Monday, December 20, 2010

Merry Kitzmas!

Humans share common ancestry with other living things. Overwhelming evidence of many different types clearly shows this is so, but many people have been lied to about this subject and try to say evolution doesn't happen. It's just as crazy as if half the adults in the USA were to insist the earth is flat in spite of all evidence to the contrary. It really is that obvious.

This is the fifth anniversary of the decision by Judge John E. Jones III on the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial. This 2005 trial clearly showed that so-called "intelligent design" is not a scientific idea because it is NOT supported by ANY scientific evidence in spite of claims by its advocates to the contrary. Intelligent Design as presented at that time was in fact a thinly disguised repackaging of so-called "scientific creationism" which is a religious belief and therefore has no place in a public school science classroom. In his decision, Judge Jones basically called the defendants liars and referred to the "breathtaking inanity" of those who push the teaching of intelligent design. This was a major victory of truth and reason over the forces of fear and ignorance.
Merry Kitzmas!

December 20 has more personal significance in my life. That date in 1978 is what I have traditionally observed as the first time I played guitar. I have been a guitarist ever since, but I did not start doing it while riding a bicycle until a few years later in the early 1980s.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Pearl Harbor day

As I write this, America was still at peace sixty-nine years ago. Oh, we had been supplying arms to Britain for a while. Our destroyers had been escorting convoys as far as Iceland. One of them had even been sunk by a U-boat. In a few hours that would change. I don't really think Roosevelt intended two thousand Americans to die as an excuse to enter the war, but I could be wrong. Politicians can be incredibly devious.

I never read the conspiracy books about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but as a boy I did read much about the attack. I memorized incredible amounts of information about the ships, aircraft and people involved that I still remember to this day. My family went to Hawaii and visited the U.S.S. Arizona memorial (among other places).

My knowledge of military trivia helped me find a place to stay after I moved to Oregon. My friend Dana and I met an elderly man at a public dinner who joked about having drunk enough alcohol in his life to float the U.S.S. Arizona. I mentioned that she had been 608 feet long and a conversation ensued. He had been born in 1917, grew up in Hawaii, and had stood on the deck of that battleship as a civilian guest when it was actively representing the U.S. Navy.

In spite of his jocular comment Henry was not a drunk but a very intelligent and active senior citizen. He had held a position of responsibility during the war that involved the hiring of workers for the Pearl Harbor shipyard. Dana and I were allowed to stay in his barn for several months until we finally found a house to move into. So far as I know, that is the only time any of my tremendous knowledge of military trivia has been of advantage to me.

Let us remember the people who died this day sixty-nine years ago. By the way, I still can't watch the 2001 Pearl Harbor movie because it sucks so bad. I have tried more than once to watch this turkey and can never get more than twenty minutes into it before giving up in disgust. The older film Tora! Tora! Tora! is more historically accurate and in my opinion is a better movie in other ways too.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Rosetucky on hold

My new band that started in the summer of 2009 is on hold for now. I'm not sure if the bass player Rocky and I will get back together or not. We haven't practiced regularly for some time now. The band's name Rosetucky was Rocky's idea, as he grew up in Roseburg, Oregon. More than half our songs were his original tunes. We also did a few of my originals and a couple of songs from my days with R Band back in the early 1990s. It looks like The Bicycling Guitarist is going to have to be a solo act and not part of a band, at least for now. Best wishes for Rocky.

It's too cold and wet these days for me to ride and play much. Cold and wet weather is not good for the wood of the guitar. The cold isn't too good for my fingers either. Also, when the pavement is wet the skinny tires of my vintage ten-speed bicycle can slip and skid, and braking is more difficult too when the rims are wet. At least now I have alloy rims on my Schwinn instead of slick chrome steel. It used to be I couldn't stop at all when the rims were wet!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Local folks cheer me

I just rode my bicycle to the local convenience market, playing guitar while I ride as I am famous for. There were many people out in front of their houses because the weather is fairly nice today, and I was cheered by many people and groups of people as I rode by them.

Some people hadn't seen me before. I heard one guy say that to his companions with a big grin on his face. Other people were smiling and laughing because they had seen me before. Either way, I cheer them even as they cheer me. One of the best things about bicycle guitaring is bringing smiles to people's faces.

Encouraged, I went back out a short time later along the same route but this time with my battery-powered Pignose amplifier attached to the rear rack of the bicycle. As I passed one of the groups of people a woman said "Groovy." I said, "I haven't heard that for a while," and circled back around to chat with these people. Then she said, "Psychedelic."

