Shock/Neff in Huntington WV - DAY 3

Rolled out of Crayola House pretty nice and early and started the drive into West Virginia, where I’ve never played before. Short stop at a Waffle House and into the mountains.

So, some more info about this tour van. Lance bought it a while ago for $900, put some new wheels on, got some other new parts, but there are still a few things that are a work in progress. For one, the gas gauge doesn’t work, so we’ve been doing some math to figure the mileage and trying to play it safe with fillups. Much figuring has gone into how much gas will be consumed, how much it will cost, and if there’s any chance of breaking even on the trip.

About 30 miles from our destination of Huntington WV, the engine suddenly starts sounding really weird. Just really erratic. Slowing down, we make a quick decision to pull into the rest area that’s right there instead of trying to get the extra mile to an exit. The engine sounds like it’s hopping around, sputtering and acting crazy. Then it dies out. Lance starts it again and while idling we open the hood and the engine is actually, physically jumping around erratically. Lance and I just look at each other and decide that is NOT RIGHT. Neither of us is an expert, but it seems something is seriously wrong. After a minute of this, the engine can be started but sputters out each time after a few seconds. It’s not going anywhere.

Lance calls Zack Kouns, who set up that night’s show and lives roughly in the area. We may need a rescue and a tow and then who knows. At this point I develop a theory. Maybe there’s something wrong with the engine, but MAYBE the reason it won’t run is that we’re out of gas! Lance is leaning toward the theory that the engine is totally fragged, but after thinking about how hard the van was working going up all those steep hills, we agree that it’s possible it’s out of gas. Zack says he can meet us in 2 hours. We can see a gas station just down the highway at that next exit and estimate it would take an hour to walk and return with gas, so we decide to do that.

I wrap a neon yellow shirt over my shoulders (for visibility) and we head down the highway, making contingency plans as we go. What to do if the van is dead: rent a U-Haul straight back to Philly or try to rent a van to complete the tour? If the van needs repairs but they’re expensive: abandon it or cough up the money? Meanwhile a few cars yell something at us out the windows, and I’m not sure what but I think one of them said “WEIRD!” Anyway, the lady at the gas station was friendly, we filled our gas can and hiked it back.

Moment of truth, gas goes in, and after a few tries the van starts running! Open that hood and the engine is purring and looking happy as can be. Just out of gas! No engine troubles at all! Best case scenario.

Call Zack with the good news and roll to the venue, Funky Towne, which is a house that holds lots of shows. They’re the one with the rainbow flag, and inside despite being a carpeted house-house, it’s partly set up to be like an art/community/liberal-anarcho-commune center with gender politics zines and a book & clothing swap near the door. Brandon, the soundman/resident explains that they’ve been doing lots and lots of shows and the scene has been pretty good. Apparently Huntington is a strangely DIY show friendly place, and even gives out noise permits to punk houses! There’s a flyer for my friends’ band Curse on the door. He also helps set up their totally pro P.A. – also odd for a house show. West Virginia is feeling really friendly.

Show time, I play first. Third show of tour is when things start to gel. I’ve debugged the issues with 3 pieces of gear, and put in a pretty good show I think. There aren’t too many people out, and we’re told there’s some competition from some kind of football event and I think another show? Always odd to me when sports are considered competition for a punk/noise show, but I guess even weirds love sports. Zack Kouns plays second, and does a KILLER set. I’ve only seen him do more abstract vocals and sax sets, but this one has electronics and songs. His cover of PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love” was amazing! Dick Neff goes last and everyone is impressed.

Some resident of Funky Towne even baked a small pizza for us! I don’t even know who and didn’t get to thank them, but it was delicious. Thanks! People were still hanging and chatting, but I was still pretty tired so climbed into my sleeping bag on the couch and the resident cat, Prancy, promptly settled on my chest to sleep. Survived my first tour breakdown/not-really-a-breakdown.

END DAY THREE

Shock/Neff tour diary DAY TWO Harrisonburg VA

Friday, first day of REAL tour, is still a work day for me see, but I figure since it’s my last day ever I can have some leeway and spend the second half of the day working from the van passenger seat via 3G-wi-fi hookup. Noontime departure, takes longer than planned, some stops to deposit a final check that arrived by FedEx that morning, get gas, try to make this boombox work. The van has only AM radio and a busted speaker, which sounds pretty gnarly and cool actually (sounds kind of like Newton). Boombox won’t run on batteries and the van’s cigarette lighter power won’t work. No tunes!

