Give Us Your Best Shot! Week of December 14, 2017
BUSY WITH THE CAMERA: Michael Bilinsky, of China Village, was busy with his camera when he snapped these three photos recently.
SCORES & OUTDOORS: Doves as a symbol of peace: what is the history?
White dove
by Roland D. Hallee
As we enter into the Christmas season, I notice a lot of Christmas cards and greetings with the picture of a dove as a symbol of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Where did that all start? Why is the dove a symbol of peace?
Actually, there are several cultures that depict the dove as a bearer of peace and goodwill.
But before we get into some of the reasons the bird is viewed in that light, let’s look at some general facts about the bird. Doves belong to the Columbidae family, which is the same family as the pigeons. They have a round and stout body, short neck and beak. They are excellent navigators, which also makes them capable of delivering messages. Apart from these traits, they are extremely popular, and are often associated with strong emotions.
The Egyptians were the first to record doves used in ceremonies to announce, to the people, the rise of a new pharaoh.
Central Asia also has a legend about two kings heading to battle against each other. One of the kings called for his armor and is told a dove has made a nest in his helmet. The king’s mother pleads with him to leave the mother dove, a gentle bird associated with love, innocence, tenderness and purity, undisturbed.
The king agrees, and heads off to battle without his protection. The second king sees the king without armor and calls for a parley. Both kings lay down their weapons and talk. When the second king hears the first king’s story, he figures he has misjudged his enemy, whom he thought to be a tyrant. Both kings agree to peace. And the dove becomes known throughout the lands as a bird of peace.
It also had a place in Greek mythology. Aphrodite is always depicted with a dove because she brought love and beauty and peace. The dove was also the bird of Athena because it represented a renewal of life.
European superstition holds that the devil and witches can turn themselves into any bird shape except the dove.
In Japan, the dove with a sword is a symbol to announce the end of war.
Some Native American cultures believe that the deceased spirit takes the form of a dove.
In America, the most well known portrayal of the dove comes from the Bible. In the Old Testament a dove is released by Noah, following the Big Flood, in search of land. It returns with an olive branch to show the flood waters had receded.
The birds have developed into histories of cultures all around the world. The birds have always nested in areas close to developments and show a remarkable fearlessness of humans, possibly believing the humans will not harm them, even to the point of protecting them.
Doves are birds who mate for life and are extremely loyal to their mate. They raise their young with great care and dedication. They are harmless birds and feed on fruits, plants, and seeds.
Many religions associate the dove with peace. Christianity and the Bible describe doves as the symbol of peace and love. It is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, during the baptism of Jesus Christ.
Picasso’s lithograph, La Colombe (The Dove)
For centuries, artists have depicted the dove as a symbol of peace. The lithograph by Picasso-La Colombe, showing a dove with an olive branch in its beak, was chosen as the emblem of peace in 1949, for the World Peace Congress, in Paris. After this, the dove became very popular as a symbol of peace in the modern world.
The dove is truly a bird that has touched the human mind and heart. It has inspired mankind with its innocence and purity. It reminds people of the very basic traits to live a fruitful life-love and peace.
The next time you seem stressed, and you think the world is out to get you, just think of the dove, the symbol of tranquility and peace.
Roland’s trivia question of the week:
Since 2003, the New England Patriots have won 14 of 15 AFC East division titles. In what year did they not win the division?
I’m Just Curious: “Nana Daffy”
by Debbie Walker
Recently, I referred to myself as “Nana Daffy.” I commented that I would tell that story at another time. TIME is here.
Have you ever been in a conversation about names with a little one?
It goes something like this: “Momma’s name is ….?., Daddy’s name is ….?” It was one of those discussions when I added “Nana’s name is …?”
Tristin reached that age first. When asked “what’s my name?” She answered “Nana Deffy.” I looked at my daughter and we both giggled. I remember quietly telling Deana that I thought I liked Deffy better than Debbie anyway. However, Tristin, it seems, heard us and that little rug rat called me Nana Deffy after that.
