Tom Collier's _Malletheads_ Concert

18 November 2011, Meany Hall, University of Washington

• Event description: <http://www.music.washington.edu/upcoming/detail/41367> 

• Guest artist Alex Acuña @ Wikipedia: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Acuña>

• Tickets: <http://www.meany.org/tickets/?prod=4934> 

Acuña is well known (especially as a Latin drummer) and well regarded, and he has played with such a large subset of "everybody" that you are sure to have heard his playing before; obtaining tickets early is advised.

Mark_

12:17 28 October 2011

Stealth Marketing

I was somewhat surprised to hear this story on NPR recently <http://www.npr.org/2011/10/23/141470152/products-r-us-are-we-brandwashed>
about this book <http://www.martinlindstrom.com/brandwashed/>
because several months ago Cindy & I had seen this 2009 movie <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joneses>.

I recall during the movie feeling slightly creeped out, and I speculated that someone probably is doing that kind of "stealth marketing".

I occasionally enjoy a look at this web site <http://www.adbusters.org/>.

These are discussions of issues that go back further than we might like to admit; consider this 1957 book <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Packard#The_Hidden_Persuaders>.

For more somewhat embarrassing déjà vu, look on that same Wikipedia page for mentions of other of Packard's books about issues that have not gone away:

• The Status Seekers - "describing American social stratification and behavior" (1959)
• The Waste Makers - "criticizes planned obsolescence describing the impact of American productivity, especially on the national character" (1960)
• The Naked Society - "on the threats to privacy posed by new technologies such as computerized filing, modern surveillance techniques and methods for influencing human behavior" (1964)
• Our Endangered Children - "discusses growing up in a changing world, warning that American preoccupation with money, power, status, and sex, ignored the needs of future generations" (1983)
• The Ultra Rich: How Much Is Too Much? - "examines the lives of thirty American multimillionaires and their extravagances" (1989)

(quotations from the Packard Wikipedia page)

Pay attention to those publication years. We aren't doing very well, are we?

Mark_
09:18 24 October 2011

Rock Musicians' Sailboats

I knew that David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) had owned a large sailing vessel named Mayan, and that he had written several songs (performed by his group/s) that were about sailing or that included sailing as important (metaphorical) themes. I have just learned that Mayan has been for sale. The broker's video presentation is quite interesting.

I did not know that "occasional" band-mate Neil Young (who has had a respected career on his own) also has had a sailboat, Ragland, which has been on the market in recent years as well. Oh--Ragland has even been "here". (2003)

I thought these were interesting.

Mark_
13:26 20 October 2011

View Google Earth Locations on iOS

To view Google Earth location markers in G.E. on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (sufficient iOS version, and installation of Google Earth assumed), use the iOS app KMZ Loader. The usual way of having location pins on an iTouch would be that they arrived as attachments in an e-mail message. If you don't wish to wait until you read your mail on the big computer, this will do.

It's a free download.

Mark_
23:15 09 October 2011

iOS: Picture Transfer by Bluetooth

I have just had a successful experiment with the free version of this iOS software for transferring picture files from one device to another: Bluetooth Photo Share. I needed to transfer some pictures from Cindy's iPad 2 to my iPod 2, and this worked well enough.

Bluetooth isn't terribly fast, so moving dozens of image files (one at a time) might seem somewhat tedious; moving this handful-or-so didn't take too long.

Needs no Network, just that the two devices are in the same room, both running this app.


Mark_
13:18 09 October 2011

Bioluminescence / Phosphorescence

Phosphorescence such as we are not accustomed to seeing in Puget Sound (good though it sometimes is, here):
<http://vimeo.com/29871792>

Wow.

Mark_
09:11 07 October 2011