Eighth warmest year on record December 19, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Some interesting stats and an interesting round-up of the year’s climate fluctuations can be read about here:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/20071213_climateupdate.html
Category / Daily Dose
More useless websites at 5:51 pm
In case you’re bored…
http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.com/ - Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians. Seriously.
http://www.chargeyourglasses.com/ - Wedding speech generator
and of course, my own toys… http://www.d-man.org/fun/
Insuring your… concert tickets? December 10, 2007 at 7:32 am
Ticketmaster, as if it wasn’t greedy enough yet with it’s fees, now wants you to buy insurance for those concert tickets you purchased. Looks like the fees are about $5-$20 depending on what you paid for your tickets.
The idea is simple – if you miss or can’t make a show for a “covered reason” you get a full refund, including fees (wow! Even cancelled shows don’t refund fees).
Some interesting text from the FAQ on Ticketmaster’s site: “Required to Work – if your employer requires you to work during the event” is listed as one of the covered events. In the actual writeup of the insurance it states that prior contractual obligations for work aren’t covered, but this seems like a pretty grey area. Does this mean you can just call in and say your boss had you work late and get a note from him saying so, and then get a full refund? Seems like that would take all the risk out of attending a show…
Interestingly you can also buy the insurance up until the day before the show.
Also interesting… This “insurance” does not cover cancellations by the promoter or venue! REALLY? That’s sort-of crazy, isn’t it? It’s really only if you, the attendee, can’t make it – not the venue. That’s certainly some limited coverage.
The insurance, btw, isn’t provided by Ticketmaster themselves – it’s through Access America. Read the fine print here.
the new Jambase at 7:25 am
As you may have noticed, my life often revolves around music. I rely heavily on a site named Jambase to feed me show calendar information for upcoming gigs.
I noticed that Jambase updated their look and feel about a month or two ago. Rather then be the first to review something, I like to play with it for a while to see if it’s really as good as my first impressions indicate.
Well, in this case, it’s proven better! The new Jambase is kick-ass. There’s simply nothing bad I can say about it. Aside from a much, much cleaner look and feel that strikes me as being more intuitive with a color-scheme that’s more user-friendly, it’s feature-rich in a way that I really like.
Here are some specific adds I really appreciate:
1. Search bar at the top is greatly improved. Typing in acronyms or venues works just fine (WSP instead of Widespread Panic, for example).
2. My JamBase is now, in my opinion, the heart of the site/application. I can very, very easily add shows to my personal calendar and then see if any of my friends are also going to the show, if they also use JamBase
3. DOWNLOAD TO OUTLOOK! Quite possibly my favorite feature (though not as accessible as I’d like! sometimes can be hard to find). For those of us who are not organized, if you actually view the page for an event, at the bottom is a download to Outlook link
4. Quick links to show info, venue info and buying tickets. Always in the right spot.
5. The frames in the middle displaying your shows w/ scroll bar are handy. They keep the rest of the buttons on the page accessible.
6. Being able to share my profile/show calendar with others has been helpful already, while not expected.
7. The “quicklist” of shows in your area on the left when you visit Jambase.com is key for a quick look at what’s going on in your area today/this weekend.
Well, overall, it’s just better. I think Jambase hit the spot on this. I’d be OK with better use of some of the whitespace or smaller fonts, though – I like all my info to fit on one screen – but that’s a pretty minor complaint compared to the old site, which was just hard to navigate in general.
Very impressed. Thanks Jambase folks!
My first ever Phish Phry December 9, 2007 at 12:26 am
Last night I went to my first Phish Phry. For those of you who don’t know what that is (I didn’t), the Phish Phry is an event that happens every couple of months at a bar here in San Francisco where they play Phish all night on a kickin sound system. To nobody’s surprise, the now-30-somethings who toured with Phish while growing up flocked to the bar to enjoy hanging out and, at times, jamming out, to Phish with friendly heads.
