32 GB memory stick

[choro]

[....]

Different perspective on life? I guess it must have done though as I
told you I had just been through the greatest upheaval in my life just
before I had the heart attack so I can't really tell.

I came face-to-face with my mortality. I realized how fleeting life
is - something I had not thought about previously.

But I can tell you that from what I heard from someone who also had a
heart operation with our group who had been referred to another hospital
in London, nearly all had been through a depression. So I wouldn't be
surprised if you also have just been or are even now going through a
depression. It is normal, I believe to suffer depression after open
heart surgery.

I'm a Vietnam veteran and served in Saigon in 1968. I received a
serious head injury as a result, and I have suffered from dysthemia
(chronic depression) for all of my adult life. I get all my medical
care through the Veterans' Health Care Service in San Diego.

Thank God I never fired a shot in anger. In fact I never fired a single
shot in my whole life and I am glad I didn't even though I was caught in
a war situation or rather a civil war situation. But I remember the
Vietnam War days well, as well as the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.

I realize I have to get out there and start walking. Maybe I'm at a
point in my life where I just don't give a damn.

Yes, you do have to get out otherwise life gets boring and makes one's
depression worse.

Dogs need too much care; cats fend for themselves. We had a dog while
I was growing up, but I've always had cats - usually abandoned
long-hairs - all of my adult life. I had a Silver Persian that I
found abandoned about thirty years ago. Since I'm David, he became
"David's Lloyd George". Found an abandoned Himmilayan in the early
1990s who turned out to have a pedigree. Sir Percy Cat - original
name, "Berryhill's Dewey Morn" Used for breeding. Entered him in a
cat show, and he won first prize. This latest one adopted me this
past January 5. It was a kitten that just appeared on my porch -
can't figure out how she got their. Named her "Pookie".

Pets are great as company; whether cats or dogs though you can
communicate a lot more and a lot better with a dog. But you have to
devote time to them.

I live in a deserted community - don't have many friends at all. I'm
on the beach and own a gorgeous home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Hate to give it up, but there's nothing going on down here. Trouble
is, I could move somewhere and experience the same thing. I'm not
much of a social animal, and that's what is good about the Internet
and Usenet.

This is the bane of modern society. We tend to live a lonely life in a
sea of a multitude of people. Luckily for me, I am in email touch with
some of my former classmates while I also have some friends who live
locally and with who I meet several times a week for a chat and then we
go out for a meal which is great. I can do this at will nowadays as I am
not at the moment in a relationship. One of my old girlfriends tried to
get our relationship going again but I was cool to the idea. I also know
one or two really beautiful younger girls I met in real life and I keep
in touch with them using Skype.

I was married twice. Once in my 20s but we were too young - lasted
eight years without children. Split was uneventful. Married an
American gal down here in 2002. She turned out to be an alcoholic
with a serious bi-polar disorder. Much trouble including the cops. I
left her and filed for separation. While I was visiting my family in
Pennsylvania in November, 2002, I got an email from neighbors telling
me that she had been killed in an automobile accident while driving
drunk. So that was that. Haven't ventured back into the dating scene
again, but I go out woth my housekeeper several times a week for a
nice meal. I've had a pretty interesting and eventful life. Hope
there's more to come.

I was married only once and it lasted some 30 odd years but it became a
real burden in the last half a dozen years and I am glad we split. But
getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship one loses
one's freedom. I have reached a stage in my life when I want to do my
own thing rather than compromise which one has to do in a relationship.
-- choro
[....]

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

That's interesting. I was listening to my Watch List on YouTube while
trying to go through my NewsGroups and guess what was playing as I came
across your response... Csardas by Monti which in my younger days I used
to play as a bird puller! It never failed in attracting birds!
-- choro

And you're the guy who complained about the showiness of one of my links
to Shto me e milo! BTW, I agree that it's too flowery, but it was also
ethnically valid underneath that...

I tried a couple of YouTube videos of that piece. The second was even by
a Hungarian, but I still couldn't possibly dance to it

 

[John M Ward]

[Big snip]

But getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship
one loses one's freedom.

I suspected as much. It might be selfish of me (though it was not
intended that way) but staying alone seems to have been the way I was
always intended to be.

I have reached a stage in my life when I want to do my own thing
rather than compromise which one has to do in a relationship.

Some of us feel no need for "pairing" and have our reasons, yet it
doesn't mean we necessarily end up depressed, angry, socially inept or
hermit-like as some (not here!) seem to think -- though I suppose that
can happen in *some* instances...

