The song I put up is called "Warriors of Tekyon" (had a typo) under a guitarist allias called "Phryj", becuase the phrygian scale is one of my favourite scales.

Anyway, I was interested to find out that Sonific has gone offline due to music industry hassles. You can read the explanation here:

http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/04/in-music-the-lo.html

Gerd Leonhard is one of the new thinkers on the future of music and its role in the Web 2.0 environment.

-------------

Also, I stand corrected: the song is embedded via a mog player widget or something. Still doesn't solve my problem.

http://mog.com/Phrij

Yes, I know there are a million other places on the web that have tools in place to help you discover new music, but in my honest opinion most of those services leave a lot to be desired.  iTunes has a huge library but their single motivation is sales.  Pandora is cool but there is no place for human opinion and rumor has it they may be out of business soon. Mog is nice but the Mog Brain is slow and its recommendations generally are not very good in my opinion.

So here is my attempt to improve the situation.  I have put together a team of trusted Music Ninjas to search the internet, gather content and share it with the world.  I don't expect this blog to be the end all be all when it comes to music discovery and content.  Obviously that won't happen, but hopefully you will be able to come here as often as you would like and spend some time and share your passion for music with us as we share ours with you.

Happy listening.

They state that by using breastmilk it would lessen the suffering of the cows.  But what about the women using the breast pump? What about their suffering. 

Basically stuff like this makes me realize what a silly organization PETA is. Perhaps they are trying to make a point about the suffering of cows but this just manages to annoy me in its stupidity rather than make me think of the poor cows out on factory farms.

What makes this a great idea for Facebook? To start, it already has a huge built in user base. Pandora and Last FM both include a music social network option but due to their low user based (compared to Facebook and MySpace) the networking part is limited. Other, sites like Mog offer a musical social network but to fully take advantage of the service you need to be a paid member of Rhapsody.

Why Facebook can actually pull this off: They have boatloads of money. The RIAA has essentially put the smack down on  online music streaming services. The fees the RIAA is charging online radio PER PLAY PER SONG dwarf the same fee they charge brick and mortar radio stations (who have more money anyway). This action has caused a vast majority of online radio services to start charging their users for the service. The ones not charging, have gone offline. The latest casualty of this practice is Pandora which has already stated it will shut down once it runs out of money to pay the fees.

We've just added My Services, a new way for Mixwit users to find and discover each other, as well as their favorite media, on other popular online services.

If you're signed-in to the Mixwit website, click on this link to get started:

• http://mixwit.com/settings/myservices

From here you can select from several social and media services including Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, iMeem, Last.fm, and YouTube. Follow the instructions to add a link to your public profile on any of these service. We've also included a couple of general icons to allow you to add your website or blog.

There's about two dozen service icons so far, based on what's most popular to our users, but we can do more. Feel free to make a request for your service(s) in the comments below, or send us feedback.

This is a first small step towards our goal of helping users bring together their disconnected services. We'll have more to announce on that next week...

Dalam surat peringatan bernomor 900/950.35.73.311/2008 yang ditujukan kepada manajemen Giant, gula tersebut agar ditarik peredaran. "Kami langsung memberikan teguran. Seketika, gula yang diberi tulisan Giant Import Sugar itu ditarik dari peredaran," ujar Kepala Bidang Perdagangan Disperindagkop Kota Malang Penny Indriani, kemarin.

Menurut Penny, awal penemuan itu setelah pada bungkus plastik gula tersebut tertulis diproduksi CV Panorama Bandung. Setelah dikroscek dengan Pusat Pendidikan dan Penelitian Gula Indonesia (P3GI) Pasuruan, gula produksi CV Panorama tersebut masuk kategori rafinasi. Dengan ciri-ciri, kandungan icumsa (warna) 74 persen dan polarisasi (kadar kristal) sebanyak 99,89 persen. "Kalau gula rafinasi tetap beredar akan merugikan petani. Apalagi gula ini sudah dikhususkan untuk pemenuhan kebutuhan industri makanan dan minuman," katanya.

Untuk mengenali jenis gula ini, lanjut Penny, cukup mudah. Secara kasat mata, gula ini berwana putih bersih dan butirannya lebih lembut dibandingkan gula pada umumnya. "Penemuan ini tidak berdasarkan laporan masyarakat. Tapi kami yang menemukan sendiri. Ya, berawal dari jalan-jalan," ucapnya.

