Sunday Serendipity

When it comes to the arts, we live in a remarkable age. There is so much good music that can easily be accessed by the ordinary person. Todays selection:

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1

Enjoy, Jack

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47 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. jack, such a pleasure to find your post every sunday faithfully awaiting here so early in the morn. thank you.

    wiki on “Titan”

    The Symphony No. 1 in D major by Gustav Mahler was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany. Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a symphonic poem and as a tone poem in symphonic form respectively. The work was premièred at the Vigadó Concert Hall, Budapest, in 1889, but was not well received. Mahler made some major revisions for the second performance, given at Hamburg in October 1893; further alterations were made in the years prior to the first publication, in late 1898. Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler only used this label for the second and third performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.
    Mahler conducted more performances of this symphony than of any of his later works.
    […]
    Under this early five-movement scheme, the work was envisioned by Mahler as a large symphonic poemin two parts, and he wrote a programme to describe the piece, but without adding any further title for the 1889 Budapest premiere. The first part consisted of the first two movements of the symphony as it is now known plus Blumine, and the second consisted of the funeral-march and finale. For the 1893 Hamburg and 1894 Weimar performances, Mahler gave the piece the title after the novel by Jean Paul, although Mahler specified that the piece was not in any way “about” the book; the nickname is often used today, but properly only applies to those two versions.

  2. hopefully our trail friend sturge saw this message from ms cracker last thread but just in case i’m reposting it for good measure:

     “Please come back.  It will be too sad without you. I know I’m on your naughty list but you are worth more to me then picking on Biden. Come home!”

    for sturge, heartfelt from the Trail

    o, brother mixer, where art thou?

     

  3. Crazy day yesterday. Warm sunny morning building to hot sunny afternoon interrupted by an hour of rain and thunderstorms dropping temperatures 20 degrees into the lower 70s. Waking up to sun, geese going nuts and another hot sunny day on tap – 95 in East Bumfuck. Hydrate and stay cool, good people. 

  5. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/media/murdoch-trump-jan-6-new-york-post-wall-street-journal/index.html

    In case you missed this last night, the worm has turned.

    “One of Donald Trump’s favorite newspapers — controlled by his media ally Rupert Murdoch — says Trump is “unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”

    “…close viewers have also picked up on some signs that Fox might be souring on Trump.”

    Of course, they’re setting up Pence as the savior of our democracy because he did not do what he could not do anyway…and, he refused to get in a car.

  6. the voice of america spoketh:

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted Russia jeopardizing a deal that both Russia and Ukraine signed to allow Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain out of its Black Sea ports. The deal was signed by both nations Friday, but on Saturday, Russia launched a missile attack on the port of Odesa.
    Zelenskyy said late Saturday in his daily address, “Today’s Russian missile attack on Odesa, on our port, is a cynical one, and it was also a blow to the political positions of Russia itself. If anyone in the world could still say that some kind of dialogue … with Russia, some kind of agreements are needed, see what is happening. Today’s Russian Kalibr missiles have destroyed the very possibility for such statements.”
    […]
    Zelenskyy said the strike on Odesa demonstrates that Moscow will find ways not to implement the grain deal.
    “This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on Telegram.

    Jul 23, 2022 Ukrainian President Zelensky has further emphasised the country needs to “de-occupy its territories” as he condemned Russia’s missile attack early on Saturday on Odesa’s Black Sea port. The strike happened only hours after an agreement was brokered in Istanbul to allow grain to be transported out of Ukraine. Part of the agreement involved Russia pledging not to attack any port which was involved in the transportation of grain, but on Saturday it struck Odesa with two missiles causing a fire.

  7. The way forward is support Biden, Harris,  and Clyburn. If you can’t do that you might as well be a Bernie freak. 

    I agree with sturge. BTW, Biden’s popularity or lack thereof and its influence on the outcome of the midterms will be evident in time. Incessant bashing because people don’t like their lives when gas and food cost a lot doesn’t help fix those problems or keep sane leadership in place in government.

