Recent happenings

On Sunday, April 20, following the service at Restoration, we held our Progressive Book Group meeting. I was pleasently surprised that eight people attended. We are still reading and discussing Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. We have been on this book for a long time. We read and discuss one chapter a month. The book has 25 chapters. The last chapter we discussed was chapter 16.

Last Tuesday, a week ago from today, we were driving back to Sand Springs from Tulsa and decided to stop at McDonald's for some breakfast. I went through the drive-thru. As I was getting our order, the cup of hot coffee ended up in my lap and ran down my left leg. It was hot enough I got second degree burns from the coffee. We went inside the restaurant and filled out papers on the incident. Then we went to Urgent Care in Sand Springs where I was given some ointment. The only place I got blisters are on my left foot. I took the week off from walking.

Last Monday (yesterday) the Methodist Book Group met at Mazzio's. We ate and talked about The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. Next month we will discuss To Kill A Mockingbird.

TV worth watching

We have been watching the new Cosmos series being shown on Fox. It comes on Sunday nights at 8 pm. So far four or five of the one-hour programs have been shown. The series is a remake of the series hosted by Carl Sagan back in 1980. I saw the original Cosmos and have been watching the remake hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. It is probably the best thing on TV at this time.

In other news, we returned today from Springfield. We drove there on Wednesday, following J's doctor appointment.

I had the church piano tuned last Tuesday. It was the first tuning for the piano in several years. It was needing it pretty bad. Gail and I are paying for the tuning.

Movie Night and more

We had a movie night at Restoration back on March 29. I believe there were five of us who showed up to watch a movie. The movie starred Peter Falk. The title of the movie was "Checking Out." It was entertaining. Someone suggested we show movies that reflect diversity. I'm not sure the Falk movie did that, but we intend to hold a movie night once a month. I need to see if a movie has been selected for April.

We went to Springfield on the 31st of March and come back on April 2. The next day, April 3, a piano tuner came and tuned my piano. It had been two and a half years since it was last tuned. He charged $115. I am going to have the tuner tune the church piano on the 15th of this month. Gail and I will pay for the tuning. I don't think the church piano has been tuned since I have been attending Restoration, which is about 8 or 10 years.

On Friday, April 4, I drove out to Keystone State Park to check on the YRE the walking club has there. We had 20 walkers for the first quarter of the year. That is not bad considering how cold the winter was.

Last Sunday was Humanist Sunday at Restoration. Our speaker was Marilyn Clarke. The title of her talk was "Permanently Temporary." Gail and I played a piano duet by Robert Vandall titled "Tucson Toccata."

In the past we have had a potluck dinner following the service. This time we served breakfast instead. We will continue with the breakfasts on Humanist Sunday for a while. We had nine people attend the breakfast.

Birthday celebration

Yesterday we celebrated my 66th birthday. Actually my birthday was back on March 8, but to celebrated my birthday we went to the Performing Arts Center (PAC) for a concert I wanted to hear. J bought tickets a few weeks back.

After we dropped off Jenifer and Luke, instead of returning home, we headed for downtown Tulsa. We had a nice dinner at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Next we went to the PAC and attended the "Ragtime for Tulsa" concert. Featured in this concert were Bryan Wright and Dalton Ridenhour.

The concert began with Wright playing Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag." He actually played it twice, first as Joplin wrote it, and then as Wright adapted it. After Wright played a half dozen rags, Ridenhour joined Wright on stage where the two played duets on two pianos, both concert grands. The performers had trouble with one note on one of the pianos. Ridenhour got out his tuning wrench on worked on getting the note in proper pitch. Following the duets, Wright left the stage and then Ridenhour played solo ragtime. Among the pieces he played were "Palm Leaf Rag" and "Gladiolus Rag." After fourteen rags were played came intermission, at which time the performers sold copies of their CDs.

After the intermission, Ridenhour played "The Harlem Strut," written by stride piano composer James P. Johnson. Other pieces by Jelly Roll Morton and Zez Confrey followed. Ridenhour played one of his original compositions during the second half of the show.

The week in review

I will start back on Wednesday, March 12, which was a little more than a week ago. On that day I saw my optomitrist for an annual eye check-up. She was impressed with how well I could see, saying I was seeing with 20/15 vision, which is sharper than 20/20. I now only wear glasses to read. I have several pairs of reading glasses. You can get them for $1 a pair at Dollar Tree. I keep them scattered throughout the house so that wherever in the house I happen to be (at the piano, in the bedroom, in the back office, or the kitchen) there will be reading glasses nearby.

