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January 29
Archiving
I received an acerbic and very pointed hint from one of my readers to the effect that Overtones had become “very long,” and asking if, in fact, I’m doing a “broadsheet” rather than an honest, classic blog.
As a result (and because I am nothing if not reader-sensitive) I’ve created an archive for Overtones. At the end of each month (or as near to that time as I can come) I will archive each prior month and will keep the archive indefinitely. I will index each month with appropriate links and will, over time, create an overall index. I have not yet fixed the links and anchors in the archives. I will do that as soon as I can.
I will now go lick my wounds.
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January 28
Why Memoirs are Dangerous
The flap this week about James Frey’s substantially made up Million Pieces memoir, for which he was taken to task by Oprah Winfrey, puts me in mind of my essay “The Life stories We Tell” (available on my main web site).
Let’s not worry here about the intentionally misrepresented memoir. Rather, let us admit that any attempt at a memoir is fraught with difficulties. The word “memoir” means, simply, “memory”; and memory is a tricky and unreliable source for truth and fact. As I suggest in my essay, it is not that we lie when bringing things out of memory (though sometimes we do, but that’s another essay). Far more subtle recall emendations occur than we would usually acknowledge or even recognize. These alterations develop over time and have perfectly good reasons for developing.
If one has not taken careful notes from minute to minute or had a lifelong amanuensis present for the events and moments we wish to submit to our memoirs, then what we remember and convey will have come through many filters and have undergone many alterations that remove them from the precincts of fact and actuality.
So while the flat lying that Frey did is one sort of problem that calls the genre of “memoir” into disrepute, the whole idea of a reliable “history” recalled from memory is, as I see it, an unlikely possibility. Do such documents make good reading as stories? Absolutely. But as personal histories they are, shall we say, highly selective.
In other words, no matter whose “memoir” you are reading, have lots of grains of salt nearby.
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January 27
A Brick Testament
A friend sent along a link to a site that is, in and of itself, an illustrated Bible. It is called The Brick Testament. Let the developer tell us what it’s all about.
In answer to the self-posed question, “Who created The Brick Testament?”, the site FAQ says:
There are those who believe it to be divinely inspired, but The Brick Testament has been created entirely by The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith who builds all the characters and settings out of LEGO bricks, then photographs them to create the illustrated stories found on The Brick Testament website and book series.
And in answer to the question, “Are the scenes in The Brick Testament created entirely out of LEGO?,” we are told:
Everything but the background sky is built out of LEGO brand building blocks. Although by far the vast majority of what you see are just combinations of unaltered LEGO elements, there are a few instances where, as a last resort, Rev. Smith has modified LEGO elements with a hobby knife or permanent ink marker. Further, there also are a few select instances of computer graphics used to enhance certain photos (besides the ubiquitous use of speech balloons).
There is a creative genius behind all of this. You can find information about him and his band of evil blasphemers at the rev’s own web site, where you can also read about his TV special, Vendetta, A Christmas Story.
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January 26
Abject Apology
A few readers have gently reminded me that it’s a good idea to keep this blog up to date, no matter how busy I am doing other things. My readers are right. I apologize for an absence of over a week. I’m working on ways to keep this from happening again - one of them being the purchase of a notebook to carry with me on extended driving jobs (I am a chauffeur part time). The notebook that most intrigues me is the new MacBook Pro with the Intel processor. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This is supposed to be an apology. Let it remain that.
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Another Spell Check Failure?
Seen on the back of a tractor trailer cab: “Indomable”.
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Death of a Dancer
Fayard Nicholas, who with his brother Harold formed the most exciting tap-dancing duo in movie history, died on January 24 at the age of 92. The Nicholas Brothers were quite famous in their own way, but because they came into a segregated movie industry in the 1940s their ability to rise to the stardom they deserved - stardom achieved by dancers like Fred Astaire (who acknowledged their greatness) and Gene Kelly - was limited.
