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It
seems I have been a bit harsh on someone over the past few
months. My dear, dear older sister recently pointed out that I
have a tendency to poke fun at her from time to time when she calls me
with a computer-related question. It’s not that I am a computer
whiz myself, but I guess one could accurately say that I might be a bit
above average when it comes to the "ins and outs" of home
computers. But I supposedly
have a tendency to chide my dear sister now and again with comments
like, "Gee, Anne...It sure is a good thing that computer skills weren't
a prerequisite for your cushy, cushy job" or "Grab a crayon and write
this down" and so forth.
Well, it just so happens that I was
struggling with the setup on my new router/firewall earlier this
evening and I vented a bit to my sister during a phone chat. Anne
shared that she had recently made a call to a technical support outfit
when she was having trouble with her own wireless router and that the
tech had recommended that she shut down all her components in "reverse
order" and then bring them back up. A bit later, I applied the
tip to my own setup and — wouldn't you know it — everything is working
just perfectly now. Anne has advised me that the only thing that
can make up for my weeks and months of ridicule is public acknowledgment of her deed, so
here it is:
For a fleeting instant on March 30, 2006, Anne knew more about computers than I did.
Before I purchased my copy of Fantastic Four #6
some time ago, my copy of Avengers #4 held the distinction of being the
most expensive comic book I had ever purchased. I first read this
story many years ago as a reprint that was featured in the book
"Captain America: The Secret Story of Marvel’s Star-Spangled Super
Hero." My elementary school’s library had a copy of this book in
their collection and I checked it out many times during my grade school
years. During my high school and college years, I was fortunate
to have a part-time job working in a local library and one night I
snagged an old, beaten up and discarded copy of the “Secret Story”
volume out of the library’s garbage. Some time later, when
I got my first "real" job, I happened upon an affordable original copy
of Avengers #4 and as luck would have it, my new job had provided me
with the means to purchase an original copy of the issue.
This issue features the Silver Age resurrection of Captain America by
Marvel Comics. Cap’s frozen body is discovered by some natives
and worshipped as a god for some time until the notorious Sub-Mariner
happens upon them and hurls the entombed Cap into the sea. Cap is
later discovered by the Avengers, who thaw him out and learn his true
identity. After Cap comes to, he recounts his demise at the hands
of Baron Zemo and grieves the loss of his young partner Bucky. As
the story unfolds, the revived Cap helps the Avengers battle some
gangsters and a mysterious alien. Cap and the Avengers ultimately
square off against the Sub-Mariner in a final showdown. Following
the battle, Cap is formally invited to join the ranks of the Avengers.
Although some versions of Captain America took on an overly jingoistic
and even xenophobic tone at various points (particularly the
character’s early exploits in Timely Comics and Atlas Comics and
Marvel’s more recent incarnations of the character), the version of Cap
from the early 1960's through the early 1980's was a dynamic and
interesting figure character and he was a great addition to the Marvel
Universe.
So...I got a reply, but I am not sure it is what I expected: From: (some guy at WHIO)
Date: Mar 23, 2006 11:05 AM
Subject: FW: writing
To: (me)
Thank your for your feedback.
The story you are talking about was proofed and edited prior to being
posted to the website. It was edited and proofed using the AP Style
Guide.
WHIOTV and all Cox stations utilized a proofing service for their
websites. I questioned the wording of it myself, but the proofer
indicated it was fine gramatically and structurally.
Once again, thank you for your feedback.
(some guy at WHIO) So
basically, it’s: “Yeah, I thought it looked like crap too but somebody
else said it’s okay so we’re not changing it.” Meh. And
note that he says they “utilized proofing services.” “Utilized” —
as in past tense? Maybe they stopped utilizing the service right before
they ran that article, eh?
Oh, and the fellow misspelled “grammatically”, too.
Okay, so greeklish.org is not exactly the pinnacle of journalistic
excellence. But I am also not going around bragging about winning
the “Edward R. Murrow” award, either.
This is just one example of the
high caliber of journalism from the fine folks at WHIO-TV. Lest
anyone out there get the impression that I am nitpicking, feel free to
check their website from time to time and share in the crappy, crappy
goodness.
Despite my best efforts, it looks as though my recent e-mail to Dayton's WHIO-TV
will go unanswered. So I guess I have no choice but to share my
original message with the faithful readers of greeklish.org so I can be
certain that someone has laid eyes upon my gentle critique of the Miami
Valley's leader in local news. (Incidentally, the official slogan
of WHIO-TV is “Coverage You Can Count On.” Shouldn’t it
be something like “Coverage on Which You Can Count” instead? Am I being
too picky?) From: (my account)@gmail.com> Date: Mar 20, 2006 9:49 PM Subject: writing To: 7online@whiotv.com
"DAYTON, Ohio -- Authorities said a woman sitting in a vehicle with a man suddenly catches fire, jumps out and starts rolling on the ground."
