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Toads, turtles, and a turkey
May. 3rd, 2015 07:55 pmIn the midst of death, we are in life. So it was at Mount Auburn Cemetery this afternoon, on the first really good day of the season, or at least the first one of which I've been able to take advantage.
The American toads (Bufo americanus) were singing. The toad's song is a medium high-pitched musical trill lasting up to 30 seconds. Since toads are poisonous to most potential predators, they show little fear of humans, and I was able to get close enough to them to watch them sing and fight off rivals. The pond was, I was told, ice-covered until a few days ago, which probably explains why the toads are late this year. I would normally expect them to be done by now. They come out of the woods and gardens and congrgate in ponds to mate an lay eggs, from which tadpoles will hatch that will grow into a new generation of toads. The males sing to call potential mates, and they are loud enough to carry quite a distance.
Also calling for a mate was a big tom turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) strutting through the cemetery; His gobbling could be heard all over the place.
Two species of turtles were in evidence: Chrysemys picta picta, the eastern painted turtle, which is almost ubiquitous in these parts; and Trachemys scripta elegans, the read-eared slider, a turtle of the Mississippi valley that has managed to establish itself in Massachusetts despite our brutal winters. I saw two individuals in the pond near the Mary Baker Eddy grave site; the smaller toad pond had only painted turtles.
The cemetery was bustling with birds, including some warblers I couldn't identify along with grackles, house sparrows, and the ubiquitous robin. I was told there was an owl nest in one of the trees overlooking the toad pond, but I couldn't see it.
Spring in New England, when it finally takes hold, is a glorious thing to see. Trees are bursting out in blossom all over the area, with bumblebees and the occasional honey bee busily buzzing from tree to tree. The cherry trees and magnolias were particularly spectacular.
The cemetery is a fascinating place; most of the people buried there seem to be Yankees, some of them with names, like Mehitebel and Cordelia, not often used today. I found Daniel Pinkham, a composer whose music we've sung at church.
Tomorrow it is back to work, alas. I placed an order online just now for 100 connectors for a scary project I've been postponing.
The American toads (Bufo americanus) were singing. The toad's song is a medium high-pitched musical trill lasting up to 30 seconds. Since toads are poisonous to most potential predators, they show little fear of humans, and I was able to get close enough to them to watch them sing and fight off rivals. The pond was, I was told, ice-covered until a few days ago, which probably explains why the toads are late this year. I would normally expect them to be done by now. They come out of the woods and gardens and congrgate in ponds to mate an lay eggs, from which tadpoles will hatch that will grow into a new generation of toads. The males sing to call potential mates, and they are loud enough to carry quite a distance.
Also calling for a mate was a big tom turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) strutting through the cemetery; His gobbling could be heard all over the place.
Two species of turtles were in evidence: Chrysemys picta picta, the eastern painted turtle, which is almost ubiquitous in these parts; and Trachemys scripta elegans, the read-eared slider, a turtle of the Mississippi valley that has managed to establish itself in Massachusetts despite our brutal winters. I saw two individuals in the pond near the Mary Baker Eddy grave site; the smaller toad pond had only painted turtles.
The cemetery was bustling with birds, including some warblers I couldn't identify along with grackles, house sparrows, and the ubiquitous robin. I was told there was an owl nest in one of the trees overlooking the toad pond, but I couldn't see it.
Spring in New England, when it finally takes hold, is a glorious thing to see. Trees are bursting out in blossom all over the area, with bumblebees and the occasional honey bee busily buzzing from tree to tree. The cherry trees and magnolias were particularly spectacular.
The cemetery is a fascinating place; most of the people buried there seem to be Yankees, some of them with names, like Mehitebel and Cordelia, not often used today. I found Daniel Pinkham, a composer whose music we've sung at church.
Tomorrow it is back to work, alas. I placed an order online just now for 100 connectors for a scary project I've been postponing.
My father died last night
Mar. 17th, 2015 01:07 pmStuart O. Landry, Jr., Ph.D., born September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, LA, died March 17, 2015 in Needham, MA. He grew up in New Orleans, the son of advertising executive, author, and publisher Stuart O. Landry and his wife, Laura Saunders Landry. He graduated from Metairie Park Country Day School in the class of 1942, and enrolled at Harvard College (Cambridge, MA) with the class of 1946, but was drafted into the Army of the United States at the end of his freshman year. He served in the 94th Infantry Division and took part in the closing phase of the Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Germany, finishing the war near Strakonice in western Czechoslovakia. He remained with the Army on occupation duty before returning to Harvard to graduate in 1949, after which he pursued graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his doctorate.
