H.L. Mencken quote
ElaineJ
and more closely the inner soul of the people. On some great and
glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright
moron." -H. L. Mencken
The feisty little old lady who passed this on to me found it in a
brochure for a club she belongs to in Ithaca. I'd love to know if
anyone can identify the column or the book it's from.
nos...@isp.com
H.L. Mencken, "On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe" (1956), reprinting
his Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920, piece, "Bayard v.
Lyonheart":
"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In
small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate
man occasionally fights his way through, carrying
even the mob with him by force of his personality.
But when the field is nationwide, and the fight
must be waged chiefly at second and third hand,
and the force of personality cannot so readily
make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man
who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre
— the man who can most easily adeptly disperse
the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to
such men. As democracy is perfected, the office
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On
some great and glorious day the plain folks of the
land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the
Islander
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/mencken.asp
Origins: The statement quoted above, attributed to H. L. Mencken,
gained currency on many political blogs at the end of 2004, undoubtedly
because it expresses the way many of President George W. Bush's
detractors regard him. But did it really issue from the pen of Mencken,
or is it — as is often the case — a modern sentiment by some anonymous
wit which has been falsely attributed to a famous pithy-but-dead
commentator in order to lend it an air of credence?
In this case the attribution to Henry Louis Mencken, a prominent
newspaperman and political commentator during the first half of the 20th
century, is accurate. Writing for the Baltimore Evening Sun on 26 July
1920, in an article entitled "Bayard vs. Lionheart" (and reprinted in
the book On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe), Mencken opined cynically
on the difficulties of good men reaching national office when such
campaigns must necessarily be conducted remotely:
"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small
electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through,
carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the
field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and
third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself
felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most
devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the
notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious
day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last,
Bob
Just looked it up before I saw others had already beaten me to it.
Well, you got it in any case. This is so good I think I shall add it to
my sig line.
Thanks,
Bob
--
The IQ of the world is static, only the
population keeps increasing. Bob,1992
"The only difference between genius and stupidity
is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
>Elaine,
>
> Just looked it up before I saw others had already beaten me to it.
>Well, you got it in any case. This is so good I think I shall add it to
>my sig line.
Whoops, likewise, after I'd already found it at the Snopes site
cited by Islander, after scanning for it without success in the
political sections of the two Chrestomathies. I guess I should
have looked at the followups first.
Capitalist Pig
home has doubled, the value of my investment portfolio has tripled. I have
refinanced my home mortgage at 5 1/2%. I can walk down any street in any
city in America and thanks to the Patriot Act, not fear that I may be blown
up by some Muslim fanatic. Since George Bush has been re-elected the
Hate-America-First crowd, the George Soros', Michael Moores, Dan Rathers,
the Clintons, the Hollywood homos have been eviscerated and publicly
humiliated in the last election. George Bush will not nominate left wing
ayatollahs to the federal bench. Every day the embittered left becomes more
miserable, more depressed, and more suicidal. I love it in America!!!!!!!
Capitalist Pig
"ElaineJ" <cornu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:632e2a29.04120...@posting.google.com...
ElaineJ
news:<uultq0t9ci00o906n...@4ax.com>...
Thank you all so much, how kind of you to find this for me! Read
all at once, the whole quote is chilling, but perhaps there's a
lukewarm nugget of consolation in the fact that this situation isn't
precisely new? ...Ok, I'm reaching here, I know. I've printed it out
in big italic/bold and taped it to the refrigerator, right next to the
Bill of Rights and the little conciliatory poem To Our Republican
Friends.
ElaineJ
these tasteless crumbs of thought:
"Capitalist Pig" <du...@whitehouse.org> wrote in message news:<YMCrd.299$%F2...@fe03.lga>...
> Since President Bush was elected, my taxes have been cut, the value of my
> home has doubled, the value of my investment portfolio has tripled. I have
> refinanced my home mortgage at 5 1/2%.
Oh greatly gluttonous one, we have heard this oink,grunt,&squeal of
triumph before. Speak to us instead, oh great one, of what life looks
like for the generality of our citizens if the caliphate which your
party seeks to establish comes to pass.
> I can walk down any street in any
> city in America and thanks to the Patriot Act, not fear that I may be blown
> up by some Muslim fanatic.
And I would imagine that your anti-Bengal-tiger charm is working
well also, the way it always has.
> Since George Bush has been re-elected the
> Hate-America-First crowd,
Mental illness alert: Your need to hate your fellow citizens is not
reflected by happenings in the real world. You're sounding awfully
like a fascist picking a vague target. Are you planning to
expropriate someone soon? Disenfranchise someone? Is that what this
armwaving is about?
> the George Soros', Michael Moores, Dan Rathers,
> the Clintons, the Hollywood homos have been eviscerated
Eviscerated? Disemboweled? That gaudy viciousness is your idea of
being an American?
> and publicly
> humiliated in the last election. George Bush will not nominate left wing
> ayatollahs to the federal bench.
You do confuse between Christianity and Islam very easily. That's
natural enough, given the fundamentalist/fascist perversions of
American ideals that you're tossing around like confetti, but still!
N.B.: Liberal Christians are the ones who read, understand, and
follow the tenets of the original Christian, the Prince of Peace.
> Every day the embittered left becomes more
> miserable, more depressed, and more suicidal. I love it in America!!!!!!!
Projecting your personal hatreds onto political events just doesn't
appear to be doing much for your grasp of America as the home of
Liberty And Justice For ALL.
> Capitalist Pig
I hasten to remind you that you picked this astonishingly apt name,
I didn't. Nature has been very kind to you in that you still appear
to rejoice in it.
Capitalist Pig
ilk. Life is sweet.
Capitalist Pig
A Ya Hoo
> Since President Bush was elected, my taxes have been cut, the value of my
> home has doubled, the value of my investment portfolio has tripled. I have
> refinanced my home mortgage at 5 1/2%. I can walk down any street in any
> city in America and thanks to the Patriot Act, not fear that I may be blown
> up by some Muslim fanatic. Since George Bush has been re-elected the
> Hate-America-First crowd, the George Soros', Michael Moores, Dan Rathers,
> the Clintons, the Hollywood homos have been eviscerated and publicly
> humiliated in the last election. George Bush will not nominate left wing
> ayatollahs to the federal bench. Every day the embittered left becomes more
> miserable, more depressed, and more suicidal. I love it in America!!!!!!!
>
>
> Capitalist Pig
*Bingo*
Rumpelstiltskin
>> Capitalist Pig
>
> I hasten to remind you that you picked this astonishingly apt name,
>I didn't. Nature has been very kind to you in that you still appear
>to rejoice in it.
I'll have to make a mild objection there. Even if pig were a
billionaire, I still wouldn't want to be him.
