Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Jay-Z - The Blueprint [Reconstructed]
This album [download here] dropped a year and a half ago via Kevin Nottingham, but I just heard it today, 'cause I sleep like that. All the tracks off the original Blueprint come equipped with heavy new beats, and I must say, they are delicious. 2dopeboyz.com gives the background on the project; 'KN ran a contest for folks to rework the production side of Hov’s classic. Each producer used the same samples for each record.' This album has introduced some fantastic new producers: Sima, Bidimridim, G.C., EB Productions, S.T.T.R.E.S.S., and more. If y'all know any good jams from these guys, post 'em in the comments.
My favorite track from the album is below. I've blasted this track right hurr about 20x times today. 'LET'S GET SHIT POPPIN' is the sentiment I'm left with. Let me know your favorite tracks off the album.
"More Girls, Girls, Girls" produced by Sima
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Raw Stiles
What's better than an amazing new producer that comes out of the blue? One that posts their music for free. Raw Stiles dropped his debut album, Hello Lovely EP, a little more than a year ago. Featuring original compositions from the man himself that have been likened to the school of J Dilla and Madlib, you know it's bound to be bangers. If your head isn't nodding straight through, get your ears checked.
Raw Material Vol. 1 is a compilation album featuring some great jazz/funk jams courtesy of Raw Stiles' diligent crate digging.The selections are all gems, with my personal favorite coming in at track 6: Don Rendell's 'Blue Mosque.' Raw Material Vol 2 features two longer mixes, both phenomenal. Listen and download all of Raw Stiles' music here.
It Ain't Hard to Tell (Four Tet Remix) - Nas / Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Beautiful song. Excellent remix by Four Tet, providing a fresh take on an all time classic. The glitching at the end is a bit jarring, but hey.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Queen Latifah - Just Another Day
File this one under "insanely dope hip hop." You might be more familiar with Latifah from her acting career beginning in 1993, but Latifah first hit the stage when she dropped All Hail the Queen in 1989. This particular track was a single off her 1993 album 'Black Reign,' which also featured the classic track 'U.N.I.T.Y.' An amazing beat combined with Latifah's flow which is gentle but firm, fitting since (apparently) 'Latifah' means 'delicate' in Arabic.
Are We Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch?
Are We Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch? from StrangeLoop on Vimeo.
You tell me. Awesome video. Awesome song. Deep title. 'Nuff said.
The Force (will one day be) Strong With This One...
An absolutely adorable / hilarious super bowl ad from VW. Das Auto? More like Das AWESOME!
Bad-Ass Legos
'In a medieval forest, a simple lumberjack is granted the greatest power of all time. Created by Paganomation for the LEGO Club Show in early 2010.'
SO AMAZING! I would have killed to have some of these lego monsters when I was a kid. The song and video go great together, really tight production all around. You can view some photos from the production here. How they turned those photos into this awesome video is beyond me.
Enjoy!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Test Drive a Tesla Roadster for $25
Just heard from my friends at GOOD Magazine (definitely check them out) about Getaround, a new company that has a web / smartphone platform enabling peer-to-peer car sharing. Make money from that parked car of yours!
"Since the invention of the automobile, we've been conditioned to think that only one person should own and use each car," says Getaround co-founder Elliot Kroo. "Getaround is changing that paradigm by enabling people to access a vehicle instead of having to possess one."
The best part? One getaround member is helping promote the company and the love of electric vehicles by renting his $100k+ Tesla Roadster for $25 an hour!!
Still trying to find out where this generous owner resides...please post in comments if you find out!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
'Your Brain on Computers'
“...people are walking around fatigued and not realizing their cognitive potential...What can we do to get us back to our full potential?”
Art Kramer, straight lampin. Photo courtesy of Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“Attention is the holy grail,” [David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah] says. “Everything that you’re conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it.”
----
...technology has redefined the notion of what is “urgent.” How soon do people need to get information and respond to it?...the drumbeat of incoming data has created a false sense of urgency that can affect people’s ability to focus.
