Thanks but I don't need a drummer

With people like Kid Beyond and Imogen Heap doing very similar one-person-band performances, this makes me wonder what bands of the future will look like.

I recommend just listening; the only reason to watch the rather dull videos are to see that these are remarkably complex and beautiful songs by just one person with an effects tool.

Musical find of the week: "Extrawelt"

Really enjoying this genre-bending set from an electronic music artist I'd never even heard of before today from Newmixes.com (scroll down a bit to get to the full set downloadable in MP3).   Very much reminds me of the "clickhop" genre: something inside electronica, downtempo, and IDM.

Ergonomics

Had been planning on writing an article on this for a while but Lifehacker has a great breakdown. The screen height, keyboard level, alignment, and posture are all very important.

See also: Carpel Tunnel Advice

Protect yourself from your landlord

• Get everything in writing - if its not written down, it didn't happen
  
• Look for positive reviews online
• Send all communications via certified mail

... and more.

Windows 7 wants to be Mac OS X

Although this will be old news for some of you, many aspects of Vista mirror Mac OS X.  From look and feel, included applications and functionality, all the way down to a new directory structure all made me think someone was trying pretty hard to be a Mac.  Windows 7 seemed to take it a step further and at least one Microsoft employee seems to concur. (thanks Silver)

Mafia Wars actually somewhat Mafia-like

I'm sure spammers justify their activities similar to how CEO Mark Pincus justifies starting his "Mafia Wars" company.  Paraphrasing Balzac: "Behind every great fortune there is a great crime." (thanks Kimberly)

My new favorite Wikipedia article

List of cats with fraudulent diplomas.

Update: I was linking to the discussion on this article and not the actual article, which is far more entertaining.

Glenn Beck doesn't do his homework

Evidently Beck is ripping on people to an audience of millions without even doing the courtesy of asking for comment.  Why should facts get in the way of a good story?

Cheney vs. Cheney

A withering but, as far as I can tell, accurate attack on Dick Cheney, suggesting most of all that his recent criticism of Obama's slow movement on Afghanistan is absurd given that his administration sat on their hands on the same issue for years.  I'm straining to see another side to this issue, but it seems here as complete lack of awareness.

It sort of reminds me of gay Republican senators attacking gays, which spawned this.