This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Gandalfe

KCLS A friend of mine at work pointed me to this very interesting book that I wanted to reserve at the King County Library. I went to the library site on the Internet, pulled out my wallet, and discovered my library card was missing! Did that happen last month when I cleaned my wallet as part of my annual New Year’s resolution process? So I asked dad to get it for me and went about the process of ordering a new card, again on line. I got to choose from five or so colors and pick my favorite branch. I picked the larger one rather than the small library that is closer to my house.

Well less than a week later I had my card–way cool! Heck the book dad reserved for me hadn’t even arrived yet! I’ll have to strive to keep tracks of this one as the last one only lasted me 15 years. And I learned some interesting factoids included in the pamphlet that came with with new card.

Did you know…

  • KCLS is second-busiest library in the US (behind Queens, NY)
  • From January through November 2007, library users check out close to 18 million items
  • Each year, close to 10 million people visit KCLS libraries
  • 90% of eligible residents have and use a KCLS library card
  • Patrons visit www.kcls.org close to 24 million times per year

I knew and was very proud of the literacy numbers for the northwest US, but I still am very impressed with the stats when I hear them. Sometimes I wonder if we read so much because of the cool, cloudy, and often rainy weather. But unbeknownst to most of the US, the northwest summers are a best-kept secret with very little rain which creates a Mediterranean climate with lots of great weather for outdoor hobbies. And when it rains, Suzy and I usually think, if we were back in Minnesota, it’d be snowing. :o)

Oh, about the book? I’ll be referencing parts of this excellent study in future blogs. I know my blog posse will stay tuned to this bat station each bat day. 

Posted in Books | 10 Comments

Windows Live Maps Rocks

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Gandalfe

I was grabbing a map for a new drummer so that he could attend our practice tomorrow and I chose Windows Live Map this time. Wow, has it improved; faster, slicker, and more intuitive to use, it will become my fav mapping web site for the time being. There’s my house:

CasaGlassa

Also new, this is the first of three mapping services (Google, MapQuest, and LiveMaps) to actually point to my house correctly. The other two services have been off by as much as a whole city block. Maybe it was a security thang?  ;o)

Posted in Travel | 8 Comments

Uncrate: Vacuum Tube Car Stereo

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Gandalfe

TubeCarStero

Uncrate.com introduces us to the vacuum tube car stereo. "The Panasonic CQ-TX5500D ($950) is the only car stereo that we know of that features a built-in vacuum tube amplifier for all the retro-sounding overtones you so desperately desire. It plays CD, CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 discs, and emits an orange glow that you can see through the middle window when you’re rocking out. The double-din stereo, which will fit in many import cars (and get rid of that stupid empty pocket thing in your dash at the same time), also sports old school meters that have needles instead of LEDs."

Looks very cool, yes it does but how much fidelity do you need in a car with it’s inherent road and wind noises. But for almost a thousand dollars, you too can sport this technological wonder. Somehow I can’t imagine using those tiny buttons to do anything when I’m flying down the road at high way speeds. Still, it does look very cool. Form over function?  :o)

Posted in Technology | 4 Comments

Sax Station, What and How to Practice – Jazz, Latin, Funk

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Gandalfe

scu_jazz_combo_worley I found this interesting site, the Sax Station, that re-purposes YouTubage for practice purposes. The menu of things to do unfortunately is below the fold (two screens down) and site doesn’t have a professional appearance. But what a great way to practice.

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art." – Charlie Parker

Maybe we can get the owner to fix the site so that it doesn’t take a mondo monitor for everything to line up. The frames are so wide that I have to stretch the picture beyond the borders of my 19" monitor to my second (twin) 19" monitor to get it to display right. Neal, are you reading?  :o)

Follow-up: After leaving some feedback, Neal has tweaked his site for the IE and other browsers. Now that’s service. I can’t wait to show my students the site.

Posted in Music | 4 Comments

Comics.com: Jazz Hands

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Gandalfe

From Greg; it’s all about the jazz hands thang.  :o)

JazzHands

Posted in Humor | 4 Comments

Wired Mag: Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Gandalfe

Free Wired Magazine presents this article written by Chris Anderson. A fascinating read, this article is pretty provocative on the benefits and economics of giving away things to customers. Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, also wrote The Long Tail, and this article will similarly become a book in 2009.

