pianogonzology

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Demand . . .

. . . a recount?

(from Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann, translation by John E. Woods)
". . . They set out with seventy souls - which is to say: they regarded themselves as seventy in all; this was no numbered count, but more an emotional count by considered agreement-that is, determined by a moonlit accuracy that, as we well know, is no longer suitable for our own era, but was perfectly justifiable and held to be correct in theirs. Seventy was the number of nations of the world listed in God's tables, and therefore as the number of progeny to emerge from patriarchal loins it was subject to no recount by the light of day. But since it is Jacob's loins we are dealing with here, the wives of his sons should not have been included in the count, should they? But they weren't. If there's no counting to begin with, nothing can be included in the count, and given a result based on the lovely bias of sacred foregone conclusions, the question of what is or is not included in the count is moot. It is not even certain whether Jacob himself was counted, whether the others included him as part of their number, that is seventy, or excluded him as the seventy-first. We must simply accept the fact that this era allowed for both possibilities at once. . ."

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Friday, August 7, 2015

Notably . . .

. . . wise

(from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/08/19/7-lessons-from-socrates-on-wisdom-wealth-and-the-g.aspx. . . totally out of the original context but genuinely appreciated)
"Those who are already wise no longer love wisdom – whether they are gods or men. Similarly, those whose own ignorance has made them bad, rotten, evil, do not strive for wisdom either. For no evil or ignorant person ever strives for wisdom. What remains are those who suffer from ignorance, but still retain some sense and understanding. They are conscious of knowing what they don't know."

"Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know."

"Oh my friend, why do you, who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this?"

"For I go about doing nothing else than urging you, young and old, not to care for your persons or your property more than for the perfection of your souls, or even so much; and I tell you that virtue does not come from money, but from virtue comes money and all other good things to man, both the individual and to the state."

"Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and, yet, take so little care of your own children, to whom one day you must relinquish all."

"In truth, the fear of death is nothing but thinking you're wise when you are not, for you think you know what you don't. For no one knows whether death happens to be the greatest of all goods for humanity, but people fear it because they're completely convinced it is the greatest of evils. And isn't this ignorance, after all, the most shameful kind: thinking you know what you don't."

"At the time, I made it clear once again, not by talk but by action, that I didn't care at all about death – if I'm not being too blunt to say it – but it mattered everything that I do nothing unjust or impious, which matters very much to me. For though it had plenty of power, that government didn't frighten me into doing anything that's wrong."

Developing Wisdom
©2015 Raymond M. Jozwiak

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Plagiarists . . .

. . . we all know and love . . .

Jayson Blair, a reporter for the New York Times, was a rising star in journalsim until someone noticed similarities between one of his articles one by one of their reporters Macarena Hernandez. The Times eventually discovered that at least 36 of his 73 articles contained plagiarism, fabrication or other unethical behavior. Blair resigned from the New York Times.

Kaavya Viswanathan was a Harvard student who got a book deal rumored to be worth $1 million and her first work had reached number 32 on the New York Times bestseller list. Talk of movie deals and more books was abound. Allegations surfaced that she copied portions of her book from other authors.

Lloyd Brown was the editorial page editor for the Florida Times-Union when allegations arose that he had used plagiarized material in some of his editorials prompting an investigation. Brown later resigned amidst incidents of plagiarism and other instances of lack of complete attribution dating back to 1996.

Nada Behziz was a reporter at The Bakersfield Californian focusing on health issues later fired when editors discovered a plagiarized quotation from a 1995 story in the San Francisco Examiner. Additional investigation revealed 29 other pieces she had written contained plagiarized material representing more than a third of the work.

Veteran Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Olesker was dismissed over several instances where he plagiarized wording of other journalists without proper attribution. Olesker was a Baltimore columnist for nearly three decades and said he did not intentionally engage in plagiarism. He said, "I screwed up. I made mistakes. Would I do it intentionally? My God, no. That would be professional suicide, unethical and immoral. I'm sick over what happened."

(sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010402179.html & https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/08/21/5-famous-plagiarists-where-are-they-now/)

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Why You Dirty . . .

. . . rat

(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOPO)
". . . Bart Weetjens, the founder of APOPO, loved playing with his pet rats when he was a young boy. Years later, as a student at University of Antwerp, Bart applied the idea of using rodents for mine detection as an outcome of his analysis of the global mine detection problem.

Due to his childhood experience, he knew that rats, with their strong sense of smell and trainability, could provide a cheaper, more efficient, and locally available means to detect landmines. Early research into this technology began in Belgium, with initial financial support from the Belgian Directorate for International Co-operation (DGIS) in 1997 to develop the concept. In 2000, APOPO moved its headquarters to Morogoro, Tanzania, following partnerships with the Sokoine University of Agriculture and the Tanzanian People’s Defence Force. Now housed by the University, APOPO trains the rats – termed HeroRATs because of their life-saving capabilities – in near-to-real conditions.

In 2003, APOPO began operations in Mozambique, with its first mine detection rats achieving official accreditation according to International Mine Action Standards in 2004. Fully integrated mine-clearance operations began in Mozambique in 2006.

In 2003, APOPO won the World Bank Development Marketplace Global Competition, which provided seed funding to commence research into another application of detection rats technology: Tuberculosis (TB) detection. In 2008, APOPO provided proof of principle for the utilization of trained rats in detecting pulmonary tuberculosis in human sputum samples. In 2010, APOPO launched a three-year research plan to closely examine the effectiveness of detection rats in diagnosing tuberculosis, in comparison to other diagnostic technologies, and to focus on future implementation models. . . "

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Brushing Up . . .

Brushing up on OHO's classic She/He with Jay taking the lead vocal. . .

She/He
OHO (rehearsal recording), Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Monday, August 3, 2015

Lessons . . .

(Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-bronson-lessons-for-ferguson-from-cincinnatis-2001-riots-1408748376)
19-year-old Timothy Thomas, was shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, Stephen Roach in April of 2001. The city was overrun by rioters for four days. By the way, the victim was black, the officer was white.

". . . The shooting of Timothy Thomas was a tragic mistake by a 27-year-old cop startled during a foot pursuit in a dark alley. It later came out that Officer Roach's first words after the shooting were: "It just went off. My gun just went off." He was eventually acquitted of negligent homicide. . . In time, Cincinnati's leaders, black and white, learned some valuable lessons about race relations (which Ferguson and Baltimore have yet to learn):

• Tell the public everything immediately.

• Set the record straight.

• Don't crucify the cops.

• The federal government can slow the healing.

• Repudiate race-baiters.

Of course all this is much easier said than done and it requires ethical public officials and leaders.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

So Now . . .

. . . I gotta be a tech guy TOO!!! . . .

". . . European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.

You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities. . . "

Can somebody HELP me here??!! I have NO idea what they're talking' about . . .