Gone are the days of Slow News.

I'm astounded. I had to keep turning the pages. I even hit refresh maybe one too many times. To quote Ben Affleck when he was covering sports on NESN ahead of when we finally won the World Series in 2004, "it's like I woke up in some kind of bizarro world; the Sox were doing well [late in the season], the Celtics were up, and the Bruins look like they have a shot..." [1]

Ben was told to stick to the script. I'll let go of discussing Google's tracking of when mainland China is going to block access to them for later, and talk about who's playing this last full week of March (Mar 23 - Mar 28):

• Tuesday: Who Rocks the Mic when Freedom Leaves Choice? Could be you, but our only censoring may involve a shot or two... (9:30PM)
• Wednesday: Mark Peter bouncs funk off R&B and Rock and Roll, and sees what comes back (9:30PM)
• Thursday: Latin Music keeps David Chala out with his loose keyboard and voice style, with Franklin Torres on the congas (9:30PM)
• Friday: The Deaf Aides quartet, led by Pete Scherr, brings smooth jazz with an American twist (9:30PM)
• Saturday: The Soul Preacher, Larry Hammond, the King of HK's R&B, takes the stage with a few ambient legends of the scene (10PM)
• Sunday: Chill Out, so you can fill out, while you have your thrill out, so you can be ill -- out; and the musical improv will take a random walk around the scales (10PM)

Trivia:
From last week:

1. Q: [Military History] Lasting some 370 days, only 7,000 of the original 100,000 troops that set out on this defining military venture made it to the eventual destination of Shaanxi during the buildup to the second world war. What was it called?
   A: The Long March
2. Q: [Heavy Industry] Referred by its commanders as Operation Z, the invasion of Pearl Harbor saw all of its original military objectives met, and the fielding by Mitsubishi and Nakajima of their long range "Zero" Carrier based fighter aircraft; while Mitsubishi is known still by its historical name, what is the former Nakajima company now called and/or which car do they make?
   A: Fuji Heavy Industries / Subaru

And up for now:

1. [Psychology & Business] In a seminal book published in 2004, this doctor argues that having too many choices actually increases our overall anxiety as we struggle to find the correct best answer; what is the name of the book and/or who is the author?
2. [Science & Tech] Computers on the Internet use IP Addresses much like phone numbers to route the calls that make up communication; but we don't like to memorize numbers, just like our phone book. When China talks about canceling/blocking/redirecting the name "google.cn", what system on the Internet handles the translation of names into IP addresses?

I'd like to wish a personal congratulations to Rickard Malmsten's new addition to his family! Welcome to the music world Estelle! And no, you're not allowed to drink at the bar for a few years, we do have some laws we need to worry about...

Namaste,
Guy Cirino
Chief Bacchanalian Officer

with:
Joyce Baker
Chief of Art and Design

Rob Baker
General Manager

[1] Sorry, it's from memory.

• Trivia contest rules:
  1. Limit one entry per person.
  2. Any single serving drink off the bar menu may be selected (bottles of wine and champagne are expressly excluded, normal idea of a "single serving" applies here guys ;)
  3. Free drinks cannot be redeemed for cash, exchanged, or refunded.
  4. This may not be combined with other offers.
  5. The bartender or server may request to see photo ID if they do not recognize you.
  6. Free drinks from this contest will only be given if the winning contestant is physically present at the bar.
  7. The offer for a winning contestant is only valid for 30 days from the date Fresco sends notification that they have won.
  8. Employees of Fresco are not eligible contestants.
  9. Contestants may win no more than once in any four consecutive contests.
  10. Answers must be deemed correct as judged by Peel Fresco Music Lounge staff conducting the contest.
  11. The contest is complete on the Sunday following the day in which the questions are announced. No further submissions for that contest will be accepted for winning consideration.
• Open Source Discount Membership rules:
  
  in refinement - program is active at the register, please mention OSS. At the moment we're only collecting information from potential applicants that think they'll be up to the (unannounced) standards based on the above. Suffice it to say, it'll be something like "verifiable nontrivial commits to projects with any license recognized by the Open Source Initiative" with the rules subject to change as we work out what seems within the right spirit. Joining does include one free geek drink in addition to the usual discount (ever taste a Blue Screen of Death?).