New meaning to the term "Bitchin' music"

Complaint Choirs Make Whining an Art Form

Recently a group of about 100 Tokyo residents put their complaints into a pile and a composer, Okuchi Shunsuke, turned them into a song. About 80 of the complainers (accompanied by an accordion, a bass cello and a tambourine) then performed the composition at various sites around the city, becoming the latest example of what has become known as a complaints choir.

.......The process by which the initial complaints were winnowed into a manageable song was democratic, Ms. Kataoka said, with the final version an interesting balance of issues covering public transportation, personal appearance, work, love, society and the future.

......Evan Solot helped to create a complaint choir in Philadelphia last year by following the nine-step process on the Web site. He is chairman of the Composition Department at the University of the Arts and has also “mastered the fine art of whining,” he said.

......The end result was enthusiastic if not particularly polished, and it received plenty of startled and amused attention in places like Rittenhouse Square, as the singers belted out lines like:  Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed, your call is very important to us, New Jersey drivers can’t drive or park, I hate my job, and nobody listens to me.

Talk about missing the boat.  Who knew I was so far ahead of my time at the age of six?  I could have been "complaint music's" Mozart!  There's still a chance for my son to capitalize on this as he's the Brett Hull to my Bobby in the whining department.  Doug and Wendy Whiner also missed out on a possible career path - something else to whine about.  Weeeeeee waaaaanted to siiiiiiing!!

I'm not dead....

                  ......just very, very busy.  I hope to resume posting shortly.  In the meantime, The Onion rounds out Darwin Year nicely.

Richard Dawkins Discovers Homo Windbagus

Last night, famed biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins made an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, and a more illuminating and revealing six minutes of television I can't imagine.  It was educational, not because of the content of the interview but due to the stark contrast of the participants' knowledge and understanding of the subject at hand.   I had limited anticipation about the interview despite being highly familiar with both figures.

After September 11, I began to follow politics more closely, or should I say at all.  When it was clear that Bill O'Reilly was an established media star, I watched his show out of curiosity.  Over time, I became less and less impressed but continued to watch as his popularity increased and the broadcasting major in me yearned to understand why.  Long story short, I have seen pretty much every episode since 2002.  It has become less about keeping informed (ha!) and more about studying the "journalistic" tactics and style of (sigh) America's most watched media figure.
 
During my senior year of college, I needed 3 additional credits and decided to take an introductory astronomy class just for fun.  It planted a seed that, over the following years, would develop into a strong interest in the natural sciences, particularly astronomy and biology.  I seldom read anything other than science nonfiction books anymore and I'm always anxious see science first hand, hence my trips to Body Worlds 3 and Fermilab.  And after 5 months of on and off reading and incessant highlighting, I'm 85 pages from completing the epic journey in The Ancestor's Tale by .... Richard Dawkins. 

The limited aniticipation I had for this interview was for good reason.  While both men are comfortable public speakers, they are accustomed to two very different formats.  Tonight, they would unfortunately be utilizing O'Reilly's which I've noticed is custom-made to entertain rather than inform his viewer, hence his show's success.   O'Reilly's interviews are 5-7 minutes, and if you are presenting an opposing viewpoint, you get half that if you are lucky.  O'Reilly masterfully uses this to his advantage in every way possible.  In this particluar interview, Dawkins spoke for about 1 min. 40 sec during a four-minute interview.   Right away you can see the problem - Dawkins is an intellectual and a scholar who discusses highly complex ideas and concepts.  He gives lectures, writes lengthy papers and books and engages in lengthy debates.  In other words, 15 second soundbytes are far from sufficient for making his points.  In addition to this, you'll notice that when O'Reilly speaks, he makes a shotgun spray of claims (science provides no moral framework, Jesus is still influential today, science doesn't know everything, there are more believers than non-believers), some of them only tangentially related, and then Dawkins gets to respond - but to which one and for how long before being interrupted.  This common tactic often makes O'Reilly's opponents look unprepared and incompetent despite having a stronger case for their side.  But Dawkins handled himself pretty well, and that's what usually pushes Bill to make over-the-top statements.  In this case, he actually claimed that preventing "divine intervention" from being a plausible explaination in science class is a form of fascism.  Bravo.

On most nights, I have an admittedly lacking but passable knowledge of the subjects discussed on the O'Reilly factor.  But every once in awhile, a subject springs up that's right up my alley.  Bill's vast ignorance of science education and policy, the scientific method, and even what science is floored me.  Yet, he spoke with such conviction and certainty in opposition to someone whose grasp on those subjects is world- renowned.  What about all the other times Bill speaks so strongly?  If he's half as clueless then as he was tonight, his ratings are scarier than anything else I've seen this month. 

On Monday, I'm making another quest for scientific knowledge - I'm going to the University of Indiana to see if I can get Richard Dawkins to autograph my copy of his new book, maybe get a picture with him.  But, he'll also be speaking.........for two hours.........uninterrupted.  I might learn more there than 7 years of watching "the Factor".

Inspiring

The $150 Space Camera

Bespoke is old hat. Off-the-shelf is in. Even Google runs the world’s biggest and scariest server farms on computers home-made from commodity parts. DIY is cheaper and often better, as Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh found out when they decided to send a camera into space.

The two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth. Instead of rockets, boosters and expensive control systems, they filled a weather balloon with helium and hung a styrofoam beer cooler underneath to carry a cheap Canon A470 compact camera. Instant hand warmers kept things from freezing up and made sure the batteries stayed warm enough to work.

Of course, all this would be pointless if the guys couldn’t find the rig when it landed, so they dropped a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone inside the box for tracking. Total cost, including duct tape? $148.

Launch

Two weeks ago, on Sept. 2, at the leisurely post-breakfast hour of 11:45 a.m., the balloon was launched from Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Lee and Yeh took a road trip in order to stop prevailing winds from taking the balloon out onto the Atlantic, and checked in on the University of Wisconsin’s balloon trajectory website to estimate the landing site.

Because of spotty cellphone coverage in central Massachusetts, it was important to keep the rig in the center of the state so it could be found upon landing. Light winds meant the guys got lucky and, although the cellphone’s external antenna was buried upon landing, the fix they got as the balloon was coming down was close enough.

The Photographs

The balloon and camera made it up high enough to see the black sky curling around our blue planet.  The intervalometer (interval timer) was set to shoot a picture every five seconds, and the 8-GB memory card was enough to hold pictures for the five-hour duration of the flight.

The picture you see above was shot from around 93,000 feet, just shy of 18 miles high. To give you an idea of how high that is, when the balloon burst, the beer-cooler took 40 minutes to come back to Earth.

What is most astonishing about this launch, named Project Icarus, is that anyone could do it. The budget is so small as to be almost nonexistent (the guys slept in their car the night before the launch to save money), so that even if everything went wrong, a second, third or fourth attempt would be easy. All it took was a grand idea and an afternoon poking around the hardware store.

Learn how to make your own.  Go here.

So, what's wrong with a little harmless numerology?

This.

A Bolivian religious fanatic briefly hijacked a jetliner from the beach resort of Cancun as it landed in Mexico City on Wednesday, police said.  All passengers and the crew were released unharmed........The Bible-carrying hijacker used a juice can he said was a bomb to hold the 103 passengers and crew on the tarmac for more than an hour....... Flores hijacked Aeromexico Flight 576 after a divine revelation, according to Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. Flores said Wednesday's date — 9-9-09 — is the satanic number 666 turned upside down.........Flores, speaking to reporters after he was detained, said he took control of the aircraft with "a juice can ... with some little lights I attached."  "Christ is coming soon," he added, smiling......He ordered the pilot to circle over Mexico City seven times and asked to speak with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, saying he wanted to warn him of an impending earthquake.

Wait. It gets worse.  They interviewed one of the passengers.  Was she angry?  Was she scared?  Did she excoriate the hijacker for being a dangerous psychopath? Did she scold him for endangering the lives of everyone on board, including her own?  Not exactly.

Passenger Pamela Cheatham, 48, an insurance industry employee from Colorado Springs, Colorado, is cautious about flying on "fateful" dates, but said she didn't make the connection with "9-09-09" — the number that obsessed the hijacker — until after the fact.  "When I was doing my flight I was like, 'I don't want to fly on 9/11, but then it didn't hit me until this was all over," Cheatham said. "I should have evaluated that a little better."

