Month: March 2015

Justification for Ask Roger Anything

You can ask me ANYTHING, and I will absotively, possilutely answer.

Absolutely no one has written to me saying: “Roger, why are you such a lazy blogger, asking your readers to do the heavy lifting by coming up with topics for your blog FOUR times a year?”

My answer would be that when the bloggers I know, such as Jaquandor – like clockwork in the beginning of February and August – and SamuraiFrog and Arthur the AmeriNZ ask for questions, I always oblige them.

In fact, this time around, I was chomping at the bit  to ask Jaquandor about Mario Cuomo vis a vis other New York State governors, and about the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

My assumption is that, by doing this exercise on a regular basis, I can inspire your meanest, nastiest, rottenest questions to me. Since that actually hasn’t actually happened, I’m left with the conclusion that you are all rather swell people, which is also nice.

Last time out, I found questions from Melanie to be the most difficult because they were the most philosophical.

I feel throwing the floor open to youse folk – ah, the flaw of the English language – helps me as a writer, and a thinker, and a person. If this were a Nicholas Sparks novel, I’d write, “You fulfill me!” But it’s not. So I won’t.

The rules remain that you can ask me ANYTHING, and I will absotively, possilutely answer. Swear to whatever deity you follow, and relatively soon, within the month.

I promise to respond to your questions to the best of my ability and memory. Naturally, memory is a tricky thing – self-selecting, imprecise; ask Brian Williams. As always, a little obfuscation is allowed, because it’s more fun for me.

You can leave your comments below, or send them to me on Facebook (I’m the Roger Green as the duck) or Twitter (@ersie). If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s OK; you should e-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, and note that you want to remain anonymous. Otherwise, I will cite you, or give you a citation, or…

Consider this a late birthday present to me. I LOVE presents.

Lenten music Friday: Handel Messiah, Part II (continued)

George_Frideric_Handel_by_Balthasar_DennerHey, this year is the 430th anniversary of Georg Friedrich Händel’s birthday. He was born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany.

All of the text of the next part of Messiah by Handel, Part II is from the book of the prophet Isaiah, mostly from chapter 53. Invariably, when any of the text of Messiah are part of the scripture reading during church, the musical iterations come rushing to mind.

(23) He was despised – air, alto
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. . . Isaiah 50:6 [He]gave [His] back to the smiters, and [His] cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: [He] hid not [His] face from shame and spitting.

Performance by ORQUESTA Y CORO AD LIBITUM, Cristina Faus, contralto

(24) Surely He hath borne our griefs – chorus
Isaiah 53:4,5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:the chastisement of our peace was upon him,
(25) And with His stripes we are healed
Isaiah 53:5b …and with His stripes we are healed
(26) All we like sheep have gone astray
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Performance by ORQUESTA Y CORO AD LIBITUM

Usually, I’m used to the fuller sound of a large chorale, rather than the dozen singers, but this is surprisingly effective.

Compare with:
The Emek Hefer Chamber Choir.

Insomnia-writing post

insomniaA study suggested that 7, not 8 hours of sleep, is optimal. Less than that, for most people, is suboptimal.

I know Dustbury sometimes has trouble going to sleep. He once wrote: “For some reason, around 10 pm, when I should be shutting down the brain for the night, I seem to start new projects. It’s almost like I’m daring insomnia to descend upon me. Somehow this seems counterproductive.”

Probably true; most of those advice columns suggest getting away from the TV, computer, or electronic device of your choice 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. Almost never happens with me.

I got this from SOMEWHERE:

If, as researchers report, people with insomnia could not turn off a “mind wandering” region of the brain irrelevant to tasks of working memory, then is it possible that this mind wandering function in the sleep deprived person is 1. A compensatory “dream while awake” mechanism; and 2. A possible compensatory strength in cognitive fluidity and creativity? Are some tasks better approached on a full night’s sleep, while others on vapors? And can you surmise on what basis this is written?