...a seminal study from the University of Michigan that showed people can better learn after walking in the woods than after walking a busy street. The study indicates that learning centers in the brain become taxed when asked to process information, even during the relatively passive experience of taking in an urban setting. By extension, some scientists believe heavy multitasking fatigues the brain, draining it of the ability to focus.
Mr. Strayer, the trip leader, argues that nature can refresh the brain. “Our senses change. They kind of recalibrate — you notice sounds, like these crickets chirping; you hear the river, the sounds, the smells, you become more connected to the physical environment, the earth, rather than the artificial environment.”
Mr. Braver accepts the Michigan research but wants to understand precisely what happens inside the brain. And he wonders: Why don’t brains adapt to the heavy stimulation, turning us into ever-stronger multitaskers?
“Right,” says Mr. Kramer, the skeptic. “Why wouldn’t the circuits be exercised, in a sense, and we’d get stronger?”
This has become such a sizzling field of research that two years ago the National Institutes of Health established a division to support studies of the parts of the brain involved with focus.
Behavioral studies have shown that performance suffers when people multitask. These researchers are wondering whether attention and focus can take a hit when people merely anticipate the arrival of more digital stimulation.
“The expectation of e-mail seems to be taking up our working memory,” Mr. Yantis says.
Working memory is a precious resource in the brain. The scientists hypothesize that a fraction of brain power is tied up in anticipating e-mail and other new information — and that they might be able to prove it using imaging.
“To the extent you have less working memory, you have less space for storing and integrating ideas and therefore less to do the reasoning you need to do,” says Mr. Kramer, floating nearby.
“There’s a real mental freedom in knowing no one or nothing can interrupt you,” Mr. Braver says. He echoes the others in noting that the trip is in many ways more effective than work retreats set in hotels, often involving hundreds of people who shuffle through quick meetings, wielding BlackBerrys. “It’s why I got into science, to talk about ideas.”
He wants to use imaging technology to see whether the effect of nature on the brain can be measured and whether there are other ways to reproduce it, say, through meditation.
Mr. Kramer says he wants to look at whether the benefits to the brain — the clearer thoughts, for example — come from the experience of being in nature, the exertion of hiking and rafting, or a combination.
...how and why people are distracted by irrelevant streams of information.
“If we can find out that people are walking around fatigued and not realizing their cognitive potential,” Mr. Braver says, then pauses and adds: “What can we do to get us back to our full potential?”
As they near the airport, Mr. Kramer also mentions a personal discovery: “I have a colleague who says that I’m being very impolite when I pull out a computer during meetings. I say: ‘I can listen.’ ”
“Maybe I’m not listening so well. Maybe I can work at being more engaged.”
The Group;
- David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and the trip's organizer.
- Todd Braver, 41, the fast-talking, brain imaging expert, psychology professor at Washington U. in St. Louis.
- Steven Yantis, 54, the tall and contemplative chairman of the psychological and brain sciences department at Johns Hopkins, who studies how people switch between tasks;
- Paul Atchley, 40, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies teenagers’ compulsive use of cellphones
- Art Kramer, 57, a white-bearded professor at the University of Illinois who has gained attention for his studies of the neurological benefits of exercise...Among the bright academic lights in the group, Mr. Kramer is the most prominent. At the time of the trip he was about to take over a $300,000-a-year position as director of the Beckman Institute, a leading research center at the University of Illinois with around 1,000 scientists and staff workers and tens of millions of dollars in grant financing. He is also intense personally — someone who has been challenging himself since early in life; he says he left home when he was a teenager, became an amateur boxer and, later, flew airplanes, rock-climbed and smashed his knee in a “high-speed skiing accident.”
- Also on the trip are a reporter and a photographer, and Richard Boyer, a quiet outdoorsman and accomplished landscape painter
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/technology/16brain.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=print
Art Kramer, straight lampin. Photo courtesy of Chang W. Lee/The New York Times“Attention is the holy grail,” [David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah] says. “Everything that you’re conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it.”
