Echonest (startup in boston) has some libs on github for audio fingerprinting and retrievel. That solves part of it, but the labeling seems like it might be the tricky part. As far as how to quickly search, yeah maybe elasticsearch, but it might not really be needed as the number of songs is pretty finite.

A project of mine (https://github.com/dandroid88/webmote) attempts to serve as a bridge for some less connected, older technologies to be controlled by newer things like my smartphone. For instance, my home entertainment system, a hodge podge of new and old responds to IR (each with their own remote). My project allows one to control any of these devices from any device with internet connectivity and a browser so that I can turn off Glee (my fiance's fav) from the bathroom, lol. Its a plugin architecture that also supports some X10 so that I can turn lights on and off etc. On the newer end, it supports newer things like XBMC control and a few other soon to be uploaded additions. If you are looking to bridge the new and the old and have a rasbpi or server you can run it on I welcome you to try it out. It requires some simple arduino construction but that shouldn't be too difficult.

Interesting

I don't think King Snakes have rattlers....They are known for imitation but I think instead it is visual. http://www.petmd.com/sites/default/files/coral_snake_0.gif

In high school (public) and college (private) we used metric. Sure if I go to the hardware store its not metric but who cares, its not a huge deal. Schools already focus on metric in the US, despite what you Canadians think.

Totally agree

Spinners?

Modern medicine?

In the world series...

When I have been to the bar area it sure does seem nice compared the midwest. mountains, ocean... If you are at all into the outdoors the midwest pretty much sucks between november and april. Then when it warms up a bit there is well - lots of corn? Yes the cost of living is lower, but I might argue so is the quality.

*Also, the WSJ report was based on glass door right (too lazy to go look)? I find glassdoor doesn't do a good job of ensuring that people report their salary and title combination accurately. For a lot of companies there are generic software developers that could have been listed as software dev1, software dev2 and vice versa. Not saying the number is wrong, i don't know, I am just hesitant to take it them too seriously. Also, the bonuses that googlers get paid seem to be quite high (again according to glassdoor) - most places won't do anything similar even adjusted for regional COL variation.

I am in chicago and it is fun for the midwest but if my fiance would let me I would probably go running to either coast...

I am not sure how to feel about a few of these issues but at the same time clearly the school board has/will have money issues. Does anyone on slashdot know what kinds of computer systems they use? I went to school in a large school district in south Florida and everything was Windows, with as many expensive Microsoft productivity programs as possible, of which no one really used. It seems like an easy to use Linux distro and open/libre/google docs office program would be more than adequate for most schools needs and would seriously free up some money in the budget. Does anyone have any insight into Linux/open source software in public schools, particularly Chicago Public Schools?

I don't really understand who thought that hitting alt was a good idea? I have given up caring about my desktop environment out of frustration (just learned to love my terminal) but I really was pissed after trying gnome3 and not having panel applets, especially with how easy they were to add/remove. Having cpu/network monitor was nice, all the other goofy ones were kinda fun. It just seemed like such a winning feature and they canned it. I refused to google for advice on how to shutdown, so instead i installed a new interface...I would no longer even try a gnome OS.

RIAA dropped the SOPA?

I haven't read the article, only the /. summary, but I would venture to say that when they say 10 chords they are not talking about chords like A minor and B minor (really the same chord just transposed) but instead something like a first inversion minor chord or 2nd inversion neapolitan chord, etc. This would make more sense from a music theory perspective because regardless of the key (particular relevant for listeners without perfect pitch) the intervalic relationship defines what a chord sounds like. Whether it is an A minor or B minor chord is hard to tell for people with extensive training but in 1 minute most people could be trained to differentiate between major and minor. As far as the guitar concept you might be right, however I thought you could use some kind of clamp to change keys easily?

NU is on quarters rather than eternal semesters...