SCORES & OUTDOORS: A whale of a project for a Unity College senior

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Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee

Every summer, my wife and I head out to Boothbay Harbor, catch the boat and head out to Cabbage Island for one of their famous, old-fashioned, New England clam and lobster bakes. While waiting to board the ship, in the center of the village, we see all kinds of advertisements for whale watching excursions.

“I wonder what that would be like,” I think, and then my attention goes towards those whales and why do people spend the time – and the money – to watch them? Do the tides affect their travels? This is what I found out.

baleen whale

According to a study made by Laurel Sullivan, a member of the class of 2018 at Unity College, in a press release from Micky Bedell, Associate Director, Media Relations, whale watching, for some, may bring to mind school field trips or coastal vacations. Fanny packs and binoculars. Long stretches of ocean and searching eyes, with the hope that maybe, just maybe, one of the largest animals on earth will appear in the waters below.

But for Sullivan whale watching is both all of these things and none of these things at once. Whale watching isn’t just a pastime for Laurel — it’s conservation. Science.

“There’s nothing like it. It’s why I do what I do,” she says emphatically, describing the inherent awe in the arch of a whale’s massive body, stretching as high as a building into the sky, before it crashes gracefully back down into the water. “I’m at my happiest when I’m watching whales and when I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean.”

During an internship with the New England Aquarium the summer between her sophomore and junior year, Laurel witnessed breaches, flipper slapping and lob tailing day after day on whale watching boats. She used these graceful, sometimes playful activities to educate visitors on the beautiful marine mammals in front of them, while also collecting and transcribing data of their identification, location and behavior. Laurel spent hours on whale watching boats. She loved every minute of it.

So, with support from advisors Dean Pieter deHart and Associate Professor Tom Mullin, Laurel has spent the last few months comparing eight years of baleen whale sighting data in the Bay of Fundy with the underwater depth of the bay at different points in the tide cycle. Using GIS, Laurel overlaid these datasets onto bathymetric maps that will eventually allow her to make conclusions on whether whale location in the Bay of Fundy is related to the tides.

Besides the standard scientific paper on her findings, those conclusions will lead Laurel to a unique end goal: suggested guidelines and interpretive materials for local whale watching companies in the Bay of Fundy. Inspired by her time educating whale watchers, Laurel wanted to be able to communicate her findings to a variety of audiences. Maps, she says, are just more visual. They allow people to understand concepts without necessarily understanding the complex math behind them. And making solid, helpful, scientific suggestions for whale watching companies in the Bay of Fundy could have “a real effect on those businesses,” according to Dr. deHart.

Whale watching is not just a fun pastime — the tourism it brings presents an economic opportunity for many communities around the world. And there’s no better opportunity than in the midst of wonder in seeing a whale to bring the value of their existence to the forefront, according to Laurel.

“People may see whales and think it’s cool, but the guides have to make that important for them. Why are the whales here? Why are they important?” Laurel says. “The Bay of Fundy is a feeding ground, so it’s especially important in this area to help people understand and care about conservation.”

This past summer, she spent three days whale watching with companies on the Bay of Fundy in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Lubec, Maine, and Campobello Island, New Brunswick with funding from Unity College’s Student Academic Engagement Fund and Holt Scholarship.

“Going into the field to collect data is an important part of the process. It lets you connect with nature; connect with the whales and local companies; and get out of the lab and out from behind a computer screen. It’s important that Laurel had that experience,” Dr. deHart said.

“I have more pictures of whales on my phone than I have pictures of me,” she says with a laugh. “All my friends give me a hard time because I’m definitely the whale kid on campus. I’m always like, ‘So with the whales…’ and they’re like, ‘Please stop.’

“I’m having a blast. This is not what I ever expected to be doing. This is so much better than just writing a paper.”

GARDEN WORKS: Wrap your trees in tin foil – The Sure-fire way to protect your trees in wintertime… And puzzle your neighborhood!

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GARDEN WORKS

by Emily Cates

This one is for all tin-foil hat enthusiasts, and gardeners too. If you like tin foil, this one’s for you! When winter blasts the ground with her frozen air, critters are tempted to strip a young tree bare. But do not fret — no, do not cry — for aluminum foil could be the best answer your pennies can buy!

