I love his podcasts - they are usually 10-15 minutes long and focus on verifying claims and sussing out truth. See full transcript of this episode here.

Here's a live performance of this song in Bloomington (which increases it's poignancy for me):

Men, Women, and Marriage jokes:

Guy Walks into a Bar, Jewish, and other jokes:

Below you can listen to this past week's show - it was an excellent episode. Chris Paul's interview starts around the 18th minute:

This type of music isn't exactly mainstream - it's an eclectic mix of electronic and sitar sounds - but for some reason the CD is great to just relax and listen to. There are also duets with more mainstream artists like Sting (honestly, who doesn't duet with Sting?).

Here's track 7, "Easy," featuring Norah Jones:

Seems like a simple problem, right? Wrong. Evidently Verizon employees and managers have no idea that "0.002 cents" is DIFFERENT than "0.002 dollars". Here's a short clip [40sec] from one of his phone calls to customer service:

Caller: Do you recognize that there's a difference between 1 dollar and 1 cent?
Verizon manager: Definitely.
Caller: Do you recognize that there's a difference between 0.5 dollar and 0.5 cent?
Verizon manager: Definitely.
Caller: Then, do you therefore recognize that there is a difference between 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents?
Verizon manager: [pause] No.

Classic. What's incredible is that EVERYONE he talked to didn't understand the difference. He even walks them through all of the math at a simple 2nd grade level and still couldn't get them to understand. You can listen to the entire 27 minute long exchange and judge for yourself - it's a little bit scary how inept most people seem to be at math.

You can see the original post here.

I just heard a newly released song titled "White and Nerdy" (which parodies Chamillionaires' "Ridin' Dirty") and it was hysterical as I am both white and nerdy. The song is from a soon-to-be-released album called "Straight out of Lynwood", which covers many spoof genres (not just hip-hop/rap). It is going to be half DVD and half CD (so lots of videos and other extras). I must admit, I actually might buy this album!

In other Weird Al news, I just ran across this NPR story about one of his songs being removed from the new album by Atlantic (who refused to give him permission to parody James Blunt's "Beautiful", even though James gave him blessing). So, since it's not available on the album, go ahead and download it here (screw you Atlantic):

• Weird Al Yankovic - You're Pitiful

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
...
The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.

That question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will.

In a related story, Netscape (which was bought by AOL in the late 90's) just released their beta site. Unfortunately it's just a poor copy of the popular Digg.com. Obvious differences on the Netscape site include more ads, more clutter, and less content. Well, at least AOL is consistent.

UPDATE: Looks like the service rep was fired. Check out AOL's response.

current twc: 15,002

Beers I enjoyed from the Roundhouse micro-brewery:

• Payton Pilsner: light and easy to drink
• Honey Wheat Ale: a bit too grassy for my taste, but respectable
• Aurora Amber Ale: a nice mellow taste with a hint of wood/oak