calimac

So my second Menlo review of the season was of a violin-and-piano recital. Not my normal fare, but I covered it OK.

The review was rather longer than ideal, which must be why my editors cut the material on two of the shorter pieces. I also decided for space purposes to omit any discussion of the preceding Prelude concert. Each piece on a Prelude program is performed in two of those concerts, and this was the second time for Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2. I heard both of them, in fact, having been on campus the previous day for a lecture. More on that later. Friday's performance of the Shostakovich wasn't as devastating as Thursday's, but it was more compelling and clear, and the Dvorak Op. 87 piano quartet that came with it was equally passionate.

Sunday I took a break from Menlo and went to a local children's theatre production of Guys and Dolls. The actors ranged from 11 years old, which was grotesquely young for a show like this, to 16, which was just barely old enough to look like they knew what they were doing. The performers knew their lines, I'll give them that, but their voices were small and lost-sounding. There was no amplification and the music was canned. The lead singing was mostly OK, but when Sky tried to harmonize with Sarah on "I've Never Been In Love Before," he shouldn't have.

kevin_standlee

Lisa's planned trip to Ljubljana, Slovakia, which was to start tomorrow, is now on hold, and I had to cancel the reservation. She called me late in her day to tell me that she'd done more research on the hotel we'd booked and discovered that there was no lift, and that all rooms were upstairs. Lisa cannot climb stairs easily, and she definitely cannot do so carrying luggage, so that made it untenable. I was able to cancel the reservation without penalty. Thank goodness we found this out before she got there!

The trip might still be able to be salvaged, though. There are other hotels (an IHG property, even) that do have lifts. By the time I could get back to the computer, Lisa had long since gone to bed (and a good thing, given how stressful today was for her), so we'll have to discuss it tomorrow. At the best case, she might leave a day later than originally planned, particularly if I can make a reservation where I made it abundantly clear that they should charge it to my credit card even though the card will not be present. We've done this before, and particularly with IHG properties. I do have Diamond status with them for the rest of this year; it would be nice to get some use out of it!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

redbird

This was the quarterly check-in so she can refill the Ritalin prescription, and cover anything else non-urgent.

I talked about how my gut is doing, and that I'm trying to reduce my use of naproxen (and NSAIDs generally) at the advice of the GI doctor. So far, that has meant waiting a little while before taking a naproxen because something hurts, and not taking it preventively for short walks. Airports, yes.

Carmen said there aren't a lot of good options, and recommended a turmeric supplement that someone she used to work for, who also did Ayurvedic medicine, recommended. I expressed some general skepticism, and specifically how much turmeric people had to eat to benefit. The recommendation is for a supplement that you tuck in next to your gum, so it's absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Carmen said "you can get it on Amazon," and Adrian pointed out after the visit that I should check the inactive ingredients carefully.

She also asked about my breathing, and I told her that recently, I've coughed up less phlegm after using the flutter valve, without having more trouble breathing. Less crap in my lungs is good, of course, and this means I won't worry much about skipping the flutter valve for things like travel and dental work. However, I'm basically sticking to the same twice-a-day schedule at least until the next time I see the lung doctor.

I also told Carmen about the strawberry allergy, and what symptoms I'd noted. I mentioned that I'm also probably allergic to stevia, and she made a note of both allergies.

The next appointment, in about three months, is for a physical exam, so longer and in person. At 1:30, so I can get lunch in Davis Square, weather allowing.

oursin

Some book reviews that have lately crossed my line of sight.

Andrea Ringer. Circus World: Roustabouts, Animals, and the Work of Putting on the Big Show:

Ringer is not interested in the perceived glitz and glamour of big top spectacles. Rather, she presents the golden age circus as a site of working-class labor, where both humans and beasts toiled from day till night under the near-constant gaze of thrill-seeking visitors.
....
_Circus World _is the sort of book that will captivate (and, in some cases, horrify) a great many readers. It's a
must-read for anyone interested in the history of the modern circus; the same is true for historians of animal entertainment and industry. Gender studies scholars will appreciate Ringer's fresh insights into the ways circuses amplified colonial and patriarchal notions of race, gender, and family. Plus, the book's short length and bite-sized
chapters make it ideal for classroom use. Above all, _Circus World _succeeds as a work of labor history, one that takes nontraditional work and nontraditional workers seriously.

***

Dominic Pettman. Telling The Bees: An interspecies Monologue. Possibly a bit twee/poncey?

Weary of the insistent demands and disappointments of online life in the early 2020s, Dominic Pettman turned to a very old practice: Rather than commenting on current events by posting for his followers on social media, he would tell the bees instead. The record of this experiment is _Telling the Bees: An Interspecies Monologue_ (2024). "Indeed, this time-honored activity--practiced in villages all over Europe, for centuries--seems much healthier to me than confessing things to the digital ether, the anonymous world via social media," he writes early in the journal (p. 2).
....
In Pettman's case, as a resident of New York City, he doesn't have much access to actual, in-the-flesh bees. The apartment co-op won't let him have a hive on the roof, for one thing. At the start he makes do by talking to "wild" bees he encounters on his walks in Central Park, but as the seasons change and the threats of COVID-19 force
ever smaller spaces of interaction, Pettman conjures and speaks to virtual bee--"the memory of bees," as he calls it, prompting a wry rejoinder from a waggish colleague: "These bees ... Are they in the room with us now?" (p. xi).
Readers seeking a journal of material human entanglement with physical bees will not find that here. Pettman's virtual bees are much more akin to the "virtual animal totem" [.]