Dr. Landry taught biology at the University of Missouri, the Louisiana State University in New Orleans, and, from 1963, as professor of biology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he spent more than three decades. His particular field of interest was the study of hystricomorph rodents, but his interests were myriad, numbering among them the music of Bach, the works of Shakespeare, the mating habits of dinosaurs, and the history of his native New Orleans. He was a lifetime devotee of science and a long time supporter of the environment, progressive politics, and skeptical inquiry.
Professor Landry was married for 57 years to the late Helen Heafield Bacon of Wellesley, MA, and is survived by two sons, Robert and John; a grandson, Eric; and a sister, Anne.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, P.O. Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226-0703
Dr. Landry taught biology at the University of Missouri, the Louisiana State University in New Orleans, and, from 1963, as professor of biology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he spent more than three decades. His particular field of interest was the study of hystricomorph rodents, but his interests were myriad, numbering among them the music of Bach, the works of Shakespeare, the mating habits of dinosaurs, and the history of his native New Orleans. He was a lifetime devotee of science and a long time supporter of the environment, progressive politics, and skeptical inquiry.
Professor Landry was married for 57 years to the late Helen Heafield Bacon of Wellesley, MA, and is survived by two sons, Robert and John; a grandson, Eric; and a sister, Anne.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, P.O. Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226-0703
Christ, this is hard to read
Feb. 27th, 2015 09:24 amVerizon's response to the FCC's decision to reclassify broadband Internet service providers as common carriers is printed in International Morse code.
Morse code was intended to be heard not read, and the spaces between the letters in whatever font they're using are difficult to resolve, so even pronouncing it is hard.
Verizon is, of course, full of shit. Of course Internet service providers should be treated as common carriers; moreover, I would go further and insist that no Internet service provider should have any stake in the content he or she delivers. Verizon holds a monopoly on Internet service in many places, including the town of New Shoreham, RI, where every Internet user buys service directly or indirectly from Verizon. Market forces are never enough to protect customers from abuse by a monopolist, and the FCC's decision was the right one.
Verizon! Verizon! Rah, rah, rah!
Three dits, four dits, two dits, dah.
Morse code was intended to be heard not read, and the spaces between the letters in whatever font they're using are difficult to resolve, so even pronouncing it is hard.
Verizon is, of course, full of shit. Of course Internet service providers should be treated as common carriers; moreover, I would go further and insist that no Internet service provider should have any stake in the content he or she delivers. Verizon holds a monopoly on Internet service in many places, including the town of New Shoreham, RI, where every Internet user buys service directly or indirectly from Verizon. Market forces are never enough to protect customers from abuse by a monopolist, and the FCC's decision was the right one.
Verizon! Verizon! Rah, rah, rah!
Three dits, four dits, two dits, dah.
The thought just struck me
Feb. 26th, 2015 08:32 amDiscussing same-sex marriage in Russian must be difficult, as there is no verb "to get married", but only "жениться" ("to wife onself"), or "выйти замуж" ("to go out after a husband"). They are completely different expressions.
While poking around in a bookstore in Hallowell, Maine the other day I found a 1953 edition of Tolstoi's Anna Karenina in the original Russian. This has become my latest project.
While poking around in a bookstore in Hallowell, Maine the other day I found a 1953 edition of Tolstoi's Anna Karenina in the original Russian. This has become my latest project.
The T is a mess
Feb. 14th, 2015 11:36 pmThe 7:10 train out of South Station left an hour late. At one point the put us on a train on track 13 -- I didn't know they ever used track 13 -- and then they came on board and said no, this train's not going anywhere, go back in the station.
I had to walk to South Station from Park Street because the Red Line was massively delayed.
It's clear the MBTA has been starved for operating funds far too long by short-sighted idiots in the legislature.
Now Charlie Baker wants to cut another $1.4 million fro the T's operating budget.
Once upon a time there was a Governor;
Choo-choo Charlie was his name, yes sir!
He had a railroad and he sure had fun;
He was cuttin' all the budgets that made the trains run.
Charlie says, "love my budget cutting!"
Charlie says, "it really rings my bell!"
Charlie says, "let's pile up the debt now,
As for all of those commuters, they can go to hell."
My apologies to the Good-and-Plenty candy folks.
I had to walk to South Station from Park Street because the Red Line was massively delayed.