Then along comes Blake and when he hit “the” age he had other ideas about my name. I then became Nana Daffy and it has stuck for 23 years!
When my grandkids were in Day Care I would often pick them up. It wasn’t long before every little one there noticed when I came in. Just picture about 30 of these little cookie crunchers charging towards the door yelling, “Nana Daffy!!!”. It was a great way to start or end a day.
Christmas at School
This is my second school year as a foster grandparent. I just love it! I am working with a classroom of first and second graders. Last year we only had two weeks of Christmas. (I only volunteer two days a week) My teacher, Kathy, had me wait until mid-December to get into anything Christmas. Well, that’s not happening this year! I have warned/told her that Christmas starts Dec. 1! That’s the Friday before you get/got The Town Line paper.
I am wearing one of my wild Christmas sweaters, headband of antlers with flickering lights, Christmas jewelry and my story time that morning will be a Christmas story! Humpfree will have lights on his antlers until Christmas is over. And… my craft/art class time will certainly be another bit of annoyance to Kathy because it is bound to be more Christmas!
I have been rather chatty tonight; hope you don’t mind all this information.
Important Studies?
Just when you have pretty much heard about all you want to about wasting of money, along comes a humdinger! The only saving grace for this one is it has been done in another country. But wait – if it is being done in another country, you don’t suppose this country would waste money like that, too, do you?
Dogs sleeping skills are being recorded. It seems they (whoever that country was) are studying sleeping dogs. Isn’t there some kind of saying about “let sleeping dogs lie”? I only remember them saying dogs could learn in their sleep!!! Maybe I’ll try that myself, hopefully I will learn something interesting.
Okay, I know, enough of that stuff! As usual you can find me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. I’m just curious if you have nights like this when several things jump you in one day and you just have to have an opinion? I hope I helped you smile.
REVIEWS: Bandleader: Spike Jones; Composers: Telemann & Maurice Ravel
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates
How I Started Collecting Records, Part 7
As I slowly edged into liking classical music, via cartoons and storybook records, I remember Beethoven being the first composer to grab my attention, through two symphonies – the 5th and 6th, better known as the Pastoral. The great conductor, Bruno Walter (1876-1962), would be the first to give me the intensive exposure to both pieces. Mom owned a 78 set of Walter’s 1941 5th, a very satisfying performance full of conviction and spirit.
My Uncle Paul Cates owned an LP of the sublime Bruno Walter/Philadelphia 1946 Pastoral that he left at the family homestead along with a pile of other interesting disks while he lived in West Berlin for much of the ‘50s and ‘60s. I played that record many times while visiting Grammie Cates. My introductions to the beauties of the composer’s Emperor and Violin Concertos followed within the year.
Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Thank You, Music Lovers
RCA Victor, LPM-2224, recorded 1960.
A dozen of Jones’s wacky, weird 78s, featuring spoofs and putdowns of musical classics, such as Der Fuehrer’s Face, William Tell Overture , You Always Hurt the One You Love, My Old Flame, etc.; have been re-recorded in better sound and provide fun similar to Frank Zappa’s shenanigans from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Telemann
George Telemann
Concertos for Oboe, 2 Flutes and Orchestra; Suite for Recorder and Orchestra
Kurt List and Zlatko Topolski conducting the Austrian Tonkuenstler Orchestra; various soloists; Musical Heritage Society, MHS 743, recorded 1967.
George Philip Telemann (1681-1767) was quite the prolific composer, much of his music, whether sacred or secular, very pleasurable. This assortment of works are the most beguiling listening experiences I have encountered in a very long time, and receive top notch performances. During his lifetime, he achieved far greater popularity than his friend, Bach.
Maurice Ravel
Bolero, Rhapsodie Espagnole, La Valse and Scheherazade Overture
Jean Martinon conducting the Orchestre de Paris; Angel, S-37147, recorded 1975.
