religion (from sound bytes > movies)

"Any religion without love and compassion is false! It's a lie!" ...sometimes, B movies get it right.

bands are bands i used to listen to

background

first of all, i know i'm getting old. i don't like as much of the new music i hear. i've never cared for most of what gets radio play...but seem to care for it even less these days.

and...i'm a little bit of a music snob. which, for full disclosure, is totally not fair since i spend FAR less time listening to new music than i used to. additionally, my downloaded (for review) music goes into a folder called temp (with a grotesque array of subfolders which supposedly mean something to me, though my wife'd probably call that into question) which is constantly watered down by more music...so when i hear enough to decide to claim 'liking' a band, they are almost always evolved into another (/other) band(s) or disbanded. yay..my support matters! to top it off, i almost never go and see live music.

that said, i've been downloading more music recently, and since i don't listen to most of the hardcore or metal i download at the house (skip it so the wife doesn't leave me), i've put a reasonable amount of time into some of the newer stuff i've downloaded. most of which, i've obtained through noisetrade...which offers free (encourages 'tipping') music from some pretty good artists.

new bands remind me of old bands

ok. so i was listening to something from a ten out of ten(nessee) sampler by Butterfly Boucher (Not Foolin' Around Tonight) which totally brought me back to rockin' Bon Voyage on some old Tooth and Nail sampler from when CDs first came out...or, made their way to my town. i was way too hardcore to listen to bon voyage...but still remember the song fond(esque)ly. additionally, i thought i was listening to Le Butcherettes. alas, I was not. that sound is different...and hasn't blown me away yet...even though i feel like i should be into it. because it is less than extremely popular and i heard about it via non-conventional channels...and those are normally my criteria for liking something.

so, if you like bon voyage (presumably, they don't play anymore)...and, to a slightly less similar extent, Starflyer 59, who I'm sure play in some form or another...or multiple forms...check out Butterfly Boucher. but, don't be mad if you don't think they sound alike. my wife says i'm tone deaf.

convenience links

http://noisetrade.com/butterflyboucher

http://noisetrade.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflyer_59

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Voyage_(band)

note: who knew...Jason Martin (of Starflyer ilk) was in both bands...and his sister(?) presumably sings in Bon Voyage. you did? oh...i didn't. remember, though: i was too tough to listen to shoegazing stuff when this was newer. and, it was really before my time...but ebay brought that gem of a sampler to me. thanks!

anonymous » sony

[made me smirk...while nodding gravely, of course]

Dear Greedy Motherfuckers SONY,

Congratulations! You are now receiving the attention of Anonymous. Your recent legal actions against fellow internet citizens, GeoHot and Graf_Chokolo have been deemed an unforgivable offense against free speech and internet freedom, primary sources of free lulz (and you know how we feel about lulz.)

You have abused the judicial system in an attempt to censor information about how your products work. You have victimized your own customers merely for possessing and sharing information, and continue to target those who seek this information. In doing so you have violated the privacy of thousands of innocent people who only sought the free distribution of information. Your suppression of this information is motivated by corporate greed and the desire for complete control over the actions of individuals who purchase and use your products, at least when those actions threaten to undermine the corrupt stranglehold you seek to maintain over copywrong, oops, "copyright".

Your corrupt business practices are indicative of a corporate philosophy that would deny consumers the right to use products they have paid for, and rightfully own, in the manner of their choosing. Perhaps you should alert your customers to the fact that they are apparently only renting your products? In light of this assault on both rights and free expression, Anonymous, the notoriously handsome rulers of the internet, would like to inform you that you have only been "renting" your web domains. Having trodden upon Anonymous' rights, you must now be trodden on.

If you disagree with the disciplinary actions against your private parts domains, then we trust you can also understand our motivations for these actions. You own your domains. You paid for them with your own money. Now Anonymous is attacking your private property because we disagree with your actions. And that seems, dare we say it, "wrong." Sound familiar?

Let Anonymous teach you a few important lessons that your mother forgot:
1. Don't do it to someone else if you don't want it to be done to you.
2. Information is free.
3. We own this. Forever.

As for the "judges" and complicit legal entities who have enabled these cowards: You are no better than SONY itself in our eyes and remain guilty of undermining the well-being of the populace and subverting your judicial mandate.


We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not Forgive.
We do not Forget.
Expect us.

Snorgtees.com -- good business

Customer Review -- Snorgtees.com

My brother bought me a shirt from Snorgtees.com which was awesome. Pay no attention to the picture of me as luigi..it's from a costume party a couple of years back of no direct relevance to this post aside the fact that I'm still Luigi, even when my brother isn't at the party. ;-p

Little brothers get Luigi

So he bought me the shirt for no special reason except that it is awesome, and oh so true. My wife argues that little sisters get Luigi, too...but then you have to androgenize 'little brothers' to 'little siblings' and I think it loses some of its fun.

