Welcome to my Blog!
I hope to share here my irrepressible thoughts on news, music, books, arts and such like. In general these will be items, events and issues I cannot place within the contents of my website or rather the opposite: put a spotlight on an item featured on my website.
The item immediately below this would be the latest posting.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.”

In Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become Taylor’s signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated ‘I Got What It Takes’. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films ‘Wild At Heart’, ‘Mercury Rising’ and ‘Blues Brothers 2000′. She performed on ‘Late Night With David Letterman’, ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’, CBS-TV’s ‘This Morning’, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs. Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman. Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

Taylor’s final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

www.bluesmusicnow.com
blues.about.com
www.strictlyblues.com

Some magnificent music comes from the US Southern States... I am particularly interested in singer/songwriters. Americana, progressive country or alt.country... whatever. Grayson Capps sure hits the right note for me, love his music, seen him put up a brilliant performance (twice sofar) and his lyrics are quick-witted, talented, comical at times, a protest at times but enjoyable at all times!

Having drawn comparisons over his last few albums to the likes of Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt and Drive By Truckers, to name but a few, Rott ‘N’ Roll proves Grayson Capps an artist equally singular in vision as those to whom he’s compared. He doesn’t always paint the prettiest pictures or offer a gleamy white smile, but he does reach down deep to remind us of our own humanity. Grayson’s own words illuminate it best: “How many times must it be said? Though blood runs blue, you still think it’s red, because that’s how it appears when it hits oxygen. Our life is an illusion, and we create the confusion, so take a dose of seclusion to dilute the delusion. And hope that it’s not in vein that we look into the spheres of the fear-fruit bearing tree before we eat again.”

www.graysoncapps.com
Flickr.com

What a brilliant book, what amazing stories!
Thirty-one short stories, each of them a fascinating read.
The stories are mostly set in rural Georgia, Alabama but some in the Big City. Characters are written in fine detail, almost painted in where they live and you can feel the heat of the South while reading the slowly developing story.
Flannery O'Conner was born in Savannah,Georgia in 1925. When she died at the age of 39, she had made a monumental contribution to American fiction.
O'Connor published her first story, "The Geranium", in 1946 while she was working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa.
This book, 'The Complete Stories', has been arranged chronologically and shows her last story, "The Judgement Day", sent to her publisher shortly before her death, and is a brilliantly rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium"...

Several stories reveal that O'Connor was familiar with some of the most sensitive contemporary issues that her liberal and fundamentalist characters might encounter. She addressed the Holocaust in her famous story "The Displaced Person," and racial integration in "Everything that Rises Must Converge."
O'Connor's fiction often included references to the problem of race in the South; occasionally, racial issues come to the forefront, as in "The Artificial Nigger," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," and "Judgment Day," her last short story and a drastically rewritten version of her first published story, "The Geranium."

In 1951 she was diagnosed with disseminated lupus, and subsequently returned to her ancestral farm, Andalusia, in Milledgeville, Georgia. Although expected to live only five more years, she managed fourteen. At Andalusia, she raised and nurtured some 100 peafowl. Fascinated by birds of all kinds, she raised ducks, hens, geese, and any sort of exotic bird she could obtain, while incorporating images of peacocks into her books.
[Wikipedia]

.....
he was a friend of my papa's he used to drink and tell lies
praised Flannery O'Connor, smoked cigarettes and filosophied
so here I am at The Colonial Inn
me and Captain Long and my pretty girl-friend
he charmes her with a poem, then he brakes down and cries
smile a crooked smile, with his broken cheeck-bone side
tells about his life, now he's 63,
he looks me in the eyes, he says come and go with me
he could walk on water, walk on water
but you know you drown themselves and wine
god and a devil, god and a devil,
god and a devil along inside his mind
it's a love song, for Bobby Long
a love song, for Bobby Long
[ Love Song For Bobby Long Lyrics by Grayson Capps - on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Thanks to Alexander for this magnificent gift and making me aware of the lyrics!

In 1609, the first Dutch settlers arrived in America and established trading posts, small towns and forts up and down along what we now know as the Hudson River.
To this day, American children are taught the thrilling history of the transformation of this settlement, New Netherland, and its captial, New Amsterdam, from landmark port into present day New York State and the island of Manhattan.
But the Dutch legacy extended far beyond New York as this book titled Cookies, Coleslaw and Stoops reveals...

