6/3/10
5/31/10
5/28/10
Why Chris will want an iPad someday ...
and me too. When you purchase a show/movie on iTunes, you can play it at home or take it with you on the iPad. Nice. And Rome is great: BBC on steroids. As usual, the leaders of the filmic Roman Empire have the accents of the British Empire.
5/23/10
Gone East ...
Friday we gathered with friends of Barbara and Jim Allaire to wish them farewell. The Allaires are moving to Boston to spend more time with their kids, old and young. (Great idea!) Their leaving creates an absence. And an appreciation for all the great work they did in Winona with the Catholic Worker, Saint Mary’s Press, and the other contributions folks at the gathering mentioned that were news to me.
The World Cup predicted ... Brazil ... what a shock ...
A book has been written on how to predict the winner. I just like the pretty picture. And even I would have said Brazil.
And what is Hufpo? ...
I’m not a frequent reader of the online Huffington Post, but look who it’s passing up. Everybody.
5/21/10
Bloom watching ...
I threw the best of my flower shots into a slideshow for a quick overview. Check out the bigger version on the Vimeo hosting site.
5/17/10
Offering a free Twitter tips service ...
As a free service allied to my American Business Writing services, I have begun positing to MailTip, a daily Twitter feed. The tips focus on using email as a career building tool. The posts are also available at ABW as a journal, organized by tags, including accountability, appreciation, audience, brevity, caution, integrity, lead, learn, performance, procedure, promotion, results, voice.
Taking "printed" out of print publishing ...
Or "Honey, I shrunk the bookcase!" This morning Don and Jack and I got to talking about a local music publisher and I trotted out my latest take on print publishing. (Credit to blogger Mike Cane. Be warned: Mike writes “explicitly.”) When I read his comment that publishers are ignoring technology, the idea sunk in. Unnerving in its implications. Really.
My rendering: Book publishers giving their content to the Amazons, Apples, and other hardware vendors of the world because they don’t know how to produce hardware is comparable to their handing over their content (and revenue) to book printers because they don’t know how to print books. The tablet is the new print delivery vehicle. So just as publishers go to China to print their books, they need to partner with Chinese hardware companies to produce their own inhouse tablets.
Of course scale will matter, and publishers like Hal Leonard, the largest music print publisher in the world with institutional buyers, get to be first. The Kindle will be just one of three or four tablets per household. One for music, one for Bibles, one for other books, one for cookbooks, and so on. Each tablet will have its own focus, features, and store.
And they will be free with a subscription to the publisher's wares.
[Mike Cane linked to this post. My apologies on edits to the quote he excerpted. Didn't change the substance of the thought, just the styling.]
My rendering: Book publishers giving their content to the Amazons, Apples, and other hardware vendors of the world because they don’t know how to produce hardware is comparable to their handing over their content (and revenue) to book printers because they don’t know how to print books. The tablet is the new print delivery vehicle. So just as publishers go to China to print their books, they need to partner with Chinese hardware companies to produce their own inhouse tablets.
Of course scale will matter, and publishers like Hal Leonard, the largest music print publisher in the world with institutional buyers, get to be first. The Kindle will be just one of three or four tablets per household. One for music, one for Bibles, one for other books, one for cookbooks, and so on. Each tablet will have its own focus, features, and store.
And they will be free with a subscription to the publisher's wares.
[Mike Cane linked to this post. My apologies on edits to the quote he excerpted. Didn't change the substance of the thought, just the styling.]
5/14/10
Dishing the dishes ...
So I think I will include posts about dishes I cook. I like cooking. I like messing around with recipes. I never record them. Honestly, why would anybody want to make a dish the same way twice?
I won’t post each day; we eat a lot off leftovers. And I won’t repeat a dish unless it’s improved vastly. Maybe I will add photos.
Here goes.
Asparagus pesto pizza
Look here for the original pesto recipe. My changes are in brackets. Use the extra on pasta at another meal.
Pesto recipe:
1 pound asparagus
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 or 3 medium garlic cloves [2 teaspoons bottled spanish garlic]
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2/3 cup) [4 oz. Asiago]
Added ingredients:
Put down a bed of caramelized chopped onions on the pizza crust.
Next lather on the pesto.
Chop 1 tomato and toss it on top of the pesto.
Put a sprinkling of cheese for looks.
Pizza crust:
Use a biscuit recipe using 2 cups of flour and 1/4 cup of sesame seeds.
