Its been a while since ive dabbled in the art of blogging i guess... but yeah... i kinda feel like blogging so i guess ill get some stuff off my mind or chest... or whatever...

Umm the other day... a close friend asked me why i made my blog? like for what reason did i start it or create it. And at the time couldnt give a definite answer, or atleast one that didnt make me sound like a complete loser. So lately ive been thinking why do i have a blog? i mean when i first started it, i made it to... i dont know... get random people to read it LOL but yeah... are there other reasons?

So i did some research and came up with this,

According to Wikipedia:

Scientists have long known the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences. Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients and even speeds healing after surgery.

and yeah... LOL Therapeutic Benefits... ive got to say im not so sure about if it works but yeah pretty interesting stuff...

On a completely different topic and since im feeling in the mood to tell whoever is reading this something interesting, the other day a random girl added me on facebook. Which was kinda strange cause she didnt only add me she sent me one of those inbox messages saying:

ok ok.. so i did add you radomly on facebook.. but bfor you make assumptions abt me & get creeped out.. i saw your list for fav music & was highly impressed, so my add was based on that alone! and.. NO! i dont usually add randoms, i promise!

.. feel free to decline my friend invite if i've already over-creeped you out! =S

Now... Im not 100% sure if putting this on my blog is a smart thing or the right thing to do... but yeah... i guess i can go with the saying "what she doesnt know won't hurt her".

Hmm i feel like im starting alot of interesting stories or ideas but not really finishing them off properly today... oh well...

Alrighty ive got one last thing i want to talk about.

Public displays of affection. (or PDA as everyone has constantly told me it is called)

Umm... well personally i dont have anything wrong with it but, (this was a long while ago) the other day i was at uni and i saw three public displays of affection. The first one was in the science block kind of out of place on the couches, the second on the grass and the last on the stairs... umm but yeah its kinda got me thinking like whats the like... general consensus about public displays of affection. As ive stated before i dont really mind it but it does somehow annoy me, i was actually talking to alot of different friends about it and one who knows me quite well caught me out. This friend knew exactly why it annoyed me.

It was because i was/am jealous.

But yeah... i guess thats all ive got for today... im not in the greatest of moods... but ill try to keep my blogging regular and although i hate doing recounts i might as well do one of my birthday which was a week ago.

- Old Timothee

L'infrastruttura di Wikimedia conta 350 server e circa 20 desktop nei tre data-center di Amsterdam, Corea del Sud e Florida.

Secondo quanto dichiarato da Gerry Carr, marketing manager di Canonical, Wikimedia non ha sottoscritto un contratto di supporto commerciale, sebbene siano in corso discussioni per l'installazione del client di Landscape.

L'operazione - pertanto - appare dettata principalmente da un'esigenza di maggiore economicità di servizio contro i costi di licenza e supporto di Red Hat.

.

Fonte: The Register

I knew that Jimmy had done some crazy commuting this time last year as he spent a week dashing between LA and New York, guest hosting in the evening for Live with Regis and Kelly and then rushing back to LA to film his own late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

But it was only when I was browsing Wikipedia the other night that I found that this week long commute had taken Jimmy into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance travelled in a single working week. A staggering total of 22,406 miles. WOW!

Now compare this mammoth commute to that of Learning Pool’s very own John Roughley. Those of you who know John won’t be surprised to hear that he has been carefully recording the number of miles he has travelled visiting our dear Learning Pool customers since joining the Learning Pool team in October 2007 (happy anniversary John!).

Bear with me as there is a serious point to be made in here somewhere amongst this light entertainment.

Many of you are quite rightly attempting to reduce your carbon footprint by cutting the number of miles spent commuting to work and one of the ways to do this is through introduction of new ways of working programmes.

Check out our fabulous flexible working e-learning module and video resource created with LB Bexley and Project Nomad. It contains bags of useful ideas and information and will help you deal with some of the challenges involved.

