May 6, 2008

Quote of the Day

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! Andrew Sullivan:

...why is remembering an event the key to experiencing it fully? Sometimes, being there, without mediation, without worrying about whether one day it will be forgotten, just being there is what matters. Life is now; and when we obsess about storing it for the future, we forget to experience it in the only way we truly can: in the present.

April 28, 2008

Road Trips

Via FlowingData, Ben Fry has put together an amazing map of all 26 million road segments in the United States.

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As Nathan notes, it really is striking how the density shifts in the middle of the country. Having made 6 cross-country adventures, that was something I knew intuitively to be true, but it is still striking to see it on a map. Driving from the East to the West, my trips begin as a race for that line. How many miles can I cover per day? 600? 700? 800? How long until I get to the sagebrush? How long until I get to see the open sky? You hit that line and something in you shifts. I can't explain it, but I know it is real. The plains and mountains of Colorado... the Great Basin of Nevada... the red rocks of Utah.... the forests and mountain streams of Idaho and Wyoming... and the huge, endless skies of Montana.... Aw man.... Now I want to go drive.

April 14, 2008

The Death Of The Music Business Would Not Mean The Death Of Music

Everyone makes this mistake - today it is McMegan, but tomorrow it will be someone else.

File sharing is killing the music business as we know it, but it is certainly not killing music. Music will never die. But file-sharing will put the blood sucking major labels out of business. And I suspect you can tell what my take on that is, eh?

April 13, 2008

Most Heard Songs

Kottke posted his top 5 most played songs from his iTunes library, and it got me curious what mine are. Not what I expected at all:

Craig Armstrong - Childhood / 28 plays
Craig Armstrong - Weather Storm / 27 plays
Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street (William Orbit Rmx) / 26 plays
Weekend Players - Pursuit of Happiness / 26 plays
Cocteau Twins - The Thinner the Air (Massive Attack Rmx) / 25 plays

Given that I now have nearly 1/4 of a Terabyte of music on my various hard drives, it doesn't surprise me that my most played tunes would only have 25+ plays. What does surprise me is that my entire Top 25 list is downtempo. The only explanation I have for this, I guess, is that it is what I spent the last 4+ years listening to while I studied. But still... I would have thought either Sasha's Airdrawndagger or Involver albums or one of my own mixes would have made the Top 25. Weird.

The Future of House Music Is In... Sacto?

Erm... OK.

April 9, 2008

I'm A Pirate!

Universal Music wants you to know: if you have ever received a promo CD from them and then thrown it away, you are guilty of music piracy. This statement apparently comes as part of a legal trial aimed at defending their rights (rights which in this case do not exist) under copyright law, and that defense comes as part of their campaign to save their business model from the threat posed by the digital distribution of music.

I have an idea though. Perhaps if Universal Music didn't release so much shitty music, then people wouldn't throw their CDs in the trash.

March 17, 2008

Blogging From Beyond Big Sky

More pictures later as I collect them from everyone I traveled with. Until then, these three will have to do. Notice anything?

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Those are all shots of some of the most popular runs at Big Sky and Moonlight Basin. Notice anything missing?

There aren't any people there. Until further notice, its the best skiing on Earth.

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