WA2K Radio is now on the air

Hello, Bob, my friend!

Now tell us about your karaoke evening.

Good morning Francis. If last night was Friday I must have been at The Beachfront in Hull. That's good since all I have to do is roll down the hill. At the end of the evening rolling up is much more difficult. Sparce attendance at the beginning. Started off with Billy Joel's Piano Man. I was followed by a regular Russell. He couldn't hold a tune with the help of ten men. True to tradition, the meager crowd still gave him rousing applause. This of course signifies admiration for his courage rather than any aptitude.
Al, a transplanted southerner, gave a really good country/western song Friends in Low Places. At this point the population was growing. In particular a pretty girl and her guy sat down a couple of seats away from me. They followed the parade of singers with great interest and Pat (the guy) asked for a songbook. He put a request in and when called displayed a really fine voice. While he was singing she told me it was his first time singing. They were very congenial. At one point Pat called my attention to how pretty his girl was. I agreed and told him I was planning on molesting her but gave up the idea when I realized how much bigger he was. That tickled their fancy and they cuddled and kissed.
Sean, the dj, kept things rolling at a good pace. When I belted out a rousing rendition of Sweet Caroline the place went bananas. All in all a very satisfactory evening.

I would like to have seen that!

Good morning WA2K radio.

First I would like to express my appreciation to all of our gang for the aromatic bouquets thrown my way. I'm leaving them right where they are so that our studio won't become stale. <smile>

Welcome back, Clary, and I think perhaps you were referring to dys' "Raveon" which sounds a bit like "Raven" <smile>. That's just dys being dys, I guess, right listeners? Diane is such a gentle and tolerant soul.

Later, after coffee, I will return to acknowledge all our input here on WA2K radio.

First, listeners, we would like to extend our appreciation to our edgar and dj for the "worry" music. What a delightful array and so thematic. Thanks guys.

And to Bob: We always appreciate and learn from your bios. The dear and lovable cowardly lion man thrilled children and adults for decades.

And, listeners, have you ever know a better director than Sir Alfred? The only flaw in his formula that I recall is The Birds, as it simply deviated too much from Shirley Jackson's original story.

Welcome back, Francis. You have been away from our studios too long, and we miss you when you're gone.

Bob, thank you again for that karaoke anecdote. Obviously you know how to handle a crowd.

Well, folks. As you know, I have company this weekend, but they are quite tolerant of my appearance here. There are many things that I must do, so I shall be back when I can.

Not meaning to pick, but I thought someone else wrote The Birds. I searched and came up with this:

Overview: The theme of this unit is suspense and how it is created by controlling elements in the plot. Modeling is based on three readings and viewing of Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds. Afterward, students will be asked to compare elements of plot in the movie with the original short story by Daphne Dumarier. This unit is intended to engage students actively in reading by applying reading strategies, activities, and peer-support to an interesting genre. An additional goal of this unit is to review some grammar concepts for writing sentences. Students will be asked to respond to what they read in a number of different assignments. The culmination of the unit will be writing a narrative that incorporates suspense and has a plot.

Good Day WA2K.

Thank you Letty for your kind words.

Interesting bios as usual, Bob.
Interesting comments from all WA2K participants.


And the August 13 Birthday Celebs are:
(Oooh I see Annie Oakley, and Dan Fogelberg (love "Run for the Roses"), and Don Ho (from my favorite place in the whole wide world) and Kathleen Battle with the gorgeous voice)

582 - Arnulf of Metz, patron saint of brewing (d. 640)
1311 - King Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon (d. 1350)
1313 - Aradia de Toscano, Italian insurrectionist, teacher, and witch
1422 - William Caxton, English printer
1625 - Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1698)
1662 - Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician (d. 1748)
1666 - William Wotton, English scholar (d. 1727)
1721 - Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (b. 1665)
1792 - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen of William IV of the United Kingdom
1814 - Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist (d. 1874)
1818 - Lucy Stone, pioneering women's rights activist
1820 - Sir George Grove, music historian (d. 1900)
1823 - Goldwin Smith, historian and journalist (d. 1910)
1851 - Felix Adler, educator (d. 1933)
1860 - Annie Oakley, sharpshooter (d. 1926)
1866 - Giovanni Agnelli, industrialist (d. 1945)
1872 - Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)
1879 - John Ireland, English composer (d. 1962)
1887 - Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (d. 1952)
1888 - John Logie Baird, English television pioneer (d. 1946)
1895 - Bert Lahr, American actor (d. 1967)
1899 - Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, English film director (d. 1980)
1902 - Felix Wankel, German engineer and inventor (d. 1988)
1904 - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, actor (d. 1999)
1907 - Sir Basil Spence, architect (d. 1976)
1912 - Salvador Luria, biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1912 - Ben Hogan, golf player (d. 1997)
1913 - Fred Davis, English snooker player (d. 1998)
1918 - Frederick Sanger, English chemist. Double Nobel Prize winner
1919 - George Shearing, musician
1920 - Neville Brand, actor (d. 1992)
1926 - Fidel Castro, revolutionary and politician
1930 - Don Ho, musician
1933 - Doctor Joycelyn Elders, United States Surgeon General
1935 - Jim (Mudcat) Grant, baseball player
1941 - Erin Fleming, actress (d. 2003)
1948 - Kathleen Battle, American soprano
1949 - Bobby Clarke, hockey star
1951 - Dan Fogelberg, singer
1952 - Herb Ritts, photographer (d. 2004)
1959 - Danny Bonaduce, actor
1962 - Miss Cleo television psychic
1967 - Amélie Nothomb, Belgian writer
1969 - Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
1970 - Alan Shearer, English footballer
1975 - Joe Perry, English snooker player
1985 - Gerald Pringle

