The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its 80th anniversary, and putting on free concerts on Fridays (6:30pm) and Saturdays (5:30pm) throughout the summer, from June 10 – August 13. Sounds like they’ve been doing this every year for a while now, so I guess it’s not just for the anniversary. Anyway it sounds fun. Maybe B and I will catch a show when we get down there.
Free Opry Plaza Parties Return June 10-Aug. 13 as Part of Opry’s 80th Anniversary [About.com]
It’s a thong for your cell phone. I’m not sure there’s more to say, except it looks much less uncomfortable than the real thing.
PhoneThong from CellPower [Oh Gizmo!]
This fall I put away my car keys and joined the public transportation club, riding the T to and from school/work every day. I always tried to bring something to read, but not a day went by that I didn’t wish I had something to plug into my ears to drown out the public. Friendly, I know. Finally, this spring, I spent some time researching mp3 players, and bit the bullet. It’s not an iPod (I have commitment fears with the iTunes AAC format), and it’s not very powerful, but it does the job.
Anyway, I’ve started to get into podcasts, since I don’t listen to the radio anymore. Now I’m thinking about audio books. I don’t have much time to read, but with my mp3 player and an audio book I can “read” while doing dishes and things like that. I don’t think that I would stop reading books altogether, but it seems like a nice option to have. An article in the New York Times today talks about the conflicting feelings that readers have about audio books, and what types of books are more conducive to narration. Obviously it depends on the reader, but I can see how I’d more likely get through a non-fiction book if I could listen to it while doing other stuff. At the same time I think that I like being able to inerpret text my own way, and having a narrator sort of takes that independence away. I definitley think that for our drive down to Nashville come August, b and I should give it a shot.
Loud, Proud, Unabridged: It Is Too Reading! [New York Times]
Authors on Audio: Better a Listen than a Pass [New York Times]
via _boston_snark:
An open letter to Boston drivers on craigslist bitches about what being a driver here has done to the author. I’m going to quote the whole thing here, in case it gets taken down for profanity. (typos and grammatical errors are the author’s, I did no editing)
Date: Mon Apr 11 09:27:13 2005
Open letter to Boston DriversAfter living here for 8 years I’d say every single driving habit you people can dish out, has rubbed off on me. It’s all about ME now, I don’t give a shit about you and if you’re rushing to visit your dying grandmother in the hospital. I’m on the road and every one of you better get out of my way.
1 – If you’re going to slow in the left lane, you’ll find out quickly, I’ll be tailgating and honking/flashing my lights to let you know. You better be doing at the bear minimum, 10 mph over the limit, if not, move the fuck over. Also, if no one is in front of you, move the fuck over anyway because I’m trying to keep my steady pace of 20-30 mph over.
2 – If I want to get into your lane, trust me, I’ll get into your lane at all costs. If you try to keep me from getting into your lane by tailgating the car in front of you, then I’ll just move up and get in front of the car in front of you. No matter what, I’ll be ahead of you and you’ll be pissed.
3 – If there is a long line of cars for an exit or to make a turn, I’ll be cruising down the adjacent lane waiting for that one person to delay moving forward so I can jump in line. If not, I’ll just go up to the front of the line and cut in at the last second.
4 – I don’t let anyone merge in front of me but expect every one of you to let me merge in front of you. I’ll honk and get pissed off if this does not happen every time I’m on the road.
5 – Any thing you do that makes me step on the brake pedal, I’ll be pissed and have to honk at your ass.
6 – If your car is not at least rolling the moment the light turns green, you’ll get an air horn up your ass.
7 – If you’re on the phone and cut me off or something, you’ll get a “get the fuck off the phone asshole!†out the window, even if I have to put the person I’m talking to on hold.
8 – The right turn only lane is so I can get in front of all your slow asses going straight the moment the light turns green. Same goes for left turn only lanes that don’t have a separate turn arrow signal.
9 – If you pull out in front of me, I’ll wait until the last possible moment to hit the brakes to give you the illusion I’m about to slam full speed into your door. Then I’ll honk and yell obscenities.
10 – Last but not least: God forbid you don’t know where your going, if your rolling along a single lane semi busy 45 mph road at 20 mph looking for a specific street that could be anywhere for the next 10 miles. I’ll be honking and flashing my lights at you to pull the fuck over so I can get to my destination before my next birthday. If you don’t pull over, or tap your brakes to try to intimidate me, i’ll cross over the double yellow and pull in front of you and slam my brakes back at you.
That is all; fuck you all for making me drive like this. I used to be nice and courteous on the road long ago when I lived in a small town in NY. Now I’m a fucking asshole because of you. Thanks, my mom would be proud that I learned from the best.
Open letter to Boston drivers [craigslist anonymous poster]
Some funny stuff comes up on the _boston_snark group at livejournal.
Here’s a message for the postman, from hellgirl13: Thank You, Mr. Postman [_boston_snark]
** SUNDAY MAY 29TH MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND **
HONEY DANCE PARTY
Axis, 15 Landsdowne St, Boston 10pm – 2am
DJ Susan Esthera spinning dance, pop, hip hop
Enter at Axis and at 12.30 am the inside doors will open so you can enjoy Avalon Nightclub as well (with DJ Escape).
19+, $10 cover, $15 after 12.30pm **
** ONLY $5 on the Dyke Night Guest list before MIDNIGHT. Send name and the number in your party BEFORE SUNDAY to dykenight@hotmail.com **
via queer day:
There’s an article out about a queer junior at Yale who is advocating gender fluidity more than his tranny-ness. After the one-in-four Wall Street Journal article in 1987 (anyone have the real article?) and the Rolling Stone article in 2001 (again, anyone have a link?), Americans will think that Yale is more about alternative lifestyles than prestigious academia and elitism. Don’t worry though, there is a group out there whose mission it is to reclaim the ivy league for Jesus Christ.
The NYTimes quotes Matt Bennett, who is the founder of the Christian Union (the evangelical Ivy League group):
“What is happening now is good,” Mr. Bennett said, “but it is like a finger in the dike of keeping back the flood of immorality.”
hehe.
The New Radical [Hartford Courant]
On a Christian Mission to the Top [New York Times]
Kraft is not backing down to the religious right, who has been making threats in regards to the company’s support of homos diversity. I will no longer be ashamed to admit that I am grown and eat Easy Mac regularly. You have to admit, it is a refreshing change after all that Microsoft hooey.
We really REALLY [heart] Kraft! [americablog]
Four state senators and a few others were arrested this morning by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. They are accused of taking bribes to sponsor and push a bill in a sting operation set up by the FBI.
Seven arrested in statehouse bribery sting [tennessean.com]
Someone mentioned this virtual community called Second Life on Boing Boing, and I thought I would check it out. It seems very much like a graphical MUD (multi-user dungeon or dimension). I don’t know much about MUD’s, but I did a project on an educational MUD (actually it was a MOO, object-oriented) called MOOSE Crossing in the fall, and I think the educational potential for these things is really interesting.
Basically, people can be a character of their own invention in these spaces. With a little programming know-how they can (re)invent themselves, the spaces around themselves, and objects. They can also meet other people, build objects and spaces with other people, and interact in different ways. Sure, there is a safety issue, and an accessibility issue. But we are talking about a virtual, literal constructivist space here. Some kids may not get into it. But how many kids “get into” school? There’s more to be said, but I’ll get into it later on my edblog.
Here is an interesting article on how it’s already being used:
Second Life Teaches Life Lessons [Wired]