Well, today we closed on the sale of our current house and the purchase of our new house. We get to rent our just-sold house for 6 days, but expect to be completely moved out on July 5. (We're using professional movers, as our "stuff" has grown quite a bit over the last 10 years, so the only real grief will be the packing and unpacking).

Don't expect much content around here until the end of next week or so. Assuming Comcast gets us hooked up on time, there should only be a two-day Internet blackout (on the 4th and 5th).

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Wow. Jeff at Gravity Lens found a really cool helicopter: the CarterCopter.

So far, it's just a prototype technology demonstrator, but it has already achieved a milestone for rotary-wing craft: a mu of 1 for the first time in history (achieved on June 17, 2005).

Yeah, I didn't have the faintest clue what that meant, either, but read more about it here and keep your eyes peeled for these very attractive rotorcraft.

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---> Send your musical submissions to our new gmail dropbox: music.carnival@gmail.com.

(Thanks, Ted, for the gmail invite!) Remember also to check out Carnival of Music #4 at Owlish's place (you might need to scroll down, since his permalinks are bloggered up right now), and review the paleo-proto-musico-carnivals at the archive page.

Next, the first Carnival of Liberty will be taking place at The Unrepentant Individual on or around July 4. This is like the debutante ball for the newest unruly group I've joined: Life, Liberty, and Property. So send your liberty-themed submissions to carnivalofliberty@gmail.com.

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Gunner tagged me with a music meme last week. Things have been a bit crazy here, so I'm just now getting around to answering it.

Here's the game: What are your top three songs to listen to whilst running? And if you have the server space, will you post one or all of them for the rest of us to download? (If running is not your preferred method of exercise – which more or less guarantees your intelligence – well, songs that you would listen to are just fine.)

I usually don't listen to music while doing my nightly walk/run with the dog. I like to talk to him, and my suburban neighborhood straddles a creek and is covered with trees, so the nighttime chorus of toads and crickets makes a great soundtrack.

I do frequently listen to music while (whilst?) mowing the lawn, and my current favorites are:

• "Tarkus" - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (esp. the live version of the movement "Aquatarkus" on Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends, Ladies and Gentlemen...)


• "Astradyne" - Ultravox (from Vienna)


• "La Villa Strangiato" - Rush (again, the live version, from Exit Stage Left)

I have to say, though, that I have several mix CDs I listen to during yardwork, so this list would definitely change from week to week.

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Looking at my Google AdSense ads, I marvel at the diversity of opinions seeking to be heard.

They represent, quite literally, a marketplace of ideas. People are spending money to get these small commercial blurbs read by web surfers (please click on them to support this site, btw).

Looking at them today got me to thinking about the figurative marketplace of ideas. Consider this quote, from the originator of the phrase, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes:

"Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical. If you have no doubt of your premises or your power and want a certain result with all your heart you naturally express your wishes in law and sweep away all opposition. To allow opposition by speech seems to indicate that you think the speech impotent, as when a man says that he has squared the circle, or that you do not care whole-heartedly for the result, or that you doubt either your power or your premises. But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country."

Whenever some leftist gets the vapors over some alleged suppression of dissent, read the facts in the case that led to the above dissent and ask whether we are more or less free today. Are we hauling Michael Moore into court under some sedition act? Are we shutting down MoveOn.org or the Democratic Underground under the Espionage Acts?

Call me Pollyanna, but I think we have it pretty good.

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Owlish has posted the fourth installment of the Carnival of Music.

A nice eclectic mix of stuff there, so go check it out.

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The Kawasaki Ki-61 Tony:

(Image from Stof's "Virtual Flying" Page).

If you read the linked pages above, you'll see why it's no accident that this plane resembles the German Me-109.

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Here's a funny comment at Slashdot characterizing (stereotyping?) female and male communications styles. My wife appreciated it, so I think it's OK to post.

(Via Utterly Boring).

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Rob keeps retaking tests and getting the same result.

Here's a slightly more sophisticated one, the Belief-O-Matic, as it tests you on 20 questions ranked by importance.

I took this quiz a couple of years ago and it told me I was a Reform Jew. I definitely like the Reform Jew congregation members I have met, I just don't think I could ever adjust culturally to the different mode of communal worship. As long as there is a semi-traditional Methodist church around, that's where I'll be when I go to church.

In any case, my beliefs must have changed a small amount over the last few years, as I am now more Unitarian (100%) than Reform Jew (94%). I am also - disturbingly - barely more liberal Christian than Islamic.

I would be interested in seeing your top 5 results in comments (or post them at your blog and trackback here).

Here are my full results:

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Reform Judaism (94%)
3. Liberal Quakers (90%)
4. Secular Humanism (84%)
5. Neo-Pagan (83%)
6. Sikhism (78%)
7. Bahá'í Faith (77%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (71%)
9. Islam (70%)
10. Orthodox Judaism (70%)
11. New Age (66%)
12. Nontheist (65%)
13. Jainism (62%)
14. Mahayana Buddhism (62%)
15. Scientology (59%)
16. Theravada Buddhism (59%)
17. New Thought (57%)
18. Taoism (53%)
19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (47%)
20. Hinduism (47%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (44%)
22. Orthodox Quaker (44%)
23. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (32%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (22%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (22%)
26. Roman Catholic (22%)
27. Seventh Day Adventist (18%)

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As soon as you think you have figured out Eggagog's sublimely bizarre storylines at THIS IS FUN TO MAKE A BLOG ON THE COMPUTER WEBSITE, go check out UFO Breakfast Recipients.

I love the Internet.

