Correlating Amazon and Your Local Library
Now Playing: KCRW
Topic: Web 2.0
Thanks to Reddit's post on Greasemokey extensions, there's a solution to a question I posed a couple months back. I was a little slow to this and found that Jon Udell had already solved the Amazon-Public Library correlation challenge: how to link Amazon's search results through their API to your local public library.

I don't have the Rochester Public Library's LIBRA system working yet but RIT's works well. Drag this bookmarklet, RIT Libraries, to your link toolbar in Firefox or IE (screenshot here).

Here's the bookmarklet text (what the hell is a bookmarklet?): javascript:var%20re=/([\/-]|is[bs]n=)(\d{7,9}[\dX])/i;if(re.test(location.href)==true){var%20isbn=RegExp.$2;void(win=window.open('http://albert.rit.edu'+'/search/i='+isbn,'LibraryLookup','scrollbars=1,resizable=1,location=1,width=575,height=500'))}

Do your regular Amazon search for a book and when you're found it, click on the bookmarklet in your browser and will automatically query the RIT Library (in a new browser window). It's as easy as that so spread the word.

Kenya Photos
Now Playing: Plej - Lay of the Land (vocal version)
From Bert and Meg's recent Kenya trip:

Currently Listening: Plej - Lay of the Land (vocal version); My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus

Funny Shirts as Christmas Gifts
Topic: Personal or Reflective

Thanks Snowboarder Magazine, where I first read/heard about this phenomena a couple years ago.

The Grey Album --> Q-Unit Greatest Hits
Now Playing: Q-Unit - Bohemian Wanksta
Topic: Personal or Reflective
As part of my mp3 blog search engines, Steroegum had this awesome post

(mp3s here)

UPDATE 12/7/05: Couldn't (forgot to) publish the post until today. But knowing that I scooped BoingBoing by a couple of days feels good.

In keeping with the music theme, read Slate's great diatribe againist the Black Eyed Peas newest single, "My Hump." I first heard the BEP's freshman album in 1998, a Mack Dawg or Standard Films snowboard video used a few tracks. But ever since, the BEPs have gone extremely mainstream:

" "My Humps" is a moment that reminds us that categories such as "good" and "bad" still matter. Relativism be damned! There are bad songs that offend our sensibilities but can still be enjoyed, and then there are the songs that are just really bad?transcendentally bad, objectively bad."

And I'm so out of it when it comes to pop culture (the no TV thing) that I was amazed to see tons of Broken Social Scene albums at BestBuy (I went for CD-Rs, I know a rip but I need them stat). Here I was thinking that BSS was still this cool, underground music secret that the rest of the world hadn't discovered. Be damned, I still like them.

Why I Love the Internet
Now Playing: Feist - Inside and Out
Topic: Personal or Reflective
Just when I think that things are going wrong, I receive some confirmation that I'm doing the right things. Yes, I spend a lot of time reading, writing, researching on the internet but I love it. Here's why:

HBS's Working Knowledge acknowledging the Web2.0 topic (albeit a little late but remember their audience, business leaders, not the first adopters who have been talking/blogging about the subject for awhile now)

As Jonathan Schwartz has predicted that all CEOs will eventually blog just as naturally as they presently use email, HBS's Working Knowledge asks, "Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere?"- does Scoble agree

How musicians have harnessed the internet (nothing profound but it's from the MSM)

The 10th anniversary show of This American Life, which included a powerful story on the former editor of Wired, Kevin Kelly

Being able to play mp3s files directly on your blog- no plug-ins necessary (thanks del.icio.us)

Sent some comments/feedback on this WaPo experiment to The Media Project and they liked it (more on this later in the week)

Currently Playing: Feist - Inside and Out (iTunes link)

Posted by cph19 at 10:35 PM EST

Updated: Monday, 28 November 2005 10:37 PM EST

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The Fire Through
Now Playing: The Fire Through - A Slight Numb
Topic: Music
I don't get a lot of traffic here but if I can spread the word about a buddy's new band, I'm more than happy to help.

"Rochester, NY based band looking to form something solid and truthful. Currently in the process of recording with a total of 8 original tracks layed down, The Fire Through is Evan Wormwood (drums/bass/singer) and Dennis Gaebel (Lead/Rhytm Guitar/Singer)."

Give a listen to their two tracks, "A Slight Numb" and "Funktion Sober" via The Fire Through on MySpace.

Great Radio
Now Playing: Hidden Kitchens - NPR via WXXI
Topic: Personal or Reflective
What a great way to end Thanksgiving, relaxing and listening to Hidden Kitchens, a NPR series exploring hidden kitchens across the country.

I'm no epicure at this point in my life and don't get into cooking either. My Dad read that the sign of a person who loves to cook is someone that looks forward to cooking even when they're not hungry. He and brother do love to cook, and though I enjoy eating, a love of cooking hasn't rubbed off. But there's more to cooking than just slaving away in the kitchen. As the amazing Hidden Kitchens stories portray, "its food and fellowship."

In addition to Hidden Kitchens, Jay Allison produces the great radio series, "This I Believe." I heard Penn Jillette's essay on Monday morning while driving to work and it reminded me of this series. Check out the list of contributors, it's an eclectic and inspirational group of people, from Bill Gates to John McCain to Dave Brubeck to Brian Greene.

Eloquence in Simplicity
Now Playing: Engadget Podcast - 11/22/05
Topic: Personal or Reflective
I couldn't have said it better myself.

Old news but here's why my apartment has been so cold (and why my mail is now in danger). In chronological and incresing magnitude of eloquent BS (left-->right), from my otherwise excellent landlord:

Last.fm + LivePlasma
Now Playing: Bloc Party - This Modern Love
Topic: Web 2.0
LivePlasma + Last.fm = a visual, mashed up way to explore your musical tastes

(based on a search for Broken Social Scene)

Snowboarding Circa '90/'91
Now Playing: Guster - Two Points for Honesty
Topic: Personal or Reflective
Thanks to Wired for the hat tip on First Descent, a snowboard movie coming out on Dec. 2nd (trailer here). There's been a long list of cheesy mainstream snowboard films (I don't even want to name them) but the five riders in this film, including Farmer, Nick Perata, and Terje are formidable. (If you haven’t heard of the first two, keep reading; if you haven’t heard of Terje then you’re not a snowboarder). The riding includes AK and hopefully very little jibbing so I'm reserving judgment on this movie.

I'm not opposed to jibbing but it's not what snowboarding is about. People ask me about snowboarding and I say that I love it. When they ask me if I'm good, I usually shrug my shoulders because that's the way I am. Go watch Damien Sanders and Farmer in Critical Condition and learn where snowboarding originated. It was anti-establishment and all about pissing off people (skiers and the ski patrol).

If you haven't heard of the movie of those two riders, go pour through old snowboard magazines (like Transworld and Snowboarder) and then read Susanna Howe's book, (Sick) : A Cultural History of Snowboarding.

You owe it to yourself and to the sport to know snowboarding's roots. Were you riding back in '90/'91? Do you remember the first jib revolution, epitomized by the Snow Summit scene and the Ride crew? How about that famous Division 23 ad with Peter Line and his favorite magazine? I used to read the new snowboard magazine issues religiously, calling them my bibles and treating them as such.

The snow has started falling here in western NY and I can't wait.

Support Bloggers' Rights!
Now Playing: The Cure - Mint Car
Topic: Personal or Reflective
I owe a lot of my interest and passion on the future of the internet, technology, and culture to Lessig so this is the least I can do:

Support Bloggers' Rights!

For more Lessig fun, see him in the video of the recent debate on the Google Print Library project.

Currently Playing: The Cure - Mint Car

The Most Difficult Week of My Life
Now Playing: Lemon Jelly - Come
Topic: Creative Class
There's not much more to say than it was a difficult week. There was no flow this past week but I'm looking forward to finding it- "the feeling people get when their activities require focus and concentration but are also incredibly enjoyable and rewarding" (HBR pdf link).

It's been three years since hearing Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talk about flow but I had tucked away in the back on my mind. It came up in the HBR quoted article above and it was another one of those ah-hah moments that I love so much.

With some free time now, check out Flickr Explore and Last.fm (which Fred posted about recently) but I never delved into until now.

Currently Listening: Lemon Jelly - Come

Sweet Virginia

Currently listening: Gomez - Sweet Virginia

Presentation style inspiration for Wed. night

As Cool As It Gets
Now Playing: Imogen Heap - Goodnight and Go

UPDATE (11/18/05): Oops, forgot that I had already posted this photo.

Links are the Currency of the Internet
Topic: Web 2.0
Fred gets it, so well in fact that I'm forced to break the MIA rule now the 2nd time and post his thoughts below:

" I have written before that links are the currency of the Internet. That continues to be lost on the major media. As I browse around the New York Times online this afternoon, I find so few links in the stories. They should look like Wikipedia, not a newspaper. This is the Internet after all.

Links are so fundamental on the Internet. Not using links is like not using commas or periods. If you think about Google, the current king (or at least Starbucks) of the Internet, they have built their whole platform on links. The New York Times doesn't link out very much. So how do they expect others to want to link back?

I use the Internet like I follow a conversation, I read something, it contains a link, I follow it, I read more, I learn more, and so on and so forth. "

I couldn't agree more.

Another Sunday Morning...
Now Playing: Aqualung - Falling Out of Love
Topic: Personal or Reflective
From one of the world's most popular political blogs, a link to The Buffalo News. Their servers have probably never seen so much traffic to an opinion piece before (Leonard Pitts writes for The Miami Herald but why deal w/ their free membership page).

Like Merry Fitzmas, this post is for my brother.

MIA until November 16th
Now Playing: DJ Shadow vs. Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers

I swore to myself no blogging until the Capstone for my Masters Program is finished. Short and simple: I'll be MIA until Nov. 16th, no email, no phone, no blogging.

And again, it's cold in my apartment.

Currently Listening (the Capstone-cranking mix):

The Bravery- Honest Mistake*

DJ Shadow vs. Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers

Broken Social Scene - Hotel*

Josh Rouse - Directions* (my old standby, helped me finish my undergrad thesis)

* iTunes links *


UPDATE (11/9/05): Thanks to NPR this morning (listen to the end of the audio clip), now cranking to 50 Cent's "Best Friend" (iTunes link).

Posted by cph19 at 11:56 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 9 November 2005 9:24 PM EST

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Justin Loves Martha Stewart
Now Playing: KCRW
Topic: Personal or Reflective

F-ing great, I love it Justin (especially the fake mullet). Wish I had been in Chicago for the party. Hat tip to Patrick for directing me to Gants' blog (where I found the above photo). Patrick also suggested checking out Apple's video on their new Aperture software.

It's Late Again...
Now Playing: Ariana Stewart - Daddy's Baby Girl
Topic: Personal or Reflective


See Ariana Stewart's page for an audio stream of "Daddy's Baby Girl."

Lack of Sleep Makes You Fat and Stupid
Now Playing: Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough
Topic: Personal or Reflective
Damn, I'm screwed: Lack of Sleep Makes You Fat and Stupid