Now, back to those train timetables, John ....

Mary

So how do you evaluate a site? For starters, check out Jim Kapoun’s Five criteria for evaluating web pages on the Cornell University Library site.

For more information go to Cornell Library’s Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools page.

Check out the site about Jacopo di Poggibonsi. Is it real or is it a hoax?

]]> http://practicallytrue.wordpress.com/?p=13 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:23:24 +0000 escobar http://practicallytrue.ta.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/cockbloc/ surprisingly, "cockblock" could not be found on Merriam-Webster's dictionary. this is rather disheartning given that Merriam-Webster has been publishing dictionaries since 1847. we've all struggled with this age old phenomena of being cockblocked, but just how exactly can you explain this to someone? our friends over at Wikipedia define cockblock as the following:

To cockblock an individual (usually a male) is a term used to describe the act of someone seeking to stop a person's sexual advances towards someone else. A cockblock or cockblocker is a person who engages in such obstruction or intervention.

perhaps words can't define cockblock. to give you a real representation of what a cockblocker might look like, or what kind of situations a cockblocker might feel the need to cockblock, below is a picture of my friend Milk at a recent party with two hotties before any cockblocking occurs. as you can see, Milk looks happy. confident. egos are high. chances of getting laid... 50%.

now let's examine the situation a few hours later. my friend Sean (not really his real name, but sounds like it) has had a few drinks and so have the fine ladies. the number of women at the party has significantly decreased, and Sean needs to seal the deal quickly. as you can see below, it is at this point where Milk gets cockblocked... big time. lets just say he gets the metaphorical shaft.

Milk's chances of getting laid are now approximately -20%. Sean on the other hand, has a very good outlook for the night... 93.45% and rising. he doesn't even know why he did it! BOTH girls are even biting his tie. Milk on the other hand has thrown off his white glove and accepted defeat. i guess the moral of this story is easy: friends don't let friends cockblock friends. it should be a pact to live by. the 11th commandment.

Si bien si soy aficionado a la tecnología no es una necesidad imperiosa en mi, he visto por ejemplo a muchos jóvenes que sus conversaciones no giran en otra cosa si no en los teléfonos celulares, ipods, juegos, en fin un montón de cosas que a mi punto de vista son muy útiles pero tienen su lugar. Yo utilizo bastante la tecnología, paso unas 9 horas diarias en la computadora debido a mi trabajo además de que aprovecho al máximo una que otra cosita que tengo y que son una maravilla tecnológica, como mi teléfono celular que tiene un montón de funciones y que por lo menos me hacen no tan aburrido el viaje diario de casa al trabajo. Sin embargo no me siento presionado por comprar lo ultimo, me conformo con lo que tengo por que me sirve bastante.

Lo que si me preocupa es que sin darme cuenta me este afectando todo esto ya sea física o emocionalmente, no me gustaría volverme un lelo jejeje.

Esta es la información de la Wikipedia:

Tecnoestrés

De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Término que proviene del libro publicado en 1997 por Larry Rosen y Michelle Weil con el mismo título en el que se pone de manifiesto la adicción psicológica que puede producir el uso continuado de la tecnología. Se considera que una buena parte de la población puede estar aquejada de este mal de nuestros tiempos.

Algunas manifestaciones del mismo son:

• Necesidad imperiosa de adquirir las últimas novedades tecnológicas que salen al mercado
• Capacidad de estar manejando varios dispositivos tecnológicos a la vez lo que produce dispersión en la atención que puede llegar a provocar trastornos de concentración y memoria
• Empobrecimiento palpable del lenguaje tanto escrito como hablado que se traduce en la creación de códigos de palabras sincopadas y jergas particulares
• Utilización de la tecnología durante gran parte del día evitando el mantenimiento de relaciones personales

Los jóvenes son los más afectados por ese tipo de adicción que se concreta en el uso de la telefonía móvil e internet para comunicarse con sus amigos o en la pasión por los videojuegos. Los expertos consideran que la adicción por probar lo último en tecnología puede provocar frustración en caso de no conseguirlo derivando este comportamiento en estados de tristeza o ansiedad.

