Loading Unauthorized Books onto an iPad

After locating an EPUB for a favored title and downloading it, you won't be able to drag/drop it into iTunes for Sync to the iPad as the EPUB won't have the appropriate tattoo, handshake, or ritual dance to indicate it's an authorized book, largely because it isn't.  However, this can be solved by loading the book into a software called calibre from Calibre E-Book Management (versions exist for Apple or Windows).  In geek terminology, the objective is to defeat the DRM protection for the ebook.

After loading the EPUB into calibre, link it to iTunes within calibre and, presto, you will have an authorized copy ready for Sync to the iPad.  While I don't favor reading on electronic media in any kind of way, I favor even less not reading at all.  I like reading before sleep, when I'm lying with my head on the pillow and flipping the pages of a paperback, sometimes falling asleep and the book dropping to the floor.  I enjoy waking up later and figuring out where I was before I faded.  Don't try this with an iPad (laughs).

So, thanks, but scratch the request for books for Christmas and I do appreciate the thought.  I'm told that a pair of long-johns is in-process and that will be exceptionally fine.  I would shoot a video of putting on a pair of jeans over a pair of pajama bottoms but that probably isn't something you need to see in your life, particularly during the holidays.  It is funny to watch, tho.

Harry gave me a rider's rain coat (i.e. a thin plastic poncho-type garment) and that can easily slip on over my jacket and that's perfect.  It's ok if my jeans get wet as I can switch to the others but it's a real bitch drying out the jacket.

Merry Christmas!

Music and Chess at the Kastro Bar in Katakolo

The eighth game of the Greek Chess Tournament started out very badly for the home team (i.e. still me) due to not one but two egregious blunders I made.  Things did not improve substantially in the middle game and Mary continued tightening the noose to what seemed an inevitable conclusion.  However, I devised a flanking move that didn't try to blast through her superior firepower and after some positioning I thought I had a mate on the move but she got out of it.  The escape was temporary as the plan was sound and the next move saw the end.

So the Greek Chess Tournament is now tied-up at 4:4 with it quite clear that both of us are deadly to the last move.  There will be no mercy from either one of us, from me because Mary is a girl or from her because I'm not.  That side of it is irrelevant as the deadliness of it is the biggest attraction.  It's not deadly insofar as sportsmanship is concerned as both of us will allow withdrawal of a move if the other requests it.  And so it should be as the best win comes when your opponent is making the best possible moves and so we do.  I did not ask to withdraw the moves that were the egregious blunders as we don't typically ask once the opponent has moved and the blunders were so stupid that I thought I deserved a fair punishment anyway!

Side-note:  I said the Kastro Bar is in Katakolo but it's really a couple of kilometers outside of town.  You can see it on the MAP in the top of the blog.  Maybe I'll see if I can link pictures to the locations but you can easily switch to satellite view to see more than a road map.


This was the first Tournament match that had music and it was live.  A couple of kids were singing and playing acoustic guitars and the hills and the bar were alive with the sound of their music.  I'm sorry I don't have their names but I do have some pictures:

They played a quite pretty set and finished not so long after the Tournament game ended so it was all charming.


In more news from the Kastro Bar, Harry was there with his family and don't be getting critical about taking kids to a bar as this isn't a place where old rummies go to cry in their beer.  The Kastro Bar is a lovely place and it's not at all inappropriate to take children.

Harry and Mary spoke with each other in Greek for yet another reminder to me of how much I have to learn and there was some business stuff in getting certified with the police to make it legal to own the scooter.  The big news is that Harry is fine with getting a landline installed in the house and that will give Internet speed of roughly 10-11 MB via DSL, quite sufficient for audio streaming in Second Life and consequently taking on some pay gigs.  I will be very much singing for my supper and, what's more, I'll be singing for the teeth to chew it!  Hopefully this won't result in a cheesy sell-out in which I start doing a bunch of cover songs but I doubt that will happen.  I don't listen to them so why would I want to play them.  So this is now in motion and should go live in roughly two weeks.  Yahoo!  I mean one major yahoo as this is a chance to make it.  I don't mean make it as a rock and roll star but to live without starving (laughs).

