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If you’ve been paying attention to my musical tastes as expressed in this ‘blog, you’ll understand why I was so delighted to hear this that I immediately uploaded it here to Xanga. It’s The Tubes covering a Captain Beefheart tune.

It amazes me that I’d never heard it before, or even knew that it existed. The Tubes were (are?) out of the SF bay area, and Beefheart is spending the latter end of his life in Northern California. I have to wonder if they ever met.

(I have to resist the temptation to upload their version of ‘Love Will Keep Us Together.’ But I’ll note that they were in ‘Xanadu.’)

Here’s the original:

Treasury issues of various maturation periods gather between 4 and 6 percent. So a better question is: If you took in around $5 million before taxes per year for doing nothing, how would you spend it?

Let’s split it in half for taxes (yes, I’d have to pay taxes *to* the government on capital gains I got *from* the government, even though my taxes are higher, because the government is in debt… TO ME), which leaves $2,500,000. I can live off $40k, which leaves about $2,460,000 a year.

The first year or two would be selfish. I’d have the nicest SVO TDI Westy you ever saw. I’d pick up a Tesla. I’d pay for a house with cash. There’d be remodeling. A huge garage, cool neighbors, lots of rooms to rent out not because of the money but to live with people. A one-man intentional community. I’d finally get my fillings replaced with material that doesn’t have mercury in it.

It wouldn’t take long to get bored with this, however. One year, I might decide to give away a dollar to half the population of Seattle. Or perhaps some place less affluent.

I could become a microlender to 12,000 or so people. $200 loans apiece, low interest rates (because I really don’t need it back). I could provide startup funds for about 250 small businesses in developing countries (assuming they need $10k, which is probably higher than most actually need). So: A non-profit bank with only $2.4M in funds.

Then I’d probably travel to the places I just lent money. Spend a bunch of time in each place.

Who knows what else. Compound interest would reward my indecision.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

OK, so I don’t play many computer games, but I had the hankerin’ to download something and play it.

What I ended up with was DEFCON, which is basically networked global thermonuclear war.

One of the things I don’t like about video games is that they often glorify violence, and while the point of DEFCON is about as violent as possible, the way it’s played is eerie. It creeps me out. The simulation is in slow-motion, with, for instance, bomber planes taking a long time to reach their destination, after which is displayed a message like “LONDON DESTROYED, 2.0M DEAD.”

Part of the problem I have with it, gameplay-wise, is that it’s not at all clear what the various DEFCON levels mean. I think that at some point (DEFCON 2?) you’re not allowed to place pieces on the board any more, so, for instance, if you haven’t built any nuke silos, then you’re SOL. This means that I’m unable to finish the tutorial missions and move on to live internet mass destruction.

Also, in reality, the DEFCON levels reflect the danger of world events, and thus didn’t operate on a timer. “DEFCON 1 IN: 2:17″ is a message that doesn’t actually make any sense. O well.

It’s a game of haunting beauty, where your goal is to kill millions of people with nuclear warheads. All fun and games.

Me.

This has been another episode of: Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

I remember being in Yellowstone National Park, with the family. I’m pretty sure it was Yellowstone. But the point here is the giant trees. I’d call them red cedar, if I knew for sure. They lined the creek near our canvas-walled hut.

I remember wandering off alone, and mom was worried about me, but dad said it was OK, and I went and broke through the membrane between the ‘civilized’ world of the gravel road around the camp area, into the rust-and-green-colored natural world. The babbling brook with it’s sandy bottom and little miniature rapids, the cedar branches gently curving and swaying in a breeze as if alive, which, in fact, they were. And there was a trail; a trail to follow. I went up to the top end of the creek, where it came out of the woods to border the campsite.

A row of trees can be the gateway to the magic kingdom of the wild, to steal an image from someone else. Just how much magic, and just how it works would end up as parameters for future learning experiences.

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Via bruce sterling:

More online collaboration tools than you can shake a stick at. Safely.

Important tool not included: Zombo.

I will always love Negativland.

(And just because I mentioned it elsewhere:

)

Earlier, I worked on the project I decided not to talk about before. Hit some geocaches, too.

Now, fresh out of the shower, I’m going to eat BBQ and return videos.

I’d also like to note that tomorrow I’m going to see ‘Cosmic Voyage,’ as part of the Tsars to the Stars series. Anyone in Seattle who wants to see Soviet sci-fi filmmaking from 1936 is welcome to email me and organize.

Other will-attends from the series are: ‘Heaven’s Call,’ (the one butchered by Francis Ford Coppola), ‘To The Stars By Hard Ways’ and ‘First On The Moon.’ ‘Solaris’ is an if-I-feel-like-it, since I’ve seen it recently (I found a VHS version at a thrift store. ONLY in Seattle…)

I also want to take in the Simpsons movie at the first opportunity. And, speaking of which… Did anyone actually go and *see* the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie? I meant to, but never did.