This afternoon I was cutting my lawn, as I am wont to do every 5-8 days, and listening to my Philips 2 GB GoGear MP3 Player, as I am also wont to do. (I know, I know, you're all jealous of my high tech-ness)
To keep things interesting as I'm mowing, I occasionally put the player on "shuffle" to, or so I thought, be surprised by what songs would be played. But if the same songs come up in the same order how's that "shuffling" the songs? (If I shuffled a deck of cards and each time I did every player got the same cards in the same order, someone would rightly call foul.)
If I wanted a regular grass cuttin' playlist,* I'd make one. If I'm shuffling, then should the player actually shuffle the darned songs?
****
Preliminary Grass Cutting Playlist*
(It's Not Easy) Being Green (the version by Frank Sinatra or Van Morrison)
What a Day for a Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful)
(with that line about lying down on a freshly mown lawn)
Pleasant Valley Sunday (The Monkees)
Our House (Crosby Stills and Nash)
Dogs in the Yard (Fame Movie Soundtrack)
You Can't Come and Play in My Yard (pop song from the early 20th Century)
Other suggestions?
13 June 2009
11 June 2009
Recent Brushes with Greatness
Merlin Mann, web guru, visits "Frank, Gil, and Friends" on 4/28/09, the day that he gave three seminars at CCSU. (Photo Jason B. Jones)
CNN franchise Anderson Cooper at the annual Vance Lecture at CCSU on 5/1/09. (Photo Maryellen Fillo)
10 June 2009
There goes the neighborhood
The suspect in the Holocaust Museum shooting, James W. von Brunn, according to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, was an unsuccessful realtor.
Go figure.
Imagine his trying to sell a house, when for almost every available property outside the "white supremacist enclaves" he lived in and around over the years, he'd have to stop and say:
"It's right in your price range, but, then again, there's one of 'those' down the street," or
"Yes, this is a great house, but around the corner live some..." or
"No, I can't help you find a place, you @$!#%..." or
"I swear I don't know all the words to the theme song of The Jeffersons."
If the First Commandment of real estate is "Location, Location, Location," then Mr. von Brunn's possible market must have been fairly limited (perhaps not as limited as we all should want but a heckuva lot smaller than he must have believed).
Sure, a white supremacist might enjoy the idea of those blazers that all realtors wear in the tv advertisements, but actually having to relate to real people must have ruined his work day many a time.
Good.
And may the sadly disproportionate minority prison population welcome Mr. von Brunn as soon as possible.
Go figure.
Imagine his trying to sell a house, when for almost every available property outside the "white supremacist enclaves" he lived in and around over the years, he'd have to stop and say:
"It's right in your price range, but, then again, there's one of 'those' down the street," or
"Yes, this is a great house, but around the corner live some..." or
"No, I can't help you find a place, you @$!#%..." or
"I swear I don't know all the words to the theme song of The Jeffersons."
If the First Commandment of real estate is "Location, Location, Location," then Mr. von Brunn's possible market must have been fairly limited (perhaps not as limited as we all should want but a heckuva lot smaller than he must have believed).
Sure, a white supremacist might enjoy the idea of those blazers that all realtors wear in the tv advertisements, but actually having to relate to real people must have ruined his work day many a time.
Good.
And may the sadly disproportionate minority prison population welcome Mr. von Brunn as soon as possible.
"Is that Parfum de Willard you're wearing?"
And exactly how would a CCSU “campus-specific scent” (see article below) smell?
Similar to (but, naturally, more robust than) WestConn’s, Southern’s and Eastern’s and less sweaty than UConn’s.
It’d be less pretentious than Trinity’s and far cheaper than Wesleyan’s but far more expensive than Tunxis’s than one would think it should.
You could only get it on-line during the summer and winter sessions but could probably get it used from the Bookstore anytime…and soon everyone will be introduced to it first at the Center for Student Success and Fine Cologne.
Robert Duvall said it best: “I love the smell of Central in the morning; it smells like victory.”
From Inside Higher ED
Smells Like School Spirit
June 10, 2009
From battered hot dogs at football games to crisp autumn afternoons, certain smells conjure up memories of college life long after graduation. A new fragrance company is attempting to bottle that nostalgia by selling perfumes based on campuses around the country.
Since 2008, Masik Collegiate Fragrances has churned out a small but growing line of campus-specific scents, starting with Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Louisiana State University. More are in the works, including the Universities of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, and Auburn University. Each has its own version of perfume and cologne, packaged in 3.4-oz. bottles for $60.
The scents are inspired by university colors, landmarks and architectural style, and campus trees and flowers, among other factors, says Katie Masich, the company's president and CEO. For instance, Louisiana State University's purple-and-gold logo matches its perfume's notes of plum, golden bourbon and honey. There's also a touch of oak, in homage to the oak tree-lined campus.
