tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74730844505127090092024-03-13T14:09:24.172-04:00Bizarre, bizarreLife is stranger than fiction: politics, science and my very own mood.Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-39711810801521151152015-06-19T08:41:00.000-04:002015-06-19T08:41:17.209-04:00Dylann Roof<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The murderer appears to be all smiles. He is on TV. You drop out of school, kill a few people, and you'll be on TV, especially in summertime when there are less exciting news. My guess is that we'll have another similar murder in the next few weeks.<br />
What kind of society is this?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
*** </div>
I look in horror at people ready to "forgive". We do not have the right to forgive the harm done to somebody else, only the harm done to ourselves. Right now, only the dead could forgive, and they are not there to do it. The murderer does not even asks for forgiveness. He is basking in the new glory that the media are eager to offer him. Something new to boost the audience index! <br />
What kind of society is this? <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes we have a gun control problem. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We also have a big education problem. In this generation, teachers are so afraid of being sued that they have become totally inefficient. From educationworld.com: "The majority of school principals have been threatened with lawsuits."(in an article by Gary Hopkins, 2004). The same paper says that defensive teaching is to teach in such a way that you avoid legal challenges. There is no free speech for the prof. Maybe it is the reason why the basics of living together are ignored.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What kind of society is this?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
*** </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
the
majority of school principals have been threatened with lawsuits --
lawsuits that have changed the atmosphere in their schools. - See more
at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml#sthash.3SMmJ2Yx.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
82
percent of teachers and 77 percent of principals say the current legal
climate has changed the way they work. More than 60 percent of
principals surveyed said they had been threatened with a legal
challenge. - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml#sthash.3SMmJ2Yx.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
82
percent of teachers and 77 percent of principals say the current legal
climate has changed the way they work. More than 60 percent of
principals surveyed said they had been threatened with a legal
challenge. - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml#sthash.3SMmJ2Yx.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
82
percent of teachers and 77 percent of principals say the current legal
climate has changed the way they work. More than 60 percent of
principals surveyed said they had been threatened with a legal
challenge. - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml#sthash.3SMmJ2Yx.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
82
percent of teachers and 77 percent of principals say the current legal
climate has changed the way they work. More than 60 percent of
principals surveyed said they had been threatened with a legal
challenge. - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin371.shtml#sthash.iZVxgaf4.dpuf</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I listen to all the comments, the correct ones and the sensitive ones and I just realize that there is one word always missing. Nobody ever uses the word gratitude. As if we were <i>tolerant,</i> but never <i>grateful </i>for what black people have done for this nation. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What kind of society is this?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br /></div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-45437807566424678812015-01-22T11:15:00.001-05:002015-01-22T11:15:47.263-05:00Good news and hope in 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-priority:1;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:5.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-indent:.3in;
line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The
media leave us with an impression of doom, because good weather and good people
never make the news. But there are new great things happening this year. I
found four, and I am grateful to have lived long enough to see this.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">1. On line education:
another Year of the MOOC</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">More
and more people follow free courses on the Internet, especially with the
emergence of the MOOCS. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">MOOCS
stand for Massive Open Online Courses, free college level lectures delivered by
some of the best institutions on earth (so far from 45 different
countries). 2012 was already tagged as <i>the year of the MOOC</i> by the
New York Times, but since then, their progress has been incredibly fast.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">For
instance, I am following a French sociology course today, just for the fun of
it, and there are participants in 174 countries. There are only 195 countries
in the world, this participation is really amazing. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">I
am well aware that a great many people have no access to a computer, that some
countries impose a tight control on the web, and that there are illiterate
people everywhere.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">But
also anywhere in the world, imagine what one person can accomplish, with the
right access to democratic ideas, irrigation, medicine, art or good information
on climate change! </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Ideas
are very hard to stop.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">2. Our health,
ourselves</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Half
a century ago, the only hard-core medical idea that was well transferred to the
general population was the necessity of a good hygiene and the fear of
invisible pathogens. Nowadays, we have been elevated to a new level: if we
don't smoke, watch what we eat and are active enough, we will live longer and
be in better health. It is not just about seeing the doctor anymore and being
told what to do. Our health has become our responsibility: we are in charge of
most of it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">3. Medical justice</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Times;">The
human right to health is a recent idea. It was proclaimed in the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights <u>but neglected </u>by many world organizations
including the World Heath Organization (you can Google and read the thesis of
Benjamin Mason Meier 2009 if you want to know how it happened). Nowadays the
WHO has changed its mind: "In the 21st century, health is a shared
responsibility, involving equitable access to essential care and collective defense
against transnational threats."</span><span style="font-family: Times;"> Influential medical journals like <b>The
Lancet</b> have evolved also from a world of medical charity to the notion of
the right to health.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">One
good news is that life expectancy has steadily increased in developing
countries in the last half-century. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">One
of the troubling discoveries of these last years is that even in countries
(like most of Europe) where access to health is free to all, there remain large
disparities between social classes. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Look
at what happens if you follow the metro (or Tube) in London rich and poor
neighborhoods: your life expectancy can be over ten years shorter depending
where you live. I think that ten years ago, we didn't even know that there was
any difference. But there is a 10 to 15 years difference of life expectancy
between white-collar and blue-collar people in Germany and in France as well.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">SOURCE:
Google "Lives on the Line" to see the full map produced by James
Cheshire, UCL CASA, June 2012. Journal article reference: Cheshire, J A. Lives
on the Line: Mapping Life Expectancy Along the London Tube Network. Environment
and Planning A 44(7). Doi: 10.1068/a45341. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">How
is this good news? It is an opportunity to better understand how we
relate to our own health.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">4. We recognize the
dangers of corruption</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">For
a very long time after World War 2, corruption was considered as a
"necessary evil". It was, for instance, common to the US government
to protect dictators in place against democrats during to Cold War. In Spain
for instance, from Eisenhower to Nixon, General Franco did benefit from the
help of the US (<i>General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United
States, President Nixon</i>). After the coup d’état in Greece in 1967, Senator
Metcalf criticized the US administration for aiding a "military regime of
collaborators and Nazi sympathizers."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">American
businesses had the same practical ideology (realpolitik), giving bribes to
obtain contracts. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Nowadays,
most courtiers recognize that corruption is hurting everybody. It is all very
new!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">For
instance back when the Berlin Wall fell, in 1989, businesses from developed
countries rushed to the new markets, without wondering first about how to
cooperate with corrupt officials and corrupt institutions. As a consequence, they
inadvertently created the most dangerous and powerful mafia in the world. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <b>USAID
- <i>The U.S. Agency for International Development</i></b> now says: </span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">"Countries
weak in government effectiveness, rule of law, and control of corruption have a
30 to 45 percent higher risk of civil war and significantly higher risk of
extreme criminal violence than other developing countries.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">In
2012, 97 countries were considered very or highly corrupt."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">See
also the <b>International monetary fund</b><a href="http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/gov.htm"><span style="color: blue;"> Search on Corruption</span></a> (start ≈ 1997)</span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">World
Bank </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.worldbank.org/publicsector/anticorrupt/"><span style="color: blue;">World Bank's Anti-Corruption Knowledge Resource
Centre </span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Corruption
is “Public Enemy Number One” in Developing Countries, says World Bank Group
President Kim December 19, 2013<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <b>The
OECD -<i> Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development <a href="http://www.oecd.org/corruption/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.oecd.org/corruption/</span></a>
(start ≈</i></b>1999)</span></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"> </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-62898904544529738512014-07-14T16:18:00.000-04:002014-07-14T16:18:33.225-04:00The very young Lorin Maazel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVohz7zALbsVNQewaAmlMT3ZdbJV5ChDZM0APnpmiYguq-rfG_Wf0kX0CARRYeeU3HKw7naahyiuv0VJjQeGENFFS8aBBT86I1waT4rN-K0RY1Piq8nn4JwnyjQqB2ASEJuz2xouxb7cv/s1600/Maazel2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVohz7zALbsVNQewaAmlMT3ZdbJV5ChDZM0APnpmiYguq-rfG_Wf0kX0CARRYeeU3HKw7naahyiuv0VJjQeGENFFS8aBBT86I1waT4rN-K0RY1Piq8nn4JwnyjQqB2ASEJuz2xouxb7cv/s1600/Maazel2.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
<br />
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:.8in .9in 1.0in .9in;
mso-header-margin:0in;
mso-footer-margin:.6in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
remember very well <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maazel</b> in 1960.
