Found out in today’s paper that the Brewery has closed its doors.

I saw a lot of great artists there. I’ll miss the way you could be right in the face of the musicians there, or hang out in back with them after the show. The Brewery had an intimate feel to it, and the best sound in town.

I remember seeing Cracker, Urge Overkill, Whiskeytown, The Lincolns, and Mojo Nixon there, among others. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hootie, and other big acts played there, too. And the band was always so close that they could sweat on you. You won’t get that at some evil-empire-controlled venue.

The newest places, like Kings and the Lincoln Theatre, I’ve not even been to. Cat’s Cradle still has that intimate feel, but its way out in that East BF known as Carrboro.

Then again, I haven’t been as tuned into new acts lately, probably because of my lack of interest in what’s being played on the radio these days. That, and not wanting to drag my kid into a smoke-filled tornado of noise.

Lately, though, its not lived up to its past. The management got into a spat with local bands who accused it of skimming money from the door. Bands boycotted the club in favor of other venues. Perhaps the fans did, too. I don’t know.

It’s sad to see the Brewery go. It was my favorite local venue. But the memories will live on, as will the ringing in my ears.

I just burned my first DVD under Linux, finally figuring out what I was doing. This is after having bought a DVD writer back in October.

The problem was that DVD+R discs don’t do Track At Once, which is the way I had been writing CDs (and thus the way I was used to). When I tried that using dvdrecord, it failed every time. These failures prompted me to return my first DVD writer, thinking it was incompatible with Linux.

Now I’ve found growisofs, which arranges things so they work with dvdrecord and DVD+R discs. Just another reason why Linux drives me nuts sometimes.

I was daydreaming during this morning’s meeting about a cool application I’d like to have. It would work with a soundcard and microphone to react to sounds it hears.

Lots of stuff around the house offer audible feedback for one thing or another. Phones and doorbells ring, smoke alarms sound, oven timers beep. (Glass breaks and doors get forced open, etc). You name it. Wouldn’t it be great for your computer to recognize these sounds and react appropriately to them?

Seems like I’ve seen some apps that do some of this, but nothing exactly doing what I want. If anyone has seen similar apps, drop me a line!
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Nothing keeps me focused on driving like driving through Monday morning stop-and-go traffic behind a truck loaded with explosives.

Dang. It’s March already. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?

Shamelessly stolen from Wade‘s blog, check out these hacked closing announcements which ran on News14 Carolina‘s channel.

Here’s an archive of the fake announcements.

Too funny.

Seems we’ve got a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” weather policy here at the office. Not a word was said about office status, road conditions, etc.

Roads were in good shape, if slushy in some places. Looks like the road crews did a great job keeping things under control (after all, they’ve had enough practice).

I’m glad I came in because we’ve got pizza for lunch. Also, the bird feeder is getting some quality time with tufted titmouses, Carolina chickadees, and goldfinches this morning.
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There was some news this past week about a DoD report warning of massive global climate change within twenty years. The UK paper The Observer was first to report it.

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

It sounds a lot like the doom-and-gloom predictions you’d expect from cult leaders, not the Department of Defense. Still, it makes you wonder either:

(a) what they know that we don’t, or…
(b) what they’re smoking.

I haven’t read the report myself, but I did find it last night. As usual, Cryptome has the goods.

[UPDATE]: Surprise, surprise. The European press has blown this out of proportion. It is just one scenario, not the most likely. The Oakland Tribune has the story on how this threat was exaggerated.

The word from the meteorologists I know says that we can expect anywhere between half a foot to a foot of snow from this storm.

Let me say that again: half a foot to a foot of snow.

At the first sign of white stuff falling, I am so out of here.