Teguran ini berlaku untuk 1 kali 24 jam. Jika selama waktu tersebut tidak diindahkan manajemen, maka Disperindagkop sudah memiliki langkah lanjutan. Namun, setelah diberi peringatan, gula tersebut langsung ditarik dari peredaran. "Kalau kemarin sudah tidak ada. Alias ditarik. Tapi tidak tahu lagi, kalau besok dijual lagi," ujarnya.

Pihak manajemen Giant, versi Penny, bersikap kooperatif. Meski awal mulanya bersikukuh kalau gula yang dijual bukan termasuk jenis rafinasi, tapi akhirnya mentaati permintaan Diskoperindagkop. "Sebelumnya kami juga sudah pernah memberi peringatan ke Ramayana dan Hero. Kami juga menjumpai gula rafinasi. Sekarang tidak jual lagi," tambahnya.

Dihubungi terpisah M. Sufiyan A, Division Manager Giant mengakui ada sidak dari Disperindagkop. Hanya saja, persoalan tersebut sudah dibereskan. Dan, sudah tidak ada persoalan. "Sudah, sudah kok. Kami clear semuanya. Kami juga sudah tidak menjual (gula rafinasi, Red)," katanya saat dihubungi via telepon tadi malam.

Dalam perkembangan yang sama, Disperindagkop juga berencana melakukan operasi harga kebutuhan barang-barang pokok. Dari pantauan sementara, harga daging sapi melonjak tajam dibandingkan barang kebutuhan lain. Harga daging sapi menembus angka Rp 49 ribu/kilogram (kg). Bahkan, ada pedagang yang menjual sampai Rp 50/kg. "Harganya terus naik. Mulai awal puasa, belum turun-turun," ungkap Badriyah, salah satu pemilik warung di kawasan Sawojajar.

Harga bahan pokok lain, seperti telur relatif stabil yang berada di kisaran Rp 12-13 ribu. Ayam potong Rp 23.400/kg. "Kebutuhan bahan pokok kalau pun ada kenaikan, masih terkendali. Dan, kami pastikan stoknya cukup sampai lebaran nanti. Dalam waktu dekat ini kami akan melakukan operasi gudang," kata Penny. (hap/ziz/jawapos)

Today I spent the morning at a school I love – Kimuri Primary School.  I was there with my boyfriend and a couple of other girls.  We give them something to look forward to on Wednesday…a bit of time to leave the books behind and have some fun. 

Since I had to use public transport, I left home at 8 am to reach the school by 9.  They were taking exams and the others were a bit late so we didn’t start our time with the students until after the 10:30 tea break.  Then we left the school around 12:30.  Again due to public transport we (my boyfriend and I) didn’t get to “the” office (our church office) until 1:30. 

At 2:30 the journalistic part of my day started.  I interviewed a DJ who works for K-Krew.  I’m putting together the content for K-Krew’s brand new website, including profiles of all the musicians and DJs.  So, I sat down with DJ Krowbar to find out more about the man behind the wheels.  We met in the food court of a popular shopping “mall” near the office. 

Interviewing in a food court isn’t the easiest thing but in my recent experience I’ve dealt with worse.  I’m still amazed that I’m the same journalist who uneasily felt her way through an interview with two musicians just a couple of months ago.  Now interviews come easily and naturally…questions, notes and all. 

The interview was short and to the point because I had another meeting at 3 pm.  This meeting with an editor from one of Kenya’s finest newspapers.  I’ve written for her before and we wanted to discuss some article ideas.  Over a cup of tea, she picked the next article and gave me excellent direction for the angle, tone and even necessary research.  Now that is editor willing to help an upcoming journalist.  I hope I’ll be an editor like that…when I’m an editor. 

Then my day was over…except for the hassle of getting home via public transport.  And that took only two hours. 

Coming soon:

Book Review: The Craft of Interviewing

Personal thoughts on Interviewing

More of the daily journey

I entered college in 1998 so this is the list for my year.