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

For the correct spelling of Dvorak, with those funny characters, see
http://www.procantare.org/images/march04_prog_notes.pdf

This I copied from Stumbling Block's posting and it shows up properly
on MY screen...
"BTW, it's Dvo0 >
If you can't see it properly you must set your News Reader to use the
Western-ISO-8859-1 for your Default Character Encoding. At least
that's what I have got mine set to.

You'll find it under...
Tools>Account Settings>Server Settings -- at least in Thunderbird.
-- choro

I fear this ancient Turnpike doesn't (AFAIK) have the ability to select
which set it is using. (But it might and I don't know about it.)
[]

The second option is the more likely one. But in this day and age I
can't understand why they can't write programs that will automatically
select the character encoding used and automatically display the correct
characters. But I guess we are not far off that target.
-- choro

I've discovered that my newsreader tries to do that by choosing its
character sets according to a mysterious cabalistic code, which helps
mess up some people trying to read my posts when I use non-English
characters. I've made changes, but I have little faith ...

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

And you're the guy who complained about the showiness of one of my links
to Shto me e milo! BTW, I agree that it's too flowery, but it was also
ethnically valid underneath that...

I tried a couple of YouTube videos of that piece. The second was even by
a Hungarian, but I still couldn't possibly dance to it

Sloppy writing on my part. In the second paragraph, "that piece" refers
to the Csárdás (or Csardas, if you get weirdness for the accented a's).

 

[Ed Cryer]

For the correct spelling of Dvorak, with those funny characters, see
http://www.procantare.org/images/march04_prog_notes.pdf

This I copied from Stumbling Block's posting and it shows up properly
on MY screen...
"BTW, it's Dvo0>
If you can't see it properly you must set your News Reader to use the
Western-ISO-8859-1 for your Default Character Encoding. At least
that's what I have got mine set to.

You'll find it under...
Tools>Account Settings>Server Settings -- at least in Thunderbird.
-- choro

I fear this ancient Turnpike doesn't (AFAIK) have the ability to select
which set it is using. (But it might and I don't know about it.)
[]

The second option is the more likely one. But in this day and age I
can't understand why they can't write programs that will automatically
select the character encoding used and automatically display the correct
characters. But I guess we are not far off that target.
-- choro

I've discovered that my newsreader tries to do that by choosing its
character sets according to a mysterious cabalistic code, which helps
mess up some people trying to read my posts when I use non-English
characters. I've made changes, but I have little faith ...

Unicode was supposed to rid us of all those problems. But it hasn't!
It's just added to the mayhem.

Here's some classical Greek in Unicode.
I wait to see what it transmutes into a while down the line.
Probably just a load of ??????????
Ἐν á¼€Ïχῇ ἦν ὠλόγος, καὶ ὠλόγος ἦν Ï€Ïὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὠλόγος. 2
οὗτος ἦν á¼Î½ á¼€Ïχῇ Ï€Ïὸς τὸν θεόν. 3 πάντα δι’ αá½Ï„οῦ á¼Î³á½³Î½ÎµÏ„ο, καὶ χωÏὶς
αá½Ï„οῦ á¼Î³á½³Î½ÎµÏ„ο οá½Î´á½² ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν 4 á¼Î½ αá½Ï„á¿· ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς
τῶν ἀνθÏώπων· 5 καὶ τὸ φῶς á¼Î½ τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αá½Ï„ὸ οá½
κατέλαβεν.


Ed

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

On 21/11/2011 12:12, Mack A. Damia wrote: []

I live in a deserted community - don't have many friends at all. I'm
on the beach and own a gorgeous home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Hate to give it up, but there's nothing going on down here. Trouble
is, I could move somewhere and experience the same thing. I'm not
much of a social animal, and that's what is good about the Internet
and Usenet.

This is the bane of modern society. We tend to live a lonely life in a
sea of a multitude of people. Luckily for me, I am in email touch with

Why is something that allows us to have lots of friends, without having
to physically share our space with them, a "bane" - or is that not what
you meant there?
[]

getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship one
loses one's freedom. I have reached a stage in my life when I want to
do my own thing rather than compromise which one has to do in a
relationship.

[]
So you like your privacy too.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

[Big snip]

But getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship
one loses one's freedom.

I suspected as much. It might be selfish of me (though it was not
intended that way) but staying alone seems to have been the way I was
always intended to be.

I have reached a stage in my life when I want to do my own thing
rather than compromise which one has to do in a relationship.

Some of us feel no need for "pairing" and have our reasons, yet it
doesn't mean we necessarily end up depressed, angry, socially inept or
hermit-like as some (not here!) seem to think -- though I suppose that
can happen in *some* instances...

