If you are a fan of the band Coldplay, you can download "Violet Hill" for free. The song is the first single from their latest CD which will be released on June 12, 2008. The song will be available for free for one week only. You simply have to submit your email address which will generate an email with a download link.
A few days ago I noticed that our Japanese Lilac Tree had three big gouges on it's side. The Japanes Lilac was planted 2 years ago and is doing quite well. I am quite sure that the neighbor boy and number 3 had a hand in this, but cannot proof it. I tried to explained to number 3 that trees are our friends (and birds) and that hurting them is not OK...Hopefully this will be the end of this.
Japanese Lilac buds
I buy a fair amount of 'stuff' from Amazon and have always been happy with their service. Lately (past year or so) I've started to hate their 'free shipping' promotion. Sure, I do not have pay blah, blah amount to get my stuff if my order is over $25, but do they like to hold onto your merchanise forever?
For example, I placed an Amazon order on the 21st of April and it is still NOT shipped...I mean how hard is it to put three books and a cd into a box and slap a lable on it. I know Amazon want people to pay for their Amazon Prime servcie...this still stinks!
On the other hand I purchased a new HD TV from bugdig.com on a recent Saturday and it arrived on the following Thursday! That is service!
Just happend to see the independent film, King Corn, this evening. The film was interesting and well done. The documentary is about 2 guys who wonder where 1 acre of corn goes to. They actually rent and grow an acre of corn in Iowa. On the way they learn about the farm bill which encourages the over production of corn (they plant 31,000 corn seeds into their one acre plot!). It was interesting to see how corn has changed from a food to a raw material that is need to create other food and the fact that corn products are EVERYWHERE...The film is a good companion to Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Delimma, especially the section on the industrialization of corn. Like Michael Pollan's book, I will never look at a field of corn the same way...
A preview of King Corn
I've been using sms to get weather, word definitions, phone numbers and sports score on my cell phone. Today I learned about another nice feature that is being offered by Google Calendar. I can now send a message to my Google Calendar and receive a return text with current day events...
Took this photo from our flowerbed area...a little of green is starting to pop up.
Saw this video about a pair of Bald Eagles that has built a nest in Minneapolis next to the International Airport in middle of the city.
Hybridcars.com has a nice summary of Time magazine's article about the effects of producing ethanol and other biofuels. Scroll to bottom of page to get a number of good arguments for and against the article.
Walt Mossberg of the WSJ posted this video...major talking points:
In the meanwhile Comcast wants $150/month for "Extreme High-Speed Internet" service which promises download speeds of 50 million bits per second.
