SUNDAY 29th NOVEMBER 2015 10:08 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
29th November 1877
Thomas Edison demonstrates the phonograph
While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet cylinder, and could both record and reproduce sounds. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc. 

To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones.

In the 1890's the cylinder phonograph was supersceded by Emile Beliner's disc phonograph and the "record-player" was born. 

Though other ways of recording sound have since been developed, the record player and discs maintain a devoted following because it is the only method that can reproduce sound exactly as it was recorded, whereas electronic recordings inevitably lose finer detail because it uses an incremental and digital rather than a smooth and analogue scale.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The Milk Run 
Lunch
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,043 (up 2)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
untraced
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
-
New Followers followed back = 2
@RoseyCale, @rosiehat
Spammers not followed back = 1
@HR_Heroes

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

I had an almost perfect Saturday! The Weekend Job Saturday shift was as good as it gets - the ideal workstations, all the customers were nice or polite, all breaks on time. If only it were like that all the time! Never mind, I will accept what I got gratefully.

Missus and Son also had good days. Missus was not after all bullied into swimming (which she hates) by Daughter, but this was probably due to whim or time factor rather than conscience. But again, we'll accept that gratefully, and she had the time of her life at the Duran Duran gig. 

Son's long-distance relationship also seems to be going smoothly. He was upbeat and we had some quality lad's time before Missus got back. 

The only fly-in-the-ointment is Missus leg has NOT healed, is painful and only improved enough to be walked on. It is an ongoing cause for concern, and I will be pressing doctors for some answers! If it is something like arthritis, there isn't a cure but at least we'd know how to manage it. Whatever, we all just have to get on with life, and it's a life with many blessings. 

Consciousness meanwhile continues to disentangle itself from this character and to "enjoy the movie", doing this by maintaining a silent mind, letting the character's subconscious run the show. The effort is in staying Awake, and the very high degree of concentration required to do this, but having tasted it, the peace of mind and the escape from suffering it brings, it is the only path worth persevering with.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you swimming or drifting?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Heavy showers and strong winds all day, becoming potentially damaging from mid-morning
Rain will move away after dusk, winds will ease and it will be dry with clear periods thereafter
Max Temp = 8 degC at noon
Min Temp = 3 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:58
Sunset at 15:52
Moon: 

Weathertrack: A strong depression will move across Britain today bringing strong winds and heavy rain

Air Pressure: 999 millibars and rising

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

The only thing worse than "the one that got away" is "the one who won't go away." :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Mary Lynn Rajskub on being "stupid hot"

8. TRIVIA

All or part of Shakespeare’s 300 original First Folios still survive.

9. ZEN WISDOM

As long as we are human, we are bound to make mistakes. What distinguishes a forward-looking person from an intransigent one, a virtuous person from a dishonest one, however, is whether one can candidly admit to one’s mistakes and take bold steps to redress them.