  10. sturge more than likely is somewhere in the NY wilderness singing/playing lullabies to his new granddaughter or keeping hydrated with a brew watching the gulls come and go on a SC island.  surely he’ll forgive us and come back if only to have another audience for his wicked ways with the mother tongue.

     

    he’s not the only one however who’s missing (and terribly missed) in action.  Tony, Solar, Blonde Wino et al.

     

  11. has there been any info on who’s paying the private counsel just hired for SS Engel and Ornato? 

    the other day it was disclosed that maga PACs have footed the lawyer bills for some of the jan 6 witnesses – see 

    Trump PACs paid $2 million this year to law firms representing January 6 witnesses – CNNPolitics.

    kinda hard to flip on the hand that feeds your mouthpiece.  also somewhat of a conflict i would think for a guy  who’s still on gov payroll in a supervisory capacity.

  12. Liz Cheney: January 6 panel will subpoena Ginni Thomas if necessary | January 6 hearings | The Guardian

    “The committee is engaged with her counsel,” Liz Cheney, the panel vice-chair, told CNN’s State of the Union. “We certainly hope that she will agree to come in voluntarily but the committee is fully prepared to contemplate a subpoena if she does not.”
    […]
    Cheney said: “I hope it doesn’t get to [a subpoena]. I hope [Ginni Thomas] will come in voluntarily. We’ve certainly spoken with numbers of people who are similarly situated in terms of the discussions that she was having … so it’s very important for us to speak with her.”
    […]
    Asked about Republican attacks on such witnesses, Cheney said: “Certainly it is the case that the attacks against some of the women witnesses have been particularly vicious. I also think the response that we’ve seen from the House Republicans is really disgraceful.
    “… I think our country is at a moment where we really have to all of us take a big step back and all of us say, ‘Look, the normal, sort of vitriolic, toxic partisanship has got to stop and we have to recognise what’s at stake.’ And … the leadership of the Republicans in the House need to be held accountable for their actions.”

     

    “The committee is engaged with her counsel”
    leads me to also wonder and want to know more just who is paying the bills for Ginni’s lawyer?

  13. Jack… wonderful!
     
    I’m melting… thank the universe we put in a Mitsubishi split system a few years ago.  The AC works great and it’s silent!
     
    I reached out to Sturg on FB… hope it works…

  15. “Marge Greene: “We need to be the party of nationalism. I’m a christian, and I say it proudly – we should be christian nationalists.”

  16. verrry interesting since according to wiki‘s article on christian nationalism:

    President of Russia Vladimir Putin has been described as a global leader of the Christian nationalist and Christian right movements.

  18. i greatly appreciate the sentiments expressed;  they mean a lot.
     But see, i just dont wanna be the guy who comes by here with bitching about what people want to write about. You know, fuck that guy. 
    So it is that if the mountain offends mohammad, then mohammad oughta stay the hell away from the mountain–at least till we see how this mess is gonna shake out.  Anti-biden or harris rhetoric from democrats gives me a bad head and who needs that?  
    Anyway, i love you one and all. Like ive said, my life has been lived in the shadow of polically up one minute and down the next (insett list of presidents since 1950 here) and i see these coming midterms as maybe my last chance to see justice and the american idea prevail, and I’m heavily invested im the outcome.  C’est la guerre, and Biden-Harris 100%.

    And Mahler was a Flatis favorite.

  20. Yes, if anybody know how Tony is doing, please pass it along. If you have a good email addy, my emaile is whskyjack at yahoo
    Sturge take a break, if you need it. Come back when you can.
    btw the best thing happened to me was getting kicked off twitter. It is a low information, addictive, time suck.
    Jack

  21. Sturg… thanks for showing up!  I’m of 2 minds… I’d love you to stay and bash the hell outta the repugs…. But I get the need to take a break.  Do what suits you best, and stay well…

  22. Bink
    On that water pipeline, 250,000 g/sec. is over 1/3 of the average flow of the Mississippi river at New Orleans. 
    The amount of paper to just to do the environmental statement is mind boggling.
    And for some reason I don’t think the gulf coast will support bailing out California.
    Jack

  23. Sturge – 
    Missed  the comment in question , the intertubes  is great for somethings mental hygiene, not so much. 
     
    Shiny side up , rubber side down. 

