Two creepy postings in a row, I know, but I thought this was interesting.
I have a shortwave radio but it's not very strong. I listen to it late at night sometimes when I have trouble sleeping. Radio Nederlands comes in pretty clear as does Radio Stockholm. Fortunately the latter has broadcasts in English as well as Swedish. Mostly it's fun just to scan the dial to see what you can find. I find that what I can pick up on my radio varies from night to night. I think the weather can affect which signals come in and which don't.
Apparently there exist such things as Numbers Stations, but I've never been able to find one personally. A Numbers Station is exactly what it sounds like. It's a station signal which consists of nothing more than a voice reading off a series of numbers, sometimes in English, sometimes not. Often there's accompanying music.
What makes Numbers Stations particularly eerie is that there's no official explanation for what they are. The most plausible theory is that they're intelligence communications. The codes could be changed daily and easily accessed by agents via a shortwave receiver. So the whole process is very secure and also fairly practical.
The following is a recording of a Numbers Station taken off shortwave. The voice seems to be that of a little girl and the language is German. The glockenspiel music adds a nice touch of creepiness. I'm not sure what's up with the video component. I think it detracts from the audio, which is creepy enough without the images:
Friday, October 31, 2008
The Max Headroom Incident
Here's the setup: Imagine it's November 22, 1987. It's 11:15 at night and you live in Chicago. You're watching a crappy British sci-fi show on the local PBS affiliate when all of a sudden this comes on your TV screen:
More about this strange incident here
Happy Halloween
More about this strange incident here
Happy Halloween
My New Favorite TV Show
I've spent 3 of the past four years living without cable. One of those years I spent completely without a TV. As a result, I know nothing about what happened in the world or in popular culture between mid-2004 and mid-2005.
But now I have cable again and I get to watch all sorts of great shows once more. I get to watch "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. Even though the skits are annoying and his dorkiness is often cringe-inducing, each show provides a wealth of knowledge about food science and cooking technique.
I get to watch endless reruns of "Seinfeld", "Friends", and "Law and Order", and it seems like "Globe Trekker" is always on too. The other day the nasally little British guy went to Lappland. How cool is that? I get to watch "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain, and I've also gotten into the new show on that channel with the bald guy who scours the globe looking for disgusting things to eat.
The Hallmark Channel shows reruns of "Little House on the Prairie" four times a day, and since we get four PBS stations I can watch Charlie Rose in the afternoon, and all four seasons of "New Scandinavian Cooking" are in heavy rotation. The ones with Tina Nordstrom are my favorite. It's like that Weird Al song about the guy who quits his job so he can stay home and watch TV all the time.
But my favorite of all of these is "The Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic Channel. I'm totally hooked. I'm sure it's edited to make Cesar look better than he really is, but something about this show I find fascinating. I think because it's essentially about someone who's really good at what he does for a living, and the whole point of the show is for you to just watch him doing it. The show is a great argument for the value of going through training and developing expertise on a subject.
The best career advice I ever received was- go out and become really good at one thing. If you're good enough at it, people will come to you. I would amend that to "become really good at one useful, marketable thing", and Cesar's life is this idea personified.
Another reason why the show works so well is the fact that many people, even dog owners, don't know much about obedience training and animal behavior. Cesar shows up and probably tells a lot of people in one hour, more useful information about dog ownership than they've heard their entire lives.
The show strikes me on a personal level for three reasons: 1) I like dogs and animals in general so I'm naturally drawn to the subject matter. 2) The suburban Southern California setting of the show is very familiar, as is Cesar's Mexican accent. 3) I see parallels between what Ceasar does and what I do. I also go into homes and offer my expertise to people, to help them with a problem that one of their family members is having. A lot of my job is training the parents as well as treating the client. And, just because someone is a parent, that doesn't mean they automatically know a lot about how children develop speech and language. I seem to have a hard time remembering that last point. I'd say the similarities end there though.
I'm not as confident or as effective as Cesar yet, nor do I have a TV crew following me around into people's homes, but in continuing with my time-honored tradition of learning about life through what I see on TV, I now have a new role-model to follow.
But now I have cable again and I get to watch all sorts of great shows once more. I get to watch "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. Even though the skits are annoying and his dorkiness is often cringe-inducing, each show provides a wealth of knowledge about food science and cooking technique.
I get to watch endless reruns of "Seinfeld", "Friends", and "Law and Order", and it seems like "Globe Trekker" is always on too. The other day the nasally little British guy went to Lappland. How cool is that? I get to watch "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain, and I've also gotten into the new show on that channel with the bald guy who scours the globe looking for disgusting things to eat.
The Hallmark Channel shows reruns of "Little House on the Prairie" four times a day, and since we get four PBS stations I can watch Charlie Rose in the afternoon, and all four seasons of "New Scandinavian Cooking" are in heavy rotation. The ones with Tina Nordstrom are my favorite. It's like that Weird Al song about the guy who quits his job so he can stay home and watch TV all the time.
But my favorite of all of these is "The Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic Channel. I'm totally hooked. I'm sure it's edited to make Cesar look better than he really is, but something about this show I find fascinating. I think because it's essentially about someone who's really good at what he does for a living, and the whole point of the show is for you to just watch him doing it. The show is a great argument for the value of going through training and developing expertise on a subject.
The best career advice I ever received was- go out and become really good at one thing. If you're good enough at it, people will come to you. I would amend that to "become really good at one useful, marketable thing", and Cesar's life is this idea personified.
Another reason why the show works so well is the fact that many people, even dog owners, don't know much about obedience training and animal behavior. Cesar shows up and probably tells a lot of people in one hour, more useful information about dog ownership than they've heard their entire lives.
The show strikes me on a personal level for three reasons: 1) I like dogs and animals in general so I'm naturally drawn to the subject matter. 2) The suburban Southern California setting of the show is very familiar, as is Cesar's Mexican accent. 3) I see parallels between what Ceasar does and what I do. I also go into homes and offer my expertise to people, to help them with a problem that one of their family members is having. A lot of my job is training the parents as well as treating the client. And, just because someone is a parent, that doesn't mean they automatically know a lot about how children develop speech and language. I seem to have a hard time remembering that last point. I'd say the similarities end there though.
I'm not as confident or as effective as Cesar yet, nor do I have a TV crew following me around into people's homes, but in continuing with my time-honored tradition of learning about life through what I see on TV, I now have a new role-model to follow.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
My Courageous Immigrant Ancestors
One of the nice things about being on the East Coast now is that I'm closer to some of my relatives who know all sorts of interesting things about our family history.
For example, I recently found out that my first ancestor to come to the U.S. from Ireland was a fellow named Patrick Keegan, who was born around 1775 in the Sligo-Roscommon area. He came to New Jersey around 1800, and the way the story has been handed down, he wasn't here for more than about 5 minutes before he was run over by a team of horses and killed. In all fairness, if you've chosen New Jersey as your destination how much better could you really expect?
I know what you're thinking-- that's sad and you shouldn't make fun of the guy. Well, he was my relative, so that legally means I can make fun of him all I want. You may also be thinking what I was thinking when I heard this story-- If he died as soon as he got here, how did he have time to father children who would in turn father other children that would eventually lead to me?
The answer is simple: When he came to the U.S. he left behind a wife and children. (Since he was from Ireland I'm guessing he left behind A LOT of children). The plan was to make some money here and then either send for them, or for him to return there eventually. His oldest son was named Patrick MacDermot Keegan (because just plain "Patrick Keegan" didn't sound Irish enough) and a few years later he followed in his father's footsteps and came to the Maine coast (a much, much better decision already). Unlike his father he didn't get killed immediately. He got a job doing something and was eventually able to bring the whole family over, just in time for them to enjoy drinking Guinness and attend St. Patrick's Day parades in the U.S.A., while their fellow countrymen back home geared up for another famine and continued oppression from the British.
