A neat interactive program of the Obama Inauguration using Microsoft Photosynth

For those of you who have never used Microsoft Photosynth or even played around with it, click this link and look at the 360 degree view of the inauguration using over 1000 still pictures.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/

take the tour and download the free version of Photosynth here: http://photosynth.net/Default.aspx

Neat map and link to technology concerns in the Puget Sount area

Colorado can brag all it wants about being tech savvy, but it will never mach the Seattle area.

go here for an interacative map ot the area http://wtia.micromaps.com/. the static picture of the map is here:

The Second Most Glorious Day in My Military Service 36 Years Ago Today

Some Things I've Learned

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. (This one is very important)

7. Never lick a steak knife

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender,religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person.(This is very important. Pay attention. It NEVER fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes; and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with

Inauguration Day

First Walkman Invented over 50 years ago

The secret history of the walkman revealed: Paul Johnson of Jacksonville, Fla invented this one-tube radio (powered by two dry cells) in 1957, to keep him entertained while he did yard-work. In terms of design aesthetics, I'm willing to say that this is the coolest, mad-scientist-looking-est headset ever to grace the head of a human.

If I would have known this I could have been delivering papers on my Schwinn Corvette while listening to Little Richard instead of trying to tune in KOMA in Oklahoma City (1520 on your dial) on my trusty Philco at bedtime.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2009

They've just announced the inductions for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2009, and as always, the list of honorees includes a few no-brainers as well as a few head-scratchers.

The only boilerplate "ground rule" for eligibility in the performer's category is that it must be at least 25 years since your debut recording, and since, unlike say, a sports Hall of Fame where statistical standards can be used to assist voters in their assessments, the Rock Hall voting process is a fairly nebulous one.

The nominees this year, in alphabetical order were: Jeff Beck; Chic; Wanda Jackson; Little Anthony & the Imperials; Metallica; Run D.M.C; the Stooges; War; and Bobby Womack.

Of the nine, five--guitarist Beck, doo-woppers Little Anthony & the Imperials, thrashers Metallica, rappers Run D.M.C. and r'n'ber Womack--have been elected as performers, with rockabilly vocalist Jackson to be inducted in the "Early Influence" category. (Additionally, former Elvis Presley accompanists Bill Black (bass), and D.J. Fontana (drums), along with Southern soul keyboardist Spooner Oldham, are being inducted in the non-voted upon "Sideman" category).

I'm probably most satisfied that Little Anthony & the Imperials finally got in, and that Wanda Jackson is finally being, as it were, "semi"-inducted. That's because, as more time goes by and we get further and further down that 25-year rule slope, more older artists who haven't yet been duly recognized for their achievements in increasingly bygone eras will be less likely to get nominated, let alone elected. And unless the Rock Hall establishes some kind of Veteran's Committee a la the Baseball Hall of Fame, that trend may well continue.

More problematic, of course, are artists like Jeff Beck, who, like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, has now been elected as a solo artist in addition to being inducted as a member of the seminal '60s band the Yardbirds. Plenty of precedence for this, of course: For example, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison went in as Beatles and as solos, Curtis Mayfield as a member of the Impressions and a solo, Neil Young as a Buffalo Springfielder and a solo, and (my favorite) Paul Simon as half of Simon & Garfunkel and by himself. And Eric Clapton, if I'm not mistaken, has the hall of fame record for being voted in three times (Yardbirds, Cream and solo).

Much as I think Jeff Beck is one of the greatest and most influential rock 'n' rollers of all time, it does seem to me that once a musician gets voted in, either as a part of a group or as a solo artist, that should be the end of it. I'm not holding my breath for any big rule change, though. Especially since Halls of Fame of any sort aren't exactly the kinds of places where you check your ego at the door; they're more the places you get them stamped.

Kids Today Have No Idea What a Real "Beater" Was.

Reminscing with a group of high school friends we got around to discussing our high school cars and decided that our kids have no idea what a true "beater car" was. I wrote down the comments in no particular order (on the back of a napkin.) # 24 is my favorite,

1. You have to either pay someone to get you an illegal inspection sticker or you have to doctor your existing one with graphic arts supplies.

2. Your floorboards have rotted out and you have wedged a stolen highway sign into the floorpan so you won't fall through.

3. There is at least one section that has a pop-riveted piece of aluminum over a section of the car that would fall off otherwise.

4. There are "tricks" to getting the car started, in gear, turning in the right direction or stopped.

5. You are adding oil, power steering fluid, transmission fluid or water/anti-freeze to the car on a daily basis.

6. Your windshield washer pump no longer works, and you are forced to throw water onto your windshield in the winter to clean it off.

7. Your windshield wiper motor is dead.

8. You have to drive the car at night so that cops don't get a good look at the car.

9. The "Checque thine engine soone!" torch keeps igniting.

10. When you park, you have to put a "Vehicle Not Abandoned" sign in the window.

11. You got your fourth speeding ticket this week as a result of inaccurate conversions from the tachometer RPM’s to MPH.

12. Your mechanic charges you a "pain and suffering" fee.

13. Your factory-installed GPS keeps warning you that you're about to fall off the edge of the Earth.

14. Tires by Firestone; brakes by Flintstone.

15. The only thing in the dash that still functions is the 8-track tape player, and your Sly and Family Stone tape is almost worn out.

16. The only thing holding the back bumper together is your "All the Way With LBJ" sticker.

17. Your inquiries to the Studebaker factory are returned unopened

18. Your genuine stegosaurus-hide upholstery is beginning to crack. Not only isn't the in-dash Victrola XM-ready, it also skips a hell of a lot.

19.You can't make it smell fresh and lovely anymore, no matter how much Summer's Eve you use.

20. Your exhaust trail has caused so much environmental damage, Al Gore turned in his Nobel Peace Prize and headed straight for a gun shop.

21. Bedrock Motors placard fell off and broke your wife Wilma's toe.

22. The manufacturer issued a recall because of a defect they found in the brains of the people who buy them.

23. The neighborhood dogs don't consider it worth chasing.

24. McGyver couldn't make this piece of crap run if he had an entire auto shop and six weeks at his disposal.

25.The car uses more oil than gas ( in the old days you could buy oil drained out of a crankcase at the gas station, it cost about 25 cents/quart)

26. Fenders or other important body components held on by duct tape.

27. You have to get in through the hatchback because all the doors were frozen shut in the winter.I had to keep a large box end wrench under the seat because the starter solenoid would stick. Sometime I would have to jump out, pop the hood and give the solenoid a good whack to get the starter to disengage.

28. It also had a wiring problem that prevented the heater fan from working so I would have to scrape the inside of the windows as I drove to work in Colorado winters.

29. The ECM would over heat sometimes after about 30 minutes of driving and the car would just turn off for an hour or so.

30. The rear seal went out on my transmission while driving over Monument Hill, by the time the drive shaft stopped bashing about the entire output shaft was visible.

31. smog pump seized

32. leaked like Michael Jackson at a cub scout meeting

33. The ball joints were shot so it would wander all over the road

34. Horn died in a front end collision.

35. Insurance company said that the salvage value is $300.

36.If you slam on the brakes too hard it will sometimes want to drift sideways.
37. The fan only works on high and the heater sometimes doesn't switch on so don't change the temp during cold weather or you might be without heat.
38. The exhaust system leaks so make sure to have plenty of airflow through the passenger area if you don't want carbon monoxide poisoning.

39. Car won't start when it's "damp" outside

40. You've got 4 or more specialty tools in your garage, including the special wrench to get # 8 spark plug out.

41. Baling wire holds a permanent place in your trunk toolbox.

42. You've discovered that "no parking" signs work great as floorboard replacements.

43. You got at least one door, hood, trunk or body panel that is mismatched in color with the rest of the vehicle.

44. Soup/pop/beer cans are currently in line as part of your exhaust system.

45. Your battery cables aren't so much "connected" to battery as they are "dissolved" into it.

46. Your local salvage yard owner knows you on a first name basis, and you've got your own key to the yard for after hours scavenging
47. your date is actually interested in you, not your car.

48. you can pay liability insurance since you are a very careful and good driver and you don't want to be forced to pay full coverage that will amount to more than the value of the car in 1 year.

49. you're smart and prefer to have savings rather than the coolest car. you understand that the car is reliable and gets you from point A to point B. you laugh to the bank while your buddie with the nice car gets repossessed because he can no longer pay the bank every month.
50. You're not spending the equivalent of a new iPod Touch/Wii/case of good wine per month on a tin box that goes at the same speed as the 10 year old beater you used to have.

51. got no AC, and lost the power steering when the AC died, it's all on the same belt & wheel.

52. The rear doors don't open, so only kids and midgets can get in the back, climbing behind the front seats like a 2-door.