He was quite a revolution: he did not direct like anybody else, dressed like
anybody else or even saluted the crowd like anybody else. He came to Brussels
to direct <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shostakovich</b>, I think,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and was an object of curiosity before becoming a subject of
admiration. He represented a new generation of unconventional conductors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
father-in-law said that he directed as if he was holding a submachine gun
instead of a baton. I never forgot that because it was so true! The first thing
you noticed was his high level of energy and total lack of "classic"
gestures, especially if you had admired before very old chefs like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bruno Walter</b> who could direct with one
index and nevertheless obtain great music. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
imagine Maazel is now in charge of religious music in paradise, young again,
and I can't help smiling. What a sound, hey!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We'll
meet again, Sir.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-54138785449548809042014-02-10T23:43:00.000-05:002014-02-10T23:44:35.424-05:00Autopsy of a Giraffe on PBS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
</style>
</div>
-->
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Is
there a good reason to kill a healthy giraffe in a zoo? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Certainly.
The giraffe didn't have the right genes for reproduction explains the director
of the zoo on PBS. People like me, who know a bit about the history of eugenics
growl and think. "I wish I could see the science he bases himself
on." But hey, it is possible that he has good science behind him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Then
he explains that people who watched the autopsy, including children, all
volunteered to see it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Certainly,
I can't imagine that he forced them to watch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Then
he is asked why the giraffe had a name. Great question!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">And
we get two minutes of ramblings from the director explaining that the Giraffe
did not have an <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">official name </b>and
should not have had a name. Poor anonymous Marius!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">There
is something very wrong with the director of that zoo. I feel the same way I
felt while watching Stalin on parade or while I was listening to Chiang
Kai-Shek. I mean, forget the politics for a minute. Humans are talented to
justify anything. But then, they slip and you ask yourself: "what is wrong
with that guy?" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
am wary of tyrants who don't like people to have names and of zoo directors who
think animals shouldn't have names either. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I can't put a name on the disease, but there is something wrong here.</span>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-67346697544051282172014-01-20T09:54:00.000-05:002014-01-20T09:54:29.485-05:00The Business of Making You Sick (smoking and overeating)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
I am too stupid to smoke: I am unable to control at the same time the need to have cigarettes, a lighter and an ashtray. I already have trouble finding my keys. So I never smoked, but it is not because I am smart. Over the years I learned that every ten years or so, doctors find more nasty effects of smoking and more diseases secretly related to smoking.<br />
You probably think that the people who make a business of producing and selling cigarettes think that somebody has to do it anyway. But it is not what they do: what they do is increase the level of nicotine in their cigarettes to make sure you will come back. They also change the pH of cigarettes to make sure that most of the nicotine will get to your brain, because it is how you become an addict. Do you thik it is fair practices?<br />
<br />
It is the same thing with nutrition. Far from me the desire of condemning the producer of fast foods!<br />
What I don't like is people who use scientific experts to make sure that the precisely calculated combination of salt/sugar and fat will reach the pleasure receptors of your brain and make of you an addict.<br />
<br />
There are dark scientists around. Somebody should write a book about them. In the meantime, control your life, don't let anybody else sneak up on you to make money in total disregard of the value of your life.</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-88740037624994980712013-12-27T09:48:00.001-05:002013-12-27T09:48:10.397-05:00Big Brother and Petite Brothers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-L1luaZNuGEqpAWnw4dsPYHfzFcgnk4HgUM0R4PjlnkgKbYqYueaBj9-2T7cUOZIy5Hq4ZyTiOn_UwNEjsu-_BfhQq9xXLs78wdy-qlGMC5TJ1eUIranhf1_xysykF1JMsTZiDsyKh8xC/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-L1luaZNuGEqpAWnw4dsPYHfzFcgnk4HgUM0R4PjlnkgKbYqYueaBj9-2T7cUOZIy5Hq4ZyTiOn_UwNEjsu-_BfhQq9xXLs78wdy-qlGMC5TJ1eUIranhf1_xysykF1JMsTZiDsyKh8xC/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
I am amazed that so many people think that mainly the NSA is spying on them. How many foreign governments are also spying on us, I wonder. The technology exists and the temptation exists and the money is always there for that kind of things.<br />
Of course, it is not Big Brother that is the most annoyuing, it is all the businesses that buy information about you and put you in a category to target. We don't want the government to spy on us, but every bank or business or geek is welcome to spy on us. Does it make sense?<br />
Based on my age, I get every week a proposition to get buried lavishly, to buy a handy wheelchair and take care of my deafness and my life insurance. I am not targetted for the things I like: new dresses, antiques, books, elegant shoes, pralines, good wines, cheese and expensive perfume. Petite Brother is persistent, but stupid. <br />
If I google "Russian stove" because I don't understand the description of a huge stove in a book, I receive propositions to buy a Russian stove for a whole week. Nobody in their right mind would buy a big stove in Savannah, Georgia: it is too hot out here. How the ads moguls have the guts to say that "targetting works" is beyond me. I look once at a site like Overstock, and they "target" my Google page for several weeks. It makes me smile. I am an avid reader, I look at hundreds of things I am curious about, every week.<i> I don't want them.</i><br />
<br />
We have a tradition of being afraid of Big Brother, and it is enhanced by the fact that the Press will naturally report more on Federal excesses than on local excesses: it gives them more audience. <br />
But frankly, who is most annoying? Who writes 100 pages instructions for a building permit? Who imposes the color of your house? Who decides that your grass should be no more than 7 inchers high? Who prevents you to grow vegetables in your frontyard? Who decides what you should recycle or not? Who sells lottery tickets to pay for education? We do know, isn't it, that the lottery is a secret tax on the poor? It is all done by all the Petite Brothers around you,<br />
<br />
<b>Culture has us fighting Big Brother, but it is the Petite Brothers all over America who pull the carpet under your feet.</b></div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-17004034532976288262013-10-25T09:57:00.001-04:002013-10-25T09:57:12.015-04:00THE NEXT STEP IN E-LEARNING<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:.8in .9in 1.0in .9in;
mso-header-margin:0in;
mso-footer-margin:.6in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">E-Learning
has been around for a while. It is practical because students can stay home,
study and email their questions. The system was the logical child of
long-distance learning who was around at least half a century ago: your lessons
were mailed and you posted back the quizzes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Now
come the MOOCs.</b> The Massive Open Online Courses are different, not just because
they are free. They offer you not only free courses, but an excellent
structure. We have a lot of free courses on YouTube already, from math to
economy to music, so anybody can learn about almost anything. A MOOC has
advantages above that: one, it gives access to the community of students with
discussions pages. The discussions are not there just for questions, they are
open to comments and expressions of feelings and concerns and opinions. I checked
20 different MOOCs discussions and I found the level much better than what you
find nowadays on the comments page of the New York Times or the Washington
Post: students are required to follow the basics rules of decency, and they
usually do. I really like the structure: you get not only videos, but material
(textbooks, experiments, examples), quizzes, exercises, and assignments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">You
can get a certificate or a diploma from a MOOC, but that part is usually not
free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Why
do prestigious colleges and universities get into producing MOOCs that cost
them money? Because it allows them to reach students and potentially future
paying students all over the world. It is not rare to see the first run of a
MOOC open with over 50, 000 students all over the world. It is a new gold rush:
if one percent of these free students become paying students, the MOOC will be
worth the investment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">MOOCs
are great publicity even if the college does not make money out of them. For
instance, out of the twenty MOOC s I follow including teachings from Stanford,
Tokyo U., Penn U., Chicago U. , Geneva U. Being of curious mind, I am also
addicted to YouTube lectures from Yale and Princeton. Well, I discovered that
some of the best teachers come from Michigan University. So, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michigan is now ranked number one in my
mind</b>. It is an unexpected result of following MOOCs. Of course the teachers
quality is only one element of ranking but for me and probably other MOOCs students,
it is the main one.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">What
I like best with the MOOCs is the freedom it gives you:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">-
You can be a college student, follow this to term like you would in a regular
college.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">-
You can follow the course to keep updated on a subject in your field</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">-
You can just listen to the lectures because you are interested in a subject.
