2001.02.29

The Onion: You and Me and Baby Minus Me.

[via Squirrel Bait.]

2001.02.27

Geez, I almost forgot! Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!

CNN: Parades and partying usher in Mardi Gras.

"`This is the one day a year where I as a New Orleanian feel superior to everyone else in the country who are at their desks checking e-mail and voice mail, while I've been out here since before dawn drinking beer,' said Lloyd Webre..."

Wall Street Journal (subscription): EToys to Shutter Its Web Site Next Week, Seek Bankruptcy Protection, Sell Assets.

Wall Street Journal (subscription): MP3 Players for Cars Offer More Mobility.

2001.02.26

Thanks to Jimbo at Fonetic for explaining to me that back on 2.16, I was looking for "anecdotal evidence," not "antidotal evidence."

And he didn't even call me a dork.

If I do a search with Alta Vista, I find 44,094 instances of the term "anecdotal evidence," as opposed to the 66 "antidotal evidence" fools (myself not included).

2001.02.22

2001.02.19

ZDNET: Napster's new tune: Let's protect those copyrights!

"[Federal Judge Marilyn Hall] Patel's release of a new preliminary injunction against Napster is expected sometime in the next several weeks, but no schedule has been set. Napster attorneys have said they will likely appeal the new injunction."

2001.02.18

This is kind of weird:

Houston Chronicle: Rio Grande has quit flowing to the sea. Drought has lowered levels of reservoirs.

"For the last two weeks -- and for the first time since a record drought in the 1950s dried up entire sections of the river -- the Rio Grande has stopped about 50 feet short of the Gulf of Mexico. Not enough water is reaching the mouth to maintain the channel to the sea, and it has silted up, experts agree."

2001.02.17

Sonicnet: Napster To Put `Protection Layer' On MP3s.

"In the new Napster, which the company says will be launched `as soon as possible,' users will still be able to swap MP3 files ripped from their own CDs. But Napster will add a new `protection layer' to MP3s as they move from one user's computer to another, allowing the service to control what users do with the files they download, according to a statement from the company.

"For instance, Napster ... may prevent users from the popular practice of burning their MP3s onto CDs."

->
Well, they still have to get the record companies to agree to it ...

2001.02.16

Hey what's up with this? I consulted several dictionaries, but I couldn't find a definition of "antidotal" that supports my usage of the term.

By "antidotal evidence," I mean the practice of using an example or occurrence of limited significance or influence as weak evidence of a larger phenomenon. Why can't I find that in a dictionary?

If I do a search with Alta Vista, I find 66 examples of documents that use the term "antidotal evidence" in the same context as I do.

2001.02.15

CNN: GPS directions by voice.

"Recent studies have shown that people can have a problem driving if they're listening to car navigation directions, while on the wireless phone,with the radio turned down in the background and the radar detector going off."

CNN: 60 percent of U.S. on Web in January.

Where are the other 40%?

2001.02.12

CNN: Spacecraft makes improbable landing on asteroid.

"A NASA robot ship ended a deep space odyssey on Monday by succesfully touching down on an asteroid it had orbited for almost a year. Shortly after the first landing on an asteroid, excited mission managers were considering an almost unthinkable encore: coaxing the craft from its resting spot for another flight."

MSNBC: No Napster reprieve. Music service must stop trading copyrighted material.

"Napster can stay in business until U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel retools her injunction, which the appellate court called overly broad."

...

"Millions of users had flooded the company's computer servers this past weekend to download free music, fearing an immediate shutdown of the service that has changed the face of music. Napster has an estimated 50 million users. Webnoize, which monitors the digital entertainment economy, estimated that 250 million songs were downloaded using Napster over the weekend. Webnoize said that, on average, 1.5 million users were logged on to the system at any one time."

AP: "Adam Burtle, 20, sold his soul on the [EBay] Internet auction site, fetching $400 before the listing was removed...."

[via Scripting News.]

2001.02.06

WSJ (subscription): EToys to Cut Remaining Staff As No Rescue Appears Likely.

"When your best just isn't good enough."

Ouch, that was harsh. Did I mention that eToys is my all-time second favorite eTailer?

WSJ (subscription): Louisiana's Zydeco Seems To Be Rocking the World.

"Zydeco isn't new, but in the past five years, the music has spread around the U.S. and the world with unprecedented fervor, giving rise to thriving zydeco scenes in places as disparate as New York and Portland, Seattle and Houston. The San Francisco Bay area has more than a dozen home-grown bands playing a mix of zydeco and its first cousin, Cajun music. Australia now has a number of zydeco bands, including the Zydecats and the Psycho Zydecos. The United Kingdom supports at least half-a-dozen zydeco imitators, including a band called Zydecomotion, and there are groups that attempt zydeco in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany."

2001.02.05

WSJ (subscription): The web offers radio station a new life after the airwaves.

"Nationwide, there are 4,500 traditional radio stations that stream their programming online, and 500 companies that offer some kind of music online, according to BRS Media Inc., a consulting firm in San Francisco."

->
I've been playing a little with Apple's new free MP3 player/ripper/burner. Probably the feature I've played with the most is the list of several hundred netradio stations.

2001.02.02

CNN: Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.

A couple of days ago, courtesy of Napster, I had Judy Garland, Somewhere over the Rainbow, playing in my den. Christopher walks in and tells me, "I don't like that song."

"You don't? I think her singing is really pretty."

"I like the music. I just don't like the words. Especially the part about your dreams coming true."

"Well, um, I think she means just your good dreams come true."

"Well why didn't you tell me that!"

It should go without saying that this kid is not ready to find out about the flying monkeys.