Goodby Mr. Spock

Or goodbye Leonard Nimoy, actually:



Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83

Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.

His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Mr. Nimoy announced that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.

His artistic pursuits — poetry, photography and music in addition to acting — ranged far beyond the United Federation of Planets, but it was as Mr. Spock that Mr. Nimoy became a folk hero, bringing to life one of the most indelible characters of the last half century: a cerebral, unflappable, pointy-eared Vulcan with a signature salute and blessing: “Live long and prosper” (from the Vulcan “Dif-tor heh smusma”). [...]

He was a man of many talents. He had a Master's degree in Spanish that he earned in his 40's, among many other accomplishments. Follow the link for photos, video and more.

     

An actual product called "Poo-pouri"

I don't know which is more weird and funny, the commercial, or the fact that the product is a best-seller on Amazon.com. I'm sure that someone must be laughing all the way to the bank. Good for them!

Don't forget to see Second Hand Stink, and Even Santa Poops.
     

A Blast from the Past: "Mountain Music"

It's been described as a warning against too much technology too fast, but I think it can also be interpreted as "where much of modern music went wrong".



source: Classic Will Vinton- Mountian Music

It's not that electronics in music is bad. But how you use it, makes all the difference. If you use technology to increase volume and sound power and generate a lot of inharmonious noise, it ceases to be music, in my opinion. And inharmonious noise CAN be destructive.

I remember seeing this movie by Will Vinton in my film studies class. It made a lasting impression. I even attempted clay animation at school. I sometimes wish I had pursued it further, but the fact is it takes a lot of patience. At least it did in those days, animation was not computerized, and everything had to be done by hand. And claymation was still a very new artform.

Will Vinton, an Oregon native, went on to do a lot of interesting things. He persevered with clay animation when most people were dismissing it as too unwieldy and difficult to work with. He created the term "claymation", and was very active in refining and developing it as an artform. Most people would recognize his work in TV commercials for California Raisins, and M&M's.

Also see:

Wikipedia: Will Vinton

WILL POWER: INTERVIEW WITH CLAYMATION PIONEER WILL VINTON

     

Too RUDE, but All Too True

Anyone who lives in Oregon should understand this:

John Oliver leads left-wing cable television slam-a-thon of Cover Oregon



The parody was excellent.

     

A bit of Christmas Spirit...

... with a Western twist.

Wishing You an Old Fashioned Christmas! from Jared Foster on Vimeo.

     

The S.S. United States: Darkest Days

I've been posting about this previously. Here is chapter 4:

Published on Apr 5, 2013

CHAPTER 4: DARKEST DAYS. The SS United States is America's Flagship — a perfect marriage of design and engineering all wrapped in one amazing sea-going symbol of post-war America. Built in 1952, she handily beat the transatlantic speed record on her maiden voyage. No ocean liner has ever broken this record. Now, this amazing ship needs our help. Save America's Flagship from being lost forever at http://SaveTheUnitedStates.org.

Chapter 4 of 5 — Click here to view Chapter 5: http://youtu.be/LkzHHDQljMk

   

The S.S. United States: Built to Last

I've been blogging about a documentary about the ship, made by an organization that's trying to save it from the scrap heap. Today's installment is Chapter 3:

CHAPTER 3: BUILT TO LAST. The SS United States is America's Flagship — a perfect marriage of design and engineering all wrapped in one amazing sea-going symbol of post-war America. Built in 1952, she handily beat the transatlantic speed record on her maiden voyage. No ocean liner has ever broken this record. Now, this amazing ship needs our help. Save America's Flagship from being lost forever at http://SaveTheUnitedStates.org.

Chapter 3 of 5 — Click here to view Chapter 4: http://youtu.be/IUVhvEKz2_Q

This chapter is possibly my favorite. Previous chapters that I blogged about are here and here.
   

SS United States, Part 2: The Blue Riband

The grand old ship that's fighting for it's life. I first posted about it here, with a link to a video about the ship. Below is the second of four parts.