So, it’s 3:30 a.m., and I’m looking through ideas for blog posts that I never used. Or maybe I DID use them and forgot. It’s 3:30 – too tired to check!

Did I use this? Religious People Tend to Be More Racist, Study Finds. This is TOTALLY believable, unfortunately. (And when it’s really early in the morning, I tend to repeat myself. Such as the use of the word TOTALLY. I’d not allow that when I’m wide awake!)

I need to rant about how stupid changing the clocks is, I believe, but too tired for that.

Ferguson, from a conservative’s view

Even if you read only the parts of the Ferguson DOJ report that come directly from the files of the FPD, the report paints an incredibly damning picture.

Attorney General Holder meets with local residents and community leaders of Ferguson at Drake's Place Restaurant
Attorney General Holder meets with residents of Ferguson, MO

As usual, I read a variety of points-of-view on political issues. This was one of the items I read this week about the US Department of Justice’s report on the police of Ferguson, Missouri:

People are highly resistant to changing their minds and they become impervious to new evidence, often dismissing out of hand outright facts just because they are reported by a given source (e.g., “the media is untrustworthy” or “you can’t trust the Holder Department of Justice.”) Perhaps nowhere has this phenomenon been more obvious (or regrettable) than in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown…

Conservatives…have become highly resistant to assimilating information that strongly suggests that the Ferguson PD – as with many other municipal police departments in the country – truly is out of control, in that it recklessly violates the constitutional rights of the citizens of Ferguson and does so in a manner that has a clearly disproportionate impact on minorities…

Even if you read only the parts of the Ferguson DOJ report that come directly from the files of the FPD (which is to say, files that would be most favorable to the Department), the report paints an incredibly damning picture of the Ferguson Police Department. No conservative on earth should feel comfortable with the way the Ferguson PD has been operating for years, even according to their own documents.

This report did not come the left-of-center Daily Kos, which DID note this month, If you think ‘reverse racism’ is worse than what blacks face, read the Ferguson report.

Instead, it came from the right-wing publication Red State, written by the noted conservative Erick EricksonLeon Wolf. It was titled “Many Conservatives are Blowing it on the Ferguson DOJ Report,” with the subhead: “Their reaction is neither fair, accurate, nor good for America.”

Meanwhile, The Weekly Sift noted:

Both the city manager and the police chief have resigned, but the mayor is determined to hang on. He isn’t even convinced the city has a serious problem:

The report stated there was probable cause to believe the police and court routinely violate people’s civil rights. But, [James] Knowles [III] said, “that’s not proof.” He added that “there is probably another side to all of these stories.”

One might suggest that Mayor Knowles didn’t read the same report Leon Wolf did.

Surname of Green

Sometimes the surname Green can be of Irish origins.

St-Patricks-DaySomeone in my office recently asked me the derivation of my last name. I instinctively knew it was rooted in Great Britain and/or Ireland, but I had not looked it up in a while.

This is what I found HERE.

Recorded in the spellings of Green and Greene, this is one of the most widespread of English, and sometimes Irish, surnames. It is usually of pre 7th century origins, and derives from the word “grene” meaning green.

As such it may be topographical for a person resident by a village green or even a place called Green, or as a status name for a young man who played the part of the mystic and fertile “Green Man” sometimes known as “Jack in the Green”, in the May Day fertility celebrations. In this context “green” was symbolic of youthful ardour, spring, and the re-growth of nature.

Sometimes the surname can be of Irish origins, and a translation of the ancient Gaelic given name “Uaithne”. As this also means “green,” it probably has the same basic meaning and origin as the English form.

Green is the 37th most popular surname in the United States, I’ve read multiple places.

Truth is that I’m not certain of my English and/or Irish roots, though surely I have one or both, based on family lore. But on St. Patrick’s Day, I’m willing to yield to the wearing of the green, just in case.

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