Amazing News for You

amazing Ambiance

2012-02-12T11:14:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Posted: 11 Feb 2012 03:17 PM PST

Something for a Cold Night in February

February 11, 2012 at 7:17 pm (By Tim)

Reduced, as we are, to the enforced aphorisms of Twitter, or a few laconic lines in Facebook, the scolded diktat to be pithy in blog posts seems like a piece of Victorian social morality, (pace Strunk & White and Professor Althouse) made quaint by technology and new circumstances. So, I don't think it impolite to ask you to read something that might tax a Twitterer's dried-up brain.

Not having the Latin of Martial to write epigrams, it might do this blog, and our brains, a little good to see some lengthy, honest English prose, albeit from a time when the educated knew Martial, and their English wasn't as honest as it might have been. They also generally understood the allusions Laurence Sterne put into Tristram Shandy, his comic masterpiece that came out in nine volumes between 1761 and 1767. It was full of everything from Rabelais and Cervantes to the Bible and obscure bits of Classical learning, not to mention Sterne's bawdy humor and ridicule of solemnity. Schopenhauer counted Tristram Shandy as one of the four most important novels written, along with Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse, and Cervantes' Don Quixote.

So, here is the first chapter of Book VII of Tristram Shandy, published in 1765, and which I hope can loosen our virtual tongues to say something about in 2012. Sterne, so full of good spirits, and ready to fly halfway around the world to avoid him, did have the honor of Death knocking at his door three years after these lines were written, having been summoned by the "vile cough" he writes of, or as we know it in our modern, clinical way, tuberculosis:

* * * * * * * *

No——I think, I said, I would write two volumes every year, provided the vile cough which then tormented me, and which to this hour I dread worse than the devil, would but give me leave——and in another place—(but where, I can't recollect now) speaking of my book as a machine, and laying my pen and ruler down cross-wise upon the table, in order to gain the greater credit to it—I swore it should be kept a going at that rate these forty years if it pleased but the fountain of life to bless me so long with health and good spirits.

Now as for my spirits, little have I to lay to their charge—nay so very little (unless the mounting me upon a long stick, and playing the fool with me nineteen hours out of the twenty-four, be accusations) that on the contrary, I have much—much to thank 'em for: cheerily have ye made me tread the path of life with all the burdens of it (except its cares) upon my back; in no one moment of my existence, that I remember, have ye once deserted me, or tinged the objects which came in my way, either with sable, or with a sickly green; in dangers ye gilded my horizon with hope, and when DEATH himself knocked at my door—ye bade him come again; and in so gay a tone of careless indifference did ye do it, that he doubted of his commission——

"There must certainly be some mistake in this matter," quoth he.

Now there is nothing in this world I abominate worse, than to be interrupted in a story——and I was that moment telling Eugenius a most tawdry one in my way, of a nun who fancied herself a shell-fish, and of a monk damned for eating a mussel, and was shewing him the grounds and justice of the procedure——

"—Did ever so grave a personage get into so vile a scrape?" quoth Death. Thou hast had a narrow escape, Tristram, said Eugenius, taking hold of my hand as I finished my story——

But there is no living, Eugenius, replied I, at this rate; for as this son of a whore has found out my lodgings——

—You call him rightly, said Eugenius,—for by sin, we are told, he entered the world——I care not which way he entered, quoth I, provided he be not in such a hurry to take me out with him—for I have forty volumes to write, and forty thousand things to say and do, which no body in the world will say and do for me, except thyself; and as thou seest he has got me by the throat (for Eugenius could scarce hear me speak across the table) and that I am no match for him in the open field, had I not better, whilst these few scattered spirits remain, and these two spider legs of mine (holding one of them up to him) are able to support me—had I not better, Eugenius, fly for my life? 'Tis my advice, my dear Tristram, said Eugenius——Then by heaven! I will lead him a dance he little thinks of—for I will gallop, quoth I, without looking once behind me, to the banks of the Garonne; and if I hear him clattering at my heels——I'll scamper away to Mount Vesuvius——from thence to Joppa, and from Joppa to the world's end, where, if he follows me, I pray God he may break his neck——

—He runs more risk there, said Eugenius, than thou.