Does your station employ any
editors or proofreaders these days? I mean, really…The above
statement is barely coherent. These kinds of mistakes are
repeated time and again on your website and your
newscasts. I am not an English major or a journalism
student, but I know awful, awful writing when I see it. It
would be really nice if you folks would approach basic story elements
like grammar and sentence structure with a bit more care, especially when the subject matter is so gravely serious.
Σας ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ για το δώρο. Είναι μία θαυμάσια προσθήκη στη
συλλογή μου. Οι γονείς της Θωμαί το πήραν από το Θέμη το
σαββατοκύριακο. Με έβαλαν να το δοκιμάσω να δουν πως δείχνει πάνω μου.
Είπαν ότι μου πάει, αλλά κάτι μου λέει ότι δεν θα γινόμουν πολύ καλός
αστυνόμος!
Ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ και πάλι γι'αυτή την ευγενική χειρονομία. Ελπίζω να
σας επισκεφτώ και τους δύο όταν ξανάρθουμε στην Ελλάδα σε μερικά χρόνια.
Ο φίλος σας,
Μιχάλης Extra-special thanks to Antonis for translating the above message. He is probably the smartest Greek person I know.
The
other night, we were sitting at the table eating dinner and our older
daughter was once again lagging behind everyone else, eating slowly and
picking at her food. But instead of getting upset and making a
big deal about it, this time I tried a new technique in hopes of
speeding things along. I produced my library-loaned copy of
Susanne Langer’s “Introduction to Symbolic Logic”
(the revised second edition from 1953) and I told my daughter that I
would proceed to read aloud from the book until she had finished
eating. Then I started to read:
“All
science tries to reduce the diversity of things in the world to mere
differences of appearance, and treats as many things as possible as
variants of the same stuff...”
After only two pages of reading, my daughter was completely finished with her dinner.
I am now waiting to receive my “Father of the Year Award” in the mail.
Although
International Women's Day (IWD) 2006 has passed, I didn't want to completely miss the opportunity to mark the occasion. So in recognition
of the day, I would like to share some words from a few of my favorite
women of history.
What—the
new woman? Does she really exist? Is she not the product of the
creative fancy of modern writers of fiction, in search of sensational
novelties? Look around you, look sharply, reflect, and you will
convince yourself: the new woman is certainly there—she exists.
Each one of the more than 50 percent of all U.S. women who work today
is a powerful argument for the alleviation of the burden of housework.
As a matter of fact, enterprising capitalists have already begun to
exploit women's new historical need to emancipate themselves from their
roles as housewives. Endless profit-making fast-food chains like
McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken bear witness to the fact that
more women at work means fewer daily meals prepared at home. However
unsavory and unnutritious the food, however exploitative of their
workers, these fast-food operations call attention to the approaching
obsolescence of housework. What is needed, of course, are new social
institutions to assume a good portion of the housewife's old duties.
This is the challenge emanating from the swelling ranks of women in the
working class. The demand for universal and subsidized child care is a
direct consequence of the rising number of working mothers. And as more
women organize around the demand for more jobs – for jobs on the basis
of full equality with men – serious questions will increasingly be
raised about the future viability of women's housewife duties. It may
well be true that "slavery to an assembly line" is not in itself
"liberation from the kitchen sink," but the assembly line is
doubtlessly the most powerful incentive for women to press for the
elimination of their age-old domestic slavery.
Dolores Ibárruri on family life in Spain in the early part of the 20th century
A married woman
was a domestic slave with no rights. In the home, the wife lost her
personality; she gave herself, by dint of sheer necessity, to a life of
sacrifice. She bore the brunt of work, of privations, slogging in every
way to make the lives of her children, and of her husband, more
pleasant, less harsh, less difficult, until she had annihilated
herself, eventually turning herself into 'the old girl' who 'doesn't
understand', who just gets in the way, who at best is a servant for the
young ones, a nanny for the grandchildren . When my first daughter was
born, I had lived in less than a year an experience so bitter that only
the love of my little one kept me hanging on to life. And I was
terrified not only by the present, hateful and unbearable as it was,
but by the future which I could foresee as appallingly painful and
inhuman.
The crude
reality, the bare truth, hit me as it did every woman, with its
unforgiving hands. A few short, fleeting days of illusion and
afterwards. In my own experience, I learned the harsh truth of the
popular saying 'Mother, what does it mean to be married? Daughter, it
means to sew, to give birth and to cry'. To cry, to cry over our
misfortunes, to cry over our powerlessness. To cry over our innocent
children, to whom all we had to offer was our caresses soaked with
tears. To cry over our pain-filled lives, without prospects, with no
way out. Bitter tears, with a permanent curse in the heart and a
blasphemy on the lips.