Maurice Ravel
Most every recording of Jean Martinon (1911-1976) that has come my way has given enduring pleasure, whether Beethoven or the Russian, Sergei Prokofiev. His career as the conductor of the Chicago Symphony after succeeding the phenomenally brilliant Fritz Reiner was cut short mainly by hostile music critics.
However, he returned to Paris and recorded a series of LPs devoted to the complete works of Debussy and Ravel that were superbly balanced, tasteful and yet musically alive examples of really great conducting. And the above record was every bit as fine as the others I have heard.
IF WALLS COULD TALK, Week of December 7, 2017
by Katie Ouilette
Well, faithful readers and WALLS, do you agree with me that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?
Yup, everywhere we read! The advertising hardly leaves time for viewing and reading and Black Friday and ‘whatever Monday’ has happened already. Now, bring on the parades and Christmas tree lightings and, then, Santa, if he’s not appeared and listened to all good little boys and girls (and sure, moms and dads, grandmas and granddads, too). Santa will be riding in parades, folks. Yup, he’ll be waving from even a firetruck!
WALLS, you told about my having a Story Hour at the Sudbury, Massachusetts, library, several years ago, and son, Craig, surely set kids straight as we drove back to the neighborhood. Yes, WALLS, you know that all the kids were talking about Santa’s being real, when Craig joined into the conversation and said “you don’t believe your folks bought all that good stuff, do you?” Well, you know full well, WALLS, that the library hour kids all agreed that their mom and dad wouldn’t! Case closed! There is a real Santa, but surely he does have helpers. Yup, the Elves are surely very busy right now.
Now, back to son, Craig. He caught Santa as he was filling the stockings for him, brother Russell and sister Lynn and his mom and dad in Towanda. Oh, Santa is real for sure!
Many thanks to those who are working on organizing parades and planning events. Don’t miss it all folks. Christmas is the loveliest time of the year! In fact, I believe someone wrote a song about it’s “being the most wonderful time of the year…” and hopefully, everyone’s most wonderful time of the year.
SOLON & BEYOND, Week of December 7, 2017
by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979
Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!
The L.C. Bates Museum, in Hinckley, has received a grant which is benefiting students at Solon Elementary School this fall. Elizabeth Comstock of the museum staff visited the school once a week for six weeks to present natural history outreach programs to students in second and fourth grades. Topics for these presentations were wetland habitat, forest habitat, ocean habitat, Maine birds, bugs, and pollination.
The L.C. Bates Museum and the Colby College Museum of Art invited the school’s second and third graders to participate in a “Bird Day” on October 24. Then they went to the Colby College Museum of Art where they took a “nature walk” through the museum galleries, compared and drew bird bills, feet, and feathers in the Audubon exhibit, The grant paid the cost of the bussing, the museum programs, and lunch for the students, staff, and chaperones.
Lief and I attended the seventh annual Christmas Program, (along with a large crowd, even though I neglected to write that it was going to be held at the North Anson Congregational Church).
The audience was invited to sing several of the old familiar Christmas hymns, followed by a special Christmas Pageant Mary Walz organized this event and in mind, anyway, it was a great success!
Lief and I were blessed with two Thanksgivings this year. We were invited over to Andrew and Ashley Higgins’ home, in Skowhegan, on the weekend that Dean and Cheryl were here from Georgia. Others present were Cynthia and Allen Fitzmaurice, Hailey, Aaron and Jessica.
Received an e-mail recently about the Embden Historical Society having the following items for sale: “Embden Town of Yore,” they have recently reduced the price from $60 to $40, plus shipping if necessary. “South of Lost Nation,” $20 plus shipping if necessary. An Embden afghan which has been reduced from $50 to $25 plus shipping.
And so for Percy’s memoir, which is a great one! “Faith Is A Mighty Fortress.”