For instance, democracy, health, epidemiology, finance are subjects of general
interest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">-You
are allowed to be just curious.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Look
for <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">https://www.coursera.org/</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-85307794105480861362013-07-23T08:33:00.002-04:002013-07-23T08:33:37.912-04:00Dance as a political statement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-next:Normal;
margin-top:20.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:7.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
text-align:right;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
page-break-after:avoid;
mso-outline-level:2;
font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
mso-ansi-font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;
mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: left;">
Dance, like music, can express
every human feeling.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In the movie <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">White Nights</b> (rated PG-13) it expresses
political opinions very well. This is the story of a ballet dancer who escaped
the Soviet Union where he was not allowed to dance what he wanted. When his
plane is forced to land in Siberia, he is made prisoner by a KGB officer who
wants to use his r<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">eturn</i> for the
official propaganda. The movie did not have as much success as it should. 18 years later, it is a wondefrul classic. You can still buy it for a few bucks on Amazon. It also shows the great Gregory Hines in wonderful performances. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In the following dance, the
dancer expresses his longing for artistic freedom. At the time, the Soviets
only accepted classic ballet. Observe the modern and daring moves of American
dancer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mikhail Baryshnikov</b>, who in
real life also fled the Soviet regime. The song is from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vladimir Vysotsky</b> an iconic poet who often criticized the communist
regime. The song is about horses running towards the abyss. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9m-bZ6SAQ">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=Eq9m-bZ6SAQ</a>
</div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-46733574004803755192013-07-21T10:06:00.001-04:002013-07-23T08:24:55.135-04:00Death is not becoming<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
</style>
</div>
-->
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">When
I was young, I volunteered at a retirement home, and I was surprised that the
director always knew when somebody would die. "We'll have a free room
pretty soon" he would say. I asked how he knew, he said he did not know,
an accumulation of small signs probably, but he could not point it out. After
two years of visits, I knew too, but just like him, I could not point out the
signs. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
got pregnant, of course I did not know it. I must have been two weeks pregnant
when I got the congratulations of a visitor, a friend of ours who was a
gynecologist. "Congratulations for what?" I asked. "Oh! I
thought you knew", he replied. And how did he know? He said he could not
point it out, but having seen so many pregnant women, he recognized the signs.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
forgot all this for fifty years. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Then
yesterday, I was looking at the 2009 "Joshua Bell with friends" on
YouTube. When I saw composer Marvin Hamlisch, my heart stopped. I thought he
looked very sick. I could not listen to Bell any more. I forgot that time had
passed, wishing that somebody would drive Hamlisch to the hospital. Then I
remembered that he died "unexpectedly" in 2012. So my old training
had unexpectedly kicked in. We always think that people are well when they keep being very
active, but it is not always the case. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We don't pay enough attention to others. </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-69021132251640577812013-07-19T09:17:00.000-04:002013-07-19T09:17:17.953-04:00 45 fun sounds to open the mind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Garamond;
panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"DejaVu Sans";
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Lohit Hindi";
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Lucida Grande";
panose-1:2 11 6 0 4 5 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h1
{mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char";
margin-top:10.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:110%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
mso-outline-level:1;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
margin-top:7.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
mso-outline-level:2;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
h3
{mso-style-link:"Heading 3 Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
mso-outline-level:3;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
p.MsoToc1, li.MsoToc1, div.MsoToc1
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
p.MsoToc2, li.MsoToc2, div.MsoToc2
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
tab-stops:right 378.95pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-style:italic;}
p.MsoToc3, li.MsoToc3, div.MsoToc3
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:24.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc4, li.MsoToc4, div.MsoToc4
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc5, li.MsoToc5, div.MsoToc5
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:48.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc6, li.MsoToc6, div.MsoToc6
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:60.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc7, li.MsoToc7, div.MsoToc7
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:1.0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc8, li.MsoToc8, div.MsoToc8
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:84.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoToc9, li.MsoToc9, div.MsoToc9
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:96.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText
{mso-style-link:"Body Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
p.MsoDocumentMap, li.MsoDocumentMap, div.MsoDocumentMap
{mso-style-link:"Document Map Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.Heading1Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1";
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading3Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 3 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 3";
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Garamond;
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
span.BodyTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Body Text Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Body Text";
font-family:Garamond;
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.DocumentMapChar
{mso-style-name:"Document Map Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Document Map";
font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.default, li.default, div.default
{mso-style-name:default;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
mso-hyphenate:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Lohit Hindi";
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:"DejaVu Sans";
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Lohit Hindi";}
p.title1, li.title1, div.title1
{mso-style-name:title1;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;
line-height:200%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:15.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
p.normalweb1, li.normalweb1, div.normalweb1
{mso-style-name:normalweb1;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.heading1char0
{mso-style-name:heading1char;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#345A8A;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading2char0
{mso-style-name:heading2char;
mso-ansi-font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading3char0
{mso-style-name:heading3char;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.bodytextchar0
{mso-style-name:bodytextchar;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.documentmapchar0
{mso-style-name:documentmapchar;
font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.heading1char00
{mso-style-name:heading1char0;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#345A8A;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading2char00
{mso-style-name:heading2char0;
mso-ansi-font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading3char00
{mso-style-name:heading3char0;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.bodytextchar00
{mso-style-name:bodytextchar0;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.documentmapchar00
{mso-style-name:documentmapchar0;
font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.heading1char000
{mso-style-name:heading1char00;
mso-ansi-font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#345A8A;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading2char000
{mso-style-name:heading2char00;
mso-ansi-font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading3char000
{mso-style-name:heading3char00;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#4F81BD;
font-weight:bold;}
span.bodytextchar000
{mso-style-name:bodytextchar00;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.documentmapchar000
{mso-style-name:documentmapchar00;
font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.heading1char0000
{mso-style-name:heading1char000;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
span.heading2char0000
{mso-style-name:heading2char000;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
span.bodytextchar0000
{mso-style-name:bodytextchar000;
font-family:Garamond;
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.heading3char0000
{mso-style-name:heading3char000;
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Garamond;
mso-ascii-font-family:Garamond;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Garamond;
font-weight:bold;}
span.documentmapchar0000
{mso-style-name:documentmapchar000;
font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.z-topofformchar
{mso-style-name:z-topofformchar;
mso-ansi-font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:Arial;
mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
display:none;
mso-hide:all;}
span.z-bottomofformchar
{mso-style-name:z-bottomofformchar;
mso-ansi-font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:Arial;
mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
display:none;
mso-hide:all;}
span.msoins
{mso-style-name:msoins;
color:black;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
span.msodel
{mso-style-name:msodel;
color:red;
text-decoration:line-through;}
span.infobox
{mso-style-name:infobox;}
span.st
{mso-style-name:st;}
span.lineline-s
{mso-style-name:lineline-s;}
span.watch-titlelong-titleyt-uix-expander-head
{mso-style-name:watch-titlelong-titleyt-uix-expander-head;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<h1 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
You don't even scrape the
surface of how many instruments are used in the Western world with this list. I
make 2 bets: 1) there is an instrument in this list that you never paid attention
to, but your going to love the sound of it. 2) There is a song you're going to
like and listen to again. I chose on purpose music written before your
generation, because I want you to be surprised by something new to you. Have
you ever wondered how come we understand music so well, all of us? How come we
know it is sad or joyous?