Dutch place-names from the 17th century.
A number of street names in the city of New York remind us of the presence of Dutch settlers. Bowery Lane (Bouwerij), Bridge Street (Dutch=Brug Straat), Broadway (Breede Weg) and Wallstreet (Walstraat, there was a wall here to protect the city against attacks from Englishmen and Native Americans).

Some boroughs derive their origin from the Dutch settlers.
Brooklyn stems from the Dutch town Breukelen, Flushing from Vlissingen, Harlem from Haarlem, Gravesend probably from 's-Gravensande and New Utrecht from Utrecht.
Dutch names also lie at the roots of the islands Block Island (which was named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block), Coney Island (after Dutch Conyne Eylandt, meaning rabbits' island!) Long Island stems from Lange Eylandt, Staten Island from Staaten Eylandt, so called in honor of the Dutch States General and Governors Island was named after the Dutch governor Wouter van Twiller, who bought the island -then called Noten Eylandt- from Native Americans.

Outside New York we see the same influence.
Cape May,NJ was named after the Dutch captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, who sailed past this point in the 17th century. Schuylkill,PA is a combination of schuilen, meaning to hide, and kil, meant here to be a stream; the reference meant here may refer to an incident whereby a Swedish vessel hid on this stream!

There are many more placenames, current and faded away, but perhaps more of interest is the fact that many of these names find their origin in reference to fields, brooks and suchlike...
Many names for bodies of water are formed using Dutch loanwords such as kill, binnacle, binnewater and fly... Also many new geographical names contain the elements bush, clove, cripple, dorp, gat and hook.
E.g Peekskill,NY refers to 'Peek's Stream'. Jan Peek was a Dutch trader who settled there around 1665.
Primehook,DE is from Dutch Pruimhoek, so called because wild plums (pruimen) used to grow on this corner of land (hoek, pronounced the same, is Dutch for corner).

I'll be quoting from this book more often, on interesting items, like "dollar" has a Dutch origin too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy_of_New_Netherland

KODACHROME

When I started taking photos of aeroplanes during the 1970s, I could only afford Ilford black & white film. The 'big shots' had Kodachrome loaded in their cameras (Nikon, Canon but mostly Asahi Pentax and Olympus I seem to remember).
In later years I too upgraded to Kodachrome slide film, as Kodachrome was the standard plane spotters traded and expanded their collections. Orwo and Agfa were not accepted, though I tried them out of economic neccessity. Fuji arrived later at the scene. Kodachrome 25 was esspecially liked for its lack of grain and utter sharpness. I mostky used Kodachrome 64, as the sun was often lacking upon my visits to the nearby airbase.
With the advent of digital photography, the slide film rapidly lost its footing in the market, though many plane spotters continue to trade their Kodachrome slides on the internet and trade conventions.

-
Over its 74-year production, Kodachrome was produced in formats to suit various still and motion picture cameras, including 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm for movies and 35mm, 120, 110, 126, 828, and large format for still photography. It was for many years used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media.
Kodachrome requires complex processing that cannot practically be carried out by amateurs. The film is sold with processing included in the purchase price except in the United States, where a 1954 legal ruling prevents this.
On 22Jun09 Eastman Kodak Co. announced the end of Kodachrome production, citing declining demand.[4] Many Kodak and independent laboratories once processed Kodachrome, but only one Kodak certified facility remains: Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, where existing film stock will be developed until the end of 2010.
[Wikipedia more...]

A nice website to explore is http://1000words.kodak.com/

The songbook includes some fantastic photography by Jack Spencer (click thumbnail)-

Neil Young's cd 'Fork In The Road' offers great music, but I don't like the design; the lyrics are unreadable and you really have to make an effort to get the cd out of there. It's cheap and lousy.

Today I stumbled (because I typed www.blur.com, instead of www.blurb.com while looking for something totally different...) on a link to a mindblowing, f*cking brilliant, trailer of WARHAMMER -
AGE OF RECKONING, a MUST see!!!

From Wikipedia:
Billy Connolly, CBE (born William Connolly, Jr. on 24 November 1942) is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin (The Big One).
His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue being a folk singer in a pop/folk band and subsequently as a soloist.
In the early 1970s he made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to fully-fledged comedian, a role in which he continues. He also became an actor, and has appeared in a series of films.

I think I became aware of him when he presented some BBC series. We saw him in the streets of Vancouver,BC (2003 I think it was), but since he was engrossed in conversation with someone we did not walk up to him; our stay in Vancouver was too short to try to attend a show of his. Todate I have not had the pleasure of seeing him live on stage, unfortunately.

