Category Archives: Culture

Thanks, NPR: The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Chris Zach

Thanks to NPR for bringing some mainstream attention to the lack of dynamic range in pop music today. Have you ever heard a pianissimo on the radio? Nope. How can a song build to a rewarding musical climax without crescendo? … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Technology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Study Results: NPR Listeners Still Love Indie

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Chris Zach

The “study” I refer to is All Songs Considered’s annual ballot of listeners’ picks for best music of the year. As usual, there isn’t much diversity on this list in terms of musical styles, but at least it’s not an … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Read This: Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches — latimes.com

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Chris Zach

I don’t enjoy posting links to articles like this one. I wish the article didn’t exist, that it’s nightmarish tale was a demented horror story born in a sick man’s imagination, not a reflection of true human behavior. But sadly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How Far Can One Get from McDonald’s?

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Chris Zach

If two cars are traveling towards each other, with one car traveling at 60 mph and the other trying to drive as far away from McDonald’s as possible, how far can it drive? The answer is 145 miles. In other … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Food | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Case of the Rabid Vampire

Posted on September 22, 2009 by Chris Zach

Vampires are everywhere in pop culture today: books, TV, movies, and teenage girls’ dreams. Long before Robert Pattinson was sending 13 year-old girls into a state of blood lust, where did the mythology of the vampire begin? Perhaps, the myth … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Short Pants and Long Stretch for “News”

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Chris Zach

Sometimes I don’t think we have a new reporting industry in the US so much as we have a news manufacturing industry. This should be good news for those bemoaning the decline of the industrial manufacturing segment of the American … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Journalism & News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment