MUNDOBLAINEO SITE NEWS NO.11

feb. 27 2002

My major piece of info today is my sounds page. As is common in these things, I did some surfing and ended up on a WAV file page or two. I downloaded stuff with reckless abandon, suddenly presented with a whole series of "meaningful" sound bites. To Americans my age, The Wizard of Oz, for instance has assumed cosmic dimensions. It's not just me, look at David Lynch's "Wild at Heart". If you don't know your wizard, you will never really understand THAT movie. If you want to that is.That's why I have included

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" and

"I'm melting....melting!"

on my site.

We also have the voice of HAL from 2001 up there. These little bites are great for alerts, especially on windows. I am now using "What do you think you're doing, Dave" as a shutdown alert and "I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit" for an alert of impending system crash. Of course, you might want to use Peter Fonda from Easy Rider saying "I think I'm gonna crash" instead.

OH, THERE'S A LOT UP THERE. Hannibal Lecter. Bond...James Bond. Homer Simpson. "mmmmmm...invisible cola." Free to download. Freedom of information! Long live the free internet! Or did you see that Enron geek before Congress talking about how they thought the "meltdown" of the market for bandwidth was a positive sign that their schemes were working? HUH? I just know that I used to get free webhosting, now I have to pay. It's like...not fair, dood! I also see that there is some evil force at work trying to limit the potential of this tool and keep us down on the plantation from gettin' uppity and trying to connect beyond our little villages and hidey holes. WHOA, DUDE, fight the power that bleeds! Download a WAV file from my site!!!

basta cosi

http://www.mundoblaineo.com/download_sounds.htm

I would like to thank Tobias Pflaum for pointing out that the links on my journal page didn't work. I beg your forgiveness. I blame microsoft. Their damn program rewrote a key piece of code without my knowledge and boy am I embarrassed. Somebody link me to a non-crashing cracked version of dreamweaver or something better, please! Here is that journal link again.

http://www.mundoblaineo.com/journal2.5.htm#berlin

What else?

Tuxedomoon will play in Mexico City in April. We will play the Sonar Festival in Spain in June. We will play the Ramada Inn by the Highway 50 bypass in Pueblo, Colorado in 2011 for Blaine's 30th high school re-union of the class of 1971. We are also available for Bar Mitzvahs, weddings and children's parties. No questions asked. Payment is in cash, leave it in a paper bag behind the toilet, second stall from the right, rest stop number 23, Interstate 80, Cheyenne Wyoming. You will be contacted. No timewasters please.

I think I hear my mother calling. Considering she is in Colorado and I am near Turkey, you gotta admire the old gal's voice.

your working boy

blaine

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   site news no 10. Feb 23, 2002

Well gang,

Last night I went to the college radio station here in Mytilini and did two hours for them. I have never seen a radio station run on less. It is thanks to sheer will that they get a signal out at all. The studio monitor was a flickering clock radio tuned to the station. We passed around the one microphone which had a bad cable. During the course of the program someone made the mistake of closing the door behind themselves, probably me hunting down the toilet, which meant WE WERE LOCKED IN! The bad boogie band rehearsing in the next room were unlikely to come to our rescue, so Giorgos the host of our show called a friend who lived nearby to come let us out. Or course, I had a great time.

I have been beavering away today on two things. First thing, I have been sorting through e-mails in my down-time effort to make my journal current. I have caught up with myself up to my splendid adventures in Berlin from May to July 2000. This is a cracking read, folks, Blaine tells all in this day by day breakdown of the anything goes world of Berliner theatre. We have live chickens, horses, love, bicycles, ping pong tables and La Bamba. It's all there, including a link to a virtual tour of Berlin. I sighed many a nostalgic sigh watching that little Javascript go around and around some very familiar sights indeed. Unfortunately all of my own photos of this period are still there in Berlin, awaiting uh....something.

I haven't figured how to link to a menu that is contained in a frameset, so this link takes you to the page in question.

http://www.mundoblaineo.com/journal2.5.htm#berlin

While you're at it, take the virtual tour yourself at

http://www.deutschland-panorama.de/staedte/berlin/start.html

 

://://://://://://://://://://:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\

:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\://://://://://://://://://://://

The Second Thing:

I have been beating my head against a wall made by Internet Explorer for some time now.

I wrote much of my refurbished site on Microsoft Front Page, which a friend happened to give me. Now I can't make my damn french page function in Netscape. Damn. All that comes up is a black screen and it's a mystery why. In the process, I found a couple of innaresting sites for web diagnosis, if that sort of thing interests you. It certainly does me. Geekitude beckons.

You can submit your URL to this place and see your site the way others see it. It does quick analyses of your HTML and lets you know just how much work you have to debug it, lets you view your site in various configurations of browsers, old, new, netscape and so on.

I didn't pay attention. I might just dump the French page.

http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html

OPERA BROWSER:

Speaking of browsers, I have downloaded this Opera browser, version 6.01. It is free if you submit to an ad banner, otherwise you pays a bit. It bills itself as "The Fastest Browser on Earth". It is quite a small download and takes very little time to install. There are some handy dandy featurettes included like my current fave the mouse gestures.

One can move back and next by holding your right click down and left clicking, or vice versa. Handy for armchair surfers. You can click on a word and look it up in a dictionary or translate it. It's like...awesome. Go get it, fight the power that bleeds. This one was written by some Finnish guys.

http://www.opera.com/

://://://://://://://://://://.\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\

:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\:\.//://://://://://://://://://://

+_____________________________________________________________________________________+

|Some other surf results I feel like sharing. I was feeling in a Leonard Cohen kind of| |mood yesterday, so I went to his site. There I found somewhere to get his lyrics and | |chords to his songs. Lo and behold, you can find the guitar chords for just about | |anything at this address: |

| http://www.olga.net/ |

+_____________________________________________________________________________________+

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, as of today, Feb. 23, 2002 Chuck Jones is dead. He was 89.

That's all folks.

from MSNBC

JONES DIED OF congestive heart failure, his family said. His wife of 20 years, Marian, was at his side when he died at their home in Corona del Mar, a southern California town on the Pacific Ocean

It took a literary scholar, Hugh Kenner, who is noted for his critical studies of James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Samuel Beckett, to sum up the significance of the artist behind Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig and Pepé Le Pew.

Jones was the equal of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, Kenner once told me, calling him not just “a creative genius in a wholly new medium” but a key figure in a period of animation art comparable to “the brief flowering of Periclean Athens.”

d'ACCORD.

The Merry go Round Broke Down.

I guess I will close there, paedia (greek for "kids". Theatrespeak. roughly=ragazzi)

I will leave you with some guitar chords. It is "Dance me to the end of love" from Mr. Cohen in honor of what my journal made me feel today.

 

 

thank you for your kind attention

your working boy

blaine

(in case you might wonder where this "working boy" stuff comes from, read "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy O'Toole. It is one of the funniest books ever written.)

 

HERE IS YOUR FREE GIFT FROM MUNDOBLAINEO

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#

#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #

#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##

From: [email protected] (Adi Heindl t4010)

Subject: CRD: Leonard Cohen: Dance Me To The End Of Love

Am Em

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

Am Em

Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in

Am Em

Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove

H7/F# Em

Dance me to the end of love

H7/F# Em

Dance me to the end of love

 

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone

Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon

Show me slowly what I only know the limits of

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

 

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on

Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long

We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

 

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born

Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn

Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn

Dance me to the end of love

Am Em

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

Am Em

Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in

Am Em

Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove

H7/F# Em

Dance me to the end of love

H7/F# Em

Dance me to the end of love

H7/F# Em

Dance me to the end of love

 

There exsit also lyrics in French and Norwegian.

If You are interested email to

[email protected]

 

Pattern is something like that

 

Am

1 2 3 4

e:--------0----------0------|

B:--------1----------1------|

G:--------2----------2------|

D:--------------2-----------|

A:--0-----------------------|

E:--------------------------|

p ima p ima

 

or variation with

 

