2005 News Archive
Burning of Katrina
December 31, 2005
Brad says Dennis is burning an effigy of Katrina tonight. A good one to burn and say goodbye too. Out with the old-lady gloom.
Auld Lang Syne
December 31, 2005
Words adapated from a traditional song by Robert Burns (1759-96):
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne
Cohos Trail
December 21, 2005
There is a new long distance hiking trail in New Hampshire, running from Crawford Notch to the Canadian Border, and may extend up to Mont Megantic in Quebec. Looks intriguing, and according to the literature should now be complete. I'll have to figure a way to manage servers remotely... to say the least. Here is the overview of the trail.
IrishTunes.net
December 21, 2005
Choice music notation generator for some great Celtic dance tunes.
Music: Great Big Sea: The Hard and the Easy
December 20, 2005
Newfoundland trad and drinking songs. Lay aboot with more than one Labatts (green label), and imagine a St. John's pub, down near the harbor, on a Friday night, in February. Or perhaps a bait shack in Tickle Cove, in April, when the Straight is still frozen solid. Rowdy and excellent. Makes you rethink mermaids.
I really want to see this band live, but alas, the closest they are coming to New Mexico this year, is Denver.
Brings to mind two Newfie books, The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx (enlightening February reading), and Farley Mowat's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float.
"We've fixed the leak and now it works fine."
Strings Magazine
December 20, 2005
Its good to see a magazine that does not focus on selling gear, instead providing quality information. Strings Magazine provides surprisingly well written articles on violins, violas, cellos, and string basses, looking both back and forward on the associated crafts and music associated with stringed instruments. Last month's issue had a nice arrangement of Scott Joplin's Solace, an awesome ragtime piece. This month's issue describes a violin made of Balsa wood that sounds as good as a traditional instrument.
Scott Joplin: Ragtime
December 20, 2005
And while on the subject of Scott Joplin and ragtime, here is a great introduction to this wonderful form of American music, Ragtime. Includes Solace, mentioned above.
Jerry Pournelle: If I Were Emperor
December 20, 2005
And that, I guess, would be enough for my first day.
Ride Report: Western South America
December 9, 2005
This is a most vivid ride report. GREAT (!) pictures and narrative of the South American leg of an around-the-world trip on a BMW R100GS. Set lots of time aside for this one.
Here's a sample of the journey-- the floating islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru.
Music: Spirit, by Dervish
December 9 , 2005
Spirit is top-notch Dervish, a group continually pushing the envelope of traditional Celtic music. Spirit is probably their strongest work to-date, and that is saying a lot given the strength of Midsummer's Night. Cathy Jordan reaches a seeming unattainable place in her vocals, and is sheer beauty to listen to. The arrangements of this seven piece ensemble are outstanding and innovative, and the musicianship all around is just superb. This is the first CD that I have found truly inspirational this year (though am anticipating Flook's Haven). Listen to Spirit with headphones, and don't miss them if they come to play near you. An awesome christmas present for someone who enjoys Celtic music.
Microcontent News
December 8 , 2005
A site dedicated to news of the blog industry and reviews of weblog technology. A quick glance showed several interesting articles. For instance, here is an interview with the Authors of O'Reillys "Running Weblogs with Slash", the software used to run slashdot.org.
I'm starting to consider that a weblog is a key technology for the small-scale information provider.
Advanced Google Operators Cheat Sheet
December 8 , 2005
Get the most out of your Google searches.
Need Directions?
December 8 , 2005
Get from point to point in the US. Results are a visual map and written mile-log instructions. A wonderful use of technology. Hats off to Microsoft for this one.
Dataplaces
December 8 , 2005
Find information about places.
Make Magazine
December 5 , 2005
Maybe making things yourself is alive and well. I just picked of the fourth issue of O'Reilly's Make magazine. It seems patterned on Popular Mechanics Magazine of the 50's and Whole Earth Review of the 70;s and 80's. and thought quite expensive ($14 bucks a pop) it is really quite full of information, projects, and tool reviews, for do-it yourself tinkers. Subscription saves you about half of the cover price.
One criticism... I find the magazine layout very hard to read. Serif text, light gray on a white background. I hope they improve on that.
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
December 5 , 2005
This is the best way I've found to inexpensively precision cut leather or cloth. A retractable round rolling razorblade is mounted on a handle. You roll the blade along the material to be cut, using a metal straightedge for control, and get very precise cuts. Change the blade when it is worn out.
I wish the handle were metal and not plastic, as the whole unit feels a bit cheap and breakable.
Available at sewing supply stores for about $17.00. I'm not sure how I did without this.
Graphite Spars for Kite Building
December 5 , 2005
After building several kites that failed because of wooden spars not being up to handling the wind load, I have been looking for sources of the stronger graphite spars. Here's a source that looks promising.
Twenty Hydrogen Myths
December 5 , 2005
A reader responded to the Hydrogen Fallacies post (below) with this link to an article by the Rocky Mountain Institute's Amory Lovins titled Twenty Hydrogen Myths. Also listed are a number of other informative RMI papers.
I read this paper, and still stand by what I said, that is, in the short term hydrogen power is an energy sink, i.e. using current hydrogen production methods, you lose more energy than you gain.
Here is an interesting approach to hydrogen production using microbes that excrete Hydrogen as a waste product.
PAiA Synth kit founder John Simonton dies
December 1 , 2005
John Simonton, founder of PAiA died last week. His do-it-yourself kits allowed us into the unaffordable world of music synthesizers
in the late 70's and 80's. His business model was unique and innovative. The time of making things yourself seems to have passed.
Here's an old Craig Anderton interview with John Simonton, and a memorial blog.
Hydrogen Fallacies
November 30, 2005
I have a friend who insists that hydrogen power is the short-term answer to conquering our dependence on fossil fuels, and if we'd just throw some more research (money) into hydrogen as a power source, it would be a viable source of energy.
I've tried to argue, rather incoherently, why this is not so. I've been wanting to summarize what little I know for a while now. Here it is.
Basically it comes down to the Law of Exergy: "The quality of energy is measured by exergy. As energy is used in a process it loses quality, its exergy decreases."
Hydrogen does not exist in an easily obtainable form here on earth. It needs to be separated somehow from other compounds that it bonds to like methane, gasoline, or water. That's where Exergy kicks in; it takes more energy to produce (separate) the hydrogen out, than can be obtained from using it as fuel.
You lose more than you gain.
An example of this is decoupling hydrogen from organic methane using electrolysis. You use up more energy in the process of getting the Hydrogen into useable fuel form than you get back by burning the resulting fuel. Separating Hydrogen from water via electrolysis is even worse. You use a lot of power to do so. Separating Hydrogen from Gasoline is more efficient, there is a lot of hydrogen stored in fossil fuel (hydrocarbons), but you still lose more energy in the separation process than would be gained by directly burning the gasoline.
