Help me Find this Song I heard...

When I was in Boulder, it was, maybe 11 or 12:15pm on March 7th, I heard this song on the radio. Somewhere in the middle of the dial that was playing some folky, independent stuff (though I can't recall the exact station).

There was a song on the radio just before I met up with a friend, I can only remember vague details. Lead singer with guitar, craggy voice, kinda like Tom Waits; had some background vocals. The lyrics were a repeating pattern, something like, "We used to say, {catchy quote}. {Anecdote about rambunctious youth calling for that catchy quote}. But now we're older, and we don't say that thing anymore." Repeat.

Anyone have any hints?

SOLVED: Who woulda thunk it? by Greg Brown
PS: Metafilter is awesome.

McEnergy Independence

A recently opened gas station in Lawrence specializes in biodiesel and ethanol. Seeing the lower gas prices in bright neon on a major road is bound to get a few folks thinking about converting their cars to biodiesel (it made me curious). I understand conversion isn't even that difficult. A few years back, a punk rock festival here had a panel on how to convert your own car to biodiesel as a DIY project.

Even though the prices are significantly lower than regular, I was surprised the gas wasn't nearly free. Rumors are that a biodiesel car can run on used fast food grease.

My American plan: McDonald's starts selling biodiesel.

The biggest problem with a new fuel system is deploying the infrastructure. McDonald's ubiquity is finally an advantage! The grease has already been shipped across our country for its primary use, so it would be taking an axe to our fuel shipping costs. In exchange, McDonald's gets money for free, and gets to improve its image (even if ever so slightly).

So why does this plan fail?

Another example why people don't trust the Clintons

Most people with a distaste for either of the Clintons state high up amongst their reasons that they are scheming, manipulative liars. The below link summarizing a series of events with WHYY radio does nothing to dispel this rumor.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/22/bill.clinton.race/index.html

The dime tour of the story is: WHYY asks Bill Clinton Monday night if his playing of the race card (in comparing Obama to Jesse Jackson) was a mistake. Former President Clinton responds that the race card was IN FACT played on him. When asked about the comments by a different reporter on Tuesday morning (less than 24 hours later), he told the reporter that he was mistaken and that he was not going to be manipulated by the media.

In summary, its all the media's fault. To think, before the man began stumping for his wife, I was beginning to forget why people had such resentment towards the man.

President Bush on Deal or No Deal

The modern equivalent of the fireside chat probably involves a reality tv show. ("Meet the First Family?") I can't wait until all our elections are decided by reality television!

The upside will be that our government services will eventually be ad-supported.

Bruce Springsteen: Wrong for America

It's funny video day:



T

Time Magazine on Overrated Blogs

Time Magazine grapples with the inexplicable staying power of sites like Slashdot and I Can Has Cheezburger [wikipedia links].

I respect the MSM so much more when it calls out other media, when it tries to give as good as it gets. Blind pandering to the internet makes it look like you've never actually been there.

The Real Estate Cash-Back Virus

The Freakonomics Blog points to another culprit in the subprime mess: the real estate cash-back transaction. Itzhak Ben-David, a Ph.D. candidate in finance at the University of Chicago, has an article explaining how this "sleight of hand" viciously hurts both banks and honest borrowers.