53.The antenna is gone.

54. There's a dent in the front hood I slid into a fencepost one of my first times driving in snow.

55. It dies from being driven in the rain.

56. The headlights are the always-on kind, but you have to turn the switch just to the first parking lights/dashboard notch, because if you turn it all the way, they go out. The lights also go out when the parking brake is applied.

57. Driver door exterior handle broken, door could only be opened from inside. If the door was slammed the window would jump its track and fall down into the door.

58. Brake master cylinder leaked. Heater core leaked. Engine leaked oil, a lot of oil. Clutch operating mechanism was so poorly designed and had been cobbled so many times it had only an inch of travel above the floor from "in" to "out",

59. Starter would work fine when engine was cold (fortunate because the gas would sometimes drain out of the carb overnight), but would barely turn over when hot.

60. Both rear wheel bearings and the diff played loud tunes, while the radio tuner was stuck on one station (religious).

61. Items that didn't work included horn, emergency brake and heater fan. The ignition key could be removed while the engine was running (useful, as sometimes the switch could not be moved from the "run" position)

62. I took it to 3 junkyards, none of whom would take it even after I offered to pay a fee.Finally a friend of a friend said he would take it and he is still driving it.

63. You never even need to take part in discussions about who's going to drive among your friends

64. When it rains you have to run outside and cover your car with a tarp or, if you're too lazy, use the "bail out" cup you keep in the backseat when you come out in the morning

65. No one can start it but you, not even the tow truck drivers

66. A police officer has come out to help you push it up a hill because once you get to the top "it'll get rolling on it's own"

67. You have keep 5 or 6 bottles of oil in the trunk at all times

68. You've put $2000 into it over 3 years and it is still worth $200

Minimum Wage Boosted, Low Wage Workers Hardest Hit

Colorado's 26 cent increase in the minimum wage has sparked a boost in prices at grocery stores and gas stations as employers attempt to recoup the cost of the higher wages they must now pay their entry-level employees.
As a result, many minimum wage workers can no longer afford the groceries they sack, nor the fuel dispensed at the convenience stores where they work.
Democrats who pushed the minimum wage hike through Congress last year, said they plan to address the problem by requiring retailers to raise their prices so they can afford to pay their workers enough to buy the pricier products, Colorado Democrats are expected to follow suit.

And Even More Apocalypse News!

SPEARFISH, S.D. – The activist animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked school officials to change the name of Spearfish High School to "Sea Kitten High School." The new name would "reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake," the organization said in a letter to Steve Morford, Spearfish High School principal.
PETA said the letter is part of a new Sea Kitten campaign aimed at children.
If children were taught to refer to fish as "sea kittens," reflecting that fish, like cats and dogs, are "individuals" that "do have friendships," fewer fish might be killed for food or sport, said Pulin Modi, a PETA spokesman.
"We want people to realize that more fish are killed each year than all animals combined," he said. "They don't have the sympathy of more popular animals like cats and dogs."

More News the Apocalypse is Upon Us

NY man demands estranged wife pay him for kidney

A Long Island surgeon embroiled in a nearly four-year divorce proceeding wants his estranged wife to return the kidney he donated to her, although he says he'll settle for $1.5 million in compensation.

Dr. Richard Batista, a surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, told reporters at his lawyer's Long Island office Wednesday that he decided to go public with his demand for kidney compensation because he has grown frustrated with the negotiations with his estranged wife.

"This is my last resort; I did not want to do this publicly," Batista said.

Apocalypse News

As stores close, Starbucks buys a jet
Starbucks bought a $45 million corporate jet last month at about the same time it told employees that it is reconsidering how much it will match in their 401(k) plans this year. The new jet, a Gulfstream 550, spent its first two weeks under Starbucks ownership in Hawaii, according to flight records at FlightAware.com.

