mjm wired ;)  

The much anticipated Dido album Life For Rent comes out today. The first single White Flag is already a hit. The chanteuse hasn't had a major release since her 1999 No Angel and the initial reviews look good. I'll wait a bit before shelling out for this one. I'll probably listen to some more singles first (in MP3? pretty shocking huh?). News of the (now #2) Sarah McLachlan has indicated a new album slated for release Nov 5. (Hmmm, that's awefully close to ... [...]

A conservative student group at the Southern Methodist University put together an "Affirmative Action" bake sale, where students were charged different rates for their gender and race. Apparently the university wasn't thrilled. As I recall the fine students at the University of Michigan were the first to try this. Even though that didn't sit well with the (over represented) liberal student body, it did not result in any problems. The interesting fact is that in a conservative state such as Texas, with a generally [...]

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life, Try to make ends meet, You're a slave to money then you die ... I once had perceived that a good job was the gateway to happiness. I had a long conversation with a good friend who challenged that notion. The debate we had was whether or not I should try harder to find contentment in my work. The suggestion offered to me was that I should consider if the job is the issue or if it [...]

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe." Does anyone know the true original source of the above [...]

Two years ago this morning a set of events unfolded that no one in the near future will be able to forget. A group of men, who thought their cause superseded all others, effectively plunged the United States into a poorly planned offensive against terrorism. Ironically the United States has now placed this offensive and national security as more important than any other aspects of its own democracy. This extremism occurs on much smaller scales than international. Individuals and organizations with forceful opinions parade [...]

In the northeast part of Ann Arbor where I live, the foundations for a new housing complex is beginning to take shape. For the most part it resembles any other development with one minor exception: its intended demographic is low income residents. Somehow the residents of the nearby affluent subdivisions felt that low income housing would be a breeding ground for crime and drugs, cause traffic problems and danger to young children by speeding cars. There was a petition drive and committees created to [...]

For the past 3 months that my website has been open to the public, I've had some interesting visitors. Quite a few people are actually looking for me when they visit (imagine that). Many are looking for my resources (that's what I put them up), which is great. Apparently my post on MP3 swapping and my personal music reviews together seemed to have attracted many people looking for free MP3s. Don't they know that's illegal? :-) The absolute weirdest was someone looking for Adam [...]

This weekend I watch The Pianist, a very well done movie in almost every respect. It clearly deserved all the Oscar attention it received. As much as I enjoyed the movie, at times it was very hard to watch its sad depictions and depressing scenes. The German occupation of Warsaw is shown in grim detail through the eyes of a Jewish pianist. As a survivor his very real story was eventually told. The thing that affected me about this movie was that it reminded [...]