I asked them if they wouldn't mind my playing a song for them, and they didn't. In keeping with the theme of the woman's remarks, I played the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A younger woman there sang along, then asked me if I could play any Pink Floyd, specifically asking for Wish You Were Here (the title track of their 1975 album).

I happen to know that song at least well enough to fake it, and played that while she sang along to that one too. Then I played an original instrumental tune of mine for them, and finished by playing my Evolution song.

I hope I made new friends: Taylor, Melinda ("Groovy") and Alexa ("Wish You Were Here").

Thursday, September 23, 2010

R.I.P. Werner Voss

I think of Werner Voss every September 23. Werner Voss was one of the greatest of the World War One German flying aces. He was a better pilot than the Red Baron even though the Red Baron was a better leader and teacher. On this date in 1917, Werner Voss was killed in one of the epic dogfights of that war when he fought alone against a flight of some of the best pilots in the British Royal Flying Corps.

Voss was in one of the prototype Fokker triplanes with a whimsical face painted on the engine cowling. He could have gotten away more than once in the prolonged combat, but always dove back in to engage them. All the British machines were damaged, but eventually something happened where Voss's triplane flew straight long enough for Lieutenant Rhys-Davids to shoot it down.

According to the Wikipedia article on Werner Voss, after a head on pass against the British ace McCudden, the side of Voss's triplane was hit by a machine-gun burst by Hoidge and Voss took a bullet in his lungs before Rhys-Davids came in from behind and below him. I just read this a few minutes ago and it is the first time I heard these details of the end. I will do some checking to see what sources they found that I hadn't seen before.

Monday, August 9, 2010

What evolution does not explain (and what it does explain)

Asking evolution to explain the origin of life or the origin of the universe shows gross misunderstanding of what evolution is and what it does explain.

For explaining the diversity of life on this planet and its geographical distribution now and in the past, evolution does quite well. All the evidence we can observe on this subject supports evolution, none of it falsifies evolution, and no evidence supports a literal reading of Genesis. That’s just the way it is. If you don’t like reality, take it up with your God.

Evolution was a fact before Darwin recognized it and proposed his theory of natural selection to explain that fact. It is just as much a fact of nature as gravity is, and we actually understand much more about the mechanisms of evolution than we do about those for gravity.

That we share common ancestry with other apes is at least as certain as the earth going around the sun instead of vice versa as Christians used to insist. Most of those who argue against evolution are sincerely unaware of how much evidence there is of so many different types that all point to this reality. They have been LIED to by sources they trust.

Friday, July 23, 2010

50 years old today: still fighting for truth, justice and the American way

It's been one month since I last posted to this blog. Today (July 23, 2010) is my fiftieth birthday. I celebrated by posting a response about the facts of evolution to a creationist blog (that I will not name here) whose owner continually flaunts his ignorance while pretending to be wise.

Contrary to what that creationist claims, it isn’t blind faith that sees a tree of life. It is what the data from many different measurements all show. Nested hierarchies of data are what are expected and predicted by evolutionary theory, and that the nested hierarchies of different types of measurements produce the same tree of life is yet another proof.

He also claims that the fossil record only shows separate kinds without macroevolution taking place; again he is wrong. The fossil record shows transitions from fish to land animals, from dinosaurs to birds, from land animals to whales, and from apes to humans with clear transitional forms found in the fossil record where genetic and other evidence predicts they should be found.

IF his arguments were based on facts, then I could respect them more. His sources are wrong and so naturally his conclusions are wrong. According to some polls nearly half of adult Americans don't accept the fact evolution happens. This is just as ridiculous and just as wrong as if half of adult Americans insisted the earth is flat in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

Telling lies in the name of God is a surefire way to turn people away from Christ, especially when it is something that is as easily checked as the evidence for evolution. Certain denominations of Christianity and other religions still insist that evolution must be false. I have an open mind to truth, whether or not it agrees with what I want to believe. I hate lies, which is why so many creationists piss me off. To their credit, many of them mean well. It's just that they are basing their opinions on lies they have been told by sources they trust.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Good news from Texas

There IS some good news about the anti-evolution insanity rampant in this country. A Federal court in Texas slammed the Institute for Creation Research. ICR had whined because the state had denied them the certificate they need to issue a master's degree in science education from their graduate school. In the decision, Dr. Gerald Skoog is quoted as saying that the proposed ICR Master of Science program “integrates selective scientific data that gives credence to [the framework of Biblical creationism], but ignores, or circumvents, a large body of scientific data that erodes and shatters the foundation of this framework.”

