August 2006 Archives
August 31, 2006
I blogged about the new Thermals single a couple of days ago, but the video is pretty awesome.' Check it out.
See also: The Thermals on Myspace. Anyone want see them with me at the 9:30 Club on October 3?
August 30, 2006
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Drat! Upcoming.org stole my idea of having a central place for event-goers to upload their photos. Integrates nicely with Flickr. Should be a neat service.
August 29, 2006
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Flickr now offers geo-tagging so you can plot where you took your photos on a map. It's a lot of fun to play around with.
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Today is the 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Well worth a listen.
August 25, 2006
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According to Malcom Gladwell, mistakes made 50 years ago in designing employer-based pension programs are basically responsible for the mess GM finds itself in. Interesting read.
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Full review of the Thermals record I posted about yesterday. The album is terrific.
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Slate with a lukewarm review of the new Outkast movie. Still, I think it looks like loads of fun.
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DON'T BE SO AFRAID!!! Excellent piece on our reactions to terrorism.
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Love for the Tigers.
August 24, 2006
The Thermals - Pillar of Salt (3.4 MB MP3)
The Thermals have always been good for a few simple things: loud, fast, and fun. On their new record, they've added "serious and sober commentary on the interplay between politics and religion."
I'm not even kidding. Give a listen and see what I mean.
We were born to sin.
We were born to sin.
We don't think we're special, sir.
We know everybody is.
For my money, that's the most subversive lyric you'll hear all year.
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As Joe's best man, I've got to be prepared.
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I hate being that guy that forgets to include the attachment in an email. Never again.
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Video of Apples new "Spaces" virtual desktops working with Expose. Hot.
August 23, 2006
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Team by team rankings for Madden 07. You know...just in case.
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ESPN calls Manny the best player to never win an MVP (ESPN Era). I think I agree, although I think McGwire is underrated on this list due to steroids.
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The Wings are set to name Nicklas Lidstrom to be their next captain. Whereever he goes, we will follow.
Chris Walla - Distortions (4.9 MB MP3)
Distortions, written and originally recorded by the British band Clinic, is one of my all time favorite songs. Despite the creepy sounding lyrics, I think it's absolutely breathtaking in its beauty.
That's why I was so excited to learn about this cover version by another one of my favorites - DCFC guitarist, producer, and veritable man-about-town Chris Walla.
Walla announced this week that his debut solo record will be released in March 2007 by Barsuk. I can't wait.
(Note: I'm also introducing a fancy new Flash-based music player to BTP today. No more fussy downloading and whatnot. Thanks to the fine folks at 1 Pixel Out.)
August 22, 2006
Adam OD’s on (diet) Coke
The college gang went to Hotlanta over the weekend for Nick’s wedding. A rip-roaring good time was had by all and we most certainly RUNG THE BELL! Tracy put the photos on her Picasa Web Albums.
I think the slideshow function is particularly sweet looking.
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Cool new video for the new Killers single. An interesting direction for what was basically a dance rock band on their debut
August 21, 2006
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Mnookin on the 2006 Red Sox. Reasoned analysis from an impassionate observer, but a passionate fan.
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High-quality USB drive with cool features. I'm thinking about picking one of these up.
August 19, 2006
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We're going here when we're in Atlanta. It's for sure.
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A real world "Life of Pi." Amazing.
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EchoDitto has made freely available the SQL database necessary to match zip code to congressional representative. Usually you have to pay hundred or even thousands of dollars to vendors to get this info.
August 18, 2006
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As of today, it is illegal for George Bush to spy on you without a warrant. Well, I guess it was always illegal, but that never stopped him. Amen.
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Yahoo Photos - actually the biggest photo sharing site on the web - left it's beta status today. The revamp is heavily influences by Yahoo's Flickr acquisition and marks the biggest adoption of "Web 2.0" and AJAX to date.
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Bill Simmons thinks the Tigers will win the World Series. (I mean, come on, he doesn't REALLY think the Yankees are going to win.)
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Zoom Zoom was on FIRE last night, basically winning the game by buckling down and getting 3 outs with the bases loaded.
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Quote: Contrary to expectations, the picture did not turn out to be so bad it's good, but rather so extreme it's good, so shrewd it's good, so funny it's good, so good it's good.
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I've had it with these motherfuckin' snakes in this motherfuckin' senate!
Well, false alarm. It turns out that new icon I discovered in Leopard isn't all that new.
It's just a real icon for Exposé. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.
August 17, 2006
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Barack Obama speaking at Xavier University's commencement. Stunning. A must-read.
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Cool looking software to send large files without email or FTP. Sounds like a good way to send new music to Adam.
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Cool flash-based MP3 player for your blog. Could be neat if I ever switch to WordPress.
August 10, 2006
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Cool new band from Texas. Kinda like Okkervil River, only chiller.
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Why we hate A-Rod
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Dashboard widget that replicated the new Web Clip feature of Leopard. Tomorrow's OS, Today!
August 9, 2006
D Street SE, 6:45 PM
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Project to port Apple's WebKit rendering engine to Windows. Extremely useful for work.
August 8, 2006
This is pretty cool.
Yesterday, Apple gave the first public demonstration of the new version
of its operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Ever since, I've been
totally geeking out - watching the preview videos, reading all I can
about it, and just generally salivating over the neat new stuff.
Today, I did something I've never done before. I "discovered" a
potentially "top secret" feature of Leopard.
