noisefarmer

Gov. Buddy Roemer's Campaign Challenge to Obama

2012-01-06T00:51:00.001-06:00

I wish this guy had more votes. Depending on where Paul is by the time Mississippi's primary rolls around, I just might cast mine for him.

What he says, and what he challenges Obama to do, is incredibly important, and, if Obama was to do it, would be hugely influential. My case to Obama for accepting Gov. Roemer's challenge is this:

- Everyone knows who you are. No one needs to see $1 billion dollars worth of ads to know who you are. Use the name recognition you have as President to make a point.

- The group you make angry by doing this are people that aren't going to vote for you anyway. And even if they were, is there a million of them? 500,000? 100,000? Who, exactly, would you be upsetting by putting these rules for yourself in place? And are those people a large-enough group to make a difference in the election? No. Not a chance.

- Are you really that worried about losing? Have you seen who you're going to run against? The only potential nominee that could steal votes from you is Ron Paul, and, barring a miracle, he's not going to be the nominee. And what better foil for Romney than a campaign run like this.

- Use your newfound freedom from special interest money to preach, preach, preach how it's corrupted Washington. Only 9% of people even like Congress anyway; show people the change you said you were bringing 4 years ago.

Sadly, this won't happen, because Obama lacks the fortitude to do it. But if he did, he'd guarantee himself a win.

Top 25 of 2011

2011-12-26T23:10:00.000-06:00

This isn't in any particular order, as my favorite varied throughout the year. Instead, I chose the alphabet. Here's a link to a playlist where you can listen to the best tracks from each album.

Top Tracks: LISTEN

A. A. Bondy - Believers
Best track "Skull & Bones"

The Antlers - Burst Apart
Best track "Rolled Together"

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous
Best track "Livin' In The Jungle"

The Black Keys - El Camino
Best Track "Gold On The Ceiling"

Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Best track "Michicant"

Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Best Track "Approximate Sunlight"

Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
Best track "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)"

David Bazan - Strange Negotiations
Best track "Strange Negotiations"

Death Cab for Cutie - Codes And Keys
Best Track "You Are A Tourist"

Deer Tick - Divine Providence
Best track "The Bump"

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Best Track "Helplessness Blues"

Foster The People - Torches
Best track "Houdini"

Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
Best track "I Am Disappeared"

Generationals - Actor-Caster
Best track "Greenleaf"

James Blake - James Blake
Best track "The Wilhelm Scream"

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Best track "Midnight City"

Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
Best track "April Fool"

Metronomy - English Riviera
Best Track "The Bay"

Mutemath - Odd Soul
Best track "Quarantine"

Portugal. The Man - In The Mountain In The Cloud
Best track "All Your Light (Times Like These)"

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Best track "Stone Rollin'"

Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
Best track "Do I Wait"

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Best track "Cruel"

Tune-yards - W H O K I L L
Best track "Gangsta"

Wilco - The Whole Love
Best track "Art of Almost"

Why I'm Voting No on 26

2011-10-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

For those not in the know, Mississippi is voting on what is called a "personhood" amendment on November 8. The campaign's been going on for a while, and it's starting to gain the attention of the national press. The text of the proposed amendment is very simple, reading "The term 'person' or 'persons' shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof."

Reasons for voting for or against this amendment are being hashed out all over the internet, but I feel like so much of the discussion is wrongheaded (or simply wrong). My wife and I have thought a lot about this, and I wanted to post my reasons for all to see. I will go ahead and say that I am a Christian, and I fully believe that life starts at conception. I have a baby on the way, and I believe that it is a person, and was from the get-go. However, this proposed amendment is misguided, and these are the reasons why.

Reason #1: You can't prove it.
Like I said before, I believe wholeheartedly that life begins at conception. But that's all it is: a belief. A great post here runs down the reasons why this is a belief and not science. Suffice it to say, conception is not a set point in time, but a biological process.

Whether you believe this is a worthy argument to make goes back to what your vision of America is. If you believe in the David Barton version of a "Christian" America, then you would make the argument that we are founded on Christian principles, and therefore this law fits within that tradition. The problem with this is view is that it's wrong. I could into more detail about this, but that link lays it out pretty clearly.

If you believe that the United States was founded as a free nation, with freedoms equally applied to all, then you understand why proof is so important. Not everyone believes what you believe. Not everyone agrees that life begins at conception. We may disagree, but they are totally entitled to their point of view. Simultaneously, they are totally entitled to not have our point of view forced upon them. And if we are a free nation, then a personhood law applied to all must prove that personhood begins at birth. And it can't.

Reason #2: It's bad legislation.
Some of the attraction to the amendment is how straightforward it is. No fine print, no legalese. But herein lies the problem. People seem to be supporting this because they think it's a nice thought, and it is. We're not voting on a nice thought, though; we're voting on a constitutional amendment. The supreme law of the state.

The funny thing about law is, it has to be interpreted. It has implications. And the less specific a law is, the more implications it has. Think about it. Forget abortion for a second, even though that's the most obvious effect the law would have. Think about people who can only get pregnant through in-vitro fertilization; that's out. What about IUDs? Those are out too. We can live without those, you might say, and fine. We could. But take it a step further.

This would not have been a big issue to me unless I knew how often miscarriages occurred: around 25% of pregnancies, if my wife's doctor is to be believed. So, if life begins at conception, then what is a miscarriage? Did the mother kill it? Did God kill it? How do we know? Are we going to investigate every miscarriage to ensure that the mother did everything right? People say that it won't come to this, but if it does not, then by the word of the proposed law potential murder is being ignored. At the very least, you would have to obtain a death certificate every time you miscarried. Do you really want to put the power of miscarriage investigation into the legislature's hands? I would rather they didn't have that power to begin with.

Or take another example. Say an out-of-state couple is visiting in Mississippi, going to Natchez or seeing a football game. They enjoy a nice dinner and have a romantic night. Sounds great, right? But she has an IUD. So is she guilty of something? Is her husband an accomplice? Do we make sure out-of-state women can't come here and have sex? It sounds ridiculous, but by the word of the law, if a woman with an IUD came to Mississippi and had sex, she could be just as guilty as someone who came from out-of-state and shot someone. And that's insane.

The Yes to 26 website dismisses these scenarios as unfounded worrying, but that's simply not true. Logic, people.

Reason #3: It's Pharisaical.
My final reason comes straight from my faith and directly addresses Christians in support of this rule.

A common target for Jesus' scorn was the Pharisees. This sect of people is portrayed throughout the Gospels as those on the side of the law, as opposed to Jesus on the side of love. They were constantly busying themselves with making sure that every Jew followed the law to the letter, lest they invite the wrath of God. Meanwhile, Jesus rebuked them, teaching the Golden Rule and persuading people with parables that illustrated His teachings. He knew that no man could keep every rule perfectly.

Jesus' example of teaching and reason, I feel, has gone by the wayside with this movement. The Christians behind it have traded the model of Jesus for the model of the Pharisees, choosing law over love. They have come to the conclusion that a law is necessary to change culture, even though this is almost never the case (Prohibition, anyone?). Laws don't change culture. People change culture. (For a great post on this topic, go here.)

By deciding that a law is necessary to change behavior, these people have decided that the God they so fervently follow is not enough. They have decided that the power they proclaim to so strongly believe in is not quite strong enough. Those so quick to criticize government action in any other arena suddenly think that the government is the only solution on this issue. They apparently reason that God can't break the hardened heart of all these sinners, so we need make a law instead. "They won't do what's right, so we'll force them!" they say.

I would argue that this movement is fervently misguided. They are promulgating lies that ignore medical practice and science, ignore the study of law, and ignore their supposed beliefs. If we are Christians, we should be known by our love, not our law. This movement is emblematic of the state of the church today, and it's saddening.

Remember what I said about rules and implications earlier? I would encourage everyone to think about the implication of this Rule and how you would apply it in regards to Amendment 26:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself."

Dumb Fans 101

2011-08-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

I must post this everywhere:

Rebel 101 from Ole Miss Rebels on Vimeo.

A Better Tents4Tickets

2011-08-27T13:25:00.001-05:00

So, I think Tents4Tickets was a good initial idea. When I heard about it, I liked it. But, being out there today, it seemed like it never got past the initial-idea stage. The main problems were access/line control (skipping) and the bottleneck of only having one distribution point.

