Music Track - Disco!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IdEhvuNxV8
I'm never quite sure how music fashions come and go.  To me interesting music is always just that - interesting.  But things do change for people and not always for the best.  The fashion of Disco came and went in the late seventies.  At the time I rather liked its energy and rhythm,  Perhaps the most readily identifiable voice of that era was Donna Summer, who died so sadly last year at age 63.  Also the Bee-Gees who I never liked by the way.  But that's just me.  Here's hot stuff by Ms. Summer.  Enjoy!

Colors

I have a small theory.  When things are going poorly in a society, people reflect this by wearing dark or very muted colors.  Recently, I've noticed that the number of dark colored cars far outweighs the brightest colered ones; I would say by an 85 to 15 ratio.  This is just a rough estimate as I certainly haven't carried out any proper count.

Similarly I've noticed that dark colored clothing is much more popular than brighter stuff.  And this is at a time when technology has made it much easier to produce bright colors for nearly everything we use.  But it's not drawing many buyers.  Why is this?  My theory is that in spite of being told that everything is getting better, people can tell that they are not improving.  Hence a need to become less flamboyant and leaving the bright seventies type clothing in the back of the closet.  It's a shame, I think.

Clocks Back!

By now everybody should have adjusted to their clocks going forward -  unless you live in Arizona of course, where they enjoy permanent summer time.  This is another thing we can blame George W. Bush for.  He signed into law that we could put our clocks forward a couple of weeks earlier than normal and leave them the same a couple of weeks longer in the fall.  Considering that I used to regularly fly around the country and also abroad with some quite difficult time changes, I can't understand why just one hour's difference messes me up so much.  Just another annoying aspect of the aging process, I supppose.  I wish someone would explain why we have to do this twice a year.  I see no benefit in it at all.  Why can't we just stick with permanent summer time, like Arizona.  But for now let's just blame George W. Bush!

Video - My New Snow Shovel

Having shovelled my fair share of snow this winter, I can truly appreciate this.  Funnily enough it was sent to me by my friend Denise who lives in Florida.  No shovelling for her! http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tPg1ZMiC9pA

Sunday's Column - RAFFMA

This week we visit the Robert and Francis Fullerton Museum at the State University of San Bernardino or RAFFMA as they prefer to be called.  It's always an interesting place to go as they have several visiting exhibits as well as a permanent one of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Here is Eva Kirsch in front of a photograph of some Chicana Art from one of the walls in LA.  The city used to have many of these types of mural, but with the passing of time most of them have disappeared.  Fortunately photographic records are still around for us to enjoy, as it is an art form that is quite unique.
You can read the entire article at www.sbsun.com/trevortravels

Right Track - Newtown, CT

I'm grateful to my friend Brian for this interesting track.  It's a father of a child - not one who was killed - in the Connecticut town of Newtown, where the Sandy Hook school experienced the tragedy that killed so many children.  His response has naturally not been covered by the Media.  I wonder why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYLr6u2FyY

Tirade - Sequester

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is pretty tired of our politicians arranging monthly crises for us to endure.  If it's not another fiscal cliff it's now the sequestration.  Is it me or does anyone resent the amount of aid we give to those who hate us around the world, while our leaders threaten to cut off help to deserving people here. 
I remember years ago in the UK, there was some similar event, manufactured by the Pols.  Immediately, the grass was left to grow on the roads and roundabouts, and the facilites for mentally challenged people were closed.  How unpleasant these politicians must be.  But here, we can afford to send a bunch of F-15 fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  How stupid is that?  Come on People!

Music Track - Pathetique

This is sheer genius, both on the part of the composer, Beethoven, and also the pianist, Barenboim.  It's about 4:50 minutes and the tempo, and the quality of tone are perfect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJpSqC86vaw  See if you agree with me.

