Bush is unelectable update
Hey, remember a while back when I linked the phrase "Bush is unelectable" to his biography as part of an internet movement to get a Google search for "unelectable" to bring up GW's biography. Well it looks like it worked, haha!
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Merry Christmas
I've been working on this "Indie" Christmas mix for a while, and I finally finished it yesterday. I made about 10 copies, so if anyone between Haddonfield and Hammonton wants a copy, let me know and I'll get it to you as my gift. Also you can get it from me using soulseek, just browse user "fdintino", the folder "christmas" -> "a very indie xmas 2003". To give you an idea, I have a 1.18 gb folder of christmas music that I sampled to make this mix. That's disguisting. Anyway, here's the track listing:
01. Dandy Warhols - Little Drummer Boy
02. Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
03. Ben Folds - Bizarre Christmas Incident
04. Ben Folds Five - Lonely Christmas Eve (Grinch)
05. Yo La Tengo - It's Christmas Time
06. Fountains of Wayne - I Want an Alien for Christmas
07. Fountains of Wayne - The Man in the Santa Suit
08. Various Artists - Hanukkah Hey-ya
09. Sean Na Na - Don't Get Drunk This Christmas
10. The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo
11. The Flaming Lips - White Christmas (WXPN Version)
12. Grandaddy - Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
13. Snow Patrol - When I Get Home for Christmas
14. Jingle Cats - Silent Night
15. El Vez - Feliz Navidad
16. Belle and Sebastian - O Come, O Come Emmanuel
17. Atom and his Package - What We Do On Christmas
18. Departure Lounge - Christmas Downer
19. Phantom Planet - Winter Wonderland
20. Sense Field - Happy Christmas (War is Over)
21. The Kinks - Father Christmas
22. Radar Bros. - This Xmas Eve
23. Man... or Astroman? - Frosty the Snowman
24. My First Keyboard - Christmas is only Good if You Are a Girl / Boy
25. Weezer - Christmas Celebration
26. Weezer - Christmas Song
And don't even think about asking why Weezer, the Hanukkah Hey-ya, and Jingle Cats are indie - because that's just a dumb question (especially Jingle Cats - nothing is more indie than cats singing christmas carols).
How to get aggregate category and monthly archives in Movable Type for multiple weblogs
Today I sat myself down in front of the computer with the goal of combining the monthly archives and category archives for my two weblogs, and without getting up until I finished. It took a while, but I finally managed it. Since I couldn't find any sites on how to specifically do this (or any implementations of it, though I simply may not have been able to find any) I figured it would be helpful to give a little tutorial on how to combine the category archives and monthly archives for multiple blogs.
Continue reading "How to get aggregate category and monthly archives in Movable Type for multiple weblogs"
What type of Indie kid are you?
You're an Indie Pop Kid. You like songs about relationships and the prettiness of nature. You're sentimental, but certainly not emo. Oh, and if you aren't an English Major, you should be.
You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize. (brought to you by Quizilla)
What's New
I'm back home, have been since Wednesday. Break is alright so far, I imagine it will continue to get better as people trickle back home. I took out the power supply on my computer and replaced it with a spare, so my computer is working again (and the power supply is being shipped back to the people i bought it from for a replacement). Anyway, on account of my being computerless (and room-less, at least temporarily, but that's a whole other story) I haven't been able to post much. I imagine that it'll probably stay that way until the holidays are over and things start to slow down, around Jan. 2nd or so. Anyway, I'm off to go Christmas shopping.
Site Redesign (Again)
Well, I finally figured out how to combine both of my weblogs onto one front page, using the MTSQL and Compare plugins for movable type (mostly based off of these instructions, though it took quite a bit of work to get the <ul> tags to wrap correctly). Very kottke-esque. There's still a few flaws in it though, the categories for instance are all screwed up - the categories here are for the main blog (that is, normal entry) posts, and if you want to access the categories for the linkies blog then click on the linkies archive. Anyway, I hope that this is a bit more intuitive than what I had before. Feedback would be appreciated.
In other news, today's been a pretty decent day. I found out that I got a job with the IT people as a lab tech today, and I somehow managed to get the flu and lose it in 24 hours - proving that I'm much more resilient than I had previously thought. Finals are easy so far, I only have 3, and of those, only one is cumulative. I'll be heading home on Wednesday, so if anyone wants to meet up back home, you can reach me, as always, on AIM (Frankieist) or via email frankieist _at_ gmail.com.
Ack busy
Well yesterday, on account of not getting any sleep the night before, I was totally wiped out. It seems that my medicine makes it alot harder for me to get by without sleep - Ashley tells me this is normal but it is definitely irritating. It seems that I probably wouldn't be able to do that wake-a-thon after all. Anyway, I at least got a decent amount of sleep tonight. I'll probably procrastinate by posting some links to my linkies thing, other than that - one week until break!
Looks Like an All-Nighter
It's 4:30 and I just finished my work. By the time I get back to my dorm room, take a shower, do my night-time routine etc, it'll be almost time to wake up. Generally I've found that I'm better off on no sleep than I am on an hour or so. Speaking of sleep deprivation, perhaps Andrew and Bryan (friends from back home) would let me join in on their 100 hour wake-a-thon over winter break - I've done it before and I'm sure I can do it again.
Site Changes Continue
Well, almost all of the responses have been positive about the site changes, and I'm pretty happy with it myself - it's much easier to post more this way. I'm in the process of transfering the short one-line links over to the linkies section, which will take me a while, so bear with me. Also, just to clarify - at the moment, the "linkies" and my regular blog are now two seperate blogs, though they appear on the same page. Basically, I'll reserve the left side for personal entries, site news, and entries with long quotes or with commentary. The right side will be just short entries consisting of interesting things I've found off the web. Since the blogs are seperate, the categories and archives are also seperate. So, if you want to browse my older links, just click the "linkies archive" to your right (under the linkies). Obviously there are some problems with this setup, namely that the categories aren't consistent throughout the whole site, the archives, etc. I plan to fix this over winter break by changing my layout to something more like kottke's, where the different types of post formats will coexist in the same categories, archives, and main page. Until then, enjoy the site.
The Bad Sex Awards
"Joanne hung with her head flung back over the side of the bed, her hair splayed out across the floor, which required Christian to cling on to her waist so they both didn't fall off, and then after a modicum of congenial thrusting, she came with the exhilarating whoops and pant-hoots of a troop of Rhesus monkeys, which was flattering, if alarming." The Bad Sex Awards are back.
Site Design Change
Well, my frustrations (which I've expressed before) have finally resulted in something productive. I added the little sidebar you see to the right (with the heading "linkies"), as well as some minor modifications of link color, weight, and the color of the headings on the right. Basically, I was getting tired of how the main weblog was being cluttered by one sentence posts, so I made a seperate weblog for them. The little (#) indicates the number of comments on the post, and also is a link to a page to comment on the post. Additionally, if you hover your mouse over the links a little short explanation about the site pops up. I still think the font color (and color scheme in general) on the site is not ideal, but I'll work on that. In the mean time, I'm pretty pleased with this setup. What do you think?
Banach-Tarski Paradox
Q: What's an anagram of Banach-Tarski?
A: Banach-Tarski Banach-Tarski.
(read the article, hopefully you'll get it [it's a joke])
Cruel Fate
Last night I went to bed around 2 am, leaving my computer on. I awoke this morning to find that my computer had turned off somehow - so I pressed the power button. Nothing happened. I leaned to the back of the computer and looked to make sure the power cord was in property - it was, but I smelled something I was all too familiar with: the smell of a dead power supply (those of you who have experienced this know what I mean). At least the computer I bought has a 1 year warranty on parts and labor, and I might even be able to replace the power supply with a spare one back at home. But until then, again, I'm stuck without a computer for two weeks, and I'm forced to use the honor's house computers. I don't have very much luck with these things, do I?
Bathroom Woes
I'm sure the experience is common to everyone: you walk into a bathroom stall only to discover that the toilet bowl is full of a mess of diarrhea and urine. You turn around quickly in disgust. First of all, I'd like to know who are these people who refuse to flush their waste down the toilet, leaving it for all to see. And secondly, a scary thought occurred to me today: I don't think I've ever seen toilet paper in the toilet bowl along with everything else! So not only do we have people walking around who have very loose stool and are extremely inconsiderate to the rest of us, they also probably have very stinky bums. That's a scary thought, and I hope I never run into one of these people in person.