Jerry Okamura
because it is not anywhere near a "perfect" system?
"ElaineJ" <cornu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:632e2a29.04120...@posting.google.com...
ElaineJ
> ElaineJ you lost. Its going to be a looooong four years for you and your
> ilk. Life is sweet.
> Capitalist Pig
Huh uh. "ilk" is now officially allowed by the Net Lords and
Arbiters of Good Taste. Why is life sweet? Seriously. Is it because
you hope that we who tweak you so often are very unhappy?
ElaineJ
> Maybe the proper response is, that "democracy" cannot be "perfected" only
> because it is not anywhere near a "perfect" system?
:^) You sly devil. imho the perfection Mencken invokes is the
fulfillment of the widespread yearning to be blamelessly, even
triumphantly, dumb.
I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
vision, idea, or object.
Rita
>"Jerry Okamura" <okamu...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message news:<t92sd.1621$Ew6...@twister.socal.rr.com>...
>> Maybe the proper response is, that "democracy" cannot be "perfected" only
>> because it is not anywhere near a "perfect" system?
>
> :^) You sly devil. imho the perfection Mencken invokes is the
>fulfillment of the widespread yearning to be blamelessly, even
>triumphantly, dumb.
> I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
>physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
>is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
>vision, idea, or object.
>
Yes, there are brief glimpses of "perfect" -- a perfect painting,
sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
was.
Some "perfect" experiences one can return to over
and over, and others are, as you suggest, evanescent. They can,
however, be cherished in memory.
None of which has anything at all to do with what the Capitalist
Pig considers important in life.
Jerry Okamura
"Rita" <rknyd...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:ig92r01e12frpk1ug...@4ax.com...
> On 3 Dec 2004 17:02:54 -0800, cornu...@yahoo.com (ElaineJ) wrote:
>
> >"Jerry Okamura" <okamu...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:<t92sd.1621$Ew6...@twister.socal.rr.com>...
> >> Maybe the proper response is, that "democracy" cannot be "perfected"
only
> >> because it is not anywhere near a "perfect" system?
> >
> > :^) You sly devil. imho the perfection Mencken invokes is the
> >fulfillment of the widespread yearning to be blamelessly, even
> >triumphantly, dumb.
> > I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
> >physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
> >is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
> >vision, idea, or object.
> >
> Yes, there are brief glimpses of "perfect" -- a perfect painting,
> sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
> etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
> Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
> onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
> climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
> was.
If one person thinks that say a painting is "perfect" and another person
thinks the same painting is "ugly", is the painting "perfect"?
Rita
wrote:
What a silly question. Of course not.
What YOU consider perfect is that for you, but certainly not for everyone.
It is ridiculous to even suggest that we all might like the same art.
When one sees enough art with an open mind, and lets the art "speak" as
it were, I think one does learn to appreciate a variety of styles and
artists. Some see abstract art as just blobs on canvas, others appreciate
the colors, form and learn to love it, as I do. It is the total feeling a
painting evokes that resonates with me. When enough people come to enjoy an
artist's work and can view it over and over again with great pleasure it
often finds its way into a museum. But there are always new artists
coming along, experimenting with new styles, and so the field is never
stagnant. I can sit in front of some paintings and go into a sort of
meditative state. I find myself "drawn in". When a painting evokes that
response for me, it is then "perfect" for the occasion.
>
Islander
> "Jerry Okamura" <okamu...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message news:<t92sd.1621$Ew6...@twister.socal.rr.com>...
>
>>Maybe the proper response is, that "democracy" cannot be "perfected" only
>>because it is not anywhere near a "perfect" system?
>
>
> :^) You sly devil. imho the perfection Mencken invokes is the
> fulfillment of the widespread yearning to be blamelessly, even
> triumphantly, dumb.
> I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
> physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
> is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
> vision, idea, or object.
>
There is no perfection, IMV, except perhaps in mathematics. I was drawn
to mathematics as a child because it was one thing that I could count on
(no pun intended) in an otherwise complex world. Mathematics is the
only discipline where one has "proofs" that are irrefutable. Once a
concept is proven, one can depend on it, unlike the rest of science
where one has only theories. One may have a lot of confidence in a
theory, but there may be yet another discovery just around the corner
that will modify that theory, perhaps just a little, but enough to
remind us that our understanding is not complete.
Otherwise, I think we take liberties with the word "perfection,"
especially in the arts. Completely baffling to me, but I know what I like.
BTW, nice word, "evanescent." I had to look it up. Now, if I can only
find a way to use it 3 times today!
ElaineJ
> > I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
> >physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
> >is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
> >vision, idea, or object.
> Yes, there are brief glimpses of "perfect" -- a perfect painting,
> sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
> etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
> Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
> onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
> climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
> was.
Italy certainly does that, presenting the reality of our most
pleasant dreams. I can't imagine tryijng to fit myself into modern
Italian society - it is a foreign country, after all. But the earth,
sun, sky, wind, and water of the place make it feel like mankind's
original home, and that impression doesn't go away during an extended
visit.
I sincerely hope if we go to adventuring out into the stars and
attempt to terraform other planets, the planners have the good sense
to use Italy as the basic template.
> Some "perfect" experiences one can return to over
> and over, and others are, as you suggest, evanescent. They can,
> however, be cherished in memory.
>
> None of which has anything at all to do with what the Capitalist
> Pig considers important in life.
Wouldn't it be truly funny if El Puerco were merely posing as the
Compleat Philistine? I'm still struggling with how to answer his
question, a request that I explain just what it is I don't like
aboutconservatives. I feel humble in the face of such a task, my
manure fork is so small and the conservative pile is so much bigger'n
Texas.
ElaineJ
> ElaineJ wrote:
-snip-
> > I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
> > physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
> > is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
> > vision, idea, or object.
> There is no perfection, IMV, except perhaps in mathematics. I was drawn
> to mathematics as a child because it was one thing that I could count on
> (no pun intended) in an otherwise complex world.
How interesting! I remember being annoyed by arithmetic as a child,
because it was so dogmatic and lacked the fascinations of complexity.
Naturally I was too young to grasp that the thing might have a soul
that reached far beyond the boring utility of its simplest face. From
conversations I've had now and then thru the years, men seem not to
work to learn or understand mathematics; more often they seem to be
pleased that mathematics is what they already intuited that it should
be. 'The beauty of order' is the only phrase I remember from an essay
by a mathematician.
> Mathematics is the
> only discipline where one has "proofs" that are irrefutable. Once a
> concept is proven, one can depend on it, unlike the rest of science
> where one has only theories. One may have a lot of confidence in a
> theory, but there may be yet another discovery just around the corner
> that will modify that theory, perhaps just a little, but enough to
> remind us that our understanding is not complete.
