corner detail

The board is recessed 1/4 inch into the frame all the way around and as a result, the whole thing went together with no fasteners, just glue and lotsa clamps (does anyone ever have enough clamps?)…. The frame is finished with a cherry stain I had a little bit of (I think it came with the house) and the board was primed and painted with ordinary interior latex.

This is a recent project I took on for two purposes: one, to generate a little coin and two, to learn some new skills. The objective was to make a game board, but it is a little more involved than that. What I ended up with was a board with 143 (11 rows of 13) 1/4 inch deep circular depressions, mounted in a box frame. So I ended learning how to cut dadoes , a couple of different approaches to mitered corners, and the use of a router in a repetitive style.

The material is 1/2 inch oak cabinet plywood. The board is recessed 1/4 inch into the frame all the way around and as a result, the whole thing went together with no fasteners, just glue and lotsa clamps (does anyone ever have enough clamps?). I don’t have a strap or band clamp but a couple of bungee cords worked just fine.

The frame is finished with a cherry stain I had a little bit of (I think it came with the house) and the board was primed and painted with ordinary interior latex. It would have been nice to have that stained or left natural but I don’t know if I could have removed all the pencil marks.

The picture I worked from had little bumpers in the corners to deflect the game pieces — marbles — back into play, but it doesn’t look like I need them. All in all, I am pretty pleased with how it came out. I had to buy a router bit (at the world’s greatest hardware store) and of course some materials, but I still come out a little in the black.

for sale

Working with Delicious Library, I found some items that are surplus to my requirements.


“Unix C Shell Field Guide” (Gail Anderson, Paul Anderson)


“Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example (C++ In-Depth Series)” (Andrew Koenig, Barbara E. Moo)


“Sun Performance and Tuning: Java and the Internet (2nd Edition)” (Adrian Cockcroft, Richard Pettit, Sun Microsystems Press)

7ab21363ada0f936ed120110._AA240_.L.jpg

“Java Enterprise Computing: Enabling Breakaway Business Strategies” (Sun Microsystems)

not bad

Your final score was 132/180

Mix-Tape Master (109-144 points)
You are a music evangelist: the person in your network of friends who always has the coolest new song, the one whose iPod gets picked to DJ every party. You understand the art of the segue, how the key to the best mix-tape isn’t just the songs you pick, but how they interlock with each other. You also know who the up-and-coming acts are and are quick to recognise where their influences lie and whether they will make it big. You work hard at the pursuit of this knowledge, scouring music blogs, magazines and record stores. Most importantly, you are generous with your passion – and your friends should be very, very grateful. Still, it’s always good to get new inspiration for your latest mix.

[From Music Intelligence Quiz Results]

what’s wrong with this picture?

Another civil war? Hmm, maybe that will slow down greenhouse gas generation . . . it’s all about the Yankees trying to hold the Southrons back.

Right. Lest we forget, here’s the (corrected!) map of the balance of Federal funds, with blue states paying and red states receiving:redblue.gif

The next time that the South pays its fair share will be the first time, at least in the last 160 years. But remember, it’s okay to talk about the violent overthrow of the US government if you’re a conservative Southerner…

[From Lawyers, Guns and Money: Treason In Defense of Global Warming]

what is it now?

not sure what this is about. my neighbor seems to have lost control of his truck. he left a note on the windshield that "it won’t start" but he just tried to jumpstart it and it’s still there, as it has been since the pre-dawn hours. how he managed to bump it into the fence before realizing it wasn’t running and without applying the brake is an exercise for the reader.
we’re not what you’d call "on good terms" or I might be inclined to help.

well, that’s interesting

We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did. [From Macs Trounce PCs in Popular Mechanics “Ultimate Lab Test” ] Remember when buying a Mac meant you were either some kind of pretentious graphic artist or a complete dumbass who couldn’t cope with Real Computersâ„¢?


“In our speed trials,” reports Derene, “Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.
[From Macs Trounce PCs in Popular Mechanics “Ultimate Lab Test”]

Remember when buying a Mac meant you were either some kind of pretentious graphic artist or a complete dumbass who couldn’t cope with Real Computersâ„¢? How woulda thunk Apple would have the edge in general computing hardware?

