Inappropriate Songs of my Youth - Part Two

Imagine, a President of the United States who actively encourages Body Shaming for overweight children!  Why, such a scoundrel would probably also cheat on his wife regularly and engage in nepotism, hiring family members for important government jobs.

Indeed.  Oh, no I'm not talking about the annoying guy with the orange hair.  No, this was John F. Kennedy.

Perhaps the beginnings of childhood obesity were noted even then.  Now, JFK didn't invent the National Council on Physical Fitness but he did change the name to The President's Council on Physical Fitness, and as part of the new emphasis adopted as its theme song a remarkable bit of songwriting that will instantly resonate with everyone over the age of, oh mid 50's.

"Chicken Fat".  Also known as "The Youth Fitness Song".  I picked this YouTube version because of the image.  That is exactly the style of clunky, drab record player that was wheeled into the little gym at Lowell Elementary school.  We were all lined up and expected to jump, twist, bend, etc.  How else will you attain the cheerful end result, which was:  "Go you chickenfat, go away, go you chickenfat go!"

If you are really sharp you might recognize the name Robert Preston, or the jaunty up beat style of the music.  Preston of course was the titular character in the 1962 movie The Music Man.  The song in fact was recorded at the same time, and in the same studio as the sound track to the movie!  Meredith Wilson, the composer who wrote the songs for the initial Broadway version and adapted it for the screen, also wrote "Chicken Fat".  Preston was totally in character, and his performance in "Chickenfat" is similar to his expansive, over the top style in such songs as "Trouble in River City" and "Seventy Six Trombones".

Obviously the above is a still from the movie.  Now I don't know if he was in costume as well as in character when he recorded Chicken Fat but I'd like to thinks so.  Oddly the school gymnasium (?) in this picture looks an awful lot like Lowell Elementary school's.  I figure he's just getting warmed up.  Another stanza or two and at least those sluggish looking kids will be hopping about.  Maybe grandma will be shakin' that hoop skirt too!

Millions of copies of the 33rpm, 7 inch record were distributed to schools across the nation.  The original stereophonic master copy seems to be a Lost Masterpiece and all existing versions today are in the same glorious, tinny, magnificently enthusiastic mono that got us jumping and bending in place circa 1964!

Just for fun I left the "Chicken Fat" song play for a while while I moved on to doing homework.  Yikes!  I had forgotten just how compelling, nay commanding, this bit of fitness propaganda really was!  I found myself bobbing back and forth and my keyboard tapping acquired a certain jaunty cadence!

"Once more on the rise, next to the flabby guys, go you chicken fat go away! Go you chicken fat go..."

Inappropriate Songs of my Younger Days Part One

I read recently that the references in "Ring around the Rosy" - you know, the ones supposedly related to the Black Death of medieval times - are in fact, not.  I did not dig deep into the scholarly discussion because frankly I want it to be wrong.  I just like the idea of ideas being passed along for centuries in the lyrical version of children's songs.

It did get me to thinking about a few songs from my own childhood.  Ones that dealt with difficult concepts, things that would be highly inappropriate for children in these cossetted, PC times.  A few examples.

1. "Oh it was sad. So sad.  It was sad when that great ship went down. (to the bottom of the...) Uncles and Aunts, little children lost their pants, it was sad when the Great Ship went down...."

We used to sing this when I was small, and you still hear it once in a while.  It of course references the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.  The original version of the song was intended to be taken seriously.  It was being recorded as early as 1913, and exists in assorted versions.  Here's one from a few years before I was born.

2. "We're Uncle Charlie's Boudoir, Marauders in the Night, we're..(redacted!!!!).

This song was sung at the Charles Sommers Wilderness Canoe Base.  It has of course been altered to include Mr. Sommers, but the original version appears to have been sung quite commonly in military training camps here in the U.S. during WWII.  I recently re-watched part of Band of Brothers where they sang something very similar while running up the mountain during paratrooper training.  All versions of this song contain a fair amount of obscenity.

How this got to be sung at a Boy Scout canoe base it is impossible to say.  As scouts we sang lots of, well, camp songs.  This is the only one I can recall that was R-rated. And certainly not something we'd sing when the Scout Master was around.