Yes, and so should have everyone.  What were people thinking flying on a date whose numbers, when arranged a certain way and then turned in a certain direction, bear a connection to an ancient mythical monster?  Eesh.
On a side note, I personally would prefer to fly on September 11.  In addition to the statistical unlikelihood of an incident, on what other day of the year would airport and security personnel be more wide awake and on their guard than that day?
On another side note, did anyone notice that because the proper abbreviation for this year is 09 and not simply 9, turning today's date upside down actually reads 6066?  As Rosanne Rosannadanna might say, "Oh.  Well, that's different.  Nevermind." 

President Obama indoctrinates nation's youth into socialist agenda of hard work, self-reliance, and academic pursuit!!!!

Conservatives/Republicans/the right wing have really gone off the beam on this one.  They must learn to pick their battles with this administration so as to avoid coming off as knee-jerk contrarians, though that ship may have already sailed.  This is one of the most apolitical, nonpartisan, milquetoast addresses you will ever hear a president give, and people were somehow outraged and threatened to pull their kids from school.  Random citizens who opposed the speech were given a forum on the cable networks to explain the reasons for their objections - none of them made any sense whatsoever.  3 questions I wish I could have asked them -

1. Why is your child so weak-willed that a 20-minute address from the president will irreparably indoctrinate him/her into a political ideology? 

2.  What evidence can you provide me to ensure that your complaints stem from the content/concept of the speech rather than the person giving it? 

3.  As someone who has spent the last ten years working with teenagers in school and social settings, I have to ask:  Are you really so naive as to think that during the course of their day, the most questionable or offensive thing your child will hear will come not from conversations with classmates, dialogue on a reality tv show, or the music on their ipod, but from the President of the United States?  He's the one that concerns you?  Really?

 Photo post

Wow, I was way overdue to update my photo album.  Skating parties, birthdays, Gems games, Easter, trips to K.C. and Chicago.  It's been an excellent summer.  So, here it is in pictures.

The Journey Continues......

Approximately 3.5 million years ago, an early hominid walked across fresh volcanic ash in Laetoli, Tanzania.

It was unaware of its place among life on Earth.  It was unaware of the amazing and storied future that awaited its successors.  And it was unaware of the eventual immortality it would enjoy when in 1978,  the preservation of that walk would be discovered and become one the most sobering reminders of the long epic journey of our species - a message in a bottle across the ages.  And then....

...forty years ago we made another giant leap and left another footprint that will remain a historical turning point for generations to come.  Where will we go from here? 

Ignorance goes better with Coke 

Recently, pharyngula brought attention to this disturbing bit of news:

Thirsty Museum Guests Choose Coke

When you visit Noah’s Cafe you will notice that our deck is adorned with colorful bright red umbrellas courtesy of our Coke corporate partners. The Creation Museum and Coke have been partners officially since April even though Coke has been on site for years.

Some fun facts to know are that Noah's Cafe is 2nd in Coke sales for the area, next to the Cincinnati airport. Regular and Diet Coke are the most popular flavors here and guests prefer fountain drinks (60%) to bottled products (40%). Because of their popularity Coke will be installing a second machine to handle the high demand for fountain drinks. As you travel thru the museum experience you will end up in the Palm Plaza.

Here you can rest and enjoy a variety of Gold Peak ice teas as well as speciality drinks like Coke Blak and Godiva Belgian Blends while sitting among the palm trees. At the museum you can feed both mind and body while enjoying a fun day with family and friends.

While my soda intake and therefore, my loyalty to Coca-Cola has greatly dwindled, this still saddens me.  For those unaware, this museum is owned and operated by Answers in Genesis founder and dishonest fraud Ken Ham.  The "museum" presents natural history from the perspective of a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, including claims of a 6,000 year old Earth and a diorama with a triceratops and a stegosaurus cruising around on Noah's ark.  It's been roundly criticized by every scientist with a modicum of credibility, and it's been mostly dismissed on account of its out and out silliness.  People's exhibit NN-1:

