Shakin All Over

So I've lived here over eight years now and I've never noticed an earthquake before. Well, they had one last night that I noticed. I was on the tail end of my 14 hour day when I started to hear a tromping noise. I thought someone was jumping up and down in the hallway (I've heard stranger things at work.). Then everything started swaying. I became a bit nervous (although somewhat exhilarated) because I realized it was an earthquake and I was a bit worried about being twelve stories up. Woudl the building fall down? Would I be buried alive under the rubble and have to drink my own urine to survive? I stood under the doorframe and it passed quickly after that. I had the shakes for a while afterwards, though. Turns out there was a 5.6 about nine miles from where I work. [more info]

75 Year Old Grandmother Hammers Comcast

75 year old grandmother Mona Shaw was unhappy that Comcast had taken a week to totally botch her "triple play" installation. Going to Comcast headquarters, she demanded to speak a manager. They asked her to wait outside. In August. For two hours. Finally she was told that the manager had gone home for the day. After mulling it over over a weekend, she went back to Comcast's offices, this time with her claw hammer. Which she used to smash up the office equipment. As the police led her away, she asked the person who'd made her wait fruitlessly the previous time: "Now do I have you attention?"

Her punishment: a three month suspended sentence, a $345 fine, and a one year restraining order from showing up at the Comcast offices. And she got her hammer back. Lady, you are the wind beneath my wings. [article]

Apple to Offer iPhone SDK

Apple announced yesterday that they plan to release an iPhone SDK in February. So it looks as if iPhone owners may soon be able to get legitimate third party apps on their phones. I look forward to the pseudo-GPS and chat apps, assuming Apple does the right thing and lets anyone develop apps for the phone. Keeping my fingers crossed. [article]

He Went And Did It

As you may have heard (or could hear now, by clicking on the above video), Stephen Colbert has announced he's running for President, or at least the South Carolina primary (as both a Republican and a Democrat). I have to say he doesn't seem to offer any less than the other yahoos in the race. And he's open about his pandering.

Electric Six

So Noelle and I finally got to see the Electric Six Tuesday night. They've been around a few times, but we always seem to be out of town when they come around. I was a little worried that the trip would be a boondoggle since we were both a bit tired and the show was at the Independent, which is in a largely residential neighborhood, which has 0.0% public parking in the vicinity. I shouldn't have worried, as it was a really fun show and we got a parking place in under half an hour.

The opening act Gore Gore Girls was an interesting all girl, mostly vinyl clad rockabilly type act. They were fairly entertaining.

The Six themselves were in fine form. I'd never seen them before and was surprised to see that the lead singer looked vaguely like the singer from Simply Red (if you're old enough to remember them). The band was tight and we got to hear Improper Dancing, Dance Commander, Gay Bar, and of course Danger! High Voltage! (among others).

Apple to Reduce Price on iTunes Plus?

Arstechnica is reporting that Apple will soon drop the price of its non-DRM encumbered iTMS songs from $1.29 a track to 99 cents a track. Also, more Indie labels are going to be brought on as iTunes Plus. It would appear that Amazon offering MP3 tracks for 99 cents has had an effect on Apple. Yay competition!

[article]

The Darjeeling Limited

Sunday night Derek and I went to see the new Wes Anderson film The Darjeeling Limited. I liked it more than The Life Aquatic, but less than Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums. It's like those films in that it's about three brothers with sort of messed up personalities who are trying to come back together as a family after the death of their father. It was a very interesting movie and at times quite funny. I was a bit surprised because I always think of India as a tropical country, but the section they went through was semi-arid to desert. I guess you learn something new every day. Anyway, if you like Wes Anderson's other work, I'm sure you'll like this one too.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Noelle and I went out Saturday evening with some friends to see the sequel to Elizabeth. It was a beautifully filmed period piece with Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Clive Owen. The story was good and the movie was well acted. Not entirely sure about the historical accuracy. Did Walter Raleigh fight at the battle of the Spanish Armada? Anyway, that aside, very good flick, well worth watching.

The Dark (and Light) Side of the Moon (Iapetus)

I have always been fascinated by Saturn's moon Iapetus since I read the Arthur C. Clarke novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. One side of the moon is significantly brighter than the other. After the Cassini probe passed by, scientists now think that some planetary event caused ice on one side of the moon to evaporate, exposing the dark surface below. This in turn caused more ice to melt due to a temperature differential, until half the surface was bare, dark rock.
[article]

Major Artists Ditching Record Labels

Gizmodo has an article about another major defection from the major labels: Nine Inch Nails. Trent is obviously not happy with his label appears to have plans to distribute his next album independently of a label. This follows news a week or so ago that Radiohead would offer their next album online in digital form for whatever value their fans felt it had. I would be glad to see to see some comeuppance delivered to the MafIAA. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. In the meantime, Ian Rogers, VP at Yahoo has an interesting perspective on DRM at Yahoo Music. The punchline: No Mas! Yahoo is not interested in more contracts that require DRM because they're not in the customer's interests, and not in Yahoo's interest either.
[gizmodo article]

The Cure

Noelle, Jenn, Rachel, and I went to the Download Festival at Shoreline on Saturday. We skipped most of the acts, but got there in time to see AFI *yawn* and The Cure. The Cure were surprisingly good for a band that's been playing for 30+ years. I guess Robert Smith is the only one who's really been at it that long, but still. Anyway, they rocked out surprisingly hard. They did a set that lasted almost three hours, with two encores. I got to hear live a bunch of songs I never thought I would from the old days. No "Lovecats" or "Burn", alas. Maybe some other time if Robert keeps at it.

Ig Nobel Awards Posted

The Annals of Improbable Research has posted their Ig Nobel Prizes for what some might call scientific research of questionable value. Studies include: the effects of jet lag on impotence in hamsters, an Australian study on the indexing problems caused by the word "the", and my personal favorite, a Spanish study that concluded that sometimes rats have difficulty telling the difference between Japanese spoken backwards and Dutch spoken backwards. Oh, and evidently the US military did reaseach on how to make a "gay bomb." Wow, just wow.
[article]

Sony Thinks Ripping CDs Is Stealing

While being cross examined in file sharing trial, Song BMG's chief counsel testified that ripping a CD, i.e. making a copy of music you already own, is stealing. Well, Sony, fuck you. You are greedy bastards who deserve whatever befalls you. This is why I will not be buying a playstation.

Edit: Here's the article where I read about this.