Quite a few years ago, now, I purchased a specific kind of stove-top popcorn popper. The writeup had lots of good things to say about it, including 3 minutes to a full batch and minimal unpopped kernels. After having been using it for years now, I have to say it’s the best popcorn popper I’ve ever used. It does take only a few minutes and all you have to do is stand there and slowly turn the little crank thingy while it’s going. And it doesn’t take much oil to do the job, so you get popcorn that’s not too dry and not too oily.
It’s called the Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper. It’s easy to use, easy to clean up, has minimal burning or sticking, and (best of all) it has a 25-year warranty on all moving parts!
Ever wonder when different foods are in “peak season” around the country? Look no further. Epicurious has put together a dynamic map of the United States that shows what foods are grown in each state and are fresh (hitting their peak each month). Just pick a month and click on a state to see what foods are grown there and are being harvested that month. As you mouse over the various “ingredients,” you have popups that allow you to get descriptions and recipes that use the item as an ingredient. Pretty handy if you’re interested in cooking with local ingredients that are at their freshest.
One of my favorite poems is “The Jabberwocky,” written by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, which was a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Carroll invented many of the words in the poem, which is a masterpiece of the nonsense poem genre.
For definitions of the words, as explained by Humpty Dumpty in the story or later by Carroll himself, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky#Glossary (and be sure to look up the definitions for “outgrabe” and “toves”).
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought –
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Have you ever wondered how to say “cow” in Sanskrit? Or Cherokee? There’s a website that has a list of the word for “cow” in 539 different languages. Many of the listings have the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) pronunciation of the word as well as some basic information like where the language is/was spoken.
Here’s a cool new technology that I found out through Topher’s blog. It’s a new way for car doors to work, where the door actually slides under the car rather than swinging out. And it sounds like they can even retrofit your car with these doors! There’s a nice little video about it on their website: http://www.disappearing-car-door.com/index.html
A couple years ago, I blogged about Demotivators. You’re probably familiar with the series of inspirational posters that you may find in office settings. The ones that have a nice picture and say SUCCESS or CREATIVITY or whatever, followed by a semi-inspirational saying. The DEmotivators are a humorous and somewhat cynical parody of these posters. You can find all kinds of them at Despair.com.
Anyway, they’ve got a cool new (to me, anyway) application on their website that allows you to create your OWN “demotivators” posters. You can upload your own picture, enter your own text, and everything! Just go to http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php and walk through the steps. How cool is THAT?! You can create your own posters and save the images or even purchase actual posters, just like the real ones!
It’s finally official. After months of website/database development and logo design work, my new handbell music publishing website is LIVE AND READY! It’s called Tinnio Ergo Sum Press and is available at http://tespress.com. (By the way, that translates “I ring, therefore I am.”)
The music published at http://tespress.com typically comes from one of two perspectives: 1) Unique, original, non-traditional, or even jazzy music, or 2) Transcriptions of classical music that maintain the colors and moods of the original works.
While you can order printed copies of any available music, the strength of this website is that every piece can be downloaded and have unlimited copies made for one ensemble. That’s also the most cost effective method of purchase. No PayPal or any other account is required, but when a purchase is made online, you can download it immediately. Each piece also has a couple sample pages available to view while you listen to a Finale-generated audio version of the full piece.
Here are a few examples of the music that is already available from Tinnio Ergo Sum Press:
Anyway, that’s where my spare time has been going for the last few months. I’ve already had my first purchase, which occurred before I’d even officially announced the site to the handbell world. Pretty cool!
The British Medical Journal published an article yesterday written by two U.S. researchers who examined the evidence for seven “medical myths.” Here’s what they found out. (Click the link to read the full article and get the explanations.)
Drinking eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy has so scientific basis.
Reading in dim light will not ruin your eyesight.
Shaving your hair does not make it grow back faster or coarser.
Eating turkey does NOT make you drowsy (any more than chicken or other foods).
We do use more than 10% of our brains.
Hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death.
So there’s this cool electronic instrument that’s been around since 1919. Not new, but hardly heard of. It’s called a Theremin, named after its inventor, Léon Theremin, and it was the first musical instrument designed to be played without actually being touched. There is an electromagnetic field generated from two different antennas which is manipulated to play the instrument. The vertical antenna is usually on the right side and uses the right hand to control the pitch. The left hand controls the volume with the horizontal antenna on the left. Pretty basic concept, but incredibly difficult to master.
The theremin, I perceive, is slowly growing in popularity with modern composers, since it not only has a very unique sound, but is also quite flexible. Microtones are possible since you can play the entire spectrum including all the subtle nuances between standard musical notes.
You can read more about the theremin, find out about movies and bands who have used the theremin, and find more links in the Wikipedia article on the theremin. Here are a couple of video clips of some EXCELLENT theremin playing.
Lydia Kavina is known as one of the world’s experts and has helped develop and standardize hand movements, resulting in greater virtuosity.
Carolina Eyck is another contemporary thereminist who is performing today. The next two videos are of her, first on a tv show and then with a string quartet and Heinz Holliger on oboe. Quite amazing!
This last one is just a neat electronic jam session of sorts. You just have to see and listen. It’s pretty cool and a nice way to incorporate the theremin into modern popular music.
By the way, if you want to learn more about theremins or even explore buying one and learning to play it, visit Theremin World. Prices start in the low $300s.
According to Wikipedia, “a mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase as a homophone or near-homophone in such a way that it acquires a new meaning.” Most often, this is a result of listening to music and not catching all the exact lyrics. We all probably have songs where there’s a section in which we don’t clearly understand every word, and so we just assume it’s this or that. When we’re wrong but start giving new meaning to the lyrics because of our misunderstanding, that’s a mondegreen.
The word “mondegreen” is itself a mondegreen. The American writer Sylvia Wright coined it in an essay “The Death of Lady Mondegreen”, which was published in Harper’s Magazine in November 1954.She wrote:
When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy’s Reliques. One of my favorite poems began, as I remember:
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]
And Lady Mondegreen.
The actual fourth line is “And laid him on the green”, from the anonymous 17th century ballad “The Bonnie Earl O’ Murray“. Wright gives other examples of what she says, “I shall hereafter call mondegreens,” such as:
Surely/Shirley, Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life (”Surely goodness and mercy…” from Psalm 23)
The wild, strange battle cry “Haffely, Gaffely, Gaffely, Gonward.” (”Half a league, half a league,/ Half a league onward,” from “The Charge of the Light Brigade“)
Quite a few years ago, now, I purchased a specific kind of stove-top popcorn popper. The writeup had lots of good things to say about it, including 3 minutes to a full batch and minimal unpopped kernels. After having been using it for years now, I have to say it’s the best popcorn popper I’ve ever used. It does take only a few minutes and all you have to do is stand there and slowly turn the little crank thingy while it’s going. And it doesn’t take much oil to do the job, so you get popcorn that’s not too dry and not too oily.
I Will Not Be Sad in This World, by Djivan Gasparyan
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