We look ahead through each changing year
With mixed emotions of Hope and Fear,
Hope for The Peace we long have sought,
Fear that Our Hopes will come to naught…
Unwilling to trust in the Father’s Will,
We count on our logic and shallow skill
And in our arrogance and pride,
Man is no longer satisfied
To place his confidence and love
With Childlike Faith in God above…
But tiny hands and tousled heads
That kneel in prayer by little beds
Are closer to the dear Lord’s heart
And of His Kingdom more a part
Than we who search and never find
The answers to our questioning mind,
For faith in things we cannot see
Requires a child’s simplicity…
Oh, Father, grant once more to men
A simple Childlike Faith again,
Forgetting Color, Race and Creed
And seeing only the heart’s deep need…
For Faith alone can save man’s soul
And lead him to a Higher Goal,
For there’s but one unfailing course
We win by Faith and Not by Force.
TECH TALK: Are you human or robot? The surprising history of CAPTCHAs
ERIC’S TECH TALK
by Eric W. Austin
We’re all familiar with it. Try to log into your favorite website, and you’re likely to be presented with a question: Are you human or a robot? Then you might be asked to translate a bit of garbled text or pick from a set of presented images. What’s this all about?
There’s an arms race going on between website owners and internet spam bots. Spam bots want to log into your site like a regular human, and then leave advertising spam comments on all your pages. Website admins naturally want to stop this from happening, as we have enough ordinary humans leaving pointless comments already.
Although several teams have claimed ownership of inventing the technique, the term ‘CAPTCHA’ was first coined by a group of engineers at Carnegie Mellon University in 2001. They were looking for a way to allow websites to distinguish between live humans and the growing multitude of spam bots pretending to be human. They came up with the idea of showing a user distorted images of garbled words that could be understood by a real person but would confound a computer. It was from this idea that the ubiquitous CAPTCHA emerged.
CAPTCHA is an acronym that stands for ‘Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.’
Around this same time, The New York Times was in the process of digitizing their back issues. They were employing a fairly new computer technology called Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which is the process of scanning a page of type and turning it into searchable text. Prior to this technology, a scanned page of text was simply an image and not searchable or capable of being cataloged based on its content.
Old newsprint can be difficult to read for computers, especially since the back catalog of The New York Times stretches back more than 100 years. If the ink has smeared, faded or is otherwise obscured, a computer could fail to correctly interpret the text.
The New York Times got the brilliant idea of using these difficult words as CAPTCHA images, utilizing the power of internet users to read words a computer had failed to recognize. The project was reinvented as ‘reCAPTCHA.’
In 2009, Google bought the company responsible for reCAPTCHA and began using it to help digitize old books for their Google Books project. Whenever their computers run into trouble interpreting a bit of text, a scan of those words is uploaded to the reCAPTCHA servers and millions of internet users share in the work of decoding old books for Google’s online database.
I bet you didn’t realize you’re working for Google every time you solve one of those garbled word puzzles!
Of course, artificial intelligence and OCR technology has improved a lot in the years since. Now you are more likely to be asked to choose those images that feature street signs, rather than to solve a bit of distorted text. In this way, Google is using internet users to improve its artificial intelligence image recognition.
Soon computers will be smart enough to solve these picture challenges as well. In fact, the latest version of CAPTCHA barely requires any input from the internet user at all. If you have come to a webpage and been asked to check a box verifying that, “I’m not a robot,” and wondered how this can possibly filter out spam bots, you’re not alone. There’s actually a lot more going on behind that simple checkbox.
Invented by Google, and called “No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA,” the new system employs an invisible algorithm behind the scenes that executes when you check the box. This algorithm analyzes your recent online behavior in order to determine if you are acting like a human or a bot. If it determines you might be a bot, you’ll get the familiar pop-up, asking you to choose from a series of images in order to verify your humanity.
This internet arms race is a competition between artificial intelligence’s efforts to pass as human and a website admin’s attempt to identify them. The CAPTCHA will continue to evolve as the artificial intelligence of spam bots increases to keep pace.
