A Semi Sentient Simians Musings

2009-09-11T18:18:00.001-07:00

No one should die because they cannot afford a gun, and no one should die because they can't defend themselves. repost if you agree.

2009-08-06T09:14:00.001-07:00

I've been noticing that Pollacks are making some of the best new Prog Rock.

2009-07-25T13:02:00.001-07:00

Blue Dogs Re: Waxman - "We have been lied to" I thought only Repulicans lied? http://ping.fm/4VTFF

2009-07-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

Blue Dogs RE: Waxman - "We have been lied to" I thought only Republicans lied?

2009-07-25T12:48:00.001-07:00

Stop the transfer of terror suspects to US soil. Sign the petition. http://ping.fm/MX3lG

2009-07-25T12:42:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/8DY5l

If international green legislation is passed, let China pay their own, not the USA. The Dems are out of control!

2009-07-16T10:36:00.001-07:00

you musta been high! California projects 1.4 billion in taxes is pot made legal: http://ping.fm/LZCJ0

2009-07-16T10:28:00.001-07:00

Once again, BCO and BHO numbers collide. http://ping.fm/E1AFd

2009-07-16T05:50:00.001-07:00

Hydrogen car gets 1336 MPG: http://ping.fm/85Qhz

2009-07-04T06:00:00.001-07:00

Back from vacation!

2009-06-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

Illegal immigrants on US soil don't get Miranda rights, yet terrorists abroad do? WTF Barry? http://ping.fm/sErAH

2009-06-10T11:10:00.001-07:00

No more pencils, No more books - at least in California http://ping.fm/pTEEo

2009-06-05T06:05:00.001-07:00

As long as there is homework there will be prayer in school ACLU STFU! http://ping.fm/CfbYi

2009-06-05T06:00:00.001-07:00

If physical laws evolve across the multiverse, does this mean somewhere the earth is flat? LOL http://ping.fm/WHLyo

2009-06-05T05:57:00.001-07:00

Kept waiting for the ape to rip the dudes arms off.

http://ping.fm/QDJQU

2009-06-05T05:54:00.001-07:00

Back to the future - ancient building techniques new buildings? http://ping.fm/peOIj

2009-06-04T16:02:00.001-07:00

am I the only one who thinks those cash register ads are a bit racist? Always depicting blacks who can't afford car insurance.

2009-06-03T10:00:00.001-07:00

""The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without knowing how it happened… I no longer need to run as a Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform. "
- Norman Thomas, six-time U.S. presidential candidate for the Socialist Party, 1944.

2009-06-03T07:32:00.001-07:00

Interesting new use of twitter - Remote viewing tests: http://ping.fm/bmWL1

2009-05-26T14:01:00.001-07:00

I'll have the Neanderthal with a side of bison: http://ping.fm/kWNZH

2009-05-26T07:49:00.001-07:00

Bring on the Sci-Fi babes: http://ping.fm/5j8Vc

2009-05-22T10:49:00.001-07:00

Getting to the bottom of the global warming debate by following the "green" http://ping.fm/VtPIS

2009-05-20T05:42:00.001-07:00

CLBOOT32.exe is corrupt it seems... along with who knows what else. Emergency backup and repair day.

2009-05-20T05:37:00.001-07:00

Came into work, Server fans screaming. Hard drive breathing it's last I think.

2009-05-19T20:00:00.001-07:00

Gotta stop eating crap that gives me heartburn.

2009-05-15T09:57:00.001-07:00

Stop the Waxman Cap and trade bill. $2 trillion is too much to spend on Al Gores Chicken Little act. http://ping.fm/uW1wq

2009-05-14T11:41:00.001-07:00

My last.fm streams keep jumping to next song, mid song. Really pissing me off.

2009-05-10T06:36:00.001-07:00

Happy mothers day to all!

2009-05-07T08:56:00.001-07:00

The onion pipes in on new Star Trek film: http://ping.fm/JXFxj Too funny.