Eugenius's wit and affection brought blood into the cheek from whence it had been some months banished—'twas a vile moment to bid adieu in; he led me to my chaise——Allons! said I; the postboy gave a crack with his whip——off I went like a cannon, and in half a dozen bounds got into Dover.

amazing Ambiance

2012-02-03T11:47:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Why Was That Last Post Password-Protected?

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 06:29 PM PST

Why Was That Last Post Password-Protected?

February 2, 2012 at 10:29 pm (By Amba)

It's a one-time thing. I wanted to share a subscribers-only article with the Feldenkrais mailing list; it was too long to copy into an e-mail. So I did it this way. It's an interesting enough interview in its own right, but it was highly pertinent to a discussion going on on that mailing list; I couldn't have directed you to the link, and I couldn't have posted the whole thing publicly without possibly getting into trouble. (YouTube silenced my video of J's life, because there were clips from copyrighted songs on the soundtrack.) Anybody who wants the password, just ask.

Protected: Jesse Prinz on the Plasticity of Human Nature

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 11:53 AM PST

Protected: Jesse Prinz on the Plasticity of Human Nature

February 2, 2012 at 3:53 pm (Uncategorized)

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-27T11:28:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Look back with satisfaction

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:33 PM PST

Look back with satisfaction

January 27, 2012 at 1:33 am (Icepick)

That's the essence of nostalgia. I've been looking through my blog archives tonight, first looking for a particular old post, and then just looking at what I had done, and some of the conversations that had taken place. I stumbled upon this in a comment from a reader, discussing a favored type of comfort music:

Deep saxophone jazz, the kind that sounds like having a cigarette in bed on a hot night after sex and feeling your pulse beat under the drumskin of your belly.

Makes ya want to take up smoking, doesn't it? I'll tell you who wrote it later.

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-26T11:22:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

It’s Me, Roo, I’m Kayaking!

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 08:26 PM PST

It's Me, Roo, I'm Kayaking!

January 26, 2012 at 12:26 am (By Amba)

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-25T11:31:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

An old friend returns….

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 03:26 AM PST

An old friend returns….

January 25, 2012 at 7:26 am (By Ron)

One of the things I always liked to do is to follow a band, especially a band that you see up close in a relatively smaller venue.
I have several of these favorites, most of whom I've seen at the wonderful Ark venue, which has moved around Ann Arbor in several places before their excellent present location downtown. As I've gotten older the worst part of the place is the steep climb of stairs, done as quickly as possible to get ahead of the oncoming hordes. As is my wont, I always try to sit up front, as close to the band as I can get. That alone is its own special experience.
I was completely unfamiliar with Irish music (except the treacly pseudo-Bing Crosby pop) when a friend took me to see a highly thought of band….and they were awful! But Greg promised me the next band would not disappoint, and 25 years later, they still do not: Altan.

It's hard to describe the joy you get from what to you is "new" music; music that doesn't fit the cliches you "know", music that shows you so many great things about the culture and the performers…I was buzzed about it for weeks after hearing them the first time, which in turn, has led me to see quite a bit of Irish and Scottish music, more than I ever thought I would growing up! Not everything reverts back to childhood joys!
There's also something else — seeing a band over a long period of time. You want both the familar and the new, to see where they want to go musically! It doesn't always work out, as I recall one tour where Altan was pressured to be a bit more "New Agey" than I think they were naturally inclined to be, but that's the biz for you! If you love them, you stick with them in the hope of this being just a phase.
The moment I'll always remember is when, Frankie Kennedy, one of the original founders of the band, the husband of the lead singer/fiddle player Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh passed away from cancer at a quite young age. I wasn't sure if they would tour, but they did with Mairead in black, without the band mentioning his passing during the show. This lent a somber note to those of us who followed the band, but it was the first encore that nearly did me in. She came out to sing a song that she had done as a duet with Frankie playing the flute — alone. I couldn't look, and covered my eyes so I wouldn't get upset. Later, she upbraided me for that telling me that if I had started crying, she'd start crying, and she was on stage! Crying — and drinking — was for backstage.

