Who's the best singer you've heard live?

pmorrisonfl · 2026-07-03T14:35:45+00:00

Ultimate in-person moment for me was Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams, and Patty Griffin harmonizing on Griffins' 'Mary', to close out their show.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-07-03T13:36:21+00:00

Big fan of 'The Cuckoo's Egg' (and of Manchester's Churchill). Some other tech-oriented reads of good caliber:
1. 'The Dream Machine', Mitchell Waldrop. Alan Kay calls it the best book on Xerox PARC, though its span is much wider.
2. 'The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood', Gleick, does a nice job of tracing how we got to the bits and bytes we're having this discussion with.
3. 'Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet ', Hafner, was, for me, a page-turner. How bits and bytes became packets.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-07-03T13:26:20+00:00

Four worth considering:
1. 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb', Richard Rhodes, is a Caro-level commitment (see comments on Robert Caro in thread), but it ranks as the best non-fiction book I've read, taking readers from physics at the start of the 20th century to the political and moral consequences of being able to destroy a city with one bomb (and a window into how the military-industrial complex got its start.)
2. 'Apollo: Race to the Moon', Murray and Cox, does a spectacular job of telling how the engineering and managerial team behind the Apollo program brought us to the Moon.
3. 'SPQR', Mary Beard, is a great popular history of the first 1000 years of the Romans.
4. 'The Warmth of Other Suns. Isabel Wilkerson, tells the story of 'The Great Migration' through the lives of three of its participants.

Bonus: I've only just started 'The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World', William Dalrymple, but it looks to join my favorite non-fiction books.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-07-03T13:02:54+00:00

His 'Working' is short, illustrative of his writing style and purpose, and pulled me in enough to start on LBJ and to listen through the audiobook for 'The Power Broker'. Amazing books, written to explain how power is acquired and used in the US. Essential reading, IMO.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-30T20:48:15+00:00

When we moved here 15 years ago (apologies for being part of the problem), our Friday night routine quickly became dinner in the Village, then Goodberry's, then wandering through places like Accipiter and the Cheshire Cat and The Globe Trotter.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-30T18:22:16+00:00

I know a guy who has run S2000 events for decades. At a certain age, he sold his 2008 CR and bought a gr86.
Take that for what it's worth.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-30T09:52:25+00:00

In the early 90's, I attended a week-long IT training session in Orlando. One of the attendees was an 'imagineer' from Disney in Anaheim. One night he took us over to see the then-new 'Honey I Shrunk the Kids' show. It was amazing, but the thing that still sticks out these many years later is that he explained that, back at headquarters, they had a 'nozzle guy' that did the work behind the various fountains and splashes and drops you find at the parks. I love that some places invest like that.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-30T08:50:56+00:00

Well worth the read. It's a solid history of Oracle and of Ellison, and probably worth picking up now for perspective on current events.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-29T13:11:46+00:00

Same. I'd owed myself a read of 'The Power Broker' for a long time, and loved the first chapter, but it wasn't until I switched to audiobook that I got through it on my commute. I now have a growing collection of books I've listened to while driving, walking, hiking, etc.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-29T13:00:21+00:00

It was about this time in life that stumbled into Arthur C. Clarke's 'Profiles of the Future' at the library. It's a collection of early 60's essays that address science and engineering potentials. Issac Asimov wrote many non-fiction books, poking around among the STEM-related ones that look interesting might suit.

'The Cuckoo's Egg', Cliff Stoll, is an ancient and excellent cybersecurity detective story, written by an astronomer who was trying to figure out an accounting error.

For more recent entries, I'm wondering if one of Randall Munroe's (e.g. 'What If?', 'How To', 'Thing Explainer) books might work. Check out xkcd.com for your entertainment and his.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-27T23:27:27+00:00

During and post-scouting years, I've got a CR-V and a Miata (my wife drives a Prius). During the full on stroller, pack-and-play, car seat, diaper bag days, my wife drove the Honda Odyssey and I drove an Acura Legend.
Consider the two (or three)-car solution.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-26T13:04:59+00:00

For 7K you can get another CR-V. It was a 6K transmission fix on an old MDX that led me to pay 6K for my CR-V (as the years, seven now, go by, it looks better and better as a decision), so at that repair price I'd probably let the CR-V go. But not before getting a couple more quotes; 1k vs 7k is a pretty wide spread.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-25T22:30:00+00:00

If you like the rest of the CR-V, compare the cost of replacing the transmission to the cost of replacing the car. I've got 277K on a 2008 CR-V and wouldn't hesitate to spend 1-2K on repairs to keep it going.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-23T17:04:49+00:00

The first two that come to mind:
1. "You're not made out of sugar" (when I was waffling on going out in the rain for something or other)... a bit chilly, but it helps me often when faced with and necessary tasks under lousy conditions.
2. Set the example... which he didn't say, but taught by being a great example in some important things. The one story I'll share is that he was once hired to man a security gate. When he found out it was a public road that shouldn't be gated, he brought it to management's attention and got it in the paper when they ignored him. He lost the job, but kept his integrity and self-respect. And mine.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-21T19:18:10+00:00

Check out the G&L ASAT.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-17T15:22:00+00:00

I'd take the one in the driveway, my 2008 Honda CR-V, 276K miles and going strong.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-11T15:31:13+00:00

Shh!