How Not To Get an "A" in a Class
Professor asks for advice from messageboard on how to respond after receiving this email:
Hi, I was looking over my grades on mycourses and was wondering what the final assessment of my performance will be. I am expecting no less than an A in your class but from the current grade distribution, it seems that I am in a low B range. Will you be able to tell me my final grade? I'm anxious to know how everything turns out so that, if necessary, I can come to you to dispute any final decisions before I leave. Thanks.Please respond to this email.
I don't know how I would answer that, if I were in the teacher's shoes.
Five Fires Set at American University
Last night alot of people at American University were kept outside in the rain and the cold because someone set off fires at Letts Hall and Anderson Hall. Luckily though no one was hurt and everyone has been let back into the building, which sustained some water damage. One of my friends is in Anderson Hall, and supposedly his floor is one of the ones that got flooded from the sprinklers. Hopefully it didn't damage people's computers or other belongings.
The Proclamation of Baghdad
c/o Harpers.org: "The following proclamation was issued to the inhabitants of Baghdad on March 19, 1917, by Lieut. General Sir Stanley Maude, shortly after the occupation of the city by British forces."
To the People of Baghdad Vilayet:In the name of my King, and in the name of the peoples over whom he rules, I address you as follow:-
Our military operations have as their object the defeat of the enemy, and the driving of him from these territories. In order to complete this task, I am charged with absolute and supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate; but our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. Since the days of Halaka your city and your lands have been subject to the tyranny of strangers, your palaces have fallen into ruins, your gardens have sunk in desolation, and your forefathers and yourselves have groaned in bondage. Your sons have been carried off to wars not of your seeking, your wealth has been stripped from you by unjust men and squandered in distant places.
...
But you people of Baghdad, whose commercial prosperity and whose safety from oppression and invasion must ever be a matter of the closest concern to the British Government, are not to understand that it is the wish of the British Government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of the British Government that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realised and that once again the people of Baghdad shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals. In Hedjaz the Arabs have expelled the Turks and Germans who oppressed them and proclaimed the Sherif Hussein as their King, and his Lordship rules in independence and freedom, and is the ally of the nations who are fighting against the power of Turkey and Germany; so indeed are the noble Arabs, the Lords of Koweyt, Nejd, and Asir.
Long Bets
"Long Bets is a public arena for enjoyably competitive predictions, of interest to society, with philanthropic money at stake. The foundation furnishes the continuity to see even the longest bets through to public resolution. This website provides a forum for discussion about what may be learned from the bets and their eventual outcomes."
The most recent featured bet: "By 2020, no one will have won a Nobel Prize for work on superstring theory, membrane theory, or some other unified theory describing all the forces of nature." Stake: $2000.
Radio Playlist
Alright, here it is. The CDs are already burned so there's no changing it. Rip it apart as you see fit. (in this order):
Update: Well because of time constraints I had to cut some stuff, and the order was slightly different. But there's always next time - hope those of you who listened in enjoyed it.
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Quasi - California
The Apples in Stereo - Strawberryfire
The Apples in Stereo - That's Something I Do
Beulah - If We Can Land a Man on the Moon Then Surely I Can Win Your Heart
Stars - Elevator Love Letter
Beulah - Landslide Baby
Belle and Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying
Belle and Sebastian - Lord Anthony
Belle and Sebastian - If You Find Yourself Caught in Love
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Bright Eyes - A Perfect Sonnet
Elliott Smith - Somebody That I Used To Know
Elliott Smith - Waltz #2
Daniel Johnston - Unpack Your Adjectives (Schoolhouse Rock Cover)
The Shins - New Slang
Grandaddy - Now It's On
Grandaddy - I'm On Standby
XTC - Statue of Liberty
Steve Burns - Mighty Little Man
Of Montreal - Penelope
The Starlight Mints - Submarine #3
The Faint - Glass Danse
Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything
Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls
Beck - The Golden Age
The Starlight Mints - Sir Prize
Belle and Sebastian - The State I Am In
The Flaming Lips - Fight Test
Radio Show Tomorrow
Tomorrow I'm going to be guest DJing on Salisbury's radio station WSUR between the hours of 11 and 1 pm (EST). If you're on Salisbury's campus, you can listen on channel 44. Or you can listen to it from anywhere over the internet here. Check it out if you can, I'll be playing lots of good music, and in case there's a song that you wanted to know the name of, I'll be posting the playlist in the comments of this post tomorrow.
