Here's an interesting VIDEO on how to "dig" for fishing worms. Never heard of this. I encourage the video as you can hear the sound it makes.
Apparently the vibrations in the ground are interpreted by the worms as a mole coming to try and eat them.... So the worms quickly come to the surface of the ground. Here's a news article if you prefer to read it.
Here's a very interesting story regarding a scientific paper projecting the odds of planetary orbit disruption in our solar system. This is the kind of stuff you don't learn in the school books and is why I regularly check links to science articles. Interesting stuff.
Appararently over long time periods the planetary orbits as we currently know them are not stable, and there are are small percentage chances that some current planets may wobble/evolve into orbits that cross the orbits of other planets - creating the likelihood of planetary collisions within our solar system. Apparently this is the most complex modeling of planetary orbits over long periods attempted.
From the Space.com article:
Our solar system has a potentially violent future. New computer simulations reveal a slight chance that a disruption of planetary orbits could lead to a collision of Earth with Mercury, Mars or Venus in the next few billion years.
Based on web searches, it looks like one of the most popular posts I've put up the one for good guitar songs for beginners from a while back.
In the spirit of learning to play guitar I wanted to post the chords used in the song I worked on over last weekend and posted in the previous post.
There are only 6 common chords for this entire song: Em, D, C, Am7, G and A
Really the only odd voicing used is playing the D chord form using the low strings instead of the more normal high strings. This is done to support the bass line which walks upward on the low E string from open string to the 2nd fret (F#) to 3rd fret (G) to the 5th fret (A).
-Em--D---C---Am7----Em
-x----x----0----0------x-----
-0----3----1----1------0-----
-0----2----0----0------0-----
-2----0----2----2------2-----
-2----0----3----0------2-----
-0----2----0----0------0-----
Play 2 bars of Em (8 beats), 2 bars of D (8 beats), 1 bar of C (4 beats), 1 bar of Am (4 beats), and 2 bars of Em.
The second time through play the same progression except when you get to the last 2 bars where the Em is there's some quick chord changes where the Em is: play 2 bars of Em, G, A, G, If you listen in the song you'll hear it.
-Em--G---A---G---- repeat
-x----x----x----x----
-x----x----x----x----
-x----x----2----x----
-2----0----2----0----
-2----2----0----2----
-0----3----x----3----
After you've learned the chords you can click HERE and play along, or click HERE to download.
I didn't do a very good job of recording the acoustic guitar part in this song, but you can hear it jangling along in parts to hear the rhythm of the strum, or just play it however you like. I may rerecord it better in the near future taking care to do a better job with mic placement.
Hi all, Just wanted to post a rough mix of the song I was working on this week. It's primarily an instrumental made using loops I recorded in Ableton Live. Everything on there is me except for the drum loop. I moved the loops into Acid and created this rough mix there.
I spent alot of time this weekend working on this, but am excited about how it came out. It's sortof a guitar symphony but I think it ended up having a cool vibe. I've called it "Ay Oh" after the high degree of creativity given the lyrics at this point.
Here aret he links from Unsigned Band Web:
Click HERE to hear the song.
If you want to download the MP3 click HERE.
If you listen I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoy it.
Alright, I admit this isn't much of a post, but I I did a double-take when I saw this witty cartoon.
I just put a load of laundry in and that spurred my thought of the day.
Why don't laundry detergent and fabric softener bottles have squirt tops? Maybe because they're so big and bulky it might be awkward to try to do a squirt bottle, but shouldn't there be a dispensing system different from the unscrew the lid, poor in cup, mix in with laundry, rinse out cup? I could imagine something like a dishwashing detergent bottle, or maybe a Heinz Ketchup bottle. You'd still need a little cup in the laundry room to fill the fabric softener holder, but it could work.
Just a thought for the innovators at Proctor and Gamble or other places. I'm guessing they've probably tried it at some point.
For some reason I found this funny.
Is a Pringle a potato chip? I had no idea it's really only about 40% potato product, but at least in Britain they've declared Pringles are sufficiently like "potato chips" to be potato chips - and to qualify them for $160 million in back taxes on potatoes.
Now my question is this: Why have a special tax on potato chips but not corn chips? Are they possibly clearing the way for Doritos' cheesy goodness to take over the savory snack market?
Here's a similar case this one reminded me of these humorous efforts to define obscenity: "I know it when I see it."
I've read several articles recently that center on the theme that music labels and online music distributors are coming to more agreeable terms that should ultimately be economically sustainable for both parties and enable them to restructure their business around these revenue streams and market opportunities. Many of the changes are centered in the label's recognition that there's just not a workable online business model out there that will give them as much revenue as they had hoped.
It looks like the model is increasingly moving to lower cost per song - especially for older songs, unprotected mp3 file formats so you can move songs to different devices without worrying about compatibility, even wider selections, and includes monthly purchase plan options to guarantee revenue streams and repeat customer attention.
Here's a story that expresses the changing landscape of the music distribution biz.
Over 2000 people were killed in Johnstown PA back in 1889 when a Dam failed on this day (May 31) sending a mountain of water roaring through the town.
From the NYTimes article of the time:
"One telegraph operator says he counted sixty-three bodies in twenty minutes floating past his office.
A telegraph operator at Sang Harbor, in the Pennsylvania Railroad tower, twelve miles this side of Jamestown, says that at least seventy-five dead bodies have floated past that point."
