Author: Mitchell Laurren-Ring

Posted on

On The Credibility of Rush Limbaugh

“I, me, my – three of the most used words in President Obama’s media appearance last night.” – Rush Limbaugh, May 2, 2011

created at TagCrowd.com

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: sciatica, temperature sensitivity, left hip
Current reading: Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Recent listening: The Chess Story, Eric Clapton, The Yardbirds, Beckology, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Steve Miller Band, Traffic, Boz Scaggs, The Rolling Stones
Recent viewing: CSI, God in America, Sin City, V is for Vendetta, Commando, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, Secrets Beneath the Ice (Nova), Real Time with Bill Maher, Japan’s Killer Quake (Nova), BBS: The Documentary
Recent playing: DropZap, Words with Friends, WSOP Hold ‘Em Legend HD
Recently accomplished: Couch acquisition, Troop 820 collections, mowed lawn, new couch prep
Imperative To Do: Clean garage, clean gutters, new shelves for stereo, bank trip, bark dust, doctor appointments

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: sciatica
Current reading: Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Recent listening: The Velvet Underground, Alabama, Boz Scaggs, Steve Miller Band, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, The Who, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Funkadelic/Parliament, The Kinks, Sleep, The Small Faces, Traffic, Warren Zevon
Recent viewing: CSI, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Modern Family, Friday Night Lights, Big Love, Stripes, A Clockwork Orange, Fringe, No Ordinary Family, Six Million Dollar Man, The Simpsons
Recent playing: DropZap, Words with Friends, WSOP Hold ‘Em Legend HD
Recently accomplished: Began Tivo repair (need new power cable), changed furnace filters
Imperative To Do: Troop 820 transactions, clean garage, clean gutters

Posted on

Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 25, 2011

A few years ago I used to ride with Portland Critical Mass every month. Eventually, the numbers became so small that it seemed pointless to continue. Still, I’ve long felt a kinship with Critical Mass rides everywhere. Thus, seeing the following video taken Friday night in Brazil almost made me cry. One minute into the video, the joy and serenity is replaced with insane violence:


Continue reading “Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 25, 2011”

Posted on

Mega Cool Super Church (and Technology)

Saturday I drove down to Happy Valley to pick up Graham following an overnight at his friend’s house. On the way there I saw a monstrous building and noted it was a church. On the way back home, we stopped so I could get a picture. I posted the first picture to Instagram (warning: link opens iTunes). In that picture, I included the sign as a point of reference but it somewhat eclipsed the gigantic church so I moved a few steps east and snapped another:

Abundant Life Church
Continue reading “Mega Cool Super Church (and Technology)”

Posted on

The Impact of War on Segments of the Middle East Population

Have you seen Google’s Public Data Explorer? It’s an interactive interface to some gigantic sets of data gathered from around the world (sorry, requires Flash). I found it when I searched for “population growth” on Google. If you click the chart at the top of the list of results, you can graph the change in population growth rates for any country from 1960 to present. The chart graphs the US population rate by default but you can turn on any combination of countries as well as the world population growth rate for comparison.

After playing with it for a few minutes, I wondered about Iran and Iraq, two countries that we all probably wish we knew less about:

Remember the Iran/Iraq war? You can see it right there in the data. Can you tell who “won” and who lost that war?

Continue reading “The Impact of War on Segments of the Middle East Population”

Posted on

All I Got For Xmas 2010



All I Got For Xmas 2010
Originally uploaded by rynosoft

Once again I had a very bountiful Christmas. Click the picture to see the details but my gifts included:

  • Earth: The Book
  • Microwave safe soup bowl
  • Soup spoons
  • Chopsticks
  • Microwave safe coffee cups
  • Instant coffee
  • My four favorite Beatles albums remastered
  • $75 in cash
  • Personal audio mixer
  • Let It Be…Naked
  • Sugar free candy
  • New earphones for my iPhone
  • Six pack of grilling sauces/rubs
  • Two iTunes gift certificates worth $45 (not pictured) – redeeming for various apps and songs
  • Amazon gift certificate for $50 (not pictured) – redeemed for iLife ’11

Thanks to Buddy, Leroy, Tom, Jan, Michelle & Ric, Tina, Thomas, Graham and the Kittens. I know I’m hard to shop for and appreciate when people do so anyway.

Posted on

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: ankles
Current reading: Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Recent listening: Les Paul & Mary Ford, The Mothers of Invention, Slick Rick, Gershwin, Jane Siberry, Glenn Miller, Brave Combo, Buckethead, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, King Crimson, Neil Young, Steve Goodman, Woody Guthrie
Recent viewing: Young & Innocent, Stage Fright, Rockford Files, Murphy’s Romance, Disturbing the Universe, Nova, WWII in HD, Alice in Wonderland, Long Day’s Journey Into the Night (aborted), More Than a Game, NBA Basketball, Hawkeye Football
Recent playing: Words with Friends, Fieldrunners, Pinball HD
Recently accomplished: Played “adult in charge” at recent Troop 820 campout, fixed broken gate, fixed leaky toilet, winterization
Imperative To Do: Resume biking, lingering Troop 820 issues, desk cleanup, Xmas shopping

Posted on

Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll

If you were a teen in the 80s like me then you probably remember the short-lived sketch comedy series, Fridays, on ABC. Although it only lasted two seasons, it left an indelible impression on my young brain.

Sadly, a DVD release of those two seasons is reportedly held up by Michael Richards. Luckily, YouTube has most of their great sketches including the ones I’ve included below the fold:
Continue reading “Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll”

Posted on

Fun with the iTunes “search box”

Here’s a fun little exercise you can do in iTunes:

  1. In iTunes, click on your music library in the sidebar.
  2. Turn on shuffle, ensure that you have “By Songs” selected in the Shuffle menu (which is in Controls in the main menu)
  3. Type the first word that comes to mind in the search box
  4. Play one of the songs that is displayed
  5. Pick a new word or name from the currently playing song, type that word into the search box
  6. Listen
  7. When song changes, repeat 5

Note that in step 5 that you must pick a word that will include the currently playing song or iTunes will get confused and stop playing after the song is over. Obviously, having a large music library (23847 songs for me) and lots of metadata helps make the game interesting.

Continue reading “Fun with the iTunes “search box””