MUSIC FOR DINING AND DAYDREAMING?
...how could you actually do that with this set of records?

I was surprised to find on Ebay a 2-EP-record set that I've already got in my collection. It strikes me that the record industry back in the '50s, released records on mere whims. A case in point is this EP (Extended Play) set by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra, Henry Rene' and his Orchestra, and Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra. Yep, folks, here it is; the big monster hit album, "Music for Dining"/"Music for Daydreaming". Obviously record-shoppers back then were storming the local hi-fi shops, frothing at the mouth, trying to get their very own copies of this Smash Hit Of The Fifties...or not...

This 2-EP record set averages 6 to 8 minutes per side. The first record has sides 1 and 4 on one disc while sides 2 and 3 are on the other, so you can stack 'em on yer changer. If you try to eat dinner while playing the "Music for Dining" songs, you'd have to wolf down your food during those 4 songs if you want music throughout your meal. There's no music for dishwashing here, so you have to get up, do the dishes, and let your phonograph fall silent. Then, if you want to daydream, flip over the 2 records on your changer, although most people's daydreams are longer than the 4 Day-dreaming Songs here. Or, you could use the Day-dreaming songs for dishwashing instead if you're more practical than the average Daydreamer. This record set came out in 1954. RCA, who invented the 45, stuck to its guns with the 45rpm EP, while Columbia (a huge label) came up with the 12" LP. Of course, as time went on, RCA pressed LP's and Columbia issued EP's, and in the long run, the EP died a long and lonely death.

Obviously, I'm being a bit facetious here ("Ya Think???"), but I can imagine it now: Record execs of the day,in the boardroom, and the big boss says, "We think the time has come to issue some "Dining and Dancing" music. Next month, we'll put out some music for" Washing and Bathing", and the following month, we'll release a similar record set,  "Music for Painting the House and Mowing the Lawn"...but, I guess there was a market for specialty-purpose records such as this or they wouldn't have been issued. One of the larger record companies actually issued a record titled, "Music to Wash Clothes by"! Perhaps the release dates of records such as this were arrived at by spinning a roulette wheel, with album titles taking the place of the numbers on the wheel. Arbitrary at best. Certainly there was no ravenous record-buying public out there going ga-ga over "Music For Transmission Repairs and Putting Fiberglass Lining On Your Wooden Canoe." Or maybe there was...

Me, I'm awaiting something along the lines of "Music For Blogging", especially if it makes me type faster and encourages originality of thought...a sort of subliminal seduction on CD...

Dance Your Last Dance, Party Girl...
...the Casey Anthony Case in all of its dubious splendor...

She's accused of killing her little daughter. In 2008, all of a sudden her little daughter wasn't around anymore. She disappeared in mid-June of that year. The little girl, Caylee, had been missing for one solid month before the authorities were contacted. And, it was the Grandmother (Casey's Mom) who did the contacting. And for the entire month that little Caylee was un-reported as Missing, her mom, Casey, just partied her little heart out in bars and nightclubs, while her daughter was Out There, Somewhere. During that month, Casey, with little Caylee, found men's apartments to sleep in and otherwise occupy. In mid-June, the people Casey and little Caylee were living with, all of a sudden, weren't seeing little Caylee around anymore.



Totmom

Casey told her acquaintances that she was working at Universal Pictures as an Event Planner. She lied to them. She wasn't working there, and hadn't for a couple of years. But she carried a Universal photo-badge ID, and pretended to get herself ready each morning and head to work. Well, she got the pretending part right. She did 'something' all day long; who knows what. During that time, she went out "clubbing" with many people who she didn't know well. She even entered a "hot body contest". She wasn't the hottest body there. Far from it, in fact. But now she's known as "totmom", a sweeping title bestowed upon her by that Queen of understatement, Nancy Grace. (Hint: Nancy Grace and Piranhas have similar genetic makeups.)

