Links and Stuff

I’m posting this a little late because… well… okay, I forgot. But here it is now. And besides, it’s not like anyone’s planning their life around my blog. I hope! 🙂

So we start off with sad news. Electronic music icon Isao Tomita passed away Thursday, May 5th, aged 84. I featured Tomita on a Music Monday a while ago, and I talked there about how much his music was a part of my childhood. Even now, his arrangements of certain classical pieces will be the ones I think of first. Indeed, his rendition of Ravel’s “Bolero” remains, in my estimation, unsurpassed. With all these recent celebrity deaths–David Bowie, Terry Wogan, Ed Stewart, Ronnie Corbett, George Martin, Prince, and now Tomita–I feel like my childhood is passing away before my eyes.

Remember “Boaty McBoatface”? That was the name voted on by an overwhelming number of people when the Natural Environmental Research Council went to the internet to decide what to call their new $300 million research vessel. Sadly, saner (read: boring) minds prevailed, and they have decided to name the ship “David Attenborough,” after the celebrated British naturist–no wait, that’s someone who likes to run around in the nuddy… I mean naturalist— and television presenter. Not that Attenborough doesn’t deserve the recognition, but I know which name I preferred. “Boaty” isn’t dead, though. It seems the ship has a remote submarine that will bear the name “Boaty McBoatface.” I guess that’ll do. 🙂

Now, this is just cool, and perhaps an inspiration to those working in jobs that require customer interaction. Back in March, CNN showed this report about a Chik-fil-A cashier who noticed a customer having difficulty communicating her order. She quickly figured out that the customer was hearing impared. What’s neat is that the cashier could sign, so she was able to help the customer complete her order, and probably made her day too. It’s the little things you do, folks…

Last of all this week, for all you K-Pop fans out there, my daughter, SecondBorn, shared this with the family today. It’s a six minute parody and… well… just watch it. My wife was in stitches. 🙂

Have a lovely weekend!