Mosaic bear
Here’s yet another polar bear at the Detroit Zoo. This one isn’t actually alive. It’s more of a mosaic. Looks a little more friendly than the real ones.
Extremely Short Shrift yet again. I had visitors from the government all day today (they were here to help) and didn’t get home from the office until just about exactly 8:00. Quick drive, but a late one. I had my dinner (excellent hamburger); went for a long, relaxing swim while chatting with Loyal Reader Number Four; got dried off and dressed; had a piece of banana cake (excellent, and possibly better than yesterday’s piece; I don’t know why certain foods taste better on the second and third days – lasagna, pizza, banana cake – but they definitely do, which would make an excellent Morrowlife controversy); and sat down to blog for a few moments. The iPod got its nightly update too.
Speaking of which, I’ve added a couple of new podcasts my Loyal Readers might be interested in. First, there’s Grammar Girl‘s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Excellent advice on numerous grammatical topics. Heartily recommended. Grammar Girl’s style is light and entertaining, and her advice is excellent and correct. It’s part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. I was already listening to The Get-It-Done Guy‘s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More, which I also heartily recommend. I had had no idea there was a network. Now I know. I haven’t subscribed to any of their other podcasts, but my podcast-listening Loyal Readers might find something else useful there.
After many disappointing experiences, I’ve subscribed to a music podcast I might actually keep. It’s called the Big Band Stage Door Canteen. It’s a weekly radio show from KAMU, the FM station affiliated with my admittedly-strange-but-they-have-a-great-engineering-school alma mater. It looks like a very entertaining two-hour-long weekly exploration of old (and maybe some new) big band music. I might get sick of it soon, but I’m giving it the old college try. Since it is from my old college.
One other music-related podcast I’ve added is From the Top at Carnegie Hall. It’s a PBS-funded (shudder) series showcasing 8- to 18-year-old musicians in performance at Carnegie Hall. They include interviews and some backstage stuff, which are always entertaining, but the performances are enough to bring me back. It’s a video podcast and extremely highly recommended.
There are other new ones, but they’ll have to wait until another time. Not much action on yesterday’s controversy, other than LRN4’s comment (thanks very much!). Must have been boring to everybody else, but I’ll give it one more day to get the attention it so richly deserves. What do you think of overly long musical performances? Is 639 years just too long? Could they have limited it to, say, 100 years without seriously affecting the social impact?
See you tomorrow.