I'm telling!
No, I'm telling!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Nichols and Stone may be closing
Nichols and Stone is one of the last chair manufacturers in Gardner and seems to be on its way out: Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Furniture maker teetering on brink
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Don't do the crime if you can't do the rhyme
Middlebury VT hooligans sentenced to poetry classes after party at former Robert Frost home turns destructive: Frost house vandals learn about poetic justice - CNN.com
Monday, June 02, 2008
Here's what you missed on Feb 2, 1965
From the Gardner News, TV listings:
And, the Westminster selectmen remind us to keep Fido at home:
Things you wouldn't know unless you asked Calvin's dad.
Quotes: Ask Calvin's Dad
Q. How come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then?
A. Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It's just that the world was black and white then. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Q. But then why are old paintings in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way?
A. Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Q. But... But how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their paints have been shades of gray back then?
A. Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the '30s.
Q. So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too?
A. Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Why Obama has won the contest
We're angry, uneducated and unhealthy. Now what? (Scripting News)
"I want a President who welcomes the chaos and then figures out how we can be smart about the hand we've been dealt. Not one that whines and complains about how irrational the world is."
Be an American - Buy something
This pretty much sums up the Bush policies toward economic development, patriotism, and the war on terror. Just in time for your economic stimulus check. If you send these folks, The Something Store, they'll send you something. You won't know you'll get until you get it, but, hey, we're at war here.
Rev. Wright, Rev. Hagee, and the company we keep
Anyone who lives any kind of an interesting life is going to hang around with people who cause them trouble. This presidential race is no different. Just as the Clintons faced in the 90s, both senators Barack Obama and John McCain will have people from the fringes saying and doing things that makes it appear that the candidates are more radical than they are. My advice to myself on this is fairly simple: get over it.
The people of Utah keep re-electing Sen. Orrin Hatch, even though Hatch is good friends with Ted Kennedy. No one's going to confuse the two. The same with Alan Simpson and Robert Reich in their PBS discussion show, "The Long and Short of It." Harry Truman was elected to the Senate because he had the backing of Jim Pendergast's political and racketeering machine. Shunned for a time, Truman became one of the most independent and respected presidents.
Yeah, I know about dogs and fleas and all that. I also know that taking the measure of a person is a lot more complicated than just looking at the person's friends.
My mother was often curious about a person's ethnicity and occupation. She knew that these traits didn't fully define a person, but did tell something important. Someone might be a scientist who also practices meditation or a conservative Republican business owner who runs a food pantry. We only get to know the whole person by knowing the whole person and we only get to love a person by loving the whole person.
The people of Utah keep re-electing Sen. Orrin Hatch, even though Hatch is good friends with Ted Kennedy. No one's going to confuse the two. The same with Alan Simpson and Robert Reich in their PBS discussion show, "The Long and Short of It." Harry Truman was elected to the Senate because he had the backing of Jim Pendergast's political and racketeering machine. Shunned for a time, Truman became one of the most independent and respected presidents.
Yeah, I know about dogs and fleas and all that. I also know that taking the measure of a person is a lot more complicated than just looking at the person's friends.
My mother was often curious about a person's ethnicity and occupation. She knew that these traits didn't fully define a person, but did tell something important. Someone might be a scientist who also practices meditation or a conservative Republican business owner who runs a food pantry. We only get to know the whole person by knowing the whole person and we only get to love a person by loving the whole person.
Dept. of Wiring
For a time in the 90s, I managed a quality assurance team in a small company that tested networked storage. We had lots of cables because we were testing dozens of systems connected to several servers. It was really easy to have the wiring get out of control. That's a particular problem when you're dealing with fiber-optic cable. These cables have threads of glass in the core. If the cable is looped too tightly or is crimped, the glass can break and the cable is useless. (This sample only shows a few fiber cables, the ones in orange.)
Dark Roasted Blend: Disturbing Wiring, Part 4
Dark Roasted Blend: Disturbing Wiring, Part 4
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Notes from another home town
I spent a lot of my younger days in the Amherst area - as a student, as a worker, as a loiterer. I first visited the area when my father was working on the construction of the Southwest dorms at UMass in the early 1960s. I'd ride to town with him and, while he was at work, I'd hang around campus. I took a couple of summer courses between my junior and senior years in high school. One of the courses was taught by William Julius Wilson.
