My friend Mike inspired me to do this. Here are some of my favorite records that came out in 2008, in alphabetical order:
Agathe Max "This Silver String"
Bohren & der Club of Gore "Dolores"
The Breeders "Mountain Battles"
Brightblack Morning Light "Motion To Rejoin"
The Bug "London Zoo"
Dan Friel "Ghost Town"
Goslings "Occasion"
Growing "All The Way"
Health "Disco"
Ho-Ag "Doctor Cowboy"
Hot Chip "Made In The Dark"
Icy Demons "Miami Ice"
Meho Plaza "Meho Plaza"
Mount Eerie "Black Wooden Ceiling Opening"
Parts & Labor "Receivers"
Santogold "Santogold"
Thunderhole "Animals, Monsters, & Fat People"
Great records I discovered this year but didn't come out this year include:
Amy Winehouse "Back To Black"
Animal Hospital "Memory"
Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works Volume II"
Apples In Stereo "New Magnetic Wonder"
Brian Eno "Here Come the Warm Jets"
Can "Delay 1968" and "Ege Bamyasi"
A Certain Ratio "Sextet"
David Bowie "Low" and "Heroes" and "Lodger"
Delta 5 "Singles and Session 1979-1981"
Dri "Smoke Rings"
Evangelicals "The Evening Descends"
Health "Health"
Justice [the title is a cross and I'm not sure how to do that]
T. Rex "Stars and Cars"
The Meters "The Meters"
The Microphones "The Glow Pt. 2"
Red Bennies "Announcing"
Six Finger Satellite "Severe Exposure"
The Slits "Cut"
A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Scribble Mural Comic Journal"
Television "Marquee Moon"
Unwound "Leaves Turn Inside You"
18 December 2008
15 December 2008
The Nuclear Option
Given our impending climatological doom, many scientists, bureaucrats, pundits, and my father have been suggesting a nuclear energy renaissance in the United States. There are three main reasons I believe this option should stay permanently off the table:
- It's too expensive. The Rocky Mountain Institute makes the financial non-viability of nuclear plainly clear. How non-viable are we talking here? Try twice the cost of wind.
- The waste is geopolitically and environmentally toxic. I think we're all familiar the arguments and facts on this one. Why this alone doesn't rule nuclear out completely is testament to humanity's painfully myopic decision-making tree.
- It's not renewable. If "energy independence" is as big a goal as everyone claims these days, we should be avoiding tying our fortunes to yet another non-renewable fuel source proven to destabilize the regions where it's found.
13 November 2008
People of Earth: To Thine Own Email Address Be True
I have a fairly common last name. It's not Smith or Jones or anything, but it's been around the English-Speakers Surname Block a few times. And I have a very common first initial (i.e. not 'Q'). Those two things -- very common first initial followed by fairly common last name -- comprise my email address with a popular webmail provider.
I guess I was an early adopter and scored an amazing username with them, because increasingly over the years I have received more and more email directed to people with the same last name as me, but a different first name beginning with the same letter. That's fine; I usually just say, "Hey, it seems like you're looking for a different [first initial] [last name], this is [first name]." And they apologize and move on.
Increasingly often, though, it isn't emails directed at people who aren't me, but account updates of some kind originating from people who have erroneously entered my email address as their own when purchasing plane tickets or ordering a book or, say, accruing points with a popular hotel chain. Thus begins our current tale.
I received my first email from the HHonors program at Hilton Hotels on November 7, 2008. Needless to say, it was not intended for me, but it was "My Way Account Summary and Deals" update. The email's almost-illegibly-tiny footer warned me, "Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered."
So, adding insult to injury, I had to track down a contact email for these people. I politely informed them of the situation and "David" responded to me one day later. Clearly he had not read my email, however, because this was his response:
Dear people of Earth, please endeavor to remember your own email address. Thanks.
I guess I was an early adopter and scored an amazing username with them, because increasingly over the years I have received more and more email directed to people with the same last name as me, but a different first name beginning with the same letter. That's fine; I usually just say, "Hey, it seems like you're looking for a different [first initial] [last name], this is [first name]." And they apologize and move on.
Increasingly often, though, it isn't emails directed at people who aren't me, but account updates of some kind originating from people who have erroneously entered my email address as their own when purchasing plane tickets or ordering a book or, say, accruing points with a popular hotel chain. Thus begins our current tale.
I received my first email from the HHonors program at Hilton Hotels on November 7, 2008. Needless to say, it was not intended for me, but it was "My Way Account Summary and Deals" update. The email's almost-illegibly-tiny footer warned me, "Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered."
So, adding insult to injury, I had to track down a contact email for these people. I politely informed them of the situation and "David" responded to me one day later. Clearly he had not read my email, however, because this was his response:
Thank you for your message to Hilton Reservations and Customer Care. It is my pleasure to assist you today with your request.I replied:
For security purposes, please respond with the United frequent flyer account number and birth date that we have on file for you.
Once we have verified your account, we will be glad to process your request.
If you have any further questions regarding your HHonors account, please don't hesitate to let us know.
I can't supply you with that information since it wasn't actually me who signed up for your program. Whoever [dude's name] is, he erroneously typed in my email address instead of his when signing up. I suggest calling him to get the correct address.Someone named Ursula responded to that message with:
As you have requested, your email address has been removed from our distribution list. Please allow 3 weeks for our systems to be completely updated. We appreciate your patience and understanding.I received my next HHonors missive a few days later. It was a mass mailing.
If you have any further questions regarding your HHonors account, please don't hesitate to let us know.
Dear people of Earth, please endeavor to remember your own email address. Thanks.
30 May 2008
Dear Afterlife Overlords
For as long as I can remember, I have harbored this fantasy that when I die, there will be some benevolent being or beings who will answer all of my questions about the mysteries of life and the universe. I never remember caring much for other purported aspects of "Heaven", like good food or clouds or temperate weather etc. I want(ed) answers!
As my good friend Fred* pointed out, it would be like the bonus features at the end of the DVD of your life.
So, though I am now nearly certain that I will never get this wish for answers fulfilled, I would like to begin recording the questions I would ask here. Feel free to add yours in a comment.
+ What the hell was going on before the Big Bang?
+ Is ESP bullshit?
+ How many native people lived in the Americas before white people and their diseases killed most of them?
+ What's the deal with the Voynich Manuscript?
*Not his real name.
As my good friend Fred* pointed out, it would be like the bonus features at the end of the DVD of your life.
So, though I am now nearly certain that I will never get this wish for answers fulfilled, I would like to begin recording the questions I would ask here. Feel free to add yours in a comment.
+ What the hell was going on before the Big Bang?
+ Is ESP bullshit?
+ How many native people lived in the Americas before white people and their diseases killed most of them?
+ What's the deal with the Voynich Manuscript?
*Not his real name.
22 April 2008
Donate The Rebate!
As I'm sure those American readers out there are well aware, our federal government will be sending out rebate checks to most taxpayers this May in an effort to stimulate our faltering economy. Given the ballooning federal deficit and many challenges facing our country currently, I feel this rebate is recklessly ill-advised. To boot, many economists predict it will have almost no effect on the economy whatsoever.
Thus, I intend to donate my rebate to organizations doing the work I wish my federal tax dollars were doing. I encourage you not only to do the same, but also to take that further scary step of urging those around you to do it too! Crazy, I know.
Thus, I intend to donate my rebate to organizations doing the work I wish my federal tax dollars were doing. I encourage you not only to do the same, but also to take that further scary step of urging those around you to do it too! Crazy, I know.
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