----
...technology has redefined the notion of what is “urgent.” How soon do people need to get information and respond to it?...the drumbeat of incoming data has created a false sense of urgency that can affect people’s ability to focus.
...a seminal study from the University of Michigan that showed people can better learn after walking in the woods than after walking a busy street. The study indicates that learning centers in the brain become taxed when asked to process information, even during the relatively passive experience of taking in an urban setting. By extension, some scientists believe heavy multitasking fatigues the brain, draining it of the ability to focus.
Mr. Strayer, the trip leader, argues that nature can refresh the brain. “Our senses change. They kind of recalibrate — you notice sounds, like these crickets chirping; you hear the river, the sounds, the smells, you become more connected to the physical environment, the earth, rather than the artificial environment.”
Mr. Braver accepts the Michigan research but wants to understand precisely what happens inside the brain. And he wonders: Why don’t brains adapt to the heavy stimulation, turning us into ever-stronger multitaskers?
“Right,” says Mr. Kramer, the skeptic. “Why wouldn’t the circuits be exercised, in a sense, and we’d get stronger?”
This has become such a sizzling field of research that two years ago the National Institutes of Health established a division to support studies of the parts of the brain involved with focus.
Behavioral studies have shown that performance suffers when people multitask. These researchers are wondering whether attention and focus can take a hit when people merely anticipate the arrival of more digital stimulation.
“The expectation of e-mail seems to be taking up our working memory,” Mr. Yantis says.
Working memory is a precious resource in the brain. The scientists hypothesize that a fraction of brain power is tied up in anticipating e-mail and other new information — and that they might be able to prove it using imaging.
“To the extent you have less working memory, you have less space for storing and integrating ideas and therefore less to do the reasoning you need to do,” says Mr. Kramer, floating nearby.
“There’s a real mental freedom in knowing no one or nothing can interrupt you,” Mr. Braver says. He echoes the others in noting that the trip is in many ways more effective than work retreats set in hotels, often involving hundreds of people who shuffle through quick meetings, wielding BlackBerrys. “It’s why I got into science, to talk about ideas.”
He wants to use imaging technology to see whether the effect of nature on the brain can be measured and whether there are other ways to reproduce it, say, through meditation.
Mr. Kramer says he wants to look at whether the benefits to the brain — the clearer thoughts, for example — come from the experience of being in nature, the exertion of hiking and rafting, or a combination.
...how and why people are distracted by irrelevant streams of information.
“If we can find out that people are walking around fatigued and not realizing their cognitive potential,” Mr. Braver says, then pauses and adds: “What can we do to get us back to our full potential?”
As they near the airport, Mr. Kramer also mentions a personal discovery: “I have a colleague who says that I’m being very impolite when I pull out a computer during meetings. I say: ‘I can listen.’ ”
“Maybe I’m not listening so well. Maybe I can work at being more engaged.”
The Group;
- David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and the trip's organizer.
- Todd Braver, 41, the fast-talking, brain imaging expert, psychology professor at Washington U. in St. Louis.
- Steven Yantis, 54, the tall and contemplative chairman of the psychological and brain sciences department at Johns Hopkins, who studies how people switch between tasks;
- Paul Atchley, 40, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies teenagers’ compulsive use of cellphones
- Art Kramer, 57, a white-bearded professor at the University of Illinois who has gained attention for his studies of the neurological benefits of exercise...Among the bright academic lights in the group, Mr. Kramer is the most prominent. At the time of the trip he was about to take over a $300,000-a-year position as director of the Beckman Institute, a leading research center at the University of Illinois with around 1,000 scientists and staff workers and tens of millions of dollars in grant financing. He is also intense personally — someone who has been challenging himself since early in life; he says he left home when he was a teenager, became an amateur boxer and, later, flew airplanes, rock-climbed and smashed his knee in a “high-speed skiing accident.”