2:42

| Green Thinking About You | 2:42 | Radiohead | Pablo Honey Providence | 2:42 | Sonic Youth | Daydream Nation Oceans | 2:42 | Pearl Jam | Ten Coda: Marine 475 | 2:42 | King Crimson | Thrak Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | Louder Than Bombs Blitzen Trapper | – Wild Mountain Nation | 2:42 | 550 Blitzen Trapper | KEXP Song of the Day Get Outa Ma Pagoda | 2:42 | Chris Spedding | The Very Best Of Rusty Chevrolet | 2:42 | Da Yoopers | Culture Shock The Operative | 2:42 | Magazine | Scree Rarities 1978 – 1981 I Wanted So | 2:42 | Johnny Cash | Personal File [Disc 1] Baby Plays Around (Demo) | 2:42 | Elvis Costello | Spike Bonus Disc Holy Love | 2:42 | The Blue Nile | Peace At Last Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | The Best Of The Smiths, Vol…. 1 Bones | 2:42 | Foot Village | SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists I See You | 2:42 | Adrian Belew | Here Michelle | 2:42 | The Beatles | Rubber Soul How Great Our Lord | 2:42 | Randy Newman & others | Randy Newman’s Faust Walk Like an Egyptian | 2:42 | The Puppini Sisters | The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo by exactly, I mean make a playlist with a range of 2:41 – 2:43 and pull the 2:42 tracks from that: seems to give a better result.

Is two minutes forty-seconds the perfect length for a pop single?

I looked at my collection and while I have a few that come in at that length, a range of 2:40-2:45 yields 162 items or 7.3 hours of music. At exactly 2:42*, this is what I get:

Route 67 | 2:42 | Let’s Active | Big Plans for Everybody
Wildwood In The Pines | 2:42 | Johnny Cash | Personal File (Disc 2)
Get Up | 2:42 | R.E.M. | Green
Thinking About You | 2:42 | Radiohead | Pablo Honey
Providence | 2:42 | Sonic Youth | Daydream Nation
Oceans | 2:42 | Pearl Jam | Ten
Coda: Marine 475 | 2:42 | King Crimson | Thrak
Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | Louder Than Bombs
Blitzen Trapper | – Wild Mountain Nation | 2:42 | 550 Blitzen Trapper | KEXP Song of the Day
Get Outa Ma Pagoda | 2:42 | Chris Spedding | The Very Best Of
Rusty Chevrolet | 2:42 | Da Yoopers | Culture Shock
The Operative | 2:42 | Magazine | Scree Rarities 1978 – 1981
I Wanted So | 2:42 | Johnny Cash | Personal File [Disc 1]
Baby Plays Around (Demo) | 2:42 | Elvis Costello | Spike Bonus Disc
Holy Love | 2:42 | The Blue Nile | Peace At Last
Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | The Best Of The Smiths, Vol. 1
Lovely Rita | 2:42 | The Beatles | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
I Will Always | 2:42 | The Cranberries | Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?
Larks’ Tongues In Aspic,Part Three (Live) | 2:42 | King Crimson | Frame By Frame [4 – 1969 (Live)]
Take Me For A Little While | 2:42 | Dave Edmunds | Repeat When Necessary
This Charming Man | 2:42 | The Smiths | The Best Of The Smiths, Vol. 1
Bones | 2:42 | Foot Village | SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists
I See You | 2:42 | Adrian Belew | Here
Michelle | 2:42 | The Beatles | Rubber Soul
How Great Our Lord | 2:42 | Randy Newman & others | Randy Newman’s Faust
Walk Like an Egyptian | 2:42 | The Puppini Sisters | The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo

  • by exactly, I mean make a playlist with a range of 2:41 – 2:43 and pull the 2:42 tracks from that: seems to give a better result.

Anyone else remember the scene from The Kids Are Alright described here?

The Who had 10 minutes left to fill on the LP. Kit Lambert, The Who’s manager, suggested to Pete Townshend that he write “something linear… perhaps a 10 minute song.” Townshend responded by saying that rock songs are “2:50 by tradition!” Lambert then told Townshend that he should write a 10 minute story comprised of 2:50 songs.

[From A Quick One While He’s Away by The Who Songfacts]