2009-05-05T07:46:00.001-07:00

This is why the Patriot Act needs to be repealed: http://ping.fm/DWu7Y

2009-05-05T06:06:00.001-07:00

Looks like Gitmo will stay open after all: http://ping.fm/duznc Dems go against Obama and get it right.

2009-05-04T12:17:00.001-07:00

Murder at Popeyes: http://tinyurl.com/dlncdt Just down the road from last years Wendy's shooting.

2009-05-04T12:13:00.001-07:00

Cops have Popeyes on Military Trail blocked off for crime scene.

2009-05-04T09:38:00.001-07:00

Change? http://ping.fm/QNhSS

2009-05-04T05:39:00.001-07:00

Woke up with headache, and Grand Funk Song "No Sugar" in my head. Both still there.

2009-04-30T07:26:00.001-07:00

A site for all you superheros: http://ping.fm/hHhq1

2009-04-30T06:35:00.001-07:00

The link that shall not be named: Lovecraft online. http://ping.fm/Q5dwb

2009-04-28T10:17:00.001-07:00

WTF was Obama thinking doing a 747 flyby over the Statue of Liberty? FOR A PHOTO-OP? http://ping.fm/IAA9k http://ping.fm/DpaZc

2009-04-27T13:11:00.001-07:00

Found out my son is following me on plurk. Not sure what I feel about it.

2009-04-24T07:21:00.001-07:00

Off to set up for new library opening. See you all tomorrow.

2009-04-23T09:06:00.001-07:00

Gun rights upheld in California: http://ping.fm/q8ZoF

2009-04-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Lose weight or they will tax you! http://ping.fm/X1Q8w Republicans are arming themselves with forks and knives.

2009-04-22T07:27:00.001-07:00

Something tells me this PDF still rasterizing means it will be unusable.

2009-04-22T06:38:00.001-07:00

A classic commercial in memory of Earth Day: http://ping.fm/TLy9f BTW, the Indian was Italian.

2009-04-21T12:22:00.001-07:00

How do you cut your hand on melting ice?

2009-04-21T08:18:00.001-07:00

ping.fm is great for all my cross posting needs.

2009-04-21T06:58:00.001-07:00

Keep getting out of memory errors in Illustrator today. 4GB not enough? It's vector art damn it!

2009-04-21T06:36:00.001-07:00

Hoping for more rainy days like the past two. It's fun watching people in drought zones drive in the rain.

2009-04-20T09:49:00.001-07:00

To all my pot smoking/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang/Family Guy loving friends: http://ping.fm/RpwdR

2009-04-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

East shelf of Antarctica GETTING BIGGER! But surely the earth is warming because of man? http://ping.fm/pOo5D

2009-04-20T08:33:00.001-07:00

The south will rise again? http://ping.fm/zk8os Interesting comment about Texas splitting into 10 states.

2009-04-20T07:13:00.001-07:00

If foul play was involved I hope they prosecute to the fullest: http://ping.fm/ELz4q

2009-04-14T10:58:00.001-07:00

Overheard at lunch: 80+to woman recommending sexting to middle aged man.

2009-04-13T10:11:00.001-07:00

new song posted over weekend "Excessive Exposure" www.reverbnation.com/randypytel. Features Stick and keyboards

2009-04-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

last.fm must assume I am a fan of Italian Prog, spanish music, and 40's swing. Not sure why.

2009-04-12T06:26:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

2009-04-09T19:48:00.001-07:00

Primeval debuts on SciFi in BSG's time slot. Watch it!

2009-04-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

Why do I find white noise and oscillators so soothing to listen to?

2009-04-06T12:23:00.001-07:00

WTF? last.fm goes from Japanese noise rockers Ruins, to Satchmo to Mike Keneally?

2009-04-03T09:10:00.001-07:00

Damn, getting hungry.

2009-04-01T13:15:00.001-07:00

3 months in office and Obama has spent more than GWB in 8 YEARS! http://ping.fm/LVrLE Also on pace to ruin the constitution more than Bush did .

