Monday, December 21, 2009

STYLE and ...............some of these

My blog is called MIND JAZZ for a reason. Jack Neworth, the noted local Santa Monica columnist, who suggested that term over three years ago when describing how I write, deserves full credit for the name. Whether or not Jack appreciates my style is still up for review. Since he is a literary artist I think he appreciates alternative styles.

Alternative style has always been the "glitch" in my "hitch."

The alternative "hitch" being more of the way I do certain things, particularly in my writing and my art, then in musical preferences. Therefore none of this has anything to do with music so if you need to bail.........now is the time.

Still here?

Please refer back to the end of the last paragraph to visualize where this article is headed.
Note the multiple periods, or dots, between the word bail and the word now.

Obviously the three dot ... grammatical tool is called an ELLIPSIS

I HAVE HAD
ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM........... since I was a very young person.

SOMETIMES I USE FOUR PERIODS AND SOMETIMES I USE............MANY MANY MANY MORE.

You also will note that I suffer from CAPITOLGRANDEXTREMISM on a regular basis.

I also used to intentionally not tie my shoe laces when I was in grammar school because I liked the look. The nuns generally had a conniption when I explained that................. "it was my style."

I realize that whoever might be reading what I write could pause and never return to the piece.......just like the nuns would stop talking to me and send me to the nearest corner to meditate on my odd ways.

It's a chance one takes when one records anything or says something to a nun that isn't part of their daily habit.

Wkipedia insert
Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") is a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or a phrase from the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis) (apostrophe and elipsis mixed). The ellipsis calls for a slight pause in speech.

OBVIOUSLY SOMETIMES I WANT THE READER TO PAUSE BEYOND A NORMAL AMOUNT OF TIME..........and the only way, I see that happening, is if I create that pause...........with a bunch of these....................

I think it comes down to the art of making a point........no pun intended, but one created none the less.

Interestingly enough Wikipedia states the following.
On the Internet and in text messaging

The ellipsis is one of the favorite constructions of internet chat rooms, and has evolved over the past ten years into a staple of text-messaging. Though an ellipsis is technically complete with three periods (...), its rise in popularity as a "trailing-off" or "silence" indicator, particularly in mid-20th century comic strip and comic book prose writing, has led to expanded uses online. It has been used in new ways online, sometimes at the end of a message "to signal that the rest of the message is forthcoming." [5]

Today, extended ellipsis of two, seven, ten, or even dozens of periods have become common constructions in internet chat rooms and text messages.[6]

"Elliptical commas", or, commas used in plurality for the effect of ellipsis or multiple ellipsis, have also grown in popularity online—though no style journal or manual has yet embraced them.[6]


I do try to tone down the
ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM
when writing a script because script readers are usually recent college graduates and structure is extremely important to their freshly schooled minds.

Most of the time the only people who read my scripts are very close friends and they either like the story or don't like the story and I hear very little about grammatical references..........but maybe they have them and hesitate about sharing......humm.

My ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM might be a problem that needs to be addressed. I wonder if there are organized meetings for this type of problem.

"Hello my name is Michael Timothy and I have..............Eliipsisgrandextremism"

The response would probably be......................"WGAFF"

If you don't know what WGAFF means.........figure it out.

Well....... back to something a bit more important....................maybe!

It's only 10 days to the end of another year and the end of another decade

Tomorrow I'll point how why this decade moved so fast.........and then listen to certain people tell me that they all move fast.

But today I just want to end on a certain .

Just one because I'm trying to work on my ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM........ok?

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Saturday, December 19, 2009

SPECTACULAR and really far away and a little Avatar

I've always loved this picture. I remember in 1767 when it was first discovered. That was quite a year for those of us stranded on the planet Earth.

The Sombrero Galaxy


Wikipedia information on The Sombrero Galaxy

Distance

At least two methods have been used to measure the distance to the Sombrero Galaxy.

The first method relies on comparing the measured fluxes from planetary nebulae in the Sombrero Galaxy to the known luminosities of planetary nebulae in the Milky Way. This method gave the distance to the Sombrero Galaxy as 29.0 ± 2.0 Mly (8.9 ± 0.6 Mpc).[1]

The other method used is the surface brightness fluctuations method. This method uses the grainy appearance of the galaxy's bulge to estimate the distance to it. Nearby galaxy bulges will appear very grainy, while more distant bulges will appear smooth. Early measurements using this technique gave distances of 30.6 ± 1.3 Mly (9.4 ± 0.4 Mpc).[25] Later, after some refinement of the technique, a distance of 32 ± 3Mly (9.8 ± 0.8 Mpc) was measured.[26] This was even further refined in 2003 to be 29.6 ± 2.5 Mly (9.1 ± 0.8 Mpc).[2]

The average distance measured through these two techniques is 29.3 Mly (9.0 Mpc) with an uncertainty of 1.6 Mly (0.5 Mpc).[a]


IT'S SO INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT ACTUAL DISTANCE ISN'T STATED BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT IT IS REALLY REALLY FAR AWAY


