Caribou Tracks: Home Edition - 05 September 2013

Hey, Caribou Faithful... here's the first installment of the Caribou Home News - Share and Enjoy!

(runtime approximately 30 min)



If you have problems with the flash player, you can download the mp3 >> here <<

We've done it before...

photo credit: NASA

Forty-three years ago today, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin left the first human footprints on another world... we all watched, across the globe, as one people. It'd be kinda cool to have that sense of wonder and achievement again. Just sayin'.

Farewell, Bush House

Today, at 1200 BST (0600 CDT) 12 July 2012, the BBC World Service made it's final broadcast from Bush House in London. The World Service, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, will join the rest of the BBC in Broadcast House, a modern broadcast center about a mile away. It's hard to explain to younger generations why this building in a country far away was so important; the World Service isn't shutting down, merely moving, and we have CNN and the Internet... however, for those of us who were born before the Internet, when shortwave radio was often the only way to get news from the rest of the world, Bush House was the center of it all.

I remember staying up late, with a portable shortwave receiver attached to a long wire, as we listened to the news and events from around the world. The BBC was famous for its fair and unbiased reporting, and often we would hear things that we never heard on our local radio; sometimes not even the network news on the Big Three would cover things that the BBC told us about. During the years of the Cold War, it was an insight into what was happening beyond the Iron Curtain, and other countries around the world. It was an exciting and sobering realization that the world was much bigger than it seemed, and I think it gave us a larger perspective on things than we might otherwise have gotten, growing up in rural America. It certainly was one of the primary factors in getting my Amateur Radio license, many years later.

The BBC World Service discontinued their shortwave service to North America years ago; you can still listen on public radio and Internet streaming, but nothing will ever be quite as magical as tuning the dial, listening for the sounds of Lillibulero or Bow Bells - the interval signals transmitted before the start of broadcasting, to aid in tuning - and the magical words "This is the BBC, Bush House, London".

Here is a link to the BBC website paying tribute to Bush House:  >> CLICK HERE <<

Here is a link to a video of the last news bulletin - if you watch closely, you'll see a KUT bumper sticker on a wall near the very end of the video :)  >> CLICK HERE <<

2012 - A Survival Guide for The Rest of Us

Survival tips for the coming apocalypse:

• Drink plenty of water.
• Don't eat potato salad at picnics unless you brought it and can absolutely vouch for the chain of refrigeration.
• Stay the hell out of the way of all the morons and nutbags that will be running around at the last minute preparing for something that isn't even a real thing.

Seriously, if I have to listen to one more "end of the world blah blah blah" rant from someone who has no clue what the whole Mayan calendar rollover thing is about, I'm going to start carrying water balloons and anyone who opens their yap on this topic will get soaked. Just because we get to the end of their calendar, the whole world goes KA-BLOOIE? Then why doesn't anything happen when I reach the end of my Far Side calendar, or my Dilbert calendar,  or my Bob Marley calendar, or my Suicide Girls calendar, or my... you get the point. You just buy a new calendar and the whole thing starts over again, with a different number on the front... it's not even like Y2K,  where there was a real issue underneath all the hysteria. I, like many in those days, put in a lot of work to make sure that when the ball dropped on 01 Jan 2000, nothing happened. This 2012 thing, however, is simply a colossal mind-fuck - a practical joke on a massive time scale, the kind of thing that happens when you react to things without actually bothering to find out the back story. It's really made worse by the fact that we can spread rumors and memes at close to the speed of light, via the Internet... and if it's on the 'Net, it must be true, right?

If you are so inclined, you can read more about the Mayan Calendar on Wikipedia, here. It's really quite interesting enough in and of itself, without having to try to spice things up with New Age pseudo-mystical bullshit. 

Just sayin'.

Wheee! Merry Xmas from The Elder Caribou!

Dawn and I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Xmas and a Happy and Safe New Year!!! We have some cool stuff planned for the blog/podcast next year; keep watching this site for more! We're pretty excited about it - for one thing, there'll be a lot less drunken rambling :)

See ya in 2012!

The Elder Caribou & Lady Caribou

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (Part 4) * NSFW *

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (Part 4)

[edit: I have removed the "Sears Sucks" episodes because really they were just a huge rant about really terrible customer service.... I feel they have served their purpose, and nothing further is to be gained by leaving them up. I still have the master files, so maybe someday I'll get my friend Mike to throw some samples in a mix LOL ]

Okay cats & kittens - here's the last part of the Sears Sucks saga. Get it while you can - it ties the whole thing up and Mando gets to tell his story... sorry it's so late but we were on Thanksgiving holiday in the Land of No Internet.

