Music = Useful

Two internet music tools I've come across.

Songza
Listen to "any song or band!" Well, not quite, even though that's what they say. Still, they have a ton of stuff and it's so much quicker than youtube for when you just *have* to hear Wagon Wheel sans iTunes.

Muxtape
So addictive. Make an online mixtape! Upload up to 12 songs in a visually simple interface. Share with your friends. Make a study mix. Make a romantical mix for your secret crush. Make a Jug music mix and have a dance party anywhere there's Internet Explorer. DJ your radio show off of it. Et cetera. Here's mine.

Make new friends, but keep the old

I feel this requires no commentary.

Just a little word about commodity fetishism

There are no "good" companies. When confronted with that statement, fellow students invariably bring up one of two companies to attempt a rebuttal - Apple or Google, both using bright colors and simple logos, both positioning themselves as tools for hipper, smarter, more eco, and less evil people. That doesn't mean it's true.

For a better take on this tired old rant, see Gawker's inspired diatribe , "Apple Fetishists: Grow Up," which inspired me to post this before breakfast (ugh!). As for Google, you can probably google up their various offenses, just like you can't do in China.

Your favorite propagandists [Karl Rove included] love the sleek design and friendly usability of Apple products. Crypto-fascists—they're just like us! Which brings us to this plea: can we please, please end the tiresome trope of Apple having any sort of hip sensibility?

Apple itself is a gigantic technology manufacturing company. Which means they're killing the planet! Computers, computer chips, computer batteries, cell phones—all are made of poison. And all end up in landfills. Apple will recycle your old computer, btw, if you promise to buy a new one, from them. (Our boss doesn't care for this line of criticism against the technology industry, pointing out that they've reduced paper usage, but paper is made from wood pulp, not mercury.) But Al Gore's on the board! And they had some sort of corporate initiative with the word "green" in its name. Just like G.E.!

[...]

We're just sick of people thinking that because some marketing firm lackey introduced his boss to Feist, or because Apple hired a designer who's heard of Bauhaus, that that makes them a more creative, liberal, or hip company than, say, Dell. At least Dell doesn't condescend to us.

Your Moment of Zen

So disturbing. So... cute.

Thought this was a great Op Ed piece

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/opinion/26welch.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

John McCain appears to have been bought off in recent months. This piece is insight into where he might take this country's government and people based on his record in the senate and in some of his more recent speeches and past books. Looks like all he did was drop his individualism long enough to get religions and start to see the Bush regime in a more positive light.

Get ready people. You want another quasi-dictator, because his name's John McCain and he has a damn good chance of winning the nomination to be president.

Links for the curious and eclectic mind

Here are a few random nuggets from this (thus far) relaxing and not all-too-productive break at Colgate, for those who are also attempting to wage relaxing and not-too-productive breaks while curbing boredom.

Obama confronts racial division in US

These are things that need to be said on a national scale, and I hope these issues will not just be brought up in response to radical people like his pastor. (And on that matter, I understand the responses Obama's pastor's comments have inflamed but I think it's absurd to equate Obama's views with those of his pastor.) The fact that Obama has so eloquently used this situation to gently point out the racial divide in America is yet another reason I support him. I really do think it is time for PC bs to go, or we're only going to be stuck at a sad stalemate in race relations that could deteriorate into much worse (and arguably is for some).

Huaorani people - Wikipedia article

Aside from eating, hanging out with friends (St. Patrick's Day was particularly festive), doing laundry, and taking extravagant jogs on the ski hill, I've been reading a lot about the Huaorani nation of Ecuador; really, really interesting indigenous tribe numbering somewhere between 1300-2000 people, who have faced a host of threats to their well-being like oil interests, illegal logging and tourism, etc. The article above provides an okay overview that's not too skewed in any direction, so far as I can tell, but I'm not sure how they are doing at present. It seems tourism has really expanded in their territory (eg. huaorani.com is about an "eco-lodge") but not necessarily in a beneficial way.

The coolest thing I've seen in awhile

From an e-mail forward my mom sent me: "This is a prank on a 'grand' scale. Over 200 people gathered at Grand Central Station in New York to pull off a 'frozen in place' act. The onlooking travelers who weren't part of the act were mystified as to what was going on. Can you imagine??!!!" Inspires the human imagination, to say the least.

Housey House Dinner

We had a fabulous house dinner last night with the future Loj residents and some Hamilton Whole Foods people. Thanks so much to the organizers, cooks, and dishwashers! Hip hip!

I'm not sure how it went in the dining room, but the living room contingent had grand old time sharing bar stories, farm plans, celtic music info, and discussing public figures like Sptizer, Sen. Clinton, Brittney Spears and Michael Jackson. ALE's rawhide drums and our airplane project were big hits.

Speaking of primitivism

Due to a tip from Penguin Ducky, I spent the morning making rawhide drums with the Native American Student Association, which involved scraping hair and membranes off of pre-soaked hides, stretching them over frames, punching holes and lacing. Definitely gave me a new perspective on my own skin. The guy teaching the class is big into the primitive side of things, looking to master skills from pre-Columbian America - drums, hunting with longbows, building a longhouse, starting fires with sticks, the whole gamut. He took a really respectful approach to the whole process... it was a 180 from the profe dinner on Wednesday, with two very culturally savvy types. They look to the future, he looks to the past, and I think both parties are on to something.

Either way, with this and the airplane building, it's nice to do some tangible work, as opposed to the more scholastically ethereal (papers, blogging).

