A couple of things I have written are now up online. One is an article on handmade strings , which was the cover story in the new Old Time Herald magazine. That was an interesting story to write, not least in learning how gut strings are made. Speaking of upright basses as we just were, I'll quote the maker of gut bass strings I spoke to: "a lot of animals have to die to make a set of bass strings." I use steel. The other piece is about the legality of Newt's screwy plan for a moon colony, on the History News Network . I was told this piece was "bizarre" but it seemed pretty straightforward to me. At least as straightforward as a lunar colony. [As I wrote this last sentence I just heard five gunshots. I love Norfolk. But why fix the problems here when we can colonize the moon?]
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a year ago I had the astounding luck to find an upright bass at a local auction and picked it up for only 80 bucks. It did need some significant repairs, but turned out to be a carved German bass of the same make Charles Mingus played. Which is to say it is worth more than 80 bucks... Now I have it out of the shop after a year's worth of work, much of which I swapped for (a lot!) of honey. Now all that stands between me and "the Haitian Fight Song," is just some practice.
I've been communicating with some interesting people in Texas involved with Conjunto music and was amazed to find out that this person's mother and grandfather were recorded by John Lomax during his field recording trip through Sugarland in 1939 . Most of the recordings are from "San Dimas el Buen Ladron" (Passion Play about the Good Thief ). Though here is a courting song called "Yo ya me voy" or "I'm Going Your Way."
This quote in this Sunday Times article which caught my eye, if only for the utter tone deafness of Apple's executives. They are happy to reap enormous profits but unwilling to shape their manufacturing structure in a way that might aid American workers or the overall U.S. economy. Anyway, the quote is: "We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries,” a current Apple executive said. “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.” The article notes: "As Apple’s overseas operations and sales have expanded, its top employees have thrived. Last fiscal year, Apple’s revenue topped $108 billion, a sum larger than the combined state budgets of Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Since 2005, when the company’s stock split, share prices have risen from about $45 to more than $427. Some of that wealth has gone to shareholders. Apple is among the most widely held stocks, and the rising share price has benefite
From Jonathan Turley in the Washington Post , this is a welcome and concise reminder just how many of our freedoms have been sharply curtailed in the last decade, and the direct role the Obama administration has played in this process. "Other politicians rationalize that, while such powers may exist, it really comes down to how they are used. This is a common response by liberals who cannot bring themselves to denounce Obama as they did Bush. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), for instance, has insisted that Congress is not making any decision on indefinite detention: “That is a decision which we leave where it belongs — in the executive branch.” And in a signing statement with the defense authorization bill, Obama said he does not intend to use the latest power to indefinitely imprison citizens. Yet, he still accepted the power as a sort of regretful autocrat. An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them. If a president ca
It has been six months since I posted anything, but I'vre had a good excuse. Two good excuses. I'll let the following picture do the talking. This was taken Jan 1, which saw a beautiful 70 degree day here in Norfolk: For those of you keeping score, that is indeed two more Little Buddhas in the picture. They are, from left to right, Birch and Aura. Longtime readers of Nunal will of course recognize the original Little Buddha on the far left, hugging Wee Oscar and now quite grown. The babies arrived in the summer and it has been survival mode around here since. {personal note to future parents of twins: having two babies at one time is insane....} There is no way here to realistically catch up what has been happening. And I promise I won't write some insufferable Adam Gopnik style book about the process either. We'll just call the last half year one of those lost horizons and move on. I'll be back on Nunal more reliably now.