Well, the authorities put two and two together, interviewed, and later arrested "Totmom" and she's been in the slammer since then. Her trial finally got underway this week, and her lawyer, legal buffoon Jose Baez, came out of the corner swinging, accusing Casey's Dad of Molesting Casey, and accusing her family of covering up all kinds of mean, nasty and ugly things. This means, basically, that the Defense Team, with the approval of Casey Anthony, sold her family down the river. Casey's Dad was on the stand today, questioned ad infinitum about a missing gas can, and he accused Attorney Baez of baiting him and making him mad. Good for You, Mr. Anthony. And, folks, the trial ain't even One Week Old yet. It's supposed to last for the next couple of months. It's a Death Penalty case. Casey cries her heart out in court every day. Her lawyers have the word "Smokescreen" written on their foreheads.

Those who theorize about such things say that Casey wanted to live the "good life", and for 31 days, that's what she did. She Became a "Stupid Party Girl" (look up that phrase on YouTube) and Danced The Night Away. Everyone she met, whether ex-boyfriends, room-mates or people she partied with, say that Casey never expressed any anguish, fear, anxiousness or even the slightest bit of concern for her Missing Daughter. In December '08, Little Caylee was found in a wooded area near Casey's Parents' Home, where she and her daughter had been living. Little Caylee's skull was wrapped with duct tape, and her bones were scattered around that area.

If you choose, you can see our Justice System in action every single day 'til trial's end; various Florida TV stations provide raw video so you can see this travesty for yourself; if you've got Cable, you can also see it on Tru TV (formerly Court TV). I can just see Tru TV executives dancing in the aisles; "Everyone's Gonna Watch This Trial; our ratings will go up and Up and UP and we can make Lots of Juicy Advertising Revenue!!!" Regarding this trial's outcome, I'd initially thought that since it seems to be more difficult to send women to Death Row, that Casey would probably get Life with No Parole. I'm not so sure now. Experts (if there is such a thing in these cases) say that Casey's uncaring behavior was the main force that tipped the scales, causing the State of Florida to pursue the Death Penalty. Florida's not a good place to get into trouble, by the way. If you're going to kill someone, Don't Do It There. Florida's Death Penalty can be summed up thusly: "We...Never...Close", so saith the character Horatio Caine of "CSI: Miami".

This is a country with Justice For All. We The Citizens are indeed cloaked, yea, verily, within the vast shroud of Justice and have been, since the days of George Washington and his wooden false teeth. It's a big system, with the inherent sluggishness that a big system seems to operate with. One author said that justice is like a train heading towards you; it seems like it takes forever to get to ya, and THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT'S HERE, CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!!!!, and so it is with Miss Casey Anthony. She is on trial. She is accused of doing something very Mean and Awful. But this is a country with Justice For All. Even Casey Anthony is cloaked in justice...

What not to do with Old Glory...



The above photo was taken during the period of time Casey's Daughter went missing. In a death penalty state like Florida, photos like this don't bode well. There are other developments in this trial which I haven't referred to which further solidify the case against Miss Anthony, but I'll stop here. I think it's quite safe to say that she's in a whole lot of trouble.

INVERSE PROPORTIONS...

...as related to assorted coastal landmarks...

Think of the following photos as a gauge of distance, framed by geographical locations which show how far one point is from another point. And then looking at that 'other' point from the point you ended up at (Does that make sense?).

First, we'll start with Cape Arago, which is only about 8 miles south of where I live on the Oregon Coast. It's a beautiful place, situated on a point some 100+ feet above the ocean. On top is a circular viewing deck made of stone, from where I took this photo. Looking south, you can see a point of land way off in the distance; that's where the town of Bandon is. I took photos of the mighty seastacks of Bandon which were placed on a previous post here in this blog. In this photo, Bandon is probably 20+ miles from this location. That's your reference point. Well, one of the reference points, anyway. If you look straight down the cliff in the foreground you can see a tide-pool sort of area; before I took this photo, I saw seals swimming down there, nibbling on the seaweed, I guess...several years ago, a car veered off this cliff, and the driver survived! That's a trip I wouldn't want to take.