The story of my life from that time until I graduated from Amherst College late in the next decade is one best delivered in small slices. More slices later.
A few things that I noticed when I came into town this time:
But, the Courtyard is just one of the latest in the commercial takeover of our land and psyches by big chains. It's easier to go to the Whole Foods store on Route 9 than drive five miles to the south to shop at the locally-owned Atkins Farm. Dave's Soda and Pet Food City, one of my favorite places, is a small, regional chain, but it sits in a strip mall that starts with Wal-Mart and ends with Michael's. It's what I call Route-9-ization. Pretty much the length of Massachusetts state route 9, you've got strip malls, mostly filled with the same chains that you saw 20 miles ago. There are still some undeveloped stretches - between Worcester and Belchertown and west of Northampton, but those sections will likely go under in our lifetimes.
The story of my life from that time until I graduated from Amherst College late in the next decade is one best delivered in small slices. More slices later.
A few things that I noticed when I came into town this time:
- There are lots more people of color. That shouldn't be surprising, but I've been staying close to home for the past year and have seen mostly white folks.
- There are more people smoking, younger people mostly.
- There are fewer people talking on their cell phones while driving. Kids are talking and sending text messages while walking or sitting in coffee shops, but the soccer parents are just driving.
But, the Courtyard is just one of the latest in the commercial takeover of our land and psyches by big chains. It's easier to go to the Whole Foods store on Route 9 than drive five miles to the south to shop at the locally-owned Atkins Farm. Dave's Soda and Pet Food City, one of my favorite places, is a small, regional chain, but it sits in a strip mall that starts with Wal-Mart and ends with Michael's. It's what I call Route-9-ization. Pretty much the length of Massachusetts state route 9, you've got strip malls, mostly filled with the same chains that you saw 20 miles ago. There are still some undeveloped stretches - between Worcester and Belchertown and west of Northampton, but those sections will likely go under in our lifetimes.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Dept. of Spam
Well, the folks at Hormel are doing well in these tougher times: The Associated Press: Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs.
We should remember, though. If you are eating so much Spam that eating Spam Lite improves your diet, you've probably got more problems than how much Spam you're eating.
We should remember, though. If you are eating so much Spam that eating Spam Lite improves your diet, you've probably got more problems than how much Spam you're eating.
This fortnight in RoasterBoy's playlist
Get RB Playlist
One
of the sweetest songs from the great folk music scare of the 60s:
YouTube - Tim Buckley Buzzin Fly - Radio Toast for Cancer Research .
Tim Buckley died from a heroin overdose in 1975.
of the sweetest songs from the great folk music scare of the 60s:
YouTube - Tim Buckley Buzzin Fly - Radio Toast for Cancer Research .
Tim Buckley died from a heroin overdose in 1975.
Mostly,
lists such as this, The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time : Rolling
Stone , are kindling for arguments, particularly if you try to claim
that "You Really Got Me" is eight places better than "Voodoo Child
(Slight Return)". Nevertheless, there's a lot of good stuff here. Via
Fark Music , who reports " It proves, once again, submitter's theory
that 60s music > 70s music > 80s music > 90s music > 00s
music."
lists such as this, The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time : Rolling
Stone , are kindling for arguments, particularly if you try to claim
that "You Really Got Me" is eight places better than "Voodoo Child
(Slight Return)". Nevertheless, there's a lot of good stuff here. Via
Fark Music , who reports " It proves, once again, submitter's theory
that 60s music > 70s music > 80s music > 90s music > 00s
music."