The AP obituary notes that “Astaire once told the brothers that the acrobatic elegance and synchronicity of the "Jumpin' Jive" dance sequence in "Stormy Weather" (1943) made it the greatest movie-musical number he had ever seen. In that number, the brothers tap across music stands in an orchestra with the fearless exuberance of children stone-hopping across a pond. In the finale, they leap-frog seamlessly down a sweeping staircase.” I saw this entire sequence several years ago in a documentary about the Nicholas Brothers. It is utterly breathtaking. The film is available at some movie rental stores and at Netflix, by the way, and includes in its cast Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Fats Waller and Lena Horne, among many other black stars of the time.
The AP obituary goes on to say, “Their polished urbanity and classic good looks made the Nicholas Brothers film stars despite the celluloid segregation that relegated them to nonspeaking parts and dance sequences that could be easily cut for racially squeamish audiences in the South. They finally danced with a white star, Gene Kelly, in their last film together, "The Pirate" (1948).” In the documentary I saw, Harold Nicholas said that during the making of “The Pirate,” Gene Kelly got very perturbed with Fayard because Kelly perceived that Fayard was not rehearsing his dances. As I recall it, Harold said that Fayard said something like, “You don’t think I know my steps?” and proceeded to dance out his routine perfectly, prior to this not having visibly danced it at all.
Harold and Fayard continued in show business through the years. Fayard won a 1989 Tony award for his choreography of “Black and Blue. HIs brother Harold died in 2000.
More Nicholas Brothers information is available at their “official” web site.
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January 17
On the Firing Range
The Janus Museum site has a most intriguing video of maintenance man Gus Norbeck indulging in target practice at the Museum Firing Range using “a brand new Red Ryder 1938 model BB gun, as featured in the film Christmas Story,” according to Panabasis, the blog. Despite the reassurance at the end of the video, we remain appalled at Norbeck’s cheekiness.
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January 13
The Beer Maps Project & Other Mashups
NPR ran a story yesterday about Google Maps Mania and their tracking of Google maps “mashups.” NPR describes the story thus:
Google's popular mapping service has inspired people to add their own information to maps. The resulting "mashups" are maps overlaid with clickable icons that provide a unique look at fast-food restaurant locations, crime statistics and other data sets.
Robert Siegel talks to Mike Pegg, whose Google Maps Mania Web log tracks the latest mashups, by category.
One of the most exciting mashups Google Maps Mania is tracking is The Beer Mapping Project, which has this to say about itself:
If you like beer and you like maps, then you may have found the right place.
beermapping.com is a project by someone who likes knowing exactly where he is and how far he needs to go for good beer. At this point, there is only one individual working on the Beer Mapping Project. But that one person has been supported by many friendly craft beer lovers who offer suggestions for new maps and they help by beta testing each map. Use the Contact Us link if you have something to say about the Beer Mapping Project, or if you think you could help out.
Beer Mapping Project is utilizing Google’s Mapping API that is offered free for anyone who is not making a profit or charging users to use the maps that are using it. Each location is pushed through a geocoder service in order to get the latitude and longitude for the particular location. Sometimes these geocoders do not produce results that are exact, leading to locations that are either slightly wrong, or really wrong. Because of this chance of error, please double check with the website of the location you wish to travel to. Do not take for granted that each location is mapped perfectly.
The Beer Mapping project is remarkable for its accuracy and detail. So are the mashups concerned with meteor impact sites and where you’d end up if you drilled through the Earth to the other side. For skiers, there is SkiBonk, which shows all skiing locations in North America and the current conditions at those locations.
I took a look at the Chicago Transit mashup. It’s amazing. It shows all stops on the CTA rail lines. You click on a stop and it raises the standard Google balloon. Inside each balloon are address and CTA schedule information, along with a box that says “Find near this station.” Clicking on this box brings a drop-down menu that offers to find a bar, Chinese restaurant, coffee shop, free wi-fi location or pizza shop. All of these actually should be plural, since the result is Google maps showing multiple such locations for each click.