This was absolutely one of the most down-to-earth, friendly gatherings I’ve been to in this city. I had a blast. I only hope to bring Jeff, Nat, Baxter, TJ, Jacob and others who’ve visited me in the past to come visit again for this event. Almost as good as being at a show…. (Almost)
RingCentral launches! November 16, 2007 at 2:09 pm
RingCentral, a company I wrote about previously, has finally released their VoIP product. This thing still ranks as uber-cool in my book. I wish they’d support DIDs and SIP trunk handoffs, but outside of that, this is really a wonderful solution for home and small businesses that want a VoIP line with a bunch of features without paying much for them.
If you’re a VoIP junky, I suggest you check this out. Most notable is their softphone which also supports faxing, and the fact that you can have multiple lines going at once on a single account.
Is San Francisco becoming more violent? November 15, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I’ve always felt the city of San Francisco was a much safer city then many others. Note that I’m speaking of San Francisco and not of the Bay Area as a whole (i.e. Oakland/Vallejo/etc.) I have never had problems or seen disturbing things after hours here other, at least in the areas which I hang out in. And I do go out a lot.
But last Sunday, my good friend Jared called me from the Metron to inform me that someone had just been shot in the ticket line and killed while he was there. I then came in to work and found out that one of my co-workers had been shot at near Market Street in broad daylight after being robbed of his laptop.
What the heck is going on people?
I tried to look for some statistics for this year’s crime information from the SFPD but could only find postings dating up to 2006. I’m curious if my perception is accurate, though. Certainly the Metreon incident is beyond disturbing, though news reports claim that the shooter was actually not from the city.
Couple this with the ongoing attention (and lack of resolution) on our ever-increasing homeless problem ?
I wish there had been a ballot measure on this just recently… Hopefully this is not a trend.
Wow, biking is still popular, huh? November 12, 2007 at 12:47 am
Sometimes America is just backwards.
It’s amusing that I found this page. Here I am trying to convince people around the Bay that biking is such a great new efficient way to work… I forget that most of the world already knows that.
…except us.
Upcoming show schedule October 24, 2007 at 4:19 am
Well, folks, it’s showtime again! Concerts, concerts, concerts…
So let’s just hop to it.
STS9- Oct 31st (Halloween) @ The Warfield – San Francisco, CA
STS9 - Nov 30th & Dec 1st @ the Catalyst – Santa Cruz, CA
STS9 – Dec 29th & 30th @ the Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
WSP – New Years Eve @ Philips Arena – Atlanta, GA
Yeah, that should keep me busy and happy w/ the tribe.
Still wish the Biscuits would come out more often.
San Diego fires… at 4:07 am
It’s interesting how different things affect me now that I live out west. It used to be that I’d see pictures of wildfires and not really understand. Now, even though San Francisco doesn’t have the crazy wildfires they have down south, it’s an important topic for me. I understand the nasty haze that can linger over the hills out here when a pesky fire starts up.
It’s also interesting to see how people react in general. What I’m seeing now in San Diego is truly amazing to me. On the one hand, there is a terrible disaster happening right now. Homes that people have lived in for years – with all sorts of special things they love and cherish – are burning to the ground.
And yet, check out this screenshot of Craigslist’s volunteers section in San Diego…
Tue Oct 23
Stuck in Qualcomm? Come hang out at my place! (Mission Valley)
Local website for information regarding the fires (anywhere)
www.sdfires.com – volunteer information
FREE USE OF LAPTOP TO FIRE VICTIMS
Organizing a “Pet Train” from SD to LA (Los Angeles)
We Need a Volunteer Willing to Set Up a Donation Site (San Diego surrounding area…)
Need to know where we can help! (Mission Valley)
room available for fire victims (Point Loma)
Have donations and don’t know where to take them?
can take in sm/med. dogs/cats for evac (25th st. del mar)
Hard worker willing to help with fire (Oceanside)
Willing to board dogs (North Park)
Can watch your cat(s) safely in Los Angeles (Los Angeles)
Foster Fire Pets (Del Cerro)
Grassroots Non-Profit Seeking Volunteers to Help San Diego!! (San Diego) img
I MADE SOME BURRITTOS FOR THE FIREFIGHERS WHERE DO I TAKE THEM? (NORTH PARK)
Homemade burritos for the Fire-fighters… (North park)
Person after person, with no idea how to really help, offering up whatever they can. Even Burritos. Yes, sob sob, but it does make you wonder – don’t we live in a wonderful place? We should all stop and think about that sometime…