Michael Hanscom

Enthusiastic ambivert. Geeky, liberal, friendly, curious, hopepunk; trying to be a good person. (he/him)

Podcast 07: Where Time Becomes A Loop

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Ooops — and I thought I was late last week, when the mix showed up in the afternoon instead of the morning. This time, I’m two days late! Sorry about that…. In any case, here’s the next of my mixes to go up. We’re moving back into longer sessions again, with this one coming in at just under an hour. Of all the mixes I’ve had sitting around, this is one of my top three favorites, with my third favorite being last week’s ‘ToriMix’, and my top favorite coming next week.

Incidentally, DJ H. Geek (aka Kory Roth), the artist behind the second track in this mix, is a friend of mine from back in Anchorage who I used to DJ with at Gig’s. Good guy, and apparently living down in Portland now. RelveleR, who contribute the sixth track, is also part of Kory’s Collective Conscience team. More tracks from Kory can be found at his site.

Standard disclaimer: All the mixes I’m posting were mixed ‘live’ — running a Pioneer dual CD mixer directly into my computer and recording straight to .mp3 — and have had no post-mix editing done in the computer. As such, they’re not flawless, but they’re not bad, either, if I do say so myself.

Here’s the link: Where Time Becomes A Loop (58m 41s, 80.61Mb). Tracks included are:

  1. Orbital ‘Time Becomes’

  2. DJ Geek ‘Travelling (Long)’

  3. Erasure ‘Run to the Sun (Amber Solaire)’

  4. BT ‘Remember (Paul Van Dyk’s Recollected)’

  5. Blue Amazon ‘The Javelin’

  6. ReleveleR ‘Sourpuss (UBE)’

  7. Sarah MacLachlan ‘I Love You (BT)’

  8. ATB ‘Don’t Stop (SQ-1)’

  9. Aqua ‘Dr. Jones (Antiloop Club)’

  10. Orbital ‘Time Becomes’

July Seattle Flickrites Meetup

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Had a very pleasant time at the inaugural Seattle Flickrites Meetup tonight. I showed up just a bit after 7pm and hung out until the last of us left just a bit before 10pm. Not a bad turnout for a first gig, either. Eight of us ended up showing up: Weave, studiozoe, Voodoo Zebra, ChrisB in SEA, me, Tom Harpel, Shaylor, and kreminem.

Conversation bounced between the requisite gadget ogling, podcasting, and various Flickr groups and personalities, but by far the most popular topic for the evening was the “Seattle (n)ice” syndrome. Much (good-natured) fun was had at the expense of the only two “native” Seattleites in the group as we laughed about the inability for either of them to just pick up and do something without at least a day’s notice — bare minimum. A few days is better, if a week or two of warning can’t be given first. Otherwise, they’re just too busy doing something…even if it’s nothing at all.

My photos from the evening are up, and more are starting to appear: ChrisB in SEA‘s, Tom Harpel‘s.

iTunes “Push Upstairs” by Underworld from the album Beaucoup Fish (1999, 4:34).

LiveJournal Syndication Update

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Allrighty then…it wasn’t the solution that I was hoping for, but I think I’ve managed to fumble my way through a solution for my issues with the woody_eclectic LiveJournal feed.

Thanks to a comment from qweltor, I found out that there’s simply no way to disable comments on a LiveJournal syndication feed — they’re just on, like it or not. So, not only wouldn’t there be a way for anyone to go in and turn off the comments for the existing feed, but there wouldn’t be a point to my going in and creating a new feed account. That handily blew all of my already-conceived plans out of the water.

So, I ended up coming up with a new plan. And I do love it when a plan comes together…

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We Are the Web

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This month’s Wired has what is likely not just the best article I’ve seen come out of Wired in a long time, but the best piece I’ve seen in ages on the Web, where it’s been, and where it may be headed in the future.

Not only did we fail to imagine what the Web would become, we still don’t see it today! We are blind to the miracle it has blossomed into. And as a result of ignoring what the Web really is, we are likely to miss what it will grow into over the next 10 years. Any hope of discerning the state of the Web in 2015 requires that we own up to how wrong we were 10 years ago.

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Phobic

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I’ve mentioned my fear of flying in the past. Earlier today, Steven Frank wrote about his battle with the same phobia — and from the sound of it, he was hit by it far harder than I was. If you’re phobic or know someone who is, this is well worth reading.

This part, in particular, sounded very familiar, describing perfectly what I’ve gone through every time I’ve gotten on an airplane in the past few years:

With no apparent rhyme or reason, my own brain conspired to make me absolutely terrified of flying. Not like those fakers who say they need a glass or two of wine to unwind before boarding. No, I’m talking clenched to the armrests, heart pounding, stomach doing pirouettes, and jumping in unconditional horror at any sudden noise or movement, with no rest or respite until back on solid ground.

I was also immune to statistics and facts. You could explain to me until blue in the face that I was 23,000 times more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the airport, or that there are better odds of being struck by lightning than being a fatality on a commercial airline. It wouldn’t make any difference. They call them irrational phobias for a very good reason.

Steven was eventually unable to fly for about five years, and has only now just made his first flight since the phobia hit its strongest point. As another person battling this same fear (as I mentioned briefly in the last paragraphs of this post), I can identify with his situation all too well — forcing yourself into confronting a phobia head-on is not an easy thing to do. Congratulations, Steven…and best of luck for the future.

iTunes “Father Lucifer (Sylkscreen)” by Amos, Tori from the album Jackie’s Strength (1999, 4:32).

LiveJournal readers: help!

