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Happy 4th

Everyone have a great weekend and don't celebrate like this guy.

Friday Videos - June 3rd, 2008 (Thursday Edition)

I probably won't be on the computer too much tomorrow.. so here are your Friday videos, a day early! Not exactly "Independence Day" themed but a healthy reminder that in a free society you can be as weird as you desire.

Many thanks to Joey for the Citreon commercial - more of that variety can be found here.

Enjoy your independence.

1.618

I mentioned this concept a long time ago but it bears repeating that 1.618 is a site that you need to bookmark, RSS, whatever it takes to remind you to look at it with regularity. If you've not been through the archives, do yourself a favor and just click randomly on the colored blocks to uncover some new treat.

Movie Poster Goodness

Nathan directed me to this /film article regarding The Best Movie Posters of 2007; a subjective topic obviously but there are some great entries. I'm not sure why Sicko or dedication are included in the list, as the posters really aren't that special. I love the second Zodiac poster and the 3:10 To Yuma entry, even if it is a bit busy.


There's also this extensive 2008 poster repository with more inspiring layouts than you could take in during one sitting.

Atom Smashing Apocalypse

Apparently a $5.8 billion particle collider has been in development for the past generation and is set to officially begin test runs in August. The 17 mile wide device is meant to assist scientists in discovering more about dark matter and dark energy - a substance that supposedly makes up a large portion of the universe but very little is known about. The concern here is that once the machine is fully powered up (which takes months) it will produce so much energy that it could create a worldwide catastrophe. Granted that seems a bit unlikely but the odds given are 1 in 50 million - not far off from some lottery odds.

The danger is probably quite minimal but the news feels the need to spin it as some new forthcoming danger. Regardless, the development is fascinating.

Links for Nerds (like you)

Quality links for those interested in the nerdier side of life / development:

• CISNKY - if content is king then CISNKY ranks way up there. I spent a good amount of time yesterday browsing through pages and pages of goodness related to Flash player updates, various firmware updates and other amusing goodies. Like this Google Monopoly Board.
• List of 22 Actionscript 3.0 API's - some nice libraries to be found here if you're into that sort of thing.
• PNG Thing: PNG Optimizer - might not shave a ton of filesize off your PNG's but every little bit counts and tends to add up over time. So if bandwidth is a concern, give it a go.

The Website Is Down

The Website Is Down is making the rounds and is worth a watch if you appreciate the dynamic between nerdy tech guy and ignorant sales guy. Be forewarned about the NSFW language but it's pretty hilarious little trial and tribulation. The best part is the Remote Desktop to the sales guy computer... so stick around for that.

Dr. Dog ready Fate

The new album from Dr. Dog, Fate, is set for release on July 22nd. I had some trepidation about the new album because of my fondness for We All Belong. Fortunately the band does not disappoint with Fate. Lyrically it's not quite as on point as the previous record but it's still an enjoyable listen from start to finish. You can watch the band performing two songs from the upcoming album here and be sure to snag the tracks below...

Important News

Important News! Please Read!

• Entertainment Scientists Warn Miley Cyrus Will Be Depleted by 2013!
• The World According To Americans

200 Nipples

The concept behind 200 Nipples is an interesting one. Each month there is a new design, 100 shirts are made (hence the name of the site) and sold from $1 to $100 - depending on when you buy the shirt. Honestly, I can't see more than 40 being sold at any point because who is going to spend more than that on a tee shirt? Maybe if some of the proceeds when to a charity I could see it happening but I'd be real curious to meet the guy that spends $93 on a single t-shirt.

Novel concept and worth keeping an eye on the site.. you might find yourself getting a real deal on a new design!

Various Links

Some links for you to partake in:

• What Makes An Awesome Rock Song? Nashville Scene is taking a survey and your answers will be conveyed to the band playing the Nashville Cream 2nd Anniversary party.. where they will attempt to play said awesome rock song.
• Milk Jug Gets A Makeover and apparently people aren't into it? It's better for the dairies, better for delivering fresher product and easier to store yet people still aren't into it.
• Bon Iver on ABC News - 1) good to hear the story of the record if you have not already and 2) hilarious to see the differences between the ABC correspondent (Dan Harris) and Mr. Iver (Justin Vernon).

