Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing Has Never Done This

007

control_group_2x — **From https://xkcd.com/2576/: This is absolutely why I never learned the Macarena.**

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

La Tejana stole this from her blogging buddy, Vanilla. Here’s your chance to say “never.”

5 Things I Have Never Done

But before that: I received an email on Friday, the 13th. Really. “Roger, add interesting content to your feed. Here are a few recommendations to get started.

Follow Jensen Huang

Founder and CEO, NVIDIA

2,394,842 followers

I declined.

1. I have never had a valid driver’s license. However, I have had SEVEN driver’s permits, six in New York State and one in North Carolina. I sort of explained this here. After my daughter received her driver’s license in 2025, she said she thought I would have learned to drive if my wife had taught me, as she had taught our daughter. Both my wife and daughter are very good drivers.

Antisocial?

2. I never really liked either coffee or beer. The complication here is that they are social drinks. When you’re at a college bar, and your compatriots are drinking a pitcher or two while I’m drinking wine or a mixed drink, it sets me apart at a point in life when I want to fit in. On the other hand, not drinking coffee has gotten me out of making coffee, sometimes at my insistence.

3. I’ve never jumped out of a plane, bungee jumped, or done anything that leaned into the laws of gravity.

4. I’ve never committed a crime. My arrest at an antiwar demonstration in 1972 was a violation – think parking ticket – not a crime.

5. I have never seen a James Bond film all the way through. Occasionally, as a kid, I would catch a scene or two of a Sean Connery film on television on a Saturday afternoon, and I found that I not only didn’t enjoy it, but I specifically disliked the violence and sexism. I know Bond has (presumably) evolved, but I think I’m okay with the loss. Sorry, Kelly.

Some songs:

Never My Love – The Association

Never Can Say Goodbye – Jackson Five

Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles

and, I suppose, the obvious:

Never On Sunday – Melina Mercouri

#1 Mainstream Rock Hits for 1996

some interesting videos

The 1996 #1 Mainstream Rock Hits are one of three rock charts that year. This one started in 1981 and is the oldest. Even if they went to #1 on another list, I’m linking to all of the tracks here as well. “airplay” means the peak position of a non-Hot 100 hit (i.e., pop) from Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart.

Until It Sleeps – Metallica, eight weeks at #1; it was also #27 on the alternative rock chart, and #10 on the pop charts

Cumbersome – Seven Mary Three, four weeks at #1; #7 alternative, #39 pop

The World I Know– Collective Soul, four weeks at #1; #6 alternative, #19 pop, #36 airplay

In The Meantime – Spacehog, four weeks at #1; #2 alternative for three weeks, #32 pop

Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart – Stone Temple Pilots, four weeks at #1; #3 alternative for three weeks, #36 airplay

Blow Up the Outside World – Soundgarden, four weeks at #1; #8 alternative, #53 airplay

Santa Monica (Watch the World Die) – Everclear, three weeks at #1, #5 alternative, #29 airplay

Test for Echo – Rush, three weeks at #1, #39 alternative, #102 pop. First recorded by Bob Seger in 1973.

Hero of the Day – Metallica, three weeks at #1, #27 alternative, #10 pop

Where the River Flows – Collective Soul, two weeks at #1

Human Being – Van Halen, two weeks at #1

My lack of familiarity with most of these songs was fascinating to me

Ancestry.com change

Munster still leads the pack

How interesting. Ancestry.com wrote: “Our new update deepens your story in Africa to include your new Igboland region. Now with 50 regions and 93 ethnic groups represented, you can look more closely at how your DNA reveals the people and cultures that shaped your story.”

Previously, African designations tended to follow the nomenclature used by European countries during colonization.

Munster is still the top of the list, undoubtedly from my mom’s dad’s mom, and not at all from my father’s side. “Our Munster region stretches across much of Ireland’s southern and southwestern coasts and is home to cities like Cork, Limerick, and Waterford. Munster is famed for its many castles and early monasteries, including Blarney Castle and the Rock of Cashel, and for its strong traditions in Irish folk music.”

“Stretching across the thick tropical forests and winding rivers of southeastern Nigeria, the Igboland region features a lush, green landscape. Within this territory, independent communities, including the Igbo, built highly organized societies, pioneering advanced metalworking seen in the famous Igbo-Ukwu bronzes over a thousand years ago.” I knew this was likely Nigeria: my mom 10%, my dad 18%.

“Across the rivers, lagoons, and coastal plains of southern Benin, the Benin—Western Gbe Peoples region features a dynamic landscape. Within this territory, peoples including the Weme, Fon, and Gun have built sophisticated societies for centuries. While the powerful Kingdom of Dahomey developed centralized rule and elite women warrior regiments called the Agojie, its expansion sparked widespread slave-raiding.” My father slightly more than my mother.

Ye olde

I like how the English roots have also been parsed. “Southeastern England stretches from the Thames Valley to the coasts of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Essex, with rolling hills, fertile farmland, and chalk cliffs facing the English Channel and North Sea.” This is all my mother.

