Thane Plambeck

Keyhole

Jan writes

I just downloaded the trial version of Keyhole 2 NV, and it's pretty darn amazing. I'm sure you've all seen satellite photos of your own house before, but the hook in the Keyhole app is that you can drop from space all the way down to your house. Because of caching, the drop works much better the second time around. I also found our old apartment in Daikanyama, Tokyo. (Big cities get much higher-res coverage.) The "Tilt" feature is more interesting than I thought—don't miss Mt. St. Helens. Way, way cool.

[From (Jan's) archives] Meet the purple team.

In the 1999 game, we stopped our van, bristling with electronic equipment, just outside the World Trade Center. I'm sure we weren't legally parked. Five team purple members in matching shirts embroidered with scrabble letters spelling "PERMUTE PAL" (a TEAM PURPLE anagram, duh) jumped out of the van nearly simultaneously, carrying walkie talkies. I don't remember what we looking for—certainly no clues that I remember ended up being in the WTC. Then a WTC security guard stopped us. "What are you guys doing?" he asked us. "Uh, well, this is just a game," we said. The guard said, "Oh, I thought y'all we're the A-Team," and continued his rounds.

Nowadays, we probably would have been shot on sight, instead.

Darth Vader unmasked

Grim Reaper

Ponchai Wilkerson

One of the many executed in Texas before the Shrub became Resident of the United States:

(March 15, 2000) HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A convicted killer who twice escaped his Texas death row cell stunned authorities during his execution by spitting out a small key as lethal chemicals flowed into his body. "The secret, as of Wilkerson," Ponchai Wilkerson mumbled, according to James Brazzil, a chaplain who stood next to the inmate in the death chamber Tuesday evening. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald described the inch-and-a-half key as a universal handcuff and leg restraint key. It's unknown how Wilkerson got it.

link

Electoral operating system and browser

Results by Operating System usage:

* Windows users picked George Bush 55.80% to 41.00%.
* Macintosh users picked John Kerry 58.10% to 39.40%
* Linux users also picked John Kerry 87.50% to 12.50% in a small sample

Result by Browser usage:

* Internet Explorer users picked Bush 55.80% to 41.10%
* Firefox users picked Bush 49.70% to 43.60%
* Safari users almost mirrored the MacIntosh results 60% to 38%

The Firefox numbers just can't be right. link

Kelly Blue

Recorded 10 March 1959. Amazon helpfully recalls

Instant Order Update for Thane Plambeck. You purchased this item on October 26, 2004.

Sure did.

So should you.

Lunar Eclipse

Using an image-stabilized telephoto lens, I tried to take photos of the 28 October 2004 total lunar eclipse from the street in front of our house. It was 7:20pm Pacific time, and the eclipse was not yet total. I kept having problems with overexposure and multiple images.

I did end up with a good picture of the great pumpkin.

From the archives (10 June 2002): Dozens of partial solar eclipse images cast onto our garage by light passing through tree leaves.

The wizards of career management

From an essay by the music critic Michael Steinberg:

At a recent concert I found myself seated next to a lively and charming woman, a retired professor, and at some point during our chat she said, "Of course, the greatest living artist is X." Now, X is a first-rate musician. What bothered me was the idea that there could be such a creature as the "greatest living artist." It is typical of the distractions that the wizards of career management set in our path daily. It is a distraction from music itself, and it is a disservice in that it promotes the lie that a Beethoven concerto becomes worth our attention only when it is performed by a superstar. Those eternal cocktail party questions, "Which do you think is the greatest orchestra in the world?" or "Who do you think is the greatest conductor?" are fatiguing and discouraging, not just because I don't know the answer, not even because there can be no answer, but because the sources of those questions are so confused. An outstandingly successful concert pianist remarked not long ago that this is fast turning into a society where merely to be very good at something is regarded as a birth defect.

Terminal Tours

We have escorted people like you all over the world. Our pilgrims have traveled to Lourdes, the Parthenon, Graceland, and other religious sites.

[My italics. The link]

Clearview font

Reading about fonts mandated by the federal government for use on highway road signs, I learned two terms : halation and overglow:

On a road with a posted speed limit of 45 mph, a driver is traveling at 66 feet per second. With Clearview-Bold, the desired destination legend is recognized 1.3 seconds earlier (84 feet) and with greater accuracy, giving the driver significantly more time to react to the information displayed.

Standard Alphabets for Traffic Control Devices

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surface features of Titan

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hobbit joins family tree

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The American League half of hell may have frozen over, but it's still hot over on the National side.

Der Schornstein muss rauchen

Der Schornstein muss rauchen

I had trouble with this one. Literally—"The chimney must smoke."

I think it means something along the lines of "things need to go well?" Anyone?

Note added later. OK, I found this

Früher, als alle Welt noch Kohle verfeuerte, gab es eine Redewendung, die hiess: Der Schornstein muss rauchen. Sie sollte ausdrücken, dass die Wirtschaft zu funktionieren hat, wenn ein Land bestehen und vorankommen will. Nicht gemeint war damit, dass Ökonomie ein Selbstzweck sein sollte.

Knitwear translation:

In earlier times, when people still burned coal, there was an expression—the chimney must smoke. It was supposed to mean that the economy must function well if a country is to improve its station. It was not supposed to mean that the economy was to be the only goal of the society.

So I guess it's more along the lines of "gotta chop down a few trees to build a house" (which may not actually be an idiomatic expression in English, but no matter).

Or maybe "can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs?".

