Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

As I wrote on November 14, I have been having a hard time getting the cover of my book to print correctly. I have skipped writing for several days because I have spent most of my online time trying to get it straightened out. Now, by Jove, I think I’ve got it. I should know for sure by the end of the month. On a different note: Some 50 or so years ago there was a novelty toy, the Ultimate Machine ,  in circulation in the form of a small box with an electrical toggle switch on the side. When someone flicked the switch, the lid rose and an arm and hand reached out, flicked the switch off, and retreated back into the box, whereupon the lid closed. All this activity was accompanied by an irritating buzzing noise. It seems to me this is a metaphor, admittedly rough, for political activity. Whenever something, such as a proposed program, becomes important to their constituents, our legislators spring into action, appear to be furiously doing something constructive while making loud...

Although we seldom realize it, we are all party to an agreement which we entered into without our consent at the moment we spoke our first word. We all agree to speak a common language. This has worked reasonably well for thousands of years, and because it has done so well, it has not changed much, other than adding some new words and changing styles, for several millennia. The basic idea is that every thing or event – real, imaginary, solid, emotional, whatever – is relegated to a class, and when it is necessary to consider an individual entity, that entity is given characteristics which differentiate it from other members of the class. For example, Huey, Dewey and Louie are individual members of the class “ducks.” And classes are put into other classes – “ducks” is a member of the class “birds,” and “birds” is a member of the class “animals,” and so on. The ongoing events could have been classified in other ways. H,D and L could have been put into a class of two-legged animals, ...

To paraphrase Duke Ellington, “There are two kinds of music, good music and all the rest. Don’t spend any time on the latter.” Actually Duke was speaking about worries, but for my purpose today, “music” is a better fit. There is no doubt that religion has spawned some of the world’s greatest music. Bach cantatas and masses, and Handel’s Messiah spring to mind. I have sung and heard some beautiful choir settings, and there are a few hymns, e.g. Angels We Have Heard On High and Silent Night among others, that are beautiful. For some reason Eternal Father, Strong To Save always makes me puddle up. And I always love to hear a good soloist sing O Holy Night . But aside from 10% to 15% of church music, the rest, at least to me, is bad poetry set to mediocre music. I am a little more lenient than the Duke, so replacing his binary scale (0-1) with the decimal scale (1-10), I would rate much of it between 0 and 4. Now a new practice, alternative worship, has become popular in many ch...

You have probably noticed that on the right-hand sidebar there is a picture of a book, with the caption “Available Soon.” I am having a hard time getting the cover to print the way it’s supposed to. It looks perfect on screen, but the proof copies do not have the bar code on the back. I have been going around and around with the printing company, but the problem remains unsolved. But I’ll get it yet.  However, today I want to write a bit about the book itself. What is it about? Albert Einstein wrote, “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.” When we plant a seed and a plant grows, we say, “The seed grew into a beautiful plant.” But it is a lot more than that. In order to reach their full potential, seeds need to have certain essential nutrients available: nitrogen, phosph...

On Veterans Day, (formerly Armistice Day), November 11 th , the USA paused to honor the veterans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The program at Luther Acres included taking a picture of all veterans present, approximately 100 men and women, followed by a program of patriotic and nostalgic music by local musician Mick Cochran. Each veteran received a Nepalese coin made from a spent brass bullet casing used during WWII, and three received special citations for serving 20, 24 and 38 years respectively. Upon seeing how many veterans were present, I estimated that about one of every five residents of the retirement community had been in the service. In this particular group, many served during WWII and the Korean War. But even those who served in peacetime have faced dangers, foreign dangers that we sometimes tend to forget. From the beginning of the 20 th century to the present time (2009) there have been seven hostilities classified as conflicts, as well as six ...

In response to a report which appeared recently in the Wall Street Journal , American International Group Inc.'s CEO, Robert Benmosche, who was paid around $10.5 million this past August to take over and cure the ailing company, announced that he was not going anywhere. Apparently Mr. Benmosche decided he could make do on his pittance of a salary. AIG was given a government bailout package of up to $180 billion (yes, that’s …illion with a b) because the company was “too big to fail.” I would think that if it’s that big, it is probably too big to exist. But I digress – Even though he is terribly frustrated by the  government’s salary caps (the government now owns an 80% stake in the company), Mr. Benmosche has told the company’s 100 highest paid employees that he will stay on and fight for their pay.  Under the government's caps  plan, cash salaries for the top 25 highest-paid executives will be limited in most cases to $500,000. The plan also calls for perks in mos...

Although I usually come up with subjects for my blog in the hour before the alarm sounds, last night was an exception; I woke up about 3:15 and had trouble getting back to sleep. About 4:00 I decided to get up and prowl around a bit, and I discovered the house was not quite dark. In addition to the night-lights in the bathrooms, every room in the house displayed little red or green lights. So I decided to take a survey. In the bedroom there is a clock, a smoke alarm and a big red emergency button. (We live in a retirement community.) Fortunately, we have never had to use either the smoke alarm or the emergency button, but they are there. After checking the rest of the house, I made up the following table: Room/Device LEDs Clocks Other Bedroom      Smoke Alarm 1      Alarm Clock 1      Emergency Button 1 Hall ...

