Other Side Drive October 24, 2012

KTSW Other Side Drive 

October 24, 2012

Weird News

First there was a masked vigilante in Seattle, now we have samurai’s on a train. No, it wasn’t Tom Cruise, even though he’s supposedly the last samurai. In Phoenix, a fight broke out around 2am among three African American individuals. Two of them wanted to jump the larger African American male. They repeatedly kicked and punched him, until a white male in a baseball cap and head phones came to the rescue. He pulled out the unsheathed katana sword and pointed it directly at the attackers. With the rise of firearms, I’m surprised that there’s still samurai’s. Speaking of afros, the victim had an afro and surprisingly wanted to take the sword from the unidentified samurai. Not to stop him but to use it on his attackers. But the samurai just kept his weapons steady and forced the attackers to leave the train. The whole event was caught on video and has gone viral since. Juan Vargas, the person that caught all this on camera told FOX 10 that “as soon as that guy pulled out the sword, everybody was like,’Whoa’. It got really quiet and everybody was like ‘Okay..okay, I guess don’t do anything to get him mad and don’t upset him.” I’m just wondering why no one noticed a man with a sword walking on the train. All turned out well, no one was hurt and trouble was averted. I bet Quentin Tarantino is just salivating at the possibility of this being his next movie.

It shouldn’t be surprising seeing a hamster on a wheel, but it may be unusual to see a hamster driving a car, unless you see Stuart little on the regular. The owner of the hamster, Nicole Huey, twenty-seven, was pulled over for driving intoxicated. The Oregon Authorities discovered that she had a hamster in her lap, with no productive gear or safety equipment on. So Huey was arrested and the hamster was sent to protective custody. It took three officers to apprehend the hamster. I hope he doesn’t catch an evading arrest charge. It’s a good thing that the hamster has a new home because Nicole suggested to the officer to kill it since no one could pick it up. The officers weren’t going to kill the animal, so they chose to put the hamster in a veterinarian clinic. Once out of jail, Huey picked up the hamster.

In the next story, William Liddell faces charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting an officer with violence, DUI, driving while license suspended and possessing a nice pair of defecated pants. Ok, having defecated pants isn’t an offense but sure is offensive. Witnesses in Golden Gate Florida say that they saw Liddell hit and run a car with his van then flee the scene. Once a deputy got close to the vehicle, Liddell put the vehicle in reverse, then punched the deputy. They exchanged blows until back up came and subdued Liddell. He fought the law and the.. law won. While taking pictures of Liddell’s injuries the police noticed that he had defecated his pants. Before the altercation the deputy heard Liddell say “Oh Shi…nit.” I guess being caught off guard by the cop may have set off a chain reaction of shock and bowel movement. Now, he’s in chains with mud butt. At least the inmates won’t mess with him in jail.

This next story involves when a Halloween costume is too realistic. Force can be used to get rid of an intruder, especially if the intruder is a skunk, but what if that skunk is your 9 year old relative? Police chief Ronald Leindecker said that the man (who has yet to be identified) mistook the girl for a skunk and shot her with a shotgun in the arm. First of all she was wearing a black costume and black hat with a tassel, how could she be mistaken for a skunk? Especially since she was standing up and probably talking with people. Second, why does he have a shotgun at a party unless he’s is trying to play a red neck. The girl was alert and talking when she was rushed to the PA Children’s hospital. She is ok. Police are not sure if charges will be filed. I know that I won’t be treat or treating by his house. I’m not trying to catch a grenade in my goody bag.

-Chocolate Charlie

Music Review

Baltimore artist Dan Deacon just released his 8th studio album this past August called America. Deacon is known for his eccentric electronic beats and this album is no different than his others in that sense. The influence however is much different than his other albums, and comes from American politics and geography. The inspiration came from several tours across the country and in a recent interview with NPR says “You could really despise every aspect of what you think American culture is but it’s hard to deny that the land itself is beautiful”. And thus the album America was created.

Track 5 on America, Crash Jam shows another new aspect to Dan Deacon’s work. There are not only digital sounds and voice distortions used in this track but also live drumming throughout. Deacon wanted to use the two completely opposite sounds together to show the little imperfections of timing with live instrumentations.