MORE INFO FROM WIKIPEDIA

Nucleus

The nucleus of the Sombrero galaxy is classified as a low ionization nuclear emission region (LINER).[12] These are nuclear regions where ionized gas is present, but the ions are only weakly ionized (i.e. the atoms are missing relatively few electrons). The source of energy for ionizing the gas in LINERs has been debated extensively. Some LINER nuclei may be powered by hot, young stars found in star formation regions, whereas other LINER nuclei may be powered by active galactic nuclei (highly energetic regions that contain supermassive black holes). Infrared spectroscopyobservations have demonstrated that the nucleus of the Sombrero Galaxy is probably devoid of any significant star formation activity. However, a supermassive black hole has been identified in the nucleus (as discussed in the subsection below), so thisactive galactic nucleus is probably the energy source that weakly ionizes the gas in the Sombrero Galaxy.[8]

[edit]Central supermassive black hole

In the 1990s, a research group led by John Kormendy demonstrated that asupermassive black hole is present within the Sombrero Galaxy.[13] Usingspectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of rotation of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun, or 109M☉, is present in the center.[13] This is among the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.


THE MOST MASSIVE BLACK HOLE MEASURED IN ANY NEARBY GALAXY. SO FUNNY HOW THEY USE THE TERM NEARBY.


Discovery

The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in March of 1767 by Pierre Méchain, who described the object in a May 1767 letter to J. Bernoulli that was later published in theBerliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch.[5][6] Charles Messier made a hand-written note about this and five other objects (now collectively recognized as M104 - M109) to his personal list of objects now known as the Messier Catalogue, but it was not "officially" included until 1921.[6] William Herschel independently discovered the object in 1784 and additionally noted the presence of a "dark stratum" in the galaxy's disc, what is now called a dust lane.[5][6] Later astronomers were able to connect Méchain's and Herschel's observations.[6]


HOW WERE THESE GUYS DISCOVERING ANYTHING? HOW BIG WERE THEIR TELESCOPES COMPARED TO PRESENT EQUIPMENT?


SO MANY QUESTIONS

SO MUCH SPACE TO OBSERVE


And in Copenhagen nobody can agree on how to solve our own personal problems regarding the environment.


That's why looking into Space is so cool.......


Discovery after discovery!


It's nice to know that someone like James Cameron,who is a fellow human being, can create his own world and somehow bring that vision to the screen.


AVATAR is a spectacular visual experience


Something akin to the Sombrero Galaxy and a lot closer to home......like just down the street and around the corner.


Michael Timothy McAlevey




Thursday, December 17, 2009

Telling a story

Clint Eastwood tells a story on film as well as anyone working in the biz.

INVICTUS
recaptures a moment in time that many of us in America just have overlooked or ignored. Recalling the early 90's in South Africa all I remember is the constant threat that civil war was going to break out any day and that the black majority would be attempting to remove the white minority from all aspects of running South Africa.

A blood bath was apparently on the agenda.

It didn't happen, and for Clint to make a movie showing how Nelson Mandela conducted his life through the experiences of a Rugby team is truly amazing. The Rugby World Cup in 1995 was very small part of the reunification process when you look at the overall situation. I'm sure Mr. Mandela's personality was the actual peace pipe in the process and his actions allowed for both sides to step toward the middle of calmness and solutions.

But having a single moment where all people can look to one thing and cheer is truly an amazing moment.

And a moment that does not happen on a regular basis in any country.

Add the tension that had to be present at that time in that country and one can truly understand how important it was for South Africa to win that event.

I don't think 99% of us who will see this film have any idea what the rules of Rugby are but that does not matter one tiny bit.

What we do know is that certain people come along at certain times and things just seem to work out. Clint uses a film to remind us how important those people and those times can be.

Nelson Mandella was born to play an incredible role in the modern history of our planet.

Morgan Freeman was born to play Nelson Mandela.

And Clint was born to capture the whole deal on film.

Check it out!

Michael Timothy McAlevey






Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Conflicts of interest

RARE EARTH MATERIALS

IMPORTANT BUT......OUCH


FROM WIKIPEDIA

Technological applications

These rare-earth oxides are used as tracers to determine which parts of a watershed are eroding. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium.[4]

Rare earth elements are incorporated into many modern technological devices, including superconductors, samarium-cobalt and neodymium-iron-boron high-flux rare-earth magnets, electronic polishers, refining catalysts and hybrid car components (primarily batteries and magnets).[5] Rare earth ions are used as the active ions in luminescent materials used in optoelectronics applications, most notably the Nd:YAG laser. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are significant devices in optical-fiber communication systems. Phosphorswith rare earth dopants are also widely used in cathode ray tube technology such as television sets. The earliest color television CRTs had a poor-quality red; europium as a phosphor dopant made good red phosphors possible. Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) spheres have been useful as tunable microwave resonators. Rare earth oxides are mixed with tungsten to improve its high temperature properties for welding, replacing thorium, which was mildly hazardous to work with.