He has a fantastic website and I don't know who designed it for him, but it is so Billy Connolly...

I very much enjoy watching British crime series; over the years I have come to the conclusion that US-produced crime series mostly have a predictable casting (always a 'senior' in charge, there must be a black man of course and the women are too young and gorgeous) and are crap. The last series I enjoyed was probably Colombo (Peter Falk) and the exception all this is Law and Order, though I have given up on that one too.
Anyway, back to the British crime scene...
Jan.2010 brought the news that actor John Nettles will be finishing Series 13 of Midsomer Murders and that will be the end for him, having played the role of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby since the start.
Midsomer Murders is a British tv (detective) drama that has aired on ITV1 since 1997. It focuses on the main character of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, played by John Nettles, and his efforts to solve the numerous crimes that take place in the fictional English county of Midsomer. It is based on a series of crime novels by the author Caroline Graham and was previously adapted by Anthony Horowitz. [Wikipedia]

The cast (clockwise):
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey)
DS Dan Scott (John Hopkins)
DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) & DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles)
Dr George Bullard (Barry Jackson)
Cully Barnaby (Laura Howard)
Joyce Barnaby (Jane Wymark)

Over the years, DCI Barnaby has been (consecutively) assisted by the Detective Sergeants Troy, Scott and Jones. George Bullard has the nasty task to examine the growing number of bodies up close.
Tom's wife Joyce is always there and his daughter Cully drops in every now and then. Joyce and Cully sometimes play a part in the plot, but mostly play an important role in the backdrop that is rural England (fairs, fetes, festivities, plays & parties). There are always manor houses, cottages, winding roads, farms and small villages in the frame. Casting is very diverse on characters and, to me, a big attraction of the series.
Causton and Midsomer County is fictional (a 'map'), but it 'exists'! I know because I've been 'there' many times (though no one, afaik, was murdered upon my visits!).
I was pleasantly surprised to see I visited a location which featured in various episodes: Amersham (see my photos on Flickr.com)

Helpful links:
midsomermurders.org
Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Wikipedia

Last week I finally found myself in the opportunity to read this classic by J. D. Salinger. A lot of people know of the title, but many of them haven't actually read it. I quite liked it, it just rolls on in the rather chaotic mindset of main character Holden Caulfield and it kept me spellbound.
A few quotes that may illustrate the contents a little:
...
'About me, for Chrissake?'
'Yeah, I was defending your goddam honour. Stradlater said you had a lousy personality. I couldn't let him get away with that stuff.' (This is Holden talking - webmaster)
That got him excited. 'He did? No kidding? He did?'
I told him I was only kidding, and then I went over and laid down on Ely's bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome. (This is when Holden knows he is being expelled from school - again. - webmaster)
...
There was hardly anybody in the lobby any more. Even all the whorey-looking blondes weren't around anymore, and all off a sudden, I felt like getting the hell out of the place. It was so depressing. And I wasn't tired or anything. So I went up to my room and put on my coat. I also took a look out of the window to see if all the perverts were still in action, but the lights and all were out now. I went down in the elevator again and got a cab and told the driver to take me down to Ernie's.
Ernie's is this nightclub in Greenwich Village that my brother D.B. used to go to quite frequently before he went to Hollywood and prostituted himself. (Holden has returned to New York, roaming the streets restlessly, delaying the confrontation with his parents. - webmaster)
...
After old Sunny was gone, I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of cigarettes. It was getting daylight outside. Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can't imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get depressed. I kept telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in front of Bobby Fallon's house. (Allie is Holden's younger brother, who died from leukemia, when Holden was thirteen- webmaster).
...
Old Phoebe said something then, but I couldn't hear her. She had the side of her mouth right smack on the pillow, and I couldn't hear her.
'What?' I said. 'Take your mouth away. I can't hear you with your mouth that way.'
'You don't like anything that's happening.'
It made me even more depressed when she said that.
'Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Sure I do. Don't say that. Why the hell do you say that?'
'Because you don't. You don't like any schools. You don't like a million things. You don't.'
'I do! That's where you're wrong - that's exactly where you are wrong! Why the hell do you have to say that?' I said. Boy, she was depressing me.
'Because you don't,' she said. 'Name one thing.'
'One thing? One thing I like?' I said. 'Okay.'
The trouble was, I couldn't concentrate too hot. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate. (This is Holden talking to his younger sister Phoebe - webmaster)
...
To learn Holden's answer to Phoebe, and learn about the explanation of the title, I recommend a visit to Wikipedia.

