28 February 2009

Lists of Best Books of 2008

From npr.org, last last year:

Best Books of 2008

OMG! My checkbook just snapped shut (and amazon.com is doing its best to pry it open ;-)

Dog Love vs Cat Love

From Quotes of the Day, today:

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.
- Alfred North Whitehead

“Tolerance Is Not a Christian Virtue”

From zenit.org earlier this week:

Denver Prelate on the Catholic Political Vocation

Too bad His Excellency didn’t give this talk before the election…

On FOXNews.com’s The Fox Forum blog this afternoon:

A Declaration Of Independence From Obamaism

Sadly, many of the folk leaving comments are so caught up in their own rhetoric that they just spouted it back out, and sniped at those holding to different rhetoric, rather than say anything constructive…

27 February 2009

Field Trip!!

From chicagotribune.com last month:

Plan would create Suffolk museum for physicist Tesla

26 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 26 February 2009

.41", for today
4.56", for the storm
17.01", for the month
30.58", for the (rain) year

It’s Not Much Different Now, Niki

Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.
- Nikola Tesla

25 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 25 February 2009

.03", for today
4.15", for the storm
16.60", for the month
30.17", for the (rain) year

24 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 24 February 2009

.14", for today
4.12", for the storm
16.57", for the month
30.14", for the (rain) year

Polytheist Hebrews

In Erynn Laurie’s “Searching for Imbas” blog today:

CR and personal syncretisms

Not that it means much, of course, but I’d never heard of polytheist Hebrews before; the rest of the post was quite interesting, as well.

As a Matter of Fact, I Am Missing Some Album Art…

How to Get Album Artwork for an iPod or iTunes

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Congratulations! You've gotten your iPod. Now you eagerly import all you CDs to your iPod, and you play them, but whoa, what? There's no artwork! Not to worry, there's a simple, free way to get them on your iPod and/or iTunes.

Steps

Automated Method

Open iTunes. Make sure you have added some music to the library.
Click on "Advanced" at the top of the screen.
Select "Get Album Artwork" from the pull down menu. An alert message should come up, explaining that songs with missing album artwork will be sent to iTunes. Agree to the prompt and your artwork will start downloading. (If there are no prompts, it means you have disabled that alert message, but the artwork is still being added.)
- To view the download's process, click on the (>) on the left side of the iTunes play box until you can see a message like this:
- To cancel the download, click on the "x" on the right side of the play box.
Wait for the final notification. In all likelihood it will tell you iTunes could not find some of the artwork.
- To check which albums artwork could not be found for, click on the plus sign in the notification box. You can either let these be or add the artwork manually. See the next section of this article to learn how.

Manual Method

Decide which songs you would like to add artwork to. Try searching for the album in iTunes. Click once on a song to make sure the album has no artwork.
Locate the artwork. An excellent source is Wikipedia.[1] Wikipedia has an article on almost every album, and they include a picture of said albums. Click on the artwork for a larger image and drag the image to your desktop or right click and copy the image. (If you cannot find your the artwork on Wikipedia try doing an image search with a search engine such as Google Images.[2])
Highlight the song(s) in the album that are missing artwork by clicking on them. To highlight multiple songs click on the first song, hold down the shift key, and click on the last song in the album. To highlight multiple songs that are not grouped together click on a song and click on the other songs while holding down the ⌘/apple key on a Mac or ctrl on a PC. To highlight all songs in that window press ⌘/apple A (Mac) or ctrl A.
Go to File and Get Info (or press ⌘/apple I on a Mac, ctrl I on a PC). A window should pop up labeled Multiple Item Information. Drag or paste the image into the box labeled Artwork. Under Album make sure all the songs have the same album name by typing the correct album and checking the box.
Click OK and wait for the computer to finish adding the artwork.
Delete the songs from your iPod and re-add them if necessary.
Enjoy listening to your new and improved songs!

Video

Tips

If you have extra spaces and punctuation in album titles or no album specified, the artwork might not be found in the automated method.
If you download songs from iTunes they will already have artwork.
Now that you have album artwork you can change your visual settings on iTunes in order to see them. If you cannot see your album artwork when playings songs click on View and Show Artwork or press ⌘/apple G on a Mac and Ctrl G on a PC. You also play around with how the albums are displayed.
For a single song simply play the song and drag the image desired as the artwork into the box that says Drag Album Artwork Here. If you do not see this box go to View and Show Artwork or press ⌘/apple G on a Mac and Ctrl G on a PC. This method can also be used for editing multiple songs at the same time:
- Click on the title bar above the artwork viewer to toggle between Now Playing and Selected Item (i.e. click on the words that are displayed to switch to the other mode).
- With Selected Item showing above the empty artwork viewer (i.e. where it says Drag Album Artwork Here), select songs that belong to the same album and then drag the image to the artwork viewer. The new album artwork will be added to all songs that are currently selected (i.e. not necessarily the song that is playing).
Occasionally you will have to use an image search to find an album. Your album pictures don't have to be square, but they generally line up the best that way. Keep in mind that the image can be pretty small since you'll be seeing this on an itty-bitty iPod screen. However, still make sure the image is not blurry or pixelated.
If a song already has album artwork but you want to change it, go ahead and add the artwork normally. It wont show up because the first image is still defaulted. To change this go to File>Get Info. Once the window pops up go over to the Artwork tab and select the artwork you have added. You can also add or delete artwork from this window.

Warnings

Some sites claim you have to buy their album artwork finder to get your artwork. Obviously, don't fall for that, as you can add it for free using this article.
If you add album artwork to songs on iTunes it will not be on your iPod and vice versa. Try putting artwork on iTunes songs, deleting the songs from your iPod, and then adding them to your iPod again.
Adding artwork may slow down your computer. Stop playing/downloading any songs and exit out of other applications if it is a problem.
The automated method will not work for everything. Chances are iTunes will not be able to recognize all your songs, especially if they are missing information or are not in the iTunes database. In addition, iTunes is not always accurate. It may give a song artwork from a random soundtrack, even if the correct album is specified.
If you are not connected to the internet iTunes will not be able to access the iTunes store, and will not be able to add any artwork.
Windows Media Player will also download album artwork automatically. Just play your mps song in Windows Media Player. It will download the artwork and put it in the folder you played it from

Things You'll Need

iPod
iTunes
Internet access

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

↑ http://www.wikipedia.org/

↑ http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Album Artwork for an iPod or iTunes. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

23 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 23 February 2009

1.38", for today
3.98", for the storm
16.43", for the month
30.0", for the (rain) year

Micro$oft Was Demanding Payback Of $125,000.00? That’s It??

In the Guardian tomorrow morning:

Microsoft U-turn over redundancy pay gaffe

“…In a statement, Microsoft said that it had mishandled the affair and would no longer be chasing repayment.…”

Really?? Do tell!

Ding, Dong, the Duck Is Back!!

Dustin walked around the corner down to the pond and scared the poop (you should excuse the expression) out of (our?) mallard hen!

I was hoping they'd be back this year.

22 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 22 February 2009

2.52", for today
2.60", for the storm
15.05", for the month
28.62", for the (rain) year

Yet Another Reason Micro$oft Ain’t “It”

On ZDNet’s Between the Lines blog this afternoon:

Microsoft to laid-off workers: Give us back our money back

“No matter how you slice it or dice it, there’s no way Microsoft comes out smelling like a rose on this one.

“As the company was handing out pink slips to some 1,400 employees last month, the accounting department apparently was using fingers and toes to calculate severance packages. It turns out that the company overpaid these former workers and, now that the error has been discovered, Microsoft wants its money back.

“The copy of the letter floating around the Internet has the names and dollar amounts blacked out so it’s hard to say if the payback amount is $10, $100, $1,000 or more. And we also don’t know if all 1,400 laid-off workers were affected. But, just for laughs, let’s do some very simple layman’s math:…”

Here’s where it starts getting hysterical; check it out!

