Wonderflonium

mrfantasy — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 21:50:21 GMT

https://bsky.app/profile/chairthrower.bsky.social

Happy fall!

mrfantasy — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:48:40 GMT

It's

decorative gourd season

motherfuckers!

Facebook is Tralfamadore

mrfantasy — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 02:37:14 GMT

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever."

Ten years ago

mrfantasy — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:51:14 GMT

It was a Tuesday. I had taken the Monday and Tuesday of that week off from work--it was a good time to take personal days, after the always crazy start of the semester. I had house projects to do, and on Tuesday I was going to treat myself to a trip to Vintage Vinyl to get the new Ben Folds and They Might Be Giants albums that were released that day.

My wife had gone to work early--she was teaching a Rutgers class in the morning and was doing grad school. I stayed in bed but was up about 8:30. I made some coffee and, really, just on a lark, turned on the TV, where I saw the damage from the first plane. At that point they were still speculating it was some sort of explosion, or maybe a plane, but there was no doubt something was very wrong when the second plane hit, and our TV went out. Curiosity turned to fear, and I couldn't get in touch with my wife, since she didn't have a cell phone. I tried to get onto the Internet and watched as the CNN homepage wouldn't load. Eventually, they figured out how to put up static content that could handle the then massive amount of traffic. I also then figured out Channel 13 was still broadcasting, and turned to that to get updates. I watched the towers fall on TV.

Eventually my wife called in, and I asked her to come home as soon as possible. We had no idea was was happening or would happen, and I thought it was just best we were together. She came home and like many people that day, we just watched the TV, listening to each moment.

I went to work the next day, and everyone at Drew was basically in shock. We were fortunate that there were no student programs in the city, and everyone affiliated with the university was accounted for. We also were fortunate that none of our friends or family, or friends of friends or family were affected. Any pain I felt seemed insignificant to what so many others were going through those first few days.

We didn't have cable, so our only viewing choices were Channel 13 rebroadcasting ABC's news coverage or Telemundo. After a few days we started watching Mexican telenovelas just to get something besides the nonstop coverage.

On Saturday that week I went to Vintage Vinyl and bought my CDs. I figured trying to live my life was the best I could do. That feeling of suspended animation those first few weeks as we gradually got things moving again was incredibly strange, and every step towards normalcy was incredibly precious to me.

A few months later I developed a roll of film. It had pictures of the WTC from the ferry during an August visit to the city (we also went to a Yankee game with my inlaws) and immediately after that pictures of the impromptu memorials all over Washington Rock a few days after the 11th. You could see the towers from the overlook. I had thought about going up there at the time but didn't want to leave home.

Ten years later, so much has gone on in my life since then. I've had times of personal tragedy that have hit me harder than the towers going down, and some of the happiest times of my life too. I feel our country still has a lot of healing to do, and while we need to have resolve and strength, that we can move beyond fear and hatred. And we need to remember and honor those who we lost, and honor their loved ones for whom this very public day is very personal.

Well, that explains everything.

mrfantasy — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:25:58 GMT

We usually buy bread from "The Baker", which used to be really good, wholesome bread baked in Hunterdon County. Lately, I've noticed it's been not as good, and they stopped making it with organic ingredients. And the loaves had gotten smaller for the same price.

Looking at the bags, I also realized it's not even being made in NJ anymore (at least not the loaves we've been buying from Whole Foods). Sometimes it's made in Vermont, sometimes in Connecticut.

If you go to The Baker's web site, it links to a bakery in Colorado called Charter Baking.

A Google search turns up this article from Baking Management magazine, describing what happened. Basically, four independent organic and natural bakeries got bought by a private equity group, and they're, somewhat cynically, marketing these bakeries products as interchangeable brand identities in a faceless conglomerate. Pretty much all the bread at Whole Foods (except what they bake on site, and probably the store brand) is from Charter Baking.

I'd be happy to find a good, local, organic baker for my sliced bread. Guess I'll keep looking.

Carvel sprinkles

mrfantasy — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:20:34 GMT

I need help, Internetz.

