Take a few minutes this morning to read / listen to this NPR report, Heart With No Beat Offers Hope Of New Lease On Life. The basic gist? Two physicians at the Texas Heart Institute have developed a replacement device that is, thus far, successfully replacing heart functionality. Devices to assist a heart have been around for some time but a full-on replacement has yet to be established. The modified dual ventricular assist devices actually continuously circulate blood through the body - instead of the rhythmic pulse we're all used to. It's a fascinating story to say the least.

I'll be entirely honest, when I ordered a batch of homemade marshmallows from Wondermade I thought I was just helping out a friend. Turns out I was helping myself out.. with a delicious treat. A marshmallow recommendation is probably the last thing you expected to see on this site but, honestly, they are crazy delicious (and ridiculously affordable). So, go check out the store and trust me when I say you won't regret ordering any of the available flavors.

MomentUs is "a collaborative project in which a select group of designers, illustrators, and artists create visual interpretations of the most defining moments in United States history." It kicks off with Jon Contino's take on The Revolutionary War. While I'm not entirely enamored with this first entry (though I do love Jon Contino's work) I think the concept behind the site is strong. The full list of contributors shows that a lot of goods are coming down the pipe. I mean, Mark Weaver doing "The Moon Landing" ?? Sign me up.

• My Email Canary - brilliant little bit of email trickery to determine if an email account has been compromised. It's not a solution I can see being widely adopted but it's clever enough to read about and appreciate.
• CSS Trick: Contain Floated DIVs inside a Non-Floated DIV - I run into this problem all the time and I'm really surprised that the solution is so simple (and somewhat nonsensical). It has been pointed out that it's not appropriate for every situation (i.e. negative margins) but it will likely apply 90% of the time. via Will via Robbie.

Because I'm hesitant to modify anything on the FTP due the impending potential restore I am just going to dive straight into this weeks videos and continue to cross my fingers for the server to get back to where it needs to be. Anyway, enjoy the playlist, it's a good one if I do say so myself.

• eHarmoney Video Bio - this girl loves cats. I mean she loves cats. The skeptic in me says this is faked, the lover of the absurd wants to believe it's entirely real. via Paige.
• Have you ever had a dream like this? - I bet you good money you will want to watch this one at least a few times.
• Elmyr Pharmaceutical Ad - aside from being a perfectly funny ad on it's own, it's made quite a bit funnier given that it features Brent Hinds of Mastodon.
• Hahn: SuperDry - Publicis Mojo deserves a giant hearty pat on the back for this one. Ridiculous, memorable and entirely entertaining from start to finish.
• What's your favorite body part? - some NSFW language (depending on where you work) but rather entertaining. Do not scrub to the end, watch the whole thing. The end is perfect. Don't ruin it by jumping to it. Wait for it.. via Jamie.
• Unbelievable Fire Truck Crash - seriously, how does that happen!?! Via VHX.
• JEFF - "Diamond Way" with Cats - I posted this on Tumblr yesterday but it bears repeating here again. It's an unofficial fan video for JEFF the Brotherhood consisting of random footage of Pallas Cats. It's perfect. Also, don't miss Ty Segall cut to footage of Salem the cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Double perfect.
• Kip Addotta - Wet Dream - Is this supposed to be a clever euphemism? Is it a literal interpretation of a dumb dream? How does this exist? Why is it five minutes long? How is it so bad? The puns start flying at an alarming rate at about 3 minutes in. Ridiculous.

BONUS

• Mailchimp: A Book Apart - another Mailchimp profile on a respectable company.. this time, A Book Apart. Must remember to watch this later.
• I Live in the Woods - "A woodsman's frantic journey, driven by happiness, slaughter, and a confrontation with America's God." Not for the faint of heart... in fact, this one probably takes a special breed of person to enjoy. You've been warned.
• GoPro on a Hula Hoop - if this little camera doesn't end up taking over the world of video in some small way I'm going to be super surprised.

Have a great weekend.. everyone hold their breath for the Dreamhost backup system to kick in and restore this site back to its proper June 2011 glory!

