So, as long as I’ve got a theme going here, the WSJ has a harrowing, statistics-studded report on the drinking habits of Europeans. Apparently the Journal is so fascinated by the subject they commissioned a market research company to survey citizens of 13 EU countries, plus Russia, Turkey, Switzerland & the US.
Dunno what the driving force behind the paper’s interest is, but they conclude that the Euros are headed for a culture of binge drinking.
Seems that the population across Europe leans towards either abstinence or overindulgence.
“’It's hard for me to accept that there are this many teetotalers in Europe,’ said Mark Hofmans, a managing director in GfK's Brussels office who analyzed the survey results. ‘But we are seeing a trend where there are some people who never drink and some people that when they drink, they drink a lot.’”
Well, I certainly can vouch for the binge drinking in Britain, but it appears that Italy & Spain are leading the way to switching from wine to beer.
& it’s astonishing how many respondents judge that they aren’t impaired until they’ve consumed five or more drinks. I’d really hate to be at the bars where those folks are sucking them down.
However, if they’re focusing on beer, then perhaps that means the price of wine will go down & I can get a bottle of Cordon Rouge for less than $30.
So, not a total loss, then.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
To hell in a Sidecar
Well, as if that whole penis restaurant thing wasn’t enough, Eric Felten reports that the state of drinks in hotel bars is, well, on the whole dire.
I’ve never had a Sidecar; my only association with it is that it was Auntie Mame’s eye-opener after a night of boozing with the literati of Prohibition-era New York. It was when her nephew Patrick displayed to his trustee his bartending abilities learned while making Sidecars for Auntie Mame and her actress friend Vera that he got shipped off to boarding school. Of the Americano I have no knowledge whatsoever. I do like Campari and various things, but I’ve never had the mixture he talks about.
(Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever even had sweet vermouth.)
Felten tested grand old and high-end hotels in New York, DC, Palm Beach, Dallas, Chicago, LA and San Francisco. (All on the Journal’s nickel. Damn, I want this man’s job.) New York scored the highest, & the rest basically pretty much tanked.
He only mentions the Mayflower in DC. I wonder if he went to the Willard, which has a rich history in both politics and booze—symbiotic pursuits if any ever existed. (I used to join a group of regulars on Christmas afternoon at the Round Robin bar; they were a quite diverse collection of characters and the bartender took pix each year and distributed them to us the next. She always swore she’d not be around by the next Christmas, but she was.) It’s a classy joint, with classy drinks to match, although of course I was drinking champagne.
In general Felten found the hotels' ambiance better than the bartending capacities. He doesn’t mention age as a factor, but from his descriptions most of the staff he encountered would appear to be under 35, and utterly disinterested in the craft of mixing drinks. Showmanship?—yes. Snagging big tips?—absolutely. Making classic cocktails?—not so much.
One excuse he got for no Americano (at the Top of the Mark, if you please) was that the recipe wasn’t in their computer.
That pretty much sums it up.
This is really quite sad, considering that you pay a premium of at least 100% for any food or drink item when you buy it in a hotel instead of the open economy. Not all of that overage should be for the atmosphere; you should be able to get a drink as tony as the environment.
I myself have salted away enough to have a drink in the bar of the Hotel del Coronado. And, one summer while waiting tables at the O club at Norfolk Naval Station, I literally saved up my coins (I could not believe what cheap bastards naval officers are) to treat a friend to a liqueur at the Williamsburg Inn after a performance of Much Ado about Nothing at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival at William & Mary. You’re paying for the whole package—atmosphere, service and good drinks; and you should get them, whether it’s chump change for you or a week’s tips.
Well—here’s what you can do: test all the hotel bars in your area. See what you find. & then let us know. You’ll be doing the country a big favor.
I’ve never had a Sidecar; my only association with it is that it was Auntie Mame’s eye-opener after a night of boozing with the literati of Prohibition-era New York. It was when her nephew Patrick displayed to his trustee his bartending abilities learned while making Sidecars for Auntie Mame and her actress friend Vera that he got shipped off to boarding school. Of the Americano I have no knowledge whatsoever. I do like Campari and various things, but I’ve never had the mixture he talks about.
(Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever even had sweet vermouth.)
Felten tested grand old and high-end hotels in New York, DC, Palm Beach, Dallas, Chicago, LA and San Francisco. (All on the Journal’s nickel. Damn, I want this man’s job.) New York scored the highest, & the rest basically pretty much tanked.
He only mentions the Mayflower in DC. I wonder if he went to the Willard, which has a rich history in both politics and booze—symbiotic pursuits if any ever existed. (I used to join a group of regulars on Christmas afternoon at the Round Robin bar; they were a quite diverse collection of characters and the bartender took pix each year and distributed them to us the next. She always swore she’d not be around by the next Christmas, but she was.) It’s a classy joint, with classy drinks to match, although of course I was drinking champagne.
In general Felten found the hotels' ambiance better than the bartending capacities. He doesn’t mention age as a factor, but from his descriptions most of the staff he encountered would appear to be under 35, and utterly disinterested in the craft of mixing drinks. Showmanship?—yes. Snagging big tips?—absolutely. Making classic cocktails?—not so much.
One excuse he got for no Americano (at the Top of the Mark, if you please) was that the recipe wasn’t in their computer.
That pretty much sums it up.
This is really quite sad, considering that you pay a premium of at least 100% for any food or drink item when you buy it in a hotel instead of the open economy. Not all of that overage should be for the atmosphere; you should be able to get a drink as tony as the environment.
I myself have salted away enough to have a drink in the bar of the Hotel del Coronado. And, one summer while waiting tables at the O club at Norfolk Naval Station, I literally saved up my coins (I could not believe what cheap bastards naval officers are) to treat a friend to a liqueur at the Williamsburg Inn after a performance of Much Ado about Nothing at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival at William & Mary. You’re paying for the whole package—atmosphere, service and good drinks; and you should get them, whether it’s chump change for you or a week’s tips.
Well—here’s what you can do: test all the hotel bars in your area. See what you find. & then let us know. You’ll be doing the country a big favor.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
GM Redux
Well, GM has truly turned on the groveling. Now that they claim they need $4B just to get to 31 December (& another $4 to make it through another month), they’ve suddenly discovered that mistakes indeed were made.
Emphasis on the past tense.
As reported by Reuters & other media, they took out a full-page ad in trade rag Automotive News. They took out a print ad, probably hoping that would limit the distribution of their mea culpa.
As in so many things, they were wrong.
In the ad they confess to having “disappointed” & even “betrayed” customers by turning out gas-guzzling behemoths & other pieces of junk over the past 30 years.
“At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs became lackluster,” the ad says.
Again—emphasis on the past.
It moves quickly on to whine, “Despite moving quickly to reduce our planned spending by over $20 billion, GM finds itself precariously and frighteningly close to running out of cash.”
& so we should let bygones be water under the bridge, & so on, & fork over our money to keep them operating.
It doesn’t seem to actually say why we should do that, although it does remind us that “millions of jobs” are at risk—their fall-back extortion threat.
It’s amazing what the fear of losing his corporate suite can do to propel a CEO to pretend to level with his customers, past & prospective. Our Congressweasels have pretty much decided to bag the idea that the auto industry focus on energy-efficient vehicles & are about to hand over $15B out of the $25B they set aside for retooling to GM & Chrysler to help get them through the night.
(They’re calling the money “loans”; but who among us believes we’ll ever see it again?)
But apparently they’re seriously considering tying that largesse to giving the sack to Rick Wagoner.
They should stipulate that he & his executive team should spend time in prison, making lots of new potential car-buying friends, until their companies have repaid these “loans”.
Emphasis on the past tense.
As reported by Reuters & other media, they took out a full-page ad in trade rag Automotive News. They took out a print ad, probably hoping that would limit the distribution of their mea culpa.
As in so many things, they were wrong.
In the ad they confess to having “disappointed” & even “betrayed” customers by turning out gas-guzzling behemoths & other pieces of junk over the past 30 years.
“At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs became lackluster,” the ad says.
Again—emphasis on the past.
It moves quickly on to whine, “Despite moving quickly to reduce our planned spending by over $20 billion, GM finds itself precariously and frighteningly close to running out of cash.”
& so we should let bygones be water under the bridge, & so on, & fork over our money to keep them operating.
It doesn’t seem to actually say why we should do that, although it does remind us that “millions of jobs” are at risk—their fall-back extortion threat.
It’s amazing what the fear of losing his corporate suite can do to propel a CEO to pretend to level with his customers, past & prospective. Our Congressweasels have pretty much decided to bag the idea that the auto industry focus on energy-efficient vehicles & are about to hand over $15B out of the $25B they set aside for retooling to GM & Chrysler to help get them through the night.
(They’re calling the money “loans”; but who among us believes we’ll ever see it again?)
But apparently they’re seriously considering tying that largesse to giving the sack to Rick Wagoner.
They should stipulate that he & his executive team should spend time in prison, making lots of new potential car-buying friends, until their companies have repaid these “loans”.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The cost of bargains
Erika Hayasaki of the LA Times gives us a follow-up report on the mob that trampled to death a Wal-Mart employee at in Valley Stream, NY, on Black Friday.
You know, that’s the incident where a horde of shoppers, enticed by ludicrously low prices (for a limited time) on toys, electronics & other goods, swarmed into the store upon opening, each member intent on getting the loot s/he needed…
Here’s the video Hayasaki mentions of rescue workers trying to resuscitate Jdimytai Damour, 34. What you don’t see in this video is that while the attempt was going on, the store was crammed with shoppers continuing to fill their carts with schlock.
When I first heard about the killing, I harkened back to the 80s, when parents first seemed to go murderously ballistic in attempts to get Cabbage Patch Kids (which weren’t even being offered at discount). The image of one tearful woman sobbing to a reporter that all the other parents were awful because their kicking & clawing resulted in procuring a doll, while hers hadn’t, has stuck in my head ever since.
This woman just didn’t make the connection between her (unsuccessful) barbarism & that of the successful barbarians.
& here’s what I find interesting about this particular report: Hayasaki follows Nakea Augustine, 26—who jumped the line in order to get a good shot at the loot she wanted. At opening, she described how she just kept moving so she wouldn’t fall & be trampled like others she saw (but didn’t try to help).
In fact, “Augustine saw Damour sprawled out. She managed not to step on him.”
Instead, she “raced for the toy section & snatched up a bike, a dollhouse & 10 Hannah Montana dolls for $5 a piece.” She stayed in the store for two hours, buying $495 worth of merchandise just as the store closed—it being a crime scene & all.
So, Augustine (& the rest of those who didn’t let a little thing like homicide slow down their pursuit of bargains) was appalled at the behavior of everyone around her, but has no sense at all that she was one of the barbarians.
I despair. I absolutely despair.
You know, that’s the incident where a horde of shoppers, enticed by ludicrously low prices (for a limited time) on toys, electronics & other goods, swarmed into the store upon opening, each member intent on getting the loot s/he needed…
Here’s the video Hayasaki mentions of rescue workers trying to resuscitate Jdimytai Damour, 34. What you don’t see in this video is that while the attempt was going on, the store was crammed with shoppers continuing to fill their carts with schlock.
When I first heard about the killing, I harkened back to the 80s, when parents first seemed to go murderously ballistic in attempts to get Cabbage Patch Kids (which weren’t even being offered at discount). The image of one tearful woman sobbing to a reporter that all the other parents were awful because their kicking & clawing resulted in procuring a doll, while hers hadn’t, has stuck in my head ever since.
This woman just didn’t make the connection between her (unsuccessful) barbarism & that of the successful barbarians.
& here’s what I find interesting about this particular report: Hayasaki follows Nakea Augustine, 26—who jumped the line in order to get a good shot at the loot she wanted. At opening, she described how she just kept moving so she wouldn’t fall & be trampled like others she saw (but didn’t try to help).
In fact, “Augustine saw Damour sprawled out. She managed not to step on him.”
Instead, she “raced for the toy section & snatched up a bike, a dollhouse & 10 Hannah Montana dolls for $5 a piece.” She stayed in the store for two hours, buying $495 worth of merchandise just as the store closed—it being a crime scene & all.
So, Augustine (& the rest of those who didn’t let a little thing like homicide slow down their pursuit of bargains) was appalled at the behavior of everyone around her, but has no sense at all that she was one of the barbarians.
I despair. I absolutely despair.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Historical parallax
It’s the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. So it’s interesting to be reminded that Japan as a nation still refuses to own up to its past. A WSJ piece notes the firing of the commander of Japan’s Air Force for winning a history essay contest by writing that FDR “entrapped” Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor and that Japan’s foreign adventures in the 1930s and 1940s did not constitute aggressive warfare.
It’s notable that General Tamogami Toshio was given the sack over this, because the Japanese have never really absorbed the idea that, starting with the invasion of Manchuria and continuing with attacks on China, Southeast Asia & islands all the way to spitting distance of Australia, they were doing anything wrong. Tamogami’s views are shared by many of his countrymen.
Two years ago then-Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro sparked outrage in the rest of Asia, Australia and the US when he publicly visited the Yasukuni Shrine. The source of the controversy lies in the fact that Yasukuni, a memorial to the fallen of WWII, enshrines convicted war criminals as well as soldiers.
In Japan Koizumi was seen as a courageous leader honoring the fallen, even if it meant pissing off pretty much everyone else involved in the Pacific theatre.
As the Journal’s Walter Kozak points out, Japan isn’t the only country to skew history. I actually had a laugh at the Taiwanese museum that lauds Chiang’s valiant fight alone against the Japanese and the Communists. The sorrow is that way too many Americans swallowed and continue to swallow that bilge.
The Germans indeed have owned up to the past, although it took them a generation—and the student uprisings of 1968—to make it happen.
There is controversy over FDR’s announcement—surprising to both Churchill and Stalin—at Casablanca in 1943 that the Allies would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender by Germany; no negotiated peace. The argument runs that this forced the Germans to fight to the bitter end because they had no hope of bargaining with their enemies.
Well, even with unconditional surrender, even with their homeland literally nothing but rubble, even with complete occupation by four enemy armies—none of which featured in the peace following WWI—for 20 years the Germans denied that they’d caused their own destruction. When they said they were sorry about the war, what they were actually sorry about was that it ended the way it did.
And that attitude persisted until the late 60s, when the scales finally fell from their eyes.
(My view is that there was no real alternative to that policy, if the nations of the world wanted to avoid another global conflagration in 20 years’ time.)
The Austrians, as Kozak notes, are still playing the role of first martyrs to Nazi tyranny. You should read William L. Shirer’s account of the arrival of German troops in Vienna in 1938 for a description of how “tyrannized” the Austrians felt.
And lest you think that we in the US are immune to collective amnesia, look at how we acknowledge our history of human chattel slavery, or at how long it took Japanese Americans to receive compensation for their forced removal from their homes and businesses to concentration camps in pretty much the most desolate parts of the country the US military could find.
I also weep at how this administration is violating not just the Constitutional rights of American citizens, but also trampling completely the Geneva Convention in its treatment of prisoners of war. We decry—rightly so—the barbarities practiced by Japan on our POWs during WWII, but call what’s going on at Guantanamo and “third-party” countries vital to national security.
I really, really wish we would learn from history.
It’s notable that General Tamogami Toshio was given the sack over this, because the Japanese have never really absorbed the idea that, starting with the invasion of Manchuria and continuing with attacks on China, Southeast Asia & islands all the way to spitting distance of Australia, they were doing anything wrong. Tamogami’s views are shared by many of his countrymen.
Two years ago then-Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro sparked outrage in the rest of Asia, Australia and the US when he publicly visited the Yasukuni Shrine. The source of the controversy lies in the fact that Yasukuni, a memorial to the fallen of WWII, enshrines convicted war criminals as well as soldiers.
In Japan Koizumi was seen as a courageous leader honoring the fallen, even if it meant pissing off pretty much everyone else involved in the Pacific theatre.
As the Journal’s Walter Kozak points out, Japan isn’t the only country to skew history. I actually had a laugh at the Taiwanese museum that lauds Chiang’s valiant fight alone against the Japanese and the Communists. The sorrow is that way too many Americans swallowed and continue to swallow that bilge.
The Germans indeed have owned up to the past, although it took them a generation—and the student uprisings of 1968—to make it happen.
There is controversy over FDR’s announcement—surprising to both Churchill and Stalin—at Casablanca in 1943 that the Allies would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender by Germany; no negotiated peace. The argument runs that this forced the Germans to fight to the bitter end because they had no hope of bargaining with their enemies.
Well, even with unconditional surrender, even with their homeland literally nothing but rubble, even with complete occupation by four enemy armies—none of which featured in the peace following WWI—for 20 years the Germans denied that they’d caused their own destruction. When they said they were sorry about the war, what they were actually sorry about was that it ended the way it did.
And that attitude persisted until the late 60s, when the scales finally fell from their eyes.
(My view is that there was no real alternative to that policy, if the nations of the world wanted to avoid another global conflagration in 20 years’ time.)
The Austrians, as Kozak notes, are still playing the role of first martyrs to Nazi tyranny. You should read William L. Shirer’s account of the arrival of German troops in Vienna in 1938 for a description of how “tyrannized” the Austrians felt.
And lest you think that we in the US are immune to collective amnesia, look at how we acknowledge our history of human chattel slavery, or at how long it took Japanese Americans to receive compensation for their forced removal from their homes and businesses to concentration camps in pretty much the most desolate parts of the country the US military could find.
I also weep at how this administration is violating not just the Constitutional rights of American citizens, but also trampling completely the Geneva Convention in its treatment of prisoners of war. We decry—rightly so—the barbarities practiced by Japan on our POWs during WWII, but call what’s going on at Guantanamo and “third-party” countries vital to national security.
I really, really wish we would learn from history.
Restaurant news
"The food in China is remarkable and so much more varied than what you get in Chinese restaurants in the U.S." So says the Journal’s Alan Paul, writing on the ex-pat life in China.
This is his intro to getting cooking lessons prior to his family’s departure from the country. However, my eyes kind of froze when he was talking about the penis restaurant and I found it hard to move on to the actual lesson.
The foodies may be less imaginative than I and able to proceed on with concentration to the dumplings and the chopping of the meat.
Wonder how long it'll take for one of those specialty restaurants to open in New York or LA?
This is his intro to getting cooking lessons prior to his family’s departure from the country. However, my eyes kind of froze when he was talking about the penis restaurant and I found it hard to move on to the actual lesson.
The foodies may be less imaginative than I and able to proceed on with concentration to the dumplings and the chopping of the meat.
Wonder how long it'll take for one of those specialty restaurants to open in New York or LA?
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Magoo vs. Droopy
Okay, there's a round at happy hour riding on this one:
Does Rep. Barney Frank (D - Mass.) look more like Droopy Dog or Mr. Magoo?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Act II--enter three clowns
God bless Richard C. Shelby, R-Alabama. He refused to swallow any of the faux-contrite ersatz-sincere Kool-Aid offered by the Gang of Three at yesterday’s repeat engagement of loser automakers vs. the US Senate.
He pointed out the blindingly obvious (to everyone except Ford, GM and Chrysler): “The firms continue to trail their major competitors in almost every category necessary to compete.” And the automobile tycoons would be the first to trumpet that if you can’t compete you shouldn’t be in the business.
As for their vaunted “see—no corporate jets, we drove here in the cheapest-ass pieces of crap we can produce, which we ordinarily wouldn’t touch outside of a Vegas car show but which we’ve foisted off on the car-buying public, whom we consider the biggest suckers in the universe, except for their legally-elected representatives” stunt…Shelby inquired, “Did you drive or did you have a driver? Did you drive a little and ride a little? And secondly, I guess are you going to drive back?”
After being utterly shocked two weeks ago when just showing up at the Capitol and saying they need $25B or they’ll start putting millions out of work didn’t result in Congress immediately depositing the money in their offshore accounts, they’ve coughed up (under duress) “business plans” on how they’d spend this money differently than they’ve spent the billions they’ve gone through in the past couple of years.
I’ve not had a chance to really look at them—not that I expect these alleged plans to contain any more actual, you know, substance than they think they absolutely need to show to get their mitts on the dough.
Ford’s now saying they don’t need a loan—just a line of credit. (Which they’ll tap into faster than boiled asparagus when they think the media scrutiny is lifted.)
GM is seriously pathetic: now their story is that if they don’t get $4B before month’s end, it’s curtains. But the $4B won’t be enough, actually; they’ll want another $4B in January, a total of $12 in “loans” and a $6B line of credit.
Now, I’m not an MBA, but saying $4B isn’t enough to get them through the next three weeks doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in their ability to manage their way out of a Gucci bag.
What also disturbs me is their assumption that they can spread any amount of manure around and have everyone believing they’re in the Garden of Eden.
(Well, I suppose the precedent has been established—it worked for AIG, Citicorp and Bear Sterns. They coughed and the Treasury handed them a $700B box of Kleenex.)
For the moment, it looks as though the Senators are displaying more backbone than they’ve done in the past. I really hope this lasts. I don’t like being the victim of extortion, whether it’s the thug in the hood or the CEO in a hybrid.
