Boing Boing alerted me that the band Harvey Danger has posted its new album Little By Little for downloading in its entirety. You can download it by BitTorrent in MP3 or OGG Vorbis formats. I find it cool that I had it downloaded in the time it would’ve taken me to find my shoes for a trip to the store.

I make a very poor music pirate. A large stack of blank CDROMs and DVDs I bought years ago still sit vacant of illegally-download “content.” Occasionally, though, I’ll borrow a friend’s MP3s of a band and check them out. I’ve bought a number of CDs that way, too. The Internet can be a fantastic way to connect with new music.

While Harvey Danger isn’t a new band, its songs are in my playlist. Its cool to see a band of their stature connect with their fans using the Internet (as opposed to other so-called artists). Like Harvey Danger? You were probably already gonna buy their new CD. Don’t like Harvey Danger? No problem. You don’t have to take the CD back to the store. Don’t know if you like Harvey Danger? You have the chance to give them a test-drive for free. Its a nice arrangement for everybody.

The door to the server room in our office is normally left open. When I closed it the other day, an immediate calm settled throughout the office. It quickly became apparent just how much noise is generated by the stack of servers in that room. Most people don’t realize it, but our days are flooded with noise, all the time.

I’ve valued my hearing for quite a while. I have long worn earplugs to the concerts I go to, whether or not it looks cool to do so. Back when I was a morse code jockey in the Navy, I would keep the volume in hy headpones at a manageable level. I even cut the grass while wearing earmuffs.

Last week, research was released which warns that the widespread popularity of portable music players such as the iPod could trigger a coresponding rise in hearing loss. It figures that hearing loss would follow – unless those music fans are keeping the volume at a sane level.

Don Adams, the actor who played Maxwell Smart in TV’s Get Smart, died this week. One of the show’s secret-agent gadgets was the Cone of Silence. How nice it would be if there was a real-world cone of silence that would instantly quiet the noise all around us.

Last night, we took a trip over to Blue Jay Point Park near Falls Lake for a meeting for Hallie’s preschool. As we drove by the lake, I was astonished at how low the lake is. Huge craggly swaths of bare shoreline are everywhere. One can now wade in places that would normally be over one’s head. I wish I had taken a picture of the disappearing lake.

With two days to go in the month, we need 3 and a half inches of rain to catch up to normal rainfall for the month. That would still put us in a deficit for the year.

This drought stuff is real, and it’s real scary.

On Monday, George W. Bush urged Americans to conserve energy. In a related effort, thermostats were turned down in Hell.

Bush asking people to conserve? I mean, that is soooo Jimmy Carter. What’s come over this man? Have his poll numbers convinced him he has nothing to lose?

An entry in my alter-ego blog, Mindblogging has been featured on the N&O’s Tar Heel Blogwatch web site. This is the second time my scribblings have attracted such attention, for which I’m grateful. (For full disclosure, this particular story came to me from my buddy Matt, by way of Metafilter.)

For those of you unfamiliar with Mindblogging, its a blog which covers ghost stories, psi phenomena, and other really interesting stuff on the edge of so-called accepted science. I’m looking to expand Mindblogging soon, opening it up to other contributors. If you’d like to become a contributor, drop me a line describing yourself and your interest. And as always, thanks for reading!

[Update:] Looks like this is the third time I’ve been featured. I didn’t realize until today that the Blogwatch joined us on our Italy vacation. Sorry, readers, but we had more fun. Alas, there is only so close a blog can take you.

By popular demand, MT.Net has updated its blogging software to Drupal 4.6.2. This is a major upgrade. Things may be out of place. If you find something that is broken, please let me know.

Another weekend is wrapping up. Like most it had its good points and bad points. Kelly and I began Friday night on a high note, courtesy of our new Netflix membership. This week’s movie was The Aviator, a biopic about Howard Hughes. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, but it really was good. Hughes was a tortured man in many ways. He was a neurotic. The movie didn’t shy away from Hughes’s erratic behavior. While Hughes was a high-flying, starlet-dating millionaire, he was also human.

Kudos to Leonardo DiCaprio. While I once considered him a chump, he’s shown time and again that he really can act. I’ve long held that actors prove their mettle when it comes to Southern accents. DiCaprio’s Texas accent never got old throughout the movie.

Saturday brought the NCSU-UNC football game. Right from the start, my beloved Wolfpack didn’t look up to the challenge. State lost 31-24 what should have been our payback game for last year. Give credit to the Smurfs and turn up the heat a bit in Casa Amato.

Once the game was over, we packed up the kids and headed to Jordan Lake for some camping. We set up our tent right next to our friends Marnie and John and their daughter Susanna. We didn’t have electricity at our campsite, but we had plenty of quiet. In fact, Hallie and Susanna – best friends if there ever were any – generated the most noise around. They ran squealing around the campsite until their bedtime around 8:30. Travis had a ball as well, though it took a little work to get him settled in the tent.

After chatting until around 10 PM, the adults retired to their tents. The night was peaceful, with crickets and other insects providing a comforting lullaby. As I climbed into my sleeping bag, a dozy Hallie looked up and whispered “I’m so glad you came back, Daddy.” Man, I live for stuff like that.

Travis woke at 2 AM and began to wail. I’m sure we woke up other nearby campers. He didn’t seem hungry, so we parked him on our air matress. He promptly fell asleep, which is where he stayed the rest of the night. Once we were all settled, we slept until 7 AM, watching a nice sunrise over the lake.

We got home around noon, had a Char-Grill lunch, and bathed and dispatched the kids for their naps. The kids took long naps, while the adults got in just a few winks. A fun dinner preceded a very happy bedtime for both kids. All in all, a good weekend.

Kelly and I both know how lucky we are to have such adventurous, adaptable kids. They’re always up to whatever challenge we throw at them. How does life keep getting more fun?

Today is the first full day of fall and the thermometer just topped 96 degrees! Will this miserable heat ever go away?

Maybe there’s something to this global warming stuff after all.

[UPDATE at 2:20 PM] It’s now 98.1 degrees. Bleh.

If this isn’t an argument for why we need passenger rail service in this country, I don’t know what is.