Anyone who has paid attention to rock for the last 20 years has likely heard of what must be the biggest bust in rock history, Guns N' Roses fabled album "Chinese Democracy". "Wait, GNR?" you say, "They aren't even still together are they?"

Yes in fact, technically they are, though only barely, and maintaining their credibility as the most disappointing and out of control band in history (Yes, The Who and Keith Moon were crazy, but they were only responsible for one mass crushing and the deaths of 11 people, whereas GNR has not only had that, but at least a half a dozen riots in cities around the world, and has played less than half of the scheduled dates in most of their tours.)

Now comes the news that finally, after going through a dozen band members, a half dozen spectacularly failed tours, several riots, and 14 years of recording, word comes that Chinese Democracy may finally be released this year.

How ridiculous is this? Well, in 2003, The Offspring threatened (in a joke) to name their new album "Chinese Democracy (You Snooze, You Lose)" Wait, The Offspring? you say. Yes, that's right, that semi-novelty, punk-metal band from the late 90s early 00s. Yes, in the time they've been working on this album, a band has risen from obscurity, had some big hits, released 5 platinum albums, made a joke about the GNR album, and then faded away back into obscurity.

How ridiculous? The Dr Pepper company has promised to give every single citizen of the US a can of Dr Pepper if the album is released in 2008 (naturally assuming they'd never have to pay up). Of course, they're excluding former Guitarists Slash and Buckethead, they'll have to pay their own dollar.

I just wonder, at this point, how could an album possibly live up to the incredible baggage of this one? And I'm firmly in the camp that says that Izzy Stradlin was the real heart of that band, and he left in 1991 (right around the last time they were relevant), but now the only one left from the original line-up is Axl, and his unique methods of screaming seem to have destroyed his vocal cords.

Truly I have no idea how to feel about this album. I still celebrate Appetite for Destruction as one of the greatest rock albums in history, but paying attention to it all is starting to hurt.

Notes:
Wikipedia article on Chinese Democracy's sordid history

Harmonix announces track from Chinese Democracy included in "Rock Band 2" game coming in fall

HA! Turns out the Offspring have a new album out, too, and they beat GNR by months releasing it in June.

Quite a few US Gold medal ceremonies and so a lot of opportunities to hear The Star Spangled Banner, which normally is not a cause for musical rejoicing, but the Chinese arrangement is really nice. It hits all the important aspects but also dials up the bombast quite a bit with a lot of moving low brass parts and really cool counterpoint and perfect tempo. So if you're still cynical even with the Olympics here, the Beach Volleyball and the music makes it worth a quick look at least.

Of course, practitioners of the "spew" style are typically people who dedicate many hours of their day to blogging, and because of their effort actually create a narrative through their many entries. So I'm not completely dissing that style of blog, I'm just saying, I can't and don't do that.

But this blog has also been a means for me to tell people where I am and what I'm doing, which since I travel for a living and like traveling when I'm not making a living is a pretty difficult question to answer. So I've started a new blog to provide short updates on where I am and what I'm doing for people who care or want to get a hold of me. I know that the rage for this sort of communication is now twitter, but I'm just not ADD enough to have much interest in that. To me its far too "micro" to be useful, and there is no way in hell I'm updating it with where I am 15 times a day. Plus I'd like to include photos and short travelogue entries and such. So that's what the new blog is. I expect to update it much more often, as it will be composed mainly of short (for me) entries about where I'm at, what is happening there, and what I'm doing. As well, hopefully some travelogue type stuff, and flickr photo's from different places.

