how things happen

Last night I was looking at the concert calendar for Linnaea's Cafe, and randomly clicked on the name of a folk singer. On her web page I was surprised to discover she went to Williams roughly when I did, so I sent her mail just to say "Small world." It turns out that Linnaea's had linked to someone else with the same name. The world isn't so small after all.

While googling for a Jim's Big Ego track listing to help me answer randomchef's request for funny singer-songwriter songs, I ran across Josh Woodward, another blogging singer-songwriter. After listening to his song "Dust" I was not surprised to learn he is a Peter Mulvey fan--in fact, he built mulveyfan.org.

After reading his blog I was somewhat surprised to learn a federal judge has approved a settlement agreement over the music industry's price-fixing of CDs. 5.6 million CDs to be sent to libraries and schools, plus $12.63 apiece for millions of consumers.

(no subject)

A former counterterrorism adviser for the NSC resigned this year after three decades of public service, and is now advising John Kerry. The Washington Post has a front-page story on Rand Beers.

Within U.S. borders, homeland security is suffering from "policy constipation. Nothing gets done," Beers said. "Fixing an agency management problem doesn't make headlines or produce voter support. So if you're looking at things from a political perspective, it's easier to go to war."

The whole thing's good reading--analysis of current policy, as well as insight into the nuts and bolts of everyday counterterrorism intelligence.

home recording

Sometimes people ask me "What kind of equipment do you use for recording?" What they really mean by this is "What kind of equipment should I buy for recording?" When I tell them about the complicated setup I use (multiple microphones, a Mackie mixer, a quasi-pro sound card, etc.), they look sad and shuffle out of sight.

Scott Andrew, who records more and better than I do, has just posted his recording setup on his blog. It's very reasonable, and, as you can hear elsewhere on his site, sounds great. From now on when people ask me what I record on, I'll just send them there.

time to see the doctor

( Ow. )

now that i've seen the doctor

( Ow, part 2. )

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Here's a great post on environmentalism, ad pollution, and protecting the commons. Lots of quotable stuff, like this:

Because what's environmentalism all about, really? Protecting the commons. It's misunderstood by some as being about the hugging of trees and the cuddling of fuzzy baby owls, but what it's about is making sure that in the future, you won't have to be rich to breathe fresh air and drink clean water and eat nontoxic food and look at a pretty landscape now and then.

And later, about advertising:

If you haven't tried turning down the volume, you just can't imagine how noisy the world is, how much it knots your muscles, how distracted you are. (And there aren't any technological tools for eliminating billboards and brand names and "swoosh"-logo t-shirts.) And yet, mostly... we don't notice. We're the proverbial boiled frogs.

And here's a practical guide to removing logos from your life.

times arts

( Malls, iTunes, Reading Rainbow, Spike TV, and more. )