Lest I be labeled a lunatic, there is a little light to be shed on this seemingly ludicrous proposal. Folks who grow various trees, vines, and shrubs have always known that these, when young, are susceptible to damage from rodents, rabbits, and other rascals in the wintertime. I’ve even lost a few trees myself because I didn’t wrap them in time.

Whenever the ground starts to freeze — and especially when it snows – you can be sure the feast will begin! First a bite here, then a nibble there, and before long, the whole trunk is girdled, ensuring a certain demise. Really, it’s not a question of if- it’s a matter of when it will happen. If your young trees get through the winter unscathed, then my hat’s off to you! The rest of us, though, will just have to settle with one more chore before the snow flies. Let’s find out why I’m so crazy about wrapping the trunks of young trees in tin foil.

I should note it’s not actually my idea; my mother-in-law from Germany told me her father would wrap his saplings with aluminum to protect them in wintertime. He got the idea from his father-in-law who was the Kaiser’s master gardener… so I am assuming that if this idea is good enough for a king, it’s worth sharing with you.

Yes, I will admit that you can go to a garden store and buy aesthetically-pleasing tree guards. Go ahead if it makes you feel better! I’d hate for my schemes to spoil the ambiance of your garden space. But if you’re looking for something radical and recyclable (and oh-so 50s galactic-retro), you’re in the right place.

Anyways, after all this banter, the application is refreshingly simple: Just get out a roll of foil and wrap a couple layers on the trunks of the specimens you wish to protect. The thicker the foil, the fewer layers that are needed. Mold it around snugly from the base at ground level to the anticipated snowline. That’s it! Remember to remove and recycle in springtime, and marvel at the heroic level of protection a humble roll of aluminum foil provides!

REVIEWS: Record Album – Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947 – ‘74; Conductor – Ernst Schrader

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Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records, Part 5.

I began receiving Golden Records as early as my fourth year, more often than not in the six-inch yellow record format. Many of the selections were from the Great American Kiddie Songbook – such captivators as Pony Boy, Pony Boy; Skip to My Lou; Get On Board Little Children; I‘m Getting Nothin’ for Christmas. There were tie-ins from TV shows – Maverick, Wyatt Earp, Leave It to Beaver. Finally Bing Crosby told stories and occasionally sang, always illustrated with hat, pipe in mouth and Golden book in hand.

My first encounter with Mitch Miller’s name occurred via these little discs. I would be caught up, at the age of 8, in the rousing Sing Along LPs when my Aunt Margaret played her copy of the Folk Songs album – I fell in love with the sounds of his male chorus and guitar/banjo rhythm section lifting my spirits with Listen to the Mockingbird, Aunt Rhody and Goodnight Irene, and, within three years, would own all of the Sing Alongs. Part 6 next week.

Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974

Atlantic, A1 81620,
14 LPs, released 1985.

Before I encountered this admittedly very bulky set, I don’t believe I had ever seen a better one in all of my years of listening and collecting. It has assembled almost 70 singers and instrumentalists- Wilson Pickett, the Coasters, Aretha, Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, Ben E. King, Otis Redding, La Vern Baker, Roberta Flack, Tiny Grimes, Brook Benton as well as lesser knowns, Eddie Floyd, Joe Morris, Don Covay, Tommy Ridgley, Chris Kenner, Doris Troy- oh well, the list goes on and on. And each is represented by one or more tracks, every one of them at the very least ranging from quite good to beyond superb.

The annotations, photos, art work and biographical details are wonderfully spread out on seven sets of 2 lps each and stored in a slipcase covered with the red and black Atlantic label trademark. I found my vinyl copy reasonably priced at a local outlet. But it could prove elusive and pricey, whether in used outlets or on the Internet. But interested listeners will find this true treasury of so much great music well worth the search!

Dvorak

Symphony No. 2
Ernst Schrader conducting the Berlin Philharmonic; Avon, AVS 13015, 12-inch LP, originated from late ‘40s German radio broadcast tape and Urania LP.

There is nothing else to be known about conductor Ernst Schrader other than he is, or more likely, considering the time frame of this recording, was a real person – a legit label has stamped his name on one or two releases nobody has stepped forward to stamp him as a pseudonym. And the Berlin Philharmonic is most definitely for real.

