Recently I'd been curious about podcasts, not creating them but just listening to them! I know I'm way behind the curve on this but I'd never bothered to look into what podcasts had to offer. I had a gander in recent weeks and have been pleasantly surprised by what's out there.
I used to listen to NPR quite a bit on the radio but have found that harder to do in may last two jobs. I've known for a long time that shows were available online but only recently downloaded a few. I love 'em - podcasts are great... and free!
I'm trying out a few different podcasts and in addition to a few favorites from radio, NPR: Talk of the Nation and PRI: To the Best of Our Knowledge, have found a great listen with The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.
If you have a chance I suggest a listen to all three!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Back in the Studio
Over the course of the last year or so my brothers (Alex and Chris) and I, along with our friend Curtis, had been playing music at our practice space a few times a month. While much of the time was spent just noodling around we did come away with 300 mp3s worth of practice jams, four finished tracks that we recorded in studio and some fun times.
When Chris left for New York these sessions fell by the wayside. Curtis, Alex and I have recently started up again and now have two sessions under our belt. Jak should be joining us next week and it will be cool to see how the four of us meld together musically.
These last two sessions have inspired me to put more time into my playing and I'm enjoying the guitar again. I know I have it bad as I can keep from looking at musiciansfriend.com for new gear, arrrr!
While I'm going to keep noodling, I am trying to add structure to my practice. I'm also continuing to record and make available online all of our jams, good and bad, and I may even take a crack at singing. Cover your ears and run while you still can!
When Chris left for New York these sessions fell by the wayside. Curtis, Alex and I have recently started up again and now have two sessions under our belt. Jak should be joining us next week and it will be cool to see how the four of us meld together musically.
These last two sessions have inspired me to put more time into my playing and I'm enjoying the guitar again. I know I have it bad as I can keep from looking at musiciansfriend.com for new gear, arrrr!
While I'm going to keep noodling, I am trying to add structure to my practice. I'm also continuing to record and make available online all of our jams, good and bad, and I may even take a crack at singing. Cover your ears and run while you still can!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Money?
So why do we need money any more? I don't mean the idea of money, root of all evil it may be I like it and wish I had more myself, rather I mean the the crinkly bills and clanky coins we carry in our pockets. I tend to pay for almost everything with a bank card these days, very few transactions involve a transfer of bills. Isn't it only a matter of time before the greenback (or whatever color it is these days) goes the way of the penny (fading fast) or the mill (gone so long I never even knew ya)?
Now I don't want to bring credit cards into this (true eeevill!) but bank cards really do represent money I have available to spend today. Why can't they completely replace paper duckets in the not so distant future?
While there is a good case to be made for the anonymity inherit in a dinero based economy a lot of problems might also dry up in an society with electronic only transactions. How would dealers on the corner operate? I suppose underground economies would be able to use phat loot scanners like any retail business eventually but these transactions wouldn't be so underground any more would they?
I know that any move away from paper money would take a long time but it seems the societal trend is in this direction. I pull dough out of my wallet for maybe one in five transactions, how will folks be buying and selling in 25, 50 or 100 years?
Do I want financial institutions and the government following my every deposit, withdrawal or purchase? To a large degree for all in the legal economy they already do. Getting rid of physical moolah might force a lot of illicit crap out into the open. Those shit heads dealing on the corner might even have to pay taxes if they can just find customers willing to swipe their card and enter their pin.
Now I don't want to bring credit cards into this (true eeevill!) but bank cards really do represent money I have available to spend today. Why can't they completely replace paper duckets in the not so distant future?
While there is a good case to be made for the anonymity inherit in a dinero based economy a lot of problems might also dry up in an society with electronic only transactions. How would dealers on the corner operate? I suppose underground economies would be able to use phat loot scanners like any retail business eventually but these transactions wouldn't be so underground any more would they?
I know that any move away from paper money would take a long time but it seems the societal trend is in this direction. I pull dough out of my wallet for maybe one in five transactions, how will folks be buying and selling in 25, 50 or 100 years?
Do I want financial institutions and the government following my every deposit, withdrawal or purchase? To a large degree for all in the legal economy they already do. Getting rid of physical moolah might force a lot of illicit crap out into the open. Those shit heads dealing on the corner might even have to pay taxes if they can just find customers willing to swipe their card and enter their pin.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Popping the cherry
First post on this blog, hey look at me go!
So I finally feel like I'm settling into my job, it's taken quite a bit longer than I anticipated for a variety of reasons. I really like the company and the people and I'm determined to make it work.
I've been engaged to Jennafer now for just about four weeks and still finding it surreal that I'm getting married. We're aiming for a late November or early December wedding... more on this later.
Still spending a lot of time on my computer but less involved with games and more involved with music and exploring political, scientific and philosophical news sites.
A friend pointed me towards Edge.org, "an online collective of deep thinkers". Not much of a web site but any site with content by Richard Dawkins is worth exploring. Also found and dropped ToneDrones onto Fuzz.com,an excellent site for both bands and individual musicians. MySpace is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. I hope to see more bands fleeing the MySpace spammers and settling into the welcoming bosom of sites like Fuzz. Die MySpace die!!!!
So I finally feel like I'm settling into my job, it's taken quite a bit longer than I anticipated for a variety of reasons. I really like the company and the people and I'm determined to make it work.
I've been engaged to Jennafer now for just about four weeks and still finding it surreal that I'm getting married. We're aiming for a late November or early December wedding... more on this later.
Still spending a lot of time on my computer but less involved with games and more involved with music and exploring political, scientific and philosophical news sites.
A friend pointed me towards Edge.org, "an online collective of deep thinkers". Not much of a web site but any site with content by Richard Dawkins is worth exploring. Also found and dropped ToneDrones onto Fuzz.com,an excellent site for both bands and individual musicians. MySpace is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. I hope to see more bands fleeing the MySpace spammers and settling into the welcoming bosom of sites like Fuzz. Die MySpace die!!!!
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