Month: February 2004

Humppa

looky

Dan is really into “Humppa” lately- a Finnish rock style. He’s playing a lot of it on KALX.

Except as it turns out, what he’s playing isn’t even real humppa. The real humppa is a Finnish jazz/(polka?) music genre. Investigating this, I got two music genres in one… although I still don’t speak Finnish.

DANH: apparently the band i have been listening to is a parody of real humppaa
BRIAN: woah
DANH: real humpaa is traditional old people dance in Finland
DANH: someone said real humppa is way more insane

From a post on orkut:

Real humppa 2/1/2004 11:35 PM

The real humppa is a very serious thing – it’s a dance quite like waltz or tang
o and there are many people that are passionately into it, but they’re mostly ol
der people.

Eläkeläiset is a parody of the real humppa. Actually it’s even more – it’s a parody of old people’s traditional lifestyle in Finland.

DANH: i would upload a ton of humpaa but my upload rate is slow

Jamie Kennedy

looky

The whole first part is Jamie Kennedy talking about how “Crazy” he and his family are. Weak.

However, once he gets going, his accounts of struggling for years is pretty great.

He also makes a good pitch of his show, “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” which I totally would have watched if someone had explained the concept to me. It just looked like a lame prank show… but the writing philosophy was more interesting- they deliberately set up situations where the mark’s ethics would be put to the test. Bad marketing!

0806525711

Celine Dion Must Be Destroyed

looky

I was just listening to the original version of I Drove All Night– the one you hear all the time on TV because Celine Dion sings it on a car commecial. Originally that song was performed by Cyndi Lauper– who could kick Celine Dion’s ass.

Even though it makes me feel old to say it, I remember when that song first came out. Cyndi is naked in the video, with a film of a spinning car wheel projected on her body. Her hair is bleached power-white with a skunky black tuft in the front.

Cyndi was cool because she was 1980s pop-punk-rock, and she was tough, but still feminine. Even though she was a lot older than other idols (I think she was over 30 when she was really famous in the mid 1980s), she was spunky and cute and cool.

So back to the song. Cyndi’s version is a lot more stylized and husky than the way Celine does it. Celine turns the phrase “to get to you” into an anemic tripletted “to get, to you-” instead of Cyndi’s punky stoccatto of “to! get! to you!”

And much more than simple style is lost in the new version. While Celine just caterwauls the lyrics and sounds like she is singing a car commercial, Cyndi’s version is more earthy and tells a story- she’s overcome with longing in the middle of the night, and drives a great distance to be with her lover.

Cyndi is asking her lover to not be creeped out by this intimidating display of affection, and asks sort of defiantly “is that all right?” Celine just sounds spacey when she says it.

Solar Panels on your House

looky

What would you have to do to make your house entirely solar-powered?

  • Million Solar Roofs is a site run by the Department of Energy which has a lot of information about doing this

  • Atlantis makes special tiles which have solar panels embedded in them:

    A typical installation of 216 Sunslates® (about 300 square feet / 28 square meters) will cover from 60 to 80% of your power needs. The roof is installed by your local roofer and the electrical work is done by your local electrician.

    That said, your roofing and electrical contractors will on average be charging $12,000 per 100 square feet( there is just over 1kW per 100 square feet) or $12.00 per watt.

  • For Northern California, you can call Akeena Solar… they install solar panels. In addition they are North American Board of Certified Energy Practioners Certified PV Installerâ„¢s

Paying for it: I got most of these off of the CA section of the DSIRE site.

  • California Revenue & Taxation Code § 17053.84 –
    After January 1, 2004 and before January 1, 2006, a credit of 7.5 percent of the cost of an installed solar energy system will be available.

    The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) administers the program in consultation with the California Energy Commission (Commission). The solar or wind system must be certified by the Commission. A five-year warranty is required of each system. Taxpayers claiming the credit cannot sell the electricity produced by the system, but may utilize California’s net metering law, if eligible.

  • Emerging Renewables Rebate Program (ERP) replaces the Emerging Renewables Buydown Program (ERBP), a program of the California Energy Commission.

    The following system requirements will apply:  

    • must be grid connected;  
    • electricity production is not to exceed 200% of the site’s historical or current electricity needs;  
    • the equipment retailer must provide a 5-year warranty;  
    • systems/components must meet national standards;  
    • only new equipment is eligible;  
    • systems must be installed by licensed contractors or owner-installed;  
    • all systems must be installed with a performance meter; and
    • system audits will be conducted by the Energy Commission.

  • PG&E SELFGEN program- there is no money left for this program! Also, it is aimed primarily at businesses. Looks like you have to apply to this plan in order to sell power back to the grid?

  • there is a California Property Tax Exemption for Solar Systems described in CA Revenue and Taxation Code, Section 73 . Expiring in 2006, it basically says that the solar power system has no property taxes associated with it.