Adverse Camber

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:34:07 GMT

Hey, friends!
What are some good good books for reading together with 9 year olds? Right now we're reading The Enormous Egg, which is very fun...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:54:40 GMT

I asked for an invite to Google Voice and got one... and now I'm not going to use it, I think. Mmmm.

So, the e-mail notifications of voicemail sound sweet, and clearly voicemail should be something that's accessible to me anywhere. But the downside is that, with Google Voice, I won't get my little icon on the phone saying I have new voicemail. I can have it SMS me, but that costs money. Maybe not enough that I should worry...

And the kicker is that there's no way to delete your google voice account ( http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=4cb2fcba55744b7c&hl=en ). So I can't just try it and then decide that I need the little icon, and go back. It's stuck. So... not for now. *sigh*

Heads up for Planet Money

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:43:00 GMT

If you like good stories and are interested in things, I suspect that you might be interested in last week's This American Life, which features the Planet Money team catching up with people involved in the mortgage business, whom they last talked to a year and a half ago for the Giant Pool of Money show.

Short-form, Planet Money form: http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510289/113148067/npr_113148067.mp3

Long-form, This American Life form (will probably stop working in a few days): http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/~r/talpodcast/~5/e3gAd7zZPPA/390.mp3 (or I can send it to you).

As an aside, I love listening to Planet Money. <3

long night

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:40:16 GMT

I just had a large internal struggle to send an e-mail that was only a teeny bit mean, rather than very ranty. So I need to chill and talk about nice stuff with my friends, so I can go to sleep.

Most of tonight was quite nice! I got home from work, which was a little hardcore, and popped open a beer, and played computer games, which I haven't done in quite a while (I was playing an RTS game called Multiwinia). I was nice and relaxed by the time dinner rolled around, and my father had made pizza, which he's really really good at (much better than delivery). Yum, summer squash, peppers, and salami!

Then I played more Multiwinia and lost track of time and was late for choir. But the singing was pretty good, though I'm better at sight reading when there's no residual alcohol involved. Since I left in a hurry, I had forgotten that today is a string band day, after choir, so I forgot to bring any of the various things I play. I asked Sue, the conductor, if there were any stringed instruments sitting around the church, and she said there was a violin, and I could use it. I have played the violin once, for about half an hour. So I was hesitant, but I went and got it anyway, and greatly impressed my friends. And myself! I could play things! Only thing is, I couldn't play it very well held up to my neck like normal, I had to play it like a cello, or a small viola da gamba. Otherwise the bowing was backwards. I wonder if I should learn fiddle. It's smaller than all my other instruments, which is a plus... of course, it would make a fifth thing to practice (guitar, cello, banjo, singing, fiddle). And a fourth thing to haul around places. *sigh* ;-)

So after a while of that, I came back home and played more video games and watched the daily show and should have gone to sleep, but then I listened to a really interesting This American Life about finance and people and stuff, and then I got riled up about contra dance stuff and had to send my slightly mean e-mail. So now it is really late and I am going to be tired tomorrow.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:10:43 GMT

S and her daughter found a Monarch caterpillar the other week, and spent a lot of effort on finding milkweed plants (S went to every nursery in town, and found 1 plant, which was just a baby and only kept Stripes (the caterpillar) going for a day or so). Then, a few days ago, Stripes pupated! A lime-green blob! And finally, yesterday, Stripes hatched into a butterfly!!!! Amazing! Stripes looks so totally different now... I'm ever-so-impressed. Also impressed that they managed to feed Stripes enough and keep him/her alive!

My cousin has great changes coming,
One day he'll awake with wings

Cousin caterpillar,
White and silky threads for you
Cousin caterpillar,
Can you tell me what they do?

Well, all that I can say
Is that they seem to help some way
To move my little body along,
To move my little body along

Well, at first I didn't know their use
But worry and you only lose,
So I said "I love you and I love what you do
Come on, do your thing!"

Doot-dah, doo-doo-dah, doo-doo-dah, doo-doo-dah ...

--The Incredible String Band

my invitation

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:16:33 GMT

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people
to gather and sing their old, known songs, a decent respect to the
community of musicians requires that they should declare their
intention and specify the date and time of their meeting.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that it enlarges the heart to
sing with one another, that all are invited to sing, that those who
are unable to carry a tune are Invited nonetheless.

When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce the People under absolute
Silence, yea, to reduce them to mere Consumers of Music, it is their
right, it is their duty, to throw off such limitations and
oppressions.