Otra referencia interesante la encuentras dando clic aquí.

¿Quieres comentar algo?

A ver si ahora Wordpress quiere y yo me acuerdo más o menos de lo que quería decir.

El personaje con cara de haberse quedado picueto que está a la izquierda es Paul Krugman, economista, profesor en Princeton y columnista del New York Times. A ustedes les importará tan poco como a mi (o algo menos) este señor, pero es el nuevo premio Nobel de economía. 

Parece ser que se lo han dado porque, según Expansión: La aproximación de Krugman está basada en la premisa de que muchos productos y sercvios se pueden producir más baratos en grandes series, algo propio de las economías de escala, mientras que los consumidores tienen a demandar una creciente variedad de bienes y servicios. Como resultado, la producción a pequeña escala de las economías locales está siendo progresivamente sustituida por la producción a gran escala de la economía mundial, dominada por las empresas que fabrican productos similares y que compiten entre sí.

Pues eso, para la mayoría de la gente lo único destacable será que su artículo en la Wikipedia (que ya lo tenía, fijense que a lo mejor es hasta importante o algo) se actualizó sobre la marcha. Estas cosas me hacen dudar si la Wikipedia es realmente una enciclopedia en tiempo real o el campo de batalla de freaks que como colaboradores o bibliotecarios buscan la supremacía sobre el grupo siendo los que más rápido añaden los datos. Creo que es lo segundo, en el caso de este hombre simplemente se añadieron 10 palabras, no había tiempo para leer la nota de prensa, simplemente para poner que le dieron el Nobel de economía en 2008.

Para mi, lo interesante de todo esto no es ni el nobel, ni las economías de escala, ni siquiera las luchas a muerte en la wikipedia, sino algunos de los comentarios que ha generado el artículo en Expansión, lo mejor son los comentarios a la noticia, en un lunes semifestivo, se encuentran el experto, el más experto que el experto (a mi nadie me echa la pata porcima), la estudiante de economía que aun se cree las teorías, el que intenta arrimar el ascua a su sardina (el primer comentario era que este es el economista de cabecera de Zapatero), el que aprovecha para trollear soltando el discurso liberal (que sea un economista estadounidense no significa que sea liberal, querido), una perroflauta... y toda una fauna que sólo se junta en los comentarios del único periódico económico (no por precio) que se deja leer por internet, la otra opción mayoritaria, cinco días, es el penúltimo reducto del cierre de los medios de Prisa hace unos años, y sólo deja leer cuatro noticias, aun ilusionados con que habrá gente que compre el periódico en papel. Si un diario de información general caduca en menos de doce horas, imaginen uno donde la mayor parte de los datos que da quedan obsoletos a las 9,30 de la mañana cuando abren las bolsas europeas.

La idea era poner algunos de esos comentarios para ilustrar el post, pero parece que he cogido Expansión entre dos ediciones y los comentarios del artículo se han quedado en el limbo. Sin ellos, pierde bastante sentido el post

STOP faggoting around over there!!! 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggoting_(metalworking)

Faggoting (metalworking)

Det hyppigst brukte "oppslagsverket" for elevene våre - bortsett selvfølgelig fra Google - er antagelig Wikipedia. I dag beskriver MakeUseOf fire gratis hjelpemidler for å ta Wikipedia-artikler offline.

Nyttigst virker WikiTaxi (for Windows) å være. Det gjør det mulig å laste ned hele den engelskspråklige versjonen av Wikipedia til en 8GB minnepinne. Du kan ta ned en hvilken som helst språkversjon.

