Saturday, 28. November 2009, 19:26:39
Culture, Television
Dr. Travis Stork.
Dr. Travis Stork is the host of the medical/talk show
The Doctors which currently airs here in the U.S.
Mon-Fri just prior to prime time.
I think it's good that he always wears his surgical
scrubs on the show. You know, just in case he has
to perform an emergency coronary by-pass on a
member of the audience right there in the studio.
(Hmmph!)
Wednesday, 25. November 2009, 21:47:13
Culture
The menu from the State Dinner held last night at
the White House with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh et al.
Except for the prawns, all vegetarian. I was quite
impressed. Quite a change-up from the old roast beef
and boiled red potatoes type dinners they always seem
to have.
Personally I don't mind the expense of this one. Because
I have a feeling that 10 years from now a huge chunk of
our inexpensive green cars are going to be made in India.
Best to get in on their good side right now, yeah?
Tuesday, 17. November 2009, 21:20:26
Cultural Ecology, Movies, Culture
Manhauling a wounded friend outside the
New York Public Library.
I watched The Day After Tomorrow the other
night. The movie portrays quick and massive
environmental disaster on a world scale.
It snows in New Dehli, multiple tornadoes
hit Los Angeles, there is 12 feet of snow
in most of Europe. And as if that is not
bad enough, 3 mega-storm centers merge to
bring the Earth back to a new Ice Age. Jeez,
and I thought I was pessimistic.
As far as I know the science was completely
exaggerated. Not that any of that stuff couldn't
happen, but it wouldn't happen within the short
time period portrayed by the movie. It was a
movie, after all, and certain things were needed
to keep a story together. But nevertheless
that kind of thing could occur -- not in months
but quite possibly in the span of a century.
I think the damage is currently too great. That
there is simply not enough time, given our nature
as human beings, to turn things around to prevent
major disaster. Already we are in the 25th hour.
I guess that's one thing about the movie that I do
think was accurate.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
-- William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
Monday, 9. November 2009, 21:06:18
Culture
Prof. Stephen W. Hawking.
A smart guy who has actually done something
positive for the world.
Who are the smartest people in the world? Well this list gives the top
10 humans with the highest I.Q. (Some lists may differ.)
1. Physicist/Engineer Kim Ung-yong (210)
2. Bouncer Christopher Michael Langan (195)
3. Engineer Philip Emeagwali (190)
4. World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov (190)
5. Author Marilyn Vos Savant (186)
6. Actor James Woods (180)
7. Politician John H. Sunununu (180)
8. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (180)
9. Mathematician Andrew Wiles (170)
10. World Chess Champion Judith Polgar (170)
11. Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne (170)
12. World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer (167)
13. Mathematician / Physicist Stephen W. Hawking (160)
14. Microsoft Founder Paul Allen (160)
15. Actress Sharon Stone (154)
As I mentioned some lists may differ. I remember reading a few years
back that actress Geena Davis had an I.Q of 160, which would place her
above Sharon Stone. And my guess is that there are a few other
peculiarities about the list as well. It is likely that there are many
people in the world who don't get tested at all but who are extremely
intelligent.
Anyway, that's the list. I notice there are a good number of chess
grandmasters on the list. It's good to know that we have some extremely
intelligent people who are out there helping the world by playing chess.
I am sure too that many evil people through history have been very
intelligent. I suppose the one that comes to my mind first would be
Joseph Stalin. I don't have an I.Q. score for him, but I would say that
what he did in taking a seemingly worthless job like Party Secretary and
turning it into the most powerful political job in the Soviet Union
certainly shows a high degree of intelligence. And yet he murdered his
political opponents, committed genocide, and (in my view) sacrificed the
lives of millions of Soviet citizens playing a "lose the battle, win the
war" strategy against the Nazis.
I've personally known some very intelligent people in my life. Some of
these people while smart also told themselves that they were good, when
they really weren't good at all. I've known smart people who use or
abuse others. And I've known smart people who have been totally
self-destructive.
I think that intelligence is overrated. I think it has its limitations.
That it sometimes becomes flawed. That it can lead to complicating the
world where complication is not needed.
If I were to be given a choice between dating a girl who was smart or
one who was sweet, I would take the sweet girl every single time.
But maybe that's just me.
Now here's a girl who scores very high
on the Sweetness Quotient.
