Tuesday, 27 September 2011
I’ve successfully managed to get the flow of water on my fridge’s tap to dispense at a decent clip. When we first moved in, it took about 5 minutes for the dispenser to fill up a glass; now it’s more like 20-30 seconds. I think that’s a significant improvement.
My next problem concerns the ice. By all appearances, the freezer should manufacture ice and dispense it into a holding tub where it then can be dispensed into a glass. I can not figure out how to get this to work. I’ve taken to manufacturing ice the old fashioned way: putting water in trays, allowing it to freeze, and then twisting the trays until the ice cubes fall into said tub. This gives us enough ice to last a few days.
I’ve printed off the instruction manual and my plan is to take a closer look this weekend.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
The biggest news at Billboard today is that the number one album is Tony Bennett’s Duets II. He’s had some #1 singles (including back-to-back hits in 1951), but it’s hard to believe, but Tony has never scored a #1 album before.
Tony becomes the oldest person to hit the top of Billboard’s album chart. He’s 85 years young, and his new record blows right past the previous record set by Bob Dylan back in 2009 when he was ‘only’ 67 years old.
I’ve always appreciated Tony for being one of a handful of artists that seems able to continually reinvent himself and keep his music relevant for decades (Paul Simon and Brian Wilson also come to mind).
When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents frequently used to play crooner music from the 1940s and 50s. They pretty much plated music from two artists: Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes was played, I estimate, about 90% of that time. They insisted he was the better of the two artists, I insisted otherwise.
Fun fact: Tony – whom my grandparents assured me was ‘actually’ named Anthony Benedetto – went to high school with my grandfather.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Here’s a fascinating video:
What would other bodies in our planets look like if they were the same distance from us as the moon? It gets really trippy when the Earth spins by (the Earth as viewed from Earth? Wow…), but otherwise it’s cool…
Really makes me appreciate that Jupiter is King of the Planets. Another thing to note is that Earth is spinning the wrong way, but I suppose that’s not the point of the video.
The one downside to living in the city (well, there are several downsides, really) is the light pollution. I often bring my telescope when I go camping, as it gives me a chance to check out the night sky unencumbered by street lights and house lights. I’ve heard there are telescope viewing parties around the Twin Cities. Every once in a while, I think of joining up with them. But come on, how nerdy do you think I am?