Just a Bite 4/13/10

Quote to ponder under the apple tree

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
~ Duke Ellington (born April 29, 1899)


Resources to bite into

1. It’s Jazz Appreciation Month

As noted in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly, five of the most famous jazz and blues performers of all time have April birthdays. Besides Duke Ellington, the others are:
• Billie Holiday, April 7, 1915
• Bessie Smith, April 15, 1894
• Lionel Hampton, April 20, 1908
• Ella Fitzgerald, April 25, 1917
Each had amazing talent, and you can hear samples of their performances by going to http://www.rhapsody.com and typing in their names. Here’s another of my favorite quotes from Ella Fitzgerald: “I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.”

2. The Earth is always moving


This week marks the anniversary of the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which left about 75% of the city’s population (over 250,000 people) homeless. In a year that has already seen numerous devastating earthquakes, it’s interesting to note that the year 1906 was also fraught with them. In addition to the 7.8 magnitude San Francisco one were these:
• Ecuador/Colombia at 8.8 magnitude, January 31
• Taiwan at 7.1 magnitude, March 16
• Chile at 8.2 magnitude, August 16
• Aleutian Islands and the West Pacific at 8.2 magnitude, August 17
According to a recent article in the New York Times by Roger Musson, that’s not really so unusual: “On average, we record an earthquake with a magnitude over 6 every three days or so, and over 7 at least once a month.” Does that surprise you? It does me!
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11musson.html?th&emc=th

3. April showers and creating bigger raindrops

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly notes advice from award-winning speaker Darren LaCroix. He wrote recently of taking a backstage movie studio tour and learning that when it rains in Hollywood movies, filmmakers actually make raindrops four times bigger. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to see them, and why the actors were getting wet would make less sense. Mr. LaCroix uses that technique to exaggerate the stories in his speeches so they are more likely to make people laugh, and suggests we look for ways to enhance the raindrops in other aspects of our lives. April 16th is Stress Awareness Day and April 14th is Moment of Laughter Day. Why not decrease your vision of the stress raindrops in your life and increase the size of your guffaws this week?

Tips/ideas/insights to savor

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly also takes note of the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962. Ms. Carson was a well-known natural history writer at the time, and when her book documented the detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds, she was taken seriously. (“Silent spring” refers to the disappearance of birdsongs.) The book is credited with launching the environmental movement and the banning of DDT. As we approach Earth Day, it’s a good book to check out. (To order, click here.)

On the other hand, silence can be a good and too rare commodity in our lives. Think about the people you are with and/or the places you go to enjoy silence.

• What silences soothe you?
• With whom can you sit in companionable silence?
• How do you use silence – pauses – to enhance music, poetry or the telling of jokes?
• Who or what have you commemorated with “a moment of silence”?

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