March 2020 - Page 4 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

My DNA is more Irish than ever

and Nigerian

I’ve noted before my DNA results. Twice now, I’ve gotten messages that read: “The next time you look at your AncestryDNA® results, you’re going to see some significant changes that might surprise you.”

Here’s iteration #3:

Version #1, from March 2018, had me 14% from Ireland/Scotland/Wales. The second take, from September 2018, showed me 19% Irish/Scottish. “Your DNA hasn’t changed, of course, but the science behind determining your ethnicity is constantly evolving.

“In this update, we’ve more than doubled the size of our reference panel, including more people from different parts of the world, which has helped us to refine your ethnicity estimates. We’ve split some regions and adjusted the borders of others for better precision.”

Now, as you can see, I might be fully 1/3 Scotch/Irish, and most likely from Munster, Ireland. Conversely, England/Wales plummeted from 20% to 2%. Cameroon fell from 26% to 15%, but Nigeria jumped from 1% to 28%. Mali stayed about the same, 6% to 7%.

I find this all quite mysterious. If I dig under the numbers, my ethnicity estimate for Scotch/Irish is 33%, but it can range from 15—33%.

Cousins

These are, of course, imperfect tools. 23andME has me pegged as 25% English and Irish. Since Ancestry now has had me at 2% English, I feel entitled to drink green beer. That is, if I drank beer at all.

And while my relationships to my second and third cousins are getting clearer, my fourth cousins are generally not so easy. For one thing, there are scads of them. And for another, I haven’t yet been able to identify all my third-great-grandparents (yet), so I can’t figure out HOW I’m related to many of these people.

Specifically, I don’t know which of my ancestors came from County Cork. However, I can tell that there’s at least one cousin, initials MM, who is STILL in County Cork, Ireland, where Munster is located. I figure I ought to fly over and say howdy. Well, if one could still do such things.

Nat King Cole Show (1956-57)

NBC-TV

The Nat King Cole Show was the first show to feature a major black star to headline a variety series.

I was too young to remember it. But my parents told me that every black person they knew watched it.

Until recently, I didn’t realize that it was only 15 minutes long when it debuted on a Monday night in November 1956 on NBC-TV. It filled the remaining time allocated to the nightly news. This was barely enough time to sing a few songs. It wasn’t until July 1957, when his slot moved to Tuesdays at 10 that he was allocated a full half hour, which changed to Tuesday at 7:30 in the fall.

The IMBD refers to the Nat King Cole Show as “highly rated.” If by this, it means well-regarded, that would be true. But if it meant big ratings, that is contradicted by most other accounts. The Brooks and Marsh TV book, e.g. said it had only a 19 share when there were only three networks.

No national sponsors

The show originally aired without a sponsor, “but NBC agreed to pay for initial production costs; it was assumed that once the show actually aired and advertisers were able to see its sophistication, a national sponsor would emerge. None did; many national companies did not want to upset their customers in the South, who did not want to see a black man on TV shown in anything other than a subservient position.”

Jim Davidson’s Classic TV Info confirms this. “Had the ratings been higher, national sponsors might have been willing to support the show. But the combination of a relatively small audience and skittishness about viewer reaction kept them away. While crediting NBC with keeping the show on the air, Cole felt advertisers should have had more guts.” Said Cole of the doomed series, “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”

“While NBC was willing to keep the show going, Cole decided to call it quits… He didn’t feel comfortable asking his guest stars to work for practically nothing. ‘You can wear out your welcome,” he commented. “People get tired if you never stop begging.'”

And they were quality guests such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, The Mills Brothers, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry Belafonte, Billy Eckstine, Mahalia Jackson, Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine, Tony Martin, Oscar Peterson, Mel Tormé, and a very young Billy Preston.

Still, Nat said in a 1958 Ebony article, “For 13 months, I was the Jackie Robinson of television.” Nat King Cole would have been 101 years old on March 17.

March rambling: don’t be an idiot

floccinaucinihilipilification

sign at the gas pump
Why India’s Muslims are in grave danger.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coronavirus advice: ‘Don’t be complacent, and don’t be an idiot’ and Medicare for All.

Everything looks fine until it doesn’t.

Weekly Sift: Coronavirus Reaches My Town.

Why retirement insecurity is the new American epidemic.

