Valerie Inertie: From a practise session [Video]

Just watching Inertie overcome inertia (my poor attempt at pun) made me giddy. Incredible performance with a hula hoop.

Things to worry and not worry about [Letter]

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a letter to his daughter Frances in August 1933, about the things to worry and not worry about.

All I believe in in life is the rewards for virtue (according to your talents) and the punishments for not fulfilling your duties, which are doubly costly. 

Things to worry about:  Worry about courage  Worry about cleanliness Worry about efficiency Worry about horsemanship…

The Internet of Things vs Access Framing - Bob Frankston [Article]

Bob advocates ambient connectivity:

If we want to see the weather on our wrist device we can’t just have it connect. Instead it must relay through another connected device and the providers are trying to set rules for how you can share a connection.

Dean Zimmer: Drummer wanted - the story of a handicapable drummer [Video]

Dean Zimmer is a handi-capable drummer living in Southern California.

The Second Waltz: Andre Rieu [Video]

Begin the day with music! Mostly links around music today.
André Rieu performing Shostakovich' "The Second Waltz" live in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

I'll rap your head with a ratchet - [Letters of note]

Steve Albini recorded Nirvana's best-selling album In Utero over 20 years. This letter was written by Steve to the band just after their agreement  on his involvement.

I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the job and you pay me what it's worth. The record company will expect me to ask for a point or a point and a half. If we assume three million sales, that works out to 400,000 dollars or so. There's no fucking way I would ever take that much money. I wouldn't be able to sleep. 

Sounds of the guitar - how much difference the wood makes [Video]

Larry Barnwell of the Martin Guitar Company demonstrates two vintage 1944 Martin acoustic guitars: D18 vs D28.

I've no idea what this is about, but it's awesome [Video]

Some catchy music and some interesting instruments from Russia. Leningrad - Fish

Mom's an incredible musician [Video]

Keeping time is an art, and being a master of precision, or a percussionist, takes time & training. This mom shows off her skills. Kickass drummer! Have a great weekend!

Don't feel bad that I'm gone [Letters of note]

Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, wrote two letters - one to his children & the other to family & friends - to be opened in the event of his death. "Don't feel bad when I'm gone"

That bank note may be more valuable than you realise [Article]

The serial numbers on bank notes are the fascination of an online community of enthusiasts who will willingly pay an order of magnitude of the note's face value. Check out this article & pay more attention to the numbers on your bank notes - they may be worth more than you think! Check out coolserialnumbers.com for a comprehensive list of wanted numbers..

Paul McCartney demonstrates the mellotron [Video]

Had never seen (or heard of) the mellotron before. And got more than I bargained for! Paul McCartney at Abbey Road

Another Tim Blais Project - Bohemian Gravity [Video]

Learn the String Theory (or least enjoy it) in the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Rolling in the Higgs - Tim Blais' nerdy venture [Video/Link]

A Capella Science project - the Higgs Boson explained in the tune of Adele's Rolling in the Deep, Worthy of your time.

What is Citizenship? [Long reads]

In a lead essay in Cato-Unbound, Pascal Emmanuel Gobry made the case for compulsory military service. The response essays were scathing in their opposition - read Jason Kuznicki, Zach Maurin & Jacob Hornberger. In a follow-up essay, Gobry uses the analogy of a member of a family to explain the relationship that a citizen has to the state.

Change - Yoshida Brothers & Monkey Majik [Music]

Change, more East meets West. The instrument the Yoshida Brothers are playing is called the Shamisen

The Octobass - a 12 foot bass [Video]

The 12-foot tall Octobass plays so low, it's lowest string when played fully open is barely in the human hearing registry. To play it, a musician must stand on a stool and use leavers to fret the notes. It resides at the new Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the only one in North America. Watch

Authentic John Cleese article? Not so, but hilarious nonetheless [Article]

Discovered this satire piece, wrongly attributed to John Cleese.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

Wondering what to do during a boring meeting? Learn to "desk drum" [Video]

Two University of Washington students improvise.

On attending an Ig Nobel ceremony & after-party [Article]

Scientific research that makes people laugh, then think finds its way into the annals of the Improbable Research, eventually competing for the Ig Nobel awards each year. Carmen Nobel visited this year and writes about it:

The requisite small-talk name-dropping bests that of most cocktail parties. Overheard conversation snippets at this year’s party include, “I don’t know if you remember him, but he studied penguin poo under pressure,” and “Oh, right, she played Star Wars movies to locusts."