Although the mono radio sound of this record is adequate, the performance is spontaneous, and expressive, reserving all out drama until the last of the four movements.

Dvorak actually composed nine Symphonies but his first four were unnumbered until the 1960’s, when they became 1 through 4, the old 3 became 5, 1 then 6, 2 7, 4 8 and the New World 5 then 9. The re-numbered 7th was greeted enthusiastically at its London world premiere on April 22, 1885, with the composer conducting while his publisher paid him $1500, a huge sum in those days.

I own a batch of very good recordings and, elsewhere, have not heard a single dud. The ones on my shelves- Anguelov, Mata, Valek, Bernstein, two Giulinis, Kubelik, Leitner, Colin Davis, Sejna, Talich, Ancerl, Kertesz, Dorati, Monteux, Neumann, possibly a few others, in addition to the above Schrader.

SOLON & BEYOND, Week of November 23, 2017

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Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

More Solon School News: The Solon Kids CARE (character, actions, respect, empathy) Club has begun its work in the Solon School again this fall. An affiliate of the Maine Civil Rights Team Project, it is dedicating its efforts to encouraging in the students the ideas of random acts of kindness, positive attitudes and caring for the small community.

The team advisers are Mrs. LaChance and Mrs. Stevens. Mrs. LaChance organizes activities for all of the K-2 students. Mrs. Stevens works with a team of students in grades 4-5 who will organize activities for the school. These are the members this year: Desmond Robinson, Ciara Myers-Sleeper, Ciarrah Whittemore, Cailan Priest, Allison Pinkam, Karen Baker, Ella McKinnon, Macie Plourde, William Rogers, Madyson McKenney and Alden LcLaughlin.

The Kids Care Club is already hard at work! They ran a Halloween Dime Raffle in which they raised money to be used for T-shirts and for other team activities. On November 28, some members of the group will attend the annual Civil Rights Team Conference at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Dime Raffle Winners: Sponsored by the Solon Kids Care Club were Caden Fitton for the boy’s prize, Paige Reichert for the girl’s prize, and the fifth grade for the class prize (won by Paige Reichert).

On October 20, the Solon Fire Department visited the Solon School to do presentations about fire safety in conjunction with Fire Safety Month. Firemen Todd Dixon and Richard Kelly, of the Solon Fire Department, talked to students about how to keep safe in the event of a fire. The firefighters took the students outside to show them their new fire truck and to demonstrate how fire hoses work. The firefighters brought goodie bags for the students.

Home Alone on Thanksgiving Day? Veterans? Just need a good, hearty meal? Come join us at the Community United Methodist Church for Thanksgiving dinner! No charge. Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23, at the North Anson Community United Church Community Room (disabled accessible) Doors open at 10 a.m., with refresments, games and conversation. Full Thanksgiving dinner served at 2 p.m.

Limited transportation is available to the North Anson, Embden, Madison, New Portland and Solon communities. Call Betsy at 431-5860 by Tuesday, November 21, for pick up reservations, dependent on weather conditions. Sponsored by the Community United Methodist Church of north Anson/Madison Congregation.

Jen Hibbard is hosting a craft fair on November 25, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. This event will be held at the Embden Community Center, with a bake sale, raffles, hot foods, with over 30 tables of crafters, vendors and artisans.

Skowhegan-area merchants will be celebrating Small Business Saturday on November 25. The downtown will be hopping with all sorts of discounts and specials. Pick up your Shop Small passport at any participating merchant, have it stamped everywhere you shop, and then drop it off for a chance to win the grand prize! It’s another way for us to say “Thank You” to all you that help support locally-owned businesses.

And now for Percy’s words of wisdom in his weekly memoir: If you approach each new person you meet in a spirit of adventure, you will find yourself endlessly fascinated by the new channels of thought and experience and personality that you encounter. I do not mean simply the famous people of the world, but people from every walk and condition of life. (words by Eleanor Roosevelt)

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

TECH TALK: Life & Death of the Microchip

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Examples of early vacuum tubes. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

ERIC’S TECH TALK

by Eric Austin
Computer Technical Advisor

The pace of technological advancement has a speed limit and we’re about to slam right into it.

The first electronic, programmable, digital computer was designed in 1944 by British telephone engineer Tommy Flowers, while working in London at the Post Office Research Station. Named the Colossus, it was built as part of the Allies’ wartime code-breaking efforts.

