Human consciousness and transistor radios, soldering is impossible, theremin theory, Sinatra style, Texas dirt, and a Return to Boar Taint… all this and so much less on this edition of Right Angle: Backstage.
Human consciousness and transistor radios, soldering is impossible, theremin theory, Sinatra style, Texas dirt, and a Return to Boar Taint… all this and so much less on this edition of Right Angle: Backstage.
29 replies on “Right Angle: Backstage 05/09/23”
My transistor radio was yellow, I got it at radio shack, and atop the hill in southeastern York County PA, I could get radio transmissions from Quebec thanks to the atmospheric bounce at night.
Scott would probably appreciate that Mozart was teaching a lady whose head would go up or down depending on the pitch she was singing. So he wrote a song for her that made her head bob like a chicken. According to the U.K. show “Q.I.”
I tried to comment when this was new, only to have things rejected because I’ve started using a VPN. With that turned off, I’d like to say that I’ve been soldering for over 70 years, with some frustrations but mostly very successfully.
If anyone wants to listen to the best Lord of the Rings audiobook, find the unabridged version by Robert Inglis. His over-fifty-hours of near-Shakespearian presentation gives each character a unique voice and tone.
I have the CD version and listen to it once a year. I usually like to listen as we move into late fall and early winter, kinda like when Frodo set out on his quest.
There are no — absolutely no — movies comparable to this kind of unabridged enjoyment.
God bless Robert Inglis. God bless J.R.R. Tolkien.
Yes, August Rush. I found it very depressing.
Contact me, Scott. I will repair that radio for you. No charge.
As one of your XX members, now I gotta’ Google Boar Taint. Sheesh!
When Return of the King came out in theaters, a group of friends and I went to a larger theater that had a special promo. You got tickets for all three movies and they started sometime in the afternoon. Half hour break or so in between for snacks and an included sub sandwich, and then midnight showing of RotK. Epic event.
I thought the new D&D movie was good. At times it felt a little too fast paced, jumping ahead or so it felt, but as a fantasy, action/adventure it worked.
Bill’s last contribution to this backstage, reminded me so much of Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe’s T.E.D. talk……if you have not watched him describe his time on a sheep ranch, you must. If you have watched it in the past….you’ll never forget it.
https://youtu.be/IRVdiHu1VCc
Thanks, I went to the link and watched that.
I always get a chuckle when urbanites come face to face with the realities of farm and ranch work.
I was never involved in mutton or wool production so I don’t know much about sheep. Other than that young ones are very tasty, the leather is very supple and cloth made from their fleece is warm even when wet.
The process as Mike describes it is not the way it’s done with other animals and I can’t think the method described by Mike is very sanitary for the buck lambs. The human mouth contains a lot of nasty germs. We always used a razor blade, or a razor sharp cutting tool, for the whole process. A nice, clean, neat cut seems to me to be preferable to ripping things out using teeth.
Mike’s right about the War on Work though.
Regarding the English language…you should see how Old English began. My friend Jason Lisle did this 2 part video on “How Did We Get the Bible?”
Here in the second part, he shows the ‘evolution’ or devolution of the language.
https://rumble.com/v2m2wty-how-did-we-get-the-bible-part-2.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=2
Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. – Andrew Murray
Sin brought death into the world…the laws of physics, as we know it began. It’s not God’s fault, it’s Man’s.
This too applies…my friend Dan draws these…
The answer to the question, “What is consciousness?” lies in the answer to another question, “Do we have free will?”
Are we purely *physical* beings? Complicated reaction machines, in which every atom and electron in our being obeys the laws of physics? If so, we do not have free will.
Or, is there a part of our being that is separate from the physical laws? A soul?
My feeling is that, proof that we have free will is proof that we have a soul. If so, that soul is the answer to consciousness.
Mercury Rising
One of the cool things about the “crooner” music of the era was that many people were making recording of the same songs. So you could hear the stylistic differences of Frank vs Vic Damone or Dean Martin, among others.
Frank’s phrasing was amazing. Though there were certainly some misses over the years.
But it led me to really start listening to the lyrics of songs. I think this is why I like Postmodern Jukebox. They take a great lyric and change it up to a completely different style.
Regarding A.I. having consciousness it is the lack of that that is concerning.
August Rush is actually pretty good. It is a re-telling of the Oliver Twist story. Robin Williams character is essentially Fagin.
Highly recommend!
Oh me and a Swiss friend of mine have this fantasy. In the near future, we will be on the cusp of general AI. There will be arguments, debates, protests in political campaigns, ran on this issue. We will be divided between pro AI and anti-AI. There will be states threatening to secede over this issue. We will hear stories theories and proposed legislation from all manner of scientists, philosophers, politicians, and intelligentsia.
Then finally, the day comes
The scientists and engineers flip the switch to turn on the AI……silence….and then. The light comes on, and with an authoritative, synthetic voice the machine says “all glory to God the Father who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”
Immediately the scientist and engineers that created the machine in the lobby for it to be turned on blow it up there’s arguments protest, riots, maybe Civil War. Everyone who feared the machine now begins to sing its praises, and everyone who was eagerly awaiting its arrival or severely disappointed to the point of suicide or are now down, playing the significance of general AI and its impact on society.
My wife (who is a super heroine) homeschools our 4 children. The thought of sending them to a school where they would be gone and left to the care of strangers who’s capabilities I have no knowledge. It terrifies me.
Bill, Texas Dirt makeup is nasty stuff. Had my own experience with it in HS plays as well. But you obviously never learned the cold cream trick! Keeps you from getting those swarthy freckles.
(Hmm. Note to self; Swarthy Freckles. New band name.)
Pretty sure the LotR/Hobbit music was written
by Howard Shore.
Howard Shore scored the Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy. Leonard Rosenman scored the Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings movie. So Steve is right, but also wrong.
My mother has always said that the kids not only don’t leave, they bring more back with them!!
I had the opposite experience from Steve reading “The Hobbit” in high school. I had been reading a lot of sci-fi, Edgar Allen Poe (most of the novels and short stories) and a lot of H P Lovecraft (yes, I know. Dark. Read every novel and short story he’s written. Got a collection), but little fantasy.
In high school one teacher gave us a choice: Read “The Hobbit) or “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Already read Poe’s. So, I read ” The Hobbit”
Boom!
A whole new world opened up. Got LOTR, and read it three times before I got “The Silmarillion” and read it. Stopped counting how many time I read LOTR at 28 times and Silmarillion at 18. Have read both more than once since. Need to do it again soon.
Since then read a lot of fantasy, but never have given up on the others either.
So glad it started.
Speaking of Lovecraft, I’m (feebly) attempting to write a ghost story that includes a “Shoggoth”.
Playing an Indian,hell. There’s a episode of Hawaii 5-0 where Ricardo Montaban play a Japanese Yakuza king pin.
Boar Taint is a good name for a heavy metal band