1. The people starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980. Yes.
2. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era, and did not know he had ever been shot. In fact I did know this. And I didn't come to the US until the 1990s. They do teach this in history.
3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.  Yes, I was. Good job on the math
4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression. Okay, I didn't know much about Black Monday but I knew plenty about the Great Depression.
5. There has only been one Pope. They can only remember one other president.
6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.
7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The Day After" is a pill to them—not a movie. I don't recall the Day After Pill becoming particularly significant until college. I don't think this is true at all. And I still fear nuclear war, so there.
8. They are too young to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up. No I remember.
9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10. They never had a polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is. Yes I do.
11. Bottle caps have not always been screw off, but have always been plastic. They have no idea what a pull top can looks like. I remember being so weirded out when pull tops went to the new kind of push in tops on cans. This list is starting to annoy me.
12. Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums. I do in fact remember Atari and wrote about it. Also my dad had plenty of vinyls that he played.
13. The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them. We are not stupid.
14. They have never owned a record player.
15. They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of "Pong."  Who hasn't played Pac-Man? Kids still play Pac-man. Again this list is dumb.
16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic. Star Wars was my first "grown up" movie. I've never thought the special effects are pathetic. Do you think Gone with the Wind is a pathetic movie because the fire scenes look fake? No, it was made in the 1930s what do you expect.
17. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones? I remember the beige. Blue ones ARE new to me.
18. They may never have heard of an 8-track, and chances are they've never heard or seen one.
19. The compact disc was introduced when they were one year old.
20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
21. They have always had an answering machine. Not true.
22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black & white TV. For the first 9 years of my life we only had 6 Channels.
23. They have always had cable. Not true.
24. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what Beta is. We still have a betamax.
25. They cannot fathom what it was like not having a remote control.
26. They were born the year Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
27. Roller-skating has always meant in-line for them. I never skated in-line until my teens. I have photographic proof.
28. "The Tonight Show" has always been with Jay Leno.
29. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
30. Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
31. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player. Are we stupid? We must be stupid.
32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. Not True.
33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI and WWII or even the Civil War. Not True.
34. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran. Not True.
35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are. I've never had contacts but given that they advertise soft contacts I am aware that there must have been hard ones.
36. They don't know who Mork was, or where he was from. Hello, Nick at Nite.
37. They never heard the terms "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or "De plane, de plane!"
38. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is. I actually remember this getting coverage in England. But I wasn't old enough to watch.
39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was. Seriously, they think we are stupid.
40. Michael Jackson has always been white. This list is aggravating.
41. Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are all places—not music groups. Sigh.
42. McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.  Double sigh.
43. There has always been MTV, and it has always included non-musical shows. We didn't have cable so I didn't have MTV!

This list bugs the crap out of me for no good reason.

Confesso, sou do mato e tenho uma certa aversão a gravações de áudio e vídeo, não me sinto muito à vontade para fazê-las. Prefiro os textos, que posso digitar e apagar indefinidamente até que fique do jeito que eu gosto. Um jacu perfeccionista.

Meu grande amigo-irmão Rodrigo Stulzer está com um podcast novo e me convidou para participar. Foi golpe baixo. É difícil negar um pedido de alguém tão próximo e parceiro de tantas idéias.

Pode ter certeza que a maioria das coisas que você viu nascer aqui no blog, têm dedo do Rodrigo, sejam elas programas, livros ou novidades do site. Trocamos micro-emails diários sobre vários assuntos e assim as idéias vão amadurecendo. Mas essa história eu conto outro dia, pois ela merece um texto próprio aqui no blog...

O tema do programa foi "Como ganhar dinheiro na Internet".

Bem, você sabe, trabalho em casa e ganho dinheiro com venda de livros, anúncios do Google no site, doações para projetos e outras coisinhas. Você já sabe também que consegui atingir a meta de ganhar por mês, como autônomo, o mesmo valor do salário que eu ganhava quando trabalhava na Conectiva. Se você ainda não leu estes textos, aconselho que o faça antes de ouvir o podcast. Você vai entender melhor as coisas.

No programa batemos um papo sobre tudo isso, e contei mais alguns detalhes dessa história, como o começo na Conectiva, os primeiros programas (de computador!) que fiz, o início do site e a transição para blog e anúncios do Google (AdSense).

Além de contar histórias, também rolaram várias dicas sobre como otimizar os anúncios, escrever textos com palavras-chave, pensar no anunciante e no público, aumentar cliques, e claro, ganhar dinheiro.

Outros assuntos foram: Miguxeitor, livros, palestras, programas, doações, cultura Mac, Nerds não clicam em anúncios™, memória ruim, fontes de receita, long tail, áreas mais clicadas do site, manutenção dos artigos, divulgação e marketing, reaproveitamento de conteúdo, apostila de shell em PDF, comportamento da massa, trampolim e paraquedistas.