  24. Pumping 1/3 of the volume of the flow of the Mississippi halfway across North America to keep grass green and a/c on in Phoenix and Beverly Hills – not a terrific plan. Let’s assume it would primarily go to farms in the various valleys of CA and be a worthwhile endeavor – how would removing 1/3 of the volume of the MS affect boat traffic in the lower Mississippi and the constrained shipping channels between NO and the Gulf of Mexico?  And the salinity of the Gulf?  And the estuaries in the MS delta and Louisiana bayous?  I’d bet we’d see a demonstration of the law of unintended consequences that would be almost beyond belief. Good thing the engineering is beyond our reach.

  25. HIMARS ‘Game Changer’ in Ukraine War, Russia ‘in Dire Shape’: Ex-General
    That announcement from the Biden administration came after a senior U.S. defense official told journalists Friday that Ukraine had utilized HIMARS to take out more than 100 “high value” targets. Those strikes effectively destroyed ammunition depots, long-range artillery positions, command posts, air-defense sites, and radar and communications nodes, the official said.
    https://www.newsweek.com/himars-game-changer-ukraine-war-russia-dire-shape-ex-general-1727400
     
     
     

  26. Sturg, as always you’re welcome to post your mind’s eye for a thread topic. Just email to me if you don’t want to bother with posting process 

  28. Josh Hawley, senator who ran from Capitol mob, mocked by home paper | January 6 hearings | The Guardian

    In an editorial, the Kansas City Star noted that Hawley will soon publish a book entitled Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, but said people watching the hearing “didn’t see much virile bravado as he ran from the mob”.
    The Star began: “Josh Hawley is a laughingstock. During Thursday night’s televised hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6 2021 coup attempt … [Democratic] representative Elaine Luria showed video of Missouri’s junior senator that will surely follow him the rest of his life.
    “In the clip, Hawley sprints across a hallway as he and his fellow senators are evacuated after insurrectionists had breached the Capitol building. When it played on the screen, the audience in the room with the committee erupted in laughter.”
    […]
    But the Star also noted that “Hawley has become one of the defining figures of that day. A famous photo captured by Francis Chung shows him raising a fist in solidarity with the crowds that would soon break through doors, loot offices and assault law enforcement.”
    […]
    Hawley was the first senator to say he would object on January 6, when he was joined by 146 other Republicans. Hawley, the Star said, “took to the floor as the very first voice calling to throw out millions of Americans’ votes cast fairly and legally for the rightful winner in a presidential election”.
    It continued: “Funny as the visual of the self-proclaimed manly senator’s immediate retreat was, there’s absolutely nothing amusing about January 6 2021. A bipartisan Senate report concluded seven people died as a result of the attack. Two more Metropolitan police officers took their own lives shortly after.
    “About 150 members of law enforcement were injured, and it’s impossible to know how many others caught up in the horrific event will carry scars for life, of body and mind. We said that day Hawley has blood on his hands for his role in perpetuating the lies that drove thousands of people to violence. That remains true.”
    The editorial signed off with a warning. Noting the work of Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican nonetheless vice-chair of the January 6 committee, it said: “Josh Hawley might not fear a little mockery of his hasty flight from Capitol marauders.
    “But he might be justified if he’s afraid of what emails or text messages some previously-loyal staffer might be considering turning over to the House committee.
    “Stay tuned to the hearings.”

  29. Saw yet another  water plan yesterday. This one may get built . It’s about the Salton Sea, it’s drying up like the GSL, and Mono Lake . Like the other two , it has a nasty lake bed, in fact the nastiest one .  It served  as the sump for over 100 years of ag runoff from the Imperial Valley.
    Now, there’s a plan to pump sea water from the Sea of Cortez to keep all that stuff in place, and not in the air.
    Makes a lot of sense if one looks at a map. 
    Lots of solar power to run the pumps , no big mountains to cross and not a really long way  to run it.
    Anybody  talking about tapping the Miss. to water the West has shit for brains.  They have the  Pacific Ocean , and the sunshine to distill the water . Leave the river alone.
    Of course all of this should have started when Al Gore was president, Oh Wait ! I forgot the Supreme Court picked the 43 rd president.  