Am

1 2 + 3 + 4 1 2 + 3 + 4

e:--------------------|-------------------|

B:--1-----------1-----|--3-----------1----|

G:--------2-----------|--------2----------|

D:-----2--------------|-----2-------------|

A:--0--------------2--|--0--------------2-|

E:-----------0--------|-----------0-------|

Em

1 2 + 3 + 4 1 2 + 3 + 4

e:---------------------|-------------------|

B:--0-----------0------|--1-----------0----|

G:--------0------------|--------0----------|

D:-----2-----------2---|-----2-----------2-|

A:-----------2---------|-----------2-------|

E:--0------------------|--0----------------|

H7 F# F# Em

1 2 + 3 + 4 1 2 + 3 + 4 1 2 + 3 + 4

e:--2-----------------|--3-----------2-----|--0----------------|

B:--------------0-----|--------------------|--------------0----|

G:--------2-----------|--------2-----------|--------1----------|

D:-----1--------------|-----1-----------1--|-----2-----------2-|

A:--2--------------1--|--2-----------------|-----------2-------|

E:-----------2--------|-----------2--------|--0----------------|

or what pattern do You think?

corrections and suggestions to the email above

Thank You for any help

 

 

and thank you, Adi

"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"

"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is often mistaken for the main "Looney Toons" theme. (The MIDI file link above is to a version that combines the two). It is one of the themes used in Warner Brothers cartoons, however it's main claim to fame is probably in the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". It was written by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklyn for the Guy Lombardo Orchestra and was a top hit in the late 1930s.

Here are the original lyrics:

The merry-go-round broke down,

As we went 'round and 'round

Each time 'twould miss, We'd steal a kiss

And the merry-g-round went...

(Calliope riff or vocal UM-PAH-PAH here)

The merry-go-round broke down

And made the darnest sound

The lights went low

We both said "oh"

And the merry-go-round went...

(Calliope riff or vocal UM-PAH-PAH here)

Oh, what fun, a wonderful time

Finding love for only a dime

(CALLIOPE RIFF or UM-PAH-PAH HERE?)

The merry-go-round broke down

But you don't see me frown

Things turned out fine

And now she's mine

'Cause the merry-go-round went...

(Calliope riff or vocal UM-PAH-PAH here)

The movie added a few new verses:

Now Roger is his name

Laughter is his game

Come on, you dope

Untie his rope

This singin' ain't my line.

It's tough to make a rhyme.

If I get stuck

I'm out of luck...

Here's a short campfire song version (the mm-boom, etc. stands in the for the calliope riff):

The merry-go-round broke down

Mm-boom-boom

It made a crazy sound Mm-beep-beep

And I did shout

When the lights went out

And the merry-go-round broke down

Mm-boom-boom mm-beep-beep

Mm-boom-boom mm-beep-beep

Here's a short article that mentions the song from the Mechanical Music archives

The song was apparently recorded (or at least sheet music was written for) by Eddy Duchin, Shep Fields, Jimmy Lunceford, Russ Morgan.

The Grateful Dead used it as a tune-up tune, but never recorded it (or maybe the source for this info thought the Looney Toons theme was it). It might be found on a bootleg tape of the 11/29/66 show at the Matrix in San Francisco.

Riders in the Sky play it in concert.

The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Joe DiRita) recorded it.

that's all folks,

your working boy out

blaine

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No. 9 February 21, 2002

|/|/|/| IS BILL GATES THE ANTI-CHRIST? (IS JESUS CHRIST THE ANTI-GATES?)|/|/|/|

Excuse me if I sound a bit cranky on this one, folks. Snow Crashes will do that to one.

I have been running microsoft software on my computer for some time, since it was conveniently included with the package. Quelle coincidence! Suddenly, IT happened to me too. A computer dying on you like Generalissimo Franco did, that is, one piece at a time("Today G. Franco's kidneys failed, today G. Franco's lungs failed, maybe you aren't old enough to remember the daily bulletins on the news"). This kind of disaster is "something that always happens to someone else" like a traffic accident or hemmorhoids UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO YOU.

My cyberguru Coti and I sat up with this ailing beast for almost two days, watching in despair as one program after another packed it in. At one point, prior to his arrival, I even tried chanting Sufi healing mantras to it, and I was convinced that I had healed it with my mystical powers. Alas, I was deluded.

Like so many others before, I was privileged to experience for myself the arcane labyrinth that is the dark forest of SYSINI, and follow the track of The Dark Lord in my quest to destroy his ring in the Crack of Doom or whatever.

We obviously succeeded, or I would be unable to write this piece of fluff. Exhausted, I sat down to my laptop to engage in my nightly surfing activities. The only thing which came to mind as a basis for a search was "I HATE MICROSOFT". I might as well have been searching "e-mail". There were that many entries. I copied and pasted the first few and then worked up a lovely image for my holy site.