2009-04-01T08:46:00.001-07:00

Wow! FBI confirms Hitler survived WWII - http://ping.fm/Tu1vF AFMF

2009-04-01T05:42:00.001-07:00

Last nights jam session was more fun than productive. Productivity is over rated, fun is not!

2009-03-31T05:18:00.001-07:00

I've become addicted to the environmentalist indoctrination that is the game Spore. Purple Spice= yum.

2009-03-30T05:13:00.001-07:00

I like spring break. The commute to work is much easier.

2009-03-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

Kids parties tend to be über noisy. Where are my ear plugs?

2009-03-27T11:56:00.001-07:00

Drank too much tea today.

2009-03-27T08:16:00.001-07:00

Upstairs smells like maple syrup and blueberries. When's lunch?

2009-03-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

Just bought my tickets to see NIN and Jane's Addiction in may.

2009-03-26T06:58:00.001-07:00

LOL! Just as I posted that, I hear Brendan Perry sing "I have found my tastes are somewhat underground" Synchronicity, Yeah boy!

2009-03-26T06:57:00.001-07:00

When perusing last.fm, I realize just how few people share my music tastes. The job of an iconoclast is never done.

Follow my Blips

2009-01-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

I am now on blip.fm, a fun micro blogging music site. Think of it as twitter, but with tunes.

Facing the Challenge... or the end of the world?

2008-09-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, friend and fellow band mate, Grant, asked me to help with a song he was working on... problem is, he HAD to have it done by the end of the day, and he had little to nothing recorded. What he wanted was a long outro part on the Chapman Stick to evoke the atmosphere of the generation of a miniature black hole as generated by the Large Hadron Collider in France. I worked on a track given the parameters I had at hand, but the first draft proved to not work. so I Reworked it and after a flurry of emails sending out various tracks, the song was produced. I have no idea how long Grant stayed up, but I assume it was late. Anyways, here is the link to his site, be sure to check the song out:

http://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/

Now I wonder... since I collaborated on a project for a site featuring a new science based song a month, am I committed to contributing from now on? It's actually a great intellectual challenge. I think I will get to work on it.

Showtime!

2008-08-22T13:42:00.001-07:00

On to thing 24 and beyond

2008-07-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Finishing up the library web 2.0 project. A couple of random thoughts:

This program was probably very challenging to those who are not (or hopefully WERE not) technologically savy. I think in all it was educational. granted I already had done well over half of the things in there, and the others I wasn't as interested in for my own personal use. it did get me back into blogging, and if nothing else, I find that to be well worth it.

As the internet evolves, there are new opportunities for learning and entertainment. i see a world in the very near future (I'd argue it's here) where the internet is the dominate interface for learning and for relaxing. As long as the content is open, and access is available, it will continue to grow.

as workers in the modern world, it is an imperitave to keep up with the emerging technologies, and embrace them. Failure to do so will leave you behind.

the PBCLS wiki

2008-07-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

First, I need to let you know what I entered:

http://pbclswiki.pbwiki.com/The-Chapman-Stick

Wikis are an interesting, almost viral method of distributing information. they are typicall not as accurate as say an encyclopedia, yet, the fact they are essentially open source, and can be edited by anyone, they do tend to be VERY accurate.

Arise ye internet entertainments

2008-07-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

As the internet gets more robust, and connection speeds become faster, we are seeing a convergence of technologies that traditionally were limited to other sources. Two of those, video, and auudio broadcasts were traditionally covered by television and radio respectively. now days ,you have youtube, and other realted sites for video. Infact some of the TV networks offer full streaming episodes on their web site.

In my opinion, youube is clearly the "MTV" of the new millenia. I am always amazed when I find some piece of archival video from bands long since dead just awaiting my discovery. and new bands seem eager to put up videos to promote themselves.

Even beyond music videos, streaming video sites offer lots of opportunities for promotion and for education. I have found all manners of instructional videos on the site. Seems people are willing to literally give information away on youtube. Just type in your area of interest, and discover for yourself.