When I read this book, and when I wrote the above, I did not know if Mr Salinger was dead or alive. The news tonight, 28JAN2010, reported J.D.Salinger's death.... what coincidence!

This is part of what Associated Press wrote today-
NEW YORK - J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.
Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.
--Immortal anti-hero--
"The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made 'Catcher' a featured selection, advised that for 'anyone who has ever brought up a son' the novel will be 'a source of wonder and delight — and concern.'

The paper used for this historical document was manufactured around the year 1770 and had been produced by people of the Zaanse Baptist community; more precise: by paper manufacturers Adriaan Rogge, Jacob Honig & Sons and D & C Blauw.
Of the ca. 200 copies, which were printed by John Dunlap in the night of 4/5th july 1776 by order of the US Congress, only 25 remain in existence in archives and libraries (mainly in the USA).
The 25th rediscovered copy has recently been actioned for $ 8 million dollar!

Last year, 2009, saw the celebration of 400 years of close relations between the Netherlands and the United States.
Four hundred years ago, a Dutch ship called the Half Moon with Captain Henry Hudson at the helm, arrived at the shores of what is now New York City. This led to the establishment of New Amsterdam and the New Netherland colony.
See www.ny400.org website.

A MATTER OF NATIONAL PRIDE

Through centuries the Dutch have explored and traded the globe far and wide.
They chartered new territories, persons such as Abel Tasman (who mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands) and Peter Stuyvesant (whose accomplishments, as director-general, included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam -later renamed New York- beyond the southern tip of Manhattan).

The Dutch have known glorious days, esspecially in the 17th century, which is celebrated as the Golden Century; ships returned richly laden with rare commoditities and spices.

Here in lies the Dutch tradition of being open to other cultures, food prepared with exotic herbs, allowing other cultures to celebrate their traditions & religions within our own border. Even to a point where sometimes the accusation may be heard that the Dutch lack pride for their own nationality and national identity. Well, if you've seen the Dutch football supporters or those who cheer for the speed skaters, you know that accusation won't stand.

But I do agree we could have another look at our passport: the coat of arms bears the title JE MAINTIENDRAI (French, for I Will Stand Fast or I Will Maintain, e.g. maintain my principles).
The National Anthem of the Dutch is even bigger joke... The 1st verse of The Wilhelmus -one of the oldest national anthems in history- have the Dutch proudly proclaim them to be of German blood... The 2nd verse proclaims loyalty to... the King of Spain! To make sure, the 3 verse repeats it!
French, German, Spanish... no wonder the Dutch can be extremely critical of their own government and Royal Family: their loyalty has been directed across the border by the very same!

Following was sent to me by Michael Clayton, ending the year on a wry note (note that last listing, at the bottom!):

The (London) DAILY TELEGRAPH newspaper, of 29DEC2009, has published this 'Bookmakers List'. It's all about the odds of airlines likely to go bust. Or not, as we fervently hope.
Just how serious it is meant to be, is for you to decide!
4/1 Monarch
11/2 Wizz Air
11/2 Finnair
13/2 Malev
9/1 Aer Arann
10/1 Spanair
10/1 Jet2
11/1 B A
14/1 Aer Lingus
14/1 Thomson Airways
16/1 Vueling Airlines
18/1 Bmibaby
20/1 Qantas
20/1 Air Berlin
25/1 Scandinavian airlines
33/1 United Airlines
33/1 Aegean Airlines
33/1 Air One
40/1 Thomas Cook Airlines
40/1 Germanwings
40/1 Flybe
50/1 LOT
50/1 JetBlue
66/1 Czech Airlines
80/1 easyJet
80/1 Virgin Atlantic
80/1 Ryanair
100/1 Lufthansa
100/1 Air France-KLM
100/1 Aeroflot
100/1 Turkish Airlines
100/1 Singapore Airlines
500/1 Vatican Airlines
1000/1 Air Force One ....

The article refers to bookmaker Paddy Power, who said he headed the list with Monarch because he had received more than 100 bets in the last week that this airline will suffer the same fate as FlyGlobespan, which collapsed 2 weeks ago. Monarch, though, insists that there is no reason for passengers to worry. In early Sep.2008, Paddy Power stopped taking bets on XL Leisure after receiving over 200 bets in 24 hours that it would be the next airline to fail...