First and foremost, if you ever try to visit yewknee.com in the future and get no response, head over to my Tumblr and expect to see content there. I hope it never comes to this again but, rule of thumb, that's where you can get your content.

Secondly, apologies for the downtime yesterday. The machine at Dreamhost that holds all the yewknee.com site data died yesterday and, as you can see, once they finally fixed it - everything I've done since December 2010 has been vanquished. I'm hoping that it comes back somehow, magically, but I would not be the least bit surprised if they just told me it's gone for good. We'll see (they say the restore process can take a few days, so I'll wait until Monday to be super bummed out about losing six months of data).

Lastly, I will go ahead and tell you there will be at least one more bit of downtime in the future when I move the server off to another host. I've been with Dreamhost a long time but yesterday was the straw that broke this camels back. I like to say yewknee.com isn't mission critical for me so DH is fine to use but that's not true.. this site is very important to me! So I've got to stop hosting it with an abusive partner.

Update: Looks like Dreamhost figured out how to restore the server from a more recent version of the site (aka - not from December 2010). I'm happy this has happened as it means that when I move hosts, I'll be bringing everything recent with me.

Phenomenal photo of the Puyehue volcano erupting for the first time in half a century. Granted, it's rather unfortunate that thousands of people had to be evacuated but it's mindbending to think things like this happen in real life.

via Kate.

Stumbled across this video of Steve Jobs presenting a plan for a new Apple campus to the Cupertino City Council. If you scrub about five minutes in you'll see the actual plans for the building. I haven't watched the entire 20 minute presentation yet but he does talk about how old their present campus is, how the new building would hold 12,000 people in one structure and how much greener the new setup would be.

via Aaron.

Did you know that General Electric has started their own Tumblr? They promise "a look inside our research labs, manufacturing plans, and archives." The best part? Thus far it's comprised entirely of Instagram photos from around those various facilities. The dielectric barrier discharge actuator (above, left) is as much fun to say as it is to look at.

Heads up via Paige.

It's almost inappropriate to list these two things together but bear with me. I love a story of homegrown scientists making good. The following are two great examples of science gone wrong and science, potentially, going very well.. see if you can pick which is which.

• Quantum Jumping - did you know that there are Infinite Parallel Universes? Did you know that Burt Goldman wants to help you harness the ability to travel to these alternate dimensions through the process of "thought transference"? I think it ends up being a self-help program of sorts but I really love the notion that Mr. Goldman will help you bridge the gap of alternate realities. Hugh Everett would be proud.
• Copenhagen Suborbitals - a suborbital space endeavor homegrown in some enthusiasts backyard (though, not literally the backyard). They plan to launch their rocket into suborbital space and, from the looks of it are well on their way.

Much like the HTML5 Boilerplate, the HTML Email Boilerplate gives you a blank canvas to start from for your coding needs but sets up a good number of rules and regulations to ensure that your outgoing email looks its best on the majority of email readers. There's even some code snippets from Fabio at Mailchimp (aka this guy), so you know it's good. It is a surprising amount of code for an HTML email (which you'd think would be the opposite) but sometimes you gotta go the extra mile to make sure your message is being seen perfectly by the widest number of people.

So, in case you aren't a super nerd like the rest of us and somehow missed the enormous slew of announcements from Apple yesterday, take some time to browse the features of the new iCloud, iOS5 and OS X Lion. There's way too much to cover in one post but the most interesting angle on it all, to me, is how the new services from Apple compete with existing services. iCloud vs. Dropbox. Reading List vs Instapaper. One Click Camera vs Red Pop. OS X Mail vs Sparrow. etc. etc.

Des Traynor has a great writeup on being a developer and playing their game - meaning; creating software that could easily be entirely usurped by being a good idea and implemented (albeit differently) on a larger scale. His advice is to "target verticals" - or, rather, a target demographic that is much more niche.

While I certainly feel for the companies that are being undercut a bit by Apple I do think that this sort of thing only breeds future innovation and that can't be a bad thing.

