The Country of the Blind

Posted on June 7, 2008 by Gandalfe

HGWells How many of you reading this title would immediately think of the last eight years of of politics in the US? Because I am so depressed about those years, I try not to grouse about them too much. But when Eolake, a blogger/friend from Finland and the owner of DOMAI (not linked here because it is the premier site dedicated to pictures of beautiful women sans clothing), penned a short blog at http://eolake.blogspot.com/ on June 6th it got me thinking.

I often mention the Kornbluth’s The Marching Morons in talks about the voters in American. But I drew parallels to the voting for president for the last two years to the Country of the Blind. It is easy to be bitter but the sadness associated with smart people voting for a party who’s primary issue is about big business, money, and saving the rich from paying high taxes… Well, like I said, I try not to dwell on the climate of the country that proudly brought us Georgie (as my MIL called him).

I often talk to friends who are stanch republicans and they are so wrapped around the axle about fighting the good war overseas to protect ourselves from the God-less heathens and reducing the amount of taxes they pay for people who can’t or won’t take care of themselves. Sigh… how’d this get to be about politics again. Peoples, the two short stories mentioned herein are good reads. Enjoy. I’m gonna take Suzy out to lunch now.

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments

StrangeMaps: A Floor Plan of 221B Baker Street

Posted on June 6, 2008 by Gandalfe

SHolmesHouseI luv maps, maps of all flavors and types. So http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/ is on my RSS and periodically I get a stunner like this map aptly titled: Holmes, Sweet Holmes.

Know how my my son loves Sherlock Holmes I sprang into action. With my trusty friend Mrs. Suzy at my side the intrepid sleuths deduced a way to secret the map to my son.

It’s bigger and more readable here: Holmes, Sweet Holmes: A Floorplan of 221B Baker Street.

Tally ho and off with you to check it out. The game’s afoot. (Kinda reminds me of the Clue game.)

Update: I recomment The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, a new Sherlock Holmes tale by Calib Carr. Last year I bought it for my son, but read it first.

Posted in Architecture, Books, Games | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Here birdie, birdie, birdie…

Posted on June 4, 2008 by Gandalfe

I’ve inadvertently trained my indoor-only cats to come running whenever I open a window. I train them to come when I call them by either playing with them or now by opening a window. Most times when I call them they come running. It’s simple behavior reinforcement 101. The other day I caught a break and got this loverly picture of (from left to right) Thelonius, Dharma, and Macy twittering at the birds. Those of you with cats will know what I’m talking about; it’s that weird sound they make when they want to "play" with the birdies.

DSCF0372

The cats are almost two years young, full of energy, and quite active. I can’t play with them enough. Theo can leap about six feet straight up. The girls leap pretty high too. And when I open the kitty toy cabinet doors… Well all I can say is watch out.  :o)

Posted in Pets | 8 Comments

A Colorful, Happy Spring Bounty

Posted on June 3, 2008 by Gandalfe

As I monitor my fellow blog posse’s sites I see that this year appears to be a rather good one for plants and wildlife. So in that spirit I thought I’d take some shots of the very happy, healthy plant life around Casa du Glassa.

DSCF0522  DSCF0527  DSCF0526

The new gnome was purchased to get little Amber (4 years old now) started in gardening. The purple bushes are so happy this year I couldn’t resist including a picture of them. And the weather vane has survived another year. (There’s a funny, okay not so funny story, about me installing that a number of years ago.) It’s crooked now but I’ll be damned if I’m going up there again.

DSCF0521 DSCF0517 DSCF0518

The lilacs are sooo happy this year. This picture is after I’ve used many cuttings to bring the lovely fragrance into the house. The miniature Japanese maples (middle picture in purple) grow like weeds here. And the bushes with the white flowers grow with no irrigation or fertilizer. The carriage post flowers were added three years ago after the heather died because the kids kept trampling on it. This stuff grows like a weed too and needs no attention from me.

The lawn will go dormant in a month or so as I don’t water the yard. The months of July – September are very hot and dry which is often described as a Mediterranean climate. I have a lawn guy who is very good BTW. I will often tweak the yard by pulling weeds or trimming beyond what the lawn guy does, but I don’t really do that much to the yard. And the back yard is still a work in progress as in eight years I’ve tried various experiments and gardens to no avail. But there are five fruit trees back there.

Posted in Ecology, Gardening | 12 Comments

Our Trip to see Addie in Pleasant Groves

Posted on June 1, 2008 by Gandalfe

At the urging of some of my favorite blog posse members, I’m finally getting around to posting some pictures of Suzy and my trip to Utah to visit our son’s family including little 2 month old Addie, our third grandchild. We took a flight on Delta by the way that was less than satisfactory. The gate change 30 minutes before the scheduled departure. Then the flight was canceled for three hours. The staff never told us what was happening until we got on the plane. And then they made a lame excuse about needing to fly a replacement from Salt Lake City to Seattle. I suspect that they had such a small passenger list that they merged two flights to save money.

