WA2K Radio is now on the air

Think I'll let Chicago say goodnight for me, and this can also be dedicated to the May gathering:

Chicago - 25 Or 6 To 4 Lyrics

Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Flashing lights against the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
Twenty-five or six to four

Staring blindly into space
Getting up to splash my face
Wanting just to stay awake
Wond'ring how much I can take
Should I try to do some more
Twenty-five or six to four

(solo)

Feeling like I ought to sleep
Spinning room is sinking deep
Searching for something to say
Waiting for the break of day
Twenty-five or six to four
Twenty-five or six to four

From Letty with love

News item from Pakistan.

Can you believe this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4499028.stm

Happy birthday Finland

Finland's declaration of independence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


The Finnish declaration of independence was adopted by the Parliament of Finland on December 6, 1917. It aimed at elevating Finland from being an autonomous Russian Grand Duchy into an independent and sovereign nation-state.

Revolution in Russia

The February Revolution, 1917, and even more so Lenin's Bolshevist October Revolution, had ignited hopes also in the Grand Duchy of Finland. After abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, the personal union between Russia and Finland lost its legal base - at least according to the view in Helsinki.

On November 15, the Parliament had consequently declared itself to be "the possessor of supreme State power" in Finland, based on Finland's Constitution, and more precisely on §38 in the old Instrument of Government of 1772, which had been enacted by the Estates after Gustav III's bloodless coup.

The old Instrument of Government was however no longer deemed suitable. Leading circles had long held monarchism and hereditary nobility to be antiquated, and advocated a republican constitution for Finland.

The Senate of Finland, the government the Parliament had appointed in November, came back to the Parliament with a proposal for a new republican Instrument of Government on December 4th. The Declaration of Independence was technically given the form of a preamble of the proposition, and was intended to be agreed by the Parliament.
[edit]

The Declaration

With reference to the declaration of November 15, the declaration says:

The people of Finland have by this step taken their fate in their own hands; a step both justified and demanded by present conditions. The people of Finland feel deeply that they cannot fulfil their national and international duty without complete sovereignty. The century-old desire for freedom awaits fulfilment now; Finland's people step forward as a free nation among the other nations in the world.

(...) The people of Finland dare to confidently await how other nations in the world recognize that with their full independence and freedom, the people of Finland can do their best in fulfilment of those purposes that will win them a place amongst civilized peoples.

Hardship burdened the common people, which already had resulted in alarming polarization, and soon would ignite the Civil War. The declaration actually addresses this problem:

The Government will approach foreign powers to seek the recognition of our political independence. All the complications, famine and unemployment ensuing from the present external isolation make it urgent for the Government to tie direct contacts with foreign powers without delay. Urgent, concrete assistance in the form of necessities for living and industry is our only rescue from imminent famine and industrial standstill.

On December 6, the Parliament adopted the Declaration, which is why that day is the national holiday, Finland Independence Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland%27s_declaration_of_independence

William S. Hart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 in Newburgh, New York - June 23, 1946 in Newhall, California) was a silent film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.

A successful Shakespearian actor on Broadway, William S. Hart went on to become one of the first great stars of the motion picture Western. Hart appeared in director Sidney Olcott's 1907 production of Ben Hur for which he received good recognition and more parts in short films until 1914 when he starred in his first feature, The Bargain.

Hart was particularly interested in making realistic Western films. His films are noted for their authentic costumes and props, as well as Hart's extraordinary acting ability, honed on Shakespearian theatre stages in the US and England.

In 1917, he accepted a lucrative offer from Adolph Zukor to join Famous Players-Laskey. In 1925, he starred in King Baggot's film Tumbleweeds which was his last and probably most famous for United Artists. Hart's popularity waned when the public began to be attracted to "larger then life" Western stars such as Tom Mix. He retired to a ranch, "Casa de los Vientos" in Newhall, California.

Hart was fascinated by the Old West. He acquired Billy the Kid's "six shooters", and was a friend of legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson.