On the drive to Harrisonburg, VA I’m trying to do some more work, send some files, update things. Lance’s van, known as the Crimson Juggernaut (and some other names) is huge. A Ford Econoline extended cab, there’s space for another whole rock band, even with all our stuff, including the Dick Neff drum kit and a couple big amps. It’s also pretty old and loud, and I find that the hot air blowing out of gaps around the engine is circulating and distributing a layer of rust grit on me. When we stop at a gas station with a shop vac, I’ll try to clear some of that out.

A combination of late start and several traffic slowdowns conspire to make us arrive in Harrisonburg pretty late. The show was set up by Billy of Buck Gooter, who are a pretty weird band. That’s what everyone says about them, and I guess it varies person to person whether that’s a compliment or an insult, but being a weird band is a good thing in my mind.

It’s a house show at a place called Crayola House and we pull up about 9:40. First familiar face inside the door is Terry Turtle, the elder member of Buck Gooter. He tells us that the show has been moved! We talk to some of the Crayola residents and Billy, and find out that the concept is that another house nearby was having a party and they have a fire pit, so the show is going to be held there. Billy seems a little bummed and opposed to the idea, but the Crayolites have the final word so we help Buck Gooter load their gear back into their van and head to this other house. Once there, all is really quiet and Lance, Billy, Terry and I all kind of try to peer in the windows and get some idea if we have the address right. It’s about 10:30 now.

Eventually some familiar people show up and it’s the place and lead us down to the basement. Despite the weird beginnings and late start, when each of us plays a little crowd of people come down to watch, so things turn out pretty good. The new Dick Neff sounds and songs are great! Radio Shock plays second, pretty much the same set as last night in Brooklyn, but with everything working a little better. Billy Gooter complains that I just played 3 songs, but each one has an improv intro and/or outro, so it’s really like 6 songs. Buck Gooter plays last, doing their heavy industrial protest rock thing.

We get some money, way more than expected from a house party donations scenario (I guess there were a couple of generous donators) and ride back to the Crayola House to sleep. Couch and pull-out sofa bed. My first good night of sleep in a week. END DAY TWO!

Shock/Neff TOUR DIARY: pre-tour day 1

Tour diary time. I know I started a recap of my west coast tour and didn’t get far into it, but now I’m launching into a realish-time account of this little trip to the Midwest and back. This time Radio Shock is travelling with Dick Neff, so since we’re splitting drive time, I’ve got some writing time.

Unofficial night one of tour was a show at Death by Audio in Brooklyn, a place that feels pretty much like home, since I’m there about once or twice a week on average. Life is pretty weird now. But that’s good. It just turned fall and I had this week tripped planned and a break planned from this real job. Then the company writing me checks decided to reorganize, please make new versions of all our website, logo, promo materials, etc. in time for this big event in a couple weeks – oh, and by the way when you’re done with that, you’re fired.

Seems like a pretty dumb way to go about things, but hey I’m not a corporate decision-maker. Just a coincidence this synchronized with start of a tour, but it’s made the last week crazy. Little sleep, didn’t even have time to practice or decide what I’ll be playing, barely got a handful of T-shirts made, and a show the night  before packing and getting out of Brooklyn.

The Death by Audio show was GREAT. Set up by Weasel Walter and featuring mostly bands that are amazing and famous-in-my-mind. I played promptly at 9 (:07) and still at the end of the short set there was a full room. Not packed, but enough people that I couldn’t see the far wall, which is where my standard for a “good crowd” is at. It was definitely a no-practice show, lots of punching buttons randomly, that device just makes a buzzing noise so can't play that song, let’s see how this song goes... but admittedly that’s kind of how it works even when I am really in practice.

Greg Fox and G. Lucas Crane Duo set was crazy and fun. Lance/Dick Neff commented that they should call this collab Fox and Crane, since that sounds like a kung fu movie. Lucas did his super-garbled/scrambled tape loops (plus extras) thing, and Greg did super-fast but loose as needed drums. The styles merged really well.