Once in Utah there was rush hour traffic which we had tried to avoid by scheduling an early flight. Then there was an accident so that the going got even slower. Fortunately our experience at the Marriott in Provo was excellent complete with employees who took the service with a smile to heart. So firstly some picture of Addie and family. (You might want to click on the title of this post to see just the post and then the pictures will be laid out as I formatted them.

DSCF0510  DSCF0504  DSCF0464

Now some obligatory picture of the Pleasant Grove and surrounding area. Since we went to Salt Lake City the last time we visited there are no pictures of those highlights here.

DSCF0442  DSCF0447  DSCF0438

All in all it was a great trip. We can’t wait until our son finishes college and returns to the great Northwest. Wendy and Aaron were such nice hosts. We really miss them now.

Posted in My World | 12 Comments

Seatbelts – Cowboy Bebop’s Tank

Posted on May 31, 2008 by Gandalfe

CowboyBebop This video is from their ‘Souvenir of Tokyo’ concert. I’ve often said how much I appreciate Masato Honda as a saxophonist and a performer. So for those of you uninitiated, consider yourself schooled.  :o)

You can view the Cowboy Bebop videos associated with this theme song. The Cowboy Bebop: Blue CD is my favorite and includes some killer bass clarinet jazz solo work.

Posted in Saxophone, Video, YouTube | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Earle Hagen, think Harlem Nocturne, dies at 88

Posted on May 28, 2008 by Gandalfe

EarleHagen LOS ANGELES – Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

Read more…

Earle is a cult hero figure in many music circles. And I suspect there isn’t a saxophonist alive who doesn’t enjoy playing the solo from Harlem Nocturne. It sounds like he led a very full life, full of music, friends, and interesting work. His home page is at http://www.earlehagen.net/home.htm where you can read more about this fascinating fellow.

As requested here is Harlem Nocturne as performed by the inimitable Earl Bostic.

Posted in Music | 5 Comments

Bass and Guitar in one Instrument

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Gandalfe

A friend of mine has this Frankenstein guitar that uses two pickups. One is for two strings and plays bass and the other four strings provide guitar. He then arranges songs so that he can play both parts with the one instrument.

So I was very interested when my son showed me this YouTubeage of Charlie Hunter and his truly unique guitar bass hybrid.

Posted in Music | 8 Comments

What? Another Bass Sax???

Posted on May 25, 2008 by Gandalfe

If you use three question marks, do they cancel each other out?  ;o)

So Matt let me try a Buescher TT bass sax to low G. You heard me, low G. The instrument has a nickel finish and is a player and plays very nicely in all ranges. The lowest notes can be hard to get to speak. But given time and practice I think it could be manageable.

SuzyNbigGuy

The bell goes above the tubing to get the extra A, G#, and G notes on the low end of the range. Here you can see Suzy sitting next to the instrument and it is about the right height for her with just the peg.

RightThumbLeftThumbPeg

The extra key work is located in the right thumb area for the low G and the left thumb area for the A and G#. Note the thumb hook has been moved where it is no longer useable except to lift the horn.

The peg screws into the bass of the horn and would need a bigger rubber foot if I were to keep the instrument. The screw mechanisms would need some reworking to. But otherwise the horn is beautiful. Suzy thinks the purchase is not a necessary one and I guess I concur. I was considering trading in my current TT and some cash, but it really doesn’t make sense for us to do this right now.

Okay, that’s my obligatory blog post for the weekend as I’m visiting my son’s family and playing with my new granddaughter Addie!

Posted in Saxophone | 4 Comments

The Infinitesimal Universe?

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Gandalfe

“It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life, perpetuating itself through all eternity; to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the Universe; and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature.” -Albert Einstein

At work today, I’m scrambling to prepare a post for the team blog because so many people have missed their deadlines that I need to cover for them. I was working on a piece called Social Networking Diagrams when I ran across this diagram:

NetworkExcelAddin

I was stunned by the beauty of this illustration of some obscure networking relationships. And my first thought was along sci-fi vice professional lines of thought. You see, I’ve been watching ‘The Universe’ which is a series on the History Channel. And they say the universe is finite–you heard me finite! Now the human race has been able to understand and see sub-particles of sub-atomic particles. What if we were like that sub-particle in the grand scheme of things.

If we were, then we might not know about say JFK or Pluto from the vantage point of a sub-sub-atomic particle. So in this diagram, our universe as we know it might be represented as one the smallest specks. Or we might be even smaller than that. Finite my hindermost!   :o)

BTW, I found that on the Internet many people are using the spelling using infidecimal rather than what I have used above. I have to say I find “new” spellings to be rather interesting.  ;o)

Posted in Art, Everyday Science, Writing | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments