This morning I was laying in bed listening to “On the Media” online and a good solution occurred to me. Use a book code. I understand that one of the hardest codes to decipher are codes that use two copies of the same book. This was part of the plot of a book I read recently.

It would be simple to devise a method to keep track of multiple passwords using one book.

Cool.

One could incorporate a pattern or patterns using pages in the book. Lengthy passwords would be easy to generate. Length is important I think.

Anyway, that’s my insight for this morning.

Last night Eileen and I attended an appreciation dinner for staff and volunteers at Herrick library.

I was struck by the fact that both the pianist for the evening and the caterer were acquaintances of mine.

I know few people at the library.

The ones I did know were sitting far away from me.

Finished reading What Animal a book of poetry by Oni Buchanan. I also read part of a review of this her first published book of poetry.

I think that I’m pretty eccentric in my tastes in poetry and literature. I have now read two books of poetry by Oni Buchanan and two books of poetry by her husband Jon Woodward. In both cases I found myself losing interest in the work. I keep suspect Buchanan of consulting a thesaurus.

Whether or not this is fact the actual case, the way she uses words and ideas sometimes seem clunky to me. I was not always able to understand just what she was getting at, who was speaking and the context of the images. Probably this reflects my own orientation more than anything.

The reviewer thought she was great.

On the other hand I ran across a lovely poem yesterday on Three Quarks Daily that inspired me so much I looked up the author and inter-library loaned a book of her poems.

I’ve also started reading Louis Glück’s A Village Life. I own several books of her poetry and think of her as a poet my brother admires. I am finding her more understandable than Buchanan or Woodward.

*****************************************************************************************

Why Math is Like the Honey Badger: Nate Silver Ascendant | Cocktail Party Physics, Scientific American Blog Network

I continue to be fascinated by people’s superstitious belief in how science and math works. Facts are facts. You don’t really get to make up your own facts. If you choose to disbelieve a fact. It reflects on you not the fact. I heard Republican pundits contesting Silver’s computations before the election. I head Silver talk about how he arrived at his numbers and he was clear and coherent.

**************************************************************************************

‘The Fractalist,’ Benoit B. Mandelbrot’s Math Memoir – NYTimes.com

Speaking of math and science, this memoir looks interesting to me. Too new to inter-library loan. But I have it in mind to look at sometime, if not read.

****************************************************************************************

When Is a Mandate Not a Mandate?

286 electoral votes = a mandate.

Interesting take on use of this language about the election. I especially found Krauthammer’s inconsistency satisfying since the few times I have listened to him speak he seems rabidly polemic and relatively content free.

303 to 332 electoral votes = not a mandate.

***************************************************************************************

In Syria, Missteps by Rebels Erode Their Support – NYTimes.com

Some interesting on the ground reporting in this article.

****************************************************************************************

New York Subways Find Magic in Speedy Hurricane Recovery – NYTimes.com

Also an example of top notch coverage of a fascinating set of events.

****************************************************************************************

Wixom, Mich., Shooting Suspect Is Arrested – NYTimes.com

Looks like they got the guy who was shooting up I-96 in northwest Detroit. Good police work!

*****************************************************************************************

Californians Say Yes to Raising Their Taxes – NYTimes.com

Once again Californians lead the way for the nation. I support taxes because I support governmental services. Like FEMA. Like building roads and bridges. And especially education.

****************************************************************************************

Let’s Not Make a Deal – NYTimes.com

Krugman is definitely my kind of thinker. Us soft headed liberals stick together.

****************************************************************************************

Can the Federal Reserve Help Prevent a Second Recession? | The Nation

William Grieder is another dude I have read who has helped me understand stuff. Notice this article sounds many but not all of the same notes as the conservative business community. Who’dah thunk it? Right there in the communist rag, the Nation (the digital version of which I subscribe to)

***************************************************************************************

I have to laugh.

* * *

Two women are talking to each other. One has asked the other for help. I could help but I hold back. They are sitting and talking. One leans toward the other and smiles reassuringly. I can remember watching them literally fight each other. It’s satisfying to see this moment.

* * *

The child is out of control. Like so many children when the parents look on helpless and embarrassed. He is of course brilliant in his own way. Winning smile. As he dashes from one corner of the room to the other happily yelling, I wonder how he will grow up. Will he continue to try to manipulate those around him with his aggressive charm? Will it work?

* * *

The man behind the desk has stopped smiling. His skin is leathery and red. Earlier he had turned on the charm. But now he puts his hands on the surface in front of him and looks down, disinterested.

