Queen's Once, Queen's Twice!


Sounds like I missed quite a party at my 10-year anniversary for Queen's. Flipped cars, brawls with police, assorted mayhem. Should have been there! For an alternative view, try Golden Words, and here. (I used to write for them.)  ¶ 1:46 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  The Intelligent Design Prayer There's going to be a billion posts on intelligent design in the next few weeks, as the Dover trial progresses. This post gives the best summary I've heard of intelligent design.  ¶ 9:49 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  The beginning of the rebellion against DRM? Could this be the beginning of an avalanche of opposition to digital rights management? These could become two of the best posts I've ever read against it. Part 1 Part 2  ¶ 3:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 112 - September 26, 2005 Ron Trent - Altered States (exp)
Robag Wruhme - Wuzzelbud KK (Musik Krause)
Positive Science - Non Stop (Rising High)
Tricky Disco - Tricky Disco (Warp)
Luomo - The Right Wing (Force Tracks)
Crane A.K. - Servo Pop (Force Tracks)
2 Dollar Egg - Naxos (Audion mix)
Pryda - Spooks
Ron Trent - I Feel the Rhythm (Paul Johnson mix)
Eric Morillo - Waiting in the Darkness (Superchumbo wowie-zowie mix)
16th Avenue - Deep Inside (2005 white label mix)
Blackstrobe - The Abwehr Disco (Output)
Air Liquide - Der Laufer (sm:)e)
Orbital - The Box Part 3 (ffrr)
Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom - Rise (DFA remix) (DFA)
Shout Out Out Out Out - Tiiiired (Welcome Normals Records)
Koushik - Back to the End
Crouched Head - A Crouched Head
Clothesline Revival - Strange Things Happening (Paleo)  ¶ 10:04 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Can't they can come up with different designs? From John Digweed's Bedrock mix (1999).



From Paul van Dyk's new Politics of Dancing 2.

  ¶ 10:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Gas prices After all yesterday's crazy lines, today's gas prices are absolutely unchanged. After filling up this morning -- no lines -- I asked the woman behind the counter what was up. "So, after yesterday's craziness the price hasn't changed?" and she said, "Yeah, I knew it wouldn't."  ¶ 11:59 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Its because of oil refineries shutting down Should have read the news. CNN: Gas could equal $5.   ¶ 4:33 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  So there's this rumour about gas prices going around... My sister called me about twenty minutes ago and said there's this big rumour going around that gas prices will skyrocket tomorrow. She says I should get some today to be safe. I'm under 1/4 so I go out.

Everybody else has heard the same rumour. All the gas stations within a one-mile radius have huge lines, at least 30, sometimes 50 cars long. I came home without getting gas.

This is all happening in southern Ontario right now.

I will be curious to see what gas prices are tomorrow. Right now they are $1.03/litre. Supply and demand dictates tomorrows will be huge in any case, with today's demand like crazy. I'm surprised the pumps haven't gone up already.

This is all very strange. I'm starting to realize what the oil embargo in the early 70s was like.  ¶ 4:17 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Faint star streamers in the Virgo cluster Most people throw out their overexposed photos. But a group of astronomers at Case Western Reserve University purposefully took some very long exposures of the Virgo Cluster, the closest large cluster of galaxies to us. The picture has revealed the faint stars that live in between the galaxies. Stars aren't normally found outside galaxies. Only collisions between galaxies can tear them free into streamers.

This first picture shows a normal view of the Virgo Cluster. The stream moving from the right and upwards to the left is Markarian's Chain, something I have personally observed in my telescope.



This new picture shows the new overexposed view, revealing the stars that have been cut loose from their parent galaxies during collisions and mergers.

  ¶ 2:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 111 - September 19, 2005 - The Hard Stuff Funk d'Void - Diabla (Soma)
Caustic Window - Astroblaster (Rephlex)
Mark Bell - A Salute to Those People Who Say Fuck You (Warp)
u-ziq - Approaching Menace (Astralwerks)
Amon Tobin - Triple Science (Ninja Tune)
Ed Rush & Optical - Bacteria (Pendulum mix) (Virus)
DJ Scud - Something Violent (Rephlex)
Squarepusher - Greenways Trajectory (Warp)
Wolf Eyes - Village Oblivia (Sub Pop)
Morceaux de Machine - Placenta Compresa (Notype)
Small Fish With Spine - High Fibre (Oxide)
Plump DJs - Scram (Nettwerk)
Martin Tetreault/Otomo Yoshihide - Geneve No. 6 (Actuelle)
Mike Ink - Paroles (Warp)
[end of hard stuff]
Red Carpet - Alright (Positiva)
The MFA - The Difference it Makes (Superpitcher mix)
7-Hurtz - LVL (Output)
Bola - Dog in America  ¶ 10:57 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Is It Real or a Hoax? See if you can determine if these pictures are real or fake. I got 7 out of 10.  ¶ 10:56 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  A little Marsturbation
I had my first real session looking at Mars this year. Previously I have been distracted by impatience, laziness and aurora. I observed with my 85mm refractor, and got a view much like this from CalSky. At least in outline, not in detail.