Internationally:
It struck me that large banks and financial institutions, which have caused the 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS ('THE CREDIT CRUNCH'), and which brought on the 2009 GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS, seem to get away with their irresponsible behaviour!
Most countries saw their governments jump to the aid of the teethering banks, shoring them up with huge cash injections and favourable loans.
In the 2nd half of 2009 many banks started to repay those loans, with funding from new share emissions. Not because of common sense, but rather to avoid ruling by governments on putting restrictions on the irresponsible bonuses the bankmanagers share among themselves.
Greed, plain and simple.
While I object to large corporations handing out similar outrageous bonuses, corporations are much less likely to throw entire economies in a depression. While banks have clearly been proven to do so.
Banks are now quickly recovering due to share emissions and other measures to protect them, but many national economies will be depressed for years to come while dealing with an unbalanced budget and deficits...
Those money-grabbing bank directors have to be stopped.

Nationally:
I never would have thought a bank would go bust in the Netherlands, the DSB proved to be an eye-opener.
Governments and analysts keep telling we are definitely recovering from the GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS, that we are out of the RECESSION, but I don't believe them.
Many friends of mine are out of a job, with as yet little hope to find one in the near future. The company I work for saw its workforce cut in half by redundacies. Official figures show the Netherlands had its largest drop in 25 years when 2009 3rd quarter had 140.000 jobs less than the 3rd quarter in 2008.
By Sep.2008 398.000 people were jobless in the Netherlands, this is about 5% of the workforce. Average for Europe is 10% (Spain 17,4%).
2010 is expected to see even more people unemployed, while politicians hammer home their mantra: "we are climbing out of the recession". Useless buggers!!
If I would have a wish for 2010, I would wish for a clear reversal of those unemployment statistics!

Recently read about Freya Hoffmeister of Germany, she circled the entire continent of Australia in her kayak. She did this in 332 days: 18jan09- 15Dec09, start and finish at Queenscliff.
The record for this astounding feat dated from 1982, when someone from New Zealand did the same thing, covering a distance of 13.000 kilometers.
Freya encountered crocodiles, deathly jellyfish, poisonous snakes and even was attacked by a shark (which lost a teeth in the attempt!).
Some feats are larger than life, I would say. Congratulations!

http://qajaqunderground.com

17 December 1903
- At 1035 hrs at Kill Devil Hills in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright pilots the Wright Flyer on a 36.5-meter (120-foot) flight lasting 12 seconds.

17 December 1917
- German Navy Oberleutnant Christiansen, flying a Brandenburg W12 seaplane, shoots down the British non-rigid airship C27.

17 December 1918
- The Aero Club of America lifts its ban on flying over cities, allowing pilots certified as "expert" aviators to overfly populated areas. Post Office pilots had been permitted to do this since August.

17 December 1935
- Douglas choose this famous date, the anniversary of powered flight, to make the first flight of their new Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST). Better known as the DC-3, Dakota, or C-47, this aircraft arguably becomes the most famous transport aircraft in history.

17 December 1943
- Orville Wright, on the 40th Anniversary of making his first flight, presents the Collier Trophy for outstanding achievement in aviation to his former pupil, General H.H. "Hap" Arnold.

17 December 1944
- The 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Force is formed in Utah, to carry out United States atom bomb operations. - Major Richard Ira Bong, the United States Army Air Force's most successful fighter pilot of the Second World War, scores his 40th and final victory.

17 December 1948
- The 45th Anniversary of the first powered flight by the Wright brothers is celebrated by the return to the Smithsonian Institution of the original Wright Flyer, which had been on display in the London Science Museum for many years.

17 December 1950
- A National Emergency is declared in the United States, with plans to speed up production of military equipment.

17 December 1951
- The United States Air Force claims that its 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea has destroyed 130 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s over the last 12 months, with the loss of only fourteen F-86 Sabres.

17 December 1969
- The first Lockheed C-5A Galaxy is handed over to the United States Air Force at Marietta in Georgia.

17 December 1971
- A cease-fire in the Indian-Pakistan war is called and accepted by both sides.

17 December 1981
- A Hughes OH-6A helicopter, using controllable pressurized air release instead of a tail rotor, makes a successful first flight.

17 December 1985
- The 50th anniversary of the Douglas DC-3: it is estimated that on this date around 350 are still in commercial service.

17 December 1993
- The first B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is delivered to the United States Air Force.

