is the format of choice these days
because you can keep a lot more photos of nekkid gals in the same
amount of space. Porn drives the technology, he says.)
ME: from this valley they say we are coming
I heard a discussion on WAMU this morning (because that's what I
get now when WMUC is off the air) about the amazingness of web
radio, and how it will only get more amazing. Bring this topic
up in non-cyber discussion some day.
Guess who I talked to tonight - my buddy Sorrells! We talked for
about 25 minutes. He has lots of fond memories of the sessions
with Ringo. He referred to them as "hard work", though, so it's
nice to know that cranking out 25 new songs in 3 days is at least
a small strain on country musicians. Wish I were better at
taking notes. Don't know if I caught enough to put up a web
page. One interesting little tidbit was that "Bolton City" in
the song $15 Draw was supposed to be Bossier City, which is
across the Red River from Shreveport, La. It has a strip of juke
joints and honky tonks and is "on the circuit". Sorrells wasn't
aware or had forgotten that Ringo sang "Bolton", which is also
what the printed lyrics say. Keep in mind that Sorrells knows
his lyrics. For instance, he was a little bemused when another
performer changed "when I get to the club" in the last line of
the same song to "when I do the club". He also filled me in on
the latest developments in fat-free peanuts.
ME: You know, once I filled up a whole 90-minute tape with
country and rockabilly songs that have some involvement or
another by the Beatles as a group or individuals. I thought it
was great. Even sent it to a local country station, figuring
that almost all of their listeners now are people who grew up on
'60s' pop and can't belly the current pop music. The station did
not smother me with eternal gratitude. How do you figure?
Also got a call this morning from a man in Houston who was
excited about my pages describing all the guitar music I got from
the Library Of Congress. The web's kind of amazing, no?
I heard a discussion on the radio this morning about web radio.
Even so, I bet it will be 1000 years before even a web radio
station would play a single cut from any of the albums I've
played at home in the last 3 months.
Well, it's either a red letter day, or maybe the beginning of the
end of civilization as we know it. I added some graphics to my
web site today. I know, I know, now I'm just like everybody
else. Read 'em and weep:
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/sears.htm
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/sears2.htm
ME: thanks and thanks
Thanks for the jars of peanut butter.
And thanks for inviting me to call Sorrells for a little chat. I
enjoyed his stories about the sessions with Ringo. I wish I were
a better interviewer - and knew how to take shorthand.
I have some Beatles-related web pages, and I'd like to put
Sorrells's anecdotes in a web page. I don't really want to
bother him again by phone, so could I drop him a note by mail?
I'd like him to have the chance to correct or embellish anything
I wrote.
Also, he knows so much about country music that I was kicking
myself as soon as I hung up. I didn't think to ask if he knows
anything about a country singer named Paul Puckett - somebody my
family is very curious about.
ME: I've been sledding two days in a row. Yes, it's a rough
life. Tuesday was all by myself, which isn't quite so much fun.
Also, it's a lot more work blazing a run all by yourself. You
get lots of snow in your face. Today there was a family (mother,
father and little girl) who got there a minute before me. And
then a bunch of neighborhood boys showed up. We had a great
time. Some of the kids I met last year when we made a huge
snowball. Tried to get a Gazette photographer to come out for
that, but they must not have a nose for news.
I'd be happy to share my peanut butter with you before you spring
for your own. By the way, there's something down in the
ingredient list that scares me. The dreaded *coconut*!!! I'm
hoping it doesn't cut through - but coconut always does.
THEE: Re: Welcome to my evolution FAQ - round 3
Donald, I wrote and you commented in square brackets:
jw> However, Darwin thought that incipient species first arise as
varieties within species. Consider the dog (Canis familiaris) -
high degree of morphological variation, low degree of genetic
variation. If proto-giraffe and proto-okapi are members of the
same species, and the proto-giraffe morphology is genetically
dominant (or even if it is recessive so long as there are enough
copies in a given population), then that morph can exist long
enough to breed up a respectable-size population of "true" proto-
giraffes, and they can remain "true" if separated geographically,
ecologically or behaviourally until they lose the ability to
breed back.