Some survivors stories from the Johnstown Flood Museum website regarding the flood:
Anna Fenn Maxwell, who lost all of her children in the flood:
"The water rose and floated us until our heads nearly touched the ceiling. . .It was dark and the house was tossing every way. The air was stifling, and I could not tell just the moment the rest of the children had to give up and drown. . .what I suffered, with the bodies of my seven children floating around me in the gloom can never be told."
Rev. H.L. Chapman who survived by racing up the attic of his home just in time:
"I think none of us was afraid to meet God, but we all felt willing to put it off until a more propitious time,"
Read these and other survivor stories HERE.
From the NYTimes article: "At a point near New-Florence eighty-five persons have been seen floating down the river on driftwood."
Go HERE for some pictures of the devestation
Though wary, I haven't totally given up on our capitalistic system. Even though stocks have been basically flat over the past decade and the past couple of years have been terrible, I'm still looking for places to invest.
I sold the eBay stock I purchased back in January - the first trade I've recorded a gain on in a while. Over the past several weeks I've also opened some new positions that I wanted to post.
DAKT - Daktronics - they make scoreboards and alot of digital signage
DECK - Deckers Outdoors - shoes of various varieties. This has been on my watchlist for a while.
EBIX - Ebix - software for insurance industry customer, insurers and agencies. This one has been on my watchlist for a long time.
GME - Gamestop - video game retailer. There's concern the industry may be changing away from a retailer based model to more web delivery of games, and it's brought this company's stock down considerably. Slower guidance going forward by mgmt also.
VSEC - VSE Corp - government contractor - particularly dept. of defense. I don't really understand all the stuff they do - it's a broad array of services - this pick is more based on the numbers and a strong historical trend.
A few more still near the top of the watchlist: FLR, FLIR, JEC, BUCY
A friend of mine at work often wonders what his life would've been like if he'd have spent his professional career working in and practicing a trade instead of pursuing white collar work as he has. In the same breath he usually wonders if he'd worry about his work when he goes home, or think about it over the weekend. And it's not just idle speculation - his thoughts are informed by an understanding of his Dad's work - a former Navy Seabee who now works on large construction jobs.
My wife and I tend to drive older vehicles and my wife and I personally have come to highly value the work of one particular repair shop where the guys there seem adept at identifying a problem and fixing it. I've learned that letting anyone else work on our cars is a risky proposition. And they're also the kindof guys who'll tell you if something is _not_ a problem so that you don't spend money you don't need to.
I know from repair bills that there's serious money to be had for tradesmen who can do a good job. And the older I get I've also wondered why such skilled trade work has become frowned upon by our educational system. As we train more and more people to work in an information economy I wonder if we might be advised to step back and re-evaluate. This article in the NYTimes prompted me to write this as it presents a compelling case for thinking about the "character of work" as having a value in itself - and for our need to be more intimately connected to the product of our labor, and less of a cog in the machine.
Quote: "Everyone is rightly concerned about economic growth on the one hand or unemployment and wages on the other, but the character of work doesn’t figure much in political debate."
"The Case for Working with Your Hands" is one of the better reads I've come across in a while.
An ebay purchased arrived today that took me back a bit. It was a Nakamichi 480. Nope it's not an exercise machine (are you serious?). And it's not a roter tiller or a high performance motorcycle. Nope, it a cassette deck.
...and it was possibly manufactured back when I was in grade school.
But this isn't just any old cassette deck. If I believe what I read Nakamichi's are like the Ferrari's of the cassette deck world. (They don't play tapes really fast, but they're just a higher end model of deck.) It's kindof cool to go out on ebay and find ancient technology from a by-gone era - and even cooler to play some cassettes that I haven't heard in years - as I had no other working cassette deck on premises.
This thing does sound really good. I thought I'd never say this about a cassette, and I'm going have to do some more critical listening, but I'm shocked at how good a cassette sounds on a good tape deck.
The first two cassette's I listened to from my collection were from Boston. Their initial album "Boston" and the follow-up "Don't Look Back". Boston was one of my favorite bands when I was growing up and call me nostalgic, but it was really fun listening to these albums again. I'm sounding old, but as they were playing I told my wife "they don't make 'em like this anymore!" "Brad Delp sure could sing"... "You know way back before electricity got popular Tom Scholz founded Rocktron and figured out how to make those cool sounding guitars." on and on. Yep I was sounding like a regular geezer.
One thing I appreciated listening back to the Boston album is how I could play the album straight through and a) every song was quality, and b) the album had a flow and continuity. You could tell it was meant as a full cohesive presentation - not a succession of stand-alone singles. The albums really stand up to history imho.
Anyhow. I have about 200 more old cassettes to work through and I'm actually glad I haven't thrown them out. As I go through I'm trying to archive the old music to my PC before cassettes finally go extinct.
And with that I'll leave you with this oldie but goodie. Feels good don't it? I think I want a hairy vest like the drummer is wearing. Or maybe I should just settle for his 'fro. And we all need shiny jump suits.
I've long since stopped playing the video game Spore (it's kindof a boring game), but still enjoy looking at the creations users build (the creator editors are more fun than the game itself). Alot of creators on the Spore boards have cool signature files, and I took this weekend to build one. For pure hubris's sake I'm posting here. It was kindof fun building this.
