Saw a great link on Markie's page to a site called Audioscrobbler, which is kinda like a Friendster for music. I download a quick plugin to integrate with Itunes, and now Audioscrobbler updates my profile with recent tracks that I've played! How hot is that.

You can view my last music choices here. *....

What a long day! Up this morning at 4:30am to attend a women's conference in Tysons Corner. Yes, I know I'm not a woman, but I've got what they need...Namely, books. Pulled in a nice 13 hour day that is gonna look even better come payday when I go and buy my new Ipod Photo. And if you haven't heard, yes, I broke my Ipod. Actually, I didn't break it, so much as the ground broke it when it came sliding out my backpack. The sound of it hitting the ground sounded exactly like bone snapping in half, and I swear to G-d I would have rather someone broken my arm instead.

I'm so tuckered out, I'm turning down an opportunity to play with my boys, namely Nic and Xman. Oh well: There is always next weekend *...

Student receives semen-frosted brownies: South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- A teenager has agreed to admit to three counts of disturbing the peace after anonymously sending semen-frosted brownies to a fellow student. The recipient shared the treat with two other teens, police said.

They said the 17-year-old Coeur d'Alene High School student was upset after a prank in which the other student put peanut butter in his cheese sandwich days before. He told a school resource officer that 'he hated peanut butter and it made him more mad than he could explain,' according to the police report."

TASTY! *....

My last customer tonight came up to the registers, handed me his book, looked me right in the eye, and asked, "Do you have discounts for porn stars?"

To which Phoenix replied, "No....*pause* I have respect for porn stars *pause* But no discounts." *....

A Field Guide To The Urban Hipster: Indie Rockers:

Audiophilum Integria

Indie Rockers are sexually clumsy creatures. Their mating dance is an intricate yet ineffectual cocktail of lapsed intimacy, misread gestures, arcane trivia, and hero worship.

I would love to see this happen, but it will never fly. *....

The Globe and Mail: Would you pay 5 cents for a song?: "An academic at McGill University has a simple plan to stop the plague of unauthorized music downloads on the Internet. But it entails changing the entire music industry as we know it, and Apple Computers, which may have the power to make the change, is listening.

Peering out from under his de rigueur cap, music-industry veteran Sandy Pearlman, a former producer of the Clash and now a visiting scholar at McGill, spoke with a kind of nervous glee while describing his idea at the Canadian Music Week conference in Toronto last week.

Pearlman proposes putting all recorded music on a robust search engine -- Google would be an ideal choice, but even iTunes might work -- and charging an insignificant fee of, say, five cents a song. In addition, a 1 per cent sales tax would be placed on Internet services and new computers -- two industries that many argue have profited enormously from rampant file-sharing, but haven't had to compensate artists.

The assumption is that if songs cost only 5 cents, people would download exponentially more music. Daniel Levitin, a McGill professor also associated with the project, said that a simple computer program, such as those already in use on Internet retail sites, could track people's purchases and help them to dig through what would become a massive repository of music on the Web.

The extra windfall for musicians and those who own the publishing rights to the songs could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, Pearlman said his study predicts."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Virgin Radio starts daily podcast: "Virgin Radio is making highlights of its breakfast show available for digital audio players in what it says is a first for 'podcasting'.

The station began making its Pete and Geoff show available to download on Wednesday. It says it is the first UK station to podcast a daily show.

Podcasting is where a show is delivered to a player, such as an iPod, after the broadcast to be listened to on the go.

The BBC already podcasts Five Live's weekly sports quiz Fighting Talk.

It follows a trial using Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time series on Radio 4.

The Virgin Radio podcast is an half-hour edit of its four-hour breakfast show with all the music, news, weather, traffic and travel cut out."

I just have to wonder why they are cutting out the music *....

Why do I find Mikhail Khodorkovsky, from all that Yukos business, so strangely attractive?

Is it because, despite his legal troubles, he is worth a fortune?

Is it because I'm attracted to powerful, older men?

Or is it because I'm a skanky whore who is turned on by the thought of making it with a disgraced billonaire in a Russian prison? *....

Which Family Guy character are you?

Its a bit unnerving to see yourself in a magazine's Good/Bad list. Kind of sad that my views can so easily be surmised and put into two column format. This from BPM Magazine *...

GOOD SHIT:

DJ's THAT STILL USE WAX: Yes that shit is heavy, but you're rocking it OG.
ECLECTIC TASTES: Break out of your one-dimensional box and live a little.
DEEP SPACE AT CIELO: From dub to jazz to house Francois K holds this Monday night party down weekly and kills it everytime.
DPM: The most comprehensive art book when talking camoflage. Hardy Blechman, Maharishi's creative director put it together.
OKI-NI.COM: Ridiculous limited edition pieces from brands like Evisu, Adidas, Paul Smith...Run, hipster, run.
WE CLOTHING: Scandinavian freshness for real yo'.
TERRY RICHARDSON'S BOOK TERRYWORLD: Is it art? Is it porn? You sure will have fun making up your mind.
STEVE MCQUEEN: If you don't own Bullitt, buy it.
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM: Tomorrow's reigning kings.
BLOGS: This is the real reality.

BAD SHIT:

THE TERM "METROSEXUAL": This is fucking irritating. We even say it and irritate ourselves. It is now "heteroflexible."
RED STATES -- AKA JESUS LAND: Thanks fer nuthing.
MASH UP: If we hear one more lame ass DJ/trendy duffus claiming mash-up we will kick your ass, really.
ETARDS: 35-year-old douche bags trying E for the first time and looking for love in all the wrong places. Yes, that's a tranny you are making out with.
MOCCASINS: Yo' Pocahontas, if you think that your butt-rocker footwear is turning us on you are sadly mistaken.
LOUIE DEVITO MIXES: Who the fuck is buying all these?
CLUB RUBBER: If you've ever been to one of these events, deny it.
HARD HOUSE: If you're still listening to this crap, stop it.
DRUNKNMUNKY: If you are wearing this we suggest that you clear out your closet along with your guess and Girbaud gear.

Why are the pictures on paper towels always so damn ugly? *...

One more reason why I love Google *...

Search engine is cash engine for Democrats: "Search engine is cash engine for Democrats

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Employees of U.S.-based search engine Google gave $207,650 to federal candidates for the 2004 elections -- virtually all of it to Democrats.

A USA Today analysis published Monday indicated 98 percent of the money went to Democrats, the most-lopsided giving of any of the top tech company donors.

Google declined to discuss employee campaign contributions but the among the company's top 2004 givers was Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, whose biggest single donation was $25,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Great way to get people on your side: Sue, sue sue! *...

Boing Boing: MPAA shuts down Lokitorrent, obtains server logs:
Popular BitTorrent hub Lokitorrent was [shut down] today by the Motion Picture Association of America. Here's a screengrab of the MPAA warning that now greets lokitorrent.com visitors."

"Hundreds of people were crushed as the opening of the biggest Ikea store in England descended into chaos.

Nine ambulances were sent to the store in north London after reports that up to 20 people suffered heat exhaustion when the midnight opening turned into a riot. Staff closed the doors after half an hour amid fears the stampede could become a Hillsborough-style crush.

More than 4,000 flocked to the new store in Edmonton last night, lured by adverts promising huge discounts, including sofas at £45 each and bed frames cut to £30