weekends are for leisure

Started using it 5 months ago for reading RSS feeds. Before Google Reader, I used various tools. I attempted snownews in the past (see item 3 below), and zort which worked pretty well most of the time. Yet, Google Reader’s UI is just better.

• You can easily add and discover feeds, often by simply typing in the website name
• You can more efficiently read items by clicking the Next and Previous buttons … no more brrrp-brrrp-brrrp mouse-wheeling around
• It really makes sense to have an RSS reader that’s capable of full browser-like functionality because so many posts contain images and video. Readers that don’t render each post as a web page are backwards.
• Since it’s a web app, you can catch up on your backlog anywhere
• It remembers old news items, so you can travel back in time.
• You can “star” items that you like

I realized there’s no way I can become familiar with good blogs if I don’t get repeated exposure to the quality ones. Waiting for a good article to show on Hacker News isn’t doing me enough good when I want more articles of a certain type. Seems more efficient to just follow the originators of good articles an information.

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I should let the world in on this musical secret. Cursive is offering their new album, Mama, I’m Swollen, to you early as an mp3 download. The price is $5.00 today, and increases by a dollar each day until March 10th. I’ve already purchased my zipped collection of bits. I know, I should have told you sooner.

Happy Hollow was an amazing album. Though, some might consider it blasphemic. I certainly don’t mind. It’s an impressive exploration into the “darker aspects" of life in a way that’s not cliche – in a way that’s NOT like pussified “I’m always angsty” mainstream rock.

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The PBS Nature episode Superfish was enlightening on how much overfishing of billfish has occurred. We’ve mapped out the points in the ocean where currents converge. These places are normally feeding and breeding grounds, but they’re also the perfect places to fish and haul in the biggest possible catch. Problem is, this makes it so much easier to overfish. When hundreds of boats haul up tons of fish every day, it’s easy to see this heading in a bad direction.

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I enjoy watching CBS Sunday Morning. It’s on from 9am to 10:30am, so if you extrapolate you can see that it’s not for church-going types. In one episode Bill Geist did a story about the adult entertainment awards … so you can see what I mean. It’s a perfect replacement for the hectic time that normally consists of trying to round up your kids and get them willing or, god-willing, excited to go to church.

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The creativity, lyrical quality and instrumental experiments of Bright Eyes.

Programmers that find my projects and consider them highly overlooked.

The way Grandaddy surprises you with their use of synthesizers; such depth. They’ve taken a cue from the jazz mantra that what matters most are the notes you don’t play.

The way it’s somehow still exciting to meet someone new.

The way the grass is always greener across state lines.

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I remember when I was a kid and someone once said that many collapsed societies did so after they no longer had a problem with public nudity. Of course this was coming from a religious person. Man I wish kids could slap adults for being stupid.

It’s official: Hair stylists put “product” in before you leave to hide the mess-ups. Beware.

Speculation about a profitable side effect: There’s never enough jelly in the Smucker’s packs at restaurants to cover your toast or even your English muffin so you end up using twice the number you would normally. They may have started with bigger packs and then sought a way to cut costs, which happens all the time (Cadbury creme eggs really are smaller). The size reduction surely cut costs, and also probably doubled their orders.

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“It says right here that you can skin a buck. You can run a trotline.” “That’s right. And all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight.”

I love Squidbillies, which plays during the Adult Swim segment on the Cartoon Network. It’s vulgar, crude and offensive, which is right up my alley. Sometimes extremes are a refreshing break from life, where one always has to hold back one thing or another. I’m not advocating that we live any differently, except that we exercise just a tiny bit less political correctness. We should also find a way to help people become offended less often. It’s a waste of energy.

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Guess what I found in my trash can? Yesterday a bit of fall was in the air so I decided to linger and do some yard cleanup. While near the trash can, which normally doesn’t smell at all, I looked inside to see if the trash bag had broken and left some trash behind. Yes. And then I looked closer, tipped the can and something moved in the bottom. Apparently I woke up a baby opossum, with a body about 7 inches long. Damn they’re cute. I’m surprised how calm he was. Perhaps he climbed the nearby tree to jump in but couldn’t get back out. Even though some of his relatives ended up in our walls and attic last year, I don’t kill things. (Nature does that quite well on its own.) So I tipped over the can next to our shed so it had a place to hide.

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Listen to this on one of the few weekends you’ve actually reserved for leisure: Charles Mingus’ “Epitaph”

Check the web extras for the real deal, parts 1 and 2.

Charles Mingus is a great composer, and I never knew it. I don’t remember learning much more about him than the fact that he was a bass player.

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It’s all just a game to your socks. You put them on the pile of clothes and start carrying it to the other room, but they always jump off. For spite.

I like it when coffee shops provide ad-supported internet access so you can get to the ad-supported internet.

On halloween, while handing out candy, some older man told me this house was once inhabited by a relative of Disney. I didn’t really care, but that would explain why our attic and walls are frequented by rats. No, I didn’t give candy to the older man.

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