Speaker For The Diodes

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 20 May 2014 08:29:36 GMT

"I'm pleased Don Sterling says he is sorry. However, as anyone who has raised a child will tell you, actually being sorry means accepting the consequences of your actions and working to repair them.

"Michael Vick went to jail and did community service and has worked hard to earn another chance. Jack Abramoff did time and is dedicating himself now to trying to end the culture of lobbying that makes the sort of corruption that he practiced possible, Forgiveness and second chances are earned, not given. It is a cruel and unforgiving world where repentance is not possible, but it is an equally cruel world where forgiveness is too easily granted."

-- Harold Feld, 2014-05-12

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 19 May 2014 08:29:55 GMT

"We Canadians live in a blind spot about our identity. We have very strong feelings about who we aren't but only weak ones about who we are. We're passionate about what we don't want to become but oddly passive about what we should be." -- John Cruickshank (in McLean's Magazine)

[To my Canadian friends: happy Victoria Day -- or if you're in Quebec, happy National Patriots' Day!]

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 18 May 2014 08:30:12 GMT

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2014-04-14:

"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something that's larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers -- by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him, and make the running the man did live forever." -- Jim Hellwig, better known as the Ultimate Warrior, on his induction in the WWE Hall of Fame. Hellwig died at age 54 just a few days later.

[ http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/04/09/final-ultimate-lesson-ultimate-warrior]

(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)

Today is:
Gregorian: 18 May 2014
Julian: 05 May 2014
Hebrew: 18 Iyyar 5774 -- Lag BaOmer (started last night)
Islamic: 18 Rajab 1535
Persian: 28 Ordibehesht 1393
Mayan: 0.0.0.13.0.1.7.13
Indian: 28 Vaisakha 1936

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 17 May 2014 08:30:35 GMT

"I believe that a taste for brass instruments is hereditary. My father destroyed his domestic peace by immoderate indulgence in the trombone; my uncle played the ophicleide -- very nicely, I must admit -- for years, and then perished at his own hand. Some day I shall buy a trombone myself." -- George Bernard Shaw (b. 1856-07-26, d. 1950-11-02), under the pen name Corno di Bassetto, 1889-03-08; collected in London Music in 1888-89 as Heard by Corno di Bassetto (later known as Bernard Shaw) with Some Further Autobiographical Particulars (1937, Constable & Company Limited, London) [out of copyright; full text available for download in multiple formats at that link]

Somehow my father (b. 1931-11-04, d. 1999-05-17), a former US Air Force trombonist, managed to raise two guitarists (myself and my middle brother) but no horn players. Maybe someday I'll get the hang of brass -- I should get out the euphonium and scare the dog and the cat for a while.

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 16 May 2014 08:30:46 GMT

"The miracle of some days back had burst the chrysalis of his soul. Where he thought only winter would forever reign, now bright shoots burst forth. To both humans and Tymrimi, love was considered the greatest power. But there was, indeed, something to be said for irony, as well." -- musings of Tymbrimi ambassador Uthacalthing, in The Uplift War (1987, Bantam Books, New York), by David Brin (b. 1950-10-06)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 15 May 2014 08:31:09 GMT

"Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit -- in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever." -- Chinua Achebe (b. 1930-11-16, d. 2013-03-21), Anthills of the Savannah (1987) [thanks to @Terranen for pointing it out]

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 14 May 2014 08:31:27 GMT

"It's one of the great blessings of my very unorthodox childhood that I wasn't ever asked to define myself as any one thing at any point. I was just allowed to be me, growing and changing at every moment." -- iO Tillett Wright, in a December 2012 TEDxWomen talk that is interesting for much more than this quote. (~ 18 minutes)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 13 May 2014 08:31:38 GMT

"We've done this with race, we've done this with religion, and now we're understanding not everybody's the same when it comes to sexuality and identity." -- Kristel Foster, quoted in "No need to fight TUSD's gender-identity policy" by Tim Steller, 2014-05-04

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 12 May 2014 08:31:57 GMT

"I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel." -- Florence Nightingale (b. 1820-05-12, d. 1910-08-13)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 11 May 2014 08:32:18 GMT

"Anna had her vision, her mother had another, the florists and the politicians had another." -- Katharine Antolini, historian and board member at the International Mother's Day Shrine in Grafton, West Virginia, referring to the founder of Mother's Day, quoted in "Battling the Mother's Day monster", The Ottowa Citizen, 2008-05-11

"Given that some think trans women were 'born a man,' we should buy extra special gifts for Mother's Day.

"Gave birth to an adult? Impressive

"My mom had a 'Womyn Born Babies' policy on her uterus. No adults."

-- Parker Marie Molloy, 2014-05-09 ( two tweets)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 10 May 2014 08:32:30 GMT

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2014-04-09:

"It is a fact that 99 per gent of our 'budding' young trumpeters will never be called upon to double-tongue the Flight of the Bumblebee in public performance. It is much more likely that in the normal course of his employment, the trumpeter will be required to play mostly minims, some crotchets, a few quavers, and only rarely a few semiquavers, with a great number of rests thrown in." -- Delbert A. Dale, from Trumpet Technique.