The next day I drove J to Sapulpa to a doctor's visit. After the visit, we stopped at a bar-be-cue restarant to get take-out pulled pork sandwiches. Love that pork bar-be-cue!

On Friday, Gail came over for our weekly duet practice.

Last Sunday following the church service, four of us stayed for drumming. We played hand drums.

Due to the weather, Tulsa schools were canceled on Monday. So there was no Reading Partners on that day. That evening, the Methodist Book Group met at the Methodist Church. There were just four of us there.

On Wednesday evening at 7 pm, we went to All Souls Unitarian Church and heard Dr. Gary McManus, the state climatologist, speak on climate change. It was the second of a four-part series on climate change.

The next day I went to the dentist. I had a great check-up. All looked fine.

The next day was Friday, March 14. We attended Tulsa Town Hall. The speaker was Mia Farrow. She told about being married to Frank Sinatra and later Andre Previn. She mentioned her relationship to Woody Allen, but did not dwell upon it. Later on, Gail came over for duet practice. We played through a new book of music I got on my birthday. It is a collection of duets from West Side Story.

There was a HAT meeting on Saturday, March 15. There were only five of us there.

Today the weather was miserable again, as it has been lately on Sundays. It was snowing and sleeting with the temps in the 30s. Only five people showed up for church. We decided to postpone our study of Zinn's A People's History of the United States. The speaker today was Joy Avery who spoke on beekeeping. She wore her beekeeper's outfit, complete with netted headpiece and equipment.

Later we went to a St. Patrick's Day party at the Methodist Church. Twenty people attended that event. We had a potluck dinner, and afterwards we had an exchange of white elephant gifts.

After we got home, we watched Cosmos, which was broadcast on Fox. It was the second installment in the series.

Falling behind

I just noticed that the last time I updated this blog was February 22. But there has not been a lot happening to write about.

Because J has a number of medical appointments scheduled on Mondays, Gail and I have shifted our duet practices to Fridays for the time being.

The weather was so bad last Sunday, that I called off partipation of the Humanist group at church. There were only four people who showed up at Restoration last Sunday. The speaker would have been Marilyn Clarke. We have shifted her talk to Humanist Sunday in April. This was the third Humanist Sunday in a row that was affected by the weather. "Tuscon Toccato" will be the special music whenever Gail and I get around to playing it.

Also because of the weather, Tulsa Public Schools did not meet on Monday. It was another time I had to miss out on tutoring my third-grade student at Mark Twain Elementary.

Yesterday was my 66th birthday anniversary. We went to Denny's where you get a free breakfast on your birthday. After that, we went to Saied's Music where I bought a book of music. It was cold and rainy. We were glad to get back home.

Food and Fellowship and Movie

Today around noon we gathered at Chopsticks, a Chinese restaurant, for lunch. Attendees included Randy, Dawn, Marilyn, Jan, myself, Barbara, Audrey, and Molly. It was good to see Randy and Dawn after a long absence. I gave the treasurer materials to Randy.

This evening we saw a movie, The Monuments Men. I enjoyed the movie. This was the first time in quite a while the we went to the theater for a movie.

My remarks before the Tulsa City Council

This evening I would like to recognize two men who are regarded as heroes of humankind. Just last week we celebrated the 205th anniversary of their birth. They were both born on the same day: February 12. One was an American; the other was British.

The American to whom I refer is Abraham Lincoln. From humble beginnings, he rose to become the 16th president of the United States. He was also our commander in chief during that great trauma: the American Civil War. Because of his diligence in securing passage of the 13th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, he is also known as the Great Emancipator.

Also born on February 12, in England, was Charles Darwin. It was Darwin who first gave us an understanding of our biological origins. For years people had speculated about the concept of evolution for it was not a new idea. But it was Darwin who amassed the data during his five-year long voyage on the Beagle to South America which provided the evidence for his thesis of biological evolution.

First published in 1859, The Origin of Species sold out on its first day. Regarded as a threat by the clergy of his day, the idea of evolution through natural selection has prevailed unto this day. It was an idea whose time had come, as the idea had been independently derived by a contemporary of Darwin’s, Alfred Russell Wallace. By giving us an understanding of how we came to be, Darwin can also be thought of as a Great Emancipator.

