Writing, cooking, Computer stuff (learning Truespace 7 and Poser 6), stock market investing, blues/harmonica, some guitar, solar/geothermal energy, consumer electronics, gravity, nanotechnology, stem cell research -- and this very odd sociology of myspace.
There is an excellent article (cover) on Rupert Murdoch and the Future of Myspace in the July 2006 issue of Wired Magazine. It describes some of the thinking in News Corp about what ideas are being considered for Myspace.
What is the future of MySpace, a planetary free social network system? Will it be transformed into a marketing mechanism? Think about what is disclosed in pages and blogs. If there was some way to data mine the text (this is extremely difficult because of the chaotic formating and content) -- what could a product developer or marketeer could learn from 230+ million users -- with thousands of new myspacers each day? Is it new media? Is it a goldmine of consumers that could be connected to products?
I think the SETI boyze are beaming the MySpace data into outer space and in a few thousand years, there will be a bunch of aliens applying for research grants to figure out if Tom is god. Big, uncontrolled sociological experiment going on here. Internet version of Reality TV of support group with a cast of characters from the Bar Scene of Star Wars I (Mos Eisley Cantina).
Music
Frozen in the 1970's...
Blues and old rock mainly -- Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, John Mayall, Paul Butterfield, Long John Baldry, R.L. Burnside, Susan Tedeschi, Delbert McClinton, Janis Joplin, Marcia Ball, Marshall Chapman, Bob Dylan, David Bromberg, J. Geils, Joe Cocker, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, Robert Cray, Albert Collins .... Reggae: Bob Marley... Some Country: old Willie Nelson stuff (Red Headed Stranger, Stardust), Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Lyle Lovett ... Some Jazzy: Norah Jones, Diana Krall.... Some Miscellaneous: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Billy Vera and the Beaters, Van Morrison, Steely Dan, old Norton Buffalo, Allman Brothers, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Neil Young solo, Melissa Manchester, Beatles, Sheryl Crow, Carly Simon, Carole King, Chi Coltrane, Creedance Clearwater Revival, the Doors, the Eagles, Glenn Frey, James Taylor (old and new), Joni Mitchell...
and where does Firesign Theatre fit in?
Movies
Buckaroo Banzai (the greatest movie ever made)
Casablanca (almost up to Buckaroo)
Network (Howard Beale: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!")
Lost in Translation (Charlotte: You're probably just having a mid-life crisis. Did you buy a Porsche yet?)
Young Frankenstein (Please! Remain in your seats, I beg you! We are not children here, we are scientists! I assure you there is nothing to fear!)
The Graduate (Plastics... "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?")
A Clockwork Orange (Alex: "There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.")
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Dr. Strangelove: Sir! I have a plan!
[standing up from his wheelchair]
Dr. Strangelove: Mein Führer! I can walk! )
Apocalyse Now (Kilgore: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end... ")
The Day The Earth Stood Still (Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!)
Forbidden Planet (oh, those Monsters from the Id)
Blade Runner (Tyrell: "More human than human" is our motto.)
2001: A Space Odyssey (HAL: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.
Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
HAL: It's called "Daisy.")
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Roy Neary: "I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Dammit! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important. ")
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Don't Panic)
Serenity (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: "Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. ")
The Matrix trilogy (Trinity: I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing... why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.)
The Thin Man movies (don't forget Asta the dog)
Pulp Fiction (with Vincent and Jules)
Ezekiel 25:17 -- Jules: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
Sin City (Marv: "The night's as hot as hell. It's a lousy room in a lousy part of a lousy town - I'm staring at a goddess. She's telling me she wants me. I'm not going to waste one more minute wondering how I've gotten this lucky. She smells like angels ought to smell, the perfect woman... the Goddess. Goldie. She says her name is Goldie." )
Television
CNN news, PBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel, CSI's,
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Dr. Who (and the Tardis)
Nero Wolfe (and Archie Goodwin)
Sherlock Holmes (and Dr. Watson)
Hercule Poirot (and Captain Hastings)
la Femme Nikita (Peta Wilson and Roy Dupruis)
The Lone Ranger and Tonto ("Um, that right, Kemosabe.")
Bret and Bart Maverick
The Man from U.N.C.L.E,
Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum)
I Spy (Robert Culp and Bill Cosby)
Miami Vice (Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Crockett and Tubbs)
Psych with James Roday (as Shawn Spencer) and
Dule Hill (as Burton "Gus" Guster)
Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) in Kung Fu
Bloomberg Channel, the Weather Channel (never ending battle of the H's vs. the L's), Mythbusters,
Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate, Firefly
Books
Well, there is:
As a kid -- I loved the "Tom Swift, Jr." series.
I enjoy everything written by John Varley -- the Gaean Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon), Steel Beech, The Golden Globe, Red Thunder, Mammoth, and Red Lightning. Varley's collected short stories in the John Varley Reader.
I am re-reading the James Bond novels. Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash are great -- as are William Gibson's Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition.
Of course, Robert Heinlein (Glory Road, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, et. al.).
"Wasp" by Eric Frank Russell.
Frank Herbert's Dune. Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series. Vonnegut (but he's so negative in his recent interviews). I liked some of the early Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy books. Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books are fun -- as are any of the Raymond Chandler books. Ernest Hemingway books are classic. Re-read "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me" by Richard Farina.
And, of course:
Heroes
Buckaroo Banzai, The Lone Ranger, Dr. Who, Dilbert, Tom Swift Jr., any of the astronauts (especially, Gene Cernan -- who went to Proviso East High School)
As Cernan got ready to climb the ladder of the Apollo 17 LM, he spoke these words, the last ever spoken by a man standing on the moon's surface (December 14, 1972):
As we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. As I take these last steps from the surface for some time to come, I'd just like to record that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. Godspeed the crew of Apollo Seventeen.
Gene Cernan is the author of The Last Man on the Moon, his memoirs of the Apollo program.
So what is MySpace is all about? About finding yourself?? About finding others?
I am doing lots of work around the house that had been relegated to weekends in the past (now that I have the time -- paint, floors, wallpaper, ceilings, etc.) and have begun writing an action novel. Also have ideas for an illustrated novel. I steer some stock market investments -- there has got to be a pony in Nanotech and Stem Cell somewhere (have not found "it" yet). I take care of the family (groceries, cooking, chauffeuring to appointments) and the dog, too.
I've got to set aside some set time to work on my book ideas (instead of myspacing) -- Writing is a love/hate affair.
Donald Jeffry Herbert. "Mr. Wizard" (July 10, 1917 to June 12, 2007)
Past Chapter
My 30 years with IBM: I retired from IBM on July 1, 2004 -- was a member of the Autonomic Computing Architecture team that was working toward creating a framework and standards to enable development of autonomic software systems. At that time, I managed the Autonomic Computing Technology Institute, which was a joint program between the IBM Software Group and the IBM Research division. Prior to joining Software Group, I was a Research Staff Member and technical assistant to the vice president of Emerging Business Opportunities in IBM Research. I joined IBM at the former Palo Alto Development Center as a programmer in 1974 after graduating from Yale University with a degree in computer science. I worked for the former General Products division on future systems text processing, data management, and database systems, and was development manager for IMS/VS Fast Path at the IBM Santa Teresa Laboratory. I joined the IBM Research division at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in 1982 and managed the Program Understanding project from 1986 to 1988. I co-chaired the 1988 IEEE Conference on Software Maintenance (CSM-88). From 1988 to 1990, I was on special assignment as technical assistant to the S/390 Operating Systems Division Director in Poughkeepsie, NY, where I wrote "Understanding and Improving Software Development Productivity." I returned to Research as senior manager of speech recognition development in the Experimental Software Development Center. In 1994, I was assigned to the IBM Research Headquarters Technical Staff, assisting the Vice President of Technical Plans and Controls. During my years with IBM Research, I contributed to a number of research projects, including low power exploratory systems, home networking and consumer systems, pervasive computing systems solutions, and wearable computing platforms. I hold two patents.
Jorma Kaukonen w/ David Bromberg: Whinin' Boy Blues
Hot Tuna w/ David Bromberg: I Know You Rider
Hot Tuna w/ David Bromberg: Whinin' Boy Blues
....
My Opening Farewell -- Bonnie Raitt w/Jackson Brown
All along the Watchtower -- Jimi Hendricks
Bad Like Jesse James -- John Lee Hooker
New York State of Mind -- Billy Joel
Layla -- Eric Clapton
Dixie Chicken -- Little Feat's Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett
Cousin Dupree -- Steely Dan
Sunrise -- Norah Jones
Voodoo Child -- Stevie Ray Vaughan
Blowin' in the Wind -- Bob Dylan
Giving It Up for Your Love -- Delbert McClinton
....
A Little Help From My Friends -- Joe Cocker
Jesus on the Main Line -- Ry Cooder
....
Moonlight Drive -- The Doors and Jim Morrison
....
Roadhouse Blues -- The Doors and Jim Morrison
..
No Woman No Cry -- Bob Marley and the Wailers
Harvest Moon -- Neil Young
Woodstock Intro -- Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
....
Suite Judy Blue Eyes-- Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
..
Land of Dreams -- Marcia Ball with the Duke Robillard Band
..
My Life is Good -- Randy Newman
....
Elephant Beer Blues -- Tom Waits
..
Waltzing Matilda - Tom Traubert's Blues -- Tom Waits
....
Bloody Mary Morning -- Willie Nelson
....
Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain -- Willie Nelson
Pretty Woman -- Roy Orbison
The crew of the Firefly Serenity
I'd also like to meet: Dilbert, John Varley, Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Hunter S. Thompson, Gary Trudeau, Robert Heinlein, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Murray, Thomas Alva Edison, Humphrey Bogart, Jean-Francois Champollion, Bill Gates, Ben Franklin, Gnossos Pappadopoulis;
and Dear new Friends of brains, humor, edge and wit -- now that I have retired from my work colleagues.
After all, I live in the state that is now famous for Gov. Mark Sanford and Rep. Joe Wilson. Oh yeah, and the local sheriff tried his best to prosecute Michael Phelps for posing with a bong...in a photograph. In short, I live in the center of the comedy universe--Comedy Central, if you will.
How's the pain management and whatnot coming along?
To Whom it May Concern: A fellow friend and student of the Greater Space Charter School has recently been found to have contacted head lice. Please thoroughly check all your friends scalps, and look inside their back-packs, clothing, and other Space related articles to take the appropriate steps to insure that there is no cross jumping onto other Space Cadets. We, at The Space Cadet University, take this matter very seriously and hope you will use utmost diligence in keeping the containment within the preferred alloted Space perimeter of Top friends in the bottom 100. This notification concerning an outbreak also includes any recently deleted MySpace friends, although it DOES exclude bald headed Punk Rock musicians currently NOT on tour and recently widowed women over 65 with less than 12 friends. We are all here to learn, and the Space Board of Higher Learning have all concluded that a jumpy Space Cadet is often difficult to impossible to teach. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention into this matter of great urgency. Cordially, Head Master, Tom
Thanks for running that errand for me. I'm somewhat better now and have occasional lucid moments where quasi reality kicks in. Someone mentioned a Holiday coming up. Do you know anything about it, when it is? They said it involves shooting stuff off. Right this moment, shooting sounds like fair game to me. ;-)
I think one of the most unjust things happening today in this world, besides the crisis in Danfur, and the proliferation of nuclear arms in North Korea, is when you’re finally ready to staple your left nostril to the desk table at home and then you realize that you’re totally out of staples, so then you go to the store and they claim to be “all out of staples.” And the store is Staples. NOW are you convinced the world is ending soon? Get right with your Maker TODAY! There isn't much time, son. ;-)
My husband and I were watching “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” while we were in bed.. I turned to him and said,
“Do you want to have sex?” “No,” he answered. I then said, “Is that your final answer?” He didn’t even look at me this time, simply saying, “Yes.” So I said, “Then I’d like to phone a friend.”
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