Google Maps Mania apparently has over 1000 mashups it is tracking. The categories they list are (in their format):
Current Events | Top Picks | Transit and Transportation | Weather and Earth | City Information | Mobile & Wireless | Housing & Real Estate | Business | Stats & Demographics | Employment | Recreation & Fitness | Events & Sport | Travel & Tourism | Blogs & Websites | Web2.0 | Crime & Sex Offenders | General Mashups | Gmaps Viewing Tools | Gmaps Creation Tools | Gmaps Collections | GMaps Games | Inspired By GMaps | Google Earth | Gmaps Japan | Hurricane Katrina
For those of you who are looking for endless diversion while at work, this could be the place to go.
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January 12
The “Invisible” Resume
Today in the Chicago Tribune “Jobs” columnist Carol Kleiman talks about maintaining your “invisible resume.” She credits an HR VP at Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Trevor Gandy, with coming up with the “invisible resume” concept, or, at least, with a name for the idea.
She says:
Gandy, a human resources professional since 1993, says that an invisible resume should be a record of "all those things that aren't on the job posting, such as how you communicate, collaborate with others, meet deadlines and work with various levels of management. . . ."
"Last October, I was part of a brainstorming session we had on career success, and I pointed out the need for a tangible work history--the visible resume, the executive said. "And then I went on to say there also is a need for a resume that lists those things that are not the usual skills and accomplishments but are just as important to your success. I called it the invisible resume."
Gandy's resume, which is valuable for job-seekers and job-holders, may be "invisible," but it should, like a standard resume, be written down.
"Take time to jot down your strengths that go beyond just the baseline skills you have accrued over the years, such as being able to get results through collaboration with others," he said. "Your invisible resume is a record of your level of motivation, your efforts to sustain a high performance. . . ."
I am intrigued that this idea has currency now, to say nothing of a name. For many years I have counseled people to make written inventories of their talents, strengths and deficiencies. It isn’t that one should just have them for having them. Writing the lists down puts them in the forefront of one’s brain. In a situation when one then needs to refer to the list, but does not have the notes to hand, one can recite from the list in appropriate circumstances - performance reviews, for example, or job interviews. One can also place the mental inventory against opportunities to see if, despite lacking something or other on one’s formal resume, one actually could qualify and take advantage of the opportunity.
We shouldn’t take the act of writing it all down lightly. It really does make a huge difference. Too many of us downplay our talents and abilities without justification. We minimize or ignore our abilities for all sorts of unhealthy reasons, but usually it’s because we really can’t recall some, many, or any of them when unexpectedly - or even expectedly! - called upon to do so.
And, as I’ve told too many people to count, it’s not as if anyone else is keeping the inventory for you. Your relatives, friends, enemies, bosses, associates, and other observers who bother to keep anything at all in their heads about you keep a very selected list derived from very limited exposure to you. The only person who sees your totality is you, since you are the only person who lives with you 24 hours a day (unless you’re getting 24-hour-a-day nursing care, in which case you don’t need any of this right now).
So make the lists. Don’t shy away from any aspect of the lists. Be honest with yourself. Don’t be hypercritical. Just be honest.
Oh, and one other thing. Making the lists will require more than one attempt. Start them. Then you’ll think of other things. Eventually you’ll know when the lists are essentially done. Once you feel you’ve got things where you want them, start thinking about how you can best use the positive things and about how you can go about fixing the deficiencies, if they need fixing. They might not need anything done about them other than that you recognize them. If one or more of them is getting in your way, then either develop a plan to fix them yourself or get some help with them. But, again, plan also on concentrating on your assets, abilities, and talents and on ways you can make them work for you.
I can guarantee you that once you seriously embark on this little project, you’re going to be surprised at what you turn up. In fact, you’ll probably put on your deficiencies list that you hadn’t thought to do this before.
