tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76924507495093796312010-02-02T16:02:02.243-06:00Fish, Photos, Photoshop, Music (maybe), Video (occasionally) and Sometimes Politics, in No Particular OrderBryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-63139901266854080372010-02-02T15:57:00.002-06:002010-02-02T16:02:02.438-06:00

I've been getting emails from Blogger indicating that a number of back end changes are coming to Blogger and these will affect how this blog operates. My options are to migrate it to a different flavor of Blogger or just keep it up without updating it (until such time as I find an alternative to Blogger altogether). Not sure what exactly I'm going to do as this doesn't receive much activity. I

Democritusnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-2293627166790701052008-11-10T14:07:00.003-06:002008-11-10T14:43:57.646-06:00

Can't believe (yes I can) it's been nearly a year since my last post, which was about winterizing the pond and getting it ready for the Winter of 2007-2008. Well, you know that old saying, no news is good news, and as much as this blog was started largely due to the trials and tribulations I was having with my pond in 2007, the main reason there's been no posts for 2008 -- besides laziness,

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-48616293807890163002007-11-27T12:24:00.000-06:002007-11-27T12:47:38.233-06:00

For all my earlier pond troubles in the year you'd think I'd have been a little more diligent about keeping leaves out of the pond than I have been this Fall. Part of the problem -- besides being busy -- was that I was being deceived by all the teeny Water Lettuce in the pond. When the first leaves began falling they would land on top of the Water Lettuce mat that had blanketed the surface of

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-35377580322865348002007-11-27T12:20:00.000-06:002007-11-27T12:20:35.632-06:00

It's been a while since I posted. August, in fact. I've been up to a lot of things, of which the main thing has been JohnnyGuitars.com.Meanwhile, the fish, Dreamcicle and Blue, have been doing well, thank you. And after all the earlier troubles of the year -- Keybo dying, Dreamcicle's month long brooding or whatever the hell it was, the mysterious 6 weeks of pond cloudiness and then the even

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-71775560873628018502007-08-18T13:14:00.000-05:002007-08-18T13:17:40.424-05:00

Never thought I'd be thinking of 94 degrees as a source of relief, but this past week we've seen day upon day of triple digit temperatures.100, 101, 102, 104 and, yes, 105!I don't think I have ever before in my life experienced 105 degrees in a place I called home.

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-24665661197413631502007-08-08T18:02:00.000-05:002007-08-09T11:05:16.427-05:00

This picture was taken yesterday, the second day of the magically clear pond. Believe it or not, today it looks even clearer, but I didn't do any shooting. It's still a complete mystery to me how the pond went from being the absolute murky mess it was on Sunday to such clarity, literally overnight.This was taken as some sunlight fell upon the pond, which is necessary in order to capture a

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-4745204666565325372007-08-07T14:26:00.000-05:002007-08-07T14:26:30.064-05:00

This is more good news, but a mystery nonetheless.Besides the loss of Keybo in June, the most anxiety producing aspect of the Buddha Pond this season was the fact that, after 7 years of relatively painless maintenance, it seemed to completely lose its Mojo.I have an over abundance of theories as to why this happened, but most will remain just that, theories, and untested ones at that.Was it the

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-58462223763917755172007-08-06T15:23:00.000-05:002007-08-06T15:27:13.680-05:00

I'm referring to Dreamcicle, the queen of the pond. Some good news, for a change.She had me worried through most of July. She just was not acting like her old self at all, and there was no way of being certain whether it was from illness or trying to get used to the new configuration of just two fish, herself and Blue.In the past I've always treated the pond and not the fish, per se. So, for

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-20764324710402757812007-08-04T13:03:00.000-05:002007-08-04T13:07:02.410-05:00

He took the words right out of my brain:It is staggering, and truly disgusting, that even in August, 2007 -- almost six years removed from the 9/11 attacks and with the Bush presidency cemented as one of the weakest and most despised in American history -- that George W. Bush can "demand" that the Congress jump and re-write legislation at his will, vesting in him still greater surveillance power,

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-27120376370294311482007-07-24T15:22:00.000-05:002007-07-24T15:40:47.313-05:00

Last week I participated as a volunteer for the 5th annual Souther Girls Rock & Roll Camp. It's one of the coolest things I've done in a long while (and was way cooler than attempt at being an official scorekeeper for Little League baseball).The day camp was held in the music and recording buildings on campus at Middle Tennessee State University. This year's camp consisted of over 60 girls,

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-71453545922657496852007-07-06T02:07:00.000-05:002007-07-06T02:13:37.266-05:00

I've received the final pathology report on Keybo, so here is the third and final part on what happened to him. This will get a bit graphic, so I'm warning you.Keybo died on June 18, 2007. As I've reported previously, he had been slowing down and behaving differently, and he had the whole funky thing going on with his eye. I had been taking photos of the fish, trying to get a good look at what

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-44735387781598431062007-07-05T22:32:00.000-05:002007-07-05T22:48:03.646-05:00

I thought I was all prepared for my first attempt at fireworks photography, but not quite. I remembered the camera, the tripod, the remote and a black ball cap (see tip 11), but I forgot to bring the removable do-hickey from my tripod that I need to attach my camera to the tripod, so I had to go with hand-held.Also, we were going to go to the usual city fireworks show at the MTSU campus in

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-80916539865385992632007-07-05T13:46:00.000-05:002007-07-05T13:46:35.684-05:00

I found this post on a movie blog site. It's about how a cadre of regular folks in the Dallas area responded to Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko. It woke them up.Sicko started; the stereotypical Texas guy sat down behind me and never stopped talking. He talked through the entire movie… and I listened. The first ten to twenty minutes of the film he spent badmouthing Moore to his wife and

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-81629814386084882682007-07-04T10:57:00.000-05:002007-07-04T10:57:47.626-05:00

But be careful!Waves of shock poured through this Downriver city Tuesday after a grassroots picnic with a $1,000 fireworks show ended in horror -- a grand finale of 25 blastoffs and lights illuminating the motionless body of Danialle Barse, 27, of Taylor.She had bent over to see why the first firework didn't launch. Moments later, it did. The explosive meant to propel 200-300 feet into the air

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-65819133678401547312007-07-03T10:23:00.000-05:002007-08-08T18:06:59.559-05:00

I don't know about you, but I had just had to thank the president for his open endorsement for lying by letting Scooter Libby off the hook.So I have composed and sent the following letter as a fax. The PresidentThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Ave NWWashington, DC 20500FAX:202-456-2461Tuesday, July 3, 2007Dear Mr. President,Thanks so much for all you have done to restore honor and decency to the

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-48534499984898628092007-07-02T16:32:00.000-05:002007-07-02T16:32:14.816-05:00

I'm not kidding. If you don't see him, keep looking. He's really there. If you click on the small image you can see the desktop sized image.Blue is blue. Blue is cool. Not much else I can say about him other than there probably isn't a day that goes by that I don't panic at least for a moment and think that he's gone, before I eventually find him. Finding Blue is often like finding a star by

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-43183507310761608702007-06-30T18:12:00.001-05:002008-11-10T16:17:08.608-06:00

I'll do the third and final post about Keybo's death after I get the final results from his Necropsy. I'm so tired of educated guessing, so I'm trying to get some facts.Dreamcicle has been driving me nuts. I don't think she is ill, but I can't tell for sure. She's definitely not as active as usual, but it's been hot day and night and the pond water temperature has been staying at around 80

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-48066153253394800312007-06-29T15:40:00.003-05:002008-11-10T15:00:19.413-06:00

This is part two of what happened to Keybo. If you missed part one, it's here.When you look at Koi in a pond, usually what you see is a torpedo like shape, similar to this picture of Keybo at right. Even when you can see that they may be large in length (Keybo was 17" long), they always look much smaller in the water than they truly are. To get a really good look at how big they are, and to be

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-20829590784786558642007-06-28T17:18:00.001-05:002008-11-10T15:15:04.895-06:00

We lost Nabu on March 6, 2006. He was the prettiest fish in the pond. Unfortunately, he was also a jumper. Nabu jumped out of the pond on four different occasions. He was lucky the first three times.He's done that three times in the past, but always managed to luck out by having one of us just happen to go outside in enough time to find him and put him back in the pond. He was exactly 18

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-51638098473166063542007-06-28T13:33:00.001-05:002008-11-10T16:14:12.452-06:00

This is part one of what happened to Keybo.Sometime in late Winter or very early Spring we noticed that Keybo no longer had a right eye. That's right. His right eye was gone. Vanished. Unfortunately, other than my video camera—which takes crappy stills—I didn't have any way to capture this, so I have no pictures of Keybo's missing eye. But all that was left of where his right eye used to be

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-20246891994897733172007-06-27T11:43:00.001-05:002008-11-10T16:06:07.383-06:00

"Listen to the quiet voice"That's the card I picked this morning.It was a long, late night last night, peering into the technical secrets of crass commercial messages. That and also moving the Oblique Strategies page from its former location to the new blog location.I think I should have done that a long time ago.

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-33171487156923453532007-06-26T12:48:00.002-05:002008-11-10T16:03:46.578-06:00

Dumpr.net has a number of photo gimmicks you can play with after uploading your own photos. I thought I'd share this rare self-portrait that now hangs in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts (I wish).Dreamcicle is there too!Seriously, though, I think I may need to go up and check out Jim McGuire's Nashville Portraits. Here's a blurb:A native of New Jersey, McGuire moved to Nashville in the

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-12026148094073727612007-06-26T03:20:00.001-05:002008-11-10T16:01:45.530-06:00

I've begun to get some preliminary info back from the state animal laboratory that is doing the necropsy on Keybo. I'll cover what happened to Keybo after I have some more facts.That's the trouble with keeping a fish pond: it usually comes down to Mojo more so than it does to hard, cold facts.We inherited our pond along with our house, in 1999. The previous owners had fish in it, but they took

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-65638907297787191432007-06-25T23:46:00.000-05:002007-06-25T23:46:15.240-05:00

No, I didn't go away and I'm still going to blog about what happened to Keybo.Ads are now appearing on this blog and I wanted to do some other housekeeping, like cleaning up the main Raindear Media pages.

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692450749509379631.post-59941213352538743572007-06-24T22:16:00.000-05:002007-06-24T22:16:26.391-05:00

Let's face it. Dick Cheney is nuts.And here's the best line I've seen on this whole Dick-Cheney-is-his-own-branch-of-government story, from Kevin Drum.So here's my question: If a quantum superposition of a dead cat and a live cat is Schrödinger's Cat, is a quantum superposition of legislative Cheney and executive Cheney Schrödinger's Dick?Help us, please!

Bryrockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10756692606314556341noreply@blogger.com0