My Fav-or-ite Time of the Year:

SXSW Blog is back. Let the excitement begin. Counting down the days until, as McNally calls it. Geek Week In Austin, wherein we Break Bread, Go all 20x2, and stay up way too late gabbing about the state of the future. Glorious Glorious.

Pixar says "No Thanks" to Mouse:

So Pixar and Disney will no longer be partners. Pixer may sign with another studio after it completes the remaining two films in its contract or go their own way, which is my prefered track for no good reason. Their product is consistently high quality, family friendly without being insulting, a nearly impossible feat. I've now watched the trailer for The Incredibles like ten times. I'm not sure I can wait until November.

Knit Neat:

My friend Megan has gone into business designing handmade knitting needle cases. I don't knit myself but I hear from those that do that it's hard as hell to keep the needles from stabbing holes in your supply bag or your hands when you reach into the bag for them. The Organized Knitter looks to be a stylish, compact way of storing knitting supplies.

Cracks in the White House Armor:

So it seems the White House has a policy of ratting out and bullying intelligence analysts whose findings to not jive with their political mission of war at all cost. It shouldn't surprise me, but this morning over breakfast, I fumed.

Findings like these are emerging with greater regularity. Does this spell trouble for Mr. Bush come November? Depends on whether the Hekyls and Jekyls in the Democratic party can use it to their advantage. Republicans have no problem playing dirty, immoral, slime king politics because it works. While the Dems are busy taking the moral highroad, its leading them right out of power.

Ultimately, I see this coming election as the Democrats to win or lose. It his singleminded quest for a war mantle to call his own, Bush has neglected our domestic infrastructure, squandered both our budget surplus and any amity with had with other nations, let our public schools atrophy and cozied up to convicted corporate criminals like Enron and Haliburton. The ammunition is all there to run him out of Washington on a rail, if the Democrats are smart enough to use it.

That's why I like Howard Dean's campaign. For me personally, this election is as much a referendum on the Democratic party as it is on the president. Whatever old way the Democrats had of doing business isn't working. They've lost the White House, Congress and worst of all, the faith of the average American. Dean has reinvigorated politics for millions and illustrate (in hype, granted, more than action) that a Democrat traditionally is a candidate on the side of working families, on the side of women's and gay rights, on the side of environmentalism that means clean air and drinking water for future generations not well tended mountain bike paths for investment bankers in Marin county. Much as I like John Kerry as a person, his campaign smacks of politics as usual and the last thing the Dems need now is anything "as usual."

Why You Shouldn't Read Alumni Bulletins: Lesson #1, Gub'ment.

So this guy and I grew up down the street from one another. I just found out that's he's now a member of the Ann Arbor City Council, recently elected. That's the town where we both grew up. He was interviewed on the local political cable access show by our 8th grade civics teacher.

Sheesh.

Oh, and this is the second time this has happened. This guy and I graduated from college the same year. He was "Jamie" back then.

Update: Leigh and I have been exchanging emails. Which is wild.

Sour Note:

In my quest for new musical horizons, I started using Launch.com and quickly fell in love. Not only does it program your favorite artists but then makes suggestions based on those you give them. I've already bought several songs from the Apple Music Store based on their ideas.

Now I find out that Launch refuses to work on a Macintosh system even if you follow all of their requirements to the letter (WMP 7.0 or above, IE 5.5. Any Mac OS above 8.0 but lower than X. What's next? A tuning fork jammed in your printer port?). I have a beautiful new iBook G4 that I bought with my book advance and I use at work. I figured Launch would be a great way to listen to music while sorting through the day's mundane tasks. Instead, it sticks its tongue out.

Just what do they think they're doing? Macs may be a small market share but iTunes and the Apple Music Store are rapidly pulling away from the pack. If people increasingly use their computers as juteboxes, Launch will leave itself out in the cold. Based on their attitude, its exactly what they deserve.

Is their an answer to this? Another program like Launch, for Mac People?

Update: I've posted to Lazyweb asking the same question. Who has designed (or will design) a plug-in to allow Launch.com to work on a Mac OS X system? Who knows an alternative program to use in the meantime?

Nice Try, Slimeballs:

Is there anyone out there who doesn't believe that this is a thinly-veiled Republican attempt to eat into abortion rights?

I didn't think so.

Iowa in Real Time:

I'm looking around for a site that's keeping track of the Iowa Caucus vote in real time or some close approximation. The best I've come up with the Des Moines Register's site and this Reporter's Log via the BBC. Both seem less than complete. CNN seems ok too. Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Wow, what a finish!

JHU on Air:

I had a brief, unremarkable career in college as a DJ on WHSR, Hopkins Student Radio. I hosted two shows, one called "The Grand Illusion" which was all 80's pop and another with my friend Jeremy called "Access All Areas" where I would play bad 70s arena schlock and he would play Wierd Al B-Sides. It lasted one semester and the station only reached to the buildings on campus. Often we were locked out of the station because the student monitor didn't show up to let us in. Our show was Friday night, 10-12.

So I was pretty happy to hear than Hopkins Radio had been put out of its mercy in 2000 and reborn this year as hopkinsradio.com, streaming live over the Internet. The shows seem more diverse then in my day (it was the early 90s and disgruntled "alternative" was everywhere) and I only hope that online broadcasting has eliminated some of the silly hurdles we had back then.

I'm going to listen and see.

Missing...

Monolguist Spalding Gray has been reported missing. His brother last reported seeing him around Christmas and Gray, who attempted suicide last year, has a long history of depression and lingering injuries sustained in a 2001 auto accident in Ireland. Grey is known for his one man plays and films Gray's Anatomy and Swimming to Cambodia.

Much as I'm a fan of Unsolved Mysteries, I still find this sort of thing creepy and sad. I hope he turns up soon. And not just in a ditch somewhere.