2007-12-26

The Remainders in 1983

My old band, in it's only video appearance. This was the short-lived lineup that was missing guitarist Jim Moore, but he was represented as a songwriter. Here we see Bill Greenrose and Chris Wilson on guitars, Jerry Russell on drums, and me on bass.

Part 1: "No other man but me", written by me (if you don't count the fact that I stole the basic riff from Ray Charles):

Part 2: "Romance", written by Russell and Moore:

This video was made by Beth Ann Herrick at the Seton Hall University television studio. I haven't heard from Beth Ann in years -- maybe she'll do a vanity Google search and find this here.

2007-12-22

George W covers R.E.M.

Okay, this video is some of the most brilliant editing work I've ever seen. I can only hope that some bonehead who may think they own a fraction of a second of some of the source material doesn't force it offline.

2007-12-19

Cleaning keyboards

Random thought: Shouldn't computer keyboards have an on-off switch to tell the computer that it should ignore incoming input when I have to clean up after a spill?

This should probably be a Twitter post, but to be honest, I haven't quite committed to Twitter yet. This probably indelibly marks me as lagging behind the curve, but what the hell.

2007-12-18

Thank you, Senator Dodd!

Democratic Senator and Presidential candidate Chris Dodd did something extraordinary today. He kept his word.

Dodd promised to use every means necessary, including filibuster, to prevent any FISA bill that included retroactive amnesty (for telecom companies that broke the law because the spooks asked nicely) from getting through the Senate. And when push came to shove today, he made sure he was at the Capitol instead of campaigning in Iowa, and started wading through all the procedural steps that Senators can't be bothered with anymore. Finally convinced that Dodd was as good as his word, Senate majority leader Harry Reid delayed the bill until January. A few other Senators were supportive, but this was Dodd's victory.

However, you'd never know it from reading the infotainment that passes for mainstream news these days. Check out CNN or anything else that Google News links to, and see how far down you have to read to see Dodd's name. It's depressing.

Mind you, I'm not a Dodd supporter. There are plenty of issues where Senator Dodd and I could have a knock-down-drag-out discussion. But dammit, the man kept his word, and all I can say is, "Thank you."

PS: Edward Kennedy was one of Dodd's supporters, and the man can still turn a phrase: "The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retro-active immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he's willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies."

2007-12-10

Musical innovation: The Thummer

You may have seen a fascinating new MIDI controller called The Thummer before, but it's getting some more exposure now due to this WSJ article about it. I became aware of the article via a post on Richard Florida's Creative Class Exchange blog, and then I got into a great exchange in the comment thread with Jim Plamondon, the inventor of the Thummer. We touch on the history of musical keyboards, the benefit of standards, how best to encourage innovation, patents, and even music. Richard is quite indulgently letting us use his space for the conversation. Drop by and add your views.

2007-12-05

I wish all CEOs were like this...

Whether you follow the business of tech or not (and from my New York mega-region viewpoint, I follow it only as a bemused observer), you will find the post to which I'm directing you to be incredibly entertaining. Real or fake? We report, you decide.

An Interview with the CEO of SixApart on the occasion of the Sale of LiveJournal.

(Via The Fishbowl. Brilliant.)

2007-12-01

Faith in humanity

Watch the whole clip. You may get a little nervous, like you may be watching a train wreck and don't want to see.

Watch the whole clip.

(Via I'm Just Sayin')