We, therefore, the organizers of folk singing, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in
the Name, and by the Authority of the good Singers of Bloomington,
solemnly publish and declare,

That we will sing together on the Fifth Day of September of the year A.D. 2009,

That the time of the Singing shall be 8:00 in the evening,

That the place ordained for meeting is the home of the honorable Sara
_. _____, who has provided directions below,

And that those who are blessed with a copy of Rise Up Singing, or a
guitar, should bring it.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

--Thomas _____
--Sara _____
--Dakota __________

volk

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:02:28 GMT

There's another folk sing coming up this Saturday, so I decided to get back in the swing of playing the guitar, and I learned a few songs (I can finally lead "Yesterday"!). I also got rather involved, and recorded a reasonably convincing version of Captain Kidd, a beautiful hymn. This is maybe not my final version, but I like it. Please listen! :-)

http://drop.io/spmrecw

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:50:23 GMT

My doggie Lyla died yesterday. I was 11 when we got her.

Last night was pretty hard, but I'm doing better right now. My father says that last night may be the first night in 40 years that he hasn't had a dog in the house.

2004

This spring

We are shelves. We are tables. We are edible!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:16:04 GMT

The director of my church choir is also the director of Voces Novae, a local chamber choir. She asked me if I wanted to join, and I was excited, and now I am totally filled with anticipation and glee because the music she's picked out is so fantastic. The choir does concerts centered around themes, and this theme is food. So we have an arrangement of a Sylvia Plath poem about Mushrooms (from which the title is taken), and we have a drinking song arranged by Hindemith (whom I remember liking from something else, probably cello music). And we have these other delights:

Von Eyren ("Of Eggs"), Matthias Greiter

A strange new adventure which we bring forth
Has never happened here before, a strange tale,
Now see here, it's white and called eggs.

That we have brought the eggs here is due to Friday and Saturday,
Eggs must be eaten daily.

The healthy and the sick, and the bloodletter's boys,
We want to feed them all eggs.
So we have hen's eggs, goose eggs,
Duck's eggs, crab's eggs,
Pigeon eggs, nest eggs,
Shepherd's eggs, cuckoo eggs,
Peacock eggs, hare's eggs,
Ostrich eggs, calves eggs,
Long eggs, and a big pair of eggs belonging to the farmer.
You haven't seen them?
So many a squawk, so many eggs do our hens lay;
And this is true: an egg is white.

Eggs I like to eat in the morning,
If someone puts them in the pan, lots of butter on top.
From eggs, with eggs, we make boiled eggs, fried eggs,
baked eggs, spangled eggs,
Stuffed eggs, and also an egg in lard.
One doesn't eat them without salt.
And also an egg in broth, we eat in the morning, those who have earned it
---And besides an egg, a drink---
A hearty blow, without, whack the egg on its head in two,
harder!
Take that!
And that's everything to do with eggs.

(I'm not sure whom to credit with the translation)

There's also a song by Samuel Barber, which is completely beautiful, it's an arrangement of a James Stephens translation of an Irish poem.
"Come with me, under my coat, and we will drink our fill of the milk of the white goat
Or wine, if it by thy will ;-)"
(here's the whole poem from a "dating tips" web site...)

And there's the song of the cheese-makers of Chianti.
Our cheese is absolutely perfect,
not too short, long, wide, or narrow;
the right size, round, firm, and clean,
most people like between a third and a half.

We get to sing this!!!!!!

I think maybe this concert should be an excuse for some of my foodie friends to visit...

What are Judicial Confirmation Hearings Good For?

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:17:46 GMT

What purposes, exactly do these hearings serve? The candidates are instructed to say nothing controversial or reveal their actual views. Robert Bork tried to tell the Senators what he actually thought, and look where it got him. Scandals may pop up unexpectedly, as in the case of Clarence Thomas, who ultimately turned it to his advantage and won confirmation. But otherwise, the hearings tell us little about what the candidates would actually do once in office.

So what is the point of these hearings, other than an opportunity for dredging up potential scandals and giving the press and Washington, D.C. something to be distracted about?

Find out with Jack Balkin, Balkinization!

I love that blog.

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:44:42 GMT

http://pfarley.livejournal.com/105081.html - a diagram of the gay marriage debate

huggles

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:37:09 GMT

I just discovered something amazing. The word "huggle" has been in the English language for at least 300 years.

`Lye still, lye still, thou Little Musgrave,
And huggell me from the cold;

--Child Ballad 81, Little Musgrave, version A. First written down in 1658.

That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!

Information sources on Iran Elections

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:59:05 GMT

Daily Kos user Kaelri, with a timeline of events and links to info: here
Robert Fisk, very emotional and good live reporting: a really good story list of recent stories

Andy Sullivan, with links and info from across the net: here
NY Times liveblog: here
Tehran Bureau, English-language reporting from Tehran: here.

Photos: Tehran 24

New Yorker article, describing the Supreme Leader's options: here
Daily Kos feed of Iran-tagged diaries: here

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:16:41 GMT

It's quite hard to tune a banjo head if you've never tuned a drum before! I have found this out!

