Jason R. Fruit stay-at-home father and computer programmer

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A Walking Trip with Louis Spohr

I've been reading the autobiography of Louis Spohr, who was in his time (1784-1859) considered not only the most prominent violinist but the foremost composer alive. (In considering that statement, remember that Beethoven lived from 1770 to 1827!) It is written with what could be called distinguished egotism, but manages to convey considerable charm, nonetheless: between petulant reports of critical reviews, effortfully polite comments on contemporary violinists, and shocked reactions to the moral . . .

Language Matters

When programmers discuss languages and somebody asks about advantages of one language or another, it is inevitable that some professional point-misser will bring up Turing-completeness. Stack Overflow is particularly given to this. For example, on this question about what Python is good for, someone answered that "All the languages you've mentioned are Turing Complete, so in theory there is nothing one can do and another can't."

That's true, but irrelevant and almost meaningless. Though it may be . . .

Emacs, SQLite, and Widgets

In a Stack Overflow answer to a question about using SQLite from Emacs there was a link to a tutorial by Mortimer B. Cladwell III. In it, he shows how to use Emacs as a rapid application development (RAD) tool, using the widget library to create user interfaces and his own SQLite wrapper as a starting point for database interaction.

It's a good idea, but the code --- especially that for SQLite interaction --- needs a little work. It sprays temporary buffers all over the place and can only "connect . . .

Chicken Paprikash

I assembled and modified this recipe for Chicken Paprikash, and it's delicious. I recommend it.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 3 Tbsp. Hungarian paprika
• 1/8 Tsp. black pepper or whole pepper corns
• 2 Tsp. salt
• 3 chicken leg quarters, skinned
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 pt. low-fat Greek yoghurt
• 1 Tbsp. flour

Procedure

Brown onions in oil. Add paprika, pepper, salt. Add chicken and brown 5 minutes per side. Add water, cover and let simmer slowly until it is done and tender, about a half . . .

Of Flattops and Free Markets

If you have listened to an acoustic guitar outside of classical music recently, you almost certainly heard a steel-string guitar. They are used in almost every form of popular music, and there are genres which would be inconceivable without their punchy, percussive power.

More than any other single person, Christian Friedrich Martin was responsible for the success of the steel-string guitar, and his firm is still the preeminent manufacturer of quality examples. One of his major innovations was . . .

The Origin of the Term

I've been curious for some time about the origin of the banjo term "frailing," which refers to picking the banjo with downstrokes using the back of the fingernails. It's sometimes called "beating," "banging," or "rapping" the banjo, or because of the stiff shape of the right hand, "clawhammer" banjo. Nobody seems to know where it came from, but speculation is that the name and the technique are of African origin.

I was reading to my eldest daughter from Joel Chandler Harris' Nights with Uncle Remus, . . .

I Listen to Country Music

When I was a music major, it was de mode for us to assert our omnivorous tastes in music. The fashionable wording was, "I listen to everything but country." It was our code phrase to indicate that we were urbane and cultured, that we were cosmopolitan and unconstrained by provincial prejudices, but that we didn't accept commercialized schlock. (Rap was urban and "real", so that was okay, and everyone listens to rock, of course.)

I enjoy country music, and I'm going to admit it publicly so I can . . .

BAM!

The local Borders bookstore closed recently, as did all remaining ones across the country, and like many of the others, its building was purchased by Books-A-Million, or as they seem to be branding themselves, "BAM!". I'm a great fan of the bookstore-with-a-coffee-shop business model, and though there's a Barnes and Noble across town, it's about a 20 minute drive, usually through heavy traffic, so I was very glad to see that the old Borders would be replaced by something similar.

After a flurry of . . .

Oh, Yeah --- and JavaScript

A couple months ago, I wrote about limiting myself to two languages. I forgot something that should have been obvious: you can't avoid JavaScript. No matter what language you are ostensibly writing in, if your application is destined for the web, or uses web technologies, you will end up writing JavaScript, because that's what web browsers understand. (We won't discuss VBScript in polite company.)

JavaScript is a nice little language, and I like it, for the most part. I wish it were a little more . . .

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

I've had Carry Me Back to Old Virginny stuck in my head all morning. That's not a good thing. It's a beautiful tune, and the words are well-enough written, I admit, but reads like a celebration of slavery.

Here are the words:

Carry Me back to Old Virginny
Written by James Bland

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where the old darkey's heart am long'd . . .