A video taste of her singing for you…

I can't wait to see them again, if only just to get in some solid footstomping to some of the more lively jigs and reels, like this one

If Altan comes your way….I couldn't recommend a band more highly. If I can scrape together the $25 I'll see them March 4th.

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-19T11:13:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Col. Williard eventually becomes President on West Wing

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST

Col. Williard eventually becomes President on West Wing

January 19, 2012 at 11:00 am (By Ron)

continuing the Apocalypse Now! theme…

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-18T14:54:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Never Get Out of the Boat!

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 08:00 PM PST

Never Get Out of the Boat!

January 18, 2012 at 12:00 am (Guest Post)

A Guest Post by Icepick

Never get out of the boat. Absolutely G*d-damned right. Unless you're goin' all the way.

This was a lesson NOT learned by Francesco Schettino, Captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia.

Authorities were holding Schettino for suspected manslaughter and a prosecutor confirmed Sunday they were also investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped. According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.

The accounts so far don't look good for the Captain's future. He should have stayed in the boat – or hightailed it to Brazil.

Better still, never get IN to the boat.

For blogger/opinion writer Steve Sailer this brought to mind a similar incident. In 1991 the cruise ship Oceanos sunk off the coast of South Africa. What happened was covered by People Magazine:

On Saturday evening, Aug. 3, as a 50-mph gale buffeted their ship, passengers aboard the Greek cruise liner Oceanos gamely made their way to the main lounge for the evening's entertainment. No sooner had they settled in than the lights went out. The 492-foot ship, suddenly without power, tossed in high seas off South Africa's aptly named Wild Coast. For 361 weekend tourists, one of the most harrowing nights of their lives had just begun. The Oceanos was sinking.
Disgracefully, many of the 184 crew members clambered aboard the lifeboats ahead of some of the passengers and paddled to the safety of tankers and trawlers that had drawn nearby. At daybreak on Sunday, South African Air Force helicopters joined the rescue operation. But to the astonishment and anger of the 217 passengers still aboard, Capt. Yannis Avranias grabbed the second chopper off the ship. With no one clearly in charge, an unlikely hero emerged among the remaining crew: Robin Boltman, 31, the ship's magician.

Giving the performance of his career, Boltman entertained and calmed passengers throughout the pitch-black night. In the morning he ascended to the bridge and maintained radio contact with rescuers. Finally, at 11:30 A.M., after all other passengers and crew had been removed to safety, Boltman was lifted from the ship by a helicopter. At 1:45 P.M. the luxury liner nosed into the Indian Ocean and disappeared under the waves.

I had seen Sailer's excerpt earlier in the day and left it up. I wanted to read it to my wife when she got home, and did so. This caused her to say, "I think I heard of this guy recently, before this wreck in Italy." So I hit Yahoo up for some search engine action, and found a story up near the top with an interesting headline:

DID OUR SINKING MAGICIAN GO DOWN WITH THE CONCORDIA?

It's an article from the Daily News of South Africa, written by Barbara Cole, and starts off with

[M]any are asking whether Midlands magician Robin Boltman was on the doomed cruise liner Costa Concordia. Boltman has a knack of being aboard cruise ships that go to watery graves.

Um, what? He's been on more than one? Yes, he has, although he wasn't on this Costa Concordia. Besides being on the Oceanos on her final voyage, Boltman was also on the final voyage of the Achille Lauro back in 1994. In that incident the ship caught fire off the coast of Somalia and eventually sank. Here's a tidbit from the Daily News story:

When fire broke out on the Achille Lauro, the captain Guiseppi Orssi called Boltman to the bridge and asked for his advice, telling him he did not want to make the same mistakes as the Oceanos captain.
"I told him he first had to sound the alarms," he said.

"It is important to stay calm and collected. Passengers should also go to their cabins and get their life jacket and any medication."

So score one for Captain Orssi for consulting an expert!

For those of you who think the Achille Lauro sounds familiar, that would be because of the high seas hijacking back in 1985. So add that to the list of reasons to NOT get on a cruise ship.

