Hevel: A Chasing After Wind

Everything is now moved to my new domain: http://hevel.org!

Bryan Bibb — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:28:23 +0000

I have finally succeeded in getting all of the posts here moved to my new domain: http://hevel.org. I think I will enjoy maintaining my own WordPress install, although I have been pleased with the services offered here at wordpress.com. See you all over at hevel.org.

As the Bell lady says, Please make a note of it!

Radio Show: 2008-10-28 The Halloween Show

Bryan Bibb — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:47:28 +0000

http://www.hevel.org/files/2008-10-28.mp3

I’m trying to rush this out the door since a Halloween show in November doesn’t make much sense. I hope you enjoy this first annual special edition of the Radio Show.

Setlist

1. “The Number of the Beast,” Iron Maiden

[Break]

2. “Hells Bells,” AC/DC
3. “Where the Devil Don’t Stay,” The Drive-By Truckers
4. “The Thing That Should Not Be,” Metallica

[Break]

5. “Bark at the Moon,” Ozzy Osbourne
6. “Werewolves of London,” Warren Zevon
7. “Boris the Spider,” The Who

[Break]

8. “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama,” Frank Zappa
9. “Re: Your Brains,” Jonathan Coulton
10. “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” Jimi Hendrix

[Break]

11. “The Last in Line,” Dio

Enjoy!

Radio Show: Oct. 21, 2008

Bryan Bibb — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:05:08 +0000

http://www.hevel.org/files/2008-10-21.mp3

Playlist

“Gold Lion,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs, from Show Your Bones

“Bacteria,” Jonathan Coulton, http://www.jonathancoulton.com

“The Mesopotamians,” They Might Be Giants, from The Else http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAMRTGv82Zo

“Myth Takes,” !!!, from Myth Takes

“867-5309/Jenny,” Tommy Tutone, from Tommy Tutone-2

“One Thing Leads to Another,” The Fixx, from Reach the Beach

“Every Breath You Take,” The Police, from Synchronicity

“Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at :17,” Pavement, from Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Deluxe

“Little Dawn,” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists,” from Shake the Sheets

“Lost Costlines,” Okkervil, from The Stand-Ins

“What You Are,” Audioslave, from Audioslave

“Down in a Hole,” Alice in Chains, Dirt

“All My Life,” Foo Fighters, One By One

“Walk Away,” Franz Ferdinand, from You Could Have It So Much Better

“Diablo Rojo,” Rodrigo y Gabriela, from Rodrigo y Gabriela

Panthers Pumpkin

Bryan Bibb — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:26:40 +0000

Panthers Pumpkin

Originally uploaded by shurpu

Jen just carved this awesome Carolina Panthers jack-o-lantern. I printed a couple of examples from the web, and she drew the design based on those as well as Joseph’s Dan Morgan jersey.

Fear the Cat!

Laptop/Netbook choices

Bryan Bibb — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:21:53 +0000

These new netbooks are driving me mad with desire. Whenever I get excited about something new, I go through this line of reasoning:

A Two-machine Setup.

I have a suddenly out-of-date 2006 Macbook Pro that is due to be refreshed from the University next year. The hard drive is too small, the RAM is too meager, and the battery lasts about 40 minutes. My thought is that I could tether this machine to my desk, with its external monitor, wireless keyboard, and array of disk drives, and next year replace it with a Mac Pro.

If I do that, I would need something portable that can meet the computer needs I encounter at home, in coffee shops, and in class.

PIM functions.

One advantage of a netbook is having email, internet, calendaring, and needed documents close at hand. My iPod Touch already handles these things very well. I don’t need something else really tiny to keep in my pocket. So, a larger netbook or small laptop with a good keyboard would be the best thing.

Writing and Editing.

The main use of a portable machine in my case is to work on papers, lectures, handouts, and other manuscripts that I produce in my daily routine. On my Mac, I have gotten used to using Scrivener for short pieces, OmniOutliner for lectures, MarsEdit for blogging, and Mellel for serious writing, especially anything that involves Hebrew. The only way to integrate a non-Apple portable machine into this workflow is to use text files that I can import into these programs on my Mac. Certainly doable, but messy to keep up with.

This is not to mention the way that Accordance has worked its way into my life. I have spent lots of money on upgraded modules, and it doesn’t make sense for me to carry around a machine without those resources on it.

Which brings me to a central question of whether I like being forced to have Mac OS X on all of my work machines to simplify my work flow. If I move to a two-machine Apple setup I will still need to worry about sync issues, but those are much easier if they only involve copying files rather than importing content.

This is the downside of software lock-in, but at this stage in my life, that just means “sticking with the tools that work for you.” There is no platform independent way to do what I need to do with original languages. I wrote my dissertation [PDF link] in LaTeX, which is as close as you can get. However, what I am doing now on the Mac is so much easier and more inter-operative with the outside world (e.g., publishers) than LaTeX.

So, the only way that a netbook or other sweet portable would be really helpful to me is if it ran OS X. There are OSx86 hacks floating around, but I’m not sure I have the energy for that kind of thing anymore.

Apple options

So, what about the Apple front? The three options are the 1) Macbook, 2) the Macbook Pro, and 3) the Macbook Air. The advantage of each is, respectively: price; power; and weight. The Macbook Pro is pricey and larger than necessary. The Macbook is of decent size and cost, but I can get the same amount of power in a very portable form factor in the Air, which is too expensive. Since neither the Macbook or the Air have Firewire any longer, I won’t be able to use them with my firewire drives or with the audio interface I’d like to get for recording podcasts. The Macbook Pro still has Firewire and is powerful enough for whatever I might try to do with video or audio. But, it’s too probably too expensive for me to buy one out of my own funds.

And around and around we go. At this point, I start thinking I should just get Macbook Pro school machine and keep doing what I do now: using the same computer on the road and on my desk, plugging and unplugging peripherals as necessary.

But where’s the fun in that?

This is what we have come to

Bryan Bibb — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:47:53 +0000

The complete illusion of safety combined with a soul-crushing loss of freedom and privacy.

I really trust these guys to take over the banking sector, along with everything else. Don’t you? No? What are we going to do about it?

Radio Show: Oct. 14, 2008

Bryan Bibb — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:20:21 +0000

http://www.hevel.org/files/2008-10-14.mp3

Playlist:

“Imitosis,” Andrew Bird, from Armchair Apocrypha

“Your Protector,” Fleet Foxes, from Fleet Foxes

“Red Mud,” Chris Thomas King, from Red Mud

“Vincent O’Brien,” M. Ward, from Transfiguration of Vincent

“Part One,” Band of Horses, from Everything All the Time

“Troubled Land,” John Mellencamp, from Life, Death, Love, Freedom

“Four Winds,” Bright Eyes, from Cassadaga

“War on War,” Wilco, from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

“Nobody Knows Me At All,” The Weepies, from Say I Am You

“Hurt,” Johnny Cash, from American IV: The Man Comes Around

“Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife,” The Drive-By Truckers, from Brighter Than Creation’s Dark

“Wide River to Cross,” Buddy Miller, from Universal United House of Prayer

“Love Throws a Line,” Patty Griffin, from Impossible Dream

“Broken,” Tift Merritt, from Another Country

“Hold On, Hold On,” Neko Case, from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

“Chicken Fried,” The Zac Brown Band, from The Foundation

Radio Show: Oct. 7, 2008: Banjos, Guitars, and Fiddles

Bryan Bibb — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:28:27 +0000

http://www.hevel.org/files/2008-10-07.mp3

The show this week features “bluegrass for people who like rock music,” a selection of bluegrass and old-time music from the past and present. We hear everything from pure bluegrass tunes by Flatt and Scruggs to the modern jazz-influenced swing of Andy Leftwich.

Setlist

Tim O’Brien, “Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)” from the 1996 album Red on Blonde, of Bob Dylan covers. The album features Tim on the Mandolin and the Bouzouki as well as with the vocals.
Flatt & Scruggs, “Down the Road,” recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 1963. That song was written by Lester Flatt, who played with Charlie Monroe and then with his brother Bill and the Bluegrass Boys, from which we get the title “Bluegrass music.”
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, “Little Maggie” from 1998′s Grammy winning release, Bluegrass Rules. Ricky first appeared on television with Bill Monroe when he was 6 years old.
Ronny and Del McCoury, “Glen Rock” from the 2005 compilation Tone Poets put together by David Grisman. Features duets of accomplished musicians performing on the same two vintage instruments, a guitar and a mandolin.
Tony Rice, “Bill Cheatham” from the Bluegrass Guitar Collection. Tony has performed with the David Grisman Quintet, the Tony Rice Unit, the Bluegrass Album Band, JD Crowe and the New South, and as a solo and guest artist on many recordings. He along with Norman Blake and Doc Watson created the modern flatpicking sound.
Norman Blake, “Arkansas Traveler,” from his ground breaking 1976 release Live at McCabes.
Mark O’Connor, “Jerusalem’s Ridge,” from his 2003 album, 30 Year Retrospective, a live concert in Nashville featuring Mark with three other awesome musicians, Chris Thile on Mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar, and Byron House on bass.
Andy Leftwich, Cody Kilby, Byron House, a live recording of Andy’s song, “Minor Swing,” from his solo release, Ride, 2003.
Old Crow Medicine Show, “God’s Got It,” from 2006′s Big Iron World, which was produced by David Rawlings, the long-time musical partner of Gillian Welch.
The Avett Brothers, “Paranoia in Bb Major,” from the 2007 release, Emotionalism.
Raleigh band, Chatham County Line, “Route 23,” from the album Route 23 (2005).
Doc Watson, “Shady Grove,” from 1968, Doc Watson in Nashville.
Doc and Richard Watson, “House Of The Rising Sun,” from the 1999 album, Third Generation Blues.
Doc Watson and David Grisman, “Soldier’s Joy,” from Doc and Dawg (1997).

Enjoy!

Radio Show: Sept. 30, 2008 Old Guy Radio

Bryan Bibb — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:05:07 +0000

http://www.hevel.org/files/2008-09-30.mp3

The show this week features a variety mix of some favorite songs from years gone by, as well as a couple of requests.

Feed: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/hevel

Setlist

“Another One Bites the Dust,” Queen

“Revolution,” The Beatles

“London Calling,” The Clash

“Fortunate Son,” Creedence Clearwater Revival

“Highway 61 Revisited,” Bob Dylan

“In God’s Country,” U2

“Begin the Begin,” REM

“Checkered Floor,” Silversun Pickups

“Paranoid (live),” Ozzy Osbourne

“Is It Really So Strange?,” The Smiths

“Just Like Heaven,” The Cure

“I’m On Fire,” Bruce Springsteen

“Redemption Song,” Bob Marley

“Little Wing,” Jimi Hendrix

“Trou Macacq,” The Squirrel Nut Zippers

Enjoy!

John Knox Series: Great Figures in Church History

Bryan Bibb — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:59:34 +0000

At John Knox Presbyterian Church we are in the midst of a 7-week survey of some key issues and figures in church history. In order to give people the opportunity to review and to catch up with missed sessions, we are recording the lectures and making them available here.

Below is an outline of the series. As each session is ready for posting I will update it with a link to the MP3 file. I am still working on audio levels with the recording, so the sound is not what I would call perfect, but I think my voice is clear enough. I don’t exactly have Barry White’s sonorous tones, in any case.

These are standard MP3 files, so you can save them to your computer, import into iTunes for your iPod, or even burn them to CDs. If you have trouble getting this to work, let me know and I will try to make some audio CDs available at church.

[Note: I had the recording level set too high while I gave the Augustine lecture, so there is distortion in the audio, although it seems to get a bit better after a while.]

Enjoy!

Week 1: The Early Church Handout: Outline
Week 2: St. Augustine Handout: Outline
Week 3: Martin Luther Handout: Outline
Week 4: John Calvin Handout: Outline
Week 5: John Knox Handout: Outline
Week 6: From Charles Hodge to Charles Erdman: The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy: MP3 Handout: Outline
Week 7: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Handout: Outline