And I can hear you saying, dear reader, "Another blog? Jesus, I barely have time to keep up with the rest of this Interweb crap!" and I understand and sympathize. Which is why I'm telling you about some options. First off, if anyone out there isn't using Google Reader, you should start. I tried to keep up with dozens of blogs, and it took forever and inevitably I'd forget about one of them and then be 45 entries behind 5 months later and just give up. Google reader is a free web program for gathering RSS bookmarks. If you don't know what that means, have no fear, as it stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and they mean it. In fact, if you're using Mozilla Firefox for your web browser (and really there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be) all you have to do is click on the little orange box in the address bar on any site you want to read, and it will ask you where to add it to, and you can choose Google Reader from the list. I'm sure there's a way to do it with IE that isn't much harder, but you need to stop using it, so I won't tell you. Once you've got all the feeds you want, you just go to the page and there they all are. This means, that if you've got a friend with a blog who posts to it particularly sporadically (in olden days I'd have used myself as this example, but Princess Blogonoke has earned this distinction for all time) you don't have to go to the blog, you can just check Google reader and it will let you know when there's something new on *any* of the blogs or news feeds you follow. Add to that the social aspect of sharing stories you find interesting with any of your friends who are also using Reader and it completely changes the way you enjoy blogs, and allows you to use your friends as a filter for the most interesting stuff out there.

I first learned about Reader from Lenny. Even though I'm a fairly savvy computer user I do tend to get stuck into my habits and don't look around too much until I get really fed up. But I immediately fell in love with Reader and I think anyone else who uses it will too.

However, in my slate reading today (using Google reader) I saw an article on a (somewhat) new website started by former Googleers called FriendFeed that makes this process even easier. Using it you can create a page for yourself that pulls together information from the dozens of social-networking sites on the web and collects all your info together for others to access all at once. This greatly eases the burden on anyone trying to keep up with you and reduces the list of sites they need to visit drastically. There are still some sites not supported (MySpace is a big one) but it is a much easier method.

However, that's only half of the story, the real important take away is that you can also create pages for people, even if they are too damn lazy to do it themselves (like Andy). This is the "Imaginary" Friend option, but it doesn't just have to be for cyberstalking the latest from Cory Doctorow, it can actually be used on your friends and the public data they have listed. So anyway, I'm on there as ktismael (no surprise) and by going there you can keep up with all of this stuff. Of course, once I got on there was only one person in my whole gmail address book who was already there: Lenny. So I suppose I could have just asked him 6 months ago and he'd have told me. But then I was in his house 6 months ago, so maybe I'm not too far behind.

I'm currently still using Reader primarily, and probably will always use both together. But its a pretty cool service. Anyway, using one or both of these sites will hopefully make this much easier and allow you to forgive me for bringing one more blog to the planet.

Bear in mind that this is in fact an email which was written in one sitting with very little editing, and so may have major errors or omissions or places where I make no sense at all. Which you may or may not find different from regular articles. In any case, it was too long to just sit in my sent items folder so, lucky readers, here it is. Interesting also to note that I have been ranting to anyone who would listen about plug-in hybrids since at least 2004 and promised an article on plug-in hybrids in January of 2007 but this is the first time any thing substantive has appeared about them in this space. I still plan to put together a slightly more indepth article.

First, I wanted to thank you for writing an excellent column. I consider myself a moderate environmentalist, in that I try to make informed and intelligent choices about my own consumption and purchases, without resorting to Ed Begley Jr-type excesses that require complete rearrangements of lifestyle. But making these choices certainly are becoming more complex, and having someone taking the time to do a thorough and intelligent investigation of the actual cradle to grave impacts of energy usage and emissions is an invaluable service.

One topic I've heard you mention wanting to tackle in the future is that of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. When I first started hearing about this my gut instinct was that this was being used primarily as a distraction by the auto companies to avoid having to actually make progress on hybrids which were just being produced. It seemed like a pattern in which automakers always chose a technology 5-10 years on the horizon as the "next big thing" so they could avoid improving fuel economy today. Further research has not changed my (admittedly somewhat biased) opinion.