Mi amigo Artus, escribía en el foroekklesia:

Luego ¿que hacemos con los que doctrinalmente son "eruditos" con sus herejías como Mario Olcese ¿quien le refuta? ¿quien se atreve a hablar? o que ¿por que luego que esto produjera un CONCILIO en el siglo IV y fuera un GRAN TEMA controvertido el refutar estas herejías clásicas el dia hoy ni siquiera es tocado? ¿que interés hay de por medio? ¿será que estamos infiltrados en la apologética para desviarla a los temas secundarios y asi el diablo pueda envenenar con verdaderas herejías a los cristianos, como la negación de Dios en tres personas? para pensarse.

Y lo peor es que blogueros populares como Lumbrera o el Pastor Chuy Olivares, los citan o felicitan sin darse cuenta que con los enlaces a esos sitios exponen a los creyentes a esa basura doctrinal.

Estos falsos apologistas como Mario Olcese llaman a su blog abiertamente a su blog: "Blog del Apologista Unitario."

Ellos afirman que solo hay un Dios y que no es bíblico decir que existe una trinidad.

En su teología dicen que Jesús fue un simple ser humano, como lo dice Mauro Gonzalez, que se hace llamar Apolo, en su página Evangelio Cristiano; negando abiertamente la divinidad de Jesús.

En su credo hacen la siguiente declaración:"El Espiritu Santo es la presencia operativa y poder personal de Dios extendida a través del Cristo resucitado a los creyentes."

Eso me suena completamente parecido a los testigos de Jehová.

Esta herejía no es algo nuevo, apareció en los primeros años del cristianismo a través de la controversia arriana y que es lo que vemos hoy.

El arrianismo es el conjunto de doctrinas cristianas desarrolladas por Arrio, sacerdote de Alejandría, probablemente de origen libio, quien consideraba que Jesús de Nazaret no era Dios o parte de Dios, sino una creación de Dios. Una vez que la Iglesia tuvo aceptado como dogma la proposición opuesta, el arrianismo fue condenado como una herejía.

El término, más allá de designar las doctrinas de Arrio, se utiliza para denominar aquellas doctrinas que expresen negación de la esencialidad crística (como Cristo) de Jesús, reducido a la condición de profeta extraordinario.

Tengamos cuidado con estas doctrinas de demonios.

Incidentally, Wikipedia is considering deleting the entry for Tyra Hunter.  Those who are interested may wish to contribute to the discussion there and make the case for the page to be retained.

´La Música Minimalista se expandió hasta ser el estilo más popular de la música experimental del siglo XX, durante los 60s en USA´, eso es lo minimo que se puede decir al respecto. Lo dice Wikipedia, y le creo.

Curiosamente, cada vez que llueve, me llega a la mente un track titulado: ´It´s Gonna Rain´ de Steve Reich. Un ejemplo imprecisdinble para conocer la música minimalista.
A menudo el minimalismo se ha aplicado a otras artes como la pintura, originalmente, y en los últimos años a la arquitectura, como el caso de Zaha Hadid.

Pero musicalmente, la onda es otra.
Por eso me molesta de sobre manera que se haya prostituido el término ´Minimal´. Pero bien, la industria también se aprovecha de los corderos.

Pues bien, volviendo al caso de Seve Reich y su oda a la lluvia, recuerdo cuando escuché ese track hace unos años.
Todo inicia con la mítica frase: ´It´s gonna rain, ... ´, hasta que se vuelve un loop. A medida que transcurren los segundos, una frase se va anteponiendo sobre la otra, hasta que solo quedan retazos de las sílabas. 8 minutos de puros cortes, uno sobre otro.
Puro principio de la simpleza y de como los ritmos surgen a raiz de la experimentación.

Más musica minimal y en pura mezcla con el Ambient, otro género que parte de estos principios, pueden ser descubiertos en ´Musical For Airports´ de Brian Eno.

