John Colton's blog

I just stuck a bunch of music from the Utah Baroque Ensemble on my "choral music" website. (That was formerly my La Crosse Chamber Chorale website, but I had to rename it since I'm in the UBE now.)

Check it out! The most recent stuff is at the bottom.
http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/colton/personal/choral_music.html

I embarrassingly backed into a lamp post a little over a month ago...with my bike attached to the carrier on the back of the car. :-(

Always being one to look on the bright side of life (cue Monty Python), I decided to take the opportunity to get myself a nice bike. I spent about 3 weeks test riding bikes at bike shops all around the county... and concluded that the ones I liked were out of my price range. So I decided that rather than getting a less expensive one that I didn't like as much, I would get a used bike that fulfilled my every desire. :-) I shopped ebay for a week or two, and bid on a few bikes before finally winning an auction.

But the bike I ended up with is pretty sweet! :-) :-)

I haven't taken any pictures myself yet, so here are a few pictures I snagged from the ebay listing.














It's a 5 year old bike. Here are the specs:
http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2003&Brand=Fuji&Model=Team+Super+Lite&Type=bike

I figure if I ride to work every day for two years, I'll pay for the bike with the gas money I'll save. :-) Plus I'll be healthier! (I expect it will likely take me a bit longer than that, though, since I likely won't ride in the rain or snow.)

Now, all I need is a good name for the bike. Any suggestions?

I'm not normally a fishing fan, but this was dang impressive.

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Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080821/ap_on_fe_st/odd_barbie_fishing_record



ELKIN, N.C. - David Hayes' granddaughter just ask him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom. He did. And seconds later he landed the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce.

Alyssa's father had bought the pink Barbie fishing rod for Christmas and she had caught a few bluegill before her grandfather hauled in the catfish.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported the catch Aug. 5 in eastern Wilkes County has been certified as a record by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Hayes and his granddaughter have been fishing in the pond behind his house since she was big enough to hold a pole.

Hayes said his granddaughter worried he would break her rod. He landed the 21-pound fish on a 6-pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the rod.

I've been using Internet Explorer and Firefox for how many years now? And how many years have I lived for keyboard shortcuts? So how come I never ran across Alt-Home until now? Try it, if it's new to you too: it's the same as clicking on the "homepage" button, and works for both browsers.

How odd! JSC
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080812/od_nm/japan_crime_dc

Winnie-the-Pooh held for robbery?

Tue Aug 12, 11:09 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese police have arrested a 20-year-old man who attacked and robbed two people after they stared at his Winnie-the-Pooh costume, officials said on Tuesday.

Masayuki Ishikawa was hanging out on a Tokyo street corner after midnight last month while wearing the cuddly costume, accompanied by two friends dressed as a mouse and a panther, when he took offence at being stared at, police said.

"It's uncommon to see people dressed up like this, so the victims were watching them. Then the perpetrator came up and said 'What are you staring at?'" a police spokesman said.

Ishikawa and his friends beat up the two victims and stole $160 from them, the spokesman said, adding the group had apparently donned the unusual garb because they had run out of clean clothes.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Linda Sieg)

For the past year I've been in a lab room in the Chemistry building (Benson). But my new lab in the Physics building (Eyring) is now complete! My three students and I spent the day moving equipment into the new lab. I decided it would be fun to take time-lapse photos of the whole process. Here's the result: (be patient, it may take some time to load after you click play)





A larger version of the video is also available here.