pandemic

Good article that looks at the situation going forward. Paints a grim picture, but realistic, given what is known. I'm saving this link; maybe one day I'll be able to look back on it and see how accurate the author was, if I'm still around!

"How the Pandemic Will End: The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out." -- https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/

anarchy review

A DistroWatch review of Anarchy Linux: https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20200323#anarchy

As noted earlier, I've used Anarchy to install an Arch system, which I'm quite pleased with. The author of the DW review wrote that after using Anarchy, he "...had a well configured Arch Linux-based system that I was able to set up in under 30 minutes by just selecting options and entering options in the Anarchy installer." He goes on to say that "Anarchy Linux is not perfect, but it does do a good job of making Arch super easy to install." I completely agree.

in times like these

In times of difficulty and uncertainty, back to the music. That's how I cope. Here's a link to the Illuminations album by McCoy Tyner, at YouTube.

Personnel

McCoy Tyner – piano
Terence Blanchard – trumpet
Gary Bartz – alto saxophone
Christian McBride – bass
Lewis Nash – drums

I don't have Illuminations on CD or on cassette, but I was playing one of my old minidiscs and found the complete album saved. So I checked the computer and it's saved to the hard drive, too. I'm thinking I must have borrowed the CD from the library and copied it. This album won the Grammy Award for 'Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Individual or Group' in 2005.

stephens

After several months of reading just a little bit at a time, I finally finished the remarkable work by John Lloyd Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán, which was originally published in 1841. Stephens journeyed to Central America, exploring and documenting ancient Mayan ruins. The copy I have is split into two books, Volume I and Volume II; the book can also be found online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Incidents_of_Travel_in_Central_America,_Chiapas_and_Yucatan.

Stephens, of course, is considered to have been a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Maya civilization. Besides the detailed descriptions of the Mayan ruins, his work provides the reader with a fascinating snapshot of life and conditions in that part of the world at about the middle of the 19th century.

After his first trip (1939-40), Stephens returned to the region in 1841 and wrote about that visit in Incidents of Travel in Yucatán, originally published in 1843 (I have yet to read this book).

funky up in here

"James Brown - Hot Pants (Part 1, 2 & 3) [Single Version]" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgfIKiVrSRA

 

"James Brown - Make It Funky Part 1 Thru 4 (Super Rare)" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2D2oUNTbjU

ripping with dolphin

While most KDE users will turn to k3b for ripping music files from audio CDs, KDE Plasma's Dolphin provides a fairly easy way to do it, as well. For info, check out "Encode and copy audio CD tracks" at the KDE UserBase Wiki, down near the end of the "Dolphin/File Management" section: https://userbase.kde.org/Dolphin/File_Management#Encode_and_copy_audio_CD_tracks

I've ripped quite a few CDs using this method, with KDE Plasma 5.16.5 in Kubuntu 19.10. After inserting a CD, a "Device Notifier" popup appears on the desktop. I select "Open with File Manager". There's something about the kioclient examining the CD, then Dolphin opens the files.

Also, with a CD in the drive, one can simply open Dolphin and click on "Audio CD".

Then, the user can copy the music files from one location to another -- drag, drop, copy. Dolphin presents the files in .wav format, but also puts corresponding .ogg and .mp3 files within the "Ogg Vorbis" and "MP3" directories, respectively. I prefer to go with the .ogg format.

Very cool. This is one of many reasons people say that Dolphin is the best Linux file manager. (I use Double Commander for most file management, though!)

1960

A couple of recordings from almost sixty years ago -- both from March, 1960, I think. Miles Davis with John Coltrane.

Konserthuset, Stockholm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_z221y8TOs

Olympia Theatre, Paris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VE_dP90V84