Everything's Up to Date ...
Jul. 28th, 2025 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreI had the usual routine meetings and such in May, e.g. both book clubs and my Litvak genealogy mentoring session, which also included a talk by Nina on how to work with a translator. I did also make a used bookstore run, in which I got rid of 17 books and came home with 13 new to me books.
Better Said Than Done had a Mother’s Day show on the 10th in Ellicott City (essentially, Baltimore). The traffic getting there was dreadful, mostly due to construction. Let’s just say it took me almost an hour just to get past Tyson’s Corner, which should be about 10 - 15 minutes. Fortunately, everyone did make it there and the show went well, with a wide mix of stories. I told a story about my mother’s bargain hunting / hoarding tendencies, which includes the time she bought 12 cases of bottled borscht (24 bottles per case) at our public television station’s auction.
I also had three trips out of town in May. The first one was the first weekend in May, when I went to Kansas City for the Flyertalk BBQ Do. Basically, frequent flyers got together to eat barbecue and talk about points and miles (and, in some cases, drink, but that’s not my thing). Most of us stayed at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, which I think I had been at on my first trip to Kansas City back in the mid-1980’s, when I took Amtrak’s Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon to Santa Fe to Kansas City.
Friday night’s get-together was at Jack Stack. The Freight House location was a short walk from the hotel. Beer goes well with barbecue so I got a Boulevard Space Camper IPA, which was tasty. Unfortunately, the service was terrible and it took ages before I actually got my beer. The food service was also very slow. I got the Stack sandwich, which was okay, though the honey-chipotle barbecue sauce was not particularly exciting and the cole slaw was more creamy than the vinegary type I prefer. Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
I thought the food and service at Wolf Pack BBQ, where we went for lunch on Saturday, were better. I got a combo plate which had turkey breast, beans, and potato salad. The latter was just okay, but the turkey and beans were very tasty.
After lunch, I got a ride to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum which are in the same building. The baseball museum was excellent and included some things I had been completely unaware of, such as the role of women (including as team owners) and how a reporter from a communist newspaper helped the push for integration.
Satchel Paige has always been one of my favorites.
Overall, this was worth about an hour and a half. The American Jazz Museum was not as good and I only spent about 45 minutes there. While it has some cool exhibits, e.g. listening stations which let you hear performances by musicians like Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, I wish the museum had had things like chronological info about the development of different subgenres and more info on less familiar performers. There was a pretty good temporary exhibit about Louis Prima.
Also, the sidewalk outside the building had medallions for the Jazz Hall of Fame with performers such as Harry Belafonte, Al Jarred, and Ella Fitzgerald.
On Sunday I walked over to the World War I Museum, which is definitely worth half a day.
The major part of the museum consists of year by year chronological exhibits about the events of the war. Those are mixed in with displays of weapons and protective equipment and so on, such as this gas mask.
One display I found particularly moving had to do with trench warfare and included this powerful poem.
There were also a few interesting special exhibits. One had to do with military chaplains.
This panorama is on one of the upper levels of the building.
And the downstairs level had a display of letters sent to a soldier by his artist father.
I finished off the day by walking over to the Crown Center and checking out a temporary display (which was closing that day) on Snoopy and the Red Baron.
Overall, this was an excellent weekend and definitely worth the trip.
Better Said Than Done had a Mother’s Day show on the 10th in Ellicott City (essentially, Baltimore). The traffic getting there was dreadful, mostly due to construction. Let’s just say it took me almost an hour just to get past Tyson’s Corner, which should be about 10 - 15 minutes. Fortunately, everyone did make it there and the show went well, with a wide mix of stories. I told a story about my mother’s bargain hunting / hoarding tendencies, which includes the time she bought 12 cases of bottled borscht (24 bottles per case) at our public television station’s auction.
