Coffee Klatch

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!

Enjoy!

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:

• The Chicken Dance (4-6 octaves)
• William Bell’s Overture (2-4 octaves)
• Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus (3-5 octaves)
• Holst’s 2nd Suite in F (3-7 octaves)

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.)

1. Drinking eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy has so scientific basis.
2. Reading in dim light will not ruin your eyesight.
3. Shaving your hair does not make it grow back faster or coarser.
4. Eating turkey does NOT make you drowsy (any more than chicken or other foods).
5. We do use more than 10% of our brains.
6. Hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death.
7. Mobile phones are not dangerous in hospitals.

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“)

You can get more examples, variations, and history of mondegreens at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen.

And all this because I wanted to see if the ELO song “Don’t Bring Me Down” actually used the word “Bruce.”

Very interesting. And now you know…. (And hopefully you’re now humming the song!)

The Swiss Army Knife has long been the stereotype for having all the tools you could need in one place. A couple days ago Topher blogged about the ULTIMATE Swiss Army Knife that he’d just heard about. As with almost all cool gadgety things, this comes to us from ThinkGeek.com and was made by Wenger (the original Swiss Army Knife company) to celebrate their 100th anniversary. I had to double-check the thing myself, since it’s almost too much to believe, but the official website of Wenger in North America advertises it as well.

There are 85 tools on this puppy, which means that every tool available on ANY Swiss Army Knife is on it! Just try to fit THIS into your pocket! (It’s almost 9 inches wide and weighs almost 3 lbs.) Here’s the official list of tools:

1. 2.5″ 60% Serrated locking blade
2. Nail file, nail cleaner
3. Corkscrew
4. Adjustable pliers with wire crimper and cutter
5. Removable screwdriver bit adapter
6. 2.5″ Blade for Official World Scout Knife
7. Spring-loaded, locking needle-nose pliers with wire cutter
8. Removable screwdriver bit holder
9. Phillips head screwdriver bit 0
10. Phillips head screwdriver bit 1
11. Phillips head screwdriver bit 2
12. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5mm x 3.5mm
13. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.6mm x 4.0mm
14. Flat head screwdriver bit 1.0mm x 6.5mm
15. Magnetized recessed bit holder
16. Double-cut wood saw with ruler (inch & cm)
17. Bike chain rivet setter, removable 5mm allen wrench, screwdriver for slotted and philips head screws
18. Removable tool for adjusting bike spokes, 10mm hexagonal key for nuts
19. Removable 4mm curved allen wrench with philips head screwdriver
20. Removable 10mm hexagonal key
21. Patented locking philips head screwdriver
22. Universal wrench
23. 2.4″ Springless scissors with serrated, self-sharpening design
24. 1.65″ Clip point utility blade
25. Philips head screwdriver
26. 2.5″ Clip point blade
27. Golf club face cleaner
28. 2.4″ Round tip blade
29. Patented locking screwdriver, cap lifter, can opener
30. Golf shoe spike wrench
31. Golf divot repair tool
32. 4mm allen wrench
33. 2.5″ blade
34. Fine metal file with precision screwdriver
35. Double-cut wood saw
36. Cupped cigar cutter with double-honed edges
37. 12/20-Guage choke tube tool
38. Watch caseback opening tool
39. Snap shackle
40. Mineral crystal magnifier with precision screwdriver
41. Compass, straight edge, ruler \(in.\/cm\)
42. Telescopic pointer
43. Fish scaler, hook disgorger, line guide
44. Shortix laboratory key
45. Micro tool holder
46. Micro tool adapter
47. Micro scraper - straight
48. Micro scraper - curved
49. Laser pointer with 300 ft. range
50. Metal saw, metal file
51. Flashlight
52. Micro tool holder
53. Philips head screwdriver 1.5mm
54. Screwdriver 1.2mm
55. Screwdriver .8mm
56. Fine fork for watch spring bars
57. Reamer
58. Pin punch 1.2mm
59. Pin punch .8mm
60. Round needle file
61. Removable tool holder with expandable receptacle
62. Removable tool holder
63. Special self-centering screwdriver for gunsights
64. Flat philips head screwdriver
65. Chisel-point reamer
66. Mineral crystal magnifier, fork for watch spring bars, small ruler
67. Extension tool
68. Spring-loaded, locking flat nose-nose pliers with wire cutter
69. Removable screwdriver bit holder
70. Phillips head screwdriver bit 0
71. Phillips head screwdriver bit 1
72. Phillips head screwdriver bit 2
73. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5mm x 3.5mm
74. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.6mm x 4.0mm
75. Flat head screwdriver bit 1.0mm x 6.5mm
76. Magnetized recessed bit holder
77. Tire tread gauge
78. Fiber optic tool holder
79. Can opener
80. Patented locking screwdriver, cap lifter, wire stripper
81. Reamer
82. Toothpick
83. Tweezers
84. Key ring

