Matt Novak, writing for Gizmodo:
On September 26, 1983, Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov received a message that five nuclear missiles had been launched by the United States and were heading to Moscow. He didn’t launch a retaliatory strike, believing correctly that it was a false alarm. And with that, he saved the world from nuclear war. But now reports have surfaced that Petrov died this past May. He was 77 years old.
Thomas Rhett has the number one album in the country this week:
The set — which brings country back to No. 1 for the first time in exactly one year — earned 123,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 94,000 were in traditional album sales, Rhett’s best sales week and the third largest sales week of 2017 for a country effort.
The opening concert featuring Toby Keith and Three Doors Down was broadly similar to concerts put on for Obama in 2009 and Bush in 2005 — except for the cost and size.
Bush’s inaugural committee spent $2.5 million on its concert on the National Mall. Obama’s concert had 10,000 ticketed seats — twice the size of Trump’s — and cost less than $5 million, said Kerrigan, and was produced at a high enough level that HBO paid for the rights to telecast it.
“I couldn’t tell you how we possibly could have spent $25 million on a concert,” said Kerrigan.
$25 million for 3 Doors Down and Toby Keith? Um, sounds like the “best deal maker” got fleeced.
Lady Gaga has postponed her European tour due to severe pain:
I have always been honest about my physical and mental health struggles. Searching for years to get to the bottom of them. It is complicated and difficult to explain, and we are trying to figure it out. As I get stronger and when I feel ready, I will tell my story in more depth, and plan to take this on strongly so I can not only raise awareness, but expand research for others who suffer as I do, so I can help make a difference. I use the word “suffer” not for pity, or attention, and have been disappointed to see people online suggest that I’m being dramatic, making this up, or playing the victim to get out of touring. If you knew me, you would know this couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m a fighter. I use the word suffer not only because trauma and chronic pain have changed my life, but because they are keeping me from living a normal life. They are also keeping me from what I love the most in the world: performing for my fans. I am looking forward to touring again soon, but I have to be with my doctors right now so I can be strong and perform for you all for the next 60 years or more. I love you so much.
Matthew Panzarino, writing for TechCrunch:
The simple answer, which is identical to the answer for Touch ID, by the way, is that Apple does not even have a way to give it to law enforcement. Apple never takes possession of the data, anonymized or otherwise. When you train the data it gets immediately stored in the Secure Enclave as a mathematical model that cannot be reverse-engineered back into a “model of a face.” Any re-training also happens there. It’s on your device, in your SE, period.
And so, after a half-century reign that propelled him into the realm of the rock stars and celebrities who graced his covers, Mr. Wenner is putting his company’s controlling stake in Rolling Stone up for sale, relinquishing his hold on a publication he has led since its founding.
Mr. Wenner had long tried to remain an independent publisher in a business favoring size and breadth. But he acknowledged in an interview last week that the magazine he had nurtured would face a difficult, uncertain future on its own.
Yours truly was asked to talk a little bit about my iPhone home screen over at MacSparky.1 It’s basically a picture of my home screen and some commentary about the apps I use the most. I’ve had a few people ask me about the second screen on my phone, so there’s a screenshot of that below for anyone curious.
A really good blog and podcast, definitely worth checking out.↩
Gwilym Lockwood has attempted to look at the Spotify data and map out Brand New’s music over the years:
My clustering algorithm identified three main types of Brand New songs:
1: “Hard and upbeat” (Loud, high energy, more dancey, higher valence)
2: “Soft and quiet” (Acoustic, low energy, quiet)
3: “Hard and intense” (Loud, high energy, less dancey, lower valence)Your Favorite Weapon has a lot of type 1 songs (e.g. Seventy Times 7), while Devil and God has a lot of type 3 songs (e.g. You Won’t Know). Science Fiction has an even spread of all three. Hover over the points for more information, and click the cluster guide or the points to highlight the data across the graphs.
There’s some pretty interesting stuff to play around with here.
According to TMZ, Danielle Bregoli, best known as the “cash me outside” viral hit, has signed a record deal with Atlantic Records after her latest single “These Heaux” racked up 21 million views on YouTube.
John Mayer’s North American leg of his tour has rapped up. Billboard is reporting it earned nearly $50 million so far:
The Connecticut-born singer-songwriter headlined shows in 32 cities during the run, topping $28 million in box office revenue from more than 425,000 sold tickets. Sales from the North American jaunt earn the artist the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s weekly slate of Hot Tours (see list below). In total, the tour has brought in nearly $50 million from box office totals reported since the tour launched in March.
Josh Ritter’s new album, Gathering, is now streaming on NPR.
Grant Hart, singer and drummer for Hüsker Dü, has passed away.
The band’s publicist, Ken Weinstein, said the cause was cancer.
Hüsker Dü was formed by Mr. Hart, the guitarist and singer Bob Mould and the bassist Greg Norton in the late 1970s in St. Paul, and soon became known for high-volume blasts of heart-quickening rock that could not quite disguise the hooks buried beneath the noise.
Radiohead and Hans Zimmer have teamed up on a reworked version of “Bloom.” The song will be known as “(Ocean) Bloom)” and be featured on an upcoming episode of the BBC nature series Blue Planet II:
“Bloom was inspired by the original Blue Planet series so it’s great to be able to come full circle with the song and reimagine it for this incredible landmark’s sequel,” said Yorke in a press release.
“Hans is a prodigious composer who effortlessly straddles several musical genres so it was liberating for us all to work with such a talent and see how he wove the sound of the series and Bloom together.”
PVRIS have teamed up with The Ally Coalition for their upcoming US tour. You can apply to volunteer and get a free ticket to the show:
Volunteers will be responsible for arriving prior to the show and working to generate interest and actions for the cause before and during the opening acts, utilizing the Propeller Volunteer App on their mobile device for approximately 3.5 hours. Your commitment will end prior to PVRIS taking the stage, so you’re free to enjoy the show!
You will receive exact call time if you are selected, however the typical time for meeting up with our coordinator is between 5-6 pm. Please do not apply if you can’t make it on time!
Fall Out Boy have officially announced the Fall Out Boy Fund. You can read the full announcement from the band below and find out more information on the band’s tour website.