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12 Feb 2011 18:26

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World: Researchers: We just found a wrecked ship tied to “Moby Dick”!

  • See that down there? That decayed jar of ginger may be a key piece of the Moby Dick puzzle deep in the ocean for three centuries. The inspiration for Herman Melville’s book (and, indirectly Herman Melville’s great-great-great-grandnephew’s stage name), George Pollard, Jr., was the captain of the ship “Two Brothers,” a ship that was struck by lightning and sank way back in 1823. (It was Pollard’s second whaling ship to face such an unlucky fate.) The crew was rescued, but the ship reportedly wasn’t found until recently, 600 miles off the coast of Honolulu. If true, this is awesome. (Photo by Greg McFall, NOAA) source

04 Jul 2009 19:27

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: R.E.M. clear, Spoon noisy, Moby actually good

  • 1. Wow. Michael Stipe sounds so – clear. The remastered version of R.E.M.’s second album, “Reckoning,” needed it, and “So. Central Rain,” a song so muffled we could only make out the “I’m sorrrrrrry …” chorus before, now is as clean as a hybrid car.
    2. Hot Lava named a song after an imaginary Mac command, which sounds silly, but the song is so cheery that you won’t care. Best part? The intro. It shouldn’t work but does.
    3. Phil Ochs was a protest folkie who never gave up on his mission but never measured up to more famous peers like Joan Baez or Bob Dylan. Ochs committed suicide in 1976 – a real shame, as songs like “Links on the Chain” show he had a gift for insight.
    4. Where does a band like Spoon go after finally breaking big? By releasing an odd little EP. “Tweakers,” a noisy instrumental, is the strangest, but it’s great mood music.
    5. Behold, the resurrection of Moby. After years of being seen as a sellout (in a bad way) after “Play” sold out (in a good way), his latest, “Wait For Me,” is getting good reviews. Awesome video aside, “Shot in the Back of the Head” is our favorite. source