Rules for Addressing Panhandlers.

The Inclusive Internet Index 2020.

Does Anybody Know Who’s Electable?

What Are Those Strange Things You See Floating In Your Eye?

Bye, Chris Matthews.

Was Jeanne Calment the Oldest Person Who Ever Lived — or a Fraud?

Cookie Monster breaks the Internet.

Touching a camera for the first time in three months.

James Lipton, animated host of ‘Inside the Actors Studio’, dies at 93.

Max von Sydow, Legendary Seventh Seal Star, Dies at 90.

RIP Earl Pomerantz

My wife’s aunt, Emelia Olin obit.

ChangeRoots.com

What is Bipartisanship, Really

Racism, Retaliation and Othering

Donnybrook

He Bears Full Responsibility for Botched Response to Coronavirus in U.S.

Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller Wrote His Coronavirus Speech That’s Tanking Markets and Spreading Falsehoods and Fear.

The Daily Show video: Pandumbic. Late Night with Seth Meyers: Trump Contradicts Experts as Coronavirus Is Declared a Pandemic.

A limerick by Catbird

There once was a POTUS named trump
Whose mind was as sharp as a stump
“It’s perfect!” he crowed
“Test kits? We’ve a load!”
And now we’re all down in the dumps.

Pressed on the ACA, his rhetoric takes an incoherent turn.

How should Democrats fight against a president who has no moral or legal compass?

Newly obtained documents reveal more Secret Service payments to Trump properties.

He Installs Homophobic Racist Tea Party Birther Who Promised to Send Obama ‘Home to Kenya’ as New Chief of Staff.

Language

What is the difference between appoggiatura and acciaccatura? Appoggiatura is “a type of musical ornament, falling on the beat, which often creates a suspension and subtracts for itself half the time value of the principal note which follows while acciaccatura is a short grace note (theoretically taking no time at all), occurring on the beat occupied by the main note to which it is prefixed.”

Definition of meliorism: the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment.

Words That Describe Incredibly Specific Things, such as erinaceous, jentacular, nudiustertian, qualtagh, and especially floccinaucinihilipilification.

Words Fossilized In Idioms.

Geez, jeez!

12 Regional Slang Words From Across the U.S.

The Origin Of “Piss Poor” And Other Popular Sayings.

Insight of the Day.

Now I Know

The Tampons That Fought Back By Adding a Spine and The Color of Flying Calmly and The Beyond Gold Medalist and A Blockbuster Parenting Move and How Much is a Buttload, Exactly? and The Somewhat-Silent Explosions Made for Dogs and The Snack You Had to Commit a Crime to Try and Why Stop Signs Have Eight Sides.

MUSIC

Philippa Duke Schuyler performing Bach.

Homunculus C.F. by Julia Perry.

Fidelio overture by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Coverville 1298: This Day in Covers: February 25, 1985.

God’s Counting On Me – Pete Seeger.

WHATCHA SEE IS WHATCHA GET – The Dramatics.

Mr. Sandman – The Chordettes. Obit: Lynn Evans Mand, singer of hits with the Chordettes, at 95.

K-Chuck Radio: The Invasion of the Break-Ins.

The Archive Of Contemporary Music — And Its 3 Million Recordings — Is Leaving NY.

Johnny Cash thought his recording career was over. Then he met legendary producer Rick Rubin.

1920: Your non-alcoholic #1 hits

Volstead Act

Edith Day. From “A Century of Pop Music”: “America went dry on January 16, 1920, with the effective date of the Volstead Act barring beer, wine, and liquor…”

Oh, “except (as it turns out) from speakeasies and bootleggers.

“Also in 1920, women finally got the right to vote following ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution…

“‘Crazy Blues’ by Mamie Smith in 1920 became the first authentic blues recording, paving the way for “the Empress of the Blues,” Bessie Smith.

The hits

Dardenella – Selvin’s Novelty Orchestra, #1 for 13 weeks, gold record (Victor). It’s a song that began life as a ballad with words by Fred Fisher, and put to the music written by Felix Bernard and Johnny S. Black in 1919.

Whispering – Paul Whiteman, #1 for 11 weeks, gold record, but in fact listed as a two million seller (Victor) – The undisputed king of dance bands.