It's clear the MBTA has been starved for operating funds far too long by short-sighted idiots in the legislature.
Now Charlie Baker wants to cut another $1.4 million fro the T's operating budget.
Once upon a time there was a Governor;
Choo-choo Charlie was his name, yes sir!
He had a railroad and he sure had fun;
He was cuttin' all the budgets that made the trains run.
Charlie says, "love my budget cutting!"
Charlie says, "it really rings my bell!"
Charlie says, "let's pile up the debt now,
As for all of those commuters, they can go to hell."
My apologies to the Good-and-Plenty candy folks.
Last night
Feb. 2nd, 2015 07:40 pmMy former college roommate invited me to come watch football with him. I don't usually pay attention to the Super Bowl, but this game was surprisingly good. Seattle should have won it, but they made a mistake at the worst possible time, and so the game ended like many a Harvard-Yale game, where the team that makes the fewest mistakes comes out on top.
The commercials did not impress me. The car commercial with the Harry Chapin song, "Cats in the Cradle", struck me as profoundly wrong; does Nissan not remember that he died in a car wreck? And who was the target audience? Surely no one much under 60 remembers that song.
I suppose I'll go out and shovel some more snow.
The commercials did not impress me. The car commercial with the Harry Chapin song, "Cats in the Cradle", struck me as profoundly wrong; does Nissan not remember that he died in a car wreck? And who was the target audience? Surely no one much under 60 remembers that song.
I suppose I'll go out and shovel some more snow.
Preaching to the choir
Jan. 23rd, 2015 10:53 amI have a client who offers his radio listeners a mix of rock, country, jazz, covers of popular songs, traditional Irish stuff, buegrass, 1960's protest songs, some local singers/songwriters, etc. It doesn't sell well; he has almost no audience according to Neilsen, in three (four, until last year, when his affiliate in Springfield went off the air) radio markets. The sound can best be described as roast beef and peanut butter, things that taste good by themselves but don't go very well together.
For the longest time I found this perplexing. Why spend so much time and money producing, distributing, and promoting programming that clearly isn't reaching an audience? Why not find out what listeners want and tailor the programming to better suit their tastes? While these are not questions I have been hired to answer, I can't be successful in my work unless my clients succeed. I have to be prepared for this one to fail, and to replace the lost income if he does. It saddens me to see any broadcaster fail, particularly now when so many pundits, who see the whole medium of radio as obsolete, will proclaim my client's demise as just another nail in radio's coffin. But that is bullshit; there's nothing wrong with radio that good programming and good community service can't cure.
My client's problem is that he's paying too much attention to the musicians whose songs he plays; he's programming for them, not for the average listener. Musicians are not typical radio listeners; they hear music differently than you or I do. They will hear three different renditions of the same song and be bowled over by the differences in performance style, while the average listener will say only, "didn't I just hear this song?" and switch to another station. Musicians tend to have broader tastes, to want to hear new songs and new styles of music, while most people tune to radio to hear their favorite songs, or at best a particular genre of music that suits their mood. My client is preaching to the choir, leaving most of the congregation baffled, unsatisfied, and unlikely to come back.
As the Cylons would say, all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. WCRB was like this in the 1980's, when advertisers like Raytheon and GTE would sponsor Boston Symphony broadcasts to promote their images as good corporate neighbors, and it didn't matter whether anyone actually heard the music. When advertisers started demanding results, the programming was changed to appeal to a broad audience, and the musicians complained loudly about our "dumbing down" the radio station. But the ratings went through the roof, and isn't it better to play Mozart to a hundred people than Schoenberg or Stockhausen to one or two?
Sigh,
For the longest time I found this perplexing. Why spend so much time and money producing, distributing, and promoting programming that clearly isn't reaching an audience? Why not find out what listeners want and tailor the programming to better suit their tastes? While these are not questions I have been hired to answer, I can't be successful in my work unless my clients succeed. I have to be prepared for this one to fail, and to replace the lost income if he does. It saddens me to see any broadcaster fail, particularly now when so many pundits, who see the whole medium of radio as obsolete, will proclaim my client's demise as just another nail in radio's coffin. But that is bullshit; there's nothing wrong with radio that good programming and good community service can't cure.
My client's problem is that he's paying too much attention to the musicians whose songs he plays; he's programming for them, not for the average listener. Musicians are not typical radio listeners; they hear music differently than you or I do. They will hear three different renditions of the same song and be bowled over by the differences in performance style, while the average listener will say only, "didn't I just hear this song?" and switch to another station. Musicians tend to have broader tastes, to want to hear new songs and new styles of music, while most people tune to radio to hear their favorite songs, or at best a particular genre of music that suits their mood. My client is preaching to the choir, leaving most of the congregation baffled, unsatisfied, and unlikely to come back.