Even the library System has a youtube site. We are currently using it to show clips of library activities, such as branch openings, and to promote services, such as Summer REading, and Express checkout.

http://youtube.com/user/pbclibrary

If you are a fellow PBCLS employee reading this, be sure to bookmark the page. you may even see yourself on there at some point!

The seond techology, the one that replaces radio, is podcasting (And streaming audio in general) a podcast reminds me of the "Pirate Radio" stations that everyone I knew seemed to run when I was younger. Now days, it can be done over the internet, without risk of FCC violations.

Most podcasts are topically focused. I guess in many ways more like talk radio, than say AOR, or pop music stations. Even the music based podcasts are typically focused on a genre of music.

the following is a list of a few recommended podcasts:

http://stradasphereradiopodcast.blogspot.com/

A Chapman Stick related podcast, run by my friend Juan Leon. All Stick, all the time.

http://the-broad-cast.com/

Run by a couple of friends, one a librarian. This podcast is NOT suitable for minors, and is really a forum for a couple female friends to ramble on like drunken sailors. but they are friends, so I need to promote them. And besides, it's often funny.

http://beatchicks.com/

A couple friends (both have been on the broad-cast, one as a regular, the other a recurring guest) put together this new podcast designed to highlight the performers in the game second life. secondlife is a virtaul world, and one of the biggest draws is "live" musical performances. there are some very talented artists in there, be sure to check it out. In fact start here, and get an idea about it, before hand.

Audiobooks? as good as the real thing?

2008-07-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

One of the services the library offers is the ability to download audiobooks via the Overdrive service. There is a wide, and ever expanding selection of books available for download. that said, I did a quick search on the overdrive site for a couple of my favorite authors (granted most of my reading is limited to tech manuals, either of a computer, art, or musical nature. To me that is reading for pleasure.) Bruce Sterling? Nope. Umberto Eco? nope, Willaim gibson? I mean after all surely the term "overdrive" was derived from his Nebula nominated book Mona Lisa overdrive was it not? Nope, Natch, Nada, Nill... one of the most improtant sci-fi writers of the late 20th century is not represented there... wow.

Will the spoken word replace the written one? In short, I doubt it. Sure, it's great listening to audio versions of great books while in the car. It's a real time saver. However, I think that thousand of years from now, there will still be boooks. There is something about the tactile interaction with boooks that will always offer a sense of intamacy that an audio book, or text on screen will never offer.

there is a great Doctor Who episode that takes place entirely in the library. David Tennants Doctor has a great speech about libraries at around 2:10 in this clip:

Stolen items to be on the lookout for:

2008-07-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Last week my home was burgaled, and nearly $4,ooo worth of property was stolen. My home is in the Wellington area. The following is a list of items to be on the lookout for:

47" vizio LCD 1080p TV. Only about 3 months old.

Ibanez 6 string Bass guitar, black

Washburn Electric guitar, red and gold fireburst flame maple top. there is a large chip in the lower back side section of the body, and it is a left ghanded guitar.

Washburn Lyon electric guitar, metal flake pink

Line 6 Pod xt, with FB1 shortboard and case.

Roland GR1 guitar synth.

Nintendo DS Gold Zelda special edition, with user initals "RGP"

Vivitar camcorder DVR550

There were other miscellaneous items stolen, but are typically to generic to easily identify (eg. PS2)

Don't Mess with the Zoho

This post was written using the online text editor zoho, as part of the library web project. Works pretty much like other text editors, and is free, so well worth checking out. I may end up using the google one more often as it sees at least on first glance to work with other google technologies more seamlessly.

del.icio.us invasion of the technorati

2008-06-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Let's see if it's as tasty as the name.

I must admit my first thought is "why would I want others to see MY bookmarks? honestly, I don't think I do. not like I look at midget porn, or crack babies on fire, but I really just don't like the public 9AKA random strangers - or worse yet family and friends) knowing every site I think of interest. If I find one I like, I tend to share.