On his passing in 1946, William S. Hart was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, William S. Hart has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6363 Hollywood Blvd. In 1975, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

As part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California, Hart's former home and 260 acre (1.1 km²) ranch in Newhall is now "William S. Hart Park". The William S. Hart Union High School District located in the Santa Clarita Valley in the northern part of Los Angeles County was named in his honor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Hart

Joyce Kilmer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Joyce Kilmer (full name: Alfred Joyce Kilmer, December 6, 1886 - July 30, 1918) was an American journalist and poet; his best-known work is "Trees". The poem is notable for its anthropomorphism: the tree in the poem presses its mouth to the earth's breast and looks at God and raises its leafy arms to pray. The poem was given a musical setting that was quite popular in the 1940s and 1950s.

Kilmer was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and attended Rutgers College and Columbia (B.A., 1908). His wife was Aline Murray. He was a soldier in the United States Army 165th Infantry, Rainbow Division and was killed in action by a sniper during World War I. His body is buried in the Oise-Aisne Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, France. Kilmer is portrayed as one of the minor characters in the 1940 film The Fighting 69th.

The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest which is approximately 3,800 acres (15 km²) of old growth forest is located in the Nantahala National Forest under the management of the USDA Forest Service in Graham County, North Carolina. This forest was purchased by the US government in order to stop extensive over-logging in the area and dedicated to Kilmer's memory on July 10, 1936. It has some of the largest trees east of the Mississippi, and includes the Slickrock Wilderness Area.

He currently has a street named after him in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as well as many schools in New Jersey, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin, most of which were built during the period his poem was famous. The New Jersey Turnpike has a rest area named after him. The Philolexian Society of Columbia University, a collegiate literary society of which he was Vice President, annually holds the infamous Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest in his honor.


"Trees"

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer

Alfred Eisenstaedt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 - August 24, 1995) was a photographer and photojournalist.

He was born in Dirschau, West Prussia (now Tczew, Poland) and emigrated to the United States in 1935, where he remained until his death, living in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.

Eisenstaedt worked as a photographer for Life magazine from 1936 to 1972. He is most renowned for his candid photographs, which he made using a 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 inch Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera. His most famous photograph is of an American sailor kissing a young woman on V-J Day in Times Square in 1945. (The young woman is widely accepted to have been Edith Shain, although some sources say she was Greta Friedman; the sailor was identified by the Naval War College in August 2005 as George Mendonsa, of Newport, Rhode Island, although many other men have claimed the honor.) A sculpture was made, based on the photo, by artist J. Seward Johnson. Entitled "Unconditional Surrender," it was unveiled on August 11, 2005 and will be moved to a gallery after a four-day display in Times Square.[1]

Since 1999, the Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Eisenstaedt

Agnes Moorehead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 - April 30, 1974) was an American character actress. She was born in Clinton, Massachusetts of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry, the only child of a Presbyterian minister. She later shaved 6 years off her age by claiming to have been born in 1906. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.

Moorehead was a graduate of Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. She was also part of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air radio program in the 1930s and appeared in a Broadway production of Don Juan in Hell in 1950.

While never a headlining star in films, Mooreheads skill at character development and range earned her one Emmy, two Golden Globes, and four Oscar nominations and six Emmy nominations. Moorehead transitioned to television, and again won acclaim and accolades for her work in drama and in comedy.

Moorehead died in Rochester, Minnesota from uterine cancer, at the age of 73. [1] While never confirmed, some suspect that Moorehead's cancer was a result of having been exposed to radiation while filming The Conqueror in Utah, at a site previously used for nuclear testing. Moorehead believed her cancer was related to this exposure, and commented in an interview shortly before her death, "I wish I'd never done that damn movie". The director Dick Powell and co-stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Pedro Armendariz also died from cancer, and Dr Robert Pendleton, Professor of Biology at the University of Utah, has described the incidence of cancer among cast and crew of The Conqueror as an "epidemic". Noting that 91 members of the cast and crew had contracted cancer by 1984, with more than half of them dying, Dr Pendleton stated "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30 some cancers to develop...I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." [2]

Though widely believed to be a lesbian, Moorehead married actor John Griffith Lee in 1930 and they divorced in 1952; they adopted one son, Sean, in 1949, but it remains unclear whether the adoption was legal, although Moorehead did raise the child until he ran away from home. In 1953, she married actor Robert Gist, and they later divorced in 1958. The actress was also a devout Presbyterian and, in interviews, often spoke of her relationship with God.

