Gone to Chicago

Back in 2 weeks.

May post in the meantime.

So I do one post about Surf Music, and now Google ads think my blog's all about surf music. Oh well.

Zomg! A Cat has Infiltrated!

Weirdness - Motivational Poster

Where to Find Free Surf Music Online

First let it be know that by "Surf Music," I am referring to the instrumental guitar-laden surf music of yonder glory days or the modern day equivalent of it. Sorry, no beach boys here.

"Let's Go Classics" by Takeshi Terauchi

Who is Takeshi Terauchi? He's a very good Japanese surf guitarist.

This album consists of covers of classical pieces, but done in a surf style.

Additionally, since this album and artist is so obscure, you've probably never heard of them before. Which is good.

WFMU has another Takeshi Terauchi album, This is Terauchi Bushi, which consists of orginal work of surf music bit with a bit of a Japanese twist at times.

Surf Guitar 101 Compilations

Surf Guitar 101 is one of the only pages you get when you Google search for "surf guitar." Surf Guitar 101 has a busy forum that occasionally collects surf guitar pieces from various members with the intent to combine them into one larger compilation for that year. So far, there have been three.



Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2005





Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2006




Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2007

Various Internet Archive Surf Pieces

Surfing and Civilization - "Dissertation regarding the influence of surfing on Western civilization as expressed via guitar, organ, bass and drums."¹ In actuality, a moderately long catchy bit of surf music.




Surf Coasters Live at Double Down Saloon - The surf coasters are a modern day surf band and they're putting out some good songs. Have a listen to their latest live show on The Internet Archive.

"Play Some Surf Guitar" by Monsters from Mars - Surf music with a bit of a kick to it.

Mermen Live at Hard Rock Cafe - The Mermen are a modern day band that plays music vaguely reminiscent of surf msuic. While it's not exactly surf, you might find it to your tastes.

Youtube

Youtube works wonders in general for listening to music for free online, and it works those same wonders for popular surf music. Keep in mind that some of the more obscure things you might be looking for are probably not on Youtube.


"Wipeout" - The Ventures


"Pipeline" - The Chantay's


"Misirlou" - Dick Dale & The Del Tones

Try searching for others as there's plenty more where that came from.

Pandora.com

http://www.pandora.com/ is a free online radio station where you given an initial suggestion of what you like, and then it tries to find similar music. I've found that if you use "The Ventures" as an initial artist, you'll be exposed to all sorts of older surf music.

Last.fm

http://www.last.fm/ is a site where you can find and listen to more obscure songs than Youtube will let you. For example, if you hear something you like on the above mentioned Pandora.com but it's not on Yotube, perhaps it will be on Last.fm.

Keep in mind that there is a limit to how many free songs you can hear in a day, so Youtube is preferable in that regard.

Why Gnol Will Not be a "Wikipedia Killer"

Perhaps you've heard about the hot new Google product in beta. What happens is you make your own little page about something in which you are the expert in. It's like Wikipedia, but different in that there are authors and they're encouraged to take credit for their work. Additionally, they can add ads to their Knols if they want, effectively monetizing them.

Most people have speculated that Google created Knol to compete with with Wikipedia, but according to Wikipedia, "We welcome the Google Knol initiative. The more good free content, the better for the world."

And that's more like the stance I want to take.

First of all, Knol will end up being much different from Wikipedia. Wikipedia emphasizes anonymous non-paid contribution and professionalism, whereas Knol emphasizes profit-seeking¹ competition and amateurism.

Not that there's anything wrong with profit-seeking competition and amateurism, but it's very different from non-paid cooperation. So I'm predicting their articles will be very different.

Mostly in tone. A Wikipedia article strives for and is endlessly revised to achieve that perfect "Encyclopedia Voice." Conversly, a Knol will be either be in a personal voice or a semi-professional voice. There's nothing inherently bad about either, but they will be different and offer a different feeling to the reader.

Knols would have the liberty to be written about certain things that Wikipedia deems obscure. On Wikipedia, articles have to be on something well known, as arbitrarily defined by the moderators. Articles deemed to be about something relatively unknown would therefore be deleted. While this policy has its merits, it also leaves a handful of unhappy Wikipedia users that want to write about something but can't. Such people would be more than happy to switch to Knol where all content is allowed so long as it isn't ripped off or illegal.

And because a Wikipedia article and a Knol article for a topic will end up being so different, they will probably used to complement each other rather than replace each other.

So I don't see a future where Knol and Wikipedia ruthlessly compete for readers in the future. I see a lax future where both Wikipedia pages and Knol pages are used in concert.

