Mac and iPhone Are Not the Same Thing

Just a quick geek vent lamenting that so many formerly good sources for news and information about Macs have too much iPhone information.  Yes, both products are made by Apple.  But that does not mean I'm interested in sorting through reviews of every dorky new iPhone app.  

The Rake's Song

The Decemberists came out with a new single, The Rake's Songfrom the upcoming album, The Hazards of Love.

Quite disturbing, but superb nonetheless.  Looking forward to the album, which is supposed to continue with the story of the narrator heard in this song.

Starting to Feel the Disappointment

I knew this day would come, but I didn't think it would come so soon. I'm feeling a creeping sense of disappointment with President Obama, the stimulus package, and most of all with the Democrats in Congress. I guess I'm still holding out some hope that the Senate will clean things up, perhaps with pressure from President Obama. But it is not too damn likely. I'm not against taking out a mortgage in the form of additional debt (although I really hate the idea of debt), but it should be limited to spending that meet two tests. First, the spending must provide a near-term benefit in the form of either jobs or other economic stimulus. Second, the spending must be for something that really is an investment in the future and not merely current spending. Plenty in the bill as currently written meets neither test. Much of it does not qualify as an investment in the future.

I'd also be okay with using this opportunity to take on a big challenge -- particularly real comprehensive health care reform or a progressive tax simplification. Alas, neither -- even though both could be done in a way that stimulates the economy. Just stupid spending on stuff that makes the Democrats and Obama vulnerable to attack -- and rightly so.

New Music Tuesday

As is typical on Tuesdays, a slew of new music was released. The first single to catch my eye was Black Weddingby Meg & Dia. This will be one of the songs on the upcoming album, Here, Here and Here, which is set to be released on March 3, 2009.

I was only vaguely familiar with them prior to listening to this single, so I approach it with a clean slate. Musically it sounds on par with Avril Lavigne or Taylor Swift. Although that is an accurate observation, I realize it may not be entirely fair. Singles are often uninteresting musically. They are designed to be catchy even to the person listening on the radio while ordering at the Carl's Jr. drive through. This single should work well on pop and so-called alternative radio.

Lyrically, it is somewhat more sophisticated. Dia posted the lyrics and an explaination of the meaning on her myspace blog, if anybody cares to check that out. Personally, I didn't love this song or the lyrics, but it is enough for me to want to check out some of their back catalog and possibly the new album.

Black Wedding (Album Version) ...

[Edit: I found another new single from Meg & Dia, -- What If-- that sounds even more like Avril Lavigne. Oh well.]

What If (Album Version) - Meg ...

Coachella

The lineup for 2009 Coachella looks pretty damn good, at least for Friday. Paul McCartney seems to have been a bit of a boob since around 1970. The real headliner is Leonard Cohen. If all you did was show up for his performance, the ticket price would be worth it. Add in Franz Ferdinand and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), and Friday is set to be a great night. Of course, I can't forget about Morrissey. Wow. I'm somehow a bit ashamed to also admit that I'd like to see the Ting Tings. The only problem with Friday night is whether you'd be able to catch all of those shows.

Saturday is a bit of a dud in my view. I've always thought the Killers were overrated. Perhaps knowing the Mormon connection has clouded my judgment. Amy Winehouse might be interesting to see. I saw TV on the Radio in concert before and can't stand them either.

Sunday is also a dud with the huge exception of the Cure. I saw them when they headlined Coachella a few years ago and they gave a great show as always. I also saw them last year and for the first time they seemed to be a bit of a retro, novelty show. All the 30+ crowd forced their increasingly fat bodies into their old goth clothes and made a go of it one more time. The infusion of youth from the Coachella crowd will be a good thing, and some kids might discover a great band.

I'm envious of those of you who can make it to Coachella this year.

Oh Buddha!

I posted the lyrics to this song as one of my first blog posts. I finally have found an audio version. I still prefer this by the Imperials or other adult -- especially Eric -- because it sounds much more intolerant that way. But even kids can effectively communicate the message that they will go to heaven and everybody else in the world is going to hell.

Oh Buddha - Nashville Singers

Parenting Books

I picked up Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast Worldby Marybeth Hicks up at the library on a whim. As the parent of a four year old, I'm interested in ideas to do a better job as a parent. I suspect that most parents don't want their kids growing up too fast, don't want them chasing the latest fad, don't want them trying oral sex when they are twelve -- at least not their daughters. If the goal of this book is to convince you of these ideas, it is successful. However, the author fails to deal with the challenges of parenting honestly. With four children, surely she has faced some challenges. By and large, she does not share them. Instead, the anecdotes in this book are of how perfect her children are. When it is necessary to tell an unpleasant anecdote, it is usually a friend or a letter from a reader. So if you want to read 304 pages about how perfect Marybeth Hicks and her kids are, have at it. Take that ride in her minivan. If you want an open, honest, solution-based discussion of how to raise your child, look elsewhere.   

A somewhat-related book that I though was much better is Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder-- It is less preachy and more based on research in addition to just anecdotes.

