We are afraid to care too much...

Thinking that it's time to pull the trigger and get the album Lift a Feather to the Flood by Robert Rich & Markus Reuter.

Here's a text teaser about an upcoming ambient album from Eraldo Bernocchi and Netherworld called Himuro to be released 30 June.

Helen Frankenthaler, Grey Fireworks, 2000. From the ongoing exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fluid Expressions: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler.

Hometown does good: Conde Nast Traveler included Fort Worth on its list of 6 U.S. Cities to Watch in 2017. "top-notch museums" "Head to Magnolia Ave."

Apollo 11 artifacts - including its command module - may be coming soon to a town near you (if you live near Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, or Seattle).

This "craft pr0n" video of a canoe being carved out of a log is mesmerizing in a sleepy kinda of way.

Consider this a public service announcement: how to avoid penis fractures. (Hint: no cowgirl.)

...for fear that the other person does not care at all. ~Eleanor Roosevelt.

Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss...

I've got a lot of music bookmarked so I can give a listen before making a buy decision. Now you can too.

• Unseen Universe by Tim Motzer
• Lift a Feather to the Flood by Robert Rich and Markus Reuter
• John Payne's Asia live, included here because I had completely missed the fact that Guthrie Govan played guitar with them.
• Open Air by Theo Travis (solo flute)
• MasticAttack by Pat Mastelotto
• Schoolyard Ghosts by No-Man

Donald Sultan, Dead Plant November 1 1988. Currently on display at The Modern.

Of these 8 things every person should do before 8:00 a.m, I've done precisely 2 today. #5 Take a cold shower. Uh, no thank you.

A video of the rotating moon compiled from LRO images.

Yes finally got admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but you might be wondering which incarnation of Yes. Rolling Stone has made a little video explaining the band's evolving line-up. (Those of you hoping for a reunion should give it up.)

If you like music and can handle math here's something about musical fractals (aka harmonic polyrhythms). It just gave me a headache.

Largest company in each state.

Beer journalism: oct.co.

Why does Jeff Bezos' think it's always Day 1? "Staying in Day 1 requires you to experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight. A customer-obsessed culture best creates the conditions where all of that can happen."

Disneyland's private Club 33 is coming to Walt Disney World (4 locations?). Initiation fee expected to be in excess of $50,000 with annual dues in excess of $15,000. (I've dined at Club 33 due to the kindness of friends.)

More Disney? How about this list of 60 foods you ought to try at Disney World? While I have no plans to eat a turkey leg, I would like to eventually try the famous Dole Whip.

OK, this is the last one. Disney World's rides ranked. "it's a small world" is only #22? C'mon man.

Fort Worth's Near Southside (the district in which I work) is getting good press for its development efforts.

And if you like to eat in Fort Worth, here's one man's best of Fort Worth list. For example, Canne Rosso for pizza. (And I'm not including this just because the article mentions me.) Here's a big magazine's best of list in case you prefer something more corporate.

One principle of success from Xerox Parc: "It's baseball, not golf. Batting 0.350 is very good."

Ikigai: A reason for being. How many of us achieve it?

Android users may soon be getting a video stabilization feature in Google Photos.

Don't forget about graphene. Now someone has shown how to use it to desalinate water.

Hey aviation geeks: here's a document I'd call historically significant. Kelly Johnson's 1958 white paper on Archangel 1 which became the A-12 which became the SR-71. More here.

I'm not certain, but reading this give me the impression that the LA Times is not a fan of our current president.

What's your Boob IQ? My score was 11/13. (With a little bit of extra effort they could've made it more fun by giving you a score like 32B or 38D. But that would probably offend some people by equating bigger with better. Never mind.)

How do you make a better bra? Start by realizing that 37% of all womens' breasts fall between cup sizes.

"Gimme an F!" College cheerleading squad was basically an escort service.

...events, great minds discuss ideas. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I don't mind admitting to my biases. At the library, browsing the shelves of audio books on CD, when I got to "K" I'd sidestep right by "King, Stephen." Why? Two reasons. In high school I saw The Shining in the theater and it scared the bujeebus out of me. A decade or so later I saw The Langoliers TV mini-series and bored the doodie out of me. Therefore, no more from Mr. King.

That is, no more until a friend (thanks, JP) told me he was in the middle of King's 11/22/63 and said it was quite good and his wife liked it too. Given those recommendations and the additional fact that I've read quite a bit non-fiction about the JFK assassination (most notably, Vincent Bugliosi's 1,000+ page tome Reclaiming History), 11/22/63 was my next checkout from the library.

Stephen King's 11/22/63 is at the top of the list of novels I've enjoyed most in the past couple of years. Part sci-fi, part historical fiction, part love story, 11/22/63 succeeds with all three.