This has been a learning experience for us - what it takes to record, edit and publish a podcast. We've also learned what works and what doesn't when looking for locations, how long the podcast goes, and technical stuff like mic placement and file formats. The next step is to move into a more informative arena - we've got some pretty cool folks lined up in the next few weeks that will allow us to give you a slice of the Austin music / art scene from a Caribou perspective - stuff you may not get from more established outlets ;)

So, keep watching this blog for the new stuff, follow us on Twitter ( @eldercaribou, @cariboutracks) and see where the road takes us!

73

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (Parts 2 - 3) * NSFW *

Here are the next two parts:

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (Part 2)

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (Part 3)

Part 4 will be uploaded as soon as I can find some bandwidth, probably tomorrow.... thanks for listening!

[edit: I have removed the "Sears Sucks" episodes because really they were just a huge rant about really terrible customer service.... I feel they have served their purpose, and nothing further is to be gained by leaving them up. I still have the master files, so maybe someday I'll get my friend Mike to throw some samples in a mix LOL ]

Episode 2 - Sears Sucks (part 1) *NSFW*

Episode 2, Part 1 of "Sears Sucks" is available for download!

[edit: I have removed the "Sears Sucks" episodes because really they were just a huge rant about really terrible customer service.... I feel they have served their purpose, and nothing further is to be gained by leaving them up. I still have the master files, so maybe someday I'll get my friend Mike to throw some samples in a mix LOL ]


This is the first part of a four-part cautionary tale, in which we detail the 13-week ordeal of purchasing a washer/dryer pair from Sears. Had we known what was in store for us, I would have gone to almost any of the other fine retail establishments that carry such items; however, after some thought and talking to others about their experiences, I feel pretty sure that this kind of thing is not limited to just Sears. I also know people that have had nothing but good experiences with Sears, so your mileage may vary :)

Dawn and I met Mando and Kramy at Billy's on Burnet (thank you!!!) for the podcast. When Mando mentioned a "back room" it seemed like the perfect venue - grab some pub grub, some beer, and sit down with friends to do a podcast... what I didn't know was that the "back room" had four arcade machines and they were being utilized by a couple of preteens with a ziplock bag of quarters! This was also the first time I've used my Zoom H2 field recorder, and I have to say that it handled the background noise pretty well. The more we do these, the more I learn :)

I'll get the rest of the parts up as soon as I can - there's an amazing amount of production work involved in this, even for a simple field podcast - I have a newfound respect for Daniel and Carissa (of the Dudley & Bob Morning Show on KLBJ-FM 93.7)! Also, check out the Taint & Teabag Podcast - it's directly responsible for making me realize that I can do this :)

Follow us on Twitter (@cariboutracks, @eldercaribou) and tell your friends about us - we've got some cool Austin artists and musicians lined up as guests, and we'll be bringing you a view into the Austin music scene that we know - it ain't your daddy's Armadillo ;)

- 73 -

** COMING SOON **

Keep watch on this blog - I will be posting a cautionary tale of corporate ass-clownery that is now 13 weeks in the making... you can see some of it by following me on Twitter (@eldercaribou); social media plays a huge part in this :) There will also be a companion podcast, so tell your friends :)

Firsties! The inaugural episode of the companion podcast

Here's the first episode of the Caribou Tracks podcast; this stuff is so easy to do, and yet it's challenging to get good content - this episode mainly consists of Kramy, Badgirl, and I drinking beer and telling stories... you know, normal night out - except, we had a recorder....

Caribou Tracks - Episode 1 - Badgirl's Birthday @ C-Hunts Icehouse

[edit: This podcast episode has been removed... mostly because we were pretty drunk when we recorded it and it's not really that great, especially if you don't know us.... or Kramy. I've still got the masters, so who knows... ]


Enjoy!

Status Report - we're okay :)

Just wanted to let everyone know we're doing okay; the closest the fires have gotten is about 5-10 miles from us, and they were contained fairly quickly. The Bastrop fires are about an hour away. On Tuesday, Dawn cleared brush and watered the grass while I worked from home. We have started our "GO kit", locating important papers and putting a duffle bag together. The toughest thing will be three adult Labs, 2 kittehs and 2 chickens, in one Jeep Liberty :) We'll make it work if need be.

In other news, we have two weeks to get the laundry room remodeled before the new washer/dryer shows up. We have settled on a color scheme (pics to be posted) and now it's just a matter of ripping the old walls out and putting new ones up, then painting :) 

More to come.... 

The final curtain rises....

In less than an hour from the time this is posted, Shuttle Atlantis will lift off for the last time. STS-135 is a 12-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver the last major module, the Multipurpose Logistics Module, as well as a year's worth of supplies for the ISS crew. This is the culmination of 30 years of service for the Shuttle fleet, beginning in April 1981; I am proud and a bit sad as this phase of our exploration comes to an end. I sincerely hope we can field a replacement system soon - ride-sharing is great, but it's better to have your own wheels :) I'd really like to see the private sector get behind this; that's when we'll see the economy of scale take effect and bring the costs down to more reasonable levels.

Godspeed, Atlantis!