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Okay, here’s the situation. Right now, there’s 29 of you reading my stuff (or at least skimming it occasionally) through the LJ syndication account woody_eclectic, which I think is great. There’s just one little issue, though…and it’s one that I can’t (easily) fix on my own. Update: Never mind…looks like there’s no simple fix after all. More info below…

The big issue is that comments are turned on for each of the syndicated posts. Since I wasn’t the one to set up the account, though, I don’t get notification when someone leaves a comment though LiveJournal. So, if someone comments on one of my posts — as has happened here, here, here, and probably other posts in the past — I’m generally not likely to see it. Additionally, LiveJournal only stores the last twenty or so entries, so once they disappear, any comments associated with them disappear as well.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about this. I asked in a syndication-specific LJ community today, and it appears that while there is an option to turn comments on or off for syndicated posts, only the person who originally set up the syndication account can do that according to this comment, comments are on no matter what, and there’s no way to change that.

So…could whoever set up the syndication feed (assuming you’re still subscribed to it) do me a big favor and turn off the “allow comments” setting? Everyone reading my feed will still be able to click through to the original post on my weblog to comment there along with all my non-LiveJournal readers, so this won’t be entirely removing the ability to comment — it’ll just consolidate all the comments into one place, where they won’t disappear, and where I’ll actually see them.

I’ll give a few days or a week or so to see if this works (it may not, as it’s entirely possible that whoever originally set up the feed got bored with me and unsubscribed, leaving it orphaned and without anyone to change the settings). If it doesn’t, I’ve got a backup plan…it’s just one I’m not looking forward to implementing…but it looks like I’m going to have to go forward with a variation of this:

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A long, long time ago…

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…no far away galaxy, though. Last night I got an e-mail from Kathleen, who’d stumbled across my Gigs photoset while looking for an old friend of hers. She was kind enough to send me an old photo from Gigs and said I could go ahead and post it along with the rest of my pictures from the club.

The picture was a fairly low-quality scan (a 216k 318×226 .bmp), but I’ve done what little I could to clean it up in Photoshop, enlarging it 200%, tweaking the levels, and running an unsharp mask filter on it. It’s still not pristine, but I’m still thrilled to have this drop in my lap.

Update: Kathleen was able to find the original photo and re-scan it at a higher resolution, so it’s much easier to see now. Turns out I was at a point where I was going through an ill-conceived attempt to actually grow out my beard….

Gigs Music Theatre, Anchorage, AK

I’m guessing this was taken sometime in 1997 or so. That’s Ray (DJ Happyjack) sitting in front. From left to right on the couch, we’ve got Lydia, Kathleen, me, Kate, and Rebecca (who was going by Apple at the time). Casey‘s lying across the back of the couch. I’ve got no clue who the guy on the far right is.

Thanks again, Kathleen!

iTunes “If I (Alien Trauma Edition)” by Lizette & from the album & So… (2001, 6:41).

Dissonance in Liability

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Ganked this one straight from Daily Kos, via Boing Boing:

WARNING: Severe Cognitive Dissonance Ahead!

Hollywood wins Internet piracy battle
The U.S. Supreme Court rules against file-sharing service Grokster in a closely watched piracy case.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled [last month] that software companies can be held liable for copyright infringement when individuals use their technology to download songs and movies illegally.

[Hollywood’s] victory [last month]…dealt a big blow to technology companies, which claim that holding them accountable for the illegal downloading of songs, movies, video games and other proprietary products would stifle their ability to develop new products.

“We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties,” Justice Souter wrote.

Wait for it… wait for it…

Senate Moves to Shield Gun Industry

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans on Tuesday moved the National Rifle Association’s top priority ahead of a $491 billion defense bill, setting up a vote on legislation to shield firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits over gun crimes.

“The president believes that the manufacturer of a legal product should not be held liable for the criminal misuse of that product by others,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “We look at it from a standpoint of stopping lawsuit abuse.”

The bill would prohibit lawsuits against the firearms industry for damages resulting form the unlawful use of a firearm or ammunition.

[Senator Larry] Craig said such lawsuits are “predatory and aimed at bankrupting the firearms industry,” unfairly blaming dealers and manufacturers for the crimes of gun users.

Got that? If a company makes a product that is inappropriately used to illegally copy a movie, that company is liable. If a company makes a product that is inappropriately used to illegally kill a human, that company is not liable. What’s the common logic holding these disparate concepts together? Massive corporate special interest money. Welcome to your government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations, where a pirated copy of “Hollywood Homicide” is bigger threat than an actual Hollywood homicide.

This is such a crock. How soon until I can afford to bail from this bass-ackwards country?

“

iTunes “No One is Fax Exempt” by Rollins, Henry from the album Think Tank (1998, 19:28).

Profile Pages

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In the course of updating my about page, I spent a little time cleaning up some of my profiles on other sites that I’ve picked up memberships in at one point or another over the years. Most of them I haven’t bothered to do much with after initially signing up, so it was interesting coming back to them and seeing the changes that have taken place.

The two most altered from what I remember are my Tribe.net and Yahoo! pages. Tribe has apparently undergone some rather major updates since I was there last, and Yahoo recently introduced their Yahoo 360 service. Amusingly, the two services now offer enough similar features that I’ve been able to nearly duplicate my profile on each one — everything from recent weblog posts to my del.icio.us links to my Flickr photos, all collected together on one page. Must admit, while I’m not likely to become a heavy user of either service, all the new fancybits are nice to see, and should be quite handy when connecting to other people who use them.

Feel free to check out my profiles and add me if you use either of the services. Or not. Y’know…whichever. ;)

iTunes “Da’Ale Da’Ale (Remix)” by Haza, Ofra from the album Just Say Mao (1989, 6:05).