For those of you who insist the Bible is literally true on every subject, read this again: "a large body of scientific data that erodes and shatters the foundation of this framework." Get it? Your viewpoint is NOT supported by the evidence of the world. Either your interpretation is wrong, or the whole Bible is wrong, or your God is a trickster to plant so much evidence that contradicts a literal interpretation of His Book.

The court also says: "It appears that although the Court has twice required Plaintiff to re-plead and set forth a short and plain statement of the relief requested, Plaintiff is entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering, and full of irrelevant information."

Well, if they could reason clearly they wouldn't be creationists, so this description of their statement is not a surprise. By the way, to make myself clear, I am not saying that creationism per se, the belief in a higher power or consciousness that created or manifests this universe, is wrong. I do insist that a literal reading of the Bible's book of Genesis is NOT supported by the evidence of the world and is in fact FALSIFIED by it. That's just the way it is, like it or not, make of it what you will.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Awe-tograph

As I reported back in February, a famous author contacted me about a page I have on my web site about the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane. I corresponded with Dale Titler, author of The Day the Red Baron Died, and eventually asked if he would autograph a copy of his book to me. There were some delays from my end, but I finally received it yesterday.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Rosetucky is rehearsing again

It has been a few weeks since Rocky and I practiced our music regularly, but last night we jammed for an hour and tonight for an hour and a half. Last night we played and sang some songs better than when we had been rehearsing several nights a week, and tonight's session was even better although a little rough in places. Overall, the songs are getting tighter and smoother.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Are Republicans getting stupider nationwide?

Any candidate for public office who is so out of touch with reality as to deny the fact that evolution happens should be disqualified. Anyone that ignorant and that gullible should not be in any position of authority. I am amazed we are having this debate in the 21st century. It shames America that nearly half of its adults are so misinformed on this matter. It is just as ridiculous and just as wrong as if half the adults thought the earth is flat.

In a governor's race going on in Alabama, one Republican candidate accused the other of daring to teach science in science classrooms instead of teaching religion in science classrooms. In his reply to this attack, the accused Republican said he is just as much of a moron as the other guy attacking him for allegedly being sane.

In a governor's race in Maine, seven Republican candidates were asked if they thought intelligent design or creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public school science classrooms. Three said yes, and one (Matt Jacobson) said to teach evolution in philosophy class and teach science in science class.

For candidates in Alabama to make such a big deal about being fundamentalist Christians is no surprise, but Maine too? Are Republicans around the country brain-dead idiots out of touch with what is real? Why is fundamentalist evangelical Christianity doing this to America, to humanity? Do they think they bring honor to God or Christ by spreading lies that are easily shown to be false by anyone who honestly examines the evidence for evolution and the age of the earth?

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Victory Through Air Power

Alexander P. de Seversky came from Russia to the United States after World War I. His airplane company made the first metal monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear for the United States Army Air Corps in the mid-1930s. He was a better pilot than he was a businessman though, and by the end of the decade the board of his own company replaced him.

In 1942, just a few months after Pearl Harbor, Seversky's book Victory Through Air Power was published. It was a best seller and made some impact on the American public concerning air power. I first read this book when I was a young boy. I have read it again several times since then, or at least portions of it.

Recently I started taking notes of specific claims made in the book about specific aircraft, ships and historical events. I checked some of these out according to modern sources and wrote an essay about it that I posted today on my web site as My thoughts on Seversky's book Victory Through Air Power. This is the first new post to the Studies section of my web site since 2004! This essay may be modified in days or weeks to come, but I posted what I have now as it is for what it's worth.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

My Schwinn is tuned up

The weather lately has been perfect for bicycle guitaring: slightly cool but not cold, warm in the afternoons but not hot, little wind. A couple days ago I left my Schwinn at the local bicycle shop for its annual tune-up and for them to check how true the recently-built new wheels are. I just picked it up today, and it is sweet. All the cables are adjusted for smooth and easy shifting and braking. The chain was cleaned and lubricated. My Super Sportabout tracks straight and true when I ride "no hands" playing guitar on it.

Last night I played solo guitar at my bass player's house. Rocky had a few of his friends and family over, and a good time was had by all.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Applauded by many today

A few hours ago I rode my bicycle while playing guitar to the local convenience mart to pick up some groceries. I was recognized and applauded by several individuals and groups of people on the way there and back. I answered some questions about details of my bicycle, guitar and musical equipment. Word of "The Bicycling Guitarist" is spreading! I offer a sincere thank you to all my fans. It is nice to be recognized and to be appreciated for being oneself.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Texas school board rewrites history

It's bad enough that the idiots on the Texas school board want to redefine science and ignore the evidence for common ancestry and evolution, now they are rewriting American history too.