Yes, I do see that there are only 84 things listed when there are supposed to be 85 tools. I took this right from the Wenger website, so it’s THEIR fault. I think they failed to list the regular KNIFE BLADE. Ha! (unless that’s #6)

Oh, and before you start grabbing the credit card to order this huge “knife,” know that the manufacturer’s retail list price is $1,200 (although you can get it from ThinkGeek for “only” $999).

We normally think of the musical scale going from A to G (or from C to C, whether or not they’re shining). When we add the flats and sharps, that accounts for all the notes in our Western well-tempered tonality. But did you know that other letters have been used besides A-G?

In Europe, the letter H is often used instead of B. Since B♭ is used more commonly than B, when they say ‘B’ they mean ‘B-flat.’ H, the next available letter, is then used to designate the regular B.

When some composers have wanted to write a piece based on a theme of someone’s name that didn’t include just the letters A-G (or H), sometimes they’ve recycled through the available letters again, so H=A, I=B, J=C, K=D, L=E, M=F, N=G, O=A, and so on.

Don’t even get me started on solfege!

(Want to check out an interesting ear trainer online? Visit http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/ear_trainer/)

Here’s an interesting thing that I came across today–a website with meditation rooms. Several virtual rooms are available with soothing pictures and relaxing sounds. Themes include: Space, Winter, Floral, Forest, Water, and Zen, each with its own mood and energy level.

Visit http://www.lime.com/meditation_room to access these meditation rooms. You can also download them for your iPod or subscribe to them via iTunes.

When you’re getting stressed or tense from work or school or personal situations, take a few minutes to relax in one of these meditation rooms. Purposefully relax your shoulders and arms, letting the tension go while you let the sights and sounds of the virtual meditation room salve your soul.

(Nice, eh?)

I heard some interesting statistics today about book sales in the U.S. Last year, 1,446,000 DIFFERENT books were sold in the various bookstores around the country. That’s the number of different titles.

Now… how many of those books do you think sold more than 100,000 copies? It was a grand total of 483! Or 0.0003% (three ten-thousandths of one percent) of all the books sold.

On the flip side, how many books do you think sold FEWER than 99 copies? 1,123,000! 78% of all the different books sold in the U.S. sold under 100! Now, that’s not to say that all those books NEVER sold more than 100 copies. That’s just in the one year. But still, interesting statistics.

And if you’re in the process of writing that novel with the hopes of producing a best seller, just realize what a small percentage of books actually make it. Not to disillusion anyone, but at least to maybe keep you from resting ALL your hopes on that novel.

In March 2003 I started a little business offering genealogy research for people. It was fun and I was able to provide an excellent service to quite a few people, tracking the family trees of all but 2 people back to European royalty. While I still enjoy it and can do it for people, I haven’t had “business” in a couple years and have decided to discontinue the RoyaltyLinks website.

My blog is on this royaltylinks.com website, but it will soon be changing to a new URL and domain. I’ve already registered pfitzinger.net and will be using that for my blog and for most other resources I’ve provided on royaltylinks.com.

The URL for this blog will be changing to http://coffeeklatch.pfitzinger.net sometime this next week. Since the royaltylinks domain is registered until March 2008, I’ll just set the old blog URL to forward to the new URL. That should make the transition as clean as possible. If you normally get my RSS feed, you’ll have to change the feed URL, but otherwise it should be relatively painless.

If you have any problems making the switch or if you can’t find some resource you’ve been using, please let me know. Thanks.