Due to the uniform nature of audio track pricing, you can get quite a bargain on a couple of classic Firesign Theater recordings from Amazon. 1969's "Don't Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me Those Pliers" and 1970's "I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus" are both showing up for under $2 each. Why? The albums originally were LPs, and since Firesign's audio-collage style really doesn't divide up nicely into tracks, they end up having only one track per side.

Also worth getting from their catalog is the 28-minute long The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger from their Shoes for Industry compilation, cheap at 99 cents.

We're back in the US and recovering from the trip. Annelies is still having a little bit of lag, and I got a weird allergic reaction blister on my neck from an unknown cause, but with some prescribed steroid cream, it's healing nicely.

I've started going through all 1500+ pictures from the trip, and I've put the first set on Flickr. This covers my arrival in Tanzania and the first 24 hours of our safari. This is the travel from Arusha to the Ndutu Lodge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We had a great driver for the safari named Jojo, and on this first day, we passed by a number of Masai villages before heading off the main road. We saw many, many zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles that day, but the real fun was at dinner when we got to watch the lodge's resident genets hang out on rafters above the lounge area. The next morning, we went on a drive around the lake near there, watching a few sleeping lions, a hard-to-track cheetah, a snake-kicking secretary bird, and some more herd animals. We returned to the lodge for lunch, then headed out to the Serengeti (more on that in the next picture dump).

I'm got a brief moment of Internet connectivity here from the ICTR, so I wanted to post a quick note about the trip to Africa. So far, it's been really wonderful. Safari was great, with us seeing all of the "big 5" animals: lions, leopard, buffalo, rhinos, and elephants. We also saw a huge zebra and wildebeest migration where you were surrounded by these creatures as far as the eye can see. The pictures will be amazing.

However, there is other news. On the third night of the safari, while looking down on the Ngorongoro Crater from our room at the lodge, I asked my girlfriend, Annelies, to marry me. She immediately said yes! We're both very excited. At this time, we know NOTHING about the actual wedding; there will be time to plan all of that out after we move to New York.*

I hope you all are doing well back in the US. Today, we're in downtown Arusha, and tomorrow we fly to Zanzibar. I miss you all, but I'm also having a great and relaxing and romantic time out here.

*Annelies says: sorry to tell you all about this via internet instead of in person- but we're super excited and couldn't wait a week until we're back in telephone-land to let you know!!! (and also the ring is beautiful!!!!!)

Unlike Costa Rica, I'm not planning on blogging about the trip to Africa while it's happening. In part, this is due to there being even less technology there, but also because I really want this to be a vacation. I'll have plenty to say about it when we get back.

You might want to catch up on Annelies' travel blog about her stay in Tanzania so far; it's at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/afrikanya/1/tpod.html. She just wrote about me visiting; apparently, the corn tortillas I'm bringing are going to be put to use in a "taco party". Exciting.

I would have been in the air already if not for KLM canceling their Friday flight to Kilimanjaro from Amsterdam. I learned about this when I was checking my itinerary online yesterday; they didn't send any sort of notification to me, and the first rep I talked to on the phone thought the original flight still existed. They've rerouted me through Minneapolis, London and Nairobi, Kenya now, leaving this afternoon. I get into Kilimanjaro Airport about 15 hours later than originally planned. Fortunately, the safari leaves Sunday morning, so we didn't have to make adjustments for that. After Safari is a day in Arusha then a few days in Zanzibar. I'm very excited.

We're coming back on May 6th. I'm going to take tons of pictures, and I look forward to seeing y'all when I return.

I've decided to suspend my LoudTweet re-postings of my unwiredben Twitters here. I heard back from one fan who was annoyed by them because they always had the same subject line, and it's pretty easy to follow them separately. You can subscribe to them by following either my public feed or the deluxe Ben Combee and Friends feed.

I was looking at the Schiphol (Amsterdam) Airport website trying to see what I can do during my four hour layover on the way to Tanzania later this week, and I found this passage very illuminating:

"Allow yourself to be surprised by one of the many surprising toilets at Schiphol. You will feel as though you are in the heart of Amsterdam or are being surrounded by Dutch tulips. Location: G-pier and Lounge 2."

Somehow, I never think of toilets as something I want surprising me, but that might just be my cultural insensitivity talking.

Also, in describing the Back to Life Aquamassage at the airport, they say you "can leave your clothes on", which seems to imply that you could also take them off. If that's the case, I'm not sure I want to get into the aquamassage chamber.

Finally, in the "fun for kids" section, they talk about the Grand Café Plaza, which serves "genuine clown pancakes". I never thought clowns would make good pancakes; they might taste funny.