The Unofficial Apple Weblog published a roundup of small
features you might have missed in the Leopard sneak peek. It's small
stuff. RSS in Mail. New interface colors in iChat. Nothing major.
However, in the comments, "Jason" noticed something interesting:
13. Speaking of unannounced strangeness, am I the only one confused by the presence of a spotlight dock icon in the 'iChat' video? Check it out during the portion of the video that demonstrates screen sharing (with the green background).
That Spotlight now gets it's own icon is no big deal, but hold the phone. What's that icon NEXT to Spotlight?
Frankly, the icon is a complete mystery. Blowing up the picture doesn't really do any good. It looks like it might be related to Dashboard or Expose, but I really don't think so.
Anyway, who was the first guy to notice this? ME!
Yeah, I'm a huge nerd. But I'm particularly good at it, eh?
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Giz sums up the new stuff in OS X 10.5 Leopard. Even caught a few things I hadn't noticed.
August 4, 2006
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The greatest web app EVER
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OK, I know OSU will be good, but do we have to rank them number 1? I can handle Notre Dame at number 4. I mean, that's just laughable.
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Edmonton fans singing O Canada suring the playoffs. Stirring. Thanks to Bill Simmons for the YouTube link
August 3, 2006
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I've been saying this for years!
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The view of a nearby forest fire from my uncle's place in NE Washington. Incredible image. I hope everyone stays OK.
August 2, 2006
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20 ways to improve life at your office
August 1, 2006
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Title says it all
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My sister's show was the hit of the DC fringe festival. Huzzah!
There are two new faces in the Detroit sports scene today. Well...newish anyway.
First, the Tigers traded a AA pitcher to the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday for three-time all-star first-baseman Sean Casey. To make room for him, they sent former flavor-of-the month Chris Shelton to AAA.
This move is a solid one for the Tigers. It addresses their one real need - a left handed bat - and provides a defensive upgrade at first base. It's too bad that Shelton had to be sent down. He's been part of this great Tigers team all season and had an incredible first few weeks, but he's been too inconsistent for months.
More important is what the Tigers DIDN'T do at yesterday's trade deadline. They didn't trade a stud young pitcher like Zumaya or Rodney or even Bonderman. They didn't trade a top prospect like Humberto Sanchez or Cameron Maybin. Better still, they didn't mess with their clubhouse chemistry. By all accounts, Casey is a terrific influence. They used to call him "The Mayor" in Cincinatti.
This is a solid move by the Tigers.
A little more puzzling is the announcement yesterday that the Red Wings have brought back Dominik Hasek to play goal next year. In my opinion, it's risky to think a 41-year-old can survive the rigors of an NHL season, but the payoff could be huge. Plus, the Wings have a pretty good insurance option.
When he's healthy, The Dominator is still a world-class talent. We saw some of that during this year's Olympic tournament. But his last two seasons have been cut short by injury.
If Hasek stays healthy and terrific, sweet. This signing is a huge win for the Wings. They're not paying him a lot of money and they get top-notch goaltending.
If Hasek can't get it done? Well, that's probably OK, too. I think Chris Osgood showed he could still play last season. If they have to push him into the #1 job, I think he can get it done. Plus, the Wings still have TWO top goalie prospects in the minors who could surprises us all in the event of an injury.
Welcome to Sean Casey. Re-welcome to Dominik Hasek. I hope you enjoy parades. How does October and June sound? Say Hart Plaza?
It's official. One party gets it. One party doesn't.
After months of struggling to forge a unified stance on the Iraq war, top congressional Democrats joined voices yesterday to call on President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by the end of the year and to "transition to a more limited mission" in the war-torn nation.With the midterm elections three months away, and Democrats seeing public discontent over Iraq as their best chance for retaking the House or Senate, a dozen key lawmakers told Bush in a letter: "In the interests of American national security, our troops and our taxpayers, the open-ended commitment in Iraq that you have embraced cannot and should not be sustained. . . . We need to take a new direction."
The 12 Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), include liberals and centrists who have differed over Iraq in the past.
It's no secret that indie rock music is my cultural passion. But it's not like I ignore other forms of media. That's why I'm so excited today to introduce the brand new BTP Book Club.
The process is simple. When I find a new and interesting book to read, I'll post it here. I hope that others will either have read it already or go out and read it with me.
I'll post my thoughts on the book when I'm finished. The peanut gallery can add their two cents in the comments. You don't even need to actually read the book to participate.
I don't see a new to make a lot of special rules for this endeavor. It's meant to be casual and fun.
I will say that I usually read at least 2 books a month: one for my real-world contemporary fiction book club and one non-fiction book that usually touches on the political, technological, and social issues that interest me more generally.
First up is The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, the Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine. A successor to books like The Tipping Point and Freakonomics, The Long Tail argues that digital distribution of media gives consumers unparalleled access to the furthers reaches of the fringe, lessening the appeal and the power of the lowest-common-denominator mainstream megahit. Think of the declining Hollywood blockbuster versus the Netflix-powered little documentary that could.
Anderson also argues this phenomenon is a game-changing opportunity for busineses that understand it. For instance, every single one of the 2 million tracks available on iTunes has sold at least once. This "long tail" of demand already accounts for 25-40% of the revenue for the businesses harnessing its power, a percentage that is only going up.
This concept will be a cornerstone of our future economy. I can't wait to learn more about it.
