Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Honourable mention in the Keener Olympics.

I did the "Optional Assignment" for the first time in my life. For the First time *I* was the keener. First in line, homework done smile on my face, ready to please.

There was about 50 others with that same stupid look.

I thought I was the only one. Shit. Keening sucks. I made me want to smoke and take their lunch money.

I have a inner bully. It's just stuck in this pastey white, weak little body. And going to the Gym is HARD, that stuff is so HEAVY! I'll NEVER be a bully. NEVER... WHAAAA! or a KEENER! WAAAAAA.

Go here. Now. You won't regret it.


Today's Song of the Day is "Coax Me" by Sloan off their 1994 album "Twice Removed."

Crazy Fact : I have no more crazy facts about these local boys. I heard again they are breaking up after this album... whatever.

njoy

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Bring me blue pages...

I just handed in an assignment that was 52 pages! That's just wrong. Wrong I tell you. I pity the marker.


Today's Song of the Day is "The Weight" by The Band off there 1968 album "Music from Big Pink."

Crazy Fact: The cover of Music From Big Pink is a painting by Bob Dylan.

njoy

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Chicken Little drives an SUV

I think it was my friend mike who said people vote with the stomachs and think with their wallets. Boy is he right.

So as long as I can remember I've been hearing about the greenhouse effect, emmissions control, electric cars, hydrogen, blah blah blah and nothing for years, no action. Nothing and it even got worse with the SUV stupidity. Then gas went up and up and up. Now an idiot who steps on the gas in an SUV might as well be setting his wallet on fire.

New York State has set new rules which require approximately 40% of vehicles to better their fuel economy. Dude! Nice! Now that Gas is becoming publically unaffordable governments suddenly care. Of course the auto-makers are suing.

"They said that seat belts would put them out of business; they said that air bags would put them out of business; they said fuel economy and emissions regulations would all put them out of business," said David Friedman, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It turns out it's their unwillingness to innovate that's putting them out of business right now." (NY Times)

I was thinking about this walking down the street just yesterday. I was thinking about the "sky is falling" folks out there vs. the 'just drink the kool-aid' folks. The Chicken Little's are looking to the future gripped with fear. Thinking about all the things that could maybe destroy them/us all. Their brains cooking up all idea's, heated with fear, smelling doom doom doom. OK ok ok but dude this didn't happen yet and DUDE! dude maybe just maybe it won't, just maybe. so relax.

Oil's gonna run out "THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!"
The Global temperature's rising "THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!"
The Ice Cap's are going to melt "THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!"

"We need hydrogen NOW!" Hey remember the Hindenburg? Let's just make sure we do this right. ok?

"POLAR BEARS! Will SOMEBODY think about the POLAR BEARS!" Probably not. but whether we do or not. They will just move a little further north. It's still quite cold up there. hell I'm half way to up there from down there and it's fucking cold where I am.

How much do you want you power bill to be...exactly. If Hydrogen was cheap

Don't get me wrong Oil companies are clearly hegemony lovin' sons of bitches but none the less... money makes the world go round (don't say you don't have, spend or want it, I didn't say you had to like it.) Gas goes up, people stop buying gas and do something else. fact. Lookit, it's happening now.

Global temperature rise, (heat a closed system and all reactions within that system increase in furiously) i.e.. storms get bigger, floods, droughts. etc.... lookit lookit hurricanes kicking cities in American cities (and Halifax) all over town. and suddenly shit starts to change.

It's relieving to know that no matter what I think, corruption has it's limits. No matter who is paying off who, sooner or later, when enough people start to pay attention, they run out of wool to put over our eyes. It comes around. It's nice to relax the cynical pessimist muscles for a switch, lean back and trustingly sip the Kool-Aid.


Today's Song of the Day is "Gin & Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg off his 1993 debut album "Doggystyle."

Crazy Fact: Doggystyle, become the first debut album to enter the charts at number one AND he was born with the name 'Calvin.' AND Harry Wayne "K.C." Casey of 'K.C. and the Sunshine Band' has a writing credit on this track. This track is the cRaZy!

njoy

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Not Shy

My birthday's comin'! Just want to make sure everybody's clear on that one DECEMBER 5th. That's my birthday, yup, I'm gonna be 33. yesiree. 33. just so you all know. You don't have to buy me anything or anything, if you don't get around to it, I understand, it's a busy world we live in. Just send cash.