I also had three trips out of town in May. The first one was the first weekend in May, when I went to Kansas City for the Flyertalk BBQ Do. Basically, frequent flyers got together to eat barbecue and talk about points and miles (and, in some cases, drink, but that’s not my thing). Most of us stayed at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, which I think I had been at on my first trip to Kansas City back in the mid-1980’s, when I took Amtrak’s Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon to Santa Fe to Kansas City.
Friday night’s get-together was at Jack Stack. The Freight House location was a short walk from the hotel. Beer goes well with barbecue so I got a Boulevard Space Camper IPA, which was tasty. Unfortunately, the service was terrible and it took ages before I actually got my beer. The food service was also very slow. I got the Stack sandwich, which was okay, though the honey-chipotle barbecue sauce was not particularly exciting and the cole slaw was more creamy than the vinegary type I prefer. Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
I thought the food and service at Wolf Pack BBQ, where we went for lunch on Saturday, were better. I got a combo plate which had turkey breast, beans, and potato salad. The latter was just okay, but the turkey and beans were very tasty.
After lunch, I got a ride to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum which are in the same building. The baseball museum was excellent and included some things I had been completely unaware of, such as the role of women (including as team owners) and how a reporter from a communist newspaper helped the push for integration.
Satchel Paige has always been one of my favorites.
Overall, this was worth about an hour and a half. The American Jazz Museum was not as good and I only spent about 45 minutes there. While it has some cool exhibits, e.g. listening stations which let you hear performances by musicians like Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, I wish the museum had had things like chronological info about the development of different subgenres and more info on less familiar performers. There was a pretty good temporary exhibit about Louis Prima.
Also, the sidewalk outside the building had medallions for the Jazz Hall of Fame with performers such as Harry Belafonte, Al Jarred, and Ella Fitzgerald.
On Sunday I walked over to the World War I Museum, which is definitely worth half a day.
The major part of the museum consists of year by year chronological exhibits about the events of the war. Those are mixed in with displays of weapons and protective equipment and so on, such as this gas mask.
One display I found particularly moving had to do with trench warfare and included this powerful poem.
There were also a few interesting special exhibits. One had to do with military chaplains.
This panorama is on one of the upper levels of the building.
And the downstairs level had a display of letters sent to a soldier by his artist father.
I finished off the day by walking over to the Crown Center and checking out a temporary display (which was closing that day) on Snoopy and the Red Baron.
Overall, this was an excellent weekend and definitely worth the trip.
a productive day
Jul. 28th, 2025 05:13 pmredbirdI just got off the phone with a (genuinely) helpful person at Amalgamated Bank.
I've been talking to them in order to close a joint account in my and my mother's names, and the bank told me in June that the easiest way to do this would be to withdraw all the money and then have them close the account. In order to do that, I had to set up online banking, but only after adding my phone number to the account, which I did in June. Apparently the reason I couldn't log in to the online account after setting it up was that I'd written the password down wrong.
The person at the bank reset my password for me, and then told me how to link this account to an account at another bank. I'm waiting for the test deposits to hit my account, which may take a few days. After than, I can transfer the rest of the money.
Also, I got up in time to go for a walk this morning, to the grocery store and back, before it got too hot. It's a hot day in July, so the six things I bought included ice cream, Italian ices, and fresh blueberries.
I've been talking to them in order to close a joint account in my and my mother's names, and the bank told me in June that the easiest way to do this would be to withdraw all the money and then have them close the account. In order to do that, I had to set up online banking, but only after adding my phone number to the account, which I did in June. Apparently the reason I couldn't log in to the online account after setting it up was that I'd written the password down wrong.
The person at the bank reset my password for me, and then told me how to link this account to an account at another bank. I'm waiting for the test deposits to hit my account, which may take a few days. After than, I can transfer the rest of the money.
Also, I got up in time to go for a walk this morning, to the grocery store and back, before it got too hot. It's a hot day in July, so the six things I bought included ice cream, Italian ices, and fresh blueberries.
