Everyday Normal Guy

If you got a pet cat put your hands up, and if you got a bad back put your hands up!

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

It's a TED kind of day:

Ken Robinson: Schools are killing creativity

Another wonderful TED talk, this one from Ken Robinson on how out education systems are killing creativity in our children.

960 Grid System

Things that make my life easier make me happy. Cool ways that I can do complicated stuff quickly/easily make me even happier. When those cool things are actually things I would be doing day to day it is better then sex.

I ran down a intertube today, I followed a link trail into the rabbit hole and saw how deep it went. See if you can follow my train of thought here:

1. Someone on Twitter linked in a Typography site. Me a student of web design and continually baffled by Typography for the web follwed the link Typogridphy


2. This led me to the site 960.gs which looked pretty cool. A fast way to build out (as well as prototype) site layouts that are visually appealing and modern. I was intrigued, but I have a short attention span, I remember just a few weeks ago reading an article on the CAKE PHP framework and thinking... "OMG! I should like TOTALLY build my own CMS!" What a joke, there is no way I could make anything with as much elegance and power as any of the fantastic CMS' that are out there. So when I came to a link to a NetTute video showing the baiscs of the 960 system I followed.


3. That led me to an article on NetTutes about getting started with the 960 layout. Here is a video: *heart blip*
4. 
   

It looks great, and I want to try to use it in a Drupal theme for my next project. There is even a Drupal Theme skeleton built using it.

Should be fun!

Sheep...WOW

These guys have a lot of time on their hands. Pretty cool though

Identity 2.0

I had never heard of the presentation, but while listening to a podcast the Opening Keynote presentation of OSCON 2005 given by Dick Hardt was mentioned and so I took the bait. Its a great presentation laying out some of the challenges that the web is starting to address. If you are interested in sign in technologies and how they are changing, this is a great place to start.

http://identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/

14 Gigapixel images of works of art

This is a really cool video on how a 14Gigapixel image was created of several works of art. You can use Google Earth to zoom in on the images and zoom in super close on the art. Very neat!

Support change in our political process!

Lawrence Lessig gives a good overview of why change in our political process is needed (in his view) and how to effect such change. Plus he has a great presentation style.

Lego WANT!

These are so cool. Lego rings made from silver that you can put ACTUAL Lego bricks on! ZOMG!

http://gizmodo.com/5101650/lego-silver-rings-will-brick-your-marriage

Drupal Skillz!

Roomba Cat!@!

Roomba Cat

A special comment on Proposition 8

With his wonderful eloquence, Kieth Olberman makes Prop 8 supporters question thier reasons for support... well hopefully.

Best Computer Setup EVER!

This is probably the coolest computer (or screen setup) I've ever seen!

 LOL nevermind what the advert is for ;).

Parallel Music Dimension

Somehow it has happened and I'm not really sure what we have done to deserve it. In any case there has been a barrage of great music events announced of late in and around the Seattle area for this upcoming summer.

First there was the 300 lb Gorilla: Sasquatch

With an evil plot to force concert goers to endure a grueling 3 day hell feast at the gorge or to selectively choose like some kind of sick game which bands to see and which to miss. After days of lamenting a decision had to be made. Saturday/Sunday it was. No Flight of the Conchords no The Flaming Lips no Built to Spill no Ghostland Observatory no Kinsky It were to be sad times.

Next came the party to end all parties: The Capitol Hill Block Party

And like a miracle the skies opened up and dumped upon us unworthy folk an amazing lineup of AWESOME bands including:

• The Hold Steady
• Kimya Dawson
• Les Savy Fav
• The Dodos
• Vampire Weekend

Just to name a few. WHOLY CRAP! is about the only thing to describe it. What could be better, two great multi-day music festivals around my home? I'll tell you what would be better.... a 3rd.

If two is good 20 is even better: Sub Pop 20th anniversary event

Again with a stellar lineup of great music to fill my weekend with bliss. We have:

• Flight of the Conchords
• Fleet Foxes
• The Helio Sequence
• Iron & Wine
• Kinsky
• Wolf Parade

An impressive lineup, made even moreso by the fact that it is all taking place near Seattle! If you are anything like me you are saying, "Surely there is nothing that can make this summer better musically, is there?"

The bigger older Gorilla: Bumbershoot

OH YEAH! You forgott about Bumbershoot? For shame! They recently announced the tennative lineup for the event... very nice!: Beck, Stone Temple Pilots, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Ingrid Michaelson, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Jakob Dylan, !!!, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Saul Williams, Joe Bonamassa, M. Ward, The Walkmen, Asylum St. Spankers, Dan Deacon, MIDIval PunditZ, Blitzen Trapper, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Finn, Dale Watson, John Vanderslice, Final Fantasy, The Fall of Troy, Orgone, Forro in the Dark, Ryan Bingham, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Arthur & Yu, Darondo and Nino Moschella, Pacifika Baring some serious rain... all 4 of these events will for sure be super awesome! I usually hate the hot weather of summer, but this has got me excited!