Take a moment to remember Yuri Gagarin, the brave young pilot who was first to leave the earth and fly in space.  Fifty years ago today.

I have received a number of compliments on this picture I took a couple of weeks ago in Acadia National Park.
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A I wrote a few days ago, we are recently returned from a three week road trip across northern New England and Canada's maritime provinces.

Here are some of the highlights and pictures from the trip. Click on any picture for a larger version.
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Home from vacation. 
3975 miles in 19 days.  New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.  
Copying photos now. 
Must sleep.  Will post a better report in a few days.

Day 8. Bar Harbor, Maine.

Joanne and I planned our trip carefully to occur after school started, so all the "summah people" would be gone, and before thefall colors brought out the "leaf peepers". So, how come all the hotels, motels, and inns in Bar Harbor are full, traffic is unbearable, and there are waiting lines at all the restaurants? Go home ( Read more... )

Our road trip continues. We've seen a lot of sights, including two notable humbugs.

First, at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York, we saw the Cardiff Giant!


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Tuesday, Jo and I go on the road for three weeks.

We're taking a driving vacation across New England and the Maritime Provinces.  Unlike any other vacation trip we've ever done, this one is a ramble.  We're going to follow our noses and see where we end up.  We're going to decide our stops and schedule as we go.

A few places and things we may see:

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Many people remember Madeline Kahn's character from Blazing Saddles, Lily von Shtupp.   A delightful character, whose name always gets a laugh because "shtup" is Yiddish slang for "fuck".    That was only one of the Yiddish jokes the great Mel Brooks put in that 1974 comedy classic.

Today I watched Blake Edward's wonderful "The Great Race", from ( Read more... )

The video game Guitar Hero has been around for a while.  It was followed by Rock Band, a game that lets you and some friends rock out on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.   So what's next?  Maybe . . .

JazzBand - clarinet, sax, drums, and vibes

BluegrassBand - guitar, mandolin, banjo, and stand-up bass

StringQuartet - violin, viola, cello, bass

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I've finally got my webserver back on line after some power supply problems.  My pictures from Anthrocon are here.


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