:^) "Man's reach must exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for"?
> Otherwise, I think we take liberties with the word "perfection,"
> especially in the arts. Completely baffling to me, but I know what I like.
I've loved the abundant complexity of the few true works of art
I've seen in a lifetime; it's an ongoing delight that they cannot be
reduced to words, even -wonderful to relate - when they themselves
consist of words. Instead, the viewer must grow to accommodate the
work as far as s/he is capable.
>
> BTW, nice word, "evanescent." I had to look it up. Now, if I can only
> find a way to use it 3 times today!
Isn't it neat the way it means "quickly fading"? But what I can I
say? Two lit majors marry in their 20's and forty years later that's
what you end up with.
Rita
>Rita <rknyd...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message news:<ig92r01e12frpk1ug...@4ax.com>...
>> On 3 Dec 2004 17:02:54 -0800, cornu...@yahoo.com (ElaineJ) wrote:
>-snip-
>> > I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
>> >physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
>> >is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
>> >vision, idea, or object.
>
>> Yes, there are brief glimpses of "perfect" -- a perfect painting,
>> sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
>> etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
>> Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
>> onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
>> climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
>> was.
>
> Italy certainly does that, presenting the reality of our most
>pleasant dreams. I can't imagine tryijng to fit myself into modern
>Italian society - it is a foreign country, after all. But the earth,
>sun, sky, wind, and water of the place make it feel like mankind's
>original home, and that impression doesn't go away during an extended
>visit.
> I sincerely hope if we go to adventuring out into the stars and
>attempt to terraform other planets, the planners have the good sense
>to use Italy as the basic template.
I know what you mean, Elaine -- modern Italian society is a challenge.
But always entertaining. The little town on the Italian Riviera where
I had my "perfect" experience was Camogli, not too far from Genoa. I
asked at the tourist office for a spot on the Riviera to spend a few
days at modest cost. The town and a hotel were recommended, I phoned the
hotel owner and he told he was just across from the rail station. To
get to the water I walked down (and back up) a couple of hundred steps.
There was a pebble beach and pleasant places to sit, enjoy a glass of wine
and eat linguine with clams while watching the waves crash on rocks. At 9 p.m.
the other tourists, almost all Italians, sallied forth and displayed
themselves along the boardwalk, talking incessantly on their cell phones and
many accompanied by large trophy dogs. All dressed to the teeth. You get
the picture I am sure:) What fun!
>
>> Some "perfect" experiences one can return to over
>> and over, and others are, as you suggest, evanescent. They can,
>> however, be cherished in memory.
>>
>> None of which has anything at all to do with what the Capitalist
>> Pig considers important in life.
>
> Wouldn't it be truly funny if El Puerco were merely posing as the
>Compleat Philistine? I'm still struggling with how to answer his
>question, a request that I explain just what it is I don't like
>aboutconservatives. I feel humble in the face of such a task, my
>manure fork is so small and the conservative pile is so much bigger'n
>Texas.
Compleat Philistine, not bad, Elaine! I wonder if a Compleat
Philistine can ever appreciate just sitting and watching waves
crash over rocks? My take is that the right wingers want to harness
and often destroy "nature" rather than appeciate it in all its glory.
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
Math is only "perfect" because it proceeds from straightforward
axioms, though, I think I should remind, not from a necessary match
to the confusion of reality. Newtonian math, which is perfect in
itself, is not, as has turned out, a perfect match with reality.
On my wall in front of the computer, I have reproductions of
Picasso's "Deux femmes courant sur la plage", and two pictures
of Brueghel: a peasant wedding and peasant dance. The Picasso
does seem just about perfect to me, and the Brueghels don't.
I don't like the Brueghels any less, since what they lack in
directness they make up for in a rich and varied feast of harmonic
variety. It's the eternal dichotomy of Apollo and Dionysus: the
world needs both, ISTM.
When Eddington read Einstein's general relativity theory, he
said that it was so beautiful that if it were not true, he felt sorry
for God. That, ISTM, is because of the richness and colour of
relativity: less monolithic than Newton, but thereby fascinating.
Rumpelstiltskin
>Rita <rknyd...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message news:<ig92r01e12frpk1ug...@4ax.com>...
>> On 3 Dec 2004 17:02:54 -0800, cornu...@yahoo.com (ElaineJ) wrote:
>-snip-
>> > I wonder if there is a perfect system of any kind, including in
>> >physics. Or maybe perfection occurs all the time, everywhere, but it
>> >is evanescent. Maybe that's a definition of art - a briefly perfect
>> >vision, idea, or object.
>
>> Yes, there are brief glimpses of "perfect" -- a perfect painting,
>> sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
>> etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
>> Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
>> onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
>> climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
>> was.
>
> Italy certainly does that, presenting the reality of our most
>pleasant dreams. I can't imagine tryijng to fit myself into modern
>Italian society - it is a foreign country, after all. But the earth,
>sun, sky, wind, and water of the place make it feel like mankind's
>original home, and that impression doesn't go away during an extended
>visit.
> I sincerely hope if we go to adventuring out into the stars and
>attempt to terraform other planets, the planners have the good sense
>to use Italy as the basic template.
By then, we may have mastered chaos enough that we can
get the stars to arrange themselves into a happy picture of
Ronald MacDonald holding a double soylentburger with "now
only $995M" spelled out. That would be more constructive
than the current pointless randomness that can misguide the
young into questioning the absoluteness and goodness of the
transmogrifiedly traditional social order to which all good
people subscribe. The stars are there, why not use 'em to
good purpose?
>> Some "perfect" experiences one can return to over
>> and over, and others are, as you suggest, evanescent. They can,
>> however, be cherished in memory.
>>
>> None of which has anything at all to do with what the Capitalist
>> Pig considers important in life.
>
> Wouldn't it be truly funny if El Puerco were merely posing as the
>Compleat Philistine?
It's possible. He should be in Hollywood if he's been able to
pull that off for so long: maybe he's the new Lon Chaney.
Jerry Okamura
"pefect" form of government and that a democracy cannot be "perfect".
Rita
wrote:
No, it can't, but one of its saving graces is that elections are held and
mistakes can be corrected, if the voters care enough to do so.
>
ElaineJ
> On 4 Dec 2004 13:35:59 -0800, cornu...@yahoo.com (ElaineJ) wrote:
>
> >Rita <rknyd...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message news:<ig92r01e12frpk1ug...@4ax.com>...
> >> sculpture, poem, musical offering, novel, beach, mountain, lakeshore,
> >> etc. etc. I once found, for example, a "perfect" small town on the
> >> Italian Riviera, where I sat transfixed watching perfect waves crash
> >> onto perfect rocks, while behind me perfect and colorful houses
> >> climbed the cliffs. I think I had dreamed of this scene and there it
> >> was.
