Monday, November 24, 2008

Rest in peace, Pandora Kitty

I just learned today that Pandora Kitty was put down. She hadn't been doing well for some time. For those who don't know who Pandora Kitty is, I offer "The Sneaking Straw Stealer" photo story from 1998. I guess that made her about ten and a half years old. Goodbye kitty. I'm glad I knew you.

Today I started making a video for my Red Baron song (see the previous blog entry of November 16, 2008).

Sunday, November 16, 2008

New recording of RED BARON song

I wrote this song back in 1995, but only got a decent recording of it the day before yesterday (on November 14, 2008).

The lyrics describe an actual incident in the life of the Red Baron, when he was seriously wounded by a bullet that grazed his skull when he was attacking a group of British aircraft on July 6, 1917.

Red Baron is the page for the lyrics. There is a link to a free mp3 of the latest recording of this song immediately after the song title near the top of that page.

I used Audacity sound recording software to produce three tracks (guitar rhythm, guitar lead, and vocals). I hope you enjoy it! I am quite pleased with the results from this free recording software, although there is much room for improvement in the hardware I am using to record with. Someday I hope to add some sound effects to the song (aircraft engines, machine gun sounds, etc.), and produce a video for YouTube.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sarah Palin is a nut job

The world is in danger if fundamentalists of any religion have access to "the button" to end the world. Words are tools used to communicate meaning, but sometimes groups of words are not meant to be taken literally but instead are used to communicate images or metaphors. Fundamentalists don't seem to understand this. Not only that, but generally fundamentalism is the most ignorant, arrogant and intolerant form of religious interpretation. Fundamentalist Hindus, Jews and Moslems cause problems elsewhere in the world, but the biggest problem facing the United States of America today is the appalling ignorance, arrogance and intolerance of fundamentalist Christians.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Roy Brown probably did NOT kill the Red Baron

Well I had high hopes when I heard of a recent German movie about the Red Baron. So far as I know it has not yet been released in English language (perhaps subtitles are available for the German version). I really hoped this movie would not have too many historical inaccuracies, but according to Wikipedia this movie indicates that the Canadian pilot Roy Brown is the one who finally kills the Red Baron.

I mean no disrespect to Roy Brown or to Canada, but there is a LOT of evidence that Roy Brown did not fire the shot that killed Manfred von Richthofen. For one thing, the path of the bullet through his body shows that the bullet came from the ground. For another, the wound that killed Richthofen was such that he may have lived for about twenty seconds after being shot. Since the Red Baron was in control of his airplane for a minute or two AFTER Brown fired and banked away, it isn't likely that Brown did it.

Added Dec. 2, 2008: I recently learned that some say depending on the exact path of the fatal bullet, von Richthofen could have lived anywhere from twenty seconds to two minutes after being shot, possibly without an awareness of pain for a short while. This does increase the likelihood somewhat of Brown being the one who killed the Red Baron, but in my opinion this still doesn't make it the most likely scenario.

Now it might not have happened the way it did if Brown hadn't at least attacked the Red Baron. Perhaps this attack, even though unsuccessful, distracted von Richthofen enough to spoil his aim or otherwise keep him from downing Lieutenant May before he himself was shot by the Australian troops on the ground. In my opinion it was a team effort. Richthofen was chasing one Canadian pilot (May), was shot at by another Canadian pilot (Brown), but it was the Australian troops on the ground who brought him down. The point is that von Richthofen wouldn't have been close enough for the Australian troops to shoot him if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved.

I am HIGHLY disappointed in the German director of the film to allow such inaccuracy when the scholarly consensus of World War One aviation historians has been for some time that Richthofen was killed by a bullet fired from the ground by an Australian soldier (probably Popkin, possibly Evans or another whose identity is unknown).