[DS: If I follow you, you are saying the "upcoming" species is
programmed into the genetic material of the parent species. In
fact, some members of a species may be programmed to evolve into
one species (proto-giraffe), while other members are programmed
to evolve into another (proto-okapi). Is there general agreement
on this? It sounds so unlike what anyone else is arguing in this
discussion. What happened to random mutations? Has anyone
theorized that the blueprint for the evolution of all species was
programmed in the first simple life form?]
No I am definitely *not* saying that upcoming species (the phrase
is incipient, or in statu nascendi if you like Latin) are
anything at all. Being of a novel species is something that you
can only tell after the event, just as being the First World War
is something that only occurs when the Second World War is on the
way, ie, much later.
And genes are not programmed. They exist and those that do well
in the relevant developmental and ecological circumstances get
spread about, subject to the exigencies of chance. Some members
of the proto-okapi species may become ancestors of the okapi, and
some may become members of the giraffes, and some may not end up
as leading to any species at all. That's all.
Reproductive isolation occurs when the overall biological
processes of organisms in two distinct populations are so
different they cannot breed fertile progeny. This happens due to
the accrual of small variations. The morphs may have come first
and the isolation followed, or the isolation first and the
adaptive evolution later. But in the end, the morphology is
secondary to the reproductive isolation, and many closely related
species aren't even that different morphologically.
jw> So your "calculations" of probability of these events is
unnecessary. The probabilities are quite high: that variations
will occur and that they will spread, in the right conditions of
population structure, through a breeding population.
[DS: The probability that the variation will occur is "quite
high" if, as you say, the variation was pre-programmed. The
probability is near-zero if it requires a random mutation. In
either case, I'm not signing off on how rampantly such an
insignificant change can spread due to natural selection.]
I am *not* saying that the variation is preprgrammed. Variation
happens, for good physical reasons, but the *particular*
variation is not predetermined. But if the likelihood of a
*given* mutation is low, the likelihood that there will *be*
mutation is quite high, and over the numbers of generations and
individual lifecycles we are talking about, there is a very high
likelihood that some will be better for local conditions than
already exists.
So when you later wrote
[DS: My reaction is interspersed with your explanation
above. I may have missed your point, but what I get is that new
species come about in one big, genetically pre-programmed jump.
I'd be interested in everyone else's reaction to that.]
I insist you have missed the point, due to this idea that
mutation is somehow preprogrammed. This is called "orthogenesis"
and is well abandoned. Evolution is not providential.
-- John Wilkins Web page yet to come
THEE: TOO COOL that you talked to Sorrells Pickard!! You do
realize that you are technically 2 degrees of separation from
Ringo. Hey, that means I'm only 3 degrees from Ringo. Small
world...huh. Hope you got enough notes to recreate some of your
conversation.
That's a cool idea to make a tape with country songs/Beatles
influence. Dumb radio station though.
First...you give me your SS#...and now you add graphics to your
web site! No wonder we got snow dumped on us!!!
ME: Just out of curiosity, do you know who Sergei Prokudin Gorsky
is off the top of your head? I had forgotten his name, and tried
to find him on the web based on what I think he is known for, but
to no avail.
Was Fred Bolt John and Jimmie's teacher?
I've been told, and like to believe, that the great blue heron is
indigenous to all 50 states.
ME: request
Sorry about the "technologist" fuzziness. I never was any good
at titles. At GE I was a programmer/analyst and I never knew
what an "analyst" is. I'd think every job there ever was
involves some degree of analyzing.
Yep, me and my buddy Sorrells talked by telephone. Not only was
he happy to give out his number (850-592-6300) to a psycho such
as myself, but now I hear (from Cousin Herb Dow, Chairman of the
Board of the peanut butter company) that he enjoyed the talk and
wouldn't mind me calling again. He also gave me his address.