Bundle of Holding: Apocalisse & Inferno
Jul. 28th, 2025 02:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
English-language ebooks of Apocalisse and Inferno, the Acheron Games campaign settings based on the Book of Revelation and the Divine Comedy for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and compatible systems.
Bundle of Holding: Apocalisse & Inferno
Jumping Jet Packs! Five Stories From the Golden Age of Personal Flying Devices
Jul. 28th, 2025 12:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Surely we should all have harness copters by now?
Jumping Jet Packs! Five Stories From the Golden Age of Personal Flying Devices
Clarke Award Finalists 2007
Jul. 28th, 2025 09:36 amjames_davis_nicoll2007: The Blair government is rocked by rumours of Tory-style corruption, Matty Hull’s killers escape justice and are free to kill again, while the global financial markets to which the UK belongs are absolutely secure and in no way headed for a shocking correction.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
Hav by Jan Morris
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
Streaking by Brian Stableford
Poll #33435 Clarke Award Finalists 2007
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
9 (64.3%)
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
3 (21.4%)
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
3 (21.4%)
Hav by Jan Morris
7 (50.0%)
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
0 (0.0%)
Streaking by Brian Stableford
0 (0.0%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
Hav by Jan Morris
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
Streaking by Brian Stableford
There is too much month in the next month
Jul. 28th, 2025 01:26 amkiyaI need to write some shit down so I can sort it all out.
Will add to it as I remember things I need to deal with so I can unload them from my brain.
( Primarily of interest to me. )
Will add to it as I remember things I need to deal with so I can unload them from my brain.
( Primarily of interest to me. )
[ gaming ] It's nice to occasionally have a sequence of morally uncomplicated fights
Jul. 27th, 2025 07:20 pmkiyaThree lunatics and a paladin, once more.
Dramatis Personae:
Viepuck and Izgil, who have complicated magical theory shit going on
Celyn and Robin, who hit things and heal people
When we left off we had retrieved an evil sphere and yelled for help answering what to do with it.
( So we sorted out what to do next. )
Dramatis Personae:
Viepuck and Izgil, who have complicated magical theory shit going on
Celyn and Robin, who hit things and heal people
When we left off we had retrieved an evil sphere and yelled for help answering what to do with it.
( So we sorted out what to do next. )
Links: Instruments of healing
Jul. 27th, 2025 08:47 pmsoniaInstruments of Healing by Ashley Stimpson. "At Johns Hopkins Hospital, music therapists use stirring rhythms and soothing melodies to support patients and their families during the hardest moments of their lives." Content note: medical trauma, caringly described.
Tom Lehrer, legendary satirist from Cambridge, dies at 97 by adamg, with lots of youtube performance links. My parents played Tom Lehrer's records a lot when I was a kid, and his songs live in my head. His memory for a blessing.
Lesson by Zach Weinersmith, one of the authors of Bea Wolf. Who will save the world, and how, in a one-page comic.
What is Soothing Hand by Pamela Merritt at Way of Cats.
The Curious Case of the Pygmy Nuthatch by Forrest Wickman. "It was one of the weirdest errors ever committed to film. It took me months to uncover how it all went wrong."
Tom Lehrer, legendary satirist from Cambridge, dies at 97 by adamg, with lots of youtube performance links. My parents played Tom Lehrer's records a lot when I was a kid, and his songs live in my head. His memory for a blessing.
Lesson by Zach Weinersmith, one of the authors of Bea Wolf. Who will save the world, and how, in a one-page comic.
What is Soothing Hand by Pamela Merritt at Way of Cats.
The Curious Case of the Pygmy Nuthatch by Forrest Wickman. "It was one of the weirdest errors ever committed to film. It took me months to uncover how it all went wrong."
Further Massachusetts small town adventures
Jul. 27th, 2025 10:50 pmsorcyressAustin and I decided to do MORE ADVENTURES today!
(look, as mentioned last post, it's basically the only _weekend_ we have in common, it's nice to try and make the most of it!)
Today's plan was to do morning service ringing, and lunch with the bellringers, and then at 2:30 go to Salem on the....ferry? The weather's plan was ...not worth taking a $35 per ticket private ferry when we already have active weekend passes for the commuter rail, making the train ride essentially free. And the train left at literally the same time. We hopped on the 2:30 and were in Salem just after 3! The biggest difference between yesterday and today was that we didn't bring our bicycles today, we were operating on blue bikes only...which works, because they have a Salem/Lynn network!
(they do not have what you would call "continuous coverage" between Lynn and Boston, mind. But taking the train to Salem and then blue biking around up there is an excellent plan!)
We spent the first bit of Salem Adventure wandering around and going into little shops in order to mostly sightsee/windowshop. There was a really lovely crystal shop that was just chockablock full of shiny things that I didn't get, and then we stopped in to my absolute favourite of the witchy shops. It is one that feels most...not touristy? I mean, it's RIGHT on the main strip, but it sells way more herbs and bones and dried flowers and antler tips and shit like that than most of the competitors. Pretty sure it's The Coven's Cottage. It's where I bought the bone that sits on my altar (since 2019) and today while browsing their "random bones, $3.99" bin, one basically fell into my hand and my fingers curled around it exactly like it belonged there and that was that.
I was explaining to Austin that I don't really read spellbooks or books about magic or anything like that, because the woo I work with is pretty seriously on the "it will show itself if you let it" method. Bones that look like a knife and then slide into your hand are definitely on the right track. It will go nicely next to the little iron bell I got at the Joie de Vivre end-of-things garage sale.
We also stopped by "Goodnight Fatty" which is a cookie shop selling omg decadant cookies. (At the very end of the day we had just enough time to swing by again so Austin could get a box to take home). Delicious stuff!
After an hour, ninety minutes, of this, it was time to get bikes and go on the next stage adventure: biking up to the tip of Salem and seeing the ocean at Salem Willows beach. It was a lovely ~1.5 mile ride along mostly bike lanes (!) and very little car traffic. And the first thing we saw when we arrived was a huge arcade!
Austin talked me into "look at the ocean first" and so we sat on a bench and stared out across the rocks and seagulls to all the boats, and we waved at Beverly and generally just filled our souls.
(spoiler alert, we did several discrete rounds of that, including the one where I finally got Austin hooked into the Merlin app. He is currently two birds behind me and I fully anticipate coming back from MD to find him forty birds ahead.)
After some ocean we went to wander the midway strip and see what was there. We peaked into Kiddieland and watched some children on the car racing ride, and admired the beautiful wooden carousel. The arcade was huge and classic --maybe 1.5 times as big as the one at Scandieland, which is my usual yearly "play skeeball and throw things to knock down the clowns" event. It was a nice mix of old and new (and Austin was astonished to learn that modern arcades are all just phone games from ten years ago)
((okay _modern_ arcades are all Japanese style gachapon variety, and there were a small number of those too))
But it was also loud and crowded and overstimulating and hadn't we passed a mini-golf place back on the strip a bit ..?
Yes, we had. It was the smallest miniature golf course I've ever seen, and I was absolutely thrilled with it. I doubled par in the first half, did rather better on the back half, and got two holes-in-one in a row. There was one other family playing through, and we very much enjoyed watching them in between our own banter and fun. Seriously the course was so tight and tiny and fun!
After that, we got dinner at a place we believe is named "crab shack" which was the prime exemplar of the beast. Seriously, I had the thickest most delicious clam chowder and Austin had a delicious crab roll and there were onion rings that we couldn't finish because we were full of other stuff and I had a corn on the cob and so happy! So round! So delighted!
...and then Austin looks it up and says "well, the 'Holy Cow' ice cream parlour has amazing reviews" so OFF WE WENT to become even more full and round and happy! While standing in line looking at the flavour board, we note it says "National Ice Cream Association (or something like that) #1 flavour of the year" next to their "Ritzy AF" --a butter ice cream with toffee-ritz brittle in it. Uh. Yeah. Absolutely yes. Austin got his paired with their Key Lime Pie, I got mine paired with the Easy Peazy (as you might expect, a lemon curd ice cream that was apparently the #3 flavour), it was GREAT! Dang dang dang!