When I was a kid, one of the most amazing times we had was going to the Carvel near our house. Sometimes my grandpa would take us and buy Lollapaloozas or Flying Saucers, or some such. But my favorite (as it is today) was the simple chocolate frozen custard cone with chocolate sprinkles.

Carvel sprinkles, however, were sublime. The sprinkles you get today in most places are rather thick and nubby. Carvel sprinkles were thin--about 1/3 or 1/2 the thickness if my memory serves, and just as long. The tactile experience in your mouth was completely different--little exploding crunchies as you licked or bit the cone.

I never liked anyone else's sprinkles (or "jimmies") nearly as much. The last time I went to Carvel however they had the same sprinkles everyone else had. I was disappointed.

So, does anyone else remember Carvel sprinkles from the 1970s? Would some Carvels still have these sprinkles, perhaps based on what franchisee owns them? Is there any place where I could buy them and have them myself?

Prog rock lives

mrfantasy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:42:37 GMT

The band Transatlantic--a prog rock supergroup containing members of Marillion, Dream Theatre, The Flower Kings, and Neal Morse, formerly of Spock's Beard--are releasing their first album in nearly 9 years.

It has one song on it.

That one song is 77 minutes long.

Oooh, yeah.

The only remaining question is how much will it cost on iTunes?

(Actually, there's a 2-disc special addition with 8 additional songs--including a cover of Genesis' "Return of the Giant Hogweed"--but the one-disc version is the one song.)

Things that will never happen to me

mrfantasy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:50:30 GMT

I've always dreamed about finding an amazing Hammond Organ at a garage sale, for a discount price, and fixing it up nice and good.

But now, that dream is cast aside for the dream of finding a Hammond Novachord.

I saw this and thought, hey, it'd be cool to do that. But then I realized this guy is a professional analog synth restorer and modder, and it's likely way out of my league. Which means there's no way you could afford a restored one. And used ones, well it sounds like that after 70 years the electrolytic capacitors leak PCBs all over the place and basically make the things toxic as well as unplayable (whereas an old Hammond Organ usually just needs a good cleaning and lubrication and the tonewheels will still work.)

But still, wow. The thing sounds cool. And it'd look great in the living room.

mrfantasy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:53:58 GMT

I've mentioned my Aunt Fay before here, and I still think about her a lot even though she's been gone over a year. Such an inspiration in so many ways.

About ten years ago, just before my aunt moved to Florida, we went to visit her in Brooklyn, where she cooked for us and we had good food and company. As she was starting to go through her things to figure out what she needed and didn't, she was going through her cabinets, and found this huge cast iron pan. She looked at it and said "I bought this for a recipe, and never really used it again. It's big and heavy and probably not worth bringing to Florida. Do you want it". I said yes, and we've been using it ever since, and every time I do I think of her.

The weird thing is I assumed, for whatever reason, that she had bought it recently. Today when I saw something in my Google Reader feed about seasoning cast iron, I decided to do a little research on the Griswold company.

Turns out the last time Griswold cast iron was made was 1957. So this pan is at least 50 years old, maybe more (although less than 70 or so from what I can see). In fact there's whole societies devoted to collecting Griswold cast iron. Cast iron is also one of those antiques that's worth the most if it's been actively used and seasoned. I guess this pan is worth $50-100 to a collector.

This pan rocks, especially on the new stove, and I'm so glad I have it. And I'm even more happy now, except for that I may never know when she exactly bought it and how long it had been in her kitchen.

Breaking Bad Season Two

mrfantasy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:39:06 GMT

Oh my.

This is one brilliant piece of TV. Bryan Cranston is a national treasure. So is Vince Gilligan.

I just saw the season finale, and I don't want to give anything away, but the way everything was woven together was frustrating and satisfying all at once.

They'll probably start rerunning them on AMC. If you missed it the first time, watch it. I don't know if I've ever seen a TV drama that is as intense.