Today's Song of the Day is "Time Is On My Side" by The Rolling Stones off their 1964 album "12 X 5"

Crazy Fact: Time Is On My Side was the first really big American hit for the Rolling Stones, reaching #6 at the end of 1964.

njoy

Friday, November 25, 2005

oh how I hate them...

I'm ready to have a paddy over this... ok ok so as you may or may not know or remember I think intellectual property is verging on 'a LOAD of total' bullshit. Well there's a bunch of other people who totally agree with me who are generally known as the "open-source community." So these most decent and upright fellows write code and then give it away with one very important and very legally binding stipulation. If you build it with open-source code, you have to say you did, and then give it away for free.

So Sony BMG decided to make a copy-protect (a bad Idea to start with) software steals open-source code to do it, the irony is throbing in my brain... it's deafening. Not ONLY that, but it acts as a virus (installs without your permission, secretly) AND open a back-door in your computer to allow hackers in. FUCK THAT! The reasons to buy CDs decrease every fucking day. Don't put any Sony BMG CDs in your computer. It will fuck you.

it's enough of a problem that Microsoft it releasing a security update which automatically removes all traces of it from your computer. So now, Sony is in the middle of a recall (idiots, I wonder how much this cost them?) AND last but not least, Sony had been hit with a class action lawsuit this week because of this fuck up.

i love it. welcome to progress fuckers.

See all this isn't about protecting artists, or copywright or even music, it's about control.

In the computer world we have control, the user. We are not audience, this isn't radio or TV. We've even started to buy TV shows which are shown for free all day and all night 50 channels of it. Huh? What? Does not compute. Yes, it does. We buy the damn shows so we can watch it whenever the HELL WE WANT. It's worth paying so they don't control us. They hate it. They want to tell you what to listen to. This is out of there hands. They hate it. I love it.

"FREEEDOM."
-mel gibson, Braveheart (HAHAHA!)


Today's Song of the Day is "I'm The Slime" by Frank Zappa off his 1973 album "Overnite Sensation."

Crazy fact: One of his last performances was in Czechoslovakia at the invitation of its post-Communist president, Zappa fan Vaclav Havel.

njoy

Thursday, November 24, 2005

His Most Awesomestness

My soul is eternally grateful to Anna for showing me the light. I have been touched by His Noodly Appendage. Join me and other Pastafarians in Worshiping His Host Noodly Eminence. Last night He came to me and spake (well actually it was more of a gurgle) the words "Everything will be Hunky Dory." Those words will help me everday, in everything I do.

'May the sauce be with you.'


Today's Song of the Day is "Quicksand" by David Bowie off his 1971 album "Hunky Dory."

Crazy Fact: Global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s.

njoy

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Why is this news?

ROME, Nov. 22 - A new Vatican document excludes from the priesthood most gay men, with few exceptions, banning in strong and specific language candidates "who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "

So is the news "This pope hates 'the gays' too"? Is that really news? 'Catholic Church still backward' ain't news either, but thanks for the update. But there are a whole lot of lucky gaylords out there who don't have to suffer celibacy. "Gay men not into to celibacy by catholic church" that would be a better headline.


Today's Song of the Day is "Catholic Boy " by The Jim Carroll Band off his 1980 ablum "Catholic Boy."

Crazy Fact: In 1994, Jim Carroll (yeah the guy who The Basketball Diaries is about) performed his widely-acclaimed poem "8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain" on MTV's Unplugged.

njoy

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

the feelies

Universities in the states have started to offer degrees with majors in Video Game design. Some people seem to think this is ridiculous. What the hell is the problem? No different then going to Film School. Video Games sales rival ticket sales. Most movies suck as do most video games, but personally I'll get more entertainment out of crappy video game then a crappy movie. But there ARE good video games, and some very good ones.

Video games suffer the same prejudice movies get from the 'go read a book' crowd. Stuff it up your ass. Go read a stone slab. Internet trumps newspaper, E-mail trumps mail, MP3 trumps CD, DVD trumps VHS. I see a pattern.

It's just a matter of time.