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Frankly, dear readers, I don't give a damn. Actually, that's not quite true. Many of these quotes were truly quote-worthy, while others seemed to be included out of a sense of duty.

A real travesty was number 21, a quote which always grates on me: "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."

You see, I think the original line in the book was far superior: "A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone."

Substituting Chianti for Amarone is like substituting Budweiser for Guinness. It's the kind of dumbing-down for which a real Dr. Lector would have eaten the screenwriter.

The top 25 quotes are below the fold: more...

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Rob mentioned the lovely tableau of Vader Sinking in Lava on the neighbor-kid's birthday cake the other day.

In some weird synchronicity, my 8-year-old was constructing the same scene out of Legos.

(Click the image for a larger, annotated version).

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Administrative stuff first: I have put together an archive page for the carnival with FAQs, a schedule of future carnival hosts, and a list of previous carnivals. We need hosts! It's fun and easy and a great way to learn from a large selection of bloggers about a subject you love. Owlish has volunteered to host, and I have penciled him in for next week's carnival.

Please email me to submit a post for inclusion in a future carnival or to let me know that you would like to host one.

Without further ado, we start this week's program with an assortment of favorite springtime CDs, offered up by the HeadGirl at the Common Room.

Bart at the Well-Tempered Blog recommends a CD of Iren Marik playing Bartok as his tip of the week. Bart also provides a free link to an mp3 of Marik performing a piece by Debussy.

Michele at A Small Victory started another one of her trademark music lists today, after seeking input on the 20 best songs from the past 20 years. She was of course responding to the silly list put out by Spin magazine, reported here.

Every musician has a store of "war stories" -- things gone wrong in a performance. Harpist Helen Radice shares a funny one regarding a bird, a turd, and a word. (Rhyme inspired by the third and very funny comment to her post).

Brian Sacawa of Sounds Like Now has posted an mp3 sample of a live performance of pastlife laptops and attic instruments for alto saxophone, turntables, and electronics. If you like experimental saxophone electronica or abstract impressionist jazz, you will like this number.

For the past year, my Munuvian sponsor, Ted "RocketJones" has been receiving comments on this classic 2004 post on Stripper Music. Earlier this year, he put together a master list here.

Speaking of moving to music, Talvi of Of Music and Men doesn't like it. And, curmudgeonly as it sounds, I don't either. My organ teacher discouraged all extraneous movement, not only because it distracted from the music, but also because it hampered proper technique. Flailing around may look dramatic, and large arm movements may appear artistic, but they are really excess motions that can throw off your balance and timing while performing.

Fred is a vocalist who has discovered the humbling experience of learning from a recording of himself. I agree that a microphone can be a great teacher. Remember, however, that the musician is rarely an objective critic (either too harsh or too lenient) and a teacher can help recommend techniques to fix the perceived problems.

Finally, Music Thing posts about Paia, a do-it-yourself synth kit maker since 1967. The post features a very nifty photo of a synthesizer and effects installed in a drill case. (I once owned a broken-but-reapairable Paia modular synth but had to abandon it shortly after marriage during one of our moves. Lack of storage space has been the continual bane of my music hobby).

I hope you've enjoyed this week's carnival. For earlier carnivals, please remember to check the archive page. Thanks!

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The first jet fighter in history to see battle, the Messerschmitt Me-262:

The Me-262 Project is a private effort to create reproductions of this historic and beautiful aircraft. Interesting to me, much of the initial work was done in Fort Worth, Texas, just about an hour and a half southwest of here. Here's a picture of one of their creations in flight:

Update: The Country Pundit wrote a nice piece about this airplane, with more detail and history than I typically use in these kinds of posts.

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So leftist fever-swamp proprietor DailyKos likens the "torture" allegedly perpetrated by American troops in Iraq and Guantanamo to the torture inflicted upon Iraqis by Saddam Hussein. In fact, they are "equally bad" in his eyes.

Bullshit. [Warning! Graphic images provided for the sake of providing perspective].

Only the willful mischaracterization of [allowed] aggressive interrogation techniques or occasional instances of abuse or mistreatment by Americans as "torture" allows Kos to draw that conclusion. This same sort of reality-distortion field also allows the loony left to compare Gitmo to the gulag.

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GeekPress found this puzzle at Car Talk:

I'm getting old and a little absent-minded, so my friends got together and bought me a stylish little desk calendar. It's a cradle for two cubes, each with one number per face.

They figured I probably had enough left in me to figure what year it was and what month it was, but the date was going to elude me. So, this little gift was going to show the date. So, for example, if it were the 21st, I'd rotate one cube until a "2" was showing, and the other would show a "1". The next day I would know to rotate one cube so, together, the two cubes would read "22".

With the two cubes, I was able to express every date. For example, if it were the 2nd of the month, it would be expressed as "02". If it were the 18th you'd put up a 1 and an 8, and so on.

Here's my question. If you were designing the cubes, what numbers would you paint on each one so you could express all the dates from "01" to "31"?

My answer (and reasoning) below the fold. more...

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John at SFSignal points to this hilarious Shatner self-parody of the movie Se7en.

The last part is hilarious. Go watch (you need Quicktime to view it).

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Pete at A Perfectly Cromulent Blog describes Las Vegas thus:

I mean, I always assumed Vegas (the Strip, especially) was this massive networked series of gaming and security systems, all run by some vaguely Yog-Sothothian being housed in a giant cave under Nellis Air Force Base. I just wasn't expecting it to be confirmed so conclusively.

Love the Lovecraftian vibe. Glad he made it back safely.

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The Quiz is really aimed at Christians. I don't see how a different faith adherent could answer the questions posed and get any meaningful profile back.

(Via LDH).

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