Eric Alterman

From an essay in The Nation by Eric Alterman, "When Presidents Lie," 25 October 2004:

On the one hand, Americans carry an unrealistic picture of the world "in their heads"—one based on their faith in their own divine direction, disinterested altruism and democratic bona fides rather than the realities of politics, force, and diplomacy. But education has never lived up to Dewey's hopes, and Lippman's critique of the inherent ability of democracy to cope with complexity remains salient. These failures, moreover, are exaggerated in the American case by a particular distaste for the practice of power politics and media that have insufficient incentive to provide the basics of civic literacy to their audience. Even those Presidents with the best of intentions come to view deception as an unavoidable consequence of a system that simply cannot integrate the unpleasant realities of international diplomacy.

In the neighborhood

Plenty of Democratic contributors

I'm not listed. I think it's because all my donations came too late to make the cutoff for their database.

Not so many Republicans

Looks like somebody famous has given $2000 to Kerry twice (is that allowed?) and also the same to Wesley Clark, Dick Gephardt, and Howard Dean.

Must...think...different.

Cassini

Titan's first closeup; also fly-by movie (quicktime)

Der Köchel Schuberts

If you ever want to write a book about Mozart or Schubert, Otto Erich Deutsch [german link] is your man. His "Documentary Bibliographies" contain nicely cleaned up copies of all the contemporaneous source material—for example, letters to and from Mozart, petitions by Mozart or his father for work, concert programs, testimonials written by people who witnessed Mozart performing as a child, newspaper announcements, journal entries, and much more. So in one volume, you have all (or practically all) relevant material about Mozart (or Schubert). There's no need to go any farther looking for new stuff (although I'm sure many people do).

Instead, you just read Otto's book, and then write your own.

Here is an excerpt from "Daines Barrington's Report on Mozart" to the Royal Society, 28 November 1769:

I carried to him a manuscript duet, which was composed by an English gentleman to some favourite words in Matastasio's opera of Demofoonte. The whole score was in five parts, viz. accompaniments for a first and second violin, the two vocal parts, and a base. I shall here likewise mention, that the parts for the first and second voice were written in what Italians stile the Contralto clef; the reason for taking notice of whic particular will appear hereafter. My intention in carrying with me this manuscript composition, was to have an irrefragable proof his abilities, as a player at sight, it being absolutely impossible that he could have ever seen the music before. The score was no more sooner put upon his desk, than he began to play the symphony in a most masterful manner, as well as in the time and stile which corresponded with the intention of the the composer. I mention this circumstance, because the greatest masters often fail in these particulars at the first trial. The symphony ended, he took the upper part, leaving the under one to his father. His voice in the tone of it was thin and infantine, but nothing could exceed the masterly manner in which he sung [...] When he had finished the duet, he expressed himself highly in its approbation, asking with some eagerness whether I had brought any more such music...

From pg 415 of his Mozart book, in a chapter with title "1791":

From the "Weiner Zeitung", 3 December 1791 New Music

At the Musikalishes Magazin [...] have appeared completely new works, fresh from the press, on the best paper, well and correctly engraved, viz:

From the opera die Zauberflöte by Herr Mozart:

Terzetto: "Seid uns zum zweitenmal wilkommen" for the pianoforte, 15 kr.

Duetto: "Bei Männer, welche Liebe Fühlen", 15 kr.

Aria: "In diesen heilgen Mauern," 10 kr.

On 3 December there was a slight improvement in Mozart's condition.

At 2pm on 4 December a kind of rehearsal of the as yet unfinish Requiem was held at Mozart's sick bed.

Count Franz Walsegg-Stuppach (see 2 April 1788) had the Requiem commissioned from Mozart anonymously in Spring, 1791, wishing to perform it as his own composition in memory of his late wife. Mozart had already tried out parts of the work with Constanze, Süssmayer and other friends at his home. On this occasion he sang the alto part to Schack's falsetto, Hofer's tenor and Gerl's bass.

On Monday 5 December 1791, a five minutes to 1 am, Mozart died.

Dr Closset had been called in during the evening of 4 December, but was unable to do anything more. The diagnosis at the time was "heated miliary fever"; the supposition today is that the cause of death was a "uraemic coma following a lengthy kidney disease." (Aloys Greither)

The book goes on for over 300 more pages, though. Otto explains:

The series of documents extends as far beyond Mozart's death as I consider useful, and for the first time brings together all the memoirs of him that are worthy of credence or consideration and were written or published during the ensuing 100 years.

Suzuki Violin I

Cole and I are learning how to play "Perpetual Motion":

Donald Runnicles

From an article at the Washington Post:

Last month, while talking to a reporter from the Austrian daily Der Standard, conductor Donald Runnicles said, "I would really have to think about whether I could stay there [in the United States] if Bush wins a second time."

Runnicles, who is Scottish-born, is the music director of the San Francisco Opera and principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York. But it was in Atlanta, where he holds the relatively more minor position as principal guest conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he got the most flak. Not liking George W. Bush—not liking him to the point of fantasizing about leaving America—doesn't raise eyebrows in the rhetorical landscape of blue-state America. But those are fighting words in more conservative Atlanta (where Runnicles was instant fodder for right-wing talk radio), and the Atlanta Symphony and Runnicles quickly issued statements.

"The recent comments made by ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles, reflect his personal opinion and not the opinion of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra," read a statement released by the symphony. Runnicles was abjectly apologetic: "I profoundly regret that my words might have had any negative impact on the ASO, which is so clearly a matter of civic pride for the city and the state."