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July 9th, 2009
06:22 pm - Number nine.
Today is our ninth wedding anniversary. Our ceremony, in 2000, was beautiful, homemade, our own. We basked in the affection and good wishes of our family and friends. Nine years later, we are even more in love than we were then. Though we have undergone difficulties in other areas of our lives, what we have felt for each other has never wavered, and has only deepened.
Beth, though you will never see this post because you do not use the Internet, I love you.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/loved.gif) loved
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May 25th, 2009
04:37 pm - 2,000th book
The 2,000th book in my collection is A general history of quadrupeds : with figures engraved on wood, by Thomas Bewick. 2009 reprint of 1790 edition from University of Chicago Press.
Cue the confetti.
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May 22nd, 2009
03:47 pm - Star Trek: Reboot this thing, now!
I hated the new Star Trek.
( nothing but spoilers )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/angry.gif) angry
Current Music: Julia Nunes - Balloons
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May 17th, 2009
11:12 am - The two-thousandth book.
Looking at my LibraryThing account, I find that I have 1,999 books. What will be the 2,000th one?
If my friends lived closer by, I would say that a party would be in order. People could play those silly games with the fifth sentence on the fifteenth page. The main course for the dinner would be salmon cooked in parchment paper. Napoleons, in signatures, would be for dessert.
I can do better than this; inspiration will come to me, but will it be before the 2,000th is added?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/smile.gif) cheerful
Current Music: Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B Minor
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April 28th, 2009
06:43 pm - RIP, WQXR?
I just heard on the radio that the New York Times, in penury, is going to sell WQXR, New York's only full-time classical radio station, to ESPN. ESPN apparently wants to transmit its existing sports programming in FM.
I think it's an open question as to whether I should contribute any more money to KUSC, one of the only classical stations left, or use it to buy more CDs, on the presumption that, whatever I do, there are going to be no more classical stations, period, in five years, and I'd better stock up.
The RIAA, which lobbied for crippling royalty fees on Internet radio stations that could otherwise have supplied the need for classical music broadcasting, should burn in hell.
Current Mood: angry
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April 26th, 2009
05:38 am - Small recording question
I happen to own a very curious recording of the Ring Cycle, conducted by Clemens Krauss in Bayreuth, 1953, on the Rodolphe label. It is a mono recording, and, in order to cut down on cost, the recording company put half the music on the left audio channel and the other half of the music on the right audio channel of each CD. They provided a small widget to hook up to your stereo which would enable a single channel to be heard through both speakers. The widget is an unsatisfactory solution, as is the balance knob. What I would like to do would be to rip each channel, duplicate it, and then record new CDs with the same material on both stereo channels. Is there free software that would allow me to do this? I don't believe Audacity uses discrete channels, but I could be wrong. In any case, I'd appreciate any ideas as to a concrete process for getting this done.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/cool.gif) geeky
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April 23rd, 2009
10:16 am - Name change
I'm changing my lj username from jkcohen to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) thedarkages. Purely prophylactic.
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April 18th, 2009
03:56 pm - Terminology
There ought to be a succinct word for the maneuver of an entity which, when its budget is to be cut, says that it will cut the service most beneficial to or beloved by the public. For example, every time PBS faces budget battles in Congress, it says that Big Bird will get the axe. When the Jewish Publication Society has a shortfall, it says that it will cease producing its Bible commentaries. And as for the Nation -- well, the Nation places itself on the chopping block every five minutes.
In writing, there's the phrase "killing your darlings," which has a completely different meaning, but might be apropos. Any better ideas?
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Mitsuko Uchida - Mozart: Piano Sonata #1 In C, K 279 - 1. Allegro
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April 17th, 2009
05:55 pm - Cheapskates
Phillips mid-price classical collections are not generous with the booklets. No librettos, biographies, or anything besides a much-redacted note or synopsis. Guys, liner notes are how listeners learn about classical music. The more they learn, the more they buy. It is in the foot that you are shooting yourself.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/disgruntled.gif) cranky
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08:48 am - Threatening email
I've just gotten a threatening email, my first in many years. For years, I've read an outspoken and well-written pro-choice website -- now taken down, because someone reported intemperate comments the author had posted about her workplace and got her fired. The author linked to my homepage, and it was on account of this that I got the email, from one billy39@hushmail.com, which castigated me for my association with the author and warned me to "be careful out there." One sick guy -- probably one of those anti-abortion "whackadoos" the author inveighed against for so many years.
His email provider is in Canada, and it's one which is a strong protector of privacy. Is there any sense in my reporting this guy to the RCMP computer crime people, or is this simply below the threshhold?
I think it's possible to forget, if one immures oneself in social networking sites of people who think as one does, that there are some nasty people out there.
Current Mood: irate
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March 29th, 2009
07:19 pm - I am Super Chump!
I actually calculated and paid California use tax on my Internet purchases for 2008.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/dead.gif) exhausted
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March 12th, 2009
04:06 pm - Which is more evil: Google, Microsoft, or Adobe?
I don't know for sure, but Adobe's updates this morning required five reboots. Even Microsoft wouldn't do that.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/bigwink.gif) contemplative
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March 11th, 2009
08:43 am - ISO female scientists and engineers you know
My current and only gig is writing for the My Hero Project (http://www.myhero.com). My Hero, with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is interested in profiles of female scientists and engineers. My Hero is interested in the stories that these scientists and engineers have to tell about their heroes, about the people who inspired them and guided them to what they do today. As well, it is interested in the work they now carry out, both for its intrinsic value and in how it helps others. The audience for profiles ranges from school-age to adult.
