OK. This is Weird

Apparently my youth is still out there. It appears to have moved to California.

When I was a youngster, I played guitar in a band called The Ramblin' Beach Guys. We were never famous, beyond a small radius around our high school. But we were loud and fast and fun and being a part of the RBGS, as we called ourselves, was a hoot.

Tonight, I find another young Mike Mahaffie playing guitar in another small band. This Mike is 18 "and goes to some college with a really long name." He plays guitar for The Benefits, out of Campbell, California. The other fellows in the band are all in High School. They list their influences as punk, ska and hardcore. We were similar, though more influenced by the 1960's-era Stones and early punk than by hardcore and punk.

What do they sound like? According to their MySpace profile, The Benefits sound like "a basement of frustraition! [sic]"

Two Stupid Thoughts

They say that in any dispute, it's always better to take the high road.

It occurred to me that that is because clearly it's much easier to throw things down at the other guy from up there.

And.

My daughter's class is making anonymous support cards for each other during mandated state testing just now. These are anonymous cards of encouragement to make each other feel better and keep up their spirits during testing.

I suppose it's a "Secret Pollyanna" program.

That's all.

Don't Even Try That Line of B.S. on Us, Young Taxpayer...

The IRS has published a list of "frivolous positions that taxpayers should avoid" when filling out their returns.

When I first saw the title "IRS Identifies 40 Frivolous Positions for Taxpayers to Avoid," I thought it referred to jobs that had somehow been deemed as beneath the dignity of an American taxpayer.

Not so, according to the "Purpose" section of IRS Notice 2007-30 (PDF).

Positions that are the same as or similar to the positions listed in this Notice are identified as frivolous for purposes of the penalty for a “frivolous tax return” under section 6702(a) of the Internal Revenue Code and the penalty for a “specified frivolous submission” under section 6702(b).

That seems clear enough. In other words, "Yeah, right. Nice try, Sparky."

Persons who file a purported return of tax, including an original or amended return, based on one or more of these positions are subject to a penalty of $5,000 if the purported return of tax does not contain information on which the substantial correctness of the self-assessed determination of tax may be judged or contains information that on its face indicates the self-assessed determination of tax is substantially incorrect.

Wait... what?

I have no idea, but I'm guessing that this means that trying any of the listed lines of ... stuff in a tax return is a bad idea.

There really are 40 frivolous arguments listed, several with corollaries and related claims. It reads like the mass of bumper-stickers on the back of a ratty old pick-up driven by a bitter, grizzly, glowering tax-protester.

The final words of the Notice, on page 13, are somehow appropriate (and emphasized [by me] just so you don't miss the irony):

For further information regarding this notice contact the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure & Administration), Administrative Provisions & Judicial Practice Division, Branch 2, at (202) 622-4940 (not a toll-free call).

It Was a Different Time

I found my way to a YouTube posting of an early Johnny Cash performance. He's singing There You Go on the television show Ranch Party. This is from the mid or late 1950s. Just Johnny, a bassist, and an electric guitar player (the Tennessee Two). It made me realize how different music on TV has become.

Look at Johnny Cash here. He's so darkly slicked-back. He looks rather like Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo. Dig the gold jacket. And he's soooo restrained.

Meanwhile, the bass player, Marshall Grant, is just boppin' and poppin' back there. You can't tell from this still shot, but he's chewing a big 'ol wad of gum; out of time with the tune.

And then, there's Luther Perkins, the guitar payer. He's playing a classic country-style Fender Telecaster. I played a Tele in my youth, and I always focus-in on them when I see one played.

Perkins is playing a very restrained "plunkety-plunk" lead-line throughout the song. This still is from his solo (you know, the part where the guitarist usually grimaces and poses and wrings the poor guitar's neck).

There's not a note out of place in his solo. There's not a lot of flash or fire, either. It's perfect, but it's so under control. There's a moment just at the end of the solo when Cash leans back and, I think, calls a chord change out to Perkins.

This is classic stuff, but it is also remarkably stiff and the players, with the exception of a happy, bouncy Grant, seem oddly uncomfortable.

(Via Mr. Dante Fontana's Visual Guidance LTD)

I Wonder if There's Going to be an "Open Fort?"

Each summer, either going to or heading home from The Tyler Place, we pass Fort Montgomery. It is a weathered 19th-century military installation that juts out into Lake Champlain on the New York side just south of the Canadian border.

