Some Blog Site

Thanks to someone’s generosity in loaning us her car while ours was in the shop, I got to hear a few days’ worth of satellite radio. So we tried to get a wide variety of stations while we could, and I tried to explain the significance of various songs in regard to the culture at the time. One of the songs that came on was “The Beat Goes On” by Sonny and Cher.

It was written to highlight how things are changing, and things are staying the same. And it oddly still works today. It reminds me of a monologue by Roy Rogers, I think. The way it was written it spoke of politics and societal events in a general enough way that it was timeless. I wish I could find it on the internet, but no such luck today.

Anyway, here are some of the lyrics to The Beat Goes On

Charleston was once the rage, uh-huh
History has turned the page, uh-huh
The miniskirt’s the current thing, uh-huh
Teenybopper is our newborn king, uh-huh

I suppose miniskirts are still around, not sure about teenyboppers anymore though. This verse is a wash: +1 and -1.

The grocery store’s the super mart, uh-huh
Little girls still break their hearts, uh-huh
And men still keep on marching off to war
Electrically they keep a baseball score

This one’s still true on all counts. Although it’s not noteworthy now that baseball scores are kept electronically, it was a big deal back then. But it’s still true today.

Grandmas sit in chairs and reminisce
Boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss
The cars keep going faster all the time
Bums still cries, “Hey buddy, have you got a dime?”

This one’s mostly true. Cars do keep going faster all the time. As far as I can tell, we’ve reached diminishing returns on that one, both in top speed and in 0-60 acceleration – however you want to consider “faster”. The things that not quite true is that bums don’t ask for dimes. They still ask for money, but in denominations larger than dimes.

And the beat goes on

Okay, this one’s the chorus not a verse. But it needs to be acknowledged that the beat is still going on today, so +1 for that too.

It’s mid-to-late June, and it looks like there’s snow on the ground here in southern Michigan. In northern Michigan it might be actual snow, but here it is just the cottonwood trees shedding.

I didn’t get a good picture of the fluffy white “cotton” falling gently through the air, but this is what it looks like after it lands.

Unfortunately, it does not pack well into snowballs, nor can you make fabric out of it. It’s just for visual interest, and for finding out who has seasonal allergies.

It’s not band books week, but there was a news story – or whatever substitutes for one in these social media days – about some people getting upset at certain schools for banning some books.

And I got to thinking that they’re overreacting.

Sure, the schools aren’t allowing some books in the school, but how is that different from any other category?

Our schools in the area have a dress code. Certain types of outfits are not allowed at school. Are groups protesting the fact that the school has banned those?

Our schools in the area also have a movie policy. Teachers are not allowed to show anything over PG-13 (or PG for the lower grades). It’s the same for the charter buses used for long field trips. So certain types of movies are not allowed at school. Are groups protesting the fact that the school has banned those?

The people who are mad at the schools for “banning books” are approaching it from the wrong angle. The angle should be that the content of any media is restricted to what’s appropriate for the age.

Part of the problem is that there is not a rating system for books like there is for movies. If there were, then it would be easy for the school to have a policy of “School library books are to be rated PG-13 or lower” or something like that.

The other part of the problem is that books are synonymous with knowledge, so the people opposed to restricting books are decrying that as banning knowledge. On one hand, I suppose you could learn a lesson from just about any books, but on the other hand some books are meant just for entertainment. Not all books are equal when it comes to their educational merits, and thus their place in school.

I’m not posting anything today – I’m too busy doing Thanksgivingy stuff.

To celebrate Reformation Day, we carved pumpkins and put their innards to good use as a tasty snack (and the rest as compost (not shown)).

Not much commentary for this, as it’s mostly self-explanatory.

I find I like the pumpkin seeds better if they’re overcooked slightly.

We watched the recently-released movie “Luca”.

Now my kids yell “Silencio Bruno!” at me whenever I tell them not to do something.

Thanks a lot, Pixar.

This post is a repeat – I’m phoning it in today because I’m enjoying the holiday. A little early, perhaps, but I’m still going for it anyway.

Happy Birthday

A M E R I C AA M E R I C AA M E R I C A!