A la Recherche d'une Livre Perdu - 18 November 2022

 My title today is only partially appropriate. I've actually just come across a tale I'd read in my youth (I know it was more than 50 years ago based on where I had read it) and realised why I was enjoying this collection of the stories of The Thinking Machine so thoroughly.

My maternal grandparents had a cottage on Rifle Lake in the southernmost part of what we'd call Up North here in Michigan. When the weather was less than encouraging of watery activities, I would take to the front room and read from the various books that lived there. Most were Reader's Digest condensed books, along with some actual Reader's Digest magazines, but Grandpa did have a remarkably thick book of great detective stories which was often my choice in these situations.

As I'm nearing the end of the aforementioned collection of Thinking Machine stories, I've come to "The Problem of Cell 13" - it's the one I remember as my first exposure to Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, aka the Thinking Machine. What great fun.

Oh, and the reason for today's title? Today is the centenary of the passing of Marcel Proust, author of "À la recherche du temps perdu," among other light writings.

09 November 2022 - May God Have Mercy

 Well, Michigan, the State which has never had capital punishment for convicted murderers, nor for anyone, has now enshrined death in its State Constitution with the passage of Proposal 3.

Well done, folks. May God have mercy on us all.

05 October 2022 - Now for Something Completely Different

 What a momentous week in history we're currently astride!

Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the launch of the first (known) artificial satellite around the Earth - Sputnik I. That was quite a kick in the pants for America's German scientists to get to work and beat the Soviets' German scientists in the great Space Race. "Nazi Schmazti," said Werner von Braun.

Ah, but today marks the 53rd anniversary of the premiere of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on BBC1. No doubt all those watching realised that it truly was something completely different.

Further, today would have been the 193rd birthday of the 21st President of these United States, Chester Alan Arthur. He's probably best-known among those of us in the know for his famed climb to the top of the bedroom wall where he thrust his defiance at the Javanese and shouted, "Give me them, or I'm going over there!"

Let the celebrations roll!

RIP HRH Elizabeth II - 16 September 2022

I'm late in posting this, but I did want to post a thought or two here on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

It will seem very odd the next time we're in London. We've gotten quite used to strolling past Buckingham Palace and seeing the warm glow of the Queen's telly in the window, wondering just what she was watching. Might it have been The Great British Baking Show? Perhaps The Repair Shop? (that would have my vote) One assumes that even the royals have to pay their TV license fee in order to watch, so it's good to know they were there with the hoi polloi (I know that has a double definite article, it's simply standard usage.)

The other oddity will be seeing something like CR III on the gates rather than ER II. As we have a friend whose initials are E.E.R-R. we always construed this as having the 2 distribute over the E and R, making E2R2 or EERR. Now all we'll have is a Star Wars reference: C3PO (Charles III, Palace Occupant).

Seriously, Elizabeth had been queen for the entirety of my life, and she really seemed to be the ideal monarch: one who cared about her Nation and her People; one who actively engaged with her subjects as well as the important matters of the day, and with loyalty, grace, and honour. She will be missed. One can only hope the king will be better than I fear he will.

The Queen is dead, long live the King.

Do They Realize? - 08 September 2022

 

 

 

 

I have my doubts that our ruling class realize what they're telling us. Frankly, I'm not sure they realize much of anything - for them it's all a game with us as the pieces on the board.

Anyway, the endless drive to forgive student loans because those who took them out cannot afford to pay them is nothing but a statement that a college education is a bad investment. Today's "leaders" see college/university education as merely a more advanced job training. Given that view, if the jobs that result are not lucrative enough to pay for the required training, only a fool would make that choice.

Even setting aside the obvious unfairness of forcing payment of these loans by folks who have either paid their own debts or who didn't take out any loans in the first place, we're faced with the conclusion that a college/university degree is a very bad investment indeed. It seems that only those who didn't bother with it are capable of paying for it - and that for the purported benefit of others.