The only reason to give up the fight is because you stopped breathing!  That held true for the eighth game of the Tournament and it sure as hell applies to everything else.  Onward!

Westboro Baptist Church on the Move to Newtown

The good Reverend Phelps has single-handedly brought a bad name to the Baptist Church and religion in general with his determination to bring as much publicity as possible to himself by ratfucking innocent people at their most vulnerable.  Naturally, he's headed for Newtown as if you can't ratfuck a mother who has lost her child then why even get up in the morning.

People wail and gnash their teeth about what to do about this bastard but it's not a difficult thing.  Let the air out of the tires on his car and those of his followers.  Don't do it to just one tire or he can just change the tire and still drive back to whatever hellhole he calls home.  If you want to do it a little more effectively then take out the valve stem so the tire can't easily be re-inflated.  Even if you do get caught, it probably wouldn't be a big fine.  After all, they don't do anything to Phelps or his cronies for what they do.

Rather than making it a hassle for you and many others to deal with him, make it a hassle for him to do what he does.

Three Lost Puppies

These puppies came up to me while I was out walking but there was no sign of an owner so it's not clear whether they have a home.  I didn't have the camera with me when I ran into them but I grabbed it and went back out again.  Luckily, they were still there but still no sign of an owner.  It seems they're lost but perhaps not.  One thing I know is that puppies who are most sure they're not lost are the ones who are often the farthest from the trail.

This was the shy one and he spent most of his time hiding by the tree but he did finally come out in the end.

These two weren't going to miss any opportunity to chew my shoes or my pajama pants, unless it was to chew on each other.

Finally, the group shot and the shy one is already starting to retreat.  They were charming little dogs and I hope things turn out ok for them.  They weren't so far from a collective garbage can so it seems they know where they can always get a bite to eat!

Books and Long Underwear - Ho, Ho, Ho!

You know all that stuff you never want for Christmas?  Well, that's exactly what I want for Christmas!  Books, socks, long underwear, etc.

I wrote a previous article on the ridiculous expense of getting books from Amazon UK.  It wouldn't be ferociously terrible if there were an income that came in euros but mine doesn't and the exchange rate is brutal, particularly for British pounds.

And, yah, finding underwear has thus far defeated me.  Without delving too deep into my nasty personal habits, underwear, unless it's worn by a woman, has never held much intrigue for me.  Long johns would be exceptionally good as I've been wearing pajama pants under the jeans for riding and this is quite effective but it's a screaming bitch to suit up!

The trouble is the shipping cost but I can't believe that all shippers are as outrageous as UPS or that the quote from UPS was typical.  Something was highly-flawed in that deal or no-one would ever ship Christmas gifts anywhere but to in-laws in another U.S. state.

Books are heavy but, assuming you can find a reasonable way to do it, anything by Larry Niven and/or Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle or generally Old School sci-fi would be very much appreciated.

I'll just keep doing what I do and hope you enjoy it and, who knows, maybe there's some kind of Christmas song that will come out of it.

Much love!

"Les Miserables" 25th Anniversary Concert (video)

This is the entire concert and it runs 2:49 so make sure you've got a comfortable chair.

This is the most moving piece of music I've ever heard and it was written by one man:  Claude-Michel Schönberg.  The lyrics were written in French by Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, and Jean-Marc Natel.  The genius in their creation is more than I can describe.

It's also the genius of Victor Hugo in the magnificent scope of the story.  Something I didn't know is that he was better known to the French as a poet rather than a playwright.

The reason for the interest right now is that I wasn't aware that "Les Miserables" is about to be released as a musical in American theaters on January 1st.  It's already opened in England.  Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe plays Javert.  Anne Hathaway plays Fantine and you can see the entire cast on IMDb.