You may recall the name Brad Vetter from his NSAG show and, rightfully so, his work is quite memorable. He's got new work showing at the Belcourt currently and has been gracious enough to put it all online. From This Point On is a repository of images of the pieces that make up the show. Unfortunately, digital images don't really do his work the justice they deserve - the texture and coloring just doesn't come across quite as impactful. So, if you like what you see here, you'll like it even more in real life.

I told you I'd be yanking more content from 50 Watts and this faux Polish Book Cover contest seems like the perfect excuse to do so. The contest was open for anyone to submit a redesign of their favorite book done in a style mimicking / tributing vintage Polish book covers (examples). The winners and honorable mentions are certainly impressive but you can also browse all of the submissions and find plenty of gems in there as well. Long story short, from an inspirational point of view, it's hard to top.

While I am sure there are pockets of the Internet raging negatively about the shenanigans of Dale Price I can't help but think it's an innocent and amusing undertaking. Every day he finds some sort of new costume, puts it on and goes out to Wave at the Bus that his sixteen-year-old son is taking to school. He's been at it for at least 170 days with a different costume every day. Sure, it's a story destined for The Today Show but that doesn't mean it's not a bit of heartwarming charm.

The concept behind Show Hopping is simple - enter a location, a radius to search within and a list of bands you're interested in (or just check Allow All). The site then takes your info and cross checks it with upcoming show listings from Last.fm and creates a great looking list with interactive map. It's simple, effective and surprisingly accurate! Even if you're not looking for shows in your area, I recommend trying it out.. it's a web app done right.

via Chad.

A Book Apart is at it again with their fourth title - Responsive Web Design. Their own writeup absolutely sells it:

From mobile browsers to netbooks and tablets, users are visiting your sites from an increasing array of devices and browsers. Are your designs ready? Learn how to think beyond the desktop and craft beautiful designs that anticipate and respond to your users’ needs. Ethan Marcotte will explore CSS techniques and design principles, including fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries, demonstrating how you can deliver a quality experience to your users no matter how large (or small) their display.

Even if you know this stuff already, it's likely not a terrible idea to get an alternate perspective and hear techniques that may easily become considered Best Practices.

Lately I've been noticing that Nashville's hip-hop scene has been getting more and more attention. Chancellor Warhol wins the Road to Bonnaroo and The Cream has been doing a whole lot more coverage (digitally and in print). That being said, I still know zilch about the scene. So, I asked Sean L. Maloney to put together 30 minutes of some of the best stuff he's heard around town lately. The results surprised me in the best way possible. Instead of boring beats, overly aggressive lyrics and a general lack of emotion (which is what I expected, honestly) there is a plethora of influences present - from soul, funk, r&b to more contemporary electronic and a little bit of rock.

Long story short, it's great. Even as someone that openly admits to knowing little about hip-hop and, specifically, the Nashville area scene of hip-hop.. this is just good music from top to bottom.

At first glance I'd say that General Orders No. 9 will be nothing short of an absolutely beautiful film. The shots shown in the trailer are gorgeous - every single one of them. As a film I'm not sure what to expect - the narration is quite odd, the genre is described as experimental / art / documentary and, more than likely, will appeal mostly to film geeks that can fully comprehend an obtuse tale told with poetry, maps, dreams and prayers (I don't count myself among that group). That being said, it really is stunning how great it looks.. do yourself a favor and, at the very least, watch the trailer.

via Lactarded.

Typically when I see some project linked from Daring Fireball I am fairly sure before I even check out what it is that I will enjoy it. However, the Red Pop project has me a little baffled. The device is designed to slide around your camera and provide a easy and quick way to take photos. The video explains it swimmingly and plenty of people are all on board (they've more than doubled their Kickstarter goal). What I am baffled by is how making your phone bulkier is meant to decrease photo taking time? Can I fit this whole thing in my pocket comfortably? If not, am I carrying the RedPop separately and having to mount the phone every time I want to take a pic? Isn't that just as many steps as just unlocking the phone and running the camera app?

Anyway, I link to the project because I think it's designed very well, the presentation is solid and the site design is unique. There is a whole lot to love about it but I need a little hand-holding when it comes to knowing the real advantage of it.