Back before mp3s were so widely distributed, a large hard drive was still under a gig, and a fast connection was way under 56k, tracking programs and files such as .xm, .it, .mod, etc. were a popular way of creating/distributing music. I queued up my entire music collection yesterday and had it on random when this little gem started playing. I thought it was worth sharing just for the heck of it. Make sure you have a music player that can play .xm files.
Download Audio: lluvia_chanel_n.xm
Being a long time computer user, I always find it interesting to see what different software people use to accomplish the same task. If a friend or coworker is showing me something on their computer, I look to see if they use different software than I do for tasks such as internet browsing, office, media player, etc. So I thought it might be interesting to show to others what software I use to do my day to day computer ‘work’.
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Several weeks back, I went out searching for a quiet spot to record that was still close to the city limits. It was still somewhat early, around 9am when I was out and about, but finding a spot with little vehicle noise is hard to find. In my recording session, I don’t think I went more than 3 minutes without interference from some transporting human being, but the one minute clip I’m posting here is a nice mix of bugs, birds, and crows. Of course, if you listen closely, you can also hear a vehicle speeding away in the distance.
Download Audio: Old Military Road
From a recent wired article:
But it could get much worse. As much as a third of all species will be extinct by 2050 by some estimates, said report co-author Hector Galbraith of Galbraith Environmental Sciences and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Galbraith said he also worries that entire ecosystems are being affected, which could disrupt soil creation, plant pollination and the natural cleaning of water and air. “Climate change has the potential to affect all those benefits that we get for free.”
I’ve always wondered why the environment is never an important issue in political races, and rarely mentioned in broadcast news stories. Many claim that global warming studies are faulty at best, and some even say that global warming simply is not happening. But even if you don’t believe the scientists and their little studies, shouldn’t reports cush as Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S. at least give pause for a little bit of concern? Wouldn’t one think that an environmental policy that is harsh on big money energy producers but easier on our little planet would be at least a smart thing to consider? Wouldn’t a little inconvenience be worth the benefits to our home? Or do the powers at be truly think there is absolutely no cause for alarm? That all these scientists and countries who are concerned about this ‘little’ problem are overreacting? Am I a crazy environmental nutcase for getting even a little bit worried when I read those crazy scientists’ reports? If the earth’s climate is changing for the worse, shouldn’t more people be at least slightly alarmed? Or should I go on with life as usual, and ignore these reports and just hope they’re wrong? Maybe it’ll just go away if I ignore it long enough?
A recent study funded by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) found that America’s Public Libraries are increasingly costing movie studies millions of dollars in lost sales. According to the report, which was released yesterday, public libraries across America are offering hundreds of top movie titles to its patrons at no cost. Even new titles just recently released on DVD are often found in the libraries shortly after release thanks to special contributions of so-called ‘friends of the library’. MPAA chief Dan Glickman, who took over the job two months ago from Jack Valenti, said that “these public libraries are, in effect, taking away millions of dollars in revenue each year by allowing anyone with a library card to just take these movies home and watch them, without paying a cent to compensate the hundreds of workers who put their sweat into these films.” In order to compensate for what the MPAA calls “blatant intellectual property theft” of its studio’s content, the MPAA will begin a storm of litigation against those libraries who offer movies to its patrons. “It’s one thing for libraries to let people borrow books on educational stuff like sharks and astronomy and stuff,” commented Glickman. “But its an entirely different game alltogether when they just give away our intellectual property. It’s time to let these libraries know that giving people free access to copyrighted material is just wrong, and that it hurts everyone.”
Public Library Association officials were unavailable for comment.