May 29, 2014
It's Not Like a Bike At All
With no one in the house to disturb, I've started practicing the piano again for the first time in 15 or 20 years. The first obstacle to overcome was the lack of any sheet music, but I scrounged up an old hymnal. My first indication of how daunting the task ahead of me is was wasting a moment remembering what the squigglypoo and the backwards C were called. Upon starting to
play beat upon keys I realized that my basic hand coordination had atrophied BADLY. I've got a lot of work to do.
I used to be decent at this, but, it appears that playing Senbonzakura is rather a bit farther off that I had hoped.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
05:31 PM
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I played piano when I was a lad of 10 or so. Hated it. But of course I never was very good at it.
BTW, have you watched
Nodame?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu May 29 17:57:03 2014 (RqRa5)
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"...what the squigglypoo and the backwards C were called."
Are you talking about tenor and bass clefs?
Order of sharps:
Five Cats Got Drunk At Eddy's Bar
I don't remember the mnemonics for the order of flats, BEADGCF, but it was more perverted.
Posted by: topmaker at Thu May 29 21:20:59 2014 (2yZsg)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu May 29 23:52:13 2014 (RqRa5)
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If you're interested in mixing hobbies, ichigos.com might be of interest to you.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Fri May 30 07:27:24 2014 (b4Q61)
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Are you talking about tenor and bass clefs?
Oh dear. Clefs yes, but I thought they were Treble and Bass.
Oh well....
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri May 30 09:02:14 2014 (DnAJl)
Posted by: Mauser at Sat May 31 15:47:16 2014 (TJ7ih)
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Are there other Clefs? [/quote]
Alto and Tenor, as well as Baritone and there are a couple of Soprano clefs too, but I know next to nothing of them.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat May 31 16:22:02 2014 (DnAJl)
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"..but I thought they were Treble and Bass. "
Yeah, I think you are right. Music Theory was my favorite class in high School, but then well tempered tuning came out and scotched the whole medium.
The clef used depends on both the range and the tuning of the instrument. The idea was you wanted the most common used pitches in the easiest to read area of the chart.
I could never figure out why some instruments would switch the scale though. A Bb flute would note a Bb as a C? Why?
Anyway, it is a relatively minor issue. a? Ahh, C.
Posted by: topmaker at Sat May 31 20:28:01 2014 (2yZsg)
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May 27, 2014
Limping Back
As I mentioned in the
update to the previous post, my parents met with multiple calamities in the Gulf. They made it back to Key West and my father determined that the damage is not fixable in the short term They are going to attempt limp back to Portsmouth where we can work on it at a more leisurely pace and where professional assistance is much cheaper.
Of course with the steering out Dad has to set up the tiller and they don't trust the engine not to spew oil into the bilge again to use it for extended periods. They got their bilge pumped in Key West and have lots of oil pads but the danger of leaving a sheen is too great to have the bilge pump on automatic, so they're coming back, using the sails, a tiller and a sextant. The last two will give no trouble but dad is not particularly experienced with sails so this has the makings of an adventure.
At least they will be traveling with the Gulf Stream. On the down side the boarders of the Gulf Stream is a playground for waterspouts.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
07:32 PM
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When I saw where they were headed, my big concern was that they would inadvertantly infringe Cuban territorial waters. Now that they're at Key West and headed north, that danger at least is alleviated, and I'm glad.
The LAST thing you needed was for your parents to be captured and held by Cuban authorities.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue May 27 20:02:18 2014 (+rSRq)
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Though it would be entirely in character.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Tue May 27 20:58:35 2014 (X/kQu)
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At least I think my daughter does not care too much when I barrel down a mountain pass at 70 mph where it's marked 25 or fly a little airplane that is unfortunately miswired so that hitting a master switch with a sectional chart makes the engine quit.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed May 28 00:00:52 2014 (RqRa5)
Posted by: Ben at Wed May 28 10:10:04 2014 (DRaH+)
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Cuba heard about the waterspout thing.
You know, it strikes me that it's not just that the boat needs an overhaul, but that your parents need some kind of Murphy's Law repellent. You might seriously want to look into St. Christopher medals (or St. Nicholas medals, given the seafaring thing).
OTOH, they did a lot better with an ocean ship than I would have done! I can help you with a lake or a river, and that's about it.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Wed May 28 14:10:37 2014 (nh8FR)
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I traveled from Nantucket, Ma to Niantic, Ct in an old '72 Luhrs 28, with an engine that spit out about a quart of oil every two hours or so - in small craft advisory conditions. The pads, even in the best of a sea state, are not designed for that kind of use.
back in '89, when i made that trip, the fine for discharge was about the same, but they looked the other way if you were in a bad situation. I seriously doubt that would be the case nowadays.
I wish them well on the rest of the journey. Do you think they are going to try again?
Posted by: topmaker at Wed May 28 17:15:36 2014 (2yZsg)
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At least they will be traveling with the Gulf Stream.
How close to shore can your parents sail and still ride the Gulf Stream? Hopefully close enough that they can make a quick dash to safety if the weather turns nasty, or if something else on the boat craps out. (In an emergency, they could run for shore on engine power, and never mind the oil leak--they might have to pay a fine, but at least they'd be safe.)
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Wed May 28 17:39:33 2014 (wa0JQ)
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May 25, 2014
ANNND They're Off! (This Time Fer Sure) UPDATED::
Below the fold is a status update regarding this bloggers banal existence. For those who are justifiably disinterested in such Walter Mitty-isms, we have provided some conciliatory cheesecake.
more...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
04:40 PM
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You and that blasted school. There has to be a better way.
BTW, my wife was a bit dismayed when I shared some of your past school adventures and she was full of useful advice that I did not know how to relay. She's a master at hacking the American educationonal system.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sun May 25 18:29:14 2014 (RqRa5)
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In a way having the last class delayed till next spring was a blessing as it means I don't have to take full course loads over the summer and fall.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun May 25 18:51:54 2014 (DnAJl)
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Is it uncharitable of me to say that your folks' boat is... um... homely?
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun May 25 20:41:05 2014 (OKRM1)
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Wonderduck, what are you talking about? Almost 3 people a year have bought one of those boats since its inception!
Posted by: RickC at Sun May 25 21:10:16 2014 (0a7VZ)
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People purchased the PT Cruiser when it came out, too.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun May 25 21:12:36 2014 (OKRM1)
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I rented one of those once, and hated it. The thing had no pickup, but the engine sure would rev hard while not speeding up much.
Posted by: RickC at Tue May 27 19:13:27 2014 (0a7VZ)
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