Here's the Pitch: "Computers! just like movies but we've added our new SPECIAL ingredient... Interaction! Your not 'audience' anymore, your 'user'. Not a victim, not passive, but a participant, influencing outcomes, not waiting to be told what happens, deciding what happens. Try one today!"


Today's Song of the Day is "I Fall In Love Too Easily" by Chet Baker off his 1954 album "My Funny Valentine."

Crazy Fact: In 1988 at the age of 59, Chet Baker died in a fall from a hotel window in Amsterdam after taking heroin and cocaine. maybe the should change the name/lyrics of this song to "I fall out of windows to easily, I hit the ground to fast..." (oh I'm bad...)

njoy

Monday, November 21, 2005

unscrewed up

I don't think there is anybody out there who doesn't appreciate a reduction in tension. But I gotta say it makes me feel alot better about the world. Here's to the re-friendification of important people in my life.


Today's Song of the Day is "Just Friends" by Charlie Parker & Mitch Miller off his 1949 album "Bird with Strings."

Crazy Fact: At the time of his death in March 1955 at the age of 34 as a result of his drug and alchohol abuses. Also as a result of those excesses the doctor who pronounced him dead thought he was in his 60s.

njoy

Sunday, November 20, 2005

The Stamp Collector in me.

It makes me crazy for Detailed MP3s and it makes me buy DVDs. But I had a very disappointing experience in the DVD catagory the other day. I went to this HD trailer site. and was shocked by the high quality of the the next generation DVDs which are right around the corner. I'm not sure if it was the Harry Potter trailer or the trailer for King Kong but while i'm jaw was open I realized that I would be forced to buy many of my favorite DVDs again. yet again. The quality was and is astounding. Look for yourself. DVDs have been dropping in price like crazy and this is why. I am such a sucker for their money sucking game.


Today's Song of the Day is "Rasputin" by Boney M off their 1978 album "Nightflight to Venus."

Crazy fact: German producer Frank Farian who created Boney M, went on to create the late-'80s dance sensation Milli Vanilli.

njoy

Saturday, November 19, 2005

pod people

I made my girlfriend into a pod person. Now it ain't no superball, but it's got her pretty damn happy. She's stopped taking cabs because of it. She can't wait to plug-in the ear-buds and walk around. I think she really wouldn't care if it was around in circles. I made one more smiling cog in the machine. And she looks at me protective and suspcious when she thinks I'm going to intrude on her quality time with her iPod. She's gone over to the other side. Someday she's going to look at me oddly, open her mouth wide and that awful high-pitched squealing is going to come out. Then you'll see me, ear-buds 'n' all, plugged in to the machine smiling. (sigh) I can't wait.


Today's Song of the Day is "Chevrolet" by Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band off there 1967 album "See Reverse Side for Title."

Crazy Fact: Shortly after the Kweskin Jug Band performed on the nationally aired Steve Allen Show, on March 4, 1964, Lymon left the band to start a cult (and has since dissappeared) and was replaced by banjo wiz Bill Keith, who had just left a gig with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.

njoy

Friday, November 18, 2005

The richest guy I've never heard of

Warren E. Buffett, CEO & Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. owns 38% of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. Berkshire closed today at $89,700. (!!!) Look at these SEC filings:

Cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2005: $43.3 billion USD
Equity investments at June 30, 2005: $41.3 billion USD
Total shareholders’ equity at the June 30, 2005: $88.1 billion USD
Revenue for 2004: $74.4 billion USD
Net earnings for 2004: $7.3 billion USD
Income taxes paid in 2004: $3.6 billion USD

This is the guy whose controlling the universe. Anyway, I was just going to rant about Google being worth more than Coca-Cola and worth more than the combined value of McDonald's, Du Pont and Anheuser-Busch. And Google doesn't even make anything! They're worth 119 billion for selling directions for free.

brains' full... stopping. money has hurt it.


Today's Song of the Day is "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen off his 1982 album "Nebraska."

Crazy Fact: Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. is based out of Nebraska.

njoy

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Have you seen my 17 incher?

