KEXP podcasts – great new music for free

 

KEXP logo c/o kexp.org

For those of you who are not familiar with KEXP, it is a community public radio station operated by the University of Washington that specializes in emerging music, especially alternative and indie. Their motto of “where the music matters” is very accurate. Based in Seattle, they provide access to an amazing array of musicians through their website and now through iTunes.

What is really cool is that you can subscribe to their “Song of the Day” feature for free on iTunes, listen to the recordings of independent artists through your podcast feature, and download the tune for free. It is also available for mobile phones and handheld devices. The station has great in-studio and live performances by many of the musicians. Any tour stop in Seattle must include KEXP.

Give in a try and enjoy a whole new world of great music. Here’s a few videos from KEXP that have been posted on YouTube: “Gold Guns Girls” by Metric; “Turn Off This Song” by The Lonely Forest; “Wait Up” by Tokyo Police Club; and “Unexplainable Stories” by Cloud Cult.

Read Full Post »

WHM Day 12: Girl Scouts

Today in 1912, Juliette Gordon Low assembled 18 girls together in Savannah, Ga., for the first ever Girl Scout meeting. According to the Girl Scouts website:

[Low] believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air, Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid.

Today 3.2 million girls and adults are members, and there are more than 50 million alumnae. That’s pretty impressive. Girl Scouts are probably most famous for their annual cookie sales, and I’ve sold my fair share of them. Selling cookies at stores and malls probably did more for my math skills than any class I had in school. I can still tell you just about any multiplication of $2.50, which was the price of a box when I was young.

What I remember about Girl Scouts, besides the cookie sales, aren’t the day-to-day meetings, although there were plenty of those. I remember the day camps, the overnight trips, time spent with my best friends, all of whom eventually ended up in my troop. I remember my unappreciated mother, who at different times ended up as co-leader of my troop, my sister’s troop and our 4-H club. I remember the songs we would sing, one of which seems rather inappropriate in hindsight. We rearranged the words to “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” and added a verse for each category of Girl Scout: dancing Daisies, bouncy Brownies, jabber Juniors, cool Cadettes, sexy Seniors and loudmouth Leaders. I don’t know where we learned that version, because it’s certainly not one the official Girl Scouts would have sanctioned. Alternatives I’ve found while searching the Web include super duper Seniors and lazy Leaders. I don’t know why we never said “lovely leaders,” because my mom and her co-leaders were anything but lazy or loud.

So a belated thank-you to my mother and Mrs. E, our other leader, for all of the time and effort they invested in us, and for putting up with a bunch of rowdy girls. And thank you to all of the leaders across the country who believe in Low’s vision of encouraging girls to be mentally and physically strong.

Read Full Post »

Put away the freaking fertilizer

If there were not already enough reasons why you should stop applying phosphorus-based fertilizers on your lawn, garden, or field here’s one more. You are helping harm the Great Lakes. It also harms smaller ponds and lakes, as well as wetlands, streams, and rivers.

The vast majority of lawns need no phosphorus – zero, nothing, nada. But too many property owners and lawn applicators keep piling it on. Fortunately, in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, laws have been passed which ban the application of fertilizers containing phosphorus. Wondering why your neighborhood pond looks like the photo in this post – phosphorus in fertilizers.

Hopefully, all the other states in the Great Lakes watershed and the Province of Ontario will follow.  This spring go green and save some greenbacks by allowing you lawn to be less green.

Read Full Post »

Pray for Japan – explosion at power plant

There was an explosion at one of the damaged nuclear power plants in Japan today. It is not clear at the moment whether it involved nuclear material, but no matter what it is a serious development. A video of the explosion can be seen via this weblink to BBC’s website.

UPDATE: Here is a weblink to USA Today’s website as well. The latest news from the nuclear power plant does not sound good.

Beyond the explosion, please keep your thoughts and prayers with everyone in Japan as they try to recover from multiple disasters.

Read Full Post »

Enough with the stiff, cold wind already

I would rather bike commute when it is calm and zero degrees outside than ride into a cold, stiff headwind. Yesterday (Friday) morning was one of those late winter rides where the entire 3.5 mile journey was an effort to plow through a continuous northwest wind. Though the thermometer said 30 F, it felt much colder from the combined effects of the wind and my inertia. It seems no matter how much I dress in preparation for the wind, it has a sinister way of penetrating through narrow cracks and crevices found in my defensive barrier of SmartWool socks and shirt, winter scarf and hat, and fleece lined reversible coat.

It does not help that certain lousy-forecasting rodents were wrong about the onset of spring this year.  But throwing in a stiff northwest wind on top of that is piling on unfairly. Sadly, no 15 yard penalties or loss of down for bad weather prognosticating by groundhogs. The only penalty appears to be the speed of my progress, which slows considerably when riding into a headwind. At times, I feel like I am riding a stationary bike in an unheated wind tunnel set at Siberian arctic blast. Even in warmer weather riding into a steady headwind can be a big pain in the legs and slow progress to what seems like an exaggerated crawl.

Oh well, one can only hope that spring will finally burst forth with the time change on Sunday.  I was trying to be positive by wearing sandals over my SmartWool socks, but alas that fact did not bless me with any bonus points for being a courageous fool.

I also did not hear any red-winged blackbirds calling during the Friday morning or afternoon commute, which only confirms that they are smarter than me (not a hard task). Once I do, I will know spring is really just around the corner. I, for one, am ready for it after a very long winter.

Read Full Post »