Monthly archive for April2014 - page 2

I hear you saying “Oh please! Not some more prog rock mumbo jumbo”.  Don’t worry, today will be different.  Just let me lay a little foundation first.  On my cable television lineup I have found a couple music channels that are mostly devoted to live rock music performances.  One is an MTV channel (I believe) called Palladia and the other is AXS.tv.  Some programs are videos of mega-concerts, or documentaries.  There seems to be a good mix of archival or classic rock and new stuff.  Also there are a few interview type shows that will feature an artist doing small, inimate performances of their songs intermixed with an interview session.   A couple of the best ones are “Live at Darryl’s House” and “The Guitar Center Sessions”.  “…Darryl’s House” is hosted by Darryl Hall of Hall & Oates.  Search your cable guide for either of these and tune in if you see someone you like – you won’t regret it.  OK, foundation LAID.

So a few weeks ago I DVR’d an episode of “Live at Darryl’s House” featuring Smokey Robinson and i just watched it.  It was a very good program, so I searched YouTube and it turns out many of the songs (from this episode and others) are posted there.  Here are a couple songs from that show:

I like the casual atmosphere and the performers always look like thye’re just having a good time.  Side note: If you  like Hall & Oates tunes you’ll like this program because they always do a couple Hall & Oates numbers along with the guest’s music.

“Truth is like a lion, you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose and it will defend itself.”.

– Saint Augustine

We’ll probably never know, since the City has decided to drain a 38,000,000 gallon reservoir because someone peed in it.  We’ve already explored how much pee it would take in your pool to make it dangerous.  Now, due to the events in Portland we get to explore how much pee might be acceptable in your drinking water.  Turns out, it’s a lot.  Which isn’t that surprising  since it is not uncommon for people to survive when drinking their own urine (!).  It is 95% water after all.

Seems normal…

So if a teenager pees into a 38,000,000 gallon reservoir, Portland City officials think it needs to be drained.  Granted they have a lot more water up north than we do in California, but that still seems like a waste.  Especially since no one keeps track of all the bird and animal feces, dead animals, etc that undoubtedly find their way into an open air reservoir.    Anyway… odd for a town that hosts an annual event on World Naked Bikeride Day.  Those riders might get thirsty!  Now you know what they mean by “Keep Portland Weird”.

…such as “I wonder how the letter W came about?”.  OK, this is pretty much just ripped off from Althouse, but I thought it was interesting.  So as small thanks, go read her blog too.

The History of “W” According to Wikipedia

Short Video:

Interesting tidbit from the Wikipedia history: “The initialism “www” for the World Wide Web thus, perhaps ironically, has three times as many syllables as the full name.”  Huh.  WWW = nine syllables and World Wide Web = three syllables.  Conclusion: I am easily amused.

I entitled this post “Don’t Worry…Be Happy” because it sounded better than “As spirits in a material world, we sometimes have a hard time living an existence in a solid three dimensional space”.  Because here on earth over the long eons of human evolution we have learned that in order to achieve a certain outcome (our will), certain physical efforts must be made.  We have learned, initially as a matter of survival that physical things must be moved or changed to suit our will or desired outcome.  The physical solutions that were (and are) required to solve physical problems are of no effect for non three dimensional issues.  Physical assertions will produce no results in the realm of the mind.

Remember that there are aspects of our lives that are not physical.  There is a great deal that goes on inside our heads.  Certainly we are physical creatures and we exist in a solid world governed by physical (as in physics) laws.  But there is a spiritual component to our being as well that is unbound by laws of gravity, inertia etc.  Can we understand the difference between the physical and the spiritual and how to initiate changes that cannot be accomplished by movements of the physical?  How can we make changes in our non-physical realm to bring about desired outcomes?  Or is it, in fact, possible at all?  Spritually are we just along for the ride?  Do the constraints of the physical world limit the possibilities of the spiritual?  I ask these questions rhetorically, since there may not be an answer, or conversely there may be too many answers.

But seriously…

There are many things in life that people wish they could change, and in pursuit of that change we often entangle the physical and the spiritual.  We build physical barriers between ourselves and the actions that might bring those changes about.  Aren’t we strange critters.

Most people would tell you they want to be happy.  But if you ask an unhappy person what would make them happy?  Likely they will name the lack of certain material possessions.  Or they may cite the existence of conditions beyond their control for their unhappiness, as in how can I be happy when Panda Bears are going extinct?.  Or they will project onto others the blame for their condition:  Why does no one love me (when I do not love myself?).

We all have things in our lives that cause us to worry, to be angry or to be sad and these are often things outside of ourselves and beyond our control.  Can we accept the fact that there are things beyond our control or beyond our influence, and understand influence versus control?  You only control you.  You may influence others or events, but you cannot control them.

