This. I used to be a strong proponent of owning music, until rd.io. I loved rd.io, and used it as a sandbox -- If I really enjoyed an album / song / artist, then I would get the files. But, after a few years with rd.io I started to get a bit more cavalier about ensuring that I had a copy of the music.
Fast-forward to the end of last year: rd.io shutdown. I've tried a few other services since, each with its own share of problems (I'm currently on Google Music). Now, anything I like, I download. With hard drive space, and backups, it seems significantly simpler to assume that any song can disappear tomorrow.*
* While a service disappearing is a relatively rare event, content churn has always made missing songs a somewhat frequent event. However, for me, rd.io's shutdown emphasized the general incompatibility between the expectations I have for music, (anything I have listened to in the past, I can listen to in the present) and the realities of what a subscription service can deliver. And so, previous annoyances turned into a line in the sand.
Not sure if you're on the OS X / iTunes ecosystem...
You can have a playlist that is made up of other playlists by creating a smart playlist and adding a rule that includes songs from source playlists of your choice. This will atomically include any changes you make to the source playlists.
I manage my music with genres — and to a large part, stay away from smart playlists — however they can be a powerful feature.
I hear it differently: Focus on mastering the material, not on a grade you want to get.
As you said, with mastery the rest should follow. Though, in my experience, testing itself needs to be mastered. For some of us that comes quite naturally, but for others it takes a bit of time.
Edit: Sorry, I didn't see aestra's comment before I posted.
+1 for cargo cults: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult. Its a great idea to keep in mind for a creator/designer/programmer. People/users/everyone all too often intuit through imitation.
I haven't tried Crate. I use Cloudapp. I prefer the idea of an app that sits on my menubar — for myself. But for a 1 time solution for someone else, Crate seems like a better solution. It also offers more storage and less limits for a free account.
"The results surprised me. Apparently the optimal number of digits to include is 1, and the more digits you have the more likely it is to be registered. In fact, it appears that someone has registered every dot-com combination of 4 digits."
It shouldn't be completely surprising. The more characters (c) than digits (d) in a name, the more options available. 3c1d has more options (26x26x26x10=175760) than 4d (10x10x10x10=10000).
You gloss over the treatment of patients at the "mental institutions". It was truly horrendous and deinstitutionalization arose out of that. I don't think anyone would argue that we've arrived at a solution.
Also, "the right" today is much changed from the 70s.
In the 2 minutes I've spent on there I've seen a number of artists I don't know (which could be unsigned garage bands) and number that I do including Of Montreal and Animal Collective — both well respected and successful groups. I'm not sure what quality control they have, but it doesn't seem like all they're looking for is unsigned groups.
One vertical to begin with isn't a bad strategy. I think the one they've chosen is a good vertical to start with — the genre has a strong online community looking for new things. If it works with indie music, Mixest can broaden out.
Of course this might not be what they're intending to do at all.
The actual NASA article is about a 'space weather-forecasting' conference as solar weather looks like its going to get increasingly active. It is much more informative than crunch gear's chicken little piece.
To figure this out all you have to do is follow the money. :) I love the last part of the story:
During an interview on Tuesday, General Jabiri challenged a Times reporter to test the ADE 651, placing a grenade and a machine pistol in plain view in his office. Despite two attempts, the wand did not detect the weapons when used by the reporter but did so each time it was used by a policeman.