Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of Peter Cigéhn's Top Sample Lists, which catalogue all of those sound samples you hear in your favorite techno/industrial/dance/electronica/whatever music. It began its life on the Net as an e-newsletter, but is now maintained on the Web. To this day, the most popular sources for samples are still Blade Runner, NASA broadcasts, and Star Trek.

The Top Sample Lists

At first blush, Trodo looks like any other sell-your-stuff Web site. The difference on Trodo is that you don't get money for your stuff; you get more stuff. For example, when someone requests a CD you've listed, you ship it to them, and when they receive it, you get a CD credit that lets you request a CD from someone else. At this writing, Trodo also lets you trade books, videos, video games, and (just added recently) clothes.

Trodo

O.S. Earth, "an operating system for Earth" (a bold tag line if ever there was one!), has a great section on their Web site featuring real-time counters of worldwide statistical estimates such as population, energy consumption, topsoil erosion, and a number of others.

For some months now, I've had an idea kicking around in my head for doing this very thing in a Palm OS application. The one thing missing was a clever title. And, doggone it, now these folks have already come up with a better one than I could ever make.

One thing I'd like to see (indeed, one thing I already wanted to include in my program) is statistics on pet populations, such as how many pets have to be euthanized because their parents weren't spayed or neutered and no one wants to adopt them.

(Real-time stats display requires JavaScript-capable browser.)

Worldometers

Steve Albini writes an essay for the Negativland site about how screwed the music industry really is, particularly if you're a young indie band looking for a "Big Break."

Never mind any "artists rights" noise you might hear - examine the hypothetical numbers he includes toward the end of the article and you'll see exactly why the music industry hates MP3s.

The Problem With Music

Mao is a very unusual card game. The only rule of Mao that can be named is this: No one is allowed to explain the rules of Mao. So, you may ask, how does one play a game without having the rules explained? How does one even write about the game at all?

The Game of Mao

How To Fly Without ID

It's Easy If You Know How!

In the last two years, everyone flying on a commercial airline has stepped up to an airline's ticket counter and heard the agent recite a familiar litany. The monologue goes, "has your bag been unattended; have you accepted gifts from a stranger; can I see your identification please?" The traveler docilely murmurs answers, and produces a driver's license or some equivalent.

As a die-hard Constitutionalist, I believe that we still have an absolute, unfettered, God-given right to travel from point A to point B without permission from the state -- in the air, as well as on land. This Nazi procedure of "your papers, please" has never been appropriate for our country. I have had occasion to travel a good deal in the last several months, and on those trips I decided to research and test this issue about the necessity for producing identification. I have talked with agents, and their supervisors, of several major airlines in cities across America, and have gradually pieced together a rather complete picture of the real legal situation regarding our right to travel.

How to fly without ID!