onfocus

Can the RIAA have its name attached to something good? The Future of Music Coalition has joined together with several groups, including the RIAA, in a letter to the FCC and Congress. The letter proposes (among other things) that the FCC allow independent low-power FM stations. It also laments the effect that corporate consolidation has had on the airwaves: "Radio station groups have centralized their decision-making about playlists and which new songs to add to the playlist. These centralized playlists have reduced the local flavor and limited the diversity of music played on radio." With all of the work RIAA has done to stop independent musicians and Internet radio stations, this letter doesn't seem to be in line with their strategy. I guess it's another case of saying one thing publicly and acting completely different in the courts.

Update: Senator Feingold (campaign finance reformer) has seized on this issue and says he's going to introduce legistlation to change the current radio landscape. From his statement to congress: "Radio airwaves are public property. Unlike other business ventures, radio stations have acquired their distribution mechanisms – the airways – without any expenditure of capital. They were given access to the broadcast spectrum by the government for free. Since 1943, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have tried to ensure that this medium serves public good, but limiting access to information and diversity on the radio does not achieve this." (6/15)

skp and I went to a friend's place to watch the solar eclipse tonight. (well, now last night.) I brought along my telescope and she provided the aluminized mylar filter that allows you to look at the sun. It was amazing just seeing the sunspots...but watching the moon block out the light and cast eerie shadows was even better. People from around the neighborhood came out to look through the telescopes, and anyone who happened to be walking by was handed a piece of welder's glass so they could see the eclipse with their own eyes. It's funny that the sun and moon look about the same size when they're crossing paths.

Solar eclipses happen irregularly, so it's not surprising that they were viewed as apocalyptic signs in the past. I like this simple quote about an eclipse in 1275 that was viewed as an omen in retrospect: "The Sun was eclipsed; it was total. Stars were seen. The chickens and ducks all returned to roost. In the following year the Sung dynasty was extinguished." [found at Eclipse Quotations]

If you use snapGallery to post pictures and want to change the look/feel of the pages it creates, check out the snapGallery customizer. It sill requires some script editing to implement, but it's a step in the right direction. It's a bit easier than making the changes by hand, and you can preview as you go!

Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class was interviewed in Salon about cities that attract creative people: "[San Francisco] became very early on a kind of capitalism that recognizes that you don't have to have all this bullshit organizational, bureaucratic nonsense to be successful. San Francisco was a place where weird people could find a place...The best thing that happened to San Francisco was the damned NASDAQ collapse and the high-tech recession. That was San Francisco's saving grace." [via MeFi]

Spent the past couple of days in Lassen Volcanic National Park hiking and relaxing. It was great time, though the trail was often hidden from us by snow. The first hike was a day of map reading, terrain reading, tree-marker spotting, snow-pack climbing, twelve lakes, and patience. And you couldn't pick a better group of people to be lost in the woods with. The second day ended with a close-up view of a waterfall.


meg, preston, and pascal orienteering in Lassen
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psst...blogroots is taking its first steps. We'll probably have an official launch next week sometime, but until then you can watch (and help!) the site get rolling.

Washoe House sign near Sebastopol, CA

Portland Outdoor sign in (where else?) Portland, OR

More PR identity sketchiness reported by The Guardian in The fake persuaders: "Sometimes, in other words, real people have no idea that they are being managed by fake ones." [via MeFi] I'm not sure what a fake person is, but I know what the writer is getting it. It's all about honesty and disclosure.

New Weblog Bookwatch Feature : Focus Links

For every book on the Weblog Bookwatch there is a corresponding mentions page. These pages show all of the weblogs that have mentioned that particular book. The new feature: now each mention will have the option of being "focused" to a specific post. By clicking on "focus this link", you'll have the opportunity to put in the permalink location for the post that discusses that book. The link will then have a star next to it on the mention page to let people know it's referring to a specific post. The link will stand out, and the Weblog Bookwatch will be a little more useful for everyone. Instead of pointing to the general weblog URL, and having to search for the mention, people can find the relevant post instantly. It requires a little bit of copying and pasting, but those focused links will probably get a bit more traffic because they'll be more useful.

If used, focusing the links should also help differentiate between people discussing the book, and those who just have it listed in their sidebar reading list.

This feature is brand new and may have a few bugs to be worked out. If you notice anything odd, let me know. It works on the honor system, so if it's abused it'll probably go away. Hopefully we can cooperate to make it work. Thanks!

Update: To get a feel for how it works, check out the mentions page for "A New Kind of Science". I went through and focused the links for several of the weblogs.

Argh! Driving back from Yosemite the other day we were listening to some marginal radio stations. Since then I can't get Lady by Little River Band out of my head. It's driving me insane. Anytime there's a quiet moment in my head I hear a little, "Look around you, look up here. Take time to make time, make time to be there." Or worse, the chorus. I'm hoping this post will help. Anything stuck in your head at the moment? (Maybe I can have a mental battle of catchy tunes until they all destroy each other.)