How I Fought Cabin Fever

There was about two feet of snow in NYC today so there was no other choice but to stay at home.  The first thing that I did was to upgrade the Windows 8.1 on my laptop to Windows 10.  I was a little apprehensive aboujt doing it, but it worked out with no problems.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to do.  I caught up on some reading.  I put on my chemistry hat and read a couple of issues of the Chemical and Engineering News.  I also read part of:

Guralnick, P. (2015). Sam Phillips: The man who invented rock 'n' roll.

 I listened to several radio stations (of course) In no particular order:

• WINS
• WCBS-FM
• WFAN
• WFUV
• Johnny Cash Radio
• WOLD
• Pop Gold Radio

Radio XL5

It is Looking Good for the 2016 New York Mets

The Mets got into the World Series in 2015, but there is a good chance they can go all the way in 2016.  They just signed Yoenis Cespedes for $75 million over 3 years.  He can opt out of his contract after one year.  He could have made more money by signing with the Washington Nationals, but he is coming back to Mets.  They certaining improved themselves with trades and free agency signings over the off season.  Of course there are always question marks.  Will there be significant injuries during the season?  How much can David Wright play with the spinal stenosis condition?  Spring training is right around the corner.

Support Your Favorite Internet Radio Station

Sadly broadcast radio in recent years has soured as terrestrial stations are trying to appeal to listeners 25-54 years old to attract advertisers.  Oldies stations that used to play music from 1955 to the 1970s are now labelled as classic hits stations that play music from the 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s.  To hear my favorite music I must listen online to several oldies stations on the web.  One of my favorites is Pop Gold Radio run by Don Tandler of New Jersey 101.5 .  Don uses his own money to run the station which has listeners all over the world.

Of course owners of any kind of radio station must play royalties for the music they play.  Unfortunately the Copyright Royalty Board is raising its rates for webcasters.  It is somewhat complicated but there is an article in Billboard that explains everything.  I certainly do not want to see Pop Gold Radio to cease webcasting so I made a small donation to keep the station going.  If you click on Pop Gold Radio there will be a link where you can make a donation to support the station.

Your truly with Don Tandler at Long Island Radio Day

at C.W. Post in April 2009

I Think I Will Finally Upgrade to Windows 10

I am usually a proponent of "if it's not broken, don't fix it."  I have owned this Dell laptop since August 2014 with Windows 8.1 installed.  Last July Microsoft made Windows 10 available for free for one year.  I have been reluctant to make the upgrade, but one of the computer experts at work said that version 8.1 will not be supported that much longer.  So I think I will make the plunge and upgrade to 10 within the next month.  If millions of users have already upgraded, I guess I should follow the crowd.

Predicting Snowstorms: Better to Be Safe Than Sorry

So far this has been a mild and almost snowless winter in NYC.  The photo above is reminiscent of some previous winters, but not this year.  Last night there was about 1/2 inchof snow, but I heard of a multicar accident in Westchester early this morning caused by slick roads.  Small snowstorms are more of a nuisance since people have to go to work or school while major snowfalls close everything down.

A weather forecast that came out today states that there could be a major storm Friday night into Saturday.  Of course, we have to take things one day at a time and long range forecasts could always change.  There have been fiascos in the past such as the Lindsay Snow Job of 1969 when it took several days for plows to come to parts of Queens.  Mor recently there was a big storm just after Christmas in 2010 while the city was unprepared.  So it is certainly better to be safe than sorry and be prepared.

Random Comments on Martin Luther King Day Weekend

Hello Olivia N.  It was nice to see you at the VALE meeting.  I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Yesterday, we drove over to Hofstra to see the basketball team.  They lost to James Madison University 86-82 in overtime.  Simultaneusly I was watching the NJIT team play Stetson University on my smartphone.  The Highlanders won 71-59 to get their first victory in the Atlantic Sun Conference.  Their overall record is now 10-9.

Today we walked over the to College Point Multiplex to see the Renevent movie.  I must say that Leonardo DiCaprio was superb.  That film got several academy award nominations.

No plans yet for tomorrow except for going over to Uncle Bill's Diner for breakfast.

Go Vinny Go - Spoiler Alert

A new episode of Sports Jeopardy is seen on Crackle TV on Wednesday and is available until the following Tuesday.  If you haven't seen the current show, please don't reader further.  I usually watch the show on Saturday mornings.

Vinny did it again.  He won for the 12th time and beat his opponents decisively.  He really lucked out as they changed the rule for season #2.  If he was a contestant last season, he could only win once.  The same thing happened with regular Jeopardy as Ken Jennings won 74 games the first season after the rule limiting the champion to 5 wins was changed.

There was a nice article written about him by Christina Crovetto of the NJIT Office of Strategic Communications.  Since Vinny was a civil engineering major at NJIT, I hope he attended my lecture in Envrionmental Engineering 262 on how to find information in that discipline.