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RA1 Grand Master

RA1

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8 hours ago, AdamSmith said:

Answers to questions such as those don’t vary with time. Whether worked out by Lavoisier, or Dalton, or oneself, they come out the same way each time.

Just as, very thankfully, the lift equation does. :thumbsup:

Answers may not vary but the interlocutor may lose interest when he ceases to exist.

Best regards,

RA1

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AdamSmith Grand Master

AdamSmith

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On 5/7/2019 at 11:22 PM, AdamSmith said:

Repeating myself. I just did a few back-of-envelope calculations based on high-school days as a budding chemical engineer.

Atmospheric carbon rise from 2 to 4 ppm due to carbon-fuel burning starting in the Industrial Revolution till now has the planet at a measured temp hot as 53 million years ago. The hottest volcanic period on record.

Sayonara.

The planet is now reported as hotter than at any time life has existed.

Bye.

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AdamSmith Grand Master

AdamSmith

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Tom Lehrer

...Lehrer's early work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs that dealt with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was. The popularity of these songs has endured their topical subjects and references. Lehrer quoted a friend's explanation: "Always predict the worst and you'll be hailed as a prophet."[1]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer

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Style and InfluencesEdit

Lehrer was mainly influenced by musical theater. According to Gerald Nachman's book Seriously Funny,[19] the Broadway musical Let's Face It! (by Cole Porter) made an early and lasting impression on him. Lehrer's style consists of parodying various forms of popular song. For example, his appreciation of list songs led him to write The Elements, which lists the chemical elements to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's Major-General's Song.

In author Isaac Asimov's second autobiographical volume In Joy Still Felt, Asimov recounted seeing Lehrer perform in a Boston nightclub on October 9, 1954. Lehrer sang cleverly about Jim getting it from Louise, and Sally from Jim, "...and after a while you gathered the 'it' was venereal disease [the song was likely "I Got It From Sally" (in later versions "Agnes")]. Suddenly, as the combinations grew more grotesque, you realized he was satirizing every known perversion without using a single naughty phrase. It was clearly unsingable (in those days) outside a nightclub." Asimov also recalled a song that dealt with the Boston subway system, making use of the stations leading into town from Harvard, observing that the local subject-matter rendered the song useless for general distribution. Lehrer subsequently granted Asimov permission to print the lyrics to the subway song in his book. "I haven't gone to nightclubs often," said Asimov, "but of all the times I have gone, it was on this occasion that I had by far the best time."[20]

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AdamSmith

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RecordingsEdit

Lehrer was encouraged by the success of his performances, so he paid $15 for some studio time in 1953 to record Songs by Tom Lehrer. The initial pressing was 400 copies. Radio stations would not air his songs because of his controversial subjects, so he sold the album on campus at Harvard for $3 (equivalent to $28.00 today), while "several stores near the Harvard campus sold it for $3.50, taking only a minimal markup as a kind of community service. Newsstands on campus sold it for the same price."[21] After one summer, he started to receive mail orders from all parts of the country, as far away as San Francisco, after the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article on the record. Interest in his recordings spread by word of mouth. People played their records for friends, who then also wanted a copy.[22]Lehrer recalled, "Lacking exposure in the media, my songs spread slowly. Like herpes, rather than ebola."[23]

The album included the macabre "I Hold Your Hand in Mine", the mildly risqué "Be Prepared", and "Lobachevsky" regarding plagiarizing mathematicians. It became a cult success by word of mouth, despite being self-published and without promotion. Lehrer embarked on a series of concert tours and recorded a second album in 1959. He released the second album in two versions: the songs were the same, but More of Tom Lehrer was a studio recording and An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer was recorded live in concert. In 2013, Lehrer recalled the studio session for "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park", which referred to the practice of controlling pigeons in Boston with strychnine-treated corn:[24]

 

   
   
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AdamSmith

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The copyist arrived at the last minute with the parts and passed them out to the band... And there was no title on it, and there was no lyrics. And so they ran through it, "What a pleasant little waltz".... And the engineer said, "'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,' take one," and the piano player said, "What?" and literally fell off the stool."[25]

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Lehrer was praised by Dr. Demento as "the best musical satirist of the twentieth century." Other artists who cite Lehrer as an influence include "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose work generally addresses more popular and less technical or political subjects,[45] and educator and scientist H. Paul Shuch, who tours under the stage name Dr. SETI and calls himself "a cross between Carl Sagan and Tom Lehrer: He sings like Sagan and lectures like Lehrer."[46]

Lehrer has commented that he doubts his songs had any real effect on those not already critical of the establishment: "I don't think this kind of thing has an impact on the unconverted, frankly. It's not even preaching to the converted; it's titillating the converted ... I'm fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin kabaretts of the 1930s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War."[36]

In 2003 he commented that his particular brand of political satire is more difficult in the modern world: "The real issues I don't think most people touch. The Clinton jokes are all about Monica Lewinsky and all that stuff and not about the important things, like the fact that he wouldn't ban land mines ... I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirize George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporize them."[18]

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