The Colossus didn’t get its name from being easy to carry around. Computers communicate using binary code, with each 0 or 1 represented by a switch that is either open or closed, on or off. In 1944, before the invention of the silicon chip that powers most computers today, this was accomplished using vacuum-tube technology. A vacuum tube is a small, vacuum-sealed, glass chamber which serves as a switch to control the flow of electrons through it. Looking much like a complicated light-bulb, vacuum tubes were difficult to manufacture, bulky and highly fragile.

Engineers were immediately presented with a major problem. The more switches a computer has, the faster it is and the larger the calculations it can handle. But each switch is an individual glass tube, and each must be wired to every other switch on the switchboard. This means that a computer with 2,400 switches, like the Colossus, would need 2,400 individual wires connecting each switch to every other, or a total of almost six million wires. As additional switches are added, the complexity of the connections between components increases exponentially.

This became known as the ‘tyranny of numbers’ problem, and because of it, for the first two decades after the Colossus was introduced, it looked as though computer technology would forever be out of reach of the average consumer.

Then two engineers, working separately in California and Texas, discovered a solution. In 1959, Jack Kilby, working at Texas Instruments, submitted his design for an integrated circuit to the US patent office. A few months later, Robert Noyce, founder of the influential Fairchild Semiconductor research center in Palo Alto, California, submitted his own patent. Although they each approached the problem differently, it was the combination of their ideas that resulted in the microchip we’re familiar with today.

The advantages of this new idea, to print microscopic transistors on a wafer of semi-conducting silicon, were immediately obvious. It was cheap, could be mass produced, and most importantly, it’s performance was scalable: as our miniaturization technology improved, we were able to pack more transistors (switches) onto the same chip of silicon. A chip with a higher number of transistors resulted in a more powerful computer, which allowed us to further refine our fabrication process. This self-fed cycle of progress is what has fueled our technological advancements for the last 60 years.

Gordon Moore, who, along with Robert Noyce, later founded the microchip company Intel, was the first to understand this predictable escalation in computer speed and performance. In a paper he published in 1965, Moore observed that the number of components we could print on an integrated circuit was doubling every year. Ten years later the pace had slowed somewhat and he revised his estimate to doubling every two years. Nicknamed “Moore’s Law,” it’s a prediction that has remained relatively accurate ever since.

This is why every new iphone is faster, smaller, and more powerful than the one from the year before. In 1944, the Colossus was built with 2,400 binary vacuum tubes. Today the chip in your smart phone possesses something in the neighborhood of seven billion transistors. That’s the power of the exponential growth we’ve experienced for more than half a century.

But this trend of rapid progress is about to come to an end. In order to squeeze seven billion components onto a tiny wafer of silicone, we’ve had to make everything really small. Like, incomprehensibly small. Components are only a few nanometers wide, with less than a dozen nanometers between them. For some comparison, a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. We are designing components so small that they will soon be only a few atoms across. At that point electrons begin to bleed from one transistor into another, because of a quantum effect called ‘quantum tunneling,’ and a switch that can’t be reliably turned off is no switch at all.

Experts differ on how soon the average consumer will begin to feel the effects of this limitation, but most predict we have less than a decade to find a solution or the technological progress we’ve been experiencing will grind to a stop.

What technology is likely to replace the silicon chip? That is exactly the question companies like IBM, Intel, and even NASA are racing to answer.

IBM is working on a project that aims to replace silicon transistors with ones made of carbon nanotubes. The change in materials would allow manufacturers to reduce the space between transistors from 14 nanometers to just three, allowing us to cram even more transistors onto a single chip before running into the electron-bleed effect we are hitting with silicon.

Another idea with enormous potential, the quantum computer, was first proposed back in 1968, but has only recently become a reality. Whereas the binary nature of our current digital technology only allows for a switch to be in two distinct positions, on or off, the status of switches in a quantum computer are determined by the superpositional states of a quantum particle, which, because of the weirdness of quantum mechanics, can be in the positions of on, off or both – simultaneously! The information contained in one quantum switch is called a ‘qubit,’ as opposed to the binary ‘bit’ of today’s digital computers.

