Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Happy Face Fireworks

“It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

— John Adams to Abigail Adams, Philadelphia July 3rd. 1776

While watching the fireworks display at a nearby park last evening, we witnessed a lot of great effects, including a happy face. Check it out in the video.

I got curious about what effects there were out there and so I looked in WikiPedia for some answers. I was amazed at the many types of effects applied to modern fireworks displays. Among the many effects there is the ring effect; the happy face is a derivative of the ring.

I also found the quotation from John Adams at the top of the WikiPedia article.

05 Jul 2008 by Culture Technobabble

Independance Day 2008

After I set out 10 little flags lining the walkway to the door today, we spent our day relaxing and barbecuing. The meal was spare ribs, corn on the cob and squash medley. I read an article about the meal being served to many of our troops in Iraq, which, coincidentally, was also ribs and corn on the cob. Instead of squash, they were served a dessert of red, white and blue cake.

flags.jpg

04 Jul 2008 by Food & Dining Military Patriotism

Barbie’s Piano

barbie-piano.jpgWhy is this Barbie Piano special? Well, because, this one has provenance.

You see, back in 1980, I worked for Mattel Toys in Hawthorne, CA as an engineer in the preliminary design department. I designed electronics for prototypes of all sorts of toys, including remote control cars, self-guided racers, sound effects for a hot wheels airborne transport toy, and the piano sounds for Barbie’s Piano.

I collaborated with another prototype designer who did the mechanical development. My job was to develop an electronic piano sound. I actually got a patent for the ‘decay modulator’ circuit, which was the heart of the semi-realistic sound. When a key is struck, the tone fades out gradually just like a real piano.

When it came time to demonstrate the toy to Mattel’s president, we brought the model in, sat Barbie down on the bench and I made my first and only professional musical debut as I plunked out “Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ using Barbie’s hands on the keys.

keyboard.jpg“I love it,” said the president as he clapped his hands with approval, “let’s get it into toy development and go with it!” After the piano went into production, even though I was not working at Mattel, they called me in and gave me this one when it was new.

I saw an original Barbie Piano on eBay today with a selling price of 160USD. And that was without the bench and the instruction/songbook. I imagine that this particular one might be worth a bit more with my signed statement about its development and my role in it.

While this one has never been owned by a child, I used to indulge my granddaughters and let them play with it. As a consequence, it’s not completely pristine and the little wands used to play the tiny keys are missing. A mistake, to be sure, but you should have seen the pride in their eyes knowing granddad invented this toy.

Please, click either image for a wallpaper-sized close-up.

Cross-posted from our family blog.

02 Jul 2008 by Money and Business Music Technobabble

Wanderlust

In the not too distant future, we’re going to be seeing places like this . . .

canyondechelly-pan.jpg

Canyon de Chelly, Chinle, AZ. Click for the large panoramic view.

We can hardly wait.

01 Jul 2008 by Panorama Travel

Faux Brass – Redux

In light of General Wesley Clark’s incredible weekend faux pas regarding the war record of Senator McCain, I’m going to re-post an old article from two years ago – Faux Brass:

Faux Brass: a class of former military officers who have shed the honor and pride of their commissions in favor of retreatist and defeatist policies.

In recent times, a few former military officers have rendered negative opinions on the War on Terror which includes ongoing skirmishes in Iraq and the current trouble in Gaza and Southern Lebanon. Now, let’s be clear that most current and former military “brass” support efforts worldwide in the certain-to-be-lengthy War on Terror. The major media, however, fail to show the overwhelming support for the effort among military brass.

Jack Murtha comes to mind as a former military-turned-politician who gets it wrong — redeploy, he says, to Okinawa(?!). Murtha also shamefully convicts our military prior to any charges being made.

It’s the same with John Kerry who offers that he could have done better if he were president — the trouble is, he offers no ideas, but only the same retreat and concede policy that has been his lifelong pursuit. Thank God that America caused him to concede the last election.

Another ex-military general-turned-presidential-candidate-turned-pundit, Wesley Clark, always portrays the administration in the anti-internationalization light. This from a former NATO Commander — not actually a U.S. Military function. Clark will always defer to the “international community” for policy answers.

Murtha, Kerry and Clark fail to put America first. American interests must first be served before worrying how the “international community” views things. After all, has the UN ever succeeded with anything they attempt, other than stealing from children’s programs and Iraqi oil profits? Nope.

These three examples of Faux Brass, Murtha, Kerry and Clark, each remind me of a certain loudmouth cartoon chicken trying to look like an eagle.

30 Jun 2008 by Degenerates Military Politics

Going for a Ride

bear-ride.jpgBear, our long-time family pet, doesn’t get to go for a ride very often. Most times she goes to the vet or to the kennel in the truck, but today was different. We had to run a couple of errands after our session at the shooting range and we decided to bring Bear with us. Instead of being taken into the usual dog places, she got to explore, sniff and enjoy herself while CB was in the store shopping.

As she gets a little older, we want to take her to more places when we go. Even if the destination is mundane to us, she seems to think we’re having a great adventure. A while back, we got her a little doggie staircase to make the jump into the truck a little easier for her. She was leery at first, but now gets very excited when I get the staircase out, because that means we’re going somewhere.

29 Jun 2008 by Critters

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