He pointed out the blindingly obvious (to everyone except Ford, GM and Chrysler): “The firms continue to trail their major competitors in almost every category necessary to compete.” And the automobile tycoons would be the first to trumpet that if you can’t compete you shouldn’t be in the business.
As for their vaunted “see—no corporate jets, we drove here in the cheapest-ass pieces of crap we can produce, which we ordinarily wouldn’t touch outside of a Vegas car show but which we’ve foisted off on the car-buying public, whom we consider the biggest suckers in the universe, except for their legally-elected representatives” stunt…Shelby inquired, “Did you drive or did you have a driver? Did you drive a little and ride a little? And secondly, I guess are you going to drive back?”
After being utterly shocked two weeks ago when just showing up at the Capitol and saying they need $25B or they’ll start putting millions out of work didn’t result in Congress immediately depositing the money in their offshore accounts, they’ve coughed up (under duress) “business plans” on how they’d spend this money differently than they’ve spent the billions they’ve gone through in the past couple of years.
I’ve not had a chance to really look at them—not that I expect these alleged plans to contain any more actual, you know, substance than they think they absolutely need to show to get their mitts on the dough.
Ford’s now saying they don’t need a loan—just a line of credit. (Which they’ll tap into faster than boiled asparagus when they think the media scrutiny is lifted.)
GM is seriously pathetic: now their story is that if they don’t get $4B before month’s end, it’s curtains. But the $4B won’t be enough, actually; they’ll want another $4B in January, a total of $12 in “loans” and a $6B line of credit.
Now, I’m not an MBA, but saying $4B isn’t enough to get them through the next three weeks doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in their ability to manage their way out of a Gucci bag.
What also disturbs me is their assumption that they can spread any amount of manure around and have everyone believing they’re in the Garden of Eden.
(Well, I suppose the precedent has been established—it worked for AIG, Citicorp and Bear Sterns. They coughed and the Treasury handed them a $700B box of Kleenex.)
For the moment, it looks as though the Senators are displaying more backbone than they’ve done in the past. I really hope this lasts. I don’t like being the victim of extortion, whether it’s the thug in the hood or the CEO in a hybrid.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Music to my ears
So, perhaps it’s time for a little light entr’ acte music, while I’m waiting to see what outrageous & arrogant stunts the Gang of Three are going to pull for this round of begging to Congress. (Because you know I’m going to have something to say about it.)
But, as it seems that no one can operate without some ambient tunes in his/her ears (I went to the Seattle Arboretum a few weeks ago & came across two guys walking together, with earbuds stuck in their ears. 1. They’re out in nature; why do they need music? 2. They’re walking together; what’s with the individual, isolating musical devices?), I’ve accumulated some streaming audio sites for your enjoyment.
I’ve actually been plugged into Pandora for the past couple of weeks. I find the format somewhat monochromatic, because you’ve got to go with either a music genre or an artist genre (I “created” an Aimee Mann “radio” & got nothing but singers who sound like her).
I’ve been listening to the Classical Christmas recently & discovered that they repeat the cuts pretty often. I had to move on to Peaceful Holidays (anything that calms me down is only good for me, my office mate & my employer) & Folk Holidays. I may even layer in Delta Blues & Traditional Folk. So there is some limitation to the selections.
I’d rather have functionality that allows me to choose a number of genres & have them randomize the streams; but this is what they’ve got.
iMusic purports to supply music to optimize the computer-using experience. They sell you packages of music designed to turbo-charge various activities. The packages include Intelligence, Creative, Energy, FitDrive, DeepSleep & WakeUp Suites. (There are also singles.)
I have absolutely no earthly notion how this is supposed to work, & I don’t notice that their sample makes me either smarter at the PC, more creative, or ready to take a nap. But, hey—have a go.
Josh Hosler’s site not only has an ever-changing Number 1 song on this date in history (e.g., 4 December for every year back to the 1890s, with audios starting in 1935—“Red Sails in the Sunset” by Guy Lombardo, if you’re interested), but it allows you to hunt out hits from specific dates. So you could work up a gift of multiple songs either in depth (as in the date & multiple years) or breadth (hits for every month of a particular year) for your mom’s birthday.
I quite enjoyed looking up the hits on various friends’ birthdays. You might find it a hoot, too.
