If you’re new to texting and the wonderful world of online communication you may have come across cryptic clumpings of letters (no, not a foreign language, exactly). Things like LOL or IMHO. It’s the new shorthand for this brave new century and absolutely essential when trying to text from a microscopic cellphone keypad. Laugh Out Loud and In My Humble Opinion are just a few of the best known. As NY Times columnist David Pogue blogged a few months back those abbreviations are already ancient. “The world”, he writes, “desperately needs a new set of acronyms more relevant to todays online chatting participants”. So he has set about forming a new (and entertaining) list. Some of my favorites IIOYT = Is It On You Tube or TWD = Typing While Driving (What the?). Read the whole blog list here.

Tickets still up for grabs this week to the SF Choral Society concert of music of Vaughan Williams, Lauridsen and more on November 17th. Norbert and a guest are going because he knew the Jack Nicholson flick “Chinatown” was going to be called “Water and Power”. Congrats to our three winners this week on the Commuter Quiz at 6:30am.

Our “Way Back Machine” was set just a few notches into the past on this mornings Blind Date. We took you to the year Steve Fossett broke a world record flying non-stop around the globe on one tank of gas in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer…2005.

Have a safe All Hallows Eve.

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Staffing firm Randstad USA just surveyed nearly 2500 office workers and came up with a list of the top office peeves (What a great word!) Misuse of email came in at the bottom of the list of Top 10 workplaces annoyances. Other annoyances included loud noises (speaker-phones ,talking and ringing). The top three? Which would you choose: Messy communal spaces, surfing the net or gossips? A messy kitchen really gets me, but gossip took the number one spot. Is surfing really a problem? Oh, okay.  Remember…KDFC can generally drown out gossips.

How much oxygen is in the air we breathe? The answer to the Commuter Quiz question this morning was 20% and William, who works at the San Jose Mercury News, won tickets to the SF Choral Society concert in November. Your chance to win tomorrow through Friday at 6:30am.

It seemed like an astronomical sum at the time. Babe Ruth traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Yankees for $125,000 the same year Nikolai Medtner wrote the Danza Festiva…1920. Another time travel adventure in the “Blind Date” tomorrow and every weekday morning at 8:30am. See you then.

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It’s known the world over. One of the greatest creations in Italian art. And it’s crumbling. Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” went through a painstaking restoration that concluded in 1999. But even if you get  to Milan to view it, you may wait in line a while. Twenty five visitors are admitted every 15 minutes to see the painting, only 320,000 visitors a year. The demand is three to four times higher, but no more visitors can be accommodated because of efforts to preserve the painting.

Now you can save yourself the airfare and the waiting in line. Leonardo’s masterpiece is available in “hi def”. A sixteen billion pixel image is now online. The resolution allows experts to examine details of the 15th century painting that they otherwise would not – including traces of drawings Leonardo put down before painting.

Here’s the link. You’ll need Adobe flash player 9 to view it. Enjoy.

Shawn from Sonoma was our winner of tickets to the SF Choral Society concert November 17th. He surmised that the camel hair brush was invented by a Mr. Camel. The other choices; A: it was made of camel hair B: one used it to groom camels (from what I know of them they wouldn’t stand for it).

Ernst Von Dohnanyi’s “Veil of Pierette” was our Blind Date piece today from the year they first dropped the ball on Times Square to welcome the New Year…of 1908. Watch video of the new ball for 2008 here.

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Betsy and I chatted this past week on the Morning Show about some nice lifestyle treats in the news and the choices they suggest. First news from Paris that some museums in France will be free for six months starting in January. They include three in Paris – the Guimet, home to asian art; Cluny, which features medieval treasures; and Arts de Metiers dedicated to scientific inventions. Nice, but with the euro closing in on $1.50 I don’t know how much that helps.

Closer to home: another delight for the senses – Four, yes, four Michelin rated restaurants in a town so small if you blink on Highway 29 in the Napa Valley you’ll miss it. I’m talking about Yountville, home of the excellent Lincoln Theater and Thomas Keller’s French Laundry (***) and three more one star eateries; Keller’s Bouchon, Phillipe Jeanty’s Jeanty and Richard Reddinton’s Redd. Just remember when you look over the menus, the prices are in dollars, not euros. Merci beaucoup.

So is it a choice between Paris and Yountville? Or…do both? Sorry kids. Dad’s spending your inheritance. Again.

Fridays Commuter Quiz winner was Kristin from Walnut Creek. She was thrilled (a first time winner) and is off to 42nd Street Moon’s “One Touch of Venus”. Oh, Kristin knew it was Sally Field who played Tom Hanks mother (Forrest Gump) and girlfriend (Punchline). Ah, Hollywood.

In our Blind Date year The Yale News became the first daily college newspaper in the USA. That was 1878 the year Pable de Sarasate wrote “Zigeunerweizen”. I can’t believe I know how to spell that.

Join us Monday 5am to 11 and have a great weekend.

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“NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Worries about work and money are causing one-third of Americans to suffer from extreme stress, driving them to overeat, drink, and smoke.

In an online survey for the American Psychological Association (APA) nearly half of the 1,848 people questioned believe their stress levels have shot up in the past five years, taking a toll on their personal relationships, work productivity and health.”