At their Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL) in Silicon Valley, NASA, in partnership with Google Research and a coalition of 105 colleges and universities, has built the D-Wave 2X, a second-generation, 1,097-qubit quantum computer. Although it’s difficult to do a direct qubit-to-bit comparison because they are so fundamentally different, Google Research has released some data on its performance. They timed how long it takes the D-Wave 2X to do certain high-level calculations and compared the timings with those of a modern, silicon-based computer doing the same calculations. According to their published results, the D-Wave 2X is 100 million times faster than the computer on which you are currently reading this.

Whatever technology eventually replaces the silicon chip, it will be orders of magnitude better, faster and more powerful than what we have today, and it will have an unimaginable impact on the fields of computing, space exploration and artificial intelligence – not to mention the ways in which it will transform our ordinary, everyday lives.

Welcome to the beginning of the computer age, all over again.

For Your Health: What You Should Know About Vaccines

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For Your Health

(NAPSI)—Sometimes, what you don’t know can hurt you. Consider this: Smallpox vaccines were used as far back as the Revolutionary War. This serious disease, which has killed more people than all the wars combined, has been wiped from the Earth by vaccines. It’s a shame that recently the safety of vaccines has been questioned. It’s time people focused on the facts.

Vaccines have long been one of the safest medical treatments. No credible study has proven otherwise. Just like other medicines, vaccines are approved by the FDA. By and large, the rewards of prevention are worth the small risk of any vaccine’s side effects.

Another fact is that vaccines for mature Americans can save lives. When seniors get pneumonia shots, they could lengthen their life expectancy by FOUR years. Flu shots will also protect seniors from a debilitating illness with life-threatening consequences. Vaccinations are generally affordable and they are SAFE.

What To Do

For your health’s sake, give vaccination a shot.

If you have questions about a vaccine, talk to your doctor. They can explain the safety of vaccines and their importance to your health. There are three easy steps you can take to get protected:

1. Find out which vaccines you need. You can go to the RetireSafe website, www.retiresafe.org, and click on the vaccine icon on the left side of the home page. It will take you to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site that will ask you questions about you and your life. It will then give you a list of vaccines you may need.

2. Discuss the vaccines on the list with your doctor or health care professional.

3. Get the recommended vaccinations.

That’s it…that’s all you have to do to be healthier and possibly add years to your life.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Proliferation of stink bugs

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Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee

They seem to have invaded our environment and taken up permanent residence in the state of Maine. We are seeing more and more of them in and around our homes. More so this time of year when the critters are attempting to come indoors where its warm. They are commonly known as stink bugs.

The brown marmorated stink bugs are an invasive species and are considered a serious crop pest. They are notorious at attacking especially corn and potatoes. They were accidentally introduced in the United States from Asia. It is believed to have hitched a ride as a stow-away in packing crates or on various types of machinery. The first documented specimen was collected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1996. It is now found in the eastern half of the U.S. as well as California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Since arriving from Asia, the stink bug spread quickly from state to state, and is now listed as a top invasive species of interest by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) since 2013. They spread quickly due to their ability to lay more than 100 eggs each spring and summer. The USDA now reports the stink bug can be found in 44 states.

marmorated stink bug

It is easily identifiable by its brown color, six legs, shield-like pattern on its shell, white segments on its antennas and the cilantro-like smell it emits when scared or crushed.

The stink bug gets its name because it releases an odor when disturbed or when crushed. They will emit a foul-smelling chemical when they are injured, startled or attacked.

Generally, adult stink bugs feed on fruits, while nymphs will dine on leaves, stems and fruit. Stink bugs eat peaches, apples, peppers, soybeans, tomatoes, grapes and others. According to USDA records, the stink bug caused farmers to lose $31 million in 2010, which is the most up-to-date figures available. Their ability to possibly spread throughout the country has the agricultural community nervous.

In the fall, they search for sites to avoid the winter weather. They re-emerge in early spring and become active. During the warmer summer months, they can be found congregating en masse on the sides of buildings. Stink bugs have a life expectancy of nine to 10 months.

They enter homes through windows, cracked foundations, dryer vents and door jambs. Once inside, they seek refuge in warm places, like insulated walls. It is not uncommon to find thousands of them inside a house.

