Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Well, okay, no. Not even nearly. Even so, though, I hit something of a milestone today: for the first time ever, I’ve actually made some money off the Amazon Associates program!
To be specific, I’ve earned \$1.40. But hey, it’s something!
(Not that I’d mind if you helped earn me a tad more by doing some shopping…)
This is great — Kookaburra pointed to a fascinating article about the origins and history of “Wimoweh” (more popularly known as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”) called Where does the lion sleep tonight? that I’ve been browsing off and on for the past hour in breaks between jobs. Lots of neat tidbits in the article.
Like [the Weavers’] earlier recordings, it took place with Gordon Jenkins presiding and an orchestra in attendance. Prior to this, Jenkins had been very subdued in his instrumental approach, adding just the occasional sting and the odd swirl of strings to the Weavers’ cheery singalongs. Maybe he was growing bored, because his arrangement of “Wimoweh” was a great Vegas-y explosion of big-band raunch that almost equalled the barbaric splendour of the Zulu original. Trombones blared. Trumpets screamed. Strings swooped and soared through Solomon’s miracle melody. And then Pete [Seeger] cut loose with all that hollering and screaming. It was a startling departure from everything else the Weavers had ever done, but Billboard loved it, anointing it a Pick of the Week. Cash Box said, “May easily break”. Variety said, “Terrific!”
So it appears that SocialDynamX, creators of FMRadio for Radio Userland (Disclaimer: I know nothing about either of these products) is working on creating a custom interface for MovableType.
First impression? Ugh, that’s horrid.
Now, I’m a little unclear from looking at their site as to whether that’s a replacment for the default MT interface that you see in your web browser (as is implied by the term “skin”), or whether it’s a seperate standalone program for posting to MT (such as Kung-Log, UserSpace or Zempt). If it’s a standalone program, then okay, it’s most likely Windows-based, and the horrid ugly interface makes sense. But if it’s a “skin” designed to replace the standard MT interface within the browser — why is it so verschluggene ugly?
I was going to go into more detail, but I’ve gotta head off to work, and I’m out of time. Judge for yourself, I guess. ;)
(via Scoble)
Earlier this week BuyTunes popped up attempting to capitalize on the success of the iTunes Music Store by moving the same general idea to the Windows platform.
So far, the word is that they suck.
I already knew that they were blatantly ripping off Apple’s ads. I’d link to the BuyTunes versions, but that brings up the second major issue: they’ve restricted their website to Internet Explorer for Windows only. Any other browser, and you get redirected to this page. So far, things weren’t looking very good.
Then Jennifer at ScriptyGoddess actually tried to use BuyMusic’s services. Let’s just say that she’s not a satisfied customer.
First problem. After you buy an album, you need to download it. Sure, I knew that. What I didn’t know is that you have to download EACH SONG INDIVIDUALLY. One click per song. With Two large sized albums with many songs on it – it can be just a LITTLE annoying.
[…]
Second problem. Before each song plays – it has to download and verify your license. You can’t mulitple select a bunch and do this. You need to do this before EACH SONG will play.
[…]
Third and VERY big problem. […] Since I’m using Windows200, they force you to use a windows media plugin…[that] CRASHES consistently EVERY time I try to burn a CD. It is simply impossible to create a cd from my machine using that plugin.
[…]
And here comes problem number four. The “Main” license is the one I downloaded the first time to my machine (the windows 2000 box with the defective Roxio plugin). Subsequent downloads are “secondary licenses” from which you are not allowed to transfer to a mobile device, burn a cd, or do ANYTHING with except listen to them on that one machine.
[…]
In walks problem number five. Here’s their oh-so helpful (probably computer generated) form letter to me…
We apologize if you have experienced trouble downloading your music to a digital media player or copying your music to a CD. Unfortunately, We are unable to provide technical assistance after you have downloaded the music from BuyMusic.com to your primary computer. In addition, we are unable to credit you back for failed or damaged copies once you have successfully downloaded the music to your primary computer.
Sounds like BuyMusic is bound to be a bust, to me.
This is great:
Bush needs to order new bumperstickers, but needs help with the slogan. Can anyone help?
(via Kirsten) Some favorites:
The full congressional inquiry into the events surrounding Sept. 11^th^, 2001 (well, minus the sections pulled by the White House) is available online.
In February 2002, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence agreed to conduct a Joint Inquiry into the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in connection with the terrorist attacks perpetrated against our nation on September 11, 2001. This report (available as both S. Rept. 107-351 and H. Rept. 107-792) consists of 832 pages that presents the joint inquiry’s findings and conclusions, an accompanying narrative, and a series of recommendations.
(via Lambert, who’d also like to know if there’s an easy way to convert the report to HTML…I’m clueless)
Mike Walsh’s plans to register to vote for the first time in 54 years got me wondering how many other people might finally be moved to register during this election cycle.
Myself, I’ve been registered since I was 18. When I moved to Washington, one of the first things I did was switch my registration — after two years I still haven’t switched to a Washington driver’s licence, but I can vote! I’ve also made my feelings on voting and participating quite clear in the past.
The one and only good thing I can say about Bush’s presidency is that he’s got me paying far more attention to all this political stuff than I ever have before. If that same effect can start spreading across the country as more and more of his lies and evasions come to light, and more people register to vote and participate in the political process, it can only be a good thing.
Don’t vote? I don’t want to hear it. Read my two self-links above (especially this one) for everything I have to say on the matter.
And congratulations, Mike, for deciding it’s time to stand up and make your voice heard.
While I’ve heard a lot about über-conservative Ann Coulter, I’d never bothered to read anything she wrote. From everything I’d read about her, I didn’t figure it was worth the time. Now I know I was right, and have no need nor desire to ever read anything from her again.
I just stopped by her site to see if she’d really been so brazen as to print this quote that I found on Over the Edge:
THE HOWARD DEAN campaign was forced to cancel events this week in response to events in Iraq. Donations to the Odai and Qusai Hussein Memorial Fund can be submitted directly to the Dean campaign.
At first I couldn’t believe that that was actually what she wrote, but there it is (not directly linked, but if you really want to, it’s up at http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2003/072303p.htm right now).
Ick. And this woman has a best selling book out?
Just sad.
Walter “Matt” Jefferies, the designer of the original Enterprise NCC-1701, has died.
(via Matthew Ingram)
I wanted to take a moment to draw attention to the ‘Noises’ section of the sidebar to the left of this page. I’m tossing albums up there at more or less random intervals (often determined by what I’m listening to at any given point in the day). When I do, though, I’m highlighting three key tracks from the album and adding streaming audio ‘PLAY’ links to them, in addition to one for the full album.
The albums won’t stay up indefinitely, and the tracks aren’t downloadable (streaming only, sorry), but this should let anyone stopping by take a quick listen to whatever I’m recommending — and, of course, clicking through the picture lets you buy it from Amazon.
Enjoy!