• 20:59 The line for tonight's Negativland concert looks like my kind of crowd: intellectual property reappropriation geeks. #
• 21:01 I could buy a replacement "Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value" t-shirt from their stand. #
• 23:14 Intermission time: Negativland handed out blindfolds so you could experience the program like a radio show. Very interesting sound collage! #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

If you're using the Google Photos Screensaver on Windows to view photos from an RSS feed, you may notice that it doesn't seem to update those feeds so you're always stuck with that's there when you first added it. There's no "Update" button in the settings either.

I found you can get it to refresh by deleting the screensaver's cache directory. This may be hidden from view in Windows Explorer if you don't have the "Show Hidden Files and Folders" option turned on. You can find it by looking in

C:\Documents and Settings\{Your User Name}\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\GBScreensaver

There's a folder called rsscache here. Just delete everything in that folder, and the next time the screen saver activates, it will download fresh content.

• 16:16 Off to Cali again! This week, I work on hooking up <redacted> to <deleted> and making sure <censored> is good before I ... #
• 17:00 "Thanks" to the readers of Engadget for kicking us in the teeth after six months of quiet, re: Worst 2007 Gadget @ tinyurl.com/6h7w7r #
• 21:50 Wow. I land in san Jose and the first email I see is from Northwest, announcing their merger with Delta. I think its a good move. #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

• 19:32 Just got seated at the Kids in the Hall show at the Paramount. My seat has a slightly obstructed view due to the balconies on the side. #

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• 10:18 Just got my second round of vaccinations for Tanzania. Health insurance doesn't cover travel shots. Boo! #
• 20:03 Dusk combined with low grey clouds makes the world appear monochrome tonight. Glad its not the yellow tint of tornado weather. #

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• 09:22 I'm at the expo center and credentialed. There were huge lines behind us for parking, but the checkin went quickly once we found our window. #
• 09:34 They just extended credentialling "indefinitely". They will set cut-off time based on seeing things clear up. #
• 10:15 Sean Astin (Rudy, LOTR) just gave a two minute speech. He was booed on endorsing Hillary, but cheered on a unity message. #
• 10:38 Something weird is happening. Most of our Hillary delegates are in a RV in the parking lot, not here in the Pct. 259 section in the stands. #
• 11:02 Rep Lloyd Doggett speaking: "W stands for worst ever." Sounds like another unity speech. #
• 11:10 Doggett just endorsed Obama, room exploded with cheers. You definitely get a feel for the room in Travis County. #
• 11:53 Kirk Watson and Larry Joe "Texas Justice TV Show" Dougherty just gave speeches. Henry for Railroad Commissioner up now. #
• 12:40 Rep. Mark Strama: "Mayor of Austin is on short list for Barak's VP; ticket would be Obama Will Wynn!" #
• 13:48 We were about to do our caucus vote, then a guy with a bandana stopped and told us to stop. People have been sent to investigate. Fishy? #
• 14:03 Yep, we have to wait more... The convention has to adopt the permenent roll which includes the elevated alternates before we vote. #
• 16:56 Finally ready to leave the Expo Center. As expected, precinct 259 will send 1 Clinton and 2 Obama delegates to State in June. #

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• 16:52 Just got called by "Robobama" reminding me about the Texas county conventions tomorrow... oh I know all about them. I got "trained" on Wed. #
• 21:57 Warning: I'll probably be doing a lot of pro-Obama convention Twittering tomorrow. Off to bed soon, got to get up for a 7:30AM carpool. #

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• 02:44 Every time I see a Stephen Hawking audiobook on eMusic, I just imagine listening to his robotic voice for eight hours and I shiver & laugh. #
• 21:21 There's a new cable distribution box on my block; in the evening, its shadow & red glowing light always makes me think it's a Cylon. Chills. #

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• 14:35 Never sit outside at Chuy's in a spot not visible from the server shed; you'll have to fight for attention for refills and checks. #
• 15:24 Just spotted my first Texas Bluebonnets. Spring has really arrived here in Austin. #

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• 21:22 Local HEB grocery store is a mess. Looks like day before Easter is a big day for food shopping. I'm cooking tomorrow, making veggie soup! #
• 22:54 What if grocery stores could cross-ref your items with ingredient lists to help veg*ns or people w/ allergies avoid buying problem foods #

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• 16:42 Far more people that look like they're in a band than usual at Austin's airport today. The post-SXSW exodus continues. #

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• 02:50 I retract my "yummy". UCB show took forever to start, showed clips that we used on The Show With No Name, and failed to be funny w/ skits. #

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• 23:06 Near the front of the line for tonight's Upright Citizen's Brigade show. Some say their video clips are bordering on illegal. Yummy! #

(you can do this yourself using LoudTwitter)

• 20:41 Inspiration, camera, distribution, budget, how long to shoot: I just witnessed a post-SXSW film screening Q&A bingo! #
• 21:06 Reformat the Planet: artists make music with NES and Game Boy, perform for crowds by waving arms in the air & turning knobs. Beep blip beep! #

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