Lo bueno de todo, es que escucho a Steve Reich, aún cuando hace sol.

pb

Edit: La madre que parió a Wordpress, que me ha tirado el post más largo en años

Nouveau sur Wikipédia en langue française, un article sur les patronymes et toponymes Durantin. L'adresse est simple à retenir :

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durantin

A noter également, un article dédié au dramaturge Armand Durantin http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Durantin

I struggled a little bit to find references for my information, because much of it I considered as common knowledge.  I definitely would not be breaking the "no new research" rule of wikipedia, but it will be interesting to see what happens to the article.  Nothing has changed so far, but I will continue to keep an eye on it.  I hope my mom will be proud.  Haha.

Apparently not everyone is happy about celebrating Christopher Columbus.  In the US, it's celebrated as Columbus Day.  Many other countries celebrate (or protest) this day as well but with other names.  It's Day of Indigenous Resistance (Venezuela), Day of the Race (most of Latin America), and Hispanic Day (Spain).  In Nevada, it's a day of observance and all government offices remain open (except federal, of course).  In New York, everything closes except the stock markets (I wonder what would happen if they did).  In Colorado, the Columbus Day parades are protested in Denver by Native American groups.  In Hawaii, it's Discoverer's Day, and they celebrate more the work of James Cook in the Hawaiian islands than Columbus's meanderings in the Atlantic.  There are parades and protests all around the world. 

Here in Virginia, it is a legal holiday.  And that makes sense, seeing that a lot of American history happened on the soil here.  So, why are my kids in school then?  I don't mind; it just seems strange.  Especially since the schools in the city next door are closed.  We live in a pent-city area (is that correct? bi-city, tri-city,...).  In our city, all courts, city offices, libraries and post offices are closed and there's no trash collection, but school's in.  Everything's the same for 3 of the other 4, except 2 of them aren't opening their school doors today.  And for the fifth city, everything's open (except federal places).

So even though we are the UNITED States, we still aren't quite united on this one.  I think, though, that we have a pretty good system of checks and balances here.  They don't always balance perfectly, but, then, no system is perfect.  When we lived in France, we got to see some of the ways their system works.  We weren't citizens, but we got to observe for the year and a half we lived there.  And since we've also lived in several different states, we've seen how the different systems work just within our own country.  Since each state makes some of their own laws and rules, going from one state to the next, we can't remember if we can drive legally while talking on our cell phones (which is distracting anyway) or who is required by law to wear a bike helmet (I make our whole family wear them no matter what age) or what birth month dictates when a child can start kindergarten. 

Schools have been a big issue for us.  In France, we spoke with a few of the military families that we met there.  We found out, whenever the military transferred their families to another part of the country, their children would know exactly what to expect at school the next day they attended.  The whole country teaches the same curriculum.  If a child is in the 7th grade and is studing world history in Paris then they would be studying world history in Cannes.  Their math classes align; sciences, history, languages... everything is taught at the same level.  And the level is not easy; my children found their studies in France harder than their honors classes here in Virginia, and we are in a very good school system.  It has been frustrating at times for our children to go into yet another school and take the same science class over again.  Or to have to catch up the best they can on that state's history.  And on top of that, to make new friends and compete with all of the kids who have lived there all of their lives. 

But after next summer, we'll be back in Florida - permanently - and we won't have to worry about those things as much.  They'll finally learn that their state bird is the mocking bird, and the state flower is the orange blossom, and they were born in Pensacola (not Pepsi-Cola). 

In fourteen hundred ninety-two, a lot of things were going on.  Some sad crimes resulted from people expanding around the world.  But hopefully today's world can learn from all of that history, and we can use that to do better in the future.

THAT impressed me. :)

Crowdsourcing takes group collaboration to the next level by allowing people to post certain ideas, initiate discussions and attract a larger amount of people (normally strangers) who will contribute to the idea, improving it with their own expertise. Websites such as  Kluster, Innocentive, CambrianHouse, CrowdSpirit and IdeaBlob are a good example of what crowdsourcing is. One can say that Wikipedia, for instance is also a form of crowdsourcing knowledge.

