Let's Try Something

I never blog here anymore because of Facebook and my running blog. But I have this idea called "The Idea Bag" where I keep a list of cool ideas. Here are two I've encountered recently:

• Zipf's Law
• Dirichlet Drawer Principle

It might be cool to keep a blog about ideas. I like the title "Dr. Steve's Idea Bag." Another blog?

I'm Proud of Barack Obama

I've been neglecting this blog. Running and Facebook are to blame. But I had a thought I wanted to put here.

I sometimes feel the need to remind my progressive friends that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. They know this, of course, but they don't fully understand the two noun phrases in that central truth.

1. President. A president is, by design, not a king. He or she cannot, by virtue of office, impose his or her will on others. We have this check and balance thing going on, and the President has to work with all kinds of interests--including evil corporate ones--to get things done in this country. One of the things that made this guy perfect for the job is his ability to work with lots of different kinds of people he disagrees with. Tune out the nut jobs who say he isn't doing this, because he is.
   
2. United States. Despite having lived here their entire lives, some progressives have not caught on to the fact that our country is basically a giant corporation. The huge holding company of a series of giant corporations, actually. Or perhaps they do realize this, but they think that this is somehow easily changed by being elected President (see #1 above). Just like Coca-Cola or McDonalds (or General Dynamics or Boeing, etc.), the US of A is in all kinds of business sectors including economic, military, and world domination. To put it bluntly, this is the United States. Deal with it.
   

I could write more about this and revise the points above to make them make sense, but I don't care so much about it.

I'm going out for a run...

Purple iPod

Okay, so this Facebook exchange was too funny not to capture here on the blog for posterity. Kath posted the following on her wall today.

Anyone who knows my husband, knows that he is way into music. In fact, he has 3 ipods. Yes, 3 ipods! He has a "car" ipod, a "work" ipod, and a "running" ipod which is a shuffle. Well, on Sunday, I could not find my ipod,... only the earbuds. I became concerned that, perhaps, I had misplaced or lost it. Guess who had it!?! Looks like Steve now needs a 4th ipod (my only ipod) for his "home" ipod. Pretty funny stuff!

So, this was my reply:

Ah, now I know why Kathy joined FB: she wanted a larger audience for poking fun at me. My response:

I have taken
the iPod
that was in
the kitchen

and which
you were probably
planning
to take to the gym

Forgive me
it was so shiny
so melodious
and so purple

With apologies to WCW.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535

It's Alive!!!!!!

A small miracle is taking place in the next room.

A few months back, our backup hard drive crashed. It's funny--it was the newer of two large external HDs we have here. I've been dumping hundreds of digital photos there for a couple of years. I purchased it when I got our digital video camera thinking that I'd be making all kinds of movies. So anyway, this thing dies and will not come back to life. All the tricks were tried. All the computer friends were consulted. It even spent an entire week in a ziplock bag in my freezer. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

Happily, I had backed up the photos on an internal HD. No lost photos (lots of lost music, but it could be re-ripped or re-purchased). Today it hit us (and by us, I mean Kathy) that we only had one copy of the family photos. It also hit her that we lost on HD in a sudden, gone-forever moment. Backing up those photos suddenly became very important.

So, I purchased a cool Network 1T drive. It works. I backed up the photos while we were out for the afternoon. This evening before heading to bed I decided to give the old dead HD one last try--who knows, it might spin up--before tossing it in the trash. This is not the first time I have done this. It's been plugged into every computer I have access to several times over a period of several weeks. Still in the Ziplock bag, it got plugged into our PC for one last try.

And, click, click, spin.... the thing started working!

So, I quickly started backing it up onto the new drive. Who knows how long it will stay working, but I am not going to TOUCH the thing until I get everything off, or until it stops working, whichever comes first.

Amazing!

Morning Has Broken

Okay, overnight the entire formerly-dead hard drive got copied to the new Stora. That is soooo coool! I was able to recover 80G of previously lost music. I am a happy camper.

Luna's Last Record

Snatched Kathy's iPod for a late-night run/walk, and was reminded that Luna's last album was really, really tasty. They did most of these tracks when I saw their 2nd to last show in Detroit with Jon and Greg in 2005. That was a great show.

OMG, I'm On Facebook!

Imagine the shock of some of my friends, and especially my sister, when I up and joined Facebook. I had many reasons for not joining. Primarily, I was worried about all the time I'd spend Facebooking. I mean, I've got a couple of blogs, my online mixes, and plenty of surfing to attend to, right?

Facebook is like blogging, but with a larger audience that has a shorter attention span. I suppose the math works out in the end.

True to the topic of this blog, I've started a Wednesday Record feature, where I post about my favorite pop records once per week. I thought my first choice, Kraftwerk's Computer World (1981), was clever. So far, my "freinds" don't care for the choice.

I can still be transported by that disc. I have a list of about 10 records to start with.

Blogging About Nothing

I started this blog because I was taking too many turns in a group blog about music. It's been really helpful for me: a diary-like place I can think out loud and write about nothing. My 60 new Facebook Friends don't do this, but it's clear that people share pretty inane stuff over there. It's funny--that is the WHOLE POINT of this blog.

A Mix for Clark

No shindig is half complete
Without that famous polka beat
That's why they invite me, I suppose.

1. A Night On Earth / Brave Combo
2. Innocent When You Dream (78) / Tom Waits
3. Nantes / Beirut
4. Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands / Richard Thompson
5. Fortress / Pinback
6. Wheels / The Shaggs
7. Just Like A Drummer / The Wave Pictures
8. When Harpo Played His Harp / Jonathan Richman
9. Gypsy Queens / Balkan Beat Box
10. Strange Overtones / Brian Eno & David Byrne
11. Purple / Ken Nordine
12. Start Wearing Purple / Gogol Bordello

Clark came by today wearing purple and talking gypsy punk. How can you have a bad day when that happens? So this is an occasion mix, loosely based on a short music conversation about polka, gypsy punk, and purple dress shirts. I love it that Ken Nordine makes an appearance here.

It's also fun when I can put The Shaggs on a mix. Oh, I love The Shaggs!

My buddy Bill didn't have a good day today, so this mix goes out to him, too. And he's the one who hipped me to Gogol Bordello in the first place! Oh, and he also introduced The Wave Pictures.

I didn't know what a purple nurple was when I titled this mix. But it's a drink, too, so mix yourself one of these and spin my new mix! (And keep your hands to yourself!)

Purple Nurple Recipe

• 1 oz Malibu® coconut rum
• 1 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz Blue Curacao liqueur
• 2 oz cranberry juice