I'm just watching the end of it now and it plays to every emotion inside you.  Maybe it's my favorite performance of any kind.  I've seen it on Broadway three times, watched the 10th Anniversary DVD countless times, etc, etc.  It's more magnificent than I can possibly describe and I shamelessly shed buckets of tears every single time.

ΙΕΡΟΣ ΝΑΟΣ ΑΓΙΩΝ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩΝ - Saints Church Theodoron - Pyrgos, Greece

Hopelessly lost, I thought I would at least get some pictures out of the expedition so here's a quite pretty church, Saints Church Theodoron.  I know the name because I spotted it from space with Google Maps and you can see the location in the map on this blog.  I was trying to get from the SVM scooter dealer over to Harry's place and I see now that I really wasn't that far off, if not at all the way I had intended to get there.

 

Yes, of course that's an olive tree in the foreground!

Saint Theodore lived sometime during the Fourth Century but relatively little is known of him and it's not even clear if there was only one of him.  You can read the Wiki on Theodore Stratelates but there's confusion over whether he and Theodore of Amasea are the same man.  Both were known as Warrior Saints and both acquired sainthood through martyrdom but how it actually happened seems largely lost to myth.  It's interesting reading nevertheless.

In my travels, I wasn't looking for martyrdom as I would have been quite happy just to find Harry's place but that mission was a total fail.  However, in that search I discovered the church and I wanted to know what it was so I tried to spot in from space in Google Maps.  That led to the discussion on Saint Theodore and you can pursue that as much as you like.  In that regard, getting lost wasn't a fail at all.

I asked Mary of Saint Theodore and she asked if anyone goes to this church so it doesn't appear to be one of the driving forces in the area.  You can see it's quite a nice church and it's in good repair so perhaps it's just a matter that she and I are heathens who regard churches as photographic opportunities and the church is doing just fine thank you very much.

Most Pleased With the Ride the Dragon Podcast

The "Celebration of Circe Broom" has been downloaded, I think, more times than anything I put out there before and "Floating Out to Sea" has seen quite a few downloads as well, both far outstripping anything else in the list.  Rather than sitting about glorying in those facts, there's only one thing to do:  record more stuff.  You can hear / download both songs for free on the Ride the Dragon podcast.

There isn't any particular plan as to doing some soft love song instead of something that smokes and flames as I very much enjoy both, it's just the latter gives the opportunity to push myself and the guitar as far as they will go.  Some think that smoke and flames just shows string bending and the use of electronic toys but I don't see it that way at all and don't even remotely worry about me getting defensive about it.

The one drawback to the podcast is that it doesn't make any money so perhaps the answer is to organize the best ones for a CD for digital download only.  I can release it to iTunes for about twenty or thirty dollars and that could possibly be productive.  I'd like doing it as that would go out under my real name rather than a pseudonym and I doubt it would feel strange promoting it.  We shall see.

The Character of an Olive Tree

The character of an olive tree isn't in the olives as those are its expression or its flavor.  The character of the tree is in the trunk that bears the weight of those olives through the centuries and it's beautiful how it ages.  This tree isn't even that old but it's already taking on the character it will show in its life and it will get more fascinating with every year.

Olive trees can live for hundreds of years and there's a spiritual relationship between the trees and those who grow them and those who understand them.  Olive oil has been used for incredible purposes including the anointing of royalty, sacrifices to the gods, and so many other things.  It is much more than a consumer product, particularly to those who take care of them.

Part of the civilization or the character of Greece is in its regard for olive trees as they're everywhere.  I don't know what would happen if one willfully chopped one down but I would not be the one who did it to find out.  There are fields where countless of them grow wild and they're marvelous to behold.  I'll get some pictures of those as well.

Maybe you're wondering when there will be pictures of ruins to show the history of Greece but, in many ways, olive trees are the history of Greece as the relationship with them goes back for thousands of years.  The relationship is obviously a traditional thing but it's also deeply spiritual and this might be like being a New Yorker in that one has to be born there to fully understand The City but openness to that spiritualism is definitely a first step.