The movie trailer I've seen looks wonderful. I immediately recognized Fokker Triplane 586/17 shown in the trailer, the "optical illusion" triplane flown by Kirschstein of Jasta 6 and later by Ernst Udet of Jasta 4. The markings looked correct, and seeing a known historical aircraft depicted in the proper markings gave me hope that this movie paid attention to historical fact. I can't believe how STUPID the film's makers were to show Roy Brown as the one who killed von Richthofen! If I ever get really rich, perhaps I can finance a movie about von Richthofen that will do justice to his legendary character and be as historically accurate as possible.

Friday, June 13, 2008

New Front Derailleur on my Schwinn


It really is new too, still in the original package. Of course the package is more than thirty years old, but it had never been opened. On June 11, 2008 the old Shimano Positron front derailleur on my 1977 Schwinn Sportabout was replaced by this NOS (new old stock) SunTour "Spirt" front derailleur. The clamp was a bit too big around and needed a shim to fit my seat post.

I have also polished the metal parts of my bicycle the past few days so everything is very shiny. I will put a web page up eventually to show this, hopefully not before all the shininess fades.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

new lights for my Schwinn ten-speed bicycle


Cateye EL530 headlight and LD1100 taillight are the brightest battery-powered bicycle lights available. The EL530 is 1500 candlepower (50% brighter than the 2005 model). The LD1100 (new for 2008) is 100% brighter than the 2007 model. I placed a special order for them today from the local bicycle store. I also ordered a cam lock mount for the headlight, because I read of many complaints about the stock mount being flimsy.

These will be a vast improvement over the Cateye lights I bought five years ago that are currently mounted on my Schwinn. Bicycle light technology has advanced considerably in the past five years.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

New favicon.ico file for my web site



Hi all.
For those unfamiliar with favicons, they are the little graphic images before the URL text in the address box of an internet browser. I created one some years ago, working pixel by pixel. The result wasn't too bad for my limited abilities, but the past few days I took a little time to improve the image. I also scaled it down from 35 pixels wide to the 32 pixel size that is commonly used for favicons. Compare the two images above. The biggest changes are to the handlebars and below (including my legs), my hair color, and the glasses on my face. I also changed the shape of my head and hair a little bit and removed the black border box surrounding the image. These images are stretched 200% to make them easier to see (favicons are tiny little images; they have to be in order to fit in the address bar of the browser).

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Spring Cleaning

I've been busy doing Spring Cleaning lately. Once the springs are clean, then I'll start on cleaning the house.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thank God for Evolution!

I just saw Michael Dowd speak about evolutionary theology at a local church. He is the author of Thank God for Evolution! and other works. I was leery of his ideas at first, but what he said for the most part agrees with what I know to be true.

While walking to the church (a few blocks from my house), I passed an elderly couple who were walking to their church, a fundamentalist evangelical Christian one. The subject of evolution came up, and the old man said it is a lie. He said the final result will be who gets to go to heaven. I said that the Bible teaches God made man from dust and science says much the same thing. My final words to him were to ask if he also believed the earth was flat, because that is what a literal reading of the Bible indicates. I said if you're going to insist on fundamentalism, you might as well go all the way.

I went up to see Michael Dowd after his presentation. I commented that I recognized he was familiar with Alan Watts, since he had used the analogy of people coming out of the universe the same way apples come out of apple trees, one that Alan Watts used in many of his talks. Michael Dowd did not remember where he had heard it, but thanked me for giving him the source. The subject of plagiarism came up, and I mentioned the famous case of George Harrison. I was surprised nobody knew about it, so I explained how My Sweet Lord used the same chords and melody as the Chiffons' He's So Fine.

I waited a bit and then offered to play my evolution song for Mr. Dowd and those standing around. Nobody minded, so I played it. The television reporter asked if I had written it, and I said it was one of hundreds of songs I had written playing guitar while riding a bicycle for tens of thousands of miles. Mr. Dowd expressed surprise at that, and the television reporter assured him that it was true, that he (the reporter) had seen me himself and I had been in the local newspaper.