(Drew Barrymore)
Sunday, 8. November 2009, 20:36:51
Culture
What could be better than to take two of America’s cultural obsessions
-- fast food and the automobile -- and bring them together?
Thus, the drive-in restaurant.
There are still a few of them around. But for the most part they gave
way to the greater convenience of the drive-thru window. What was lost
of course was the social networking component of It all. Without the
drive-in young people who wanted to hang out with each other would have
to do it elsewhere.
The car hops that worked at the drive-ins were almost always female and
wore cute outfits. Thus perhaps there were really three elements to the
drive-in -- fast food, the automobile, and sex.
And speaking of sex there was also the drive-in theater. I wonder how
many young people got their first sexual experiences in a car at a
drive-in theater. The drive-in movie combined our love of the automobile
with our love of the movies. Otherwise it really made no sense. If it
rained, you were screwed. The sound quality out of the little speaker
which rested on the edge of your window was terrible. And usually it was
a good long walk to the concession stand.
The automobile never did get mixed up with two of our other cultural
icons, guns and the bible. I think I remember hearing something a long
time back about drive-in churches. But those didn't catch on. As for
combining cars and guns, well, I think everybody can see the public
safety issues that might be involved in that one.
How about guns and family values? Well, sure.
And what about guns and the bible? Surely not...
Did somebody say "guns and the bible"?
Saturday, 29. August 2009, 19:54:52
Culture
I've always thought that you could divide Americans into 2 basic
groups: Those who eat pork rinds and those who don't. The first group
ingest the rather styrofoam tasting pork skin snacks like you would
potato chips, sometimes with a good shake or two of tabasco sauce to
spice them up a bit. Myself, I've never been able to get into them.
In any case they are certainly a very unusual snack.
Americans, especially males, also tend to eat a lot of jerky (beef and
otherwise), as well as those spicy beef sticks like Slim Jims that you
find in bars or at the grocery. Some of those I like and some I don't.
I really like the thin, very spicy Old Wisconsin cocktail pepperoni
sticks. They make a great snack while watching a movie. But you
probably don't want to eat that kind of thing too often unless you are
saving up points for your next coronary.
Every culture has its own foods. And as a matter of course they have
their own snack treats also. Sometimes these snacks translate into
another culture and sometimes they don't. And of course it all depends
on individual taste as well, no matter what the culture.
Yesterday I ran across a photo-essay in the Village Voice about strange
or unusual snack foods from around the world. So I thought I would
present a few of their interesting finds here. (Photographs by the
individual writers involved.)
Ube.
If you like your pastry nice and purple, you
might try this snack from the Philippines.
Squid Balls.
I really don't have to make a joke about this
one, do I?
Patra.
This is an Indian appetizer made of chickpea paste
and lots of spices rolled up in taro leaves. I like
Indian food so I might like this one -- though I'm
not too sure about it coming from a can.
Scrack.
Tiny Italian breadstick type things.
Remember kids, don't do Scrack!
Dried Wild Fish.
'Cause nothing pleases your kids more when they
get home from school than to give them a dried
fish snack.
Naughty Tomatoes.
These are like red crunchy Cheetos with a tomato
flavor that "hits sweet, sour, and spicy notes."
Sounds pretty good.
Hannah Montana Gummies.
The equivalent to Gummie Bears, but in a different
shape. They're supposed to look like guitars. But
to me they look like lizard tongues.
Twiglets.
"A species of pretzel that taste like they've been
dipped in V-8 Juice and then dried in the exhaust
fan of a barn." I think I'll stick with Pretzel Time.
Fried Noodle Sandwich.
Fried ramen noodles, pork, pickled ginger, and mayonnaise
on a steamed bun. I'm sorry, but this just looks like
maggots on a rotting corpse. And trust me, I've seen
maggots on a rotting corpse.
KFC Snack Bowl.
Not to be outdone by the noodle/maggot sandwich, here
in America you can go into a local Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurant and get much the same thing. Or not.
Freakish Sapor.
These are peanuts. But I think I would tend to shy
away from any food item with the word "freakish"
on the wrapper.
Yogurt Scotch.
Yogurt candies with a sweet and sour flavor. I imagine
they taste a lot like Sweet Tarts except more mellow.
But I don't know for sure.
Saturday, 22. August 2009, 21:28:27
Music, Culture
La Place de la Concorde, with
the Luxor Obelisk.
