Monday, December 22, 2008
Download DEATH for the Holidays!
Death now has an optional free mp3 download, just in time for Christmas!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Rest in peace, Pandora Kitty
I just learned today that Pandora Kitty was put down. She hadn't been doing well for some time. For those who don't know who Pandora Kitty is, I offer "The Sneaking Straw Stealer" photo story from 1998. I guess that made her about ten and a half years old. Goodbye kitty. I'm glad I knew you.
Today I started making a video for my Red Baron song (see the previous blog entry of November 16, 2008).
Today I started making a video for my Red Baron song (see the previous blog entry of November 16, 2008).
Sunday, November 16, 2008
New recording of RED BARON song
I wrote this song back in 1995, but only got a decent recording of it the day before yesterday (on November 14, 2008).
The lyrics describe an actual incident in the life of the Red Baron, when he was seriously wounded by a bullet that grazed his skull when he was attacking a group of British aircraft on July 6, 1917.
Red Baron is the page for the lyrics. There is a link to a free mp3 of the latest recording of this song immediately after the song title near the top of that page.
I used Audacity sound recording software to produce three tracks (guitar rhythm, guitar lead, and vocals). I hope you enjoy it! I am quite pleased with the results from this free recording software, although there is much room for improvement in the hardware I am using to record with. Someday I hope to add some sound effects to the song (aircraft engines, machine gun sounds, etc.), and produce a video for YouTube.
The lyrics describe an actual incident in the life of the Red Baron, when he was seriously wounded by a bullet that grazed his skull when he was attacking a group of British aircraft on July 6, 1917.
Red Baron is the page for the lyrics. There is a link to a free mp3 of the latest recording of this song immediately after the song title near the top of that page.
I used Audacity sound recording software to produce three tracks (guitar rhythm, guitar lead, and vocals). I hope you enjoy it! I am quite pleased with the results from this free recording software, although there is much room for improvement in the hardware I am using to record with. Someday I hope to add some sound effects to the song (aircraft engines, machine gun sounds, etc.), and produce a video for YouTube.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin is a nut job
The world is in danger if fundamentalists of any religion have access to "the button" to end the world. Words are tools used to communicate meaning, but sometimes groups of words are not meant to be taken literally but instead are used to communicate images or metaphors. Fundamentalists don't seem to understand this. Not only that, but generally fundamentalism is the most ignorant, arrogant and intolerant form of religious interpretation. Fundamentalist Hindus, Jews and Moslems cause problems elsewhere in the world, but the biggest problem facing the United States of America today is the appalling ignorance, arrogance and intolerance of fundamentalist Christians.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Roy Brown probably did NOT kill the Red Baron
Well I had high hopes when I heard of a recent German movie about the Red Baron. So far as I know it has not yet been released in English language (perhaps subtitles are available for the German version). I really hoped this movie would not have too many historical inaccuracies, but according to Wikipedia this movie indicates that the Canadian pilot Roy Brown is the one who finally kills the Red Baron.
I mean no disrespect to Roy Brown or to Canada, but there is a LOT of evidence that Roy Brown did not fire the shot that killed Manfred von Richthofen. For one thing, the path of the bullet through his body shows that the bullet came from the ground. For another, the wound that killed Richthofen was such that he may have lived for about twenty seconds after being shot. Since the Red Baron was in control of his airplane for a minute or two AFTER Brown fired and banked away, it isn't likely that Brown did it.
Added Dec. 2, 2008: I recently learned that some say depending on the exact path of the fatal bullet, von Richthofen could have lived anywhere from twenty seconds to two minutes after being shot, possibly without an awareness of pain for a short while. This does increase the likelihood somewhat of Brown being the one who killed the Red Baron, but in my opinion this still doesn't make it the most likely scenario.
Now it might not have happened the way it did if Brown hadn't at least attacked the Red Baron. Perhaps this attack, even though unsuccessful, distracted von Richthofen enough to spoil his aim or otherwise keep him from downing Lieutenant May before he himself was shot by the Australian troops on the ground. In my opinion it was a team effort. Richthofen was chasing one Canadian pilot (May), was shot at by another Canadian pilot (Brown), but it was the Australian troops on the ground who brought him down. The point is that von Richthofen wouldn't have been close enough for the Australian troops to shoot him if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved.