In Education, websites such as Citizendium and Eduzendium, expert-moderated Wikipedia "clones", the Encyclopedia of Life, a user-generated encyclopedia of life on Earth are all good examples of crowdsourcing knowledge in a more reliable manner.

In the meantime, I am still waiting to see more of this concept applied to learning, as we all become active  "learners" literally "building" knowledge with the help of one another...

Am inceput sa am iarasi vise ciudate, aparent lipsite de sens sau logica si bolnave in esenta lor. Dimineata cand ma trezesc nu imi amintesc mare lucru, doar o mica parte din continutul lor, dar pe parcursul zilei imi tot apar flash-uri, emotii si sentimente traite in timpul lor... Nu imi dau seama ce inseamna sau ce ar trebui sa insemne toate chestiile astea. Sunt confuz...

Imi aduc aminte ca in urma cu cativa ani aveam acelasi vis cam in fiecare saptamana. Locatia, intamplarile, si personajele erau diferite, dar esenta visului era mereu aceiasi...

Totul a inceput dupa ce m-am certat destul de serios cu un prieten, dintr-o chestie minora. Il voi numi P, pentru a ramane anonim (P vine de la "Prieten" si nu de la altceva!). Ne cunosteam de vreo 6-7 ani. In timpul anului nu prea tineam legatura, dar ne petreceam mereu vacanta de vara impreuna. Alaturi de alti prieteni comuni, mergeam "as far as we could" in tot felul de locuri din tara, si stateam departe de casa pana cand ne plictiseam sau cel mai probabil, ramaneam fara bani. Acelea au fost unele dintre cele mai bestiale veri pe care le-am trait... Dupa ce am rupt legatura cu el, am continuat continuat sa mai merg impreuna cu altii "de nebuni" prin tot felul de locuri, dar mai rar si pentru perioade mai scurte de timp...

Anyway, mai tot timpul, cel putin o data pe saptamana aveam vise, mai mult sau mai putin tampite in care eu si P ne inpacasem, dar nu asta era tema viselor, ci mai degraba un  motiv, un element care aparea obsesiv. Toata chestia asta a durat cam 14 luni, pana cand incet, incet a disparut din visele mele. O perioada nu am mai visat nimic, sau cel puti nu imi mai aduceam aminte nimic dimineata...

P.S. Daca nu stiati deja, versiunea in limba romana a wikipedia e o porcarie, asa ca a trebuit sa ma uit pe cea in limba engleza, pentru a afla cate ceva despre vise.

Sursa imagine:Aici...

That's right. I'm sure you're like that right now. Well here's some food for thought.

Fainting game

The fainting game, also commonly known as the choking or the pass out game, is a loose term that covers dangerous activities designed to induce a partial or complete loss of consciousness brought about by the intentional deprivation of oxygen to the brain for a period of time. There are two distinct methods used to achieve oxygen deprivation: strangulation and self-induced hypocapnia.

The term 'game' is used because these activities have typically been pursued by children as recreation; the practice among adults appears to be uncommon and generally in the different context of the pursuit of erotic asphyxiation. However, experts state that for some teens, the choking game can take on elements of erotic asphyxiation.

Sounds interesting doesn't it. I thought the next bit was absolutely hilarious.

Extent of and reasons for its practice

Although the fainting game is believed to be practiced widely, few empirical studies have been done.

No empirical study is known to have been done on the reasons for its attraction but anecdotally stated reasons include:

• Peer pressure, a challenge or dare, a rite of passage into a social group or amusement over erratic behaviour.
• Curiosity in an altered state of consciousness, the experience of a brownout, an imagined approximation to a near death experience or more recently, copycatting elements of the film Flatliners
• A belief that it can induce a brief sense of euphoria (a rush sensation or high).
• A belief that it may enhance erotic feelings.
• The prospect of intoxication, albeit brief, at no financial cost.
• An underlying lack of knowledge concerning the physiological mechanisms involved and the risk of neurological damage or death.

Alright. So it's not that funny. It does prove that people are CRAZY. Check out the rest of the article HERE. It's actually quite interesting and further proves that people are crazy especially teens.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY THAT?

Starting in the early 90's we have accumulated quite a collection of digital images and documents. Many of these exist only in digital form. Recently, with the arrival of Baby Mike, we have accumulated even more digital documentation of our life and times. All of these are contained in blogs, mySpace and other "places" on the web.

I wonder which will prove to be more durable: the faded photos stuffed in boxes in the attic or the digital ephemera stored in "locations" that are really only collections of bytes somewhere in cyberspace....

Según comenta, en una entrevista en Computerworld, Brion Vibber, CTO de Wikimedia Foundation Inc. han tomado la decisión de usar Ubuntu Server en sus 400 servidos como medida para simplificar el mantenimiento.
Hasta ahora estos servidores, que según la conferencia de Julio en la Biblioteca de Alejandria, proveen 10.000.000.000 de páginas al mes de las distintas web del grupo entre ellas Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikiquote, Wikinoticias, estaban utilizando varias versiones de Red Hat Linux y de Red Hat Fedora, y a pesar de tratarse de una organización sin animo de lucro, los gastos en hardware hasta ahora han sido de 1 millon y medio de dolares, pero usan a solo cuatro voluntarios para realizar las tareas de administración, por lo que consideran que al utilizar el mismo software en todos sus servidores esta tarea se va a simplificar.

Ubuntu, que ha tenido un evidente éxito entre los usuarios particulares, tenía dificultades para entrar en el mundo de los servidores, algo que parece que va consiguiendo poco a poco, y esta noticia es una buena muestra de ese avance, asi como la certificación por parte de Sun hace algunos meses.

fuente "en ingles":

http://arstechnica.com/

OK, here is my understanding of the sales pitch: Pandora uses data from the Music Genome Project to match your radio station's content to music that you will like.  This Wikipedia entry lists some of the genes in a typical song's genome.

The "Music Genome Project" sounds all-equitable-'n-all, but if Pandora is the only project that uses the data, and Pandora is a profit seeking company, then are the words "Music Genome Project" just more marketing schlock? ...and why is the sky blue? No. Really. Why? Anyway...

I mostly use one Pandora-radio-station called Paul Radio. I seeded it with some straight-up Canadian Rock, some dance music, some Yoko Kanno, and anything else I can think of. Interestingly, it will appear either as a dance station, a blues station, a rock station, or an instrumental station depending on what I give as a "thumbs up" to at any particular time. There is a huge element of chance here; if the first randomish song is a rock song, and I give it a thumbs-up, then I will get more rock songs, if it's a dance song, then I will get more dance songs. I assume that most people start different stations for different interests, but I like it this way. Anywho, try out Paul Radio, or try out your own station, and see what you like.

The last two songs on Paul Radio were awesome blues songs by Cowboy Junkies, and Lucinda Williams, which are so-bluesy, but I really don't like Pandora's so-called "Blues" station. So much for the genome.

The current song is called "Cupid's Chokehold (feat. Patrick Stump)" from "Gym Class Heroes" (and Patrick Stump natch).  It's got spoken-word rap, and that "Take a look at my girlfriend..." "Breakfast in America" Supertramp-thang (grade school...), and I really like it. It's about how young people mistake lust for love. It came right after the Lucinda Williams. Very cool.

So, far I give Pandora two thumbs-up. Its the best music offering on the Internet, despite any criticisms I have. I even like Pandora more than my CMJ NMM CDs, although those are CDs, which I get to play anywhere, and Pandora is not.

Here is Cupid's Chokehold.  Parental Advisory, and whatnot.