Swanee – Al Jolson, #1 for 9 weeks, gold record (Columbia). One of Jolson’s signature songs. George’s Gershwin’s first hit song. “Swanee” was actually introduced by a singer named Muriel DeForrest in October 1919 but was not a success until Jolson performed it in December 1919 at a Winter Garden show. It was then added to the score of his show, “Sinbad”.

When My Baby Smiles At Me – Ted Lewis Jazz Band, #1 for 7 weeks (Columbia). Music by Bill Munro with words by Andrew B. Sterling and Ted Lewis.

The Love Nest – John Steel, #1 for 4 weeks (Victor). From the musical, “Mary”. Written by Louis A. Hirsch and Otto Harbach.

Hold Me – Art Hickman, #1 for 3 weeks (Columbia).

The “St. Louis Blues” – Marion Harris, #1 for 3 weeks (Columbia). She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs.

The Japanese Sandman – Paul Whiteman, #1 for 2 weeks (Victor). This also-popular flip side of Whiteman’s famous career-launching hit “Whispering”.

I’ve Got My Captain Working for Me Now – Al Jolson, #1 for 2 weeks (Columbia). A great revenge song.

The Love Nest – Art Hickman, #1 for 2 weeks (Columbia).

Alice Blue Gown – Edith Day, #1 for 1 week (Victor). From the 1919 musical “Irene”.

2020 Census Coming; Please Respond

Count everyone who lives in the United States as of April 1, 2020

Invitations for the 2020 Census are coming to 140 million US households March 12-20. “For the first time, nearly everyone will be invited to respond online, by phone or by mail.” In fact, my form arrived on March 12.

A sample of the 2020 Census questionnaire is available on 2020census.gov” along with additional information. “The invitation mailings are addressed to ‘Resident’ at the household address and do not include an individual’s name. Some areas will receive “information on how to respond online. Households in areas of the country that are less likely to respond via the internet will also receive a paper questionnaire in their first mailing, along with information on how to respond online.

“Along with the invitations, people can expect to find an overview of the census, a description of language assistance in English plus 12 non-English languages and a census ID number linked to their address. About 13 million households across the nation will receive bilingual English/Spanish invitations and questionnaires…

How are we doing?

“The Census Bureau has created an interactive response rates map at 2020census.gov/response-rates so America can keep track of how they’re doing. Beginning on March 20, the map will be updated daily to reflect current response rates from communities around the country. For comparison, the map also displays the final response rate from the 2010 Census.”

Here’s a 10-minute video that explains the process of filling out the form.

This online capture of data is a new thing for the decennial Census. Two things occur to me, one of which I’ve thought of many times before. One is that I hope that people respond as soon as possible. It saves the government, i.e., the citizens, money. Check out this schedule:

Calendar

March 12-20: The U.S. Postal Service will deliver initial invitations to respond online and by phone. Areas that are less likely to respond online will receive a paper questionnaire along with the invitation to respond online or over the phone.
March 16-24: Reminder letters will be delivered.
March 26-April 3: Reminder postcards will be delivered to households that have not responded. [Additional expense]
April 8-16: Reminder letters and paper questionnaires will be delivered to remaining households that have not responded. [Ditto]
April 20-27: Final reminder postcards will be delivered to households that have not yet responded. [Ditto]

If a household does not respond to the census, a census taker will follow up in person. [A lot more of an additional expense.] In most cases, this will begin in mid-May and conclude in late July.
Households can still respond on their own during this period, and if they do, they will be removed from the nonresponse follow-up workload. People are encouraged to answer all questions on the 2020 Census to avoid having a census taker knock at their door.

If you do it correctly, and early, not having a Census worker come to your door will also be a safer choice. With concern over COVID-19, the online/mail choice will not only save money, but it will be the healthier choice.

Since 1790

“The U.S. Constitution mandates a census of the population every 10 years. Responding to the 2020 Census is easy, safe and important, and it’s key to shaping the future of communities. The goal of the 2020 Census is to count everyone who lives in the United States as of April 1, 2020 (Census Day). Census statistics are used to determine the number of seats each state holds in the U.S. House of Representatives and informs how billions of dollars in public funds are allocated by state, local and federal lawmakers for public services like emergency response, schools, hospitals and bridges over the next 10 years.”