Another way to invade my privacy is www.technorati.com. However since I my ego tells me to maike sure the world see my blog, and this site is crawling around my blog anyways, I might as well sign up so I can have some level of control over it.

Technorati Profile

As for the whole "Web 2.0" and it's impacts on libraries? I think new evolving technologies are a good thing, and hopefully this will drive libraries into the 21st century. It's an imperitive to embrace the technologies, or be left behind.

That said, can we stop calling it web 2.0? While I like a lot of the evolving internet technologies, I think the Web 2.0 term is a misused marketing ploy. and really I can see it causing confusion to those who may think it's somehow a different internet.

Ammendment: When looking at the list of "web 2.0 award winners" I quickly realized this post actually fulfills two objectives. nice to be able to do that! Also, I will note that several weeks out and I have not really used the del.icio.us site very much. I am trying to make an effort to do so however, as I can see some uses for it.

Library Thing

2008-06-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

So I checked out www.librarything.com today. Probably not a site for me, since I tend to read more along the Magazine/tech manual axis as opposed to the litereature axis. However I DID notice that when you look at book venues and events, that we have nothing listed in the events. Kind of a shame really. guess I need to mention it to the webmaster.

Of greater interest however is the libraries new webfeat search engine. (http://wfx.webfeat.org/wfsearch/search) Did a quick search on Music theory, and found over 500 listings! Looks like I have a ton of new reading to do.

Image Generator

2008-06-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Made with "Motivator" from http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

Pretty much sums up the Catholic School experience.

Who makes a Mac only plug-in?

2008-06-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Worked with Ninjam last night. Discovered there is no easy way to route Ableton Live into ninjam. There IS a plugin, but it’s Mac only. the idea here was to use ninjam, a virtual jam session software as a device to allow my bandmates and I to play remotely, and route said performance into second life, a virtual world that features live music as a large part of it.

No Pc plugin to route Ableton into ninjam leaves the following options:

find a drummer for ninjam sessions.
find another way to route the signals. For example, go from the outputs of one PC, to the inputs on another that is running ninjam. When the second computer is running that will be easy enough to do.
Have good old fashioned jam sessions with bandmates
pre-record everything and play it back to the SL audience, and talk over it.
pre-record everything, and not worry about SL performance, just on songwriting and recording.
there is another program like ninjam, that has the proper plugin, but it costs about 70euro.

So in short, the idea my friend and I had to play virtually has hit a snag, and I need to figure out what to do next.

Adrian Belew show!

2008-06-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I attended the closing of Lake Worth's Bamboo room. A club that catered to quality live music for about a decade. While I am upset that the place is closing, I was over joyed to see the closing act, Adrian Belew, of King Crimson (And Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, NIN and a slew of others) fame. This is the third time I have seen him, and his power trio, featuring young musical prodigy siblings Erik and Julie Slick. The three of them put on a show that I recommend to anyone who appreciates good music played by top notch musicians.

After each show, the band makes a point to connect with the audience by way of a meet and greet/autograph session. Adrian seems to thoroughly enjoy meeting his fans, and takes time to converse with each of them. A note to Mr. and Mrs. Slick - You could not have entrusted your kids to a better musical mentor, and it shows. Erik and Julie are fantastic musicians, and quality people as well.

This shot was taken on my friends cellphone camera. Tried to lighten it up as much as possible, but it was pretty damned dark in there.

The view from our seats. Pictures taken by fellow Adrian fan, and perpetual sidekick, Keifer.

No, Adrian is not tuning in this shot. Adrian is a master at finding new ways to coax new sounds out of the guitar. Jimi may have started it, but Adrian perfected it.

Here are some video clips found on yuotube of the power trio performing. none are from the Bamboo Room show however:

"Of Bow and Drum"

"E" A new song by the trio

"the King Crimson classic, "Dinosaur" my kids favorite KC song.

A little of what I do...

2008-05-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

here is a video I recently shot and edited for the Palm Beach County Library Systems 2008 Summer Reading Program. Yes, I know you can see the hand up the puppets back side. I MEANT to do that. The idea was to be over the top and cheesy.

