- This is a new take on the “previously unreleased music
from a famous recording artist miraculously surfaces” scenario. Talking Heads
were one of the seminal acts on the early punk rock scene in New York City in
the 1970s and they were regulars at the famed CBGB’s on Manhattan’s Lower East
side, just north of Chinatown. It is at the iconic and now-closed club that a never-before-heard
Talking Heads song allegedly from 1976 was recorded and that recording has
surfaced via a Dutch fan site, Talking-Heads.nl. The unreleased instrumental
track was posted online with an accompanying claim that the New York group
performed the song during a support slot for Television at a CBGB's show on
July 30, 1976. The untitled, five-minute clip includes David Byrne introducing the
song and interacting with an audience member. "We call it 'Theme', but then
we just keep it to ourselves,” Byrne said when the audience member asked whether
the track had a title. The band released their debut album, “Talking Heads: 77”
the next year and went on to release some of the most important albums in the
early days of punk, including “Remain in Light” and “Fear of Music.” Their
too-short run in the spotlight ended just over a decade after it began with the
release of 1988’s “Naked.” Byrne has remained an enigmatic figure floating
around the fringes of the music scene ever since and in November, he popped up
just long enough to blast music streaming services for the paltry fees they pay
to artists. "I could conceivably survive, as I don't rely on the pittance
that comes my way from music streaming, as could [Thom] Yorke and some of the
others," Byrne said. "But up-and-coming artists don't have that
advantage – some haven't got to the point where they can make a living on live
performances and licensing. Wonder how Byrne feels about fan sites and rare,
live tracks leaked online……..
- Let the wolf- and coyote-shooting derby in Idaho
roll on. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Candy Wagahoff Dale gave the green
light to the hunt, ruling it could proceed on public land this weekend because its
organizers aren't required to get a special permit from the U.S. Forest
Service. The coyote huggers of WildEarth Guardians and other environmental
groups sought to stop the derby on the basis that the Forest Service was
ignoring its own rules that require permits for competitive events. The agency
disagreed and claimed that while hunting would take place in the forest on
Saturday and Sunday, the competitive portion of the event — where judges
determine the $1,000 prize winner for the biggest wolf killed — would occur on
private land. In the end, Dale decided derby promoters were encouraging use of
the forest for a lawful activity. "The derby hunt is not like a foot race
or ski race, where organizers would require the use of a loop or track for all
participants to race upon," she wrote. "Rather, hunters will be
dispersed throughout the forest, hunting at their own pace and in their own
preferred territory, and not in a prescribed location within a designated
perimeter." Even organizer Steve Alder noted that dozens of people had
already arrived in Salmon to participate and expressed excitement over the
decision. “We won," Alder said. "You've got a lot of people who have
driven from far distances to Salmon today…I don't want to send them packing
home." Such derbies are common across the West and much of the rest of the
country, but the inclusion of wolves has bleeding heart environmentalists angrier
than usual. WildEarth Guardians executive director John Hornung said many
people believes that in spite of Endangered Species Act protections for wolves
being lifted two years ago, the large carnivores still face existential threats.
"People are trying to kill as many animals as they can in two days in
order to win the prize," WildEarth Guardians attorney Sarah McMillan told
the judge during a Friday hearing. Thankfully, the judge swept McMillan’s argument
aside and cleared the way for the offing of some of the estimated 680 wolves
living in the Gem State……..
- Finding human beings willing to commit their lives to
protect their country is tougher than it once was. Maybe that’s why the
Pentagon is intensifying its push to develop technology furthering the role of
robots in war. That push, the centerpiece of a new blueprint released by the Pentagon
this week, has been dubbed the Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap. It is meant
to provide the Pentagon with a “technological vision” for the next 25 years.
That glitzy vision will be “critical to future success” of the military,
according to its authors. “Over the past decade, the qualities and types of
unmanned systems acquired by the military departments have grown, and their
capabilities have become integral to warfighter operations,” the study says.
“The size, sophistication, and cost of the unmanned systems portfolio have
grown to rival traditional manned systems.” As part of the push, events like
the one at a NASCAR racetrack in Miami earlier this month have become a focal
point. The gathering united teams from NASA, Google and 14 other engineering
outfits to test robots’ ability to complete tasks such as unscrewing a hose
from a spigot, climbing a ladder and steering a vehicle. The Pentagon’s
futuristic experimentation arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), organized the dork party with the idea that robots will eventually
take on tasks both too dangerous and too mundane to commit serious manpower to
in future wars. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have long used robots to dismantle
roadside bombs and haul soldiers’ gear in rocky terrain, but that role is expected to grow
in the future. For example, the U.S. Navy wants more unmanned underwater
vehicles to act as small scouting submarines and maintain port security. Its
Air Force counterparts want to use stealth drones in “contested environments,”
above countries that do have sophisticated air defense systems. The security of
such devices and their communication systems is vital, unless of course having the
enemy hack your robots a la “Iron Man 2” is cool……….
- Seriously….who kicks a coffee machine? That would be Rochester Americans left winger Frederick
Roy, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer and Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy.
The younger Roy was playing internationally with his team, the AHL affiliate of
the Buffalo Sabres, in a Spengler Cup game in Switzerland when the sh*t went
sideways. The Americans were getting neutralized by Switzerland's
Geneva-Servette 5-0 in the opening game of the international invitational
tournament when Frederick Roy was tossed from the game after he attempted to
fight an opponent as time expired. It had been a bad day for he and his team
and traveling several thousand miles across an ocean to get your ass kicked is
never fun, but what happened in those final seconds of the game – and beyond –
made Roy’s day so much worse. After his attempt to fight was rebuffed and he
was tossed, Roy yelled at the Geneva-Servette bench and threw his stick in
anger. All of that would have been embarrassing and left Roy feeling bad about
acting like a spoiled 10-year-old brat who just had his iPod Touch ripped by
his parents for fighting with his brother, but he chased it with a big boot to
an unsuspecting coffee machine. The coffee machine could not be reached for
comment, but appeared to be minding its own business when a skate-wearing
maniac kicked it out of nowhere. "Roy and his team lost, and they were
frustrated," Geneva-Servette assistant coach Louis Matte said. "It
happens in hockey." The next day, Roy and his team lost again, but he
managed to stay out of trouble in the 4-3 defeat to CSKA Moscow…….
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