Another fine google tech talk, this time on Quicksilver (the mac utility):

Quicksilver’s one of those apps I’ve heard about a lot, and have been meaning to try out forever. Just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Of all the folksy artists I listen to, I’ve been enjoying Ani Difranco most lately. Especially her Educated Guess and Knuckle Down CDs. I think a lot of people didn’t like Educated Guess for some reason… too “experimental” they say on amazon.com reviews. I thought the change was nice… but I’m an unusual fan because I don’t like the early discs that most people think are her best.

Here’s a pretty good live version of “Manhole” and “Studying Stones” from her Knuckle Down CD (although the camera occasionally veers off toward the ceiling… I think a person with a camera-phone was either not paying attention or trying not to get caught):

Read the rest of this entry »

Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube

Based on the description I read of Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome last night, I think this is the main sleep problem I have had all my life. Left to my own devices, I will stay up a little later each night, and sleep a little later every morning… until I’m going to sleep at 6am and waking up at 2pm… and it just keeps going forward until I “lap” normal people. It’s like my internal definition of a day is like 25 or 26 hours long.

Based on what I’ve read, and see others trying, I think I might be able to help my brain learn a more typical day-night cycle. So, rather than fighting fatigue all the time, I’m going to try a couple things to see if it can be corrected:

• Open my blinds during the day and rely entirely on sunlight to light my rooms. (I normally never do this)
• Only use dim lighting at night
• Avoid tv screens and computer monitors at night (especially computer games). Shift to reading paper books and listening to podcasts at night, and do the computer stuff during the day. I’ve been doing just the opposite, as I like to “compute” late at night; I’ll have to give that up.
• No big meals after sunset
• No matter when I go to sleep, wake up at the same time every day

I already have 0 caffeine intake, so I don’t have to suffer through that common suggestion. I already meditate, though I don’t do it every day. I already sleep in total darkness. I eat a pretty decent diet most of the time, so I’ll go ahead and check that one off as well.

The blog post I linked to above quotes a book (which I’ve reserved at my library) claiming that your internal organs work on a clock independent of your circadian brain clock. And, more importantly, they adjust their schedule much more slowly than the brain. The liver can apparently take two weeks to catch up, for example. So, I will keep in mind that I might feel all kinds of sub-optimal effects for a couple weeks when changing my sleep schedule, and I should just suffer through it and let myself readjust.

Stock trading is very intense and stressful, and while I don’t think it’s keeping me from sleeping, I am going to start taking supplements of folic acid and omega-3 fatty acids (above and beyond my normal diet and multivitamin). They are connected with coping with stress effects and generally enhancing mood. Maybe I will feel less “fried” after a particularly hairy day in the markets…. we’ll see!

This is hilarious:

I spotted it on the uglychart blog.

This is great… from the people that made the MS Surface parody…

Watch this post's video on Youtube

One of the neat things about seeing Tori Amos live are the improvisational parts. And, they can be especially amusing when they come out of flubbed songs. Here’s a performance of Professional Widow I found on youtube with a new “Things F*ck Up Sometimes” middle section

Most bands I’ve seen, when they mess up, just keep going and finish the song. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band that mess up so badly they couldn’t finish the song. But, Tori seems averse to just playing through errors. She usually stops and calls herself on it. It’s funny and the fans love it.

Watch this post's video on Youtube

A concert from their Death Cult Armaggedon tour. I thought that disc was pretty good. The makeup+costumes aren’t all that scary… I wonder why these bands still do that? I guess I just don’t understand that part of the black metal culture. But, the important thing is the music, and Dimmu Borgir are one of my favorites in this style.

The video quality is a bit grainy, but the audio quality is pretty good. They duplicate the symphonic parts on the disc pretty well live (without an actual orchestra, obviously).

From a Simpsons episode, when Billy Corgan introduces himself to Homer:
Corgan: Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins.
Homer: Homer Simpson, smiling politely. You know, my kids think you’re the greatest, and thanks to your gloomy music, they’ve finally stopped dreaming of a future I can’t possibly provide.

In chronological order, some of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs that have videos:

Rhinocerous, from Gish. So many people today don’t realize that Billy used to have hair….

Gish was not my favorite disc, to be honest, but some of the songs are alright. Siamese Dream, on the other hand, was really strong from start to finish. Here’s the opening track, Cherub Rock:

And my favorite SP song…. Today:

On youtube you can also find videos for: Disarm and Rocket. The whole disc is good.

Next up we have (I think) the last video before the appearance of “Uncle Fester” Billy. It’s Bullet with Butterfly Wings which is a simple but pretty effective song, I think. I like the bridge with the long bend that leads to the “tell me I’m the only …” section.

Bullet with Butterfly Wings was from their double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I loved those discs, but my favorite songs on it were not made into videos, so … that was all you get.

I’m afraid, after this point, the pumpkins were much more hit-and-miss with me. Especially if I’m trying to pick from their videos, which is obviously just a small subset of their total output. Let’s see…

Remember that terrible Batman and Robin movie? Well, the pumpkins did one of the songs on the soundtrack, which I actually liked quite a bit:

Here is the video for Ava Adore, from the Adore disc. I like the way this song is structured, and the simple refrain “We must never be apart” comes across well. The video itself is really well made, I think… creepy camera work to make a lot of the movement look unnatural.

I don’t have Zeitgeist yet, so I don’t have on opinion on it.

Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube
Watch this post's video on Youtube

A nice interview with the jaiku folks:

and they mention jaikuBerry!

A talk by Matthieu Ricard (a Buddhist monk) about the nature of authentic happiness. Before becoming a monk, he was a scientist, and he currently studies the effects of meditation on the brain.