Goat report, 4/20/08

From the lovely Ms. Goat: a crazy goat says what?

My own personal radio station

Got myself an iPod the other day and have been filling it with my music since then. When they first came out I wasn't sure what the point was but now I can see they're like having a personal radio station. Most folks are happy with a smaller playlist (less than 20 G) but weirdos like me and Ms Goat require more variety and depth. Last night, after I'd gotten most of my prog and hard rock all loaded up, I did my first shuffle of the 5152 songs (taking up 20 G) that I had on there and this is what the first 10 songs were:

Soundgarden: Fresh Tendrils
Rush: Time Stand Still (insert sound of Ms Goat groaning)
Genesis: Follow You Follow Me
Yes: Angor Wat
Hawkwind: Down Through the Night
Aphex Twin: iz-us
Randy Coven: Au Privave
Queens of the Stone Age: Everybody Be Happy
Audioslave: Seven Nation Army (live)
Air: Empty House

Hopefully 80 G will be enough space for me. I knew it was ok back when Ms Goat got hers but I've been acquiring a lot of music since then. I recall once thinking that if I had more than 400 CDs I wouldn't be able to know and appreciate them as well as if I had fewer. At some point I must have realized that my latest count is around 1200. Good thing hard drives keep getting cheaper...

Will somebody think of the ocelots?

All the hubbub over the border and immigration and people forget that there are some nice cats caught in the middle. If only somebody would send a letter for them... and their friends the burrow owls.

1000 True Fans

Many years ago, back when I had dreams of a career in music (around high school), I had visions of an imaginary world where almost everybody was in a band. I knew back then that such a lifestyle wasn't easily supportable but part of my vision was that everybody had their day job ('at the factory' as I put it) but could still maintain a creative career alongside of that by virtue of everybody 'buying their friends' albums'. Somebody very smart has thought this out built upon the idea of The Long Tail and decided that an artists just needs 1000 True Fans to not have to have a day job.

I can't say I like the term 'true fan' used this way: anybody who would 'buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat' seems a bit closer to 'fanatic', and if somebody ever drives 200 miles to hear me sing I'll drive them to the sanitarium.

As an aside, I actually know a guy who recently quit his day job to do that; hopefully he has enough support to stay out of office work. Give some of his tunes a listen!

Take this bottle

A post at EcoGeek has inspired me to sing the praises of my water bottle, a sturdy and easily reused bottle I fill from a filtered pitcher every morning. Its 1 liter size makes it easy to make sure I get all the water I need every day. Why not pick such a (non-plastic) bottle up for yourself?