September rambling #1: Cheap Prosperity Gospel

the last surviving veteran of the Boer Wars

Hell hath no fury like Mother Earth scorned; Floods in India, Bangladesh, Nepal kill over 1200

Don’t Fall for Hurricane Charity Scams

Was Barack Obama President During Hurricane Katrina? Did Trump Saved Two Cats After Hurricane Harvey? And how are these even asked?

Obama on DACA and fate of 800,000 uncertain

The foundation of this presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy

The hateful beliefs The Nashville Statement endorses have real-life, devastating consequences to LGBTQ people. In response to it, a Nazareth Statement

When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer

How America Lost Its Mind

The Cheap Prosperity Gospel of Trump and Osteen

Holy tabouli! Shawarma Law – not sharia law – is taking over Dearborn

Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world

Mel Brooks, The Producers and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis

The White Flight of Derek Black

This is true: An episode of the 1950s western TV series ‘Trackdown’ featured a snake oil salesman named ‘Trump’ who promised to build a wall in order to prevent the end of the world

Online Censorship: A Global Map & Ranking of Every Country’s Internet Restrictions

Hollywood was exploring sexuality, gender, and feminism in the 1930s—but one man stopped it

I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life. I’m panicking, just a bit

How are you? An answer from someone with Asperger’s

Why Is Male Anger So Threatening?

That old gang of mine – Arthur on aging, and John Green turns 40

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

Places In Idyllic 1960s Postcards Have Transformed Into Scenes Of Abandonment

Richard Anderson, of ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ and ‘Bionic Woman,’ Dies at 91

Shelley Berman, Stand-Up Comic Who Skewered Modern Life, Dies at 92

George Frederick Ives– when he died in 1993 at the age of 111, he was the last surviving veteran of the Boer Wars

Now I Know: The Rhino Guards and Why the Rainbow Tastes Different Depending on Where You Are

MUSIC

September -Earth, Wind & Fire

Alf Clausen has created many classic ‘Simpsons’ songs

K-Chuck Radio: Studio 54 hangovers for a 54 year old man

Coverville 1183: The Squeeze Cover Story II

Thriller – Kentucky Vocal Union

Alan Lomax

The Shaggs Reunion Concert Was Unsettling, Beautiful, Eerie, and Will Probably Never Happen Again

Do bootlegs matter? What Discogs’ new crackdown means for the site’s future

Spotify Says They Don’t Owe Anything for ‘Mechanicals’

August rambling #3: struck by a cow

’twas but a glancing blow

Professor Jonathan Frink Sr, voiced by Jerry Lewis

U.S. Productivity: What Is It, How to Calculate It

Workers, the labor movement and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Play The Bail Trap Game!

Hitting the pavement instead of the sheetcake

Vice News/HBO Documentary on Charlottesville

Vloggger brothers: Race is uncomfortable for me to talk about

Kim Kingsley: My Life Lessons in Rust Belt Racism

Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago

Kickstarter: Mine! : a comics collection to benefit Planned Parenthood

8 years of suffering under Barack Obama

Religion for the Nonreligious

Alaska’s permafrost is no longer permanent. It is starting to thaw

The yard of campaign yard signs

Forgotten Technology: Man Lifts 20 Ton Block By Hand

Warren Roberts: Reflecting on my blogs at the Times Union

REVIEW: “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Mac-Haydn – the Wife and I saw this show. It was great, but we were so near the stage we feared that we’d have our feet being stepped on. And I was struck by a cow – seriously. A stuffed cow that was launched from the French castle; ’twas but a glancing blow

Jay Thomas on Letterman.- The ‘Lone Ranger’ Story (2014)

Which Gaming Console Was the Most Popular?

Tony Isabella: To Black Lightning, with love

Now I Know: The Political Race Which Was, Literally, a Race and Drinking and Drive-Overs

Give the back of your hand to opisthenar

THAT GUY AND HIS FAMILY

Friedrich wrote letter begging not to be deported

The White nationalist House

The Message in Joe Arpaio’s Pardon and Fascism as a Unifying Principle

The Constitutional Crisis Has Begun

DJT’s list of false and misleading claims tops 1,000

How He Uses Deceit And Propaganda To Shape Perceptions

The Village Voice did a profile back in 1979—nothing’s changed, he’s always lied

How the Secret Service Treats Protestors

How he Ruined My Relationship With My White Mother

Chelsea Clinton comes to Barron’s defense after conservative criticism

MUSIC

Housequake -Prince, live (1987)

Waiting For The Waiter – MonaLisa Twins ft. John Sebastian

Coverville 1182: August birthday cavalcade

It’s Good News Week – Hedgehoppers Anonymous

K-Chuck Radio: I want a Beach Boys a cappella album right now!!