-- update --

An interesting note: as currently scheduled, Atlantis will return to Earth on 20 July 2011, 42 years after Armstrong and Aldrin first landed on the Moon. So long, Atlantis, and thanks for all the fish!


-- launch update --


Atlantis has successfully achieved her inital orbit, all three engines performing flawlessly for one last push off the planet... see ya in a fortnight :)

ROT weekend

Gonna go downtown and check out the ROT Rally, have some beer, take some photos and try to avoid the vampires... see ya there! 

lnl, lbh svtherq vg bhg... thrff gung zrnaf lbh ner rvgure n) ng yrnfg nf byq nf V nz, o) ng yrnfg nf trrxl nf V nz, be p) nyy bs gur nobir. j00g!

I'm just a rat in a maze, it seems....

... and I can never seem to reach the cheese. I think I'll try breaking the maze ;)

Seriously, there has to be more to life than wake up, go to work, come home, go to bed physically, emotionally and mentally drained. To the person that jacked my life up at work: I hope you're happy, whoever you are... go eat a frisbee.

Welcome home, Endeavour!

Endeavour lands @ 0134 CDT, completing STS-134

(see NASA website for more)

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center early this morning, completing STS-134, a 16-day mission to the International Space Station. This was her 25th and final mission, bringing her totals to 299 days in space, logging 4,671 orbits for a distance of 122,883,151 miles. Endeavour entered service in 1993, making her the youngest shuttle in the fleet.

Her sister ship, Atlantis, was moved Pad 39A last night in preparation for STS-135, the final mission for the Space Shuttle. This mission is currently scheduled to lift off on 8 July 2011, when Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies and spare parts to the ISS.

Congratulations, Endeavour, for 18 years of faithful service and a well-earned rest!

Spirit finally punches out after racking up almost 6 years of OT

Spirit Rover (artist's conception)

Wikipedia article here

(update: NASA Mission Page is here)

Spirit (04 Jan 2004 - 24 May 2011)

After spending over a year trying to contact the rover, Spirit's mission has officially ended after 6 years 2 months 19 days, which is over 25 times the original planned mission duration. Her sister, Opportunity, is still going on the other side of Mars. There will be a formal farewell ceremony after Memorial Day, which will be shown on NASA TV.

Spirit got stuck in a patch of soft sand; due to having to drag a bum wheel and the nearest tow being on the other side of the planet, she became a stationary research platform. Because she was unable to position herself for optimal charging, and the constant accumulation of dust, communications were lost in March 2010, and on 24 May 2011 NASA declared Spirit's mission completed.

The amount of knowledge sent back by the MER mission is huge, and since they were only supposed to last 90 days I think we got our money's worth on this project... I wish we could hit home-runs like that all the time!

Thanks for the OT, Spirit - enjoy the rest! Maybe we can bring you some spares in the not-so-distant future...

one down, one to go... Endeavour's last mission is GO

Space Shuttle Endeavour (more info here) lifted off this morning at 0856 EDT for STS-134, her final mission - a 16 day mission to deliver components and supplies to the International Space Station... good luck to ship and crew, and here's wishing you a safe return!

Godspeed, Discovery

Discovery on Pad 39A

STS-133 will launch at 16:50:27 EST today for Shuttle Discovery's final mission. She will be delivering supplies and a module to the International Space Station.

Currently, there are only two more missions scheduled for Shuttle Atlantis to perform; this will bring the Space Shuttle program to a close after a long and distinguished service. I sincerely hope that we humans will not take too much time to develop the next series of vehicles that will continue to carry humans to space, whether that be Earth-orbit, lunar exploration/colonization, interplanetary missions or beyond - I believe that we cannot survive without the technical know-how, the room to grow, and the grand vision that space exploration provides. It will bring a return-on-investment far beyond our expectations - we just need to learn to balance long-term goals with short-term responsibility. Just ask any successful businessperson about that :)

Human spaceflight must continue, for many reasons. Unmanned missions and Earth (and near-Earth) based observatories are excellent tools for many tasks and will always be needed, but there will always be a need for humans to be out there, poking our noses into whatever we can find.... it's kinda what we do ;)

But then, I'm a dinosaur. :)

Q.E.D.

original here

Hooray for Interwebs! (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Facebook)

Right - I could care *less* about mafia wars, farm towns (hell I grew up on the real thing), rainbow hugs, etc... I just don't have the spare brain cells to devote to a lot of that. However, Facebook has one thing going for it... in the last week I've been reunited (virtually) with a number of friends from back in the day... back when I weighed 200 pounds (soaking wet), had a Ford Pinto, was in my first band, had my first big romance.... time has a way of moving us around on the Chutes and Ladders (tm) of "real life", and often we take different paths to get to the goal square. For all its inane chatter, Facebook did something that I've not been able to do in 12 years, with all my "mad Internet skillz"; it helped me turn back the clock just a bit :)