Besides that, hydrogen is difficult to store. At air temperature it is odorless, colorless, and tends to want to explode. Violently. You can store it by bonding it to something or cooling it, but then you are back where you started. It takes energy to release the energy.
The amount of hydrogen you need to store to do useful work is large. You need a really big tank for, say, practical transportation. For a car, a huge tank size is both impractical, and dangerous. Gasoline packs a lot of bang for the buck (or three) into a small storage space. Then there is the problem of moving hydrogen between storage facility and vehicle. This appears to be quite dangerous.
Finally, there is amortization; cost distributed over time. There are no cost benefits if using hydrogen, over time, is going to be (considerably) more expensive than using existing fuels. Depleting scarce hydrocarbons for a less efficient fuel source does not make much sense.
My facts and terminology might be a little less than perfect, but that is the heart of it.
Nuclear fusion is a different story altogether. Nuclear fission may be the short term practical solution if we can figure out what to do with the waste. That seems rather insurmountable as well.
Mackenzie River Blog and Photos
November 29, 2005
Brian Holder sent a link to his blog and photos of his recent Mackenzie River canoe trip (Summer 2005). He is an excellent photographer. One picture shows the glowing burning coal banks above Fort Norman. Another shows a wolf, an inhabitant of this region.
Black Donald's Applesauce
November 29, 2005
Never, never, cook applesauce in a cast iron pot. This puckery stuff is becoming legendary. Good for anemia and other blood aliments. Add cranberries for extra zing.
How to Guarantee Job Security
November 23, 2005
Or... how to obfuscate code. This is great. Get a baby names book, and name your variables using random baby names. Never comment. Semicolon everywhere. Use Perl conventions in your Python. Name your counter ' ì ' . About 100 other tips as well. Have fun! :o)
Sample:
$Ashley='Hello World';
$æ='\n';
$bOz0=1;
$tHEbIGt0P=11;
for ($ì=$bOz0; $ì <$tHEbIGt0P;$ì++) {
print "$Ashley$æ";
};
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
- Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound
What A Quiet Stiff Reminder
November 23, 2005
Good stuff...
Bruce Schneier Comments on the Sony Rootkit
November 16, 2005
Excellent (as always) commentary on the Sony Rootkit by Bruce Schneier. This goes a bit beyond shooting yourself in the foot. Will Sony, and the mainstream music industry, learn anything from this? Watch out for the thrashing tail of a dying dinosaur. However, perhaps the dinosaurs are not going extinct after all, and there is a big hungry T-Rex in town.
Copper Canyon
November 16, 2005
We are starting to assemble information for a possible Copper Canyon trip. This site seems a good place to start, with maps, destination descriptions, and lodging information. Copper Canyon is located in the Mountains of Northern Mexico (Sierra Tarahumara), and is on the scale of the Grand Canyon.
Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out
November 7, 2005
This looks interesting, though I have yet to read it. Note the use of viral marketing, by posting short excerpts from the book on a well publicized blog.
Rand Report on Attack Preparedness
November 7, 2005
What Rand says you should do in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack. The report is titled:
Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks
Constellations: Learning the Night Sky
October 31, 2005
Learning the constellations of the night-sky is well worth it, and a great starting point for
a lifetime of family astronomy enjoyment.
I was going through a box of old books, and found two excellent and accessible guides to constellations, for beginners, by H.A. Rey (who also wrote Curious George). These books, and a decent 10x50 binocular will get you started.
Peter Small
October 31, 2005
Checked in to see what visionary Peter Small is up to. Evolution, dice, chaos, complexity, self-organization, how God makes God. Here's a peek.
Vassar Clements
October 28, 2005
The great Vassar Clements died in August-- I just heard. He was one of my violin heroes. I feel privileged to have met him when he did a violin clinic at the Albuquerque Folk Festival a few years back. He was in fine form, and gracious in sharing his knowledge. For some reason, he reminded me a lot of my dad, in his looks and mannerisms.
Matt Glaser, Chair of the Berklee String Department, who transcribed Vasser's fiery work , writes this remembrance.
Secrets of Disney's Haunted Mansion
October 25, 2005
I was very impressed with this ride at 10. Tried to figure out the effects, and could not. The 3D ghosts are actually a special effect called "Pepper's Ghost" developed in the 1840's, and realized about 20 years later.
If you are a fan of the Haunted Mansion, here is the lowdown. Highlights are the ride's soundtrack, recorded in the 1960's, and the layout.
Almost as good as Pirates of the Caribbean! "Yo, ho, ho, it's a Pirates life for me." It would be great to see a similar technical breakdown to POTHC.
Halloween Reading
October 25, 2005
The October Country, by Ray Bradbury. The Halloween Tree is quite extraordinary too.
For kids their is Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful (out of print).
Available at your local library.
We are going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas shortly. Here are Lyrics to Danny Elfman's fine score:
"And since I am dead, I can take off my head
To recite Shakespearean quotations" - Jack
"Kidnap the Sandy Claws
Tie him in a bag
Throw him in the ocean
Then, see if he is sad " - Lock, Shock, and Barrel
Tender lumplings everywhere
Life’s no fun without a good scare" - Child Corpse Trio
Time for some Oingo Boingo.
Getting a Flu Shot in Albuquerque.
October 25, 2005
Basically, their are two healthcare providers in Albuquerque. Presbyterian and Loveless. Pres had it act together and ordered Flu vaccine, but shots seem only available to members. Loveless was late in getting their order in. Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico does not do business with Loveless. Once Loveless gets the vaccine (late November?) it will only be available to members of it's in-house plan. BCBC participants can wait. If any vaccine is left, say mid December, to get a shot, BCBS participants have to make an appointment to see their Loveless doctor, at full co pay, which must cost BCBS something over $100. A brain dead Lovelace staffer giggled over the phone "we haven't had flu shot clinics in years".
I can go down to Costco and get a flu shot for $18, and a short wait. What's going on here?
Mr. Angry and Mrs. Calm
October 25, 2005
Neat optical illusion. When viewed from a distance the two faces switch. More.
Pet cemetery dug up to clear way for Hampton Inn
October 25, 2005
Creepy. I don't think I'd stay there. Link.
New Mexico Python, Zope, and Plone User's Group
October 7, 2005
The New Mexico Python, Zope, and Plone User's Group website is up. It is a Plone 2.1 / Zope site, and demonstrates open-source portal collaborative technology, including content management (news, events, files, web pages, etc.), public and private shared workspaces, internal document indexing, RSS feeds, and hopefully sometime soon Plone integrated forums. The site was built in one evening, by me, including the makeshift skin, which goes to show how far this technology has come.
Register and try it out.
