9/25/09
The front jeans pocket is the new back jeans pocket ... coming soon ...
Starbucks is putting its menu and billing on an iPod/iPhone app. Can’t wait for buying generally to go ‘Pod, which replaces my wallet.
9/24/09
Photogenic food 1 ...
A pumpkin soup at a restaurant in Staufen, Germany.
A marzipan cake from a shop in Hilden, Germany.
A marzipan cake from a shop in Hilden, Germany.
9/23/09
Google Sidewiki
Interesting. Allows folks to comment on text bits in a blog. Should have named it Kibitz.
in reference to: snitsbits (view on Google Sidewiki)
Remembering the first week working on our Mississippi River boathouse ...
Plenty cold. But lovely.
9/22/09
9/19/09
The last monarch butterfly ...
It’s an odd feeling seeing the monarchs, when we see so few compared to years ago when waves of them fluttered by.
“But the orange- and black-striped butterfly is in trouble, according to one of the nation’s foremost monarch experts. And if its winter habitat in Mexico isn’t protected, the monarch could disappear.” Beleaguered beauty
“But the orange- and black-striped butterfly is in trouble, according to one of the nation’s foremost monarch experts. And if its winter habitat in Mexico isn’t protected, the monarch could disappear.” Beleaguered beauty
9/18/09
Fall on the Mississippi ...
Link to the November Tundra Swan Bus Tour.
9/13/09
9/12/09
9/11/09
A good man ...
Vic will be remembered as a visionary; a loyal friend; a dedicated family man; an excellent cook, bread baker and wine maker; a passionate advocate for soil and water conservation; a lover of good food; and a person who lived his life true to his values. Winona Daily News
9/10/09
9/8/09
9/7/09
9/5/09
Amazin' Amazon ...
An update on my note the other day about the misrouting of my Apple product, purchased through Amazon. The complaint department refunded half the price of the item. Then I wrote Jeff Bezos’s email address with the whole story. The shipping problem was not Amazon’s; their problem was that the first two times I asked about the shipping issue, they gave me inaccurate information by way of response. Their staff, I think, is in India, and apparently dwell twelve hours behind the ball. Irritating. So Jeff’s office got back to me with a twenty dollar refund. That’s a total of $32 on an order of $25. Nice. I sent my thanks. Still and all, I won’t get the package until next Tuesday; UPS seemed in no hurry to correct matters. Whom do I write?
Steve Jobs is Snow Leopard. Courtesy RoughlyDrafted.com
Steve Jobs is Snow Leopard. Courtesy RoughlyDrafted.com
9/3/09
Evidence that Apple is holier than thou ...
My order for the latest Apple OS is now in two places at the same time ... it’s bilocating!
Remembering great kid lit ...
Our kids loved this book, as did we. I once mentioned it to Harry Lerner, the publisher. Harry told me he traveled to East Germany, back when, to secure the rights.
Link to Harry Lerner’s memoir
Link to Harry Lerner’s memoir
9/2/09
Just purchased allatwitter.org ... not sure why ....
Guess I’m a domain name collector. Here’s my list:
ALLATWITTER.ORG
AMERICANBUSINESSWRITING.COM
BESTWRITINGWEEKLY.COM
BWAE.ORG
FIRSTTIMETRIP.COM
FISHRAP.INFO
PYROGLYFIX.COM
PYROGLYPHICS.ORG
SNITSBITS.COM
ALLATWITTER.ORG
AMERICANBUSINESSWRITING.COM
BESTWRITINGWEEKLY.COM
BWAE.ORG
FIRSTTIMETRIP.COM
FISHRAP.INFO
PYROGLYFIX.COM
PYROGLYPHICS.ORG
SNITSBITS.COM
9/1/09
America's Best Idea ...
We went to a preview and talk with Dayton Duncan, the writer on the new Ken Burns documentary on the national parks.
8/30/09
Guess the drought is over ...
8/27/09
High season at Featherstone Farm ...
8/26/09
Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?
The Umberto Ecco excerpt below is an English translation from his column, "La bustina di Minerva," in the Italian news weekly Espresso, September 30, 1994.
Sounds like ancient history and it is from the last millenium, but I'm old enough to remember when it was first published. It's really interesting to read something before the dawn of the internet, which changed everything about the tech world. It's like visiting Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, a recreation of a 1830 early industrial village. I think I was using Netscape as a browser in 1994, having just moved on from its earliest incarnation as Mosaic.