So here's a partial list of reasons to not get on cruise ships: sea sickness, sickness (there's a freakin' CDC page for this!), terrorists, pirates, rocks, icebergs, storms, U-boats, rogue waves (two links), drunk captains, dare devil captains, incompetent captains, incompetent crew, too few life boats, Bond villains. Not to mention the strange men in blue boxes looking for some chap named Alonzo OR the freakin' tigers that try to eat your ass (and presumably the rest of you) when you go looking for mangos!

Never get in to the boat!

amazing Ambiance

2012-01-16T11:22:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

The Silence of the Blog

Posted: 15 Jan 2012 04:51 PM PST

The Silence of the Blog

January 15, 2012 at 8:51 pm (By Amba)

Please do not think of the lack of posts here as an absence. Think of it as a presence, a powerful contribution to and comment on the national dialogue. What could be more eloquent, more refreshing, more incisive, more definitive, than silence? Responding to blather with more blather is a defeat. Responding with silence, allowing it to expose its own blatherdom in a suddenly hushed room, is an aikido-like victory.

Ultimate Survival Deluxe Survival Kits - Black

2011-12-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

Deluxe Survival Kits is a collection of some of the world's finest camping and survival gear, containing what you need to start a fire, cut limbs for shelter, and signal for help. Whatever you do outdoors, (camping, hiking, climbing, hunting, fishing, etc.) these premier recreational, safety and camping supplies can simplify your life every day, and can help save your life on the worst days. This kit is ideal for your backpack, glovebox, ATV or boat.Includes:BlastMatch™ Fire Starter:Simply put it is the world's finest one-handed fire starter! It generates intensely hot sparks three times hotter than a standard match. Once you?ve tried it you'll never go back to flint again. BlastMatch™ is safe, easy-to-use, and works in any weather.WetFire™ Tinder: You will love this amazing fire starting tinder is non-toxic, odorless, smokeless, and you can start a fire even in the driving rain. In fact, WetFire™ tinder burns longer when its WET! A small pile of tinder shavings is all you need to start a roaring fire.StarFlash Signal Mirror:This signal mirror is unbreakable, can be aimed precisely, floats and can signal for communications up to 100 miles away. You can use it hiking, camping, or backpacking to apply first aid or camouflage. StarFlash was chosen as the premier signal mirror of the U.S. Air Force and other government agencies 10 years ago.JetScream™ Whistle:This whistle is one of the loudest in the world, any louder and it would cause physical pain, literally. You can hear JetScream's™ amazing 122Db ear-piercing shriek, above most natural or man-made noises. It is equivalent to the sound of a rock concert or a jet at take off. You can use JetScream™ in the city or woods for communication and personal protection.SaberCut™ Saw:Our revolusion. Deluxe Survival Kits
.

Kindle Fire Description

2011-12-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

Kindle Fire

What People Are Saying

"
The Kindle Fire is a 7-inch tablet that links seamlessly with Amazon's impressive collection of
digital music, video, magazine, and book services in one easy-to-use package. It boasts a great
Web browser, and its curated Android app store includes most of the big must-have apps
(such as Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu). The Fire has an ultra-affordable price tag, and the screen
quality is exceptional for the price." - CNET
"

The Fire gives me the features I want at a price point that's less than half of the iPad 2.
I can check my email, browse the Internet, maybe play a few games, most importantly,
I can read magazines in color on a Kindle." - Gizmodo
"

The Fire is a marvelous device." - Chicago Sun Times
"

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is likely to be the first successful tablet not sold by Apple, and there
are several good reasons for it: the low price of $199, the convenient, portable size of 7 inches,
and a rich catalog of books, movies and music offered through Amazon’s Web-based services." - Ars Technica
"

There's a new mayor in Droidville. But this guy didn’t roll into town with pomp and circumstance.
He strolled down Main Street and simply offered more than any other candidate, extolling a plan
based on down-to-earth sensibility and affordability. Meet the Kindle Fire." - Seeking Alpha

Movies, apps, games, music, reading and more, plus Amazon's revolutionary, cloud-accelerated web browser

* 19 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
* Thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more
* Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk

Show More

* Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
* Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle - same as an iPad
* Fast, powerful dual-core processor
* Favorite children's books, graphic novels, and magazines in rich color

Stunning Color Touchscreen

Movies, magazines and children's books come alive on a 7" vibrant color touchscreen that delivers 16 million colors in high resolution. Kindle Fire uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology - similar technology to that used on the iPad - for an extra-wide viewing angle, perfect for sharing your screen with others.