A Mog não queria que eu divulgasse aqui no blog o cantinho dela lá no site. Tá, isso eu não vou fazer, por isso a frase anterior não tem um link. Mas ela não disse nada sobre divulgar no podcast! ;) Então quem ouvir (1:02:30), fica sabendo do segredo :)

O programa ficou com uma hora e meia de duração, se você quer saber mais sobre como ganhar dinheiro na Internet, ou simplesmente quer ouvir minha voz robótica de taquara rachada, ouvalá.

Estou orgulhoso deste livro, finalmente agora eu pude arrumar o que me incomodava na 1ª edição: o capítulo de linguagens de programação, que era pobre de explicações e principalmente, exemplos. Você chegava lá todo empolgado, querendo brincar com as expressões em sua linguagem favorita, mas o livro te deixava na mão nessa hora.

Mas felizmente isso é passado! O texto desse capítulo foi reescrito*. Agora é uma referência completa, explicando os vários detalhes envolvidos nas tarefas de casar, substituir e dividir textos. E o principal: tem muitos, MUITOS exemplos! Você vai lendo e testando na sua máquina ao mesmo tempo. E como se isso não fosse bom o bastante, ainda há tópicos novos:

• ActionScript
• Grep / Egrep / Fgrep
• MySQL**
• PHP (PCRE)
• PostgreSQL**
• Shell Script (Bash)

* As exceções foram os tópicos C, Java e VBscript que permaneceram iguais.

** Sim! Agora você também vai aprender como usar as expressões em suas queries nos bancos de dados MySQL e PostgreSQL.

A diferença é tanta, que posso dizer que se você é programador, vale a pena comprar o livro somente por causa deste capítulo, ele ficou bem completo. Mas confira você mesmo: o tópico sobre Awk por exemplo, veja como ele era na 1ª edição e como ficou na 2ª edição. Não tem comparação!

Há outras mudanças e novidades, como mais participação do piazinho e até uma tirinha do Nerdson! Fiz um site bacana para detalhar tudo isso e reunir as informações sobre o livro. Olha só o endereço dele que legal: www.PIAZINHO.com.br :)

Agora fica fácil de lembrar, né? Se quiser saber sobre o livro do piazinho, acesse o site do piazinho!

Além do site, também tem um Feed RSS exclusivo para as novidades do livro, como notícias, promoções e barbadas: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ExpressoesRegulares

Mas a mudança mais visível mesmo foi sugestão da Mog: a capona amarelona berrante. Sempre que eu ia nas livrarias, demorava muito para encontrar o livrinho branquinho do piazinho (inho inho inho), espremido entre tantos outros livros coloridos. Agora, além de ser mais grosso (24 páginas a mais!), com esse amarelão cheguei vai ser difícil não enxergá-lo :)

É isso pessoal,
estou muito feliz com essa 2ª edição,
o livro ficou mais maduro e completo,
espero que vocês gostem.

Vida longa ao piazinho!
\o/

DESCONTÃO

Se você já tem a 1ª edição ou o livro Shell Script Profissional, ganha um descontão exclusivo de 30% na compra do amarelão! Aí fica bom hein, paga somente R$ 25,90!

Se você já se cadastrou como leitor de um destes livros, vai receber um e-mail com o código, hoje mesmo. Amanhã me avise caso não tenha recebido. Se você ainda não se cadastrou, faça agora e receba o código:

• http://aurelio.net/livro/cadastro/

Organizações Verde Inc., sempre trazendo barbadas e descontos imbatíveis para seus fiéis clientes :)
 

*NIN: Trent Reznor's Zero may become an HBO series? I think Ian McShane should star.

*Business: Napster subscriptions are down 52,000 subscribers in Q2 over Q1. Tough times. I still think someone will crack subscription music. I can't stand managing files; it's a waste of my time. (Though I still have found no better alternative.)

*Local: Snot, of Puke and Snot, has died. One half of the most famous Renaissance Festival pair of all time has passed away at the age of 57. First Bernie Mac, now this. Ugh.

*Celebrities: TMZ has dug up some Ryan Seacrest beefcake photography. BEFORE he was bitten by that shark.

*Toys: The Teddy Bear MP3 player makes it easy to listen to digital music. Even if you are 12-18 months old.

*Local: If you don't want to go to a Rage Against the Machine concert during the Republican National Convention, you could consider putting up an Unconvention yard sign. [metblog mpls]

*Hello: It's my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Ian. You are almost as old as Jesus.

I was interviewing Boss for a profile I’m writing about the group.  He was still away in school when I interviewed the other two member of the group: Tony and Kenti.  This was my chance to get his story and find out a few more things about the group. 