Skipping in line was a huge problem. I'm thankful most everyone got tickets that wanted them today, but we have quite a few unscrupulous Bulldogs amongst us. Starting at 6 am, someone should have been working back from the beginning handing out a different color wrist band for those already in line, to keep people from showing up late and jumping in. This must be monitored at the point of service, as well. Giving out wristbands and then not checking them is lazy and stupid, and it betrays the trust of the students that followed the rules.

Also, the way it was promoted instilled some pretty unnecessary fear in the student body that they would not get a ticket. Camping out is fine, and a lot of fun, but it should not be forced upon the whole student body. We're not a large enough school for that yet, and hopefully with the new expansion to the stadium it will stay that way for a while.

Here's my solution:

1) Tents4Tickets was good, and it should be kept. Shrink it to 300 tents and 3,000 tickets, though. This way students aren't motivated by the fear of not getting a ticket. They're there to have a good time and make some memories. Smaller size makes it a little more manageable, as well.

2) Start selling tickets to the students at Tents4Tickets at 6am Saturday morning at the M-Club.

3) This leaves 8,000 tickets left to sell. Hold 1,000 to sell on Monday at the Bryan Building.

4) The remaining 7,000 tickets will be sold starting at 8am (possibly a bit later for the M-Club) between 7 distribution points on campus (for example):

- The Hump
- Newell-Grissom
- The Union (queue in the Ballroom, with people coming in the door on the Drill Field side and going up the stairs. This leaves the foodcourt open for people eating breakfast and people that don't care about tickets.)
- The Palmeiro Center
- The M-Club
- The Bryan Building
- The Templeton Center

This way each place has 1,000 tickets that can be distributed in under an hour. Less wait, less frustration, easier to crowd-control.

MSU is only going to grow, and (hopefully) the football team will continue its winning ways. Distributing the entire allotment from a single point is just bad logistics, and frankly, I'm surprised the MSU administration didn't recognize this was going to be a problem. The athletic department and the Student Association has done a great job getting the student body pumped for this semester, however, and I applaud them for making an effort to start a new tradition.

Federal Contracting, or Why the Government Can't Do Anything Right

2011-08-16T23:27:00.001-05:00

I ran across this post tonight from Matt Yglesias, and since it addresses something near and dear to my heart, I thought I would post my thoughts about it.

Mostly it's about the incredible boom in federal contracting, or jobs that the government contracts out to private firms. At first blush this might sound like a great idea. In some places this probably saves money, but in others it doesn't.

So, the government has a job to do. It bids it out to, say, a landscape architecture firm. The lowest bid wins (problem 1). More often than not, this firm is either inept (low bid = bad estimate), or slimy (low bid = plan to make the profit on change orders/whining), which leads to a poor product (problem 2). The government contact is either a landscape architect who sucks/frustrated with their job and doesn't care, or a bureaucrat who minds the contract but has no concept of what a good and correct job looks like (problem 3). This leads to a poor end result, taxpayers mad at government because it is inept and wastes money, and a contractor well-compensated and ready to screw the taxpayers again but more than willing to spread the word about the idiot they worked with on that government job.

Why do we think this is a good system?

Edit: Also interesting in the post is this graph of government employees:

Look at the time frame of 1982ish to 1990. Who presided over an increase in federal employment by over 300,000 workers, higher than any level since? Why, that would be the patron saint of small government himself, Ronald Reagan.

I'm going to poke holes in that fairy tale whenever I get the chance.

Participate!

2011-07-31T20:04:00.005-05:00

Everyone's sick of hearing about the debt ceiling. You're probably sick of hearing about Congress and Washington in general. And with good reason. They repeatedly demonstrate how inept and corrupt our system of government is today. But they didn't get there by themselves. Someone, lots of people, voted them in. It's tempting to shut down and shut out political events, but this is lazy. It's simple to slip into apathy. It avoids confrontation. But it's the wrong approach.

It's easy to be cynical about the state of governance in this country. It seems dysfunction is rampant in virtually every statehouse in the nation. It's easy to be mad, to fling all the blame upon their elected shoulders. And we should be upset. It's incredibly disheartening to watch this happen. It's disheartening for our patriotism. It's disheartening to see the effect this has had on our international standing, to watch our nation become a laughingstock across the world. It's disheartening for our future.

But we cannot slip into apathy. Even though our parents and grandparents had a much larger role in electing those in Washington, our generation can change it. Our elders won't be here forever, and we have to be prepared as a generation to take up the responsibility of a participatory democracy, to be an educated populace. We can have a say, and we can make what we think known.

But we have to say it.

We have to participate.

We have a role to play in this democracy, and too often we forfeit it. We don't participate, then complain about the way things are. Like my dad told me, "If you don't vote, you can't complain."

As much as it sucks to realize it, our elected officials have very real influence on how we live our lives. Every single one of us is affected by the rule of law they are called to create and uphold. If you shop at a grocery store; if you own property, if you buy anything, the government has an effect on your life. If you have a kid, if you start a business, if you go to school, these elected men and women have touched your life. Hell, if you breathe air and drink water, you have a very real and immediate interest in how our nation is run. So no matter what the issue is, no matter how repugnant your congressmen may be, you have to participate. You have to care. You can't tune it out.

It's attractive to drop out, at least on the surface. Life goes on, the government still functions, and pushing politics out of your life can be a relief. But then a funny thing happens. People start referring to government as "them," an alien life form sent here to infiltrate and suppress our lives. But we are "them." We elect. We vote. We are responsible for the people that hold office. When we start tuning out, we start seeing the government as something we can't change. But we can.

I see this in Starkville, Mississippi, where I live now. City officials hold public meetings and round tables, and only people with a vested, direct interest show up. No voice of the general population is present. The result is that the rules and ordinances of the town are steered by a very small minority of the population, often in conflict with the general desires of the population. If you ask someone about an issue, they usually have something to say about it. But when it comes to speak out about it, they are nowhere to be found. In Starkville in particular, one of the main roadblocks keeping it from becoming a standout college town is the apathy of the college students. I know I'm guilty of it. But we are one of the largest voting blocks in the town, and if we mobilized behind something and spoke out about it, we could shift the debate substantially. Why don't we?

So here's a challenge: do something about it. Take an hour or two, whatever time you would have spent watching TV or checking Facebook, and read about the debt ceiling. Find out what's going on in your state. Read your local newspaper, and make sure you read different perspectives. Become educated on what's happening.

Then take another step: write your congressmen. Their websites are easy to find. Write a letter, call or email. Tell them what you think. If you feel like your one letter won't make a difference, you're right. WE have to do this. We are not autonomous beings living our very own, independent lives. We have to do this together.

You only have so many days. Kill the distractions. Do something.

Here's some links to get you started:
Fact-checking: Politifact
Right-leaning: National Review, Townhall
Left-leaning: Think Progress, Mother Jones
Center: The Atlantic, The New Republic

And if you are really interested in developing a well-rounded, intelligent perspective, don't watch Fox News (or, at least, don't only watch them). Here's a big reason why:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Fox News' False Statements

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Social Security Killed the Church?

2011-07-23T18:00:00.002-05:00

Ran across this article today by Doug Baker, arguing that by endorsing Social Security legislation in the 1930s, the church abdicated it's responsibility of caring for the poor to the state. At the time, many church leaders were supportive of this policy, believing that it aided the church's mission to care for the poor and infirm. Baker calls this "disturbing," saying that "the state began to function in roles once reserved for the church—to the detriment of any who would question the legitimacy of the legislation on theological grounds."

And I kind of agree with him. I think the church as a whole has largely minimized its true commitment to helping the needy, prioritizing their bank accounts towards new buildings, high production values, and glitzy media campaigns. This is certainly not to say that all have; many churches do great things for those around them. I don't feel the main problem is Social Security, though. It has more to do with the creeping rationalization of the pursuit of monetary success and individualism. When does Jesus ever say anything about the rich being blessed? How refreshing it is to read that at one point in time American church leaders were actively campaigning for the American people, as a whole, to make the care of the poor a national priority. Having steadily aligned with the right, much of the church has now lost this calling, spending more time defending capitalism and individual rights than a collective concern for those less fortunate.