SS United States: Made in America (Chapter 2: The Blue Riband)


   

Save the S.S. United States from the scrap-heap

I was gonna do a post about this great old ship a few years back, when they were planning to refurbish and relaunch her. But it seems that bringing her up to modern code proved to be too cost prohibitive; those plans all fell through. Now she is in a fight for her life:



Historic Ship Short on Funds and Time

The SS United States is sending out what may be its final distress call.

The 990-foot-long ship could be sold for scrap within two months unless the grass-roots preservation group that's working to secure a home and purpose for it can raise $500,000 immediately, the group told The Associated Press. Talks are under way with developers and investors about the ship's long-term future, but without the emergency funding, its caretakers fear they will run out of money before a deal is inked.

The historic ocean liner carried princes and presidents across the Atlantic in the 1950s and 1960s but has spent decades awaiting a savior at its berth on the Philadelphia waterfront.

"We've made progress on the fundraising side and the redevelopment side," said Susan Gibbs, executive director of the SS United States Conservancy and granddaughter of the ship's Philadelphia-born designer, William Francis Gibbs. "Our immediate goal is to buy some time."

The group has raised $1 million through fundraisers and a website, where contributors can sponsor a piece of the ship for $1 per square foot, but has received no public funding. What is desperately and immediately needed, they said, are donors with deep pockets and high profiles.

"Are we giving up on successfully redeveloping the ship as a self-sustaining entity? Absolutely not," said Dan McSweeney, head of the redevelopment efforts. "We continue to have active discussions with potential partners, we have ideas of potential sites for the ship, but we need more time to get it off the ground ... and we're running out of runway."

It costs $80,000 a month just for mooring, basic maintenance, insurance and security, he said.

The conservancy is exploring potential partnerships with four entities in Philadelphia and New York City to refashion the vessel as a stationary entertainment complex with 500,000 square feet of space for a hotel, theater, restaurants and shopping. The sluggish economy and other factors have slowed negotiations, McSweeney said.

As talks continue, he said, the hope is to convince corporate sponsors, influential politicians and prominent business leaders — are you listening, Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg? — to lend their political and financial capital to the effort.

"Any way you look at it, there is no downside to this project," McSweeney said. "It's an economic and community development project that's going to create jobs."

The SS United States carried more than 1 million passengers at record-breaking trans-Atlantic speeds over the course of 400 round trips from 1952 to 1969, among them President John F. Kennedy, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Salvador Dali and Elizabeth Taylor. A joint venture between the Navy and ship designer Gibbs & Cox, the luxury liner was made with hidden military might: It could have been converted in a single day to transport 14,000 troops for 10,000 miles before refueling.

After being decommissioned it changed hands multiple times, from the Navy and on through a series of restoration-minded investors.

It was towed from Virginia to Turkey to Ukraine, finally arriving in Philadelphia as a gutted hulk in 1996. Another succession of developers and a cruise lines failed to return the ship to service as retrofitting costs proved too great. [...]

I remember reading about this ship when I was a kid, I was a real fan. Our local library had and encyclopedia, that had a three panel color fold-out of a cutaway diagram showing all the inside parts and levels of the ship. I had a model kit of the ship that I built and painted. It was the greatest ocean liner ever.

How ironic that it can't be brought up to "modern" standards. It was not unsinkable, but it was hard to sink. It had five chambers. Even if all 5 chambers were to flood, up to the waterline, it would still not sink. Compare that to modern cruise ships, that have only two chambers. And their "modern" propensity to break down at sea and become floating toilets.

The hope now is to turn the ship into a permanently docked museum/hotel/office space/restaurant/conventions center complex. It seems like a worthy venture. We once visited the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. It had been converted thus, and it was a very enjoyable visit. I would love to see that happen for the S.S. United States, since it can't be allowed to compete with our modern floating toilet bowls.

Here is a video about the ship. It's part of a series, I think I shall try to post one a week, for the next several weeks.




SS United States: Made in America (Chapter 1)


Also see:

Granddaughter of SS United States' designer turns to documentary, social-media campaign to save ship

www.savetheunitedstates.org

   

South Africa, black on black crime

South Africa police charged with dragging murder

[...] The video shows Mr Macia struggling with police after apparently parking his vehicle illegally.