Later a woman came up and asked Mr. Dowd to explain how free will exists. He said we have a choice to decide which of the many conflicting drives within us we will follow. I mentioned the episode of The Changeling from the original Star Trek television series, where a robot spacecraft absorbed the contents of Lieutenant Uhura's mind and described it as "a mass of conflicting impulses."

I could have stayed longer but it was getting late so I left.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Converting to Drupal

I am in the process of converting my existing web site from static HTML/CSS pages to Drupal, a content management system that stores content in a database and dynamically generates pages on demand. This will allow my web site to be more interactive, more "Web 2.0"

It might take a while yet...Stay tuned.

Here are a few gratuitous links to some pages of my web site as it exists now. The URLs are not going to change for existing content.

The Bicycling Guitarist

Help as metaphysics

Spank the Naughty Blonde

Monday, February 11, 2008

A Sunny Day

After weeks of cold and wet, today was really nice outside. My bicycle had its chain cleaned and lubed for a quite noticeable improvement in performance. I am amazed at how much easier it is to pedal the bicycle afterwards compared to before the chain was cleaned and lubed. Some people in passing cars waved and honked at me when they saw me riding the bicycle while playing guitar.

I rode to the store to get something. First a little dog chased me and tried to bite me. I kicked at it, twice, then turned the bicycle and chased the little dog back to its yard. A few blocks on, a little kid (about ten years old) chased me yelling "Give me that guitar" and "I want to kill you." As before, I turned and rode back towards him. He and his friends gathered around and I played a couple of riffs on the guitar for them. He said he wanted to steal the guitar. I told him I hope he gets one someday. He might be a great rocker.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Big changes may be ahead for my web site!

I'm not absolutely sure yet, but I may soon be migrating my web site to Drupal (a "Content Management System" or CMS) in order to make my web site more interactive. Instead of static HTML/CSS pages, the content is stored in a database and pages are dynamically generated by the software. This is the type of software used for blogs and will allow visitors to leave comments on individual song and essay pages.

I don't want my site to look like every other site that uses Drupal, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for consistency in terms of user friendliness. The current form of my web site is good, I dare say better than most personal web sites out there today, but I think it is time for a change.

Hopefully my web presence will help my professional life. For some reason there doesn't seem to be much demand for Bicycling Guitarists yet. Hmmm...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Metaphysical analysis of the lyrics to the Beatles song Help!

This analysis copyright 2008 to The Bicycling Guitarist.

Here's a wee bit more about John Lennon's song Help! by the Beatles.

It struck me the other day that the lyrics of Help! can be interpreted in a Christian way. Let me be plain that I do not consider myself a Christian, at least not the way that most Christian denominations define themselves. When I say "Christ" in the following paragraphs, one can substitute "awareness of divine consciousness" and be closer to what I understand.

So John sings "When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help in any way." Okay. Not strictly true. We humans are social animals, and even those who live alone by choice rely on help from the environment if nothing else to provide food and such. I see each of us as an incarnation of God, and the environment as an incarnation of God, and each of us not truly separate from the environment. This is obviously quite different from mainstream Christian theology where only Jesus is begotten, not made, and where the Creation is separate from the Creator.

"But now these days are gone..." Notice John says these days, not those days. Some philosophers say that only now is real, that all time (past, present and future) is a field of now-moments. When John says these days, it implies the present or recent past. While the recent past can be considered "gone" in a sense, how can one consider the present to be gone? The present isn't gone of course, but the idea of time does not apply to the eternal now.

"...I'm not so self-assured." Self-assured: assured of the self as being a separate ego? If I'm not so self-assured, that might be considered good even though the statement is phrased as a negative. Most if not all spiritual teachings say to let go and let God, to surrender one's will or ego to direction by a higher power.