Moorehead willed her 1965 Emmy for The Wild, Wild West, her Oscar nominations and her private papers to Muskingum College, including her home in Rix Mills, Ohio.

She is interred at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton, Ohio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Moorehead

Dave Brubeck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


David Warren (Dave) Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California) is an American jazz pianist who wrote a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke." Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. Much of his music employs unusual time signatures.

His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote what is arguably the quartet's most famous piece, "Take Five" (which is in 5/4 time). Brubeck experimented with time signatures through much of his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo A La Turk" in 9/8, an experimentation begun with his attempts to put music to the odd rhythms generated by various machines around him on his parents' cattle ranch in a small town in the western United States. "Blue Rondo A La Turk" is a play on Mozart's "Rondo alla Turca", and the 9/8 metre of traditional Turkish music, the country in which the band was touring when the tune was written.

Brubeck's mother studied piano in England and intended to become a concert pianist; at home she taught piano for extra money. Brubeck was not particularly interested in learning by any particular method, but preferred to create his own melodies, and therefore avoided learning to read sheet music. In college Brubeck was nearly expelled when one of his professors discovered that he could not read sheet music. Several of his professors came forward arguing for his ability with counterpoint and harmony, but the school was still afraid that it would cause a scandal, and only agreed to let Brubeck graduate once he promised never to teach piano.

After graduating from the University of the Pacific in 1942, Brubeck was drafted into the army and served overseas in George Patton's Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge. He played in a band, quickly integrating it and gaining both popularity and deference. He returned to college after serving nearly 4 years in the army, this time attending Mills College and studying under Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to study fugue and orchestration but not classical piano. (Oddly enough, most critics consider Brubeck something of a classical pianist playing jazz.)

After completing his studies under Milhaud, Brubeck signed with Berkeley, California's Fantasy Records. He started an octet including Cal Tjader and Paul Desmond. The group was highly experimental and made few recordings, and got even fewer paying jobs. A bit discouraged, Brubeck started a trio with two of the members, not including Desmond, who had a gig of his own, and spent several years playing nothing but jazz standards. Brubeck then formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951, which consisted of Joe Dodge on drums, Bob Bates on bass, Paul Desmond on saxophone, and of course Brubeck on piano. They took up a long residency at San Francisco's Blackhawk nightclub and gained great popularity touring college campuses, recording a series of albums with such titles as Jazz at Oberlin, Jazz Goes to College and Jazz Goes to Junior College. In 1954 he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, the first Jazz musician to be so honored. In the mid-1950s Bates and Dodge were respectively replaced by Eugene Wright and Joe Morello. Eugene Wright is African-American; in the late 1950s Brubeck cancelled many concerts because the club owners wanted him to bring a different bassist. He also cancelled a television appearance when he found out that the venue intended to keep Wright off-camera.

In 1959 the Dave Brubeck Quartet released Time Out, an album their label was enthusiastic about but nonetheless hesitant to release. The album contained all original compositions, almost none of which were in common time. Nonetheless, on the strength of these unusual time signatures (the album included "Take Five", "Blue Rondo A La Turk", and "Pick Up Sticks"), it quickly went platinum. The quartet followed up its success with several more albums in the same vein, including Time Further Out (1961), Time in Outer Space, and Time Changes. These albums were also known for using contemporary paintings as cover art, featuring the work of Neil Fujita on Time Out, Joan Miró on Time Further Out, Franz Kline on Time in Outer Space, and Sam Francis on Time Changes. A high point for the group was their classic 1963 live album At Carnegie Hall, described by critic Richard Palmer as "arguably Dave Brubeck's greatest concert".