We made it back to the train in just the right amount of time, and then had a lovely cool bike ride home from North Station. I am very happy!
~Sor
MOOP!
(look, as mentioned last post, it's basically the only _weekend_ we have in common, it's nice to try and make the most of it!)
Today's plan was to do morning service ringing, and lunch with the bellringers, and then at 2:30 go to Salem on the....ferry? The weather's plan was ...not worth taking a $35 per ticket private ferry when we already have active weekend passes for the commuter rail, making the train ride essentially free. And the train left at literally the same time. We hopped on the 2:30 and were in Salem just after 3! The biggest difference between yesterday and today was that we didn't bring our bicycles today, we were operating on blue bikes only...which works, because they have a Salem/Lynn network!
(they do not have what you would call "continuous coverage" between Lynn and Boston, mind. But taking the train to Salem and then blue biking around up there is an excellent plan!)
We spent the first bit of Salem Adventure wandering around and going into little shops in order to mostly sightsee/windowshop. There was a really lovely crystal shop that was just chockablock full of shiny things that I didn't get, and then we stopped in to my absolute favourite of the witchy shops. It is one that feels most...not touristy? I mean, it's RIGHT on the main strip, but it sells way more herbs and bones and dried flowers and antler tips and shit like that than most of the competitors. Pretty sure it's The Coven's Cottage. It's where I bought the bone that sits on my altar (since 2019) and today while browsing their "random bones, $3.99" bin, one basically fell into my hand and my fingers curled around it exactly like it belonged there and that was that.
I was explaining to Austin that I don't really read spellbooks or books about magic or anything like that, because the woo I work with is pretty seriously on the "it will show itself if you let it" method. Bones that look like a knife and then slide into your hand are definitely on the right track. It will go nicely next to the little iron bell I got at the Joie de Vivre end-of-things garage sale.
We also stopped by "Goodnight Fatty" which is a cookie shop selling omg decadant cookies. (At the very end of the day we had just enough time to swing by again so Austin could get a box to take home). Delicious stuff!
After an hour, ninety minutes, of this, it was time to get bikes and go on the next stage adventure: biking up to the tip of Salem and seeing the ocean at Salem Willows beach. It was a lovely ~1.5 mile ride along mostly bike lanes (!) and very little car traffic. And the first thing we saw when we arrived was a huge arcade!
Austin talked me into "look at the ocean first" and so we sat on a bench and stared out across the rocks and seagulls to all the boats, and we waved at Beverly and generally just filled our souls.
(spoiler alert, we did several discrete rounds of that, including the one where I finally got Austin hooked into the Merlin app. He is currently two birds behind me and I fully anticipate coming back from MD to find him forty birds ahead.)
After some ocean we went to wander the midway strip and see what was there. We peaked into Kiddieland and watched some children on the car racing ride, and admired the beautiful wooden carousel. The arcade was huge and classic --maybe 1.5 times as big as the one at Scandieland, which is my usual yearly "play skeeball and throw things to knock down the clowns" event. It was a nice mix of old and new (and Austin was astonished to learn that modern arcades are all just phone games from ten years ago)
((okay _modern_ arcades are all Japanese style gachapon variety, and there were a small number of those too))
But it was also loud and crowded and overstimulating and hadn't we passed a mini-golf place back on the strip a bit ..?
Yes, we had. It was the smallest miniature golf course I've ever seen, and I was absolutely thrilled with it. I doubled par in the first half, did rather better on the back half, and got two holes-in-one in a row. There was one other family playing through, and we very much enjoyed watching them in between our own banter and fun. Seriously the course was so tight and tiny and fun!
