Meeting An Album Again

This blog has a good quality stream of four or five tracks from the album. (You can listen to the entire album on Napster.)

The Smithereens are not the first (and certainly won't be the last) band to cover an entire Beatles album, but their choice of material is interesting. "With The Beatles" (or "Meet The Beatles") may be considered a "light" album by some rock fans but the the vocals and the energy on the album is pretty darn heavy. (Is there a more thrilling count-in to any song in pop music than the one on "I Saw Her Standing There"?)

WaPo reviewed the album (as did the Times, but it's now a Times Select article. Link goes to Smithereens' frontman Pat DiNizio's website and it has the full text of the Times' article.)

While listening to these covers, I just realized I don't want more cowbell. I want more handclaps.

Because Spouses Don't Have FireWire Ports, That's Why

This research was definitely inspired by that super-lame Wife 2.0 joke. But look at what they found:

...the average American spends 12 hours each month addressing home computer problems

(I wonder how many of those problems were caused by browsing pr0n with bad browsers? Gentlemen, Firefox is good for browsing and your married life.)

The study does not apply to me, obviously. January has not even ended and I am already thinking about gift ideas for Valentine's Day. I want my Computer to know she will *always* be the one.

How Long Can We Go On Meeting Like This?

"Sunita chats with biologist 2 miles under Pacific"

Ur A/S/L? (link to Rediff. Site resembles a furious technicolor dreamcoat and has popups.)

Gotta Find My Daisy Jane

America has a new album.

I heard bits of it on Napster. Their music still isn't life-changing rock 'n roll, but does anyone not have songs from "History" permanently etched in their brains?

Some reviews of the new album:

Stories behind the songs (link to Blogcritics) and a negative review in the Voice. Rock critics hate America?! Never heard that before.

Komodo Dragons Are Doin' It For Themselves

A British zoo announced Wednesday the virgin birth of five Komodo dragons, giving scientists new hope for the captive breeding of the endangered species.

While Flora has "never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon", even Mother Nature couldn't stop her from fooling around with parthenogenesis.

The black-and-yellow babies are doing fine, weighing between "3.5 and 5.3 ounces". How delightfully ugly.

But Honey, Sloth And Pomposity Are My Winning Qualities!

It's Saturday evening and there's nothing going on.

"You want to do something?", I ask her. She just swooshes past me, rolls up her sleeves and pitches tent at the basecamp of that Mount Everest of dishes. Ah, so that's what we are doing tonight.

I desperately look around, trying to think of something to do to avoid the, huh, dreaded invitation. I run to the guitar before she can say "can you help me?"

We have a rule around here. If I am with my guitar, I must not be disturbed. Over the years the rule has been amended to cover other situations such as when I am holding a book, a remote, a CD or even just a block of air. But the guitar comes first.

A Niagara-sized waterfall of relief crashes over me. Wife sees I am "busy" and doesn't ask me to pitch in. I am safe! I have successfully invoked Diplomatic Immunity From Housework before she called me.

Realizing my good fortune, I at once start chopping away at a messy thicket of guitar chords, when what song should occur to me but CCR's "Don't Look Now (It Ain't You or Me)".

There I was, singing "Who will work the field with his hands/Who will put his back to the plough?". And there she was, loading up the dishwasher.

I made a mental note of the irony of the situation, filed it under "to be blogged later" and buried the guilt alive.

I then switched to playing S&G's "Flowers Never Bend". And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how one continues to continue.

View From The Top

How's this for an obvious question: If Google Earth can spot the minivan parked in my neighbor's driveway, why can't a satellite be deployed to spot ancient ruins? That's exactly what NASA's scientists did, when they helped uncover Mayan ruins concealed under the dense canopy of Guatemalan rain-forests.

The space imaging technology was used to identify variations in colors of plants in the region which, it was hypothesized and later confirmed, indicated presence of certain chemicals (like limestone) used in construction of those Mayan structures. Fascinating stuff.

If you live outside the US and don't have access to PBS, you can watch the entire segment on their website. NASA's website has easy-to-understand analysis of the mission along with pictures.