17 December 2003
- On the 100th anniversary of the Wright Flyer's achievement, SpaceShipOne is the first privately-built, manned aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Read this in Time magazine, issue 21Dec09:

A teenage bandit accused of stealing planes and speedboats has become a legend in the Pacific Northwest.
Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the bald eagles in Washington State's Puget Sound are more likely to see a a different bird in the sky: a police chopper skimming the cedar forests in search of an outlaw. Colton Harris-Moore, a gangly 18-year old has been on the police blotters since he was accused of stealing a bike at the age of 8.
Since then he is suspected of having committed nearly 100 burglaries in Washington, Idaho and Canada. Police allege that he graduated from bikes to cars, then to speedboats. Lately he is suspected of stealing 3 small aircraft - without ever having taken flying lessons.
Harris-Moore has become a legend in the Pacific Northwest. His Facebook fanclub has over 8.000 members.
He had a rough past. His abusive father walked out after choking him during an argument at a family barbecue. His mother raised him in a mobile home, dragged into the woods on the island's South End.
Recently his crimes became more brazen. He's been accused of stealing speedboats to travel to nearby islands to plunder empty homes. In novenber 2008, police suspect that Harris-Moore hot-wired a Cessna that belongedto a local radio DJ - he'd ordered a flying manual on the Internet - and crash-landed it 300 miles (some 480 kms) east on an Indian reservation. Since then, he may have stolen 2 other planes, both of which were later found crashed. He apparently walked away from the wrecks unharmed.
His mother's reaction: "I hope to hell he stole those planes, I'd be so proud, but next time I want him to wear a parachute."

The above is an abbreviated version of the full-page article in Time magazine.

A Hidden Frame

FAR & WIDE -I

I am amazed by the amount of visitors each months to my website and it is wonderful to see where they all are!
Thanks to Clustrmaps for making this possible!

On 07Aug09 the former head of the company that owns Beijing Capital Int'l Airport was executed!
He was reportedly convicted of bribery and embezzlement to the value of $16 million, according to Chinese state media.
Mr Li Peiying, the former Chairman and General Manager of Capital Airports Holding Company (CAH), was executed in the eastern city of Jinan, Xinhua, after the Supreme People's Court upheld his sentence. His original conviction came in February, after the bribery and embezzlement took place between 1995 and 2003.
CAH operates more than 30 airports, including Beijing Capital Int'l Airport and has assets worth over 10 billion yuan and employs more than 38.000 people.
[Source: Airports International, nov.2009]

When I started to take photos, in the 1970s, for information and inspiration I mainly turned to magazines published in the UK. German photo mags were equally good, but the language wasn't/isn't as easy on the eye as English. The Dutch magazines were too arty for me.
Those English magazines ran for a long time an advert series of Olympus cameras. The slogan was, 'Bailey who..?" and featured a portrait of David Bailey holding an Olympus OM-. camera.
It must have influenced my choice of camera equipment.

Not to know him was rediculous, everybody knew him as Mr Bailey was 'rock 'n roll', not just about photography. The (Rolling) Stones, Michael Caine and David Bailey were a league of their own.
Mr Bailey drove a Rolls Royce, dressed extravagantly, was married to Rosemary Bramble (1960), Catherine Deneuve (1967, divorced 1972), model Marie Helvin (1975) and actress Catherine Dyer (1986). He also had 'relations' with many models, extending the 'swinging sixties' for many more years.
Mr Bailey mingled with Royalty but also the notorious East End gangsters, The Kray Twins. He lived the high life.

In 1966, the movie Blowup was made. The film concerned itself with the work (and sexual perks) of a London fashion photographer who was largely based on Bailey.
Bailey also directed several television commercials and documentaries.

Those two books, David Bailey on Photography and Trouble and Strife, are still with me. Never could dump them as I have done so many books from those days. And he, David Bailey, is still around! Born on 02Jan1938, he is still productive and offers amazing photography:
www.davidbaileyphotography.com

www.biographybase.com
WIKIPEDIA

Although my first SLR camera was a camera manufactured in East Germany, an Exakta VX500, for me photography started in earnest with an Olympus OM-1, in 1976.
In 1978 I bought a 2nd OM-1 body. After many years these were gradually replaced by an OM-2SP and OM-4Ti. These camera were reliable, small and produced excellent quality. Fond memories.
Later I also used a Nikon FM-2 and even a Hasselblad 500CM, but my best memories are with the Olympus OM-1, starting out.
Prices were in Dutch Guilders.
Way before the internet, digital cameras and euros; hard to picture those days again.
I came across copies of my purchases when I cleaned up my attic. Kept these copies in my camera bag for a long time in case I was stopped at customs. I never was.

