I'll be sprinkling more and more Rush into my posts in the coming month-and-a-half until the big concert on June 23.

Given today's headlines, I decided to post the lyrics from their take on the "Religion of Peace," written post-9/11 (from the 2002 album, Vapor Trails):

Peaceable Kingdom

A wave toward the clearing sky

All this time we're talking and sharing our Rational View
A billion other voices are spreading other news
All this time we're living and trying to understand
Why a billion other choices are making their demands

Talk of a Peaceable Kingdom
Talk of a time without fear
The ones we wish would listen
Are never going to hear

Justice against The Hanged Man
Knight of Wands against the hour
Swords against the kingdom
Time against The Tower

All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards
While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards
All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn
While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn

Dream of a Peaceable Kingdom
Dream of a time without war
The ones we wish would hear us
Have heard it all before

A wave toward the clearing sky
A wave toward the clearing sky

The Hermit against The Lovers
Or the Devil against the Fool
Swords against the kingdom
The Wheel against the rules

All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark
A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks
Every spark a drifting ember of desire
To fall upon the earth and spark another fire

A homeward angel on the fly
A wave toward the clearing sky

Posted by: JohnL at 08:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In case you haven't surfed over there recently, be sure to check out SFSignal's spiffy new look. Gone is the purple. Nice shades-of-blue color scheme going on there now.

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I'd like to welcome a couple of new sites to my blogrolls.

At Don McClane's Mixolydian Mode, you'll find daily music posts as well as links to Steven King's The Shining in 30 Seconds (reenacted by animated bunnies), a dissertation on meteorology in Tolkien, and classic analog synthesizers (which is how he found my site, apparently). Don has several other sites covering a large range of topics here.

The other newcomer is the Bookish Gardener, who was kind enough to take my side in the recent tete-a-tete (or is that "Kopf gegen Kopf?") over the lovely German language. Another lawyer eclecti-blogger, but with a focus on gardening (and music, and books, and family, and. . . you get the idea!)

Enjoy!

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I was happy to see Rush back in the news today, with a generally positive preview of their upcoming 30th-anniversary world tour and an interesting interview of all three band members.

This is a nice contrast to the recent negative headlines surrounding the extraordinarily-out-of-character behavior of guitarist Alex Zivojinovich (Lifeson) on New Year's Eve. (Over 30 years, none of these guys has ever had any kind of run-ins with the law).

Lifeson's court date is set for May 17, just a week or so before their world tour starts on May 26. This makes me think that the defense either has iron-clad video evidence substantiating Lifeson's version of events, or they have a plea arrangement worked out in advance and are waiting to formalize it in court. This is rank speculation, of course, as I am neither a criminal defense attorney nor licensed to practice in Florida.

I sure hope they've got something worked out that doesn't involve deportation proceedings or jail time, since I've already got three tickets (for my two sons and me) for the June 23 appearance in Dallas. At ages 7 and 9, this will be the boys' first rock concert.

Rush exerted a huge influence on my intellectual and musical development, turning me on to Ayn Rand, libertarianism, synthesizers, and odd time signatures. If you've never seen or heard Rush, this DVD and its accompanying live CD are good places to start.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Speaking of French duels, I hereby challenge Rob the Llamabutcher to one, for calling the lovely German language hideous. (Full disclosure: my undergraduate degree was in German).

Among the sung languages, certainly Latin is the most beautiful, but German has an earthy power to it, much like English. Just read Der Erlkoenig (The Elf-King), by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and listen to a decent recording of Schubert's rendering of this poem.

If you have a child, I dare you to make it through the song without a tear in your eye.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Timothy Sandefur has me convinced that I need to read some Mark Twain. Aside from the obligatory Huckleberry Finn in high school, I haven't really read any Twain.

But today Timothy points us to some hilarious excerpts from A Tramp Abroad, including this account of a French duel.

(Since I missed blogging on Cinco de Mayo, this will have to serve as my slam-the-French post).

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I haven't watched Friends in about 8 or 9 years. I liked it a lot in the first season, before anyone had really heard of it (and, more importantly, before the actors got too full of themselves). But the characters just got boring, and never seemed to grow up. Meanwhile, my wife and I had three kids, bought a house, and I successfully worked my way from absolute legal scut-work to a dream in-house job. The Friends crew just sat around and drank coffee. I couldn't relate to them anymore. So I didn't waste any time on their big finale.