[edit]Global rare earth production

Global production 1950-2000

Until 1948, most of the world's rare earths were sourced from placersand deposits in India and Brazil.[6] Through the 1950s, South Africa took the status as the world's rare earth source, after large rare earth bearing veins were discovered in Monazite.[6] Today, those Indian and South African deposits still produce some rare earth concentrates, but they are dwarfed by the scale of Chinese production. China now produces over 95% of the world's rare earth supply.[5]

The use of rare earth elements in modern technology has increased dramatically over the past years. For example, dysprosium has gained significant importance for its use in the construction of hybrid carmotors.[7] Unfortunately, this new demand has strained supply, and there is growing concern that the world may soon face a shortage of the materials.[8] In several years, worldwide demand for rare earth elements is expected to exceed supply by 40,000 tonnes annually unless major new sources are developed.[9] All of the world's heavy rare earths (such as dysprosium) are sourced from Chinese rare earth sources such as the polymetallic Bayan Obo deposit.[10] Illegal rare earth mines are common in rural China and are often known to release toxic wastes into the general water supply.[11] A rare earth element mine in California is set to reopen by 2012. A site at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories is also under development. Locations in Vietnam have also been considered.[9]

Chinese export quotas have also resulted in a dramatic shift in the world's rare earth knowledge base. For example, the division of General Motors which deals with miniaturized magnet research shut down its US office and moved all of its staff to China in 2006.[12]

On Sept. 1, 2009, China announced plans to reduce its quota to 35,000 tons per year in 2010-2015, supposedly to conserve scarce resources and protect the environment.[13] Other sources of rare earth has been searched to avoid shortages and China's monopoly, mainly in South Africa, Brazil and the United States.[14]


ON THE ONE HAND

AND THEN THE OTHER

WHAT TO DO

MY SISTER AND BROTHER

I WANT THE GOODS

BUT NOT THE PAIN


WHAT TO DO?????


Michael Timothy McAlevey






Sunday, December 13, 2009

Simply the one Bill we need

Today in the LA TIMES Neal Gabler offers a perspective on Bill Moyers who recently announced he will be leaving his PBS show in April.

I highly recommend reading the entire article which appears on the first page of the Calender section.

I'm pretty sure that Bill Moyers interviews will be historically important to anyone interested in what the planet Earth was like during our current time period.

100 years from now people will be able to watch Bill interview Jane Goodall, Oliver Stone, James Galbraith, Bill Clinton, George Lucas and get a calm perspective on the late 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century

His six hour interview with Joseph Campbell will insure him a unique place in journalistic history and once the human race calms down regarding the total obsession with man made religions and figures out how mythology really shapes our environments, then he will be even more highly respected as a person who asked the right questions and asked them in a manner which was dignified and respected by all.........well almost all.

The infamous right wing commentators, who seem to be dominating the current atmosphere make Mr. Moyers a target of their nonsense. Bill O'Reilly made a statement that he drove Bill Moyers into retirement.

The absurdity of that type of statement completely shows the parallel universes that exist in the world of media personalities.

Imagine an interview program with Bill Moyers, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann. Imagine that you are being interviewed for something you did that was either extremely important or extremely stupid.

WHICH ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WOULD YOU WANT ASKING YOU QUESTIONS?

Bill Moyers might be the best interviewer who has ever lived.

His style and his grace are so unique and so relaxing that one often forgets the importance of the subject matter.

I perhaps love his style so much because it is the exact opposite of how I roll.

When something pisses me off I have a tendency to raise my voice and
CAPITALIZE MY WORDS.

I suspect that Bill Moyers has been able to maintain total control of his vocal cords since he was a very young man. Obviously it has something to do with increased intelligence and parental upbringing.

The world has multiple millions of people who are much smarter than I. It is so rewarding to know that one of those people has spent a lifetime keeping me informed of things that are happening all around me as I move forward in my small orbit.

I know there are things I do that make me unique and I know there are things you do that make you unique.

As individuals we make statements and we leave footprints and hopefully some of those remain relevant to the broader map known as human development.

I just have to figure out how to get Bill Moyers to interview me so that I can be part of his remarkable resume.

I honestly believe in my heart that he would get the NEO-ILLUMINATION period of my life and would find it interesting.

I guess I should send him a copy of my book.

He will have plenty of reading time available after April.

How cool would it be to have Bill Moyers as a pen pal?

Please read the article by Neal Gabler and then go to Bill's website and enjoy and elevated sense of dignity on this beautiful Sunday morning.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

Michael Timothy McAlevey











Thursday, December 10, 2009

I wish I had done this painting

This is a failed rocket explosion from the folks in Russia.

The design is exact and the flow is perfect which is my intention every time I do a design.

I'll never get this precise but I will keep trying.

By the way....David Letterman, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Bill Clinton and every other well known HOUND DOG are sending a special Christmas greeting to a famous golfer in Florida.

DEAR TIGER....
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE PRESSURE OFF. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING YOU SQUIRM JUST LIKE WE DID. KOBE KNOWS A GOOD JEWELER .
BUT ALWAYS KEEP ONE THING IN MIND.
THIS WASN'T AN OJ MOMENT.

YOU WILL BE OK and after everything is said and done you still might be the greatest golfer who ever lived. And if things don't work out with Elin, there's always her twin sister.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"THE BOYS"

Michael Timothy McAlevey