RIght Track - Woolery

My friend Brian sent me this wonderful video of how to cut the 1.3 trillion dollars we owe each year from the national budget.  Of course the politicians always threaten social security payments and no wages for vets and the military if we pare things back, but why not these cuts?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV-RqPtT2PU&playnext=1&list=PLA31BDB063313D6F4&feature=results_video
Having watched it a couple of times, I can't find anything wrong with his logic, can you?

Tirade - Sexism

Is it me or are others being annoyed by the stupid sexism displayed on some TV adverts?  The most recent egregious example has a man caught by his "ever so smart" wife stealing office supplies from his child's room.  To make matters worse the child is obviously female as the room is done out in a sickly pink color. Or maybe the "ever so smart" woman is deliberately causing gender confusion.  The man is stealing staples and other supplies and when confronted looks particularly stupid, as he is also found to have a number of toilet rolls hidden under his coat.  His efforts to save money for his firm are thwarted by his "ever so smart" wife, who saves money by using some vendor!  Why is it OK to portray men in TV ads as stupid, greedy and untrustworthy?  Maybe in this case the "ever so smart" wife is really not so smart as she chose to marry this creature.  Come on People!

Music Track - Swing

My thanks to my friend in England, Tony, for sending me this outstanding clip.  It makes me realize what a great departure from the norm - Swing - was back in the days.  And these are young girls; Goodman would be proud. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=L7N6slVrQeY&vq=medium

Bald Eagle

On our walk the other day we heard a very strange sound; it was a sort of high pitched chattering.  I thought it might have been a trapped puppy as we had seen three coyotes running up the road earlier.  But eventually we spotted a bald eagle sitting high up in a tree.  We are known to have them visit us in Big Bear Lake regularly each year, and several days are devoted to counting them by the local biologists.  I have seen them occasionally in the distance but not this close up.  It was quite a thrill, as he/she was magnificent.  No wonder it is the symbol of America.

The white head only appears after about four years, and is the reason that it was called bald, although as you can see it is far from that.

Armstrong

As a cyclist and an avid Tour de France fan, I have to say how sad and disappointed I am at the recent "confession" of Lance Armstrong.  Having watched his glorious successes in seven Tours, it is tough to realise that all along they were the false wins of a cheat.  Perhaps everyone was on the "juice" but even so, his vigorous denials and the many clean drug tests show how bad this entire facade was.  I'm sure that most people who have any interest at all must feel as I do, and that is a feeling of being betrayed and made to feel stupidly gullible, which is perhaps the worst of it.  Also we have lost a huge amount of face to the French!  It will be hard to watch future races with the same enthusiasm.  Having amassed a $100 million fortune, I still can't work out why he would want to go on TV and make this confession.  Why not just find a country with no embezzlement extradition treaty and go away?  The saying of "confession is good for the soul," may be true for the transgressor, but what about the rest of us?

Video - Egg

My friend Paul sent me this interesting video of how to separate an egg yolk from it's white.  You'll have no trouble understanding the commentary I'm sure. http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/cooking/1160651.html
I can still do it with the shells and a bowl, but this is quite good fun.

Sunday's Column - The Opera

As I've taken on the role of cultural advisor to my grandson, Evan, it was only a question of time before he was to experience the high point of man's creativity - the opera.  Now taking him to a crowded opera house with the rich sounds of an Italian opera set in 19th century Japan was of course, likely to be a little risky, but we survived.

The plaza at the LA opera house - the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

He did quite well and certainly perked up at the return of the dastardly Pinkerton to Madam Butterfly after an absence of three years.  This time with his American wife!  Butterfly's end was tragic and as striking as any Hollywood ending could be.  When asked later how he liked it all, he said there were some good tunes. High praise from a 17 year old!  You can read the entire column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Tirade - Chains

We had a particular case of bureaucratic nonsense the other evening here in Big Bear.  It was the Saturday evening in between Christmas and New Years and the ski slopes had been doing a roaring trade.  As usual, at 5:30 the principle road out of town was jammed.  Not wishing our evening cocktail to be halted by such conditions - it was snowing slightly - we pressed on against the traffic to a watering hole in the middle of town.  There was no movement in the on-coming traffic at all.  When we left the establishment, the road was blocked going back and that was on both westward bound lanes.  We decided to go around the lake, and when we arrived back to our area having traversed about 15 miles unnecessarily, we found the cause of the trouble.  A sheriff was parked in the middle of the road, stopping every car and checking with a flashlight to see if chains were attached.  Why?  Normally the traffic is so slow at that time of night under such conditions that they were hardly going to fall off the edge of the mountain.  What was the reasoning behind this particular bureaucratic foolishness?  Most of the people who didn't have chains had to return to town in a very small turning area.  Chains can help in certain conditions, but these were certainly not the ones to stop an entire town from functioning.  How much harm did that experience do to future visits and the local economy?  Come On People!