21 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 21 February 2009

.08", for today
.08", for the storm
12.53", for the month
26.10", for the (rain) year

19 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 19 February 2009

.01", for today
10.49", for the storm
12.45", for the month
26.02", for the (rain) year

18 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 18 February 2009

.01", for today
10.48", for the storm
12.44", for the month
26.01", for the (rain) year

Al Sharpton Needs a Chill Pill

Spotted in Top of the Ticket, the LA Times’ political blog just now:

Cops shoot bad monkey cartoonist or something crazy

OTOH, maybe ole Al just needs to grow up?

God and Friends

The last page of Reader’s Digest magazine is a collection of quotes revolving around a theme that changes monthly. The theme in the March 2009 issue is friends. The best one, attributed to anonymous:

“Friends are God’s way of apologizing to us for our families.”

Advice on Talking Too Much

From Quotes of the Day, today:

Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time.
- Norman Ford

The Louie Bellson Song

17 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 17 February 2009

1.20", for today
10.47", for the storm
12.43", for the month
26.0", for the (rain) year

The (Musical) World Is Diminished

In the LA Times obituaries today:

Louie Bellson dies at 84; Duke Ellington called him “the world’s greatest drummer”

“…Ellington returned Bellson’s high regard, noting, ‘Not only is Louie Bellson the world’s greatest drummer… he’s the world’s greatest musician!’

“Other artists concurred. Oscar Peterson described Bellson as ‘the epitome of musical talent… I consider him one of the musical giants of our age.’

“Bobby Colomby, former drummer for Blood, Sweat & Tears, pointed to Bellson’s pioneering work with the difficult technique of employing two bass drums, saying, ‘Louie had awesome, jaw-dropping technique. And I really don’t think he was ever fully appreciated for what an amazing drummer he really was.’…”

16 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 16 February 2009

1.63", for today
9.27", for the storm
11.23", for the month
24.80", for the (rain) year

Clouds/Fog Rolling Up...

...the valley, from the mailbox.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

We Got Us a RIVER Now!!

Now that we’ve gotten a bit of rain.

Looking down-river from the south bridge, from inside the Burb, on Irwin Way.

Looking up-river from the south bridge, from inside the Burb, on Irwin Way.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Did You Miss This New Law, Too?

In today’s Roadshow column in the Merc, this question came up:

Q Did I miss a new law that bans smoking in cars when kids are inside?

Stephen Reynolds

Santa Cruz

A You sure did. This law took effect in 2008, banning smoking in vehicles when a child is along in a car seat. Drivers get a warning on the first offense, and a $100 fine the next time they're pulled over. A smoker can be found guilty even if the car is parked. This law does not apply if the child is at least 6 years old and not required to be in a safety seat.

Not a clue; neither Bob nor I had heard of this one, either. You learn something new every day.

15 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 15 February 2009

5.39", for today
7.64", for the storm
9.6", for the month
23.17", for the (rain) year

Behind the Financial Crisis

From bloomberg.com, 22 September:

How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis

“…For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.

“If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.

“But the bill didn’t become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.

“That such a reckless political stand could have been taken by the Democrats was obscene even then. Wallison wrote at the time: ‘It is a classic case of socializing the risk while privatizing the profit. The Democrats and the few Republicans who oppose portfolio limitations could not possibly do so if their constituents understood what they were doing.…’”

14 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 14 February 2009

.25", for today
2.25", for the storm
4.21", for the month
17.78", for the (rain) year

Anderson Valley Brut

:::sigh:::

In honor of St Valentine’s Day, bubbly was in order. I was wandering down the wine aisle somewhere earlier in the week, and realized I hadn’t had a bottle of Roederer lately; a bottle obligingly hopped into the cart.

It was as good as I remembered. And, even better, it makes a superb Black Velvet, the best, actually, IMHO.