The text included there is a semi-literate e-mail which has become a much-quoted classic on anti microsoft sites, as has the "blue screen of death" haiku.

I will continue to use this stuff because everyone else does. Life can be like that sometimes. Basta.

Here is the link.......

http://www.mundoblaineo.com/anti_gates.htm

Blue Screen of Death n.

[common] This term is closely related to the older Black Screen of Death but much more common (many non-hackers have picked it up). Due to the extreme fragility and bugginess of Microsoft Windows, misbehaving applications can readily crash the OS (and the OS sometimes crashes itself spontaneously). The Blue Screen of Death, sometimes decorated with hex error codes, is what you get when this happens. (Commonly abbreviated BSOD.)

The following entry from the Salon Haiku Contest, seems to have predated popular use of the term:

Windows NT crashed.

I am the Blue Screen of Death

No one hears your screams.

-- Peter Rothman

 

Three things are certain:

Death, taxes, and lost data.

Guess which has occurred.

 

-- David Dixon

Everything is gone;

Your life's work has been destroyed.

Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?

 

-- David Carlson

More Hacker Jargon:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon.html

I found this, much to my delight and/or consternation.

Guido /gwee'do/ or /khwee'do/

Without qualification, Guido van Rossum (author of Python). Note that Guido answers to English /gwee'do/ but in Dutch it's /khwee'do/.

nerd knob n.

[Cisco] A command in a complex piece of software which is more likely to be used by an extremely experienced user to tweak a setting of one sort or another - a setting which the average user may not even know exists. Nerd knobs tend to be toggles, turning on or off a particular, specific, narrowly defined behavior.

guru meditation n.

Amiga equivalent of `panic' in Unix (sometimes just called a `guru' or `guru event'). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the form "GURU MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY" may appear, indicating what the problem was. An Amiga guru can figure things out from the numbers. Sometimes a guru event must be followed by a Vulcan nerve pinch.

This term is (no surprise) an in-joke from the earliest days of the Amiga. An earlier product of the Amiga corporation was a device called a `Joyboard' which was basically a plastic board built onto a joystick-like device; it was sold with a skiing game cartridge for the Atari game machine. It is said that whenever the prototype OS crashed, the system programmer responsible would calm down by concentrating on a solution while sitting cross-legged on a Joyboard trying to keep the board in balance. This position resembled that of a meditating guru. Sadly, the joke was removed fairly early on (but there's a well-known patch to restore it in more recent versions).

 

Apropos of Nothing:

 

 

Here is a wee French text about one of the weapons our boys are using in Aghanistan. The Predator Drone is an unmanned aircraft equipped with "Hellfire" missiles which can be piloted from a bunker in Kansas via new virtual interfaces while it rains death on the enemies of democracy far far away. Damn.

Octobre 2001

Predator, drone armé : la guerre sur une télécommande

CJ 18/10/01

Le département de la défense américaine a révélé utiliser des drones (avions sans pilote) en Afghanistan. Mais désormais, ceux-ci ne serviraient plus seulement au renseignement : c'est la première fois dans l'histoire que des drones seraient utilisés comme véritable machine de guerre. Selon des sources informées, le RQ1-Predator aurait en effet été équipé avec des missiles anti-tanks Hellfire, armes puissantes habituellement utilisées à partir d'hélicoptères. Plusieurs de ces missiles auraient ainsi été tirés à partir de ces drones.

On imagine facilement la suite : des drones qui seraient capables d'aller tirer un missile sur une cible n'importe où dans le monde.

Rappelons en effet que 23 avril dernier, le RQ-4A Global Hawk, dont l'envergure est supérieure à celle d'un Boeing 737, a pu assurer un vol télécommandé de 8600 miles, de la base Air Force Edwards en Californie jusqu'à la base Edinburgh, au sud de l'Australie.

 

There is an organization of ex-radar technicians who meet to promote electronic warfare. They call themselves "Two Crows" because the WWII nickname for radar technicians was "Ravens". Ho ho ho. You can find all about state of the art military hardware there if you really want to.

http://www.crows.org/aboutus.htm

Here is a link to a guy who claims to have found something like a perpetual motion machine.

http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/bp/16/bedeng.htm

Bedini energy.

 

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