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10 entries from April 2008

Sorta snow


Sorta snow
Originally uploaded by Don NunnPellets more than flakes. Like soft hail.

Damned camera phone’s video quality isn’t even high enough to show the things falling from the sky.

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 18:54 | | Comments (0)

Hint: Don’t videotape your speedometer

Seattle Times: Eugene police: Motorcyclist going at top speed of 164 mph
The Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore.—Oregon State Police say they've never seen a faster speeder—164 mph on Interstate 5.

And on a motorcycle.

And the evidence of the precise speed came from a video camera attached to the bike and aimed at the speedometer.

Senior Trooper Jeff Leighty says he was off-duty Sunday north of Eugene when the motorcycle zoomed between his unmarked car and another vehicle.

He says he radioed the license plate to troopers down the road.

Police arrested 37-year-old Eugene resident Ben Howard Kelley on a charge of reckless driving.

Leighty calls it “absolute insanity.”

He adds that some speeders have boasted of going faster, but this is the top speed the police can verify.

Bolding mine.

Holy shit!

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 16:53 | | Comments (0)

My most-heard songs

Saw Jason Kottke’s list of most-played songs, started flipping through the couple hundred comments on that post, and thought, damn, I have several songs played WAY more than nearly anyone on that list. Each one of my five most-played songs has more than 1,500 plays.

My top 10 songs, in fact, are all over 1,200 plays apiece.

Anyway, on Kottke’s post, most of the commenters’ top five songs had play counts in the double digits, a few in the (mostly low) triple digits. One commenter, rebecca by name, has me beaten—her top five songs’ play counts are all more than twice my highest individual count.

Here are my top five most-played.

Song — Artist, Album
  1. Hard Times — Eastmountainsouth, Eastmountainsouth
  2. On Your Way — Eastmountainsouth, Eastmountainsouth
  3. You Dance — Eastmountainsouth, Eastmountainsouth
  4. Drunkard Logic — The Fat Lady Sings, Johnson
  5. Between — Vienna Teng, Waking Hour

All of these songs became part of my iTunes library in its current form on Jun 21, 2004. The play counts started accruing that same day, when I first started paying any attention to play counts and making sure my iTunes library’s data were consistent (correct album names and genres, for example) and I started to update regularly and keep things backed up.

When I like songs, I tend to do three things that cause their play counts to jump rapidly. First, and most obviously, I actually do play them a lot, either singly or as part of their full albums. Second, I rate them higher, either four or five stars in iTunes’ five-star ratings system; and third, I put them into shuffle-based playlists I play a lot. Most of my regularly listened playlists are based on a combination of ratings and play counts, as well, which means the higher-rated and more-often-played songs get played that much more anyway.

Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 22:54 in Music | | Comments (1)