List of Dangerous Bloggers

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Twilight Invasion recently posted a list of people who’ve been fired because of their weblog. Interesting to read the stories other than mine.

Apparently, this list should also include Stephen Stewart, though with only a post-by-post method of trawling the archives, I didn’t attempt to dig backwards through 18 months of posts to see if there’s a more specific mention on his site.

Anyone else?

Jason Webley Birth Day – Only Just Beginning CD release

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My birthday weekend started off with this year’s Birth Day for Jason Webley, his annual “resurrection” show, this year combined with the CD release party for Only Just Beginning. A full writeup will have to wait for later — it’s a gorgeous spring day today, and I want to go out and play in the sun — but I’ve posted my photos from the concert (and the after-concert revelry in Freeway Park).

As always, though, a wonderful show. Got to meet Mike and ~~his wife, and…well, here, I’m going to have to grovel for forgiveness, as while I remember Eric and his wife, I’ve completely spaced out on Eric’s website~~ Viv and Eric [and Rose and Adam — we all sat together during the show, then the five of them went off to a local bar while Prairie and I followed the asparagus into Freeway Park for the after-show]{.underline}.

(Mind like a steel trap, I tell you.

Rusty and illegal in 37 states.)

In any case, photos are up, a good time was had by all, and I’m off to enjoy the weather. :)

iTunes: “Music That Puts Everything Together” by Jason Webley from the album Only Just Beginning (2004, 4:54).

Poem in Your Pocket

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First off, a quick explanation for things being so quiet around here lately: I’m working on a redesign of the site. In some ways, nothing major, as I’ll be keeping the same basic visual style, and I’m “just” transforming it from a single-column back to a two-column layout. However, that’s caused me to re-code from the bottom up in order to get everything working the way I want it, which has been keeping me busy over the past few nights.

The new design probably won’t go up until sometime next week at the earliest (this being birthday weekend and all, spending hours in front of the computer is fairly low priority), but it’ll go up as soon as I can manage it.

Today, though, is Poem In Your Pocket day. Originally started by the New York Times and the City of New York, someone on Orkut’s blogger community suggested turning this into a meme.

“The City of New York and The New York Times invite you to join us on April 30, 2004 for Poem in Your Pocket Day… New Yorkers are encouraged to carry a poem in their pocket and share it with friends, family, coworkers and classmates.”

I thought it would be a great idea if bloggers did something similar on April 30th:

To commemorate the end of National Poetry Month, blog about your favorite poem and provide at least one link to other poems and/or a bio of the poet.

Now, admittedly, I’ve never been much of one for poetry. For one reason or another, it’s an art form that has consistently failed to capture my interest much at all. However, there is one poet that I absolutely love, and have quite a few books of poetry (including one wonderful collection of his complete poems): e. e. cummings. Something about his style has always grabbed me, and he’s been the only poet ever to peak my interest.

While it’s difficult for me to narrow down one particular favorite, there are two that consistently pop into my mind when I’m trying to pick a favorite.

This first one I love because it’s so wonderfully un-subtle. Just my style. ;)

she being Brand

-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having

thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.

K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her

up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and

again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg.     ing(my

lev-er Right-
oh and her gears being in
A 1 shape passed
from low through
second-in-to-high like
greasedlightening)just as we turned the corner of Divinity

avenue i touched the accelerator and give

her the juice,good

                    (it

was the first ride and believe i we was
happy to see how nice she acted right up to
the last minute coming back down by the Public
Gardens i slammed on

the
internalexpanding
&
externalcontracting
brakes Bothatonce and

brought allofher tremB
-ling
to a:dead.

stand-
;Still)

This second one that always sticks in my head is much sweeter, and it’s primarily the last nine lines (starting with “what’s wholly”) that really get to me.

because it’s

Spring
thingS

dare to do people

(& not
the other way

round)because it

‘s A
pril

Lives lead their own

persons(in
stead

of everybodyelse’s)but

what’s wholly
marvellous my

Darling

is that you &
i are more than you

& i(be

ca
us

e It’s we)

(Incidentally, trying to translate e. e. cummings’ poetic formatting into workable valid HTML/CSS is not easy to do. Hopefully I managed to pull it off…)

(via Phil)

iTunes: “Lust for Life” by Pop, Iggy from the album Trainspotting (1977, 5:13).

So very true

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This is too nice a time of year to be fighting a war.

Taken this morning at the war memorial in downtown Seattle.

iTunes: “Time After Time (S.F.E.)” by Morice, Tara from the album Something for Everybody (1997, 3:58).

iTunes 4.5: Major iTunes Music Store update!

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iTunes 4.5

The iTunes website hasn’t been updated yet (as of 0:17 4/28/04), so I can’t download it yet, but if you open up iTunes and go to the iTunes Music Store, you’ll see a badge for iTunes 4.5.

Update at 0:29: The iTunes website has been updated with iTunes 4.5.

This looks huge.

Clicking on the badge leads to a page with a quick rundown of the new features. As it’s all within the iTMS interface, I can’t link to anything, but here’s what I’m seeing:

Free Downloads/Single of the Week: Great music from emerging artists each week. Check back every Tuesday for the latest. (Currently, clicking on the “Get Free Single” link just leads back to the main iTMS page. [Update:]{.underline} The Foo Fighters‘ “My Hero” is the first free single.)

iMix — Publish Your Playlists: Be a tastemaker on iTunes. Publish your playlists for all the world to see. It’s easy to send lists to friends and family via “Tell-A-Friend” to boost your ratings and top the charts. (Playlists can include music from your personal library along with songs available in the iTMS. Drag selections into a playlist, give it a title and description, hit Publish and it’s in the iTMS for a year, then hit “Tell-A-Friend” to send the link to friends.)