</h1>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
A as in ACCORDION</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agXHZ7T0npc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agXHZ7T0npc</a>
This has become an almost outdated instrument, along with the harmonica. Jazz
and rock killed it, I guess. Observe how the two hands are far apart, push
different buttons, and it is not like a piano: you cannot see what you are
doing. Yes, there are still jazz musicians who play the accordion, and
sometimes they play in a big orchestra like this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsnIinyCUo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsnIinyCUo</a>
but in number they dwindle. I used to see them in train stations and in bars, sometimes
at the street corner, I have not seen one in decades. Do you like it or does it
sound old to you?</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
B as in BACH</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
What fascinates people when they
listen to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bach</b> classic music? The
architecture, the construction of it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
This can be visualized here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95gLT7NzHAM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95gLT7NzHAM</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
If we simplify the world of
music lovers, they can be divided in two main categories of listeners: some are
fascinated by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">architecture</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">harmony</i>. They love <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bach</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mozart</b>, but they
often also like modern architecture as written by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stravinsky, Carl Orff </b>or<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
Britten</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02tkp6eeh40">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02tkp6eeh40</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
By contrast, some listeners prefer
the expression of feelings: they like the opera, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Verdi, </b>the romantic music of<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
Beethoven, Wagner </b>and more modern musicians like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mahler</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shostakovich. </b>You
want to hear something very romantic? Here comes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Perhaps love</i> from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John
Denver</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNbKPRUD1Q">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNbKPRUD1Q</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
What is it to you? Are you more
tuned to romantic music or very constructed music? The difference is there even
in pop music. I never met anybody who liked equally the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beatles</b> and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rolling
Stones</b>. Do you prefer mostly rhythm or does the melody make you feel good?</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
B as in BAGPIPE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR87LsmXzBs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR87LsmXzBs</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
B as in BALALAIKA</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
A balalaika is a Russian musical
instrument with three strings. It plays a major role in the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Dr Zhivago</u></i> (rated PG-13), a
romantic story during the Russian Revolution. You can read the main story line
on Wikipedia. The film music was composed by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maurice Jarre</b>. Listen to a balalaika, the sound is very different
from a guitar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7-58Pq5Ze0">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=d7-58Pq5Ze0</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
B as in BANJO</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlqQ1_vZVE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlqQ1_vZVE</a>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Steve Martin</b>, the comic actor is
very good at it. You can check that it does not seem to be any easier to learn
than guitar. The banjo, like the accordion, has lost some ground. But you can
almost smell the wood fire and the barbecue when you listen to it.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
B as in BASSOON</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9WAwyBqWgg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9WAwyBqWgg</a>
Do you recognize music instruments? I am not too old to enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Peter and the Wolf</b>, see if you can hear
the bassoon in the orchestra. I think it is a fun instrument. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILI3s7Wonvg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILI3s7Wonvg</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrOa5dvp4RY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrOa5dvp4RY</a>
A nice group of girls playing the bassoon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gXh83hNnWw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gXh83hNnWw</a>
more modern spirit.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
C as in CELLO</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Classic cellist <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Yo-Yo Ma</b> in a great group
interpretation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hush little Baby</i><u>
</u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GczSTQ2nv94">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GczSTQ2nv94</a>
What beautiful smiles! Don't you wish you had a voice like this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In a classic piece: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9DPfp7-Ck">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9DPfp7-Ck</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
C as in CLARINET</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbj7FYEi3M">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbj7FYEi3M</a>
This is the most amazing thing. The transformation of a carrot into a musical
instrument. You could also make an ocarina. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9QcFDZldjg&list=PL321B9915F588F49D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9QcFDZldjg&list=PL321B9915F588F49D</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
If you subscribe to his site you
can see more extraordinary feast, such as this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M&list=PL321B9915F588F49D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M&list=PL321B9915F588F49D</a>
or a man playing music with a small bonsai, music with autoparts, wonders and
more wonders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Now do you know if there is
sound in Space? Check it out. What is sound anyways?</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
D as in DRUMMER</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
You would think it is easy,
until you see <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Neil Pearl </b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHkucr1jJpQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHkucr1jJpQ</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
F as in FLUTE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1lTXhXTasA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1lTXhXTasA</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PohoBSPX7Eg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PohoBSPX7Eg</a>
: the moods of Rhonda</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
G as in Marvin GAYE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dGdrP3pms">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dGdrP3pms</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
G as in GERSHWIN</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">George Gershwin</b> (1898-1937) died young from a brain tumor. He could
write music in any style or for any mood, and it still had <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Gershwin's print.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Try <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summertime </i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7-Qa92Rzbk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7-Qa92Rzbk</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhapsody in Blue</i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLTManObB40">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLTManObB40</a>
<br />
observe that orchestras all over the world enjoy playing this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
And do you know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our love is here to stay?</i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ElH0ziuNc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ElH0ziuNc</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
If you ever buy the DVD of an
old movie, it should be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An American in
Paris </i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvV7FEv-pQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvV7FEv-pQ</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
G as in GUITAR</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Are you too young to know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hotel California</i>? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1WHi60aq0">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=iW1WHi60aq0</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Would you try the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memories of the Alhambra</i>? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzKsNIRrV4">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=AIzKsNIRrV4</a>
The Alhambra is the most celebrated cathedral of Spain, in the town of Grenada.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Musician <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Django Reinhardt</b> (1910-1953) influenced the way guitar is played
today. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZmA8gsBxIg">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=2ZmA8gsBxIg</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
H as in HALLELUJAH</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
If you are not impressed, I
don't know what to do.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
H as in HARMONICA</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SlukDf4k8E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SlukDf4k8E</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Look at Toots Thielemans and
Quincy: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA36Anlf1bw&list=PL60D7DEDA4935F3DE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA36Anlf1bw&list=PL60D7DEDA4935F3DE</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
H as in HARP</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUpMPFuXrac">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUpMPFuXrac</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
H as in HEARTBREAK HOTEL</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
The song that made of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Elvis Presley</b> (1935 -1977) a singer
that changed America. You can find the 1956 recording on YouTube: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I get so lonely I could die.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhlBT2X0Rw4">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=GhlBT2X0Rw4</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
I as in IMAGINE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
A peace song by British composer<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> John Lennon </b>(1940-1980) created in
1971, at the heart of the Cold war and the Vietnam war. “You may say that I'm a
dreamer, but I'm not the only one. ” The song has marked a generation, Like all
well known pacifists, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jaures, Gandhi,
Martin Luther King</b>, Lennon was assassinated. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myW96tojeLU"><span style="font-family: Times;">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=myW96tojeLU</span></a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
M as in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>MACARENA</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Maybe everybody got suddenly
tired of the inherent sadness of rap music; in 1996 this song totally
unpretentious but full of good rhythm and good mood went around the world. You
can listen to it by the original creators, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Los
Del Rio</b>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Latin America is a constant
strong influence in the USA and in Europe, but this type of success is unique.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Seize the day and check if you
can find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Caetano
Veloso, </span></b><span style="color: black;">the best Brazilian composer. It is
an opportunity to learn some Portuguese (you just go on YouTube and type
“Veloso translation” or “Veloso English subtitles”.)</span></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
M as in MOZART</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shawshank Redemption</i>, a prisoner
plays Mozart for the whole camp to the great rage of the director. This scene
is here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjqmg_7J53s">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjqmg_7J53s</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Listen to this beautiful aria:
this is the complaint of a young man discovering love (usually sung by a
woman): <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-e0fHUoKD8&list=PLACD3C051820CC6AE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-e0fHUoKD8&list=PLACD3C051820CC6AE</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
All the charm of Mozart's operas
disguises some pointed political statements. For instance, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">marriage of Figaro</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don Giovanni</i> are satires of the aristocracy.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
O as in OBOE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJhax7Jmxs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJhax7Jmxs</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
O as in OFFENBACH</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
I am partial to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Offenbach</b>. He lived in France and wrote
light music and witty comic pieces. He mocked everything: the aristocrats,
eternal love, the military, the Greek Gods in operettas such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orpheus in the Underworld, The Beautiful
Helen, Parisian Life</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grand
Duchess of Gerolstein, La Périchole</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Here comes an example: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zhdW_2nUQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zhdW_2nUQ</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
When he got older, Offenbach
started working on a beautiful tragedy called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tales of Hoffmann</i> This is song saying "beautiful night,
night of love", it has an irresistible sadness about it. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_kVCU5plgU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_kVCU5plgU</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
O as in ORFF</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Carl Orff</b> (1895-1982) is the grandfather of rock music. He was a
German musician, not the most compassionate or responsible guy you could meet,
