Video: What’s a Girl To Do (Bat For Lashes)


http://youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8 (via flighty.cygnoir.net)

I don’t really understand what I like about Bat For Lashes. I first encountered them when iTunes Music Store had their song ‘Horse and I’ as a free Discovery Download in early August. It’s been one I listen to surprisingly often since then and I’ve been thinking off and on about downloading more of their stuff. Today I came across the above video on cygnoir’s blog which for some reason is fascinating to me. I mean, it’s just a girl and Furries riding on bikes on a dark road, but it still got me to watch a few times.

Anyways, I noticed that their album is available in iTunes Plus format (high bitrate/no drm) for only $7.99 so I ended up buying it at last.

Earthquakes and Typhoons

Today we had a bit of a wiggle:

M 5.0 34.6 km SSE of Yilan City 2007-09-22 14:27 #062 (0922142750062)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0922142750062.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0922142750062.txt

M 5.0 宜蘭南澳地震站東偏北方 11.5 公里 2007-09-22 14:27 #062 (0922142750062)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0922142750062.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0922142750062.txt

I haven’t updated about typhoon Wipha yet but basically because, *yawn*, it was pretty boring. So boring that we opened both restaurants and I was out and about at the supposed peak of the storm and it was nothing. It wasn’t even raining half the time I was out.

Typhoon Wipha

This one kinda snuck up on us but looks like we’ll be socked in with Typhoon Wipha tomorrow for those of us in Northern Taiwan. It actually looks like it might miss us to the north, but as always these things are very difficult to predict. We decided not to open the restaurants tomorrow morning as all of northern Taiwan has called a day off. We’ll re-evaluate tomorrow as the day goes on whether and when to re-open.

Free: Ron Paul Bumper Sticker

(By the way that’s a Ron Paul bumper sticker that is free, not a bumper sticker saying “Free Ron Paul”.)

Some dude named Jeff Ready is giving away Ron Paul stickers for free. He’s already given away more than 1000. Show your support for the best US presidential candidate out there.

(By the way, unless your state has an open primary, be sure to change the party on your voter registration so you’ll be eligible to vote in the primary. See your local registrar of voters. For US Citizens overseas, please register through the Overseas Vote Foundation as there are special requirements for registering as an overseas voter.)

Lyrics: Unbound (Suzanne Vega)

Here’s another set of lyrics off Suzanne Vega’s new album Beauty & Crime. The other lyrics online for this song weren’t blatantly wrong, but had missing or incorrect words in almost every verse, and someone doesn’t understand the difference between “its” and “it’s”.

By the way, I think this is probably the best album of the year so far, at least in my opinion.

Artist: Suzanne Vega
Song: Unbound
Album: Beauty & Crime

I knew a plant
Whose roots were bound
And then returned
Into the ground

Every day
I watched it grow
Every day
It struggled so

Roots were bound, the roots were bound
The roots were bound into the ground
Watched it grow, watched it grow
Watched it as it struggled so

I dug it up
I cut the twine
And so like this
I made it mine

I watched it drink
And watched it feed
And grow beyond
Its simple need

Cut the twine, I cut the twine
Cut the twine and made it mine
Watched it feed, watched it feed
Watched it feed the simple need

Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground
Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground

I was once
Tied at the root
Confined with twine
Both mind and foot

I cut it loose
And now am free
As anything
Alive can be

(alive can be, alive can be, alive can be…)

At the root, bound at the root
At the root both mind and foot
Am free, now am free
As anything alive can be

Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground
Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground

Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground
Unbound, roots unbound
Unbound into the ground

(into the ground, the ground, the ground…)

YouTube: Taiwan 2007-09-07 Earthquake 台灣2007年9月7日地震

On September 9, 2007, a magnitude 6.6 quake (according to the Central Weather Bureau; 6.5 according to USGS) struck off the east coast of Taiwan. This is video from the security camera in my restaurant in Taipei about 115km/70mi from the epicenter during the time of the quake. You can see our advertisements and globe lights swinging during the quake.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y35QjKwLSMw

OK, so it’s not terribly exciting. *shrug*

Big Quake

Tonight at 1:51am we had a magnitude 6.6 quake off the east coast followed by a magnitude 5.7 aftershock four minutes later. The first one had a shake intensity of 3 in Taipei which is pretty strong. Shake intensity and magnitude are entirely different scales and systems of measurement so you can’t compare them, but it was plenty enough to get doors rattling and cups and dishes banging into each other.

Main quake:

M 6.6 87.3 km ENE of Hualien City 2007-09-07 01:51 #058 (0907015166058)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0907015166058.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0907015166058.txt

M 6.6 宜蘭南澳地震站東偏南方 74.6 公里 2007-09-07 01:51 #058 (0907015166058)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0907015166058.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0907015166058.txt

M 6.5, Taiwan region 2007-09-06 17:51:27 UTC Z=62km 24.3336N 122.3239E
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007gybt.php

Aftershock:

M 5.7 94.5 km ENE of Hualien City 2007-09-07 01:55 #059 (0907015557059)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0907015557059.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/seismic/Data/quake/EE0907015557059.txt

M 5.7 宜蘭蘇澳地震站東偏南方 81.6 公里 2007-09-07 01:55 #059 (0907015557059)
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0907015557059.gif
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5/seismic/Data/quake/EC0907015557059.txt