Roederer Estate, Inc.
Philo, CA
http://www.roedererestate.com/

13 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 13 February 2009

1.35", for today
2.0", for the storm
3.96", for the month
17.53", for the (rain) year

12 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 12 February 2009

.11", for today
.65", for the storm
2.61", for the month
16.18", for the (rain) year

11 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 11 February 2009

.28", for today
.54", for the storm
2.50", for the month
16.07", for the (rain) year

10 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 10 February 2009

.26", for today
.26", for the storm
2.22", for the month
15.79", for the (rain) year

09 February 2009

A Breath of Fresh Air

From American Thinker tomorrow morning:

Obama’s Busted Bubble

“…Some bubbles are more transparent than others, some are more open. Some of us are aware of our bubbles, some are not. Those who are aware attempt to compensate when judging events occurring outside the walls. Those who are unaware as a rule tend to take their bubble as identical to the universe at large. They judge the great world solely by what’s within reach. This state of affairs can distort the workings of democracy, on occasion to a serious extent. We are now living through such an occasion. This past election the bubble people elected one of their own, the consummate dweller in dream reality, Barack Obama.…”

Praise Jehovah!!

Finally someone who’s not falling all over himself gushing about the miracle, the new beginning, the wondrousness of it all; gah, it’s enough to make me sick.

It’s All Just English, Right??

On El Reg today (thanks, Brett, for the link!):

Brits and Yanks struck with ~~embarasment~~ embarrassment

“It’s official: English is going directly to hell in a handcart because more than half of native speakers of the lingo can’t spell ‘embarrassed’ - and even more have entered the new millennium without the foggiest idea of how 1,000 years pan out in our beloved mother tongue.…”

Make sure you check out the Times’ “Spelling Bee” and the comments, both at the end.

08 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 8 February 2009

.48", for today
1.96", for the storm
1.96", for the month
15.53", for the (rain) year

I Am Not Worthy!!

Stopped off at New Leaf in Felton to grab a thing that the Boulder Creek store no longer carries, and wandered around the place to see what there was to see. Imagine my amazement to see the Arrogant One!! Not only did they have the big bottles, but sixers, too! Ah’m in LUV!

Body Parts in the Beer Cooler

Was wandering through Verutti’s (in Felton), seeing if there was anything interesting (oh, please!), and got stopped in my tracks by Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball Ale. Mental picture notwithstanding, it came home. Stay tuned.

We Did Not Plan This

When I got up this morning, as usual, I grabbed the next blouse (basic black) and blue trousers to be worn, put them on, and carried on.

Gary showed up, wearing a black polo shirt and blue trousers.

Diane showed up, wearing a black sweater and blue trousers.

It got worse.

At 10:30, Elaine was wearing a black sweater and Roy, a black pullover (and black trousers both). Suzy Brown, who was lectoring, had a black top and roasty-toasty-looking shawl (and brown trousers).

It’s not my fault.

07 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 7 February 2009

.01", for today
1.48", for the storm
1.48", for the month
15.05", for the (rain) year

06 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 6 February 2009

.76", for today
1.47", for the storm
1.47", for the month
15.04", for the (rain) year

Really Old-Fashioned Music!

On YouTube, Dr. Adam Gilbert, Director of the Early Music Program at the USC Thornton School of Music, introduces and demonstrates several early musical instruments: the recorder, the bagpipe, and the shawm. Video courtesy of artistshousemusic.org

Mercury Rising

While Curtis was mooning (being mooned?), Dustin and I were sipping Cinnabar’s “proprietary red wine blend”, Mercury Rising.

I’d tried one or two Cinnabar (well, duh! Cinnabar is my favorite perfume, after all) single grape offerings, and IIRC, they weren’t bad; it’s been a while, so I’ll have to revisit. Dustin had no trouble at all recalling that Mercury Rising was his favorite, bar none.

It is wonderful!! And it’s even better with good blue cheese. Point Reyes Original Blue is heavenly! I imagine Maytag Blue would be just as splendid.