Xaddax are killer, Nick Sakes of Dazzling Killmen fame and Chryssie of My Name is Rar-Rar fame (-in-my-mind). Hard mathy punk/noise rock. Cellular Chaos, which is the noise-glam band where Weasel plays guitar. It was the last show for them with their current bassist Ceci, so maybe some of the crowd came out to see her off. And up last was Microwaves from Pittsburgh, legendary dudes who are super-skilled and play hard.

Actually, everyone else on the bill was a skilled musician, which is still a little intimidating to me. I don’t even know any chords. But aesthetically, all the bands were kind of on the same page, so it was cool.

There was a really cool contingent of kids at the show who were visiting from South Australia! (I forget the town name) and they were dancing for every band, which is AWESOME. They told me about how Lightning Bolt played in their town and it was the best thing ever and they were going to see Lightning Bolt play the All Tomorrow’s Parties fest later that week. I am SO glad they found our show. It totally made everything that much more awesome. They told me to check out a band called McDonald Duck Éclair, which I can just tell is killer from the name alone.

Lance/Dick Neff showed up for Microwaves’ last song in his enormous van, which is our tour vehicle: The Crimson Juggernaut. Dick Neff wasn’t playing because I just got myself added as the one-too-many-bands late addition myself.  We went back to sleep at my apartment, me for just a few hours, doing more work for my ex-job (why?) into the night and starting the next morning!

END DAY ONE.

Stay tuned for further adventures in which we find out where the Harrisonburg show was moved to and why, and whether Lance's tour van is totally busted or just out of gas! TO BE CONTINUED...

Radio Shock west coast adventures PART 1

...wherein I recount the events of the Radio Shock west coast tour as well as I can remember them. Forewarning: I may include menial details. I had never toured the west coast before and was determined to hit all the major cities inside one week (to keep on good terms with my employers in NYC) and I accomplished something like that. I had toured TO the west coast before, but only played in San Francisco and Oakland. This was a proper west coast tour. That's me, above, with my rental car, midway through one of the epic drives.

TO START, early morning flight on Saturday April 14th, which means I spend all night packing and don't sleep. Off to a great start, right? Layover in Salt Lake City I think and I land in Oakland, CA around noonish. My luggage made it intact. Yes, I actually flew with my Peavey Rage158 amp. I considered buying a guitar amp (and returning it or reselling it) when I got to California but found there was absolutely no way I could get away with one checked bag under 50 pounds anyway, so I went with 2 checked bags and just brought everything I'd need. Almost.

Car rental people tried to make me take a VAN, but after stalling and objecting for a while, I got lucky and someone pulled in returning a small car. First stop: Wal-Mart! Actually, that was kind of a dumb move, but I had to get a few things and knew they'd have everything. I live in Brooklyn, where stores are small, lean, and shoppers and cashiers are swift and efficient. Adjusting to giant Americans pushing giant shopping carts through a giant store at brontosaurus pace is painful. I got bread, peanut butter, bananas, trail mix, batteries, replacement prepaid cell phone, and - remembering past frigid tour experiences - an inexpensive fleece sleeping bag/blanket thing.

On to the first show in Davis, CA, a smallish city next to Sacramento and east of Oakland a short ways. From what I saw, Davis seems like an incredibly quaint college town and the area the show was at is like a downtown/college town so cute and perfect it almost looks like a movie set. The venue was Luigi's, which is indeed a pizza place with a large downstairs where shows are held. I got some FREE PIZZA, checked out the comic book shop next door, and set up. The crowd was very small, but (as was the case everywhere) the people and the bands were very cool.



This was set up by a cool girl named Sharmi who DJs at KDVS and does her own noise project called Beast Nest, though she didn't play this show. Seen above is A White Hunter. They played noise-rock of the variety with noises that are kind of blurred out and driven by hard drumming. I mostly only took photos of the bands on this trip, sorry. I only realized when I got home that I should have photographed more of the people and places too.



That's Buk Buk Bigups, which was pretty awesome, as you can probably tell from the photo. Just a real unique dude doing his thing, playing keyboard and singing in his own unique style.

The Radio Shock show went off well. All gear worked (an event which is notable enough to warrant mention) and though most of the audience were people involved with the show, it was fun and great meeting everyone. After pondering my sleep plans, I took an offer to stay at the house where most everyone else who had been at the show was staying (bands and residents). I got a comfy couch to myself and slept hard.