Superlatives are lacking to satisfactorily describe the pollution that is floating in stream, lakes, seas & oceans. And the effects is has on birds and fish.
This problem is in many respects beyond our horizon and easily ignored, but it shouldn't be.
Chris Jordan (www.chrisjordan.com) draws it to our attention again and how little is being done about it.

Chris describes: "...evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.
The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits."

THE TRASH VORTEX (www.greenpeace.org)
"The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers, their durability and stability, also makes them a problem in marine environments. Around 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year of which about 10 percent ends up in the sea. About 20 percent of this is from ships and platforms, the rest from land.

The North Pacific sub-tropical gyre covers a large area of the Pacific in which the water circulates clockwise in a slow spiral. Winds are light. The currents tend to force any floating material into the low energy central area of the gyre. There are few islands on which the floating material can beach. So it stays there in the gyre, in astounding quantities estimated at six kilos of plastic for every kilo of naturally occurring plankton. The equivalent of an area the size of Texas swirling slowly around like a clock. This gyre has also been dubbed “the Asian Trash Trail” the “Trash Vortex” or the “Eastern Garbage Patch”.

This perhaps wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the plastic had no ill effects. The larger items, however, are consumed by seabirds and other animals which mistake them for prey. Many seabirds and their chicks have been found dead, their stomachs filled with medium sized plastic items such as bottle tops, lighters and balloons. A turtle found dead in Hawaii had over a thousand pieces of plastic in its stomach and intestines.

Of course, not all plastic floats. In fact around 70 percent of discarded plastic sinks to the bottom. In the North Sea, Dutch scientists have counted around 110 pieces of litter for every square kilometre of the seabed, a staggering 600,000 tonnes in the North Sea alone. "

PROGRESS IN SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FUELS

Qatar Airways has operated the world’s first commercial passenger flight powered by fuel made of natural gas. Flight QR076 from London-Gatwick to Doha was performed by Airbus A340-600 A7-AGC on 12Oct09.
Shell developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquids (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene fuel.
The State of Qatar is set to become the world’s leading producer of GTL kerosene, when it is put into commercial production from 2012. The fuel, as an alternative to conventional oil-based kerosene will contribute to diversification of aviation fuel supply. It also burns with lower sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions than pure conventional oil-based kerosene, making it attractive for improving local air quality at busy airports.
The blend of conventional kerosene will be known as GTL Jet Fuel.
The flight was the latest step in over two years of scientific work carried out by a consortium consisting of Airbus, Qatar Airways, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Science & Technology Park, Rolls-Royce, Shell and WOQOD into the benefits of using GTL Jet Fuel to power commercial aircraft.
Much of this work is being undertaken at the Qatar Science & Technology Park in Doha.
The GTL kerosene will be produced in commercial quantities by the Pearl GTL project currently under construction by Qatar Petroleum and Shell.     -World Airline Fleet News, Oct.2009

Trick or Treat - Dutch style!

In parts of the Netherlands kids go from door to door on November 11th, celebrating 'Sint Maarten'. They don't dress up, but have their lanterns (often home-made) in their hands and sing a a few rhyming lines, practised for many days at school. And they will expect candy in return...

None of these kids probably know the tradition of celebrating the holy Martinus, bishop of Tours, born in 316 (Sabria, Hungary). In fact I learned about him when I googled this subject, the educational power of the internet!

It's a fun tradition.

www.kb.nl/dossiers/sintmaarten/sintmaarten.html DUTCH
(Sorry, I could not find an English explanation on the Net)

"Cause-
On October 31, 2009 while on my way home from the Hollywood and Highland area, I was unlawfully detained for 25 minutes by LASD Officers Richard Gylfie #2955 and Bayes #456 for taking two photographs of the turnstiles located at the Hollywood and Western Metro Station — an act that is completely legal and occurred in public space.
As you can see in the video (which can be viewed on YouTube, Vimeo, Liveleak, Flickr and discarted.com), Officer Gylfie #2955 and Officer Bayes #456 took it upon themselves to ignore established law and Metro policies in order to bully me, humiliate me, and detain me for conducting a perfectly legal activity in public. More important, by illegally detaining me, Officers Gylfie and Bayes violated my constitutional rights, which protect me as a photographer and against unlawful stops, searches, and seizures." ./ end quote