Humanist Delivers City Council Invocation

Yesterday we attended a concert at the Mansion on Peoria. The Mansion is owned and operated by the Tulsa Historical Society. We heard six ensembles performing string music. The program was comprised of music by Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, and Mendelssohn.

That evening I went to the Tulsa City Council chambers where I delivered the Humanist Invocation on behalf of the Humanist Association of Tulsa. I will post the text of my invocation later.

We attend a forum on Climate Change

Tonight we attended a forum on cimate change at All Souls Unitarian Church. The panel was made up of Marvin Lavenhar, senior minister at All Souls, a minister from a church located in north Tulsa, and a professor from Oral Roberts University. Tonight's topic was "The ethics of climate change." There are three more presentations in the series. The next one will be "Global climate change and the implications for Oklahoma." The third program will be on the topic of "The effects of climate change." "Mitigating climate change" is the final program in the "Dialog on Climate Change" series.

At the next forum the speaker will be the state climatologist Gary McManus. Dr. Bert Fisher will speak at the third forum. Former governor David Walters will speak at the final forum.

Warm weather returns

Finally, after several days of below freezing temps, it has warmed up some. The last two times I spoke at Restoration, the weather was pretty bad. It was so bad that, were I not the speaker, I would not have gone.

Today was the day of the February HAT meeting. If you want to read about what happened there, go to www.tulsaha.blogspot.com.

We recently bought a new storm door to replace our older door. It was installed last Thursday.

Tomorrow is Sunday. I need to wrap this up and practice piano some.

About Fox News

"A 2012 poll found that people who listened to no news were better informed than those who listened to Fox news. --The Week, February 7, 2014

Recent happenings

We made a trip to Springfield last week to be of help to my parents and my sister. We make frequent trips to Springfield.

Last Sunday was Humanist Sunday at Restoration. It was another bad weather day. The snow started coming down heavily around 9:20 that morning. Marilyn called to see if plans for church had been changed. I told her church was still on as far as I knew. I told her I was going to go since I was the speaker that morning. I said she should use her judgment regarding traffic conditions and the weather.

Next Gail called to see if anything had changed. I told her I was going to try to get to church, but I advised her to stay home.

It was slippery getting to church, but I made it there driving very slowly. Attendance was down, naturally. I was about ten minutes late getting there. Mary R. and Larry H. were already there. On Humanist Sunday, Larry leads the R.E. hour. We read and talked about recent columns from "The Ethicist."

Altogether that morning there were five at church: myself, Larry H., Mary R., Edna (the pianist), and Rev. Debra. I was the speaker that morning, and my talk was titled "Darwin's Gift." In liue of the duet, I played a solo: "Can't Help Falling In Love."

On Monday morning, Gail had to drive her husband to the optomitrist. He anticipated his eyes would be dialated. We postponed our practice to some future time.

Today I went to the fitness center. It was time to pay our dues for 2014. I did that and then walked three and a half miles around the basketball court.

Athletic quadcopter

This is the most amazing thing I have seen in a long time. Until I can figure out how to post the link, go to YouTube and in the search box type "athletic quadcopter." View the first video. You will be amazed.

The weekend

Friday evening we drove over to Broken Arrow (via Creek Turnpike) to attend a concert. We saw the Ten Tenors at the BA PAC. If tenors were called niners, I suppose we would have seen the Nine Niners instead. The tenors were accompanied by a eight piece orchestra. The show ran for two and a half hours with a twenty-minute intermission. Coming home, we drove back going through Tulsa.

The next day was our monthly Food and Fellowship gathering. We met at Asian Cuisine. Attendance was nine. John S. came for the first time. Russell B. and Kathy W. were there. We had not seen them in a long time. Russell has a farm a few miles east of Tulsa. He is going to invite the HAT group out there sometime this coming spring.

At church today we talked about changing the monthly potluch lunch to a breakfast. If we do that, we will change the starting time to time 9:30 am. This change comes at my recommendation.

Rev. Debra preached today. After the service was over most of the congregation met in the Community Room for our first gathering of our "Speaking Truth to Power" group. The five of us wrote letters to state officials on three issues of concern.

In the afternoon, I played catch with my grandson out in the backyard. He seemed to really like it.

In the evening, we went to Bethany Church (Disciples of Christ) on Sheridan for an initial meeting of a group that goes by the name VOICE in Oklahoma City. VOICE is an acronym, but I have forgotten what it stands for.

Afterwards, we stopped at a Thai restaurant for a light dinner.