> > Italy certainly does that, presenting the reality of our most
> >pleasant dreams. I can't imagine tryijng to fit myself into modern
> >Italian society - it is a foreign country, after all. But the earth,
> >sun, sky, wind, and water of the place make it feel like mankind's
> >original home, and that impression doesn't go away during an extended
> >visit.
-snip-
> I know what you mean, Elaine -- modern Italian society is a challenge.
And we only saw the edges of its simplest forms, in village life.
Even so, after the hard, loud, watchful rudeness of lower-class suthun
life, the Italians were a treat. Even tho they disapprove deeply of
our foreign policy, and would tell us so *if* we asked, they never
acted spitefully or unkindly. Their public manners are so quietly
pleasant, as I'm presume you experienced also. And it's not the
fawning of service personnel looking for a bigger tip. They genuinely
seem more calm and comfortable in their minds than we are. Little by
little we realized that their calm civility gives way to warmth only
with people they know, and within their households, and that we would
always be kindly-treated outsiders. Still, it's probably easier to be
'Tedesco'(German) in small-town Italy than a librul in Arizona.
> But always entertaining. The little town on the Italian Riviera where
> I had my "perfect" experience was Camogli, not too far from Genoa. I
> asked at the tourist office for a spot on the Riviera to spend a few
> days at modest cost. The town and a hotel were recommended, I phoned the
> hotel owner and he told he was just across from the rail station. To
> get to the water I walked down (and back up) a couple of hundred steps.
That's Italian National Health Plan aerobics as we saw it. :^)
Pretty much everything domestic is uphill, downhill, upstairs,
downstairs, or has to be done by hand and on foot. Isn't it neat to
see the 70-year-old shoppers setting off on their bikes to do the
day's marketing?
> There was a pebble beach and pleasant places to sit, enjoy a glass of wine
> and eat linguine with clams while watching the waves crash on rocks.
And the only way to know that this is a qualitatively different
experience from going to ...oh, I don't know... Miami Beach,
frinstance, is to go there. Thank goodness very few of our fellow
citizens will do that. The Italians don't need the annoyance.
> At 9
> p.m. the other tourists, almost all Italians, sallied forth and displayed
> themselves along the boardwalk, talking incessantly on their cell phones and
> many accompanied by large trophy dogs. All dressed to the teeth. You get
> the picture I am sure :) What fun!
Yes, they are their own portraits! And how unearthly beautiful
some of the younger people are - tall, graceful, and truly beautiful
of feature rather than merely pretty. (One vintner introduced us to
his wife, whom we took for granted was a fashion model; in fact she's
a biochemist.) It was interesting to see how many of the young women
wear makeup done with such restraint that it appears they use none at
all. But just as many were not wearing makeup, because nature had
taken special pains in their design, and they actually were flawless.
And the young men! Where to begin? Many of the ordinary young men
were handsome! And the mature men! I saw a middle-aged commandant of
carabinieri who suddenly clarified for me why there are so many films
and books featuring a middle-aged Italian and an American woman... :^)
> >> Some "perfect" experiences one can return to over
> >> and over, and others are, as you suggest, evanescent. They can,
> >> however, be cherished in memory.
> >> None of which has anything at all to do with what the Capitalist
> >> Pig considers important in life.
> > Wouldn't it be truly funny if El Puerco were merely posing as the
> >Compleat Philistine? I'm still struggling with how to answer his
> >question, a request that I explain just what it is I don't like
> >about conservatives. I feel humble in the face of such a task, my
> >manure fork is so small and the conservative pile is so much bigger'n
> >Texas.
> Compleat Philistine, not bad, Elaine! I wonder if a Compleat
> Philistine can ever appreciate just sitting and watching waves
> crash over rocks?
As a metaphor for destruction, for conquest, for battle? Perhaps.
My few (usually brief) conversations with conserfascists have revealed
people far too focussed and ferocious to allow themselves experiences
in which they are not front, center, and in control.
Thinking specifically of a relative-by-marriage (what degree of
relationship is my husband's cousin's husband to me?), I realize that
some folks cannot conceive of a world free of war; their world
requires warfare at every level of existence, at every moment of time.
So we probably should forego waiting for the poetry in which a C.P.
enlarges upon intimations of infinity while contemplating the summer
sea...
> My take is that the right wingers want to harness
> and often destroy "nature" rather than appeciate it in all its glory.
Yes, mine also. The cons I've talked with seem to hate and fear
the natural world; to them "nature" is the backdrop for the photo
sessions featuring owner, contractor, foreman of the work crew, and
the workman who's about to improve it with a bulldozer.
Jerry Okamura
I am not sure at what level you are talking about. At the Presidential
level, they only serve two terms. On the other hand those we send to
Congress, can just about guarantee that they can remain in office for as
long as they wish to stay in office, unless they screw up and really get
their electorate upset with them....but that only happens once in a while.
I am willing to bet that most of the electorate are not even aware of what
their members of Congress are doing.
Rita
>
> And we only saw the edges of its simplest forms, in village life.
>Even so, after the hard, loud, watchful rudeness of lower-class suthun
>life, the Italians were a treat. Even tho they disapprove deeply of
>our foreign policy, and would tell us so *if* we asked, they never
>acted spitefully or unkindly. Their public manners are so quietly
>pleasant, as I'm presume you experienced also. And it's not the
>fawning of service personnel looking for a bigger tip. They genuinely
>seem more calm and comfortable in their minds than we are. Little by
>little we realized that their calm civility gives way to warmth only
>with people they know, and within their households, and that we would
>always be kindly-treated outsiders. Still, it's probably easier to be
>'Tedesco'(German) in small-town Italy than a librul in Arizona.
>
I got on a city bus in Como in Italy and the machine where you
validate your ticket malfunctioned. The other passengers screamed
at the driver and explained what had gone wrong. They were very
protective of me. And I appreciated it. They generated quite a
little furor.
Also the Italian passengers
on trains were very kind and translated for me when I could not
understand the announcements. And helped me heft my bag to the
overhead rack. Perhaps it is a respect for age, I don't know. But
if that is what it is, I'll take it where I can find it:)
Olly Mensch
to destroy nature."
You can 't be serious??!!!!!
Olly
Olly Mensch
Also, just having those near your computer, must soften the "techie'
atmosphere, and add some beauty - no???
Olly
Olly Mensch
phrased writings include such infantile babble (as does Rita's) stating
that conservatives hate nature,etc.etc.etc. Did it escape you that
conservatives are people - just like you - with certain perceptions -
with depth - with feelings - with principles,etc.etc.
You dig??!!