Charles Sommers was not a WWII vet.  What little information I can find on him indicates that he was Chairman of Region 10 of the Boy Scouts of America since said region was established in 1921. He is said to have been a very "dignified" man.  I don't imagine he'd think much of being remembered - long after his death - as the ribald "Uncle Charlie" involved in this little ditty.

Ah, but I've saved the Worst for Last.  And for next installment.  Shameful gym class memories dredged up!

A Funeral for Mr. Clamps

Our competition robot for last year's FIRST season was designed to zip about grabbing boxes with a pneumatically powered claw, which it then delivered to targets ranging from ground level to seven feet up.  It was a nice design and a lot of fun to watch.

The team named him "Mr. Clamps", a moniker both descriptive and a bit of homage to a minor character from the Futurama cartoon series.  

Francis X. Clampazzo was of course a much less endearing figure!

As the next season is only a few weeks away we find ourselves with a sad but necessary duty.  We have to reuse some of the parts of Mr. Clamps and so he must be taken apart.

Prior to the build team taking wrenches to him we held a brief ceremony.  It went something like this:

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to say farewell to a worthy robot.  Mr. Clamps was a happy machine, almost like a big enthusiastic robot dog whose great joy in life was grabbing things and speeding off with them."

"Mr. Clamps brought happiness to so very many carbon based organisms. From the yellow capped judges who marveled at his pneumatic air brake to the dozens of Lego League tykes who only a few days ago got their first chance to drive a big robot."

"Yet even as we celebrate the life of Mr. Clamps we are here today to end it."

"A sad occasion, but shed no tears for Clamps.  For he will live on not only in our memories but in the dismantled components that will be Resurrected in The Robots to Come."

"Made in part from scraps from the recycle bin we now speak over him the traditional words of robot parting".

"Bolts to bolts.  Widgets to Widgets.  From the Dumpster he came and to the Dumpster he returns.  Amen."
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A couple of final notes.  

We've had some tough deaths in our community recently.  Our having a little fun celebrating what talented young people can do is not meant in any way to be disrespectful to families that have suffered tragedy.

Also, the afternoon work session was not even half over before the first of Mr. Clamp's recycled parts were put back into service.  The steel support for his elevator shaft is now a much improved handle for our robot transport cart.

The Fez and the Legos

Recently I was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for a FIRST Lego League event. I was given to understand that the primary requirements were a comfort level with middle schoolers, a sufficient energy level, and a silly hat.

I said sure.  In fact I told them that I already owned a bit of headgear I refer to as "The Jeweled Fez of Robotic Supremacy" and that I had worn it while being MC for other robotic events.

FIRST Lego League is a highly organized system and provides a great service for middle school aged students.

Here's the field level view.

And me doing my thing:

Oh, I also wore my tuxedo with tails.  I don't get enough opportunities to do so.

Among my duties of the day I sat down and interviewed most of the two dozen teams in attendance.  A couple of the kids said "I really like your hat".  In return I asked them: "Do you want one?".  I had tossed in a couple of extras from my shamefully large collection of fezes.

Here I am with my Fez Bretheren.

(For the record, I decided at the last minute to not wear the Jeweled Fez.  Rhinestones are a bit much for a daytime event.  The Leopard Fez seemed a more appropriate choice.)

Posters in the Halls of Academe - Part Two

I'm going to miss my wanderings through the halls at University.  I kept getting peculiar little insights into things.  Maybe not the insights that were always intended...

This poster obviously was put up before Halloween.  Because this is considered to be such an important matter we all got an email from the Dean of Students that said the same thing.  I'm sympathetic.  For college age students Halloween costumes typically are associated with alcohol consumption and obnoxious behaviour is not unheard of.  Sometimes people just go a little too far.

I also thought the people behind this poster went a little too far with a gratuitous reference to Immigrations and Customs officials and violence.  Political dust ups notwithstanding these are just folks doing their job.  How 'bout we speak out against Guy Fawkes masks and Che Guevera shirts maybe?  Revolutionaries do tend to perpetrate a little violence after all.

The Math Department shares a floor with foreign language classrooms.  This is logical.  The details on this poster made as much sense to me as if they had been written in Portuguese.  

Except of course for the phrase mentioned in the second line.  Boromirian rings I understand, even if they did spell it wrong!