Stink bugs are not poisonous to humans and do not normally bite. Although native stink bug species exist in the U.S., none have caused damage to crops and invaded homes in numbers like the brown marmorated stink bug. However, some people are allergic to the marmorated stink bug, with reactions that include eye watering, congestion and coughing.

Stink bugs present no known danger of damaging the home, however, large amounts of dead stink bugs in the walls of the home can attract carpet beetles, which eat wool. That may explain why, all of a sudden, some of your clothes hanging in closets have developed holes.

To prevent stink bugs from entering homes and buildings, seal cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, behind chimneys and underneath the wood fascia and other openings. Use a good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk. If you need to remove stink bugs already established in the home, a vacuum cleaner can aid in the removal. However, make sure to empty the vacuum cleaner outdoors after using to avoid the odor that will probably permeate throughout the house from disturbing the bugs.

Although studies are being conducted on how to handle the growing problem, farmers don’t currently have too many options. Pesticides that are used for other bugs can work, however, unless the pesticide hits the bug directly, it won’t make much of a difference in the stink bug population.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry asks anyone who finds a stink bug to take a picture and fill out an online survey. That could be a cumbersome project.

I have not seen any marmorated stink bugs in my home, but I have seen many around homes of family and friends, especially those residing in rural areas. Most merely dismiss it as nothing more than a nuisance and simply deal with them one at a time, as they appear.

What else can you do?

I’m Just Curious: Mother’s sayings

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by Debbie Walker

As usual I am just curious. I am going to share these “Hilarious Things My Mother Taught Me…”. I am sure it was e-mailed to me quite some time ago and I printed it off for a future reference. And, yes Mom, I did recognize a couple of these and I think I have used a few myself!

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. “If you are going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.”
2. My mother taught me RELIGION. “You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. “If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”
4. My mother taught me LOGIC. “Because I said so, that’s why.” Yes Mom, I remember hearing that and I remember using it myself!
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. “If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.” (I love that one!)
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. “Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.” I would love to know if anyone was left out on that one!
7. My mother taught me about IRONY. “Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.” Oh yes Mom, I remember that one. Ranks right up there with “I want to change my name, even just a day!”
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. “Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. “Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck?”
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA. You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”

I’m not giving this one a number but poor Mom. If she did it once she did it a hundred times. It seems that all tops for anyone big busted have always been very low cut. Mom found more safety pins to fix any tops I had!

Since our weather has really been the pits for a few days I want to share a poem I saw in the Kids version of The Old Farmer’s Almanac:

“When pigs carry sticks, The clouds will play tricks; When they lie in the mud, No fears of a flood.”

“If bees stay at home, rain will soon come; If they fly away, Fine will be the day.”

I had to add this: When having to paint trim (mirror, around windows, etc.) you can keep paint off the glass. You can dip a Q-tip in petroleum jelly and apply to the glass where it meets the frame. When paint is dry just wash the glass.

As usual I am just curious what your memories are. It’s time to share! Thank you for reading. Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com with questions or comments. Check out our web page!

REVIEWS: Singer: Pat Boone; Guitarist: Jim Hall; Book: Roosevelt and Hopkins

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Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records, Part 4.

Pat Boone

Around 1957, I discovered the resounding voice of the then 23-year-old Pat Boone and the beginning of a spurt of hit 45 singles that sustained him until 1960. The first one that I heard from off the radio was the riveting Don’t Forbid Me (although I would not own a copy of this record for at least another 30 years).

During the next six years, I would assemble a batch of 45 singles and extended plays; and LPs, featuring both the top 40 moneymakers and selections that didn’t sell as well. Among the hits were There’s a Goldmine in the Sky; April Love, which is arguably one of his three finest; A Wonderful Time Up There; With the Wind and Rain in Your Hair; For My Good Fortune; I’m Walking the Floor Over You; Speedy Gonzalez; Dear John; etc.

There were also two LPs that perhaps weren’t mega sellers but, for me, are still worthy of the occasional spin – Star Dust, which is devoted to the classic Great American Songbook and has such standbys as Deep Purple; Ebb Tide; St. Louis Blues; Autumn Leaves, and the title song; and Hymns We Love, an album easily equal to the sacred music ones of George Beverly Shea and Tennessee Ernie Ford. Finally, Boone had the arrangements of the gifted Billy Vaughn.