As a matter of fact, one of these days (real soon now), we’re going to have a red-wine-and-stuff-that-goes-good-with-it happening at beer thirty. Maytag and Point Reyes will be there, as will some dark chocolate. :::sigh:::

Cinnabar Cellars
Paso Robles, CA
http://www.cinnabarwine.com/

Rising Moon Spring Ale

Made by Blue Moon Brewing Co., out of Colorado and Toronto.

I’d tried their Blue Moon Belgian White, but wasn’t particularly impressed with it. The Web site mentions something about having it with a slice of orange?? I’ll have to give that a try and report back.

I was on a beer run, though, and noticed the Rising Moon. I just can’t resist a seasonal, so home it came. Not bad, although I don’t think I’m gonna try the orange slice… ;-)

I poured Curtis a glass at beer thirty, and we got to talking about it. Turns out he’s also not a big fan of the Blue Moon.

Rising Moon has three seasonal siblings: Honey Moon Summer Ale, Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale, and Full Moon Winter Ale. More stuff to be on the lookout for!

Brewed by BMBC, Toronto
Imported by Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, CO
(800) BLE-MOON ((800) 253-6666)
http://www.bluemoonbrewingco.com/

Golf: Your Salvation?

Today’s Quote of the Day on my iGoogle page is about golf and work; it’s from Bob Hope, so, of course, it’s funny.

Golf also makes a rather humorous appearance in the first story in Debbie Macomber’s On a Snowy Night. Let’s just say it involves an ice storm, two formerly best friends, and the contents of a golf bag… It’s hysterical!!

Do What Is Right

The quote on The Hunger Site today:

The time is always right to do what is right.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

05 February 2009

Rain Numbers - 5 February 2009

.71", for today
.71", for the storm
.71", for the month
14.28", for the (rain) year

Prohibition, Here We Come Again?

From abcNews.com today:

Big Brother Might Be Watching You Booze

“The governor of Utah has two problems with a State Senate proposal to scan the IDs of everyone who visits a bar in the state and make that database available to law enforcement officials.…”

Thank God there’s someone in Utah’s state government with some sense.

Mind | Memory

Somehow, Bob and Dustin got on the subject of goofy answers, and Bob posited that a great answer to the question, “Where were you born?” would be “Mars.” The thought flitted through my mind that another good answer would be “Alpha Centauri.”

Immediately, memory took over: Crystal Gayle sang a song with Alpha Centauri in it that I was enthralled by. On the Muppet Show. Back in the ’70s. Hadn’t thought about it in I don’t know how long…

Off to the iTunes Music Store. No luck on searching “Alpha Centauri”. Google next. Tried “"Alpha Centauri" +Crystal” (couldn’t remember how to spell her last name). Seventh hit on the list was “YouTube - crystal gayle muppets show "we must believe in magic"”:

Searching iTMS for “We Must Believe in Magic” brought the album right up.

I’m still stunned. I’ve been playing the video, off and on, all afternoon, and I still don’t have any glimmer of remembering the song, but I’m still enthralled!

:::shaking head:::

We Must Believe In Magic Lyrics

Mad is the captain of Alpha Centauri
We must be out of our minds
Still we are shipmates bound for tomorrow
And everyone here's flying blind
Oh, we must believe in magic
We must believe in the guiding hand
If you believe in magic
You'll have the universe at your command
Mad is the crew bound for Alpha Centauri
Dreamers and poets and clowns

full lyrics

more Crystal Gayle lyrics

02 February 2009

VUE Alert!

Ain't the driver just the handsomest thing?
(Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T)

I walked out the front door of Johnnie’s and made the left towards the parking lot, and there he was!! And in a VUE, to boot.

01 February 2009

I Dunno…

You’re St. Jerome!

You’re a passionate Christian, fiercely devoted to Jesus Christ and His Church. You are willing to labor long hours in the Lord’s vineyard, and you have little patience with those who are less willing or able to work as you do. Your passions often carry you into temptation zones of wrath, lust, and pride.

Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!