***

This one does involve actual encounters with the beasts in question, it would appear: Leslie Patten. Ghostwalker: Tracking a Mountain Lion's Soul through Science and Story.

Patten then combats history and myth with a series of case and site studies in Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, and California, and interviews with mountain lion experts of every stripe--from trackers, hunters, and houndsmen (people who hunt with dogs) to wildlife biologists and conservation management specialists. Along
the way, Patten nimbly debunks so many myths about cougars--that they are isolate, cold-blooded killers who need to be managed to keep them from pets, livestock, and small children and that legal hunts are an effective way to manage and stabilize populations.

***

Hedgehogs in fact are ambiguously situated: Laura McLauchlan. Hedgehogs, Killing, and Kindness: The Contradictions of Care in Conservation Practice.

In the UK, hedgehog conservation is both necessary and supported by the public: Population numbers are in steady decline, while the animals themselves occupy a fond place in the British consciousness. The second section details her fieldwork in New Zealand at pest-control initiatives, including outreach events and community pest-control groups, conservation initiative Zealandia (a completely fenced ecosanctuary in Wellington dedicated to restoring
native flora and fauna), and her own "guerrilla" care for local hedgehogs. In New Zealand, hedgehogs are thriving despite their status as an invasive species, provoking widespread public animosity.

andrewducker

I'm possibly being dim here, but I can't see what "Recognising Palestine" does for the current humanitarian apocalypse.

(I'm not against it, but the government seem to be presenting it as somehow connected and I feel like I'm missing something.)

brithistorian

I created this post on 2 Dec. 2024, when I decided to start keeping a books-read log as part of my Dreamwidth journal. Each month will get a new post, to be updated as the month progresses, and links to the monthly logs will be kept in this post, which will be both stuck to the top of my journal and linked from my profile.

2024
- December
2025
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July

andrewducker

It's raining outside and Sophia was looking bored so I suggested she have a dance party

At which point she grabbed her cousin and they've spent the last half an hour decorating the dancefloor and designing tickets.

No dancing has yet occurred.

oursin

Happy birthday,

opusculasedfera!

calimac

that I forgot about while writing my previous post. Like the others, they're about my appreciation of his work.

9. Fact proven scientifically: If you take four Jewish boys attending a science-fiction convention on Thanksgiving weekend, and put them in a car going out for a dinner expedition, and the car drives past an early Christmas display, all four of them will spontaneously and simultaneously begin singing Tom Lehrer's "A Christmas Carol." And they won't stop until it's done, because of course they all have the song completely memorized.

10. You've heard of two-finger typists? I am a two-finger pianist. There are two tunes I can play two-fingered: one of them* is Tom Lehrer's "The Irish Ballad" and the other isn't.

*which I learned from the sheet music, thank you

kevin_standlee

Lisa called today to check in. It has been raining heavily in Munich, which literally puts a damper on her getting out and about. She thought she'd take a short out-and-back trip and when the first train going the direction she picked was too full, she caught the next one. That turned out to be a WESTbahn train, which is a private operator. To Lisa's annoyance, while WESTbahn honors Eurail passes, they only honor them for standard class, even if you have a first class pass. That bugged her enough that she got off at the next stop and took the next train going the other way. Now she knows to avoid that operator.

Her current plan is to not go anywhere tomorrow, after which she has a trip down to Ljubljana, Slovenia. I have confirmed with the hotel that she will be able to check in with her ID and booking information. This hotel is, someone unusually, cash only, so she has stocked up on Euros, but that should help with being able to check in.

She plans to stay four days in Ljubljana, exploring the city and seeing the railway museum. Then it's back to the apartment in Munich. It's a decently long trip each way.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

redbird

I just got off the phone with a (genuinely) helpful person at Amalgamated Bank.

I've been talking to them in order to close a joint account in my and my mother's names, and the bank told me in June that the easiest way to do this would be to withdraw all the money and then have them close the account. In order to do that, I had to set up online banking, but only after adding my phone number to the account, which I did in June. Apparently the reason I couldn't log in to the online account after setting it up was that I'd written the password down wrong.

The person at the bank reset my password for me, and then told me how to link this account to an account at another bank. I'm waiting for the test deposits to hit my account, which may take a few days. After than, I can transfer the rest of the money.

Also, I got up in time to go for a walk this morning, to the grocery store and back, before it got too hot. It's a hot day in July, so the six things I bought included ice cream, Italian ices, and fresh blueberries.

andrewducker

We've gone on holiday on purpose!

(Us, my brothers, our families, my parents, and their dogs. Seven adults and five kids altogether. Staying in a rented house half an hour out of Southampton for a week.)
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

conuly

Tom Lehrer died.

oursin

Recent spam email for a conference with initials which did not immediately decode for me:

ICGO is a boutique-style event that emphasizes depth and interaction. Modest in scale but rich in content, the conference’s intimate setting fosters close communication and meaningful dialogue. It encourages one-on-one and small-group discussions that often lead to lasting collaborations.