The black label with the rainbow colored letters was also an attractive feature and a reason why I have gathered an array of 45s, LPs and one 78 by Dot artists from various rummage sales over the years, as well as specimens of the earlier maroon label. Part 5 next week!

Jim Hall

Concierto
CTI- ZK 65132, cd, recorded April 16 and 23, 1975.

Jim Hall

The very superb jazz guitarist, Jim Hall (1930-2013), brought together a who’s who of jazz talent to create one of a handful of truly beautiful, mellow and, most importantly, musically substantial albums to be heard anywhere. The standouts are trumpeter Chet Baker, who had almost a decade left of concerts and recordings before he self-destructed from his drug addictions at an Amsterdam hotel in 1988; alto saxist Paul Desmond, who died in 1977 from lung cancer but would especially be remembered for his over 15 years with the Dave Brubeck Quartet; and bassist Ron Carter, still alive and well at 80.

The gem in this program is the 20 minute Don Sebesky arrangement of Rodrigo’s already exquisite Guitar Concerto, one in which everyone in the group plays their heart out. Totally recommended and available for listening on youtube !!!

Roosevelt and Hopkins

An Intimate History
by Robert Sherwood; Harper and Brothers, 1948, 934 pages.

I am in the process of reading this magnum opus on Franklin Roosevelt’s closest personal advisor, Harry Hopkins (1890-1946 , who was pulled out of the New Deal bureaucracy to serve at the President’s beck and call for most of World War II. Whatever Hopkins lacked in any real background in the diplomatic or military spheres, which his boss supplied on a personal level, he made up in the intuition department- truly knowing when to speak and when not to, skills FDR prized above everything else. The President so valued Hopkins that he moved him and his family into a suite in the White House so as to have instant access.

The fascination of this relationship is written with storytelling prowess by Robert Sherwood, a playwright who served on Hopkins’s team and was a close friend. The inevitable panorama of five to six very tumultuous years in the White House, ones not matched since, are presented in a comprehensive manner. Many famous players such as Churchill, Stalin, and others; the endless intrigues; the horrific decisions and their context – are all served up in such a compulsively readable manner that may lead to at least a month of all-nighters!

MESSING ABOUT: Survival is an interesting concept

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MESSING ABOUT IN THE MAINE WOODS

by Ron Maxwell

Survival is an interesting concept for me. I have always enjoyed the idea of being able to solve problems in the field. It means my pockets are always full of lighters and knives and more pocket emergency kits than any one person has a right to own. Each of my family’s cars has extra water, food, flashlights, emergency blankets and other supplies. The house has supplies squirreled away in corners for emergencies. Survival has always been on my mind even though I have not yet been in a position to need the information.

But ‘survival’ has always had a clawing, tearing sort of feel: something forced on one from the outside. Survival has always seemed to be a ‘bug eating, puddle drinking, dirt pit sleeping’ sort of experience. I’d rather be careful, thanks. I have always thought ‘thriving’ instead of ‘surviving’. I was on a hiking trip and soaked my shirt with the days exertion. It was simple to thrive in camp afterward with the clean, dry, night-clothes I had packed, while rinsing and drying my day things by the fire. For me, survival will always be what would happen when my plans and my prepared equipment both fail. I haven’t done it yet, but when I do need to, I have some backup skills ready. Skills that began by watching You-Tube, but were practiced and perfected in the field.

I have lighted fires on the ice, while skating on a cold afternoon – using a bow drill and tinder set I made myself. I have slept on an automotive sunscreen under an emergency blanket when a night turned too cold. I have used the knife I carry in my pocket to make a burner and cookset from the cans the dinner ingredients came in. A burner and cookset fueled with a common automotive fuel additive I bought at the same convenience store where I bought the dinner ingredients. I have made my own string from cedar bark to tie together a debris shelter for sleeping. I have the ability to survive if I need, but my purpose in being in the outdoors will always be to thrive.

See how the process doesn’t happen just in the outdoors? There is a joy in preparing yourself mentally or taking in someone else’s experience when you can’t get outside. There is an excitement to testing out your new equipment with the kids in the backyard, where you can see the potential of all your gear. And nothing beats actually getting out on the trail and waking up surrounded by nature enjoying the comfort of a situation you put together. And that is how we thrive in the Maine Outdoors.