Let's see, what do I want to hear on web radio? The paradox is,
I can only think of things that I've already heard and have
access to. I guess the real question is, what do I think is cool
that the rest of the world *needs* to hear? Hmmmm... there's
that Christmas carillon record I bought for a quarter. Maybe
Scott Joplin's opera Treeemonisha. The 1899 recording of
Miserere. Um, there were some neat things on that Hammond organ
record played in the style of Ken Griffin. Oh yeah, how about
Dmitri Shostakovich's comic opera Karyomushki? And side 2 track
2 of my 25-cent Archies record. Oh man, I almost forgot, my 95
cent Minimum Wage EP cassette! And they gave me 5 great bonus
tracks on side 2. There's the band I followed in my college
days, Musica Orbis. I'm afraid there's a long way to go before
we get to the normal stuff, like Cambridge 1969 by John and Yoko,
and "Without Her" written by my pal Sorrells and sung by Ringo.
Is that enough to tide your dj friend over with for now?
THEE: Re: request
Did you ever read anything by F.Paul Wilson? I just read the
last book in his 'Adversary' series...'Nightworld'. As the
world falls apart...people turn on each other...riots...car-
jacking..e.t.c. As I tried to leave work Tuesday in that mess, I
got so scared. Think that book influenced me.
I can send your list of music to my online DJ, but I can't
guarantee he'll play that stuff. I was thinking more like the
'Waterboys'.
THEE: Re: evolution "FAQ"
I appreciate this, and your overall honesty. If I think you have
misunderstood the ideas, that is only because you are getting
into this topic from a particular direction, one that I too came
from and so I am sympathetic.
ME: mascagni's intermezzo
Prokudin-Gorsky (Prokudin-Gorskii) went around Russia on a train
in the 1910 time frame taking spectacular color photographs. I
was totally knocked out by an exhibit at the Library of Congress
in 1986. Since I never knew that color photography went back
that far, and since some of his subject matter was already 100s
of years old, my brain kept wanting to think it was looking at
*500-year-old* color photos. Later, I saw the book Photographs
For The Tsar, which has everything, and more, that the exhibit
had, I guess, but somehow didn't have the same mindblowing
effect. Jaded by then, I guess.
Anyhow, I absolutely could not find the guy on the web searching
for things like "color photography" "early" "history" "russia"
and "czar", etc.
We even have blue herons in my neighborhood.
THEE: My Quasi-Baroque Guitar
I'm glad people are still experimenting with such things. I
completely forgot about the old article Richard Jensen and I
wrote for Guitar Review.
When I have more time, I hope to spend more time on your site.
THEE: Football
I have to agree with the other comment on the page. This has to
be one of the dumbest things I've heard anybody say in a long
time, maybe ever. Your right about needing another name for it
because if you made the changes your talking about then it would
no longer be football and football players play football not most
"normal" people. So far after thousands of kickoffs very few
players have been injured due to running at full speed and
hitting someone else. I'm sure it would kill you but then again
your not a football player or a normal person are you?
THEE: Subject: Football
Oh and here's a quote I found I thought you might like.
"Any idiot can find something wrong with anything. That's what
makes them idiots!"
THEE: dictated by majority will
I would like to know how you are going to find out what the
"majority will".
In my life time, I have not seen an acurate way to establish
majority opinion yet.
Any survey or polls that I have seen are not and will never be
acurate until everybody's opinion is accounted for.
If you have a method of finding out what the "majority will" is,
I would like to know how. As it is I think that you are dreaming.
THEE: And another license plate
The guy who bought the year 2000 Volkswagen and got the plate
"Y2K Bug" was thinking.
ME: I'd be glad to check the Prokudin-Gorsaky photo book out of
the library. In fact I almost did the last time I went in. I'm
afraid putting it back on the "Do Not Reshelve" table may have
drawn attention to it, though.
I tried out some Justin Holland songs with a new singer friend I
crossed paths with at last year's Black Composers Concert at
Catholic U. She had shown some interest at that time (although I
don't know if she remembers that a year later.) I took a closer
look at the songs and found one with a main character named
Donald. There's something you don't see every day.
Yes, I have a collection of 3 Emitt Rhodes albums. They don't
*quite* knock me out, which is high praise, relatively speaking.
