Dog On A Root

  - jim Young “Beware of false knowledge. It is more dangerous than ignorance.” - George Bernard Shaw “Fake news”, or more correctly “lies” have been around pretty much forever. The actual term “ fake news” however was first used in the 1890s. So although Donald Trump didn’t invent the term “Fake News”, according to Wikipedia, “Trump has been credited with popularizing the term by using it to describe any negative press coverage of himself”. Aye… there’s the rub. “Negative press” isn’t really the same thing as a “lie” now, is it? Regardless, wouldn’t you think that someone that is so sensitive to “negative press” and to be fair, even “misinformation” in some cases being reported about him, would be wary of the validity of any information from those same sources? At the very least, it would certainly behoove a politician running for such an important position as President of The United States Of America to vet the accuracy of this information prior to declaring it a fact on National...

 

Who’s Got Time To Pick Guitars In Nashville? - jim Young “I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word about the music and the mothers from Nashville.” - John Sebastian In 1966 there were “thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers” in Nashville. How do I know that? John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful told me. Well, they didn’t tell me that directly. It wasn’t like John came up to me and whispered in my ear and said “Psst. Hey jim, did you know there are ‘thirteen hundred and fifty-two pickers in Nashville’?”   It wasn‘t a secret, as the Lovin’ Spoonful babbled it to everyone who bought their records or just listened to them on the radio. The song “Nashville Cats” was a tribute to the Nashville A-Team. The Nashville A-Team were a group of studio musicians in Tennessee that backed artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Jerry Lee Lewis among others. They were kind of Nashville’s answer to L.A.s Wrecking Crew that backed artists from Frank Sinatra and Sonny & Cher to the ...

Part 2 of a 3 part series on Names - jim Young “Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad.” - Terry Pratchett Last time, in my column in the Great North Arrow (August 1, Issue 14, Volume 10) I wrote about first names. Today’s topic is about second names. Or is it really your first name in disguise? First names are complicated enough, but then there’s the issue of second names. Second names rarely get abbreviated like first names do, unless the second name becomes the first name. A coworker of mine was known as Rob which of course was short for his given name of Robert. But Robert wasn’t even his first name, it was his second name. Rob’s parents had named him John Robert but from the beginning began calling him “Rob” . What is the point of that? When asked his first name, Rob usually responded with “Rob” . But when asked his second name, Rob would then have to explain that “Rob (or more correctly Robert)” was really his second name and “John” was his first name. In actu...

 

 

Part I of a 3 Part Series on Names - jim Young “Who are you? Who, who, who, who?” - by The Who (of course) and more specifically, Pete Townshend.  At some point in your life you likely wondered where your name came from. For most of us, our last name was inherited through many generations, although for some it may have changed somewhat over time. For example, my great-great grandmother was a "Warnica" although her father was a "Warnick" and her grandfather was actually a "Werneck". But the history of your given name is much more recent. Your parents can usually take the credit for what you are likely most commonly known today; or the blame as the case may be. Many people, however, do not go by the precise given name that is recorded on their birth certificate. My birth certificate lists my given name as “James” while mostly I am known as “Jim” although I prefer “jim” . Over the years I have also answered to Jimmie (mostly by my mother and sisters), Jimb...