General commentary and new links from Richard Gillmann. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's serious, and sometimes it's just there.
In 1984, Englishman Jack Hall built this ukulele by hand entirely out of burnt matchticks and glue. No koa or rosewood for this fellow, no siree! One of the things I love about ukes is the incredible variety of them.
posted by Richard @ 12/31/2005
The EPA has a paper on the impact of global warming on Washington State. We live on Lake Sammamish, about 40 feet above sea level. Puget Sound is expected to rise 1 to 3 feet by 2100, so we still have 37 feet left. Rainfall is expected to increase 10 percent and temperatures up 4 or 5 degrees. We already get a lot of rain and 10 percent more would make Lake Sammamish itself more likely to flood. The warmer temperatures would be more welcome.
posted by Richard @ 12/28/2005
A new sound has been added to the International Phonetic Alphabet, a move instigated by Prof. Peter Ladefoged of UCLA. Our team used to work with him back in the 1970s on the DARPA speech understanding project. A fine gentleman of the old school, always with a twinkle in his eye. It's good to know that he's still around and shaking things up.
posted by Richard @ 12/13/2005
