TEAL!!! - Aug. 23, 2010

An oppressively cheery color, random beep-boopery and others.

• Teal
• Common Teal
• Bounce Rate
• Daemon (computer parlance)
• Daemon (mythology)
• Maxwell's Demon

Let's try this again...

I think the title says enough, so without further fanfare, here are today's searches:

• VR5 - thanks to my neighbor for putting me onto this somewhat old-schoolie sci-fi show!
• Parchment
• Vellum
• When the Moors Ruled in Europe - the two selections above were inspired my search for and viewing of this documentary which mentioned (among other things) how paper-making came to Europe. Check out my blog post on the same

Happy Twenty-Ten! The Mizell Brothers

Not quite fulfilling my promise of a weekly minimal entry so lets see if I can rack up 52 by the end of this year.

As a fan of 80's and 90's jazz-infused hip hop the music brought echos of the grown-folks music I'd heard as a young child without even knowing it. Folks like Bobbi Humphrey, Donald Byrd, and many many more filled the ranks of WJZZ-Detroit listening roster. Little did I know the folks behind my favorite songs like ”Harlem River Drive“, ”Blacks and Blues“ and ”(Fallin' Like) Dominoes” were the Mizell Brothers.

This sibling duo was the driving force behind the aforementioned hits and many more throughout the '70's which later became staple sources for samples from hip-hop favorites like Jazzy Jeff, Chicago DJ NoID, Black Moon's Evil Dee, and WuTang's the RZA. I thank these DJ/producers for their good taste and for rekindling my own fond childhood memories of car rides with my mom. Now having searched out the songs and their creators, it's also great to know the men behind those sounds of my childhood.

And to think that Larry Mizell, also an electrical engineer, did some of the earliest research on the very liquid crystals allowing you to read their Wikipedia entry on your laptop or handheld. Mind blowing!

Friday, December 11, 2009 - J. Edgar Hoover, Palmer Raids, Hyphenated Americans and Teapot Dome

Today's episode is brought to you by George Liquor.

John Kricfalusi, famed creator of Ren and Stimpy, also created George Liquor, who is probably his top favorite character next to Ren Hoek.  He recently posted a pic showing side-by-side comparisons of George and infamous FBI founder and director, J. Edgar Hoover (http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/12/anatomy-of-god-fearing-americans.html).

As unintended coincidences go, the resemblance is downright uncanny, except that George in his jingoism is a lot more likable than J. Edgar.  So of course, this prompted a look into the ignominious king of COINTELPRO and impresario of enemies lists.  However, lest we be too judgmental, there've been a few too many echoes in discourse, sentiment, and personalities to life during Hoover's FBI tenure in America's public life over the past decade.

As a side note, though this may make it seem as though I learn everything I know from cartoons and Wikipedia (which wouldn't be too far from the truth), I first heard about the Teapot Dome scandal from the cartoon "Frisky Dingo" (http://www.adultswim.com/shows/friskydingo/index.html). The reference was made in a season 2 episode ("The Debate"?) when "the villain Killface" was prepping for his debate with Xander Crews in their race for the presidency.  By the way, he solved global warming.  Take that, Al Gore!  Why oh why did that show get cancelled?  Kick-pants!

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphenated_American
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Purvis

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 - King of Kong, Aviator Billy Mitchell, Nobel Peace Prize

Just watched "The King of Kong; Fistful of Quarters" today on Netflix. No, not at work. Vacation day, thankfully. Anyhow, if you haven't seen it, it's a fantastic documentary about the world of old school arcade game championships, and the controversial and hotly contested race for highest score in Donkey Kong. It focused on former multi-game title-holder Billy Mitchell and unknown challenger Steve Wiebe. I won't give away any details if you haven't seen it and want to be surprised. Suffice it to say, these two gamers and the community surrounding them make for some seriously compelling and gripping storytelling. Of course, I followed up my viewing of the documentary with looking up their Wikipedia entries (as well as online news items) to see "where they are now".

That said, the most compelling discovery in today's Wikipedia browsing actually came from the disambiguation of "Billy Mitchell's." Because of it, I got to read the story of WWI ace pilot and "father" of the U.S. Air Force, Major General William L. Mitchell. No relation to the video gaming Billy Mitchell (at least none stated in either profile), but the aviator Billy Mitchell was even more of a lightening rod in his own day. His stance on the future dominance of air power in military combat was hugely controversial making him terribly unpopular in the Army and Navy commanding ranks. He was even demoted to Colonel and court-martialed for insubordination when decrying the shortsightedness of commanders in diminishing the need for air power investment. The story of his court martial was in fact made into a feature directed by Otto Preminger.

Finally, today, President Barack Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. The announcement by the Nobel committee to award the prize to President Obama in October came with controversy and protest from all quarters, from complaints to his short term in office to his expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Looking at the history of the prize and the list of past recipients gave insights into the Nobel committee's choice of President Obama. According to Alfred Nobel's will the prize was to be awarded to a person who:

during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses
(source: Wikipedia entry for Nobel Peace Prize. see link below)

President Obama's election and the paradigm shift initiated under his administration represents a level of transparency and accountability, and promotion of international co-operation that hasn't been seen since the world was rocked by the attacks on New York and Washington, DC on September 11, 2001. If you look at the list of recipients in the first 70 years of the awarding of the prize, the majority went to individuals and organizations who promoted if not actually brokering international cooperation, arbitration, and accord. Also the recipients were not universally pacifists or completely anti-war in their beliefs. The review of this history helps to put the snippets of opinion reverberating in the daily news echo chamber into clearer perspective.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wiebe
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell_%28gamer%29
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen_Proving_Ground
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Preminger
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_peace_prize
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates