Opening Stuff:
While we too often only remember
the battles,
it is pure unadulterated love which has always. ruled the world. Since the beginning of time, men have walked
on clouds and women have dreamed of Princes on white stallions. Grizzly men and hard women have
been broken by the power of the heart. Tears are shed and bodies are elated.
When the blackness closes in, the cushion of love brings the strength.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Revisited, Department:
Twitter and other social media have enormous, unbridled
power often misused, often unreasoned to stamp the big scarlet “A” across the
foreheads of decent people. Salem never saw witch hunts like we have today.
More Big “A”, department:
Chick-fil-A
has 1775 stores compared to KFC’s 4495. KFC just removed the phrase, “the
leader in the U.S. chicken [quick-service restaurant] segment” from their
annual report. CFA had greater sales in
dollars, $5 billion to KFC’s $4.2 Billion! And remember that CFA is only open 6
days aweek – no Sundays, thank you! I guess that protest against the religious
beliefs of the Chick-fil-A owners isn’t working out too well.
The Question:
Aside
from “Here comes Peter Cottontail”, classical music related to the real Easter
abounds. Name five great symphonic pieces.
The Headlines:
--Dow
Beaten Down As NASDAQ Attempts To Recover; Investors Worry About High Flying
Valuations As Potentially Stingy Earnings Season Approaches.
--Pro
Russia Separatists Claim Independence For Eastern Ukraine; Seize Provincial
Admin Building.
--EU
Plans To Send Slovakian Gas To Ukraine; Could Be Blocked By Russia.
--1939
Entertainer Of the Year Mickey Rooney Dies At 93.
--Microsoft
Ends Support For Windows XP.
--MH370
Seekers Buoyed By New Pinging Evidence.
--India
Begins Worlds Largest Democratic Exercise.
--Afghanistan
Begins Vote Count.
I’m talking a lot about the
bigness of love in hearts today. I can’t think of anything that represents pure love for
fellow human beings than what I saw last night in 60 minutes about two nurse practitioners
who spend their lives bringing health care to the utterly poor. People are always
talking about “Saints”. I think if you looked up “Saint “ in the dictionary you’d
find Teresa Gardner and Paula Meade. As I type, I feel for them, and the people
of Appalachia they treat
There are times in life when you just have
to be bold. Today I am officially rejecting Publishers Clearing Sweepstakes as
a future source of income. Too much angst.
In January the Tids talked
about the biggest game in college basketball; how it will only come about when and
if UConn and Notre Dame women meet in the NCAA women’s final. They will
tomorrow night. Both are undefeated…and this will be a war.
I’m picking UConn men tonight. Tomorrow is a coin flip,
but I think ND looks fired up, and I’ll stick out my neck there, even though I
am, and am surrounded by UConn lovers.
About this “extreme”
weather… I
have several theories on this: First I haven’t seen anything out of the
ordinary around here despite the anguish of reporters. And that’s number two. There
is just much more reporting of weather related incidents than ever in the past.
Third, weather incidents appear to wrack more havoc because there are more and
more people living in areas of violent storms. And, fourth, we have more kids
getting degrees in Environmental Science, who must write something to sustain
their visibility and retain Government grants, in what is becoming a big
industry with lots of tax payer dollars behind it.
A friend of mine writes to say that the
reason older people take a little longer to recall items from their formidable,
fertile brains is because they have crammed so much usable great stuff in there
over the many years. Often when moving info to the surface we pass by beautiful
memories which gives delectable pause.
On Thursday, Senator Diane Feinstein
said, “All Vets are mentally ill in some way and the government should prevent
them from owning firearms.” When I think of mental illness, I think of Harry Reid,
and his followers. You have to worry about a government intent on banning weapons
from those who know how to use them.
How great was it to see the incomparable Stevie
Nicks with Lady Antebellum last night on the American Country Awards show.
Shakira and Blake Shelton had a pretty impressive duet too. Kieth Urban was on
fire! But, I was intrigued most by Eric Church and his song “Give me back my
Hometown”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5DnNxDTjbQ
When you see the headlines about “Medicare cuts”, it isn’t
at all about Medicare in general but about the specific Medicare Advantage
programs, which “O” said he would cut in the beginning but then relinquished to
pressure before the elections, and then one day when we were looking re ordered
it.
Only 4% of women consider themselves
beautiful. I think the 96% are mistaken, only measuring themselves against contrived
paragons of the fashion and cosmetic industry marketers.
By the way, why don’t alternative energy
companies, instead of begging for handouts from Uncle, go to Wall Street like
companies in America have done for generations? Is it because WS doesn’t really
function anymore?
A local columnist suggests the Selfie” is a
very apt term with which to describe today’s generation.
Silicon Valley’s liberal bastion, one of the
more intolerant elements of the current US society, tromped on the free speech
of Mozilla president last week, forcing him to give up his job. Beware of the sanctimonious, for they shall
scuttle rationality.
There are days when the content of the
Tids is totally determined by the emotions from music I’m hearing.
The Answer:
Handel’s
Messiah certainly pops up quickly. I like Mahler’s dramatic 2nd symphony,
“The Resurrection”. Bach gave us a couple of Passions, “St. Matthews” being the
most notable. Rimsky-Korsakov gave us the Russian Easter Overture – which will
wake you up. Of course the Masses always celebrate the meaning of Easter with
some of the best being from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Berlioz. John
Stainer wrote the Crucifixion, and Antonin Dvorak gave us the Stabat Mater.
Be yourself, Be Great,
Department:
This
below from a man named Brahms who felt inadequate in the shadow of Beethoven.
The
music, to me, has the feeling of a man in love. And Brahms was, you know, with
Composer Robert Schuman’s wife Clara. He once wrote, “I believe that I do not
respect and admire her so much as I love her and am under her spell. Often I
must forcibly retrain myself from just quietly putting my arms around her and
even – I don’t know, it seems so natural that she would not take ill.” I think
he put his arms around her in the second movement.
Looks like golf weather a comin’.
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