What I'm Working On Now

This place is dead, I really just haven't been inspired to write or post anything.  However, I've started yet another blog called LeakyMLLP where I'm starting to post things dealing with my day to day job.

Johnson City Traffic Cameras

Doesn't matter if you are for or against them... its helpful to know where they are.  A couple of us have set out to keep a Google Map up to date with the location of them in Johnson City, TN.

Head over to http://trafficcamera.tumblr.com/ for a link to the Google Map and updates as we add them.

Big thanks to Brad for getting the map started.

Austin's 2009 Music Awards

Here we are at that time of year when I look back at the big stack of cd's mp3's released this year that I've had the pleasure of digging into. This is also that time where I attempt to pick my favorite of the year. A silly thing to do, but a tradition for me anyway.

Austin's Favorite Album of 2009

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix

I have to admit that I was a bit shy about pronouncing this my favorite album this year. Actually I was a bit shy mentioning it at all. It sounds like candy and potentially something a teenage girl might like if she wasn't drooling over that annoying vampire movie. This album is a few hooks, better marketing, and a few drops of luck away from making Phoenix the new Coldplay. Actually sometimes I think they sound like a European version of The Strokes with more electronics, but I like The Strokes so that's ok.

Mainly this album grabbed my attention because it made me happy during times of this year when otherwise I really wasn't all that happy. I've listened to 1901 more times than I'd like to admit. I've listened to it while doing dishes, writing code, driving, or even during car commercials. I tap my toes every time and it makes me feel better.

Austin's Other Favorites of 2009

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

I'm sure a lot of people are tired of hearing about because there have been many people gushing about it all year. Initially I think I ignored the album because of all the buzz only to finally give it a few good listens and fall in love with it. It is eerie and folky and psychedelic all wrapping up in fancy hipster packaging. Technically I think this album is better than Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, but again the Phoenix album just made me happy this year. Check with me in 5 years, I'd bet I'll probably still be spinning this record and have totally forgotten about the other.

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Whenever Bill Callahan (or SMOG or whatever he wants to call himself) puts something out I listen up. Years ago when some friends turned me on to the Knock Knock disc I was hooked and have been ever since. This album feels more SMOGlike to me than the other stuff he has been putting out as Bill Callahan. Darker, and just what I like from him. This year Becky and I were lucky enough to catch him live at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC and it was wonderful.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2

I say DAMN I needed this. Raekwon releases an album that sounds like it could have come out 14 freaking years ago just after the first Cuban Linx. It sounds like a good Wu-Tang album and something just right up my alley since hip hop or rap or whatever you call it completely became lost on me with all the crunk bullshit.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Everyone and their mother loves this album and I'm no exception. Sort of unexpected because I haven't really dug anything else by them before this. But for a period of weeks this was on constant play. There are some songs on this record that grate, and grate me in such a way that I sometimes wonder why I'm listening to it. Then for some reason I love it, but I think that is the point.

The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

The Lips go weird. Wait. Weirder? Is that possible. It took me a little bit to get into this, but I'm really into it now. I first heard a snippit on some internet podcast a month or so before it was released and could not wait because I could tell it was going to be way different than the last few records. But when it got here I gave it a spin and put it aside for a while, I don't think I was ready for it. Definitely something that deserves a nice uninterrupted headphone listen to get into.

Austin's Most Overrated

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Sure it is pretty interesting, I've listened to it several times. It is ok music to code to, but I just haven't figured out the hype.

Austin's Biggest Disappointment

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Wilco and I go way back. Like Uncle Tupelo way back, when I thought that A.M. was actually not bad for a first record in the days when everyone thought Son Volt would grow up to put Wilco in its shadow. The stretch of albums from Summerteeth → Yankee Hotel Foxtrot → A Ghost Is Born was one of the most amazing for any band I've ever been into. They sounded like pain and broken hearts and addiction and someone trying to put their shit all back together at the same time. But when Sky Blue Sky hit they sounded more like people who had their shit together now, and just couldn't figure out how to make music anymore. Or at least music that I wanted to listen to. Which brings us to Wilco (The Album), where the camel on the cover was the most entertaining item. I listened to it twice and put it away.

PeoplePods on Snow Leopard - Tinker part 1

I've been attempting to tinker lately with PeoplePods for an upcoming personal project.  To dink with the code I've installed it into my local Sites folder on my Macbook.


This was the first time I'd diddled around with Apache2/PHP5 on OS X and was having an odd time getting the .htaccess file in my Sites directory to work.