I am HIGHLY disappointed in the German director of the film to allow such inaccuracy when the scholarly consensus of World War One aviation historians has been for some time that Richthofen was killed by a bullet fired from the ground by an Australian soldier (probably Popkin, possibly Evans or another whose identity is unknown).
The movie trailer I've seen looks wonderful. I immediately recognized Fokker Triplane 586/17 shown in the trailer, the "optical illusion" triplane flown by Kirschstein of Jasta 6 and later by Ernst Udet of Jasta 4. The markings looked correct, and seeing a known historical aircraft depicted in the proper markings gave me hope that this movie paid attention to historical fact. I can't believe how STUPID the film's makers were to show Roy Brown as the one who killed von Richthofen! If I ever get really rich, perhaps I can finance a movie about von Richthofen that will do justice to his legendary character and be as historically accurate as possible.
I mean no disrespect to Roy Brown or to Canada, but there is a LOT of evidence that Roy Brown did not fire the shot that killed Manfred von Richthofen. For one thing, the path of the bullet through his body shows that the bullet came from the ground. For another, the wound that killed Richthofen was such that he may have lived for about twenty seconds after being shot. Since the Red Baron was in control of his airplane for a minute or two AFTER Brown fired and banked away, it isn't likely that Brown did it.
Added Dec. 2, 2008: I recently learned that some say depending on the exact path of the fatal bullet, von Richthofen could have lived anywhere from twenty seconds to two minutes after being shot, possibly without an awareness of pain for a short while. This does increase the likelihood somewhat of Brown being the one who killed the Red Baron, but in my opinion this still doesn't make it the most likely scenario.
Now it might not have happened the way it did if Brown hadn't at least attacked the Red Baron. Perhaps this attack, even though unsuccessful, distracted von Richthofen enough to spoil his aim or otherwise keep him from downing Lieutenant May before he himself was shot by the Australian troops on the ground. In my opinion it was a team effort. Richthofen was chasing one Canadian pilot (May), was shot at by another Canadian pilot (Brown), but it was the Australian troops on the ground who brought him down. The point is that von Richthofen wouldn't have been close enough for the Australian troops to shoot him if it hadn't been for the Canadian pilots involved.
I am HIGHLY disappointed in the German director of the film to allow such inaccuracy when the scholarly consensus of World War One aviation historians has been for some time that Richthofen was killed by a bullet fired from the ground by an Australian soldier (probably Popkin, possibly Evans or another whose identity is unknown).
The movie trailer I've seen looks wonderful. I immediately recognized Fokker Triplane 586/17 shown in the trailer, the "optical illusion" triplane flown by Kirschstein of Jasta 6 and later by Ernst Udet of Jasta 4. The markings looked correct, and seeing a known historical aircraft depicted in the proper markings gave me hope that this movie paid attention to historical fact. I can't believe how STUPID the film's makers were to show Roy Brown as the one who killed von Richthofen! If I ever get really rich, perhaps I can finance a movie about von Richthofen that will do justice to his legendary character and be as historically accurate as possible.
Friday, June 13, 2008
New Front Derailleur on my Schwinn
It really is new too, still in the original package. Of course the package is more than thirty years old, but it had never been opened. On June 11, 2008 the old Shimano Positron front derailleur on my 1977 Schwinn Sportabout was replaced by this NOS (new old stock) SunTour "Spirt" front derailleur. The clamp was a bit too big around and needed a shim to fit my seat post.
I have also polished the metal parts of my bicycle the past few days so everything is very shiny. I will put a web page up eventually to show this, hopefully not before all the shininess fades.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
new lights for my Schwinn ten-speed bicycle
Cateye EL530 headlight and LD1100 taillight are the brightest battery-powered bicycle lights available. The EL530 is 1500 candlepower (50% brighter than the 2005 model). The LD1100 (new for 2008) is 100% brighter than the 2007 model. I placed a special order for them today from the local bicycle store. I also ordered a cam lock mount for the headlight, because I read of many complaints about the stock mount being flimsy.
These will be a vast improvement over the Cateye lights I bought five years ago that are currently mounted on my Schwinn. Bicycle light technology has advanced considerably in the past five years.
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