(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 09 May 2014 08:32:47 GMT

"You see no narrowing of your freedom in whatever the requirements may be for a politically independent Alpha Crucis region, any more than you see a narrowing of it in laws against murder or robbery. These imperatives accord with your desires. But others may feel otherwise. What is freedom, except having one's particular cage reach further than one cares to fly?" -- Erannath, a Ythrian, in The Day of Their Return by Poul Anderson (1973, Nelson Doubleday, New York)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 08 May 2014 08:33:03 GMT

When I mentioned the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear (from Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert) to someone ...

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

... sie gave me hir personal version that sie finds effective:

This is very unlikely to kill me and later there will be ice cream.

(intentionally anonymous)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 07 May 2014 08:33:21 GMT

From Giant's Star by James P. Hogan (1981, Del Rey, New York):

After a long, heavy silence, Sobroskin replied, "Russia had a tradition of tyranny through to the early years of this century. Ever since it threw off the yoke of Mongol subjugation in the fifteenth century, it was obsessed with preserving its security to the point that the security of other nations became a threat that could not be tolerated. It expanded its borders by conquest and held on to its acquired territories by oppression, intimidation, and terror. But the new lands in turn had borders, and there was no end to the process. Communism changed nothing. It was merely a banner of convenience for rallying gullible idealists and rationalizing sacrifice. Apart from a few brief months in 1917, Russia was no more Communist than the Church of the Middle Ages was Christian."

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 06 May 2014 08:33:39 GMT

"Periodic reminder that the fear of trans women in restrooms is baseless. I have seen zero genitals in restrooms in my life." -- @DrJaneChi, 2013-10-20

I was reminded of this tweet by these two quotes in a recent Equality Maryland press release:

"It is disappointing that anti-transgender activists are still telling Maryland citizens the same myths that fair-minded Maryland legislators have already seen through and rejected by a wide margin. The reality is that the Fairness for All Marylanders Act does not weaken state law on ogling, indecent exposure, or sexual assault in any way. Delegate Parrott's misleading comments about bathrooms would almost be comical if he weren't using these scare tactics to confuse the public and oppose basic civil rights protections in employment, housing, services, and public spaces," said Jer Welter, Managing Attorney of FreeState Legal Project.
[...]

"For 15 years, I've witnessed our community denied jobs, thrown out of establishments, refused an apartment and turned down for credit due to discrimination. Those acts are now forbidden with the passage of the Fairness for All Marylanders Act and 71% of our fellow Marylanders agree, that All Marylanders deserve Fairness. We've had these protections covering nearly half of our state's residents since 2002 without any of the ill effects claimed by those opposed," noted Jenna Fischetti of TransMaryland.

Reminder: HCB this Sunday in Greenbelt

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 05 May 2014 22:46:24 GMT

It was a lovely day weather-wise for an outdoor performance yesterday at Bostwick in Bladensburg, though the ground was a little squishy for chairs and I was nervous about jumping around much. Other than getting my guitar tangled in the rafters of the pop-up shade thingie we were under when I went to play behind my head, some wind-versus-music issues, and too much of the audience thinking the whole event didn't start until we were halfway done performing, I think it went pretty well. A small event, just as the organizers had described it, on a pretty day. And I petted a sheep so that Perrine would have something interesting to smell sniffing my hand when I came home.

This coming Sunday (11 May, Mothers Day) we're performing at the 10th annual Green Man Festival in Greenbelt, MD, at 4:00 PM. The festival starts at 11:00 that day and ends around 5:00, so come out much earlier than 4:00 so you can see more of it than just our set. (I think other FB users can invite people to the FB event page for our performance there -- I hope so -- if you want to spread the word that way. There's also an event-page for the festival as a whole.) I may be a little biased here, but in past years the Green Man Festival has struck me as both a good place to bring your kids, and a perfectly nice place to bring your mother for Mothers Day afternoon. :-)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 05 May 2014 08:34:02 GMT

"There are by any estimate several million people who don't have id that passes the requirements. In the last major election there were two unexplained instances of people showing up to vote and not being able to because someone had voted in their name already. Not demonstrated voter fraud, just unexplained instances. Could have been fraud, could have been error. In any case, two. Two votes will not change the outcome. Several million on the other hand...." -- Donna Buckles, 2014-04-30 (comment)

[Is there any way to link directly to a particular comment under a Google+ post?]

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sun, 04 May 2014 08:34:13 GMT

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2014-03-23:

"Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature; and in such things as these experiment is the best test of such consistency." -- Michael Faraday, reprinted in The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870).

(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Sat, 03 May 2014 08:34:30 GMT

"This coming Sunday is May the Fourth. Many congregations are unaware that it is a High Holy Sunday, with an ancient liturgy commemorating it as Star Wars Sunday: May the Fourth Be With You.