Another location in an earlier post, "Seven Devils" was featured in still another recent post. (Both of those posts are no more than 2 or 3 weeks back, so they should be easy to find.) Seven Devils is located between Cape Arago and Bandon. This photo looks north from Seven Devils and that's Cape Arago, where I took the previous photo from, off in the distance. As you can see, the land in these parts either tumbles into the ocean, or was sheared away abrupty by massive geological events, resulting in steep cliffs, graced with a bit of beach. Whatever the case, the views are outstanding. There is so much to see; I want to see it all and take it home with me. With photos, I can do that.

This photo was included in one of the recent posts I referred to above, used here as yet another point of reference. The land dips into a small valley where a creek runs, and then rises once again into ocean cliffs; this is the area known as "Seven Devils" which is a day park/picnic area of sorts. On this particular day, the air was rich with moisture, the wind was brisk, and it was a nice day to be out there. This place is rather difficult to get to; you've got to access winding, twisting two-lane roads to get here. And I had to travel 20-odd miles of road just to get 7 or 8 miles down the coast, but the solitude is worth it.

Now this is where everything begins to get really interesting. The Cape Arago photo at the top of this post, is also where this shot was taken from. In the middle right section of coastline, you can see that aforementioned Seven Devils portion of coastline, where the land rises "back into Ocean Cliffs" (see previous paragraph). I'd say Seven Devils is probably 7 or 8 miles away; maybe more; it's difficult to gauge distances using a Zoom Lens, which sort-of shoves everything together. At times, the air is very misty which makes it difficult to catch detail when it's far away. For a closer look, you can click on all the photos here and you'll get expanded versions to examine when you've got nothing else to do...

This next photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, from just north of Bandon, at Bullard's Beach State Park, where a lighthouse is situated. In this photo, we're looking back north at Cape Arago, some 20+ off in the distance, with the Seven Devils area somewhere in between. So, on a somewhat meager sort of fashion, I've tried to establish some sort of interrelationship between points and other points. And, hey, if it doesn't make sense, or if I've erred in some magnanimous way, at least the views are good! Pure Eye Candy! Spending time out here is tremendously thereapeutic. It's calming, out in all that weather with the ocean roaring constantly.

Finally, I know it takes valuable energy to try and make sense out of what I attempt to establish here. And I'm grateful that you stopped by to see my latest bout of ill-logic. As your reward, here's a view of an ocean sunset, taken back up towards Coos Bay, from where I launched the expedition that resulted in this innocuous post. Eye candy just for you. And you've gotta admit, Mother Nature is quite an artist when she wants to be. This was taken from the Bastendorff Beach Overlook, which is about 100 feet above, a quarter-mile away from, the ocean. Supposedly, the horizon is 25 miles away. And, the day is ending...

I was wondering when I was gonna be able to post these photos; ever since I re-loaded Windows 7 recently, my photo-loader was out of sync. Thru some great technical advice from the folks at Canon Camera Corp., I was able to get it going again. Now if I could just figure out the rest of this computer, I'd be on the way!

COMPUTER SHENANIGANS...
...or, I've Got A Life, at least I Think I Do...

I posted a computer-based entry earlier this week that I deleted. I really didn't like the way it turned out, although I was right about one thing: If you sign up for automatic Windows Updates, you'll find Microsoft has stuck Windows 9 among the many other updates that MSN thinks you should have. Sneaky, sneaky. Me, I'm a big fan of Windows 7. I like the way it works; it ranks right up there with Windows XP as a very easy way to go online. Actually there were two reasons I deleted that computer-based entry; number one, I had some of the information wrong, and, number two, an "anonymous" person commented on it saying that I Really Needed To Get A Life. That Ticked Me Off. If he read thru that post, he needs a life too. At least I don't take cheap potshots at other bloggers. I save that for the politicians.