Clearly the whole scheme is insane and immoral. Whether it's illegal or unconstitutional remains to be seen.

I hate living in a kleptocracy.

An Anniversary and a Story - 29 July 2022

Today is the anniversary of the most talked about wedding of 1981 - the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England.

We all know now that it wasn't to last, but at the time the world seemed to think it was a fairy tale come true. Perhaps those Brothers Grimm knew whereof they wrote when they had more cautionary and grim endings than the ones Mr. Disney purveyed.

At any rate, I've told this story before, but I do like it quite a lot, so:

Our wedding (and please note that the subsequent marriage has already lasted very nearly 40 years, thank you very much) took place with much less fanfare and media coverage than did that of the Lady and the Prince (hmm - Lady and the Tramp? Prince Spaghetti? there must be some connection here) just over 13 months later.

Less media coverage, perhaps, but more bumper stickers (at least that's my assumption).

One of our friends who had attended our wedding was driving through Ontario some time after. I'm not certain where she was, but I'd like to think she was on the QEW (more likely the 401, but that's less fun).
At any rate, as she drove along, people were honking and waving at her and pointing at the rear of her car.

Finally unable to handle not knowing why, she pulled off the highway and looked at the back of her car to see the torn sticker gracing her bumper
.

Et, voila! No wonder those loyal subjects there in the Dominion of Canada were so excited - they thought they had encountered someone who had attended the royal wedding.

Rants and Remembrances - 11 July 2022

Recently we saw USC and UCLA make the move to the Big 10 (Big 16?). Clearly they have no concern for climate change as the introduce radically increased travel across the country (New Jersey to California? That doesn't sound like a bus ride with the equipment in the back, now does it?). Still, at least they're real schools and have real athletic teams with some history.

Next up, though, was the final nail in the coffin of my interest in college football - the announcement that alcohol will likely be sold at Big 10 games. As if it weren't already obvious, the fact that almost all students on campus are too young to legally purchase alcohol tells us that college athletics have nothing to do with students anymore.

One can only hope that these moves will hasten the move to make the athletic departments into profit-making wholly-owned subsidiaries of the universities, operating as professional minor leagues for the existing major leagues. Or whatever. I guess I really don't care. I'm done with major college sports. The MAC is as big as I'd ever consider watching, frankly, and I don't miss it at all. Dopes.

On to the remembrances:

I just read that Larry Storch has passed on (RIP, Larry). Storch played Corporal Agarn on F-Troop back in the 1960s in addition to lots of other appearances and voice acting roles. I always enjoyed that show (I'm sure it's radically politically incorrect by now) and particularly his character. 

Also, this is the anniversary of Aaron Burr's fatal wounding of Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel. I know it's only a throw-away line here, but this excellent SNL bit immediately came to mind (the reference is around 1:40, but the whole thing is worth watching). Enjoy.

Coincidence? I Think Not - 30 June 2022

As I checked today at the "On this day in history" site to which I often refer, I discovered that today is the 117th anniversary of Albert Einstein's submission of the paper outlining his theory of Special Relativity. (He was to expand his thinking to the theory of General Relativity about 11 years later.)

I also noted that today is the 114th anniversary of the so-called Tunguska Event.

Interesting. Einstein submits his paper on the theory of relativity, and exactly three years later - to the day, mind you! - "something" happened at Tunguska that resembled an atomic explosion.
Granted, there was no radiation detected at the site (at least none of which we've been informed), but a small inert object moving at relativistic speeds could cause massive damage without anything like radiation being involved.

Pretty amazing, no? Relativity in 1905, Tunguska exactly three years later. What's next? An actual revelation of what's going on at Area 51? I'm not going to hold my breath, nor should you.

Stay curious!

Paging Lady Mondegreene - 15 June 2022

On This Day in History
1965 – Bob Dylan recorded “Like a Rolling Stone.”

What's the visual equivalent of a Mondegreene?

I misread that notice, and thought it was odd that Maynard G. Krebs / Gilligan would have recorded that song. Then I noticed what it really said.
I think I'd actually like to have that record, but I don't think anyone's got a deepfake singing program with Bob Denver's voice to apply to a Dylan recording, more's the pity.

Maybe that will be my Summer project.

Oh - you're wondering "what's a Mondegreene?"

It's a misheard lyric ("'Scuse me while I kiss this guy," for example). The term comes from a mishearing of an old ballad where they took the injured lord and laid him on the green. "Well," asked a now-infamous listener, "Who is Lady Mondegreene? I don't remember her from any of the earlier verses." Nor would one. Still, that's the origin of the term, and it's a fine one, if you ask me.

Languages and Celebrations - 14 June 2022

 Well, I'm back after a relatively long silence here, largely because of a slight annoyance that built just enough to need to be posted.

I have an ear for languages and accents - it's a gift, really; and it makes me think of Pentecost often. I've never really noticed a downside to it.
Until recently, that is.

I listen to a lot of classical music on the radio, and over the years I've heard many hosts mangle names of pieces, performers, and even instruments. Usually it's no big deal, but finally, this morning, the constant mispronunciation of French names and words really got to me. I said to the radio, "Clearly you never took French class in school;" then quickly added, "or if you did, you didn't do very well, or have forgotten most of what you learned."

It took me back to when I was first taking piano lessons, and Mrs. Rathbun, my teacher, told me that she had taken German in school so she would know what all those words meant in musical scores. Words like allegro, segue, andanta, piano, forte, all those ... oops ... Italian words.
I have decided that she made that mistake very honestly. She was playing the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms - why would she think they wrote directions in Italian? of course it was German. Of course, it wasn't.

My daughter-in-law was born in Iraq, moved to Malta and Germany before ending up here in the States, so she's a model of multilingualism. I asked her once what language she uses to talk to herself. She looked at me like I was a loony and said that it's always in English.

Hmm. I talk to myself in a mixture of French and Russian stirred into the English. I even talk to Billie in French on our walks. (yes, only English and French. Speaking Russian in public these days doesn't seem like a good idea. Thanks, Putin.)

So now on to celebrations.

Today is the birthday of the Army of these United States, so Happy Birthday, Army!

It is also Flag Day, sometimes spelled Fleig Day. That's because my late friend and coworker, Ed Fleig, used to host a party for some of us in the erstwhile McCann-Erickson media department on June 14th because it was Fleig Day. He was a great guy, and I miss him.

World Stationery Day! - 18 May 2022

Yes, today is World Stationery Day, please no moving celebrations today.

Today also is the anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte's appointment as Emperor of the French. I hadn't known he was Emperor of the French, rather than of France. One supposes that would imply his imperial control of French folk everywhere, much as the King of Belgium isn't really the King of Belgium - he's the King of the Belgians. Again a distinction that may imply a difference. These monarchs bear watching.

Cheers!

Cubicle Day! - 28 April 2022

Yes, it's National Cubicle Day today! I know there are many office workers who are glad to be working from home offices rather than cubicles these days, but there are also many who would welcome the relative privacy of a cubicle rather than the current "open office" trend where each worker sits nearly on top of the next with no sense of personal space

Ah! for the glory days of cubicles when folks would decorate them with outdoor scene posters and cheap curtains to simulate a window. Some would even create window boxes with flowers from sheets of foam-core, colored with the lovely pastel shades of highlighters. At least there was some sense of ownership then. None of this "drop your stuff in a locker when you leave, grab it again in the morning when you arrive and try to find an available desk where you can do your work - remember, our employees are our greatest asset, that's why we treat them like cattle!" stuff back then. No sir.

Might as well pine for a desktop computer that means no work once one arrives home, eh?

Fun Fact? - 22 April 2022

 
I ran across this Friday Fun Fact (sic) in a newsletter today:

Friday Fun Fact
No number before 1,000 contains the letter A.