The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire...
I noticed that it smells like smoke, so I started smelling around... it seemed to be coming from the hallway so I opened the door - and it's filled with smoke (not a whole lot, but it's hazy). Smells sort of like smores or burned paper or something. No smoke alarms have gone off yet though - odd - maybe they forgot to change the batteries or something. Anyway, here's the escape plan if the building burns down (it's important to be prepared):
1. First, the computer, I almost lost it recently and I can't afford to lose it again. That would go out the door, unless they aren't letting us back in, in which case I'll have to try to throw some pillows out the window and then drop it out to break its fall (i'm on the 1st floor).
2. Second, guitar, amp and keyboard, out the window.
3. Books, all of them, shove them out the window too.
4. My clothes, at least the ones I like. Yup, you guessed it, out the window.
5. If I still have time and I'm not dying of smoke inhalation, my monitor and make sure to grab my wallet.
How to Get the Monkey Off Your Back
A friend of mine recently referred me to a very interesting article at Popular Science on what science is uncovering about the physiology of addiction (mostly drug addiction) and new drugs which are being used to cure it. Equally interesting are the photos in the series, which are by Iranian photographer Ashkan Sahihi, who photographed normal non-drug users in their experience of taking various hard drugs. The full set of photos, along with his comments, can be found here.
The Real Michael Jackson
If Michael Jackson hadn't undergone plastic surgery, Forensic artist Stephen Mancusi, who was commissioned by ABC news, says he would look like this. Granted, I think this is way off, given the simple fact that Michael Jackson is thin and this representation has him looking pretty large. The fact that the forensic artist got something that simple wrong makes me question his accuracy.
Religious Action Figures
For his birthday, my girlfriend Ashley bought her brother a Jesus action figure from Urban Outfitters - I just recently came across this Jesus action figure, though I'm not sure if it's the same one. Or, if you're more of an old-testament person, try the Moses Action Figure.
100 Entries! W00t!
This is the 101st entry on this page, and the site's only been up for a month + 2 days. Hope I can keep this up.
NES Speed Videos
A video of someone beating Super Mario 3 in 11 minutes (18MB Windows Media, mirror 1 | 2 | 3 | 4). More NES Speed Videos, including Contra in 13 minutes, as well as a Megaman 2 Walkthrough. Very impressive.
And another speed video: Quake in twelve-and-a-half minutes. I'll post more as I find them on this post
Warning: Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
A good summary of Jean Baudrillard's philosophy: "Jean Baudrillard is "a talisman: a symptom, a sign, a charm, and above all, a password into the next universe," (Kroker and Levin, BC 5); if you read too much Baudrillard "you are in danger of turning into a hyper-reader, and transforming the text under the power of your imagination into something of the sort it became in the hands of the Neo Geos and their apologists. At this point you are taking Baudrillard too seriously," (Danto, 48); "Baudrillard has begun to work equally hard at playing the Disappearing Theorist. He has progressively and deliberately abandoned the protocols of systematic research, scrupulous argument, thesis formulation, 'critique' -- in favor of a style of personal jotting (and jaunting) about the world ... this travelling man is no Mad Max. There's no sense in Baudrillard's glass bubble that anything nasty might happen," (Morris, HR, 28-9). "The upshot of Baudrillard's analyses is to license a kind of intellectual dandyism," (Callinicos, 147). And so, "in the end, does Theory ... come to embrace itself as work-of-art, dire object, and absolute commodity," (Morris, 101, 210)."...
Big Trouble in the Magic Kingdom
Roy Disney recently sent a letter of resignation from the Disney Board of Directors to Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney. He explains in detail why he's leaving the company his uncle founded:
1. The failure to bring back ABC Prime Time from the ratings abyss it has been in for years and your inability to program successfully the ABC Family Channel. Both of these failures have had, and I believe will continue to have, significant adverse impact on shareholder value. 2. Your consistent micro-management of everyone around you with the resulting loss of morale throughout the Company.3. The timidity of your investments in our theme park business. At Disney's California Adventure, Paris and now in Hong Kong, you have tried to build parks "on the cheap" and they show it and the attendance figures reflect it.