abstract threats (too noble to neglect)

Steve Wozniak to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free. Indeed.

Blue Oyster Cult setlist - Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe PA - May 2, 2014

• The Red and the Black
• Golden Age of Leather
• Burnin for You
• Dancing in the Ruins
• Harvest Moon
• The Vigil
• Buck’s Boogie
• This Ain’t the Summer of Love
• Then Came the Last Days of May
• Godzilla
• Don’t Fear the Reaper

Encore:

• Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll

I may have missed one or two. Post comments with any corrections.

Elvis Costello setlist, Caesars, Atlantic City, NJ - March 8, 2014

• Brilliant Mistake
• Blue Chair
• Watch Your Step
• American Gangster Time
• Man Out of Time
• Girls Talk
• Either Side of the Same Town
• Secondary Modern
• Everyday I Write the Book
• Come The Meantimes
• Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (!!!)
• Strict Time
• Alison
• Monkey to Man
• Watching the Detectives
• Walk Us Uptown
• Clubland
• Beyond Belief
• Sugar Won't Work
• Pump It Up
• (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Encore:

• (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
• Cinco Minutos Con Vos 

Setlist courtesy setlist.fm

Spring 2014

A hard wind blows outside, this dark March evening on the first day of Spring... the longest winter in recent memory won't give up, and we struggle against the darkness, a long January that lasts three months, bitter and frigid. The house creeks like something ancient ... weird sounds bubble up in the night, and wind chimes ring like distant church bells. Daylight is coming, and we wait.

but February made me shiver...

Really, it did. A long, frigid night that lasted weeks -- darkness and cold, blamed on the groundhog, a winter of our discontent, while corporate America and Washington fought over who could be more incompetent. Sigh...

But Spring approaches, as it always does, with the promise of Easter, of life, of love -- a new baby, a blossom white and gold breaking through fresh earth, a sky of wonder...

Cold

I am so sick of winter.

Elvis Costello setlist, Kirby Center, Wilkes Barre PA, Nov. 25, 2013

• Possession
• Accidents Will Happen
• No Dancing
• He’s Got You (Hank Cochran "She's Got You" cover)
• Green Shirt
• You Little Fool
• Pony Street
• Five Small Words
• Domino (Donovan cover) / Living In Paradise
• Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve 
• Blame it on Cain
• Mistress and Maid
• (Not sure what this song was, sorry ... lyrics included "You can't beg")
• Everyday I Write the Book
• Walking My Baby Back Home (Roy Turk cover)
• Stella Hurt
• Watching the Detectives
• One Way Love
• Allison

Encore 1:

• Big Boys Cry (Bobby Charles cover)
• Almost Blue
• Shipbuilding
• Let's Put Out The Lights (And Go To Sleep) (Bing Crosby cover)
• Radio Soul (early version of Radio Radio)
• I Want You

Encore 2:

• Radio Radio/(Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
• A Slow Drag With Josephine
• Veronica
• Jimmie Standing in the Rain
• Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? (partial)
• What's so Funny bout Peace, Love, and Understanding

For all my web designer friends...

Seriously, what the **** else do you want?

Lou Reed, American Poet, Magic and Loss...

Lou Reed wrote the soundtrack for my life. I remember the passage of time by what Lou Reed album I was listening to at the time … Mistrial, New Sensations, New York, Songs for Drella, Magic and Loss, Set the Twilight Reeling, Perfect Night Live in London, Ecstasy… (not to mention all the earlier stuff that was interspersed among these…). I last saw him a few years back in Philadelphia, front row. What a show.

“There’s a little bit of Magic in everything, then some Loss to even things out.”

Lou Reed, 1942-2013

Insight at the heart of "TED talks are lying to you" (Salon article)

There's a really fascinating insight at the center of this article, TED talks are lying to you - that the privileged elite, who control the whims of our economy, justify their very existence by imagining they are the creative class by exploiting the output of the true creatives. And authors of management tomes espousing creativity are really catering to this bizarre supposition by retelling the same tired examples (Dylan, 3M, Beatles, Apple).

IPhone fingerprint lock already hacked

That didn't take long. Instead, use passcodes with auto-erase after 10 failed attempts (you do backup your phone, right?).

Time to dump the iPhone?

Apple patents tech that lets government disable iPhone video, camera and wi-fi. Because letting the government shutdown your phone's camera can only be to protect you, right? Because, you know, we wouldn't want people to take pictures of the terrorists, right? Or... huh?

Seriously, what could be a legitimate reason for this, other than letting militant thugs patriots beat up protesters terrorists without fear of repercussions I don't know flowers?

Alice Cooper setlist, Reading PA, June 18, 2013

Good (if short) show. I caught "diamonds" during Dirty Diamonds.

• Hello Hooray
• House of Fire
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Billion Dollar Babies
• I'll Bite Your Face Off
• Is It My Body
• Under My Wheels
• Hey Stoopid
• Poison
• Dirty Diamonds
• Welcome to My Nightmare
• Go to Hell
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Ballad of Dwight Fry
• Killer (excerpt)
• I Love the Dead (excerpt, refrain only)
• School's Out

Encore:

• I'm Eighteen

Doobie Brothers setlist - Penns Peak (Jim Thorpe), July 7, 2013

• Jesus Is Just Alright
• Rockin' Down the Highway
• Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)
• Depending on You
• Clear as the Driven Snow
• A Brighter Day
• World Gone Crazy
• Neal's Fandango
• Slack Key Soquel Rag
• South City Midnight Lady
• Eyes of Silver
• Takin' It to the Streets
• Don't Start Me Talkin'
• Black Water
• Long Train Runnin'

Encore:

• China Grove
• Road Angel
• Listen to the Music

Setlist courtesy of setlist.fm.

A couple cool Jack Kirby links

• Jack Kirby’s Lone Ranger - Artwork for a board game put out by Mattel in the 1970s.
• A Flickr set of Jack Kirby's double-page spreads, which were one of the coolest things in comics ever.  After you look at this, you should really head over to your favorite bookstore and buy some Kirby comics!

Tumblr brightens my day

• Screenshots of Despair 
• Batman Sits (yes, this is a Tumblr about Batman sitting)

Twitter does not respect time's arrow

Cool sci-fi story in the form of a Twitter bug report.

Adobe Creative Cloud's terms of service

Here's an interesting look at Adobe Creative Cloud's terms of service. I've been a big fan of Adobe software for many years, but these terms are a little chilling...

Escape of the killer dolphins

Seriously, this is the world we live in now, a dystopian sci-fi adventure where even dolphins are now dangerous. From BoingBoing:

Using old Soviet Union techniques, Ukrainian scientists trained dolphins to attack and kill swimmers using knives and guns strapped to the heads of said dolphins ... Today, the dolphins escaped. No word on whether they are armed.

Peter Gabriel wants to talk with animals over the Internet

Because the world keeps getting stranger, Peter Gabriel is teaming up with Internet pioneer Vint Serf and others to talk to animals online. Including a touchscreen device for dolphins (hmmm... bottlenosePad? No. porpoisePad? No. iSqueal?...).