"Now I find, I've changed my mind and opened up the doors." I had a eureka moment (find), and I've changed my mind from the little mind of the ego-self to what the Buddhists call the Big Mind. I opened up the doors, opening the boundaries so there is no separation. I am reminded of the way Christians describe Jesus knocking at the "door" of your heart, and so on.

"Help me if you can I'm feeling down..." Down can be good. Sometimes you have to hit bottom to realize you are in a bad lifestyle, i.e., thinking you are a separate ego self "poor me" with the universe against you.

"..., and I do appreciate your being 'round." I appreciate that the divine consciousness that is our ground of being is always present. To put it in Christian terms, Christ is always there.

"Help me get my feet back on the ground." I am most struck here that one is NOT asking God to carry you as in the popular story of footprints in the sand where sometimes you only see one set of footprints, etc. Instead, one is asking God (or your own awareness of divine consciousness within yourself) to help you get your feet back on the ground, perhaps so YOU can carry others. Infinite compassion.

"Won't you please, please help me?" Who is asking? Who is being asked? Is there really a difference if you're talking to yourself? Who are you, really, if not an expression of what the entire cosmos is doing at a point called here and now.

"And now my life has changed in oh so many ways." Change is the only constant in the universe. "My independence seems to vanish in the haze." Independence again as a sense of being separate? So this sense seems to vanish? Good!

"But every now and then I feel so insecure. I know that I just need you like I never done before." Now is mentioned in every verse of this song. As for "like I never done before," awareness of the higher power within is not something you get or achieve: it is always there. It is here and now. You don't need to do anything.

The third verse has the same lyrics as the first verse. Then the song ends: "Help me if you can I'm feeling down, and I do appreciate your being 'round. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me...oh." Well I don't know if I can help you, John, but you have helped me with your gift of song. Thank you, wherever you are.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

playing HELP! by The Beatles

I've been listening to the Beatles' song Help! a lot lately and playing to it on my guitar.

I adjusted the graphic equalizer of Windows Media Player to emphasize the frequencies of the guitar sounds, and also moved the balance more to the right side where the guitar sound is so I could better hear what parts I play.

Then as if by magic since it had what I had been hoping to find, I found an internet site that is a Tribute to the Beatles film "Help!" This site had free downloads of all twelve studio takes of the title song from April 13, 1965 at Abbey Road. These made it even easier for me to learn the guitar parts played by John Lennon and George Harrison.

Another internet site describes the Help! Recording Sessions. In take 4, George complains that the song is too fast. This was also something John felt according to later interviews. John really liked this song and considered it one of his favorites done with the Beatles. It was a personal cry for Help during what he called his "fat Elvis" period. Apparently the song was written on a dare from a journalist for John to write a song that had words longer than one or two syllables.

I found take 7 best for learning the rhythm of John's guitar part. After take 4, the spiraling arpeggio played by George during the "please, please Help me" part was not played, the time being marked by tapping on the guitar body. There are no vocals in take 7 either. This makes learning the rhythm guitar part much easier. However, take 7 falls apart at the beginning of the third verse.

Take 12 is the version that was used for all the mixdowns of the final song. George Harrison's spiraling arpeggio is more distinct in the studio take than it is in the final mixdown. My fingers get a thrill when they are able to match his notes pluck for pluck in this arpeggio. I can't really explain why I can sit listening to this track over and over again playing along to it on my guitar, except that there is something magical about when what my ears hear matches what my fingers play.

The studio takes are all about a half step down in tuning. Take 7 begins with a guitar being tuned. For playing along, I adjust the graphic equalizer to emphasize the guitar frequencies, move the balance to the right, and keep the headphones slightly off my left ear so I can hear my guitar play along to the song.


For those wishing to learn the song, it is in the key of A. The intro starts with B minor, goes to G (with the D note on 3rd fret of the 2nd string), then to E7, then the spiraling arpeggio played by George Harrison down to A. This is also the chord progression used in the refrain. The verses use an Asus2 as part of the rhythm when playing A, go to C sharp minor, then F sharp minor, then D to G to A.