So ask yourself if you are serious about being happy.  One needn’t justify a conscious decision to live a happy and joyous life.  Act locally, and by locally I mean within the boundaries of your skull.  Stay within yourself, geographically and chronologically; Try to see this picture in your mind – envision the universe as a target and you are at the very center point of the “bull’s eye”.  In fact the center point is in the center of your mind.  The concentric circles of the target extend around that point, the first rings inside you, and then more around you, then extending out to infinity.  You control only the center point.  You have no control over the rest, the best you can do is influence.   So don’t worry, be happy.  And see what influence it has on your world.

FBI put nation on alert to “…highly credible terrorist threat”.  Is there no heinous act so loathsome to which those demented Al-Quaeda bastards will not stoop?  Follow the link to learn what horrible end is in store for us.

…and the bartender says “I can’t serve you because I’m not sure you exist!”  Bada-bing!  Meh…needs work.  Anyhoo… it looks like we haven’t yet even learned all of what we don’t know.  That is to say that the more we learn, the more we don’t know.  Or something.  If I can’t get that point across, then I have no chance of explaining subatomic physics regarding the discovery of a new “exotic” particle, the 4 Quark Hadron.  Or rather the confirmation of the 2007 discovery of the 4 Quark Hadron.  So I’ll suggest you follow that link to a very concise and surprisingly easy to understand article on the subject at the UK Daily Mail.  Why do you care?  OK, you don’t but why should you care?  Because atoms and their subatomic components make up everything in our entire universe and we will never figure out what the hell this whole universe thing is about if we cannot even understand what it is made of.

Besides, C’mon! It’s Hadrons!

TCM, or Turner Classic Movies turns 20 years old next Monday, and it’s one of the few things I’m willing to thank Ted Turner for.  There’s no way to describe it other than “the old movie channel”, since they air movies almost exclusivley made before 1970.

They are also uninterupted by commercials, unedited and usually introduced by a host who will pass some information about the stars of the film or some anecdotes about the making of the film which I find adds to my appreciation of the film.

When the channel was first introduced, it offered access to a library of films not often seen on commercial television, nor easily found in the once ubiquitous video stores, films one usually had to buy in order to watch them.  Also, you may have had to stay up late or get up early in order to catch a movie you wanted to see, but with the advent of the DVR (and the death of the walk in video rental store) you don’t have to stay up until 3:00AM to see that obscure film.  Schedule the recording and watch at your leisure!

Since the audience that these old films appeal to is aging, the looming question is will the channel be able to attract younger viewers with it’s current fare?  Let’s hope they find a way, or that younger people find an interest in classic films.  So Happy Birthday TCM and may you adapt to change better than Blockbuster Video!

….Happy Birthday to you!  The Ford Mustang, that is, not the horse, nor the “ranch” in Nevada.  Yes, the Ford Mustang turns 50 years old this week.  Though today it is a globally recognized American Icon, it very nearly never came to be.  Accountants at Ford were not convinced of the need for the new model since it was really just a Falcon with different bodywork and they believed it’s introduction would only hurt sales of that model.  Still, legendary marketing man Lee Iacocca pushed hard for the project and won out in the end.  The projected sales for the first year were around 100,000 units, and ended up in reality being over 400,000 units!  And it is a brand that is still thriving today, even after many copycat competitors  have come and gone and come and gone again.

I have owned a few Mustangs, though is has been about 20 years since my last one.  The first car that was my very own was a 65 sedan which I bought from my brother-in-law in the mid seventies for $300.  It had a 200 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine and a 1 barrel carburetor that looked like it belonged on lawn mower.  The transmission was a three speed manual with a floor mounted stick.  It had an after market paint job in a non factory color, a kind of “root beer brown” which earned it the nickname “hershey car” though in reality it was more metalic brown than chocolate.  Overall, a great car – simple transportation, nothing fancy.  I drove the crap out of it for 4 or 5 years and sold it for $200 when the transmission finally went out.  I don’t have an actual picture, but this one is very close:

same hubcaps as mine

My second Mustang belonged initially to my girlfriend who I later married and so it was more ours than mine.  It was also a 65 with the same 200 c.i. engine and three speed manual tranny as mine, but this one was a fastback 2+2 (fold down rear bucket seats) and ran alot better than my first one.  It was positively peppy.  I wish I had taken better care of it and kept it, but after marriage and when a couple kids came along it wasn’t practical.  Again, I have no picture but here is a similar one:

nearly identical to ours

My most recent Mustang was the first brand new car I ever bought: a 1979 Mustang “Ghia” coupe.  This generation of Mustang, the 3rd, after the ill-conceived “Mustang II” was not a muscle car in any sense.  It was after all the late 70’s and we had just gone through the Arab Oil Embargo and so small engines were the order of the day.  All Mustangs of that vintage had only 4 cylinder engines, though there was a turbo option (larger engines were re-introduced later).  Mine did not have a turbo, but it was a fairly light car and so performed reasonably well with it’s 4 speed manual transmission.

mine was Burgundy Red, but same faux wire wheels

Since the Mustang of legend is always thought of as a muscle car, my next one will be more along these lines:

I’m a vanilla kind of guy

Oh, who am I kidding?  By the time I’m ready to buy one they will probably be wind-powered…

…but I suppose I could live with it