And that was DAY ONE.
... TO BE CONTINUED ...

only the most amazing Melvins videos

Just spent the whole evening watching Melvins videos - totally worth the time - totally inspirational. I made this playlist of the best stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0B2F381D373A3527



Oh yeah, and that is totally the guitar I'm going to buy whenever I have a bunch of extra money.

International Noise Conference 2011 video playlist

HTML5 and the Canvas element will not "replace Flash" and here's why

I do some web design stuff and as internet technology develops I need to be more and more of a developer as well. Coming from the design side though, I love Flash as a tool for making great moving graphics. Along comes HTML5, which many observers and people on the coding side of the web keep claiming will "replace Flash" or "kill Flash." After looking into the issue, I can firmly say that these claims are nonsense.

Here is the short summary: Flash is a program for creating moving graphics. The things you can create in Flash can be output to a format called SWF (ShockWave Flash, often called a "swiff") and your web browser uses a plug-in to run the SWF files. Flash can also output to other (much less efficient) formats, like Quicktime's MOV or animated GIFs. The new HTML5 has an element called canvas which you can basically draw on and add moving and responsive graphics to using JavaScript coding. The browser does all the work, no plug-in needed.

I would bet that the next version of Flash (or a related product from Adobe) will be able to output to canvas and JavaScript too! In fact, Adobe has already claimed that some kind of software (Flash or something like it) will be able to create Apple apps for iPhone, iPad etc. It is certain that they will have some product for creating fancy moving graphics using HTML5 and JavaScript, and it will probably be Flash.

Will the canvas element replace the Flash PLUG-IN? Maybe, but not entirely for a few years because the SWF format is just pretty far ahead in terms of what it can do. And Flash, the program, will not be going anywhere. It has little equivalent competition for what it does and it is very intuitive and deep and works very well. Adobe also has a program called Dreamweaver for creating all your HTML, CSS, JavaScript and anything else a web browser can handle. You could type this code out yourself in Notepad instead if you wanted to, or use one of many other programs, but still Dreamweaver is very popular because it's a great tool for getting the job done. Likewise, you can use a ton of programs to make a jpeg, but Adobe's Photoshop is popular because it's simply the most powerful. The Flash program will be in the same position.

There's this other issue of embedding video, which HTML5 can now do, but again, it can't do everything that Flash can. Regardless, my point is that Adobe makes great tools for creating graphics and the final FORMAT is not going to influence the popularity of their tools. Someone will probably be using their software to make the videos you're embedding. In fact, the more the web can support nice graphics, the better Adobe will do.

The latest news is that Apple computers will no longer come "with Flash." What they mean by this is that the Safari browser will not automatically include the Flash plug-in for rendering SWF files. Of course you could add it, or if you download another browser, like Firefox, you'll get it. Suspiciously, this announcement comes right along with the announcement of an App Store for Apple's computers - supporting the conspiracy theory that the reason behind Apple's anti-Flash position is that they want to sell you games as apps instead of having you play them for free as SWFs in your browser.

Ultimately it won't make a difference because you'll be able to make games and animation in your HTML5 canvas - and you might be using Flash to do it.

I may as well mention that I can do Flash or HTML(yes, 5) work, and I am available for hire. My Flash-based website is here:

http://www.michaellockwood.org

</rant>

How to fix Microsoft Word problem where text in last row of a table disappears

I have relied heavily on Googling for fixes to all of Microsoft Word's irritating glitches and bugs, so I am doing some "giving back" here.

I'm using Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac, and I kept having text inside the last row of a table go invisible. It's there sort of, it shows up in the Print Preview, and strangely the last line of the text in each cell of that row CAN be seen. I even tried making my table in another document, then copying and pasting it over and the text still vanished upon pasting. I saw some people complaining about this online but no fixes.

My eventual solution was to insert another row below the bottom one and make its height as small as I could. (0.2") As soon as the offending row was not the last, the text came back. If your table has a border, you may have to get rid of it around just those cells. In fact, for me that screwed up the rest of my borders, so I had to make those borders the same as my background color (white in this case) so the last row could not be seen.

I also noticed a bizarre bug where only the CENTER cell of my last row then looked like the text was doubled up, making it look bold. My table was inside of a text box, and when I stretched the bottom of the text box to accommodate the bigger table, that problem disappeared too.

There you go internet: another tip for coping with Word. Perhaps someone will find this and it will save them a few hours of headache.

Sometimes music sounds SO good

Ever have one of those days where you just get thrilled and excited by everything you hear? I set last.fm to play "Jesus Lizard radio" and have been enjoying the hell out of everything. Pissed Jeans are a really good band? Who knew? They sound kind of like a cross between the Jesus Lizard (of course?) and the New Flesh.

Karp effing rock. Is everything by the Unsane this good? I'm even seriously digging this song by Girls Against Boys and it's from their major label sell-out album "Freakonica." This Drive Like Jehu song is kicking my ass. And now "Cheeba" by the Boredoms is literally giving me chills. Damn, that song is amazing! That whole album, "Pop Tatari," is unbelievably good.

It could be partly because I didn't sleep at all the night before last then went straight to a new job assignment and worked until 8:30pm on almost no food - and now I've had a night's rest, am home for the day, have a cup of coffee and bagel, and sun's coming through the windows. I feel like exercising!

Maybe it's also because I haven't listened to ROCK music much these days and have forgotten how it can actually be awesome. Mostly been jamming noise, no-wave, and death metal for a long time.

In any case, it's a very good music day. Really enjoying this mellow Oneida song too. Strangely I haven't heard any Jesus Lizard yet.

Here's me on last.fm:


http://www.last.fm/user/mplockwood

the Top Ten things humans want to know HOW TO do...

Google will auto-complete search requests as you type them in. I assume this is based on the most popular search phrases, and so it makes for some kind of gauge of what humanity (at least the part with internet access) is interested in. I just started a search request with "How to" and Google popped up a list of the most common things people have sought instruction on. The list is an intriguing look into human priorities in the year 2009.

I now present, THE TOP TEN THINGS HUMANS WANT TO KNOW HOW TO DO:

1. tie a tie
2. kiss
3. get pregnant
4. lose weight
5. lose weight fast
6. make a website
7. write a resume
8. solve a rubix cube
9. get rid of fruit flies
10. draw

Some of these are encouraging, some are surprising, some very unsurprising. I can say with certainty that I know how to do 5 of the things on this list. I am pretty sure I know how to do 2 more. 2 others are very difficult and 1 is probably impossible.*


* certain: 1,3,4,6,10
pretty sure: 2,7
difficult: 5,8
impossible?: 9

How to make your own instant coffee that tastes just like real fresh-brewed coffee

I tried that new Starbucks instant coffee they call "Via." They were doing a taste test thing where if you guess correctly you get a coupon and a free cup of coffee. They've been advertising this stuff as instant coffee that actually tastes just like real coffee. I was incredibly skeptical.

So, does it really taste like brewed coffee? Short answer: NO.

However... I was in a group of 4 people who tried it and all 3 of the others got it wrong. I picked the instant one, but to be honest, I used probability and logic as much as my tastebuds. I tried sample 1 and it tasted like a real cup of coffee. I tried sample 2 and it was too weak to be sure, so I said sample 2 was instant and I was right.

I got a free sample so I got to try it again later. It is not exactly the same as brewed coffee, but it is about a hundred times closer than anything else called instant. In fact, if they had just switched the regular stuff for this Via, I probably wouldn't have seriously doubted it. I might have thought "they using some kind of different roast?" or maybe "did I get decaf?" I started thinking maybe it would be a good idea to have some of this on hand for emergency situations. You know, driving through the night, getting sleepy, and the only stop is a gas station with some vile brown stuff simmering on the burner... You could just grab some hot water (usually free) and have a decent coffee to keep you going.

So how does Starbucks do it??? I guess they just grind up real coffee super-fine, which makes one wonder why no one else has done that before. But the Via stuff costs $1 per shot, which makes 8 oz. of coffee, the same price as real coffee in a Starbucks! So I got to thinking, which brings me to the point of this post:

YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN INSTANT COFFEE THAT TASTES JUST LIKE FRESH-BREWED COFFEE.

Because... it IS fresh-brewed coffee. It's this simple: 1.Grind some coffee beans. You can do this in advance, maybe keep them in a ziplock bag. 2.Put one teaspoonful of grounds into a cup or mug. Then add a teaspoonful per 8 oz. of water. 3.Pour hot water in with the grounds. Hotter will work better. 4.Wait. Maybe give it a little stir. When the grounds sink, your coffee is ready.

