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RE: Late night shop drawings
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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 RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to BarkellWH)
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Bill-
I read the Alexandria Quartet, probably as an undergraduate at university, and enjoyed it immensely.
Orient Express runs a train from Cuzco, Peru to Machu Picchu and back. We took it and spent a few days at the hotel next to the ruins while we explored the Inca city. On the way back, seated across the table from us was a woman born and raised in Alexandria during the period covered by Durell's novel. Her mother was Italian, her father Greek. At some point she became a U.S. citizen, and worked in various capacities for the United Nations in Europe and Latin America. She was retired at the time we met her, living in Santiago, Chile.
Over coffee, pastries and cognac we enjoyed her observations about Alexandria while it was still a cosmopolitan city. I brought up Durell. She thought his books reflected Alexandria pretty accurately--as an Englishman would have seen it.
RNJ
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Date Mar. 1 2015 19:14:06
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
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quote:
Does it sound like a son huasteco to you, Bill? She imitates the falsetto with her head voice....
It has elements. La Cigarra, as Linda Ronstadt is singing it with her backup musicians, is a Huapango Norteno, and a very nice one indeed. I actually have La Cigarra on an old vinyl LP by Linda Ronstadt entitled "Canciones de mi Padre." You may recall that Linda grew up in Tucson, and she sings some very fine songs on this LP. I love Corridos, and my favorite song on the album is entitled "Corrido de Cananea," a lovely song.
It is very sad that Linda Ronstadt, who is about 69 or 70 now, has had Parkinson's Disease for several years. She gets around using poles (crutches) and a wheel chair, and she hasn't been able to sing for the past few years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Boy, did she have a voice and could she ever sing though! She certainly is on my list of all-time favorites!
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Mar. 3 2015 18:17:35
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to estebanana)
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Linda Ronstadt's brother, Peter Ronstadt. was chief of police in Tucson from 1981 to 1991, when he retired. He actually sang harmony on a couple of Linda Ronstadt's songs.
Linda's album "Canciones de me Padre" has some wonderful songs: Huapangos, Corridos, and Rancheros. Really good stuff.
Word is, when Linda performed in Madrid, she stayed at the Emperador, requested and got the Jernigan Suite, and demanded that Richard appear with her on stage and sing harmony. She almost pulled out of the performance when told that Richard could not make it, but relented and went on with the performance when she was told that Richard was in Kwajalein and could not make it to the performance on time. Any further correspondence between them is known only to the parties involved (that old salty dog!).
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Mar. 4 2015 1:53:04
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to estebanana)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: estebanana
She sings at least as good as Jernigan!
In Granada a few years ago I chatted with the university student who was watching the small hotel while the owner was out running errands. We were the only guests at the moment. Larisa had heard me handling tourist stuff, but it was the first time she had heard me at any length in Spanish. With her fluent Italian she could follow along pretty well, and speak a little Spanish.
She smiled and said, "You actually can speak Spanish!"
The university student politely added, "Yes. He speaks very well."
"Does he sound like a Spaniard?"
"I think he may have learned Spanish in...Central America."
"Where in Central America?" asked Larisa, sensing a possible polite prevarication.
"....perhaps, Mexico?"
Being told in Spain that you speak like a Mexican is like being told by a posh Englishman that you sound like an Australian.
Larisa noted my brief, slight smile and looked inquisitive.
"Like an educated Mexican," the student hastened to add.
The student, though she said she was born and raised in Granada, put thetas (lisped S's) everywhere a Salamancan would have, and had not a trace of the distinctive rhythm of andalú. Her meter was dignified and sententious castellano. I wondered how long it had taken her to achieve that.
At Palau in the 1990s my friend and I dove at Fish 'n Fins. Francis Toribiong had just sold it to an Israeli couple who had been running a live-aboard dive boat there for three years. The Israeli woman drove us back to our hotel, which was a little way out of town. She mentioned they had spent time in Spain. My friend said I spoke Spanish. The Israeli woman addressed me, I replied. She exclaimed in English, "But you speak just like an American! We learned to speak like the Spanish!"
My friend observed quietly, "I have always admired the Israelis for their diplomacy and tact."
One of these days I will spend a winter in Salamanca to acquire castellano, and solidify my image in Latin America as a supercilious twit.
RNJ
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Date Mar. 4 2015 4:46:44
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
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quote:
My friend observed quietly, "I have always admired the Israelis for their diplomacy and tact."