Yes, it's a triceratops with a saddle on its back.  Not a joke.  Not a myth.  An actual exhibit implying an animal that died out 65 million years ago cohabitated with modern man, which surfaced within the last 75,000.  This is mathematically akin to claiming the distance from Boston to San Jose to be 3 miles.  It's unfortunate that Coke saw fit to sponsor this crap, but I imagine if they hadn't, someone else would have.  Business is business, I guess.  If you feel so inclined, send Coke a little message by going here.  Almost certainly useless, but it's fun.  Here's mine:

As long as I can remember, the cola wars have been raging and when given the option, I have ALWAYS sided with Coke. For most of my life, I thought it was literally the best tasting beverage on earth, and despite living my whole life in the midwest, I've managed to make it to the Coca Cola museum in Atlanta - twice.  So why oh why did you force me to switch sides by sponsoring Ken Ham's awful monument to delusion and ignorance, the Creation "Museum"?!?  How am I supposed to "Enjoy" my Coke now?  I can't.  I won't.  I hereby defect until further notice.  Pepsi doesn't seem so bad now.  Maybe my taste buds have evolved to like it. 

 

Seriously check out this cd.  I was so distracted by the movie, I missed just how great the music was.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Wow.  What can I say, but wow.  For the last 15 years, I have been following the Stanley Cup playoffs with an eagle eye.  I have my favorite teams, but I enjoy watching all of them.  What's not to like?  The culmination of decades of hard work and dedication take the form of breakneck speed, breathtaking grace, and brute physical force.  The globe's hockey elite migrate to North America for a shot at hockey's ultimate prize after a lifetime of sacrifice in the form of early morning practices, conditioning and training, and a long trail of worn out hockey equipment.  In my relatively short time of observation, I have had my share of memorable moments - Ray Bourque finally gets a cup after 20+ hall-of-fame years,  Patrick Roy's triple overtime cup-clinching shutout, Anaheim takes it in 2007 after I predicted as such  in January without having seen them play.  But on Friday night, the bar was raised significantly. 
The Pittsburgh Penguins became one of my favorite teams years ago albeit for idiotic reasons - cool uniforms, great mascot, and the two main characters from one of my favorite novels (Christine by Stephen King - I have an autgraphed copy) were both big fans.  I was also always impressed by Jaromir Jagr.  Now, the acquisition of my own place nearly a decade ago enabled the purchase of the Center Ice package on Dish Network and greatly increased my ability to follow the sport.  Since that time I estimate that I have seen roughly 80% of the games Pittsburgh has played.  I was watching when Mario returned from retirement to register a goal and an assist in his first game back.  I was watching when they drafted Sidney Crosby as he was proclaimed The Next One.  I was watching when they finished with the second worst record in the league just four years ago.  I watched Crosby break record after record for Youngest NHL player to.....  I watched as the organization almost went under financially and was within a hair's breadth of moving to Kansas City.  I watched the 2008 Heritage Classic outdoor game when Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal in a shootout amid falling snow. I watched them rise, fall, and rise again as deals were made, plans were changed, and the team was winnowed into the efficient machinery it is today.  And I watched it all happen inside Mellon Arena, the league's oldest(1961) and lowest capacity arena.  On Friday night, they were one win from the cup for the first time in 17 years.  The dedication of my self and all other penguin fans was rewarded in dramatic fashion as Sid & Co. did what many deemed impossible - beating the Detroit Red Wings at The Joe with the Stanley Cup on the line.  This was one of the most intense games I have ever seen.  With the score kept low and the ice flooded with offensive threats, at no point could either team afford to relax.  To top it all off, the enduring images of the game will be two ulcer-inducing saves made by Fleury as the buzzer sounded.  The wings never let up, but neither did he.  Redemption.  Hollywood couldn't write a story like this. To be continued.

On a side note, anyone reading this who doesn't know me might have reason to conclude that the Pittsburgh Penguins are my favorite NHL team, but they would be very wrong.  That designation belongs, of course, to the Chicago Blackhawks.  And don't think that their success this season was unnoticed.  My eyes are on them as always, and I fully expect to be writing an entry celebrating their cup in a few years.  The Penguins have a special place in my heart, but make no mistake - my dedication to the 'hawks is infinitely greater.  Should Pittsburgh, or any other team, become the final obstacle to a cup for Chicago, I would eagerly and joyfully root for their thorough destruction.  Until then, I'll have alot of basking to do until October.