Luckily, I didn't miss much, and the Llamabutchers have all the gory details. Be sure to read Steve's proposal for how the finale should have been done as an episode of Law and Order:SVU. Give that man a TV series!

Posted by: JohnL at 10:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Professor Hall went searching for "Spacecraft" images on Google and found this, ahem, interesting, ahem, pic. (Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more). . .

Looks like it would make a decent background image for Ted's site banner, as he likes to keep his title art fresh.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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QuantumBlog provides a nice collection of links today to keep handy if you want to try to spot the international space station or other space objects:

Heavens Above
Science@NASA
NASA's SkyWatch

Enjoy!

Posted by: JohnL at 09:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Looks like Steve and Rob are giving the Creator of Worlds a run for his money at humorous photoshopping. Just start here and scroll down.

Looks like they picked up a Vodka-lanche today, too. Good on them.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well I'm a few days late to observe May Day. We don't attach any great meaning to the holiday around here, and in any case, I would not commemorate a socialist holiday.

In fact, I think it appropriate that the international distress call for a grave and imminent danger is phonetically the same as the international socialist holiday. (Yeah, I know the word "mayday" comes from the French word m'aider, or help me, and has nothing to do with "May Day").

Why should one see socialism as a grave and imminent danger? Catallarchy explains much better than I could. Read the whole thing, including the linked articles.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Following up on my post from last night/this morning, here are some videos showing what it's like when the "up" part is not so perfect, and quickly becomes the "down" part.

(Hat tip: Alan Brain).

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Via Gravity Lens, a theme park in Florida where you will discover:

How awesome the world used to be and how it will be again very soon!

Dinosaurs in the Bible and history!

Dinosaurs alive today!

Amazing fossil discoveries. See them yourself!

Okilly dokilly, then.

I see that Timothy Sandefur has already covered this at Panda's Thumb.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The ‘up’ part was perfect. I need to work on the ‘down’ part.

So quoth Ted, in an entertaining summary of the first day of the Battlepark 2004 rocket-fest.

As far as working on the "down" part, he shows us some pictures of the aftermath of the Air Munuviana crash.

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Via Snooze Button Dreams, I came across some random questions from Ted's daughter, Mookie.

Here are the questions restated with my answers:

1. Middle Name?
Walter
2. Favorite Animal?
My new dog, Jake
3. If you were to go on a deserted island for 10 years, and you could take 1 person and 3 items, what would you take?
Person: My wife: tough, resourceful, smart, and gorgeous too!
Items: Versatile knife, mess kit, stocked tackle box
4. WhatÂ’s your favorite food?
Steak, medium rare (sirloin or ribeye)
5. WhoÂ’s your favorite band?
Rush
6. WhoÂ’s your favorite person?
My wife
7. How old are you?
36
8. Where do you live?
Plano, Texas
9. WhatÂ’s your favorite type of Ice Cream?
Blue Bell's Tin Roof
10. WhatÂ’s your favorite family tradition?
Christmas morning treasure hunt for baby Jesus (my wife and I kidnap him from our nativity scene and hide him, leaving a series of written clues to lead the kids to him)
11. Do you have a job? If so where?
Yes; in-house lawyer at a nearby telecom company
12. WhatÂ’s your dream car?
Acura RSX-S or TSX, in either case 6-speed manual (i.e., a souped-up version of my current car, a Honda Accord)

Posted by: JohnL at 11:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a DVD I'll be looking forward to later this year.

Bob Moog's synthesizers defined the sound of much of the popular music of the 1970s and early 1980s: from progressive rock to heavy metal, pop to disco, country to new wave. My favorite groups, Rush, Yes, and ELP, all gave Moog instruments a leading role in their recordings and performances.

Then, "digital" synthesizers appeared and pushed the warm, user-friendly analog instruments to the sidelines for more than a decade.

But in the last few years, analog synthesizers in general (and Bob Moog's instruments in particular) have been making something of a comeback.

This is a real synthesizer.

And this is the anti-Moog.

Posted by: JohnL at 12:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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