I've often thought it might be cool to visit, but it doesn't look like it is "open."

It turns out that, for just the low, low price of somewhere between 3 and 9.95 million dollars, it could be ours! The fort, and some additional land, is on sale on eBay, according to the web site The Lay of the Land:

365 acres with frontage on, and under, Lake Champlain is for sale in northern New York. The property comes with a 19th century fortification, Fort Montgomery, that while in need of some repair, is still largely intact. Furthermore, the property abuts the Canadian Border, making this an excellent opportunity to add to the defense of the nation.

I could be tempted. Ever since we started visiting in Vermont, both Karen and I have thought about moving there. It's a lovely place and that far upstate part of New York is nice too.

But Colleen and Christina won't hear of it. They want to stay here in Delaware where they have life-long friends.

I can respect that. But a fort on Lake Champlain would be pretty neat. And maybe we could get some cannons. (Via BLDG BLOG)

At Herring Point

I found a spot of local beach I'd not been on before on Sunday.

I took advantage of the bright sunshine and warmer weather to go in search of a few benchmark locations in Cape Henlopen State Park. I found that the Parks folks have opened up some new beach access points, making it easier to get onto the beach at Herring Point, near the Great Dune.

This is an interesting spot. The beach has eroded enough to uncover old tree stumps from when there was a coastal forest here. There are old jetties and breakwaters and birds and shells and dunes and grasses.

I also took some time to climb to the top of the coastal gun emplacement bunker at Fort Miles. It gives a fine view of the Point of the Cape and of the Harbor of Refuge.

Please don't tell anyone, but this time of year is really the best time of year to see Cape Henlopen State Park.

I Get So Confused

"Only count your sunny houres"
Originally uploaded by bc anna.

I get confused about daylight savings time. I have to stop and think whether we are entering it or leaving it. I think we've just entered it and now should call our hours "EDT."

The Daylight Savings switch always leads to a day or two of general uncertainty for me. We handle the clocks with no problem, but the difference in daylight as it relates to the clock leaves me feeling disconnected for a while.

I understand that measured time, as we have diced it up with our 24-hour clocks and what-not, is itself an artificial construct. But I get used to how the day is parceled out and measured. When we change that, even slightly, I feel out of sorts.

Here's An Even More Radical Idea

There's been some discussion lately here in the First State about selling off one or more of our Toll Roads as a way to fund transportation improvements.

If you think that that would be a drastic step, you're not likely to endorse the proposal put forward (we hope with tongue in cheek) by a blog called "The Needs of the Few" out in the Midwest: "Let’s outsource Delaware."

It sounds radical, maybe even a little extreme. But it’s a win-win proposition. We’ll sell off Delaware to the highest bidder. I’m thinking it would probably go to Europe, because Europe seems to be fond of lackadaisical countries that seemingly have no purpose (reference Portugal, Belgium, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg). We’ll be rid of the deadweight, and the profits from the sale will go towards the budget deficit. Probably no one would even notice that Delaware was gone, as it’s merely the 46th most populous state in the nation. No one even lives there.

I live here. I might notice.

...and Then It Warmed Up

Here's what the Snow Girl looked like late this morning. We've warmed up considerably since Wednesday's pretty snowfall and Thursday's icy roads.

We found a trace of snow, the buttons that made up parts of the face, and the carrot nose. I'm impressed that the ball that formed the head was still visible as a separate part.

Walking in Dover, yesterday, I found a small patch of snow hiding in the shadow of a bench.

I imagine that's gone now too.

The Final Crop?

We live in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, an area that has grown at what sometimes seems an alarming pace in the 21 years we've been here. Sussex has traditionally been a rural county, with an economy dominated by agriculture. Eastern Sussex, where our town of Lewes is located, is a retirement and resort area, featuring beaches, ocean and bays. We still have farmland, but it is devolving into developments around us.

That's why I'm fascinated by an art project in Arizona, near Phoenix. Matthew Moore is an artist who is watching his family farm fall to encroaching development. His response has been a series of art projects using the remaining fields as his canvas.

Rotations: Moore Estates is an exact replica of the first planned community being built on my family's land. The homes have been planted in sorghum and the roads in a black-bearded wheat. The project is a third scale of the actual development, which can be seen to the east of the project.

Mr. Moore has also carved a new-home floor-plan into a 20-acre field of barley.

I've always enjoyed corn mazes, but this is something bigger.

(With thanks to WFMU's Beware of the Blog)