Olly
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
I've been using the computer to write music too. It's nice
to be able to hear stuff without playing it myself, but I'm
starting to think it encourages self-indulgence, since the
composition is going very slowly because I keep playing
what I've already written over and over, instead of pushing
onward. But it's just a hobby with me so I guess that's OK.
One of the secrets of Picasso's "deux femmes...", I think,
is that the two figures outline an arrowhead pointing in the
direction opposite the direction of motion. It seems to me
why the picture seems so balanced despite the swift
motion it portrays.
I used to work with computers, but never felt very "techie",
especially compared to a friend who, from my viewpoint, is
absolutely awesome with computers.
Thanks for the compliment on my taste in art. I have a
special fondness for Brueghel. I guess my all-time favourite
painters are Vermeer and Picasso, neither of whom are
of course as gloriously and warmly sympathetic to the
human race as is Brueghel. Others along that line seem to
me to be Jan Steen and Hogarth. There's one family
portrait by Hogarth that has a cat in the background sitting
on top of the backrest of a chair, eagerly and hungrily
looking at a bird in a birdcage nearby, that particularly struck
me.
I just read on the web that the Dutch refer to a disheveled
household full of busy activity as a "Jan Steen household".
Rita
<PleaseDoNot...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 20:52:46 -0500, Old...@webtv.net (Olly Mensch)
>wrote:
>
>>Rumpel - - I like your taste in art!
>>Also, just having those near your computer, must soften the "techie'
>>atmosphere, and add some beauty - no???
>>Olly
>
>
>
> I've been using the computer to write music too. It's nice
>to be able to hear stuff without playing it myself, but I'm
>starting to think it encourages self-indulgence, since the
>composition is going very slowly because I keep playing
>what I've already written over and over, instead of pushing
>onward. But it's just a hobby with me so I guess that's OK.
You must have a special program for writing music on the computer?
My Brazilian daughter-in-law does. She composed some songs for
her wedding and was finishing off a number early on the big day
itself. She is an accomplished classical (violin) and jazz
(electric violin) musician, and a group of her musician friends
volunteered to play at the wedding. I think she wrote it all.
>
> One of the secrets of Picasso's "deux femmes...", I think,
>is that the two figures outline an arrowhead pointing in the
>direction opposite the direction of motion. It seems to me
>why the picture seems so balanced despite the swift
>motion it portrays.
The recently reopened Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York city
has a room of Picassos from different periods of his work. The
remodeled and expanded building is a stunning setting for art -- huge
rooms, windows to the city outside, and lots of room to display works
at their best. I kevtched at the new admission fee, $20, $16 for
seniors, but then learned I can purchase a yearly membership for $75.
I visit a branch of the NY library every week or two that is just across
the street from MOMA. The new setting has so much more than the old, and
I am going to invest in a membership. Then I can just pop in and view a
few works on an ongoing basis. Unlike the old collection, now there is
a fine representation of contemporary art along with the modern, and my
favorites Pollock and Rothko among them. Books, art, and then a frankfurter
in the nearby "vest pocket" park with graceful trees and a waterfall wall,
now that's my idea of a "perfect" day. The guy who runs the tiny
refreshment stand in Paley Park hopes to gain business from the reopened
Moma. I think after forking over the $20 entry fee many will be pleased
to dine on a $1.25 frankfurter lovingly grilled and served on a toasted
bun.
New York City just gets better and better. How lucky I am to live here!
The fates might well have placed me in some suburban hell where I would be
forced to do outings to Walmarts.
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
>On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 05:34:59 GMT, Rumpelstiltskin
><PleaseDoNot...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 20:52:46 -0500, Old...@webtv.net (Olly Mensch)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Rumpel - - I like your taste in art!
>>>Also, just having those near your computer, must soften the "techie'
>>>atmosphere, and add some beauty - no???
>>>Olly
>>
>>
>>
>> I've been using the computer to write music too. It's nice
>>to be able to hear stuff without playing it myself, but I'm
>>starting to think it encourages self-indulgence, since the
>>composition is going very slowly because I keep playing
>>what I've already written over and over, instead of pushing
>>onward. But it's just a hobby with me so I guess that's OK.
>
>You must have a special program for writing music on the computer?
>My Brazilian daughter-in-law does. She composed some songs for
>her wedding and was finishing off a number early on the big day
>itself. She is an accomplished classical (violin) and jazz
>(electric violin) musician, and a group of her musician friends
>volunteered to play at the wedding. I think she wrote it all.
I'm using something called "Noteworthy Composer". Before
this I was using something that worked like a spreadsheet,
so I had a lot more freedom in how to arrange the notes, but
it couldn't play the music. I decided I could live with the
gyrations I sometimes have to do, and the less-pretty scores
that sometimes have slur and tie curves running through
other notes, in exchange for being able to play the music and
make midi files (which can then easily be made into WAV or
MP3 files). It is a tad annoying that they have a function
for triplets, but no function for five notes in the space of
four and such, which it seems should take hardly any extra
programming beyond what's needed for triplets. Such
other divisions are not as common as triplets, but not at all
rare. The way it is now, you have to do some math to
change the tempo and use extra invisible lines to put in the
actual sound, while adding tied invisible notes to the stuff
that's to be printed to make up for the temporary
calculated tempo.
>>
>> One of the secrets of Picasso's "deux femmes...", I think,
>>is that the two figures outline an arrowhead pointing in the
>>direction opposite the direction of motion. It seems to me
>>why the picture seems so balanced despite the swift
>>motion it portrays.
>
>The recently reopened Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York city
>has a room of Picassos from different periods of his work. The
>remodeled and expanded building is a stunning setting for art -- huge
>rooms, windows to the city outside, and lots of room to display works
>at their best. I kevtched at the new admission fee, $20, $16 for
>seniors,
Ouch! Shall we blame this on GWB's declining dollar, or wait
until more stuff shows up? You have to pay $10 these days
just to see the latest Wrestlemania blockbuster though.
>but then learned I can purchase a yearly membership for $75.
>I visit a branch of the NY library every week or two that is just across
>the street from MOMA. The new setting has so much more than the old, and
>I am going to invest in a membership. Then I can just pop in and view a
>few works on an ongoing basis. Unlike the old collection, now there is
>a fine representation of contemporary art along with the modern, and my
>favorites Pollock and Rothko among them. Books, art, and then a frankfurter
>in the nearby "vest pocket" park with graceful trees and a waterfall wall,
>now that's my idea of a "perfect" day. The guy who runs the tiny
>refreshment stand in Paley Park hopes to gain business from the reopened
>Moma. I think after forking over the $20 entry fee many will be pleased
>to dine on a $1.25 frankfurter lovingly grilled and served on a toasted
>bun.