Recently, I found that I was running Internet Explorer 9 instead of IE. Microsoft found a way to sneak it in. I had already stripped IE9 off my computer and replaced it with IE8, since IE7 is no longer available. I got all of that done, and found that my screen resolution (size of print and images) was different for every site I went to. That drove me nuts! I had desktop icons which took up more than half of my screen! And every time I tapped the touchpad, the type kept changing sizes and I had no idea how to stop that. But I got everything installed the best I could and called it a day. Tonight, I was going thru various functions, trying to get everything to operate just a little better, when I found a system recovery option which said, "use this only if you have installation disks." Well, I have the Windows 7 disk. I bought it a while ago to replace Windows 'Vista' that originally came with this computer. Vista is Purely Awful. But that's another subject altogether. Back to Internet Explorer...

When I tried to download Internet Explorer 7 from an online site, the best I could do was to get IE8, since IE7 is no longer supported, the latest in a long line of Computer Dinosaurs. Tonite, after finding the System Recovery/Disk program, I put my Windows 7 disc in the tray, all the while hoping that I hadn't converted my laptop computer into a large paperweight in terms of function. And, voila, it worked! Everything's running as smoothly as it did before I was forced into Internet Explorer 9. I opted out of Windows Automatic Updates; I still get updates, but can choose what I want. Up popped a Windows Page with a list of 84 updates that Microsoft said I needed. And sure enough, in that list was inserted the deadly Windows 9. I picked all the updates except for that one. I will not let MSN be the boss of me. It took ages for all of those updates to be downloaded.

So why is everything working now, when it hadn't been? Probably because when I tried loading IE7 (which was bounced up to IE8) online, my computer still contained remnants of the IE9 that I didn't want. It was as if the computer couldn't make up its mind what version of Internet Explorer it was running. I tried to Defrag several times, but that didn't help. It's my theory that when I installed from Disk, everything that had gone before had been completely erased and I could start on a clean slate. The fact that I have to reinstall programs I used to have bears that out. So, do I have a life? Of course. But tonight, getting all of this computer stuff done has taken about 7 hours of my time. Good thing there was a baseball game on; waiting for a computer to recover and download can take forever.(The Seattle Mariners played the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the M's shut 'em out 3-0. YAAY! See? I've got a life.At least I think I do).So anyhow, if I'm gonna invest a chunk of time getting something to wor, which takes up hours of my life I'll never have again, I'm gonna post about it. And so I did.

Looks like I've been online a little too long...

Many, many times, I'm online only 2 or 3 hours a day. If that. But I've got this annoying tendency; I Hate It When Things Don't Work. And nights like this are long, dragged out affairs, trying to do stuff that takes forever to accomplish. I suppose if I was a tekkie who indeed Didn't Have A Life, I could probably have gotten this stuff down in half of the time it took me.

Public Service Dept.: Of course, there's all kinds of nasty things out there just waiting to invade your computer and send it reeling;  protecting your machine is necessary, and can be important and can be costly. I've been running the Comodo Firewall, which is free for home use; I've run it for a couple of years now and it's great! And the price is right, too. Okay, I'm done. Back to my life now...

Ten Years Gone...
...and it's hard to believe it's been that long...

Time flies by so fast. As the years begin to recede into the distant memory, anniversary dates sometimes pass by unnoticed, and that's what happened to me. I didn't realize what day this wa until I saw the date on the computer screen. My Mom and Dad left this earth 10 years ago, and today's the tenth anniversary of his passing. Sometimes I can still hear Mom calling me to dinner, or Dad singing songs while playing the banjo; he could also play guitar and keyboards. Most afternoons or evenings, Mom would be playing hymns on the organ or singing and strumming her ukelele. I remember Dad playing his guitar alongside Mom on ukelele at church services sometimes.

I remember coming home from my job at the grocery store during high school, and we'd sit up and talk about anything, everything, and nothing until past midnight when Dad was on the road and my little sister was asleep. She treated me with respect, and that's my most deeply-etched memory of her. Dad and I never got to know each other well, but I remember shooting hoops with him in the back yard, or tossing a frisbee back and forth or going fishing with him in his canoe. He could and often was emotionally distant. In that way, I think I take after him.

Our family had its share of tension, more than its share sometimes. The bad memories live side-by-side with the good memories. We're all shaped by our memories, with achievements and shortcomings competing for the space within us. But it's too late to change things once they've happened. Our household was one of all-out devotion coupled with a sense of alienation, and to this day I remember how topsy-turvy everything seemed to be when I was growing up.

But I'm not writing this to disparage my Parents. I loved them both, although sometimes I acted like I didn't. I respected them. Sometimes they could both be a lot of fun, too. I respected them both, looked up to them, and in turn they treasured me, yet could be so frustrated with me. The good and the bad. My Dad wanted me to go into business with him. I told him no, thinking that if I couldn't get along with him very well at home, that me working for him would be a disaster (I never told Dad that). I'm sure that was the largest-single disappointment I ever caused him. Again, I Let Him Down. From that day on, we were never that close again.

My Parents did the best they could. They gave it all; I know they did. Maybe they gave too much. I had good times with both of them. We had fun along the way. No Parent can be perfect, but they tried to be. Do I miss my Dad? I'm not very sure about that, but he was a good guy. Do I miss my Mom? As the years went by, and I knew I wasn't measuring up to her and Dad's idea of how successful I should've been, tensions resulted and distance came between us, and I'm sad Mom and I weren't closer later on.

I wanted to try and honor their memory by writing this, and I'm not sure I accomplished that. But I remember them; they were both such a huge part of my life. They made sacrifices over and over and over again for us kids, and maybe I wasn't grateful enough. I don't think I'll ever come to terms with that, but I wanted to let the world know that They Were Here, They Did Exist, and I Remember Them. They did their best.

Rest In Peace, Mom and Dad...

LENDING AN EAR...
...does anyone have one I can borrow?

My left ear has been out of commission for almost a couple of weeks. Me, a music person with affected hearing. I understand Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys could only hear out of one ear after his dad whacked him in the head with a baseball bat. His ear can't be fixed, but mine can be, hopefully. My ear appointment is tomorrow, at which the doctor will switch on a miniature vacuum cleaner and stick it in my ear and suck all the impacted wax out of it. I've basically had 25% of my normal hearing capacity in my left ear lately, and it's a bummer. I've always had problems with that ear; back when I used to swim regularly, it was my left ear that needed an ear plug; if I didn't use one, I wouldn't have normal hearing for 2 or 3 days. I could hear the water sloshing around in my skull. This time, it's That Annoying Wax Buildup, the same thing all those frustrated housewives in Johnson & Johnson commercials have to face.

Looks like a problem for Roto Rooter!

 More than anything, though, I haven't really been able to enjoy listening to music lately. One speaker, Mono; Two speakers, Stereo. But I've been a Mono person in a Stereo world. I've tried experimenting with my stereo system; turning the right speaker Way Down and turning up the left speaker Way, Way up, and have been able to achieve some sort of audio balance although everything sounds muddy in my left ear. I cannot imagine never being able to hear music. It's one of the few things that can re-set my psyche whenever I've had a bad day. I've also tried listening to some Mono 45's, and old 78's (Scratchy Mono) and that works okay, although I notice that even on bad mono recordings, 2 ears are still better than one; there's a whole dimension of sound depth I'm missing. And I tell ya, if I can get my left ear working tomorrow, I'm gonna have me one heck of a Music Listening Party! And I'll try to stop before I go deaf in Both ears!