- Also on the trip are a reporter and a photographer, and Richard Boyer, a quiet outdoorsman and accomplished landscape painter
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/technology/16brain.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=print
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
China Takes Lead in Global Clean Energy Race
'NYT - China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy' - January 30, 2010
The following is largely a summary of the above article. Thanks to Keith Bradsher for the informative reporting.
China is now the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels, and is making headway in the nuclear reactor industry and coal efficient power plants.
The US is trying to catch up, and apparently has incentives in place, but clearly not enough. Obama called for a 'redoubling' of US efforts, "yet many Western and Chinese executives expect China to prevail in the energy-technology race."
Unlike the US, China is finding no difficulty in creating renewable energy jobs; 1.12 million such jobs existed in 2008 and are rising at 100,000 a year. Granted, salaries are significantly lower in China, with Vestas (a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, recently built the world's largest turbine factory in China) paying its assembly line workers $4,100 a year.
China has various advantages when it comes to dominating the global renewable energy race. Besides low labor costs, Chinese banks provide loans at a 2% interest rate, "the result of a savings rate of 40 percent and a government policy of steering loans to renewable energy." The Chinese government also understands the importance of energy for their nation and the world; Chian will need to greatly expand its generation capacity as demand has grown 15% a year consistently. Reflecting their sincerity, in January 2010 the government announced the creation of a National Energy Commission led by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao himself.
Chinese companies are increasingly looking to export their renewable energy tech, with western nations complaining that the Chinese have unfair advantages. Congress has considered halting federal spending on imported equipment in response to a November 2009 deal for China t osupply turbines for a large wind farm in Texas.
“Every country, including the United States and in Europe, wants a low cost of renewable energy,” said Ma Lingjuan, deputy managing director of China’s renewable energy association. “Now China has reached that level, but it gets criticized by the rest of the world.”
The following is largely a summary of the above article. Thanks to Keith Bradsher for the informative reporting.
China is now the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels, and is making headway in the nuclear reactor industry and coal efficient power plants.
The US is trying to catch up, and apparently has incentives in place, but clearly not enough. Obama called for a 'redoubling' of US efforts, "yet many Western and Chinese executives expect China to prevail in the energy-technology race."
Unlike the US, China is finding no difficulty in creating renewable energy jobs; 1.12 million such jobs existed in 2008 and are rising at 100,000 a year. Granted, salaries are significantly lower in China, with Vestas (a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, recently built the world's largest turbine factory in China) paying its assembly line workers $4,100 a year.
China has various advantages when it comes to dominating the global renewable energy race. Besides low labor costs, Chinese banks provide loans at a 2% interest rate, "the result of a savings rate of 40 percent and a government policy of steering loans to renewable energy." The Chinese government also understands the importance of energy for their nation and the world; Chian will need to greatly expand its generation capacity as demand has grown 15% a year consistently. Reflecting their sincerity, in January 2010 the government announced the creation of a National Energy Commission led by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao himself.
Chinese companies are increasingly looking to export their renewable energy tech, with western nations complaining that the Chinese have unfair advantages. Congress has considered halting federal spending on imported equipment in response to a November 2009 deal for China t osupply turbines for a large wind farm in Texas.
“Every country, including the United States and in Europe, wants a low cost of renewable energy,” said Ma Lingjuan, deputy managing director of China’s renewable energy association. “Now China has reached that level, but it gets criticized by the rest of the world.”
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Birdy Nam Nam - The Parachute Ending
BIRDY NAM NAM - THE PARACHUTE ENDING from Steve Scott on Vimeo.
Good song. Sweet video. Directed by Steve Scott.Check out more of his videos here on Vimeo.
Joshua Dysart On Comic Book Creation
Comic book writer Joshua Dysart from Marketplace on Vimeo.