As the Cylons would say, all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. WCRB was like this in the 1980's, when advertisers like Raytheon and GTE would sponsor Boston Symphony broadcasts to promote their images as good corporate neighbors, and it didn't matter whether anyone actually heard the music. When advertisers started demanding results, the programming was changed to appeal to a broad audience, and the musicians complained loudly about our "dumbing down" the radio station. But the ratings went through the roof, and isn't it better to play Mozart to a hundred people than Schoenberg or Stockhausen to one or two?
Sigh,
Cold as hell
Dec. 31st, 2014 06:12 pmI stood on the platform shivering. I couldn't understand why; it's not that cold and there is nothing like the nasty winds that New England winters too often bring,
Maybe it had something to do with the radio station where I'd spent the day working; that place is always cold in the winter and hit in the summer. The thermometer on the control room wall read 60 Fahrenheit, and the kitchen and much of the broadcast area wasn't much warmer.
Tonight at midnight my Dover, NH client will be switching to the new ABC News satellite feed from the one they've been getting from Westwood One. `For reasons known only to ABC News, they're not giving us any overlap period where both feeds are usable in case the new one has problems, and they're pulling the switch at midnight on a major holiday. That doesn't inspire confidence.
As 2014 is coming to an end, it's worth looking back on. This year no one important to me died, but my father's health broke and he is now in a nursing home. I've been visiting him regularly, but sometimes he does not seem to know I'm there.
My work is going OK, but I'm looking for new opportunities, and particularly at running my own radio station or group of stations. I won't be able to keep going forever as I am; my clients won't be around forever, and I sense age creeping up on me.
I have a new girlfriend, Janet; I met her on OKCupid in June. Things are going well, but it is something of an long-distance relationship; she lives in Maine.
If I could find work there, I'd be happy to live in Maine, even if it is even colder there than here,
The train has been stuck behind a disabled commuter train; as I write this, we are finally moving again. We are at least 45 minutes late. I se the Merrimack River glimmering in the darkness to my right, so we are almost in Haverhill. North of there there is no commuter rail service, and we have only our opposite number and Pan Am to get in our way.
Yes, Pan Am is a railroad now. It is weird seeing the Pan Am logo on locomotives and boxcars instead of airliners.
This is Haverhill, and there are two attractive young women on the platform in short skirts. They must be freezing their asses off.
I see the tower lights for 92.5 WXRV "The River" to my right. I worked there briefly in 2007.
We are running an hour late. I should have brought a snack. I suppose I could go see what they're selling in the lounge car.
What ese happened in 2014? Nothing good on the political front; the Republicans now control 2/3 of the state legislatures and both houses of Congress. Barack Obama started his presidency with Democrats in charge of both the House and the Senate, where they had 60 seats. He's done such a poor job of making his case that people are voting against their own best interests, electing ostriches who deny demonstrable fact in pursuit of their own narrow interests. Mitch McConnell is a contemptible person with no loyalty to anyone but himself. If I lived in Kentucky I'd be embarrassed to show my face.
2014 was the year ISIS emerged as a major new power in the Middle East. My gut feeling, based on my exposure to Islam back in the seventies, is that this administration's response is dead wrong. You cannot discredit political Islam by throwing bombs and troops at it. You can't fight extremism with an army; it is the wrong tool. It only gives legitimacy to a medievalism that, left to itself, would quickly reveal its inadequacy in the modern world.
The other day I remembered that in 1979, having just graduated from college with a degree in classical Arabic, I interviewed for a job with the NSA. The process took long enough that, having found work in radio, I declined to go back for a second interview with the agency. I am wondering whether I could have had any impact on what I feel is now a disastrously wrong foreign policy, had I made a different choice. Pretty much everyone in the Muslim world hates us now, even in countries like Turkey that are nominally our allies.
That said, I am not a persuader by nature. When people tell me I'm wrong, I leave them to do as they please. And I wouldn't have been able to stomach working for Ronald Reagan. That man and the ideology he promoted so well ruined America.
I just found out yesterday that Radio Moscow, or the Voice of Russia as it ame to be called after 1991, no longer exists. There are no more shortwave broadcasts from Russia (nor from Canada or the Netherlands). Who would have thought that such a day would come?