Part of the problem I've found in research is finding researchers without fairly obvious agendas. Here are three interesting papers I've found discussing the issues, all of which make important basic scientific points, but the first is written by someone who claims that there IS NO energy solution and the world population will experience a Malthusian collapse to 1 billion no matter what we do. A second I read was quite old and came from an advocacy group against nuclear power (and didn't make many points that the first didn't). A third is quite technical but seems balanced and well-researched, though at this point I wouldn't be *too* surprised to find out that the author advocates murder of puppies somewhere in there.

Many of the articles on the other side seem to be highly dependent on the false argument that there was no gasoline infrastructure until we built it, which self-evidently ignores not only the specialized challenges that face hydrogen as a fuel source, but the fact that the gasoline economy had the good fortune of decades to be built. Much of the arguments on the pro-hydrogen side seem to come from an offshoot of "We're Americans, dammit, and we can figure anything out!"

While I personally find some truth in the libertarian argument that there are no resources but human resources (that is, that any resource shortage can be solved through ingenuity and creating new solutions), this doesn't imply that we can create any solution that we want. Which is to say, we could spend billions of dollars investing in a salmon economy, using wild Alaskan king salmon to fuel our automobiles, and no amount of human ingenuity would make it a good idea. Part of the ingenuity required is in finding the *right* solution and not wasting resources on the wrong one.

In any case, my personal bias is this: Hydrogen would have to be a pretty spectacular fuel source to supplant that which already exists: Electric and Hybrid-Electric Cars. This technology is not only already mature enough to be useful today, the infrastructure is already in place (in the form of nationwide transmission lines). Its true that electricity today is highly dependent upon coal, but tying cars to the grid allows us to double our money on improving emissions. As we improve our power grid emissions, cars come with it. The only investment in new production for the infrastructure is metered individual charging stations tying into power lines and/or replacement battery systems (for pure electrics), and the existing fuel network for hybrids which can be increasingly supplemented with biofuels or other fuels capable of electricity generation in a small package. (Yes, I know how dirty a name biofuels have gotten, as detailed in your slate colleague Christopher Flavelle's article: . However, the use of plug-in hybrids would undeniably reduce total consumption of fuels for transportation, and a responsible (no food-based) program of biomass and oil derivative recycling might be able to have a major impact on this new lower-volume of demand.) All of this technology exists and is ready to go today, and with electricity being as ubiquitous as it is, is available to a wide range of people.

(Speaking of which, I noticed in your recent chat you mentioned home solar generation for powering electric cars. Tesla Motors is teamed with Solar City for something like this. Doesn't really look especially cost effective at this point, but definitely seems feasible at least. Here's an article: )

Anyway, I look forward to your article on hydrogen, even if your findings don't confirm my biases. I've really enjoyed your work so far, and will continue to await the latest articles.

KT

Note: I think I'll crosspost this letter to my blog (http://ktismael.com/mt/ ) as it was just supposed to be a quick email and has since turned into a full-length article (albeit poorly written, not properly researched, and with poor explanations, but hey, its a blog, so that's OK). Fair warning, I may prepare another one of these before long on another pet environmental obsession of mine "On the grid Solar". But that won't be today, as I do actually have a day job, despite the ridiculous length of this email, which I suspect you're < 50% likely to have read this far into.

It is a special kind of torture to see the Wings win without any cell phone service far from home and the rest of my Hockeytown comrades. I'm sure somewhere out there I can find a recording of this, so for Andy and I, both of whom are currently exiled from the homeland in this moment of triumph, I'm going to have a barbeque at which the sacred tape will be played again. Hell, I was going to have a barbeque anyway, now I have an excuse.

Great props to the Pens fans for sticking around. Its just the right thing to do, and real hockey fans know that.

I hope they at least delay the parade until Sunday so I could make it.

For any out there who may have become accustomed to reading updates on here while the game is going, and who are also likely to call me screaming when the Wings win the Cup (whenever that might happen), on this particular night I am out of cell phone range and thus out of contact. So trust that I am screaming with you, just not audibly. But Internet works so I may try to Skypeout.