"At the age of 40, King Gillette was a frustrated inventor, a bitter anticapitalist, and a salesman of cork-lined bottle caps. It was 1895, and despite ideas, energy, and wealthy parents, he had little to show for his work. He blamed the evils of market competition. Indeed, the previous year he had published a book, The Human Drift, which argued that all industry should be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public and that millions of Americans should live in a giant city called Metropolis powered by Niagara Falls. His boss at the bottle cap company, meanwhile, had just one piece of advice: Invent something people use and throw away."

Read more…

Posted in Technology | 4 Comments

Just sing it like you did yesterday…

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Gandalfe

jazz_singer_HOON A music conductor comes in with a score crumpled up under one arm.

Says: "Folks, get out your pencils, we have a few changes to make."

Proceeds for 20 minutes changing the music significantly, wiping out entire sections, adding beats, creating giant holds, ties, new passages, and cues to "watch him" for the cut-offs, etc., etc.

Just then, the lead singer enters saying, "Any changes for me?"

Conductor says, "No, just make sure you sing it exactly like you did yesterday in rehearsal."

🙂

Picture from the anime artist HOON who’s work can be seen at http://www.messs.cc/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=HOON. Not all images are safe for work.

Posted in Humor | 3 Comments

Beautiful Minds: Stephen Wiltshire

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Gandalfe

My sister points me to this YouTube clip with a simple, "Wow."

Stephen Wiltshire from London is a star among savants. Stephen is autistic. He did not speak his first words "pencil" and "paper" until he was 5. Yet, when he was 11 he drew a perfect aerial view of London after only one helicopter ride. For this film we’re testing the "Living camera" in Rome. (ColourField production)

Wow indeed.

Posted in Everyday Science | 5 Comments

Object D’Art — 50 ft Saxophone

Posted on March 9, 2008 by Gandalfe

SaxOfVolkswagnes Jay Easton send a pointer to this monstrosity located in, where else, Texas. His message is simple and one I can relate to, "I want one…" :o)

SaxOfVolkswagons The Roadside America site sez the sculpture is made from cars. How cool is it that Houston has two of these Objects D’Art for their citizens to enjoy.

I’ve got some friends coming over tonight to jam from the Real books. Suzy just finished the two benches in the music studio for the audience. We also have a drink cooler in the wet bar now. Next we need to hang some cabinets and tile the wet bar which currently has a rubber top. Maybe tonight I pull out the Eppelsheim bass sax and scare the neighbors.

Tomorrow is all about doing quartets with Ray and JB joining us to sight read some new charts that Jeff Miller arranged for us. Just having returned from the Seattle Symphony Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Berlin concert, this is turning out to be a great weekend for music.

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

So You Want to Write a Blog – Part I

Posted on March 6, 2008 by Gandalfe

I have been meaning to capture my thoughts on writing a successful blog and then I saw this quote which is rather elegantly put if’n you ask me.

A very sage author once told me, “Write the book that you wish already existed.” I think blogs are similar. If there’s information that you find useful/interesting, chances are that somebody else will find it interesting. The way you get better at writing technical posts is by doing it. – Eric Gunnerson

So exchanging the word for blog for book you have “Write the blog that you wished already existed.” Ah, if only it was that simple. Who said something like, “I don’t know how to do it, but I recognize it when I see it.” Here is some of the simple guidance I give aspiring bloggers.

1. You will succeed if you love to write and converse.

2. If you don’t plan to post 2 to 3 times a week, you probably won’t stay at it.

3. Keep it simple.

4. Talk about what you know.

5. You will learn from the experience and sometimes you can parlay the gained insight and experience into a new job.

SmartCarAnother benefit I’ve taken advantage of is to use the blog as an archive. For example, if I see something really cool, like say Mercedes ‘Smart Car‘ but I don’t have time to check it out now I write a post in my blog. I leave pointers to the pertinent Web site so that I can find my way back.

Sometimes I get feedback from readers that makes me rethink my initial impressions. And using the Live Spaces ‘search my blog’ gadget means I don’t have to scroll through three years of posts to find the archived topic.

Well that’s it for now. Someone will ping me and tell me what I should address next.  ;o)

Posted in Blog, Tips and Tricks, Writing | 9 Comments