Aradia de Toscano

- In the neopagan religion of Stregheria, Aradia de Toscano is a female quasi-messianic figure thought to be the human incarnation of the demigoddess Aradia. According to Stregheria, Aradia was the daughter of the Roman god Lucifer and the Roman goddess Diana, although there is no foundation for the existence of this deity in the original Roman myths.

As is the case with many religious figures, there is considerable doubt as to whether or not Aradia actually existed. This being the case, the information below is generally regarded as being more legendary than historical; much of it suspected to have evolved relatively recently as folklore.

Aradia de Toscano was born on Monday, August 13th, 1313 to a strict Catholic family that had intended for her to become a nun. Her aunt, however, secretly trained her in the ways of Italian witchcraft.

The Charge of Aradia is a witch's incantation that makes a spiritual pact with the Aradia, a symbol of heritage and the title for the first witch, often regarded as the Christ-like figure for witches, wiccans and pagans. There are several versions of the Charge, but the most commonly accepted one is thus:

When I shall have departed from this world,
Whenever ye have need of anything,
Once in the month, and when the moon is full,
Ye shall assemble in some desert place,
Or in a forest all together join
To adore the potent spirit of your queen,
My mother, great Diana. She who fain
Would learn all sorcery yet has not won
Its deepest secrets, then my mother will
Teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.
And ye shall all be freed from slavery,
And so ye shall be free in everything;
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men
And women also.

Source

When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up
thy head!
Blake, William


A turkey is more occult and awful than all the angels and
archangels. In so far as God has partly revealed to us an angelic
world, he has partly told us what an angel means. But God has
never told us what a turkey means. And if you go and stare at a
live turkey for an hour or two, you will find by the end of it
that the enigma has rather increased than diminished.

Chesterton, Gilbert K.



It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
Aesop


One swallow does not make a summer.
Aristotle


How helpless we are, like netted birds, when we are caught by desire!
Belva Plain


I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds
than airplanes.
Charles Lindbergh

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because
it has a song.
Chinese Proverb


Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds
change color and fall from the trees.
David Letterman


I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to
heaven.
Emily Dickinson


The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and
which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.
Eric Berne


I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while
I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more
distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any
epaulet I could have worn.
Henry David Thoreau


Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if
no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke


Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their
curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the
shame of art.
Izaak Walton


God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and
invented cages.
Jacques Deval


The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet.
A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and
intense his life. . . . The beautiful vagabonds, endowed with
every grace, masters of all climes, and knowing no bounds -- how
many human aspirations are realised in their free, holiday-lives
-- and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song!
John Burroughs


I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of
cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
Joseph Addison




More bird quoptes:
http://petcaretips.net/bird-quote.html

Okay it was not too exciting, the news that I got a new computer.

But it's exciting to me.

And to me, McT!

McTag
It's a big deal to me, too. I should have said so.

Oops, edgar. Another goof on my part, and McTag, of course we are delighted that you got a new pc.

Quick sports update that I find humorous, in a way:

Orioles By Joal Ryan
Fri Aug 12, 8:57 PM ET



If Van Halen was a sports franchise, the argument could be made it'd be the dysfunctional, "Bronx Zoo" version of the New York Yankees. In which case the Baltimore Orioles might be in trouble.



More often than not, the Yankees of that era beat the Orioles.


A showdown between Van Halen, the hard-rock supergroup, and the Baltimore Orioles, the fourth-place baseball club, is on after a judge rejected the team's attempt to bench the band's lawsuit challenge, the Baltimore Sun reported Friday. The start of the trial, set for Los Angeles, is "imminent," a Van Halen lawyer told the Associated Press.


The rivalry dates back to last year, when Van Halen filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Orioles reneged on a deal to bring the then-touring band to the team's Camden Yards. The would-be Sept. 2, 2004 concert would have been a first for the baseball-only facility. Presumably more important to Van Halen, the concert would have brought it about $1.5 million, plus an 80 percent cut of ticket and merchandise sales, the band claimed in the suit.


Technically, the suit is being pursued by Van Halen's management company, the newspaper said. The firm seeks at least $2 million in payback from the Orioles.


Even without a stop in Baltimore, Van Halen hit 80 cities during its 2004 tour. Billed as a new beginning for the veteran band, with "Right Now" singer Sammy Hagar back on vocals, the road trip ended with Hagar and guitar god Eddie Van Halen coming close to a bench-clearing brawl, Hagar recently told Billboard.