I R TEH RADIO

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:05:34 GMT

One of the readers for the news Monday didn't show up, so I had to sit in and read the headlines. May or may not be interesting, but it's sort of exciting to be On The Radio. Audio here:
http://www.wfhb.org/audio/download/9132/DLN20090608.mp3
Note: apparently, Chad, the news director, takes out the stuttering before he posts it online.. that's nice :-)

Also, I bought another banjo yesterday :-) Maybe I'll post sexxy pictures of my banjo sometime.

+-

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:58:11 GMT

+ 11 hours of sleep last night!
- My cell phone doesn't cell phone anymore.

music groups

Mon, 25 May 2009 15:04:02 GMT

I've been going to various musical jams/groups lately. There are two Irish music sessions in the same restaurant on different days, here. The Tuesday one has Grey Larsen, who's a fantastic flautist. It's really good, but the second time I came, someone told me that I wasn't supposed to try to learn the tunes while I was there, since they wanted to sound good, so I'd have to record them and bring them home and then I could learn them and come back and play them the next time. I guess that's reasonable, but the whole point of going to a group for me is to hang out and learn tunes---not being able to learn tunes really undermines the experience. The Friday session doesn't really have a good melody player right now, so it's hard to go there to learn tunes.

But, I was invited to my first old-time jam last night. And that was fantastic. I knew a lot of the people already, and we liked each other, and I knew some of the tunes already, and they played them for long enough for me to learn them. It was such good times! We sounded so good, too! So I am sorta hooked, now. Yay!

...Now, to try to finish a research project very very quickly.. :-P

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:30:29 GMT

Hi friends!

I'm going to be in Madison and Minneapolis and Northfield in the next week. Want to hang out?

Scarborough Fair

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:39:43 GMT

I played it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKqSwYpjW9Y

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:17:12 GMT

- When you're writing Python in vim and use the smartindent option, it puts all comments at the beginning of the line instead of indented with the code where they should be.
+ Eventually I found out how to make it not do that.
- Jython is really hard to use in Eclipse, when I'm starting with a Java project and thinking about writing parts of it in Python.
+ I found out that Glade, a GUI constructor for GTK, can be used to make Python GUIs.
- Writing GUIs is a pain in the butt.
+ (with rolled eyes) I found my old copy of Rise Up Singing, after getting two used copies from Amazon.
++ I beat Tsugaru on heavy

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:37:30 GMT

I got into an argument with someone on the Internet today. It's so dumb, I shouldn't do that. Even if I'm right, it feels so silly. Argh!

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:18:01 GMT

I got my new DDR pads today, and so far they fail :-( They have sticky, unresponsive buttons, which is just what I was trying to get away from. I'm hoping that leaving them to stretch out for a day will make them work, but so far they're worse than the crappy GameSpot thin pad that I got in the first place. :'(

I need to decide whether I'm going to drive to Louisville tomorrow, in the next hour or so. Any opinions?

Nice afternoon!

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:55:20 GMT

I spent a lot of today outside, on the lawn of the Laughing Planet, playing banjo and guitar. I talked to at least 6 or 7 people! Yay, meeting people! Some young skateboard punks sat and listened to me sing an old, English tragedy ballad (The Cruel Brother - something like version C). Having two instruments was great, a lot of people know how to play guitar, so several times people would come up and ask to sit in, and they'd play some guitar and I'd sing with them or banjo with them. One of these people is called Big John and he played enthusiastically and sang some good folk songs, giving me time to do banjo solos on some verses, and sing some harmony on the choruses, and that was really great. We sounded super good! He's starting a shop for semimotorized bicycles in town. Someone cool-seeming came up to us afterwards and said she played violin and wanted to start doing more fiddle-style playing, and we all traded phone numbers. Anyway, it was a nice afternoon. It was 70 degrees or something! Amazing! I'll do that again.

I was originally planning on putting out the banjo case for some money, but nobody was in a very giving mood, so I just put it away. That's fine, though, I don't need the money and it was nice to meet people.

I really need to get another copy or two of Rise Up Singing. I've already lost two copies... *sigh*

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:47:59 GMT

I got to playing music last night.

Will the circle be unbroken

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

I also made the moon in Katamari Damacy!

And, my new DDR pads should come tomorrow!!!

Fiddle tunes I've learned pretty well on the banjo

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:09:35 GMT

Liberty (Old Time)
Over the Waterfall (Old Time)
Kitchen Girl (Old Time)
Cold Frosty Morning (Old Time)
Ian's Jävla Jig (Nordic)
Roarin' Donald / The Man Who Shot the Windmill (Celtic)
Maison de Glace (French-Canadian)
Salvation (Irish?)
Girl (Nordic?)

I just figured out that, when I'm learning a tune by ear, I should really focus on being able to hum along with it before I even try to pluck my strings. When I have the tune in my ear, it's really really easy to play it.

Found a group of really friendly people who play Irish music Fridays at the Runcible Spoon. It's fiendishly fast :-/ but I like the people a lot and I need to learn tunes, so I think I'm going to keep going when I can. Wheee!