Seriously, it works. It's basically the same as a french press, you just don't press it. You may worry that you will get a mouthful of grounds, but you won't. Just don't drink that last swallow with all the coffee grounds at the bottom. They sink once they're brewed. Try it. You'll get a cup of coffee that's just as good as the Starbucks instant (provided your grounds are reasonably fresh) and about 100 times better than any other instant coffee.

By the way, you can use the same method with tea leaves to make tea. It's actually the recommended method.

UPDATE: I just tried this on my job last week and the results were - eh - not amazing. It involved more stirring and waiting than I remember. I think boiling water works much better than water-cooler-hot water. Some of the bigger pieces of coffee bean never sank. I was sad that it actually turned out inferior to the Starbucks Instant, but I think with better grinding and real boiling I could pull off a great cup this way.

How can brilliant people think really dumb things? PART 1

I'm a physics groupie. I follow ideas and developments in theoretical physics, I read physics books (for the layman - or for the advanced layman if I can) and I follow some physicist bloggers.

One of these bloggers whom I've come across is the rather notorious Lubos Motl from the Czech Republic. He is a legit String Theorist who has taught at Harvard and is, in many ways, a very smart physicist. I'm not a physicist, but this is what I gather. He also appears to be full-blown, mad-scientist insane.

For a while I took his strange and sometimes off-putting writing as a combination of English-as-second-language and poor internet etiquette. Surely when he casually dropped terms like "feminist bitches" followed by a ;) emoticon, he was just painfully unaware that this language could be considered highly offensive, right? He consistently refers to anyone who disagrees or even questions him as a "crackpot" or "stupid." In an example of  borderline self-parody, Motl regularly uses terms like "isomorphic" instead of "the same," "unity" instead of "one," etc. Rumor has it that a character on the sit-com The Big Bang Theory is based on Motl.

Oh, and he also denies that global warming is real or anything to worry about, proudly trumpeting the discovery of anyone who agrees with this position, which is, of course, given greater weight than the 99.9% of climatologists who disagree. This fact alone had earned him a place in my internal musings on "how brilliant people can think really dumb things."

Still, one could just barely write it all off as the idiosyncracies of an eccentric scientist with an awkward grasp of English and social conduct. Just barely... But a recent blog posting of his takes things WAY over the top. I will link to it HERE - However, I would encourage others to follow my example and NOT give his blog any more traffic than necessary. I am now unsubscribing myself.

Motl's post is entitled "Why Lee Smolin is an immoral double-faced fraudster and liar." Okay, really? REALLY?

This doesn't need a rebuttal at all. Even without knowing anything about the people named, or the physics being discussed, any sane reader could deduce from the writing itself that Motl is bonkers. In fact, the people mentioned in his posting have - wisely - completely ignored this. At least a couple of them maintain their own blogs and they have not mentioned it. There's no need because it speaks for itself. So why am I taking the time to write about this? Well, it made me think. Besides, I am not a physicist and no one reads this anyway, so I can vent my thoughts without stirring up the situation any further.

Lee Smolin is another physicist who has written some books for the general public. He also happens to be very critical of String Theory and has made a public case in one of his books that its domination over physics' marketplace of ideas is hindering progress. He works on a rival theory called Loop Quantum Gravity, but he has also done work on String Theory. I have read his books and enjoyed them all. I think his motivations and guidng principles are well-founded, although I do think some of his scientific theories and hunches are very wrong-headed. (A post for another time)

So what is the great crime which Motl accuses him of? If any casual observer were to read Motl's writing, which includes the lengthy "incriminating" quotes from Smolin, they would probably be baffled. They would certainly be hard-pressed to find anything "immoral" within. To summarize, a decade ago, Smolin suggested that his pet theory, Loop Quantum Gravity, had some real testable predictions - unlike String Theory (according to Smolin). Specifically, different energies of light might travel at very slightly different speeds through the vacuum of space. This very slight difference might accumulate as light travels through space and it could be detectable in light from distant supernova explosions or similar events. Well, just recently there WAS a rather clear observation of just that, a distant gamma ray burst - and it would appear that the energies of light in fact arrived at the same time - and thus traveled at the same speed. Bad news for Loop Quantum Gravity? Maybe - but now Smolin says that prediction was not definitive and the theory is not absolutely ruled out.

Fraudster! Liar! ... Wouldn't you say that "Smolin is the ultimate symbol of the complete absence of the scientific integrity and, indeed, the very basic human ethical values."?