Patrick (PMK) eventually moved to Boston and raised a family. To give some historical perspective, PMK had several daughters, one of whom was named Sarah. Sarah Keegan was my grandmother's grandmother.
**********
My first ancestor ever to come over here came from England. His name was William Shurtleff and he arrived in Plymouth in 1636. He did well for himself, apparently, and had a big family and lots of heirs, despite the fact that you don't come across the name Shurtleff too often. One day around 1665 William was sitting in his house, in front of his fireplace watching-- the fireplace, I guess-- when a bolt of lightning came down the chimney and killed him.
So there you have it. Quite an impressive pedigree, wouldn't you say?
For example, I recently found out that my first ancestor to come to the U.S. from Ireland was a fellow named Patrick Keegan, who was born around 1775 in the Sligo-Roscommon area. He came to New Jersey around 1800, and the way the story has been handed down, he wasn't here for more than about 5 minutes before he was run over by a team of horses and killed. In all fairness, if you've chosen New Jersey as your destination how much better could you really expect?
I know what you're thinking-- that's sad and you shouldn't make fun of the guy. Well, he was my relative, so that legally means I can make fun of him all I want. You may also be thinking what I was thinking when I heard this story-- If he died as soon as he got here, how did he have time to father children who would in turn father other children that would eventually lead to me?
The answer is simple: When he came to the U.S. he left behind a wife and children. (Since he was from Ireland I'm guessing he left behind A LOT of children). The plan was to make some money here and then either send for them, or for him to return there eventually. His oldest son was named Patrick MacDermot Keegan (because just plain "Patrick Keegan" didn't sound Irish enough) and a few years later he followed in his father's footsteps and came to the Maine coast (a much, much better decision already). Unlike his father he didn't get killed immediately. He got a job doing something and was eventually able to bring the whole family over, just in time for them to enjoy drinking Guinness and attend St. Patrick's Day parades in the U.S.A., while their fellow countrymen back home geared up for another famine and continued oppression from the British.
Patrick (PMK) eventually moved to Boston and raised a family. To give some historical perspective, PMK had several daughters, one of whom was named Sarah. Sarah Keegan was my grandmother's grandmother.
**********
My first ancestor ever to come over here came from England. His name was William Shurtleff and he arrived in Plymouth in 1636. He did well for himself, apparently, and had a big family and lots of heirs, despite the fact that you don't come across the name Shurtleff too often. One day around 1665 William was sitting in his house, in front of his fireplace watching-- the fireplace, I guess-- when a bolt of lightning came down the chimney and killed him.
So there you have it. Quite an impressive pedigree, wouldn't you say?
Weather
While all you Southern Californians are suffering through temps in the high 70s this week, I'll have you know that yesterday's high temperature here was 45 degrees, and it started snowing briefly yesterday afternoon. Jealous?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Snoozefest
The Phillies won the World Series, 4 games to 1. I guess I was wrong by calling it for the Rays. I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.
Cocaine is Bad For You
If you lived in Southern California in the early '80s and wanted to spend $500 on a VCR the size of a microwave oven, where could you go?
The answer was simple: to The Federated Group.
Federated was an audio/video chain that is only noteworthy for having had frenetic, surreal commercials starring Shadoe Stevens as fictional company spokesperson Fred Rated. I loved these commercials when I was little and I like to think they informed my incredibly sharp and unique sense of humor as I got older.
The answer was simple: to The Federated Group.
Federated was an audio/video chain that is only noteworthy for having had frenetic, surreal commercials starring Shadoe Stevens as fictional company spokesperson Fred Rated. I loved these commercials when I was little and I like to think they informed my incredibly sharp and unique sense of humor as I got older.
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