What a sad statistic. If you search the web for ways to beat stress in your life one you may not find readily is the power of music. Okay, in particular classical music. It seems lately we’ve received more and more emails from people who have found a “calmer commute”  by switching to KDFC. Take this recent email from a listener…

“Hi there, I’m a 27 year old hard rock fan with a shower radio.  That’s how it began as I used to get into the shower and listen to K— or —-, but the morning was filled with loud talk shows and commercial after commercial. So, flipping around I found KDFC.  At first you can imagine my chagrin at classical music, but I give everything a shot to suit my fancy. Well, it’s been over a year and I’m still listening.  I feel much more relaxed when I go to music in the morning, as I own and manage a software firm in the city.  Recently, I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina with my sales force and while my shower radio no longer fits the bill, you can bet
that you’re streaming online all day in my office.  I just wanted to thank you not only for a great station and soothing radio play, but also to let
you know that you’ve converted a fan from the dark side from over 8,000 miles away. Keep it up!
Justin”

Wow! How about it? Know someone who needs a break from stress. Share KDFC. There’s plenty to go around.

Another pair of tickets to “A Touch of Venus” from 42nd Street Moon went out to David from Lafayette who knew that the tall, scowling Russian expat who died in Beverly Hills in the 1940s was Sergei Rachmaninov.

No calls necessary but Oliver Morse called in with the exact year of the Blind Date. It was the year his great great uncle Samual F.B. Morse sent the famous message “What hath God wrought.”…1844. At age 11 Oliver sent the same message on the  centennial in 1944 using SFB Morse telegraph key in Washington D.C. Cool, huh.

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Perhaps you heard on the Morning Show that an apple a day is good for the waistline. Research presented Tuesday in New Orleans at a meeting of the  Obesity Society shows that people who ate an apple about 15 minutes before lunch consumed 190 calories less than when they didn’t have an apple. The same effect wasn’t present when people ate applesauce or drank apple juice. So here’s to an apple a day.

Our “Whiz Kid” Wednesday in the Commuter Quiz was Larry from Benecia who knew that it was “Pong” that premiered in a Sunnyvale tavern in 1974. Good luck tomorrow at 6:30 am as you play for a couple of tickets to 42nd Street Moon’s presentation of the 1943 musical “One Touch of Venus”.

Do you remember the famous quote “Speak softly and carry a big stick”? Teddy Roosevelt said that as Vice President at the Minnesota State Fair in our Blind Date Year…1901. With McKinley’s assassination later that year,Teddy was propelled into the White House.

Enjoy your apple and we’ll get together Thursday morning.

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Lots of  “earthquake country” news in the papers and on the web last week. The anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake and news about the Hayward fault has caused some of us to review our emergency pans (if any). Ours are always evolving, in spurts frankly. Where do we store the food and water? How much fuel for cooking? Do we have enough fresh batteries? All that.

What about our pets? That is a part of emergency plans that is often overlooked and Eileen Mitchell of the Chronicle covers it and includes a handy list you’ll find in the SFgate article here. An all around useful site is www.72hours.org.

Come Monday and the Morning Show a brand new prize in the 6:30 Commuter Quiz…tickets to 42nd Street Moons “One Touch of Venus“
And we’ll feature an hour of requests during Hoyt’s Morning Blend @ 10.

Have a great weekend!

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Interesting article in USA Today about hotel noise. That is the biggest complaint from travelers after dirty rooms (ick!) “A TripAdvisor online survey of 1,323 travelers, conducted last weekend for USA TODAY, found that 31% often have a problem with noise during a hotel stay, which was second only to dirty rooms as the biggest hotel annoyance.”

My recommendations: a good set of earplugs (never leave home without them) and KDFC’s latest CD sampler, “The Island of Sanity 4“. I’ve found more rental cars and hotel rooms have CD players in them, so take it along.

Shark! Carol from San Jose knew sharks lay eggs AND have “pups”. So Carol is off to “The Mousetrap” at Center Rep. Monday means a new prize and another chance to win at 6:30am in The Morning Show.

Did the roaster get away from them? Fire consumed Lloyds Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London in our blind date year 1838, the same year Chopin was “burning down the house” with his “Military Polonaise”.

Have a great weekend as we finish up our Island Hopping in honor of the KDFC Islands of Sanity 4 release,

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I couldn’t help but notice our own Dusti Rhodes in the article in Thursday’s USA Today about a new book “Bertha Venation” by Larry Ashmead. He’s collected unusual names of people,places and pets. Top of the list of odd combinations…Dusti Rhodes (yes, that’s her real name). One not mentioned in the article, but I’m sure in the book, was Bill Lear’s (of Lear-Jet fame) daughter Shanda. Or the famous 20th century Houston socialite, Ima Hogg. Sounds like a fun read, at least for the “littlest room” in your house. Oh yes, the title of the book? It’s a drag queen’s stage name.

This morning another early riser, Judy from Walnut Creek, won tickets to Center Rep’s “Mousetrap” because she knew it was Bedřich Smetana who’s music was banned in his native Czechoslovakia during WWII. Way to go Judy. More tickets Friday at 6:30am

Our Blind Date at 8:30 was 1811 the year that Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro published his memoirs about the molecular content of gases. By all accounts a steamy tome.

Back with more Friday.

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Our Whiz Kid Wednesday Commuter Quiz winner at 6:30am was John from San Leandro…the first caller with the answer to the question “What do you call the letters of the viking alphabet?”. “Runes” won John two tickets to Center Rep’s “Mousetrap” on October 27th at the Lesher Center. Good luck Thursday and Friday.

Our Blind Date year saw the creation of the Alien and Sedition act and completion by Beethoven of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in…1798. The Blind Date is your morning “puzzler” at 8:30 workdays. Play along!

Oh, have you heard? You can now stream KDFC online using I-tunes. You’ll find us on their list of radio stations. Another way to enjoy casual, comfortable classical music over the web. Thanks to the Apple corp!
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