I'm the woman who has awoken
I've arisen and become a tempest through the ashes of my burnt children
I've arisen from the rivulets of my brother's blood
My nation's wrath has empowered me
My ruined and burnt villages fill me with hatred against the enemy,
I'm the woman who has awoken,
I've found my path and will never return.
I've opened closed doors of ignorance
I've said farewell to all golden bracelets
Oh compatriot, I'm not what I was
I'm the woman who has awoken
I've found my path and will never return.
I've seen barefoot, wandering and homeless children
I've seen henna-handed brides with mourning clothes
I've seen giant walls of the prisons swallow freedom in their ravenous stomach
I've been reborn amidst epics of resistance and courage
I've learned the song of freedom in the last breaths, in the waves of blood and in victory
Oh compatriot, Oh brother, no longer regard me as weak and incapable
With all my strength I'm with you on the path of my land's liberation.
My voice has mingled with thousands of arisen women
My fists are clenched with the fists of thousands compatriots
Along with you I've stepped up to the path of my nation,
To break all these sufferings all these fetters of slavery,
Oh compatriot, Oh brother, I'm not what I was
I'm the woman who has awoken
I've found my path and will never return.
Number 4: Flash #350 "Flash Flees" (DC Comics, October 1985)
Before
I prepare each article for the "Mike's Favorite Comics" series, I
remove the featured issue from my "Wall of Fame" and give it a quick
read before setting to work. I have read each of the comics in my
"top 12" many, many times over but it's always helpful to get
re-acquainted before I try my hand at describing them for these
articles. So I removed this issue from the wall the other day and
read through it for the first time in quite a long while. I
hadn't read this issue in years and the first thought that I had was
that the issue doesn't probably stand on it's own as a phenomenal work
in the annals of comic book fandom. But nevertheless, it is one of
my personal favorites for a few important reasons...
First
of all, The Flash (a.k.a. "The Silver Age Flash" or "Flash of Earth
One" to you comic geeks…or, to the even geekier, we can refer to him as
"Barry-Flash") is my all-time favorite comic book hero. Let's face
it…Flash's super-speed is probably one of the better super-powers to
possess. Not only could Flash run really, really fast, but he
could actually move so fast that he could defy gravity, travel through
time and even vibrate his molecules so that he could pass through solid
objects like buildings or the Earth itself. Flash even beat
Superman in a foot race on more than one occasion. Flash also had
some of the best arch-foes in the so-called "Rogues Gallery" of super-villains.
Flash
#350 is the final issue of the Silver Age Flash series. This
issue wraps up several long-running loose ends in the series, including
the matters of Flash's bogus conviction in the murder of Professor Zoom
and the final fate of Flash's wife, Iris West. The book also
features an unprecedented team effort by Flash and the Rogues to defeat
another of Flash's greatest arch-rivals, Abra Kadabra. In the
end, Flash is reunited with Iris and they go off to live happily ever
after in the far-flung future.
A
short time later (relatively speaking), Flash meets his final fate in
the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths #8. DC effectively
"killed" this incarnation of the Flash off in this story and he has
remained "dead" for over 20 years. DC basically took the stand
that Flash (like Supergirl) was dead for certain after Crisis and that
he would not be resurrected in the future. For a long time, I was
resentful of the decision to kill off the Flash, as he was an integral
character in the DC Universe for more than 30 years. But in
retrospect, there has probably been some benefit to having Flash out of
commission for all these years. In many respects, Flash has
remained just as I remember him from the stories yesteryear and the old
stories from the Silver Age up through the mid-1980's have fantastic
qualities that make them superior to many other comics from that era.
DC's current earth-shaking miniseries Infinite Crisis
has recently featured brief cameos by the Silver Age Flash. I
have to admit that it is nice to see him back in action after all these
years. But I get the feeling DC is toying with the old
generation of Silver Age Flash fans and because of this, I won't get too excited...yet.
Monopolies,
oligarchy, the striving for domination and not for freedom, the
exploitation of an increasing number of small or weak nations by a
handful of the richest or most powerful nations-all these have given
birth to those distinctive characteristics of imperialism which compel
us to define it as parasitic or decaying capitalism...In the epoch of
imperialism, certain branches of industry, certain strata of the
bourgeoisie and certain countries betray, to a greater or lesser
degree, now one and now another of these tendencies. On the whole,
capitalism is growing far more rapidly than before; but this growth is
not only becoming more and more uneven in general, its unevenness also
manifests itself, in particular, in the decay of the countries which
are richest in capital.