Right Track - Lilliput

Back in 1726, Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels. It was a brilliant satire of life as he saw it.  But its parodies are still relevant today.  For instance in Lilliput, the Emperor had decreed that boiled eggs should only ever be cracked or cut open at the small end.  This decree had given rise to six rebellions, and the country was still locked in debate with Big-enders and Little-enders at each others throats.  The law had come into effect after the Emperor had cut himself opening the big end.
We seem to still be locked into fierce debate on other matters, like guns for instance with both sides ready to do battle.  And of course, logic has little to do with the matter.
Wayne La Pierre, the VP of the NRA, drove liberals crazy by saying: The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun!"  Well, if you look at the tragedies of recent mass shootings that is true.  Mostly if the gunman is not shot by arriving officers, he will shoot himself.  But you never want facts to get in the way of a good panic, do you?  Incidentally, I'm a Little-ender myself!

Music Track - Chanson de Nuit

Last week I put Elgar's Chanson de Matin (Song of the Morning) on the Music Track.  Here is its sister piece.  Chanson de Nuit (Song of the Night)  See what you think, it only takes four minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkNK83jC08A

Resolution

I was told of a New Year's resolution the other evening.  It was full of trying to be more positive and more careful of relationships - also to try and be more productive in life.  I though it was piffle!  Now as She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) knows, you can't improve on perfection, which is why I never have such resolutions.  However it did occur to me that there might be one resolution that would improve my life, and was certainly better than trying to save mankind and the planet into the bargain.

When our English foster daughter left us many years ago she gave me a wonderful glass tankard.  She had thoughtfully engraved it and I liked it a lot. However, I felt it was so thin that it would break in normal use and so I only used it for special occasions - like when she visited!  So my New Year's resolution is to use it  instead of the rather shabby plastic one I've had for years.  Now that's what I call a real resolution.

Weather

I try not to post too much about the weather as it's mostly boring to people.  However we did hit a new record here the other morning - well, at our house anyway.  Since records began - about eight years ago - our lowest recorded temperature was eight. 

Well, the other morning we hit ONE!  Yes, and that's got an "F" after it; not one of those wimpy "C's" we often see in foreign countries!  Fortunately when I took the dogs out there was no wind blowing as that would have been wicked.  As my father used to say "Cold enough for a back collar stud!"

Accents I

When I first came out here to live in 1982, my ear was very attuned to English accents.  It's not something many English people talk about and I don't know if I'm particularly sensitive to them.  England is a very small country and yet it has an amazing range of accents.  Like America there are basic changes in speech in the North, South, East and West.  I'm not too good at spotting the smaller variations out here I have to say. 
But in England, the differences are quite marked and I think we become very aware of exactly where people come from by their speech. 
On one of my first trips to Big Bear I heard an English woman talking in a restaurant and I knew exactly where she came from.  I spoke to her as she was leaving; "Do you come from the New Forest?" I said.  She turned on me and said quite abruptly: "No, from Totten!"
Totten is about ten miles from the center of the New Forest in Hampshire.  But the fact is she didn't want me to think she had been a forest dweller.  I don't think I could be as accurate these days with my long absence.  Here is Jane Horrocks, who has a rural Lancashire accent.  It's one of the few Northern ones I like.  I takes about a minute to hear her speak. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_lm46Zp74

Sunday's Column - Desert Discovery Center

Many years ago a large rock fell from the skies.  Nobody knows exactly when this happened, but the rock itself is 4 1/2 billion years old.  It's known as the Old Woman Meteorite as it was found by three prospectors in the Old Woman Mountains not far from where it currently rests in the Discovery Center in Barstow.  Since the three men found it, the rock has been all over the country and wound up at the Smithsonian, where a piece was removed for permanent exhibition there.  But the large part has found it's true home.  The column thei Sunday tells of the rock and also the many other things to see at this interesting place just off the 15 Freeway in Barstow.  www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels is the site to visit, when The Sun finally posts the story on line!