No? You wouldn't? Me neither, but apparently Motl would. If I were to be particularly hard on Smolin I might say that he is "waffling" or that his previous statements were "misleading." Motl however, says of Smolin that "what he's doing and saying ... simply exceeds all the limits that could be tolerable for a person who should be allowed to freely walk on the street." If Obama were guilty of a similar transgression, I think even his harshest critics would, at worst, accuse him of "flip-flopping," not representing the absence of basic human ethical values! (okay, maybe Rush Limbaugh would)

I should point out that making claims of testable predictions, then changing or retracting those predictions, is something that String Theory has been widely accused of for a long time. In fact, that was one of the points Smolin had made in his book. ("The Trouble with Physics") So this criticism of Smolin is especially rich coming from a hard-line String Theorist. It seems to me that the worst thing you might be able to say about Loop Quantum Gravity is that it now looks "no better than String Theory."

I would also like to point out that what all of these physicists are trying to do, develop a Grand Unified Theory, is really hard. Really, really hard. No one on Earth can be certain about how to proceed. It would be insane to demand that any physicist should be able to avoid all wrong ideas or never need to revise their theories.

But wait, Motl goes on: "Everyone who tolerates this disgraceful liar and demagogue as a part of the scientific community is an immoral bastard. ... the internet crackpots - the likes of 'Marcus', 'Peter Woit', 'Sabine Hossenfelder', and similar subjects from the moral dumping ground of science"

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that Sabine Hossenfelder helped me get some freelance web-combing and data entry work on a project of hers. This gives me neither insight into her moral character, nor her abilities as a physicist. I invite you to judge for yourself based on her blog, Backreaction, which I do personally recommend. (in fact, reading it is how I found out she needed some data entry help) She has also weighed in on that gamma ray burst observation with a post here, which seems very sober and sensible to me. I also hadn't spotted this before now, but Hossenfelder has also written a post on Lubos Motl here, which explains her experiences in dealing with him, and why she discourages giving him more web traffic.

Peter Woit also maintains a blog which I read, entitled Not Even Wrong, found here. He is also a String Theory skeptic, and in fact plays the role of general physics skeptic in his blog. From what I gather he is also opposed to reasoning that invokes a multiverse, although I personally tend to believe that some form of multiverse must logically exist. (another topic for another post) Still, I think his viewpoint is necessary and refreshing, and though occasionally sarcastic, I've never noticed his writing to be personally insulting to anyone. He has several times mentioned Motl's objections in a very calm and charitable tone.

To sum up.

Backreaction and Not Even Wrong are recommended physics-related blogs that are readable by the layman. Lubos Motl also writes a physics blog, but may be insane. Please don't take his criticisms of other people seriously. More physics reading recommendations in future blog posts...

-M.P.

more band name pronunciation explanations

Would you believe in that previous post I actually misspelled one of the band names?

Wzt Hearts (the pronunciation "Waxed Hearts" is still acceptable, but I'm now leaning toward "Whazzit Hearts.")

and I'm adding one more

3OH!3 (this band name is pronounced "Eee - I - Eee - I - Oh")

any other band names people are curious about?

Bands I hope I never, ever have to listen to, just based on their names.

Cute Is What We Aim For
(steering clear, just in case they succeed... or fail)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
(got it. pass.)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
(the LAST thing in the world I want to hear about)

But at least these bands come with clear warning labels, which I appreciate. As a counter-example, consider this band name that might make you THINK you want to hear this band, but you will be so sad and disappointed if you do:

The Eagles of Death Metal
(so misleading, UNLESS they are referring to the band, The Eagles)

Radio Shock and others at Cake-Shop on May 7th

Video flyer for this show I'm playing on Thursday. It will be fun!

How to pronounce those modern band names

As you all know, bands ran out of name ideas several years ago and have had to resort to nonsensical jumbles of letters and numbers to use as band names. I refuse to follow these bands' "official pronunciations," or even pay attention to them at all, and say these band names the way I choose. What are they anyway, pronunciation nazis? I encourage everyone to follow my example. Here's how I think these band names should be said.

MGMT: pronounced "Mudgemutt"

DD/MM/YYYY: pronounced "Duh-Dummy-Yah-Yah-Yah."

Wxt Hearts: pronounced "Waxed Hearts"

Xrin Arms: pronounced "Christian Arms"

!!!: not pronounced at all, just silently raise eyebrows 3 times.