Takes me back to the dear old 1970s and the growth movement, what?

But then we discover

This esteemed gathering offers an exceptional opportunity for obstetricians, gynecologists, researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals to connect, share insights, and advance the field together.

One-on-one with gynaes is more reminding one of 70s soft pornos, hmmmm?

The conference is in

Athens, a city that blends ancient heritage with modern innovation, providing an inspiring backdrop for intellectual exchange. Its vibrant culture and Mediterranean charm will undoubtedly enrich your conference experience.

There is, apparently, a International Conference on Gynaecology and Obstetrics which holds ALOT of conferences in exotic places. I have managed to track down the details for a past occasion and discover - SURPRISE!!!! -

Travel
Due to limited budget resources, we regret to inform you that the conference is unable to sponsor or cover travel expenses for any participant, including speakers. We encourage speakers to make their own travel arrangements and plan accordingly.
Important Note
Please note that this conference is organized independently without sponsorship or support from any external organizations. The registration fees are primarily used to cover the cost of amenities and services provided to our registered members, including meals, snacks, sessions, networking opportunities, and other event-related activities.

The cherry on top of all this? -

We are pleased to offer honorariums to our esteemed keynote and invited speakers. To qualify for an honorarium, speakers must secure a minimum of 5 paid registrations or group paid registrations from their students, colleagues, or peers. The amount of the honorarium will be determined based on the number of registrations obtained. We encourage our speakers to actively promote the conference within their networks to ensure a rewarding experience for all.

Does this count as pyramid-selling?

Wotta racket, eh?

brithistorian

I just finished my second book for the reading challenge: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown, which is both "a history of a resistance movement" and "a history that's been sitting on your shelf for too long" (my mother-in-law bought it for me for Christmas about 10 years ago). Having already read Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous People's History of the United States, a lot of this a lot of this material was already familiar to me, but Brown's choice of events to focus on meant that I still ended up learning new things from this book.

While I admit to not knowing enough about the subject to recognize any faults in Brown's research, I did find one aspect the writing of the book that displeased me: It seemed that as the book progressed, moving closer to the present day, the coverage of material accelerated, as if Brown was starting with a preset limited page count and, having written the first part of the book, was scrambling to include all the material he wanted to before reaching that page limit. The result of this is that the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee, which I would have expected to be fairly significant parts of the book, are covered in 12 pages immediately before the book ends.

And when I say the book "ends," I am choosing that word very deliberately. The book just stops at the end of the day of the Wounded Knee Massacre, when the wounded survivors were carried into the church at the Episcopal mission at the Pine Ridge Agency. There is no conclusion, no examination of the reactions to the massacre, nothing. If you removed the table of contents and the back matter, which make it clear that this is the end of the book, and had a group of students read it, they would come back asking you for the rest of the book.

andrewducker

The invader has been captured!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

1. Tom Lehrer Dead: Influential Musical Satirist of '50s and '60s Was 97: (tags:music history comedy obituary )
2. The farce of the Online Safety Act. YouGov tweets are now being censored: (tags:censorship identity children UK )

calimac

I don't have to outline his accomplishments, as I did when the even more venerable and astonishingly similarly-talented Sheldon Harnick died. So instead I'll say these:

1. My parents saw Tom Lehrer perform in person. They went to the hungry i during his residency with the songs that were recorded there and became his album That Was The Year That Was.

2. They also had all his albums. That included his own personal-label 10" issues of his first two albums. Not the original pressings, I'm sure, but those issuings. I still have them all today.

3. But I don't play them, because I bought the CD set The Remains of Tom Lehrer as soon as it was published. That was one of two such collections I bought; the other was of Allan Sherman.

4. As a child, I would have said that I liked Tom Lehrer second among the musical comedians whose records we had. Sherman was first. Third was Stan Freberg. It took me a while to grow into Lehrer's humor.

5. But I had by the time I went to university. It was about then that Lehrer's "The Irish Ballad" became the first original song whose lyrics I memorized.

6. A few years later, of course I went to see the musical revue Tomfoolery when a touring company came to our area.

7. Tom Lehrer trivia item no. 1: He is not the only person to have written a song titled "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park." His is, however, the only one worth listening to.

8. Tom Lehrer trivia item no. 2: Here's Lehrer on The Frost Report adapting "New Math" to Britain's conversion to decimal currency.

oursin

Happy birthday,

thedivinegoat!

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calimac

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Reading

concert review: Music@Menlo

Scratch Ljubljana -- Maybe

appointment with Carmen: naproxen, gut, lungs

Varied engagements with animals and the natural world

I'm confused about Palestine and Gaza

Books read log

Life with two kids: Design on the dancefloor.

Interesting Links for 29-07-2025

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two more Tom Lehrer items

Lisa Checking In

a productive day

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No!

I am not sure I expected what followed

Book reaction: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

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Interesting Links for 28-07-2025

Tom Lehrer

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July 2025

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