Initially, I was outraged (confirming my fears for US Law Enforcement, having been interrogated in similar fashion in 2005) about this event and applauded this being put out in the open.
On second thought, the fact that photographer had a video & sound recording running from the start, explains why the photographer doesn't make any effort to explain to the policemen why he is taking pictures in the subway. He is about 'his constitutional rights' from the start. And then the policemen start about their rights... An arrest is made, things get from bad to worse.
The policemen make an effort to explain their motivation but get stuck in a loop.
The police officers' point of view is that someone taking pictures in a subway system, could be or lead to an act of terrorism. By Al Qaeda.
And that is the scary part for me, as a photographer and a person: policemen making random arrests of people involved in such innocent acts as street photography. Or whatever the police conjure up to be an activity that may lead to, if you think far enough down the line, a threat to public safety.
Al Qaeda has destroyed far more than a few buildings and the lives of the 9/11 victims & families..... They have kindled the fires of our most basic fears and it burns out of control; the bad guys in their caves don't need to take further action as we will turn on ourselves.
They win?

What do I know of global warning? Nothing much, except that in the history of Mother Earth it has happened before. It cooled down too. Up and Down. Much ado about what to do about it. Solar activity by that large lightbulb in the sky, and active volcanoes, effect our atmosphere far more than cars do. Cows make up a quarter of the world's pollution through their belching and farting. Brazil has a cattle herd of 200 million. Where to begin?
Meanwhile, in Alaska, communities are doomed to disappear because of coastal erosion. Kivalina is one of these communities that is gradually being washed away by the ocean, due to natural erosion, expedited by the effects of global warming. The ocean now no longer freezes up during early autumn, before the storms come, but much later in the year. People even use parts of derelict aeroplanes to fortify their coastline.

Shishmaref is another such community, between a rock and a hardplace: the ocean eating up the coastline and people moving out due to the lure of modern living.

Photographer Dana Lixenberg stayed in Shishmaref for several weeks in 2007. She documented Shishmaref, a village on a small island off the coast of Alaska, which is getting swallowed by the sea. Due to climate change, the island's permafrost layer - its main protection against erosion - is melting, leaving the sea little restraint from reclaiming what is left.
A fascinating book and document.
See also 5b4.blogspot.com

As such one can say that whatever happens, able to divert disaster by global warming or not, it certainly provides fascinating photography. If our species vanish from this earth, we will be well documented.

'At the top of the hill he turned and studied the town.
Darkness coming fast. Darkness and cold. He put two of the coats over the boy's shoulders, swallowing him up parka and all.
I'm really hungry, Papa.
I know.
Will we be able to find our stuff?
Yes. I know where it is.
What if somebody finds it?
They won't find it.
I hope they dont.
They wont. Come on.
What was that?
I didnt hear a thing.
Listen.
I don't hear anything.
They listened. Then in the distance he heard a dog bark. He turned and looked toward the darkening town.
It's a dog, he said.
A dog?
Yes.
Where did it come from?
I dont know.
We're not going to kill it, are we Papa?
No. We're not going to kill it.
He looked down at the boy. Shivering in his coats. He bent over and kissed him on his gritty brow. We wont hurt the dog, he said. I promise.'

My son Alexander recommended me to read this, while 'on the road' ourselves. Unnerving and fascinating. Black on black.

Incredible but true: they made a film of this book... It is titled 'The Waste Land'. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron. Intend to see it.

'I have not read Nietzsche or Ibsen, nor any other philosopher, and have not needed to do it, and have not desired to do it; I have gone to the fountainhead for information-that is to say, to the human race.

Every man is in his own person the whole human race, with not a detail lacking. I am the whole human race without a detail lacking; I have studied the human race with diligence and strong interest all these years in my own person; in myself I find in big or little proportion every quality and every defect that is findable in the mass of the race. I knew I should not find in any philosophy a single thought which had not passed through my own head, not a single thought which had not passed through the heads of millions and millions of men before I was born; I knew I should not find a single original thought in any philosophy, and I knew I could not furnish one to the world myself, if I had five centuries to invent it in.

Nietzsche published his book, and was at once pronounced crazy by the world - by a world which included tens of thousands of bright, sane men who believed exactly as Nietzsche believed, but concealed the fact, and scoffed at Nietzsche. What a coward every man is! and how surely he will find it out if he will just let other people alone and sit down and examine himself. The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.'

Henry Young offered the following Mark Tain quote, also an apt 'lesson in life':
"Most people are just about as happy as they want to be."