Mike's Minutiae

The existing lease was to expire at midnight Wednesday. The statement from Rosenblatt called for CBGB's to "vacate the premises both voluntarily and expeditiously" — a scenario that appeared unlikely, given the promises of Little Steven Van Zandt and others to wage a battle to the end on behalf of the bar that launched punk rock.

"We're not going without a fight," said Van Zandt, who was joined at the rally by "Sopranos" co-stars Tony Sirico and Joe Pantoliano.

"I don't think it's time yet," said Jimmy Iovine, the chairman of Interscope Records, Universal's biggest division. "We need to convert a lot more people to the habit of buying music online. I don't think a way to convert more people is to raise the price.

1. Durability - barring freakishly poor handling, the CD will probably outlast the user. Meanwhile, downloaded audio files can only be protected from hard drive meltdowns or other destructive forces by duplication, something that is prevented or curtailed in most legal downloading schemes.
   
   
2. Uncompressed audio - CDs are, in effect, perfect copies of the master tapes (at least, perfect beyond the range of human hearing). Downloaded files are lossy compressed audio which trades off quality for file size.
   
   
3. Artwork - Downloaded files come with no peripheral materials, like artwork, liner notes, or lyrics. Sometimes these are provided on artist's websites, but often they are not. Most CDs have at least some combination of these--and CDs are also increasingly packaged with DVDs or other bonus material.
   
   
4. Resale rights - When, in a few years, you realize you are indifferent to the artist you were once excited about, you can sell the CD to a store, a friend, or to neighbors at your yard sale. You have no resale rights to downloaded music.

Literally on television right now in Memphis:

CBS - Big Brother 6
NBC - Tommy Lee Goes To College
FOX - House
ABC - According to Jim

These are the same networks that were airing commercial free tsunami coverage for days during that tragedy. What the fuck?!?! People need to be informed about this situation. This is quite possibly the worst disaster to ever occur in the history of this country, maybe not in terms of loss of life, but easily in terms of economic impact.

Just to drill it in, nobody is talking about death tolls right now but they are certain to be in the THOUSANDS. Nobody has even begun to consider it because they are still rescuing people, not recovering. It's bad, people. Get Tommy Lee off the fucking television.

Two people have died, according to Doug Thornton, a regional vice president for the company that manages the Superdome. He provided no other details.

Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief, had said someone died after plunging from an upper level of the stadium. He said the person probably jumped.

Dinny the roadside dinosaur has found religion.

The 45-foot-high concrete apatosaurus has towered over Interstate 10 near Palm Springs for nearly three decades as a kitschy prehistoric pit stop for tourists.

Now he is the star of a renovated attraction that disputes the fact that dinosaurs died off millions of years before humans first walked the planet.

Dinny's new owners, pointing to the Book of Genesis, contend that most dinosaurs arrived on Earth the same day as Adam and Eve, some 6,000 years ago, and later marched two by two onto Noah's Ark. The gift shop at the attraction, called the Cabazon Dinosaurs, sells toy dinosaurs whose labels warn, "Don't swallow it! The fossil record does not support evolution."

And then, the final task: ribbons. Those are the titles you see on the lower-third of your screen: "Decision Day," "Battle for Iraq," "Gathering Storm," etc. Those ribbons are the result of a friendly competition that officially begins when the presiding Executive Producer raises and, with a flourish, inverts a small, cheap, tacky hourglass that sits on his desk. (I am not making this up). Once the sands of time begin to flow, the free-for-all begins: anybody who is so moved can offer a 2- or 3-word ribbon idea. It occurred to me recently that there must be hundreds of accumulated years of professional broadcast experience engaged in this semantic game!

And if there is one thing that will inspire the collective scorn of the assemblage, it's the blatant Hold & Blurt: the attempt to feign spontaneity by blurting out a ribbon idea that one has in fact been holding in mental reserve since the start of the meeting.

"The question is," Mr. Vidich said, "what do they want the profile of the business to look like going forward?"

In a more conciliatory statement yesterday, Mr. Lack said: "I look forward to sitting down with Steve in the fall when we are scheduled to discuss Apple and Sony BMG's relations going forward."

So we need to do all we can to support them going forward.... Well, what we're focused on right now is training and equipping the Iraqi security forces so that they can provide for their own security going forward.... He will be meeting with NATO leaders, and that will be an opportunity to talk more about what the next steps are going forward.... I think we've made it very clear that all parties in the neighborhood need to play a constructive role going forward.... Shortfalls will increase from that year going forward, until 2042, when the system will be bankrupt.... But I think you see, particularly among younger Americans, that there is a real concern about Social Security going forward....

"I believe it's a cumulative thing, a seismic evolution of people's habits," said Mr. Shaye, chairman of New Line Cinema.

In previous years, he said, "you could still count on enough people to come whether you failed at entertaining them or not, out of habit, or boredom, or a desire to get out of the house. You had a little bit of backstop."

Because of increased complaints from parents, many high school coaches now strive to make cuts more scientific. Until she retired last season, longtime Eleanor Roosevelt girls' soccer coach Kathy Lacey made her players run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes to make the team. Mike Bossom, the volleyball coach at Centennial, scores players with a number -- 1 through 5 -- for each drill and then logs the scores on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

For the first time this season, Severna Park Athletic Director Wayne Mook required his coaches to record running times and player evaluation grades, then hand in that paperwork to him. It is an arduous process that many coaches find tiresome, but Mook instituted it for a reason: After a player was cut from the girls' lacrosse team last spring, the family hired lawyers to meet with the school.