Recent events

I did not think many people would be at the humanist meeting on Saturday, but I was pleasantly surprized when eleven people showed up. We saw three people we had not seen in several months. We had a good meeting.

Yesterday I played piano for Edna, who was in Atlanta for some kind of reunion. The program was on Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Following the service, we talked about chapter 14 of Howard Zinn's book A People's History of the United States.

In a couple of weeks I will once again be the speaker at Restoration. My talk will be on Charles Darwin, whose 205th birthday is February 9. I think we will celebrate with a birthday cake at the next HAT meeting.

Fox Nation vs. Reality

Here is Amazon's description of "Fox Nation vs. Reality." The e-book is available for $2.99.

When Fox News debuted it was crafted from scratch to be a partisan outlet for right-wing propaganda and a platform for advancing a conservative agenda. Its Internet community web site, Fox Nation, serves as the online gathering place for Fox viewers to absorb and spread the aggregated disinformation and conspiracy theories hatched by Fox News. The statement of purpose posted on the Fox Nation web site says that it is “committed to the core principles of tolerance, open debate, civil discourse, and fair and balanced coverage of the news.”

However, a cursory glance at the site reveals that they have fallen wide of their stated purpose by several light years. This first volume of Fox Nation vs. Reality is a collection of some of the blatant falsehoods found on Fox Nation. These are not mere differences of opinion or discussions that might have varying degrees of perspective. They are obvious, provable, out and out lies. They are manifestations of a disconnect with the real world. But they are not the result of psychosis or mistake. They are deliberate and purposeful.

They are aimed at an ill-informed audience that is only interested in having their prejudices affirmed. And Fox News is only too happy to accommodate them. In Fox Nation vs. Reality you will find a compilation of articles originally published on the media analysis web site News Corpse. They provide an eye-opening look into the lengths that committed propagandists will go in order to fabricate an alternative political reality. And remember that Fox Nation is not some remote outpost on the Internet Superhighway. It is an integral part of Fox News whose executives are wholly responsible for the stain it produces on journalism.

The polar vortex explained

Here is a link explaining the polar vortex: click here

The polar vortex strikes

It has been super cold. It is probably another effect of global climate change. Fortunately, I don't have to get out and go to work. Another reason to be thankful for retirement.

Although I did not have to get out, I did anyway. Yesterday, I was scheduled to speak at Church of the Restoration. Gail and I had planned to play a duet. The weatherman at Channel 8 was warning people about getting out. We had a thin layer of ice on the streets. On top of the ice there was a dusting of snow. Yesterday was Humanist Sunday and not wanting any of my friends to put themselves at risk, I sent out an e-mail advising our members to stay put and not come to church. To make sure they got the message I phoned Gail and Marilyn, both of whom were on the program. I phoned Mary, one of the leaders in our church to see if church would meet, and she said she would be there. Mary leads the Religious Education hour at 10 am.

I got in my car and drove to church. I had no trouble at all getting to church. When I arrived Mary was there along with Larry Hochhaus. Larry was leading the R.E. hour this Sunday. We read and discussed two ethical dilemmas from a column that appear in the New York Times. I think the column is called "The Ethicist." A short time later, Rev. Debra Garfinkel arrived and joined the conversation.

At ten until eleven I moved to the sanctuary and began playing the piano. I do the introductory music each Sunday. During this time Vanessa arrived. Edna, the pianist, who is now 78 years old, was given the day off. I filled in at the piano. My special selection was the National Anthem of South Africa. If you watched the coverage of the Nelson Mandela funeral, you probably heard this music.

With the bitter cold and hazardous driving conditions, there were just five of us there today. So I gave my twenty- minute talk for the four in the congregation.

The only problem driving I had was as I got in front of the house coming back. I turned the steering wheel to go into the driveway, but the car continued going straight. When the car stopped, I back up and then got into the driveway.

Today Gail came over, and we played duets for a couple of hours. Coming from and going back to her car, she walked in the snow for better footing. The temperature was in the single digits.

A four-day trip to Springfield

We made a four-day trip to Springfield last week. Mother was in the hospital but was released on Saturday. Dad is quite weak now, but they refuse to hire help. They really need to hire someone to live with them, if they are not going to move to assisted living.

My cousin Vicki in Houston is expecting to have surgery soon.

We are doing well thus far.

While we were in Springfield, Nick and his family were there too. You could say we had a family reunion of sorts. We ate at Red Robin one evening. I had a whiskey-flavored hamburger with a chocolate shake. Braum's has a much better chocolate shake.