[Update:]{.underline}

In the spirit of experimentation, I’ve created my first iMix. Since I listen to a ton of non-mainstream music, I was curious just how good the iTMS was. I fixed my “Recently Played” smart playlist to only list the last 250 songs that I have listened to (as that’s the upper limit for what you can submit to an iMix in one playlist) and sent that in. Of those 250 tracks, 61 were recognized, and I’m rather surprised at some of the ones that made it in. Nifty!

Music Videos Page: Now there’s a whole area dedicated to music videos, with new ones added all the time. Buy the songs you like with just one click. (Currently there are 72 available, free to watch, with a link to the iTMS song underneath.)

Movie Trailers — Now in iTunes: The ultra-popular movie trailers from Apple’s QuickTime site are now available on iTunes. (This section is live, includes both trailers and soundtrack iTMS links.)

Radio Charts: Check out the most-played tunes on your favorite radio station. Updated weekly, there are more than 1200 stations across hundreds of cities nationwide. (Nine stations are listed for the Seattle/Tacoma area: Mix 92.5, KUBE 98, KMPS, KWJZ, KISW Rock, Star 101.5, The Mountain, KISS 106.1, Warm 106.9, and The End. Eight are listed for the Anchorage area: KFAT, KAFC, KYMG, KGOT, KMXS, KBRJ, KNIK and KWHL.)

Party Shuffle: Playlists just got even easier. Party Shuffle is a new dynamic playlist that’s always on and ready to party. It shuffles songs from your library or playlists, and you can add or delete on the fly. Be the DJ you’ve always wanted to be.

CD Insert Printing: Once you’ve burned your CD, print a jewel case insert for it right in iTunes. Choose from several cool designs using a mosaic of album cover art or just a single cover. iTunes also lets you print a list of all the songs or albums in your music library.

Wish List: Found a zillion songs in the Music Store you want to buy? Save the previews by dragging them into a playlist and download them later with a single click.

Import WMA Files (Windows): Along with your AACs and MP3s, you can now import WMA (Windows Media) files (unprotected files only).

Lossless Encoder: Using the Apple Lossless Encoder, you can import CDs into iTunes with sound indistinguishable from the original recording but at about half the size.

Links to Music Store: Your own music library now links back to the Music Store for a seamless connection to the artists you love.

Schweeeeeeet…!

(via Phil)

Whoops!

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<RING…>

“Hello?”

“Hey, this is Brandon from Domino’s.”

“Okay, I’ll buzz you up.”

I hit the key on the phone to unlock the front door of the building, and hung up the phone.

<RING…>

“Did that not work?”

“No, I’m not at the door. The driver just left with your pizza, I just had a quick question.”

“Oh! Okay…”

“Do you have a metal hanger or anything? I locked my keys in my car, and if you’ve got one you could give the driver…”

I laughed. “I’ll check.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t. Hopefully he gets back in his car without having to pay a cabbie to break in. In the meantime, my pizza has appeared, and it’s dinnertime for me.

iTunes: “Nothing Else Matters” by Apoptygma Berzerk from the album Blackest Album, The (1998, 4:37).

Toyota Volta

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Toyota Volta

Italian design.

Environmentally sound gas/electric hybrid.

408 horsepower.

0-62mph in 4.03 seconds, top speed of 155mph.

Carbon-fibre chassis.

Racing suspension.

31.7 miles per gallon.

And it’s only a show prototype, not likely to be built.

Such a shame.

(via Fark)

iTunes: “Callas Went Away” by Enigma from the album MCMXC A.D. (1990, 4:27).

Nightline on Friday

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As I don’t do the TV thing I won’t be watching this, but for those of you who do, this Friday’s Nightline is looking to be a doozy.

From their daily e-mail update for today, April 27th 2004:

Now I want to tell you about this Friday’s broadcast. We’re going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast.

…Whether you agree with the war or not, these men and women are serving, are putting their lives on the line, in our names. We think it is important to remember that those who have paid the ultimate price all have faces, and names, and loved ones. We thought about doing this on Memorial Day, but that’s a time when most media outlets do stories about the military, and they are generally lost in the holiday crush of picnics and all. We didn’t want this broadcast to get lost. Honestly, I don’t know if people will watch this for thirty seconds, or ten minutes, or at all. That’s not the point. We think this is important. These men and women have earned nothing less.

Wow. Powerful stuff.

(via Atrios)

iTunes: “Legion” by VNV Nation from the album Empires (2000, 5:11).

Well, that’s one solution

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I love whatever algorithms Google uses for their AdSense program. Much of the time they’re dead-on, but every so often, you get some wonderfully bizarre and hilarious combinations.

For instance, upon reloading my page after adding my last post, I got the following set:

Google's Drinking Advice

iTunes: “One Week (Dave’s Big Beat Extended)” by One Week from the album One Week (1998, 6:16).

Watch what you blog!

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It was bound to happen — and realistically, it probably has been happening, just now we’re getting news stories about it — US intelligence agencies are starting to keep an eye out on weblogs.

Some blogs are whimsical and deal with “soft” subjects. Others, though, are cutting edge in delivering information and opinion.

As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information. This interest is a sign of how far Web media such as blogs have come in reshaping the data-collection habits of intelligence professionals and others, even with the knowledge that the accuracy of what’s reported in some blogs is questionable.

Still, a panel of folks who work in the U.S. intelligence field – some of them spies or former spies – discussed this month at a conference in Washington the idea of tracking blogs.

Personally, I think these guys are just trying to find an excuse for why Fark keep showing up in the CIA webserver logs…

(via Anil)

iTunes: “Little Horn” by Marilyn Manson from the album Antichrist Superstar (1996, 2:43).