but his musical ideas were fine. I once met a woman in France who worked for
classic records. I mentioned that I had noticed a campaign promoting Orff as a
modern rock group. She smiled: she had done that, and it worked well: sales had
soared. You might enjoy looking at this video, the contrast between the stiff
setting and the rhythm is amusing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD3VsesSBsw">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=GD3VsesSBsw</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
P as in Charlie PARKER</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In his short life, American
saxophonist<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Charlie Parker</b>
(1920-1955) succeeded in changing the history of jazz. You should read the
excellent article of Wikipedia on him and listen to him on YouTube, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clp9AeBdgL0">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=Clp9AeBdgL0</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
If you like the sound of
saxophone, check also <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Coltrane</b>
(1926-1967) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stan Getz</b>
(1927-1991). Find out why Getz was called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the
sound</i>. Listen to his interpretation of a well known song by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kosma</b>: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Autumn leaves</i>. It is out of this world. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnxeKl-Kbqw">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pnxeKl-Kbqw</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
L as in Leon PARKER</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Inspiring. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM8z9_R4vks">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM8z9_R4vks</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
P as in PAS-DE-DEUX</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In classic ballet, it is a duet.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=699cbEBHN3s">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=699cbEBHN3s</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
P as in PIANO</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
A very romantic piece played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Krystian Zimerman</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkJlXbNKdw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkJlXbNKdw</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
P as in PROMS</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
In Great Britain, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">proms</i> stand for promenade concerts, a
series of classic concerts at low price or free organized every summer. Here is
a typical one to enjoy. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCx5bx-qtJQ">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=zCx5bx-qtJQ</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Q as in QUEEN</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
An old British band, very
influential. You probably know this tune. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
R as in RHYTM</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
It makes sense, doesn't it, that
music started with the rhythm of a beating heart?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Here is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gershwin,</b> one of the greatest American composers, playing I got
rhythm. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIpNepgmCQA">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=vIpNepgmCQA</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
and watch this extraordinary
performance of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Halle Berry</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AYvrgBET9w">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=6AYvrgBET9w</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
M as in MANDOLIN</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLwQE0Iusc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLwQE0Iusc</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
M as in MALONE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gareth Malone</b> is a British choirmaster who goes in unknown towns
and derelict suburbs to create fantastic choirs. He makes great choirs with
military wives or with prisoners.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
He can recruit people in the
street and get astonishing results as here</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://youtu.be/LGUBMNgSrt0">http://youtu.be/LGUBMNgSrt0</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Watch this passage where you can
see the emotion of singers listening to themselves for the first time; for
some, it is the first feeling of pride they ever had. Look at the people who
cry and imagine their lives. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYQvC_Wki7s">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYQvC_Wki7s</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SANDPAPER</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Novelist <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Joyce Carol Oates</b> said about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bob
Dylan'</b>s voice that it was “as if sandpaper could sing.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
One of his most famous songs is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Like a rolling stone</i>. The lyrics are
unpleasant, mocking a middle class lady for falling into misery. But it is not
what the listeners remember of the song, they saw themselves rolling into
life's uncertainty: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">With no direction
home/ Like a complete unknown/ Like a rolling stone</i>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F0ytNzHDj8">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=4F0ytNzHDj8</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SAX</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Try some real jazz: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYnVc2oIn-U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYnVc2oIn-U</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chris Potter</b>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this thing
called love</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
And <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bruce Abbott</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaWFJb1PVSw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaWFJb1PVSw</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SIMON and GARFUNKEL</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1dz6_u2JI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1dz6_u2JI</a>
Mrs Robinson</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCNwgzM2rQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCNwgzM2rQ</a>
Sounds of Silence</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SINGLE</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Single ladies</i>: A dance song from American mezzo-soprano <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beyonce </b>from 2008. You can listen to it
on Youtube. It has the same atmosphere, but not the same rhythm as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Macarena</i>.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SOLDIER'S tale</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
A soldier comes back home with a
small violin. He meets the devil. The devil wants the small violin but he needs
lessons. The soldier accepts; he believes that he will stay with the devil 3
days, but it lasts 3 years. When he goes home, his girlfriend is married and
his neighbors don't recognize him. The devil has made him rich.... but there is
more trouble ahead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
This is a folk story that
inspired <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Igor Stravinsly</b> to write
this delightful orchestral suite with actors, dancers and a small orchestra on
the scene.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Look at it on YouTube. There is
a short introduction, then a pretty good representation. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34iCIedApk8">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=34iCIedApk8</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SONG</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
What does your favorite song
talk about? Who is talking in the song (a person of faith? A person in love? A
patriot?) What is the subject of the song?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Here is a very easy song, and I
bet you will have a hard time finding the subject. It is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Swinging on a star</i> and was composed by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">J. Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. </b>So,
what does it talk about?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
It is a standard sung by many
artists, but my favorite interpretation is from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bruce Willis </b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Danny
Aiello</b> who sing it in the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hudson
Hawk</i>. They use the song to time themselves while committing a robbery. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KvM3vZo0w">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KvM3vZo0w</a>
It is a great scene.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
So tell me what is the subject
of the song?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Check your answer on Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinging_on_a_Star#Origins">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinging_on_a_Star#Origins</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
What a song really says is a
good game to play with friends.</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in prince of SOUL</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Who was the prince of soul? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Marvin Gaye</b>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHaKEAAj6oA">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=VHaKEAAj6oA</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SOUNDTRACKS</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
There are plenty of wonderful
soundtracks, but three composers who did beat the odds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
1) The forgotten <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HONEGGER</b> (1892-1955). Listen to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pacific 231</i>, it is fun. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfysyex_DAk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfysyex_DAk</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
2) The French composer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maurice JARRE (</b>1924-2009) who created
brilliant music for the theater before composing for movies such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lawrence of Arabia</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Doctor Zhivago</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Passage
to India</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU9t9CAS6mc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU9t9CAS6mc</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
3) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John WILLIAMS</b> (b. 1932) who composed for many many films from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jaws</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lincoln</i>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CTDsXF2aRg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CTDsXF2aRg</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFNN_ADpYJ0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFNN_ADpYJ0</a>
</div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in STORMY weather</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Ever heard of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cotton Club</b>? It was a center for jazz
music in Harlem, N.Y. between 1920 and 1940. You can close your eyes, and
listen to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stormy Weather</i>, a success
of the 1940s, sung by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lena Horne</b>
(1917-2010), a good singer, an activist and a beautiful woman. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo">http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
S as in SWING</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrVu9WKs498">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrVu9WKs498</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
T as in TUBA</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjXhnIOdg0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjXhnIOdg0</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
T as in TRUMPET</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdJTjT1ulYc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdJTjT1ulYc</a>
: greatest players.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
"Up there with the
Gods", as Eric Clapton once<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>said,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Wynton Marsalis,</b> here in a very
brilliant talk about jazz: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNIvo-tx2s">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNIvo-tx2s</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
To pass the exams in France, the
players used to be hidden behind a screen, to avoid the temptation for the
judges to favor their own students. It was said the sound of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maurice André</b> was so special that
everybody knew it was him. Here he is in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summertime</i><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grk5c-8nkOQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grk5c-8nkOQ</a></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
V as in VIOLIN</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPcnGrie__M">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPcnGrie__M</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.0pt;">
Each artist has a favorite
instrument. Look at this discussion about "the best" instrument. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1by4dB4azY&list=RD022e7Kh9viHGA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1by4dB4azY&list=RD022e7Kh9viHGA</a>
<br />
Do you hear the difference? If you don't, check on YouTube Stradivari,
Guarneri: there are other examples.</div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-74367705897575780282013-07-08T08:13:00.000-04:002013-07-08T08:13:30.474-04:00Privacy is dead anyway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:15.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-next:Normal;
margin-top:60.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
text-align:right;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
page-break-after:avoid;
mso-outline-level:2;
font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
mso-ansi-font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;
mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
</style>
<span style="font-size: small;">Privacy is a thing of the past. Other people can follow your
credits cards, track your cell phone and study what you buy, what your read,
what words you search on your computer: they know everything about you. The
banks, Google, Microsoft and plenty others share or sell everything about you to what they call their "partners." Anybody can snatch your DNA, I bet that the health insurances will soon pay PIs to get it.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If your computer is like mine, it is
attacked over 100 times a day by Chinese IP addresses. I am smart enough to understand that the offenders don't all come from China, but I bet they are not all
Americans either. I wish I had a small electronic flag saying "Leave me
alone, I am just an old woman without money."
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Pretty soon, we will all be written down in a big health
data bank, not because the government wants it, but because it makes sense. And as
soon as it will be in working order, a thousand people will break in, because breaking in has become a game.<br />Every darn business and every darn thief knows everything
about you, and you want to fight some government intrusion? Why? What makes the
government worse than your bank, Google and Microsoft? </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Of course old women like
me have no secrets, so I don't mind. But I see the real danger when one political party learns too much
about the other side: it will be the end of democracy when it happens. And it will happen, because it is tempting. How we
can avoid it, I don't know. It is the most important political problem of this
century.</span></div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-17926844559266288052013-07-03T16:15:00.000-04:002013-07-03T16:18:13.959-04:00Should the Government have Secrets?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:15.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-next:Normal;
margin-top:60.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
text-align:right;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
page-break-after:avoid;
mso-outline-level:2;
font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
mso-ansi-font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;
mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
</style>
-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is very naive to think that governments should have no
secrets. Here is an example: You negotiate the exchange of one of several
American soldiers who are prisoner in a foreign country, and of course you want
them back. The foreign country says: "OK, we will give this one back to you on
the condition that you never say in public that we tortured him." It is
horrible and unpleasant, but what are you going to do? Publish this in the
media? What about not only this prisoner, but the other ones?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is not an unrealistic example. One time, when Franco was
still dictator of Spain, the Spanish government promised not to execute a
political prisoner on the condition that his lawyers did not publicize the fact
that he had been tortured. The lawyers were indignant because it is a
disgusting deal and they went to the Press. The prisoner was garroted. What
good did that do? It is easy to defend your principles with the life of
somebody else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The best example we know of secret deals happened during the
Cuban crisis in 1962. We escaped narrowly a third world war thanks to a deal
between the USA and the USSR about the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and
Turkey. If you think that you could have done better, go into politics or work
for the State Department: don't blow what your Government does by publishing it
to have your name on Facebook. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you dislike what your Government does, vote
for the other guy next time. Half of the country does not like what the Government does, then it is the turn of the other half to be unhappy about it. We call this democracy, we have no need for traitors. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What the USA did wrong during the Cold War was very public
and accepted by everybody at the time, such as favoring fascists over democrats
as foreign allies. Maybe we should protest the crimes we know before we protest
the conspiracy we don't.</div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-84095321397623397942012-08-26T08:15:00.000-04:002012-08-26T08:16:11.989-04:00A Prayer to Geeks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChHuZnceqAHYXCg4t5li42usK788O-QwsUaQ6ZEgYxXxmaC2OFNHrVXElzZ1lPHotMtK-gZjEDy9a8NlBlDVgdxXf6h3U-wJNz043sEn3ZwrD9ObmHhT4KzPHFJl9YxTenEvqRb9NicYH/s1600/geek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChHuZnceqAHYXCg4t5li42usK788O-QwsUaQ6ZEgYxXxmaC2OFNHrVXElzZ1lPHotMtK-gZjEDy9a8NlBlDVgdxXf6h3U-wJNz043sEn3ZwrD9ObmHhT4KzPHFJl9YxTenEvqRb9NicYH/s1600/geek.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">image from lendinggeek.com/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">There
is that new concept among you, Geeks, to anticipate what I want. As a result,
Word changes my presentation without warning, and even if I disable all the
"autocorrect" functions, you sneak in and try to do things better for
me. Excel has become totally unreliable, it was such a sweet easy program, what
have you done?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">And
Google tells me what I think all day long, finishing my sentences and telling
me what I am searching for.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Most
people think that the big government is stealing our freedom, it is not true,
it is the Big Geeks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">When
I was in my 50s, my Mom was still telling me "Don't forget your
scarf!" and now in my 70s, I am surrounded by an army of young Geeks who
tell me what I think. Let me breathe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;">Please,
dear Geeks, let me get a little bit of freedom. Freedom takes some time but it
is precious to me, and I am less stupid than you think.</span></div>
</div>
Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-22176740595313172492012-07-19T10:27:00.000-04:002012-07-19T10:56:02.480-04:00The Charms of Old Age<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVohz7zALbsVNQewaAmlMT3ZdbJV5ChDZM0APnpmiYguq-rfG_Wf0kX0CARRYeeU3HKw7naahyiuv0VJjQeGENFFS8aBBT86I1waT4rN-K0RY1Piq8nn4JwnyjQqB2ASEJuz2xouxb7cv/s1600/Maazel2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVohz7zALbsVNQewaAmlMT3ZdbJV5ChDZM0APnpmiYguq-rfG_Wf0kX0CARRYeeU3HKw7naahyiuv0VJjQeGENFFS8aBBT86I1waT4rN-K0RY1Piq8nn4JwnyjQqB2ASEJuz2xouxb7cv/s200/Maazel2.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Conductor Lorin Maazel when I first saw him in 1960. He is now 82 (from bayreuther-festspiele.de)</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
There are many advantages in getting old: having more time, getting to see grown up kids and grands, having more freedom, getting a pension....<br />
One advantage we often forget is that old people have witnessed important events There is value in that, if not always pleasure, because many events are unpleasant. I remember reading in the newspaper about the assassination of Gandhi: I had just learned to read. From meeting victims of the Holocaust to seeing the towers fall, I have heard and seen plenty of evil.<br />
But I also get pleasant memories, of people who met historical figures, and there is plenty of that too, because we live so much longer than in the past. So many of my "memories" go way back to 1900. <br />
<br />
One of my grandfathers had seen Buffalo Bill.That was in France, probably in 1905. My grandfather mimicked the whole show when I was a little girl, and he got just as excited as he had been 40 or 50 years before. Over the course of my life, I of course accumulated live memories of many actors, singers, musicians who got very old or have now passed away and I wish I had been out more, because now these are very precious memories of pleasure to me.<br />
<br />
I once knew an old man who was a little boy when Beatrix Potter was still writing the adventures of Peter Rabbit. He said she did not like children very much... She was a widow without children, and a business women at a time when they were rare, so I am not surprised that she was not very patient.<br />
<br />
Of course in 1970, when I joined a science laboratory, there were still in France scientists who had been students of Marie Curie, and even more who had been students of her daughter and her husband, Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie. One of my bosses had known the scientist Langevin, who was rumored in 1910 to have an affair with Marie Curie. He used to call him "poor Langevin," because his wife was, according to him, a harpy and a virago.<br />
My neighbor in Chateaufort near Paris had seen Einstein and Richard Feynman many times, when she got married to a mathematician and lived in Princeton. She filled me with her memories, not of equations, but of sweet small stories.<br />
One of the favorite professors of my daughter had once helped Einstein change a tire. He said that for a whole week, he had felt brighter than Einstein himself. <br />
<br />
<br /></div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-86076179373777867292012-04-25T18:53:00.000-04:002012-04-26T04:22:14.857-04:00Viva Walmart! Down with Duke!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I love Walmart. Sure enough, for its prices, but also because of the jobs it produces. You should have seen the opening week of the last Walmart here in Savannah: every employee was smiling. Many of the new employees had been looking for a job for a long time. I liked these smiles: I knew what they meant. I also liked the fact that Walmart carried the products of a nearby Alabama delicatessen. Their products were not sold here in summer because that small producer could not afford to buy refrigerated trucks. Now they got the strength of Walmart behind them. Good for them.<br />
What I am less fond of is Walmart CEO Mike Duke. He kept the mentality of his mentors.<br />
During the Cold War, bribery was a way of life, the cost of doing business abroad. I still remember how Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was led to abdicate after her husband accepted a million-dollar-bribe from the Lockheed Corporation. The minds were starting to change, not only in the US, but in many countries, realizing that paying bribes abroad was counter-productive. For Pete's sake, even the Russians signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention! Lobbying to water down our anti-bribery legislation is a sign of old age, and I'm polite about this (see details in the Washington Post).<br />
