Harley-Davidson product of Globalization

It's a bit paradoxical. To a good percentage of motorcycle enthusiasts Harley-Davidson is the ultimate symbol of the American bike. To people who aren't into motorcycles (and to some people who are), the passion that some express towards Harley-Davidson motorcycles to the exclusion of other brands (and especially to the exclusion of Japanese brands) is puzzling, I mean, I might prefer Coke to Pepsi but I don't look down on Pepsi drinkers and I *surely* would not tattoo the Coke logo on my arm, but such are the extremes to which some people feel.
The paradox of the 'American-ness' of the Harley brand vs. what it is in 'cold steel (and aluminum and plastic) reality' shows itself most readily when one has to service the brakes of, say, the popular Softail model.

To remove the front brakes and brake pads for servicing requires that one use a metric (re: foreign) 10 mm wrench AND an American 1/4 inch wrench. The need for using 2 sets of tools working in 2 different measurement standards is because the brake body is from an American company whereas the fork leg that the brake body is mounted on is from a Japanese company (and for all we know the fork leg could have been manufactured in Thailand or something).


If that isn't symbolic of globalization, I don't know what is !

pre-Torn and pre-Worn

It all started in the 80's, I think.

After the movie 'Flashdance' became wildly popular, loose tops with rips at the seams began appearing on the apparel floors in Women's Clothing Departments. If one wanted to emulate the 'Flashdance' look, but couldn't trust themselves to tear up their clothing 'just right', you could just go in and buy a brand new top already ripped for you fresh from the factory.

A decade or so later, I think, came the phenomenon of new 'stressed' jeans, new jeans that one can buy in the store that look like they've been worn for a couple of years. No need to hunt for a used pair at the local Goodwill store when you can just pay up and walk out with a worn looking pair jeans that fits just right.

Now, the other day I got a music instrument catalogue in the mailbox. Right on the cover (see photo), you can buy a brand new Fender guitar or bass that comes from the factory with a finish called 'Road Worn'. The from the factory guitars have chipped and scratched wood showing along with the finish worn off in just the right places. Now you don't have to look like some Jr High School dweeb that just learned how to play 'Louie Louie' on your brand new shiny guitar*. Instead your new guitar looks like it seen a decade of traveling from coffee shop to coffee shop with a lot of street corners thrown in along the way...

oh my... I guess the look screams "yeah, dude, I PAID my dues !"

(with cash)


* (I'm saying this very tongue in cheek, I respect and appreciate anyone who values music !)

Minty Boost USB charger

I found some time at last to solder and assemble my MintyBoost !

MintyBoost Kit

It's small handy USB charger powered by 2 AA Batteries. I've been using a 4AA battery USB charger for years, but after saw this neat smaller and lighter 2AA charger kit that fits neatly inside an Altoids Gum Tin, I knew that I wanted one. The kit is well thought out. The printed circuit board is designed to fit the contours of the Tin container. The circuit board is etched with handy part numbers and markings that make it easy to correctly place the electronic components for soldering in to place. The electronics are necessary to boost the ~3 Volts from the pair of batteries in series up to the required ~5 Volts that USB works with.

Very very nice solution. Much easier to carry around than my old 4 battery charger (plus it looks cute to boot (or is that 'boost' ?))

Ballet Class

My favorite Jazz dance classes ended after Zafra left town.

farewell Zafra

Happily, I've found a new set of classes to fill the gaping void that was left behind:

Beginning Ballet classes taught by Kathy Mata @SF Dance Center.

The classes are great and despite being called 'Beginning', there are more advanced dancers that also attend the class (a very good sign !). Kathy is a teacher very mindful of everyone in her class at all times, offering helpful corrections and advice for the duration of each class. I can feel that I'm making technical progress since starting the class (a very good feeling). A happy start to a new chapter !

Jazz Drums Instructional DVD

Peter Magadini is a great drummer and instructor. Part of his lifetime of experience playing the Drumset in a Standard and Latin Jazz setting is passed along in his DVD 'Jazz Drums'. If you're a drummer, Jazz enthusiast or even just Jazz curious, this DVD will demonstrate how and why Jazz drumming sounds the distinct way that it does. You know that it doesn't feel the same as Funk/HipHop and it's not the same as most Rock/Pop, but what makes it what it is ? Knowing these things can greatly enhance the Jazz listening experience. (Peter, being a pro, *can* play all those other styles, of course, but this DVD is about Jazz).

In the DVD intro Peter demonstrates something with a concept that I've not heard anyone else do:
To show the roots and evolution of Jazz Drumming, he starts off playing a Traditional West African Rhythm 'Angbeko'. Without missing a beat, this gets morphed into 'Standard' Jazz timekeeping. From there he morphs into one of his specialities: Polyrhythms, that is, different time signatures being played simultaneously. Polyrhythms on the drumset give a nice tension and break from the normal 'thunka thunka pop' pulse. Dennis Chambers, one of my favorite (living) drummers is heavily into Polyrhythms.. It's great stuff, a 'spicy cuisine' that makes life more interesting..

Here (available at the time of writing this post) is a link to Opening Solo portion of the DVD, starting off with West African 'Angbeko' rhythm and morphing:

http://www.petermagadini.com/opening_solo.mov


Fascinating !

2 Wheels Good

Someone asked me about this recently, so here goes.

I like vehicles with 2 wheels. With a motor or human powered, doesn't matter. The sensation of getting around on 2 wheels is a gift to us from the laws of angular momentum (the spinning wheels wanting to keep us consistently oriented.. (that'd be rubber side down) ). The nice part of riding on 2 wheels (the exposure) is also the most risky part of riding on 2 wheels (the exposure). Because of the risks I no longer depend on them for getting around in all conditions, specifically I try to avoid riding at night in the rain. Motorcycle OR Bicycle the chance of being flattened by something on the road with 4 wheels is increased due to decreased visibility in the rain. (Riding in a city on a Friday or Saturday night is another time to be really cautious).
Sometimes when going out to a nice place on a nice day for a recreational bicycle ride, it seemed like a waste of a nice day to be sitting boxed up in a car.. So the obvious thing was to rig up a motorcycle to carry a bicycle and have a nice day out on both a bicycle and motorcycle ride. I've seen various solutions to this problem implemented by other like minded souls. This one is the final version 2.0 for me. Does the job and works fine. I've taken it to lots of places, up and down the western states, out to visit my sister in Minnesota (to do a bicycle club ride with her in Minneapolis, what else ?). This picture was taken on a highway heading towards Tucson during a Christmas Vacation trip out to Arizona (December temps were in the 70's mmmmmm.....)

LP Conversions Underway

I recently got a digital sound recorder to convert some of my old vinyl LPs to mp3. I had re-acquired a good portion of my LP collection in CD form. Now those CDs sit idle just as the LPs do because it's too convenient to listen to them in mp3 form. I can no longer see paying out to re-buy music I already bought in LP form. Of course some of the collection isn't readily available in CD or mp3 form anyway, so a digital recorder is a good way to go. Case in point is a favorite LP from my youth: "Tarik" by Saxophonist Dewey Redman (see photo above). This LP has been issued in CD form, but a check of prices shows that it's going for about $50 new or $25 used.. yipes, that much for some music I already have in my collection ? Try searching the 'ITunes store' for one of my favorite cuts on the LP: "Lop-O-Lop" by "Dewey Redman".. The Apple ITunes store turns up zilch. Hmmm.. "Think Different", but not TOO different it seems, or you'll be disappointed !

Amazingly, my old turntable started right up and played the vinyl disks like it was yesterday (times about 10,000). Long forgotten rituals were performed: blowing off the LP, periodically brushing the accumulated dust off of the needle (um, that's the thing that follows the physical track on the LP fer you youngstas). Some of my favorite LPs were in pretty bad shape. Being favorites, they were played a lot so there were lots of pops, fading and the occasional skip. The 'Stack Overflow' guys Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood recently noted amusingly that Vinyl LPs are coming back into fashion in some younger crowds who claim that there's something special about hearing the music on vinyl. J & J then made some joke about writing a program to layer in some pops and scratches on top of clean mp3 sound.. I say 'yeah, how about some skips too to make it really authentic !'

It'll be fun converting the collection. Some of that stuff I haven't heard in decades. It'll be a kind of closure to know that I'm playing each LP for the very last time...