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January 11
What It Takes to Get to 118%
We received this formulation from Bob Stone, our Technology Company correspondent. We have no idea of its provenance, but find it most instructive nonetheless.
What Makes 100%? We have all been at meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
And,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%
AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.
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January 10
The Fun You Can Have With Computers
I’ve spent the last few days rebuilding my daughter’s PC. It took a while to figure out that our inability to get onto the Internet and to apply any Microsoft update to the operating system derived from invasion by a VX2, a particularly nasty form of spyware that ultimately locks up a system by overloading it with pop-ups, especially if one is using Internet Explorer.
Fortunately, Lavasoft has a VX2 remover that is currently an add-on to Ad-Aware, and it very efficiently removes VX2s. I used it. It worked. And suddenly I had the connection to the Internet back, which also occasioned the return of the icon in the system tray telling me that Microsoft updates were available. I knew that this would be, at least at first, the update to SP2 on Windows XP Home. I had attempted to get this update done several times, and had run up against an “access denied” error, stopping the update and causing the update program to back out and to restore what it thought was there before it started. The cure for this to enable “verbose logging” (Microsoft support article 906485) then to change a Windows registry key, altering its “permissions (Microsoft support article 873148). Once those things are done, theoretically an SP2 update will flow smoothly.
But one of the things the articles don’t tell you is that if you have reason to reboot between enabling verbose logging/changing permissions in the registry key and running the SP2 update again, you are setting the registry back to what it was before you “fixed” it. I did, indeed, have to reboot. Not knowing that I had restored that non-permissions, I ran the SP2 update again. Of course, it crashed at the same point with the same “access denied” message, only this time in rolling back to what it deemed the spot it had started from Windows blew away connection by any browser with the Internet. I could still “ping” sites from the command line, but nothing I did restored the handshake between a browser and the outside world. So I tried to run an SP2 update from an SP2 disk I have. Unfortunately, one cannot run such updates without a connection to the Internet. This update failed also, though with different errors. so now I was really, in a world, hosed.
I knew that this meant having to repair and restore the operating system. Unfortunately, this computer (from MicroCenter - one of their PowerSpec computers, which really are quite good) had an OEM version of Windows on it - and as is the case with many computer vendors these days, no Windows disks came with the system. I momentarily thought about borrowing someone’s Windows disk just to run “Windows Repair” but rejected the idea for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the likelihood that the OS would recognize the Windows disk I would be using as foreign and not associated with the computer I was working on - and would end the process.
So out I went to MicroCenter, where I bought an Upgrade version of Windows XP Pro with SP2 built into the upgrade. Worked very nicely, thanks. I’ve added the necessary anti-infection agents: AdAware, SpyBot and Mcafee Anti-Virus/Firewall. I intend to lock down my daughter’ system tightly, and to let her figure out how to let in what’s legitimate and to exclude that is not.
Now to call Microsoft so that I can enjoy the delightful process of entering endless codes to validate my daughter’s Office installation. After that, I hope to convince her to get off of MSN and Hotmail and onto something like Firefox and a separate e-mail address and client. Not that they’re invulnerable. But they sure isn’t as vulnerable as Explorer.
Meanwhile, oh, how I would like to meet the creators of any of these spybots and adware and viruses and worms. We would have some interesting times.
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Important Policy Statement
Following the lead of the webmaster at The Janus Museum, we here at Overtones wish to make it clear that we refuse to mention spanking. We refuse to engage in such crass methods of drawing search engine spiders here just to pull in people who are looking legitimately for sites that mention spanking, which we do not do. We feel that other more refined methods for generating traffic would be not only in keeping with the tastefulness of this blog, but also better for the health of our target audience, which would not do searches for sites that mention spanking, as we do not.
We will refuse to mention spanking on a weekly basis so that our position (which is not in any sense missionary or doggy style) is clear. No spanking. No b&d. No voyeurism either.