I Have Teeth!

After years as a guitar player, it's extraordinary that I even have a shirt on my back much less teeth but today, thanks to Georgia, I have both.  She didn't just rip out the wreckage and slap a set of dentures in my mouth but rather this has been a large-scale reconstruction project.  You'll hear people whining sometimes about a root canal but she did five today alone plus other work.  She does NOT screw around!

This completes the top and the bottom is still in-progress so don't expect my whining to stop soon (laughs).

Write your own editorial on American dentistry as I paid out $30,000 US in co-pays for dental work in my life and still ended up with total carnage.  Of course Pepsi is a big part of that but my teeth were falling apart when I was a kid so perhaps no amount of dentistry would have saved them.  I don't know and don't particularly care; I'm just pleased that the situation is on the mend.

Contact information for Georgia:

ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑ ΑΘ. ΜΠΑΜΠΙΛΗ  /  GEORGIA ATH. BABILI
ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗΣ 4, ΠΥΡΓΟΣ           /  KYRIAKIS 4, PYRGOS

ΤΙΛ / TEL . 26210-25723

I recommend her highly as she is one amazing lady, tough but gentle and damn good plus she works very fast.  It was particularly active in her office the other day and she said to me, "This isn't a dentist's office, it's a supermarket!"

Shooting Video with an iPad from a Motor Scooter

Yesterday's experiment didn't work out well enough to broadcast the result but it was encouraging enough that I will definitely try it again.  The problem to solve is that I shoot the video by stuffing the iPad into my jacket and it's held in-place by stuffing the inside with towels, etc but that isn't too stable.  That's a highly-primitive way to do it but I wanted the proof of concept and I got it.  The image quality was quite good, there was very little vibration because the iPad was attached to me, and the audio quality was fairly decent as well.  Since I'm behind a windshield there wasn't a whole lot of of wind noise and it would be possible to talk as it goes along.

It was extremely difficult to keep the iPad in-place as it kept shifting about, my jacket would fly in front of it, etc, etc.  After reviewing it when I got back, I had a brain wave:  the way to solve this is to get a bra!  It would hold the iPad in pretty much the right position and they've been providing stable support along with fascinating challenges for high school boys for generations.

There was some consideration of just how I would explain to a young lady in a woman's store of my intentions when it's likely she wouldn't speak much English and I still don't know that much Greek.  How do I tell her that I need a bra and that, honest, I'm not a female impersonator.  This problem was considered for some while and then a larger problem came under consideration:  what happens if someone sees me do it and follows me home.  Bad, very bad.

Daisy came up with the solution, the all-purpose solution for just about everything:  duct tape.  I don't know where I could find it but I don't know where I could find a bra either so it doesn't change the problem a lot.  It does give a much more appetizing solution even if it's not quite so colorful, tho.

With any luck at all I'll locate some duct tape today and try an experiment this afternoon.  I'm due back at the dentist again in a couple of hours for the third appointment this week.  She's moving much faster than anticipated and this has created a grave financial situation.  I'm giving her the remainder of the nest egg today but she's still due eight hundred euros after that.  Hopefully selling the iMac will take care of a nice chunk of that but doing it is not such an easy trick.  We shall see.

"Floating Out to Sea" Alan Fraser (audio podcast)

"Floating Out to Sea" is the latest in a series of one-take studio wonders from the house by the sea.  Maybe I should record more stuff when my teeth hurt ... or not (laughs).  This one even has a bit of vocal on it.  Yahoo!

It's on the Ride the Dragon podcast and is blissfully free of ads, hogwash, or other gimcrackery.  Hope you like it.

Lyrics (minimal though they may be):

Life's in a bottle
it's floating out to sea
can't you see

Standing on the shore
just watching it go
just let it be


Note:  there are no backtracks in the song.  If I can't do it live then I don't record it.