Actually, it is not quite true that there are no more shortwave broadcasts from Canada. Radio Canada International is gone, and its long time antenna farm at Sackville, New Brunswick dismantled, but there are a handful of low powered stations on the 49-meter band that relay local Canadian AM stations; one of them is CFCX in Montreal, which puts a pretty good signal into Boston.
I do believe shortwave broadcasting will come back when the next cold or hot war comes. It is pretty much the only way to reach listeners without the consent of their governments. But in the meantime, a lot of the stations I remember from my youth are gone. One that remains on the air is Radio Havana, Cuba, still "transmitting from Cuba, free territory of the Americas". Not for long, though; the present thaw in US-Cuban relations can only herald the end of socialism on that island, which is too small and weak to resist the economic pressures of global capitalism. The socialist regime will die with Raul Castro, I think, if not before.
It is ironic, I think, that the Obama regime is behaving toward the Cubans as I would have it behave toward Iran and ISIS. The attraction of all those dollars and the culture they promote is more than any country smaller than China can withstand, whatever its ideology, The Chinese and their corrupt Russian allies are the countries our military should be looking at, not Syria or Iraq.
2014 was the year Libya fell into civil war, a war that never would have happened had not the Obama administration and its European allies decided to overthrow the Qadhdhafi regime two years ago. It is ironic that every regime we have overthrown in the Muslim world, beginning with Afghanistan in the 1980's, has been a secular government, and in its wake hs come chaos and Islamism. If we had set out to involve ourselves in endless pointless wars, we could not have done better. And do not believe the President's insistence that the Afghan war is over, and we have moved on; it is not, nor have we. The Middle East is our Peninsula Campaign, our Spanish quagmire, if not our march on Moscow.
We are past Dover, NH, now, a little more than halfway to Portland, and the train is moving along nicely, albeit still an hour behind schedule. I do wish I had brought along an apple or two. I may have to come back down here tomorrow, if the ABC News thing blows up in my face; ugh. At least it's not going to snow.
I am reading a book by a couple of Russian journalists about the FSB, the Russian security service that is the successor of the old KGB. It is a fascinating read. The Putin regime is corrupt to the core, the last fruit of Stalin's wrecking of Lenin's legacy during the 1930's. No Marxist who looks at Russia today can ever again imagine that the establishment of socialism in one country is anything more than provisional. In the end governments have to deliver on their promises; they must remain accountable to the working people they serve, or lose their support. And in the absence of that support, corruption rots the state.
"This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountains down." Tolkien spoke of time, but corruption, the relentless advance of the social entropy that is the unchecked self-interest of the privileged, has much the same effect. I see plenty of it here in America, the world capital of unchecked self-interest, for capitalism is no more immune to it than socialism,
We are past Wells now. Saco is the next stop; then Portland, the end of the line for this train. I hope that pizza place is still open,
Happy new year, y'all!
Maybe it had something to do with the radio station where I'd spent the day working; that place is always cold in the winter and hit in the summer. The thermometer on the control room wall read 60 Fahrenheit, and the kitchen and much of the broadcast area wasn't much warmer.
Tonight at midnight my Dover, NH client will be switching to the new ABC News satellite feed from the one they've been getting from Westwood One. `For reasons known only to ABC News, they're not giving us any overlap period where both feeds are usable in case the new one has problems, and they're pulling the switch at midnight on a major holiday. That doesn't inspire confidence.
As 2014 is coming to an end, it's worth looking back on. This year no one important to me died, but my father's health broke and he is now in a nursing home. I've been visiting him regularly, but sometimes he does not seem to know I'm there.
My work is going OK, but I'm looking for new opportunities, and particularly at running my own radio station or group of stations. I won't be able to keep going forever as I am; my clients won't be around forever, and I sense age creeping up on me.
I have a new girlfriend, Janet; I met her on OKCupid in June. Things are going well, but it is something of an long-distance relationship; she lives in Maine.
If I could find work there, I'd be happy to live in Maine, even if it is even colder there than here,
The train has been stuck behind a disabled commuter train; as I write this, we are finally moving again. We are at least 45 minutes late. I se the Merrimack River glimmering in the darkness to my right, so we are almost in Haverhill. North of there there is no commuter rail service, and we have only our opposite number and Pan Am to get in our way.
Yes, Pan Am is a railroad now. It is weird seeing the Pan Am logo on locomotives and boxcars instead of airliners.
This is Haverhill, and there are two attractive young women on the platform in short skirts. They must be freezing their asses off.