New Music Night

Good new stuff from Franz Ferdinand's new album Tonight.  Not terribly groundbreaking, but they have a good formula of catchy, danceable music.  I imagine that someday the formula will wear thin.  That happened with Barenaked Ladies and Cake for me.  But for now, I'm tappin' my toes to Franz one more time.  

No You Girls - Franz Ferdinand

Comcast Speak

I'm going to see if I can spend an entire day speaking to others like a Comcast Customer Service Representative.   I've been on the phone or doing an online chat with several of them this evening, and they all have the same sort of non-responsive, passive voiced, overly appeasing way about them.    It will take some practice.  I may sign up to work for them in the center just to learn how it is done.

In any case, I think what they are saying is that I can't report an outage because they have an incorrect spelling of my last name on the account.  That will take them 24-48 hours to fix.  I think.  It has literally (no exaggeration) taken 6 hours to get that much out of them.   

So I'm damn close to just canceling them.  We have good free TV reception (can even buy an HDTV antenna and a TIVO machine and life won't be half bad).  Then I'll see if the phone company's DSL is any good.

Christmas Podcast

It is back!  By popular demand, the Unwilted Christmas podcast is uploaded for your listening pleasure.  It is in M4A format this year -- deal with it.

Facebook and Friends

I've been interested lately in  the impact that Facebook may be having on friendship.  Unlike Myspace, it seems that Facebook is a way to connect with people that you actually already know in one capacity or another  For me, it provides an easy way to share photos and information.  It also allows me to "passively" keep in touch with people with whom I may not otherwise share frequent emails or telephone calls but who I still care about to one degree or another. 

The interesting problem, though, is who exactly do I know?  Assuming I know a person, do I really want to be friends on Facebook?  

Unless you are a salesman, politician, or entertainer, the value of Facebook diminishes as you get too many friends.    After all, being friends entails getting (in some cases) multiple updates on the daily details of their life.  Do I really need to now that the dude I hung out with for a few weeks back in 1998 is sick today?  Or even worse, that he is doing great on some trivia quiz?

So this all creates some difficult decisions when I get a friend request.  One of the hardest decisions concerns people that I know now or sort of know now.  This category of person is somebody that I actually see on a regular basis for whatever reason.  By adding him as a friend today, it almost seems that I'm committing to following his daily updates for the rest of my life.  Perhaps the standard procedure will be to quietly drop the friendship after not being in regular contact for a few years.  On the other hand, it may still be good to have some sort of link to that kind of person going forward, especially if we are in the same profession or have a lot of mutual friends.

Another dilemma is what to do with the person you sort of knew years ago.  Yes, we went to school together years ago.  But we were not even really friends then.  Is there a sufficient basis to be "friends" now for the first time just based on the common experience and perhaps mutual friends?  In this situation, it at least helps if the friend request has a message to go with it.  Otherwise, it is this almost creepy agreement to open myself up to your voyeurism (photos, updates, contact information) in exchange for the same -- looking at each other through a double blind window (if such a thing exists).  

I should disclaim that although some of the friend requests have been close calls both ways (both accept and reject), and I've been fairly limited with respect to the people that I'll allow into my Facebook life.  I'm happy with the friends that I have (and there are still many real life friends who I hope will join Facebook).   It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the years and decades to come, and what my reaction will be to finding out that the dude I met at a conference in 2002 reached a new level in the Nickelback trivia game.   

Nothing to Do

With the election over, I'm not sure what to do with myself.  Even right now, I'm watching football.  That ought to be enough, but I've become accustomed to multitasking with the TV going and the laptop on the coffee table.  So right now, the commercials are playing and I've nothing to look at on the internet.  

Rush and Sean and the Rest

I spend a lot of time listening to talk radio. Most of what is available is the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity sort of stuff. During this last election season, much of the Republican message was generated by talk radio. Whether it was Ayers, ACORN, socialism, or Barack Obama wanting to bankrupt the coal industry, I always heard about it first on talk radio. Talk radio is the most influential conservative think tank and the primary Repub election strategist.

On the one hand, I suppose, that is a compliment to talk radio. On the other hand, I wonder if the Repub's reliance on talk radio as a source of new ideas is really hurting them. Certainly, there are intelligent, thoughtful conservatives such as David Brooks or George Will. Ronald Reagan and the conservatives ruled the 1980s on the strength of their ideas. They won in 1994 based on ideas -- the old Contract with America. But talk radio deals in broad generalizations concerning their own ideas, and mostly caricature or outright distortions of their opponents. Mostly, they attack liberals or any Repub. who is not like them (i.e., Rush today said "good riddance" at the loss of Repub. Chris Shays). They work themselves into a frenzy, and they begin to remind most Americans of their crazy old uncle who used to think that the government controlled the weather and who kept gold coins in his basement. Don't you think that is exactly how John McCain looked when he tried to compare Barack Obama to a socialist?

Republicans who are now searching their souls should search for leadership who will return them to ideas. And Sarah Palin probably does not fit that bill.

Must See -- Daily Show Exposes the BS

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