My immediate response was, "What about a hundred?" I think they're not as clever as they think they are.

 

Apparently, today is also Earth Day, so I'm working from home today - it seems a good day to avoid driving those one score plus miles each way, no?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At any rate, enjoy the Earth - so far it's the only planet we have.

18 April 2022 - Holographic Doctors in Space!

 

I just read an interesting piece on cnet: NASA 'Holoported' a Doctor Onto the International Space Station. It seems like a great idea, but the article left out one I'm really anxious to know. Were his first words, "Please state the nature of the medical emergency?" If not, someone really needs to be reeducated.

Worship - 10 April 2022 - Music Sunday!

Micah 6:8
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

For our 9:30 AM worship service we hae the choir back with a Music Sunday presentation of selection from the cantata "Footprints" by Joseph Martin (augmented with his "Winds through the Olive") and a couple of hymns for congregational singing.

The service went really well - the choir didn't just sing well (they did), but they led us in worship through the settings of the various stories leading down the path through Holy Week past the Crucifixion of Jesus to His glorious Resurrection on Easter and beyond to our own journeys with our Lord and Savior. I encourage you to check out the stream (info below).

Also, you're really late if you don't have a copy of our Lenten devotions book for 2022, but there were still a few on offer - of course you can always read them at https://gpumc.blogspot.com as well.

Remember, we streamed for all those who can't join us in person, and we intend to continue streaming indefinitely. Still, know that we miss seeing you in person - please come join in corporate prayer, praise, and worship as soon as you feel ready.

As usual, today's stream should just appear as the latest entry on our YouTube channel, here.
You'll find all our previous worship videos right there at that same place, and today's stream will stay there as a recording as well.

Carnage du Jour - 04 April 2020

 Micah 6:8
Genesis 9:2-4
Yes, your life matters.

I know you'll be surprised, but I'm writing about another pork tenderloin dish today.

This time it was trimmed, sliced into medallions, and seasoned with beau monde, white pepper, nutmeg, and Aleppo pepper. Then it was simply sautéed in some canola oil and served with a pot of spinach and ricotta ravioli dressed with a pesto alfredo sauce and a bunch of extra chopped spinach.

The Aleppo added a nice light smoky heat to the background flavours, and I was pleased and a bit surprised at how well pesto and spinach went together. I don't know that I would have thought to put basil and spinach together if I hadn't had this sauce in the fridge waiting to be used up. It was quite tasty, and I'll probably do something similar again. Who knows? Perhaps I'll cook some basil leaves in with some spinach, just to see whether that actually works, or if the creaminess of the sauce mellowed everything out so much that it all almost had to go together.

Regardless, it was very tasty and, again, likely to be repeated.

Enjoy!

Two Years? - 31 March 2022 - Plague Journal Day 749

Micah 6:8
Genesis 45:5-7
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Two years ago today I started my daily blogging during the two week lockdown to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 case load. I missed only a couple days in that time (when my Dad was dying - I hope you'll forgive my distraction then), but it's time to stop this daily grind and move to a more occasional "schedule" of posting when I have something to post.
Check back now and then, won't you?

Please note that I'm not claiming there will be five more years where our various overlords will "take care of us" going forward, but I'm not claiming that there won't be either. (You do follow the scripture links in each post, don't you? The first and last are always the same, but the middle one(s) relate to the topic du jour, as it were.)

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Not the Boss of Me - 30 March 2022 - Plague Journal Day 748

Micah 6:8
John 21:18
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Well, today is National I Am In Control Day. There's a fantasy of a day if ever I've noted one.

I am in control? Look in the mirror, pal. You're not seeing the one in control of much of anything - except maybe how you react to your circumstances.
Fantasy aside, it would be fantastic if we all did take control of our reactions (and proactions!) rather than simply lashing out in anger and fear whenever it becomes apparent that we really aren't in charge.

Of course, maybe this is why it's also World Bipolar Day. I'm just saying.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.