"In this day and age, you have to cover yourself a little bit," Mook said. "When I meet with a parent whose kid has been cut, I need something to show them. I need proof."

The world's largest museum complex, the Smithsonian includes 18 museums and galleries, 10 science centers and a zoological park. It is charged with conserving and displaying the country's treasures, both grand and whimsical - the Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry, bits of moon rock from the earliest space missions, the "puffy shirt" worn by Jerry Seinfeld in his hit television series. But years of inadequate financing and maintenance have led to widespread disrepair that is imperiling the collections, institution officials say.

[...]

Smithsonian officials estimate that it will take a total of $2.3 billion over the next nine years to solve the most pressing problems. The Board of Regents, the institution's governing body, has considered charging entrance fees to compensate for the budget shortfall. Since it was established in 1846, the Smithsonian has never charged for admission, and Sheila P. Burke, the institution's deputy secretary and chief operating officer, said that so far the recommendation had been voted down.

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has banned the playing of recorded music at all public events, on television and at weddings.

In a decree, Mr Niyazov said there was a need to protect Turkmen culture from "negative influences".

This is the latest move by the authoritarian president to minimise foreign influence in the isolated former Soviet state, analysts say.

He has already banned opera and ballet, describing them as "unnecessary".

As people walk past the posters they receive a message on their phone asking them if they wish to accept the advert. If they do, they can receive movies, animations, music or still images further promoting the advertised product.

"If we can provide exclusive or valuable content to consumers, they'll actively want to consume it."

...we can provide exclusive or valuable content to consumers...

In fairness to Roberts, his objections to celebrity extended beyond Jackson. On Oct. 3, 1983, two months after opposing a Reagan remembrance of Bing Crosby, he wrote to oppose presidential remarks praising John Wayne as the epitome of American values:

"I think we are seeing evidence of what we often say will happen when we deny requests for Presidential endorsements of charitable efforts: once you do one it becomes impossible to turn down countless others. I know there's only one John Wayne — but there's only one Bob Hope, James Bond, Bing Crosby, etc. etc. etc."

Only one James Bond?

OPEN LETTER TO KANSAS SCHOOL BOARD

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

more...

• Prayers are ended with the word Ramen rather than Amen.
  
• Followers are expected to dress in full pirate regalia.
  
• These who want to express contact with the deity usually say they have been "touched by His Noodly Appendage."

A record label has hired a private detective to trace jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, whose album has been steadily climbing the UK charts.

The US singer has failed to turn up for any promotional work, according to Universal Classics.

Bill Holland of Universal Classics and Jazz said they had "tracked her down very quickly. Much to our embarrassment she was with her manager in New York."

According to her manager, Peyroux does not want to do any further promotion for her Careless Love record, currently at number seven in the UK album chart.

"He said we should go away and leave her alone," Mr Holland told BBC News.

A greatest-hits album once stood as a watershed — a milestone chronicling a collection of top-rated hits, culturally significant songs or the end of a stellar career.

But in recent years, a flood of "best of" titles from acts with only few years in the business — and performers with even fewer hits — have called into question how great a greatest-hits collection is.

• The Best of the Troggs, Vol. 1. Released 1967. Their debut album had came out only the previous year. The band had two Top 40 hits in the U.S. up to this point.
  
  
• 1979-1983 (best of Bauhaus). Released 1985. The Goth godfathers had 4 studio albums, spanning 1980-1983, and had no U.S. hits.
  
  
• The Lemon Pipers (best of). Released 1990. The band had two albums spanning 1967-1968, and one hit song ("Green Tambourine").
  
  
• The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime) (best of Peter Schilling). Released 1989. The German performer only had two albums out and one Top 40 hit in the U.S. when he put together this retrospective.
  
  
• The Best of Carl Douglas: Kung Fu Fighting. Released 1995. Douglas had a grand total of three albums (1976-1983) and one hit (1974).
  
  
• All for Nothing/Nothing for All (best of The Replacements). Released 1997. Although very influential over the course of 7 albums in 9 years, the Minneapolis band never had a pop hit.
  

Music copied onto blank recordable CDs is becoming a bigger threat to the bottom line of record stores and music labels than online file-sharing, the head of the recording industry's trade group said Friday.

"Burned" CDs accounted for 29 percent of all recorded music obtained by fans in 2004, compared to 16 percent attributed to downloads from online file-sharing networks, said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive for the Recording Industry Association of America.

Simon Wright, chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group International, which oversees the Virgin chain of music stores, said he's in favor of labels releasing more albums in a copy-protected CD format, regardless of the potential for consumer backlash.

"If, particularly, the technology allows two-to-three burns, that's well within acceptable limits and I don't think why consumers should have any complaints," Wright said.

Each May at the Museum reopening ceremonies, two people who have been selected by their peers are inducted into the Maple Hall of Fame. This is the highest honor afforded by the maple industry.

There will never be a greater mc than me. I am the best and there is none like me. I am the first and last of my time and kind. They call me "Duece" the head of my mafia.My flow is so hot it's unatural.

"Now when the operator calls up on their computer screen what particular three-letter ID they'd like to send, another window will pop up and say, 'Do you really want to issue this radiological hazard warning?'" said Zaleski.

"It was a good system in its time, but I don't know many people that carry radios around in their pockets anymore," [Senator Ted] Stevens says. "Therefore, we need to be able to communicate with people on their cell phones and BlackBerries."