Magazines in Rich Color

Enjoy your favorite magazines with glossy, full-color layouts, photographs and illustrations. Choose from hundreds of titles, such as Bon Appetit, Elle, and Oprah. Special editions of titles like Vanity Fair, Wired, and GQ come with built-in video, audio and other interactive features.

Beautifully Simple and Easy to Use

Designed from the ground up, Kindle Fire's simple, intuitive interface puts the content you love at your fingertips - spin effortlessly through your recent titles and websites straight from the home screen. Whether you are in the mood to watch, read, listen, play or browse, you can get to all your favorite content with a single touch. It's that simple.

100,000 Movies and TV Shows

Over 100,000 movies and TV shows, including thousands of new releases and your favorite TV shows, are available to stream or download, purchase or rent - all just one tap away. Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows.

Fast Dual-Core Processor

Kindle Fire features a state-of-the-art dual-core processor for fast, powerful performance. Stream music while browsing the web or read books while downloading videos.

Your Favorite Apps and Games

Thousands of the most popular apps, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, ESPN ScoreCenter, Comics by comiXology and more, plus you'll get a great paid app for free every day. Enjoy the best games, including Words with Friends, Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies and more, from top developers like Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap, Rovio and more. All apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible.

Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk

Amazon Silk is a revolutionary, cloud-accelerated browser that uses a "split browser" architecture to leverage the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services cloud. Supports Adobe® Flash® Player. Learn why it's so fast.

Millions of Books

Read bestsellers, children's books, comic books, and cookbooks in vibrant color. The Kindle Store offers over 1 million books, including 800,000 titles at $9.99 or less. In addition, over 2 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available such as Pride and Prejudice.

Free Cloud Storage

Forget about memory - Kindle Fire gives you free storage for all your Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Your books, movies, music and apps are available instantly to stream or download for free, at a touch of your finger.

Your Favorite Children's Books

Kindle Fire is great for parents and kids. Stir your child's imagination with over 1000 beautifully-illustrated children's books, including favorites like Brown Bear, Curious George, and Circus Ship.

Easy to hold in one hand

Designed to travel with you wherever you go. Small enough to fit in your purse and light enough to hold in just one hand, Kindle Fire is perfect for browsing, playing, reading and shopping on-the-go.

18 Million Songs

Stream your music library from Amazon Cloud Drive or download to your device and listen offline. Looking for new music? Discover over 18 million songs in the Amazon MP3 Store.

Extra Durable Display

Our state-of-the art Kindle Fire display is chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, making it extra durable and resistant to accidental bumps and scrapes.

Kindle Owners' Lending Library

With an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle owners can choose from thousands of books to borrow for free - including over 100 New York Times Bestsellers - as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Learn More

Amazon Whispersync

Like Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire uses Amazon's Whispersync technology to automatically sync your library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across your devices. On Kindle Fire, Whispersync extends to video. Start streaming a movie on Kindle Fire, then pick up right where you left off on your TV - avoid the frustration of having to find your spot.

Free Month of Amazon Prime

Experience the benefits that millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy, including unlimited, instant streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows, Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, and now, access to thousands of popular Kindle books through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. If you haven't used Prime in the past, we'll automatically give you a free month to try it out.

Read Your Documents

Kindle makes it easy to take your documents with you. You can e-mail documents - including Word, PDF and more - directly to your Kindle so you can read them anytime, anywhere.

Email

Stay in touch using our built-in email app that gets your webmail (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL etc.) into a single inbox. Import your messages and contact lists from other email accounts. Additional email apps are available in our Amazon Appstore for Android

Kindle Fire

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-26T11:08:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Merry Christmas!

Posted: 25 Dec 2011 01:10 PM PST

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2011 at 5:10 pm (By Randy)

In a little while, my house will be full with family and friends for Christmas dinner. Fortunately, I won't be the one cooking for fourteen – just providing the meeting place this year. That's because half of them want to see what I've been doing the last couple of months. Some of you here might be wondering, too.

I believe mentioning before that the view from the back yard is delightful. (In fact, somewhere around here is a picture or two featuring that view.) While the breakfast area, the master bedroom and another bedroom all have large windows through which one can enjoy that view, it has always bothered me that the one room I spend the most time in, the family room, doesn't.

At the end of September, two able-bodied and knowledgeable friends and I embarked on a project to rectify that situation. We removed a door, moved a window, put a new 8′ tall sliding door in where there was once a window, moved the gas fireplace from the center of the back wall to the corner, added a large window where once the fireplace and a well for an old-fashioned large TV set, and finished that area off as a window box seat.

As we finished only last week (and still have much "touching up" to do), we obviously weren't in a huge hurry. The project was most definitely entertaining, often educational, and rarely tedious or bothersome. It was a great way to take my mind off other things. Suffice to say we had lots of fun.

Here's what the room looked like before we started:

And here's what it looks like now:

We couldn't resist adding a twist:

What's that opening up from behind the window seat?

It's the television:

If not for the the very reasonable price set by the fine folks at Firghelli Automation for their lift ($590), this would not have been option as we'd read/heard that this kind of equipment usually retails for about $2,000. Anyway,everything turned out great as far as I'm concerned.

In other news, chemotherapy didn't work, which is not a great surprise as it usually doesn't in cases like mine. IMO,it was worth making the attempts, though. Throughout that process, I was indeed fortunate that the side-effects were by-and-large minor. In the meantime, the tumors reproduced at a terrific pace and are now recorded as "innumerable." A CT scan two weeks ago showed that four or five nearby lymph nodes have been affected as well.

Well, it's time to get cleaned up before the guests start arriving. Here's hoping all of you reading this have as much fun and good food as we'll be having here.

Once again, Merry Christmas!

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-22T11:31:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Is this real???

Posted: 21 Dec 2011 07:43 PM PST

Is this real???

December 21, 2011 at 11:43 pm (By Amba)

If so, it's magic.

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-21T12:11:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Amen, Sister!

Posted: 21 Dec 2011 07:43 AM PST

Amen, Sister!

December 21, 2011 at 11:43 am (By Ron)

Ron here. I, too, will be having a melancholic Christmas, but I think for different reasons than Amba. My best friends mother passed away suddenly, almost 2 weeks ago (!), and this has caused her and her family considerable difficulty, as Grandma was a big part of financially helping a family with 2 kids and a lot of struggling themselves. I just saw her mother at a wonderful Thanksgiving and now… gone. I'm still having a hard time grasping it myself. And me? Things are bad for me and may get worse….I'm trying to keep myself in my home of now 26 years, but I'm having a hard time doing so. Even I'm unsure what will happen, as I have no family of my own to turn to.

But while Peter, Paul and Mary are one way to look at a Gloomy Tinsel Season, I've always chosen another song: Fairytale of New York.

My first thought was, hey, shouldn't this be an Amba song, too? Sure, why not. It's a duet between Shane MacGowan (poster child for British Dentistry) and Kirsty MacColl, and rapidly becoming a New Holiday standard, one I hope to record with my friend CamieVog someday. So, let's hope the New Year brings better things for us all, God bless us.

Melancholy Christmas!

Posted: 20 Dec 2011 09:37 PM PST

Melancholy Christmas!

December 21, 2011 at 1:37 am (By Amba)

Mary Travers was 45 when this clip was made. How beautiful she still was! So sad how time carries it all away. I heard this song in a church in Chapel Hill a year ago, still raw and fragile from J's death. Now I'm sitting here draped in cats, who look at me lovingly (or maybe forgivingly) when I sing along, surrounded by pictures of people who are gone. I myself am going, going . . . but not so fast, Louie.

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-14T12:47:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

What It’s All About

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:27 AM PST

What It's All About

December 14, 2011 at 4:27 am (By Amba)

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-13T12:04:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

Credo [UPDATED]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST

Credo [UPDATED]

December 12, 2011 at 9:39 pm (By Amba)

This, quoted by James Wood in The New Yorker in a review of John Jeremiah Sullivan's book of essays, Pulphead, is as good as it gets for me. It's Sullivan admiringly summing up the worldview of "the early-nineteenth-century French explorer and botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque":

What's true of us is true of nature. If we are conscious, as our species seems to have become, then nature is conscious. Nature became conscious in us, perhaps in order to observe itself. It may be holding us out and turning us around like a crab does its eyeball. Whatever the reason, that thing out there, with the black holes and the nebulae and whatnot, is conscious. One cannot look in the mirror and rationally deny this. It experiences love and desire, or thinks it does. The idea is enough to render the Judeo-Christian cosmos sort of quaint. . . . [This] works perfectly as a religion. Others talk about God, and I feel we can sit together, that God is one of this thing's masks, or that this thing is God.

Sullivan: what a writer. This is him on reality-TV shows:

This is us, a people of savage sentimentality, weeping and lifting weights.

amazing Ambiance

2011-12-09T11:50:00.001-08:00

amazing Ambiance

It’s Me, Roo, I’m Swimming Skating!

Posted: 08 Dec 2011 03:10 PM PST

It's Me, Roo, I'm Swimming Skating!

December 8, 2011 at 7:10 pm (By Amba)

I FUCKING ICE SKATED. For the first time in possibly 40 years. I am so psyched.

I told Chris, my visiting friend from Chapel Hill, that Citibank had turned Bryant Park into a skating pond and maybe we could go there and watch. She liked that idea since she wanted to pay a visit to the library, which Bryant Park is of course right behind.

As the time approached—today—I found myself saying to Chris, "If we are watching people ice skate, I am probably going to have to rent skates and go out there and try it."

To Chris's great credit, even though her mother would never let her and her siblings learn to ice skate for fear they'd get hurt, and even though in recent years her sister actually broke an arm ice skating at Rockefeller Center, she said without an instant's hesitation, "Go for it!" And when we got there, and I was looking for a way to bail (maybe they'd be all out of skates my size?), her look of delighted expectation left me no way out.

* * *
First, of course, I fell on my ass.

I got out on the ice and was shocked. I jerked and wobbled back and forth spastically and went right over backwards. Got back up and lunged for the railing. Thought, "There is no way I can do this. My balance isn't good enough any more. My reflexes are too slow. I'll just hobble around the rink a couple of times holding onto the railing." So that's what I did.

The second or third time around I noticed I was doing a little better than the adults and kids who had obviously never skated before. Hmmm.

I lost count. Maybe the 8th time around, I did not go near the railing once.

I was even kind of tentatively gliding, and windmilling had shrunk to an occasional tiny balance correction with the arms.

I never took lessons or anything and was never a really good skater, just good enough to have fun. They'd freeze over the park across from our house and we'd go over there and scramble around for hours. 40 years of disuse, and that motor pattern was still intact in my brain, folded in tissue and mothballs, needing only to be awakened and shook out.

Unbelievable.

The smallest animals

2011-12-06T00:04:00.015-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

Amazing Numbers

2011-12-06T00:04:00.014-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Just interesting information about numbers.

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

Do you know the amazing number: 142 857.
When you multiply it only numerals inside the number change theirs places.

142 857 * 1 = 142 857
142 857 * 2 = 285 714
3 = 428 571
4 = 571 428
5 = 714 285
6 = 857 142

And only when you multiply it on 7 it will become 999 999.
Also, 142 + 857 = 999,

14 + 28 + 57 = 99.
And: 142 857 squared 20408122449.
20408+122449 = 142 857

111111111 * 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Bruce tells me cheap vps cpanel with unlimited disk space
isotretinoin

The biggest buildings in the world

2011-12-06T00:04:00.013-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Comparison table of biggest buildings

The biggest one

Play free online roulette game.

The ability to hide (try to find the soldier on the pictures)

2011-12-06T00:04:00.012-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

AMAZING ART: Pictures on fields

2011-12-06T00:04:00.011-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

24 Most Dangerous and Short Landing Fields

2011-12-06T00:04:00.010-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

Some Illusions

2011-12-06T00:04:00.009-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

AMAZING ART: Saimir Strati - what people can do with nails and toothpicks

2011-12-06T00:04:00.008-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Saimir Strati creates an amazing art using just nails and toothpicks. See bellow.

