in8notes

Chris Mathews forgetting Obama was black

About comments Chris Mathews made on MSNBC after Obama's first state of the union speech, written in response to Cathy's cousin's post on Facebook.

Why can't we even mention race without immediately causing a political correctness controversy? Although you didn't use the word, 'racist' usually denotes a dislike for the subject of the term. Rush Limbaugh has made far more obvious racist comments than this, and his listeners have defended him for making them. Mathews is an older Irish Catholic, who as a group have been accused of bias against blacks in the past (probably because they were both competing for the same jobs) so Mathews saying he forgot Obama was black sounds more like a comment on how far we've come since he was a young man in the 60s than a racist comment to me.

Last saved: 01/29/2010
Links: /history / chrismathews.txt

Letter from Satan to Pat Robertson

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

Last saved: 01/17/2010
Links: /fun / fromsatantopat.txt

mc without function keys

The Midnight Commander uses the F1 - F10 keys as keyboard shortcuts for commands appearing in the file menu. The escape sequences for the function keys are terminfo capabilities kf1 trough kf10. On terminals without function key support, you can achieve the same functionality by pressing the ESC key and then a number in the range 1 through 9 and 0 (corresponding to F1 to F9 and F10 respectively).

Last saved: 01/15/2010
Links: /computers/unix / mc-function.txt

Bob on transposing instruments

ok got it. thought that sounded right. However, most band instruments are transposing instruments that music is transposed from concert pitch to the pitch of the instrument. For instance (by the way) when you are learning the fingerings for this tin whistle (which is really a "C-instrument"), you are really learning the 'standard' instrument fingering - that is to say, that for a standard 'wind' instrument, left hand 3-closed pads/holes is a 'G' fingering and both hands 6-closed pads/holes is a 'D'. These fingerings are basically the same for a flute, clarinet, sax, oboe, etc. But the actual frequency of a given fingered note varies with each of these instruments and that is according to what is called the "key of the instrument". For example, the tin whistle is really a C-instrument which means that fingering a C will result in a note of the same frequency as concert-C, which is the same as a C on a standard guitar, cello, or any other C instrument, and matches the C-note on a piano. An "A" on that instrument will be 440 Hz. Since you are learning the standard fingerings, you can play a C-flute with these same fingerings, no problem. I used to have a C-melody sax which I just threw away. These used to be very popular because they used standard fingerings and give concert-C pitches. No transpositions necessary. Play guitar or piano music directly. Trouble is, they were cheap and sound like crap and fall apart. Instead, a natural key for the tenor-sax is Bb. That means that since the horn itself is two half steps lower than concert pitch (or 10 half steps higher), you have to finger 2 half steps higher to get the same pitch as a concert instrument. That means that to play what sounds like a C on a piano, you have to finger a D on the tenor.... It is a bit tricky to explain quickly, but because tenor is flatted two times (2 half steps lower) the song would be transposed down 2 half steps to Bb (on the cycle of fifths) (two flats, Eb and Bb) to get the correct fingerings to match the key of the song. So if you call blues in "G" with one sharp then I know that I will play (finger) in "F" with only one flat (Bb). The other sax I play is alto which is in Eb which means I always think of as either 3 half steps lower or more frequently as 10 half-steps higher than concert-C.

Last saved: 01/05/2010
Links: /media/music / transposing-instruments.txt