It’s an arms race we’re bound to lose in the end. But until then, the next time you’re forced to solve a garbled word puzzle, perhaps it will help ease the tedium to remember you’re helping preserve the world’s literary past every time you do!
SCORES & OUTDOORS: With a song bird shortage, there are plenty of crows
image credit: British Pest Control Association
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the lack of song and migratory birds at our backyard feeders. Although there seems to be a little improvement, the numbers are still not at the levels of past years. However, there is one thing I have noticed, the abnormal number of crows that have settled in and around my property in Waterville. I have never seen so many hanging around.
Usually, in mid-November, while I’m out raking leaves and pine needles, I witness a great migration of crows when, literally, thousands of crows fly overhead and move on toward the horizon. I see that every year, except this year. Something is amiss in our environment. Not only have I not seen the crow migration, and instead, taking up residents in my yard, especially from my trees where they deposit their calling cards. Speaking of trees, I have a Norway maple near my driveway and the leaves are still clinging to the branches, and haven’t even turned color yet. They are still green! What’s with that?
Anyway, back to the crows.
Crows are common and widespread. Males tend to be larger than females. There are many species of crows but the one we most associate with is the American crow. They are large, distinctive birds with iridescent black feathers. Mature birds are usually 16 – 20 inches in length, with about 40 percent of which is tail. Their wingspan is approximately 33 – 39 inches. The life span of the American crow in the wild is 7 – 8 years, while they have been known to live up to 30 years in captivity.
Crows also resemble the much larger raven. When they are flying at a distance, they are difficult to distinguish from each other. Ravens have a larger head and a lonzenge-shaped tail.
The range of the American crow extends from the Atlantic Ocean in Canada to the Pacific Ocean, and south through the United States into Mexico.
The crow are omnivorous, which explains why they are probably hanging around in the city, especially when my neighbors put their trash out to the curb too early, and the crows gather to sample the fare in the bags by ripping them open. They not only eat all types of carrion, but also human food, seeds, eggs and nestlings, fish on the shore and various grains. They will also prey on mice, frogs, and other small animals. They will scavenge landfills, scattering garbage in the process, which makes them considered a nuisance.
Their only redeeming quality is that they eat insect pests which helps agriculture. They are also carriers of the West Nile virus. However, the direct transmission of the virus from the crows to humans is unheard of and unlikely. I have found dead crows in my backyard, which I suspect was the result of the West Nile virus. The West Nile virus was accidentally introduced in the United States in 1999, apparently by an infested air traveler who was bitten by a mosquito. Since they are susceptible to the virus, the crow population has dropped by up to 45 percent since 1999. You couldn’t prove that by me based on what I mentioned earlier. Despire this decline, the species is considered of least concern.
The American crow is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but despite the attempt by humans to drive the birds away, BirdLife International estimates the crow population to be at 31 million birds. The large number of birds and its wide range is the reason they are not considered threatened.
Maybe that explains the large number of birds in and around my backyard. There are so many of them, they may not have any place to go.
I’m Just Curious: The story of Humpfree
by Debbie Walker
I apologize, I goofed last week. I thought I had sent in my column. OOOppps, in checking my computer for “last sent to Townline,” a big OOPS, I had not sent one after the “Mother’s Sayings”.
It’s not something I really want to think much about. Today is the day after Thanksgiving and I believe in years past it has been the biggest shopping day of the year. All I really want to say about the whole subject is: CHRISTMAS IS COMING! No, I am NOT ready!
I have to tell you a little story about my pocketbook. His name is Humpfree and he is a Maine moose. Patsy found my moose at our favorite thrift store, the little one in Unity village. In our classroom we have a theme of Maine animals so I was thrilled with what I thought was a stuffed moose. Guess what! The moose was a bag; it was possibly just a kid’s overnight bag. It is now my pocketbook. He is rather large (so am I!), and he is quite noticeable. The kids at school just love Humpfree and so does my niece, Haliegh. Well, you know we have a hunting season here in Maine, we had to protect Humpfree from the hunters. He had to wear some orange, so we put a pair of orange gloves on his antlers! He was safe. I say “was” because today we removed the “orange” and put little LED blue lights on his antlers. The lights are beautiful! So if we wind up in Waterville shopping and you see us be sure to stop us and say “Hi”.