PIC: Moving Rocks (amazing mystery)

2011-12-06T00:04:00.007-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world's most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move.

VIDEO & PIC: Forcing a light bulb to burn without any wires/leads/conductors

2011-12-06T00:04:00.006-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : It is not a fake or a joke.

Some guys from St. Petersburg University do amazing things:
They force a light bulb to burn without any wires/leads/conductors.
The most amazing thing here is that they use just “naked” light bulb without anything else.

See below:

Video:

Pic:

May be somebody knows how they do it, if so tell me please.

PIC: Just more urban art

2011-12-06T00:04:00.005-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Why our streets needs to be just so ordinary. It is wonderful when people make such things.

Before:

After:

Aircraft Prototypes

2011-12-06T00:04:00.004-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Some aircraft prototypes you have never seen. Just look on them. Some ideas are very interesting and you can find some similar thing with nowadays aircrafts.

Urban Art (Huge pictures on the buildings)

2011-12-06T00:04:00.003-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : I’m just wondering how he can fill whole picture when he draw it.
It is amazing work. I wish all streets to look like the ones on the pictures.

One word – AWESOME.

PIC: Amazing Trees

2011-12-06T00:04:00.002-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Just some photo of amazing trees.
Some time nature is very funny.

PIC: Worses Logos

2011-12-06T00:04:00.001-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : You think you know how looks like the worses logo.
Lets compare our expectations.

All of them presents companies which a not related to any sexual products or services.

Amazing ocean phenomenon

2011-12-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Have you ever seen something like that?

21 examples of dullness in construction +1 more

2011-12-06T00:03:00.081-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : About what builders were thinking when such things do?

"We are open" says this picture :)

+ 1 more from Cristina Munteanu

Pictures are made on a typewriter

2011-12-06T00:03:00.080-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Paul Smith was born in 1921 with cerebral palsy diagnosis. All pictures he made by left hand printing on typewriter. He used just those symbols: @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _.
Amazing works for such man.

27 Strangest Sculptures from the world

2011-12-06T00:03:00.079-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Here you can find the strangest sculptures from whole world.
If people create such sculptures today, what will be in the future?

Smallest figures in the world

2011-12-06T00:03:00.078-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

24 Worlds Weirdest Creatures

2011-12-06T00:03:00.077-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Red Panda

Yeti Crab

Tarsier

Pink Fairy Armadillo

Pygmy Marmoset

Tapir

Komondor Dog

Hagfish

Blobfish

Narwhal

Emperor Tamarin

Angora rabbit

Shoebill

Star-nosed Mole

Sloth

Proboscis Monkey

Frill-necked Lizard

Sun Bear

Alpaca

Sucker-footed Bat

Axolotl

Dumbo Octopus

Aye-aye

Saki Monkey

The biggest illusion you have ever seen

2011-12-06T00:03:00.076-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

Amazing x-ray pictures

2011-12-06T00:03:00.075-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

Just scissors art )

2011-12-06T00:03:00.074-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Do you know what can be done from scissors?
See below...

Some amazing rocks from whole world

2011-12-06T00:03:00.073-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : I found not so much, but very interesting and amazing pictures of rocks.
They a really startling.

Rockall - Atlantic Ocean

Piedra del Peñol - Colombia

Meoto Iwa - Futamigaura (Japan)

Kjeragbolten - Norway

The Idol Rock - Yorkshire

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda - Burma

Mushroom Rock - Arkansas (USA)

Winter is cooming...

2011-12-06T00:03:00.072-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : I can't explain you by words how I hate the winter.
Those pictures will help me. )

Photo session in period of live

2011-12-06T00:03:00.071-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

Urban 3D Art

2011-12-06T00:03:00.070-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Sorry for such long delay (I got married)

Stones Art (incradable balance)

2011-12-06T00:03:00.069-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets :

6 most unusual roads in the world

2011-12-06T00:03:00.068-08:00

Weird News : Nouvelles de Téléphone et Gadgets : Toronto, Canada - the longest road.

Castletown, England - the narrowest street.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - the widest road.

Dunedin, New Zealand - the most abrupt road.

Svindon, England - the most complicated/tangled junction.

San Francisco, USA - The most curved road.