1; I'm sure we can all agree that eventually a large portion of Knol will have ads on them. An Adsense account is not particularly hard to create. Additionally, a quick search around the internet will reveal that most of it has ads. This isn't necessarily a bad, because the ads on a Knol would be on the side and semi-relevant.

Nintendo Loses in Patent Skirmish

Apparently Nintendo was in a patent lawsuit again "Anascape" and apparently they managed to lose.

Basically, this means that the happy analog sticks on the Gamecube controllers and the classic controllers are in patent violation, and can no longer be sold unless Nintendo does something.

Granted, there's no way this will mean no more Gamecube or classic controllers forever. But it might lead to a temporary setback. I'm thinking a few months.

Still though, "Anascape"? That's two letters from "Analescape."

Slashdot
Slashdot's link

Facebook Unveils Site Redesign... And it Doesn't Work With IE6... Or IE7

So I tried upgrading to the new Facebook, thinking it would be cooler and all.

Then I get this error message;


Apparently Facebook's new site doesn't work with IE6. However, they reassure me IE6 compatibility will be made "soon."

But wait! It gets better!

So I click on the Internet Explorer upgrade link, and it takes me to this page;

"you are using Internet Explorer 7"

Apparently Facebook has more problems than it thought or Microsoft's website is lying to me.

EDIT: It seems that NEW Facebook has finally started working on Internet Explorer 7. No word yet on if it works for IE6 or not.

Charles Dicken's Great Expectations - Motivational Poster

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions

Now you can walk to destinations.

But my source makes it sound like it forces you to walk on sidewalks only. Great.

Unsubstantiated Rock Band 2 Rumor

In my last post I complained about why there were no Rock Band 1 tracks in Rock Band 2.

According to a rumor from Kotaku, all the tracks from Rock Band 1 would be included in Rock Band 2.

Now, as crazy as this sounds, especially when you consider Rock Band is published by EA, you have to figure that Harmonix is a company that sort of loves its customers. Heck, they created Guitar Hero just to give the common man an idea of what it's like to be in a band.

Plus, they made bucketloads of money on the last one.

Plus, they make a killing with perephiral sales. And who buys those? New players. So if they sweeten the deal that much more, then they might make more perephireal sales.

Of course, there are just reasons why this makes sense, not reason why they're actually doing it.

Need I repeat this is merely a rumor?

Rock Band 2 Track List

So I got this list from Ultimate Guitar who in turn got it from Kotaku. I've still had more interesting link chains.

01. AC/DC "Let There Be Rock" 1970s
02. AFI "Girl's Gone Grey" 2000's
03. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" 1990's
04. Alice In Chains "Man in the Box" 1990's
05. Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man" 1970's
06. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy" 2000's
07. Bad Company "Shooting Star" 1970's
08. Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" 1990's
09. Beck "E-Pro" 2000's
10. Bikini Kill "Rebel Girl" 1990's
11. I" 1980's
12. Blondie "One Way or Another" 1970's
13. Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue" 1970's
14. Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" 1980's
15. Cheap Trick "Hello There" 1970's
16. Devo "Uncontrollable Urge" 1980's
17. "Feel the Pain" 1990's
18. Disturbed "Down with the Sickness" 2000's
19. Dream Theater "Panic Attack" 2000's
20. Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf" 1980's
21. Elvis Costello "Pump It Up" 1970's
22. Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way" 1970's
23. Foo Fighters "Everlong" 1990's
24. Guns N' Roses "Shackler's Revenge" 2000's
25. Interpol "PDA" 2000's
26. Jane's Addiction "Mountain Song" 1980's
27. Jethro Tull "Aqualung" 1970's
28. Jimmy Eat World "The Middle" 2000's
29. Joan Jett "Bad Reputation" 1980's
30. Journey "Anyway You Want It" 1970's
31. Judas Priest "Painkiller" 1990's
32. Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son" 1970's
33. L7 "Pretend We're Dead" 1990's
34. Lacuna Coil "Our Truth" 2000's
35. Linkin Park "One Step Closer" 2000's
36. Lit "My Own Worst Enemy" 1990's
37. Lush "De-Luxe" 1990's
38. Mastodon "Colony of Birchmen" 2000's
39. Megadeth "Peace Sells" 1980's
40. Metallica "Battery" 1980's
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Where'd You Go" 1990's
42. Modest Mouse "Float On" 2000's
43. Motorhead "Ace of Spades" 1980's
44. Nirvana "Drain You" 1990's
45. Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky" 1960's
46. Panic At The Disco "Nine in the Afternoon" 2000's
47. Paramore "That's What You Get" 2000's
48. Pearl Jam "Alive" 1990's
49. Presidents Of The Usa "Lump" 1990's
50. Rage Against The Machine "Testify" 1990's
51. Ratt "Round & Round" 1980's
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give it Away" 1990's
53. Rise Against "Give it All" 2000's
54. Rush "The Trees" 1970's
55. Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" 2000's
56. Smashing Pumpkins "Today" 1990's
57. Social Distortion "I Was Wrong" 1990's
58. Sonic Youth "Teenage Riot" 1980's
59. Soundgarden "Spoonman" 1990's
60. Squeeze "Cool for Cats" 1970's
61. Steely Dan "Bodhitsattva" 1970's
62. Steve Miller Band "Rock'n Me" 1970's
63. Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" 1980's
64. System Of A Down "Chop Suey" 2000's
65. Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" 1970's
66. Tenacious D "Master Exploder" 2000's
67. Testament "Souls of Black" 1990's
68. The Donnas "New Kid in School" 2000's
69. The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" 1980's
70. The Grateful Dead "Alabama Getaway" 1980's
71. The Guess Who "American Woman" 1970's
72. The Muffs "Kids in America" 1990's
73. The Offspring "Come Out & Play (Keep 'em Separated)" 1990's
74. The Replacements "Alex Chilton" 1980's
75. The Who "Pinball Wizard" 1960's
76. Abnormality "Visions" 2000's
77. Anarchy Club "Get Clean" 2000's
78. Bang Camaro "Night Lies" 2000's
79. Breaking Wheel "Shoulder to the Plow" 2000's
80. The Libyans "Neighborhood" 2000's
81. The Main Drag "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" 2000's
82. Speck "Conventional Lover" 2000's
83. The Sterns "Supreme Girl" 2000's
84. That Handsome Devil "Rob the Prez-O-Dent" 2000's