Meanwhile, eau de Chapel Hill consists of lychee champagne accord, mandarin orange and green apple, with undertones of jasmine, violet and vanilla. "It's very romantic, charming, kind of that soft southern charm," Masich said of campus and concoction alike.
Masich said she came up with the idea for the line in 2007, wanting to break away from the typical idea of perfume.
"You walk in any department store and the markets are dominated by celebrities and fashions celebrating those people," she said. "Why not celebrate something that's a part each and every one of us, as a student of [a] university, or a fan or an alumni, faculty, staff, et cetera."
Masich said she figured she'd have the most luck with colleges with large student bodies and national sports followings. Having grown up in Pennsylvania and studied chemical engineering at Bucknell University, she decided to start with nearby football giant Penn State. The campus was not entirely convinced at first.
"When I first called Penn State, it took me a while to get hold of them, but I convinced them it was something unique and different," she said. "They said, 'It's not going to smell like a Nittany Lion, right?' and I said, 'No, no.' "
In fact, Penn State's perfume blends cassis, a type of black berry, with Moroccan rose, lilac and vanilla. Jessica Silko, who graduated from Penn State in May, said she has seen the fragrance at the student bookstore but shied away from the $60 price tag.
"As a college student, I don't want to waste money on something like that, just 'cause it has the Penn State name on it," she said. "However, if you put the Penn State brand on something, there will be a large number of fans who will buy it. They just will, it doesn't matter if it's something kind of ridiculous -- especially if it smells decent."
Part of each bottle's profit, usually around 10 percent, goes to a collegiate licensing company that distributes the funds to student scholarships and athletic programs at each campus, Masich said.
Like the rest of the American economy, the fragrance industry is struggling these days. Total prestige fragrance sales generated $2.68 billion in 2008, down 6 percent from 2007, according to Dora Brunette, a spokeswoman for the national market research group NPD.
But in Chapel Hill, the campus scents are a hit, says John Jones, director of student stores. Ninety-six bottles of perfume and 93 of cologne have been sold since they arrived last summer. The buyers are primarily alumni and visitors during football season and the holidays, he said.
Stacey Simeone, a 2008 graduate from Chapel Hill, was a skeptic at first sniff.
"When I first saw it, I thought it was kind of stupid -- they can't make a perfume that would smell like it," she said. "Then I smelled, and then I thought it smelled really good, but it didn't necessarily remind me of Chapel Hill" -- which, to Simeone, smells like "spring."
Asked what her personal recipe for Penn State perfume would be, Silko didn't hesitate for a moment. "Stale beer and nachos," she said.
— Stephanie Lee
© Copyright 2009 Inside Higher Ed
Similar to (but, naturally, more robust than) WestConn’s, Southern’s and Eastern’s and less sweaty than UConn’s.
It’d be less pretentious than Trinity’s and far cheaper than Wesleyan’s but far more expensive than Tunxis’s than one would think it should.
You could only get it on-line during the summer and winter sessions but could probably get it used from the Bookstore anytime…and soon everyone will be introduced to it first at the Center for Student Success and Fine Cologne.
Robert Duvall said it best: “I love the smell of Central in the morning; it smells like victory.”
From Inside Higher ED
Smells Like School Spirit
June 10, 2009
From battered hot dogs at football games to crisp autumn afternoons, certain smells conjure up memories of college life long after graduation. A new fragrance company is attempting to bottle that nostalgia by selling perfumes based on campuses around the country.
Since 2008, Masik Collegiate Fragrances has churned out a small but growing line of campus-specific scents, starting with Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Louisiana State University. More are in the works, including the Universities of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, and Auburn University. Each has its own version of perfume and cologne, packaged in 3.4-oz. bottles for $60.
The scents are inspired by university colors, landmarks and architectural style, and campus trees and flowers, among other factors, says Katie Masich, the company's president and CEO. For instance, Louisiana State University's purple-and-gold logo matches its perfume's notes of plum, golden bourbon and honey. There's also a touch of oak, in homage to the oak tree-lined campus.
Meanwhile, eau de Chapel Hill consists of lychee champagne accord, mandarin orange and green apple, with undertones of jasmine, violet and vanilla. "It's very romantic, charming, kind of that soft southern charm," Masich said of campus and concoction alike.
Masich said she came up with the idea for the line in 2007, wanting to break away from the typical idea of perfume.
"You walk in any department store and the markets are dominated by celebrities and fashions celebrating those people," she said. "Why not celebrate something that's a part each and every one of us, as a student of [a] university, or a fan or an alumni, faculty, staff, et cetera."
Masich said she figured she'd have the most luck with colleges with large student bodies and national sports followings. Having grown up in Pennsylvania and studied chemical engineering at Bucknell University, she decided to start with nearby football giant Penn State. The campus was not entirely convinced at first.
"When I first called Penn State, it took me a while to get hold of them, but I convinced them it was something unique and different," she said. "They said, 'It's not going to smell like a Nittany Lion, right?' and I said, 'No, no.' "
In fact, Penn State's perfume blends cassis, a type of black berry, with Moroccan rose, lilac and vanilla. Jessica Silko, who graduated from Penn State in May, said she has seen the fragrance at the student bookstore but shied away from the $60 price tag.
"As a college student, I don't want to waste money on something like that, just 'cause it has the Penn State name on it," she said. "However, if you put the Penn State brand on something, there will be a large number of fans who will buy it. They just will, it doesn't matter if it's something kind of ridiculous -- especially if it smells decent."
Part of each bottle's profit, usually around 10 percent, goes to a collegiate licensing company that distributes the funds to student scholarships and athletic programs at each campus, Masich said.
Like the rest of the American economy, the fragrance industry is struggling these days. Total prestige fragrance sales generated $2.68 billion in 2008, down 6 percent from 2007, according to Dora Brunette, a spokeswoman for the national market research group NPD.
But in Chapel Hill, the campus scents are a hit, says John Jones, director of student stores. Ninety-six bottles of perfume and 93 of cologne have been sold since they arrived last summer. The buyers are primarily alumni and visitors during football season and the holidays, he said.
Stacey Simeone, a 2008 graduate from Chapel Hill, was a skeptic at first sniff.
"When I first saw it, I thought it was kind of stupid -- they can't make a perfume that would smell like it," she said. "Then I smelled, and then I thought it smelled really good, but it didn't necessarily remind me of Chapel Hill" -- which, to Simeone, smells like "spring."
Asked what her personal recipe for Penn State perfume would be, Silko didn't hesitate for a moment. "Stale beer and nachos," she said.
— Stephanie Lee
© Copyright 2009 Inside Higher Ed
Why the NBA is no better than Figure Skating
In an earlier post, I admitted that, while I like competitive figure skating, it's not a sport for a variety of reasons. Watching even bits of the NBA Finals strongly suggests proves that frequently professional basketball ain't much better.
Why? Because so much of the scoring (as in who gets to shoot free throws and, as a result, so often win) depends upon:
Who has the ball
Who is defending
When in the game it is
Where the game is being played (i.e., in which bloody city!)
If the same action in the same game can be called completely differently depending upon such factors as these then there might as well not be rules at all.
In baseball, the strike zone can vary from umpire to umpire, and even from league to league, but one ump tends to call his zone fairly consistently throughout any given game.
Not so in the NBA...too many refs seeing too many of the same things things in too different a way.
And how can .5 seconds take so long to pass? Hell, even a skater's long program is never that long!
PS: Let's see if Laker Pau Gasol can spin Kobe into the air and if Kobe can then land successfully while still be moving forward seamlessly...and, you know what, he'd still NOT be called for traveling because, well... because he's Kobe Bryant.
PSS: And tell me Gasol isn't related to Laker Head Coach Phil Jackson somehow?
Why? Because so much of the scoring (as in who gets to shoot free throws and, as a result, so often win) depends upon:
Who has the ball
Who is defending
When in the game it is
Where the game is being played (i.e., in which bloody city!)
If the same action in the same game can be called completely differently depending upon such factors as these then there might as well not be rules at all.
In baseball, the strike zone can vary from umpire to umpire, and even from league to league, but one ump tends to call his zone fairly consistently throughout any given game.
Not so in the NBA...too many refs seeing too many of the same things things in too different a way.
And how can .5 seconds take so long to pass? Hell, even a skater's long program is never that long!
PS: Let's see if Laker Pau Gasol can spin Kobe into the air and if Kobe can then land successfully while still be moving forward seamlessly...and, you know what, he'd still NOT be called for traveling because, well... because he's Kobe Bryant.
PSS: And tell me Gasol isn't related to Laker Head Coach Phil Jackson somehow?
09 June 2009
Feeling the love...
Go to www.ccsu.edu/, and, under"Featured Sites,"
click on "Commencement Gallery" and check out pictures:
#9 (WFCS General Manager Emerita Hilda Sullivan and I)
and
#48 (My reading one of the 1300+ names that morning...in toto, I only read half of that number, sharing the duty with ESPN producer John Totten)!
I really do love commencement and don't quite understand why every faculty member doesn't. It is, after all, a celebration of our students' success.
And we get to wear the cool outfit!
click on "Commencement Gallery" and check out pictures:
#9 (WFCS General Manager Emerita Hilda Sullivan and I)
and
#48 (My reading one of the 1300+ names that morning...in toto, I only read half of that number, sharing the duty with ESPN producer John Totten)!
I really do love commencement and don't quite understand why every faculty member doesn't. It is, after all, a celebration of our students' success.
And we get to wear the cool outfit!
Kids, Kids, a Father's Day gift idea!
The menorah of Sammy Davis, Jr.
Now THAT'D be a fine addition for my "Rat Pack Pack Rat" collection.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