The Dave Brubeck Quartet broke up in 1967 except for a 25th anniversary reunion in 1976; Brubeck continued playing with Desmond and then began recording with Gerry Mulligan. Desmond died in 1977 and left everything, including residuals and the immense royalties for "Take Five", to the American Red Cross. Mulligan and Brubeck recorded together for six years and then Brubeck formed another group with Jerry Bergonzi on saxophone, and three of his sons, Dan, Darius, and Chris, on drums, bass, and keyboards. Brubeck continues to write new works, including orchestrations and ballet scores, and tours about 80 cities each year, usually 20 of them in Europe in the spring. In recent years his quartet has included alto saxophonist Bobby Militello, bassist Alec Dankworth (who replaced Jack Six), and drummer Randy Jones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Brubeck

Bobby Van
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Bobby Van (December 6, 1928-July 31, 1980) was probably best known for his musical and acting career on Broadway in the 1960s and 1970s.

Van was born Robert Jack Stein to vaudeville parents in The Bronx, New York City, and grew up backstage to many memorable Depression-era acts. Originally, Van took King as his stage name (after his father's stage name, from the trio "Gordon, Reed and King"). He finally opted for Van, supposedly after seeing a Van Johnson poster hanging in his sister's bedroom.

Van began his career as a musician, playing trumpet. When his band played a venue in the Catskills, Van was asked to fill in as a song and dance man for another act. His act drew rave reviews, and gave Van a thrill out of performing live as a solo act.

In the early 1950s, while Van was married to starlet Diane Garrett, he appeared in several films and television shows, including the title role in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953) and a role in the musical Kiss me Kate. However, most of Van's roles involving singing and dancing, and the era of the Hollywood musical was waning.

In the 1960s, Van did comedy work with Mickey Rooney in films and television. He also did some choreography, as his father had years earlier. In 1968, Van married Broadway actress Elaine Joyce, and together they appeared on 1970s game shows like Tattletales and Match Game. Their only child, daughter Taylor, was born 1977.

Van's last television appearance was as the host for the "Mrs. America Pageant" in 1980, which he had emceed for several years. In 1979, Van was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor; he survived the initial surgery, but after a year-long battle with cancer, Van succumbed to the disease in Los Angeles at the age of only 51. Van is interred at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Burbank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Van

JoBeth Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American film actress.

JoBeth was born in Houston, Texas and attended Brown University. After graduating from college, she joined the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence and was involved in local theatre. In 1979, JoBeth had her film acting debut in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

JoBeth is most recognized with her role in Poltergeist (1982) and she reprised her character in the sequel, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). She has starred in a number of TV movies and small films and has had supporting roles in larger budget films.

In 1994, JoBeth directed On Hope (1994) which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Film, Live Action. She is married to TV director John Pasquin and has adopted two children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoBeth_Williams

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

It's good to see McTag in our studio once in a while, and hope that he is enjoying his stay in India. I hope our listeners didn't miss that contribution that he read. It is absolutely unbelievable. Our Hatfield's and McCoy's pale in the light of what those women are subjected to.

Thanks, Bobhawk, for the great bio's. Interesting item about Finland, buddy.

I think most of us here are aware of Dave Brubeck and his creation of a new type rhythm in jazz.

Hey, hamburger. I'll take some of that coffee now. <smile>

Well, let's begin our day with a poem:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold. Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee then, Write me as one that loves his fellow-men." The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. -- James Henry Leigh Hunt, "Abou Ben Adhem"

Good morning WA2K and listeners.

Interesting bios, Bob.

Sorry I missed the lovely compliment Diane paid me on December 1. Thank you Diane.