I got a new computer. It is the best thing ever. Materialism still has a grip on me in two big-assed ways they are: DVDs and Computers. All of the rest of the things I care about are people or ideas. but wow do I love this computer. it's white an's got a camera built-in an'a flat screen monitor built-in and a really cool mouse an' it's got a 64-bit processor an 64-bit memory an' lots of graphics memory an it sounds great an looks great an I like it an the newest EVERYTHING built-in an' the all the keys on the keyboard works watch... 77777&&&&&&77777444555666 WOW do you have any Idea what a pain in the ass THAT was on my old bustedass not as cool as my new shiney white fancy new has a remote control computer is?

17 inches of happiness, I'm totally gay for my computer. I don't blame Sarah for being jealous. I just hope, with time, the two of you can get along. (actually she totally loves it... most of the time.)


Today's Song of the Day is "(She's) Sexy & 17" by the Stray Cats off their 1983 album "Rant n' Rave With the Stray Cats."
Crazt Fact: Brian Setzer was also the concert guitarist for the Honeydrippers.

njoy

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Crank up the Techno! (...logy)

It's like a Model T Ford computer. Old tech meets new tech crazyiness. Dig it:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 15 -- A riddle: What has the durability of a sneaker, the smarts of a computer, the color scheme of a lunchbox and the potential to alter almost everything about the way schoolchildren in the developing world learn?

The answer: well, nothing yet.

But now, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they're close to creating a device that would fulfill this ambitious vision -- a tough, kid-friendly laptop that could be sold to poor countries for $100.

A prototype of this computer will be unveiled Wednesday at a U.N. conference in Tunisia. Its designers concede that the prototype is still missing some crucial features, such as a cheap display screen and a hand crank that would provide power.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501546.html?nav=rss_print/asection

What's not to like here? You got your third world children (an old christian favorite) you got your MIT super geniuses bringing the almighty savior the internet to the poor savages and all at a very affordable price. (because it wouldn't be right makeing money off the poor, pfft...) Not only that, but you have the goofey 'hand-crank' trivia/irony angle to play-up for audiences left numb by twenty years of feeding Ethopian kid with flies on their faces and big bellies on infomericals.

Not only that but you got your Open-Source/not for profit angle for suckers like me. But at the end of the day My selfish little self thinks: "I KNEW IT!" those fuckers can make a laptop for a hundred BUCKS! and us loser westerners are paying THOUSANDS! fer FUCK sake!


Song of the Day is "Bang On!" by Propellerheads off their 1998 album "Decksandrumsandrockandroll."

Crazy Fact: Keyboardist/bassist/DJ Alex Gifford began his career as a studio musician, playing keyboards for Van Morrison and saxophone for the Stranglers.

njoy

Monday, November 07, 2005

I'm going to try to be better.

When I first saw iTunes my jaw dropped and still hasn't closed all the way.

I LOVE iTunes it's in my top five obsessions. I discovered Napster AFTER iTunes. I discovered all this business AFTER iTunes. Clearly, I love it and I'm Obsessed. My jaw dropped yet again.

The First time my jaw dropped was when I put in a CD and iTunes went on the Interweb, got all the track info, ripped it to MP3s then Ejected it while waiting for another. My Tongue went all dry and nasty as I couldn't close my mouth because all available energy was redirected to feeding that monster CDs and watching my collection grow and grow and grow. I think it's took me about Six months to get over that.

The Second time my jaw dropped was when I discovered you could store the album art and composer in the MP3 file. I spent many many moons seaching out covers and composers for every song I had. I'm still doing that. (if anyone can find the original cover or release date of 'The Russians are Coming (Take 5)' by Val Bennet, that would be awesome OR a decent cover for Blue Swede's 'Hooked on a Feelin'' OR for 'Shop Around' by The Miracles. anyway...)

The Third time my jaw dropped was just yesterday, when I discovered that with the right tweeks the newest iTunes will go on the internet and upload the Lyrics of the song your listening to and imbed them in the file.

I am such a stamp collector right now you have NO idea.

Ok I have to GOT study now.

(needless to say that from this point on all MP3s I send out will include the Lyrics as Well as the Album Art. DUDE! I Can't control myself...


Today's Song of the Day is "Maps" off their 2003 debut album "Fever to Tell."

Crazy Fact: Within a year of forming they went on tour supporting The White Stripes and The Strokes.

njoy