Now Appearing in an Extended Engagement! Join Dave Robison as he takes you into his world and his daily life of reviving a stand-up comedy career. Prepare for side trips exploring Public Relations, marketing and business ethics. Enjoy some frequent detours describing his observations on life. Read the exploits of this self-proclaimed Renaissance-man and blooming blogger as you go
On The Road With Dave.
"Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it."
Since Blogger announced it was no longer supporting FTP blogs and abandoning me, I've been researching my options. Originally, Blogger announced a March 26th date for their date of non-support. Recently they announced they would give us poor saps until May 1, to make the necessary changes.
I've received some good informative comments on my last entry about the issue and a few friends have offered to help me with the upcoming move. I've been procrastinating. I'm glad the deadline was extended.
Blogger is trying to make the move as easy as possible with updates and instructions, but they have said if I follow their procedure, I would not be able to go back to FTP/private hosting with any entries after making their specific changes to their new format. I'm not sure I like the sound of that.
Other options presented to me have obstacles such as downloading some blog format software to my current computer. My current computer is an older model that I had to press into service and it does not support a lot of sites out there on the "Internets". Even YouTube has told me that my current system is out of date and updates are no longer available. (Yeah, it's that old)
So in order to follow some's advice, I'd have to invest in a new computer, too. I'm not ready to do that just yet. So, I'm still procrastinating and still searching for options. I'll figure it out.
"Of equality-As if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself- As if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same."
I was checking my email Saturday night and I checked on one of my Google Alert emails on the topic of ventriloquism. In case you didn't know you can set up Alerts with Google and they will email you a list of links for the day of websites mentioning your topic.
In the email, I discovered Mark Betcher's blog, "Art Work by Manic Mark". Manic Mark collects old vinyl LP Albums in the niche market of private labels, vanity press, and self-produced albums. Not only does he find the recordings and the production of the albums of value, but also the accompanying album covers and artwork.
Mark explains,
"About vinyl collecting and my reviews. Producing a record for most artists was a costly undertaking. Without label support, artists had to pay for studio time and many extras to help engineer a recording. Artists then had to pay for pressing the record and the cost of creating the album jacket. And the cost of printing, even a low-end, one color jacket was very expensive! Certainly there was no budget for marketing. There were no fashion consultants, make-up artists or professional designers working on these projects. These private press, off or no label, vanity LPs were "expensive" undertakings in the most low budget way. I treasure them because I get the artist's vision... not the marketing department vision! It's the unvarnished truth!"
I'm not harshing on Mark's hobby--I think it's kinda cool. But Mark reviewed an album that is near and dear to my heart and although he said some good things about it, he sort of dissed the subject matter and the effectiveness of the album.
The album was Jimmy Nelson's "Instant Ventriloquism and Ventriloquism For The Beginner". Jimmy Nelson was a famous ventriloquist in the 50s and the 60s and brought to life his partners, Danny O'Day and Farfel, for millions on TV. Nelson's commercials for NESTLES chocolate ingrained in every child's mind of that era with the clever jingle, "N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle makes the very best...chocolate." Nelson also licensed the likeness of his dummy, Danny O'Day to be sold as a beginner ventriloquist doll to boys and girls all over the USA through JCPenney's and Sears' Christmas catalogs. My first ventriloquist doll was a Danny O'Day doll received on my 9th Christmas along with an LP vinyl album called "Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism and Ventriloquism For The Beginner"
Manic Mark says,
"I wonder how many people actually got anywhere learning the art of ventriloquism using this instructional LP? Not many, I suspect. The same deal applies to the instructional books you might buy as a comic book reading youngster to help you muscle up so that bullies would stop kicking sand in your face at the beach."
But Mark we must disagree. Not only did I learn ventriloquism from that album, but I performed all over my little city with that doll with nothing more than Nelson's instructions. Of course, my interest in the art sparked more reading, more training, and even more practicing; but that little doll and that recording was more than effective. Over the years, I've had conversations with other ventriloquists that had similar experiences.
Mark, you have found a piece of history for a lot of ventriloquists and I'm glad you found it worth collecting. (I still have my copy) Thanks for mentioning it, for saving it and for preserving it.
Thanks to Manic Mark you can listen to a small sample of the recording, and enjoy your first lesson in Ventriloquism from a Master--Jimmy Nelson.
I say that with assurance and evidence provided by a scientific study. And this writer is happy that he lives in a state that ranks high on the "happy" list. If you will recall, I was rather "bummed" a few months ago, when another study ranked my current home city of Mobile, Alabama as a home for ugly men.
But revenge is sweet; and thanks to Rob Zeiger,who alerted me to the story; I happy to say that the "Happy study" beats the "ugly study", hands down.
The two professors first relied on research from a 2005-2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System random sample of 1.3 million United States citizens in which life-satisfaction in each U.S. state was measured. People were asked about their health and just how satisfied they were with their life. This provided a table of happiness by US State. But the survey is/was subjective. How do you rely on someone's self declared level of happiness? How do you know they are telling the truth?
Wu and Oswald state, "Researchers have, for decades, longed for a more clearly external scientific check on, and corroboration of, well-being survey answers."
The researchers discovered data conducted in 2003 by Stuart Gabriel and colleagues from UCLA which considered objective indicators for each individual State of the USA such as: precipitation; temperature; sunshine; coastal land; inland water; public land; National Parks; hazardous waste sites; environmental "greenness"; commuting time; violent crime; air quality; local taxes; cost of living and other factors. This allowed the creation of a rank order of US states showing which should provide the happiest living experience. This was truly external data that could be used to check Wu and Oswald's survey study.
When the data was combined, Oswald and Wu discovered that people were telling the truth. The "happiness" answers matched the data that would logically define a happy place to live. Citizens who described themselves as happy and satisfied tended to live in areas where it was warm, safe, secure and the cost of living wasn't a stone around their necks.
And yeah those big states, like California (46) have sunshine and New York (Dead Last) have opportunity but the researchers also say they have a self-non fulfilling prophecy of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, because people rushed to them to "be happy" and wind up in crowded cities with a high cost of living, crime, and resulting unhappiness from those factors and others.
I kinda felt sorry for New York Times writer, Clyde Haberman as he tried to justify his city's ranking as Number 51 out of 51 on the list. New York is a unhappy place to live, but Haberman states unhappiness could be a good thing, "More important, might contentment be overrated? Seriously, isn't restlessness, even outright discontent, often a catalyst for creativity?"
Sounds to me like New Yorkers are getting a small taste of being on an "Ugly List".
So, where are the happiest places to live in the United States?
1. Louisiana 2. Hawaii 3. Florida 4. Tennessee 5. Arizona 6. Mississippi 7. Montana 8. South Carolina 9. Alabama 10. Maine
That's right, Alabama is in the Top 10. My home state of Mississippi is Number 6 and one of my favorite cities, New Orleans; is in the #1 Happiest State in America. And this study was conducted before the Saints won the Super Bowl. In fact, six of the top ten states were in The South. It's about time, Southern states land on a list that's good and doesn't rank them last. New York will have to "get over it"; this time.
I knew it all along, but now, Science proves I'm happy living in Alabama.
