She & Him came to Kansas City this past Monday, August 30th, and as a pretty good fan of their music, I decided to go. I can’t remember the last show I went to, it’s been that long. We could be talking ten plus years. I don’t listen to local radio so I had no idea that a local radio station was promoting the show. I was surprised when we drove up to venue that there was a decent sized line out the door waiting to go in. I really had no idea they were that popular. We got in line and after a nominal wait we were at the door. Taped to the doors were signs saying “No Cameras. No Video. No Audio. Please do not bring any recording device into venue.” Perhaps the signs were some hipster’s attempt to be ironic, since everyone went into the building with a cell phone in hand, almost every one of them able to take a picture, and in many cases high quality video. I took it to mean the owner of the venue was clueless.

The opening act was a group named “The Chapin Sisters” who I have never heard of. They both had good voices, and appropriate to their style guitar skills. However, their lyrics were consistently sad, depressing, and borderline suicidal. They closed with “I’m Digging a Hole” which was a total downer to end on. By the way, if this kind of music interests you, check em out here: http://www.thechapinsisters.com/ .

After about a twenty minute changeover, She & Him came on stage. “She” is Zooey Deschanel;”Him” is M. Ward. Not much initial talk with the audience, just playing their songs, all, I noticed, with a quicker tempo. Their renditions were pretty close to the feel of the album, with Chapin Sisters providing back up vocals and acting uncharacteristically upbeat, and a backing band made up of a trio of older guys. The playing was pretty tight, but I was disappointed with the mixing. The soundboard guy was sitting off to the side of the stage, and I don’t think he could tell how it sounded out in the audience that well. Zooey’s vocals were sometimes mixed down too low, the lead guitar player wasn’t always clear, and the bass from the drums and bass guitar would get kind of muddy at times. I’m perhaps being a little picky, but my friend who came with me, agreed.

After roughly one hour and fifteen minutes, they left the stage, with M. Ward and Zooey walking off early to allow the backing band to play off the last song. As soon as they walked off stage, a lot of people left the area where we were sitting, not realizing there was almost definitely going to be an encore. A guitar tech was out on stage almost immediately tweaking M. Ward’s guitar, the house lights were still off, and the venue hadn’t started playing the “leave” music. Of course, they all came back and played two more songs, closing with a cover of a Chuck Berry song. Then the house lights came on, and the “leave” music started playing.

All in all, it was about a ninety minute show plus the thirty minutes The Chapin Sisters played. I’m glad I went, I really enjoyed the music, and I would recommend any fans of She & Him to see them live if they could.

* http://www.baseball-reference.com – For the baseball nerd in all of us
* http://www.fangraphs.com – For the baseball uber-nerd in all of us
* http://www.skepticblog.org – For the best skeptical writing out there
* http://www.pianoworld.com/fun/vpc/piano_chords.htm – What I’m using to learn my chords and scales
* http://www.reason.com/blog – The best libertarian blog out there
* http://www.twit.tv – The best podcast network for technology out there
* http://www.pandora.com – A great place to listen to music and discover new stuff
* http://www.easyvegan.info – Best one stop shop for vegan info

Is anything else really necessary?

This post caught my eye, because I’ve been assuming that e-book adoption has been accelerating to the point where print books are as irrelevant as music CD’s. Tim more than suggests that print is still a viable, profitable option for writers:

For established and successful authors, like Seth Godin or Jim Collins, self-publishing in print or digital is a supremely viable option. Jim Collins self-published his last print book, How the Mighty Fall, and was featured on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine to help push it up the bestseller ranks. Seth could do the same.

Why is this possible?

Because they have incredible reputations that were built, in part, on top of the traditional publishing machine. The Big Six and their close cousins are in real trouble. Some of them might adapt (which will include massive lay-offs), but most will not. In the next few short years, there will also be many interesting publishing alternatives for aspiring authors.

But, all that said, there is still real value in having the rare stamp of approval that a “traditional” publisher provides. I don’t think this will change much in the next 12 months, perhaps even 24 months.

Now, a handful of first-time, self-published authors hit the New York Times list, that’s an entirely different story…

Whole thing here.