La Place de la Concorde is a large square lying just to the west of Les
Tuileries. It was created in 1755 and has an octagonal shape that
originally (for some strange reason) was surrounded by moats. Then
known as the Place Louis XV, it was the site of an equestrian statue of
the king.
During the French Revolution the name of the square was changed to La
Place de la Revolution. During the Reign of Terror a guillotine was
placed in the square and it became the original site of state executions.
The guillotine was later moved down closer to Les Tuileries. It was said
that the square eventually became soaked in so much blood that cattle
refused to pass over it.
A few years later, during the period of The Directorate, the name of
the square was changed again to Place de la Concorde -- perhaps in the
hope that sanity had at last been regained and that things had settled
down. There were of few more name changes over the years, but eventually
it simply was known as the Place de la Concorde.
During the Second Republic and the reign of Louis-Philippe, La Place
acquired two Italianate style fountains designed by Jacques-Ignace
Hittorff. They date from 1838.
Facing the square to the north are the French Naval Ministry, and in a
matching building the Hotel de Crillon -- where Marie Antoinette played
cards and the Nazis made their headquarters in World War II. Just down
the street and also to the north is the famous Church de la Madeleine.
To the west is the Champs-Elysees and (eventually) the Arc de Triomphe.
To the south lies the Ponte de la Concord and the river Seine. Thus La
Place could offer the newbie tourist a good directional base from which
to explore the city. Although I certainly wouldn't be staying at the
Hotel de Crillon, which is one of those "if you have to ask how much
you can't afford it" type of places.
Lobby of the Hotel Crillon.
Shortly before his military expedition to Egypt in 1798, Napoleon's
mistress Josephine is reputed to have told him "If you go to Thebes,
do send me a little obelisk." Which I think has to rank among the most
naive statements in history. Nevertheless in 1829 France did acquire
two obelisks from Karnak as a gift of the Ottoman ruler. One of the
obelisks was transported to France and in 1836 was placed in La Place
de la Concord. Only one of the two granted obelisks ever made it to
France given the huge technical undertaking involved. The second one
remained at Karnak and was ceded back to Egypt in the 1990s. As for
Josephine, she did not live to see her "little obelisk" reach France
(d. 1814).
The Karnak obelisk is from the reign of Rameses II (Dynasty XIX,
1279-1213 according to the new Egyptian "low" chronology). It is 75
feet tall and weights 280 tons. The triangular cap on the obelisk was
was lost across the millenia, and so the French replaced it with a
gold-plated capstone of similar style. The original base with its
depiction of baboons (a reference to the Book of the Dead) was left in
Egypt, and was replaced by the French with a new base depicting the
logistics of erecting the giant stone.
And thus the obelisk stands today, roughly 3200 years later, in La
Place de la Concorde.
Well my feet are tired (or I guess I should say my fingertips are
tired), and with this I conclude my virtual freebie vacation of Paris
and the 18th century. I certainly did learn a few new things. And
though I will never see Paris, I know that it would be a city that I
would love.
The second, twin obelisk at Karnak (Luxor).
Philip Glass, Prelude from Akhnaten.
"Open are the double doors of the horizon,
Unlocked are its bolts."
(Just click on the pic to play the video on youTube.)
Friday, 21. August 2009, 16:57:57
Culture, Music
Church of Saint Eustache, Paris.
Continuing on my virtual walking tour of Paris and the 18th century.
The Church of Saint Eustache is located in the old market district of
Les Halles not too far from Les Tuileries. It is a classic, Gothic style
church. Construction on the church began in 1532 and it was completed
in 1640. Which is almost as long as it takes to erect the typical
building here in Spokane.
Composer Jean Phillipe Rameau is buried in the church, and there is
a very nice monument to him. Moliere and Cardinal Richelieu were
baptized there, and when Mozart's mother died during their visit to
Paris her funeral mass was said at Saint Eustache.
There is a bust of pianist and composer Franz Liszt in the church. So
far though I have yet to find any direct historical connection between
Liszt and Saint Eustache. Perhaps the bust was simply contributed to
the church as a gift by some benefactor, who knows.
In 1989 Saint Eustache aquired a new organ. With 8000 pipes it is
said to be the largest pipe organ in France. Listening to the organ
on some of the videos on youTube, I can say that it is able to put out
a volume level of truly apocalyptic proportions.
The tomb of Rameau.
The new Van den Heuvel organ.
Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703), "Récit de Tierce."
(Just click on the pic to play the video on youTube.)
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