I have to tell you the neatest thing about carrying Humpfree, it’s people’s reaction to him. Some people will smile, some will laugh out loud and others will stop to laugh and chat. Carrying Humpfree has been a wonderful experience.
Coming soon will be a Santa pocketbook and after that I think it will be the pig, for a pocketbook! Santa and the pig both had to be adapted. I told you before that I have just too much fun. Oh, I have to tell you what Mom said. I think she was embarrassed about some of my actions, but then said that her saving grace was she was able to tell people that I work with first and second grade kids (like that makes it ok).
As usual I am just curious what makes you smile. Please, any questions, comments, or thoughts, send to dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to check us out online!! Thanks for reading!
REVIEWS – Musicians: Gene Krupa & Anita O’day; Album: Christmas with the Lennon Sisters
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates
How I Started Collecting Records, Part 6.
A chance encounter during the summer of 1962 led to a consuming fascination with classical music that still prevails today. I came into the living room late one warm August afternoon where I found Mom in conversation with a door-to-door salesman. Somehow the talk turned to books, which still didn’t grab my attention – my interest in collecting and intensive reading was sparked later in eighth grade, but then he commented on having some nice records as well. By 11, I was interested in records in general and enjoyed pawing through people’s collections, when given permission.
The gentleman was Leslie Davis; he invited me to his house that night, which is still located directly across the street from the East Vassalboro Grange Hall; he had recently moved there from North Carolina with his wife, Annette, who was a native of here and whose parents had owned and lived in the house several years earlier before they both passed away; and he then owned about 125 classical LPs, to my mind a humongous collection. We began a friendship of 20 years, ending with his death in 1982, at 66.
He opened my ears and heart to many beautiful symphonies and concertos, via his Motorola monaural console, but disliked opera because it contained, in his own words, “too much screeching.” I used to put his records in order very often and for free because I loved the covers, titles and labels- red seal Victors, Angels, Capitols, Columbia Masterworks, etc.
Even though I went away for periods of a few years, I always gravitated to the Davis home for spirited talk about books, records and other subjects, and a few shared meals. Annette died in 2005 and willed the records to Vassalboro Historical Society, who, in turn, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Thus the coming full circle!
Gene Krupa – How High the Moon; Tea for Two
with singer Anita O’Day; Columbia, 38345, ten-inch shellac 78, recorded 1945.
Gene Krupa
Drummer Gene Krupa (1909-1973) gave the instrument new depths of musical expression with his extended solo in Benny Goodman’s megahit Sing Sing Sing! during a big band era tenure with the clarinettist. By the early ‘40s, he had his own orchestra and hooked up with Anita O’Day (1919-2006), with whom he would record 44 sides.
Her rendition of Tea for Two is intelligently sung, nuanced but still swinging, a true classic which straddles the fence between big band and post-World War II bop. The purely instrumental How High the Moon is one pulsating beauty.
Anita O’Day
Although both Krupa and O’Day were musically very accomplished and popular with their fan base, they had their own individually private struggles with alcohol and drugs. Coincidentally on separate occasions, they were each arrested for marijuana possession and sentenced to 90 days in the lockup.
Christmas with the Lennon Sisters
Dot DLP 25343, 12-inch vinyl stereo LP, recorded 1961.
The Lennon Sisters were talented, whatever one’s individual opinion might be, and their performances of the 14 carols contained herein are consistent in quality with the girls’ records elsewhere. Although I am not their biggest fan, I do enjoy them in small doses, and find their singing here of Adestes Fideles beautifully arranged and nuanced, thanks to the conductor, Milt Rogers.
Unfortunately, I was only able to hear six songs complete, two abridged but missed out on the other six due to a large piece of the record missing.