Flook: Haven
October 7, 2005
Flook's new CD is out, and can be purchased directly from the band. If you have not heard Flook, they are quite simply the forefront of Celtic music right now. Flatfish and Rubai, their previous CD's are just fantastic. I hope the will be doing some Southwest US dates soon.
Skype 1.4
October 6, 2005
Ebay paid over a billion for Skype. Perhaps this is a good move for Ebay, but Skype has got to be flat out the buggiest software I have had the misfortune to use lately. Crashes are just spectacular. Maybe ebay will fix?
The idea is good. IP telephony that works. Are there open source alternative yet? The excellent open-source GAIM instant messenger promises, but has to date, not delivered.
Zope 3.1.0 Final Released
October 6, 2005
Zope Corporation has release Zope 3.1.0 Final, the first production-ready version of Zope in the 3.0 series. We now have an experimental version running on one of our servers. Danger... learning curve ahead. This is a huge change in direction. The Windows binary version seems not quite ready for prime time, however the Linux source appears fully functional.
It remains to be seen if this will make development easier or more difficult. What we hear is very positive, but one thing is certain: many Zope 2 apps will need to be ported. That could be a really big deal.
For an overview there is the Zope 3 Book.
The Zope 2 servers will stay up...
Saiorse at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival
My band, Saoirse, played a nice show at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta on Sunday. Highlights were the gas balloon race starting at sunset just as we finished, and Glenn's APD police friends arriving on horses to check us out. The horses must be well trained, because on-stage volumes were high, yet the horses were right up behind us.
I hear that Richard Abruzzo was injured today, when his gas balloon crashed into some power lines. We wish him a fast recovery. It looks like the winners (Berben and Simeons) made it all the way to the Gaspe Peninsula in New Brunswick! From Albuquerque, NM!!!
The Balloon Fiesta is not to be missed. Something like 1500 Balloons rose Sunday Morning at the mass ascension. Cool.
Oware Cattarp 5
October 4, 2005
We ended up purchasing the Oware Cattarp 5. It is a lightweight backpacking tarp (24oz) that is big enough for three people and their gear, with room to spare, in an extended downpour. That is, you can sit up under it, without hitting the fabric. I'm impressed with it's quality, with lots of re-enforced tie-downs and sturdy stitching. The silicon impregnated nylon is quite waterproof, but don't touch it in the rain. I'm not sure of the benefit of the catenary cut yet.
We had originally ordered the Cattarp 3, but that is really is too small for three people to be comfortable under, for any length of time. For Solo hiking, I would definitely use the Cattarp 3. It is unbelievably light (15oz), but sturdy. The Cattarps 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 would be too small for me to be comfortable.
Dave Olsen, of Oware, was very helpful, and a pleasure to do business with. Shipping was speedy quick.
A Trip to Love Canal, 25 Years Later
October 4, 2005
Pictures and narrative.
Give me Liberty. I've Already Got Death.
(From a sign displayed by a Love Canal resident, 1978)
Motorcycle Rental in Anchorage, AK
October 4, 2005
An alternative to beating up your bike getting there.. of course, getting there is the fun. Looks good, if you are on a tight schedule.
Reintroduction of the Hornpipe
October 4, 2005
"The Whistle Player’s Hornpipe is 24” long and plays in the key of D, one octave below flutes and ‘low’ whistles in D, with a gorgeous dark tone reminiscent of the human voice or clarinet. But since it accommodates whistle and flute fingering and ornaments, it ends up sounding quite unlike anything else you’ve ever heard. The single reed is held directly in the mouth where it can be manipulated, giving The Whistle Player’s Hornpipe a range of tonal expression and volume variability (dynamics) not available on whistle and flute. And if you become good at over-blowing, you can play in a higher register that sounds amazingly like the uilleann pipe chanter."
Samples:
Righteous Spam Fightin' Tutorial
October 2, 2005
Got spam at the server level? Here is a trouble free tutorial of the darned complicated process of setting up open source Postfix, Amavis, Spamassassin, Razor, Pyzor, DCC, and ClamAV on Fedora Core 3 and 4. It is flawless...
With ClamAV, no viruses or worms have gotten through to our users in a really long time. With Spamassassin, and associated tools, our spam count has dropped back to much more manageable levels, with minimal false positives.
Outstanding!
In the Wake of Hurricane Katrina
September 17, 2005
Fascinating account of a trip by GS Dakar into Gulfport, post Katrina.
Canadian Forest Rings
September 17, 2005
It looks like the Canadian boreal forest rings that my dad was investigating in the early 1980's for NASA, are a geomagnetic marker for methane gas deposits, and perhaps larger ore bodies. I'm glad to hear they are not Kimberlite pipes (diamonds), but in any case we should have staked a few claims.
It turns out these are naturally occurring electrochemical cells, that behave as huge natural batteries. The massive underground negative electrical charge results in the circular patterns. Apparently the charge affects groundwater and tree growth. The result is circles of no-growth in the spruce forest.
One of these things was drilled into recently and it exploded! They seem to be full of natural gas pockets.
Even so, I can't see much commercial exploitation of these rings in the near future. The Hudson's Bay lowland treed bogs are about as un-hospitable a country as you will find in North America. Swampy, buggy, inaccessible except in winter. We had to build a raft on the swampy surface to land a helicopter.
Here are two forest rings north of Hearst, Ontario. Initial thinking was that these were meteorite craters. Though my dad found not evidence of that, you can see why one might think this.
Tarps for Backpacking, and Water Filtration
September 17, 2005
I've been a fan of tarps for summer lightweight backpacking for quite some time. They are lightweight and when set up right, keep you dry, while retaining great cross-ventilation.
Here is everything you ever wanted to know about camping with tarps.
I finally broke down and bought a high-tech catenary cut tarp - the Kelty Noah's Tarp 12. Three of us took it out for one weekend in heavy gusty mountain rain. It was quite unsatisfactory and I have since returned it to REI.
The high-tech wing design only works well pitched in certain ways, and if you get the orientation wrong, i.e. the wind changes directions, three people will get good and wet under it. I'm surprised that Kelty got this product so wrong. Usually their products are quite excellent-- this is a design, and not a quality issue.
An alternatives that I am considering is the Oware Cattarp 3. I hear good reviews from hard-users. They are custom made so there is a bit of a wait to receive one.
I also finally ditched my MSR Waterworks filter. It has been dogging me long enough. Avoid at all costs! It clogs instantly, at best passes hardly any water, at worst passes none, is expensive to maintain, and difficult to fix in the field.
I replaced it with a Katadyn Hiker (formerly Pur) that gets good reviews. I have not used it yet, so cannot say if it is an improvement. I hope so. I did not go with the Hiker Pro model as viral contamination is not usually a problem in the places I hike (or so I am told). The cost of maintaining the Pro, which is considered a purifier rather than a filter, is significantly higher. I think I would go for the Pro if traveling out of country, i.e. Mexico and South America.