We met at Nairobi’s most common meeting place: the Bata shoe store at the Nairobi Hilton Hotel. Since it is easy to find and conveniently located near the main bus stage in town, there are always groups and individuals standing outside waiting to meet someone.  Boss was a few minutes late but finally I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and about the same time I saw Boss’s number, I saw him standing in front of me. 

Although we had met a couple of times before and I am a good friend of the other two group members, he wasn’t actually sure who he was meeting.  Tony had just told him to call Nimo, but since Nimo is a Kikuyu name, he thought he was meeting a black Kenyan chick, not the obviously white girl that I am. 

In search of a quieter environment we headed to a small restaurant (hotel) frequented by the MOG guys.  We managed to get a seat further from the noise but the place was still too noisy for my voice recorder to be effective and to my dismay I actually had to take notes.  I was grateful that I had already heard much of the story from the other two guys so I only had to focus on Boss’ unique side of the story. 

After a cold soda (by the way how do you explain the etiquette of the interviewer paying not the interviewee?), an interruption from Tony himself and a nice chat about many different topics, Boss walked me back to the bus stage.  It was then that I realized that I was walking with a celeb. 

When a girl walked past blatantly staring at us, Boss asked me if I knew her and I realized that no I didn’t know her but she probably knew Boss.  It didn’t help that he was wearing big, bold sunglasses and a blazer with jeans.  At least a few of the girls we past gave me that definite questioning look as if to ask, “Just who do you think you are?” 

Well now, I have tasted a tongue teaser of the flavor of being a celeb…and I hope I never am one. 

Reel Big Fish Warped Tour 2008, originally uploaded by :: Faith-Ann Young ::.

Back from her whirlwind European tour of major music festivals, Indie Pixie Faith-Ann Young makes it back stateside in time to take in Warped Tour 2008.

Sepanjang yang aku liat, mall ini belum rampung sepenuhnya. Masih ada beberapa bangunan baru yang akan ditambahkan seperti gedung parkiran dan kolam renang. Namun beberapa fasilitas yang sudah ada dan siap digunakan antara lain: mall, stadion Gajayana (sudah ada sejak awal tinggal direnovasi), satu lapangan bola luar (ini juga sudah ada sejak awal cuma tinggal diperbaiki), lapangan tenis 2 court, lapangan basket, lapangan voli. Untuk menuju ke lapangan – lapangan tersebut harus melalui mall yang merupakan satu-satunya pintu keluar masuk parkir. Ini memberikan rasa aman saat menonton sepak bola di stadion karena sepertinya pengelolaan parkirnya sudah professional namun kita harus menganggarkan lebih untuk itu karena berupa secure parking dimana kita harus membayar lebih untuk tiap penambahan jam parkirnya.

Mungkin untuk lapangan dan stadion tidak perlu dibahas karena tidak ada bedanya dengan stadion dan lapangan yang lain. Disini akan aku ceritakan tentang mallnya saja.

Mallnya terdiri dari 4 lantai dan cukup luas. Namun penataan di dalamnya cukup memusingkan atau karena aku belum biasa aja jadi sepertinya agak ruwet jalannya. Stan - stan yang disediakan belum terisi sepenuhnya. Selain itu sepanjang aku perhatikan, di mall ini tidak terdapat tempat bermain atau bioskop. Sepertinya tempat ini kurang cocok buat nongkrong.

Tapi ada beberapa hal yang menarik dari mall ini. Yang pertama adalah munculnya beberapa merk yang sebelumnya belum ada di Malang seperti Roti boy dan d’Crepes yang biasa aku ditemukan di kota-kota besar. Yang kedua adalah lantai paling atas yang berdinding kaca. Dari kaca itu terlihat pemandangan ke arah stadion dan lapangan – lapangan yang satu komplek dengan mall ini. Kemudian juga ada pemandangan atap – atap rumah di sekitar komplek tersebut. Banyak orang yang foto – foto di lantai ini. Ternyata orang Malang mulai narsis juga ya. Yang ketiga adalah adanya hypermarket Giant yang sampai 2 lantai. Selama aku jalan – jalan ke mall di beberapa kota, tidak pernah aku lihat supermarket 2 lantai. Dan lucunya lagi, hypermarket ini dimulai dari lantai 2. Suatu hal yang tidak umum dimana biasanya hypermarket ini ditaruh di lantai 1 atau basement yang dekat dengan parkiran atau pintu keluar.