On my immediate wearing of said tshirt to my first family outing, it was a big hit. Everyone loved it. When I got home and took it off, however, it ripped about the neck line. I'm no expert, but I have worn my share of shirts in my 28 years of life. I've taken off most of the shirts I've worn and have only experienced a few rips...they were usually age-old shirts that had gone through hundreds of wash cycles and were barely in existance anymore. Needless to say, I was troubled by this rip and emailed Snorgtees.

They responded within a couple of days and apologized, claiming they'd immediately send me a replacement shirt and that I need not bother sending the ripped one back. Sweet. I'll sew it up and have two.

That's how you do business, son.

Thanks to Snorgtees for doing it right and I won't hesitate to purcahse from them in the future if I see somethign I like.

Thought you might wanna know.

Windows 7 (build 6956) -- Installation in VirtualBox hosted on Windows XP

Summary:
This mostly overviews my installation of Windows 7 (pre-beta) build 6956 in VirtualBox hosted on a Windows XP machine and the problems I had.

Disclaimer:
Windows 7 pre-beta is still under heavy development. Don't install on a machine which cannot safely crash. VirtualBox installations should be safe, but who can guarantee. This software is likely not legal for just anyone to use. It expires after 30 days of use. This should be used as an educational tool, if at all.

Links:
torrent link (as of 2008.12.11)
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4561592/Windows_7_Ultimate_Beta_Build_6956_32Bit_-_Watermark_Removed

VirtualBox link
http://www.virtualbox.org/

I'm a Windows user. Not because I think Windows is superior, just because I know it. Laziness. I've considered switching to Ubuntu or something...and want to, but I game occasionally. For those who do not know, (prepare for over-simplification) games designed using Direct X don't port well to other platforms. Games designed using OpenGL are far more easily ported to other platforms. Plus I am super familiar with loads of applications for Windows. But I digress.

I downloaded Windows 7 (pre-beta build 6956) using a bit-torrent client. After a few years, I'm still not comfortable with Vista because I've not been exposed to it very frequently (when repairing other folks' computers). Also, I've not had a good reason to install it myself. That said, I've read very positive pre-reviews of Windows 7 so I thought I'd get a head start on learning my way around. As to not risk my system, I thought I'd install it using VirtualBox (PC Virtualization software -- a 'software' computer, to put it simply).

Installing Windows 7 on my XP SP3 VirtualBox Host went without any major hitches. The only problem I ran into was using VirtualBox's dynamic sized hard-drive (where your virtual hard drive starts small and 'grows' as it needs to). I had to use a static hard-drive (I picked 20 GB).

Setup was a little easier, but I think I was complicating a relatively simple problem. The VirtualBox 'network adapter' wasn't recognized by Windows 7. After a little research, I tried to use the 'Guest Additions' .iso for VirtualBox. It had helped me overcome some problem with Ubuntu in the past. Windows 7 is not supported. After some more research, and a few other failed attempts, I realized that you can (with the Virtual Windows 7 powered down) adjust the 'network adapter' used by VirtualBox. The default one didn't work, but the following steps left me with a working network adapter and no futher problems with Windows 7 on VirtualBox:

• right click the Virtual Installation (in my case, I named it Windows 7) and click settings
• go to network
• change 'network adapter' to 'Intel/PRO 1000 MT Desktop'. The other settings should not be changed

Next time Windows 7 was started, it works fine. I allocated 1GB of ram and have a mid-range dual-core system and it runs great for me.

I hope no one spends as much time as I did on this problem, but if anyone has and didn't find an answer, I hope this helps with some resolution!

firefox 3 download party

So I didn't see any other Asheville hosts. I don't even have wireless enabled on my router...but I will, if the need should arise. I'll also have to clear this get together with my wife -- if, I am still here and haven't already packed up and headed to Connecticut for the rest of time.

The party is to commemorate the release of Firefox 3, of which I've heard good things. Most notably that it is faster (at interpreting HTML, i think) and has a smaller footprint (takes up less memory on your computer) than FF2 or every alternative in existence, i'm sure. Mozilla wants to set/break some type of downloads in a day record. There isn't one on file (for the Guinness Book), but FF2 apparently had about 2.5 million downloads on launch day. They are shooting for 5 this time.

Email me if you actually need to utilize my internet access. I'll totally open up the network for the day if necessary. Do your part...download.

Oh, you can pledge to download FF3 on the release date here:
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/
Obviously this pledge does not obligate you or condemn your soul to any bad place for failing to keep your pledge...but it does ensure that you will receive a prompt email the day of (or before) the FF3 release so you don't forget.

check out my (sub)domain

my options were pretty limited. i could do nicholaschapman.blogger or dotaloc.blogger, but I figure dotaloc, at least, will be there for all of time. and i wasn't sure why listendammit.blogger wasn't already taken. maybe i'm just lucky.

i don't know if i will use this, even though i like the idea. i'm still fighting getting a myspace page. atticus has one, but it's not the same. with myspace, you have to do bulletins, which i don't think is quite the same as this.

i've considered using this for hosting content for any tutorials / DIY guides i make. don't hold your breath.

i see it all the time, and realized that i had no idea what it meant. if ignorance has assailed you as it did me, check out what wikipedia has to say about [sic]