Useful DNS Tools
September 17, 2005
Two useful tools for DNS analysis are here and here.
IIS vs. Apache
September 17, 2005
After doing some IIS 6 configuration for a bit recently, I must say that I prefer Apache. It makes more sense to me. They are both quite capable.
Winterize it!
September 17, 2005
Good advice for putting an engine to sleep for the winter.
More Dreamweaver 8: Catastrophic Failure!
September 17, 2005
...And, uninstalling Dreamweaver MX blew away all my site configuration files, completely, with a "Catastrophic Failure!" nod. Good thing I did a backup. Do so before upgrading.
Dreamweaver 8
September 16, 2005
The box came tonight. Woohoo.
I guess Freehand is no more. Farewell buggy
Freehand. I can't say I'm sorry to see you go. Fireworks stays for now;
hooray!
The Dreamweaver install went well. It found all my site definitions.
FTP and WebDAV (!) performance is somewhat snappier, though WebDAV file
upload is slow, due to all the DAV information DW is keeping track of. The interface
is much the same as v.7 (MX 2004). I don't think
I could have taken another interface redesign. The spell checker seems
improved too.
Bad news is that it is still not very Zope friendly out of the box. It want's
file extensions, dammit.
My big question is... has Macromedia fixed the MySQL password
compatibility problem? If so, this will be a winner. I've spent way too
much time recently working around this.
Another positive-- Flash Pro and Flash are now integrated. No special
version is needed for outputting video.
Google Earth
September 15, 2005
It's rare that really groundbreaking new software technology comes along;
software worth getting excited about. Google Earth is fantastic. I can
see whole curricula being written around this. Download
it here.
What is interesting is that the imagery, at least for New Mexico, seems
about four years old. The image of my house was taken in 2001, when we
still had a red Jeep, which you can just make out in the driveway.
Ride Report: Labrador
September 15, 2005
An excellent ride
report of Ldeikis' recent trip to Labrador, on a KLR-650. I spent
some time in this area as a kid, tagging along on my dad's research of
the Manacougin Meteorite crater for MIT. The road connecting the three
main Labrador towns is due open for traffic in 2007.
I think Ldeikis is hard on his "old man".
Saoirse Rehearsal Recordings
September 15, 2005
Two decent recent live rehearsal recordings from my
band Saoirse.
Engine Break-In
August 16, 2005
An interesting counter-intuitive
take on breaking in a new engine. No opinion.
Neutron Bomb Inventor Profiled
August 16, 2005
A profile of the man who invented
the Neutron Bomb. Yay.
Motorcycle Safety Foundation Training
August 8, 2005
Riding a motorcycle safely is all about skills. The various Motorcycle
Safety Foundation classes provide a good foundation for such skills
with their various
classes. For the beginner, the MSF Basic
Ridercourse is an excellent and affordable introduction. MSF provides
small manageable bikes (150-250cc), helmets as well as two skilled instructors
to help you learn on a controlled riding range. Two tests are required
to pass the course, a written and a driving skills test. The written test
is easy. The skills test is not, even if you have ridden before. Riding
figure eights in the "box", and quick braking are particularly
difficult if you have never practiced these skills. Not everyone passes
the skills test, especially those who have never ridded before. Don't
let this stop or intimidate you though; the MSF in New Mexico lets you
re-take the riding-skills part of the course and the test, for free, until
you get the skills to pass. In New Mexico, passing this test gets you
your State Motorcycle Endorsement and insurance discounts. You even might
get to try-out cool new bikes (like a 2006 KLR 250 dual-sport with kick
start).
Movie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
July 25, 2005
We haven't seen many movies lately. Missy and I had just finished reading Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl. So we thought it might be
fun to see it on the big screen. Mom and Dad were concerned that the Tim
Burton / Johnny Depp adaptation might be too dark for a four year old,
but we decided to take a chance and see it anyway.
Well, M. really liked it, and we did too. It is very faithful to the
book, much more so than the 1970's version with Gene Wilder. Like that
version, it rewrites the book's ending. In the earlier version, this left
me quite unsatisfied; the ending was a big letdown. Likewise, the ending
is changed in this new version. Fortunately, Tim Burton pulls the ending
off nicely, and the addition is complimentary to the movie, and to the
odd character of Willie Wonka, the Amazing Chocolateer (played to a tee
by Johnny Depp).
I have been a huge fan of Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo for many years.
Elfsman's orchestral score is standard Batmaninsh uninspired Elfman, but
the Oompa-Loompa songs, with Lyrics right from the book are quite the
opposite are right out of Oingo Boingo (those insects make me want to
dance). Songs good enough that I want the soundtrack! M. has been humming
the "Wonka's
Welcome Song" theme for a day now, so it must be memorable. I
can't get the darn thing out of my head. If you ever visited Disney's
It's a Small World Ride you will get a kick out of this...
Overall not a great movie, but very enjoyable. Definitely better than
the first version. Can't wait for "The Corpse Bride". I hope
its as good as the outstanding "Nightmare Before Christmas".
We saw a trailer for the new Wallace and Grommet movie too, which looks
good.
Blue Dragon Celtic Music Session
July 19, 2005
The long-standing traditional Celtic-music session at Albuquerque's Blue
Dragon Coffee House has resumed, on alternate Thursday nights, 7:00 PM.
Uilleann Reedmaking
July 19, 2005
Made a working Uilleann Bagpipe reed on the third try. Similar to an Oboe
double reed. It is difficult, but not impossible. Good instruction, a
model reed, some Arundo Donax cane, and sharp tools are a must. Got my
first supply of cane from David Daye,
who shares an incredible amount of good information on pipe construction.
Andrew Post got me started at this, and has been a good work partner;
very sympathetic to split reeds...
Joins David Daye's Uilleann Pipes listserv (below) for lots of good information
on reed making and pipering in general.
Uilleann Pipes Listserv
July 19, 2005
A listserv that tends towards discussion of pipemaking technique:
Send e-mail to LISTSERV@listserv.heanet.ie
No subject line. (Ok to put something there.)
Message simply: subscribe uilleann Firstname Lastname
To subscribe now, review these instructions and Click here
New Saoirse Band Photos and Members
June 20, 2005
Don James has taken some outstanding
new photos of our Celtic band "Saoirse". These will appear
in the July issue of Albuquerque Magazine. One has been posted on the
home page of the band website.
Saoirse welcomes new members Glenn Maxwell (Bodhran, Military Snare,
and daBones) and Dee Myers (Vocals and Percussion).