The same Mike Duke, I heard, refused to follow the politics of McDonald who fights the terrible conditions met by pregnant pigs. There is no need to torture pigs, and the fight serves McDonald image. Burger King has similar pledges. See, the end of the Cold War: no bribery, cage free: signs of progress. Wake up, Walmart! Don't linger in past ideologies!<br />
<br />
Nowadays, you need not only to sell cheap, you need an image. The image of Duke-Walmart is terrible. <br />
Time for fresh air.<br />
<br /></div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-88039275203831560002012-02-10T12:40:00.000-05:002012-02-10T12:40:36.894-05:00Hypocrisy is tiresome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNpr-5qnmKp4BeZgqftUO6x0JFcn3dEKtjdrtW7bAXtjTz9EiYiimJCmHAbbLu9izKs8zQ_K5KYrm9unkNseKuX7J7mLZzv-h4zTDZ-T6pmx5rBFvsvySTk9C0YxWzdHnoC59fs2EG-JIq/s1600/939761.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNpr-5qnmKp4BeZgqftUO6x0JFcn3dEKtjdrtW7bAXtjTz9EiYiimJCmHAbbLu9izKs8zQ_K5KYrm9unkNseKuX7J7mLZzv-h4zTDZ-T6pmx5rBFvsvySTk9C0YxWzdHnoC59fs2EG-JIq/s320/939761.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <i>Image from: http://www.thedogrescuers.com/statistics--facts.html</i></div>If nobody was using any contraceptive method, all women, Christian or not, would have 14 children. So all these scenes and posturing against contraception, that is pure political garbage.<br />
Thanks to the same guys, we already have one million abused and neglected children in this country every year that God made: to pressure people who do not want children to have kids (you will love them when they are born) is not working. Worse: it is criminal. Some people are not meant to have children (like some people are not meant to have dogs and cats). We may not like it, but it is a fact. It is also their right. <br />
</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-12769140897036485852011-11-25T10:40:00.000-05:002011-11-25T10:40:23.286-05:00Smart gifts for older parents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduKC_UnFh-8TzwxVGodT0VVLzILgbHHy45HLOhUQXfKu6uTh3KhaEJ52BNUHXuA-bGMM9iu6_C8EnsgaAbx-ZDNFO-xyp5Z8LQzYelQrM7z0Qa5Eg7XWC7AmcU4H31-ZKziEAZEmw1JCD/s1600/rembrant-artist-father1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduKC_UnFh-8TzwxVGodT0VVLzILgbHHy45HLOhUQXfKu6uTh3KhaEJ52BNUHXuA-bGMM9iu6_C8EnsgaAbx-ZDNFO-xyp5Z8LQzYelQrM7z0Qa5Eg7XWC7AmcU4H31-ZKziEAZEmw1JCD/s320/rembrant-artist-father1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image from http://drawingclassesnewcastle.com.au/category/latest-news/</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Amongst all the many gifts I get from my daughter and her hubby that I appreciate most are these precious not-overly-expensive and very smart yearly gifts. These are things I really appreciate, even if I would not have thought of buying them for myself, so here is my top list. </div><br />
1. A cell phone for emergencies ($10.00/month). I hate the thing, but if I get lost or if I get stranded with my old car, it is obviously very practical to be able to call. It gives me a great sense of security. <br />
<br />
2. A AAA membership card ($ 66.00). I got an old car (it is a car, by the way, that they gave me), so about once a year, I get stranded and the card becomes a great gift: it makes it so easy to know what to do, plus they care about your security, which is good to know. The card has also discount advantages.<br />
<br />
3. A teeth cleaning gift card (about $60.00 to 100.00). Bad teeth can create arterial lesions and give old people heart disease, so it is a good incentive and a very smart gift!<br />
<br />
4. Dog and cat food. It is expensive on a small budget: sometimes it costs more to feed them than to feed yourself, so a gift for them is really appreciated!<br />
<br />
5. A Walmart gift card.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>6. A movie gift card. Suppose your parents don't go to the movies, but they won't want to lose the gift: it will do them good. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-30556517247513503582011-08-07T09:46:00.002-04:002011-08-07T11:09:18.907-04:00The Harlot of Babylon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImgCZ4JOvsZHrIhI6r8r5EMdpK-fMPrTiQuRbVd1ArWQExpijTBfd4MyyIdWbbrf2RrtombF4I1KIjU_vGYeA-JwVef_UfNAeDTyi_tl0p2pcLHzRviB4Fopd3ilaGyIgdLvLTJ1MQNli/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImgCZ4JOvsZHrIhI6r8r5EMdpK-fMPrTiQuRbVd1ArWQExpijTBfd4MyyIdWbbrf2RrtombF4I1KIjU_vGYeA-JwVef_UfNAeDTyi_tl0p2pcLHzRviB4Fopd3ilaGyIgdLvLTJ1MQNli/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Image from Wikipedia</i></span></div><br />
Governor Perry has invited his evangelical friends from Texas, Kansas and Yonder to an evangelical day of prayer that we badly need. <br />
As it happens, the evangelical view is there to divide, not to unite Americans. They call Oprah "the Harlot of Babylon" and from what I read in the <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/08/rick_perry_is_about_to_have_hi.html">New York Mag</a> the statue of Liberty is "demonic "<br />
We suffer through this under the magic subtitle "freedom of expression."<br />
Well, the good side of insults is that they are flexible. If I was inclined to pick on this, I would choose Jerry Springer as the Harlot of Babylon: to each its own; the sex of the harlot has not been determined.<br />
And we can reverse this too, we could call Governor Perry "demonic" and the Statue of Liberty would become the Harlot of Babylon. It is more poetic this way.<br />
I cannot remember that any candidate prayed in public for political gain when I was young. When I was young, prayer was different.</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-19443079580685645822011-07-26T12:26:00.000-04:002011-07-26T12:26:44.413-04:00Did you know Churchill was a Saint?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEO1JvKK3MlrzzrQVTuEttclgQDHUUA9O2TGIdY0YbPwtsaOac5UG4G6FS1JJMU39xzX1AvuJrc5jkX6tQ7hn1fsOXp7xSj0e5j21EInapWw52ONqgi9ZlsvT9MrMs0tfl3HIFOzY_nZ2/s1600/churchill-comp_1657976c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEO1JvKK3MlrzzrQVTuEttclgQDHUUA9O2TGIdY0YbPwtsaOac5UG4G6FS1JJMU39xzX1AvuJrc5jkX6tQ7hn1fsOXp7xSj0e5j21EInapWw52ONqgi9ZlsvT9MrMs0tfl3HIFOzY_nZ2/s320/churchill-comp_1657976c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Image from the dailymail.co.uk and a paper from Beth Hale, 15th June 2010</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I confess, I confess, I smiled when I found a site called WinstonChurchill.org this morning, very intent at proving that Winston did not smoke, did not drink, did not stutter, and that his father did not die from syphillis. I bet that next, they are going to prove that Churchill did not try to eliminate the civilian population of Mannheim. The members of that venerable institution are sure much younger than me, because it is not at all how I remember Churchill. </div>We all admired Churchill. I got my first glass of champagne the day our street became "avenue Winston Churchill": my father decided that we had to celebrate. But we had no need of changing his image, we liked our heroes with flaws.<br />
It is all about image nowadays, which is probably why the famous cigar was airbrushed from the picture in front of the <i>Winston Churchill's Britain At War Experience</i> museum in London. Well, go ahead! I have seen already poor Presidents Kennedy and Reagan sanctified, do it with Winston too!<br />
There is no flesh left on our heroes, that is why American children are not interested in history.<br />
I never smoked, but this makes me feel like going out and buying a cigar. <i>Romeo y Julieta </i>was Churchill's favorite.<br />
</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-25754333655376318272011-07-18T10:59:00.000-04:002011-07-18T10:59:22.868-04:00Snorting bath salts?How come so many people have a hard time getting high? I get high reading a good book or watching a raccoon. In fact I am feeling high most of the day. One must be pretty desperately bored with life to snort bath salts. I just read an article about this in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/us/17salts.html?src=me&ref=general">New York Times</a>. <br />
And so many people seem to have no sense of self-preservation: I would not take an aspirin without looking up "aspirin side effects" on google. I trust doctors, yes, but I still double check any medication they prescribe to me. Nobody cares as much about your life as you do, and there is a risk with any medication. So, bath salts? Stuff you buy on the street from people who know nothing of chemistry? How one can trust a dealer just passes my comprehension.<br />
But then, I am just an old woman. A happy old woman.Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-22525332997829823532011-07-05T08:50:00.002-04:002011-07-05T09:07:06.682-04:00Just a touch of racism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">GA has passed tough immigration laws, with this argument: we have 10 percent unemployment here, let us get rid of the illegal Hispanics and give the work to Americans. As a result, farmers in GA have a tough time finding enough workers this season, there are still 11,000 jobs openings to work in the field.<br />
Unrepentent Governor Nathan Deal now tries to give the jobs to probationers, and it does not seem to work either.<br />
As a result our three local TVs here in Savannah report this with comments like: "Americans do not want to work in the sun for 12 dollars an hour." Of course they say "Americans", but they think "Blacks."<br />
It is a ridiculous statement. It is not that people "do not want to" work in the fields, it is that they do not know how. Work in the field is intensive: you cannot take a bus to go home, you got to stick around the farm to start early, when the temperature has not risen yet. Migrant seasonal workers are used to it, they pack and leave their home for the season. Georgians of any race have lost this capacity: they want a job, but they also want to be at home at night. For Pete's sake, it is not just a "job", it is a different lifestyle. A policy like this can only be successful if you spend a lot of money educating people and encouraging them to become seasonal migrants, and nobody knows if it would work. And I do not think that probationers are especially "lazy", I think that months in jail are not physically and mentally preparing you very well for hard work in the fields.<br />
<br />
All this lack of workers means less money for the farmers, loss of foodstuff, more cost for the consumers. Our governor has not thought things through. I am sure he will say that it is the fault of president Obama, his usual scapegoat.<br />
We need immigrants or we don't: it should not be a matter of political ideology, but a matter of good sense. If our farmers need seasonal workers, why don't we give seasonal work permits to the people who can do the work? <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">***</div><br />
NOTE: Local stats say that about 8% of the white labor force in GA is unemployed compared to 14% of the black labor force. Black labor force is about one third of the total GA labor force (27%). Ga has 150,000 people on probation, about 2 times more blacks than whites.We got in addition 50 to 60,000 inmates, ruining the state finances, a testimony to the quality of our school system. </div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-14807733237478115792011-07-03T15:22:00.002-04:002011-07-03T15:29:58.155-04:004th of July: Disabled Veterans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;">I had a chance, not for the first time, to hear actor Gary Sinise talk about his dedication to disabled veterans. If you did not have a chance yet, have a look at his <a href="http://www.garysinisefoundation.org/">Foundation</a>.</div>Most actors, if they have an audience and a camera go into performing mode. There is nothing wrong with that: it is what they DO. But I am moved by the fact that Sinise does not do it: when he talks about the cause, he is himself: he talks like a man, not like an actor with a cause. <br />
It is real nice.<br />
<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=booksublimeco-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00003CXA2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GB75HO?tag=booksublimeco-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=B000GB75HO&adid=03FD8PC4SWCHMHM704M5&" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><br />
</a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00003CXA2?tag=booksublimeco-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=B00003CXA2&adid=19FDCNDM6HS6GAV1KVC4&" target="_blank"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=booksublimeco-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000GB75HO&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00003CXA2?tag=booksublimeco-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=B00003CXA2&adid=19FDCNDM6HS6GAV1KVC4&" target="_blank"> </a></div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-6015434914525372722011-06-28T00:36:00.000-04:002011-06-28T00:36:46.394-04:00Laughable biography<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I found this ridiculous site www.nndb.com where you can find a who is who of the history of the world.<br />
All authors are defined in terms like this:<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Marcel Proust</b></span><br />
<img align="right" alt="Marcel Proust" height="254" hspace="10" src="http://www.nndb.com/people/016/000047872/proust1.jpg" vspace="10" width="192" /><b>Born:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/709/000106391/">10-Jul</a>-<a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/870/000105555/">1871</a><br />
<b>Birthplace:</b> Auteuil, France<br />
<b>Died:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/209/000106888/">18-Nov</a>-<a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/432/000106114/">1922</a><br />
<b>Location of death:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/geo/857/000069650/">Paris, France</a><br />
<b>Cause of death:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/323/000069116/">Pneumonia</a><br />
<b>Remains:</b> Buried, Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris, France<br />
<b>Gender:</b> Male<br />
<b>Religion:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/758/000094476/">Roman Catholic</a><br />
<b>Race or Ethnicity:</b> White<br />
<b>Sexual orientation:</b> <a class="proflink" href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/241/000069034/">Gay</a><br />
<b>Occupation:</b> Author<br />
<b>Nationality:</b> France<br />
<b>Executive summary:</b> <i>In Search of Lost Time</i><br />
<br />
<i>So Proust was white and gay? </i><br />
<i>What kind of donkey conceived these biographies? You can verify the sexual orientation of Voltaire and Diderot and Jean-Paul Sartre (all described as white and straight). Aristotle was a white straight guy (you wish) and his student Alexander the great a white bisexual. There is no indication of a sexual orientation for the saints, I wonder why. I verified Augustine (you know, the saint who was such an inspiring sinner?) No mention of his sexual orientation. HA! </i><br />
<i>Alexandre Dumas was "multiracial" (indeed his grandmother was a slave) and his son was "white". On and On: it is the pattern.</i><br />
<i>The whole setting is offensive and profoundly disgusting to me. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-31814771110970833792011-06-26T09:49:00.001-04:002011-06-26T10:01:20.054-04:00Health care: another point of view<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoDeqJAYpu4qFEo798hZFcDk-fJRcMbDlW0lMn2757LB-_o1jiJVu1AUlceLIMAPurugDAUjPz6KlKiMbN-TGibib3ONeDVnn7381yZKBmUQktK0A-acgJ54fN1mFkyddffcBCghKfJsK/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoDeqJAYpu4qFEo798hZFcDk-fJRcMbDlW0lMn2757LB-_o1jiJVu1AUlceLIMAPurugDAUjPz6KlKiMbN-TGibib3ONeDVnn7381yZKBmUQktK0A-acgJ54fN1mFkyddffcBCghKfJsK/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><div style="color: black; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">DRINKING BACCHUS - 1623 - GUIDO RENI <br />
GEMÄLDEGALERIE, DRESDEN </span></div><div style="color: black; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>from www.baroque.us/</i> </span><style type="text/css">
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
</style> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One person out of ten in the USA suffers from addiction to alcohol or some kind of illicit drug abuse. Alcoholics die in general twenty years before their time (it is what scientists call “premature death”). This evaluation of addiction does not even take into account the smokers: over 400,000 people die every year from a cause related to tobacco. Another look at this is to say that half of the heavy smokers are dead by age 60. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What does that costs to society? Smoking deaths in the USA: about 92 to 137 billions/year, alcohol related deaths about 176 billions, other drugs 115 billions. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Gee! That would be about 400 billions or half of the federal health care budget saved per year if. Only IF is difficult to imagine and harder to achieve. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So half of what we pay covers one person out of ten. </div></div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7473084450512709009.post-51131920839903036252011-06-18T13:14:00.001-04:002011-07-18T11:01:55.774-04:00The loss of self-preservation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-toxETKNAjl9RpxpkmddAIfeSXLE0JU1V6wM7JNQ_7XQQlurQ0pH30DR3iZZKwSBoDW8wZBR5DcDZo__OPt50zwsn9GjQhlOfOAN18MnSzFSUP0ayRyUqeaaVH58QghZas_P5HTsAu4_l/s1600/Trey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-toxETKNAjl9RpxpkmddAIfeSXLE0JU1V6wM7JNQ_7XQQlurQ0pH30DR3iZZKwSBoDW8wZBR5DcDZo__OPt50zwsn9GjQhlOfOAN18MnSzFSUP0ayRyUqeaaVH58QghZas_P5HTsAu4_l/s1600/Trey.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">One thing I knew for sure: my young 30ish-years-old neighbor had a self-esteem problem. I kept buying him a small gift every month (like a nice T-shirt or a pair of black socks): I thought it would help. In time. </div>About a month ago, my neighbor came once more to borrow some gas (I usually let him get the gallon I keep for mowing). He looked high and had pin-head pupils, which made me mad, so I thought it was time for me to stop pretending I did not know he was on drugs. I said:<br />
"It seems to me you are very close to the bottom. You ruined your parents, you lost your job, you lost your girlfriend, you lost the custody of your kids, you lost most of your teeth, I bet you don't have a sex life anymore. How low can you go? The bottom is next. Maybe you should think about rehab."<br />
He was shocked that I was so direct, then he mumbled: "Maybe you are right." and he was gone. <br />
As of last week, he is in jail for attempting to build a meth lab. There is at least ten years of prison for that in Georgia, and a 200,000 dollars fine.<br />
I never thought he was a seller: I thought he was too disorganized, too hazy for it. I am certainly happy the Narcs caught him: I would not want to blow up because the guy next door is not a chemist: I would not trust him to boil water. In a less selfish way, the idea that he would push other young people like him into that free fall where self-preservation does not matter is repulsive. So, it is good thing he got caught.<br />
I am also very sorry. Free fall is a terrible thing to watch. And how on earth do you stop it?<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Claude Lamberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10703365264165658888noreply@blogger.com0