Today was the last day I could dedicate to outside work for at least the next two weekends. This Friday I’m having LASIK surgery, and I don’t want to risk anything by getting something in my eye while I’m working. I was pretty gun-shy today. I was spraying and cutting today, but couldn’t go all out. I kept thinking about what if I touched poison ivy and got in my eye. So far in my life, I’m lucky when it comes to poison ivy. I’m immune. I’ve removed poison ivy by ripping it out of the ground with my bare hands, and I’ve never had a reaction. I know I’m pressing my luck though, because you can lose immunity any time. Today, I backed off and didn’t cut as much brush as I could out of fear of doing *anything* that could jeopardize my LASIK.

I’ve worn glasses since I think I was 8 years old, and I just turned 35, so it’s been many, many years of contacts and glasses. I’m still a young looking guy, so hell, why not. Less than week left of glasses left.

I’ll cut right to the chase and say this: TAM8 was the best TAM ever. By far. The TAM8 experience started for me when I met my friend Jonathan at the Vegas airport. We’ve been doing a podcast for most of the last 3 calendar years, but until this past weekend, I hadn’t seen Jonathan in person in over thirteen years. So before I had even stepped foot in the South Point Casino, the trip was already worth it.

It is abundantly clear to me, and I mean no disrespect to anyone else, that DJ Grothe is the perfect choice to lead the JREF. This year’s TAM had more speakers, more panels, and less breaks in the action than I can remember in any of the previous 5 TAMs that I have attended. The panels were all well run, and I give a tip of the hat to all the moderators. They kept the panels on topic for the most part, and they were all nicely focused on specific areas of skepticism.

There just seemed like there were a ton of speakers this year, and they were all so good, that the days seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, it was 6 PM and the day was over. Technical problems that have plagued previous TAMs didn’t seem to be as prevalent. There was only one speaker whose presentation I didn’t really enjoy, but one that really surprised me was Jennifer Michael Hecht. I really enjoyed her talk, but thinking it would be kind of “artsy” I thought I might be a little bored. However, I found her talk very interesting, and I hope she comes back next year.

The one talk that everyone was talking about was Phil Plait’s “Don’t Be A Dick” talk. He received a raucous standing ovation, and the Twitterverse was filled with compliments (and a few complaints). No other talk was as frank with us skeptics as Phil’s was. He flat out told us (and himself) that we need to drastically improve the tone that we take with “non-skeptics.” Judging by the crowd reaction, it’s something that a lot of people had on their minds.

The one thing about TAM that I always regret, is that I’m not more social. As a naturally introverted person, I tend to keep to myself and not engage as much in meeting fellow skeptics. I enjoy being there, and people seem pretty friendly in person and even on Facebook and the Twitters. I’m trying to friend via Facebook and follow via the Twitters as much as I can, and maybe make some contacts that way. I did talk with Dr. Joe Nickell for a bit and also someone from the Reason Foundation as well, and that was a lot of fun, but I should really try better in general.

In closing, Jonathan was pretty blown away by his first TAM, and I have to say, it was definitely the best one so far. I look forward to reading other people’s thoughts on TAM as everyone counts down the days until TAM9. I’ll be there once again.

The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating
the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

There is obviously is no mistaking that this this law was passed to promote monotheistic Christian religions. There is reference to “God” and “churches”, and nothing about “temples”, “mosques”, “Gods”, etc. And there is also no reference to non-believers, blasphemy or heathens. This law is pushing Christianity for sure.

So a week or so after the ruling, Obama’s White House decided to appeal the ruling, apparently believing that it is the President’s job to promote christianity. A choice quote I read this week:

“I would have expected something better from a legal scholar,” she said, referring to President Barack Obama’s background as a law professor.

Perhaps it’s time to stop considering Obama a legal scholar and more like what he really is: just a politician. Is he appealing the decision because he believes the government should promote Christianity? Is he cynically trying to win votes and support from social conservatives? Reminds me of our last commander in chief, W. I don’t think either situation is anything to be proud of. I’m guessing the Supreme Court will probably rule on the side of Obama, and once again, a little more of the wall between church and state will be chipped away.

As an atheist, I find this disappointing. I wonder if Obama would sign a proclamation for “non-believer day”, inviting all Americans to question the existence of supernatural deities and/or an after life. Somehow, I don’t think that will fly. In any case, I’ll just chalk Obama up as another politician in a long line of politicians who use religion for political gain. I’m not disappointed, I never had high expectations of him anyway.