16. 4/12/17

A13

INACCURATE HITLER COMMENT LEADS SPICER TO APOLOGIZE

Certainly, Spicer needs a foot-from-mouth removal procedure. No doubt.

But I have yet to read one news report that could have helped to clear up his "wacky" thinking when he made this statement. This is what I believe he meant to say (and would have if he had given it some study and thought):

After the horrible aftermath from the use of poison gas in World War I, the Geneva Protocol went into effect, in 1928.

"In the Second World War, the U.S., Great Britain, and Germany prepared the resources to deploy chemical weapons, stockpiling tons of them, but refrained from their use due to the balance of terror: the probability of horrific retaliation." [Wikipedia]

Not quite MAD, but close.

The point being, that chemical weapons were not used in WWII, except an accident by a U.S. ship:

"There was an accidental release of mustard gas in Bari, Italy causing many deaths when a U.S. ship carrying CW ammunition was sunk in the harbor during an air raid." [ibid]

The fact that the Nazis used poison gas to kill millions of Jews and other "undesirables" should have stopped Spicer's analogy in its tracks.

But I do think it is fair and appropriate to point out that he probably meant battlefield use. I do not understand why he did not at least try to explain this.

I am no fan of this administration, believe me. But I believe all these clarifications need some clarifying ...


D1

A BETTER DOLLAR COFFEE

I have a better idea.

Get this and this. Then buy some of this. Grind beans for 10-12 seconds, place grounds in basket and press "brew."

Probably a lot less than $1.00 per cup.


C2

HOW VARIED CAN VARIATIONS BE? A PIANIST DEMONSTRATES

"Though Bach wrote it for the harpsichord, pianists have also claimed it."

A harpsichord and a piano are vastly different in so many ways. The fact remains that JSB wrote this work not having the slightest idea of what it would sound like on a piano.

I can marvel at the Gould recordings, etc., but when I hear a recording by a competent harpsichordist I feel like I am listening to what the composer truly intended.

From a long-haired traditionalist (in these matters) ...

B14

LOUIS SARNO, 62, DEVOTEE OF MUSIC OF THE PYGMIES

My brother spent a few years in CAR (Central African Republic) [he was there when Bokassa was in power, who briefly changed the country's name to Central African Empire (CAE), after he crowned himself Emperor.]

" ... Mr. Sarno's devotion to recording the polyphonic singing and polyrhythmic drumming of the Bayaka people 'is an unprecedented and unrepeatable ethnomusicological achievement' ... "

The world of ethnomusicology is richer because of people like Sarno, and others like him.