Personally, there doesn't seem to be that much good stuff. But I have faith in Harmonix to not completely suck when picking songs. Besides, there are plenty of awesome songs yet to pick that weren't in Rock Band or any guitar hero.

Though what really bugs me is why can't they add in tracks that were in Rock Band 1 if there's extra space? I think the 84 song list is more a limit due to work than to memory.

Do You Believe There Are Monsters Under Your Bed or In Your Closet?

Here's a great example of voluntary response bias.

Voluntary response bias is when you let people answer a survey or poll, and the results thusly become skewed because only people who really care about it will answer.

I asked Yahoo Answers if people believe if there were monsters under their bed.

All of the 3 people responded in the affirmative. Using this survey, I could (unreasonably) conclude that 100% of people on Yahoo Answers believe there is a monster under their bed.

Answer Thread

Conversation With A Spambot

[21:10:14] korypage24: lmitrlrlpvGotta sec shingoiruka?ocpexnhljybcimyxndho

[21:10:21] Jiggly29642000: ...No?

[21:10:24] korypage24: cxyrqsorry i'm new to this whole "IM" thing lol, wasnt sure if i had the right personjzpio

[21:10:38] jiggly29642000: My name is "Jiggly29642000."

[21:10:47] korypage24: udmfndo u remember me?mviky

[21:10:53] jiggly29642000: Do you remember me?

[21:10:59] korypage24: pdwrpit's me Morganhefnk

[21:11:16] jiggly29642000: Morgan, eh?

[21:11:19] korypage24: wnlnddo u remember me?nhnyk

[21:11:28] jiggly29642000: You're Morgan, right?

[21:11:29] korypage24: spjtdit's me Alexandriaqfrpf

[21:11:35] jiggly29642000: Alexandria, eh?

[21:11:39] korypage24: dbkbqhey R U free any time this week? i'm kinda lonley in this new town, maybe we can meet up ;)rrqwobuqfq

[21:11:55] jiggly29642000: Well, seeing as how you're so paranoid you have two names... Then no.

[21:11:58] korypage24: acvyuTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com ajtvh

[21:12:07] jiggly29642000: That doesn't even make any sense.

[21:12:08] korypage24: qcoxmcheck out my pic http://www.a%64ul%74%68%6f%6fk%2du%70s.%6e%65%74 do u think i'm cute, pgbpi

[21:12:36] jiggly29642000: No, I think you're ugly.

[21:12:46] korypage24: vgloei just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64u%6c%74h%6fok%2d%75%70%73.%6eet vryhq

[21:12:58] jiggly29642000: What if I told you I was married?