If you know a female scientist or engineer who is doing interesting work, and/or work which has a positive effect on others, I'd like to know about her. Even if you just have some vague connection to her, that might be enough.
Send word to me at jkcohen at pobox dot com. Thank you for your willingness to help.
Current Mood: cheerful
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February 27th, 2009
February 25th, 2009
09:09 pm - A Modest Proposal
Obama et al. are printing several trillion dollars/getting us into several trillion dollars more debt. This is going to satisfy bank shareholders and mortgage-holders. In my hopelessly simplistic economic understanding, printing that much money leaves us vulnerable to inflation, and, quite conceivably, hyperinflation. So, if we're going to suffer the ill effects in the form of worthless money and higher future taxes, why stop there? Why not print enough money to make everyone whole? Why not return IRAs to their June, 2008 values, provide salaries for companies to re-employ their laid-off workers, and re-fund pension plans hamstrung by the market? For that matter, let's replenish Social Security and Medicare until 2081! China may pull the plug, but it may be in too deep, too.
Just a thought.
Current Mood: cranky
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February 23rd, 2009
03:58 am - WordPress guru needed
I am having the following problem setting up WordPress:
( Details follow )
Current Mood: frustrated
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February 19th, 2009
04:07 pm - Fifteen Albums
Think of 15 albums, CDs or LPs that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the ass, socked you in the gut. Then when you finish, tag others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.
- J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concertos - Karl Munchinger, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
- First classical recording I heard - so old school, there's a piano playing the keyboard parts.
- Karl Stamitz, variations on "Ach, Du Feiner Reiter."
- Second classical recording I heard - wonderfully crunchy out-of-tune harpsichord.
- Carole King, Tapestry
- My parents listened to this one; I got it by osmosis.
- Early German Brass - New York Cornet and Sackbut Ensemble
- Girl whom I had a crush on had a father or stepfather in the band.
- Johannes Brahms, 1st Symphony - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
- Brain-expanding - almost psychedelic. Theme in fourth movement was comfort food.
- Henry Purcell, Te Deum and Jubilate Deo, Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Simon Preston
- Sang these in high school, taking a college music performance class.
- Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
- At the time, it was beautiful and sophisticated.
- J.S. Bach, Goldberg Variations (1981), Glenn Gould
- For many years, Glenn Gould was Bach's keyboard music for me.
- J.S. Bach, Christ Lag In Todesbanden (BWV 4), Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien
- Girl with whom I was in love had complete cantata series with scores, and played it for me.
- Claudio Monteverdi, 1610 Vespers, Andrew Parrott, Taverner Consort and Players
- I didn't know you could do that quasi-instrumental stuff with voices (concitato genere).
- W.A. Mozart, Der Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Karl Böhm, Lucia Popp, Theo Adam
- Humane and loving performance - the first opera I ever liked.
- W.A. Mozart, Mozart, Piano Sonatas, Maria João Pires
- Turned me on to the silence between notes.
- They Might Be Giants, Lincoln
- First modern pop I liked. Too bad they've jumped the shark.
- Gustav Mahler, Symphony #2 ("Resurrection") (1966), Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic
- Earth-shattering, especially in its final movement.
- Phillip Glass, Koyaanisquatsi, Phillip Glass Ensemble
- First modern music I liked.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/rotate.gif) energetic
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February 13th, 2009
04:32 pm - Honest work
I'm wiped out after 11 hours of editing. I've got to put it in perspective, though, because law firm associates like acrobatty work those hours every day, six days a week, 50 or so weeks a year.
There are more reasons than I can count why I was never cut out to be a lawyer. The one which impressed me as a kid exposed to my dad's law firm was the necessity of dealing with crazy clients. I think it came with the nature of his practice, which was administrative law for landlords and pushcart vendors. People would come in in their undershirts, yelling, screaming, imprecating. My dad would calm them down, make them make sense, get them to tell their stories. But they scared the wits out of me. They'd get our home number and call my dad at weird hours of the morning and on weekends. "Urgent," they'd say when I answered the phone. "Life and death." I learned with time that this was not necessarily true, but I always wondered, "What if someone really were dead? Could Dad help?"
If I were 20 again, maybe I could handle the constant death march. But after a day like today, I'm sure I cannot now.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/yawn.gif) tired
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February 9th, 2009
10:13 pm - Peeve
Why does OpenOffice have to download an entire 150 Mb installer to upgrade to a point release? Haven't these people ever heard of patches?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/unhappy.gif) pissed off
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February 5th, 2009
09:03 pm - Progress Bars
Somewhere, there is a made-up statistic that says that 1/6 of our lives is spent looking at progress bars. I would like a progress bar to proceed steadily and give me an accurate indication of how far along some activity is, preferably with an estimated time to completion. Instead, there are progress bars that advance only to retreat, progress bars which complete only to be replaced with other, empty progress bars, and progress bars that go back and forth. There are even progress bars which do nothing except to tell you that some activity is occurring, and there are yet others which tell you no such thing, because they are just animated images. The only innovation in progress bars that I like is when, when you are uninstalling something, the progress bar goes backwards. There must be human interface guidelines somewhere that mandate meaningful progress bars. If not, surely they are on their way to completion.
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