That terrible split pea soup was actually pretty good the next
day. I was inspired to try it again, and I bought an 8 pound
Smithfield spiral-cut, honey-baked ham from Shoppers. I thought
the price had to be a mistake, and told them so. They said, no,
that's the correct price. It was 59 cents a pound, *plus* an
instant coupon for $3 off. That brought the price down from
$4.72 to $1.72!
ME: old england is dying
I made another person really mad with my football page. That's
not my intention with any of my web pages. Maybe I need a second
opinion on that one.
Oh, so your dj friend wants Waterboys requests. How about The
Pan Within and Eleanor Rigby back-to-back to show the
similarities. And The Whole Of The Moon for its Penny Lane-like
trumpets (and vocals near the end sounding like David Bowie's
Fame.) And "Trumpets", which has the lines "please don't wake me
no don't shake me" from the Beatles "I'm Only Sleeping".
I found a pop song from the 1860s in my collection of guitar
music with a main character named Donald. There's something you
don't see every day. ("Hself"s, yes.)
THEE: 'Donald, Donald, bo bonald..fee fie foe Mo Monald...
Donald...the
WHAT did the old england subject mean??
I don't think I know any songs with Donald in them...unless it's
a twisted tune about Donald Trump...or Donald Duck.
Mary is a great name for songs, cause it rhymes with tons of
stuff. WHAT does Donald rhyme with anyway? Ronald?
ME: vanilla, too
Don't worry, I never thought for a moment you were forwarding my
crazy requests to the dj guy. I was just trying to make a point
about the staggering quantity of different kinds of music out
there, about .000000000000000000001 percent of which might ever
get airplay, even with 20000 channels of net radio.
About the Waterboys, I was just trying to show off, babbling
about a bunch of Waterboys tunes to make it sound like I *know*
something about pop music since the 60s. It's really just a
fluke that I have a Waterboys album. All the songs I mentioned
are on This Is The Sea. Those 3 Beatle connections really are in
there; they jumped right out at me. (But then, I'm the guy who
heard the backing to Rain in Jeremy.) My subject line "old
england is dying" is a line from the song on that album called
Old England. Downer lyrics but a good sound.
Went up to see the family on Sunday and had the grand opening of
my gourmet peanut butter. It's sort of strange. You can taste
all the ingredients way down the list, like cinnamon, coconut and
lemon. Different flavors hit you on different bites. The lemon
gives it a strange sort of fruity quality. Some family members
quite enjoyed Ringo's country album, too. There were requests to
keep it going when I tried to take it off.
Went to the local library the other day. I spun through the used
book store they have on the lower floor, or thought I was going
to spin through it. I found a goldmine in the record bins - 7
big, ol' boxed sets of operas from the early 1950s. They would
have cost only 25 cents per *album* on the second day of a big
book sale, but I couldn't risk letting them get away. They were
too cool. I've only listened to Trovatore so far; listening to
operas is slow going. What's funny is these big boxes have small
7" booklets (still, a lot bigger than CDs!) in them because back
then, the albums were released in 2 formats, LP and 45s! The
version of Trovatore with 45s had 9 records!
ME: uline ice arena
Gave Hself and two of her kids who got in a little trouble a
ride to the department of juvenile justice the other day. I'm
afraid one day I'm gonna blow my stack watching our justice
system in action. Talk about a bunch of tin-pot dictators who
aren't qualified to judge a donkey race...
I did blow my cool in the bank the other day. It became quickly
clear that I had jumped to a conclusion and I felt so rotten. I
guess with banks, utilities and the government I'm always
expecting them to pull another little trick on you, and I get so
tired of always having to keep looking over my shoulder to see
what wild jackals are snapping at my heels now.
I guess I should pay a visit to the Washington Coliseum tomorrow
(Friday, Feb 11).
THEE: We watched a 1967 movie called "The President's Analyst"
last night. We're not sure if it was OK or really rotten. I say
OK, Hself says rotten. It did feature a gang of Canadian secret
agents disguised as a British rock band called the Pudlians.
That was clever.
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Abbreviations: Hself = generic name, male or female (Himself, Herself). lc = library of congress/.
Parents, if you're considering tutoring or supplemental education for your child, you may be interested in my observations on Kumon.