378 Year Random Eleven

Below, you'll see I was going to post a story 3-1/2 years ago about this family farm in New Hampshire.  It never went beyond "draft" form because a number of months earlier I had sort of abandoned putting together blog posts here altogether.  I didn't intend to NEVER post again, but hey it got away from me.

Tonight I went to leave a comment on a relative's blog, and had to sign in through Google, and so I guess it identified me as Don the Blogger.  Out of a strangely sharp sense of curiosity I visited my own blog, feeling sort of like I was visiting a forgotten childhood home or something.

OK next, scrolling through my long list of unpublished tidbits, I saw the story of the family farm up for sale in New Hampshire, after running continuously since 1632:

"Hate seeing stories like this...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/07/27/nations_oldest_running_family_farm_put_on_market_in_nh/?page=2"

I read the article from 2010 and then googled the farm to see when it was finally sold.  It just sold 3 weeks ago!  Huh.  See, I haven't missed much.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20131105-NEWS-131109882

Oh, and furthermore...

Back in 2010 I was publishing a "Random 11" songs I had heard that day on Pandora or wherever.  This article was apparently going to be one of those.  So OK:

Robert Plant and Alison Krause - Your Long Journey
Amandine - Faintest of Sparks
Chris Bathgate - The Last Parade On Anne St.
Colin Hay - Waiting for My Real Life To Begin
Laura Veirs - Wide-Eyed, Legless
Andrew Bird - Spare-Ohs
The Violet Archers - Simple
Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
The Cure - A Night Like This
The Milk Carton Kids - Undress The World

Read The Rest HERE

Astrotweets

Lately I've wondered if I would ever get back to blogging. Today I saw this cool story of astronaut Soichi Noguchi sending mobile pictures from the international space station back to earth through his twitter account.

As far as I'm concerned, that about does it. We've accomplished everything.

Most of us use such technology to show the world the sushi plate sitting in front of us. Which, up to now, left us one step short of accomplishing "everything."

In the meantime, here I was about to post the link to my facebook when I remembered that once upon a time I used to blog.

When I arrived here to finally show my face again, I was horrified and amused to learn that it was exactly one year ago today that I posted. So, instead of composing a draft and then letting it stew for a month and then maybe adding photos, and thus merely bulking up my 'drafts' folder, I'm just going to publish this and run.

Read The Rest HERE

Beware: DilbertFiles.com Is Not A Joke. I Repeat, Not A Joke.

Reading Dilbert panels is really really important.

I once formulated an extremely convincing argument for including a visit to Dilbert.com once a day in order to, well, something something, business acumen, cultural something finger on the pulse, savvy insight, something something staying on my game. Be the ball.

I wish I could remember it.

So when I went to read me some Dilbert this afternoon - after work, uh, during research time, preparing for tomorrow something something be the ball - I saw a link to something called DilbertFiles.com.

Instantly I broke out into psychotic laughter because Dogbert was pointing to the ad and clearly a joke was intended. Eventually, through my tears of internet mirth, as I came out of my coma, I could see Dogbert was quite serious.

Hmmm. Confusion. This was a real link to a real service, and I was not actually supposed to split open with laughter and spill my convulsively cramping innards onto my desk.

So, I cleaned up the blood and clicked on the link.



Apparently, for a nominal fee, you can create an online server space which can be used to transfer monster-sized files to people, with upwards of a hundred huge attachments on a single standard email. You can created shared folders, password accounts, and the like, and use the space as an online backup for everything which you can actually access from any computer anywhere with no special software.

Question is, how safe is Dogbert going to keep my files??

I don't personally see a compelling need to subscribe to any level of the service they offer, but I can see how some small businesses or a professional, like a graphic artist for instance, might find this pretty handy.

Talk amongst yourselves. I'm heading back to the funny pages.

Read The Rest HERE

Bobby Jindal Is A Perfectly Normal Young Obfuscating Republican Who Supports Creationism In Schools And Was Once Involved In A 3-Hour Exorcism....

You think the Louisiana Governor is squirming now?

Wait until he seeks higher office and THIS gets more play.

Read The Rest HERE

Arizona Phoenix* Random Eleven

Jesusland - BEN FOLDS
N.M.A. - EEF BARZELAY
Carolina - BENJAMIN GIBBARD
Welcome Home - RADICAL FACE
Naked As We Came - IRON & WINE
The Last High - THE DANDY WARHOLS
Simple Love - ALISON KRAUSS
Right Side, Wrong Bed - SMASH MOUTH
Feeling Oblivion - TURIN BRAKES
Lies Behind The Sun - PIERCE & E.J. MAGGI
For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless in Ypsilanti - SUFJAN STEVENS




* A long long time ago a man who had only recently worked as a grocery checkout clerk - a bagger - got himself a job as a quarterback on an arena football league team, where he started making the relatively big bucks. In an unlikely twist, the man some time later was the starting quarterback on an actual NFL football team. There, he did his job in a satisfactory manner, a description that would have been just as apt at the little grocery store for which he had not too long before filled bags of sundries. One day this NFL quarterback found himself playing in the Super Bowl with his team. My, what a rise to stardom.

The man then did what all good quarterbacks do: he faded. He bounced around the league, started behind rookies and other quarterbacks who will never be known as greats. He was, in a way, back to bagging groceries.

But never count out a nice guy. After being a washed up back-up QB for most of four seasons, suddenly the man starts every game, for an entire season. Suddenly the man wins games, suddenly the man is on top, again. His team, his new team, is going to the Super Bowl. Only one other quarterback in history has brought two different teams to Super Bowls.

He is reborn. He is risen from the ashes. It's fitting that this man, this year, plays in Phoenix.

MORE

Read The Rest HERE

10 Lessons* Random Eleven

Do not fear the link. The links provided go to an info page for each song provided by pandora dot com. Hear a sample and then act according to your whim. But always come back here. Simple.



Let Me Know (Demo) - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Each Coming Night - IRON & WINE
Jenny Under House Arrest - THE TROPHY FIRE
On/Off - SNOW PATROL
Seaside - THE KOOKS
1995 - THE RADIO DEPT.
Tame Thoughts - WARM IN THE WAKE
So Says I - THE SHINS
Your Scars - CHARLEMAGNE
President Of What? - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
The Great American Napkin - THE SUMMER SKINNY




*I guess January 18 is as good a time as any to do a quick and mercifully final look back at what went wrong with the Bush administration. Not just to keep flogging the beast but to see if there are any general lessons to learn.

Oh, and there are. Bob Woodward writes in the Washington Post on ten insights to draw from the Bush, uh, calamity.

Read The Rest HERE

Just A Second - or - So That's The Purpose Of The Earth's Rotation And International Time Keeping Whatsa-Whoosit Commission

Secret functionaries of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service are going to insert an additional second into the space-time continuum, in between 11:59:59 p.m. and 12 midnight on New Year's Eve. Oddly, this is about when every person on the planet will be paying attention to the clock.

Very very crafty.

Intercepted communications indicate that this additional second has been smuggled into this dimension for the purpose of adding to the already massive block of time currently amassed over the eons. The intent, as deduced by counter-intel analysts, is to keep the earth on track with reality, a goal which the most recent United States Presidential Election had already purportedly achieved.

Science marches on. And so does time, even with the additional weight.

See for yourself.

Read The Rest HERE