"The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the ratio studiorum of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory; it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach -- if not the kingdom of Heaven -- the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: The essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.
"DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can achieve salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: Far away from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.
"You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It's true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions: When it comes down to it, you can decide to ordain women and gays if you want to.
"Naturally, the Catholicism and Protestantism of the two systems have nothing to do with the cultural and religious positions of their users. One may wonder whether, as time goes by, the use of one system rather than another leads to profound inner changes. Can you use DOS and be a Vande supporter? And more: Would Celine have written using Word, WordPerfect, or Wordstar? Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?
"And machine code, which lies beneath and decides the destiny of both systems (or environments, if you prefer)? Ah, that belongs to the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic."
Wiki: Ecco
Sounds like ancient history and it is from the last millenium, but I'm old enough to remember when it was first published. It's really interesting to read something before the dawn of the internet, which changed everything about the tech world. It's like visiting Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, a recreation of a 1830 early industrial village. I think I was using Netscape as a browser in 1994, having just moved on from its earliest incarnation as Mosaic.
"The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the ratio studiorum of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory; it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach -- if not the kingdom of Heaven -- the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: The essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.
"DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can achieve salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: Far away from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.
"You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It's true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions: When it comes down to it, you can decide to ordain women and gays if you want to.
"Naturally, the Catholicism and Protestantism of the two systems have nothing to do with the cultural and religious positions of their users. One may wonder whether, as time goes by, the use of one system rather than another leads to profound inner changes. Can you use DOS and be a Vande supporter? And more: Would Celine have written using Word, WordPerfect, or Wordstar? Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?
"And machine code, which lies beneath and decides the destiny of both systems (or environments, if you prefer)? Ah, that belongs to the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic."
Wiki: Ecco
8/23/09
Admiring Angels and Ages
I was sharing my affection for Adam Gopnik’s book with a friend. It’s fit the bill for a book of worthy writing and worthy reading. Worth posting a bit from an interview with Gopnik here.
Britannica: Much of Angels and Ages, your latest book, focuses on the literary styles of Abraham Lincoln, whose oratory was grounded in legal argument, and Charles Darwin, a meticulous observer whom you characterize as writing about science like a novelist. What were the biggest similarities and biggest differences between Lincoln’s and Darwin’s rhetoric?
Gopnik: The similarity lies in their precision, and in their replacement of the old rhetoric of honor and exhortation by a new rhetoric of argument and observation, and by their insistence on making that new rhetoric popular. Lincoln’s greatest speeches – the Cooper Union speech of 1859, for instance, which “made him President” by one account – are closely reasoned and even legalistic arguments: he goes painstakingly through the history of the early American Congress to see if the Founders intended Congress to rule on slavery as a national question. Only then is the moral issue introduced. Darwin, writing the most ambitious work on biology in its history, first of all publishes it for a popular audience, as a “trade” book, and then introduces it as a homely tale of dogs and pigeons. Darwin began with the narrow language of the naturalist, Lincoln with the close reasoning of the lawyer, and both aimed to persuade, not to intimidate.
The biggest difference is that, Darwin was a persuader speaking softly to an audience of intimates, as all reading audiences are; Lincoln was a politician, speaking clearly, and loudly, to a public gathering. Lincoln had to be terse where Darwin was voluble, and grand where Darwin was modest.
Article link
Britannica: Much of Angels and Ages, your latest book, focuses on the literary styles of Abraham Lincoln, whose oratory was grounded in legal argument, and Charles Darwin, a meticulous observer whom you characterize as writing about science like a novelist. What were the biggest similarities and biggest differences between Lincoln’s and Darwin’s rhetoric?
Gopnik: The similarity lies in their precision, and in their replacement of the old rhetoric of honor and exhortation by a new rhetoric of argument and observation, and by their insistence on making that new rhetoric popular. Lincoln’s greatest speeches – the Cooper Union speech of 1859, for instance, which “made him President” by one account – are closely reasoned and even legalistic arguments: he goes painstakingly through the history of the early American Congress to see if the Founders intended Congress to rule on slavery as a national question. Only then is the moral issue introduced. Darwin, writing the most ambitious work on biology in its history, first of all publishes it for a popular audience, as a “trade” book, and then introduces it as a homely tale of dogs and pigeons. Darwin began with the narrow language of the naturalist, Lincoln with the close reasoning of the lawyer, and both aimed to persuade, not to intimidate.
