In a minor stroke of luck, I managed to avoid having to go pick up a friend from the mechanic’s, as my slightly less fortunate friend incurred a large enough maintainance bill to be allowed to drive the “loaner” for the day. I insisted they take me for a ride, though, when I saw they were driving a behemoth “family truckster” style station wagon, complete with stained bench seats, clunking gear shift, and that boat-like ride. I’d forgotten how different they were from an SUV – they’re as big, but they ride much closer to the ground. It was a major nostalgia trip. I kept feeling like I ought to be sitting in the back with a bevy of siblings or schoolmates.
Archive for July 30, 2002
Internet Radio
After a series of internet radio stations I enjoyed went off the air, I’d given up on internet radio, but I saw someone mention Radio VH1 and decided to give it a try. I’m loving it. They have a ton of different stations, in different genres, including some really fun ones like a compilation of their top 100 one-hit wonders or the “Summer Fun” mix station (currently playing). You have to register to listen (and the site doesn’t make that entirely clear), but I’m really enjoying it.
[edited to add: Of course, I found this through the wonderful Pop Culture Junk Mail - I should have known...]
Category: Mass Media /
Temperature Matters
Sometimes, a banner ad manages to catch my eye. This time, it was one from EnergyStar, the energy-efficient appliance certification people. Their ad features a “summer energy saving tip”, specifically to wash your clothes in cold water. I’ve seen this advice before and it always irks the hell out of me, because it’s an example of trying to reduce energy by not actually accomplishing the task you set out to do. Cold water simply does not dissolve soap as well as hot, or at least warm, water. Go grab a bar of soap and check out the difference in washing your hands with cold water as compared to warm water. And that’s just on the surface of your skin – not absorbed into cloth. Many clothes don’t need to be washed with truly hot water, of course, but a cold water wash and rinse just does not get the same amount of soap out, and if you reduce your soap usage too much, you sort of miss the point of, you know, washing your clothes.
Category: Mass Media /
New Review
Catching up for lost time I’ve got another book review posted, this one for the very good Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress.
Category: Reviews /
Heading Towards Unionization?
More Cornell grad student unionization news: Cornell has signed an agreement recognizing the rights of grad students to unionize, and that they will recognize any union the students vote into place. I’m not surprised – too many other peer institutions have been forced to ultimately capitulate. Of course, the announcement of the agreement, despite admiting that Cornell was the first school to act so openly towards a unionization effort, makes sure to shade Cornell as the hostile oppressor against which a union is the only solution for meeting grad student needs. On the plus side, the agreement makes it very clear that the union will only bargain on “wages, hours, and conditions of student employment” and spells out clearly the academic issues on which the union will not bargain.
The election is scheduled for October 23/24. I’ve yet to see a wide, public debate on the issues surrounding unionization. I’ve certainly see no information from the unionization effort about how our particular union would be organized, what precisely it would be focusing on, what distribution of representation across the university there might be. I don’t understand how anyone could vote for a union without knowing how that union would be run and how they would be represented.
Category: Education /
Club Card Raise Costs
Forget the privacy concerns, grocery store “club” cards cost most consumers money. This article lays out very clearly why ultimately most shopper’s bills will actually increase with these programs, and evidence that this is the case and will only get worse. Unfortunately, even the local store which recently made a big production (literally! we got videotapes in the mail!) about getting rid of sales and lowering prices a little across the board still offers club card discounts. The rest of the site also has some interesting essays about privacy issues with these cards. [via RRE]
Category: Politics & Other Issues /
Brand-Name Recipes
I always think that cooking at home will get me better food than if I go out to eat, but I’m fascinated, in a sort of apalled way, by this free preview of a cookbook full of recipes from chain restaurants (sorry, only available as a zipped PDF file). Not only can you learn to make your own McDonald’s Big Mac or Hooter’s Buffalo Wings, they also have recipes to make your own Girl Scout Samoa Cookies, Clark Bars, and York Peppermint Patties. [via Book People]
Category: Crafts and Cooking /
Diverse Reviews
I’ve been doing more off-line than on-line reading recently, which gets you little weblog content, but I do have a couple of new book reviews posted for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark and Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland, both of which I rated ‘+’, though Miss Jean Brodie is the better book by far. I haven’t gotten reviews up for them yet, but I’ve also recently read Nancy Kress’s Beggers in Spain which I thought was very good, Michael Cunningham’s The Hours which is interesting if you’ve read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (and remember it) but I imagine is somewhat shallow otherwise, and a bunch of mystery novels by Laurie King and Sue Grafton, which were fun hot-summer-weekend recreation. The book-in-progress on the history of tort law is very interesting and I’ll hopefully finish it up this weekend and write up a review.
Category: Reviews /
Musicians for Free Downloads
In contrast to the moanings and wailings of RIAA and a handful of millionaire artists, here’s a very good article from recording artist Janis Ian in support of free music downloads. The whole thing is worth a read, and she makes a nice, clear argument that free downloads give musicians the exposure they need to actually get their albums purchased. She draws nice parallels to what’s happening in book publishing with on-line books. Particularly interesting, though, is:
And for those of us with major label contracts who want some of our music available for free downloading\x85 well, the record companies own our masters, our outtakes, even our demos, and they won’t allow it. Furthermore, they own our voices for the duration of the contract, so we can’t even post a live track for downloading!
Sure, the record company has invested money in producing the albums and wants to make sure they get a financial return. But as the article as a whole makes very clear, RIAA isn’t fighting this battle for the interests of the poor, powerless musicians, no matter what they claim.
Category: Politics & Other Issues /
Tolkien Ballet
On the other side of the musical spectrum, the internet buzz has kicked in that a Tolkien based ballet, The Silmaril is in the works at the Butler Ballet and Symphony Orchestra, “based on the timeless love story of Beren and Luthien”. I could really see this working – it’s a story with modern interest (being Tolkien and all) but with very classic feel. And the write-up of the project suggests that it’s being done by people who “get” Tolkien. I’m intruiged. [via Ghost in the Machine]
Category: Reading & Writing /