In the Beatles song, John Lennon's rhythm guitar stops playing while George Harrison plays the arpeggio at the end of the intro and each refrain. When I play the song on my guitar, I play both John's rhythm parts and George Harrison's spiraling arpeggios. I notice that some cover versions of the song, notably by Deep Purple and Oasis, do not include the spiraling arpeggio in their version. To me, this riff is one of the melodic "hooks" of the song. It doesn't sound as good when played at a slower tempo though. Part of its charm is the speed with which the notes flow. What's especially important is the smoothness of the playing.

Deep Purple's version, released in 1968, is in the key of G and is much slower than the original. Noel Gallagher of Oasis also plays Help! much slower. Noel uses the Asus2 exclusively and plays the C sharp minor on the second fret instead of the fourth fret. Noel's voicing of the C sharp minor may be more familiar to some as an A major 7 chord. This voicing sounds "warmer" to me than the way the Beatles played it, and is also easier to play on an acoustic guitar.

Alan W. Pollack analyzes the song Help! as part of his "Notes on..." series on the Beatles songs. All the Beatles shine musically in this song: Paul's bass playing, Ringo's drumming etc. The backup vocals sometimes lead, sometimes follow the lead vocals. There are subtle changes in arrangement for different verse parts. Help! is a good song.

This isn't just my opinion. Granted the Beatles may be overrated as musicians, but the fact is they were the most successful musical group in pop history. As a songwriter myself, I really admire that they helped break ground for musicians to perform their own compositions instead of just playing songs other people wrote as had been the norm in American pop music. The song Help! is number 29 in Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs.

I hope you can hear me play this song sometime. I plan to record my own cover version of it. Namaste

Monday, January 21, 2008

Four short essays

These are some of my best academic work, written for various classes at Sonoma State University when I was living in California.

Media Portrayal and Anthropologists' Treatment of Ishi, the Last Yahi is about the last wild Native American, Ishi.

The Choctaw Trail of Tears describes the history of the Choctaw trail of tears, which predated and was a trial run for the more famous Cherokee trail of tears.

Cultural Analysis of Ernest K. Gann's In the Company of Eagles looks at a famous novel about World War One aviation from a cultural perspective.

It's the Same Thing describes the "base metaphor" of the Mescalero Apache people.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Evolution happens

Some people don't like to accept that evolution is as much a fact of nature as gravity is. Usually their opinion is based on misinformation. Even disregarding the overwhelming scientific evidence of the physical world, all one has to do is compare what creationists say evolutionists say to what evolutionists actually say and it is easy to see that creationists are liars. I am especially pleased at the 2005 ruling in the Dover case about teaching "intelligent design" in Pennsylvania, where the judge basically called the creationists liars in his decision. The truth will come out in the end, and eventually the general public will realize they are being LIED to from the pulpits of certain denominations of fundamentalist Christianity.

I wrote a song about evolution some years ago, and an essay about the teaching of evolution in public schools. I have probably received more emails about that essay than all other pages of my web site combined. To answer some of those emails, on the tenth anniversary of having the essay online (1997-2007) I published a page of rebuttals to the most common objections of Christian fundamentalists.

Here are links to the relevant sections of my web site:
The song I wrote is called Evolution.
The essay is Teaching Evolution.
The page of rebuttals is Reply to Christian Fundamentalists.

I have collected many pages of news stories relating to the science of evolution and the controversy about teaching it. I hope to include these links in future posts. Enjoy!

Monday, January 14, 2008

The Bicycling Guitarist

Welcome to 2008!

It's been a few years since I've blogged. So much has happened I am in a much better place to share what interests me. Expect comments on science, religion, politics (and where they all meet as in creationism vs. evolution), updates on my living situation, current musical and other projects, and anything else.

My home page is The Bicycling Guitarist. Namaste.