Was on the road early this morning when this song came on the Nineties station on satellite radio. And now I can't get it out of my head just like 35 years ago!
"I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred got a LOT of airplay during my high school senior year. Were we supposed to take this song seriously or was it meant to be a gag? I've no idea and I don't think anyone else does either but back in the day I could do a spot-on rendition of it 😛
A brand new look for The Knight Shift!
(Actually, a new everything for this blog. Oh well, this place has needed an upgrade anyway.)
It’s been a long time coming. But hey, it IS almost 2027 after all. I just got a new car, new iPhone, REALLY awesome new job, new friends (make of that what one will). Might as well go all the way. I've been testing the new look out and it's terrific.
(And hey, Tammy has a new collar too. We are all doing well :-)
Don’t worry, all 20-some years of content will still be here. Every random thought, movie review, recipe, installment of Being Bipolar, chronicles against the wicked, wacky YouTube video… it’s gonna be here too. And should remain here for the rest of time.
There is a possibility that this blog won't be available for a few days. That's technical related, having to do with the new hosting. It should resolve itself (see what I did there?) within this next week or so.
Let’s see what modern technology can do.
A longtime friend is currently running for office. Tonight on Facebook I left a comment to him. It was worth making a post all its own, since this is such a political season. If you ever wondered where I am coming from politically, this passage from the man who was the grandfather figure in my life puts it more succinctly than anything I could come up with on my own. So I think it’s well worth sharing here too.
From chapter 12 of my book Keeping the Tryst:
At last Eagle was within sight. For my project I chose to build receptacles for the trash cans at Camp Saurakee, a place for people with severe mental disabilities. The receptacles would keep the cans stationary, without being a safety hazard if they were knocked around in bad weather. I made the receptacles, and we delivered them to the camp two weeks before my Eagle Scout board of review.
That took place on the night before my eighteenth birthday. There were five men who conducted the review. Among them was Doc Lewis. For about an hour I was queried about my time in the Boy Scouts, what I had learned, what the path to Eagle had come to mean to me. I answered as heartfelt and sincerely as I could, despite my nervousness. This is it, I had told myself all day. This is what it comes down to.
The review went well. It was agreed by the board that I had passed with flying colors. And then Doc told me something that I have never forgotten…
“Chris, people tell me that you have an interest in politics. They tell me that you could have a brilliant future in that.”
“That’s what some people have told me,” I confirmed.
“I believe they are right. I’ve known you for many years, and you are an amazing young man. If you want a future in politics, you could have that. But don’t be a politician! A politician is someone who serves their own interests. A politician puts himself before others. And that’s not what you are meant to be. I challenge you to be something greater than a politician. Be a STATESMAN! A statesman is someone who puts the needs of others above his own needs and desires. A statesman is a true servant of the people. There are much too many politicians, Chris. But there are very few statesmen. You can be a statesman. That is your true calling.”
This is officially the single coolest thing you will have seen all month. From a few hours ago:
I just bought a brand new Toyota Corolla. It’s got more safety features than anything I’ve ever seen in a car. It’ll be neat in another fifteen or twenty years to see if what Elon Musk has given his Roadster will become standard equipment on new vehicles.
Seriously though, that is hella awesome. It’s like Musk and his boffins are engineering functional Autobots.
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| Margaret Hamilton inside an Apollo command module simulator |
Margaret Hamilton, the brilliant mathematician behind the then-nascent field of software engineering and the lead programmer of the Apollo effort that put humanity on the moon, has passed away at the age of ninety.
But what a life Hamilton had! Early on she demonstrated a prowess for mathematics. She followed that into higher education and wound up at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There she was brought aboard NASA to work on the computer systems for the Apollo spacecraft. It was during this phase of her career that Hamilton developed error-correction code that in the case of Apollo 11 kept the vessel from disaster during landing.
Here are the famous photos of Margaret Hamilton with the enormous pile of computer code that she and her team developed for Apollo 11:
This morning I snapped that pic of the Moon and Jupiter close together. I took it with my new iPhone 18. That's by far the best shot of astronomical objects I've ever made with a smartphone camera. It could be better, I'm still learning the intricacies of the phone and its cameras. But otherwise I'm very impressed.