Joshua Dysart, writer of the comic 'Unknown Soldier,' describes the creation process here, from script, layout, ink, coloring, etc...Great comic, I highly recommend it. The series is only 11 issues old now I believe. Takes place in Uganda, centered around the armed conflict there with Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, their child soldiers, and all that terrible jazz.
Found this video of Dysart's blog, here.
Also, 'Unknown Soldier' was written up in the New York Times. Read the article here.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Getting Outdoors - Backpacking!
Hello folks.
Sorry it's been a while. Well summer's been cruising along and I still haven't done much camping/hiking/backpacking. But I just read Kristof's editorial on the matter, and he pointed me to some helpful resources:
Backpacker Magazine has a lot of helpful resources, such as nearby trails, skills 101, and gear.
Joe's Ultralight Backpacker Website is a friendly low key place with some more helpful advice.
And lastly, this guy Brett has a blog which is pretty cool. Here is a gear list he recommends.
Well I now have the information. I need to get some gear and pick a trail. Probably taking an experienced friend would be a good idea.
I'll be a backpacking master in no time friends!
Sorry it's been a while. Well summer's been cruising along and I still haven't done much camping/hiking/backpacking. But I just read Kristof's editorial on the matter, and he pointed me to some helpful resources:
Backpacker Magazine has a lot of helpful resources, such as nearby trails, skills 101, and gear.
Joe's Ultralight Backpacker Website is a friendly low key place with some more helpful advice.
And lastly, this guy Brett has a blog which is pretty cool. Here is a gear list he recommends.
Well I now have the information. I need to get some gear and pick a trail. Probably taking an experienced friend would be a good idea.
I'll be a backpacking master in no time friends!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sarah Palin Only Governor to Turn Down Energy Conservation Funds
'Every single governor except Sarah Palin (R-AK) has written to Energy Secretary Steven Chu accepting millions of stimulus dollars meant to increase energy conservation and efficiency. Last month, Palin rejected $28.6 million for energy conservation work because she said it would force Alaska buildings to adhere to a “universal energy code.” Newsminer points out that the Energy Department has accepted other states’ pledges to simply work with local governments to improve efficiency, and that no “universal” requirement is needed.'
- http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/12/palin-energy-funds/
Even more hilarious, or depressing, depending on what kind of mood you are in, is that this is the only part of the $931 million federal stimulus package she declined.
'The co-chairs of the state Senate Resources Committee sent Palin a letter Monday urging her to accept the funds, which could go for uses including energy efficiency grants, retrofitting buildings for less energy use and replacing streetlights with LED bulbs that use less electricity and last longer.
Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire, one of the lawmakers who wrote the governor, said in an interview that Palin herself set a goal of Alaska receiving 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski, the other co-chair of the Resources Committee, said in a written statement that, "...Alaskans need this money far more than residents of many other states with milder climates and substantially lower energy costs."
Palin's main beef is that she doesn't want to have to impose a statewide code that would interfere or force the hand of local government. Wielechowski and McGuire pointed out that 'the state would have eight years to meet the efficiency standards and that much of Alaska already has the energy codes...Many of the structures built in rural communities are built with public funds through agencies like the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which also already has the energy code requirement. They said the code would need to apply only to communities with more than 2,500 people, and structures without plumbing or central heating would be exempt.'
- http://www.adn.com/palin/story/783397.html
Way to go Palin! Palin 2012!!
- http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/12/palin-energy-funds/
Even more hilarious, or depressing, depending on what kind of mood you are in, is that this is the only part of the $931 million federal stimulus package she declined.
'The co-chairs of the state Senate Resources Committee sent Palin a letter Monday urging her to accept the funds, which could go for uses including energy efficiency grants, retrofitting buildings for less energy use and replacing streetlights with LED bulbs that use less electricity and last longer.
Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire, one of the lawmakers who wrote the governor, said in an interview that Palin herself set a goal of Alaska receiving 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski, the other co-chair of the Resources Committee, said in a written statement that, "...Alaskans need this money far more than residents of many other states with milder climates and substantially lower energy costs."
