Song of the Week #118 – A Jagged Gorgeous Winter by The Main Drag

Feb 152009
 

Year: 2007

It’s always a little embarrassing when I admit that I started liking an artist or a song after hearing it in some video game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero or DDR, especially because I game very little, and take a small pride in that. However, there are a few, like this song, and Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover, that have caught my attention.

Song of the Week #117 – When The Last Time I Left You by The Hood Internet / Clipse vs. The Avalanches

Feb 082009
 

Origin/Composer: Clipse/The Avalanches
Year: 2007

The Hood Internet is a band that does mashups between hip-hop songs and rock songs, mostly alternative or obscure. Many of them make me wonder why hip-hop artists don’t work on making their loops and samples richer and more interesting, because The Hood Internet manages to make even the most mundane songs sound interesting.

"Stay In School" featuring EPACS

Feb 042009
 

Ashley Baker, who I know from tutoring at East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS), and who now teaches there as a humanities teacher, referred me to this video:

Absolutely amazing.

I think I even recognize some of those kids, not to mention E-40, Keak da Sneak, and some other big names in Bay Area rap.

This whole thing was put together by Kontac, that rapper wearing yellow stripes near the kids and the turntable near the end. He’s a bay area rapper, and also an incredibly dedicated physical education teacher at EPACS.

And here is a pretty powerful interview with Kontac. You HAVE to watch this:


If you stop by EPACS any time, just look to the playground, and you’ll probably see him teaching physical education and the importance of exercise and team work and instilling good community values.

And finally, here’s a making of video:

We Are All Going to Explode

Feb 012009
 

Do a Google search for “Yellowstone.” The first result is is the National Park Service’s official Yellowstone National Park web site, as expected. The second site is yellowstone.net, which promises to help you “plan your yellowstone vacation.” Still as expected. But the third is for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Wait, what? Isn’t Yellowstone a volcanically inactive geothermal cluster? Why can’t we see black lava flows like on Kilauea or even St. Helens?

The answer is complicated, but in a sentence, Yellowstone sits on top of a volcanic hot spot that enjoys blowing up in a “supereruption” every few hundreds of thousands of years, but in the meantime, keeps itself fit by spewing geysers, unleashing thousands of earthquakes, and triggering hydrothermal explosions.
Those supereruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. Do some simple math, and you realize that we are approaching time for another one of these eruptions if the pattern of previous eruptions holds. So let’s look at three things: (1) What warning systems do we have? (2) How likely is it that Yellowstone will explode, and will the warning systems catch it? and (3) What will happen if it does?
So. Warning Systems. In this respect, Yellowstone has the best in the world. It is classified by the US Geologic Survey (USGS) as a high-risk area, and is being studied by numerous universities and research organizations. It is watched by thousands of seismometers, sensor arrays, GPS devices, and satellites for any slight change.  If you are the paranoid type, just go to any of dozens of Yellowstone monitoring sites, and you will get your fill of self-perpetuated fear.
Second. Likeliness. Looking at earthquake activities, Yellowstone hasn’t changed much in recorded history. Every so often, there is an “earthquake swarm,” in which hundreds of small earthquakes happen in a matter of days or weeks. This happens every dozen or two years, but the one in late 2008 caught national attention, as it was one of the most powerful swarms ever recorded. This swarm was also combined with a relatively meteoric rise of the Yellowstone Caldera over the past three years–three inches per year, more than three times the maximally recorded rate of growth since measurements began in the 20s.  However, all these events are normal, and can be explained away by any of a number of reasons–hydrothermal pressure from underground lakes affected by earthquakes, geothermal effects, etc. 
So what if it explodes. Well, we are all doomed. The last eruption covered most of North America in up to a foot of ash, and dramatically changed global temperatures. There were mass local continental extinctions, and the direct effects of the explosion leveled most of what today is Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Earthquakes of extreme magnitudes would be felt all across the world, and would destroy most buildings in North America. It’s not likely that such a quake will strike, but if it does, let’s just say we’re in a great place to help rebuild the community afterwards.
Finally, rather than worry about the Yellowstone Caldera, perhaps a greater threat is the Long Valley Caldera, right here in California. In its last eruption, it spewed 600 cubic kilometers of rubble across the US, and very recently, there were some 6+ magnitude earthquakes coming from around there. Mounts St. Helens, Rainier, Hood, and Shasta are all close to home, and they happen to be 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the USGS’s list of the most dangerous volcanic centers in the United States. Yellowstone, on the other hand, is number 21. 
Maybe I should think twice now before scaling Rainer or Shasta, and tempt fate in Yellowstone instead.

Song of the Week #115 – Red Star by Third Eye Blind (Arr. Ok, Stop)

Jan 252009
 

Year: 2008

Third Eye Blind has just released an EP of three songs, and once again, they have a brand new sound. What’s really cool about this release is that they also released the entire instrumental mix of two of the songs on the EP, including this song, and held a remixing contest. The results of the contest can be found here, where you can listen to all the top finishers. The song of the week is actually the top finisher in that contest.

Boring Book Covers

Jan 202009
 
This is an amazingly addictive video. It just shows one plain book cover after another, to a semi-computerized voice reading each title, and some semi-spooky music. It’s amazing! 
If you can’t see the embedded video, the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgjlJ5hEbw

The books “Bayesian Approach to Image Interpretation,” “Finite Commutative Rings and Their Applications,” and “Music Cognition” actually looks rather fascinating.

WikiLeaks Reveals Major UN Snafus

Jan 142009
 

A new WikiLeaks leak reveals “over 600 United Nations investigative reports, over 70 of which are classified ‘Strictly Confidential.'” These include anything from weapons trafficking, to rape of refugees by UN peacekeepers, to fraud, to corruption. See here.

If you have not heard of WikiLeaks, it is a site dedicated to open information and anonymous whistleblowing. Hence, it serves as a safe place for individuals to share sensitive information with little fear of retaliation. It is censored in many countries, and has received numerous lawsuits in many countries, and was even shut down for a short time in the United States.
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