Police officers then overcome the taxi driver and tie him to the back of a van by his arms before driving off.

Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega: "The behaviour displayed in the video... is to be abhorred"

Former South African President Nelson Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, joined hundreds of mourners at a Daveyton sports stadium on Wednesday.

Wednesday's emotional ceremony saw mourners, many wearing t-shirts and holding posters printed with Mido Macia's photograph, joining together to sing, clap and dance.

Graca Machel, who is herself Mozambican, told reporters: "As a society we are bleeding. We are grieving. We are in pain. We just don't know how to deal with the pain."

Sonnyboy Ndlovu, a witness to the dragging who was at the ceremony, told Reuters news agency: "The police are used to terrorising people here in the township, especially the Ethiopians and Mozambicans." [...]

During the Aparteid years, any crime by the white-controlled police against blacks made international headlines. When Apartheid was abolished, and blacks assumed majority rule and control of the police, crimes by police continued, I would read about them in SA newspapers on the internet. They were reported in South Africa, but no longer made international headlines. The international press was not interested in reporting black on black crimes by police.

So what made this case different? Someone recorded it on video with their cell phone, and it got shown on South African TV (the article has a link to that video). And Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel got involved.

There has been an ongoing problem in South Africa with crimes against black foreigners. When Apartheid was abolished, so were much of the border controls with neighboring countries, which allowed millions of foreign nationals to come streaming into South Africa, competing with South Africans for jobs in an already tight job market. Unfortunately, it continues to be a problem.

   

"Romancing The Wind"

"Romancing The Wind" - Ray Bethell

Ray Bethell performs a kite ballet to Flower Duet from Lakme by Delibes.

     

Goodbye to Herbie, Last of the Spice Dogs

We took our 17 year old Chihuahua, Herbie, to the vet today, to be euthanized. His health had been steadily deteriorating, and this last week, rapidly so. He was in much pain, so it was the only kind choice, to end his suffering.

We had a group of dogs when we owned our restaurant many years ago. The first four were females, and we gave them all the names of spices, so we called them "The Spice Girls". Then we added one more dog, the only male. We named him Herbie (as in "herbs and spices"). Thereafter, the group was "Herbie and the Spice Girls". Here they are, at the height of their glory days:

In the above photo, Herbie is standing at the forefront. In the back, from left to right, is: Coriander, Saffron, Rosemary, and Marjoram.

Marjoram and Rosemary died while we were still living in San Francisco. The rest came to Oregon with us to live here on the farm.

Saffron died in 2007. Coriander died in 2011. Herbie, the last of the group, was also the last to go. We did a toast to him and the Spice Girls at dinner. It was the end of an era, and the end of a group that was (is and always will be) close to our hearts.

They are survived by our farm dog Digby, and our siamese cat, Smudgie, and 23 chickens and three ducks.

Here is how I'll always remember Herbie: leading Corrie and Digby in a charge attack on the Evil Vacuum cleaner:




Here is a photo of Herbie, when we adopted him from a dog rescue organization:

Here is probably the last photo I have of him, taken last summer:

He had a good long life. R.I.P. Herbie. May all of our Spice Dogs R.I.P.

Thanks for all your love. The world was a better place for having you here. And now Heaven is a better place for having you there.


   

Auroras seen over more than half the US States

Green and red ones. On Monday evening, October 24th:



Strange solar storm sparks northern lights that dip into Deep South for a surprise sky show

     

Super 8 Film and High Definition Video

The two would seem to have nothing in common. But recently, when I was looking into options for having some of my Super 8 movies transferred to video, I came across this page that makes a strong case for having Super 8 films transferred into High Definition video format. Among other things, you can actually see more of the original film frame when your transfer to High Definition:

Standard Definition or High Definition

[...] But whether you transfer to either High Definition or Standard Definition, there are some other things to consider. The aspect ratio, that is the "shape", of HD and SD is totally different. SD is 4:3, while HD is 16:9 in proportion. But home movies have a totally different "shape" and it fits neither SD nor HD ideally. And here's the bigger surprise: Even if you project the original film in your living room using Grandpa's old Brownie projector, you STILL don't have a perfect "match" for the original film frame!