Last week they passed new standards that downplay the role of Thomas Jefferson and also imply that our Founding Fathers were mainly strict Christians. There is much evidence that this just ain't so, but they want to rewrite history to suit their agenda.

Last month The New York Times published a good article about How Christian Were the Founders? that also describes the incompetence of the Texas school board in making decisions on subjects they know nothing about.

Because of the way the market works, since Texas is so big (as they are so proud of) the textbooks made to Texan standards end up being used by schoolchildren in other states too. Shame on Texas for dumbing down America!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

A famous author contacted me

Dale M. Titler, author of The Day the Red Baron Died and other books about aviation, recently sent me an email complimenting me about one of the pages I have up about the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane. We have exchanged a couple emails each since then.

The Day the Red Baron Died is a very good read, one of my all-time favorite books. It was published in 1970. Mr. Titler had personally interviewed many of the surviving participants in doing research for that book. His conclusion is that it was the gunners Buie and Evans who shot down the Red Baron.

However the 2003 PBS NOVA documentary Who Killed the Red Baron? presents a case that it was Popkin instead, based on the firing angle and the distance. A long range shot would account for the supposed fact that the fatal bullet was recovered from the clothing of the Baron's body. Buie and Evans fired from point-blank range and the bullet would have probably kept on going if it was one of their bullets that got him.

I mentioned this to Mr. Titler in my first reply to him, after praising him for his work and telling him he is one of my all-time favorite authors. Mr. Titler assures me that he is still personally convinced it was Buie and Evans who shot the Red Baron. Buie was one of the people Mr. Titler corresponded with about this incident. One thing we do agree on is that it was NOT the Canadian pilot Roy Brown. I am still very disappointed that the 2008 German film about the Red Baron made Brown such a major part of the story and gave him credit for the kill.

Before any Canadians start yelling at me, let me make clear that if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved, the Australian troops on the ground wouldn't have had a shot at the Baron. Also, even though Brown's high-speed dive and attack probably didn't achieve the results he was credited with, it may have distracted Richthofen enough to save Lieutenant May's life (the other Canadian pilot who was being chased by von Richthofen). These were brave young men in an awful situation doing the best they could under the circumstances.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Rosetucky did not play at a Superbowl party after all

The tentative halftime jam scheduled for a house party didn't happen. I went with the bass player to watch the Superbowl at the person's house anyway. My favorite part was the short commercial with David Letterman and Jay Leno sitting on a couch watching the Superbowl with Oprah Winfrey between them trying to make peace.

I played guitar and sang solo today at an outpatient house. Besides doing The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again and Pinball Wizard (two songs they played during the official Superbowl halftime show), I also did Boston's More Than A Feeling, The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Help!, and several of my original songs including What Can I Say?, History, Running out of Time, Freedom, and Early Morning Hours.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

practicing for Superbowl halftime

Rocky and I had another music rehearsal tonight, and Rocky informed me that we might be playing during the Superbowl halftime next Sunday. It might not count as a public performance because it will probably be at one of his friend's houses or possibly at a friend of a friend's house. Still, I'm sure we can easily put on a pretty good show for ten or fifteen minutes. We have much more material than that, but of course we have some songs down stronger than others.

Some songs can be played as is but are being improved upon and will (hopefully) be even better in the future. For example, we are working on Rocky singing some background vocals on my Evolution song and for him to switch off on lead vocals and add some background support to my Red Baron song. I have a part to sing to Rocky's Shit fuck shit song (formerly known as Suicide Doors). Tonight we worked the most on that song because Rocky has added some more lyrics to it. We also played Legalize (one of my songs) and Infection (one of Rocky's, well-played tonight), and worked on the Al Gore Rhythm / Logger Rhythm song that I've been playing since the late 1980s.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Happy new year

Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights I had excellent rehearsal sessions with my bass player Rocky. We've been practicing almost every week the past seven months, usually two or three nights a week an hour or two each night. Our band "Rosetucky" will almost certainly play in public sometime this year, or at least record some of our new material and post it online.

Late last month (December 27, 2009) I posted a video clip on YouTube of The Beatles Help! done by The Bicycling Guitarist that I had recorded a couple weeks before that. As I type this, that clip has 222 views in the 20 days since I posted it.

I play that song even better now than I did when I recorded that a month ago. In general, my guitar playing is crisper, sharper, faster, smoother than ever before. It is my singing though that has improved the most compared to my days with R Band in the early 1990s. I am not known as "The Bicycling Singer." Enough said, okay?