blogodar - The Greatest Blog About Darius Razgaitis

Friday music 10/10

2008-10-10T14:43:00.005-04:00

This week we hearken back to blasting trumpets, out of tune saxes, and group singing with a study of high school boy music: ska punk!

It's scary to think how much I used to like this stuff. A major shift from my mix 2 weeks ago (deeeeepressing), this one is uplifting if tiresome.

Enjoy some:

Reel Big Fish

Catch 22

Dropkick Murphys

Flogging Molly

Streetlight Manifesto

Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution (which I love calling BotAR like my sister does)

MU330

Pogues

Slapstick

NOFX

Bad Religion

Rancid

I spared you (and myself) some Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=bca88715b3

-dr-

New layout

2008-10-04T20:04:00.002-04:00

How about the new layout, eh? Months in the making, this new layout has share and subscribe features that should help make it easier to spread the good word and keep up with my posts.

All the other mrdarius.com pages are also now reformatted. This redo will allow for some exciting new features as I get my act together. One of the first you'll start seeing is that my photos will also now have share features as well. Awesome!

-dr-

Friday Music 10/3

2008-10-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

A chick mix this week. Almost all the artists discovered via The Hotel Cafe Tour 2008 (as pushed by Americans for UNFPA). It includes:

- Rachael Yamagata (HCT)
- Ingrid Michaelson (HCT - second fave)
- Meiko (HCT)
- Kate Havnevik (HCT)
- Brooke Fraser (HCT)
- Alice Russell (HCT -- my fave)
- Katie Herzig (HCT)
- Erin McCarley (HCT)
- Emily Wells (HCT)
- Anya Marina (HCT)
- Catherine Feeny (HCT)
- Samantha Crain (HCT)
- Nellie McKay (via Time Out New York's New York 40)

Enjoy:
http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=937f670857

Great NYT photo

2008-09-30T21:46:00.002-04:00

Can you see me and Ellen in this photo?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/nyregion/01bloomberg.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

This photo appeared on the front page of the NYT after Bloomberg's innauguration, and is now being reused with his attempts at a 3rd term...
-dr-

Drop the spices, sir!

2008-09-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

holy cow, this is a darwin award and a half. i'll think twice next time i "kick it up a notch..."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Spicy chili kills amateur chef

Andrew Lee, 33, apparently died after making and eating an intensely spicy chili.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
via boingboing:
http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/407446528/spicy-chili-kills-am.html

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

what to make of the financial crisis

2008-09-30T18:54:00.001-04:00

wow:
Economist cover

C-SPAN is awesome! Who knew?

2008-09-30T14:12:00.001-04:00

This is by far the best website I've seen covering the presidential debates and campaigns to date:
http://debatehub.c-span.org/

There's live video, video linked to transcripts, tag clouds to analyze what the candidates are saying, a Twitter feed, blog feed, and much more.

Also, RealClearPolitics has a great electoral map and latest polling data summaries.

Wisconsin reflections

2008-09-30T11:20:00.002-04:00

Went to Kohler, Wisconsin last weekend with Ellen to my friend Julie's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and great to see some old friends.

We also got to see a bit of Wisconsin.

Discuss:

Cheese curds: awesome or gross? They don't need to be refrigerated, make your teeth squeak, and Wisconsonites can't stop offering them. Don't forget the fried ones.

"Sheboygan" is just about the funnest word in the world to say besides "Sheboygan Falls" and "Oshkosh" (all of which we went to)

Oshkosh B'gosh are no longer made in Oshkosh. Unless you like corporate headquarters, it's not worth the trip.

Kohler is home to the Kohler factory where they make sinks, faucets, bathtubs, little engines and, most of all, toilets (though they call them something like sanitary systems). The tour is 3.5 hours. Unless you like to see Wisconsin men with their shirts off, skip it.

Who doesn't love a good Wisconsin accent??

Hunting, stuffing, and displaying of all variety of wolf, bear, and deer is commonplace

Free shots for everyone when the Packers or Badgers score a touchdown! Just wait till they're poured for the whole bar before drinking.

An "expensive" cab ride is $10

Smokes cost $9....at the bar

It's Miller Time!

The Frank Gehry designed museum in Milwaukee apparently does something awesome at 5pm daily. Make sure you're looking at it when the music starts playing.

You can play flip cup in the bar at the American Club with styrofoam cups

The Johnsonville Brat factory in Johnsonville, WI may sound awesome, especially if they have samplings, but they don't (according to employees sitting outside eating Subway on a Saturday)

The Harley museum store is loaded with homo-erotic statues, photos, and posters. Odd for a badass motorcycle company?

Here are Ryan and Raamla's pics, my own to come soon...

