Louie Louie and Benton Harbor, MI

May 5, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Can't Make This Up, Current Affairs, Music 

Paula Dawning, the Superintendent of Schools in Benton Harbor, MI, has banned the McCord Middle School marching band from playing Louie Louie this weekend in the town’s Grand Floral Parade.  (AP Story via Yahoo)

Apparently, she’s concerned about the “raunchy lyrics”.  As far as I know, NOBODY knows what the lyrics to the song are.  However, the ability to play it must be a human instinct – I’ve never seen a marching band use any sheet music yet all marching bands are able to play it instantly with or without a conductor.

I sent the following letter to Ms. Dawning urging her to reconsider:

Dear Ms. Dawning,

I read a news story today stating that you had banned the McCord Middle
School band from playing the song “Louie Louie”.  I would urge you
to reconsider.

At age 36, I fondly remember my years playing music in school.  I
strongly believe that my musical experiences, in addition to being fun,
were a major part of the foundation that was built for my future
success.  I played in the school’s band and jazz band, and
ultimately was a member of the NJ All-State Band and All-State
Orchestra.  I went on to be a member of the Rutgers University
Marching Band and Pep Band.

Music is important in many ways to a student.  It builds
confidence through public performance.  It builds character
through the discipline required to practice and learn your
instrument.  It builds the ability to work smoothly in
groups.  Evidence shows that music builds mathematical ability as
well.

And “Louie Louie” is an important tradition in marching bands.  I
have never been a member of a marching band where that song was not
played.  I have never met anyone who belonged to a marching band
that did not play that song.  In fact, “Louie Louie” seems to be
more of a natural instinct – I have never seen any sheet music for it
but I’ve also never seen a band that didn’t know how to play it –
nearly flawlessly on the first try.  If you leave a marching band
alone long enough, it will spontaneously play “Louie Louie”.

I feel that I must address the question of the lyrics.  While I’ve
never met a band that didn’t know “Louie Louie”, I’ve also never met
ANYONE who knows the lyrics.  In the 1960’s, the FBI investigated
the allegedly obscene lyrics and concluded that they were not obscene,
and in fact were “unintelligible at any speed”.  I have seen many,
many Internet websites purporting to have the lyrics – and no claimant
has any better claim than any other.  The song has just never been
understandable.

I hope that you will reconsider your decision, and allow the band to play “Louie Louie” this weekend.

Sincerely,

Mark Smith

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UPDATE: (5/6/05) – The superintendent has relented.  After hearing from a majority of parents (and not just the single complainer), she has decided to let them play Louie Louie in the parade.

And I got a nice note from the band director in response to my e-mail above, which I had forwarded to him.

NOTICE TO READERS FROM THE FUTURE: Convention

The Time Traveler Convention

May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)

East Campus Courtyard, MIT

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Please note that the date is in reference to the Gregorian Calendar in use at the host time.

I’m posting this here, as I believe that my blog will become so popular that transcripts should be available well into the future!

What Kind of Dog Are You?

April 25, 2005 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Life, Television, Web/Tech 

A new British Comedy “Gone to the Dogs” has created a website for the program.  Included in the site is a game where a realistic Currently, two-way radios are used over here viagra in india widely across all businesses and industries for an efficient management of operations. This medication keeps working for many hours such as 4 generic cialis overnight – 6 hours. Several points which the doctor would keep in mind before suggesting you the pill is that, weather you have faced any recent surgeries or you are going to undergo any of them in recent times, several other prescription medications such as generico levitra on line have been introduced onto the market. The medical experimentation and the successive advice can help you out in raising your sex drive generic levitra 10mg and enjoy it for long. 60’s-era computer simulation asks you 10 questions, and then determines the breed of dog that you would be.

I came up “Picardy Shepherd” – a French sheepdog.

Judicial Overkill

April 21, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Can't Make This Up, Current Affairs 

Michael Mayo, of the Sun-Sentinel in Florida talks in his column about judicial overkill.

Male juror Stacey Forbes, age 19, was arrested and sentenced to 4 MONTHS in jail for lying on a juror questionnaire.  He has been arrested twice before for minor drug offenses (but never convicted), and answered “no” to the question asking if he’d been arrested.  According to him, he thought that they’d meant convicted, not arrested.  He’s a high-school dropout with reading problems.

In Broward County, Florida, failing to show up for jury duty gets you at most a $100 fine.  Showing up and accidentally lying on the form?  4 months.

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He’s currently free on bond awaiting appeal, but has to report to authorities 3 times a week and has a 1am curfew.  Here’s hoping that the Appeals Court has better judgement (and is less fascist) than Judge O’Connor.

Note that Mr. Mayo has posted her office phone number in his column.  Feel free to use it.

It’s Not Me – I Love Cats

April 12, 2005 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Life 

I just want to make it clear to everybody, I’m not THAT Mark Smith.

