October 31, 2005
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
In case you wanted to know, yes the movie for the 5th Harry Potter book is planned and in pre-production. This site has a nice run-down on the major roles and actors.
My Favorite Halloween Cartoon Of The Day
I should attribute it properly, but I don't know who "Reynolds" is.
October 25, 2005
Dumping the 8-track
It was the Autumn 1972. One bright Saturday morning I walked out of my house to get in my 1960 Ford Falcon.
About halfway down the driveway, I realized the door was partly open. When I got to the car, I discovered that during the night, someone had stolen my Craig 8-track player and all my tapes. Craig wasn't the best 8-track player - I don't remember what the high-end players were - and it wasn't the classic - that position was held by the Lear-Jet. But it was a good, solid mid-market line, and now mine was gone. I got a small check from the insurance company - after the deductible I think it was maybe $30. Now, as I said, this was 1972. The 8-track was the king of automotive audio. But there was one problem. Because each tape had 4 segments of equal length, if you had a long song it would sometimes not end before the segment ran out. So the music companies would record the song to fade out at the send of the segment, and fade back in on the next segment. One of my favorite tapes was Chicago II, and this happened right in the middle of the Make Me Smile/Ballet For A Girl From Buchanan suite. The music would be playing, then it would fade, then you'd hear this metallic clunk as the segment changed, and the music would fade back in. Pretty irritating, but that was the world we lived in. Until, for me, September of 1972. (For the record, I don't blame Nixon for the theft of my 8-track player). There was a new thing, just out on the market - the car stereo cassette player. Now, obviously, cassettes had been around. I remember recording songs off the radio onto an old cassette recorder. But for some reason, before 1972, cassette players for the car didn't exist. I think part of the reason was the perception that cassettes weren't sufficiently high-fidelity for commercial success. But by 1972, there were some car cassette players on the market, and I decided to embrace this new technology rather than getting another 8-track player. It wasn't an easy decision, because there weren't many prerecorded cassettes available at the time. 8-tracks would continue to dominate the market for much of the decade. But I'd had enough of the fade-in/fade-out thing. I was now a cassette kind of guy.
What got me thinking about this was this post at Random Fate. Reading Jack's reminiscences of cassettes and the Dolby Noise Reduction system, and his link to a page of images of cassette tapes (warning - this page takes a little while to load completely) brought back memories of my TEAC V5RX cassette recording deck, which I used to record countless albums I owned. I remember the decision process about which tape to use, TDK D-90 or TDK SA-90 (I was a dedicated TDK tape guy), and almost invariably used 90-minute tapes, because most albums fit nicely on a 45-minute side of a 90-minute tape. You never used the 120-minute tapes - they would tend to stretch and distort the music. But I would buy tapes in 10-packs, and use the D-90s for older albums with some pops and scratches, and the SA-90s for the better-condition albums. I spent many hours recording albums on that deck. So, anyway - I bought a cassette player - my memory tells me it was a Realistic from Radio Shack, no radio, just an under-dash cassette model, and embarked into the cassette world. When I sold that car two years later, I moved the cassette player to my next car, a 1968 Plymouth Fury II, from which it was stolen a few months later, again with the loss of all my tapes (stealing car tape players was a big thing in Jackson, Mississippi, in the late 1960s and early 1970s - it generally wasn't a matter of "if", it was a matter of "when". I knew some people who would never buy anything other than cheap tape players because they just assumed it would get stolen). But I was firmly in the cassette world at this point. And still am - while my CDs get most play, I have a CD/cassette in my 2000 Ford Ranger, and use the cassette regularly. Some of the tapes I play are some of those I recorded on that old TEAC deck back in the late 1970s. And somehow, when the time comes to replace my Ranger, I'll figure out a way to play cassettes in the new vehicle. I'm just a cassette kind of guy.
(crossposted to the Busy Day Linkfest)
New Old Music
You know how sometimes you walk around for years thinking you want to buy a particular CD (or album, if you remember those)? You'll hear songs from that CD on the radio and think, "I'm gonna go buy that". But you never do. Or you don't for a long, long time. A year. 5 years. 10 years. In my case, it was 14 years. The CD was Marc Cohn's first CD, "Marc Cohn". Finally ordered it last week, and I wasn't disappointed - it definitely lived up to my expectations. So, what music is on your long-time "gonna-buy" list?
