Have you heard of Pandora? It is the BEST Internet radio station. Most of the music I enjoy doesn't get airtime on mainstream radio stations, and I hate listening to commercials and station identifications, so I listen to public radio and rely on my CD collection (and the Library's) for music.
Now there's Pandora, though. Pandora is powered by the Music Genome Project, which creates genomes (listing of song characteristics, like vamping, use of acoustic instruments, female lead singer, etc.) for every song in the database. Listeners enter songs or artists they enjoy in Pandora, and Pandora creates a station that plays music with similar genomes. Every song can be accepted or rejected. And the best part is that there are no vocal commercials. All the advertising is done in print/graphics on one side of the website. I listen to Pandora at work, so I rarely look at the site (just listen), and I'm not inconvenienced by the advertising at all.
I'm listening to it right now and rocking out to "Gillian" by the Waifs, which, curses!, is not available on YouTube for listening to over and over and over again.
p.s. Check out this site, heifer.org. It's an organization that gives animals and training to developing nations. You can give the gift of, for example, a goat (or a share of a goat!), a water buffalo, a llama.
p.p.s. I am currently having a love affair with toast. I eat it every night when I get home from work and it makes me HAPPY. Almost as happy as the idea of goat giving.
8 comments:
Speaking of goat giving, I once talked to a person in my non-profit about fund-raising ideas. She said in their community (I forget where this is), May 1 is Goat Day. A local farmer will donate a goat to the cause for one day. The organization sends the goat to someone. And then that person has to pay whatever amount to have the goat taken away---and they get to choose who the goat goes to next. And so on and so forth. That's gotta be the most interesting fund-raising idea I've ever heard, I must say...
I love toast with jam at night. It makes me happy.
Here's my problem with Pandora: It is still learning my likes and dislikes, so I get a lot of crazy stuff. For example, I was listening to the "Rockin' Christmas" channel (or something like that) and had to endure about 76 versions of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." I get it already, it's cold! I don't need Leann Womack and Martina McBride and a bevy of other country-singing chicks to tell me that repeatedly for hours on end.
OK, I feel better now. Maybe I'll give someone a goat.
Sorry, just me again.
So I was looking at heifer.org, and I clicked on the "trio of bunnies" because I thought that all people would love to have a trio of adorable little bunnies.
Dude! Check out the bunny in that picture. It's bigger than the baby!
I'm a little scared of bunnies now.
Alyssa--Goats are givers. I really like that idea.
Emily--Are you listening to stations created by other people on Pandora? If you are, you must stop this. You must be the boss of Pandora.
Also, I did look at the bunnies earlier today and was startled to see something that looked like a jackrabbit that had maybe eaten the bunny trio. I can only imagine that those bunnies ("bunnies") are being bred to pull carts of stones or other hard labor. Seriously huge bunnies.
And I just thought the heifer.org mailer was a bit of a joke when it showed up in my mailbox. Maybe all my needy families in Chicago need a goat? (Actually it's a really cool idea, but I'd rather spend my money on the Greater Chicago Food Depository because they do such an amazing job with the various food kitchens in the area. Hmm. Does that make me selfish?)
Me again . . . so if you heart heifer.org, but just can't afford a water buffalo, the nice ladies at FMH are doing a group fundraiser. And they would love our help. :)
Chou--Thanks for the link. And I agree that supporting your local organizations is always an EXCELLENT idea.
When my mom first began requesting goats and the like from Heiffer for Christmas, I asked her, over the phone, to tell me the website. I made sure she repeated it several times, because I really didn't want to end up on a naughty site for lovers of hefty women.
Great organization, my husband wooed me with baby chicks.
Post a Comment