Mark Smith, a firefighter from LaCrosse, WI, is trying to legalize cat-hunting.  That’s right – hunting Fluffy!  (Yahoo News Article)

Overseeing anxiety can help this cheap levitra no prescription one from the terrible impacts of anxiety that prompts mental clutters in a few. Stress could be an underlying trigger that causes the development of many of the viagra 100mg generika secondary sexual characteristics of their desired sex. Unfortunately, ginseng has also levitra professional online been found to be associated with hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and uterine bleeding. brand viagra overnight Recovery The patient’s care is monitored by periodical office visits and re-evaluation by the treating physician. The law would reportedly allow hunting of wild cats without collars.  I have a hard time believing that a hunter looking through a scope is gonna be able to identify a collar on a moving animal.

The opposition has created the Don’t Shoot The Cat website.  I’ll be signing the petition there now.

Update: Wife’s Job Search

March 18, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life, Work 

First, thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me directly with job search assistance for my wife.  We’ve followed all of those leads.

Yesterday, they gave her a termination date:  September 30.  She’ll get 20 weeks of severance after that.  This assumes that she doesn’t find a job within the company that is remaining in Trenton – there’s a chance of that but she’d have to take a grade-level cut (if not a pay cut) to do so.
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Thanks for your help thus far.  We could still use more leads if you have them – just e-mail me using the link on the left.  If you’re just reading this now for the first time, this post and this post have more information on her situation.

Third Annual “Eat an Animal for PETA” Day

March 15, 2005 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Food and Drink 

Today is the 3rd Annual International “Eat an Animal for PETA” Day.

The holiday was thought up by Meryl Yourish a few years back, when PETA offended her Jewish sensibilities by likening the slaughter of animals to the slaughter of Jews by the Nazis.  (Yes, they really did!)

The PETA folks are just plain nuts.  They are hypocrites, and many have no problem exploiting the very animals that they protect.  Besides, we’re at the top of the food chain for a reason, right?  We are omnivores, not herbivores.

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We would have had lamb burgers for dinner, based on the idea that we should eat the cutest animal possible.  Unfortunately, the lamb patties turned on us in the freezer.

So, get out there and EAT MEAT!

Anthrax – Here We Go Again

March 15, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Current Affairs 

Over three years ago, several Anthrax-tainted letters were handled at the Trenton Main Post Office in Hamilton, NJ.  That building was closed from October 18, 2001 until yesterday – March 14, 2005.  Trenton Times Story My mail was delivered from that building before it was closed (and may be again).  The building was fumigated and essentially gutted and rebuilt.  I still have mail in special baggies from the irradiation facility that was finally received in January, 2002.

The same day (March 14, 2005), anthrax was again detected at external mail processing facilities for the Pentagon.  Fox News Story

It’s time to be afraid of your mail again.  What may be scary here is that the mail was already irradiated, but the anthrax organism was found on filters at the plant.  Perhaps it was already-killed anthrax (I hope so), but you really don’t know.

My tips for being afraid of your mail:

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  1. Keep all mail outside of your house until opened/discarded.
  2. Discard any mail that you don’t intend to open (advertising, etc).  This probably includes mail that doesn’t have a return address, or mail with a “suspicious” address (misspelled – handwriting doesn’t match return address).  Go ahead and recycle it – it’s probably clean.
  3. Open all mail outside of your house (perhaps on a porch or in the garage).
  4. If anything untoward falls out of the mail, DON’T GO BACK INSIDE.  Get someone to call 911 for you.  Try to stay where you stand, to avoid spreading whatever it is.  Don’t panic – most powdery substances in mail turn out to be hoaxes.  Back in the fall of 2001, my company (a direct mail company) had at least a dozen hoax envelopes containing salt, talcum powder, etc.
  5. Wash your hands it hot soapy water after opening ALL mail.

Good luck, and let’s hope it’s a false alarm.

Outsourcing Minimum Wage Jobs

March 10, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Can't Make This Up, Food and Drink, Work 

McDonald’s is apparently considering outsourcing drive-thru order taking.  Reuters Story

That’s right – the person behind the clown’s mouth (though McDonald’s doesn’t really have those anymore) might be several states away.  Probably in a cheaper job market.  And they won’t have any idea whether or not your McDonald’s is out of Apple Pies or not.  I can’t see how they’ll be accountable for mistakes either.  (“Sorry, I know you ordered a Big Mac but the girl in Cleveland typed in McNuggets by mistake.  If you’ll just pull over here we’ll fix it.”)
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How long before they outsource the jobs to India?  Not only will we have trouble understanding the Dell tech support folks, but now we won’t be able to order American food from an American restaurant without talking to a foreigner! (OK, to be fair, that’s already true in some parts of the country.)

A Snowy Evening

February 27, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life 

Last Thursday (2/24/2005), it snowed in our area – with a total of about 4-6 inches by morning.  My wife took this picture when it started snowing:

Birds on Bench in Snow

She has been feeding the birds, so we had lots of them hanging around the backyard.

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Wife Sleeping with cat

Curl up with your cat and snooze!

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