October 21, 2005
Moon Pie Haiku
Niller is killer
Chokkit being also good
Nanner not quite so
October 14, 2005
Things I've Been Doing In The Front Yard
My big project over the summer was building a deck and landscaping where a Bradfordpear used to be. OK, I finished the deck in early summer, and stopped during the heat of summer. I just finished the landscaping last week, it's now a great place to sit in the evenings...
Asters, Clara Curtis chrysanthemum, and cosmos along the picket fence...
A scarecrow!
and here's a little Happy Halloween...
Fall Garden Fest
Every October, Mississippi State University's Extension Service puts on a Fall Garden Festival at their research station at Crystal Springs, MS. They have several acres of ornamentals and vegetables in demonstration gardens. It's a chance to see how different varieties fare in Mississippi's climate, or to compare them to old standbys. There's talks on various garden topics, vendors, information booths, old friends, and new friends. I met a lady from my dad's home town who had known him, my aunt, and my grandfather when she was a little girl in Louisville, MS (in Mississippi, it's pronounced 'Lewis-ville'). Anyway, the skies were incredibly blue, the weather was great, and it was a great day of thinking about gardening. I'll now proceed to bore you with a few pictures...
The Ornamentals Demonstration Garden
The Vegetable Demonstration Garden
This trellis was completely covered by hyacinth bean vine.
Mississippi Tropical
And of course, some plants...
Rose Red Ribbon
Persicaria 'Red Dragon'
Gaura 'Pink Picofee'
Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'
October 13, 2005
Fears Of The Irrational Kind
I've never been accused of being completely normal. I've rarely been accused of being a raving lunatic, mind you, but it has been suggested from time to time that I'm not too tightly wrapped. I think, a little irrationality is a good thing, like crackers in chili, or pepper sauce on turnip greens. But there is one thing about me that those who know about it have called pretty much crazy. If someone is out mowing their yard, I can't drive past with my car window down. I'm absolutely convinced their mower will hit a rock and sling it through the window, hitting me in the head. Now, I can walk past someone mowing their yard, with no problem, no mental or psychological anxiety. Drive by? No way. I'm a math and physics type guy, and I know the combination of events and velocities necessary for such an absurd thing to happen, but that has never satisfied my mind. I've never seen this happen, or heard of it happening. But I know, somewhere out there, a mower and a rock are plotting.
So, anybody else have something like this?
More Mississippi Coast Library News
James at Apropos Of Nothing posted this in a comment, but I thought it deserved a separate post, so I've moved it up. James, send me those links you mentioned and I'll add them.
Harry made reference to my posts regarding the Hancock, Harrison, and Long Beach library systems. I responded by stating that Jackson-George had placed some information regarding the status of their libraries post-Katrina and that I would make it available here on my blog. Since I can't access it at the moment, I'm posting here-- hopefully Harry won't mind too much. I'd also wanted to provide some handy links to various websites, but Harry's blog won't let me. You'll have to check my blog later today for the post with all the bells and whistles.
Hurricane Katrina and the Jackson George Regional Library
October 2005
When the staff of the Pascagoula Public Library began hurricane preparations on Saturday, August 27th, they fully expected to return to work by the following Tuesday. Hurricane Katrina was only a Category 1 storm, and they’d been through these routine preparations many times before.
But a few hours can change everything. Today, you can stand at one end of the building’s first floor and see the opposite wall, without books, shelving, or furniture obstructing your view.
When the Category 4 storm slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29th, she left 6 inches of floodwaters in most of the tightly sealed Pascagoula Public Library, and 3 feet in the mechanical room.
Mold grows quickly in high heat and humidity. As a result, all first-floor carpeting, wood furniture, cabinets, and doors have been discarded by environmental cleanup specialists. Drywall has been removed up to 4 feet. All shelving in the Jackson County Public Law Library, which is housed in one corner of the building, was removed due to mold contamination.
Fortunately, most of the collection was saved. Books now stand in large stacks around the library floor.
None of the remaining seven branches of the Jackson-George Regional Library System received significant damage, and most services have resumed at those locations.
At this time, there is no firm estimate on the cost of renovation at the Pascagoula branch, but repairs are expected to take six to eight months. Meanwhile, clerical staff have been reassigned to other branches, and headquarters staff are temporarily located at the Ina Thompson Moss Point Library.
Although recovery may be slow, from disaster has come opportunity. On opening day, the Pascagoula Public Library will be a fresher, more functional space, with a renewed commitment to providing the services and resources its community needs.
RELOCATED SERVICES:
Currently, most services housed out of the Headquarters/Pascagoula Branch have been temporarily relocated to the Ina Thompson Moss Point Library, 4119 Bellview Street, Moss Point, MS, 39563, 228-475-7462.
These services include:
Administration: Director, Business Office, IT, Personnel, Purchasing, Public Relations, Staff Development and Training. To contact these offices, please call the Moss Point Library, 228-475-7462, please ask for the specific office or the person you wish to reach.
Law Library: 3 computers are set up with Westlaw database access. Very limited print materials available at this time.Call for specific titles. The law librarian, Faith Kelleher may be reached at 228-475-7462.
Pascagoula Public Library : Manager, Carol Mars’ office has been relocated to the Moss Point Library. She may be reached at 228-475-7462.
Reference: If you have a question or need specific information, please call any of the 7 branch libraries for assistance.
Inter Library Loan: Full service is available through each of the 7 libraries.
Genealogy: Measures were taken to preserve all Genealogy materials. There is no access available to these materials at this time.
Youth Services: Story time programs are being held at all libraries. Click here for times and locations. The Youth Services Coordinator, Mary Ann Louviere, may currently be reached by leaving a message at 228-217-0789.
Donations for the Jackson-George Regional Library:
If you would like to help the Jackson-George Regional Library recover from Hurricane Katrina, donations are being accepted through the Pascagoula Friends of the Library organization. Your tax-deductible donations will be used to help replace materials, shelving, appliances, furniture, and fixtures. Donations may be sent to:
Pascagoula Friends of the Library
4119 Bellview Street
Moss Point, MS 39563
October 10, 2005
Katrina vs. Libraries
James at Apropos Of Nothing has a series of posts giving information about three library systems on the Mississippi coast in the aftermath of Katrina....
October 5, 2005
The Ten Commandments
Roy Moore is back, announcing he's running for governor of Alabama. Which means we'll be hearing and reading about the Ten Commandments again. Judge Moore wants them displayed in government buildings. He's not alone. Those advocating such displays hold the Ten forth as a sort of talisman against evil, as if their mere presence would bring righteousness and truth. Let's begin by reviewing the subject of the debate:
1. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt"
2. "Thou shalt have no others gods before me"
3. "You shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Lord"
4. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
5. "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee"
6. "Thou shalt not kill"
7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery"
8. "Thou shalt not steal"
9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour"
10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's"
I include them here because surveys have shown that, even among the most ardent backers of public display, relatively few can actually recite the Commandments in their entirety. But I'm not trying to cast aspersions. I grew up in the Christian church, in United Methodist and Southern Baptist congregations, and I continue to be an active member of a Methodist church. The Ten Commandments are part of my heritage, part of my religious tradition, and part of my belief system. But I don't believe they have a place in government buildings, or on the grounds of government buildings. If you want to display them, start with your churches. I've been in many churches in my life, and I can't recall ever seeing the Ten Commandments on display. I'm sure some church has them, but I suspect they're not prominently on display in many. But that's where they should be displayed.
Government is not about words. Government is about deeds and actions, or it should be, anyway. Not to sound hopelessly idealistic, but the government of the United States should be the implemented will of the American people. That will should be defined based on the moral, philosophical, and theological beliefs of the citizens of this country, within the constraints imposed by the Constitution. And for those who are of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments should be part of those beliefs. That's the proper place for them - written on the hearts and minds of Christians and Jews taking part in the political system - not as a symbol bordering on idolatry, part of a simplistic movement that cheapens their true significance. Despite what Roy Moore will spend his campaign for governor telling you.