In 2007, Jamie Leigh Jones testified at a Congressional hearing that she had been gang-raped in 2005 by as many as seven co-workers while working in Iraq for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. After an Army doctor examined her and gave forensic material to her employer, she was placed under guard in a shipping container, where she remained without food or drink for 24 hours. Finally a friendly guard gave her a cell phone which she used to call her father. She was released only after her father asked the US embassy to intervene. When Jones tried to take legal action, Halliburton/KBR used a clause in her contract, which required disputes to be settled by arbitration, to block such action. In 2007, Jones filed a joint civil suit against Halliburton/KBR and the only assailant she could identify. According to the legal papers, Jones was given a knockout drug while drinking with KBR firefighters. “When she awoke the next morning still affected by the drug, she found her body naked and...

 I am sure you have heard of the Law of Untended Consequences. Today’s blog is an example drawn from personal experience. When I was three years old, my father lost his job and his home because of the great depression. Subsequently I was sent to live with my grandparents, where I had to share a bed with my aunt Dorothy, who was seventeen. Aunt Dorothy took it upon herself to teach me about praying. Although she died in 1967 at the age of 51, a simple prayer she taught me over 65 years ago still exerts a strong influence on me today, although not in the way she intended. Of course, I had to learn the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer which I dutifully recited every night. One night I said to aunt Dorothy, “This ‘if I should die before I wake’ scares me. How can I be sure I won’t die before I wake?” Aunt Dorothy said, “Ask God to be sure to let you wake up in the morning.” So I added that to my prayer. Then I said, “What if the world ends tonight; then I’ll die?” Aunt Do...

From October 17 th through the 23 rd we were on a cruise up the Hudson River . Since arriving home, I have been sick for three days, and have had a sick computer for a couple of other days. I think both the computer and I are now doing OK, at least for today. I had never seen the Hudson , and I certainly didn’t realize how BIG it is. One of the most interesting stops for me was at West Point . It was raining, cold and an altogether miserable day; even so we were impressed. The soggy view of the river was still gorgeous. We saw as much of the campus as we could from the bus, and spent quite a bit of time in the visitors’ center. I will say this only once, and you can rely upon its being true for every day: We arrived back at the ship in time for the cocktail hour. After all, one has to have priorities. Without going into too much detail, we took self-guided walking tours of Troy , Catskill and Kingston . Between stops the on-board historian, Sandy Balla, told us of the history,...

Last evening I was privileged to attend a performance by Daniel Rodriguez, the "Singing Cop." Rodriguez became widely known in the aftermath of the horrendous attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I am not much of a fan of vocalists, so I was not particularly enthusiastic about attending last night’s event. I had the idea that Rodriguez was just a cop who happened to have a nice voice, and I was surprised and delighted to learn that he had been seriously studying music since he was ten years old. And it shows. He has been blessed with a voice that one expects to be associated with an Italian name such as Caruso or Lanza, but his heritage is Puerto Rican, and he has trained with some of the finest teachers in New York . He performed in Carnegie Hall at the age of 17. With a repertoire ranging from the sentimental style of Be My Love   to Nelson Eddy’s Stout Hearted Men , the range and power of Rodriguez’s voice is amazing. If ...

Just as individuals need to be nudged into paths of proper behavior, so to do organizations. In individuals, this task is performed by a conscience; Sister Evelyn Houlroyd, who passed away on October 15th, performed that function at Luther Acres. Born 89 years ago in Trenton , New Jersey , sister Evelyn moved to our community 10 years ago. At a young age she became a deaconess in the Lutheran Church in preference to becoming a teacher. It is safe to say she has been dedicating her entire life to Christ. Never bashful in presenting her opinions, when she rose to speak at any meeting, the other attendees could be sure of two things: (1) Her deliberate and forthright Sunday School Teacher’s delivery was going to take a little time and, (2) somewhere along the way we had strayed and needed to be brought back onto what she felt was the correct path. Whether a new conscience will soon appear at Luther Acres remains to be seen; it is a sure bet that it will not come from another Sist...

One of the people we met on our recent trip was Sandy Balla, a history major and Hudson River buff. Sandy, who lives in the area, was hired by the cruise line to give us information about the sights we were seeing, and she is very good at the job. Whether it was West Point, Catskill or any other location along the route from NYC to Troy , Sandy was up to date with her knowledge. She knew not only the history of the locations we visited; she also told us about the current local economy, as well as prior to the settlement by the Dutch and English;  the relations of the current and ancient populations with each other, and the names and works of local painters and artisans who did so much to popularize the region. She also told us stories and legends, e.g. Rip Van Winkle , during times when some of us had idle time aboard ship. Her knowledge and enthusiasm, and the professionalism with which she imparted it, did much to make the trip more meaningful and pleasant. She also told...