After that, we got dinner at a place we believe is named "crab shack" which was the prime exemplar of the beast. Seriously, I had the thickest most delicious clam chowder and Austin had a delicious crab roll and there were onion rings that we couldn't finish because we were full of other stuff and I had a corn on the cob and so happy! So round! So delighted!
...and then Austin looks it up and says "well, the 'Holy Cow' ice cream parlour has amazing reviews" so OFF WE WENT to become even more full and round and happy! While standing in line looking at the flavour board, we note it says "National Ice Cream Association (or something like that) #1 flavour of the year" next to their "Ritzy AF" --a butter ice cream with toffee-ritz brittle in it. Uh. Yeah. Absolutely yes. Austin got his paired with their Key Lime Pie, I got mine paired with the Easy Peazy (as you might expect, a lemon curd ice cream that was apparently the #3 flavour), it was GREAT! Dang dang dang!
We made it back to the train in just the right amount of time, and then had a lovely cool bike ride home from North Station. I am very happy!
~Sor
MOOP!
3 people who died recently
Jul. 27th, 2025 06:58 pmgoljerpSo today Tom Lehrer died. He was 97, and realistically speaking he probably wasn't going to start writing songs again, but I loved his work, and the world is a bit duller today.
I also finished reading my Brandeis Alumni magazine, which meant I looked at the "In Memoriam" section. It's a bit annoying to me that the section has gotten so small - it used to be a bit about the people who died; now it's just name, class year, where they lived, and maybe a date of death. I understand that paper is expensive, as are editors, but... come on, a bit more information (like there used to be) would be nice.
So I saw that Emily Dudek died. She taught intro to Chemistry (and the chemistry lab) when I was a freshman at Brandeis. I remember her full of energy, keeping people's attention through sheer force of will and perpetual motion. I've told tons of people about her trick of writing with her left hand (I'm pretty sure she was a lefty) and erasing ahead of herself with her right.
She was also a very nice person as well. There was a summer I was doing research at Brandeis; I didn't get into the summer research program she was running (but got a more modest stipend which I think covered my housing?), but she generously let me join in the activities with the students who were in that program. It made a lot of difference to me that summer, but she didn't need to do it - she could easily have just said , "Sorry, Goljerp" and I'd have understood (but been sad).
Also I noticed that Barney Schwalberg died. I took intro to Economics with him my Sophmore year. I put a picture of him up in my tiny room in the castle (also no longer existing), and after I broke my ankle and the stairs up to the class were often too much for me, I'd apologize (to his picture) when I skipped class. I mean, I was taking it pass-fail, and was also taking Organic Chemistry, Physics (for Physics majors), labs for both, and an advanced math class.
But I hated skipping his class, because it was a good one!
Sigh.
I also finished reading my Brandeis Alumni magazine, which meant I looked at the "In Memoriam" section. It's a bit annoying to me that the section has gotten so small - it used to be a bit about the people who died; now it's just name, class year, where they lived, and maybe a date of death. I understand that paper is expensive, as are editors, but... come on, a bit more information (like there used to be) would be nice.
So I saw that Emily Dudek died. She taught intro to Chemistry (and the chemistry lab) when I was a freshman at Brandeis. I remember her full of energy, keeping people's attention through sheer force of will and perpetual motion. I've told tons of people about her trick of writing with her left hand (I'm pretty sure she was a lefty) and erasing ahead of herself with her right.
She was also a very nice person as well. There was a summer I was doing research at Brandeis; I didn't get into the summer research program she was running (but got a more modest stipend which I think covered my housing?), but she generously let me join in the activities with the students who were in that program. It made a lot of difference to me that summer, but she didn't need to do it - she could easily have just said , "Sorry, Goljerp" and I'd have understood (but been sad).
Also I noticed that Barney Schwalberg died. I took intro to Economics with him my Sophmore year. I put a picture of him up in my tiny room in the castle (also no longer existing), and after I broke my ankle and the stairs up to the class were often too much for me, I'd apologize (to his picture) when I skipped class. I mean, I was taking it pass-fail, and was also taking Organic Chemistry, Physics (for Physics majors), labs for both, and an advanced math class.