>
>New York City just gets better and better. How lucky I am to live here!
>The fates might well have placed me in some suburban hell where I would be
>forced to do outings to Walmarts.
Yes you are lucky to be there, IMV. Suburbs are cruel and unusual
punishment, especially the suburbs that don't even have sidewalks,
where Homeland Security might eye you suspiciously if you're seen
doing anything bizarre like walking along the side of the road.
Rita
<PleaseDoNot...@nowhere.net> wrote:
I decided I could live with the
>gyrations I sometimes have to do, and the less-pretty scores
>that sometimes have slur and tie curves running through
>other notes, in exchange for being able to play the music and
>make midi files (which can then easily be made into WAV or
>MP3 files).
How do you convert a midi file to a .wav or .mp3? And is there
software to convert .wav or .mp3 to a midi as well?
Chip Wood
http://www.midi2wav.com/ and http://www.akoff.com/
However, they mostly don't work very well.
The best way is to play the midi out to the analogue out
port connected back to the record in port. How well you can
do this relies on the specific sound card that your computer
has.
The reverse doesn't work because the midi is essentially a
text file while the wav is a pulse code modulated (PCM)
file. You need a program that can recognize the PCM sounds
and write the notes and dynamics of midi music notation.
Tough to do well.
BTW, I read with MUCH envy of your NYC upper west side life.
Keep it up.
--
Chip Wood
"Rita" <rknyd...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
> How do you convert a midi file to a .wav or .mp3? And is
Rita
>There are several programs that claim to do this
>http://www.midi2wav.com/ and http://www.akoff.com/
>However, they mostly don't work very well.
>
>The best way is to play the midi out to the analogue out
>port connected back to the record in port. How well you can
>do this relies on the specific sound card that your computer
>has.
>
>The reverse doesn't work because the midi is essentially a
>text file while the wav is a pulse code modulated (PCM)
>file. You need a program that can recognize the PCM sounds
>and write the notes and dynamics of midi music notation.
>Tough to do well.
Oh well, sounds a bit more than I want to take on.
>
>BTW, I read with MUCH envy of your NYC upper west side life.
>Keep it up.
Chip, I don't live on the upper West Side (although I once did) but
in a part of Queens just a few minutes from Manhattan. I do go into
Manhattan often and what with a senior Metro card with unlimited travel
I get around well. I know all the subway lines and buses as well.
Actually the Met is on the upper Eastside on Fifth Avenue, and MOMA is
in Midtown. But that is just a geography quibble. And I enjoy downtown
a lot as well. Anything below 14th Street. Queens is utterly without
charm, but apartments are far, far cheaper and so is everything else which
is good for a retiree. There are just so many ways to enjoy oneself in NYC
without spending much money.
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
For converting to WAV, I use RipVinyl, at:
http://www.wieser-software.com/ripvinyl/index.shtml
It's not free, though there is a trial, but it only costs $7.
To record from LP, you plug the output from your
amplifier into the computer input. To convert midi to
WAV, you plug your computer output into your
computer input, so that the computer's sound signal
will be sent back to the computer the same way the
output from your amplifier would be sent to the
computer when converting a vinyl record to WAV.
Start the "record" function in RipVinyl, then
start your midi file. It doesn't start recording until it
hears something, and you can see that happening
on RipVinyl's bar-chart display, so you don't have to
fret about excessive leading space.
Lots of things will convert WAV to MP3 if you want
to do that later. The program I usually use, since it's
reliable and easy, is Musicmatch, at
http://www.musicmatch.com/
That's a bit more expensive, but still only $20.
It has a lot of other functions which will be worthwhile
to many others, but I've only used the conversion
feature myself: that alone is well worth the money.
You can also convert MP3 to WAV, which would be
a pointless exercise except that you can then put
your music on CD in WAV format and play it with a
normal CD player. I have a DVD recorder and a
stand-alone DVD player, so I can play my MP3's from
disk directly, fitting ten times as much music on a CD.
I can also put the files on DVD disks, but my current
MP3 player has a pretty non-forward-thinking way of
choosing a track. To get to track 153, I have to press
"+10" fifteen times then press "3". My standalone
player gets discombobulated in the track selection
beyond track 150 or so, which you're pretty sure to
exceed with MP3 files on a DVD disk, so DVD disks
of music files are only useful for storage for me at the
moment. That's a heckuva lot of MP3 music anyway,
though, and you end up putting Schoenberg with
Vivaldi just because you have so much space, so a
normal CD disk is really better for MP3 playing
purposes.
The clicks and pops that are usual on vinyl are hard
to tolerate these days, but there are programs that will
take them out. I use Popfix to fix up music files taken
from vinyl, at:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~voskulen/popfix/download.html
It does a good job if the vinyl is not too bad. There's
a big natural technical problem though, in that when
cutting out pops and clicks, you're also inevitably
endangering the high frequencies. Popfix does a
decent job of deciding what's a pop and what's not,
with adjustable parameters, but of course this is never
going to be a perfect automatic process. Sometimes
it works really well, as it did, thankfully, on the vinyl I
most wanted on CD, my Boston Camerata performance
of Josquin's "Fortuna Desperata" mass, with his
wonderful motet "In principio erat verbum" which for
some unfathomable reason seems to be unavailable
on CD in any performance, let alone the superb
performance by the Boston Camerata. It also worked
really well on my Henze double-concerto for flute, harp,
and strings, also apparently unavailable on CD though
I don't know why since it's an almost unbearably
sumptuous work, and Henze is a pretty popular
modern composer, especially among communists.
One of his operas is "The raft of the frigate Medusa",
about the time a ship was sinking and the upper
class got on the lifeboats and towed the lower
classes behind on a raft, then cut the raft loose
to increase their own chances of survival, much as
modern Republicans might do. Unluckily for the upper
class, the raft did reach shore with some survivors.
The story got back to France, becoming one of the
things that enflamed people while public awareness
that led to the French Revolution was growing. Henze
dedicated that opera to Che Guevara. There's a
famous picture, very large, of the raft of the Medusa, at
the Louvre, which you've probably seen, by Gericault:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/G/gericault/raft_of_the_medusa.jpg.html
Henze is German but lives in Italy, unsurprisingly.
As Fran Leibowitz noted, "In Italy, everyone is
communist, especially the rich." He was born in
1926 and seems to be still alive, though I don't
know if he's still composing.
Norma
Can I be so bold as to inquire what the rents do run there? Norma
>
Rita
In Manhattan, a studio apartment is about $2,000 a month. And 1 and
2 bedrooms go on up from there. In my area, renting a studio today would
be something like $800 or $900. We pay $1200 for a renovated 2 bedroom,
living room, kitchen, bath with new wood floors, quality stove and frig,
kitchen cupboards and bathroom facilities. This is a very, very good deal.