I see the tower lights for 92.5 WXRV "The River" to my right. I worked there briefly in 2007.
We are running an hour late. I should have brought a snack. I suppose I could go see what they're selling in the lounge car.
What ese happened in 2014? Nothing good on the political front; the Republicans now control 2/3 of the state legislatures and both houses of Congress. Barack Obama started his presidency with Democrats in charge of both the House and the Senate, where they had 60 seats. He's done such a poor job of making his case that people are voting against their own best interests, electing ostriches who deny demonstrable fact in pursuit of their own narrow interests. Mitch McConnell is a contemptible person with no loyalty to anyone but himself. If I lived in Kentucky I'd be embarrassed to show my face.
2014 was the year ISIS emerged as a major new power in the Middle East. My gut feeling, based on my exposure to Islam back in the seventies, is that this administration's response is dead wrong. You cannot discredit political Islam by throwing bombs and troops at it. You can't fight extremism with an army; it is the wrong tool. It only gives legitimacy to a medievalism that, left to itself, would quickly reveal its inadequacy in the modern world.
The other day I remembered that in 1979, having just graduated from college with a degree in classical Arabic, I interviewed for a job with the NSA. The process took long enough that, having found work in radio, I declined to go back for a second interview with the agency. I am wondering whether I could have had any impact on what I feel is now a disastrously wrong foreign policy, had I made a different choice. Pretty much everyone in the Muslim world hates us now, even in countries like Turkey that are nominally our allies.
That said, I am not a persuader by nature. When people tell me I'm wrong, I leave them to do as they please. And I wouldn't have been able to stomach working for Ronald Reagan. That man and the ideology he promoted so well ruined America.
I just found out yesterday that Radio Moscow, or the Voice of Russia as it ame to be called after 1991, no longer exists. There are no more shortwave broadcasts from Russia (nor from Canada or the Netherlands). Who would have thought that such a day would come?
Actually, it is not quite true that there are no more shortwave broadcasts from Canada. Radio Canada International is gone, and its long time antenna farm at Sackville, New Brunswick dismantled, but there are a handful of low powered stations on the 49-meter band that relay local Canadian AM stations; one of them is CFCX in Montreal, which puts a pretty good signal into Boston.
I do believe shortwave broadcasting will come back when the next cold or hot war comes. It is pretty much the only way to reach listeners without the consent of their governments. But in the meantime, a lot of the stations I remember from my youth are gone. One that remains on the air is Radio Havana, Cuba, still "transmitting from Cuba, free territory of the Americas". Not for long, though; the present thaw in US-Cuban relations can only herald the end of socialism on that island, which is too small and weak to resist the economic pressures of global capitalism. The socialist regime will die with Raul Castro, I think, if not before.
It is ironic, I think, that the Obama regime is behaving toward the Cubans as I would have it behave toward Iran and ISIS. The attraction of all those dollars and the culture they promote is more than any country smaller than China can withstand, whatever its ideology, The Chinese and their corrupt Russian allies are the countries our military should be looking at, not Syria or Iraq.
2014 was the year Libya fell into civil war, a war that never would have happened had not the Obama administration and its European allies decided to overthrow the Qadhdhafi regime two years ago. It is ironic that every regime we have overthrown in the Muslim world, beginning with Afghanistan in the 1980's, has been a secular government, and in its wake hs come chaos and Islamism. If we had set out to involve ourselves in endless pointless wars, we could not have done better. And do not believe the President's insistence that the Afghan war is over, and we have moved on; it is not, nor have we. The Middle East is our Peninsula Campaign, our Spanish quagmire, if not our march on Moscow.
We are past Dover, NH, now, a little more than halfway to Portland, and the train is moving along nicely, albeit still an hour behind schedule. I do wish I had brought along an apple or two. I may have to come back down here tomorrow, if the ABC News thing blows up in my face; ugh. At least it's not going to snow.
I am reading a book by a couple of Russian journalists about the FSB, the Russian security service that is the successor of the old KGB. It is a fascinating read. The Putin regime is corrupt to the core, the last fruit of Stalin's wrecking of Lenin's legacy during the 1930's. No Marxist who looks at Russia today can ever again imagine that the establishment of socialism in one country is anything more than provisional. In the end governments have to deliver on their promises; they must remain accountable to the working people they serve, or lose their support. And in the absence of that support, corruption rots the state.