Summer Mix Series 2008

The 2008 Summer Mix Series has officially begun. While there isn't a ton to see there quite yet I have a good feeling that in just a few days / weeks time there will be an overwhelming amount of content. So, go check out the first two mixes - Nosedive from Flux-Rad and my own Summer Nights III (now with preview!).

If you are unfamiliar with the Summer Mix Series, just keep an eye on the site, have a peek at the Guidelines and then submit your own.

Google Crawls Flash

While it's still rudimentary at best it is interesting that Google's search bots can now crawl Flash. If you've ever been in meetings with 'SEO' bandied about this may be good news. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to index any externally loaded data so if you're building something that's the least bit dynamic, you're still SOL.

KAWS i-D

I knew that KAWS had done some heavy collaboration on the latest issue of i-D but I just ran across a great interview with the man himself in regards to the process over on their site. And you can always watch it on youtube as well, if they ever take down that feature. Great to hear him speak on his history and his process.

Image Fulgurator

Some things should not be made. The Image Fulgurator is a clever device that combines a camera, a projector and some custom circuity to trigger the blasting of an image when someone elses flash is detected. The basic concept being that right when you take a picture of something, the Fulgurator goes off at the same time and projects its own image on to whatever you're taking a photo of. Hilarious right? Graffiti artists could use this to add their own messages to areas that would be hidden until a photo was taken of it. Which is exactly what you see happening here.

So it sounds clever and innocent enough until you consider the possibility that corporations might make their own version of this and start broadcasting their logo on to landmarks right when you're taking a pic. I can't wait to have a batch of photos watermarked with a Pepsi logo next time I go out of town.

Codaphonic / Kindercastle

There's a new trend rising for local Nashville shows - put as many people as you can on the guestlist to pack the venue and hope that the majority of those attending are drinkers. This isn't a great deal for the band making a lot off the door but if you're still building an audience having bodies in the room is way more important than making $30 that you split four ways.

Which brings us to the upcoming Codaphonic / Kindercastle show on July 2nd (Wednesday) at Mercy Lounge. If you contact either band and ask to be on the guestlist, they'll add you. So your entry fee is waived, they just expect you to attend.

For those with a short attention span let me re-iterate. Free show on July 2nd at Mercy Lounge if you email one of the above bands asking to be on the guest list. Both are quite good and worth seeing. Please attend.

Dr. Destruction

I really want this Dr. Destruction vinyl figure and I can't for the life of me figure out why. He's not tied to any comic book, graphic novel or cartoon that I'm familiar with and I'm not all that familiar with the artist. Regardless, my finger is on the trigger for purchase...

Improving Your Day

I understand that this is off the typical yewknee style postings but occasionally even I am overwhelmed by the cuteness of some animals and feel the need to share. I'll post about some really masculine some time to make up for it.. promise.

ICANN opens Pandora's Box

According to this article the people responsible for domain extensions (ICANN) will start relaxing their rules on what is or isn't a permissible offering. Look forward to websites ending in .hotel, .fishing, .sex, .shop, .nyc and many more. Why they didn't allow .xxx but are seemingly okay with .sex is a bit bizarre but whatever. This is one of the more alarming quotes:

Now it says the goal is to quickly approve nearly every domain name submitted unless there is a dispute over the name.

This just seems like their opening the floodgates for impossible to remember domain names.

Once the new rules go into effect I give the Internet 6 hours or less until someone registers clownpenis.fart.

The Features - Some Kind of Salvation

I probably shouldn't post about the fact that The Features new album, Some Kind of Salvation, is now available for purchase on Amazon (or LaLa). I probably shouldn't mention that I don't think it's supposed to be available for purchase yet.. since their main site doesn't make any mention of it or even a tracklisting for the album (and I'm the one meant to update said site, so I would know). So even though I shouldn't mention it, I am. There are many reasons why but mostly because the album is so good I'd hate for anyone to actually wait another minute more to get it.

The disc may not be up for sale for long, so get it while you can.