Ryan's

Raamla's

Financial crisis blame

2008-09-29T14:09:00.001-04:00

IBD has an interesting series on the cause of the loan crisis. They place the majority of the blame on government interventions and Clinton policies in the 1990's:

Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the '90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck. (more)

They hold the opinion that since Clinton put the CRA "on steroids," a well-intentioned Carter initiative meant to encourage minority homeownership went awry.

IBD's arguments make more sense to me than either Obama or McCain. Whom do you blame for the financial crisis?

Friday music 9/26

2008-09-25T14:45:00.001-04:00

Friday music a day early this week. This is pretty much a downer of a mix, but I was in a mood earlier this week, so lay off! :) Sorta feels like you're listening to music at 4am (two of the songs are actually called "Sad Song" and "I Couldn't Sleep."

Includes:
- Of Montreal (thanks keith)
- The Notwist
- Les Savy Fav (thanks NYC TV)
- Au Revoir Simone (ditto)
- Tilly and the Wall
- Bunky
- Jeremy Jay
- The Jealous Girlfriends (thanks to Ghostland Observatory and Celebrate Brooklyn

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=24b259a0d5

Che mania

2008-09-25T10:26:00.001-04:00

Thought this was interesting:

The True Story of Che

Anyone intrigued by the forthcoming Che, the lengthy biopic of Che Guevara by director Steven Soderbergh, might consider a homework assignment before hitting the theater.

The True Story of Che Guevara, out this week [Sept.23] on DVD, serves up a straightforward account of the man who launched a thousand T-shirts — and turned Cuba into an economic wasteland with precious little freedom.

Che fandom really irks me. I'm sure Soderberg's film will be as beautiful as Motorcycle Diaries though, and people will fail to have a complete view of the man who personally indiscriminately murdered "traitors."

Toilet paper race

2008-09-24T11:15:00.001-04:00

I have to say, I was already pretty excited about my Southwest Airlines flight tomorrow, but this is amazing:
http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/statuses/932918924

If the wedding we're going to is half that fun, I think we'll be all set (and I'm sure it will be at least 100 times funner)

What a cool company to post that on their Twitter site, by the way. Props.

Greatest Tweet Ever

2008-09-22T16:59:00.001-04:00

I don't care what all those snarky Internats gurus have to say, this is the best tweet ever:
http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix/statuses/930866688

Friday music 9/19

2008-09-19T14:24:00.001-04:00

Some oldies but goodies:
- Dispatch
- OAR
- Guster
- G Love
- Pete Droge

Enjoy:
http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=b0c9671c9b

Dem Apples

2008-09-18T15:43:00.001-04:00

What happens when you buy a big bag of organic apples at the store?

You eat two apples a day.

Delicious!

-dr-

Dr. Phil's a tool

2008-09-16T11:22:00.001-04:00

Dr. Phil is soliciting women who've had bad homebirth experiences. I'm sure he'll be hard-pressed to find any. I encourage anyone who has a hospital horror story to submit it to his site:

http://www.drphil.com/plugger/respond/?plugID=12524

One of his questions asks:
Did you have your second child the traditional way in a hospital?

Traditional???!!!

NYT: Why we travel

2008-09-15T14:03:00.001-04:00

Awesome:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/14/travel/20080914_WHY_slideshow_index.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Friday music 9/12

2008-09-12T09:44:00.001-04:00

This week's playlist inspired by The Life Aquatic, featuring a healthy dose of Seu Jorge:

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=27dac91bcc

Cute and end-of-world sites

2008-09-11T14:44:00.001-04:00

My semi-colleague Alex posted quite possibly one of the greatest websites ever on twitter:

Hot new technology for cleaning your screen (NOT spam, I promise!) http://www.actrix.co.nz/spe... about 19 hours ago from web

(Full link: http://www.actrix.co.nz/special/cyberclean.html)

Which reminds me of a few others:
- Has The Large Hadron Collider Destroyed the World Yet? (thanks ally)

- Abe Vigoda status

- A million thank yous

- The End of the World

Mind-blowing Riches

2008-09-10T14:49:00.001-04:00

In doing some unrelated research for work, I uncovered some interesting statistics about the world's richest people.

But before giving you the link to check it out, I want to play a couple guessing games:
1) Who is the richest person in the world and how much $$ do they have?

2) Which country has the most billionaires and most combined net worth in the top 25?

3) How many billionaires are from India?

Give it a good think about your answers, maybe even write them down. This is great trivia for long car rides...

Ok, ready?

