I want to hear the chris connelly box set.

Doing good. Want to make bleeps like the one's bubbling in my head.

Tape Recorders

I ran across an article on CNET's editorial column "MP3 Insider" this morning about the magic of introducing kids to hands-on, physical-mechanism-based recording tech. I myself grew up in a house that was never bereft of a television set, setting me apart from my forebears in that I considered such mass-mediation of reality standard. But, like my forebears, I was able to see the evolution of the the mediated world from one where color TV and new forms of celebrity struggled to become pervasive to today's world wherein all markets are niche markets and shopping, information, and entertainment are interchangeably and ubiquitously available- a world in which the the information stored on on any medium has completely abjured once and for all any formal marriage to to the form of its packaging. We are living in a world of virtualization, we've been taken off the gold standard of the physical restraints of form and storage, and now our access to music, movies, et al is only going to become more and more closely instant. Kids today simply assume Moore's Law as to make its observation redundant.

In the article mentioned above, the author recounts explaining to his toddler what a tape recorder is and does. I remember the hours I spent with my series of cheap tape recorders, all of which I ran into the ground, one after the other, recording a constant productive stream of radio programs, sounds, and songs. I suppose all I really wanted to do here is reminisce and wax a little nostalgic on those days 20 and more years ago when it took me no effort at all to extend my self and my mind out into the world of things that could be molded and created with a little piece of cheap, portable, and customisable recording equipment.

I wonder where those tapes are now.

All the Happiness

The feeling of relief and finally-vindicated conviction following the massive shift in government from the rule of the deceptively-named "conservative" radical right to the mooshy center (or, I guess, what passes as a left these days) following the recent midterm elections has been echoed by the full spectrum of people that I meet throughout my day. Yeah, sure, "we won." Yeah, sure, now we can get back to thinking about our venal social structures in our superior, all-inclusive way. Yeah, sure, maybe we'll move away from pure emotional manipulation, smear, and total obfuscation of fact as we legislate a kinder, more liberal society. (the maybe is a little more, er, substantial on this count, if I were to hazard my opinion.)
I'm not kidding- I really do think "we won". I really do think that we should allow gay people to enjoy unsegregated the benefits of marriage, I REALLY do think it's time, as it has been for a long time, to simply come back to the false Christian fundamentalists with reason and a fat shut up in favor of real inclusive civic thinking and a government that is run by an ideology that responds to the lives of its constituents as opposed the lock-step march of a government that suffers from the idolatry of an ideology that puts the whole round world in a small, steel box out on the sand.
But, wow, geez- where the fuck was "we won" before the outgoing regime got in, made their money, and got out? Where was our enlightened public before we had our new regime of surveillance? Where were those votes when all of this could have been prevented?
Oh, what? They were voting the outgoing regime in?
So we swing to the left for a decade or so. And, as the Dillinger Four so aptly put in on their "Midwestern Songs of the Americas": drown in a culture of peace/you turn your back to the beast/it's so easy to do/it's so easy
And recent resurrection rockers (over 20 years since their last release goes the unverified recollection of something I skimmed in a headline the other day) The Who once sang something that just hasn't stopped reverberating in my mind's ear. Something about us not getting fooled again? Something?
Oh, fuck it. Let's go shopping and get married.

One Bottle, One Bottle of Pearls

Trusty Pallor

My day got rained out- woke up with that cold that's going around, went home around 1, and actually slept solidly until 5 or so. Drifting in unknown territory here, trying to plan on starting one thing, unable to do so yet... These days spent unsure and vacillating are difficult.
Off to meet the band- we're looking for a drummer.
Here's something I put together a few months ago. Unfinished, but nice. It's quiet, so turn it up.

You'll need Pando to get it, which I think is neat.

Today is Election Day

Today is election day here in the США, 米国, Los E.E.U., or however YOU pronounce the name of our kickass megapower when you speak the coolest word in your backwater banana republic's language. I am going to vote. Apropos of election day, I present to you the liberal drinking game via bordom.net.You can also read about my day at the google image story generator:
Here.

That's all I have.
That, and this picture of George Washington's wooden face.

Fuckin' Around With Linux

Yeah, that's what I've been doing today. My trusty old Gateway is the Guinea Pig for bootdisk distros of media-oriented Linux.