But I hated skipping his class, because it was a good one!
Sigh.
RIP Tom Lehrer
Jul. 27th, 2025 04:02 pmredbirdTom Lehrer, a satirical songwriter and professor of math and musical theater, has died, age 97. A lot of his songs are satirical, often about then-current events, but most of those songs hold up pretty well, I think.
The Universal Hub post about Lehrer's death links to several videos.
Lehrer placed all his music in the public domain, including performance rights and the right to publish parodies and distortions, in the public domain a few years ago. Everything is available for download, though the website includes a notice that it will be shut down at some date in the not too distant future (relative to 2022.
Oh, and Lehrer also wrote my favorite song from the PBS program The Electric Company, "Silent E."
The Universal Hub post about Lehrer's death links to several videos.
Lehrer placed all his music in the public domain, including performance rights and the right to publish parodies and distortions, in the public domain a few years ago. Everything is available for download, though the website includes a notice that it will be shut down at some date in the not too distant future (relative to 2022.
Oh, and Lehrer also wrote my favorite song from the PBS program The Electric Company, "Silent E."
inherited iPad
Jul. 27th, 2025 02:50 pmcellioMy mother has never learned to use computers, aside from a smartphone that she uses for calls and texting with the grandkids. After my father died and she asked me to do something with my father's several desktop and laptop computers, she cancelled their Internet service that she wouldn't be using. But she held onto my dad's newest tablet, thinking she could use it to browse news and look at photos. This requires a network connection, so I set up her phone for tethering, set up the tablet to automatically connect to that network, and showed her how to turn that on and off on her phone. (I described this as "turning on Internet for the tablet".)
In the end she found this too difficult and she's never used that tablet, so this week she gave it to me. It's an iPad Pro (3rd generation, 12.9") and comes to me with a keyboard cover and a couple of Apple pencils. I'd already downloaded his Apple cloud backups more than a year ago, so I could safely reset the tablet. I'm new to iOS (I use Android), so I figure this is a chance to check it out before the next time I need to replace a phone or tablet. I'm happy to accept pointers, app recommendations, and warnings. I do have a Mac desktop, but their mobile setup is new to me.
Apple aims for intuitive user interfaces, but that doesn't mean they always succeed. When deleting personal information as part of resetting, I had to enter first the PIN and then my father's Apple password. That makes sense. After I entered the password I hit return, but there was no visible change. I hit return again, thinking it hadn't taken, then tried delete to see if that changed anything, and concluded that it was stuck. I let it sit there for a while. Five minutes later, I got a "no connection" popup. Ok, yeah, now that you mention it I should have realized I'd need to connect it to my WiFi for that to work, but if it had given me any indication of what it was doing ("connecting...") while it was doing it, I would have known (a) that it was doing something and (b) that I needed to fix that. Instead, the interface just gave me a mystery for a while. Oops.
Those two Apple pencils are an as-yet-unsolved puzzle. My mother gave me one that was with the tablet (there's a magnetic connection) and one in a box that she thought was new (my father ordered it but never got a chance to use it, she thinks). The two pencils look identical to me, except that the one in the box is missing the plastic cap that should be on its stylus. The plastic cap from the other one does not fit it -- so they seem to be different, but that's my only clue. The box says "2nd generation". Something I found online describes the first generation as round and the second as mostly round with a flat side (because it was too easy for the first generation to roll off of desks). Both of these have that flat side, so I conclude that my father replaced one second-generation pencil with another, but if so, I am left wondering why the cap from one doesn't fit the other. I have no idea which of these is actually newer; maybe he did replace it (maybe he broke his first one?) and he put the old one in the box the new one came in? So many mysteries.
The tablet is now busy updating from iOS 17.1 to 18.5. Yeah, it's been offline a while.