--V.I. Lenin
Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism
Around 8:00
tonight, I was experiencing the early stages of an allergy
attack. Although most of my allergy attacks usually begin with an
onslaught of what I call "serial sneezing," tonight's attack started
with itchy and watery eyes and the problem soon became
unbearable. Since we had no eye drops in the house, I threw on a
coat and headed for a nearby drug store where I was happy to find a
supply of eye drops that would ease my suffering.
In addition to
my need for allergy relief, I was also in the mood for some cigarillos
and since the drug store didn't carry them, I stopped at a neighboring
gas station where I picked up a pack of King Edward the Seventh Little
Cigars. After paying, I turned away from the checkout to head
toward my car. On the way to the door, I was stopped by a fellow
who had a rather interesting question for me.
The guy was in
his mid 20's or so, he was a bit shorter than me and he appeared to be
a bit on the muscular side. He had short blond hair, a square jaw
and a rather serious look on his face. As I walked towards the
door, he made eye contact with me and said, "Can I ask you a question?"
Now those of you who know me—I mean really know
me—know that I am always willing to help. I am generally
receptive to giving spare change, driving directions and battery jumps
to complete strangers. So I didn't really think anything of
someone asking me a question in a gas station and I said, "Yeah,
sure..."
"What is 'imperialism' "? asked the guy. "Ah ha..." I thought
to myself. This fellow saw me pull up to the gas station and he caught a glimpse of
the rather prominent "I'D RATHER BE SMASHING IMPERIALISM" bumper
sticker on the back of my car. Now...I like to think that most
people are generally good-natured and that folks don't go around
spoiling for fights with complete strangers, but I also know a thing or
two about how the right-wingers in America think. And my first
thought was not that this fellow was some kind of kindred soul but more
likely a neocon who was looking for me to either back down or give
some kind of non-answer or insult. So, I thought for about a
half-second and then gave the best answer I could on short
notice. In retrospect, I certainly could have given a better
answer and at best, perhaps I gave what you might call a slight
"vulgarization" of the concept. But nevertheless, it was at least
a thumbnail sketch of the idea. I said to him, "Imperialism is
the highest stage of capitalism at which large industrialized nations
fight for control of natural resources, means of production and
capital." Ugh. it was the best I could throw together on
short notice, given the situation. A bit off-kilter, but nowhere
near as nonsensical as his answer...
"That's what
NATO was created for," he replied smugly and slowly walked away.
Talk about a non-sequitur. I still don't know what the hell he
meant by that.
I turned my head
back in his direction I walked out the door and I said, "Yeah...Good
luck with that." I am sure there are better comebacks, but I was
still a bit stunned at the peculiarity of this fellow's response.
No doubt this
guy thinks "imperialism" is a bad word...To him, it's probably a
buzzword used by hysterical left-wing "zealots" like me. In his mind, "imperialism"
likely refers to a product of the collective imagination of those who
hate America, despise freedom, and loathe democracy. But maybe
the whole problem is that words just simply can't tell the tale to
someone whose political opinion and world view are so skewed. No
doubt that there are scores of people in developing nations around the
world are living examples to the concept; they are the victims of
imperialism. They bear witness to the true nature of imperialism
as they show us where their homes once stood, where their livelihoods
once flourished and where their children are now buried. Will my
friend from the gas station hear their words? Will he feel their
pain? Probably not. With cash in his pocket, food
in his belly, a roof over his head and righteousness indignation
in his heart, my friend has all he needs to live a life of cold and
blissful ignorance.
During
my much-needed time off today, I put together an experimental project
for the greeklish.org faithful: The first ever greeklish.org
podcast. This is a first attempt and it's pretty much a "bare bones" effort...So keep that in mind when you
check it out.
This "pilot
episode" features a brief introduction, a clip from a comedy show, some
Greek music, and some original music. The original music was
recorded by me along with another fellow about 6 or 7 years ago. I
wrote the main riff and showed it to him and he spruced it up a bit and
played it on the original 4-track recording. He also programmed
the drum beats. I played the bass line on a keyborad and handled
the synth-like effects towards the middle of the track. I never
got a copy of the 4-track version after the mixdown, so I recently transferred
my copy of the mixed version to GarageBand and added in a few more effects for
this new mix.
The podcast runs around seven
minutes ends with some words from the legendary Huey P. Newton. I
have some interesting stuff to share for future episodes and if folks
think this project is worth continuing, be sure to let me know!
You can listen to the podcast with your browser by clicking here.
If you are really into the whole podcast thing and you want to
subscribe, use this link in your iTunes podcast subscription: http://feeds.feedburner.com/greeklish_org