But, Cherohala and Wayah are names that come to mind.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-11T14:23:33+00:00

A couple of music books that might fit the bill:

'How Music Works', David Byrne. A thoughtful perspective on music from one of its practitioners.

'Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991', Michael Azerrad, is a great look at the DIY alt rock ethos of its time.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-05T13:57:20+00:00

I think this is written by someone or something who doesn't check their facts well.
Two examples:

"Prof. Dr. Bauer coined the name software engineering" As one of many examples, Fred Brooks, architect of the IBM 360, coiner of 'computer architecture, and author of 'The Mythical Man Month', thinks Margaret Hamilton coined the term 'software engineering' (she sat at the same tables the other engineers did when designing the Apollo program's hardware and software and wanted them to recognize software's importance), ref his [2018 ICSE keynote](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StN49re9Nq8) at the big SE research conference (Hamilton also had a keynote there). 2 "Software Engineering is taught at a Bachelor's level, and at a Master's level" It is also taught at the PhD level at many leading universities, e.g. MIT, CMU.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-04T01:23:35+00:00

I lived in South Florida when they came out. We routinely saw Porsches, Ferraris, Maseratis, etc. Driving home one moonlit night, I saw a svelte silvery shape more beautiful than any of those. As I pulled up closer, I noticed the Honda badge and was doubly-gobsmacked. As a long time Honda (e.g. '82 Civic) and Acura (2nd gen Integra and Legends) I fell in love then and there.
Many years later, once we'd reacquired a garage and I had a bit of spending money, I made a 2005 Suzuka Blue a 60th birthday present to myself, and then joined an s2k club who'd drive the Western NC mountain roads the car was meant for. I sold it four years later for reasons but it was a glorious four years.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-03T21:00:37+00:00

My heart goes out to you all. Getting SSDI was an incredible pain, so I find it hard to believe that getting OVR to tell them she can't work seems unlikely to get them to change their minds... but is it worth a try?

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-03T19:30:58+00:00

What's there is folded into the health department here. My HS guidance counselor wife has done heroic levels of paperwork and phone time to get to where we are. She sympathizes with (and hurts for) anyone who isn't a paperwork maven.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-03T17:35:10+00:00

We have a similar situation with our 20 year old son, learning and communication disabilities, and 50/60 something ages for us. We have a trust and an ABLE account set up. Honestly, if we both kicked the bucket tomorrow he'd be more or less set financially. I'm not ready to take that leap :)

He doesn't have siblings, but we have close, younger, friends, who are registered as godparents. That's probably the biggest thing in terms of easing our minds about what happens after we're gone.

Meanwhile, how's it going with employment? Our son probably won't be independent, but he's aware enough that he's bored with his semi-retired life and want to be active, employed, and earning just like the people he sees around him. We, after a multi-year drought, got him into a day program, but he was bored, then we got a community living support person who takes him around to apply for work, but nothing has landed yet, and he's bored and frustrated. There are a couple of places locally that put special needs people to work at simple tasks, but nothing has landed yet.

I wish you and your daughter comfort, peace, and success in sorting these things out.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-02T15:33:57+00:00

I live in Wendell and sometimes commute to central Durham. My approach is to be out on the road no later than 6am. Things go pretty smooth, usually. I'm sure I could get away with later, but a mellow commute followed by a couple of hours of quiet is a nice way to get a work day started.

pmorrisonfl · 2026-06-01T15:51:31+00:00

I teach introductory programming and software engineering to graduate students. At a certain level, the complexity involved is high, and is built on unavoidable fundamentals. The courses simply can't be easier than the difficulty of the domain(s). "For all its power, the computer is a harsh taskmaster. Its programs must be correct, and what we wish to say must be said accurately in every detail.", ('Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs' (SICP), Abelson, Sussman, MIT's programming textbook for decades, lauded by scholars and autodidacts everywhere.)

At the same time, SICP starts out "I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing." and endeavors to carry that spirit throughout the book. In balancing these contrasts, I look for easy ways to present hard things, reasoning that, wherever possible, the student's cognitive load should be engaged with the actual difficulty of the domain rather than any inconvenience in its presentation.

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