Humans and technology

I just wanted to take a quick moment to reflect on this past Wednesday's professor dinner. We had two new media art professors over, and it was really interesting to hear their perspectives. It was a brief dinner; I lingered for maybe an hour, yet their thoughts on human technology have really transformed my thinking. I had never heard anyone explain so eloquently the way that humanity is entwined with technology. We are different from most species in regard to our technology - at least indisputably in the extent to which we use it and rely on it for survival. Technology is our evolutionary adaptation, and I'd never even thought of it that way. "Back to nature" and primitivism sound so appealing to my deep ecology heart, and yet it was a reality check to hear from people that had been there and come to appreciate the reality of 'modern' technology. For all its faults, technology is the reason our species is around, and it does important good for our comfort and health - even the advanced technology. While there are obvious downsides to technology, and simplicity is a beutiful thing, we as humans are integrally related with technology. Our evolution (not in the specific biological, but in a broader sense) is intricately linked with the evolution of our techology - for better or worse. It's an obvious point that I feel I often try to deny deep down.

Also, I downloaded the Into the Wild score last night and it's really excellent. Perhaps the highlight of the movie. I'd recommend it.

Er...

A tree necklace?!


Oh my god. Can't believe I never thought of this myself, it is so obvious!

So much is given. So little is asked.

When was the last time your favorite tree demanded anything from you? Attention? Conversation? Compliments?

Surprise that oak, that maple, that honey locust. Drape a gleaming stainless
steel necklace around your precious. Fitted on indestructible marine line,
finished with marine hardware. Lasts forever.

Because if your favorite... something doesn't demand attention from you, it needs and wants a necklace. I dunno, applying cheesy jewelry commercial rhetoric to trees is somehow bizarre.

Plus who knows what it does to the tree.

BUT they do look kinda cool...

Jobs

You know you're applying for a cool job when the interviewer asks if you are comfortable with large wildlife and shotgun training. Then she says she will try to get back to you by next Friday, but it might be difficult because next week is the Iditarod.

For the political types among us

The city of Obama in Japan has adopted Senator Barack Obama:

It all started a couple of years ago, after the city heard from local reporters that the senator, upon arriving in Japan, joked with Japanese customs officials that he was from Obama, Fukui Prefecture.

True or not, the story prompted Mayor Toshio Murakami to send the candidate a long thank-you letter in January 2007, explaining the history of the city and saying Obama's comments, in jest or not, "helped advertise our city."

Included in the letter was a gift of high-quality chopsticks made in Obama.

The best thing out of this story was this picture of a souvenir bean paste cake:

Delicious.

New Addition to the House

After welcoming a baby mouse to the house (saved from the jaws of death ie a frat house's shenanigans), it unfortunately expired. Rest in peace, little mousie! The next addition is fortunately not alive. It is a piece of an airplane built by LJ, honorary Loj member DH, and yours truly, under the auspices of Build to Fly, the nonprofit airplane-building venture headed by Brett Zefting, the assistant director of Outdoor Ed.

Full disclosure: this is not actually a piece of an airplane, it is a learning project we had to build before we moved on to actual airplane parts. My overarching goal - to put a clock in the bottom lightening hole and maybe a picture or barackobameter in the top one - accounts for any imperfections. Wrong size rivet? That's ok, I'm not gonna fly this baby, it's gonna sit on the mantel and tell time.

Flights of insanity

Eco-Scandal! AA Plane Flies 5 Passengers From US To London

"It is estimated that each passenger produced 43 tons of CO2 – consuming enough fuel to carry a Ford Mondeo around the world five times.

Operating the near empty flight is estimated as having cost American about £30,000. But a spokesman said it had no alternative."

for the raccoon

I can has green chiles?

Finally I return from a 10-day excursion to those most notable of places whose abbreviated names end in "ex". While my heart will linger still in the wonderful newness of the Texas hills and the New Mexico desert, it's back right here where it belongs. Even as the future of my graduate education remains unclear, the present is undeniably real. (But come to think of it, after 10 days of truancy, the present is in desperate need of some semblance of a work ethic. Stay tuned for further updates!)

Green as a Thistle

My favorite environmetally-themed blog, Green as a Thistle, just finished up. A Canadian journalist/blogger spent a year making one environmentally responsible change in her lifestyle every day. She switched to natural products, and even gave up her car and unplugged her fridge. The last post is worth reading, as well as the "loving it" page.

http://greenasathistle.com/

P.S. I just blogged about a blog. Metablogging?

Huh.

It has been a rarity in modern political life: a wide-open race for the nomination of both parties. But whatever happens from here on out, this campaign will always be remembered for the emergence of the first serious woman candidate for president: Barack Obama.

Obama is a female candidate for president in the same way that Bill Clinton was the first black president.

Check it out

Radio Lab-Great Radio Show

I just listened to a great episode of my favorite radio show yesterday and I thought I would share it with you because I think most of the people in the house will really like the show too. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

There is a great episode about laughter and it has a story about this case in Tanzania in 1962, when this one girl starts laughing at a school and it soon spreads throughout the school and villages. They try and get the girls to stop laughing, but they turn violent. They have to close down 2 schools and everything. They still don't know what the cause is.

Also, believe it or not they believe that rats as well as humans laugh. They did experiments with tickling rats and they make squeeky noises that one scientist is calling laughing!! Anyways, its an interesting show, all the episodes are pretty good, so check it out!

Today's Advances in Scientific Knowledge

Not to seem preoccupied with dirty hair, but apparently "Greasy hair makes for clean air."

How? By absorbing ozone, which "can cause respiratory problems and has been associated with increased mortality." Huh!

You know who had greasy hair? This guy: