Rodgers and Hammerstein - Edelweiss from The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was an enormous commercial success, not only winning hte best picture Oscar but becoming the highest grossing film of all time for a number of years.

The film has an interesting pedigree.  Maria von Trapp (the person played by Julie Andrews in the film) wrote the story which was originally turned into a pair of films in West Germany (The Trapp Family and The Trapp Family in America) which were the most successful films in West German history.  The story became a very successful stage musical before being filmed.

This song was added almost as an afterthought to the musical.  It was written to sound like an old Austrian folk song but was entirely new.  It was the last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together before Hammerstein died from stomach cancer.  It fooled people all over the world: one Austrian gentleman once told Rodgers that he loved the song in the film but of course had learned the lyrics in the original German.

This scene reminds me of the "battle of the anthems" scene in Casablanca, although much more understated.  The audience singing along was a great big middle finger to the Nazis.

One final bit of trivia about this song: The Queen Of The World plays this on her ukulele.  She's really good.

More on Tom Lehrer

The Register (as reigning Nerd-Central) has a really interesting post up about Lehrer's life and music including the NSA, Jello shots, and not one but two Royal Family mentions.  Pretty cool.

Dad Joke CCCLV

Stephen emails a dad joke appropriate for the Florida summer weather:

I saw where the meteorologist who invented the ‘feels like’ temperature had passed away. He was 80… but felt like 94. 

Actually, 80/94 would be a big improvement on the current 96/119 (!).  Florida, amirite? 

 

Update: 

Here's what it "feels like" to walk out into the southern sun at midday. 

 

Sig P320

This has been an ongoing problem for some time and Sig has failed to get out in front of it, but now it's reached the tipping point for Sig. The recent death of a U.S. Air Force Airman who was shot by his own, holstered pistol finally did it. The Air Force has shelved them pending the outcome of the investigation. Clubs and ranges across the country are voting to ban them.

There's a lot of discussion of what the issue may be and a strong, if fading, pushback from Sig and the Sig community. I don't know if anyone exactly knows what the issue is, although there are some theories that make a lot of sense.

In the meantime, if you own a P320, it might be time to put it in the safe until this is resolved. 

Here's Wyoming Gun Project's video on the subject, followed by Brandon Herrera with some commentary and a lot of savage memes.  

 

 

Blogiversary

Not mine, but Dwight's.  He the go-to guy for obituaries and which coach has been fired.  16 years old now.  Congrats! 

Rest In Peace, Tom Lehrer

I may come as no surprise to long time readers, but I led a pretty intellectually precocious adolescence.  Part of that was listening to the very funny and sarcastic music of Tom Lehrer.  It looks like I wasn't the only one. 

If you've never listened to him then you're in for a treat.  His two most famous songs are probably "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" and "Pollution" but this one is particularly fitting for those of us in (or near to) the Florida Space Coast.

Thanks for all the great times, Tom. 

The weather for today: holy cow

 

Remember, it's Florida, which means the humidity is off the charts.  Sing it, Buster ,,,
 

AI gets creepier every day

This starts out "yaknow, that sounds like a good idea" but gets creepier and creepier as you read more:

Ring doorbells and cameras are using AI to "learn the routines of your residence," via a new feature called Video Descriptions.

...

Once they do this, as Ring founder and Amazon VP of product Jamie Siminoff wrote in a blog today announcing Video Descriptions: 

Ring notifications will provide more meaningful information like, 'A person is walking up the steps with a black dog,' or 'Two people are peering into a white car in the driveway.'

The aim, according to Siminoff, is to shift more of the heavy lifting involved with home security to Ring's AI. This will also include "custom anomaly alerts," which are generated when "something happens on your property that is an anomaly to your property."

So far, so good.  Getting alerts only when something is unusual is generally considered A Good Thing when it comes to security.  But there's a downside:

And here's where it gets a little bit creepy: "It will learn the routines of your residence, get smarter, and deliver peace of mind by only notifying you when it is something out of the ordinary."

This gives us pause, as opposed to peace of mind, and sounds like super-charged snooping wrapped in an AI bow. If this kind of information is not properly secured, it could be a treasure trove for thieves, burglars, stalkers, and all other sorts of mischief-makers. In December 2022, a grand jury indictment charged two US men with breaking into Ring accounts to make fake emergency calls to police ("swatting"), then streaming the audio and video as the police arrived.

How long until AI will hack into your AI-enabled Ring account?  Asking for a friend.

Ring's response to The Register's reporter does not reassure:

The Register asked Ring where this information about users' home routines is stored, how it's secured, and under what circumstances it might be shared with law enforcement.

"We do not log the descriptions generated from Video Descriptions," a spokesperson emailed in response to our questions.

In the meantime, your humble vulture will continue to stick with dumb doorbells and barky dogs to deliver peace of mind about out-of-the-ordinary occurrences at home.

Endorsed.  Particularly the barky dog bit. 

Ozzy

 

 While the internet indulges in tributes and memorials to Ozzy Osborne, I want to reach into the vault and remember Ozzy for the moment when he was his most Ozziest.

 It was February 19th, 1982. Ozzy was in San Antonio. He was very drunk. So he did what any Ozzy would do. He put on his wife's dress, went out, and urinated on the Alamo Cenotaph, the marble and granite memorial to the men that died at the Alamo.