In the sixties, when I was a little kid, I was brought up listening to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - my dad had all their albums ("South of the border", "The lonely bull", "Going places", "A taste of honey", "Whipped cream and other delights", etc.), as well as the various hits by Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66. Never really gave any thought to where I picked up my love for Latin Jazz, but I … [Read more...]
Pandora and an irritating limitation
November 7, 2015 By
Pandora thinks one hundred stations is enough for a Pandora listener. I wonder if this was just an arbitrary decision by the developer (who, obviously doesn't like lots of different music/artists), or did someone actually say in 'The Requirements', "the maximum number of stations for each user should be 100" … [Read more...]
Video of a guy “driving” a self-driving car
November 4, 2015 By
Article on self-driving cars (opens in new window) Haven't really been paying much attention to google or tesla and their auto driving cars - but just watched this demo video of how the Tesla car works. (Software + Hardware) engineering is just freaking amazing! I am now able to better understand those Star Wars (prequel trilogy 10-15 yrs ago) scenes where all those "personal flying cars" are … [Read more...]
Supporting really old applications
November 3, 2015 By
Article on supporting really old computer programs (opens in a new window) Really interesting story about supporting a 60 yr old "computer application"...and not being able to find people that know the older programming languages [they mention Fortran, Assembly, even ALGOL.] I know that some of the code (programs) I wrote in the early to mid nineties are still running - twenty or more yrs later … [Read more...]
Re-Reading “The Girl…Dragon Tattoo”, part 2
October 24, 2015 By
Hmm, an update to my Stieg Larsson ("The girl with the dragon tattoo") book reading. If you remember, I had already read the first two books around 4-5 yrs ago. Got a bit burned out after reading them back to back, and never went back to the final book of the trilogy. This was where I was about a month or so ago with my original post on this topic. Since then, I've now re-read book 2 ("The girl … [Read more...]
Passing of a great man: George Mueller
October 22, 2015 By
Back in the '80s, one of the predecessor companies of Unisys (Burroughs), bought a company called SDC (System Development Corporation) where George Mueller was the CEO, merging that firm into Burroughs, with Mr. Mueller becoming a Senior VP of Burroughs. He was at the head of NASA's endeavor to put a man on the moon in the '60s. He recently passed away. Passing of George Mueller (open in new … [Read more...]
Excitement over new book: “Split Second”
October 18, 2015 By
You know you must be reading a good book when, at the end of Chapter three, you almost shout out "Omg," (actually I didn't shout, and it wasn't omg, but it was quite a loud "Wow!, Wow!"). Cannot remember why I chose this book as one to download as a Kindle sample (several weeks ago), but the third chapter has just succeeded in reeling me in. "Split second", Author is Douglas E. Richards. [upon … [Read more...]
Completely Mirrorless Camera Photog Now
October 3, 2015 By
FYI, fellow FB photographer friends: Over the summer and as of this past week, I've slowly gotten rid (via trade-in or selling) all of my DSLR camera equipment, and am now a bona fide "Mirrorless Camera ONLY" photographer (now having had my Mirrorless for the past 16 months). While I do not (yet) have the same quantity/style of lenses, I anticipate, over the next several years, the lens stable … [Read more...]
Photography and Lailah – the Dilemma
September 20, 2015 By
You know, for the most part, I have a pretty good life... BUT it just SUCKS BIG TIME when I attend a little girl's soccer practice / game and I have this pretty nice camera, and a pretty good "long/zoom" lens, allowing me to take some really awesome pictures, and upon coming home, and downloading them to the PC, you find you've taken 300+ pictures of her in a bit less than an hour, and it is so … [Read more...]
Miscellaneous thoughts
September 12, 2015 By
Such a nice day out there today, my favorite season is fall - the temp is "just right". Too bad it only lasts 4-6 weeks here in MN. (Lol) I've got a few (good) stories to write about but I'm not doing it today. But, I'll preview them for you: First one is about my (accidentally) providing some excitement and joy to a person in my life by introducing them to something a few months ago. Maybe more … [Read more...]
NPR Tiny Desk Music
August 22, 2015 By
NPR Tiny Desk Music Selection (opens in a new window) Not entirely sure whether I like this band's sound, but the leader/singer (and piano) sure has a unique way/style of singing & playing piano. Love the horn section and drummer too … [Read more...]
My website, viewing my SmugMug pics & a 3rd party plug-in
August 16, 2015 By
Beware: this is a long and boring technical blog posting - if you're into using wordpress for blogging and also do photo sharing on your wordpress website, you might be 5% interested in this post - otherwise, you'll probably just think this is just another loony tunes post by yours truly, and should probably skip reading it. wink emoticon About a year ago, I moved from using FLICKR to SmugMug as … [Read more...]
Judy Garland welcomes Barbar Streisand to her show
August 13, 2015 By
Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand (opens in a new window) Never saw this before, never saw an adult Judy Garland singing (that I remember). Never knew she had her own show - since this was in B&W, I would guess it was in the early '60s. The way she shows her love and affection for Barbra S. during the duet is simply amazing. Two amazing singers. … [Read more...]
Claude Bolling article (crossover music)
August 12, 2015 By
Article on Claude Bolling (open in a new window) One of my favorite crossover albums in the '70s. … [Read more...]
Columbia House (Record/CD mail order) closing
August 12, 2015 By
Columbia House closing article (open in new window) This new brought back some good memories: First, of my buying classical CDs via Columbia House in the '90s, then, looking at the accompanying picture of the "8-track" tapes - had plenty of those in the '70s [not only did I have an 8-track stereo in my bedroom (growing up as a teenager), but I believe I might have had an 8-track player in my VW … [Read more...]
Black and White photos of Lailah
August 6, 2015 By
There is a reason why I don't edit my photos that I take. It takes a LOT of time and mental effort - there are just TOO MANY choices of things to do - like adding special effects, lighting, exposure, contrast, etc. If anything, I may - like I recently did for my recent b-day pics - just crop them. THAT I can easily do - no problem - no OCD choice issues there. However, I just heard about a … [Read more...]
Republican debate
August 6, 2015 By
I am trying to ignore this Fox News / Republican debate thing, but, doesn't anyone (on stage or behind the scenes), understand it'll be logistically impossible to have a "debate" among that many people on stage - get real - it's even tough when it's only 3 "debaters". Am I wrong, or are we really going to learn "something" from these ten people tonight (in order for "us" to make a judgement, and … [Read more...]
New photo frame for Lailah’s pictures
August 5, 2015 By
You know you have it bad, when you start thinking about ditching the 34" x 42" (butt ugly) framed Kadinsky print (which you've now have had for a dozen or so yrs) above the LR couch, and replacing it with a similar sized (42" or 46"?) flat panel tv (from the bedroom), thereby replacing the awfully smaller 15" photo frame on the end table, with the end result of being able to display a (new) almost … [Read more...]
Bird’s eye Video of Detroit and my thoughts
August 5, 2015 By
Great and interesting video - great background music - much too short. Bird's eye view of Detroit (opens in new window) Sorry to see the beginning parts: drives home the point that certain (industrial & residential) areas are still like a former war zone. Enjoyed the middle/ending portions a lot better with "hope" of development/revival coming. You don't usually get to see this stuff (from … [Read more...]
The Macarena
August 4, 2015 By
I'm sorry, but "Macarena" is still my all-time fav song & music video...just had to share this with everyone today - lol. YouTube music video (opens in a new window) [ok, maybe not my all "all-time" fav, but let's say my all-time fav from 1996.] … [Read more...]