[21:13:05] korypage24: xfvndTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com jqdrk

[21:13:12] jiggly29642000: Uh, you already told me this...

[21:13:14] korypage24: lpmjzi just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64ul%74%68%6fok-u%70%73%2e%6e%65t vocxi

[21:13:22] jiggly29642000: Wow, repeating fail.

[21:13:31] korypage24: iskrxTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com juvrc

Here's a thought;

If you turn off your voice activated computer, can you turn it back on using your voice?

Slightly More than 4 Million Keypresses

It's weird, I didn't jump to update this as I used to do.

Yet another sort of milestone in my life.

"An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists."

Gosh dang it, what if I am the administrator!?

Being a Blogger is Tough Work

PS3 Dualshock JUST released in Britian

Hah, those poor suckers.

Except not really, because it's not that great of a product.

Sony's new Dualshock controller for PS3 launches in Europe today. The controller finally brings vibration - left out of the original PS3 pads for legal rather than design reasons - back to the Playstation. Rumble is subtly effective, especially on racing games, and is one of those features that you tend to miss when not there. So today's release has got to be good news for PS3 owners right? Not quite. The main problem is the price - the controller costs 40 quid. That's around 10 more than the original Sixaxis PS3 controller and the 360's pad. Reviews suggest the new controller is fine, but is it worth 40 pounds? Heck, is any pad? Any PS3 owners here planning to get one?
- Greg Howson

In the end, I think the British are winning. They're the ones who got Civilization Revolution a month early.

Even though the DS version comes out at the same time everywhere, I'm still a bit miffed.

Wowio is "Going Global"

I'm not quite sure what the heck this means. I haven't heard anything about this before.

Still, it'll be entertaining to see what happens in the end.

As many of you might know, Wowio is (or was) a place to get free books off the internet legally.

Personally, I took a break from using Wowio because I lost the time for books. But it's not a bad site at all.

How Can You Tell if Someone's a Communist?

Ah, this one's a good one.

So I asked,

How Can You Tell if Someone's a Communist?

Are there certain tells that are characteristic of communists?

Do they have some sort of prominent feature?

Is there some sort of a radar you can buy?

Keep in mind at all times I was asking this jokingly, while all the time not expecting serious answers.

The best (4 non-me votes) poster said,

Just look in there I and ask if they love Huu Wong Song's ideas, or whatever that guy's name is from North Korea

I have no idea what the poor chap was trying to say.

"AngryCat" told me,

They don't have horns and hoofs.
The communism doesn't affect your appearence or manners. It's just a set of ideas that a person keeps in his/her head. There is no radar to find out it.

Yes, I know that, but I'm waiting for the person who does believe that communists have hooves and there's special communist radar.

Then this hippie lady said,

everyones a communist in one way or another(called their own set of values)

Which of course pissed off this person,

To the person below me, everyone is not a communist, as communism is a specific set of values.

You will know that they are a communist from speaking with them.

If they say that they are interested in revolution, world unity, class
conflict, and words like proletariat and bourgeisie, it is pretty clear they are a Communist.

Then this clever character said,

Are you trying to find communists or hide your own convictions?

In some American states even the word 'communism' gets the public running to the Republican ballot box.

Touche, man, touche!

Finally, here's my favorite answer,

So sorry you missed the millenium. We are at this present time, in the 21st century in the year 2008. The idea of Communism is a tired one, primarily because the Berlin Wall and thus Communism fell almost 20 years ago!!! You are a quaint relic of a bygone era. You should do one of two things. Either put yourself up for sale at a museum for antiques, or go back to sleep.

This is Yahoo Answers at its finest, people.

Brave Connor's Thoughts FC Finally Lose

Today breaks my 25 day streak of having at least 30 visitors a day.

Most of you new visitors are coming to my various motivational posters I submitted to StumbleUpon.

It all started with my Skepticism motivational poster, which was a major hit.

To the future!

The Connor Smith FastQuick Comedy Show Episode 47

"Those British..."

Rock Band 2 Implied

Rock Band 2 has been implied by a survey about Rock Band 2.

As the survey asks, which version of the box would you prefer?

What bothers me, though, is what could they offer with a sequel?

It can't really be more songs, as they already have more than a fair amount availible online already.

MarketLeap Link Popularity Checker

Do you want to check out how popular a (or your) website is?

This handy website looks at some magical number, and compares it to many different comparison domains.

According to it, I'm at the bottom stage. Oh well, the pains of being small.

Ugh, remember when I said I'd finish all the Yahoo Answers stuff?

I think I kinda ran out of steam. I'll finish them later.