The biggest difference is that, Darwin was a persuader speaking softly to an audience of intimates, as all reading audiences are; Lincoln was a politician, speaking clearly, and loudly, to a public gathering. Lincoln had to be terse where Darwin was voluble, and grand where Darwin was modest.
Article link
A short cookbook of dough bait recipes
I like set bait fishing and a bobber makes me very happy, so the dough bait recipes at bottom interest me. First, as a follow up to yesterday’s note on catfish bait, here’s the recipe I used:
* half cup cornmeal
* half cup flour
* tablespoon oil
* teaspoon flavored oil, almond
* sufficient water to mix
Adjust ingredients to get a doughy mix. Separate into one inch balls. Tie into spawn sacks.
Apparently catfish like their dough stinky, while carp like it sweet. And even trout will take a bite.
How to Know What Ingredients to Use for Carp Fishing Bait
How to make carp dough bait
How to Make Cheese Catfish Dough Bait
How to Make Homemade Trout Dough Bait | Rainbow Trout Lures
* half cup cornmeal
* half cup flour
* tablespoon oil
* teaspoon flavored oil, almond
* sufficient water to mix
Adjust ingredients to get a doughy mix. Separate into one inch balls. Tie into spawn sacks.
Apparently catfish like their dough stinky, while carp like it sweet. And even trout will take a bite.
How to Know What Ingredients to Use for Carp Fishing Bait
How to make carp dough bait
How to Make Cheese Catfish Dough Bait
How to Make Homemade Trout Dough Bait | Rainbow Trout Lures
8/22/09
Roll on big river
Whipped up some dough bait ... stuff somewhere between the stinky bait for catfish and the sweet bait for carp. Barely hit the water in front of the boathouse and the bobber submarined. About a five pound cat. Thought for a minute it was a walleye. Similar coloration. Gave it to a neighbor. Let me know if you want the recipe.
Remembering Luxembourg City
Bumped into someone from L. today. Here’s a shot I took there. Lovely place.
Levels of learning
Teaching tennis has me thinking about learning. Why do we need so much practice to excel at a skill set, using Gladwell's 10,000 hours as a baseline? I ran into this four level schema and it reminded me of something a magician said once about learning a trick. So I'm adapting.
1. Unconscious Incompetence (Hour 1: We don’t know we don't know the trick. We think anyone can do it.)
2. Conscious Incompetence (Hour 2: We realize we don't know the trick; we don't know we can learn it.)
[I think there is a level missing here: Unconscious Incompetence: Hour 100: We realize we don't know the trick; we think we an learn it.)
3. [Self] Conscious Competence (Hour 1,000: We know the trick but it still takes a lot of thought and effort.)
[Another level missing: Other Conscious Competence: Hour 5,000: We know the trick well, but we see others know it better.)
4. Unconscious Competence (Hour 10,000: We can do the trick without thought or effort. And nobody does it better. Magic.)
I once roomed with a magician and it's true. When they are good, you can know how the trick is done and still marvel that they can do it.
Link: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
1. Unconscious Incompetence (Hour 1: We don’t know we don't know the trick. We think anyone can do it.)
2. Conscious Incompetence (Hour 2: We realize we don't know the trick; we don't know we can learn it.)
[I think there is a level missing here: Unconscious Incompetence: Hour 100: We realize we don't know the trick; we think we an learn it.)
3. [Self] Conscious Competence (Hour 1,000: We know the trick but it still takes a lot of thought and effort.)
[Another level missing: Other Conscious Competence: Hour 5,000: We know the trick well, but we see others know it better.)
4. Unconscious Competence (Hour 10,000: We can do the trick without thought or effort. And nobody does it better. Magic.)
I once roomed with a magician and it's true. When they are good, you can know how the trick is done and still marvel that they can do it.
Link: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
8/20/09
Messing around with a publishing scheme
I have been looking for a publishing scheme that achieves the broadest broadcasting with the least effort. Here’s today’s version:
* The orginal entry is created in MacJournal, used because I want my work to reside somewhere on my hard drive in a format that I can access and export as I will.