From another angle, I'm having a tough time differentiating between Baker's argument and the cadre of church leaders today campaigning against issues like abortion and gay marriage (to just name two). They have made it very clear that they believe America should be a Christian nation, and that we should elect leaders that believe the same. So, if we're fighting to impose Christian morality upon the nation at large, why are we not fighting for what should biblically be one of the core missions of the church? Could it be that with a national program, we don't get to choose who to help? Is that the stance we're taking with this, that the help of the church should only be dispensed to the approved?

The fact that Baker finds reason to be "disturbed" by any church's alignment with "progressive ideals" speaks to the state of the American church today. If we can campaign tooth and nail to fight civil unions, and support candidates that openly support the obstruction of other religions' right to practice, while at the same time bemoaning any sort of collective well-being, we have to take a moment and ask ourselves why. Thoughts?

The Family Tree

2011-07-23T14:36:00.002-05:00

How I told my parents they were grandparents now:

I wanted something subtle, something that would take them a bit to see. We don't have a family tree hanging around the house, so I thought they would be so interested in the design that they would read through it before they saw we were having a baby. Rolled it up in a scroll, put it in a bag, and done. Worked perfectly!

Access v. Preservation on Half Dome

2011-07-22T20:48:00.002-05:00

My buddy Kyle sent me this, wondering what I thought. Quick rundown: A lot of people like going to Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, and they're having difficulty handling it. They have a permitting process in place, but it's not very good. Now a group is making noise about adding additional routes to the top and doing away with the permits. Bad idea. Here's why, and what I think they should do about it:

First thing, you must limit crowds. A third cable is out of the question. Like Ms. Cobb said, goal #1 of the NPS is to preserve for future generations. Increasing the capacity of Half Dome probably won't affect it physically so much; it is, after all, a rock. I'm glad the writer hit on the potential impact to the trail, and the fact that the point is not to turn it into a theme park ride. Sure, you could pave a 15 foot wide path all the way to the base and sell lemonade and turkey legs along the way, and the park could probably make good money doing that, but that's totally not the point. Harrison's an idiot to think that adding a third rail and doing away with the permitting process would be a good move; like the article said, maybe he should go be a traffic engineer.

Another consideration is the view and the experience. People go to Half Dome to experience the climb and the view and the beauty of it all. Crowding a huge number of people up on top ruins the experience. As much as you can, you have to preserve that and keep it sacred. That's the beauty of the place being publicly owned; no profit motive. The motive is provide the best experience possible, not cram as many people onto the trail as they can.

Also, don't drag the "I've been doing this for 30 years!" argument into it. Does California have the same amount of people it did 30 years ago? Has the number of people coming to Yosemite changed in 30 years? I would bet yes, and substantially so. Park management has to change to meet changing demands, and the Park Service has to make access to the place as fair as they can. They are, after all, OUR parks. Not yours.

As far as the process goes, it does seem a little jacked up. The article makes it sound like you can buy as many as you want, and that a few certain people bought them all up. In reality, it says you can only buy 4 at a time. The problem is that you can immediately call back or go back to the website and buy 4 more. It probably should just be 4 and done. The easiest thing to do would be to raise the prices, but again, that's not the point of the parks. They have to serve everyone, and they try to avoid pricing people out of a visit. You could probably raise the price to $5, but I don't think they could raise the price enough to have an impact on demand without pricing some people out. And you have to make sure the person that bought the pass is the one that uses the pass. You could set this up like hotels and online reservations: buy the pass online, and when you get to the park, someone is there to scan your card and give you the pass. You identify by using the same card in both instances. Also, I would be for a "use it or lose it" policy. The name of the person would be printed on the pass, and they should have to show ID before they start on the trail. This would keep people from giving away passes at the trailhead, and also eliminate crowds of people loitering, trying to get a pass.

You have to make it clear and simple, though. The process they have now concerning how many passes they release is way too complex. Cap it at a certain amount, and explain the policy and its purpose clearly and passionately, and be relatable. So many times parks do a terrible job at PR in situations like this, and they come off as aloof or uncaring about the visitors.

So, to summarize: No third rail. Raise the price of the passes, and make sure the person buying the pass is the same person that uses the pass. Prevent any transfer of passes to other people. Make the policy clear and simple. Explain it to people so they understand and are cool with it. If people love the Dome, they'll understand. If they don't, screw 'em. The experience will be more enjoyable if they weren't there.

The Glean #2

2011-07-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a internship in historic preservation for the second consecutive summer, and my masters' thesis is all about the topic, so I can speak on a small amount of experience when I say that many preservationists are nuts. Apparently some of these people are campaigning against new density standards in DC, and Yglesias is all over it. The problem with these people is that they want nothing to change, nothing to evolve with the times. They pick some specific time period and decide that it is the pinnacle of all that has been or ever will be done with a space. I'm all for building regulation, and I think that historic preservation is important, as long as it has a brain. Approaching an urban design problem by banning new development is not an elegant solution - it's lazy.

Prime example of this? The National Park Service. While they've been adding structures to the National Mall for years, and especially in the last several with new security measures (why would someone blow up the Jefferson Memorial, again?), apparently a bikeshare station is a bridge too far. God forbid we enhance service to the public in the name of preserving some fiction of integrity. I'm sure L'Enfant would be thrilled by the 5-lane ring around the Lincoln Memorial.

Maybe they should be reading this post, about a woman near Atlanta who's being charged with vehicular homicide because her son was killed by a drunk driver (who's only getting charged with a hit-and-run) while she was trying to cross the road. People always talk about how incompetent engineers can kill people, but incompetent planners and landscape architects can do the same - as long as they keep allowing pedestrian-unfriendly infrastructure to be built. They probably advocated for it, though. It's just that their writing looked like this.

And if more of them (us) put some thought into transit spaces, we wouldn't have as many people driving around. Being a user of mass transit, I would definitely appreciate a coffee table with some flowers at my bus stop.

But the costs! The costs! Well, if we weren't spending so much on health care, we might have money for sidewalks (more of which would, ironically, lower health costs). While the Gang of Five/Six is (re)hammering a deal we've seen before, Klein opines on the paradox of presidential leadership. He basically says that the president can't lead, because anything he puts his name on is instantly blasphemous to the opposing party, no matter how identical it may be to their past demands. IMHO, it's less a paradox of presidential leadership and more a quagmire of congressional idiocy. It's amazing how quickly their strategy falls apart when a few minutes thought gets devoted to it.
Why does it seem that comedy news seems increasingly like real life? Probably because they don't really have to make up stories any more.

Be thankful, England. At least they can behave and do their job in front of Rupert Murdoch. The last time they were interested in getting the truth was back when they were grilling these guys.
In other breathtakingly important issues of national interest, MediaMatters puts together this mashup of various blowhards on Fox wailing about fluorescent lights, and promptly dispels the myths. Apparently no one in the video has actually tried a CFL; I have several in the house and love them. Good color, no heat, and haven't had to replace one yet. Meanwhile, the Dept. of Energy has made some new ads about the financial efficiency of using CFLs and LEDs that are already being hailed as propaganda. I would explain why it's important to stop using incandescent bulbs, but didn't we agree about this in 2007?

Speaking of concepts that need no explaining, pesticides are bad for insects. You know what's an insect? Bees. And we're killing them with these pesticides, successfully exterminating the very critters that make agriculture possible (except for corn. It's wind-pollinated. But we don't need anything else anyway!). Turns out, herbicides are now taking out monarch butterflies. Not the butterflies themselves, but the milkweed plants they depend on. Once again, thank Monsanto.

I don't know why they would want to take out milkweed plants. They're beautiful.

More people would probably be up on the importance of these issues if they had access to academic work, and I agree. If a public university produces academic work, it should be publicly available, not hidden behind a paywall.

Instead of reading papers, though, we watch TV. Felix Salmon proposes a better Netflix business model, one in which studios were paid for every stream. This way it's a win-win: both Netflix and the studios want as many people as possible to watch Netflix. But why would they do that when they could just set up their own streaming site? Withhold from Netflix, get people to be subscribers (key difference over pay-per-view: we all know how long DVDs sit at the house. A subscriber is almost guaranteed to cost you less money than a PPV customer, and they'll make up for the heavy users), and you have yourself a streaming service. Bonus? It's content-driven. If you put out movies that suck, no one will pay you to stream them.

And finally, China thinks Nepal overestimates the size of their mountain. How long will it take to measure? Two years.