So for me to lose an ear is a real emergency, because I want my ears to WORK! I want it fixed RIGHT NOW! I'm afraid I'll lose my hearing! But the medical community doesn't see it that way. I've had an Ear-ectomy (or whatever you call it) performed on my ear before. It's a ten-minute process, but one of the disadvantages of a small town is that the medical community works at its own very, very sluggish pace. I tried arguing with the lady in the doctor's office, and she got mad at me because I was stressing her so badly! But lady, this is my ear! DON'T YOU CARE? "Sorry, sir, but there are no openings for two weeks." When I'm frustrated, I can get really nasty and I did. I later went back and apologized to her. I've tried using "Debrox" which is some sort of goopy liquid yer supposed to pour in the affected ear to dissolve wax, but that hasn't worked at all. So into the doctors' office I go tomorrow, and then I'm gonna set up a regular ear-maintenance schedule. Finally, three paragraphs about a defective ear is probably too much information, so I'll stop now.

Finally...and it must be said...I imagine my readers, all two of them, will turn a deaf ear towards this post...and I can't say I blame 'em...

BLOG UPDATE: I went to the Ear Doctor and now I'm hearing once again out of my Left Ear. Let's hear it for the little Ear-Vacuum cleaner. No More Waxy Buildup!

ONE LESS BAD GUY IN THE WORLD...
Osama Bin Laden finally got what was coming to him...

During a firefight just the other night, we got him. We finally got him. People are rejoicing over the fact that Osama Bin Laden is no longer alive. Hopefully the ghosts of all those who died on 9/11/01 are resting easier now. And, for their loved ones, perhaps they now have a sense of justice. Back then, the whole world was shocked at what happened that fateful day. Lives were destroyed instantly, and all of a sudden this great big world of ours wasn't as safe a place as it had been before.

As much as I've maligned former Prezzident George W. Bush, and believe me, I have, hopefully he has some sense of validity now. In a way, the events of 9/11/01 wrecked his Presidency; there are those who've speculated that he would have spent his time in the Oval Office dealing with the routine matters of the highest office in the land, but all that changed. Things got really serious all of a sudden. Standing in the rubble of 9/11, he vowed that whoever was responsible for 9/11 would be caught. His re-election came and went and Bin Laden was still nowhere to be found.
 

There are those who are cheering, filled with glee, celebrating the fact that Osama Bin Laden is dead. I'm glad he's dead, too, only, remember, he too had a mother and father and those who cared about him. I'm not saying he didn't deserve to die. He got what was coming to him. At the same time, isn't it wrong, celebrating someone's death? A Life is A Life, after all. I have no idea if it was the intent to Kill Obama outright, or if he could've been captured, kept alive at least long enough to face justice. But I can't help thinking that we tarnished ourselves somehow when we celebrate the fact that someone's been killed. That's not what life is about, and I believe we diminish ourselves as human beings when we throw a big party over someone's death.

So is the world now a safer place with the death of Bin Laden? I don't know, but probably not. Who knows how many of his colleagues are lining up to take his place, after all. Who knows how many foaming-at-the-mouth potential martyrs are out there, thinking that they'll get to a higher level of Heaven if they kill great masses of people who are just going on about their lives? That is indeed cruel, and the fact remains that if someone places no value on life, then they just can't be stopped. That's the reasoning suicide bombers use, after all.



 Perhaps in this uncertain world we need to show other nations that if you mess with the U.S.A., you will pay. That's what we've shown by relentlessly pursuing Osama Bin Laden. It was taking so long to "get him", but I figured that our nation's intelligence community was buzzing with all kinds of secret deals and covert operations, hunting him down. Sooner or later, we all get what we deserve, and Bin Laden got his. And, he doesn't have to be dealt with anymore. But people like that are still out there. But now, perhaps, we can all breathe just a bit easier. In closing, don't "glorify" Osama Bin Laden's death. Rather, think of it as something that probably had to happen. And it did, it really did. Let's all breathe easier now, at least until the next Really Bad Thing Happens.

I'm not politically astute by any means, so I probably have no business posting stuff like this. But when something causes me to feel a certain way, it's a bit therapeutic to post it here. So I did.