Fun With Google

Okay; it's January 20th and the Sock Puppet has been sworn in for four more years of (mis)government that brings new meaning to the term "Bush-league".

But I'm NOT going to go there, today. I've got just LOADS of time to rant about Bush's Bizarro Robin Hood act. ("Me steal money from poor so me can give to rich mans!")

Rather, I'm going to try to mess with Google's head again.

Now anyone who knows me knows I'm a Macintosh Geek and an iPod junkie; I own several of the former and one of the latter.

My 'Pod is a 2nd-generation 10-Gigabyte model, and, with 8.3 GB of music currently on it, I'm not maxed out, but that's only because I cleaned up and archived some of my old stuff. But That 8.3 GB translates (for me) to 2036 songs, totaling 5.1 days' worth of continuous music.

Gotta love it!

When I leave the house in the morning, the 'Pod starts up and goes into a pocket for the walk to work. (Hint for iPod owners who live in wintry climes: If you have an inside shirt or jacket pocket, carry your iPod there, rather than an outside coat pocket, or in your hand. Besides making it harder to steal, keeping the 'Pod warm will increase the length of the battery charge. In an outside pocket in the winter, I get, maybe 5 hours of charge; in a shirt pocket (under a sweater, under a (usually) open leather jacket I can get 7 - 8. And that's with the original, now two-year-old battery and almost daily use!) When I get to work, it gets plugged into the AC adapter and into a pair of speakers. If I'm going out for any length of time it goes back in the pocket.

In short, I'm hooked.

BAD!

Now, usually, I have the 'Pod playing a random playlist that includes... well... 'most anything that you can imagine. Rock&Roll with bagpipes? Got it. Big Band? Reggae? Folk? Blues? Soundtrack? Classical? Hip Hop? All of the above. I don't, currently have the Northern Cree festival singers' great Rockin' the Rez album on my 'Pod, or Puya's amazing Fundamental (Think Motorhead trading riffs with Tito Puente - bloody amazing sound!), but they've both been there.

Peple at work seem to be both fascinated and bemused because they can NEVER know what's going to be playing when they walk into my office. There are a few who ask me whether I own any "normal" musc, and I'll click on something from the Beatles' 1, or Paul Simon's Graceland, or something, but nomally I like being surprised by what pops up.

Occasionally, I'll keep track of, say, the first twenty songs of the day, just for the weird amusement value of it.

And here's where the "messing with Google's head" part comes in. I've already mentioned Macintosh and my iPod, several times, and given a couple of album titles and the groups the did them. Now I'm going to run down today's leadoff twenty, and see what Google decides to push in the advertising bar on the right of the page.

Hey, Messing with Google is just good, clean, geeky fun!

Mike's iPod Twenty for I/20/05
(Actually, today's list is kind of boring, but let's run with it!)

Song Title - Artist - Album Title

The Swagless Swaggie - The Original Bushwhackers & Bullockies Band - The Shearer’s Dream
A Tisket, A Tasket - Ella Fitzgerald - The Jazz Collection: Ksw2 1957
Dawn of the Day - Steeleye Span - Tonight’s the Night… Live
It Ain’t Right - Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers - The Essential Collection
Happy Days & Lonely Nights - Charlie Fry And His Million Dollar Pier Orchestra - That’s What I Call Sweet Music
Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead - In the Dark
(Lookin’ for) The Heart of Saturday Night - Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
Grand Prix - Penelope Houston - Tongue
Carolan’s Concerto - Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir & Ed Tricket - The First Fifteen Years - Volume I
Your Own Worst Enemy - They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom
’Tain’t What You Do - Julie London - Wild Cool and Swingin' (UltraLounge)
Prairie Lullabye - Leon Redbone - From Branch to Branch
Ricercare À 6 - The Swingle Singers & The Modern Jazz Quartet - Place Vendôme
Drops of Brandy - The Original Bushwhackers & Bullockies Band - The Shearer’s Dream
Investigating Liz - Marco Beltrani - Hellboy – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sonata #1 in B-Minor - Andante - John Sebastian - John Sebastian Plays Bach
On My Mind the Whole Night Long - George Gershwin - Gershwin Plays Gershwin
Banana de Rustenberg - Spokes Machiyane - Township Jazz & Jive
Strange Meadowlark - The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Down by the O-Hi-O - Spike Jones And His City Slickers - Strictly For Music Lovers (Disc 3)

Okay, Google; do yer stuff!

Closing thought for today:
"I asked him to summon up the soul of Jimi Hendrix and requested 'All Along the Watchtower.' You know, the guy's been dead twenty years, but he still hasn't lost his edge!” -- Fox Mulder