"I am sure that everyone wants to commemorate it. But I suspect that many congregations are lost in the woods of Endor without a speeder-bike. It is hard to decide how best to use authentic Jedi hymns and have a message that is relevant to the people while being accurate to the Star Wars universe at the same time.

[...]

[Sermon idea:]

"Just as Star Wars fans discovered this week that the Episode 7 will not follow the established Canon, who among us has not also felt like their story wasn't in sync with reality? That their efforts to promote their story was squashed under the overlords form the Corporate Sector? May we constantly keep in tension our desire to forsake our heritage alongside our cherishing of our traditions and virtues."

-- from "Order of Worship for #StarWars Sunday: May the Fourth Be With You" by Rev. Jeremy Smith (UMJeremy @ Hacking Christianity), 2014-04-29

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Fri, 02 May 2014 08:34:47 GMT

From Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan (1977, Del Rey Books, New York; ISBN 0-345-30107-2):

Eventually Hunt said: "To think -- a generation ago, all this was just desert." It was more a thought voiced than a statement.
Danchekker did not answer for a long time. When he did, he kept his eyes fixed outside.
"But man dared to dream . . ." he murmured slowly. After a pause he added, "And what man dares to dream today, tomorrow he makes come true."

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Thu, 01 May 2014 08:35:04 GMT

"The May Queen represents everything to me. She is the symbol of life, Mother Earth, goddess, maiden, fertility, and potential. Even now that I am the May Queen I talk about her as something removed from me. I just have to trust that the moment I walk on the hill, I am her. I wouldn't say it's an out-of-body experience but I won't remember a large proportion of the night." -- Erin Chadwick, quoted in "All Fired Up: The people behind the Beltane Festival", 2012-04-28 via The Wild Hunt

[To all my friends celebrating it today (or recovering from celebrating last night), a blessed Beltane! And to folks celebrating in countries that aren't terrified of having their holidays tainted with even the remotest whiff of communism (*sigh*), happy Labour Day / International Workers' Day!]

Today is
Gregorian: 01 May 2014
Julian: 18 April 2014
Hebrew: 01 Iyyar 5774
Islamic: 01 Rajab 1435
Persian: 11 Ordibehesht 1393
Mayan: 0.0.0.13.0.1.]6.16
Indian: 11 Vaisakha 1936

One more reminder: HCB this Sunday in Bladensburg

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 17:14:31 GMT

Just keeping this info fresh in y'all's minds: The Homespun Ceilidh Band, this Sunday, 4 May 2014, at the Bostwick Heritage Festival in Bladensburg, MD. Noon to five; free admission, War of 1812 theme, described as a smallish event. 1800s Style Children's Games & Activities. Period trade/craft demos. Craft vendors, farm animals, history. And us! It looks like we're playing at 12:30 (and 1:30?) so come early.

Bostwick Heritage Festival
Sunday, 4 May, noon to 5
3300 48th Street, Bladensburg, MD
301-887-0777 for more information
event web site
Facebook event page

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 08:35:23 GMT

"Intellectuals at work are very strange to look at. As strange as artists. I never could understand how an audience can sit there and look at a fiddler rolling his eyes and biting his tongue, or a horn player collecting spit, or a pianist like a black cat strapped to an electrified bench, as if what they saw had anything to do with the music." -- narrator of "The New Atlantis" by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1975

[I hope we're more entertaining to watch than that! *goes off to re-watch some videos posted by audience members*]

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 08:35:39 GMT

"Another inequality I observe concerns the security types which I have been unable to circumvent. Now this has been a source of curiosity to me since I first arrived at the plant, since it doesn't take an accountin' whiz to figure out that if the plant is payin' the security types what they're worth, their cost should be substantially more than would seem economocally wise. I chance across the answer one time when I happen to eavesdrop on a couple of off-duty lunchin' security types who are gripin' about their jobs. It seems that they are underpaid as much as us workin' types, despite the fact that they are safeguardin' stuff worth millions! While this is doubtlessly unfair, I do not include it in my notes because I have found that it is not only not unusual, but is actually customary for plants or societies to underpay their guardian types. I suppose that as bonkers as it seems, this is in actuality the way things should be. If guardian types made a decent wage, then criminal types like me would go into that line of work as it has better hours and better retirement venefits than the career path I am currently pursuin', and if there was no crime there would be no need for guardian types and we would all end up unemployed. Viewin' it that way, the status quo is probably for the best." -- Guido, in M.Y.T.H., Inc. Link by Robert L. Asprin (1986, The Donning Company, Norfolk, VA; ISBN 0-441-55277-3)

QotD

dglenn@panix.com — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 08:35:57 GMT

"How many stories do we have to read of politicians who revere the Bible falling into wickedness and vice before we do something? It seems like holding high political office is too much for our brothers in Christ.

"Much as our young women should dress modestly in order to keep their men from being tempted by lust, we should strive to defend conservative family values by voting godly men out of office. Their families will thank us."

-- Jay in Oregon, 2014-04-08 (thanks to realinterrobang for quoting this earlier)