I find too that I can amend entries later on and post without affecting the linking downstream.
Another benefit is that the text in MacJournal is searchable using Spotlight or Google search.
And MacJournal handles links and photos very simply and flexibly.
* The entry is posted from MacJournal to Blogger, my online publishing hub. I want all my links to show up somewhere online. And it’s free.
* The entry is automatically posted as well to Twitter, and from Twitter to Facebook, with links back to Blogger. Both free.
* The orginal entry is created in MacJournal, used because I want my work to reside somewhere on my hard drive in a format that I can access and export as I will.
I find too that I can amend entries later on and post without affecting the linking downstream.
Another benefit is that the text in MacJournal is searchable using Spotlight or Google search.
And MacJournal handles links and photos very simply and flexibly.
* The entry is posted from MacJournal to Blogger, my online publishing hub. I want all my links to show up somewhere online. And it’s free.
* The entry is automatically posted as well to Twitter, and from Twitter to Facebook, with links back to Blogger. Both free.
8/10/09
7/31/09
7/30/09
Amazon link to my media purchases
Don't miss the link at right. You can see all the media purchases I have made at Amazon, going back ten years. Cool.
Fallows and Ferguson
I'm trying to find a purpose for this blog; Twitter has proven to be a great place to post pix. See side panel. Maybe I can put links here, such as this one.
James Fallows is one of my gurus; he does his homework as a journalist. Naill Ferguson is worth a read but he is a bit catty about America.
From MPR site:
Harvard professor Niall Ferguson and journalist James Fallows discuss the close economic relationship between China and the United States, something they called "Chimerica." The two spoke earlier this month at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
James Fallows is one of my gurus; he does his homework as a journalist. Naill Ferguson is worth a read but he is a bit catty about America.
From MPR site:
Harvard professor Niall Ferguson and journalist James Fallows discuss the close economic relationship between China and the United States, something they called "Chimerica." The two spoke earlier this month at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
5/11/09
5/8/09
Rhine
I just like this shot.
The name of the Rhine comes from Old High German: Rhine, which, in turn, comes from Middle High German: Rin, from the Proto-Indo-European root *reie- ("to move, flow, run").[2] The Reno River in Italy shares the same etymology. Wiki
The name of the Rhine comes from Old High German: Rhine, which, in turn, comes from Middle High German: Rin, from the Proto-Indo-European root *reie- ("to move, flow, run").[2] The Reno River in Italy shares the same etymology. Wiki
5/3/09
4/20/09
Friends of the Refuge Headwaters
Last week I put up a website for a group in town. It's in beta. Take a look. Got to play around with Square Space tools. Nice.
4/7/09
Going Geo
Chris and I traded cameras and I got the better deal: A Canon EOS DSL. But of course it doesn't have something ... there's always something. The Canon and my other cameras don't have GPS tagging, which Chris's iPhone does. Loved that! So I found device called a PhotoTrakr, about the size of a pack of gum, that records location and, later, synchronizes literally using the time stamps in the giz and cam. $100, runs for three weeks on a AAA battery. The software is a bit wonky but I can yank out the resulting files for my purposes. Nice!
3/29/09
Moving Day
Gen and Naren moved to Rochester yesterday. Nice cottage near the city trail system. Fits with my take on the future: Stay near fresh water and the Mayo Clinic.
Link to image gallery
Link to image gallery
3/27/09
11/16/08
9/18/08
9/10/08
9/5/08
8/31/08
8/18/08
Picnic at Whitewater
We had a great time picnicking at Whitewater, celebrating Betsy Jean's birtdate and our anniversary.
Camping
Last week we camped at the Red Barn campground near Spooner, Wisconsin. Great time; I only wish we could have gotten up to Lake Superior. So close.
8/10/08
8/9/08
8/6/08
Easy freezy Apps 2
Sketchbox gives me all the remindering that I care to get: little snippets on my desktop and a countdown timer with an annoying alarm. I got the job done today; creds to the app. [Film at 10.]
8/4/08
Easy Freezy Apps 1
Easy Envelopes picks up an address from the copy board and imposes for printing an envelope or label. Click the stamp to print. Don't blick; it's done.
8/3/08
7/25/08
Naren's B'party
We had supper last night at Smith's Garden, to celebrate Naren's birthday. Nice evening.
7/18/08
7/13/08
7/10/08
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