A real blog post. A meme, even

mrfantasy — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:00:58 GMT

To combat LJ neglect, I asked nemo_wistar to tag me for a meme:

The meme goes like this: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

Marillion - My most favorite band ever. Why? Hard to say, and I've spent some time deconstructing it. I got into them in high school, a little bit. But it was in 1987 that it went critical. "Clutching At Straws" came out that summer, and I bought the cassette before I went off to college. I listened to that tape nearly every day, all the time. It tore me apart, it's still one of the most brilliant things ever. I missed seeing them with Fish my freshman year--I found out they were playing in NYC the night of the show, and didn't think I could handle just going into the city with no ticket and no plan (this is before cell phones, before I had an ATM card, before GPSes, and before the Internet). I did see them in 1989 with Steve Hogarth, and have seen them a dozen times since, including once in England, and just a month ago in Montreal for the Marillion Convention.

As to why I've remained a loyal and rabid fan for so long, it's because what they do and how they do it resonates with my personal and cultural milestones. First, their music has all the elements I like--complexity, hardness, melody, emotion. They're a bit geeky and so am I. Also--and I freely admit this--my musical tastes run very, shall we say, white. Marillion are a very geeky, white band. And that's who I am, and I should just embrace it.

Aide Station - A part of my life for over 20 years now. I started working there October of my Freshman year--I came to Drew with a bank account filled with a $1000 scholarship I had won in high school (from something like the Kiwanis Ladies Auxiliary or some such). After a few weeks--after books, travel, and life stuff--I realized it wasn't going to last all year and I better get a job. I applied and interviewed with Les Lloyd, who was the director of the Computer Center at the time, and got a job. Apparently most people didn't start their freshman year (and I was beat out by yesthattom who had applied the first day of school), and I worked there every summer and most Jan Terms. When I went to grad school, I was basically the computing manager for my research group. I left grad school to help manage the helpdesk I had worked at as a student, and the rest, they say, is history.
That Medieval Thing - I don't feel my participation in this was as hardcore as the typical Medfest crowd--although many of them are my good friends. Basically, I was in the chess game one year and another ran around the festival calling myself "Michael The Loud"--which was a hell of a lot of fun.

I was also there for the first Revels, which is when I made myself the promise I would never participate in another one. Basically, we were doing all the cooking and food prep ourselves, and it was only through the grace of a non-existent superior being that we didn't poison everyone. The experience was so harrowing that I can't face the event again, even though it sounds very nice and well-run these days. Oh, and also, I was a character in the evening--I decided about 20 minutes before guests arrived that I would play a mute. Also a hell of a lot of fun. The kids loved it. And no, they didn't get me to mess up.

So, senior year, I agreed to be the King at the chess board, playing the game. I was to win the game, step on to the board, and be struck with an arrow. My friend Jerry worked out an elaborate system of fishing line, a hollow arrow, and a metal-backed foam breastplate. What was supposed to happen was that the arrow was fired, lodged in the foam, and I fall down injured. What actually happened is that the arrow was fired, bounced off the plate, and remained floating in air. I still fell appropriately (I was wounded but would survive in the story), but the arrow had to be explained by "magic" and such. Some of the kids were very worried about me.

So yeah, that sounds like a lot, but I was a dilettante, and really didn't put in the effort that the more serious MedFesters did. And yet, they kept asking me to participate, and didn't care that I wasn't really taking it seriously.

Tofurky! - I think nemo_wistar meant "tofu jerky" but I'll bite. I'm not really a vegetarian but I play one on TV. I was a member of the George Street Co-Op for several years and enjoyed it. When I was in grad school, I bought some tofu jerky at the local health food store. It was good but it was like $4 for a little pouch, and I thought, "I could do this" and I did. I posted it to Usenet and the recipe morphed all over the net, sometimes attributed to me, sometimes not. I have to work on it more, but http://www.tofujerky.org/ is where I documented my recipe.
A kindred passion for politics - I think I was always liberal but didn't know it. Before the 80's both my parents were solid Democrats. In the 80s my dad started the journey through being a Reagan Democrat to the very conservative person he is today. My mom always stayed more lefty--she voted for Dukakis. College was the stereotypical solidification of my latent liberal tendencies, and I've been pretty progressive ever since. Which is odd because the rest of my family is very conservative. Well, my immediate family--I still think of my aunt, who raised my mom, once when my brothers and father were visiting. We were sitting around the table, and politics came up. My dad and brothers started discussing typical conservative viewpoints. My aunt gradually became more and more concerned, and finally blurted out, "You're Republicans!" with more than a hint of contempt. I like to think I didn't disappoint her so.