There are a lot of posters with political flavor to be seen.  Sometimes the actual intent is hard to puzzle out.  This is from the Society of Professional Journalists.  Now, some of my conservative friends would say that modern journalists ditched their objectivity long ago, and would opine that many of them would provide spin/cover/excuses for their political pals for free.  Or maybe for table scraps like an obedient lap dog.

But the detail below seems a fairly conservative thought.  Rather a combination of "There ain't no Free Lunch" and the official motto of New Hampshire "Live Free or Die".

And lastly not a poster but a mysterious door.  Room 219.  The Human Laboratory. Perhaps this is where enormously tall basketball players are cloned....

Posters in the Halls of Academe - Part One

Random odd things seen while waiting for German class.  With Weirdness Rating from the perspective of a 61 year old geezer.

This first one is puzzling.  The Wandering Uterus Project seemed to be related to the making of a (movie?) called ALL NIGHT CHECK.  When I tried to google that I instead got THIS.   I really have no idea how this link - which seems to be a service that watches show horses at, well, horse shows, relates at all.

Elsewhere I did find a somewhat more helpful link.  HERE The Wandering Uterus Project appears to be a multimedia presentation that is "..designed to redress the recent anti-uterus rhetoric that has entered the public sphere..."  Sure, there are some good ideas in there, but for Weirdness this gets a 6.  (Scale of 10)

Einstein in Scotland.  This is a study abroad opportunity.  The cut off part of the poster mentions that you can "Learn Relativity in Aberdeen".  Pints of ale consumed with people speaking the "Doric" dialog of northern Scotland would be a Relatively Interesting experience.  Where Einstein fits in I know not but this was on a board with other math related stuff.  Nerds in kilts.  Weirdness level 7.  I'd give it more but that might be what it takes for Einstein to make sense.

A study of graffiti in a cathedral.  I don't consider this weird at all.  0. If I'd seen it before the actual event I'd have gone to the lecture.

An All Gender Clothing Swap.  This would be weirder if it were prom dresses and such. But boring, neutral colored sweaters?  I still have to give it a 3 but only because it mentions Transmission Week and that sounds like a sale at the auto parts store.

Ladies, Gentlemen and assorted other denizens of the Internet I think we have a winner.  One display cabinet has shared space between Latin American Studies and Public Health Studies.  The cabinet has not been updated lately.  The Essentials of Public Health book is looking tired and saggy.

And a close up of the lower edge of the book?  Dead Bugs!  Health Inspection Fail.  Weirdness level 9.5!

Barbie Jeep Robotics - Part Three

I've spent many years now, an entire generation if you must know, exploring the crazy frontiers of robotics education.  How complicated a project can you take on with how low a budget and with how crazy a batch of middle school students?

This year I think I have finally located the outer limits.  

Modifying Barbie Jeeps is actually a complicated task.  The wiring needs to be done properly (kids are not good at crimping and soldering), and if you do any mechanical alterations you will be working in cramped quarters and with lots of constraints.

It can be done with a small, motivated group who are willing and able to work together.  With a larger batch of, shall we say, Free Spirits.....the amount of actual teaching as opposed to crowd control has started to tip.

The section working on Ninja Jeep has nevertheless made progress.  I don't always have time to line up good pictures so I missed the shot where a half dozen kids gave a "thumbs up" the first time the Jeep powered up and ran.  But here's what I did capture.

A reasonable coherent control box.  

The kids are big into flashy lights.  The front police style light and the rear strobe lights work great.  The rear wheel motors are wired into the control system. We have three sessions left to remove the front wheels and convert to 4 wheel drive.  If that effort fails we just put some kind of roller skate under the front and go with what we've learned.  A few actual good decisions were somehow made on the design and layout of this beast.  And we have a buzzer/horn that we'll add next week.

The other class section has the advantage of fewer excitable members, and has two students that I've worked with on advanced projects in the past.  They also have fewer build sessions.  I figure it will be a wash.  So lets get underway with Princess Jeep....

Or not.  We dug out the innards of the other Jeep and found...problems.  The wire gauge was not big enough to handle 24 volts without heating up.  And one of the gearboxes had stripped gears.  Efforts to get access to this resulted in glitter everywhere, frustration and no success.

So we'll abandon the Evil Princess Jeep and have both classes work on the Ninja.  They are at this point mostly interested in bling and a functional water cannon so we'll try to oblige....