The white polar cap at top was visible. So was the yellowish area of Hellas Planitia, which surprised me, given the small aperture. The central blackness of Syrtis Major and its associated areas were also easy to see. Directly above it was a lightened area, which may be dust or clouds.

  ¶ 12:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

 
This picture has the silhouette of my friend's 16" Dobsonian and the aurora, looking north.   ¶ 12:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

 
This has Mars at right, the Pleiades at center, and aurora on the left.    ¶ 12:23 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

 
These aurora were photographed by me on September 10, 2005, in Algonquin Park, part of the Annual Algonquin Adventure.    ¶ 12:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Pirate talk on Swoon Next Monday is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Dare I attempt it on Swoon? Hmm. We'll see.  ¶ 11:30 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  How much do you owe? You can use this calculator to figure out how much you owe the RIAA and MPAA. I owe quite a bit.  ¶ 9:35 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  A totally brilliant idea Hacking the fundamentalists from boing boing. If I was American, I'd give money for this. Those protesters are downright creepy.  ¶ 11:01 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Sir Hermann Bondi dies Hermann Bondi, who, with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold, were staunch promoters and defenders of the steady state theory, has died. A good appreciation of his career, which went far beyond the steady state hypothesis, is here. It's important to note that for a long time, there was very little real cosmological evidence to help astrophysicists decide between the Big Bang and the steady state theory.  ¶ 4:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 110 - September 12, 2005 Dominik Eulberg - Die Rohrdommel Und Der Wachtelkönig Im Schachtelhalmlabyrinth (Traum) Vinny Troia - Expressions (Abe Duque mix)
Soul Mekanik - Get Your Head Stuck to Your Neck
Andry Nalin pres. Bush II Bush - Piano Track (SAW)
Blaze - Do You Remember House? (Solid Groove mix)
Solid Groove - This is Sick
DJ Pierre - Box Energy (Soul Jazz)
The Black Dog - Vantool (GPR)
Lucien and Mathew Jonson - Alpine Rocket (Perlon)
Junior Boys - Birthday (Manitoba mix) (Domino)
Death in Vegas - Sons of Lucifer (True North)
Koushik - Too Many Ways
Telefon Tel Aviv - Got Me Lost Driving in Life (Hefty)
Jamie Lidell - Newme (Warp)
Mossyrock - Whiskey is the Devil (Nice+smooth)
Bruce Haack - Mudra (Stereolab mix) (Eenie Meenie)
Tights - Swallow Small Bones (Drip Audio)
F2 - Dominica (Vegas Soul remix one) (Bellboy)
Lindstrom - I Feel Space (Feedelity)  ¶ 12:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Billboard Top 100 when you graduated Joey de Villa, a friend from Queen’s University, listed his, so I thought I would do mine. The premise: list the Billboard Top 100 from the year you graduated high school, underline the ones you like, cross out the ones you hate. Like Joey, my playlist back then was more CFNY than Billboard. I was into New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Erasure, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Sloan, The Cure and others.

I crossed out 83, kept 17. (It turns out you can't do strikethroughs with blogger, so anything that isn't in bold, consider it as "it sucks".) I was honest. I admit to liking the songs that are left, either then or now.

1. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
2. I Wanna Sex You Up - Color Me Badd
3. Gonna Make You Sweat - C+C Music Factory: great track. Lots of sampling and funky.

4. Rush Rush - Paula Abdul
5. One More Try - Timmy T
6. Unbelievable – EMF: good party fun. I’d still like to hear it, but I wouldn’t ask for it.

7. More Than Words - Extreme
8. I Like The Way (The Kissing Game) - Hi-Five
9. The First Time - Surface
10. Baby, Baby - Amy Grant
11. Motownphilly - Boyz II Men
12. Because I Love You (The Postman Song) - Stevie B
13. Someday - Mariah Carey
14. High Enough - Damn Yankees
15. From A Distance - Liette Midler
16. All The Man That I Need - Whitney Houston
17. Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones: big year for Jesus Jones. This was their ballad track.
18. I Adore Mi Amor - Color Me Badd
19. Love Will Never Do (Without You) - Janet Jackson
20. Good Vibrations - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch Featuring Loleatta Holloway : harmless fun.