Well said that man! I'm on the whole a happy person.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

If you don't play music, and I mean play it at an advanced level, then
please do not poke your nose into subjects you know nothing about! For
then this becomes sort of like a blind man talking about pictures or a
human being born without a dick or a clit talking about orgasmic
pleasures!

Sorry, can't agree. People can appreciate (meaning have valid opinions
on, including disliking - appreciation doesn't always have a positive
meaning) something without necessarily having great skill at it. I was
going to suggest painting too - you don't have to be (for example)
Leonard to appreciate his genius - then it occurred to me that sport is
another example.

Sorry but I can be rude at times!

Your first part was in fact ruder; the use of common short words in your
second part doesn't bother me at all.

-- choro

I think there is a lot in the above (whoever said it, I've lost track).
But it's not bidirectional - if you can't play well, that doesn't
_necessarily_ mean you can't appreciate, including "singing in your
head".
[]

 

[Mack A. Damia]

(Snip)

Thank God I never fired a shot in anger. In fact I never fired a single
shot in my whole life and I am glad I didn't even though I was caught in
a war situation or rather a civil war situation. But I remember the
Vietnam War days well, as well as the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.

We were issued rifles in RVN, but they were kept securely locked up.

We took them out once a month for cleaning. I never fired a shot
either except in training, and I've owned a couple of guns throughout
my lifetime for shooting at paper targets, but I've never been
hunting. Don't own one now.

(Snip)

This is the bane of modern society. We tend to live a lonely life in a
sea of a multitude of people. Luckily for me, I am in email touch with
some of my former classmates while I also have some friends who live
locally and with who I meet several times a week for a chat and then we
go out for a meal which is great. I can do this at will nowadays as I am
not at the moment in a relationship. One of my old girlfriends tried to
get our relationship going again but I was cool to the idea. I also know
one or two really beautiful younger girls I met in real life and I keep
in touch with them using Skype.

There are a lot of young - very young women in Mexico looking for a
sugar daddy, but money is all they are interested in. Mexico has a
very poor population for the most part, although is is an affluent
class, too.

(Snip)

I was married only once and it lasted some 30 odd years but it became a
real burden in the last half a dozen years and I am glad we split. But
getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship one loses
one's freedom. I have reached a stage in my life when I want to do my
own thing rather than compromise which one has to do in a relationship.

I won't get married again. Single women my age have too much baggage
such as ex's, children and grandchildren. I doubt that I'll even get
close to one.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

If you don't play music, and I mean play it at an advanced level, then
please do not poke your nose into subjects you know nothing about! For
then this becomes sort of like a blind man talking about pictures or a
human being born without a dick or a clit talking about orgasmic
pleasures!

Sorry, can't agree. People can appreciate (meaning have valid opinions
on, including disliking - appreciation doesn't always have a positive
meaning) something without necessarily having great skill at it. I was
going to suggest painting too - you don't have to be (for example)
Leonard to appreciate his genius - then it occurred to me that sport is
another example.

Sorry but I can be rude at times!

Your first part was in fact ruder; the use of common short words in your
second part doesn't bother me at all.

-- choro

I think there is a lot in the above (whoever said it, I've lost track).
But it's not bidirectional - if you can't play well, that doesn't
_necessarily_ mean you can't appreciate, including "singing in your
head".
[]

Consider this: if what choro said were true, than the only market for
art and music would be artists and musicians.

Just like the only market for all of my great software would be other
programmers

 

[Mike Fleming]

The trouble with snipping text is that it takes some effort to do a good
snip. It necessitates some thinking. It is easier NOT to snip.

If I have to scroll down a page to look at the new text, I don't
bother. If the writer can't be bothered to make the effort, then why
should the reader?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

And you're the guy who complained about the showiness of one of my links
to Shto me e milo! BTW, I agree that it's too flowery, but it was also
ethnically valid underneath that...

I tried a couple of YouTube videos of that piece. The second was even by
a Hungarian, but I still couldn't possibly dance to it

So here are a couple of clips of *real* Hungarian dances to *real*
Hungarian music. These are staged, but they are real: I have danced most
of the figures in the clips, except legényes, the jumping and leg
slapping, since my legs don't work well.

In the first clip the dancers are mostly synchronized. In a real táncház
(dance hall), as in swing dancing, every couple would be doing their own
thing independently, and there'd be a *lot* more people. And a few more
figures, come to think of it.

The second clip is more natural in respect to the independence. The
first clip shows more of the whole cycle, whereas the second clip shows
how the band would appear. The second clip is a sort of medley, not a
continuous video, AFAICT.