Electricity

Although I was born a pretty long time ago, I've always had electricity at hand.  One set of grandparents had limited service with some rooms only lit by paraffin - I can still recall the smell it sent out when you went in there.  Mostly we had just a couple of "power points," and of course the hanging center light cords.  But it was there for us and it was only during the latter stages of the war that we experienced "power cuts."  Then you'd be plunged into darkness.
It doesn't happen too much these days, but up in the mountains we get power outages as everything is above ground on poles and wind and snow will take out transformers.
The other day, while composing something amazingly important on the computer, the power went.  And it didn't come back for a couple of hours.  There is nothing more annoying under these circumstances than to wander into a room looking for something and putting on the light switch and nothing happens.  One feels such a fool.
A couple of Christmases ago we had a power outage that lasted for a full day.  We had our 15-year old grandson with us and his frustration at not being able to access his electronic games was something to see.  But grandma produced that wonderful standby - board games.  We survived, but it gave us all a greater appreciation of one of modern life's necessities.

Happy Birthday!

Today marks the 115th birthday of the World's oldest woman, Misao Okawa.  Last week she was given a plaque for  being the world's oldest by the Guinness Book of Records.

I can't say she looks particularly happy at the award, but then if you were born in 1898, you're probably pretty ticked off with everything by now.  Anyway today is her birthday and I hope she enjoys it.  There is a Japanese man who is about forty days older than her.  And there are 54,000 people in Japan who are over the age of 100.  Amazing!

Video - Glacier

I'm grateful to my friend Geoffrey for sending me this video of a glacier "calving."  It' takes about 4:30 and shows you the force of nature - amazing stuff! http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0

Sunday's Column - Colton Museum

This week is about a visit to the Colton Area Museum.  The building is rather fine and is in itself of some interest.  The great industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, arrived from his native Scotland virtually penniless.  He rose to great wealth and he put it down to his being having access to a good library and being able to read.  As a consequence, he donated 1,689 libraries to the country and Colton's served in that function from 1904 until it closed and moved its volumes in 1984.

Today the museum houses a lot of different artifacts from the past including a special section devoted to the Earp family.  Virgil became the first sheriff, and Wyatt was known to have stayed with him several times. Morgan, who died as a result of the fight at the OK corral is buried nearby as well.

If you go to the column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels you will also find out what the word "brake-beam" means!

Right Track - Feminism

I think I've always been a feminist.  It always seemed logical to me, and we had several females in the family too.  There was never any doubt that when it came to home matters, my mother's view was law.  I've never understood why women cannot receive equal pay to men for equal work either.  But I do have some reservations regarding putting women into front line positions in the military.  For a start, it's accepted that women are not as physically strong as men, and we do not under any circumstances want to lower the standards of the training that they have to complete.  If you are alongside someone on the battle lines, I think it's reasonable to want that other person to be able to get you out of there if the need arises.  Secondly, front line troops do have to live in pretty rough conditions, often with minimal clothing and a total lack of privacy. Is this a reasonable atmosphere for women, or are we gong to have to re-jig the entire approach to cater for them?  The final concern I have is the fear of having them captured.  Do we seriously believe that their captors will behave like gentlemen?  And what effect will this have on the morale of the rest of the troop and also the country?

Trevor's Tirade - Titles

Have you noticed that one absolute certainty of guilt these days - well if you're a man - is that the media and the authorities start calling you Mr.?  There is no better confirmation of guilt than to hear a sheriff or deputy refer to you as Mr. Summons.  With that title, the party is over.  Even OJ was referred to as Mr. Simpson!
Growing up as a child, one was always referred to by one's Christian name - that's first name for people living on the left hand side of the Atlantic.  To be called by one's honorific was something to strive for.  But then there was this weird American idea that if you called people by their Christian name everyone would get along better. Why?  There is nothing more annoying to me than to have some child come up to me and call me Trevor, when I haven't invited him to do so.  But maybe that's just me.  Nonetheless, if we can refer to criminals as Mr., why not the rest of us?  Surely a criminal on the run, like our local "hero" Dorner, loses any respect and should be referred to by only his surname. Come on People!