Palin's main beef is that she doesn't want to have to impose a statewide code that would interfere or force the hand of local government. Wielechowski and McGuire pointed out that 'the state would have eight years to meet the efficiency standards and that much of Alaska already has the energy codes...Many of the structures built in rural communities are built with public funds through agencies like the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which also already has the energy code requirement. They said the code would need to apply only to communities with more than 2,500 people, and structures without plumbing or central heating would be exempt.'
- http://www.adn.com/palin/story/783397.html
Way to go Palin! Palin 2012!!
Rove Says Sotomayor "Isn't Necessarily" Smart
'During a debate at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Wednesday, host Charlie Rose said Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor "is very smart." "Not necessarily," former Bush adviser Karl Rove replied. After Rose noted that Sotomayor graduated with honors from Princeton and attended Yale Law School, Rove said, "I know lots of stupid people who went to Ivy League schools." Rove's claim is ironic considering that in an interview previewing the debate, he cited President Bush's experience at Harvard and Yale to mock claims that Bush is stupid. "The myth was that this guy, who was a Yale history grad and a Harvard MBA, was not smart," Rove told the Chicago Tribune.'
- http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/rove-ivy-league-smart/
Oh, Karl...
PS: From the "Progress Report, Recovery in Progress, May 28, 2009."
'Public reaction to the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has been "decidedly more positive than negative, with 47 percent rating the nomination as 'excellent' or 'good'" and 20 percent rating it "only fair." Though Gallup found that the public reacted more positively than negatively to the last four Supreme Court nominees, Sotomayor had the second highest the net positive rating.'
This is a great, great newsletter I highly recommend all of you subscribe to. You can subscribe here: http://pr.thinkprogress.org/subscribe_pr.html
- http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/rove-ivy-league-smart/
Oh, Karl...
PS: From the "Progress Report, Recovery in Progress, May 28, 2009."
'Public reaction to the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has been "decidedly more positive than negative, with 47 percent rating the nomination as 'excellent' or 'good'" and 20 percent rating it "only fair." Though Gallup found that the public reacted more positively than negatively to the last four Supreme Court nominees, Sotomayor had the second highest the net positive rating.'
This is a great, great newsletter I highly recommend all of you subscribe to. You can subscribe here: http://pr.thinkprogress.org/subscribe_pr.html
Hilarity at the White House Press Briefings
'Whenever there’s laughter in the James S. Brady Briefing Room — by either the briefer or the briefed — the official White House stenographer indicates as much by inserting “(Laughter.)” into the transcript.
And here is a taste of Gibbs' style:
And in Robert Gibbs’ first four months as President Barack Obama’s press secretary, there have been more than 600 instances of “(Laughter.)” during his regular press briefings — an average of more than 10 laughs per day.
It’s a gaudy statistic — and one that puts his predecessors to shame.
Dana Perino, George W. Bush’s last press secretary, got all of 57 laughs in her first four months. Scott McClellan, another Bush press secretary, got just 66 laughs in his first four months.
Gibbs even bests the late Tony Snow, whose jocular performances — dubbed “The Tony Snow Show” by some — drew a relatively paltry 217 laughs during his first four months on the job.
CBS News’ Mark Knoller, who has covered the White House since Gerald Ford was president, said Gibbs is “more inclined to make a wisecrack than any press secretary” he’s covered. “He's at ease at the lectern, understands the press and is willing to offer a quip at our expense or his own,” Knoller said.
However, Knoller was sure to add that, "Jokes aside, we get business done."'
- http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/23015.html
However, Knoller was sure to add that, "Jokes aside, we get business done."'
And here is a taste of Gibbs' style:
Follow the President's Hour to Hour Activities
Or almost at least. This is a cool website I just came across that posts a fair amount of Obama Administration daily schedules. It doesn't have all that many events up there but it's still pretty cool. Check it out.
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