My Christmas Present

I know, I know, Christmas was two weeks ago but I have used that two weeks to thoroughly road test my Christmas present. It is an Acer Aspire One Netbook. Tutelidge here, first there was a laptop, some with a big 17" screen (I have one of those and it is wonderful, but at about 8 pounds). Then came the Notebook with it's 12" screen and then presto! it shrunk into a Netbook with a 9" screen. My little netbook is sapphire blue, has a 160GB HDD and 3 USB 2.0 ports. It utilizes Windows XP (thank heavens) and has built in wi-fi, and........it weighs just a hair over two pounds. In it's leather sleeve it is about as big as a John Grisham hardback. The only drawback, and I am told by several of my children that it is not a drawback is that there is no optical drive. No CD, no DVD just 3 USB ports for a myriad of thumb drives. they are so cheap now that I went out and bought a half a dozen 4GB and a couple of 8GB ones. I keep my photos, documents and other stuff downloaded from my desktop on them. The wi-fi works seamlessly and if all of my neighbors (and the college across the street) hadn't encrypted their wireless networks I could piggyback off of theirs all day and night. The screen is bright and with the new Intel Atom processor it is surprisingly fast. The only small downside is the 2 hour maximum in battery mode. For me it is much easier to check emails and surf the web on this little jewel than to do it on my Blackberry. Plus I can write a document (the keyboard is 92% of a regular keyboard), so even my fat fingers can manage. I can even whip together a PowerPoint while having coffee and a scone. All of this for under $350! I am happy.

Bill Clinton: CIA Pick Panetta Can Keep a Secret

Concerns about the readiness of President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for director of Central Intelligence were put to rest today when former President Bill Clinton called his old Chief of Staff Leon Panetta “the perfect pick to head the CIA.”

Mr. Panetta has no previous experience in the intelligence community and served 16 years as a U.S. Congressman, raising questions at CIA headquarters in Langley, VA, about his ability to guard the nation’s secrets.

However, President Clinton, called him “a trustworthy public servant who knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

“Leon was by my side for two and half years,” said Mr. Clinton. “About 14 months of his service came during the time that I was not having sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, in the White House. During all those months, no one ever knew what my chief of staff knew or didn’t know, nor do they know it now.”

Mr. Panetta has also been a vocal opponent of the use of torture, but Mr. Clinton said “that’s likely just a lasting effect of his close contact with the former First Lady.”

“Hillary made an impact on a lot of people that way,” he said. “Personally, I still can’t stand the thought that another human would have to endure loud, harsh noises and or the continual drip, drip, drip of Chinese water torture. She’s made Leon and me much more merciful toward even our enemies.”

Inventor of Hawaiian Shirt Dies

Those of you that know me know of my propensity for Hawaiian shirts and shorts 11 months out of the year. While I am no Tom Sellick (I guess I tend toward a rotund Jimmy Buffett) I like the look and feel of the shirt and I own about 40 of them just like Magnum P.I.

So it is with sadness that I pass on this news article.

You'd be forgiven for never hearing of designer Alfred Shaheen.
Yet he inspired one of the most colourful, amusing and unforgettable styles of fashion ever known - the Hawaiian shirt.
Sadly the pioneering textile manufacturer has died at age 86, his family have confirmed.
As tourists from the US to Hawaii after World War II, many began to bring home colorful but cheesy looking shirts and sundresses that would be cause for much amusement among friends.
Shaheen began to change that in 1948 when he opened Shaheen's of Honolulu and began designing, printing and producing "aloha" shirts, dresses and other ready-to-wear clothing of better quality.
Among those seen in Shaheen-designed shirts of that era was Elvis Presley, who wore one for the cover of his 1961 soundtrack album "Blue Hawaii."
Such Shaheen originals now sell for more than $500.
"Before Shaheen came along, there was no Hawaii garment industry. There were mom and pop stores but no real modern industry," Linda Arthur, a professor of textiles and clothing at Washington State University said.
By 1959, the year Hawaii became a state, he had more than 400 employees working for him and was grossing more than $4 million a year as the major player in the islands' garment industry.

Road Trip!

Finally after 5 months of searching I finally found a motorhome that I could afford and had the amenities that I wanted. I looked at a lot of them over the last 4 or 5 months some were nice, but something did not work (usually the refrigerator, a $1,500 item or the generator, about the same). Some were real dogs and some looked like dogs had lived in them. This one is a 1991 Pace Arrow 34 ft. model L. It has a little over 34,000 actual miles and to give you some idea of it's cost when new, the original buyer put down $29,000 and financed the balance for 12 years at $514 a month! If the original contract wouldn't have been included in the paperwork I wouldn't have believed it. The only thing missing in the 2" stack of papers and manuals was the owners manual, the holy grail of manuals that tells me where everything is and how to work it. (I keep having flashbacks to the movie RV when Robin Williams was trying to empty the sewer tank for the first time, not a pleasant rememberance.) I guess I will have to search eBay and Craigslist for awhile.