"It was a horrible way to end the whole thing," Hagar said in the music-industry magazine. "So, I just say, 'Man, that's it for me. I'm not playing with people like this.'"


Van Halen, the band, has been on hiatus as a recording and touring act since the tour ended last November, leaving bassist Michael Anthony time to touting the pending release of his two new barbecue sauce varietals, Mad Anthony's Original and Extra Hot. ("Reinforce the asbestos underwear," Anthony wrote on his Website this month.)


Meanwhile, Hagar, out on the road again this summer as a solo act, occasionally backed by Anthony, told Billboard he held out hope that Van Halen, the rocker who used to be "a fun guy," might "change back, and then we can do it again."


After all, comebacks are part of baseball.

And the following song does compliment the item:

Van Halen


Take Me Back (Deja Vu)
I thought I saw you from a distance
I swore I'd find you once again
Touched that feelin' for an instance
Could not recall just where or when
Oh no

Some desert island off Marocco
We had a love so hard to find
Oh so full of life, so free and easy
Another place, another time, oh

Take me back
I wanna be there with you
It happened just like that yeah
Slip in a dream or two
Come on, take me back
Oh, deja vu

One soul, one mind
One light that shines
One love so fine
Oh, come on, take me back

Some call it fate, some superstition
Some call it luck, it's all the same
Just one of the mysteries of creation
Something you feel but can't explain

Oh, take me back
I wanna be there with you
It happened just like that, baby
I've fallin' deep into

Oh girl, come on
I want you to take me there
Oh, I know, I know, I know, I know...

Come on, take me back, baby
I swear I've been with you
It happened just like that
Send me a dream or two
Come on take me back
Oh, deja vu


Now, folks. I'll have to go back and rectify my errors. <smiles>

Hey, Raggedy, I'll be back later to peruse your celebs and take a look see at Francis' interpretation.

McTag, your posts seem even more brilliant now that you have a new computer! It is something to gigabyte about...

First, listeners, I would like to correct my error about Daphne Du maurier. Of course she wrote The Birds, but as I recall, the people in the village ended up in a church as the creatures attacked a stained glass window. The ending of the story implied that the birds would win.

Shirley Jackson wrote the famous short story "The Lottery", and a very odd novel called "We Have Always lived in this Castle". Frankly, folks. I think Jackson was a bit odd.

One of my favorite celebs is George Shering. One of the finest piano player that I have ever heard. He is Ray Charles' blind counterpart but in the field of jazz.

Francis, our listeners were fascinated by your explanation of Aradia, especially the prose poem, The Change. very eerie but beautiful. Thanks, France.

edgar, I have to smile at your bird quotes. They will forever be tattooed on my memory as a gentle reminder that Miss Letty needs to keep her mouth shut until until she has done her homework.

Diane, dear lady. Posts? My, my. They are referred to as brilliant contributions on our virtual radio station.

I just received a call from some lovely lady in Manchester to play a song for McTag's pc:

The Algorithms Tango
My head aches from last night's libation
But much more from the sight of notation
You wield that big O like no one I know
As we dance to the algorithms tango
Let the math obfuscate, not enlighten;
Use new symbols in order to frighten.
Dash through a proof mere mortals would goof
As we dance to the algorithms tango
Assignment One
Is really lots of fun
Too bad I'm still not done
In time to hand it in.
But proving P
Is equal to NP
Could earn me a degree --
Hey, why your evil grin?

Your amortizations of splay trees
Are why I long to be your advisee
Some say I'm insane, but I love the arcane,
And the legerdemain of your tango.

On the first day of class, you four-colored a map, and
You packed spheres in my lap, and
Then I couldn't take notes.
How I envy the chalk that you dug from your pocket
Saying "This isn't rocket
Science" (such witty quotes!)

Union-find and the Ackermann inverse,
"Exercise left for reader", please, be terse,
When I don't understand, it all seems so grand
As we dance to the algorithms tango.

legerdemain? Wow! what a word. Let's let that be our word for the day.

Legerdemain - nice word indeed.

Not very used but beautifull.

It means prestidigitation. From French "léger de main" - Light hand.

In this context it means the magic of your tango.

Oh, my goodness, Francis. You have defined one delightful word with another--prestidigitation.

Poof, and you have become the green frog with the crown askew on your head. <smile>

Listeners, send us your word of the day. We love 'em here on our radio.

And a song for you thus transformed:

ARTIST: Muppets
TITLE: It's Not Easy Being Green
Lyrics


It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green's the color of Spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
Like a mountain, or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be.

Of course, listeners, we understand the underlying message there, don't we.

In 1941 Norway was ocupied by German military forces. Norway was also seeing a rally in popularity of jazz music. The German militray occupation required registrationg of all "clubs" where music was to be played as well as requiring that all lyrics sung be cleared/censored. Jazz people had every reason to fear that their clubs would be put under unreasonable control or even banned from the scene. Most of the clubs from then on entered a stage of undercover or secret existence. When word spread that women's sewing societies were exempt from the rules of registration, some of the Oslo jazz clubs disappeared overnight - to reemerge as sewing circles.