An Incredulous Sample: New Q-Tip  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in


Member of the illustrious Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip has had an extraordinary career for someone who's stage name is so poor.

For this song, he's enlisted A-list producer Mark Ronson for the beat. This is supposedly off some sort of new album called The Renaissance. Look for that in November. Meanwhile, this single is really good.

Ronson flipped the sample from an old Black Ivory tune called "You and I". Listen to the oldie before proceeding to the goodie.

Black Ivory: "You and I"


Q-Tip (featuring Kamal the Abstract? I can't tell.): "Gettin' Up"

DIY Book Hanger  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in ,


I found this idea on a blob somewhere: take a wire hanger and unwrap the top part, then re-twist it up a certain way. A few uses I saw online were to put your library books by the door so you don't forget them and to keep periodicals all in one spot.

I've decided to put my reading book next to my bed! I made one for Miss Bee so her library books wouldn't run all over the place. I'm not so much a Do-It-Yourselfer, but this was pretty simple.

Upper left is a picture I drew for Miss Bee with some markers that she bought for me. Lower left is a place mat I got at a restaurant in Scotland. I expressed interest in it and the waiter told me to take it. I think it was at the hotel in Troon - don't remember the name but I remember having a Belhaven 90 +/ on tap there.

Miss Bee gets a present from herself  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in

Miss Bee recently began taking classes to be a yoga instructor. As part of this new phase of life, she has decided that the Old Mat was no longer going to cut, so she a brand new Manduka yoga mat.Christmas in September. Notice how the mat matches the skirt.


First of many Downward Facing Dogs.

I got in the driver's seat as well - it's very nice. Super sticky and solid. I guess I've actually only inherited the Old Mat though..

Hooray for Miss Bee on her decision to take six hours of class a week plus practicing commitments. She wanted to do this very badly.

Probably the best line I will read today  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in

Is it just me or did Ken Arrow ever feel the need to correct his Mom on economic matters? Did Adam Smith? "Look Mom, I know you're upset about the price of mutton but let me tell you about this new theory I've been working on..."

-Alex Tabarrok over at Marginal Revolution. He was explaining gas prices to his mother.

Two for food  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in


This is a recipe we've been using a lot of recently. Perhaps some of you remember the gigantic Rosarita's Refried Beans can we got a while ago and posted a picture here. We've been getting those every so often - the beans are really good, it's a super-easy meal, and the cans are quite useful. We also posted - about a year ago - the 20-lb. bag of Basmati rice we got at Costco. We finally finished it today, as Miss Bee made some terrific Spanish rice with just diced tomatoes, garlic powder, dried cilantro and lemon juice. Other awesome ingredients at ridiculous prices - all from Costco - include a one-pound clamshell of spring mix greens, five avocadoes for the supermarket price of two, and 12 cans of diced tomatoes.

They all found their way into this terrific meal that Miss Bee whipped up today. It's pretty much the same thing we've been eating on and off for months: a tortilla with rice and beans at its core, and a rotating cast of characters including avocado, tomato, mushroom, various cheese, sometimes with chips. I thought this one was pretty, with the greens and avocado on top and the hint of red from the Spanish rice below. Great job on the rice, Miss Bee!

Biking to the Library  

Posted by Wayne Bretski in ,

...is very rewarding. There're just not that many free things in the world.

Here's the branch we go to. I saw a little dude from Miss Bee's old class (!) there today with his family. We looked at science movies together.

School, for those who wonder, is going very well. Mr. S. seems to be getting a little better each week. I'm starting to hit science on all cylinders, since it's pretty easy to interest kids in simple science projects. So far we've had "Movie Fridays" each week, which seems pretty trashy to me, but I've showed a related-to-our-Science-Topic video every time except when we watched the 45 min. Sideways Stories from Wayside School movie.

Any further work-related questions will have to be submitted in writing.



On the lifestyle side, Miss Bee is now attending yoga teacher training courses, for those who don't know. This means that twice a week Mr. S. is sitting alone in the apartment for several hours. So far I've done a little work, watched a lot of Twin Peaks, and gone to the gym while she's away.

So that's life. I'd love to tell more, but I don't want to ruin any good stories I might have to tell in person. Cheerio!

P.S., I picked up World Psychedelic Classics, Vol. 3: Fuzzy Sounds from West Africa on hold at the library, and on impulse I snatched the Criterion Collection DVD of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. The gym might have to wait tonight...

I Got One: iPod Touch  

Posted by Wayne Bretski



Thanks Nat!!

It's really great. I like it a lot. Besides surfing the internet from a thing that I hold in my hand, (and listening to music at school, working out, etc.) I have discovered two really awesome and free uses for the iPod Touch.

One is called Remote. It's a free download from the App Store on the Touch, and it's basic function is to remotely connect to iTunes libraries. Once on the library, it can play any song on that library, but over that libraries "default" speakers. Which is awesome for us, because with our Apple Airport, we can play either one of our libraries over our shared speakers without yanking the plug. So, I can use my iPod to change the song that's playing on my laptop through my wireless speakers, from the other room, or on the porch, or from the courtyard for that matter.

The second cool use is a small app called Mocha VNC Lite (this means its the free version). VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, is basically logging onto my laptop via the iPod and showing everything that's on the monitor on my MacBook on my iPod. This can be useful for looking at files or anything else you'd like to access on the home computer. My iPod only stores 8 GB, while my laptop has 120 GB, so there's plenty on the laptop that I can't put directly on the iPod: with VNC I can have access to the information as long as the laptop is on (I can awake it from sleep mode with a VNC request, which is awesome).

Another useful reason for the VNC is that it can be a remote for everything else that Remote doesn't do. So if I'm sitting away from the machine itself watching a DVD and I want to skip ahead, I can use the iPod as a surrogate for my finger on the mousepad and click on the Forward button. Similarly, if I'm showing a slideshow presentation, I could use the iPod to remotely control what my laptop shows.

I'm still on the lookout for kickass iPod Touch applications that interact in awesome ways with the internet and my laptop. These are two that I've discovered really quickly. I feel like there must be a way to cheaply use this with VoIP services (Voice over IP, or making voice calls over an internet connection) but so far I'm seeing microphones that cost $60, so I don't think the touch will be replacing my phone anytime soon. But if I come across anything awesome, rest assured you'll know about it!

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