Next time:
I will use diced smoked salmon on the pizza. It’s yummy as is but it can use a bit of bite.
Wow. Here’s a sidebar on the recipe sent by my brother Jim: A condition known as pine mouth caused by pine nuts.
I won’t post each day; we eat a lot off leftovers. And I won’t repeat a dish unless it’s improved vastly. Maybe I will add photos.
Here goes.
Asparagus pesto pizza
Look here for the original pesto recipe. My changes are in brackets. Use the extra on pasta at another meal.
Pesto recipe:
1 pound asparagus
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 or 3 medium garlic cloves [2 teaspoons bottled spanish garlic]
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2/3 cup) [4 oz. Asiago]
Added ingredients:
Put down a bed of caramelized chopped onions on the pizza crust.
Next lather on the pesto.
Chop 1 tomato and toss it on top of the pesto.
Put a sprinkling of cheese for looks.
Pizza crust:
Use a biscuit recipe using 2 cups of flour and 1/4 cup of sesame seeds.
Next time:
I will use diced smoked salmon on the pizza. It’s yummy as is but it can use a bit of bite.
Wow. Here’s a sidebar on the recipe sent by my brother Jim: A condition known as pine mouth caused by pine nuts.
5/11/10
Its feats show it, they're iPads ...
Dunno what that means. Just to say, the iPad is a cool tool reading machine.
Making the connections with Campbells, Canada, and cod ...
Winona’s Marine Art Museum has a great exhibit including a new acquisition, Winding Line, by Winsow Homer dated 1874. Nice: I could tell my grandkids that the artist was living in and around Gloucester during the period that their great grandfather was fishing cod there.
5/6/10
Reporting a spoofed purchase ...
For my future reference. And yours. Here's a response from Amazon on what looks like a fraudulent purchase. Or something.
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com to bring this to our attention. Your message has been forwarded to our security department, and we will investigate the situation. Please note that you may not receive a personal response.
In all likelihood, the message you received was not sent to you by Amazon.com. We strongly advise that you *not* send any information about yourself back to this individual (especially your credit card number or any personal information). If you have already submitted any personal information to this person via e-mail or on a potentially fraudulent web site, you may wish to contact Customer Service for assistance. To send an e-mail to Customer Service, please visit www.amazon.com/contact-us/
In the future, if you are ever uncertain of the validity of an e-mail, even from us, don't click on any supplied links--instead, type our web site address "www.amazon.com" directly into your browser and follow the regular links to Your Account. Many unscrupulous spoofers mislead consumers by displaying one URL while taking the visitor to another. By typing in a well-known address you can avoid this trick.
5/5/10
Where's my waldo-pod? ...
Cool feature. Find a computer’s location and wipe the memory if it’s been lost or ‘napped.
5/4/10
Up the Amazon without a paddle ...
Google does have a way of dismantling entire market sectors, in this case Amazon’s ebook business. Emphasis added to this item:
“Google says its new service--called Google Editions--will allow users to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book search service. It will also allow book retailers to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue.”
“Google says its new service--called Google Editions--will allow users to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book search service. It will also allow book retailers to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue.”
5/1/10
On a light, blight note ...
Heard some nice clips by Tom Lehrer on MPR last night. A great lyricist. His song “Pollution” is an ode to add to the dipstick cultural note below.
. . .
. . .
| See the halibuts and the sturgeons Being wiped out by detergents. Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, But they don't last long if they try. Pollution, pollution, You can use the latest toothpaste, And then rinse your mouth with industrial waste. . . . |
A day we will not soon forget ...
Another sorry chapter in our national faith in progress through petrol.
4/30/10
How Lincoln learned to read ...
Nice title, eh? Nice book cover too. By Daniel Wolff:
“Part of what I hope to do with How Lincoln Learned to Read is simply to broaden the questions we ask about learning. To acknowledge that some people learn best in the backyard with a tin can and an irrigation ditch, and some people learn best with a text book and a clock ticking. I think we all know that; we just don’t say it very often.”
“Part of what I hope to do with How Lincoln Learned to Read is simply to broaden the questions we ask about learning. To acknowledge that some people learn best in the backyard with a tin can and an irrigation ditch, and some people learn best with a text book and a clock ticking. I think we all know that; we just don’t say it very often.”
4/28/10
4/27/10
Listening to Neil Gaiman on writing stories ...
