Mazurland Blog

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Today, Mazurland wishes a Happy Birthday to Andy Mazur, son of Brother Marty. While Andy is not one of Mazurland's authors, his varied exploits have been the subjects of numerous Mazurland posts. Since his graduation from High School over four years ago, Mazurland has followed Andy on his many outdoor adventures and has been along on his various idealistic, and sometimes messy, exploits. Today, Andy turns 23. The number 23 is special. For a start, it's prime. It also has a very long list of interesting properties that distinguish it from all the other numbers. But as special as 23 things it already is, Andy is sure to add to that list and make 23 even more outstanding. Here's wishing him the best!

Halloween Revue

Halloween and pumpkins have played a big role in Mazurland from the very beginning. Nearly five years ago, Brother Chris, when he was trying to figure out his blog software, put the image of a pumpkin in his second post to Mazurland Blog. And that was in January. Later in 2005, at Halloween, the pumpkin's identity and the story behind it were revealed. The pumpkin, called Googlie, became the subject of a manhunt (or pumpkin hunt) in December. Unfortunately, his body turned up in a landfill, the victim of bad music. Like any good character, Googlie rose from the ashes in the summer of 2006 and lent some political commentary just before the election. Googlie hasn't been seen much since then. Maybe he only likes to show himself when his party controls Congress.

Halloween itself has occasioned all manner of Mazurland postings, from the religion desk, to our arts and crafts department, with subjects from science to social commentary. And, of course human interest stories. Only occasionally have we let commercial interests interject themselves into our Halloween revelry.

But in all this, we've not lost track of what Halloween is supposed to be about. It's the eve of All Saints Day, the day when we commemorate all those, known and unknown, who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. 

And now I hear the doorbell again. Time to feed the little devils outside!

Poke!

For Brother Chris. So he knows what he's missing on Facebook.



[HT - Angelina]

Penn State Is The Answer To The Ultimate Question Of Life, The Universe, And Everything

Why? Because it's 42. Well, tied for 42, with one of the campuses of the University of Paris, among the top 500 universities of the world in 2008 as determined by the Center for World-Class Universities, an outfit centered at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. Of course, one can always argue over criteria. This survey seems to be weighted toward the natural sciences and mathematics, and uses quantitative indicators such as research output, number of Nobel Prizes, etc. (I wonder if the White House will open a branch campus.) It's not surprising that Penn State is ranked so highly. It's one of the largest universities in the world. And at least one of its senior faculty members has been around since Hector was a pup. What interested me was the absolute dominance of American universities on the list.

Just the other day, my wife and I were having a discussion about foreign students at American institutions of higher learning. She was opining that foreigners are no longer coming to American universities as they were in the past. I was a little circumspect about her opinion. It reminded me of the famous Yogiism, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." I offered that maybe there weren't so many undergrads, but American graduate schools, especially in the sciences, are inundated with foreign students. If it is true that American schools have declined in foreign eyes, I can only imagine what their utter dominance was in times past. In the 2008 listing, 17 of the top 20 universities are American. And 38 out of the top 50, and nearly 200 of the top 500 are also American.

America has a wealth of opportunity for higher education. Perhaps a surfeit, according to many observers. The October 5, 2009 issue of National Review has a series of articles on the real problems with American higher education. Many people are spending too much of their time and money pursuing the bachelor's credential, to the ultimate benefit of mainly entrenched university interests. Americans are paradoxically becoming both over-educated and under-educated at the same time. The bachelors degree is becoming a minimum passport of entry to jobs where college level learning is not needed. So many people spend years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars to gain a ticket to a job that someone could be trained to do less expensively and in much less time. Yet a good portion of these extra years and dollars are often spent on intellectual filler or worse. And the cost of higher education, like that of health care, has for years been increasing faster than the general rate of inflation, and for the same reason: the intrusion of government, with both subsidies and mandates. The National Review series has some serious discussion on all these topics.

But for now, the college degree is viewed as indispensable for those aspiring to higher things. And, for all its problems, America offers the best in higher education. So much so that it can be hard to chose among the options. If you're looking at colleges and universities, for yourself or for your child, Mazurland offered a few years ago a short guide to get you going.

[HT - Boris]es

My Kind Of Hybrid

I just discovered a guitar player today named Danny Gatton, thanks to my wife who heard a tribute to him on NPR. So I'm double embarrassed. I play guitar, a little, (actually, precious little these days). But I listen a lot. So how did this guy escape me? Maybe it's because he died a tragic, depressive suicide 15 years ago today. And maybe it's because he was one of those "underfamous" artists, like Eva Cassidy, who were less famous than they should have been in their short lifetimes. It didn't help his that he was averse to touring. But during his time, he became famous in the club scene across the Mid-Atlantic.