...Didn't know they'd be so much work.

Humans Versus Nature; Who Wins?

In continuation of all this Yahoo Answers hijinx...

So, I asked,

Everyone always seems to think that humans are stealing the world's natural resources and ruining the environment.

But on the other hand, natural diasters seem to put humanity in its place.

So who's winning?

Thankfully, I got some real answers this time.

One person said,

Humans are part of Nature. We can only win what Nature allow us to win

What a lame answer. That's not what I wanted at all. Philosophical and trite, but sure as heck not fun.

Another person says,

Depends on what you mean by winning.

Ultimately nature will become so far out of balance that humanity, and possibly everything else living on the planet is destroyed...or at least greatly diminished...whether there will be a liveable planet after that remains to be seen.

First, I'd say you get to create your own definition of winning. I'm asking you for your thoughts.

Next, they bring in the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction. While this too is a nice and philosophical answer, I'm still waiting for someone to interpret this as a war or something wacky like that.

Then this person said,

Nature has always been present on Earth and always will be. Humans have existed on this planet for a relatively early period of time, so no matter what we do or do not do, nature will continue to 'react' .. I guess you could say .. to what's going on around the planet. This doesn't necessarily mean what humans are doing but anything .. for example if an asteroid hits the Earth what's going to happen?

At this point in time, humans are using and abusing the nature's resources, and nature is reacting to what we're doing. So I wouldn't stay it's putting 'humanity in its place' but rather, we're facing the consequences and realizing what we're doing to the planet is wrong and not helping it.

So really, I don't think anyone is 'winning' per se. Humans and nature are both getting hurt but at the same time we're still benefiting from this world.

Summed up, humans are simultaneously winning and losing. Whoo.

Again, that's like the epitome of what I didn't want.

Finally, the unavowed winner of the thread said,

Well, think of it this way;
There have been unnatural events happening lately across the world over the past few years, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, and haven't they all been happening because we're ruining the environment? I'd say we're making the earth act so much more violently against us. In a sense, we're winning, but it in the end we all know nature will win.

Basically, that humans are briefly ahead, but nature's going to catch up and surpass. Kind of like the Japanese versus the Americans in World War 2.

All these answers kind of surprised me. I was expecting weird, crazy answers. Or at least one weird crazy answer.

Congratulations to all that answered for being thoughtful and incredibly unfun.

Pig Launching; Feasible?

Let's wrap up this Yahoo Answers stuff.

So near the beginning, spurred on by the success of my one questions, decided to ask another. Unfortunately, this one had only one answer. I thought it was interesting enough...

I asked,

Say one is to launch a pig as far as they can where the pig stays alive in the end. Assume this is an average pig.

What contraption would you recommend?

How would you keep the pig alive?

How far could you get the pig?

Any mathematics you'd like to show off?

Like I said, I only got one answer. Thank you, brave soul who actually managed to find my question.

Of course, I was intending for some sort of safe pig catapult. Yeah, I know it's crazy, but maybe someone else didn't think so.

Too bad the guy who answered thought I wanted a pig in space.

So, their first answer was to send the pig up via the Russian's commercial space flight system.

While I'm sure they'd offer some sort of discount for non-humans, it'd still be FREAKING EXPENSIVE.

His next suggestion was to send the pig up on a satellite, a la Laika.

Alas, if the superman episode about sending a monkey into space is any indication, that's not a good idea at all.

As for an actual answer to my question, I'd probably go with a normal catapult, but with a pig parachute. It might work.

Heck, I might even make the parachute tiered, just like Susan from my 8th grade science class did to her bottle rocket. The Susan everyone overlooked, and subsequently won. Surprisingly, I lost. Second to last.

Dr. Who Has Just Two More Regenerations

While not necessarily news, it is news to me.


Image taken from the Dr. Who Wikipedia Article

Dr. Who, everyone's favorite space hopping eccentric doctor, has just two regenerations to go.

The Doctor regenerates whenever a normal person would have died. Whenever he regerates, he looks like a different person.

What that means in normal people terms is that the show is nearing an end. Not close to an end, but it's getting there slowly.

This is kinda big as the show's been running since 1963, and has umpteen million bajillion fans.

I was alerted to this fact by a post in a forum. In this same forum, it was also alleged that Dr. Who would be regenerating soon.

FaceSearch; Search for Faces

So last time, I mentioned "SearchMe," a visual search site.

An anonymous source tipped me off about FaceSearch.

It's essentially a Google image search that displayed the results in a very cool manner.

Heck, I was even able to find myself.