Third Monday Random: Watergate, Lewinsky, NSA

Why do people care the least about what may affect them the most?

By motomynd

In 1974, Richard Nixon became the only U.S. President to resign while in office. As you probably know, this was because he and some of his staff were caught trying to cover up their involvement in a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex. The bungled attempt at obtaining information to help Nixon’s re-election was as ridiculous as it was incompetent. Nixon had a sizeable lead in the polls over Democratic contender George McGovern, and he went on to win the election in a landslide.

Sunday Review: Quartet

Don't act your age

By Morris Dean

The title of Quartet—this glorious first directorial effort by Dustin Hoffman (2012), about not living your age any more than you would your street address—refers to two things: the Bella figlia dell'amore quartet of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto

Mississippi's “open carry” gun law: Two perspectives

motomynd

Rogers

[The first perspective is that of Contributing Editor Paul Clark, aka motomynd, the second that of Columnist Ed Rogers.]

A bold experiment in biology and sociology

By motomynd

The new “open carry” Mississippi gun law (mentioned in the correspondence in “Fish for Friday” on June 28), which seems designed to actively encourage Mississippians to carry guns with them at all times, has the potential to be a most interesting scientific experiment. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is a popular pro-gun talking point, so putting guns on as many hips as possible, where everyone can see them—and quickly reach them—seems a great way to find out if gun violence is indeed spurred by mindset, or by a proliferation of guns.

Fish for Friday

Town of Hillsborough

[Anonymous items from the editor's correspondence]

My daughter, Jennifer Weaver, is running for Town Board of Hillsborough, NC. Wow!

Forget Town Board, Jenn—run for the NC House! We need you desperately!!

Thor's Day: A perk of clerical office

Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet,
Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy

From Chapter 18 of Pride & Prejudice

By Jane Austen

[The Reverend Mr. Collins came up to Elizabeth at Mr. Bingley's ball at Netherfield]

and told her with great exultation that he had just been so fortunate as to make a most important discovery.

Ask Wednesday: A victim of sexual abuse on coming forward

In your own time

By Morris Dean

Todd Starnes is one of those people who are just fun to listen to talk, whether to someone else or to you. In fact, I think that each of the several times I've run into Todd at the local fitness center, he was talking to someone else, and seeming not to be concerned that another person had just joined his audience.

    When I joined his conversation a couple of weeks ago, he was in the hot tub telling a woman about having been sexually abused as a child of eight to twelve by a brother in his early twenties....

Tuesday Voice: Grand Canyon adventure—Part 3

Up and out

By James T. Carney

[Sequel to "In and about with people"]

The next morning we were up at 5:00 a.m. to have an early breakfast and hit the trail at 6:30 a.m. We crossed the second bridge over the Colorado and followed the river for about a mile and a half before turning inland and up on the Bright Angel Trail. Along here on the Bright Angel Trail there was a privy to which I availed myself (and recognized the onset of a large group of external hemorrhoids). There was also water at a couple of points along the trail. I could have made it easily without additional water but I did find that I used a great deal of water on this day as opposed to the other two. I had a water bottle that led to a tube attached to my jacket so I could suck water without stopping. This is something I will use on any future hiking trips.

Second Monday Music: Influential rhythms

The significance of musical entrainment

By André Duvall

[Adapted from a paper in the Psychology of Music]

We have all had the experience of listening to a piece of music, enjoying it, and finding ourselves tapping our feet to the beat, sometimes without consciously deciding to do so. Likewise, as we walk down the sidewalk at a comfortable pace, our arms naturally tend to sway in some form of regular motion directly related to the rhythmic motion of our legs. Musicians are aware of the importance during rehearsal and performance situations of synchronizing our internal rhythmic pulse with those of the conductor or other performers. All of these situations illustrate the concept of human rhythmic entrainment. While these examples may seem to be obvious everyday phenomena, the idea of entrainment has significant implications for understanding how humans experience music, and how music can influence human health.