In my users conf file (my username = austin so /etc/apache2/users/austin.conf for me) I changed AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All.  However the .htaccess created by PeoplePods was still crapping its diaper.


I'm not sure why this worked.  But in my ~/Sites/.htaccess file right before RewriteEngine On I added Options +FollowSymLinks and now all is well.

Alabama Loves Socialists

When I think of Alabama I think of conservative, God fearing Republicans who shudder at any liberal leanings. Healthcare reform? Heck no bubba that's Socialism.

Turns out though that Alabama has a love affair with Socialists. Or at least a love affair with one Socialist in particular.

Helen Keller.

In 2003, Alabama honored Keller by putting her on their version of the state quarter. And just recently a statue of Keller was placed in the U.S. Capital to represent Alabama.

A lot of us learn about Helen Keller as youngsters, but the history of her life fed to us is watered down and doesn't really give us a true picture of who this person was. Instead it is presented to us as a way of trying to convince us that "Hey you've got ears and eyes that work, so if Helen Keller can learn and go to college so can you." She is presented as one of these true American success stories who overcome great obstacles to do good for others.

The conditions and lives of deaf and blind people all over the world are certainly enriched by the life and work of Helen Keller. However, these let's-pat-ourselves-on-the-back tellings of her life leave out large chunks of what she was all about.

I wonder how many of the people you might pass in a mall or on the street somewhere would know that Keller was helped create the American Civil Liberties Union? Yes that organization that is much loathed by those on the right for all of their controversial work.

Or how about this. Helen Keller was a Socialist. Seriously. Not a Democrat who gets called a Socialist for wanting healthcare reform but a for real member of the Socialist Party in the who pushed for the election of Eugene Debs every time he ran for President of the United States as a Socialist candidate. She later joined the IWW when she felt the Socalist Party was "too slow" and unable to keep its "revolutionary character". You can read her own words regarding this topic in How I Became A Socialist and Why I Became an IWW.

Not only this, but she was also down with Women's Suffrage and birth control two items I'm sure were quite controversial during her time.

Most of the blurbs I read here and there and heard in passing never mentioned much beyond the disabilities she over came. However, I must give some props to Fox News on this one. Which isn't something you'll hear me do often. Read CNN's article here.

"She traveled the world as an adult, wrote 12 books and championed causes including women's suffrage and workers' rights."

That is about as controversial as CNN got. However click here to read an article from Fox about the statue unveiling.

"In addition to advocating for people with disabilities, she was a suffragette, a pacifist, a radical socialist, a birth control supporter and in 1920, she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.)"

The point of this is not to bash the fine people of Alabama or to push for or against the politics of Helen Keller (a good bit of which I do in fact agree with), but instead to point out how watered down our history is. If you are going to hold up a citizen as a representation of what makes your state or your country great include all of their history. Just the disabilities overcome make Keller a great American, but why the fact that she was a Socialist or any other so-called controversial political activities detract from that?

City Commission Shakedown

Was talking to a friend last night about Johnson City, our awesome amount of strip malls, and later the Johnson City Commission. An idea I proposed to him was getting someone on the Commission who might shake things up. Might not keep yet-another-strip-mall from being build off State of Franklin Road somewhere or draw more attention downtown but why not get someone up there who might ruffle some feathers or piss some people off.  


As of right now our Commission is made up of a Dentist, a Lawyer, a Doctor's wife, a Banker, and a restauranteur. And boys and girls that Commission is white as a sheet of paper.  


I'm sure they are all nice people, but where are the people that I run into on a daily basis? How about a janitor or a tattoo artist or a musician or an art gallery owner or the old cashier at the gas station that I talk local politics with from time to time? Is it because we don't try or because it probably costs a ton of money to get into it or a combo of both.  


Locals... who would you like to see on the City Commission? How do we make this happen?

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Over the last week I have become obsessed with early '80s U2. This is not the first time it has happened.

Whenever I think about U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday is the first tune that pops into my mind and mainly because of this video.

Strange I know. There really isn't anything special about this video, but to me during this time and first being introduced to MTV it was totally different. I'll let you go back in your mind and recall all the shit 80's music and videos being peddled at this time.

This was different. These guys were sweaty and rocking and you could see their breathe so it must have been cold and what was the guy marching out with the white flag for? It was making a statement, I was too young to know or care what it was but I liked it.

U2 sort of ends with The Joshua Tree for me. Rattle & Hum lost me and soon they seemed to become a mockery of themselves although I haven't hated the last two albums maybe out of nostalgia. But Sunday Bloody Sunday will always be a special song for me.