A Hard Day's Chord

From Guitar Player Magazine by way of MonkeyFilter: The opening chord to A Hard Day's Night is one of the most memorable in rock history. . . and it has been hailed as the greatest chord in rock and roll. But what exactly was that mysterious chord? . . . Dr. Jason I. Brown, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, delved into the mystery. Using a type of mathematics called Fourier Transforms, he shows how to reconstruct the original frequencies from a list of numbers -- and that the two most common transcriptions for this chord are wrong. Turns out, there is a little piano in that transcendent chord voicing. Read the full article: A Hard Day's Mystery. [http://www.guitarplayer.com/archive/0105/0105_IO2.htm]

Merry ... Mosh-mas

Tis the season for strange-yet-oddly-compelling audio/video escapades on the 'net. Do ya...

• like punk music?
• have an affinity for the mosh pit?
• feel the love for jolly ol' St. Nick?

Well, then SANTAMOSH is for you!

[Requires Flash and speakers or headphones]

Return of the Crue (Umlauts Optional)

The original members of 1980s glam metal band Motley Crue, announced yesterday that they will begin a world reunion tour in 2005. On one hand, there must be folks who are thinking, "This is not a promising start to the new year." On the other hand, anyone who would welcome this kind of news must be saying, "You know your band has become lame when your concert supporter is VH1." Just doing my bit to make your day a little more surreal...

Recently, on WIRED NEWS...

Here are a couple of stories I read last night and this morning... Blogs May Be a Wealth Hazard:

What do a flight attendant in Texas, a temporary employee in Washington and a web designer in Utah have in common? They were all fired for posting content on their blogs that their companies disapproved of. The rise of blogging over the past few years has, inevitably, given way to another phenomenon, as companies are forced to confront employees' easy access to ranting and raving about work in public online forums like Blogger and LiveJournal. [Read Story]

Who's Recycling Techno Trash?

No current figures exist for how much e-junk is recycled, but industry experts believe it's a sliver of the total. People don't know where to take their used electronics, and toxic components are a mounting problem. [Read Story]

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Login

While many online newspaper readers are used to the idea of registering to read free content online, some news buffs are supporting and creating sites that help them beat the system with fake or shared login information that helps keep their personal information under wraps. [Read Story]

Spyware on My Machine? So What?

Not all web surfers think spyware is a problem. Some say the snoopy software is a fair trade-off for free applications, even with the intrusion into their computers and lives. "Typically the assumption has been that spyware sneaks onto computers, or users are unaware of what they have agreed to install," said Gregg Mastoras, a senior security analyst at antivirus vendor Sophos. "But some people actually do knowingly install adware because they want to use a particular application that comes bundled with it. Some just aren't particularly concerned by adware's presence on their computers." [Read Story]

That last story bugs me. How can people not care about spyware? I must have half a dozen different apps that I use just for scrubbing cookies and detecting/deleting spyware. I know, I know ... there are folks who feel that the only people who are doing something shady need to worry about spyware and privacy. Well, if you don't think spyware is a problem, then you should check out Marketscore, which is mentioned in the article and is a program that "routes all of a user's web traffic through Marketscore's own servers, where it is then analyzed to 'create research reports on internet trends and e-commerce activities.'"

Yeah, that means logins and passwords, are routed through Marketscore's servers, too. Real nice.

Long Time No Blog | Fencing Chronicles

I haven't posted anything new since Friday afternoon, and for that I apologize. You see, I had a fairly full weekend with:

1. Running the light board for the Friday and Saturday evening performances of Thumbs (new play by Rupert Holmes) over in Souderton.
2. A full day of class on Saturday: 9am to 4:30pm.
3. Taking advantage of the unexpectedly warm Sunday (70 degrees!). I pruned the tree in my front yard, and then labored to install my new fence sections in my backyard.
4. Spending any down time with my lovely wife.

Number 3 on this list -- and not number 4, folks (shame of you for thinking that!) -- was the killer.

Some of you may have already learned this lesson, but home improvement projects are never quite as simple as I hope or even estimate ... both in effort expended and time consumed. Oh, and I really should never assume I can replace/modify/repair just half (or some other portion) of something. In this case, I thought I could tear down the decaying and broken fence sections, but re-use the existing fence posts with little or no trouble.

Little .... or no ... trouble. Sigh.

A previous homeowner -- I don't know if this would be the one just prior to me, or one a bit further back -- had established what I will call a two-tone fence that stretched approximately 500 feet from the end of my house to a shorter wire fence that finishes off the property line. I say this was a two-tone fence because about half of it was privacy fencing of the stockade variety, about 6 feet tall, and the rest was a lattice style fence that was about 5 feet in height. The lattice fencing was in a terrible state after this last winter: the wind had actually blown some of it apart, forcing me to brace those sections haphazardly with scrap wood. Serviceable, but not attractive. And on the stockade fencing, well, some stockades were in better shape than others.

Bear in mind that my ultimate fencing goal is to have the entire backyard fenced in so that I can eventually get a racing greyhound. But I can't afford that right now because I had to replace the front concrete steps and sidewalk -- they were just melting away and could no longer be patched. So I got the bright idea that I could drop one or two hundred on fence panels and install them myself -- right on those aforementioned fence posts that were already in place. However, I quickly learned that the posts were not spaced for standard fence sections. Both the stockade and lattice fencing that the previous homeowner had installed were custom jobs. The distance between posts was not in any way set for a standard "off-the-shelf" fence section.

No problem, I thought, I can simply trim any section that is too long. I can even save trimmed stockades for later replacement of broken ones. (Note: Much easier said than done).

Oh, and then there was the "starter" beam which was secured to my house. It had been notched so that the crossbeams of the old stockade fence would fit right in flush with the beam. Well, guess what: The cross beams on my new sections would not fit those nice, custom cutouts. And on top of that, but those posts I wanted to re-use ... I didn't really notice it until I actually had to attach the new sections, but they kind of zig-zag!

I love old houses, but I do have one constant complaint: nothing is square.

Well, for all my grunting and complaining, I now have three out of the five sections installed. What with trimming, digging (for leveling purposes), and drilling, what I thought would take about two hours took several and the job lasted right up to dusk. I gave up when it was just too dark to continue.

I will admit that the new fence is looking good (at least from my side), but it might have been better to just suck it up and pay for a professional installation. (Actually, I think I just needed better planning -- including time to dig new fence posts at the proper intervals). Anyway, that's why I didn't post over the weekend. And I was too busy on Monday to post as well.

WTF? -- Missouri Pulls Video Games from Prison

OK. Now here is something that will either make you smack your forehead or cause your blood to boil; maybe both:

Missouri's most violent criminals can no longer play video games that simulate murders, carjackings and the killing of police officers, a decision reached after prison officials were told about the content. "We didn't closely review these," Dave Dormire, superintendent of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, told The Kansas City Star. "We were told these games had more like cartoon violence." [USA Today]

I have a question ... Why the heck were they even playing video games in the first place?! Now, maybe I'm just slow, but didn't they forfeit the right to participate in leisure activities like this once they were incarcerated for their crime(s)? Mind you, I'm not saying I would happily go to prison if I knew I would have access to an X-Box -- I don't even play video games -- but this just seems like it would be a no-brainer. Hey, I'd like to submit an idea to the Jefferson City Correctional staff: How about crochet as a recreational activity for your inmates? It worked in Demolition Man (OK, that was just a lousy movie, so there is no proof that crochet would actually work, but it was funny). At the very least, those folks should be doing yoga or something to keep them calm and in shape. The rationale for the clam part is fairly evident; the reason for keeping them fit: well, you don't want a bunch of video-game addicted fatties on the state dole, right? http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-12-02-mizzou-prison-games_x.htm

Friday Pet Blogging | Demon-Eyez!

Don't you just hate it when you encounter a demonized cat on your way downstairs?

Milo says: None shall pass!

It's almost as bad as encountering one on the way to the bathroom:

Otis has the eyes, but can't quite pull off the demeanor.

Are they not the cutest demons ever?

I mentioned in my previous post (about Tootsie & Snuggles) that The Modulator has a compilation of pet posts from other bloggers. And here is the updated list of Prophet or Madman's previous Pet Blog posts for more Milo & Otis:

• November 26, 2004
• November 19, 2004
• November 5, 2004 (Bonus!)
• November 5, 2004
• October 29, 2004
• October 22, 2004
• October 15, 2004 - Part I
• October 15, 2004 - Part II

Friday Pet Blogging | Tootsie & Snuggles

Time to switch things up a bit. I visited my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday and finally met their new puppies ... Tootsie and Snuggles!

Tootsie (sitting): What are we doing today, bro? Snuggles (standing): Same thing we do everyday, sis. Chew things and run around!

Go ahead and click the pic for a larger view. This is a rare inaction shot. Tootsie (short for Tootsie Rool) is the smaller pup sitting in the background. Snugglepuppy -- or just Snuggles, for short -- is standing in the foreground. They are both from the same litter. Tootsie actually belongs to my sister and her daughter, who came up with the names, but she gets to visit her brother on a regular basis. In fact, Snuggles goes through a form of withdrawal when he doesn't see his little sister on a regular basis!

Don't forget to check The Modulator for today's compilation of pet posts from other bloggers (as well as links to archived compilations).

And to all those Milo & Otis fans out there -- don't worry! I have more pics of the boys and I will have them up later today (at least, I hope I have them up later today).

Knowledge@Wharton: The Efficiency of Gift Giving...

... Is It Really Better to Give than to Receive?

Now that the holiday season is in full throttle - and panic has set in among those who fret over finding the right gifts for family members, friends and perhaps even co-workers - it's worth considering a not particularly festive question: Just how efficient is gift giving? And what do the recipients of consumer purchases actually think about the gifts they get? Joel Waldfogel, professor of business and public policy at Wharton, sheds some light on this question in a new paper titled, "Does Consumer Irrationality Trump Consumer Sovereignty?"

Read the full article: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1088.cfm

Quotable: ... democracy lies just under ...

"Americans are convinced that democracy lies just under the weight of a dictatorship, ready to open up and flower when the boulder of oppression is rolled away. But the reality is that when you overthrow a dictatorship, not democracy but anarchy lies at the ready."

Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld, as quoted in Mo (September 2004)