So there you go. If you reply, I'll give you five things to talk about. Revive your LiveJournal, it will be fun.

Why I went to Montreal this weekend

mrfantasy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:01:10 GMT

Besides great music, because there's a chance something like this would happen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faAk8W242I

And in one sentence, my son unknowingly skewers Wikipedia

mrfantasy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:57:58 GMT

Today at breakfast (we'd been staying at a hotel while our floors were getting finished at home):

Boy: This hotel is made out of pork chops and steak!
Me: How do you know that?
Boy: I read it online!

Hi-larious

mrfantasy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:10:22 GMT

I'm a 3rd degree connection to Barack Obama on LinkedIn.

Also, a 3rd degree connection to Kevin Bacon.

Wegmans

mrfantasy — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:17:49 GMT

Those of you who have a nearby Wegmans that's a special, exciting grocery store don't appreciate that in Rochester, it's just a regular grocery store.

I went shopping yesterday. I wanted to drive to the "nice" Wegmans near my in-laws since they have a better selection. Last year when I did this at Christmas, I thought I knew where it was, but I didn't. I went the wrong way. Thing was, it was no big deal because I just ended up at another Wegmans and shopped there. This year I made sure I got directions.

Name the Band, part 2

mrfantasy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:17:49 GMT

DSC04210
Originally uploaded by Jedimentat44

Okay, you know the game. Name this band. Although it looks like they (update) fired the ironically eyeglassed prettyboy since the last time I saw them.

This is very funny

mrfantasy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:41:39 GMT

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Not to be a pessimist, but

mrfantasy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:59:26 GMT

All the anti-gay marriage questions are winning right now, as well as a gay adoption ban in Arkansas.

At least South Dakota is doing the right thing.

what it's looking like

mrfantasy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:47:52 GMT

Political humor

mrfantasy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:34:23 GMT

I've always liked this:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/futurama-207-nixons-back/2460605255

Voted

mrfantasy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:44:01 GMT

Voted just before 7 this morning. In my comfortable suburban district there's never any problems, or any line. It was busier than usual but by no means crowded.

I took the kid. He took a very big interest in coming with me. He double checked my choices and pushed the "Cast Vote" button (he even noticed I went off-ticket in a local race).

I've been thinking a lot about my aunt. We lost her this spring. She was 92 and lived in Florida. We were going to visit her for the last time when she passed away. While visting with my cousin (there was to be no service, just cremation and spreading of her ashes back in Sicily), she told me my aunt had been giving $25 a month to Obama since he announced his candidacy. My aunt was an amazing woman for a lot of reasons, and the thought that she had seen something in Obama worth committing to really meant a lot to me. So in a way, my vote was for her too.

Please don't forget to vote today.

mrfantasy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:48:23 GMT

I like this song.

30 Rock season 3 premieres at 9:30 tonight

mrfantasy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:57:20 GMT

And just to remind you, this is one of many reasons you should be watching it.

Steve Martin rental

mrfantasy — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:10:53 GMT

Steve Martin is asking $28,000 a week to rent out his villa on the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy.

I'm so totally thinking this is a great idea. If I could get 10 friends or so to go along with me it's even not completely outrageous.

Oh, wait. Steve Martin probably won't be there? It won't be like that movie? I won't be able to have him do my favorite scenes all week, or have him say "WELL EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" every time he tries to walk by me?

Never mind.

The last debate

mrfantasy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:35:46 GMT

Obama was calm, rational, collected. He didn't let McCain goad him at all, responding only when necessary,and in a way that was reassuring and reflective.

The question is which one of these people do you want sitting in the Oval Office making tough decisions during a crisis? I think it's pretty clear.