Today's birthdays:

846 - Hasan al-Askari, Shia Imam (d. 874)
1285 - King Ferdinand IV of Castile (d. 1312)
1421 - King Henry VI of England (d. 1471)
1478 - Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author (d. 1529)
1550 (baptism) - Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer (d. 1605)
1586 - Niccolo Zucchi, Italian astronomer (d. 1670)
1608 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (d. 1670)
1637 - Sir Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (d. 1714)
1640 - Claude Fleury, French historian (d. 1723)
1642 - Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (d. 1703)
1721 - James Elphinston, British philologist (d. 1809)
1721 - Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (d. 1794)
1778 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist (d. 1850)
1792 - King William II of the Netherlands (d. 1849)
1805 - Adolf Reubke, German organ builder (d. 1875)
1805 - Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, French magician (d. 1861)
1823 - Friedrich Max Müller, German orientalist (d. 1900)
1833 - John Singleton Mosby, American Confederate guerrilla leader (d. 1916)
1841 - Frédéric Bazille, French painter (d. 1870)
1849 - August von Mackensen, German Field Marshal (d. 1945)
1863 - Charles Martin Hall, American chemist (d. 1914)
1872 - William S. Hart, American actor (d. 1946)
1875 - Evelyn Underhill, British poet (d. 1941)
1886 - Joyce Kilmer, American poet (d. 1918)
1890 - Rudolf Schlichter, German artist and writer (d. 1955)
1892 - Sir Osbert Sitwell, British author (d. 1969)
1896 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (d. 1983)
1898 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born American photojournalist (d. 1995)
1898 - Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1900 - Agnes Moorehead, American actress (d. 1974)
1903 - Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player (d. 1946)
1905 - James J. Braddock, American boxer and World Heavyweight Champion (d. 1974)
1908 - Pierre Graber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2003)
1913 - Eleanor Holm, American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist (d. 2004)
1917 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
1920 - Dave Brubeck, American pianist and composer
1920 - George Porter, British chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
1921 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
1928 - Bobby Van, American singer (d. 1980)
1929 - Alain Tanner, Swiss filmmaker
1929 - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German conductor
1930 - Daniel Lisulo, Zambian prime minister
1933 - Henryk Górecki, Polish composer
1936 - David Ossman, American comedian
1942 - Peter Handke, Austrian writer
1945 - Larry Bowa, American baseball player
1948 - JoBeth Williams, American actress
1948 - Keke Rosberg, Finnish race car driver and Formula 1 World Champion
1950 - Joe Hisaishi, Japanese-American composer
1952 - Rick Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, politician, hockey player, and coach
1953 - Tom Hulce, American actor
1953 - Gary Ward, American baseball player
1955 - Steven Wright, American comedian
1955 - Rick Buckler, British musician (The Jam)
1956 - Peter Buck, American guitarist (R.E.M.)
1956 - Randy Rhodes, American guitarist (d. 1982)
1958 - Xander Berkeley, American actor
1958 - Nick Park, British filmmaker and animator
1961 - David Lovering, American musician (The Pixies)
1962 - Janine Turner, American actress
1971 - Richard Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
1971 - Ryan White, American activist (d. 1990)
1977 - Kevin Cash, American baseball player
1977 - Andrew Flintoff, English test cricketer
1979 - Tim Cahill, Australian international footballer
1980 - Steve Lovell, British footballer
1993 - Elian Gonzalez, Cuban subject of child custody battle

Good morning, Raggedy. Thanks again for your celeb updates. I recognize Agnes, but who is that fellow that resembles Mozart?

a song from R.E.M: (rapid eye movement?)

Talk About The Passion



Empty prayer, empty mouths, combien reaction
Empty prayer, empty mouths, talk about the passion
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world

(chorus)
Talk about the passion
Talk about the passion

Empty prayer, empty mouths, combien reaction
Empty prayer, empty mouths, talk about the passion
Combien, combien, combien de temps?

(repeat chorus)

Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Combien, combien, combien de temps?

(repeat chorus 4x)

You know, folks. Some lyrics simply don't make a lot of sense. The song by Chicago, for example, and this one by R.E.M.

and a bit of old news that keeps going on and on, listeners:




Titanic Sinking May Have Been Quick By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 54 minutes ago



FALMOUTH, Mass. - The discovery of two large pieces of the Titanic's hull on the ocean floor indicates that the fabled luxury liner sank faster than previously thought, researchers said Monday.



The hull pieces were a crucial part of the ship's structure and make up a bottom section of the vessel that was missing when the wreck was first located in 1985, the researchers said.

After the bottom section of the hull broke free, the bow and stern split, said Roger Long, a naval architect who analyzed the find. The stern, which was still buoyant and filled with survivors, likely plunged toward the ocean floor about five minutes later.

"It would have been immediately terrifying," he said.

Previous researchers believed the ship broke in just two major pieces, the bow and stern, which was how the sinking was depicted in the 1997 film version of the catastrophe. David Brown, a Titanic historian, estimated before the latest find that the stern took 20 minutes to slide into the water.

"It turns out the Titanic was more merciful. It was over more quickly," Brown said.

The newly found hull sections, located about a third of a mile from the stern of the wreck, were examined during an expedition in August sponsored by The History Channel. On Monday, Titanic experts met at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to discuss their analysis of the find for a documentary to be aired on the cable channel on Feb. 26.

The sections, both about 40 feet by 90 feet, were once a single section and were found in good condition, with red bottom paint still visible. The missing sections had been believed to have fragmented into hundreds of small pieces.

"The breakup and sinking of the Titanic has never been accurately depicted," said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic historian who took part in Monday's conference.

The 46,000-ton ocean liner was billed as "practically unsinkable" by the publicity magazines of the period. But it struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage just before midnight on April 14, 1912, and sank the following day. About 1,500 people died.

Explorer Robert Ballard found the bulk of the wreck in 1985, at a depth of 13,000 feet and about 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Ballard was not impressed with the expedition's find.

"They found a fragment, big deal," he said. "Am I surprised? No. When you go down there, there's stuff all over the place. It hit an iceberg and it sank. Get over it."

I don't know if any of you out there have tried watching, The Triange on SciFi, but it's probably the worst thing that I have ever ATTEMPTED to watch.

Letty, the meaning of 25 or 6 to 4 is actually well-established. here's a couple of clues: it's something quite prosaic, and it's closely linked to a HUGE hit from their first album. ;-)

Thanks, Mr. Turtle. I'll check it out. Some things are quite perplexing, no?

Well, folks, I found it. I had forgotten that the group was called Chicago Transit. I do recall that "Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is" had a strange meter.


This was written by Robert Lamm, keyboard player and singer for Chicago. It's about trying to write a song. The lyrics suggest he is having a tough time.
The title refers to the time of day. It is either 3:35AM (25 to 4) or 3:34AM (26 to 4). We know it is early morning because of the line "Waiting for the break of day."
This still gets a lot of play by college pep bands. The horns and tempo make it a great fit for sporting events.
The band was previously known as Chicago Transit Authority, which was the name of their first album. They shortened their name after the actual Chicago transit authority objected, and began releasing albums with their name followed by a roman numeral (Chicago II, Chicago III, Chicago IV, etc.). They did this throughout their career, even as they morphed from horn-driven rock to adult contemporary ballads ("Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry," "Baby What A Big Surprise") in the '80s.
This was the last song they played at concerts. When they toured with Earth, Wind & Fire in 2004, both bands played this as the encore. (thanks, Deek - Livingston, TX)
There was a rumor that "6 to 4" was a nickname for LSD, because if you dropped acid at 6 PM, the effects of the drug would wear off by 4 AM, 10 hours later.

I purchased the first, the Chicago Transit Authority, but soon after they started becoming just more elevator music. I lost interest. Kinda like the Moody Blues.

dys(lexia), i think a primary reason for Chicago's change of direction was the untimely death of their guitarist, and sometime vocalist, Terry Kath.

Well, dys and Yit. The appeal of words and music change over time, but there are songs that never die, ya know?

"Everytime We Say Goodbye" is one of them, I think. They are still playing golden oldies behind many commercials. The problem is, that often one gets caught up in the melody, and forgets the product.

Saw today where Greg Hoffman, producer of the movie SAW died at 42.

Ah, well. Creative folks are always at risk.