Forbes.com lists well over 1,000 billionaires in the world as of March 5, 2008:
Richest People in the World

And here are some interesting things I found out about them:

1) Top of the list? Not Bill Gates! Berkshire Hathaway's (investment) Warren Buffet (U.S.) tops the list with $62b. He unseats the traditionally richest Gates (Microsoft), who's worth a paltry $58b. In fact, Gates falls all the way to the #3 spot, leaving the #2 slot to Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu ($60b - telecoms). Gates and Buffet are the only Americans in the top 10.

2) The country with the most billionaires and most combined net worth in the top 25? Hold on to your cowboy hats, its MOTHER RUSSIA! That's right. Among the top 25 richest people in the world, Russia has 7! Their total net worth: $306 beeellion dollars.

The U.S. has 4 in the top 25 (Buffet, Gates, Sheldon Adelson (casinos), and Larry Ellison (Oracle)) worth a total of $266b. But don't worry, China's richest is only ranked #125, so we're ok...for now...

3) India has about 45 billionaires. Four of them are in the top 25 (at #4,5,6,8)with a total net worth of of $231b, not far behind the US's $266b. Although, in total, the US has around 450 billionaires total.

Other interesting tidbits:
- The youngest in the top 25 is Russian aluminum baron Oleg Deripaska (#9, 40y.o., $28b). What am I doing in PR? The, oldest is Karl Albrecht (#10, 88y.o., $27b). He's married with 2 kids, soooo good luck.

- The youngest overall is Facebook's Mark Zuckeberg with a bill and change at just 23.

- The Baltics have no billionaires

- The richest woman in the world is France's Liliane Bettencourt (#17, $22.9b, 85y.o.), big shareholder and inheritor of L'Oreal fortune. Even SHE is prone to the same shady African oil deal spam we all are. Check out this comment on her bio page.

Left Brain

2008-09-09T21:39:00.002-04:00

Shameless self-promotion time (and mixing work with personal life time)...

Check out the Ruder Finn Left Brain blog! I'm a new contributor. I'll be posting on there about interactive and digital business trends.

Exciting stuff, right!

My first post on Lithuania, blog comments, corporations and corruption is here.

I, in turn, invite comments, suggestions, and story ideas.

-dr-

Hair too there

2008-09-05T18:39:00.000-04:00

When you have a beard, /
Hugging curly haired people /
Is the one downside.

A bunch of old BU friends are in town this weekend, and I'm just now headed out to meet up with them (at the free-pizza-giving Crocodile Lounge!). Looking fwd to seeing those fools, as we rarely get the chance to get together.

My friend Sarah from Minnesota is the one I haven't seen in longest, and she has wicked curly hair. Probably the wickedest I know. I just know it's gonna get all stuck in my beard. And then my wife will wonder "whose hair is THIS?!" as she plucks it from within my beard.

Friday music 9/5

2008-09-05T18:11:00.001-04:00

I like this week's list. Especially the last few songs. Foals a great new find. A lot of the picks this week come from Rolling Stone's list of bands who are defining rock:
- The Hold Steady (thanks Paul!)
- Laura Izibor
- Low vs. Diamond
- 3Oh!3
- Dead Confederate
- Santogold
- Foals

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=ffe43ce1ae

RNC

2008-09-04T08:22:00.000-04:00

Palin was impressive. Rudy was scary. Mad that I get sucked in by Huckabee. Glad Romney's not the veep pick.

Not sold on Google Chrome yet

2008-09-04T08:20:00.000-04:00

Google launched its own browser yesterday to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox among others. After a quick day of testing, I have some positive feedback like nearly everyone else who's commented as well as a couple downsides.

On the good side:
- noticeably faster than Firefox
- cool start page
- you can drag tabs into a new window
- great design
- built-in task manager

But unlike other reviews I've read, I actually have some critiques (probably due to my own ignorance, but let's blame it on Google first and ask questions later):
- Firefox bookmarks were imported in a huge lump. It seems like I'll have to drag them all into the right places again
- no app migration. And I like my various apps on Firefox, which I use on a daily basis, including native word count, Foxmarks bookmark sync, and built-in screen grabber
- no conceivable moral use for the porn, err..."privacy" button
- options/settings seem to be very limited, e.g. where are "start searching when I start typing," and "always open links in a new tab"
- I thought there would be way more Google functionality built in. It's lacking in terms of innovation here, but I guess that will come as it comes out of beta and some apps are developed. I'm thinking built-in/integrated Reader/gmail, analytics, blog search, youtube....
- Perhaps I haven't really gone full-throttle on the magic search bar, but so far I like the FF one where I can choose which engine I want to use rather than have some smarty-pants algorithm choose it for me. Especially helpful for non-standard searches like looking up my camping site for next weekend on Flickr
- some search bars and flash-based pages (like Seeqpod) have bright, bold, annoying outlines