Thank you.
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January 8
Even More on Lawsonomy
Prolific correspondent Allan Janus offers two more photos for our delectation. And we call your attention to an exciting web site.
The first photo is a group gathering of the Direct Credits Society (date unknown, though the outfits would suggest it isn’t just yesterday):
We note a certain ubiquitous presence in this photo and assume that the person is a Lawsonomyst of some importance.
The second photo, also of uncertain date and provenance, is a fine example of a genuine Direct Credits hat. We can only be certain that it is a late Fall or Winter scene, and probably recent. The model bears a striking resemblance to Gus Norbeck, the maintenance man of The Janus Museum, about whom Allan has little good to say. But a picture is a picture.
Finally, we note a fine web site that chronicles the life of Alfred Lawson and in particular a representation of a splendid march written in 1919 by Edgar Croft and dedicated to Lawson’s airliner. It is entitled “The Airline March,” the title page of which has some excellent information on The Lawson Air Liner, which carried 26 passengers and flew at 100 mph. Clicking on the forward arrows at the top of the page will take you to the very music itself. If anyone records it, please send me the sound file and I will post it here.
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January 6
More on Lawsonomy
Reaction to our story
First, our correspondent from the middle-northwestern Chicago collar counties, Mike Prusha, had this trenchant comment, for which we thank him:
I too have often passed this sign on my way to my sons' undergraduate and graduate schools and in later years to see two of my grandchildren and their parents, or as I like to call them, heirs to the Prusha hundreds.
Thanks to your blog article I can say with assurance that this is one of the few institutions of higher learning which did not refuse my application or, if they did accept me, soon asked me to take my academic endeavors somewhere else.
In my quest to become more well rounded (not physically) I read with interest their beliefs, tenets, and teachings. Although I don't agree with any of it, I accept their right to hold these ideas. In fact, Lawsonomy don't bother me.
Photographs
Next, correspondent Allan Janus, in appreciation for our posting information about his “hero,” Alf Lawson, submitted this photograph of Lawson’s airliner and of some of his key people. Lawson is third from the right; the gentleman on the far right is strangely familiar.
Allan has also promised to send along a photo of a genuine, rare “Direct Credits” hat. As soon as we have it we will post it
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January 5
Lawsonomy
I drove up to Milwaukee from Chicago last week. As I got onto I-94 I wondered if a sign I remembered was still there not too far past the Illinois/Wisconsin border. And it was. At about Mile 336 on the east side of the highway is a long, low sign advertising “University Lawsonomy.”
A few years back my spouse was working at University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She lived in Milwaukee most of the time and we commuted one way or the other on the weekends. I saw that sign many times and puzzled about it for a long time. It’s probably 25 feet in length and 3 feet in vertical width, standing 4 feet off the ground in a cleared spot at the edge of a corn field.
Finally one day I noted its existence on a list server and wondered what it meant (not thinking, of course, that, as Casey Stengel said, I could “look it up” on the Web). Immediately our now Washington/Maryland correspondent, Allan Janus, possibly of The Janus Museum, informed me that the University commemorated and carried on the work of an American original, Alfred Lawson, one of history’s great aviators and probably the first to fly passengers on commercial routes in the US.
But his aviatorish exploits are not the reason for “University of Lawsonomy” (the sign painter forgot the “of” apparently). Rather, the University carries on Lawson’s work and teachings about the true nature of the universe, combined under the general rubric of “Lawsonomy.”
And it is Lawsonomy that makes Lawson an “original” - or, more to the point, an eccentric of a deeply American sort. I hesitate to call him, as some do, an American nut case because Mr. Janus would object, having fallen in with a group of Lawsonites one day and been given a Lawsonomy hat, which made Lawson a hero in his eyes. Not only that, Allan gave me a genuine polyester “Direct Credits” hat that I treasure. So my objectivity is probably horribly compromised. But I’m digressing.