Izabella
Jimi Hendrix The Lowlands [f/Jaime Hanna & Jonathan MC Euen] The
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Happy Feelin' Earth Wind & Fire Tennesee
Stud Johnny Cash Give The Fiddler A Dram Garnet Rogers Introduction
Jimi Hendrix Complainte Pour Ste Catherine Kate & Anna McGarrigle
One Way Ticket Leann Rimes The Torture Never Stops Part Two Frank Zappa
Lonely In Love Lyle Lovett A Hard Day's Night The Beatles Fire And
Brimstone Neville Brothers Mystery Train Paul Butterfield…
Jimi Hendrix The Lowlands [f/Jaime Hanna & Jonathan MC Euen] The
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Happy Feelin' Earth Wind & Fire Tennesee
Stud Johnny Cash Give The Fiddler A Dram Garnet Rogers Introduction
Jimi Hendrix Complainte Pour Ste Catherine Kate & Anna McGarrigle
One Way Ticket Leann Rimes The Torture Never Stops Part Two Frank Zappa
Lonely In Love Lyle Lovett A Hard Day's Night The Beatles Fire And
Brimstone Neville Brothers Mystery Train Paul Butterfield…
If
you have to have a tune stuck in your head, this is a good one: The
Fishin' Hole (theme to The Andy Griffith Show) by Andy Griffith
Songfacts
you have to have a tune stuck in your head, this is a good one: The
Fishin' Hole (theme to The Andy Griffith Show) by Andy Griffith
Songfacts
MilkandCookies - Muppets: I'm My Own Grandpa
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Searching for your sole
Note to self: when planning a crime in Finland, be sure to wear American shoes:Police to set up national shoe print register
On racism and spam
The other day, I received an email that provided a brief news story about IBM and its Rational software division, where I used to work. The message, IBM, TCQA Partner to Boost Nigeria, however, wound up in my Gmail's Spam folder.
There has been a long-running email scam, sometimes called the Nigerian Scam or the 419 scam. Basically, it requests that the receiver send money as part of a plan to free a large sum of money that's been held in an account in a bank in Nigeria.
While it's a good idea for spam filters to try to catch these kinds of illicit and dangerous pitches, it's less good when any mention of Nigeria in an email is enough to cause a message to flagged as spam.
I should note that Gmail's spam filtering is, overall, remarkably good. Very few spam messages sneak in (maybe three or four a year) and there are also very few false positives (legitimate messages marked as spam). It's still a good idea to review messages to make sure that the good and bad stuff aren't getting mixed up.
There has been a long-running email scam, sometimes called the Nigerian Scam or the 419 scam. Basically, it requests that the receiver send money as part of a plan to free a large sum of money that's been held in an account in a bank in Nigeria.
While it's a good idea for spam filters to try to catch these kinds of illicit and dangerous pitches, it's less good when any mention of Nigeria in an email is enough to cause a message to flagged as spam.
I should note that Gmail's spam filtering is, overall, remarkably good. Very few spam messages sneak in (maybe three or four a year) and there are also very few false positives (legitimate messages marked as spam). It's still a good idea to review messages to make sure that the good and bad stuff aren't getting mixed up.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Retail trends in our fair burg
Holden presents itself as a pretty well-off suburb. The prize fights surrounding the maintenance of the historic district in the center of town when a gas station wanted to put up canopies over the gas pumps was stuff of legend (even though the canopies eventually did go up).
So, there are a couple of interesting trends in the Big Y shopping plaza just south of the town center. Bhadon Gifts has offered fun and exotic gifts for 13 years. My mother loved the place and got to know the staff quite well. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to see that they're closing this store to consolidate back into their one store in the Tatnuck section of Worcester.
In the meantime, Dollar Tree has opened a store in the same plaza. Dollar Tree has as its marketing strategy everything for a buck. You'll find World's Greatest Dad pillows, plastic drinkware, and car sponge with rope for a dollar. The place looked busy this morning, busier, certainly, than Bhadon's. Meanwhile, on Main Street, there were no cars in front of the Talbot's clothing shop.
So, there are a couple of interesting trends in the Big Y shopping plaza just south of the town center. Bhadon Gifts has offered fun and exotic gifts for 13 years. My mother loved the place and got to know the staff quite well. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to see that they're closing this store to consolidate back into their one store in the Tatnuck section of Worcester.
In the meantime, Dollar Tree has opened a store in the same plaza. Dollar Tree has as its marketing strategy everything for a buck. You'll find World's Greatest Dad pillows, plastic drinkware, and car sponge with rope for a dollar. The place looked busy this morning, busier, certainly, than Bhadon's. Meanwhile, on Main Street, there were no cars in front of the Talbot's clothing shop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)