The Glean #1

2011-07-20T07:00:00.112-05:00

The Road Not Taken | Brooks does a great job of attacking one of the central tenets to this whole debt ceiling/cut-cap-balance mess: none of this is focused on governing. All of it is focused on getting reelected. If the American people suddenly disappeared, the pols would keep on playing their game, like a bunch of Warcraft gamers ignorant of the sun.

Think back to cap and trade. It never happened, but Bachmann and others constantly reference it as if it was passed into law. And that's all this stuff is: fodder for their political ads. They can say "I voted to balance the budget," and while that would technically be true, the standard American idiot (completely oblivious to the context of the vote) would just think that sounded good and cast a vote. Also read How the Game is Played. (via NYT and Mother Jones)

What the Keynesians learned from the crisis | It's amazing how people develop wildly different explanations for the same thing. Klein does a good job showing what the main thrust behind "Keynesian" means. (via Ezra Klein)

Creative Financing | k) The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time.

Boom. All Geithner has to do is mint a large platinum coin valued at $14 trillion. Debt problem over. (via Matt Yglesias)

Billsezwhat? | I would too...what would they do? Constitution > statue. (via Politico)

Eurobondage | Been thinking this would happen sooner or later. The problem is that everyone in the Eurozone is conjoined, but only partially. So something could affect say, Greece, and put them in danger of default, but because they have forfeited their financial sovereignty to the EU, they have no room to execute the maneuvers that countries like the US and Sweden have been able to do. Because the hit is asymmetrical, it's dragging nations into a crisis that would otherwise be in fine shape (Italy, Germany, France) because while their currency is tied together, everything else is independent. So, the EU has two choices: get close or fall apart. I'm voting the latter. (via Matt Yglesias)

Who's Rupert Murdoch? | The alternative reality of Fox News. (via politprof)

Bob Lutz, MBA's & Leadership | This is precisely why I didn't go back to school to get my MBA, even though I had some pressure to do so. It's the same with public policy, law, and education degrees, in terms of who should be in charge. In city government, who do you want leading? The guy who can write technically perfect policy, or the guy who understands what policies need to be put in place? In the classroom, would you rather your kid be taught biology by a "classroom manager" or an actual biologist? In an organization, shouldn't lawyers be in positions of counsel rather than positions of vision?

There are (not enough) examples of cities that turned things around and became great places once landscape architects, architects, and engineers became the leaders, instead of policy writers and bureaucrats. (via Time)

Carma-non-event | So Carmageddon wasn't a big deal. Surprised? Apparently the same thing happened in St. Louis a few years ago. Point becoming, we don't need no more roads. In fact, it's becoming apparent that we could operate better with less, at least when we talk about freeways. (via streetsblog)

Circumstantial Evidence | Remember Climategate? Though the "scandal" was a big made-up to-do in the media, the scientists' exoneration was much less publicized. In another interesting twist, no one ever found out who did the hacking. Now, with information on News Corp's hacking scandal flooding out of England, people are starting to wonder if it was Murdoch's group behind the "expose."

Fracked Forests | Salt kills plants. This we know. In that regard, this study is unremarkable. In every other regard, this study should scare the hell out of anyone living near fracking sites. Also, if I went out and dumped heavy salts in my neighbors' water system, I would be arrested. How does that not apply here? Maybe Talisman Terry the Frackosaurus knows. (via NYT and The Colbert Report)

Heavy Metal Mite | I'm thankful this thing is so small we can't see it. Also thankful we have tools that can, in order to reveal the impressive details and downright scariness built into something so small. (via Treehugger)

Natural Networks | You know all that hippie-dippie, Pandora nature-is-all-connected talk? Turns out it seems more and more likely to be true. The implications of this are, understandably, enormous. (via Andrew Sullivan)

Announcing: The Glean

2011-07-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

So I read a pretty large amount of material daily. Too much, probably. But it's been an integral part of my attempt to expand how I see things, to understand other perspectives and intentionally challenge the way I was raised to think.

I share a lot of it on Google Reader, which is nice, and a lot of fun when it starts a discussion. However, I feel as if I need to do something more with it. I'm serving as an aggregator, but only to a very limited audience. Now, do not think I am ignorant to the status of this blog; I've seen the traffic stats. But by placing more stories I run across on here, maybe, just maybe, a wider audience will discover it.

I follow several blogs that serve as aggregators, giving a rundown of links for the day with the authors thoughts on them. I think that's where I'm going with this: a daily rundown of stories I ran across. A "gleaning" of the "noise" around the web, if you will, with the events and commentaries of the day posted every morning. Stick around and we'll see where it goes.

Ayn Rand & the GOP vs. Jesus

2011-06-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

This is a smart ad. Some may see it as manipulative, I guess, but it's true. This is where the inconsistencies of a lot of conservatives and Christian voters come to light, and they are smart to point it out. Many politicians are campaigning on "family" or "Christian values" while believing deeply in an economic philosophy that is directly opposed.

I don't think it's necessarily intentional, though. Like that article I posted yesterday about bad Christian art, it's not always a directed or willful tendency. It's ignorance about what they say they believe. It's superficially attaching yourself to a belief system without working out what it means fully in your life.

If you say you follow Jesus, then you believe in the Sermon on the Mount. If you don't believe the Sermon on the Mount, you don't believe Jesus. If you believe in Ayn Rand, you don't believe in the Sermon on the Mount. It's very simple, but it shifts the foundations of what many people have grown up believing in. I know it did for me, and I've been unlearning it over the past year or so.

Jo Ann Emerson Needs a Thinking Cap

2011-05-20T14:54:00.000-05:00

So most of today, I have been fascinated by the Mississippi River and the efforts of the Corps of Engineers to control it. I've been reading everything I can find on it, and that will probably make it into a post soon enough. However, I ran across this article on USA Today's website that addressed the long-standing, and in the context of these floods much-needed, argument on how to best manage the Mississippi. Some advocate de-shackling the river, potentially disrupting a good deal of development and farmland around it. A representative from Missouri, Jo Ann Emerson, wrote in an earlier column for USA Today that "removing flood protection is 'a high ideal for environmentalists who live in safer places' and 'an unthinkable violation of property rights and liberty for Americans who have lived beside the river for more than a century.'

I would really love for Ms. Emerson to explain to me how you derive individual property rights and liberties from property that only exists through federally mandated and subsidized flood control systems. These people only have their property because the rest of America subsidized the construction of structures that allow that land to be available for development and farming. They did nothing individually to free that land from the river. It is functionally not theirs alone because its functionality is not derived from their effort alone. For them to then stand up and say that the Corps cannot decide to adopt smarter management practices because it would be "an unthinkable violation of property rights and liberty" is audacious, to say the least.

TED Talk | Mushrooms Can Save The World

2011-05-18T10:43:00.002-05:00

I ran across this TED talk today, and I am blown away.

I've always been intrigued by mushrooms, but never enough to really get into them. And I think that's the atitude of most people. We have some sort of visceral repulsion to them; maybe it's because we always see them on rotting plants, or in wet, dank forests, and so we associate some sort of uneasiness with them. Maybe it's because they are a strange "other," not really a plant but not an animal either. Maybe it's because they're not green. Maybe it's because they look so weird. Whatever it is, watch this talk and get over it.

Stamets goes through several projects he is working on that could have huge implications in the real world. From fungal remediation of petrochemically-contaminated soils to natural pesticides that inoculate your house, these are really impressive and practical potential uses. He also goes into water purification with fungal mats and using fungal extracts to protect against diseases. He's not the best public speaker, but he gets enough across for you to realize how important this could be.

It's very, very interesting, and it will change your mind about mushrooms. I want to grow some now!

Links:
Paul Stamet's website
How to grow oyster mushrooms from coffee grounds
How to grow shiitake mushrooms

Wisdom of the Ancients

2011-05-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe not THAT ancient, but this is sage advice nonetheless. Back in 1907, John Nolen, who is considered a father of American urban planning, wrote down four guiding principles for urban planning. Unfortunately, Nolen's list has not been all that influential. Here it is:

1| Conform to topography.
2| Use places for what they are naturally most fit.
3| Conserve, develop, and utilize all natural resources, aesthetic as well as commercial.
4| Aim to secure beauty by organic arrangements rather than by mere embellishment or adornment.