Excellent $5 Pennywhistle
June 20, 2005
The Clarke Meg is a great
little $5 Pennywhistle. Get one in the key of D. I don't think it
can be beat for starting out on the Pennywhistle-- you could spend $100,
and get much worse. It is tapered, so plays well in tune, and has a fipple
designed by Michael Copeland. It has a pleasant sound with lots of chiff,
but does not take much breath to play, so is good for kids. The ridge
where the metal joins is annoying, but hey, it's a $5 whistle, and not
a Burke.
I would buy this over a Generation (>$10), Oak, Waltons, or Feadog (just terrible, and need to be tweaked to sound any good at all). The next step up is
a Susato for $20-$30.
If you don't play a musical instrument, the D Pennywhistle is a great
place to start. If you play fiddle, and want to understand celtic musical
ornamentation, learning the pipes or the pennywhistle is a great way to
understand the technical roots of the music. A pennywhistle costs much
less that a set of pipes, and your neighbors will thank you for your choice.
New Mexico Online Map
June 20, 2005
A PDF
Map of the State of New Mexico. A big file, but the detail is makes
this quite useful.
Odd Violins
June 20, 2005
Here
are some very odd violin shaped objects. The Banjolin is intriguing.
Meade Telescope Barrel Flocking
May 17, 2005
My friend Trace has successfully
flocked the barrel of his Meade 12" LX200. The goal of flocking
is to eliminate all stray light inside your optical path, increasing contrast.
In that regard, the inside of Meade barrels are not black. Flocking is
making the inside surface black, generally with flat black paint or flocking
paper. I may try this, as the mirror on my Meade is in need of attention
anyway. Breath deeply-- it will all go back together... Yes it will.
Flute Myths Exploded
May 17, 2005
From master wooden flute maker Terry
Mcgee comes this
interesting read on myths surrounding flutes. His opinions are informed
and based on a great deal of hands on research with a variety of old and
new wooden flutes. His website is a goldmine of flute analysis research.
"Like every other field of human endeavor, the flute world
is liberally sprinkled with myths, misconceptions and, shame to say,
some downright mistruths. Some of these stem from folklore, some from
promotional spin and some, well, who knows where. But whatever their
source or nature, our task here is to debunk them where they need debunking."
- Terry Mcgee, from his website.
Utah Canyoneering
May 12, 2005
If you ever take a trip to Utah, one of many really amazing things there
are the slot canyons in the southern part of the state. The San Rafael
Swell, Escalante, Zion, Robber's Roost, North Wash, and Cedar Mesa areas
are full of these, with trips ranging from easy and family oriented (Zion
Canyon) to technical, requiring ropes and special hardware. There is a
lot of middle ground.
Tom's
Utah Canyoneering Guide provides online free maps and trip descriptions
of the more popular slots (there are many more throughout the region).
Watch for approaching thunderstorms and leave the canyon immediately on
any hint of rain, lest
this happen to you.
Cathy Ryan's New CD
May 5, 2005
Cathy Ryan has released a new CD, The Farthest Wave, which you can order directly from her.
Paintings by Mark Ryden and Jennifer Li
May 5, 2005
Small jewels of paintings, with a lot going on. Here is Mark Ryden's website
(one, two)
and Jennifer Li's. Both can be
beautiful yet disturbing.
Pirate Speak
May 4, 2005
From boingboing.net.
World or Warcraft pirates complete with Captain and loyal crew, be
makin' yon meddlin' admin wench walk da plank. Backwards. Har!
Why Are Computer Viruses Written?
May 4, 2005
A friend asked why people write computer trojans and viruses.
The common reasoning is they are mostly written by pimply teenage black-shirted
hackers with no friends. Here is frightening
story of how viruses are used by organized crime to create massively
distributed network attacks for financial or other gain.
"To ensure a quick, quiet transaction, the extortionists did
what all extortionists (in the physical or online world) do: They exploited
the problem of the commons. An ecological principle, the problem of
the commons states that people will act in self-interest if it profits
them in the short term, even if that act will hurt everyone, including
themselves, in the long term. Every act, every threat, every negotiation
tactic, every single move extortionists make is designed to make paying
the protection fee not only appealing, but in fact, the smartest business
decision you can make in the short term, even if you know in the long
run that you haven't stopped the problem at all."
-- Scott Berinato, excerpt from article published ob CSO,
The Resources from Security Executives.
Vintage Magic Show Posters
May 2, 2005
An online
gallery of vaudeville magic show posters. Magic shows were all the
rage at the turn of the last century. A lost art.
Positive Revolutionary Developments in Human History
May 2, 2005
Harry Browne has
an informative audio discussion of technologies that have (overall) had
a positive effect on society. He lists these as:
- Surgery
- The Printing Press
- The Steam Engine
- Assembly Line Production
- Locomotion
- Harnessing of Electricity
- Automobiles
- Radio
- Air Travel
- Refrigeration
- Antibiotics
- Computers
And some others:
- Indoor Plumbing
- Eyeglasses
- Irrigation
- Water Purification
- Photography
- The Symphony Orchestra
I would add:
- Agriculture
- Metallurgy
- The Telephone
Weird Metronome
April 30, 2005
My wind up tick-tock metronome broke. How will I ever practice without
a metronome? Fortunately, Weird Metronome is available
for free download. It's a simple drum machine too. Windows only.
Deep Review of Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger
April 29, 2005
Comprehensive ArsTechnica review of Mac OSX Tiger 10.4 is
posted here. Linux (KDE and Gnome GUI's in particular) are falling
far, far behind. Looks like Windows Longhorn is too.
Open Source Star Charts
April 26, 2005
Ah.. don't have to buy "Sky and (sell you a) Telescope" mag
for star charts anymore. A printable open
source sky atlas.
Tuba News
April 26, 2005
Groundbreaking stuff...
SF to Tierra del Fuego Ride Journal
April 25, 2005
Insightful journal documenting a ride from San Franscisco to Tierra del Fuego.
Interview with God
April 25, 2005
I had no expectations viewing this-- it
is actually very good.
Progress: Morse Albion English Concertina
April 11, 2005
I'm encouraged-- with a little under three months effort on the English
Concertina I'm starting to be able to play some tunes up to speed. I practice
about three days a week for an hour each day, with lots of listening in
between to master players like Jacqueline
McCarthy, Simon
Thoumire, John
Williams, and Mícheál
Ó Raghallaigh.
The reference tune is Give
Us A Drink of Water, a slip jig, recorded with a terrible Logitech
desktop stereo microphone. In three months I will do another reference,
and hopefully there will be some more progress.
The Amazing Mr. Kite
April 10, 2005
I can't think of anything that has given more joy to my daughter than
kite flying. You can make or buy
them-- a trip to Toy's are Us and Costco revealed some real junk that
just barely flies, though can be improved by tweaking. We are exploring making our own kites.