Sunday Review: In Our Nature

Unparking

By Morris Dean

My wife tends to be skeptical of the DVDs that I borrow from the library "on speculation"—I'll borrow anything the library has if it doesn't seem to be about chainsaw murders, doesn't seem to be a sci-fi, horror, or teen-romance movie, isn't animated or CGI-heavy, and isn't a smaltzy movie based on another Nicholas Sparks novel. If it meets this test, why not give it a try?
    True enough, a fair portion of these "spec borrows" are disappointments, which I usually recognize after a very few minutes. Sometimes, of course, we both watch the whole thing, and only then ask each other, "Why did we watch that?"
    So, my wife is skeptical for good reason. Before I put the DVD in Friday night for In Our Nature (2102, Brian Savelson), she made me read the blurb on the container to her:

First Saturday Green 101: Trees, quail, mosquitoes, and neighbors talking loudly of porn

They’re all connected

By motomynd

When I bought the old farmhouse I grew up in 50 years previous, three dramatic changes jumped out at me when spring arrived and I aspired to spend most of my time outdoors. The neighbors who lived in the surrounding houses were much louder than those who were there when I was a child. There was a missing link in the bird population. Mosquitoes patrolled in Luftwaffe-worthy squadrons.
    The Washington, DC escapee within me lamented the changes but welcomed the space and relative quiet. The writer within me wondered if I should have instead returned to the cabin in the woods where I had lived before being briefly lured back to DC. The college-educated biologist still lurking somewhere deep within me wondered if the three were somehow connected.

Fish for Friday

Gustave Whitehead (1874-1927)

[Anonymous items from the editor's correspondence]

Great, just great. The one thing North Carolina had to put it on the map, and now it may be going the way of Roanoke Island: "Spiteful Conn. Senate wipes Wright Brothers from history books." Take it back Connecticut, or all we have left is Bull Durham, the movie. Until the hapless NBA Carolina Bobcats reclaim their original Hornets name and streak to glory under the executive leadership of Michael Jordan...hahahahaha....

Thor's Day: Something to it?

The King of Spades?

By Ed Rogers

There has been much ado about religion on "Thor’s Day." While here and there I have added my two cents, I have tried to stay out of the sure thinking that goes on by those for and those against.
    Is there a God? The non-believers say NO. The true believers say YES. I say I don’t know.
    I do not believe there is a God as depicted by the Bible, but that does not exclude the possibility that there could be something out there or over there that could be called God.
    The sixties were a time not only of upheaval, but also of searching. Young people were looking for their own truth. Having been lied to most of their life, they turned to drugs, religious cults, Ouija Boards, mediation, Indian folklore, and psychic powers...At least, these are the ones I tried.

Ask Wednesday: Where's that interview you transcribed from recording?

By Morris Dean

The interview I foresaw in trestina on June 19 simply could not be completed for today. I've been in Woodstock & Killington, Vermont and New Bedford, Massachusetts since Friday night, returning to North Carolina today.
    And I confirmed what I suspected: it takes a lot of time to transcribe natural, garrulous speech. I had less than fifteen minutes of material, but my subject spoke very fast and colloquially, and I wanted to capture his phrasing, so I was constantly having to go back to re-listen.

Tuesday Voice: Grand Canyon adventure—Part 2

In and about with people

By James T. Carney

[Sequel to "Why the Grand Canyon?"]

Actually, one of the most interesting and enjoyable parts of the trip involved interacting with the other 16 people (including the two guides) in our group. I suspect that we had an unusual group in two respects. (1) These people were physically hardy—unlike me, they were all outdoorsmen (and women); and (2) they were extremely friendly and the group got along very well. There were two couples (one from Wisconsin and one from British Columbia), two groups of two friends (including John and myself), one aunt and the niece from Kilimanjaro, and six unattached individuals (although one, David, a North Jersey boy like myself, had left his wife up on the South Rim.) Some of them had done some training for the trip; many, however, were taking it in stride. One fellow traveler was Susan Wilson from Miami. She was a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and a retired financial analyst for the DOD. I asked her how she had trained—Miami tending to be flatter than a pancake—and she said that she went up and down the stairs in her apartment building. That sounded even more boring than going up and down the Southside Heights.

First Monday with Characters

Edited by Morris Dean

Paul Clark, aka motomynd, in growing family in North Carolina

In a bit of news that may be every bit as petty as it sounds, I am very pleased to announce that not only did my step-daughter not yet dethrone me as fastest half-miler in the family, but I almost had to carry her back from a trail run because I goaded her into a speed workout on hills. Next month we go back to track workouts and I am doomed, but this month age and guile again trump youth and superior athleticism.
    Oh, we did have additions to the family: The resident white-tail does that hang out in our backyards in NC and VA both gave birth to fawns in June and paraded them out for formal introductions.