Romantic Fever

Welcome!    Velkommen!     ¡Bienvenido!     Salut!      أهلا وسهلا
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I can still recall the first time I even gave a thought to having a computer in the home. I was in Detroit buying nylon rode plus dacron sheets and halyards for my sailboat, stuff was cheaper in the States. I caught an Apple II ad squeezed in between the steady stream of old Motown hits.

Why would anyone, I mean anyone, want a personal computer? Talk about stupid.

Then I went to a Canadian Industries Limited (CIL) open house and visited their "computer room." It was a relatively dust-free room, no carpets, with an air conditioning system specifically installed for the computers. The room had to be cool. And it was. It had a dozen Apple IIs running something called a VisiCalc spreadsheet.

Change the number in a square, called a cell, and a wave quickly rippled across the screen as all the numbers changed. These little computers were at the heart of the London CIL operation. They calculated financial projections and complex “what if” scenarios. I was awed.

When the Mac 128 came out, I bought a computer for the home. I did it while my wife was away. I set my baby up in the kitchen on one counter top and ran cables across the narrow room to the printer on the opposite counter. The Mac had 128KB of RAM,  a 64 KB ROM, a 400 KB floppy that didn't flop, it was encased in plastic and the best thing was the screen - run the word processor software, MacWrite, and the screen was like a window on a white sheet of paper with black type. It gave a WYSIWYG image. All I could say was WOW!

There was no going back. I had seen the promised land and it was populated with computers. My Underwood sits in the garage forgotten. My early favourite film camera hasn't been out of its box in years. My darkroom is now in a dark box. My World Books no longer reflect the world and sit shelved in the basement. Computers are everywhere and do everything.

A few years ago I decided to try and learn French and so I went back to school. I did O.K. I can now read French fairly quickly. Today I loaded a new beta version of Blogger software, and if I want to blog in French it is computer easy. Select the words, click on the Define / translate icon.

To put the words into French was as easy as select, point, click, copy and paste.
Pour mettre les paroles en français était aussi facile que pointer choisir, clic, copier et coller.

Let's try translating the same words from English to Spanish.

Para poner las palabras en francés era tan fácil como seleccionar el punto,, click, copiar y pegar.

Out of curiousity, if I went from English to French to Spanish and back to English. The result?

To put words in French was as easy as pointing to select, click Paste.

It got muddled in translation and yet to err is human. Someday, they'll get the human error out of the software. For now this software reminds me of my high school girlfriend. She was from Cairo and her mother tongue was not English.

She would enter a room and "open the lights." When she asked for a favour, she would start out, "I beg of you . . . " When she arrived in Canada she was asked her medical history. Rosy had had rheumatic fever as a child and replied, "I suffered badly from romantic fever."

I do hope they have the bugs out of the software soon. "Suffering badly from romantic fever," sounded much better when Rosy said it.

Put out to pasture_they've earned a rest

Some blogs posted here have been entertaining in their own right but they also had other reasons for hanging around gathering digital dust. In the past three days they have all been checked out. Now, their work done, these blogs have been retired.

They are going to join the one and only video ever shot for posting here and which was taken down after just a day or two.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Art Rules!

If you're here to read my take on the SMarts London Social Media Un-Conference, scroll down. Sorry, but a more pressing issue has come up: Art!

And this blog will be at the top to-morrow, I'll move it, and it may grow. So, if you come tomorrow for my little follow-up to today's SMarts post, get ready to scroll again.

I don't know how anyone can get up in front of an audience and say that by the end of the week they have nothing more to share on the Net. This morning I checked where my hits are coming from, I put out a tweat and checked the Twitter feeds to which I subscribe.

I found the following tweat:
hunniebunnie
Put a snazzy new flash ellemusic player with my song "Let You In" on
http://bit.ly/1LZ05I
Come listen! :)

If that address doesn't work once removed from its Twitter home, and I bet it doesn't, try the following link:
ellemusic on MySpace

Elle is a talented London woman who is now living in Scandinavia. How I discovered her site, I really don't know. But it is just such an eclectic site with a strong patina of "art" washed over it that even though I could not care less for fashion, I visit there now and then.

Elle is not just a good writer, photographer and graphics artist, she is also a musician. I believe she had a group in her teens in London. James Reaney might know Elle. He seems to know everyone even remotely connected to the arts in London (Ontario).

At the SMarts Conference the last event was a panel discussion on free art. Does giving away artistic creations on the Net, or worst having them simply ripped off, help or hurt the artist? There were two women and two men on the panel, all with both feet placed firmly in the world of art.

The speakers all had strong positions and presented them well but the one I liked best was the feisty one - an artist named Olenka. She saw the problem very clearly, unfortunately the world does not see what she sees. Olenka was not swayed. Taking stuff for free, stuff not offered, is theft. Period! And those taking the art are thieves.

Olenka said, "Lot's of people are making money on social media and it's off our backs - you people are patsies!" Olenka is out to change the world, to change the world's perception of what it means to take stuff for free from the Net - stuff that was never meant to be free. (I would add that if the artist gives the stuff away because they feel pressured, that is a digital world mugging. "Hands up. Hand over your zeros and ones, now!")

I like it.

Elle is sharing. Fine. But we must find a way to reward our artists. They civilize our world. Without artists, it's back to the caves - but if your cave is in the south of France it won't be so bad. The cave walls there are covered with incredible art.

Shout Out to: Out of Work Young Lady Met at Conference

Please send me an e-mail and let me know how to get in touch with you and I'll see if I can find someone interested in your story but not interested in you. No name attached to story. I'd like to take a crack at helping you.


My e-mail is londondailyphoto1@hotmail.com ---- Note the number 1 after photo.


Do hope I hear from you.

Biscotti — the way to a man's heart

I love coffee. Rich, almost thick coffee, with a small whack of sugar and smoothing splash of milk — sometimes even half and half. But what truly makes a cup of coffee, for me, is something that is only dipped, temporarily into the cup, and that's my wife's biscotti.

Dried cherries, oven toasted hazelnuts and a little lemon zest all combine to make these just about perfect.

A good cup of coffee, a crisp biscotti ready for dipping, and my morning London Free Press, the perfect way to start a day.

If you'd like to try making my wife's biscotti you'll need:

4 cups (1 l) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 ml) salt
Grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
1 cup (250 ml) sliced hazelnuts lightly toasted in the oven or in a dry frying pan
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (225 ml) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract - use the real stuff and not vanillin
1 cup (250 ml) dried cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C)

2. Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder,salt, lemon zest and hazelnuts.

4. Using a KitchenAid stand mixer, beat eggs until fluffy and a light coloured.

5. Slowly beat in sugar, then oil, lemon juice and vanilla.

6. Slowly add flour mixture and stir until dry mixture is nearly absorbed.

7. Finally, stir in dried cherries.

8. With water-moistened hands divide dough in half and form each into a loaf about 15 inches (38 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) wide on a baking sheet. Keep loaves at least 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

9. Bake from 35 to 40 minutes or until small cracks are visible and tops are golden.

10. Slice loaves onto a large cutting board and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch (1 1/4 cm) thick slices. If the knife blade becomes sticky, wipe with a damp cloth.

11. Stand slices upright and about 1/2 inch (1 1/4 cm) apart on baking pan.

12. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F (150°C) and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until biscotti are dry to the touch.

13. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet sitting on a rack.

14. When completely cool, store in airtight containers.

This should make about four dozen biscotti. This is enough for more than three weeks if you share them with your partner and you both show proper restraint.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Penises regrown in rabbits!

It's true. I looked up the press release from the university involved and have done a report for, you guessed it, Digital Journal.

If you haven't heard about, or read about, this yet, here is my take:

Digital Journal: Rabbits grow new penises

Most reports don't go into detail about the other work being done by the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre. Their work is absolutely amazing. If you are really interested, click on the link to my DJ article.

Oh, and if you've got the time, check out London Daily Photo. I'm rather happy with the picture and writing. If you have even more time, there is new photo tip at Rockin' On: Photography.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Asian carp poised to invade the Great Lakes

I have posted one of my best news reports; It looks at the danger presently posed to the Great Lakes by an invasion of Asian carp made possible by creative human ineptitude.

The story has been posted on Digital Journal.

Cheers,
Rockinon