* * *

I am supposed to give a presentation for a meeting of a ladies group at church on Monday evening. No one has specified what they expect. Yesterday I decided it would be easier to play a little piano recital for them.

I am thinking of it as “My favorites and yours.”

I read through pieces yesterday and came up with these.

The Mysterious Barricades by Francois Couperin

Essercizi in G minor by Domenico Scarlatti

Prelude and Fugue in G minor (from WTC II) by Bach

Three Mazurkas by Chopin

Intermezzo in A major by Brahms

Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy

“It don’t mean a thing if it aint got that swing” and

“In a sentimental mood” by Duke Ellington

These are mostly pieces I have performed before. I have been practicing the Bach because I’m in love with the fugue. And I am still reading my way through of all of Scarlatti’s essercizi (I’m on volume V) so I just chose one from that volume that I had marked as an especially charming one (they are all good in my opinion).

In addition I am playing for a Veteran’s ceremony at my Mom’s nursing home this morning.

I played for this last year so I have the theme songs for all the branches of the service together in one place where I can just grab them and go.

Yesterday I finally found some music for my instrumentalists to perform for the prelude and postlude a week from Sunday. I was sure I had some music somewhere that we could just use instead of me preparing scores (which is fun but time consuming).

I ran across a two volume set of Purcell: “Spielmusik zum Sommernats-traum” fur vier streich-oder blasinstrumente und basso continuo.

Which I take to mean something like “Music for a Summer Night’s Dream for four strings or other instruments and basso continuo.”

Anyway my yellowing aged copy has separate parts for instruments including one in alto clef for viola. I took it to the piano trio rehearsal yesterday. The oboist showed up that I had invited to join us and we read through several. I chose four for the prelude and one for the postlude.

Nice stuff. Picked it up used at Encore Records in Ann Arbor.

**************************************************************************************

Netanyahu Rushes to Repair Damage With Obama – NYTimes.com

Netanyahu backed the wrong side in the election.

***************************************************************************************

Argentina – Chevron’s Assets Are Frozen – NYTimes.com

This case of seeking damages for raping the environment keeps plodding through world courts.

***************************************************************************************

Michigan Voters Kill ‘Emergency Managers’ for City Finances – NYTimes.com

Local coverage is pretty spotty. I found this article helpful.

***************************************************************************************

Happy Days, Even With the Cliff – NYTimes.com

This is an Op ed, but I was most impressed with this comment in the comment section.

I’m a retired, white baby boomer who is also a Vietnam vet. I was exposed to Agent Orange while serving as a medical corpsman in Vietnam. After more than four decades of indifference, the government that sent me to Vietnam has finally recognized through clinical tests I had a legitimate claim for disability compensation. President Obama and retired general Eric Shinseki, his Secretary of Veteran Affairs, got the VA bureaucracy to approve my heart condition as a valid claim. But over 100,000 Vietnam vets like me were also approved for compensation, of which 68,000 are still alive.
I guess you could interpret my being awarded in September, 2010, a disability claim from the VA as just another American voter “wanting stuff.” I see it as the government finally honoring its commitment to me when I served my country as a young man. So it meant a great deal to me more than just getting some stuff.
This personal issue was just one of the reasons I voted for President Obama. He talks the talk, but he also walks the walk.

George Hoffman,
Stow, Ohio

I have been noticing that when reactionaries use the word, “entitlement,” they can mean different things. When stoking the mob, they can be evoking the mythical Reagan “welfare queen.” When talking a bit more calmly they seem to mean Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare.

I find this confusing since even though these programs are in trouble, most of the recipients paid into the government all their lives. The “entitlement” must come in because of the huge increase in the number of people these programs need to serve and the increase in medical costs. And of course since the money they paid was used to fund the program then, there are fewer people paying in than it would take to keep these programs solvent.

Try putting that on a bumper sticker. Not so easy.

***************************************************************************************

Can Republicans Adapt? – NYTimes.com

This is partisan leftist, but I think it’s eloquent.

Examples:

Republicans became obstructionist on immigration and then veered into offensive demagogy in opposing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The Hispanic vote tumbled by increasing numbers into the Democrats’ laps.

The paternalistic comments about rape by a few male Republican candidates resonated so broadly because they reflected the perception of the G.O.P. as a conclave of out-of-touch men. As Representative Todd Akin of Missouri might put it, when a candidate emerges with offensive views about rape, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Namely, they vote Democratic.

***************************************************************************************

How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away – NYTimes.com

This article is a little crazy but still it’s interesting to hear what the experts do.

***************************************************************************************