As seen in example "A", there is considerable cut-off due to the undersized gate on the movie projector. This made production of the projector easier but at the sacrifice of much detail that exists on the outer edges but never seen. Example "B" shows how much more is revealed in an enlarged gate 4:3 transfer to Standard Definition video. [...]

And that's just one of several things to consider. Check out their "B" and "D" options, and other things they have to say about SD vs HD. Follow the link, I would say this is a MUST READ if you are considering having your films transferred to video or archived to a digital format.

And be sure and visit the MovieStuff homepage, and explore their website. It's easy to navigate, and very informative.
     

Will Obama's railroad plans, meet John Galt?

In the movie, I mean. Here is a trailer for "Atlas Shrugged", Part 1. It looks like it will be set in contemporary times:



Atlas Shrugged, the Movie?

[...] You may recall that one of the central themes of Atlas Shrugged is government nationalization of the railroads. So it’s ironic to note that, as the movie release draws near, our Dear Leader is claiming the solution to our economic woes is a wonderful new government railroad. It seems that life does indeed imitate art. [...]

Video: Trailer For Atlas Shrugged Movie Released

[...] Interesting that the setting is modern America as opposed to the original setting of the book. This should make the similarities between Rand’s original plot and Obama’s America all the more palpable. [...]

     

Merry Christmas 2010

Here's some Christmas music, a blast from the past:



For something a bit more heavenly, go here:

Libera with Aled Jones

Libera again

Final Libera
     

Youtube, Youth, and "Communist Roll'd"

In a previous post I lamented that the quality of the content of the most commonly watched "video of the day" on Youtube was kinda lame. Well, I figure, that's because the majority of people who are watching them are quite young. Today's popular video is a prime example:



This guy's videos are often among the "most viewed". He does snarky commentary on various video clips that people call his attention to. At first I scoffed at them as a boring waste of time; not very funny to me. But after watching a few, I can see he appeals to the younger crowd's sense of humor.

Sometimes even I find some of it funny. This particular "episode" has a segment at the end, where he makes fun of a rather scary looking Russian singer from the '70's. It took me back to when I lived in San Francisco.

There was a cable channel that catered to San Francisco's Russian Emigre community. The first time I saw it, there was a musical show on, that was so awful, I thought it was a parody. But it wasn't! I was horrified that anyone would actually sit and watch it as real musical entertainment. Over the years I would continue to see it occasionally while channel jumping, and it was a lot like the show in the video. In fact, I have to wonder if I've seen that "singer" before, he seems very familiar.

Yikes! I know I like to make fun of the new trends nowadays, calling them part of the "Brave New World". But the younger folks can also look back and find plenty of things to make fun of too. It works both ways.
     

Rube Goldberg Machine Music Video

I guess someone had a lot of time on their hands:

Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs ( http://syynlabs.com/ ) over the course of several months.

On my Google home page, which is what I see when I boot up my computer each morning, I've added a feature that shows me what the most-viewed Youtube video of the day is. For the past two days it was this one, sort of a music video - Rube Goldberg Machine.

I've had the "most viewed video of the day" feature on my page for almost two weeks now. So far, I've not been very impressed with most of the videos I've seen. Most of them have been boring crap; mostly accidents, sports failures, and boring talking heads. This one isn't especially great, but it is kinda weird. And so far, it's been the best of a bad bunch.

I was curious to see what the most watched videos would be. Now I'm almost sorry I did. What a lot of crap people spend their time on! I'll keep it on my page for a while, and see if the selections improve; I can only hope there will at least be an occasional gem in the dung heap.
     

Sunday Funnies: Dancing Birds and Babies

I got both of these in my email:



I thought, gee, I wonder if I can find them on YouTube. Well yeah, they were there and easy to find too, at the top of each search.



I have only seen them for the fist time recently, but it seems that they have been popular on YouTube for a while now. But the ones I got in my email don't have the advertisements on the edges. When did Youtube start doing that? I don't like the ads overlapping the video, they are annoying and detract from the experience. I say put the ads below the video, not OVER it.
     

Mega Cow Carousel on Chicago Area Farm

I got this in my email. Wow.