Finally, Tropical Glen acts as a jukebox, giving you Golden Oldies—top 100 hits from 1950-1989. Additionally you can choose to listen to genres—blues, jazz, doo-wop, folk, TV themes, etc. If you’re looking for song lyrics, there’s a resource there, too.
So, take these sites out for a spin, see what you think. & if you know of others, please add to the list.
But, as it seems that no one can operate without some ambient tunes in his/her ears (I went to the Seattle Arboretum a few weeks ago & came across two guys walking together, with earbuds stuck in their ears. 1. They’re out in nature; why do they need music? 2. They’re walking together; what’s with the individual, isolating musical devices?), I’ve accumulated some streaming audio sites for your enjoyment.
I’ve actually been plugged into Pandora for the past couple of weeks. I find the format somewhat monochromatic, because you’ve got to go with either a music genre or an artist genre (I “created” an Aimee Mann “radio” & got nothing but singers who sound like her).
I’ve been listening to the Classical Christmas recently & discovered that they repeat the cuts pretty often. I had to move on to Peaceful Holidays (anything that calms me down is only good for me, my office mate & my employer) & Folk Holidays. I may even layer in Delta Blues & Traditional Folk. So there is some limitation to the selections.
I’d rather have functionality that allows me to choose a number of genres & have them randomize the streams; but this is what they’ve got.
iMusic purports to supply music to optimize the computer-using experience. They sell you packages of music designed to turbo-charge various activities. The packages include Intelligence, Creative, Energy, FitDrive, DeepSleep & WakeUp Suites. (There are also singles.)
I have absolutely no earthly notion how this is supposed to work, & I don’t notice that their sample makes me either smarter at the PC, more creative, or ready to take a nap. But, hey—have a go.
Josh Hosler’s site not only has an ever-changing Number 1 song on this date in history (e.g., 4 December for every year back to the 1890s, with audios starting in 1935—“Red Sails in the Sunset” by Guy Lombardo, if you’re interested), but it allows you to hunt out hits from specific dates. So you could work up a gift of multiple songs either in depth (as in the date & multiple years) or breadth (hits for every month of a particular year) for your mom’s birthday.
I quite enjoyed looking up the hits on various friends’ birthdays. You might find it a hoot, too.
Finally, Tropical Glen acts as a jukebox, giving you Golden Oldies—top 100 hits from 1950-1989. Additionally you can choose to listen to genres—blues, jazz, doo-wop, folk, TV themes, etc. If you’re looking for song lyrics, there’s a resource there, too.
So, take these sites out for a spin, see what you think. & if you know of others, please add to the list.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Haunted by the past
Well, I don’t know whether to be impressed or completely creeped out.
About 17 years ago I took a programming class at Wake Tech CC (that would be in Raleigh, NC). I haven’t thought about it for at least 15 years.
So imagine my surprise to come home yesterday & find a letter “from the desk of O. Morton Congleton” (I swear I’m not making that up—how could I?), executive director of the Wake Tech CC Foundation, informing me that “Being part of the Wake Tech family has its privileges”.
Well, who knew?
I mean, who knew I was even one of the kinfolk?
The “privilege” in this case is the opportunity to get “significant savings” on car insurance.
Now, what weirds me out here is that I’ve moved at least seven times, to two states & one foreign country, since taking that class. & this solicitation came to me directly at my current address.
The US Postal Service being what it is—how the devil did my family at WFCC track me down?
& how long do you suppose it’ll take for them to start hitting me up for alumni contributions?
About 17 years ago I took a programming class at Wake Tech CC (that would be in Raleigh, NC). I haven’t thought about it for at least 15 years.
So imagine my surprise to come home yesterday & find a letter “from the desk of O. Morton Congleton” (I swear I’m not making that up—how could I?), executive director of the Wake Tech CC Foundation, informing me that “Being part of the Wake Tech family has its privileges”.
Well, who knew?
I mean, who knew I was even one of the kinfolk?
The “privilege” in this case is the opportunity to get “significant savings” on car insurance.
Now, what weirds me out here is that I’ve moved at least seven times, to two states & one foreign country, since taking that class. & this solicitation came to me directly at my current address.
The US Postal Service being what it is—how the devil did my family at WFCC track me down?
& how long do you suppose it’ll take for them to start hitting me up for alumni contributions?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)