BTW, the dance would often go on for well over half an hour (but not the
way I do it, to records that are rarely over 15 minutes long).

There are many other Hungarian dances besides mezõségi (mezosegi), but
they share various features.

 

[choro]

So here are a couple of clips of *real* Hungarian dances to *real*
Hungarian music. These are staged, but they are real: I have danced most
of the figures in the clips, except legényes, the jumping and leg
slapping, since my legs don't work well.

I love Tzigane Music and what with one thing and another, this has cost
me two beautiful hours of my time. I am supposed to be in bed now, you
know. But I did come across some lovely Tsigane music. Marked some
videos to go back to again when I get the time. Lovely!
-- choro

 

[choro]

On 21/11/2011 23:21, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
For the correct spelling of Dvorak, with those funny characters, see
http://www.procantare.org/images/march04_prog_notes.pdf

This I copied from Stumbling Block's posting and it shows up properly
on MY screen...
"BTW, it's Dvo0>
If you can't see it properly you must set your News Reader to use the
Western-ISO-8859-1 for your Default Character Encoding. At least
that's what I have got mine set to.

You'll find it under...
Tools>Account Settings>Server Settings -- at least in Thunderbird.
-- choro

I fear this ancient Turnpike doesn't (AFAIK) have the ability to select
which set it is using. (But it might and I don't know about it.)
[]

The second option is the more likely one. But in this day and age I
can't understand why they can't write programs that will automatically
select the character encoding used and automatically display the correct
characters. But I guess we are not far off that target.
-- choro

I've discovered that my newsreader tries to do that by choosing its
character sets according to a mysterious cabalistic code, which helps
mess up some people trying to read my posts when I use non-English
characters. I've made changes, but I have little faith ...

Unicode was supposed to rid us of all those problems. But it hasn't!
It's just added to the mayhem.

Here's some classical Greek in Unicode.
I wait to see what it transmutes into a while down the line.
Probably just a load of ??????????
Ἐν á¼€Ïχῇ ἦν ὠλόγος, καὶ ὠλόγος ἦν Ï€Ïὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὠλόγος. 2
οὗτος ἦν á¼Î½ á¼€Ïχῇ Ï€Ïὸς τὸν θεόν. 3 πάντα δι’ αá½Ï„οῦ á¼Î³á½³Î½ÎµÏ„ο, καὶ χωÏὶς
αá½Ï„οῦ á¼Î³á½³Î½ÎµÏ„ο οá½Î´á½² ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν 4 á¼Î½ αá½Ï„á¿· ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς
τῶν ἀνθÏώπων· 5 καὶ τὸ φῶς á¼Î½ τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αá½Ï„ὸ οá½
κατέλαβεν.

Perfetto in my screen!
-- choro

 

[choro]

If I have to scroll down a page to look at the new text, I don't
bother. If the writer can't be bothered to make the effort, then why
should the reader?

Nobody has begged you to read their posts.
-- choro

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I love Tzigane Music and what with one thing and another, this has cost
me two beautiful hours of my time. I am supposed to be in bed now, you
know. But I did come across some lovely Tsigane music. Marked some
videos to go back to again when I get the time. Lovely!
-- choro

But the pieces above aren't cigány (cigany) music...They are ethnic
Hungarian songs; Mezõség (Mezoseg) is an ethnic Hungarian enclave in
Romania.

Of course it gets tricky. The Roma in Eastern Europe play local music as
well as Rom music, and the non-Roma play Rom music as well as their own,
and so on and so forth. And everybody learns from everybody else...

It's all kind of fun.

Another interesting thing to me is the large number of songs with the
most divine melodies singing about how the Turks killed my boyfriend, so
I'm going to kill some Turks, or (one of the Macedonian ones I posted)
about Katushe, who is married to a drunkard, and while the other
husbands are working in the fields, he's at the tavern, or another
really beautiful song about "No, Stojan, it's not raining, those are my
tears falling on your face because you're dying, and when you do, the
Turks will rape me and take our son into slavery...".

 

[choro]

Sorry, can't agree. People can appreciate (meaning have valid opinions
on, including disliking - appreciation doesn't always have a positive
meaning) something without necessarily having great skill at it. I was
going to suggest painting too - you don't have to be (for example)
Leonard to appreciate his genius - then it occurred to me that sport is
another example.

Your first part was in fact ruder; the use of common short words in your
second part doesn't bother me at all.

Well, of course the first part was ruder. The second part was just
telling you that I was being rude in the first part. Of course you can
enjoy music without learning to play music on any instrument but it helps!