Wooden Shjips: pronounced "Wooden Shih-jips"

more to come I'm sure...

The Watchmen Saturday morning cartoon

What, you didn't know about the Watchmen Saturday morning pilot episode from 1988 or so? This video is AMAZING (if you are also a comic book nerd like me).





P.S. - not real, but really well done.

CDs found in Bedford Ave Salvation Army

On a recent visit to the Salvation Army thrift store on Bedford Avenue, ground zero for Brooklyn hipster "cool," I thought it might be fun to browse the CDs. What CDs are the coolest hipsters who have moved from Europe and California to live in Brooklyn sick of? What music have they outgrown and been unable to sell back to one of the CD stores on the Bedford strip? Or perhaps, what were they giving a try but just couldn't get into?

This is a very incomplete list of some of the used CDs I found. The normal assortment of generic holiday compilations and complete unknowns were present also, I only jotted down some which seemed interesting.

Pretty Girls Make Graves
Q and Not U
Friends soundtrack
Ween "The Pod" (burned on CDR)
Times New Viking "Paisley Reich" (still in shrinkwrap!)
Jessica Simpson
Marilyn Manson "Best Of"
Britney Spears "Hits" (burned on CDR)
Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream"
Calla
Morningwood "Promo disc"
Need New Body "UFO"
Mindflayer "Take Your Skin Off" (If I didn't already own this, I definitely would have grabbed it! Also, the disc was missing, only the case was there.)
In-Bulbophonic Sound (Bulb Records sampler - ?!?! - I also already own this.)
Cherry Poppin Daddies "Zoot Suit Riot"
Sugar Ray "Floored"
Modest Mouse "Sad Sappy Sucker"
Red Red Meat "Bunny Gets Paid"

how to tell the difference between death metal and "deathcore"

I listen to some death metal. I make absolutely no claims to be an expert, but I can tell the difference between melodic death metal, technical death metal, and brutal death metal by ear. So I'm not a total noob, right? Sometimes I browse for new bands to listen to and have recently been seeing more and more bands described as "deathcore." Initially I avoided these, but after seeing the tag multiple times, I started to wonder what it described. From listening to the music, I am still very unclear on what the difference is between "deathcore" and plain "death metal" but I think I have found a few differences.

From briefly browsing the bands considered "deathcore" on last.fm - these are the differences I have found. Please note that these are only general guidelines and I am still learning! Suggestions may be added in the comments.

1. Deathcore is made by Americans with short hair in black hoodies. Death Metal is made by people from anywhere else with long hair in black T-shirts.

1a. A Deathcore band may have a member with anime hair (aka emo hair). A Death Metal band will never have a member with anime hair, but may have a member with no hair (and a goatee).

2. Death Metal bands have symmetrical band name logos, Deathcore bands have asymmetrical logos.

3. Death Metal band names derive from diseases, causes of death, or something blasphemous, and generally end in "tion" or "ssion." Deathcore band names resemble post-hardcore/emo band names and generally sound like an X-Men name ("Whitechapel") or a sentence fragment from high school poetry ("A Black Rose Burial").

Examples

Deathcore:

Death Metal:

 

Deathcore:

Death Metal:

You may note that while nationality may have something to do with the distinction, ethnicity does not. However, age and BMI might?  I have also just noticed that Deathcore bands sometimes wear baseball caps.

However, none of these distinguishing features say anything about the sound of the music. I read last.fm's definition of the Deathcore tag. It explains that... "Though a sub-genre of metalcore, deathcore is heavily influenced by modern death metal in its speed, heaviness, and approach to chromatic, heavily palm muted riffing and dissonance. Lyrics may not always be in the death metal vein, but traditional growls, and screaming are prevalent, often combined with metalcore shouting or yelling vocals. Much of deathcore features breakdowns and heavy use of blasting."

Okay, what this seems to be saying to me is that, unlike Metalcore, which takes SOME elements from Death Metal (but otherwise might sound a little like Limp Bizkit), Deathcore takes ALL elements from Death Metal. Except for the lyrics. That should make it easy to tell them apart ... oh, wait... um...

I remember back in 1998 or so I really wanted to form a death metal band, specifically because it seemed like the only remaining underground music genre that was in no way trendy or fashionable. Sigh. Oh well. I guess there's still polka.