Very well kept building. The man across the hall, who has lived in this
building since he was a child, certainly pays less than we do for the same
basic layout. But we have the the only renovated apartment in the building.
other than that of the building owner. She planned our apartment for a son,
but he chose to live elsewhere, which is why it is so nice and carefully done.
Renters in stabilized buildings have security -- the landlord can't arbitrarily
throw you out unless you do something awful and are taken to housing court.
Or don't pay your rent. This is necessary for basic stability in a city where
most live in rented apartments.
Manhattan rents are of course the highest, but parts of Brooklyn
such as Brooklyn Heights equal them. Lots of people share apartments,
especially young people.
Rents vary greatly however because New York City has rent stabilization for
buildings with six or more apartments. The rent increases are set by a board.
If a tenant moves out, the landlord can increase the rent 15%. Thus, if one
has retained the same apartment for many years, one will be paying much less
than a new tenant moving in today. When rents reach $2,000 a month, then all
controls are off. Everyone's dream apartment is a rent stabilized place where
the former tenant has lived there for 20 years. That rent will be considerably
lower than market rents.
The rents in my area have crept up as more and more Manhattanites get frozen out
of the housing market there. The advantage to this influx is that the area now
has far more restaurants and upscale food shopping. Still, prices here are
overall a lot lower than in Manhattan for just about everything. There is a
very low vacancy rate in Manhattan and one is amazed at the places that rent for
a high price and are really substandard.
The single greatest challenge in living in this city is to find an affordable
and decent apartment with a good landlord. There are many landlords from hell
around. Some tenants from hell also, of course, and one hopes one of them is
not in one's building. Once one has found a decent deal, one tends to stay in it
through thick and thin. In my area, landlords who want to attract decent
tenants have to provide more than they do in Manhattan.
There also are a lot of illegal conversions in my area in houses where people
have created apartments in their basements. These are not covered, of course,
by rent stabilization and one is at the landlord's mercy. Not desirable.
Tenants don't pay for heat, but do provide their own air conditioners except in
luxury buildings, and pay for lights and gas, but not water.
Hope this answers your questions. I rarely even look at what rents in Manhattan
are running these days because they are so far out of my range. But they will
knock your socks off:)
>>
>
Norma
Thanks a lot! Norma
>>>
>>
>
Rita
I have a program that converts mp3 to wav and vice versa and I've done
that. I just wondered about midi files but it all sounds too complicated
for me to mess with. I've used the conversion program to make mp3 files
"smaller" when I want to Email one. The program I use, Goldwave, offers
lots of choices and although quality suffers somewhat it is useful to do
on oocasion. I've also made files "smaller" when I put them on a web
page. Some people can't receive Email attachments beyond a certain size.
I guess Music Match will do the same thing. Also Cdex which is free.
Islander
Isn't midi a representation of the music in a form that can be used to
control certain instruments while the other formats like mp3 and wav are
representations of the sound waves? If so, I could understand how midi
could be converted into mp3 and wav -- one would only need to simulate
the instrument. In the other direction, there is insufficient
information in the mp3 or wav format to allow it to be used to produce
midi. That would be the technical equivalent of writing music from a
sound recording.
There is a good discussion of this at http://www.akoff.com/about.html
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
There's really nothing to it. You have a line-in and a line-out
socket on the back of your computer in all likelihood. Just
get a standard connector that will fit the holes, which probably
came with your computer. If you don't already have a suitable
connector, you can buy one just about anywhere for a buck
or so. Start up Ripvinyl then start your midi file. If you see
Ripvinyl's volume bars moving, you'll know the connection is
working. Then adjust Ripvinyl's volume control until the
output rarely goes into the red zone on the bars. When that's
adjusted to your satisfaction, stop the midi file, type in an
output file name, press the "START" button on Ripvinyl, and
fire up your midi file again. As soon as the midi sound comes
in, Ripvinyl will pick it up. You can see it's working by
watching the timing fields on its display. You can set ripvinyl
to stop automatically after x.x seconds of silence ( by "silence",
I mean sound levels below the adjustable level criterion on
RipVinyl, so that LP static doesn't just keep the recording
going), or just press the "STOP" button as I do when the
recording is done. Since you can handle proxy servers, this
will be a all piece of cake for you.
When making MP3 files from WAV files with MusicMatch,
I always set the output to VBR (variable bit rate) rather than
to CBR=x (constant bit rate = x). VBR will use as much as it
needs during complex passages and save space on simple
passages where there's no advantage to expending more
space. It used to be that some MP3 players couldn't play
VBR , but probably they all can nowadays. I set the output
quality in MusicMatch to 100%, which makes the files a bit
bigger but still small. The output MP3 files are about a tenth
the size of the original WAV files and sound just about
perfect with VBR at 100% fidelity.
I'm guessing that when you make your MP3 files smaller,
you're changing from e.g. CBR=200 to CBR=100. VBR
is comparable in size to the lower CBR rates, but with
more bang for the bucks. As noted, I myself can't tell the
difference from very high CBR rates with VBR at 100%
fidelity, whose files are smaller, but maybe audiophiles
could tell a difference.
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
Yep. What I don't know is whether the output instrument
simulation based on midi input varies from computer to
computer. Solo string instruments sound god-awful on my
computer's midi interpretation, but I don't know if that's just
due to the implementation in my computer, and whether it
could be improved by buying something. The acoustic
piano output sound from midi is OK though a bit harsh, but
since there's no "interpretation" I guess that's unavoidable.
In the discussion with Rita, RipVinyl takes the actual
sound from of the computer and feeds it back in, so the
process doesn't look at the midi file that was the basis for
the sound output, just at the sound output itself.
>There is a good discussion of this at http://www.akoff.com/about.html
This site suggest the sound card does make a difference.
I think I have Sound Blaster on my computer, but maybe
there's something that will make strings sound a bit more
like strings.
Islander
I would expect strings to be very difficult to synthesize. The feedback
system in the musician's person would introduce many subtleties that
would be difficult to reproduce. Very different from keyboards which I
think do a pretty good (not perfect) job of simulating an acoustic
piano. A much easier technical problem, I would think. Interpretation
is yet another layer of complexity and I cannot imagine how one might
encode that!
For someone like me with both a tin ear and no musical talent, I still
keep that keyboard that I bought years ago with the impulse to learn to
play. Didn't happen, but I may someday hook up the midi input.
Otherwise, it is nice to have around for when someone with real talent
visits!
> In the discussion with Rita, RipVinyl takes the actual
> sound from of the computer and feeds it back in, so the
> process doesn't look at the midi file that was the basis for
> the sound output, just at the sound output itself.