I think there is a lot in the above (whoever said it, I've lost track).
But it's not bidirectional - if you can't play well, that doesn't
_necessarily_ mean you can't appreciate, including "singing in your head".

It was me again, choro who said it. Of course there is some truth in
what you say too. But you were trying to pass judgment on Glenn Gould
and who are you to brand him as playing like a robot? I am sorry but the
sort of complex music Bach composed is known as "musician's music" and
though a musical education or training is not necessary it helps in
enjoying it and appreciating it. And Glenn Gould is a fine player up
there with the best of the best.

BTW, were you the one who adored Liberace? I can never remember names
because I respond to ideas, not individuals. If so then go and listen to
him and let me enjoy Glenn Gould's interpretation of Bach.
-- choro

[]

 

[choro]

If you don't play music, and I mean play it at an advanced level, then
please do not poke your nose into subjects you know nothing about! For
then this becomes sort of like a blind man talking about pictures or a
human being born without a dick or a clit talking about orgasmic
pleasures!

Sorry, can't agree. People can appreciate (meaning have valid opinions
on, including disliking - appreciation doesn't always have a positive
meaning) something without necessarily having great skill at it. I was
going to suggest painting too - you don't have to be (for example)
Leonard to appreciate his genius - then it occurred to me that sport is
another example.

Sorry but I can be rude at times!

Your first part was in fact ruder; the use of common short words in your
second part doesn't bother me at all.

-- choro


You know what the secret is? More than technique it is the player
singing the melody in his head as he plays. You can't play or rather
play well what you cannot hear and it is that ability of a player to
hear the melody before he actually strikes the notes that brings out the
melody. It's all in your mind's ear, is what I say. I know this is a bit

I think there is a lot in the above (whoever said it, I've lost track).
But it's not bidirectional - if you can't play well, that doesn't
_necessarily_ mean you can't appreciate, including "singing in your
head".
[]

Consider this: if what choro said were true, than the only market for
art and music would be artists and musicians.

Just like the only market for all of my great software would be other
programmers

No. You are wrong there. There is a market for music at all levels. Just
like there is a market for food and eateries at all levels. But what has
happened technologically has changed the whole market. Now the whole
world can listen to the very best musicians from anywhere on earth at
the flick of a switch or the click of a mouse.

And in any case, I am not asking for everybody to listen to Glenn Gould.
All I am doing is saying that Glenn Gould is a phenomenal player and not
to be compared with the likes of Liberace. If you do not respect my
view, nobody is forcing you to stop listening to Liberace and start
listening to Glenn Gould.

But I am not going to lower my standards for the equivalent of political
correctness in the field of music.
-- choro

 

[choro]

On 21/11/2011 12:12, Mack A. Damia wrote: []

I live in a deserted community - don't have many friends at all. I'm
on the beach and own a gorgeous home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Hate to give it up, but there's nothing going on down here. Trouble
is, I could move somewhere and experience the same thing. I'm not
much of a social animal, and that's what is good about the Internet
and Usenet.

This is the bane of modern society. We tend to live a lonely life in a
sea of a multitude of people. Luckily for me, I am in email touch with

Why is something that allows us to have lots of friends, without having
to physically share our space with them, a "bane" - or is that not what
you meant there?

Because meeting friends in real life is different. It is like the
difference between going to a concert or listening to the same music on
a home music system. The atmosphere is not the same. I met some friends
today and am chatting here with you lot who I have started thinking of
as Internet friends. And though I enjoy both types, real life meeting
with friends offers infinitely more than Internet friendship.

[]

getting married once was enough for me. Even in a relationship one
loses one's freedom. I have reached a stage in my life when I want to
do my own thing rather than compromise which one has to do in a
relationship.

[]
So you like your privacy too.

Who doesn't like a bit of privacy? But man being a social animal, he
needs the physical human companionship as well. The important thing, I
expect, is to find a happy balance in life.No. You are wrong there.
There is a market for music at all levels. Just like there is a market
for food and eateries at all levels. But what has happened
technologically has changed the whole market. Now the whole world can
listen to the very best musicians from anywhere on earth at the flick of
a switch or the click of a mouse.

And in any case, I am not asking for everybody to listen to Glenn Gould.
All I am doing is saying that Glenn Gould is a phenomenal player and not
to be compared with the likes of Liberace. If you do not respect my
view, nobody is forcing you to stop listening to Liberace and start
listening to Glenn Gould.

But I am not going to lower my standards for the equivalent of political
correctness in the field of music.
-- choro