“True Thrush” can definitely be considered the gem of the new album. This past July before the release of America a music video was released for True Thrush that included several known Baltimore artists and Deacon’s friends playing a skit based version of the game telephone. It has a cheery melody and excludes a lot of the conflicting sounds that other tracks include. The beginning starts much like a typical indie electronic track but takes a quick turn into being an incredibly upbeat and joy filled tune.

A very interesting trait to America is the sudden change of gear after the first 5 tracks. The final songs demonstrate magnificent orchestral arrangements and are genuinely beautiful musical pieces. It is very intriguing to hear the signature Dan Deacon electronic sound being combined with such classical orchestral sounds. Track 8, “USA III: Rail” is a perfect example of that: opening with steel drums progressing into innocent string instruments and finally ending with distorted vocals and synthesizers.

Dan Deacon has successfully brought listeners another high energy, electronic album but still with a flare that keeps fans on the edge of their seats. He will be touring and playing his album America across the United States and Canada for the next year. More information about Dan Deacon and his tour dates at dandeacon.com.

-Melissa Bond

Tech Talk

We’ve all received a call from an unknown number that turned out to be a “free trip to jamaica”, or the winner in a contest we didn’t enter. Robocalls as they are known, happen all too frequently, and once they get your number, it’s often impossible to stop the calls. The Federal Trade Commission has taken an interesting approach to finding a solution to robocalls. The FTC has announced a contest that will award $50,000 to the team that creates the best technical solution to solve the problem of robocalls. The contest will begin October 25th and will be open till January 17th 2013, with the winners being announced in April. The contest rules are very simple, and are broken down into three weighted categories: 1. Does it work? counts for 50% 2. Is it easy to use? and 3. Can it be rolled out? for 25% each. The FTC will provide teams with non-personally identifiable data on robocall consumer complaints from the last four years. Creators of the solution will also be able to retain their intellectual property. More information can be found at robocall.challenge.gov.

Illegally downloading content over the internet is about to become a bit more difficult. CNN has reported a new alert system about to roll out in the next few months. The copyright alert system will repeatedly warn and possibly punish people who illegally download content. Service providers who will participate in the new alert system include AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon. They will use a service called MarkMonitor, which uses a combination of people and automated systems to identify illegal downloading. MarkMonitor collects the IP addresses of consumers who are illegally downloading material and turn over the information to the Internet providers, which will match up the address with the right customer and send the notification. The notifications have been described as graduated, beginning with simple alerts and educational material then escalating to warnings and punishments. Punishments may range from being forced to acknowledge the warnings, read in detail educational material, or even the slowing of your internet speed to make downloading large files a much longer process. Each internet service provider will have a slightly different version of the copyright alert system but all systems will be monitored by the Center for Copyright Information and those who feel they have received the notifications in error can request a review for $35. This system seeks to address the issue of illegal downloading, but will that be enough to seriously damper the highly popular action? Or is this merely a step in the right direction? I think it goes without saying that this will likely upset a large amount of youth who try to illegally download the third season of dexter. However, for a much troubled industry this could route people back to the old ways…saving up your money and buying the product outright. So to anyone who is currently downloading old seasons of lost, or new music by ellie goulding get ready, the next few months may be a big change.

Ever had problems with google support? I’ve had the fortune not to, but for many who own google products getting help can be near impossible. Google plus a social networking site created and run by Google has taken on new life as a place for Google customers to air complaints about the customer service Google provides…or doesn’t provide. For most who use google, there is little help outside of self-service forums, and this has caused many to lash back at the internet giant. But what sets Google aside from other companies is how much free services Google offers. Should customers who use the free products like Google search, docs, and plus get support similar those who pay for products like the nexus, and adwords? I would like to say that if you are using a free service it’s fair to expect little to no customer service. The reasoning behind the belief is that billions of people use the internet and if .1% have a problem on a given day which require service it would take 20,833 people 8 hours a day just to keep up. Most of the people seeking help would be individuals who are using a free service and have paid nothing. Now, what about those who own a product for which they paid? Lane Montgomery vented his frustration when attempting to get a replacement Nexus 7. Montgomery stated that Google would require him to put $200 on hold in order for them to ship him his replacement even though he had already sent in the original. After posting his remarks Montgomery was sent his Nexus 7 but few have seen similar results. It seems that up until recently Google has focused primarily on large businesses leaving individuals and small businesses to their own devices, an act that has gained Google a bad reputation in the customer service world.

-Colton