New computer up and running

2008-05-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

Last week was a virtual 9th plane of hell on my home computer. Thursdays torrential storm left me without Internet. So, after some troubleshooting, I determined it was the cable modem, router, and the NIC on the motherboard of my computer.

Spent Friday night replacing said items. New modem, used an old router I had, and replaced the on board networking with a PCI card. Still no Internet. Well, not true, I could get to a default Comcast page, but no further. So I call Comcast to tell them I installed a new modem, and that they need to set it up. The girl fumbles around with the keyboard for a bit, has me run the cable setup app, and fumbles some more. Alas, STILL no Internet. So, instead of trying anything else, she finishes the conversation by telling me I need an on site service call - NEXT Friday.

One week with out Internet? What is a 21st Century man supposed to do? Play PacMan all day? Not for me buddy.

So the next day I was speaking with a friend who told me that when he had moved from one location to another, he had to have HIS cable modem set up. Seems they needed the MAC ID of the item to allow it access to the network. The girl from Friday NEVER asked me for it, after I told her AT least THREE times that I installed a new modem. So the new tech guy sets it up, and tells me it will be 24 hours before it goes through. 24 Hours? To type in about 50 characters total? I must say I applaud Comcast on hiring the mentally challenged, but come on, that's a bit much. Oh and the guy I spoke with couldn't do it right there, it had to be routed to a MORE QUALIFIED person, who had to type in the appropriate numbers to allow me access. wouldn't a simple "Open Sesame" suffice? So, of course it is almost 24 hours to the minute before it gets turned on.

To make matters worse, before the cable could get turned on, The REST of the computer goes down. At first I thought maybe the power supply, but realised that the fans would turn on for a second, then the whole thing would stop. So, power supply good. that means either the processor, the Motherboard or both. I still have not figured out which one. I need to take it to a local shop to diagnose. FORTUNATELY both items are still under warranty. problem is, it will probably take a month to get the parts repaired/replaced.

So, what's a poor computer junkie to do? Take advantage of the situation of course. I ordered a new motherboard, and processor. upgraded from a good fast dual core system, to a real fast quad core one! Parts came in yesterday, and I spent the night setting things up. so far so good. While I have not yet had much chance to put it through the paces, it does seem faster. With 4 cores of processing, music applications should run real nice.

So, what to do with the old parts when fixed? Well build a back up computer of course! Once I get the parts, I will migrate them to an old ATX case I have, upgrade the rest of the new system (I'm looking at the new 512 MB Geforce 9600 Card by MSI) and put the video card and RAM I have now into the backup. this should also be a help for me in my goal of live performances in Second Life. the idea is to use one computer for Ableton live, to run drum tracks, guitar rig and stream audio, while the other will run the second life app. with luck I should have enough processing power to do everything I need.

RSS Feeds.

2008-05-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

OK as part of this 23 things project we are required to subscribe to bloglines. I personally dont like the site too much and prefer to use my own RSS feeds. Oh well, the things you do for the job.

Gotta love DIY tech, and computer music in general

2008-05-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Some more video links to experemental instruments:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u5_RNA6eNIo&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0RKuDZ_T1Zo&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RVnEwAwIKZE&feature=related

Theremin, Strat, Moog, Stick, Samchillian?

2008-05-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Gotta love the new trend of technology inspired msuical instruments. Leon theremin was the first to create a new instrument that was electronic, with the theremin, a pitch oscillator controlled by radio waves. Simply wave your hands in the radio field, and create music. Simple.... or rather, NOT so simple. then in the 20's Mr Rickenbacker created the first electric guitar, and when Leo Fender got ahold of the idea, and made it commercially viable, Rock and Roll was born. Soon followed the electric bass, and then the Chapman Stick.

Meanwhile, the keyboard was being developed, and early synths evolved. the Moog is the most famous and influencial of these, maybe followed by the mellotron. To this day, the sweet warbling sounds of recorded strings send chills up my spine. the Mellotron was the first commercially sucsessful "sampler," albiet an analog one.