There are lots of online kite resources, but here is a
good place to start. It was funny, last Saturday in Rio Rancho, everyone
was flying Sam's and Costco expensive hawk kites-- I should say trying
to fly. The only kite that was aloft was Ariane's Parafoil.
A Google search on Kites returns mostly commercial sites. Has anyone
noticed that Google is getting less and less useful as it gets more popular?
Very commercial.
Dr. Demento
April 8, 2005
Most episodes of The Dr. Demento Show are
available for download here. New shows are
here.
Ruby on Rails
April 8, 2005
Ever looking for a better way to do web-database apps, I just completed
the Rolling
with Ruby on Rails tutorial. I can't really decide if Rails has any
benefit over letting Dreamweaver do the work, with Cold Fusion or PHP.
It's certainly better than Zope 2 ZSQL Methods, which are just horribly
unproductive and lead to unmaintainable code base.
What Ruby on Rails lets you do is get a CRUD (Create / Retrieve/ Update / Delete) web interface
to a database (MySQL 4.1.10 in this case) in place fast. Ruby is no doubt
an elegant language, and this CRUD can be accomplished by minimal coding,
however... I don't know Ruby. So, I went through this tutorial only intuiting
what was happening. Fortunately Really
Getting Started in Rails provides a ringside description of the Ruby
language mechanics of the tutorial. Very helpful, as was the Model View
Controller explanation in MVC:
The Most Vexing Conundrum.
Looks like more close to vertical learning curve ahead. Maybe not quite
as vertical as Zope, but is this really the big time saver being claimed?
Maybe, but right now I really have no idea of its potential for speeding
up web app building. I can't say I'm convinced, but very much want to
find a better way for interfacing to complex relational data than Zope
2 provides. Zope
3?
One thing I did notice was that the integrated Web Brick web server was
really unstable. Errors locked it up requiring a hard restart. Rails is
supposed to work with Apache, and now I will see how
good the documentation really is. Pretty sparse so far, it seems.
I'll put a little more effort into this and see how it goes with the
second tutorial: Rolling
with Ruby on Rails, Part 2. I'm going to have to be pretty convinced
before taking on another language and app server. I keep going back to
Cold Fusion. Like Authorware of old, it seems to encourage productivity.
Zope certainly has its place, but not in the SQL realm.
Guy Kawasaki: Rules for Revolutionaries
April 4, 2005
Just reread Guy Kawasaki's brilliant Rules
For Revolutionaries : The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing
New Products and Services. This is just packed with gems for the startup
enterprise. Kawasaki was the marketing genius, or should I say evangelist,
behind the Macintosh.
"If I were to describe in one word the perfect person to start
a revolution, it would be "evangineer". That is, a combination
evangelist and engineer: someone who wants to change the world and has
the technical knowledge to do it".
-- Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki has lots
of other equally brilliant writings.
James E. White: Will It Sell?
April 4, 2005
As sobering as it is inspirational, Will
It Sell? How to Determine If Your Invention Is Profitably Marketable (Before
Wasting Money on a Patent), by James E. White, tells it like it is.
Success with a new product or service is much determined work, and likely
many failures before success. Good ideas are the easy part.
The amount of useable information contained in this little book is staggering.
Absorbing it might take years. What White describes are the hard lessons,
easy to read about, more difficult to take to heart, especially if you
are in love with your idea. Practical tests to answer the question "Is
this worth five years of my life?"
Krakatoa and Tsunamis: End Times?
March 25, 2005
I recently had a conversation with a friend. He was sure that the recent
tsunami and earthquakes in Southeast Asia were signs of End Times approaching.
Argument would have been counterproductive-- but this is not the first,
nor the last time that the Indo/Australian plate boundary will dance.
The East Indies, including Java and Sumatra, are highly unstable volcanic
islands, where two plates meet and the earth's crust subducts. The results
are periodic but continual and particularly violent seismo-volcanic events
(earthquakes and volcanoes). Tsunamis are one result of such seismicity;
the earth shakes, causing a secondary fast moving water wave.
Such events go back before recorded history in this region. The human
record shows such catastrophe happens in this area every 100 years or
so. Krakatoa, located where Java and Sumatra meet was such a recent event.
And it was huge.
On August 27, 1883, the Krakatoa volcano exploded, sending shock waves
2/3 of the way around the earth, and killing what is probably a number
of people equal to or larger than this year's tsunami. Most were killed
not by the explosive eruption, but by resulting tidal wave. Krakatoa had
probably exploded at least several times before. This last explosion was
so violent as to destroy the mountain altogether, leaving only ocean in
its place. American mid-western sunsets were turned red for a year from
ash blown into the stratosphere. In the years since, the volcano has rebuilt
itself at a rate of five inches every week and is now a good size mountain
again.
A good (but not great) history of Krakatoa; the geology, indigenous culture,
dutch colonial exploitation, the explosion, and the resultant Muslim ouster
or the Dutch, is the book Krakatoa,
The Day the World Exploded, by Simon Winchestor. While a bit flat,
and no where near as good descriptively as John Mcphee's Annals
of the Former World, Winchester does do a fair job of portraying both
the technical and the human sides of the story. I find the mass adoption
of the Muslim religion in the East Indies, seemingly in response to this
event, particularly timely. There are lessons to be learned here.
End Times is just putting your head in the sand. Geologic time moves
on.
Two Good Movies
March 25, 2005
Two excellent older Western movies, both worth watching, are True Grit and Lonely
Are The Brave. The first stars John Wayne in his best role, and Kim
Darby (!) who is just awesome. The second movie starts Kirk Douglas, and
the role suits him well-- he and the character both are big hams.
Each is an adaptation of an equally excellent novel. True
Grit, by Charles Portis features a unique voice, a fast moving plot,
and memorable characterizations: General Sterling Price the Cat, Rooster
Cogburn -- the 'Fat Old Man', and Mattie Ross. Lonely are the Brave is
a screenplay by Ed Abbey, an adaptation of his early book, The
Brave Cowboy, set realistically in Albuquerque (they filmed this in
the old Abq. Jail and in the Sandia Mountains). The Brave Cowboy, otherwise
known as 'The Lone Ranger' shows up in Abbey's later work as well. Good
reading and viewing.
Eldon Carl's Multisurface Motorcycling
March 25, 2005
Lots of good technical
information here, on KLR 650's, DR 650's and other dual sport bikes.
Links to travelogues, performance tuning, and why the BMW GS bikes are
way too big for adventure travel (hint: when the fall over, it's a bitch
to get a 600 pound bike back up; Heck, the KLR 650 is too big). Super
Sherpa all the way.
Need a Website Visualization Design Tool
March 24, 2005
Can anyone suggest a website visualization design tool? MS Word and Dreamweaver
ain't cuttin in no more... Need something that has granularity at multiple
scales, portraying tree- leaf- node architecture. That is, captures visually
the big picture and the minutiae of a web tree, indivudual page content,
and links. The search has led to this interesting site among
other things. Excel and Access seem adatable to this task, but are
far from optimal.
Map of the Month
March 24, 2005
Cybermapping emerges with systemic visions. Geography is a dead science?
Maps are boring? Map
of the month shows otherwise.
Nobody's Fool
March 22, 2005
Just finished the unabridged audiobook of Nobody's
Fool, by Richard Russo. I really liked this one. Russo is heir to
Sinclair Lewis, portraying everyday life in anytown USA. The charactizations
are complex and well realized. Donald Sullivan, 'Sully', the protaganist,
is a masterpeice of zen self-contradiction who I can certainly relate
to. If there is a right way and a wrong way of doing something, just choosing,
without consideration of consequences, has a certain pig-headed appeal.
The supporting characters, Sully's extended family, friends, and acquaintances,
are all finely developed, and emerge each with life of their own. I particularly
enjoyed the audio book version. A fine American novel. It's long, but
stick with it, the end is very satisfying.
Recreational Access Tax Opposition Grows
March 21, 2005
A growing number of organizations and even State legislatures are voicing
their opposition to the federally mandated Recreation
Access Tax (formerly fee demo). This article is the first I've seen
that changes the tone of the debate towards sagebrush rebellion. What
Washington does not understand is that Westerners see public land access
as a birthright. When the horse lobby gets together with the backpackers,
ORV'ers, and State's Rights folks, perhaps Washington will take some notice.
I know... not bloody likely...
Red Mars / Sands of Mars
March 14, 2005
The
Sands of Mars (by Arthur C. Clark) and Red
Mars (by Kim Stanley Robinson) and are a pair of Mars colonization
sci-fi books; both a good read. Clark defined the genre, and though Sands
is quite dated, it is entertaining in a gee-whiz it's 1950 sort of way.
Sands provides a lot of the foundation material for his later 2001:
A Space Odyssey screenplay, especially the Ares sequences. This is
not Clark's best work, but is still pretty good.
Robinson's Red Mars, is just outstanding, combining the (almost) latest
in what we know of the red planet with a well thought out sociology of
what happens when you send 100 people off to create a new world. Do they
listen to their sponsors and create a new version of America, or say fuck
off and create something new altogether? I especially liked her many references
to Clarks earlier work. Followed by Green
Mars and Blue
Mars. Excellent!
Mount Saint Helens Erupts
March 9, 2005
An eruption, mostly steam, occurred at 5:25 PM, March 8, 2005. Link to
photos-- note
the dome as viewed from the Sugar Bowl camera.
Dr. Robert Nara Interview: Freedom From Dental Disease
March 8, 2005
Mother Earth News has placed all
its back issues online in a searchable format. One article that I
pulled from this goldmine was an interview with heretical dentist Dr.
Robert Nara, who in 1979, promoted
the radical view that most dental problems could be avoided by taking
care of your teeth. Preventative dentistry was not what the industry
wanted the public to hear about in 1979, much less participate in. Nara
basically got barred from dentistry for promoting this common sense idea,
but really for bucking an industry racket. In 2005, things have changed
somewhat for the better. A dental technician can clean your teeth without
being put into jail for doing so. The dental industry still has a vested
interest in high priced dental work over prevention. Eye opening!
New York Public Library Image Archives
March 8, 2005
The New York Public Library has put some
amazing digital image archives online. My understanding is that these
are in the public domain, and available for use.
Native American Flute Forum
March 8, 2005
Dale Wisely is hosting some new forums at Chiff
and Fipple dedicated to Native
American Flutes.
Skype VOIP
March 8, 2005
Skype is the first
VOIP (Voice Over IP) product I've tried that works, though the latency
to Brasil is a bit much; but hey-- there's a lot of network between here
and Acré. Skype has a nice chat feature built in as well.
On the downside, it has a 15mb memory footprint, crashes spectacularly,
and is already subject to spam and abuse. Gals from Egypt and Taiwan were
Skypeing Rose and myself all day long! Not sure what they wanted, but
I can guess...
Am looking forward to this VOIP capability in GAIM. Watch out phone companies!
Carrizozo Cherry Cider
March 8, 2005
Darn it's good. Gallons are to be had for $5.00 at Costco in Albuquerque.
It comes not just from orchards of Carrizozo
New Mexico, but from farms in the Sacramento mountains all around.
Support this Lincoln county enterprise.
It's Hard to Mic a Violin
February 1, 2005
Is it ever hard to mic a violin and get a warm and natural sound. We struggled
for most of a day, using some of the best Neumann mics, condenser, dynamic,
and cardioid, and just could not get a decent recorded violin sound. Some
things we learned were that parametric eq's and violins don't mix, multiple
mic technique and room ambiance help, add a little compression to even
out the scale, and that the Barcus Berry piezoelectric pickup still sounds
pretty darn good in comparison to most if not all mics for violin applications.
Tracy suggested this
DPA violin mic, which I have not yet tried. So how do you mic a Concertina?
Tunes I'm Learning This Week
January 31, 2005
Kitty Lie Over and The Munster
Buttermilk, played in D or in B as on the excellent Kitty
Lie Over CD by Mick O'Brien and Caomih Raghallaigh. Andrew, where
are your B pipes?
What You'll Wish You'd Known
January 21, 2005
Here is an insightful
article on what you wish someone had told you during high school in regards
to preparing for you future. There is an
interesting discussion on the topic at slashdot as well. At 16 I had
no idea what I would be doing later in life. The best teachers showed
what the options were. The worst teachers, and by far the majority, were
indifferent to this question.
"In fact I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare
or Einstein in school with you, they'd seem impressive, but not totally
unlike your other friends. Which is an uncomfortable thought. If they
were just like us, then they had to work very hard to do what they did.
And that's one reason we like to believe in genius. It gives us an excuse
for being lazy. If these guys were able to do what they did only because
of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it's not our fault
if we can't do something as good."
"If you'd asked me in high school what the difference was between
high school kids and adults, I'd have said it was that adults had to
earn a living. Wrong. It's that adults take responsibility for themselves.
Making a living is only a small part of it. Far more important is to
take intellectual responsibility for oneself."
-- Paul Graham, January 2005
Morse Albion English Concertina Reference and Review
January 19, 2005
I ordered and received a Morse Albion English Concertina from The Button Box last week. There was no waiting list; a new instrument was in stock and
ready for delivery, having been built just before Christmas. I've never
heard a decent audio reference series for this concertina, so thought
I'd post one for those thinking of buying. Nothing fancy, but it should
give some idea of how this box sounds, which is very nice indeed.
Here is Morse
Albion #259 English Concertina played through a Shure SM57,
flat, no reverb, no effects, a Behringer B-5, flat, no reverb,
no effects, an AKG C3000B, flat, no reverb, no effects, and an AKG C3000B, with a little bit of compression and a little bit
of reverb. Processed through SoundForge 6 and ripped through Audacity
into mp3 (a little was lost on the rip).
My impression is that this instrument sounds very "concertina-like"
despite having accordion reeds instead of traditional frame concertina
reeds. Since authentic concertina reeds are no longer made, except by
hand (not at all an easy task), such a design decision keeps the costs
way down (a Suttner English costs 4K US plus), and there is a tradeoff
in authentic timbre of this box in comparison to one that uses traditional
reeds. However, in my opinion, the tradeoff is modest. Another innovative
design feature is that the frame and sound boards are made mostly out
of plywood and veneer instead of solid hardwoods, which makes it light
but not as aesthetically pleasing as some of the current competition.
Regardless of the the modern construction techniques used, I believe
that it compares quite well to similar modern and older instruments. I
hope the reference demonstrates this. The action is superb; it certainly
plays better than many of these older instruments! And because it is so
light, hand cramping, like that which occurs when playing most vintage
English Concertinas, is just not a problem. I can't play my Lachnael English
for half an hour without cramps. I experienced no problems after two hours
of playing the Morse.
It is not as visually pleasing as some modern concertinas, a Tedrow for
instance. I compared it against a Tedrow Anglo last night. The Tedrow
is significantly louder and the craftsmanship is considerably better (no
veneer joints, hardwoods instead of plywood, and the Tedrow just plain
looks nicer). However it is not really a fair comparison. The Tedrows
are hand made, and Morse construction uses automated production techniques
at least in part. The visually unappealing plywood and cherry veneer construction
of the Morse accounts for it's lightness, and is actually a good thing.
So, overall, the Morse is a darn nice instrument. It is one of only a
few new English System concertinas available for a reasonable price ($1875).
The other being the Geuns-Wakker for about $500-$800 more. There may be a Norman English, but I know nothing
about that one and cannot compare. Outside of the cheap Stagi, which I
would not consider, it may be the least costly of those English concertinas
now on the market.
And, it plays like hellfire. It is just very, very fast.
Here
is another review. Scroll down the page to find it.
The C3000B is the best sounding of the three microphones used in this
reference. The SM57 is the lowest quality of the three microphones used.
With a little reverb and compression, I'm not sure you could easily tell
the difference between the Morse and a vintage Wheatstone or Lachnael
The tune is a Shanty called "The
Rio Grande".
In case you did not know, you can really make music on these things:
Zope 2.7.4 / Plone 2.0.5 / Python 2.3.3
January 17, 2005
The combination of Zope 2.7.4/Plone 2.0.5/Python 2.3.3 appears stable.
I've been running it in production for about a week now with no obvious
problems. Need to upgrade to the recommended Python 2.3.4, but Fedora
Core 1 is complaining.
Albuquerque Zoo News
January 17, 2005
There are two baby gorillas at the Albuquerque Zoo. One, about three months
old, is in the Gorilla pen with its mother. The other, from Denver, must
be kept away from the Gorillas until it is grown, lest it be killed by
mister gorilla, so is in the Gorilla nursery. Mister Gorilla was grumpy
as usual.
The new train is running. It was fun, but I have to say I am disappointed.
No good animal views, just a trip through the backside industrial areas
of the Zoo. Quote from the conductor: "these are the tanks that provide
fresh water to the seals". Really-- I was hoping for more. M. enjoyed
it though. Two interesting asides are that the track will at some point
link the Zoo with the Biopark. Second is that the train seems a bit cranky--
it keeps derailing. The engineer looked stressed whenever we crossed a
switch. Just can't lay track like we used to I guess.
The Way It Is
January 15, 2005
Cathie Ryan: Albuquerque, February 12
January 15, 2005
Cathie Ryan, solo artist
and ex-lead singer of Cherish
the Ladies, is playing the South
Broadway Cultural Center, in Albuquerque, on February 12, 8:00 PM.
Mrs. Ryan has a gorgeous voice, and an enchanting stage presence that
few artists can match. Her band is top notch. I much prefer her solo work
over Cherish the Ladies. At $5.50 a ticket, don't miss it. The best seats
are available directly from the Performance Center. Ticketron has seats
too but be prepared for lesser seats and a surcharge. This will be Cathie's
third visit to New Mexico, and first time playing a hall (Zoo performances
only to date).
Cathie is Missy's favorite. Especially when she wears the red dress.
Teada, whom I know nothing
about, opens.
Morse Albion English Concertina #259
January 15, 2005
Morse Albion English Concertina
#259 arrived. More later... I'm too busy playing it right now.
The Stairway Suite: (Orchestral variations upon an air by Plant
& Page)
January 15, 2005
What if... Schubert,
Holst, Miller, Mahler, Bizet, Beethoven... had written Stairway
to Heaven?.
Best of the West: Ghost Towns
January 15, 2005
Corny site, but if you dig, there's lots of useful
information here. Drill down on the virtual map to find New
Mexico for instance. Hundreds of Ghost Towns are listed for this state
alone, some with surprisingly good information for visitors. For example Lake
Valley, a short-lived mining camp, that the BLM has maintained. This
site is worth a visit before the next drive west with the family.
Turn your popup blocker on.
Virtual Leguchilla Cave
January 15, 2005
A
virtual tour of a cave you will never see. Located near Carlsbad Caverns,
New Mexico, this is another of the immense caves in this region, formed
by a unique combination of circumstance: Permian Basin petrochemical deposits,
resulting in highly acidic water, combining with 770 feet of fossil coral
reef limestone. The result are huge rooms, vertical shafts, long passages,
and an abundance of flowstone. Leguchilla is considered wilderness, and
is closed to the public. Interactive
map.
From thesession.org
January 10, 2005
A recent quote:
"If we outlaw hammered dulcimers, then only outlaws will have
have hammered dulcimers."
Charlie Daniels Band New Years in Artesia, New Mexico
January 1, 2005
Life is full of surprises. After a day spent in the backcountry
of New Mexico's Guadalupe Mountains, New Years eve was spent driving North
towards Albuquerque. The decision was made to spend the night in the oil
town of Artesia, New Mexico. A good choice! Who should be playing but
the CDB (Charlie Daniels Band). Artesia has a tradition of bringing the
CDB in every year to play their free outdoor New Year's bash. They were
excellent, and even better than the last time I saw them, in 1980. They
opened with 'The Legend of the Wooley Swamp". The big man was full
of energy and convictions, and played an excellent 1.5 hour set, bringing
in the New Year. The band, though mostly not original members, are all
pro musicians, can really jam, and show no sign of hanging up their hats
anytime soon. If you get a chance, see the CDB. Overall a totally unexpected
and excellent surprise for New Years! In Artesia of all places!
|