I’m very Nigerian. “Stretching across the coastal lagoons and thick tropical forests of southwest Nigeria, the Yorubaland region features a rich, green landscape. Within this territory, independent communities, including the Yoruba, built massive kingdoms. The ancient city of Ile-Ife is celebrated as their spiritual home, famous for beautiful metal sculptures created with incredible skill over eight hundred years ago.” This is 80% my father’s side.

Several Cameroonians are in my church and, more broadly, in the Capital District. “Along the coastal rainforests and river valleys of southwestern Cameroon, tropical forests and waterways have shaped life for centuries. Groups such as the Bayangi developed strong trading and fishing traditions by using the region’s rivers and coast. They grew crops like cassava, produced palm oil, and traded goods from the forest. To help govern their communities, they created the Ngbe, or Leopard Society, an organization that promoted leadership, justice, and cooperation. This system was also shared with neighboring peoples, creating strong regional connections.” This is mostly my father.

On the European side, the last time I checked the results, in 2022, I didn’t show any heritage from the Netherlands, but now I show 4%, mostly on my mother’s side.

When I get these updates, along with possible familial matches, I want to dig deeper into my genealogy, though other things keep getting in the way. The problem with looking up ancestors is that it can be a major time sink.

Lord of the flies

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly

It was weird. In late June/early July, there were suddenly a number of flies in our house, more than we had seen in the past ten years collectively. Many of them stayed close to the back door or back window, but a few ventured onto the kitchen sink or counter.

I wondered if the extreme heat and humidity were a factor. Meanwhile, I pulled out the flyswatter, which I hadn’t used in years. I was extremely successful in assassinating the insects. Normally, I might kill one in every 10 or 12 attempts. But these buggers were sluggish, and I was successful about 40% of the time, usually when they first landed.

Then I noticed that the back-door windows and screens were misaligned, probably to let Stormy, the indoor cat, see outside. As soon as I adjusted them, the insurrection ended.

I am the Lord of the flies. (Yes, I know the specifics of the 1954 William Golding book. But think about it: in a presumably civilized society, how often does one get to kill indiscriminately? I’m a pacifist when it comes to people. But insects? An invading horde of bugs? I show no mercy!)

Camping

This reminded me of my family going camping when I was growing up. My father, who was a Boy Scout, loved it. The rest of us ranged from tolerating it to hating it. I was in the latter category. It didn’t matter that I had helped put up the tent the previous year; it was still a struggle.

The place had a concrete bathroom with many flies. Yuck. I took my newspaper, or maybe a magazine, and I had done it! I had killed SEVEN WITH ONE BLOW! Of course, I had read The Brave Little Tailor. Unfortunately, my insecticide was the highlight of the trip.

One other recollection. My father, when he would come to the elementary classes of my sister Leslie and me for about three years, would often sing The Old Lady and the Fly. But, if I’m recalling correctly, he got a more demanding job. So I went down to my baby sister’s kindergarten class, and I sang for them, perhaps only once.

We are a fly people.

Music for Armistice Day

now Veterans Day

Here’s music for Armistice Day, specifically 9 Composers Touched By The Great War. As it notes, “It was supposed to be the ‘war to end all wars,’ but of course, it wasn’t. An estimated 9 million service members and another 7 million civilians died in the bloodbath of World War I. Included in the ranks were many leading artists of the day — poets, musicians, and composers.”

For instance, “War steals the greatest treasures of the living. It did when English composer George Butterworth died at the age of 31 in 1916 from sniper fire during the Battle of the Somme.”

The article actually lists ten pieces of music, including a second one by Maurice Ravel. “Here’s one more that grew from Ravel’s experiences in World War I. Saddened by death and brutality he witnessed, and his mother’s passing at the end of the war, Ravel composed this tribute to one of France’s greatest composers, Francois Couperin (1668-1733). Ravel named each of the six movements after artist friends who died in the war.

“There is nothing somber about the sound of the piece, which became a point of criticism for Ravel, who responded: “The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence.” — Karla Walker”

Le trombeau de Couperin-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Jaime Martín

And, just because, Armistice Day – Paul Simon

Best & Worst Veterans Charity Ratings

From Charity Watch, November 8, 2026:

As Veterans Day approaches, many Americans will honor those who have served our country by donating to nonprofits that promise to help veterans and their families. But not all veterans charities are equally deserving of your support.

While some organizations use donations efficiently to provide meaningful assistance to veterans, others spend far too much on fundraising and overhead, leaving comparatively little for the programs donors intend to support.

If you receive a direct mail letter with sad photos of injured vets, encounter a pushy telemarketer who won’t take no for an answer, or come across an emotionally evocative video on social media, it’s important to separate the marketing from the reality of how your donations will actually be used.

Top-Rated organizations generally spend at least 75% of their cash budgets on programs and no more than $25 to raise each $100 in public support. Unlike rating systems that rely primarily on charities’ self-reported financial information, CharityWatch conducts in-depth analyses of audited financial statements, IRS tax filings, and other documents, making adjustments when necessary to provide donors with a more accurate picture of how efficiently their contributions are raised and spent.