Wouldn't it be nice if planners and urban designers listened to this advice? This is a perfect example of how so many of the new "green" ideas are merely reintroductions to ideas that have been presented in the past. This was written over 100 years ago, yet a planner with these guiding principles who came into a town in Mississippi would be laughed out of the room.

Vegan Black Metal Chef | Stir, You Fool!

2011-05-11T12:13:00.001-05:00

Lest the dark ones take the bottom of your dish!

Worth the whole 14 minutes, but at least watch far enough in to hear him scream about tamarind paste.

TED Talk | Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"

2011-05-11T00:36:00.002-05:00

This is a really, really good talk about something that we all need to keep in mind. If you pay attention, you can already see this happening, big time. Social bubbles like Pariser speaks of have existed for a long time (I know I was raised in one, and if I had gone to a Christian high school and college it would have been even worse), and if this doesn't change, or people don't become more mindful of it, this issue could really start to matter.

Think about politics, and the whole birther thing...it would not have had nearly the amount of force without a "birther bubble" going on, where people could comment back and forth and only read WorldNetDaily every day, until what they at might have at first only been dabbling in became reinforced daily in their web travels. This is, I think, hampering the ability of the country to come to an agreement on how certain major changes need to get done. Not in the legislature necessarily (though there are certainly belief bubbles existant in Washington), but in the greater public discourse.

Or religion and the Rob Bell dustup, where circles of blogs and their readers fed circles of blogs and their readers, until there were firmly entrenched camps hurling fairly un-Christ-like accusations at each other and missing the entire point of the book.

(Which, unless you wanted it to be, was not about how everyone gets to heaven. Sorry if I popped your bubble.)

I've been aware of this for myself when using Google Reader, but I didn't realize the extent Google and the like went to ~~filter~~ tailor the web. It's a bit unnerving, and I'm not sure what you do to stop it. Just be aware, and watch yourself: does everything you see on the web agree with your viewpoint? Are you actively seeking out other points of view? If you're not, you should, because you can't convince anyone you're right about anything until you can understand where they're coming from.

Lecture by Wendell Berry: People, Land and Community

2011-04-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

Found this fantastic Wendell Berry lecture today. It's from 1981, and by the content of the lecture you will either be surprised by his prescience or depressed that very little of what he talks about has been addressed in the last 30 years.

Either way, I think it's an excellent listen. Find some time at work and check it out:

[LISTEN]

(via @dailywendell on Twitter)

Jeremy Taylor| A Reggae Interpretation Of Kind Of Blue

2011-04-06T08:59:00.001-05:00

Ran across this on Aquarium Drunkard this morning. I hadn't checked that blog in a few years, but I have no idea why. Jazzy reggae? Wonderful.

[listen| Jeremy Taylor - So What]

Welcome, Spring

2011-04-04T16:01:00.005-05:00

Laura requested a new mix, and it's been much too long coming. Take a listen, berate in the comments.

Mix Tapes and Maintenance

2011-04-04T14:35:00.007-05:00

Went through and relinked all of the mixes to playlists on grooveshark so you can listen to them from anywhere you have the internetz. I'm also adding another one as a little blast from the past.

Yewknee runs the summer mix series every year, and Casey submitted this one way in the summer of 2008. Enjoy.

01| explosions in the sky - the birth and death of the day
02| david bowie - suffragette city
03| athlete - one million
04| mgmt - pieces of what
05| john vanderslice - white dove
06| black kids - i'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you
07| neon neon - i told her on alderaan
08| cut copy - lights and music
09| lupe fiasco - gold watch
10| animal collective - grass
11| bon iver - team
12| discover america - green eyes
13| m83 - kim and jessie
14| nada surf - i like what you say
15| bright eyes - make a plan to love me
16| feist - lonely lonely [frisbee'd mix]
17| band of horses - no one's gonna love you

[listen] [download]

Starting Starting Back Back Again Again

2011-04-04T12:55:00.001-05:00

Is there an echo in here? Did I say I was starting this blog back up about two years ago, and then nothing happened, and an echo of that just came back by?

Hopefully not, but humans are generally failures, and I am solidly human, so no promises.

I have finally figured out how to use both my tumblr and noisefarmer side by side. This had bugged me for a while, because I like tumblr, but felt that I had no aim with it or vision for it, and the same with this blog. But I didn't want to disband the blog, mostly because I think it has a fantastic name, and one that, with some brandbuilding, has some potential.

So, my tumblr has taken on the shape of an inspiration wall. It is mainly quotes now, but I will mix in pictures and music over time. I have called it Inspirare, which is a Latin word meaning to breathe in, or inspire, or excite, or instill. Not because I wanted to elevate myself above my native tongue, but simply because it sounded cooler and less fruity than Inspiration and more studious than Stuff That Gets Me Going. Hopefully not pretentious, though. Not going for that.

The best way to experience it is to click Random at the bottom of the page. That will take you aimlessly though thoughts, pictures, and music that get me going, or at least get the wheels turning.

I am also not going to blow up the Twitters with posts this time, as I got the feeling last time I posted a bunch of quotes on there that I was not being a good internetz neighbor by doing that. So just have to visit often or follow it on Google Reader or however else you digest your news.

Reading Wendell Berry right now, so expect a whole bunch of the good stuff. Really, really good stuff. Like, I've only read one essay and he's my new favorite author good.

I also have a mix requested from Laura that I will be getting up here soon, hopefully today. Starting off with a bang and all that.

Most Disappointing Albums of 2008

2008-12-21T21:13:00.002-06:00

i know i don't take the time to post much here, but i will take the time to post the obligatory "best of" list. that will come soon, but tonight i'd like to take a look at the albums i was most disappointed by this year, in no particular order.

01] way to normal - ben folds

for most of his career, ben folds has made a living from being a snarky little snot. this played well early on; i still love his old stuff, even though tyler may not. on songs for silverman, though, ben started showing signs of a maturing songwriter. the arrangements were more thought out, more musical, and restrained when they needed to be. the songwriting itself took on a more meaningful air, with songs like "jesusland" and "landed." with 2008's way to normal, though, it seems mr. folds has had enough of being 40 - he'd like to go back to 15. yet, these songs don't ring as true as the old ones. there are a couple i enjoy, like "effington" and "you don't know me." but "bitch went nuts" and "brainwashed" just aren't really what i expected or was wanting after the triumph that was silverman.

02] loyalty to loyalty - cold war kids

robbers & cowards has been one of favorite records for a while. i love how it seems like its about to fall apart into a big mess at any moment, how the band moves and sways haphazardly in and out of time and synch with each other, yet always manages to make a great tune. on this one, the immediacy is gone, and lyrics are too preachy. if i want an artist to tell me what we should and shouldn't be doing, i'll listen. but, unfortunately for cold war kids, i answer to someone a little higher than them.

03] the odd couple - gnarls barkley

this one will probably be on everyone's list that makes this kind of list, and with good reason. odd couple just does not compare with their debut, st. elsewhere. admittedly, it would have to be a pretty damn good record to compare with that one, but it's the same people that made it, no? gnarls barkley is one of those neat little collabos that probably should have stopped at one, like postal service (maybe?). in the meantime, ceelo can go back to wearing wedding dresses, and danger mouse can keep on producing quality albums of bands that he is not in.

04] chinese democracy - guns n' roses

ok, so maybe not. not that it's not disappointing, but that my expectations weren't really that high. but come on, 14 years to make? it sounds like axl stopped working on it in 1996. that is disappointing.

05] tennessee pusher - old crow medicine show

up until this album, ocms was everyone's favorite outlaw bluegrass band, sort of the bandits of appalachia. with this album, it seems they've moved up a little too far in the world. where are the ramblin, rowdy songs about cocaine? the great sweet songs like "wagon wheel?" not on this one.

i'm sure there are more disappointing albums out there, and you are free to share them. these are just the ones i listened to and immediately felt bummed about it. the best are coming soon.

This House Is Eating Me Alive

2008-11-19T02:01:00.010-06:00

In tribute to my boredom, a mixtape.

As the end of the year approaches, so do my commitments and obligations. In other words, I've become more than acquainted with my couch. This is a collection of songs I've been listening to while getting to know said couch.

4 Lanes to the Coast

2008-09-21T21:30:00.008-05:00

this weekend, i decided to go back home. i hadn't seen the fam in a while, and it was my little brother's birthday. on the way there, i decided i should make a playlist about it. i've also been wanting to make one of those beginning-is-the-end-is-the-beginning lists. so, i combined them. really, going home was just a starting point...at some points it was really tough to make it work and sound cohesive. i think it turned out pretty well, though. tell me what you think! and enjoy some cover art.

01| m. ward - to go home
02| john mayer - home life
03| ryan adams & the cardinals - life is beautiful
04| rufus wainwright - beautiful child

05| fiona apple - child is gone

06| the shins - gone for good

07| josh ritter - good man

08| r.e.m. - man on the moon

09| elvis perkins - moon woman ii

10| gomez - woman! man!

11| nick drake - man in a shed

12| the helio sequence - shed your love

13| caedmon's call - love is different

14| death cab for cutie - different names for the same thing

15| the black keys - things ain't like they used to be

16| kings of leon - be somebody

17| whiskeytown - somebody remembers the rose

18| johnny cash - rose of my heart

can you figure it out?

[listen] [download]

fm radio doesn't suck

2008-08-15T17:09:00.003-05:00

yes. i just said "fm radio" and "doesn't suck" in the same sentence. at least not anymore (here in birmingham anyway).

while a relative newcomer to the area, i have noticed that the radio around here is somewhat lacking. the only real options i have are to listen to am 960 (fox news network, which i enjoy most of the time), or the vulcan, where its cool to spin "lightning crashes" by live 4 times an hour (i kid not...) but now we have a choice. 100.5 wwmm has come online, and boy, is it good. so far.

here's the first hour's playlist:

01> bruce springsteen - radio nowhere

02> r.e.m. - radio free europe

03> death cab - i will possess your heart

04> pearl jam - daughter

05> coldplay - viva la vida

06> new radicals - you get what you give

07> kt tunstall - suddenly i see

08> spoon - don't you evah

09> the killers - all these things that i've done

10> u2 - who's gonna ride your wild horses?

11> jeff buckley - hallelujah

12> o.a.r. - shattered

13> feist - 1234

14> the police - so lonely

15> duffy - mercy

a little heavy on the nostalgia, but definitely worth listening to.

this post was mainly for tyler...i know he'll be interested. you can stream it, you know.

the dusk of summer

2008-08-06T21:25:00.005-05:00

if you don't already know, yewknee has been running the 2nd annual summer mix series over at his site. since i love making stellar mixes of other people's music, casey and i decided to make one ourselves. this here, the dusk of summer, is the product of at least two late nights and much file transferring. and boy, is it worth the wait.

the theme is, obviously, the end of summer. school is starting back (for the less-employed of us), girlfriends are leaving town, and your usually peaceful downtown entertainment district home is about to be flooded with unruly youngins. so burn this to a disc (or, if you are hardcore, record it onto an actual magnetic tape), sit back, and listen. preferably in your car, in the evening, driving to somewhere you wish you were but know you will from now on only be visiting. but you can make your own applications. this might be the best baby-making music you ever heard. whatever you do with it, enjoy it.

here's the tracklist:

01| death cab for cutie - i will possess your heart

02| autovaughn - on the radio

03| the helio sequence - hallelujah

04| spoon - black like me

05| the silent years- someone to keep us warm

06| pedro the lion - indian summer

07| neon neon - dream cars

08| disappointed by candy - not lived out

09| silversun pickups - three seed

10| junior boys- count souvenirs

11| the pernice brothers - there goes the sun

12| maria taylor - my own fault

13| kings of convenience - gold in the air of summer

14| american football - the summer ends

15| chris staples - burned and blistered

[listen] [download]

pretty in garnet

2008-07-20T15:10:00.004-05:00

this weekend, a bunch of ac's friends came into town to go shopping for dresses (bridesmaid and bride) for the upcoming nuptials. The ones they chose are very classy (the bridesmaids) and supposedly classy (the bride; i have not and will not see it until the day of).

speaking of the day of, keep your calendars open for january 10. we have pretty much settled on this day, so i can almost gay-ron-tea it. if you go to the great wikipedia, you can see all the famous and moderately famous people that have been born and pronounced dead on this day. there's also a large list of events, one of which is, ironically, the secession of florida (my home state) from the union. we all saw how that turned out, so maybe i'm making the best decision.

i am currently designing the invitations, directions card, bulletins, all that, doing my best imitation of one that ac found online that she really liked. mississippi state printing services is much more reasonable than the invitation sites. like, 200% more reasonable.

we also want to get chris scott's services for photographer. if you have not seen this man's abilities, please check him out. and please do not book him for jan. 10.

well, on to work. yes, work. on a sunday. but it's important. it's nice to be doing something important now, rather than school.

moviefilm: control

2008-07-18T23:35:00.010-05:00

i had been making a go of finishing this movie for the last several days, but tonight i finally polished off control, a don't-call-it-a-documentary about the band joy division.

i had heard of them, and actually have some of their music, but i had never really listened to it. i had heard the movie was good, and i had heard (though not through my own ear for influences) that they were very influential to a lot of the bands that have come up the last few years, with the killers' first album one of the first big albums to borrow heavily from the band. the movie itself was pretty good. a bit slow, and incredibly depressing, which is, apparently, inevitable with anything that relates to this band. if you've had too good a day and need something to bring you back down, this will do the trick.

i see movies of these peoples' lives, and i think, "man, that would cool to be in his position; you have a group of friends who get together and make strikingly fresh and new music that puts you on the map. you have a wife that loves you and would do anything for you. it's good. then it falls apart."

i can't say i want to know what that is like.

i thought i'd throw in a couple joy division songs and a cover, just to make the night warmer.

joy division - shadowplay
joy division - transmission
jose gonzalez - love will tear us apart (joy division cover)

new life, new noisefarmer

2008-07-17T22:32:00.002-05:00

it's time for a refresh.

i have not kept with this, but i feel a little old for xanga, you know? so here i am, with all the other blogspotters. my adult blog. i'm grown up now, hear?

this will be a mix of all the things that make my life full. music, politics, fantasy baseball, happenings in birmingham, and more. i hope you read it, and mostly, i hope you enjoy it.

what the hell IS on joey's head?

2008-01-31T11:33:00.001-06:00

the year so far has seen some great releases. nothing too big time, but some good music nonetheless. here's a take:

blizten trapper - wild mountain nation

if you pride yourself on having a fairly broad taste in music, but hate the annoyance of having to switch artists and genres anytime your oft-changing whims desire something different, this is one to listen for. everything from psycho-pop to bluegrass jams, is has nearly everything (except bill cosby rapping). good stuff.

3.5 cobs

blitzen trapper - summer town
blitzen trapper - wild mountain nation

jon foreman - fall and winter

jon foreman, lead singer for switchfoot, is putting out a set of 4 eps, each named after a season. the first 2, fall and winter, were released at the beginning of the month. quite a departure from what would be expected considering his band, foreman conveys a much more elliott smith-type vibe with his music, a little more "let that be enough" than "stars." i haven't listened to the whole album, but from what i have heard, it is absolutely great.

4.5 cobs

jon foreman - the cure for pain
jon foreman - lord save me from myself
jon foreman - i am still running

vampire weekend - vampire weekend

vampire weekend has been the toast of the indie community for some time now, and while i hate hate hate to be on the bandwagon for anything, this album is truly worth it. it's compact, concise, and fun to listen to. my favorite record of the year so far, along with the next one.

5 cobs

what the hell IS on joey's head?

2008-01-31T11:33:00.000-06:00

the year so far has seen some great releases. nothing too big time, but some good music nonetheless. here's a take:

blizten trapper - wild mountain nation

Best O The Year That Was: 2007 (5 Stars) [not done!]

2007-12-27T21:38:00.000-06:00

These are the albums that were truly the best of 2007. They are in no particular order except alphabetical, because there is no way I can truly say that any one of these albums was my absolute year-long favorite. Some of these I listened to today, so it would be untrue and unfair (and if I am anything, I am neither of those).

So enjoy and discuss! I really want to hear what you think.

Andrew Osenga - Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1

Key Song: Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates

Andy Davis - Fine China EP

Key Song: Fine China

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Key Song: Intervention

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81

Key Song: Berlin

Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City

Key Song: The Prayer

Canon Blue - Halcyon EP

Key Song: Halcyon

Download Full Album (free and legal!)

Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

Key Song: Catastrophe and the Cure

Lifehouse - Who We Are

Key Song: The Joke

Menomena - Friend or Foe

Key Song: Air Aid

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Key Song: Dashboard

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Key Song: Gronlandic Edit

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Key Song: Halloweenhead

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Key Song: The Underdog

Best O The Year That Was: 2007 (4 stars) [not done!]

2007-12-27T19:40:00.001-06:00

So this is it; my best of the year.

I took a little while, and I've listened to a lot of music over the past few weeks to catch up, but i have complied what I believe in my limited scope to be the best albums released in the year 2007. I only posted the albums that I thought were 4 or 5 stars...these are the 4 stars.

The song under the album art is the "key song" of the album, and you can (for most) click to play it or rightclick to download it. Some you have download them to listen to them, but i promise they're good. Enjoy and discuss!

The Acorn - Tin Fist

Key Song: Brokered Heart

Aqualung - Memory Man

Key Song: Vapour Trail

Athlete - Beyond the Neighbourhood

Key Song: Airport Disco

Battles - Mirrored

Key Song: Atlas

Bear Colony - We Came Here to Die

Key Song: Hospital Rooms Aren't For Lovers

The Bird and the Bee - The Bird and the Bee

Key Song: Birds and the Bees

Blonde Redhead - 23

Key Song: Publisher

Calvin Harris - I Created Disco

Key Song: This Is the Industry

Caribou - Andorra

Key Song: Eli

David Crowder Band - The Remedy

Key Song: The Glory of It All

Ezra Furman & the Harpoons - Banging Down the Doors

Key Song: I Wanna Be Ignored

The Fratellis - Costello Music

Key Song: Flathead

The Hives - The Black and White Album

Key Song: T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.

Kayne West - Graduation

Key Song: Stronger

Lily Allen - Alright, Still

Key Song: LDN

Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Too Long

Key Song: Wake Up Call

Paolo Nutini - These Streets

Key Song: Jenny, Don't Be Hasty

Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch

Key Song: Phantom Punch

Various - Across the Universe Soundtrack

Key Song: Strawberry Fields Forever

Best O The Year That Was: 2007 (4 stars)

2007-12-27T19:40:00.000-06:00

you know you can't get enough

2007-12-23T16:33:00.001-06:00

in case you haven't heard enough christmas music yet, or you'd rather listen to something not so mall-y, go here.

coming soon...

2007-12-23T12:57:00.001-06:00

i am in the process of making an end of the year list. problem is, i didn't keep up with it during the year, so i'm having to go back and listen and make notes now.

it's time consuming.

but it will be done, probably after christmas, maybe even new years'.

so be anticipating.

schoolhouse rocks

2007-04-09T15:03:00.000-05:00

back from easter break...i hope everyone's was enjoyable. mine? dock-building and fam time took up the most of it, and i am thankful for that.

i have been on a music-collecting rampage. with the new discovery of the Mega Super Mammoth Mp3 Blog List, i have been discovering a host of new music.

of particular interest to me is Akashman's Kosmos. tyler and i had the discussion a while back that, while we liked a lot of the new music coming out, we wanted to find older music that was equally as "indie" and unknown. being stranded in the musical wasteland that is starkville, ms has, until now, prevented us from really making any headway on this. but on this site i have found at least 2 albums that i had never heard, and they are wonderful listens.

also, i have found this program for my scholastic endeavours. it's called SchoolHouse, and it's like iTunes for your schoolwork. you can organize all your notes, homework, and anything that goes with it all in one place. along with that, it makes it easy to contact your professors as soon as you have a question. all in all, pretty fantastic.

- The Stories - The Stories
- Fringe Benefit - Fringe Benefit

grammy results

2007-02-25T01:12:00.000-06:00

wow this is late...sorry about that. we're getting off to a slow start, but we have a concert review and hopefully some new album reviews coming soon. anyway, here's what i got right:

6. Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Waiting on the World to Change," John Mayer
10. Pop Instrumental Album: "Fingerprints," Peter Frampton
12. Dance Recording: "Sexy Back," Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
17. Hard Rock Performance: "Woman," Wolfmother
19. Rock Instrumental Performance: "The Wizard Turns On ... ," the Flaming Lips
24. Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Heaven," John Legend
25. R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: "Family Affair," (Sly and the Family Stone), John Legend, Joss Stone With Van Hunt
27. Urban/Alternative Performance: "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
30. Contemporary R&B Album: "B'Day," Beyonce
32. Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: "Ridin," Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone
33. Rap/Sung Collaboration: "My Love," Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
38. Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks
39. Country Collaboration With Vocals: "Who Says You Can't Go Home," Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles
42. Country Album: "Taking the Long Way," Dixie Chicks
44. New Age Album: "Amarantine," Enya
45. Contemporary Jazz Album: "The Hidden Land," Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
47. Jazz Instrumental Solo: "Some Skunk Funk," Michael Brecker
49. Large Jazz Ensemble Album: "Some Skunk Funk," Randy Brecker With Michael Brecker, Jim Beard, Will Lee, Peter Erskine, Marcio
52. Gospel Song: "Imagine Me," Kirk Franklin (Kirk Franklin)
55. Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: "Glory Train," Randy Travis
56. Traditional Gospel Album: "Alive in South Africa," Israel and New Breed
57. Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: "Hero," Kirk Franklin
58. Latin Pop Album: "Adentro," Arjona
61. Mexican/Mexican-American Album: "Historias De Mi Tierra," Pepe Aguilar
62. Tejano Album: "Sigue El Taconazo," Chente Barrera
65. Traditional Blues Album: "Risin' With the Blues," Ike Turner
67. Traditional Folk Album: "We Shall Overcome -- the Seeger Sessions," Bruce Springsteen
68. Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: "Modern Times," Bob Dylan
72. Traditional World Music Album: "Blessed," Soweto Gospel Choir
76. Spoken Word Album for Children: "Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates and Dogs," Bill Harley
80. Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media"Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix and Various Artists
83. Instrumental Composition: "A Prayer for Peace," John Williams, composer (John Williams), from "Munich -- Soundtrack"
87. Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: "Stadium Arcadium," Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith and Matt Taylor, art directors (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
90. Engineered Album, Non-Classical: "At War With the Mystics," the Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann, engineers (The Flaming Lips)
93. Surround Sound Album: "Morph the Cat," Darcy Proper, surround mastering
94. Engineered Album, Classical: "Elgar: Enigma Variations; Britten: the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Four Sea Interludes," Michael Bishop, engineer (Paavo Jarvi and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
106. Classical Crossover Album: "Simple Gifts," Bryn Terfel (London Voices; London Symphony Orchestra)
107. Short Form Music Video: "Here It Goes Again," OK Go

what is that? 38 out of 108? 35%? good for a baseball player.

what that says is that the grammy voters line up with only 35% of what i like. that's how i picked...i chose the ones i wanted to win. some, i admit, were luck. for example, i had no idea that "morph the cat" was the most well-done surround album of the year. i am not a "morph the cat" fan. i've never heard of "morph the cat."

but i did amazingly well in the categories i would most hate to claim: r&b, rap, and gospel. i will claim jazz, tho. i'm proud of that.

so there you have it. my grammy win percentage. guess i need to be a bit more mainstream. or listen to more children's music.

grammy results

2007-02-12T01:04:00.000-06:00

what can i say i'm disappointed but whatever, not everyone can be so blessed to have ears like mine. what i did learn from reading the results (as there is no way i could have forced myself to sit through all of that meaningless crap) is that jesse knows his r&b. i think he was batting about .700 maybe? well as I am without internet im short for time. im listening to quite a bit of stuff and planning a trip to sxsw in the atx (austin, tx) mar 9-16 or so. more to come on this later. im out

welcome, welcome

2007-02-07T17:05:00.000-06:00

this here's our new music blog, "noise farmer." many thanks to band name generator for allowing us to come up with such a great name. soon we will have a header that displays the glorious logo that inspired the name...it will be well worth the wait.

so for the first post, i decided to go with something fairly safe and pick who i think will win grammys this year. some of the categories i have absolutely no idea about; others, i really want a certain artist to win. here are my picks:

1. Record of the Year: "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
2. Album of the Year: "Continuum," John Mayer
3. Song of the Year: "Put Your Records On," John Beck, Steve Chrisanthou and Corinne Bailey Rae (Corinne Bailey Rae)
4. New Artist: Imogen Heap
5. Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," KT Tunstall
6. Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Waiting on the World to Change," John Mayer
7. Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "Over My Head (Cable Car)," the Fray
8. Pop Collaboration With Vocals: "Promiscuous," Nelly Furtado and Timbaland
9. Pop Instrumental Performance: "Subterfuge," Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
10. Pop Instrumental Album: "Fingerprints," Peter Frampton
11. Pop Vocal Album: "FutureSex/LoveSounds," Justin Timberlake
12. Dance Recording: "Sexy Back," Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
13. Electronic/Dance Album: "The Garden," Zero 7
14. Traditional Pop Vocal Album: "Wintersong," Sarah McLachlan
15. Solo Rock Vocal Performance: "Nausea," Beck
16. Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "How to Save a Life," the Fray
17. Hard Rock Performance: "Woman," Wolfmother
18. Metal Performance: "Redneck," Lamb of God;
19. Rock Instrumental Performance: "The Wizard Turns On ... ," the Flaming Lips
20. Rock Song: "When You Were Young," Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers)
21. Rock Album: "Try!," John Mayer Trio
22. Alternative Music Album: "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," Arctic Monkeys
23. Female R&B Vocal Performance: "Ring the Alarm," Beyonce
24. Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Heaven," John Legend
25. R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: "Family Affair," (Sly and the Family Stone), John Legend, Joss Stone With Van Hunt
26. Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: "You Are So Beautiful," Sam Moore featuring Billy Preston, Zucchero, Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph
27. Urban/Alternative Performance: "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
28. R&B Song: "Black Sweat," Prince (Prince) Track from: 3121
29. R&B Album: "3121," Prince
30. Contemporary R&B Album: "B'Day," Beyonce
31. Rap Solo Performance: "Kick, Push," Lupe Fiasco
32. Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: "Ridin," Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone
33. Rap/Sung Collaboration: "My Love," Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
34. Rap Song: "Ridin," Anthony Henderson, J. Slainas, O. Salinas and Hakeem Seriki
35. Rap Album: "Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor," Lupe Fiasco
36. Female Country Vocal Performance: "Something's Gotta Give," LeAnn Rimes
37. Male Country Vocal Performance: "Every Mile a Memory," Dierks Bentley
38. Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks
39. Country Collaboration With Vocals: "Who Says You Can't Go Home," Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles
40. Country Instrumental Performance: "The Eleventh Reel," Chris Thile
41. Country Song: "Every Mile a Memory," Brett Beavers, Dierks Bentley and Steve Bogard (Dierks Bentley);
42. Country Album: "Taking the Long Way," Dixie Chicks
43. Bluegrass Album: "Live at the Ryman," Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives
44. New Age Album: "Amarantine," Enya
45. Contemporary Jazz Album: "The Hidden Land," Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
46. Jazz Vocal Album: "From This Moment On," Diana Krall
47. Jazz Instrumental Solo: "Some Skunk Funk," Michael Brecker
48. Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group: "Sound Grammar," Ornette Coleman
49. Large Jazz Ensemble Album: "Some Skunk Funk," Randy Brecker With Michael Brecker, Jim Beard, Will Lee, Peter Erskine, Marcio
50. Latin Jazz Album: "Codes," Ignacio Berroa
51. Gospel Performance: "Not Forgotten," Israel and New Breed
52. Gospel Song: "Imagine Me," Kirk Franklin (Kirk Franklin)
53. Rock or Rap Gospel Album: "DecembeRadio," DecembeRadio
54. Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: "Sound of Melodies," Leeland
55. Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: "Glory Train," Randy Travis
56. Traditional Gospel Album: "Alive in South Africa," Israel and New Breed
57. Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: "Hero," Kirk Franklin
58. Latin Pop Album: "Adentro," Arjona
59. Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album: "Lo Demas Es Plastico," Black:Guayaba
60. Tropical Latin Album: "Fuzionando," Oscar D'Leon
61. Mexican/Mexican-American Album: "Historias De Mi Tierra," Pepe Aguilar
62. Tejano Album: "Sigue El Taconazo," Chente Barrera
63. Norteno Album: "Algo De Mi," Conjunto Primavera
64. Banda Album: "20 Mil Heridas," Banda Machos
65. Traditional Blues Album: "Risin' With the Blues," Ike Turner
66. Contemporary Blues Album: "Live From Across the Pond," Robert Cray Band
67. Traditional Folk Album: "We Shall Overcome -- the Seeger Sessions," Bruce Springsteen
68. Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: "Modern Times," Bob Dylan
69. Native American Music Album: "Voice of the Drum," Black Eagle
70. Hawaiian Music Album: "Generation Hawai'i," Amy Hanaiali'i
71. Reggae Album: "Youth," Matisyahu
72. Traditional World Music Album: "Blessed," Soweto Gospel Choir
73. Contemporary World Music Album: "Long Walk to Freedom," Ladysmith Black Mambazo
74. Polka Album: "Batteries Not Included," Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones
75. Musical Album for Children: "The Sunny Side of the Street," John Lithgow
76. Spoken Word Album for Children: "Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates and Dogs," Bill Harley
77. Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books and Story Telling): "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! (Bob Newhart)," Bob Newhart
78. Comedy Album: "Straight Outta Lynwood," "Weird Al" Yankovic
79. Musical Show Album: "The Color Purple"
80. Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media"Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix and Various Artists
81. Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: "The Chronicles of Narnia -- the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Harry Gregson-Williams, composer
82. Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: "Can't Take It In (From the Chronicles of Narnia -- the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)," Imogen Heap (Imogen Heap)
83. Instrumental Composition: "A Prayer for Peace," John Williams, composer (John Williams), from "Munich -- Soundtrack"
84. Instrumental Arrangement: "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes," Gordon Goodwin, arranger (Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band), from "The Phat Pack"
85. Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): "My Flame Burns Blue (Blood Count)," Vince Mendoza, arranger (Elvis Costello With the Metropole Orkest), from "My Flame Burns Blue"
86. Recording Package: "Versions," Neal Ashby and Matthew Curry, art directors (Thievery Corporation)
87. Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: "Stadium Arcadium," Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith and Matt Taylor, art directors (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
88. Album Notes: "There Is a Season," David Fricke, album notes writer (The Byrds).
89. Historical Album: "Rockin' Bones: 1950's Punk and Rockabilly."
90. Engineered Album, Non-Classical: "At War With the Mystics," the Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann, engineers (The Flaming Lips)
91. Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Danger Mouse
92. Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: "Be Without You (Moto Blanco Vocal Mix)," Moto Blanco, remixer (Mary J. Blige)
93. Surround Sound Album: "Morph the Cat," Darcy Proper, surround mastering
94. Engineered Album, Classical: "Elgar: Enigma Variations; Britten: the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Four Sea Interludes," Michael Bishop, engineer (Paavo Jarvi and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
95. Producer of the Year, Classical: Manfred Eicher
96. Classical Album: "Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9," Bernard Haitink, conductor, James Mallinson producer (London Symphony Orchestra)
97. Orchestral Performance: "Prokofiev: the Complete Symphonies," Valery Gergiev, conductor (London Symphony Orchestra)
98. Opera Recording: "Bennett: the Mines of Sulphur," Stewart Robertson, conductor (Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra)
99. Choral Performance: "Immortal Nystedt," Oystein Fevang, conductor (Baerum Vokalensemble and Ensemble 96)
100. Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra): "Brahms: the Piano Concertos," Riccardo Chailly, conductor; Nelson Freire (Gewandhausorchester)
101. Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra): "Primrose: Viola Transcriptions," Roberto Diaz (Robert Koenig)
102. Chamber Music Performance: "Chamber Works for Winds and Strings by Mozart," the Chicago Chamber Musicians
103. Small Ensemble Performance: "Angel Dances," 12 Cellists of Berliner Philharmoniker
104. Classical Vocal Performance: "Songs of Amy Beach," Patrick Mason (Joanne Polk)
105. Classical Contemporary Composition: "Boston Concerto," Elliott Carter (Oliver Knussen)
106. Classical Crossover Album: "Simple Gifts," Bryn Terfel (London Voices; London Symphony Orchestra)
107. Short Form Music Video: "Here It Goes Again," OK Go
108. Long Form Music Video: "Directions," Death Cab for Cutie

When the winners are announced on Feb. 11, i'll compare and see how I did...