A LAST-MINUTE POST OF SOME SIGNIFICANCE...
...hurry up, crank it out, another deadline approaches...
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According to the clock on the wall, I have a couple of hours left before midnight, so I'm using that time frame to get this posting done so I'll have my customary two blogs a week turned in. It feels like Extra Creit Work, though. It's not for a class and I'm sure not making any money here. So anyway, bear with me as I try to make some sense of various stuff...
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ISN'T CAPITALISM FUN?: I went to a Wal-Mart store on Thanksgiving Day afternoon, looking to find needed to pick up those paper CD envelopes that I couldn't find elsewhere in town, which is why I'll go to Wal-Mart in the first place. You've gotta admit, they have everything. And, it was just about the perfect day to go to one of those impersonal monolithic centers of commerce. Why? There were only a scattered few customers in there; can you imagine that...a quiet, orderly Wal-Mart? The feeling I get when I go there is one of Inferiority. The ceiling's high, the store shelves are high, the floor plan stretches out forever, there's something like 200 cash registers up front, and the place is usually infested with customers, screaming kids, shouting Moms and Dads, and people who try to kill you with shopping carts, just missing you at the last second. It's easy to feel insignificant and thoroughly intimidated as one strolls thru Wal-Mart. Should I feel badly when I buy something there? In a way, Yeah, 'cos Wal-Mart is one of the most corrupt business institutions out there, but at the same time, hometown folks do work there. So yeah, I'll go to a Wal-Mart occasionally. Very Occasionally. Like, if I need to grab a few fuses at 2 in the morning when my stereo blows out (that actually happened).
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So, it was an instance of some parallel-universe following me around; it had to be. It turns out that a Wal-Mart located in Toronto had to phase itself out and close its big, monolithic doors, and that decision was supported in part by the Canadian Justice System, so said an AP report in today's newspaper. Did I mention this Wal-Mart was the first (and probably only) franchise in North America (and probably the world) to allow its workers to unionize? That's what happened. Wal-Mart ends up having to pay higher union wages, and face harsh scrutiny by the labor union if employees are mistreated, or heaven forbid, discriminated against. That never happens at Wally World, right? So they respond by closing their doors. I'd say someone's hand is in someone's pocket here. Now, Wal-Mart can ship all its merchandise back to the Big, Centrally-located monolithic Master Warehouse and then distribute its goods throughout the Wal-Mart chain. Plus, Wal-Mart can probably write off disastrous business expenses regarding the franchise it closed, and then use its winnings to build another Wal-Mart Right Next Door To You. That's Wal-Mart. The Store That Eats Its Young.
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ST. PETER: "How'd You Get Up Here?" NEW ARRIVAL: "Flu": Another topic in the newspaper pointed out how severe the Flu Can Be. An Oregon Man got this year's "h-1-something or other" flu virus and he almost died because of it. He'd waited a week before seeking medical attention, and was soon totally incapicitated, with the flu wreaking such a wreck of his body that he had to be put on some sort of heart-bypass machine due to severe infection of the heart itself. He lost 25 pounds, and was taken to 3 different medical facilities, including an ambulance ride from Eugene to Portland. What I was looking for in the article was a list of symptoms he'd experienced. The article didn't go that far, but medical personnel said that without the bypass machine, the guy would've died. When I used to wonder, as a kid, "How Can people die because of the flu"? Well, It Can Happen. Something about the aging process...
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I had a (faintly) similar experience in '06 when I was hit by a devastating (flu?) bug. At age 52. Rather Old. I should've gone to the hospital. Instead I toughed it out at home and it was literally three weeks before I could leave my house. I couldn't walk for more than a few feet at a time. Three years later, I'm still not the same. Did I come close to death? I don't know. I do know I've had balance problems ever since. I'd mentioned to the therapist that I'd felt dizzy and weak off and on since, and that was maybe caused by the virus my body incubated. She said that supposition makes sense, since virii can invade the ears and affect one's equilibrium. That was the first time I had felt Really Fragile. I know a guy who has a Service Dog, because he has balance problems. I don't have a dog. Why? You don't have to feed or clean up after a Walking Stick. Anyway, this guy can see, but he has a hard time keeping his balance. At the physical therapist's office, I was given a sort of medical-survey thing to fill out, and one of the questions on there is "Do you think people will think you're drunk?" Well, Yeah. I can see it now...
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Cop: "I need you to walk this line for 87 feet, heel-toe, and recite the alphabet backwards at the same time." Me: "Sir, I can't pass this test, because I have Vertigo and it makes me lose my balance". Cop: "Yeah, rrrright, buddy. You'll do anything to avoid charges..."
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THE WORST BEATLES SONG OF ALL: Without a doubt, it's "Revolution 9" (On the "White Album"). There's really no music in it; John, Yoko and George Harrison provided the oblique verbage that zigzags in and out of the track (well, you can't really call it a "song"), overlaying all sorts of radio-frequency noise for over 8 minutes. "Revolution 9" will never be stuck inside your head when you hear it, so it'll never become an Earworm, right? Well, Not Exactly. I was in a Dairy Queen this evening, and you know how they shout the order numbers, well, all of a sudden a loud voice boomed out of the kitchen, "NUMBER NINE!!!" and, all of a sudden, there it was, ringing in my brain, "Number 9, Number 9, Number 9"...which of course is how "Revolution 9" starts out. John Lennon made a tape loop of a recording engineer announcing "Number 9" of whatever track was being recorded at the time. "Number 9, Number 9, Number 9, Number 9, Number 9..."(okay, I'll stop).
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FOR THE RECORD: While blog-surfing this evening, I ran across a blog about Sound Recording, and a blogger stated that the Inner Tracks of Record Albums, those close to the label, suffer more wear than the Outer tracks, closer to Record's Edge. Why? Because on the LP's inner tracks, it takes less distance to Revolve; less plastic is navigated by the needle, causing more repetitive wear in the grooves. That makes sense, and besides, I have got Great Ears, and I've always thought that on old LP's, sometimes the fidelity inner-in IS worse, the dynamic sound range isn't as much, and basically, the outer cuts sounded less scratchy. Of course, the outer tracks on old LPs are usually the ones with the most scratch damage, usually caused by manually setting the tone arm on the record's intake groove, so all that evens out, I suppose. I understand that adjustments were made by the various record companies to try and give the inner tracks a little 'boost' so they'd sound as clean as the outside tracks.
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On the track "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", the last song on side 1 of The Beatles' "Abbey Road"album, as the track progressed with that long bonecrunching guitar riff, John and George recorded a stack of guitar tracks for it, on top of which was inserted a bunch of "White" (read: "Irritating") noise, and after 3 or 4 minutes, John Lennon ordered the Engineer to "Cut The Tape", resulting in the song being chopped off, followed by total silence. I've had that album in my record collection for years, and I Still don't know when the end of "I Want You" is coming up. Listening to that track's end repeatedly Can Give You Musical Whiplash. You can always count measures until the song ends, and I've done that a couple of times. I think that guitar riff goes around probably about 30 times, with the "White Noise" increasing at the end to where it sounds as if there's a Hurricane Blowing in the studio. Then, SNIP!!!! and, Just Like That, the song ends. So, if THAT particular 'Inner Track' had low fidelity because of "more wear", it's impossible to tell, because of the Concentrated noise being layered on that song to begin with. WHOOOSH!!!
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Finally, How Many Grooves are on a Record Album? The answer is TWO. One groove per side. And once, in a joke book, I ran across this little Gem of Humor: Two guys were watching women walk up and down the sidewalk, when one guy commented, "Hey, check this out, she's built like a Record Player". "What Do You Mean?" "well, she's 33-45-78". Okay, okay I'll end this blogpost before the Rotten Tomatoes start flying...but before I go...look at the Time I Posted This entry...9:09pm!!! Number 9...number 9...number 9...