Yes, didn't we see an example of that in spades yesterday in Washington, DC at a joint session of Congress?! But I will go no further with this, for were I to comment further, it no doubt would result in Simon locking this thread, and we have been having some great discussions and should keep the thread going.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Mar. 4 2015 10:57:12
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runner
Posts: 357
Joined: Dec. 5 2008
From: New Jersey USA
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to estebanana)
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The 262--such a beautiful, sinister-appearing aircraft. I've read accounts of P-51 Mustang pilots who encountered the Sturmvogel in action and who felt absolutely helpless and hopeless in their attempts to engage it. Messerschmitt built almost 1500 of them, thankfully far too late for them to have any effect on the outcome of WWII; I wonder how many exist today.
Based on my observations of Off-Topic sections of other fora (look at paddling.net's Bicker and Banter section), it would take both stern supervision by a monitor, and determined self-control by the participants, to ensure an entirely rational, fact-driven (and what are the facts?) discussion of current political and geopolitical issues. We've done pretty well on mass extinctions, art, True Believers as a phenomenon, etc., and I would hope that we could maintain the tone, but even here an element of personal jibe, getting close to ugliness, has reared its head at times. We could make the attempt, but with the understanding that each exercise iron control over their passions, and that if we allow the experiment to exceed the bounds of civil discourse even once, the plug gets pulled.
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Date Mar. 6 2015 14:00:50
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runner
Posts: 357
Joined: Dec. 5 2008
From: New Jersey USA
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
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Given the financial constraints on NASA, I personally begrudge every dime spent on manned space flight, as the dollars going there are not available for unmanned exploration. The actual science that has resulted from either the ISS or the various moon landings is dwarfed by the returns of the various science satellites orbiting earth and other solar system objects--I revel today as Dawn enters orbit around Ceres, having already visited Vesta. I have no problem with Elon Musk or any of the other Silicon Valley enthusiasts spending only their own money on these various projects dear to their hearts, but, when questioned about the usefulness of manned vs. unmanned space exploration, the majority of astronomers, astrophysicists, planetary-body specialists, etc. would prefer greater NASA funding for the latter. The argument is made often, though, that only manned exploration attracts and holds public interest and support for space/astronomy funding and for a NASA budget at the size that it is, or hopes to be. But this could be an area where public candor about means and ends could be damaging to the whole enterprise (I never posted this; whoever says I did is a liar).
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Date Mar. 6 2015 23:49:55
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Late night shop drawings (in reply to runner)
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I saw the Apollo program as part of the Cold War. Sending people to the moon and back was a huge technological public relations stunt. The advance of technology accelerated even beyond the pace Stephen refers to.
But I was part of the other technological side of the Cold War. Before the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and I moved to Kwajalein, my job was to defeat the Soviet strategic missile defense systems. The potentially fatal conflict was part of my daily life.
I have never talked to my brother about the Cold War aspects of his job. I thought it was obvious. For him it was an enormous technical and human challenge, and a privilege to be part of a historic undertaking. Several years ago the Aerospace Medicine Society gave him the Hubertus Strughold Award for contributions to space medicine.
Whether it was worth the money spent on Apollo to do the Soviets one in the eye is endlessly debatable. But prolonged demonstration of U.S. technical superiority was a significant, though by no means determining factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Soviets were ahead when the U.S.A. joined the space race.
I agree that manned space flight is not an efficient way to do science.
Musk's motivation seems to me to be twofold. He likes making history. But he also sincerely believes it is human destiny to colonize at least other planets.
If he pulls it off, it will have been done far more efficiently than any present government could have. After my brother retired as head of aerospace medicine from a major medical school, he was hired by a few of those who wanted to pay the Russian space agency $20-million for a tourist ride. His job was to prove they were fit enough to go. He said the Russians were even more risk-averse and inefficient than the sclerotic bureaucracy NASA has become.
After I had dealt with government customers for years at Kwajalein, Space-X was a breath of fresh air. Somehow Musk had found someone, or some small set of people who could identify the cream of the crop in the rocket business. Elon recruited a cherry-picked team of fast moving, brilliant people. If I had a question about one of their tests, I picked up the phone and had the answer within minutes, plus a confirming email before the end of the day. Dealing with the U.S. government getting the answer typically took weeks, months...maybe never.
But Space-X is now largely funded by the freight and passenger business to the International Space Station, which is not particularly useful, and is rapidly becoming even less so with the widening rift between Russia and the USA.
RNJ
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Date Mar. 7 2015 0:50:16
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