>
>
>
>
>>There is a good discussion of this at http://www.akoff.com/about.html
>
>
>
> This site suggest the sound card does make a difference.
> I think I have Sound Blaster on my computer, but maybe
> there's something that will make strings sound a bit more
> like strings.
>
>
If strings sound OK when you play an mp3 or wav recordings, then the
problem is in the midi simulation software and not in the sound card, IMO.
cornu...@yahoo.com
> > Still, it's probably easier to be
> >'Tedesco'(German) in small-town Italy than a librul in Arizona.
> I got on a city bus in Como in Italy and the machine where you
> validate your ticket malfunctioned. The other passengers screamed
> at the driver and explained what had gone wrong. They were very
> protective of me. And I appreciated it. They generated quite a
> little furor.
Hm. It may well be that the upper-right-hand corner of Italy is a
bit different from the rest of the nation. When we were thinking of
spending a few days in Austria at a spa, most of the Americans said
"Oh, go to Austria, you'll like it, it's GermanyLite." I suspect that
the Veneto/Friulia is ItalyLite. That is, I can't remotely picture the
folks we met or mingled with getting very exercised about anything in
public, but they did go out of their way to be helpful whenever
whenever they thought we needed it.
> Also the Italian passengers
> on trains were very kind and translated for me when I could not
> understand the announcements.
The Old Dude earned a lot of beaming approval by speaking audio-tape
Italian everywhere, to everyone. They were pleased and visibly
surprised that we had bothered to learn the rudiments of the language.
It didn't hurt that his adventuresome Italian is (apparently) sprinkled
with very funny malapropisms. They were amused but kind when I
blundered along in Spanish, (which really doesn't work very well), and
I did manage to accomplish my errands.
> And helped me heft my bag to the
> overhead rack. Perhaps it is a respect for age, I don't know. But
> if that is what it is, I'll take it where I can find it:)
Isn't it delightful? It was wonderful to be treated well because
I'd made it all the way to 65. I think this starts early in life. I'm
told that the public parts of the Italians' childhood training gives
public disapproval to precisely the behaviors that are favored in our
own culture, like the extensive training that instructs our youth to be
arrogant, xenophobic, self-centered, and violent. (Saturday morning
cartoons & accompanying commercials.)
Rumpelstiltskin
wrote:
Yes, but I was wondering if different mini software would have
different sound (or even if there is "different" mini software). I've
looked around the web a bit but not found an answer, though
maybe that's because it's one of those things that's perfectly
obvious to everybody but me. I used to hate it in school when
a sentence began with "Obviously", since I knew straightaway
that what was to follow would make no sense to me. "Obviously"
often seemed to me a substitute for "I can't limn this logically, but
it's what I think, and so should you."
You've jogged me into remembering, though, with your notice
of the difference in expressive possibilities of individual notes
between the piano and violin, that when I briefly took up violin, I
might have sounded the way the midi violin does, but only for the
first couple of weeks or so until I got some feel for using the bow.
Chip Wood
on your sound card hardware and software. Most do this in a
less than ideal fashion. Sound is not a priority among
standard desk and laptops. There are specialized sound
cards (read $) that do it well.
http://www.studica.com/EchoDigitalAudio/
--
Chip Wood
"Rumpelstiltskin" <PleaseDoNot...@nowhere.net>
wrote in message
Rumpelstiltskin
<chip...@motorola.com> wrote:
>Yep, the conversion from MIDI to sound is entirely dependent
>on your sound card hardware and software. Most do this in a
>less than ideal fashion. Sound is not a priority among
>standard desk and laptops. There are specialized sound
>cards (read $) that do it well.
>http://www.studica.com/EchoDigitalAudio/
Thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to look around. It
would be nice to actually input some stuff in a store and
see what a particular sound card does with it, but hands-on
comparison doesn't often seem to be an option these days.
Chip Wood
requirements and sampled quite a few laptops on the
showfloors. Nobody had a problem. The real problem is
listening to it in the noisy environments. If you have a
specific MIDI file, just put it on one of the thumb-sized
floppies(?) and plug it in.
PS; Sony VAIO and IBM T-40 were best. But laptops are
notoriously bad for sound record and reproduction, even
within the same model.
--
Chip Wood
"Rumpelstiltskin" <PleaseDoNot...@nowhere.net>
wrote in message
news:auver0ldunnqtumo5...@4ax.com...
Chip Wood
--
Chip Wood
"Chip Wood" <chip...@motorola.com> wrote in message
news:cp853e$rak$1...@avnika.corp.mot.com...
Rumpelstiltskin
<chip...@motorola.com> wrote:
>Don't give up on that idea. I had some specialized sound
>requirements and sampled quite a few laptops on the
>showfloors. Nobody had a problem. The real problem is
>listening to it in the noisy environments. If you have a
>specific MIDI file, just put it on one of the thumb-sized
>floppies(?) and plug it in.
I was thinking of buying an LCD monitor a while ago,
but I'm going to wait now at least until after the Christmas
madness. CompUSA had a dozen all together on display
a couple of months ago. The Nec 1765 seemed to me
clearly superior to the others I saw. Of course, in a store
one has a "noisy" light environment which is about bad
as a noisy sound environment.
Costco has some LCD monitors, and they might be
good, but I've never seen them turned on, so I don't
have an idea how they perform. Since it's Costco, I could
always buy one and return it, no questions asked, if I
didn't like it or if my astrologer felt it had an aura
incompatible with myself. I'd hate to do that though, since
I feel I'd be abusing Costco's very friendly return policy.
Since I have a music-writing (and midi-creating) program,
I can easily make a disk with samples of a number of
midi instrument sounds.
I'm not in danger of buying a laptop. I don't even wear
a wristwatch since I feel it's too much of an imposition on
me to lug it around.
I don't feel quite as much at sea now as I did before.
Thanks for your help.
ElaineJ
I've just been old, needing longer rests and then forgetting what I
meant to do and to whom I meant to reply. Anyway, to answer your
question, of course I'm serious. It's crude over-simplification, but
my opinion is based on the fact that for a couple of centuries the
Exploitation Is Progress bunch have marauded through the American
landscape "discovering" oil, gas, and coal resources to grab, forests
to cut down, water to foul, hillsides to explode while mining, etc.
etc.
Do I mean _all_ rightwingers? Probably not. But do I mean to say
"a significant large percentage of rightwingers hate and fear Nature in
its undisturbed state"? Given my own experience, and decades of
listening and reading, I most certainly do.
I do appreciate being taken to task at this advanced age, tho. It's
interesting at this advanced age to have a person who is my elder
shaking an admonitory finger at me.
maureen
wrote:
The admonitory finger is shaking in the wrong direction. Instead of
East it should be West! ;-)
maureen