Here is Wikipedia’s short entry on Lawson:
Alfred William Lawson (1869-1954) was a professional baseball player from 1887 through 1908 and went on to play a pioneering role in the US aircraft industry. He is frequently cited as the inventor of the airliner.
He later propounded his own philosophy Lawsonomy, and the Lawsonian religion. He also developed during the Great Depression the populist economic theory of direct credits, according to which banks are the cause of all economic woe, the oppressors of both capital and labour. Lawson believed that the government should replace banks as the provider of loans to business and workers. He founded the so-called University of Lawsonomy to spread his teachings.
He has been described as the "Leonardo da Vinci of kooks".
I highly recommend your visiting the Lawsonomy site. Particularly I refer you to the online complete books, including Lawsonomy itself and such chapters as “Zig, Zag and Swirl.” I note in passing that my Unitarian church membership includes a number of physicists. I told one of them about how Lawson threw all theories of physics into a cocked hat, and read a relevant passage or two to him. He laughed uncontrollably for a long time.
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Cat Language
Speaking of Allan Janus, as I do above, I recently received his very touching and remarkable story of how his late cat Zagnut spoke to him one day.
Here is that story (reproduced by permission).
I was sitting on the couch, reading an improving book, when Cat Zagnut walked into the living room and stared at me. Then he said - "All---aaaaannnnn!"
I was electrified - "You said my name!" I blurted, "Say it again!"
"All---aaaaannnnn!" - he said.
I was beginning to scope out how best to make my fortune out of this - launch him on Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks", then do a CD, then...
...Then he brought up a rather large hairball.
"Allan" means "to ralph" in Cat.
Allan’s permission, by the way, provides insight for you in how we bloggers scratch each others’ backs (and another valuable Zagnut story):
Oh, sure - go ahead - very pleased! Then I can link to it on my blog. Then, you can mention that I have a link on my blog to your blurb on my anecdote on your blog . We'll be set for material for months! As it happens, I just ran my other Zagnut anecdote - of how he saved my life and stuff.
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January 4, 2006
Fado and Madredeus
A couple of years ago I heard my first Fado music on a Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ-FM) program called “Passport,” a “World Music” show hosted by the station’s very knowledgeable music director Chris Heim. She played a song or two by a Fado artist named Ana Moura from her CD Guarda Me a Vida Na Mao (loosely, “Keep My Life in your Hands”). I was fascinated by the genre, which has been part of Portuguese life since the early 19th century and is a style “characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor [and] usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade, a word with no accurate English translation; it is a type of longing, and conveys a complex mixture of sadness, pain, nostalgia, happiness and love,” according to Wikipedia.
Yesterday PRI’s The World ran a piece on the Portuguese band Madredeus, their lead singer Teresa Salgueiro and their latest CD, Faluas do Tejo, about which Salgueiro said, “It's Faluas do Tejo, something about a boat that used to exist in the river here in Lisbon in the River Tejo." According to the interviewer, “The CD's cover shows an old wooden ship called a falua. Faluas used to be a common sight on the Tagus River, leaning into the wind, ferrying passengers up and down Lisbon's waterfront.”
As I listened to the interview, I was remembering the Ana Moura songs I had heard and wondering what Salgueiro and Madredeus might sound like. Then came part of the title song. Maybe it’s just me, but I was instantly riveted. What is it about that voice? Such feeling, such longing, such an artist! To hear the entire song - probably the entire CD - you can go to the Madredeus web site and once on the meaty part of it, click on the image of the CD. The song will start playing, and at the top of the frame will be links to all the songs. One song that really displays her singing, by the way, is the third one on the list at the top (“A Vaca da Fogo”); and one of the delights is the lovely “A Andorinha da Primavera,” the second song, with a bouncy back beat to it.
I don’t understand a word of what she’s singing. I don’t care. And I’m very intrigued by Fado in general. You might be too.
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