2OT Update
I love the playoffs, and I especially love these long overtime games. It doesn't feel like a real Cup run without at least one of these long miserable bastards. I predict a rash of red flu at workplaces across the Metro area (and throughout the world in the hundreds of "Little Hockeytowns" wherever Michiganders settle.

I haven't said anything yet about Fleury, and he certainly deserves it, and maybe saying it out loud will break the curse. It has been an incredible game for both goaltenders, but Fleury continues to impress. Some great penalty killing on both sides.

But now we move on to 3OT and face the prospect of playing 2 whole games of ice time in the same night. The Red Wings have experience and depth, but quite a few young guys as well. I think Detroit is deeper and better conditioned, but in OT, especially 3OT one small mistake can lead to goal for either side, and small mistakes are much easier to make when you've worked that hard.

Andy wouldn't be happy if I didn't mention really bad officiating. There has been really bad officiating, and it deems to have skewed against the Wings, especially those terrible Goaltender Interference calls, and Obstruction non-calls. But we can only play the game we have and not the one we wish we had. GO Wings!

-Ish (quite happy he took a nap after class this afternoon, and doesn't start tomorrow morning until 0830)

OT
So I'm at Union School for Hazmat Technician class in Easton, MD, which means some part of me wants this thing to go 7 so I can be home for the Cup win. But that makes me a little too nervous, so even though I won't be around for the parties, I'll take a win tonight.

The result is still unknown, but a great game so far. I really like Pittsburgh as a team. I have a connection to them through a close family friend who has worked for them for years now, and I actually got to see Mario play in Pitt 15 years ago, so I have a natural affinity for the team, but this particular group is really incredible, and I'm glad they've started playing like the team they are. I still think we'll beat them whatever the result tonight, but I love to see a good series.

Darren Helm is looking great tonight, and Datsyuk is going beyond even his own usually stellar play. Anyway, here's hoping 2OT is the charm. Go WINGS!

1919
Spent most of the 2nd period drinking wine and talking to Chet's friend from work, Nick, who is an Australian Frenchman working for a British Company. Seems to have been a good choice, given the way the game is going. Still, only 1 goal down, I remain hopeful.

1758
And here I was, just about to forgive Brad Stuart after last game.

1731
Both teams playing decent to start. Pitt is definitely showing some more intensity. And the holding calls have been chintsy, but there's been one on each side, so I guess it balances out. But calling obstruction every time two players come in contact and some hand-checking is involved probably favors the Pens.

1725
Nice touch bringing Scotty out for the puck drop. He looks good.

1720
For those unfortunate enough to be watching from the States, I'll report that Don Cherry is wearing a pastel colored suit arrayed in a checkerboard pattern, which is quite stunning on CBC-HD.

1715 (Pacific Time)
Just got off the Alaska Marine Highway's Motor Vessel Columbia on Monday, and hanging out with Chet in Vancouver. Should be done sailing for a while, and thought I'd try to take some time to blog the game since I'm generally just drinking beer and watching the game from the 33rd floor of Chet's condo (interestingly right next to General Motor's Place where the Canucks play).

So I'll update this on occasion through the game, but I'll be busy with ribs and beer so it won't exactly be a comprehensive review. Some preliminary thoughts... I don't really expect the Pens to continue lying down for us, especially at home. I expect them to take at least one of these next two. Of course, part of that is because I'd really like to back in Detroit when they win it all, which will likely only happen if it goes 7 games (which I don't expect). But maybe I can make a weekend parade. Anyway, the Wings have looked incredible so far, even with some questionable officiating, and its been on the back of great defense which is even more impressive. Anyway, I'll sign off for a few now.

Perhaps the league would be better served to worry about players like Bertuzzi and Pronger attempting to kill fellow players and leave Al and the cephalopods alone.

Free Al for the Playoffs