Suppose you had been given the ability to go back in time to save JFK from Oswald's bullet. Would you do it? Could you do it? And then what? Can you even foresee the obstacles you might face? The historical fiction part of 11/22/63 succeeded for me because as a Fort Worth residence I delighted in hearing native places and names brought back to life in the "present," first person. The sci-fi part of it succeeded for me because I was so engaged by the concept that I found myself extrapolating the plot with my own theories of what might happen when someone starts messing with past. (None of my theories turned out to be part of King's plot.) But what pulled me in and kept me circling the block so I could hear more of the audio book, was the seemingly tangential issue of who else you might meet in the past and how they might change you, in the present, in the future, and for all time.

Actor Craig Wasson provided the narration and greatly contributed to my appreciation of 11/22/63.

Highly recommend.

"Nothing can be said about writing except when it's bad. When it is good, one can only read and be grateful."

I received no compensation of any kind for this review.

Politics and Business: What's New. A Report from COFES 2017

The second keynote address (more of a moderated conversation, actually) at COFES 2017 (the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software) was given by Mark Anderson and Scott Foster on the topic of Business Implications of the New International Political Landscape. This was the first time I'd heard Foster speak and my second time for Anderson but it's fair to say that listening to them is like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. I decided to take some time to jot down a summary before it all leaked out of my less than sponge-like brain.

For the record, Anderson seems to be a well-informed, insightful person. Among many other accomplishments, Anderson's bio claims he's the only person to predict both the financial collapse of 2008 and the more recent drastic drop in the price of oil.

Any lack of clarity in what I write below should be blamed on my poor note taking and memory, not either of the keynote speakers.

Anderson began by taking 10 minutes to brief us on four notable topics.

1. The rise of nationalism (aka alt-right, aka populism) was instigated by two factors: immigration and trade imbalance. What most people don't understand, is that the huge migration of people has very little to do with escaping war and conflict; mostly it involves people moving from a place that sucks to a place that's better for economic reasons. Here Anderson tossed out the nugget "[Immigration] is the only reason Brexit happened." The second factor, trade imbalance, directly hurts the middle class. Here Anderson dropped a second nugget, the opinion that China's trade policy is to impoverish their trade partners. And a third nugget: China's economy is crashing and has been for a couple of years with GDP actually dropping 2-4%.
2. $50/gallon oil is the greatest thing in the world. By dropping what amounted to a global tax, we in the U.S. no longer need to mess around in the Middle East because soon we'll be the largest exporter of oil.
3. With respect to the rise of technology and automation, Anderson called it inevitable and said it will be a great benefit to those who control the means of production because they will become more profitable. At the same time, robots will replace human jobs furthering the trend toward income inequality. "Bill Gates is going to be a pauper compared to Elon Musk," said Anderson. [Note that this says nothing about the societal cost of income inequality and how we as a society redirect the workforce. The good news is, this argument is similar to those I heard in the 1970s about robots taking peoples' factory jobs.]
4. Finally, global warming is real. Anderson says just ask the military, serious people who are currently accounting for that in their planning.

Foster recently authored Stealth Japan, a look at the success of the Japanese economy, a success that the Western media is said to get completely wrong. In introducing Foster, Anderson called Japan the "pivot country" in Asia.

The election of Trump created panic and dismay throughout Eastern Asia. Specifically, the demise of the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) - a deal that the U.S. pushed through mostly on its own beneficial terms - has killed American credibility in the region. Countries in the region - China included - are negotiating a new trade pact that leaves the U.S. out. Probably not a good thing for us.

On the political-military front, the Chinese are in the South China Sea with their man-made islands and such. It's a done deal. In addition to this expansion, Anderson tossed out that "Nothing happens in North Korea without help and approval from the Chinese." So complaints about their missile program fall on deaf ears, especially when the U.S. government would prefer China handle it. There's nothing China would love more than to further diminish U.S. influence in the region.

With respect to economic power, China is buying its way into the manufacturing of industrial robots. China has created in response to Industry 4.0 an effort called Made in China 2025. Unlike "made in America" which was called an empty slogan with nothing behind it, China will use everything within their economic and political power to achieve that goal. And a huge effort to develop the Eurasian Rail Network will create new economies simply due to the ease of shipping goods. 

With respect to countries in the region. Japan follows the rules. China is only for consenting adults. (Do business there, but take care.) South Korea is opening up (because their economy is so bad they have to). Singapore is the London of Asia. 

Bottom lines?

• The drive toward automation is unstoppable.
• There is fear that the U.S. will disengage from Asia.
• We are over-estimating China and underestimating Japan.

I have learned that to be with those I like...

There's a bird chirping away outside my office window. Inside, here are excerpts from Brian Eno's Reflection and The Ship.

Alma Thomas, Lake Reflection Advent of Spring, 1973. source

A King Crimson coloring book? (Check the date.)

A 3,400 year old tune may be the word's oldest song and is more sophisticated than some music historians would've believed.

On the other hand, giraffes are as dull as you probably expect as evidenced by this giraffe webcam.

This is not a joke. Art of Noise is re-releasing a remastered 2-CD deluxe edition of their 1986 album In Visible Silence. One of the packages available through Pledge Music includes a signed 12" print of the album's cover. I've already ordered mine.

A lost art? source

...is enough. ~Walt Whitman