Ummagumma

My only selfie so far.  Me and Jennifer in Alaska in June 2008.   I don't own a smart phone. I have a 12-year old flip phone that does nothing except make phone calls. Imagine a cell phone that is just a phone. Absurd, right? So, I have not taken many selfies, which are largely a phenomenon of phones that take photos. I remember taking a selfie of Jennifer and myself in Alaska just before we had our grizzly bear encounter (see pic above). I shot it from a low angle with the camera out at arm's length and waist level. Above us in the background there was a rock cropping and a cloud passing in an otherwise mostly sunny summer sky. Now selfie has become an official word . It is new karma generated by iPhones and similar devices . It has become so commonplace that a word reflecting the behavior has entered the evolution of the English language, so the behavior, in turn, is now officially a force in the world. Selfie beat out another new action word con...

The Day The Earth Smiled photography as fully assembled.  This is not a photo-shopped image.  All the colors are natural and reveal the beauty of our neighbor in the Solar System.  Taken July 19, 2013 and released to the public earlier this week.  The original image is much larger than this reduction.   My  continuing interest in the Cassini spacecraft mission got a shot in the arm earlier this week.  Back in the summer Cassini performed a maneuver to photograph the far side of Saturn looking back toward Earth.  Initially, the resulting photos were only fragments released to the public.  Now, after months additional work, the wide natural-color vista of Saturn was released for the first time.  The results are stunning. Cassini took a series of 141 images from a distance of about 750,000 miles from Saturn (three times the distance of the Earth from the Moon).  The span of view is some 404,00...

Warning: The following post contains adult content .  You can not really discuss this novel without talking dirty. There are some smutty adult words here, all quoted from the novel reviewed. Read them responsibly. Long-time readers know that I try to maintain a certain health regime and lifestyle. Part of that is regular sex. There are numerous studies that indicate the health benefits of sex , the benefits to relationships, and to piece of mind. No need to revisit all that here other than to say that after practicing this for many years, I have discovered that in my mid-50's I am a more erotic person than I was as a college student or when I first married. The erotic is an accentuated part of my life. It inspires, motivates, entertains, and brings fulfillment. It can be a strong thread tying otherwise loose ends of life together in a holistic fashion. For years I have read erotic novels and watched erotic films (both pornographic and artsy). As you know I also enjoy read...

2013 was my year to fine-tune my contemporary classical music collection. I bought probably around three dozen CDs or CD-sets during the course of the year. As I see it, I have caught up to the point where I am only buying new releases by contemporary composers that I admire and want to follow. This post is a brief overview of much of that CD collecting. Kaija Saariaho is a rare female composer in my collection. In general, classical composition is a white male world. Although there are many woman composers through the centuries ( Clara Schumann being one of the most noteworthy), there is perhaps no more one-sided art form that is so specifically (but non-intentionally) racist and sexist. White men are the greatest classical composers in history. That is just a simple fact. Given all that, I rate the music of Saariaho highly and her orchestral works are rewarding. In this century, Saariaho's compositional style has evolved into a specific sound. I would call it haunti...

Most of what we caught on our fishing trip were Vermilion Snapper  - legal this time of year in the Gulf.  We caught a lot of Red Snapper and Trigger Fish too but had to throw our catches back in the water.  Not a bad haul for late in the season.  You see our feet above with the tails of the larger fish we caught displayed proudly in the "official" trip shot.  My feet are on the extreme left. On Friday I went on an all-day fishing expedition in the Gulf of Mexico. This was supposed to be R&R for the six-man management team of the company I work for after a long day strategic planning session at a conference room in a large hotel on the gulf coast. We arrived last Wednesday evening and ate an enormous and tasty seafood dinner. Thursday we plowed through a long meeting on how we might be able to double the sales of the company in the next 3 years. After that brain-numbing exercise, we were treated by our president to a mindless, beer drinking day o...

The setup for the main battle scenario in the VASSAL module for Leipzig 20 .  Notice how the French (blue) are almost completely surrounded by the Coalition (green, white, black) on the map.  This is historically accurate.  More Coalition forces will enter the top of the map as the game continues placing heavy pressure on the French to try to hold the city of Leipzig while clearing a path of retreat off the bottom of the map.  The river system around the city abets the French defense but also restricts the ability of Napoleon's forces to maneuver. Napoleon Bonaparte is, of course, one of the great genius' of history. Not only was he a great military commander winning memorable battles such as Ulm , Austerlitz , Jena , and Wagram , but he also possessed an expansive mind in government and in economics . 200 years ago today Napoleon commanded his army in the largest battle in western history up until World War One.  Some 124,000 casualties...

Sandra Bullock holds on for dear life in a spectacular visual experience of watching the International Space Station be decimated by flying debris in space.  One of Gravity's "wow" moments. Note: Some minor spoiler's below but, believe me, knowing a little bit about what happens in this film does not diminish from its powerful visual experience. " Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is incontestable evidence for the worth if not outright necessity of the theatrical experience. It is a breathtaking visual spectacle, yet deeply rooted in viewer empathy and character, offering not just incredible sights and sounds but a story worth telling. It is stirring, terrifying, jaw-dropping, and finally genuinely moving. It offers the kind of theoretically game-changing theatrical experience that absolutely demands theatrical viewing on the biggest 3D IMAX screen you can find. It’s slightly too early to say whether or not Gravity is the best film of 2013. But I cannot imagin...