FFWD>>> to modern day. Sampling technology has evolved by huge leaps and bounds over the last 40+years, to where today, entire musical compositions are being created inside the computer with a degree of realism that makes it tough to tell if it's live or memorex.

That said, there is still a huge demand for synthesized music. In fact the two, synths, and samples have been merging, and most keyborad technology melds the two together. To this end, I present a new instrument that I found online, the Samchillian. It's a MIDI (Music Instrument Digital Interface) device that is played by striking keys, but more like a computer keyboard, instead of a piano one. the biggest difference? The keys are relative, instead of absolute. what this means is each time you hit a key, instead of it being cay F#, it goes up or down the scale depending on the music key selected. the latest models even have the ability to alter effects like pitch bend for example simply by tipping the handheld device up or down. This makes it sounds VERY much like the old Theremin. check it out:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DbOIBIwg_E4

http://samchillian.com/

HEY! This is a no smoking state damnit!

2008-05-13T05:22:00.001-07:00

I'm so tired of the entire South Florida area smelling of an ash tray, and my lungs, and sinuses having to work overtiem to cope with the contaminates in the air.

To make things worse, it appears these fires are the result of arson. Who ever this person, or persons is/are. I really hope they are caught. This is well beyond just a home or two, or a small patch of land being burnt, this is effecting millions of people in Florida.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-12-094.asp

DIY Approach to the fuel crisis

2008-05-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

Make you own ethanol at home:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0850981420080509

I acutally had a discussion about this last night, and a few other times recently. I strongly feel that one major need in this country is alternative fuels. seems to me ethanol is one of the cheapest to produce, and would take the least amount of adaptation to make viable. Heck, many, if not most cars are already equiped to run on it, and those that aren't can be adapted for a few hundred Dollars. The only drawback, and reason I have not made the change is availability. I dont't have the space to build my own ethanol still, and there are no gas station around that supply it.

What's even more depressing in a way, is living in south Florida, I am near one of the BEST supplies of raw materials for ethanol - sugar cane. It's cheap, grows quickly, and basically the parts used for sugar production are NOt the part used for ethanol production. the empty husks are mainly incenerated, and adding to the depletion of the ozone. Why not convert it to ethanol?

We have the technologies needed to rid our country of the big oils death grip on our lives... its time to use them.

Beatles Trivia Game

2008-05-08T13:55:00.001-07:00

Beatles Trivia Quizgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

30,000 words a second

2008-05-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Peter Gabriel has always been one of my favorite artists, not just from a musical standpoint, but from one of being a human rights activist. The following is a presentation advocating the use of video cameras by activists to show the world the atrocities that are too often hidden from us:

Hmmm... Why Google?

2008-05-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

This "Web 2.0" project has me thinking... is the REAL motivation for doing this a migration plan away from the bloat ware that is the microsoft corporation? Google offers free, and robust tools to do everything from text editing, to databases. Even basic image editing tools. And with rumors that they are in development of a free operating system, could that be the trend of the future?

Me? Well personally I'd like to see it. I still curse the day they took the macs out of the office. What were they thinking? I can't think of one advantage of windows over Mac OS, save for the price. but if yo ufactor in all the mantainence costs of ownership, I'm sure the figure is far closer than most would admit.

Perhaps the google OS will be the next big thing. If it can offer powerful alternatives, or compatability with the Adobe programs, and with music and video editing software, then I'll be sold.

Getting Started

2008-05-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

So, my job is requiring we all take a "web 2.0" course. My first thought was, "welcome to the 90's" I've been watching, and using emerging web technologies for years now. I had to decide if I wanted to start a new work related blogger account, or try to remember my old discarded gmail account, and blogger site. It's one of those things I signed up for, and never used. Why? Well I mainly have been on livejournal. Even that is pretty abandonded of late.

Anyways, this is the new blog. I'll be posting my web 20. progress, as well as some other musings as I go along.

Too bad there isnt a 140 character limit... I like twitter for just that reason.