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Barbershop Harmony Society

Gated reverb: The sound of the ’80s

Gordon Lightfoot’s 10 Best Songs

Gene Kelly would have been 105 this month

The Good Old Days, and Two Lost Souls – Jerry Lewis in Damn Yankees

Rent Party Rag – Spider John Koerner

Sesame Street: ’80s Music Mashup Parody and El Patito, featuring Ernie and Rosita

Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away, by Percy Grainger

Hello Goodbye – the Beatles

July rambling #2: eclipse simulator


The Uninhabitable Earth

An Iceberg the Size of Delaware Just Broke Off a Major Antarctic Ice Shelf

Senator Al Franken and David Letterman in Boiling the Frog

How a Company You’ve Never Heard of Sends You Letters about Your Medical Condition

The End of the American Experiment

Pentagon study declares American empire is ‘collapsing’

Enraged by 18th-Century Custard Recipe: Orange Fool

Simply The Worst Human Being We Can Imagine?

Natalia Veselnitskaya was no stranger to Trump business; the timeline so far

Donald Jr. Reviews Famous Works Of Literature (satire)

Ivanka Inc

Crackdown on immigrants shakes upstate New York economy

He Became a Hate Crime Victim. She Became a Widow

So this one time at a journalism conference…

Emmanuel Carrère’s “The Kingdom” explores how a tiny sect became a global religion

Three Misunderstood Things, including Christianity and abortion

How to Talk With Religious Conservatives About LGBT Rights

The Religious Left is getting under right-wing media’s skin

The invention of heterosexuality

When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code

The Origin of ‘Husky,’ the Word That’s Traumatized Generations of Fat Boys

The Librarian Who Took On Al Qaida

Higher education and budget cuts

How One Leader Set a Toxic Tone, Spurning Allies She Needed Most (Shirley Jackson of RPI)

How Andrew Cuomo Keeps the Left in Check

Join in this first-of-its-kind citizen science project, gathering scientifically valuable data from the total solar eclipse that will traverse North America on August 21, 2017; here’s the eclipse simulator; ALB will only get 70%

The Rise and Fall of Toronto’s Classiest Con Man

Why Popularity Matters So Much—Even After High School

Leonard Maltin (Critic): If you’ve never seen silent films, or foreign language films, if your education with film begins with Star Wars then you’re handicapped

Oscar-winner Martin Landau, who starred in ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘Mission: Impossible,’ dies at 89 – before that, he was a cartoonist

Kermit voice actor Steve Whitmire devastated to lose job after 27 years and Jim Henson’s daughter and son respond; replacements?

A WICKED interview with Winnie Holzman, librettist

Chuck Miller gets a postcard from the 2017 Iowa State Fair Photo Competition

NOT ME: THE STAR spoke with Roger Green, who has been driving hearses for more than a decade. “He said nobody wants their dead in a ‘dead’ hearse.”

Mary Anderson, inventor of the practical car windscreen wiper

There’s No Crying in Professional Wiffle Ball

Now I Know: The New York Police Officer Whose Job is a Buzz and Who Was the Fifth Dentist — That Didn’t Recommend Trident? and A Profitable Way to Stop Telemarketers and The Internet’s Hidden Teapot and The Best Checkers Player in History

MUSIC

Sgt. Pepper – Big Daddy. The whole thing, live

The Strawberry Alarm Clock Celebrate 50 Years of “Incense and Peppermints”

K-Chuck Radio: Awesome and rare 70’s dance classics and Father’s Day Funk

Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly And Bryce Dessner Play ‘Planetarium’ Track ‘Mercury’

Beating the spread

Amat Te Mehercle: The 1960s Classics Teacher Who Translated Beatles Songs Into Latin

Rapp on This: The Slants’ SCOTUS victory

Music shaming and Pooh relating

My knee-jerk reaction was to say Eeyore.

Another from Arthur query for Ask Roger Anything:

Have you ever been chastised by a group you were part of for liking a pop culture performer (band or solo artist)? For example, black people, fellow church members, your group at university, whatever, who collectively disapproved of someone you liked (regardless of whether they knew you liked that act or not). If so, how did that make you feel?

Not that I can recall as a collective. Individuals, I can certainly remember. My sister’s boyfriend in high school who thought my taste in music was too “white”. Then he’d find artists such as Three Dog Night or Blood, Sweat, and Tears and embrace them.

This reminds me that he also liked Bridge Over Troubled Water, the Simon & Garfunkel song, and in fact bought my sister the single. Well, she was disappointed that he had not purchased the album of the same name for her. Shortly thereafter, I bought the LP for me and noticed that the single version and album versions were in different keys! So, thanks, George.

Also, my girlfriend c 1979 had a son who was a teenager, and he really mocked me playing the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever.

I have an extraordinary memory for playing music that I like but that others didn’t: buying my mother Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive, and that was a dud gift. Some of the cast of the production of Boys in the Band finding Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon boring. Friend Carol from high school hated At the Zoo and Strawberry Fields Forever, A DJ I knew giving up on Maybe Tomorrow by the Jackson Five.
***
Tom the Mayor wonders:

Are there any Bands or singers you saw and said to yourself, “I wish they had stayed retired!”

Y’know, I don’t. I figure to let them and/or the marketplace decide. It seems that some artists such as Roger Waters and Fleetwood Mac are doing farewell tours, and that’s cool.

I AM amazed that the Rolling Stones are still at it, though.

What Character in Winnie The Pooh Are You? I read an article years ago that every Pooh character is a personality type.

My knee-jerk reaction was to say Eeyore. But I decided to take one of those highly scientific tests on Facebook. The results: Eeyore:

“You may be the ‘Debby-Downer’ of your group of friends, but that’s just because you’re realistic. You tend to be pessimistic and gloomy at times, but you know when to pull out your smile at the perfect moment. Being very cute doesn’t hurt either.”

July rambling #1: Joe Sinnott, and Marigolds

Where are the boxed prunes?

I’m told kitten pictures are allowed if they’re yours. One of these is now ours, this from 3 years ago.


My wife had foot surgery on the morning of July 5. It was not required, but it was suggested if she wanted to maintain her mobility as she gets older. She’s recovering well.

NRA Issues Call for White Supremacy and Armed Insurrection

Fundamentalism, racism, fear and propaganda: An insider explains why rural, Christian white America will never change – I don’t believe people can NEVER change

My Aunt Had a Dinner Party, and Then She Took Her Guests to Kill 180 Jews

John Oliver exposes The Right-Wing Media Empire Taking Over Your Local News

I Don’t Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People

My Life With a Pre-Existing Condition

Three Misunderstood Things, including The Masterpiece Cakeshop case

NOT ME: Bello, dressed in a white medical coat to conceal an AM-15 rifle, spotted Dr. Roger Green on the 16th floor. “Why didn’t you help me out when I was in trouble?” Bello demanded of Green as he pulled his AM-15 assault rifle from its hiding spot and took aim. [Green as not hit, but one was killed and several wounded before the gunman at the Bronx hospital killed himself.]

The Hijacked American Presidency

Internet Wading: Pride in June

Unspoken Funeral Etiquette Rules Every Guest Should Follow

Jaquandor on choosing happiness

A Name for the Micro Generation Born Between 1977-1983

Understand The Difference Between Second Cousins And Cousins Once Removed

Inker Joe Sinnott, inking the Spider-Man strip at 90. He is one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.

I want to see the production of “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds” at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill

Every TED talk ever

Coca-Cola taste test

C’EST MOI: On Bing …Roger’s got the top search result for Spaulding Krullers; also true on Google

Is Cookie Monster part of the resistance?

In case you need to know, the boxed prunes are next to the raisin in the produce section of the Madison Avenue Market 32, fka Price Chopper.

Now I Know: The Sleep-away Camp That Starts At Night and The Color of Feeling Better and Why (Some) Coins Have Ridges and How Long Would It Take to Count to a Million?

Family Feud: Gilligan’s Island Vs. Batman and Gilligan’s Island Vs. Lost in Space

MUSIC

Moby & The Void Pacific Choir’s “In This Cold Place”

Higher Love – Lilly Winwood and Steve Winwood

K-Chuck Radio: Rock Hits in Early Stereo and Making it on Promo CDs

Someday Baby Blues – SLEEPY JOHN ESTES & HAMMIE NIXON (1935)

Too Darn Hot – Charlie Rosen’s Broadway Big Band with vocalist Alan H. Green

Okie From Muskogee – Phil Ochs (1970/Live At Carnegie Hall)

Lists, to music

Paul McCartney Finally Regains Beatles Rights After Near 50-Year-Long Battle

Annie Lennox Has ‘Potential,’ Purported Radio Station Scout Says

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