Sunday, May 25, 2003

While browsing Apple's iTunes music store, I came across a recording of Jacqueline du Pré and David Barenboim performing the Beethoven Cello Sonatas. Du Pré was an amazing cellist - at equivalent experience levels I prefer her Beethoven and Brahms to Yo-Yo's, but he continues to develop and she was deprived of that chance. There are other interesting cellists to hunt - one of my favorites is Emanuel Feuermann. Very few recordings exist, but they are stunning. He died from infection following a minor operation in the early 1940s. He had just formed a trio with Heifetz and Fubenstein and it was their intention to record much of the piano trio literature. An LP I have of Feuermann performances notes the pall-bears at the funeral were Ormandy, Serkin, Elman, Humberman, Schnabel, Szell and Toscanini. Toscanini broke down sobbing shouting "this is murder" and had to be replaced. He had just formed a trio with Heifetz and Rubenstein and it was their intention to record much of the piano trio literature. 4:20:55 PM     I love Canadians. 5:57:26 AM     One of the most remarkable things I've witness was a total solar eclipse. At totality some features in the chromosphere - flares and prominences were beautiful naked eye objects - amazingly red as most of the light is the Hydrogen-Alpha wavelength. The Binomax Canon would be a wonderful tool for H-alpha observation. Believe it or not, the price tag is quite reasonable for this sort of instrument as a marched pair of filters would have cost twice that much a few years ago. I have a pair of Canon image stabilized 15-50 binoculars and find them wonderful for regular nature observations. If I strike it rich, I'll add a pair of Binomax Canons to my glass collection 5:57:06 AM     There has been quite a bit of chatter about taking photographs in Starbucks recently. It seems Starbucks has a policy of not allowing photography by patrons. This sort of policy isn't uncommon (I was ushered out of our local mall five years ago when I tried to take a picture with my 35mm Nikon), but the public generally doesn't think about it. Many people now carry digital cameras everywhere and camphones allow easy image gathering and transmission from most public places. I suspect we will see an evolution in what is acceptable - last week I saw teenagers taking photos with camphones in the same mall where I had my encounter with security. There will probably be a few public events - Lawrence Lessig recently suggested hundreds of people should go to their local Starbucks and start taking pictures. 5:56:52 AM     I received quite a bit of mail after the three penny radio note a few days ago. More than a few readers of this list build stuff (or once did) .. In any event here is Sam's Gadget FAQ ... if you have never seen it, there aren't any excuses. And to think that much of this stuff goes to the landfill. 5:56:29 AM

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