Lovely talk.
“Best-selling comic book and science fiction writer Neil Gaiman speaks at Stillwater High School as part of a new Twin Cities-wide program to celebrate reading. Gaiman is the award-winning author of "Coraline," "The Graveyard Book," and the acclaimed DC Comics series ‘Sandman.’”
“Best-selling comic book and science fiction writer Neil Gaiman speaks at Stillwater High School as part of a new Twin Cities-wide program to celebrate reading. Gaiman is the award-winning author of "Coraline," "The Graveyard Book," and the acclaimed DC Comics series ‘Sandman.’”
4/24/10
4/23/10
Overlooking Mic Mac Lake, Minnesota ...
A few years ago we cabined on Mic Mac Lake on the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior. The name caught my interest immediately; the Mi’kmaq (earlier spelled Micmac) are a Native American tribe indigenous to the maritime provinces of Canada, where my mom grew up. So I asked about the name. Here’s the scoop: "A logging camp was set up on the shores of a lake the loggers called Mic Mac, after the major Indian tribe from their native New Brunswick, Canada. They took the Mic Mac’s Algonquin names for New Brunswick landmarks and gave them to the lakes in Minnesota."
Hiking the Baptism River ...
It’s been a few years since we have camped and cabined at Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior. Always nice. Here's the map and the big version.
4/21/10
4/19/10
4/16/10
4/15/10
Wildflowers, detail or flavor ...
Gen wants me to gather my wildflower photos into a digital book form. Nice idea. One question: Is a tweaked shot that shows more detail more useful for identification than the photo straight up. Here’s an example of a pasqueflower in Whitewater State Park, taken last weekend.
Regular:
Tweaked:
Regular:
Tweaked:
Woven words ... info as art
The previous post got me thinking about the visualization of information. Here’s a collection of fifty websites that use visual tools. Amazing and gorgeous. Very difficult to pick a best example, but check this out.
Detail:
Detail:
4/14/10
Wisteria or Hysteria? ...
Here’s a site that tracks air traffic on google maps. This morning England has grounded all flights due to volcanic ash blowing in from Iceland. This doesn’t explain Spain.
4/11/10
Forget me not ...
On a hike today, we remembered the bunches of Forget me nots we have seen up on Lake Superior.
4/7/10
Swimming reindeer ...
I love this kind of historical research. This carving is one the oldest works of art in the British Museum, carved from the tip of a mammoth tusk. See the BBC site titled A History of the World in 100 Objects.
4/5/10
More from the wildflower collection ...
This one’s an anemone, found in Perrot State Park. Sorry about the arty filtering; the shot needed help.
4/4/10
Borrowing blessings ...
I look to the Irish for their blessings for the seasons.
May the blessing of the rain be on you—the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
May the blessing of the rain be on you—the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
4/1/10
Mixing coffee with cocoa ...
Now this looks like trouble. For me, anyway. Just whip out an iPod to pay for your coffee. (Cocoa is the programming language for Macs. Little joke there.)
Happily rationalizing ...
According to this site, my first Mac, back in 1987, cost about $6,000 in today's dollars, $2,800 back then. Or 12 iPads or 30 iPod Touches, using this linga techna. And that for a device that had 1/100 or less the capability of an iPod Touch.
3/28/10
Wishing a belated happy birthday to Bekah ...
Thanks to her mom and dad for hosting a gathering today ...
Remembering the Rhine ...
I’m a sucker for photoshop filters, especially for saving shots that aren’t useable. Here’s a fragment of a panorama on the Rhine Rhine, from a bike trip in October 2008. Click for the full shot.
3/24/10
Now for something entirely different ...
As Monty Python used to say. This blog is meant to teach me and reach you with notes of appreciation. But I’m going hedge this purpose once with this link to an article that sums up a lot of what I see around me politically. Thanks to Russell King. Let me add: I was raised by a mom who was a convinced and thoughtful conservative: a Buckley and Goldwater Republican with a sense of fairness and a sense of humor. Both are necessary to democracy and both are simply lacking today in that party.
3/23/10
Mashup of EU scenes ...
The architecture of Germany and France offers lots to enjoy.
Remembering Chris's old apartment ...
Chris hasn’t moved as yet, but we visited his Altstadt apartment for the last time. Many good hours enjoyed bathing in the cool northern light of Düesseldorf.
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