21. Justify My Love - Madonna : oddly haunting. A big departure for her from her earlier pop.

22. Emotions - Mariah Carey
23. Joyride - Roxette
24. Romantic - Karyn White
25. I Don't Wanna Cry - Mariah Carey
25. Hold You Tight - Tara Kemp
27. You're In Love - Wilson Phillips
28. Every Heartbeat - Amy Grant
29. Sensitivity - Ralph Tresvant
30. Touch Me (All Night Long) - Cathy Dennis
31. I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat : nice vocal pop.

32. Do Anything - Natural Selection
33. Losing My Religion - R.E.M.
34. Coming Out Of The Dark - Gloria Estefan
35. Here We Go - C+C Music Factory
35. It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over - Lenny Kravitz
37. Where Does My Heart Beat Now - Celine Dion
38. Summertime - D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince : a true summer classic. About as laid back as you can get without smoking a blunt.

39. Wind Of Change - Scorpions
40. P.A.S.S.I.O.N. - Rhythm Syndicate
41. The Promise Of A New Day - Paula Abdul
42. I'm Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston
43. Love Of A Lifetime - Firehouse
44. Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) - Roxette
45. This House - Tracie Spencer
46. Hole Hearted - Extreme
47. Power Of Love-Love Power - Luther Vandross
48. Impulsive - Wilson Phillips
49. Love Is A Wonderful Thing - Michael Bolton
50. Rhythm Of My Heart - Rod Stewart
51. Things That Make You Go Hmmmm... - C+C Music Factory
52. I Touch Myself - Divinyls : “Is that what that song was about?” Willow Rosenberg.

53. Tom's Diner - DNA : this was one of the first mashups to ever chart. DNA took the entire track “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega and put some beats and melody behind it. They did not alter the original in any way. The spaces between her verses were already there. They only fit in the beats.

54. Iesha - Another Bad Creation
55. Something To Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
56. After The Rain - Nelson
57. Play That Funky Music - Vanilla Ice
58. Temptation - Corina
59. Can't Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams
60. I Can't Wait Another Minute - Hi-Five
61. 3 A.M. Eternal - The KLF : of everything in this Top 100, this is easily my favourite and the one I want to hear most of the whole list. A true dance anthem.

62. Time. Love And Tenderness - Michael Bolton
63. Saideness Part I - Enigrna : yet another intrusion of dance and ambient into the mainstream. Haunting, groovy and beautiful.

64. Around The Way Girl - LL Cool J
65. I'll Be There - Escape Club
66. Cream - Prince And The N.P.G. : I always like Prince.

67. Now That We Found Love - Heavy D. & The Boyz
68. Show Me The Way - Styx
69. Love Takes Time - Mariah Carey
70. Cry For Help - Rick Astley
71. The Way You Do The Things You Do - UB40
72. Here I Am (Come And Take Me) - UB40
73. Signs - Tesla
74. Too Many Walls - Cathy Dennis
75. Crazy - Seal : there are many more worse pop songs than this.

76. I'll Give All My Love To You - Keith Sweat
77. Place In This World - Michael W. Smith
78. Something To Believe In - Poison
79. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak : probably one of the greatest rock ballads ever.

80. Get Here - Oleta Adams
81. Round And Round - Tevin Campbell
82. Silent Lucidity - Queensryche
83. I'm Not In Love - Will To Power
84. Piece Of My Heart - Tara Kemp
85. Real Real Real - Jesus Jones : a faster, more uptempo track. Fun to dance to.

87. Just Another Dream - Cathy Dennis
88. Everybody Plays The Fool - Aaron Neville
88. Strike It Up - Black Box : italo house breaking into the charts, courtesy of a Lolleatta Holloway sample.
89. Rico Suave - Gerardo
90. Disappear - INXS
91. Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite : take a 70s jazz bassline, a common break sample, and add some horn stabs and Lady Miss Kier’s vocals. Instant classic.

92. All This Time - Sting
93. The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes
94. O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature
95. Freedom 90 - George Michael
96. I Saw Red - Warrent
97. Miles Away - Winger
98. Do You Want Me - Salt-N-Pepa
99. The Motown Song - Rod Stewart
100. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M.  ¶ 12:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post