His style was "redneck jazz", a mixture of rock, country, and jazz, all delivered with his lightning style of picking on his Fender Telecaster. Gatton was a hybrid picker of remarkable talent. Hybrid picking is something any decent guitar player should know how to do, at least a little. But it's surprising how few players do more than just a little. Hybrid picking mixes finger picking with flat pick styles. The hard pick can give the attack and delivery of chords and strong notes, while simultaneous picking with the three other free fingers increases the speed and range of expression available. And Gatton was a master. He mixed traditional "chicken pickin'" sound with sophisticated jazz, walking bass lines with inventive chord jabs and chord melody. And he could steal the stage from anyone. (He was known as "The Humbler"). If some of what you hear in this video reminds you of Roy Buchanan, it's because they were friends and played the same brand of guitar with similar styles. But Gatton was a much better player. And I can say all of this authoritatively, as a Buchanan fan, after watching about a half-hour of Gatton on the internet.

He left behind a small recording legacy along with instructional videos and YouTube videos.

Mirror, Mirror...

People tend to spend less time looking in the mirror as they get older. Which is maybe why Brother Chris, who turns 51 today, is spending less time at the blog he founded nearly 5 years ago. A blog is like a window, where you can show yourself off a bit, but there's a bit of silver backing. Some of the light shines back.

So there's a good chance Chris won't see this post until after his birthday is past. But mirrors can be fun, too. Remember the mirrors in the downstairs bathroom in the house where we grew up? A mirror in front, and a mirror in back that wrapped around the corned. You could see yourself and the room repeated out to infinity. And if the door was open, you could see down the hall, past Marysia talking on the phone at the landing, and out the foyer to the driveway where the mailman was trying to sneak the mail into the slot without the dog chewing it from the other end. Take a look in the mirror. If you look past the old guy staring back at you, you can have a lot of fun observing the world from a different angle.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Sweet Nauseating Pain

They call it Stormy Monday, and so it is here in central Pennsylvania. The Penn State Nittany Lions got their come-uppance, overrated as they were. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost (which makes my wife very happy, but otherwise darkens even more the mood of my town). And the storms are blowing all over Mazurland. The Buffalo Bills lost. The Buffalo Bulls lost. Rain and hail are raking the streets. Brother Paul may be the only happy Mazurlander after this weekend. His Colts are 3-0.

So what do you do when your mood is dark? How about some Swedish Death Metal Bluegrass?

[HT - Tara]

Putting The Hammer Down

Some will think this would be more appropriate for Thor's day, but Monday is the day we resume juggling our job responsibilities.

 

[HT - Mark K.]

Hasty Pudding

Mazurland enjoys reporting on the efforts at civic boosterism of towns large and small. Back in April, Brother Chris linked to a video showing the civic pride of citizens of Buffalo's sister city on Lake Erie, Cleveland. The video's creator, Mike Polk, quickly came out with another video (below) that shows more sides of his home city. The success of Polk's video created a problem for other towns: How to cash in on the remarkable buzz that the Cleveland videos created for their own towns. Well, it seems Cleveland has cornered the market on creative genius, home town pride, and snarky humor. All the other copycat attempts at "Hastily Made..." tourism videos that I've seen have been very lame; the videos of Detroit, Boston, Nashville, and Yosemite National Park can't seem to capture the spirit of jaunty ill-will in the originals. 

But it seems that Polk has exhausted the creative genius of Cleveland, if not of himself. The videos have obviously hurt the pride of some of Cleveland's more thin-skinned citizens. And they've created some awkwardly defensive responses. But Polk has moved on. He has produced and appeared in many videos, including a send up of TNT's NBA playoff coverage, a satire of his own career, a summary of his (?) moronic political views, his earlier career in law, and a record of a later altercation with the law. (After watching enough of the vile persona he has created, it's easy to sympathize with the police officer.) Still, this snark-demon can be funny in small doses. If you want to watch more of this scion of Cleveland, he and his troupe have several channels on YouTube, including Man In The Box (Office-like cube farm shorts, but raunchier than the TV show), Runaway Box (songs and miscellany, including an embarrassingly revealing tribute), and (close to my heart), he makes fun of Twitter!

[HT - Bob S.]

I Was Told We'd Fire No Guns, Shed No Tears

Having a little trouble making it through until Friday? How about a rousing sea shanty?

[HT - Matt]