  30. I was dumbfounded  by Meet the Press  today. 
    Climate made it to the top of the rock, and there was Big Al , with grey hair, and  bad teeth. 
    The BBC has a story up about a film on how the “Denier Industry Complex” got started  over 30 years ago. 
     
    I started to read it , but I started to think about setting my hair on fire, so I stopped. 
    I’ll go get it  , it’s a real deep dive. 
     

  31. A correct on the water pipeline. A mixup in units, Cubic feet and gallons. So it is 250,000 gallons which around 33000 cubic feet out of 600,000 cubic feet of flow that is 5.5 % of the river flow rather than a third. Still not anymore doable but a saner number.
    But if there is any water pipeline, there are closer places with needs. I was thinking about that when I was out to Dodge City Kansas. They are dependent on an aquifer that is being pumped dry and at the same time they are creating wind energy that is being shipped out of state. A nice gentle slope with plenty of places to create the energy that runs the pumps. 
    Jack

  32. The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change
     
            Thirty years ago, a bold plan was cooked up to spread doubt and persuade the public that climate change was not a problem. The little-known meeting – between some of America’s biggest industrial players and a PR genius – forged a devastatingly successful strategy that endured for years, and the consequences of which are all around us. 
    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62225696
     
    What spurred all this the election of Al Gore.  as VP. 
     
     

  33. Hello Jack –
    It’s a real problem  for those folks  there ain’t  no ocean, and there ain’t no river. Just that sand, and gravel sponge of fossil water.  With a  lot of straws stuck in it.
    One of the things as a child I remember was going to uncle “Doc’s Farm” 30 miles North of Lubbock to Hale Center.  They were still picking cotton by hand , and hauling it to the gin in big trailers like a small train. 
    Anyway , it was the sound of the summer  nights I’ve never forgot  . The  irrigation wells  running flat out at night .  Some near , some far away.  It was the Detroit chorus .
    We were sure it would last forever. 
     
    Big V-8’s  with no mufflers.  The  soundtrack  of the 20th century.  
     
     

  38. Time to repost  my theory of life –
     
    ” Life is a series of seemingly random events , some of which are designed to knock you on your ass.
    The meaning of life is getting back up. ”  
    This applies  from fungi  to John Wayne.

  39. Volume wise from the perspective of the Mississippi, 5.5% would be much more sufferable than 33%, but as you note, Jack, not gonna happen. Too expensive, not to mention the regulatory impediments. 

  40. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-politics-invs/index.html

    “Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion. This is Texas now…”

    “…a major factor in the transformation can be traced back to West Texas. Two billionaire oil and fracking magnates from the region, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, have quietly bankrolled some of Texas’ most far-right political candidates — helping reshape the state’s Republican Party in their worldview.”

    “Critics, and even some former associates, say that Dunn and Wilks demand loyalty from the candidates they back, punishing even deeply conservative legislators who cross them by bankrolling primary challengers.”

    “…their influence has made Austin feel a little like Moscow. “It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple…”

    “…their ultimate goal is to replace public education with private, Christian schooling. Wilks is a pastor at the church his father founded, and Dunn preaches at the church his family attends. In their sermons, they paint a picture of a nation under siege from liberal ideas.”

  42. Well, not Mars but just north of mars a bit. Meanwhile we can hook on to all of those ice sheets breaking off in the Antarctic and tow them to LA.
    Jack

  43. Time to invest in a new laptop. The keys keep sticking. Too many mornings with a PB&J in one hand and coffee in the other.
    Jack

  44. It is hot and it is dry but I’ve got money to pay the water bill. So supper was a salad with garden cucumbers, peppers and home grown tomatoes

  46. Oh i have a cheap HP laptop that i only use for work and leave in “S mode”, Jack.  Very lightweight, do recommend if you’re not using it for A/V editing (has onboard bluetooth for listening to music, though 👍 )

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