"This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountains down." Tolkien spoke of time, but corruption, the relentless advance of the social entropy that is the unchecked self-interest of the privileged, has much the same effect. I see plenty of it here in America, the world capital of unchecked self-interest, for capitalism is no more immune to it than socialism,
We are past Wells now. Saco is the next stop; then Portland, the end of the line for this train. I hope that pizza place is still open,
Happy new year, y'all!
The media versus the police
Dec. 6th, 2014 11:03 pmThe media have been systematically discrediting one institution after another: churches painted as havens for pedophiles; sports franchises as corrupt bastions of steroid-addled wife-beaters; legislatures and courts bought and paid for; and so on. Now it is the turn of the police, only yesterday the heroes on the front lines of the global war on terror: now they are all racist thugs who would as soon shoot you dead as look at you.
If only the Mediocracy would turn its spotlight of shame on itself, that the scales should fall from tens of millions of our eyes and we might begin to perceive our world as it really is; but I suppose that is too much to ask.
If only the Mediocracy would turn its spotlight of shame on itself, that the scales should fall from tens of millions of our eyes and we might begin to perceive our world as it really is; but I suppose that is too much to ask.
Today I took a train to New York to attend a memorial gathering for Marion, who would have turned 53 this coming Monday.
While waiting at Penn Station for my train home, I heard someone on the PA announce the arrival of Amtrak train number 666. Since I've long felt that Penn Station is more or less the first circle of hell, it is an appropriate destination for a train with that number.
I was amused to see that it immediately turns around and returns to Harrisburg, its point of origin, as train number 667.
I m reminded of C.S. Lewis's book The Great Divorce, in which a bus runs back and forth between heaven and hell.
While waiting at Penn Station for my train home, I heard someone on the PA announce the arrival of Amtrak train number 666. Since I've long felt that Penn Station is more or less the first circle of hell, it is an appropriate destination for a train with that number.
I was amused to see that it immediately turns around and returns to Harrisburg, its point of origin, as train number 667.
I m reminded of C.S. Lewis's book The Great Divorce, in which a bus runs back and forth between heaven and hell.
A wasp mystery
Nov. 12th, 2014 04:12 pmEarly Tuesday morning, I had to work on a balky contactor in a shack at the base of a radio tower in New Hampshire. I found a number of hornets -- perhaps fifty of them -- hibernating in a compact mass on the floor near the door.
Every source I've consulted claims that social wasps do not hibernate as a colony, but that they all die except for newly mated queens that hibernate individually, each to form a new colony in the spring.
So... what did I see?
I have found similar groups of hibernating hornets in the past, most notably a large body of them inside an antenna tuning unit on Cape Cod in January several years ago.
Every source I've consulted claims that social wasps do not hibernate as a colony, but that they all die except for newly mated queens that hibernate individually, each to form a new colony in the spring.
So... what did I see?
I have found similar groups of hibernating hornets in the past, most notably a large body of them inside an antenna tuning unit on Cape Cod in January several years ago.
There is not much I can say. A party with a message of hope, which seems to have deeply disappointed a good many of its supporters, is about to be thrashed by a party promoting fear and declaring itself the nation's best protector. In the end, nothing will change.
Marxists used to say that the Democrats are not the party of working Americans but merely a second champion of capital, one playing the role of good cop to the Republicans' bad cop, making for good theater but little progress.
There is no party of working Americans. If there were, we'd see blue-collar Kentuckians and West Virginians lining up with white collar northeastern suburbanites and champions of the rights of every race, gender, and religion, in an unstoppable coalition. That ain't happening.
I continue to insist the media are a large part of the problem. Millions of Denethors staring into palantirs in their living rooms have come away with such distorted views of the world that, while not actually burning their children in their beds, they are robbing them of their future. Like Numenor, America is being led to its own ruin.
Somewhere the spirit of Sauron is smiling.
Marxists used to say that the Democrats are not the party of working Americans but merely a second champion of capital, one playing the role of good cop to the Republicans' bad cop, making for good theater but little progress.
There is no party of working Americans. If there were, we'd see blue-collar Kentuckians and West Virginians lining up with white collar northeastern suburbanites and champions of the rights of every race, gender, and religion, in an unstoppable coalition. That ain't happening.
I continue to insist the media are a large part of the problem. Millions of Denethors staring into palantirs in their living rooms have come away with such distorted views of the world that, while not actually burning their children in their beds, they are robbing them of their future. Like Numenor, America is being led to its own ruin.
Somewhere the spirit of Sauron is smiling.
I haven't been here since August, it would seem. I've been preoccupied with work, a new girlfriend, my father's declining health, and a number of other things.
The week before last, I took my first real vacation in years, traveling by train with Janet to visit her family in Pensacola and then to New Orleans before returning home. It was very refreshing, but I could not completely escape some of my cares.
My father is in a nursing home about two miles from here. He has had a series of health crises beginning at the end of June when his neighbors found him lying on the floor, having passed out. While visiting me in August, he fell off a chair and broke his hip, and afterwards in the hospital he had two strokes. Then I found out that he has prostate cancer that has spread to his hips, his legs, his ribs, and possibly also his lungs. He will almost certainly never go home again.
Why is it that whenever I take a passenger on that accursed road to or from Binghamton, he or she turns out to be terminally ill? This Thanksgiving will mark the anniversary of Marion's death, and there will be no family gathering this year.
My friend R. is staying in my spare bedroom while she sorts out her affairs. She and her boyfriend made the mistake of involving their landlord and the police in a disagreement between the two of them, and now they are trying to undo the damage.
Kurt has moved to North Andover to join Loki, several kitty-cats, a parcel of lagomorphs, anatids, and phasianids, and their human companions, L., G., and W., in a house dating back to the time of the Salem witch trials.
The week before last, I took my first real vacation in years, traveling by train with Janet to visit her family in Pensacola and then to New Orleans before returning home. It was very refreshing, but I could not completely escape some of my cares.
My father is in a nursing home about two miles from here. He has had a series of health crises beginning at the end of June when his neighbors found him lying on the floor, having passed out. While visiting me in August, he fell off a chair and broke his hip, and afterwards in the hospital he had two strokes. Then I found out that he has prostate cancer that has spread to his hips, his legs, his ribs, and possibly also his lungs. He will almost certainly never go home again.
Why is it that whenever I take a passenger on that accursed road to or from Binghamton, he or she turns out to be terminally ill? This Thanksgiving will mark the anniversary of Marion's death, and there will be no family gathering this year.
My friend R. is staying in my spare bedroom while she sorts out her affairs. She and her boyfriend made the mistake of involving their landlord and the police in a disagreement between the two of them, and now they are trying to undo the damage.
Kurt has moved to North Andover to join Loki, several kitty-cats, a parcel of lagomorphs, anatids, and phasianids, and their human companions, L., G., and W., in a house dating back to the time of the Salem witch trials.
Uncooperative snake
Aug. 6th, 2014 10:56 pmI had to clean Kurt's cage this evening, but while on all previous occasions he's been content to soak in the bathtub, tonight he wouldn't stay still but insisted on going exploring. So, I had to put him in a pillow case and tie a knot in the opening so he couldn't get out.
I think he wants another meal. I will get him one tomorrow morning, but I may not be able to give it to him until Saturday.
Life is... stressful. People aren't telling me things I need to know, and aren't taking my phone calls.
I think he wants another meal. I will get him one tomorrow morning, but I may not be able to give it to him until Saturday.
Life is... stressful. People aren't telling me things I need to know, and aren't taking my phone calls.
I've applied for a job I probably don't want, but might be willing to take under the right conditions. The opportunity unexpectedly arose, so I'm looking into it. I won't go to any great lengths to pursue it; if they don't appreciate who I am by now and what I can do for their organization, I don't want to work for them,
I've started dating someone who lives about three hours drive away. Juggling this with the other commitments in my life is something of a challenge, and will be more difficult once choir starts back up next month.
I'm off OKCupid.
Work is stressful; one of the more frustrating things recently has been trying to get an air conditioner fixed on Block Island.
My father is still in rehab, and no one will tell me when he's supposed to get out. My brother is in Iowa attending a jazz festival.
A lot of miscellaneous things are upsetting me: Gaza, the Ukraine, Republican political vandalism in Washington and elsewhere.
Republicans are the gravediggers of democracy. No one should ever vote for these people.
I've started dating someone who lives about three hours drive away. Juggling this with the other commitments in my life is something of a challenge, and will be more difficult once choir starts back up next month.
I'm off OKCupid.
Work is stressful; one of the more frustrating things recently has been trying to get an air conditioner fixed on Block Island.
My father is still in rehab, and no one will tell me when he's supposed to get out. My brother is in Iowa attending a jazz festival.
A lot of miscellaneous things are upsetting me: Gaza, the Ukraine, Republican political vandalism in Washington and elsewhere.
Republicans are the gravediggers of democracy. No one should ever vote for these people.
