We are still working on updating the exterior of our house on Silverton Circle, turning it from an abortion of undesigned ticky-tack into the Prairie style Wright bungalow style. Our front exterior, for example, still has that 20th century mixed palette of red and dark brick which turns out to have too thin a facade, …
An artist I have admired for more than 10 years or so is the Frenchman, Georges Rouault, a man who died in 1959, but was born in 1871 in Paris . . . Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family. He was born in a Parisian cellar after his family’s home was destroyed in the Paris …
NOTE: I wrote this post (on another blog I maintain) over a year ago: March, 2019. I am repeating the blog post here in this more public area: skepticalbob.com. One of the explanations of the differences among us in this country is due to the ancestry each of us possesses, and how the cultural …
Claudia and I became fans of Oklahoma native wildflowers in our landscaping when we lived out east of town from 2001, through my retirement (2004-2005) until 2016. When I retired over 15 years ago, I developed an interest in the wildflowers that were growing along the roads and highways in Oklahoma, especially the roads leading …
A couple of topical areas that interest me (a LOT) is our species’ prehistory, and even more specifically, our development and use of two specific cultural features of the species: our language and our music. Mithen and his Research One academic I discovered some years ago now was Steven Mithen, a cognitive archaeologist at the …
Cognitive Anthropologist, Steven Mithen, Looks at Our Prehistory Read More »
Music: Why Do We React to It Emotionally? Music in Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology: from Player and Performer to the Study of I realized only after being exposed to it that music was a pleasurable experience. I didn’t know why, but I did know that it was something that pleased me to be …
This web site (SkepticalBob.com) holds my posts on different topics, many of them about the same topics I try to alert my friends to on Facebook . . . but not always. For example, sometimes I feel the urge to write a post about something going on in our household on the west side of …
I’m Augmenting My Page about Humorous Writing, Cartoons (and Caricatures) Read More »
Our Generals keep fighting World War II . . . with better technology: “The last time we won a war, the world ran of vacuum tubes” I’ve ordered this new book pictured below. It came to me from Amazon yesterday. It’s called The New Rules of War, it was published in early 2019, and its …
Traditional Wars, sure, but only for Parades and Congressional Big Boy Toys Read More »
The Special Year in the Life of Our Country: 2020 This year has been a whopper, hasn’t it. I don’t know that many of us in the country would have guessed it, but Trump is the center of all attention. Not because he is DOING anything to move the country forward; because he is …
The Special Year in the Life of Our Country: 2020 Read More »
When I think about our past in Western civilization, I remember that I first really thought about the scope of knowledge and belief of those who lived in the Middle Ages when–years and years ago–I first saw one particular documentary episode of the series The Day the Universe Changed: Episode 4, “Matter of Fact“. I …
Our Dystopian Media Ecology I have been thinking more and more recently, as we slide along in this unbelievable, screwy political environment of Trump populism: How did we get to this place? I think I see the major national impacts of the place Trump has put us all in pretty clearly, and unfortunately, but the …
If Neil Postman Were Alive Today: Our Dystopian Media Ecology Read More »
I have been having a lot of reading fun recently, expanding my view to the rear. The books I have been buying are popularized treatments of humanity’s prehistory–recent prehistory, from the period of thirty to fifty thousand years ago to our historical period (something on the order of 5 or 6 thousand years ago). A …
Okay, you probably didn’t know there was a technical term for it, but the vocal “embellishments” and “fancy-ness” that the I-wanna-be-a-star kids do on television (usually at either American Idol or when they are called upon to sing on a large, televised platform (say, the national anthem, etc). You know, when the kid belts out …
Girl’s Caterwauling, or as the Music Pros Call It, Melismatic Phrasing Read More »
A Favorite Subject of Mine: Our Past I have had periods over the last 10 to 15 years when I stepped back from today’s politics or reading about the ins and out of human personality to get really, really interested in something about the past–something in both the “short” term past (our American history) or …
Nahla hasn’t adjusted to the new change yet, but she has a new “buddy” in her life, a second Savannah, this one a kitten just something on the order of 4 or 5 months old. Here is how it came about: A few weeks ago, we were just summarily dropped by our original attorney on …
One of the things we did in Santa Fe last week was visit some of the galleries and studios we have liked, and eat at some of the restaurants we found in the past. Because we were with the Michalaks–who LOVE museums–we also revisited the “Big Four” museums on Museum Hill in southeast Santa Fe: …
Arts Time in Santa Fe Last Week: Klimt, Marla Allison and Tony Abeyta Read More »
“Oh my God! You brought me trumpets? You’re an angel!” In the process of reading the posts left about a particular piece of classical music on YouTube (Mahler Symphony #2, the Resurrection Symphony), I noticed that one woman posted a particularly poignant memory she had of her mother’s last moments in the hospital, and the misunderstanding …
The Power of Music: “You Brought Me Trumpets? You’re An Angel!” Read More »
Cochenour’s Stopped in for a One Evening/Next Morning Stayover Last Week In the middle of last week, John and Donnice Cochenour, our old friend’s from Norman in the 1980’s who now live in Fort Collins, CO, stopped over on their way down to Paris, TX, for a two day bicycle event they were participating in. …
Entering May at Silverton Circle: John and Donnice Stopped Over Read More »
I was sitting here at my desktop computer when a Facebook message came in to Claudia and me telling us that the Metropolitan performance of our all time favorite opera, “Der Rosenkavalier” was going to be broadcast to some specially-equipped movie houses around the country on May 13 (a Saturday afternoon). Well, we found that …
So Back to Music for a Sec: Sorrow and Loss in Music Read More »
Please read the whole post before reacting: we need some privacy on the happenings of the last couple of weeks, and don’t want to deal with the topic of our Savannah cat on Facebook. This is probably going to be the toughest post I have ever had to write, but I have to do it: …