That's Just Eeeeevil

Today's Foxtrot cartoon.  But it's also, I suspect, the business model for a lot of net software companies.

Rough Week; Data Dump

Rough week, didn't post much but I did have three ideas swimming around in my head.  I usually try not to post more than one or two a day (need to stretch things out some) but this week got the better of me and I'm plopping them all down at once.  Enjoy!

Tonight's Guest: The Spiders From Mars!

Those of you who know me also know that I am given to bouts of insomnia.  One easy cure is to simply ride it out while listening to a certain late night radio show that features all kinds of odd topics.  Generally I can drift off within a hour or so, the show is usually at least entertaining, and occasionally I even learn something.

So I was recently asked why I bother pulling in the show over nighttime skywave AM from 550 miles away when there's a perfectly good, clear FM station broadcasting it from about 40 miles' range.  The only real answer I could come up with was that it's just more fun with all the ionospheric ripple in the sound, which I explained with a quote from an old David Bowie song, "the bitter comes out better on a stolen guitar."

Coincidentally, the next line is "you're blessed, we're the Spiders from Mars."  Which, if you manage to mis-hear sounds a lot like "Tonights guest, it's the Spiders from Mars."  Honestly, it's not all that far from that show's usual fare.

Why singular "guest"?  Dunno.  Maybe the Spiders from Mars have some kind of hive mind thing going.  Just guessing, really can't help beyond that.

New Pixies Song

First one in a while too.  Bagboy.  Scroll down for a high-quality sound version, or just listen to it on youtube while watching the video.

Uh, sound like the Pixies plus a few recent influences.  You'd swear that was Kim Dial in the background vocals, but evidently not.  Nice to have the Pixies back anyway.

Dark Side on BBC

A new Tom Stoppard radio play based on Pink Floyd's 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon will air on August 26th.  No clue as to what it's about, but here are articles at the NYT and the BBC's web site.

It seems unlikely that it'll be played on the BBC World Service's West Africa/Ascension Island transmitter, but I'll be watching the schedule nevertheless.  No doubt that it will be floating around the web on mp3 soon after the broadcast.

A radio play?  Wow, how often are those produced these days?  Definitely worth digging for.

Another Good Day on the Bike

A tad over thirty miles at DeSoto.  A little wet, a lot of hot.  Yellow flies are cranking up, but so far no ticks.  Wrapped up before noon, got out of the woods while it was still bearable.

Bike as seen at trailhead.  Not shown actual size.

First Video of 50th Anniversary Mustang Prototype

Maybe.  Probably.  Judge for yourself here.
Lots of cover on that prototype, and not a lot to see other than one concerned test driver thinking "Hey, is that guy in the car next to me videoing this?  Well crap.  I'm in trouble with the boss again."

Brought to you by Mustang6G, where there are many more cool but highly speculative guesstimates of what the 2015s will look like.