BrainDrain

Seems that Intel has come up with a new 200 gigabit chip that uses light instead of copper. The chip's made entirely of silicon, which is also a big step forward, but this bad boy is twice as fast as the fastest optical networks currently available. The goal is to make a "a fingernail-sized chip that can crunch a terabit of data". Mmmmm.....terabits....

I think that this is going to be used for networking applications - like chips on networking cards or whatnot. I'm not sure if this is destined to be a next-gen CPU or not. In any case, it's really exciting to hear because if they can get this to work in production it will mean a quantum leap in miniaturization, speed, and power.

My favorite bit about this is one of the comments at the bottom - "it looks like a liiiiiiitle tiny money bag." Indeed it does, folks...indeed it does. Intel's set to make a whole lot of money if they can make this work.

(Link via Gizmodo)

Since it was our first recording session, Gavin brought along the digital camera for a few candid shots. We're musicians, not photographers, as these pictures will totally show you. But at the very least it'll give you an idea of the space we were recording in and what we had going on. The tall, lanky guy in the baby-blue shirt is Cliff Fitch, our engineer and my drum instructor. I sweat almost as much as he does....

Anyway, the pics can be found here. Enjoy, and try not to laugh too hard.

Last night was my first Driver Safety Course - first half was last night, second half will be on Thursday night. I don't know how it works in other states, but you can take DSC once every 12 months to expunge a ticket from your record. So, if you only have one ticket (such as myself), taking DSC is a good way to pretend it never happened (aside from the gaping hole in the wallet and/or bank account). I'd say that 90% of the people in the room were there due to speeding, and there were apparently a couple of folks that were regulars. I hope that's not me in the future.

Anyway, I'm taking it at Funny Bone so it's a little better than taking it online or renting the videos and all that hoo-hah, but it's still super-ultra-mega boring and I hope that I never get caught speeding again so that I don't have to sit through it (no offense to my engaging and wonderful DSC instructors). There are just so many other things I can think of to do with the total of six hours that I'm going to lose in this course, but I guess it wouldn't really be punishment if it was in any way fun or enjoyable. So I just grin and bear it and sit inside to do my homework while all of my friends are outside playing.

*sigh*

Lots of music-related items this weekend. Well, maybe only two...but that filled up my entire weekend just about, so it seems like a lot.

First up, you should check out The 440 Alliance when you get a chance. Four cello players and a drummer playing all sorts of things from original compositions to well-known cover tunes. They were the opening group at the show I went to on Friday night, and they played such favorites as The Price Is Right themesong, Knight Rider (all 4 of them played one single cello), Crazy Train, Black Dog, the theme from Super Mario Brothers, and the feature piece which is playing if you go to their website - Bohemian Rhapsody. Highly, highly entertaining to watch and listen to, and I'll be purchasing their cd soon (although it'll be hard-pressed to live up to the live show). Also, just to enlighten you, the "440" is in reference to the 440 Hertz tone that is used to tune stringed instruments. Yeah, I didn't know either...Katie had to enlighten me (as my orchestra teacher friend and resident music nerd).

Secondly, the main act of the show (featuring Katie's good friend Jen, hence why we were there) was a group going by the name of Ear To Anon. I was highly impressed by this band and the sound that they generated. Composed of a drummer/percussionist, an electric cello, and a guitarist/sequencer/whatever else, Ear To Anon makes some very good music. It's fabulous toe-tapping ambient music and I can see how this stuff would be really great for coding and working. For me, the drummer was the most interesting - he had a kit that integrated hand percussion (djembe and bongos) into a standard club kit and there were several songs where he'd play the kit with a stick in his left hand and play the hand drums with his right, not to mention that he's the main vocalist for the music (although there are few vocals). I'm looking forward to ordering both of the cd's that they have available on their website (and you should too, after listening to them of course).

Finally, Life On Loan got into the studio this weekend to record our quick 'n dirty demo (although that "quick" bit was 8 hours). Check the writeup on the LOL Blog for a bit more on the process. We also had the camera around for our first recording session, so we'll also hopefully have some pics up there soon. Let me just say that it was a blast and a half, but it was way more tiring than I expected it to be and I have a new-found respect for any artist that goes in and produces a 12-song cd where they spend hours and hours on just one song to get it absolutely perfect. Funny, you never really get a sense of just how much work it is when you're watching a documentary or something on television but once you're there, recording a song for the 5th or 6th time due to everything from timing being off to a bass drum mic being accidentally muted, and you really start to realize that doing the shows is just the glamorous pay-off for all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Let it not be said that rock stars live a life of leisure - their work is a lot different than a standard job, but I say that they work just as hard (if not harder) than most everybody else.

Anyway, we hope to have the demo up on myspace in short order, so keep your eyes peeled and I'll let you know when it's available.

I find it amusing that people who ride cafe bikes (or "crotch rockets") recklessly are always the same morons that wear the least safety equipment. If you're going to be a total jackass and weave in and out of traffic, ride people's tails, and squeeze between cars at highway speeds then you'd think that more protective gear is in order. I also find it somewhat telling that pretty much everyone I have ever met that rides a crotch rocket recklessly (as opposed to a touring bike or custom ride like you'd see on American Chopper or Biker Build-off) takes after their namesake by being, well, a complete crotch.

I've had my share of run-ins with these motorcycle morons, but one of these idiots rode up on me fast tonight and when I didn't get over in time for him, decided he was going to make my life miserable by matching my speed right in my blind spot. It strikes me as really, really stupid to sit in the blind spot of a vehicle that is about 3,000 pounds heavier than yours, especially when the only safety gear that you are wearing is a helmet, but whatever. He would weave in between my car and cars in the other lane, but would continue to match me in speed. I don't know if he was trying to keep me pinned in my lane or what, but I thought several times of either slamming on the brakes really hard and letting him fly past me or just make maneuvers to come on over and cut him off - if he was going to sit in my blind spot, let him pay the consequences for it. In the end, I rode the inside of the lane I was in, which forced him to go around the other side of a car in the middle lane and then I gassed it and got into that lane. He was looking at me for a while, as if to challenge me or something. I'm not sure what got his goat, but eventually he got bored and sped away. Buh-bye, douchebag.

And then I saw it, and the picture snapped clearly into focus: the back of his shirt read "Aggie Pride". That said it all.