I really, really don't pay much attention to the weather. But, yesterday, I'm told the Twin Cities hit an all time record "high" for the day at being 56 degrees, which is a bit amazing since it's usually in the twenties/thirties. So, I woke up to 99% no snow on the ground, with only a couple of mounds near the street sidewalk. I look outside a few hours later (it sounded like it had been … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2016
IBM Robots, Carrie Fisher, and Watson
February 28, 2016 By
This, made my day (ok, not really, but it's pretty funny!) … [Read more...]
Academy Awards: Joe Biden, and his Special Announcement.
February 28, 2016 By
"Take the pledge and make a personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault." THE PLEDGE This pledge is a personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault. It is a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution. I PLEDGE To recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual assault. To identify situations in … [Read more...]
Academy Awards #2
February 28, 2016 By
Sam Smith, winning for "Best Original Song" "...making him the first openly gay man to win an Academy Award." About. Time. … [Read more...]
Academy Awards #1
February 28, 2016 By
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio. Great. Speech. … [Read more...]
What’s on my mind?
February 27, 2016 By
Sitting here, staring at FaceBook's "what's on your mind?" question. Trying to find the right words for when you get a phone call out of the blue, and it's a special someone, and, you find yourself laughing at almost everything they're sharing with you since the last time you spoke with them. I think the words I'm looking for are: Thank you, Elyse Koerber, for making me laugh … [Read more...]
NY Times Essay – Politics or Dictatorship
February 27, 2016 By
Thought Provoking essay from the NY Times. Thanks goes to Betty Bowersox for sharing. NYTimes link We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order and get things done in such a society — politics or some form of dictatorship. Either through compromise or brute force. Our founding fathers chose politics. Politics is an activity in which you recognize the … [Read more...]
Book collecting
February 26, 2016 By
Apparently, without my knowledge, someone took this hidden video when I was a teenager. … [Read more...]
Big Bang Theory…
February 26, 2016 By
I've never actually seen an episode of BBT [big bang theory - BFF Rick is a huge fan though], but based on this scene, maybe I should put it on the "to try" list. … [Read more...]
A note to my good friend “Sam”
February 21, 2016 By
Sam, Either this is a reminder, or maybe the first time I've shared this with you... Sometime, during the 2009-2011 "Great Recession", I somehow came across a story you wrote for a magazine. It was either a sailing mag or a vacation mag. Either way, I enjoyed what you wrote, and, (here is the part I want to emphasize), that story and knowing that you were the person that wrote it, inspired me to … [Read more...]
Buying a book at Barnes and Noble
February 20, 2016 By
Wanted to buy myself a new (techie/geek) book today. It's $10-15 cheaper if I have B&N ship it to me, getting it to me by Tues/Wed, or $10-15 more expensive, if I drive the 5 miles to the local B&N store to have it in my grubby hands today. Tough choice. I was interested in reading it today, but I think I'm going to be patient and have it shipped. On the other hand, now that I "have" to … [Read more...]
Presidential Candidate Survey
February 20, 2016 By
This is a fairly long survey (a few dozen or more questions), but I recommend you spend the time taking it, if you are uncertain over which candidate represents you the most. I recommend expanding those subject/policy sections that say "more...questions" as well as to open the "more stances" for EACH question, rather than rely totally on either saying 'yes', or 'no', because sometimes the 'other … [Read more...]
Composing music – John Adams
February 20, 2016 By
This is how my mind works. A friend attending a concert tonight posts a picture of a (living) composer giving a talk before/after this particular concert and mentions their name: John Adams. I just happen to know or believe that I vaguely remember there are two composers (living) having that name. One of whom I like and have more than a few CDs of various orchestras playing his music (such as, … [Read more...]
Lailah – spin art painting
February 20, 2016 By
"We" (the "Royal" We) bought this kid's art device, a splatter/spinner thing-a-ma-bob, in early or mid December. You know, the kind where you put a piece of card stock into it and it spins it around, and you then squirt paint onto the card stock as it spins, causing these multi-colored circle things... After the first one or two times using it in December, we (not the royal we, but Lailah and I) … [Read more...]
Lailah sightings
February 20, 2016 By
Lailah sightings have been a bit more further apart than usual, this last month or two. She is such a busy girl these days! This is one of two short videos we found of her, dated yesterday. We don't know the exact location where these were made, or even who the videographer/narrator is... First vid is only a minute long and the second is 3-1/2 mins long. [We also found a couple of brand new … [Read more...]
Lailah – tomorrow
February 19, 2016 By
The good news is, I have Lailah tomorrow. Haven't seen her in a couple of weeks. Won't be able to sleep tonight - her coming over to babysit her GranPaBrian. The bad news is, just like when you have a maid, you have this overwhelming urge to tidy up the house first, BEFORE they arrive to clean up the place (in Lailah's case, it's not her coming to clean my place, but to purposefully make it look … [Read more...]
Jeremy Cowart – photographer – video
February 18, 2016 By
Jeremy Cowart I have to admit, when my friend Kathy Pretty Kaczmarek shared this just now, I was going to scroll right past it. But, for some reason, I felt a little bit "compelled" to see what it was about. I'm very glad I did. It is a long (25 mins) video. So, if you don't have time to view it now, "save" it and came back to it when you do have some free time. Set aside 25 quiet minutes in … [Read more...]
Lunch with a friend, and politics
February 18, 2016 By
I met one of my wonderful "friends" today for lunch. We were great friends about ten years ago, but as some friendships do, we lost contact over the years. We renewed our friendship the last couple of years via Facebook, and recently been getting together for lunch and/or movie about once a month. Today, we had another great time, another great conversation with them, catching up, etc. I really … [Read more...]
