del.icio.us

I tried putting in a twitter "widget" as a way of micro blogging, but it seemed a bit too clunky. I'm trying again, but with the website del.icio.us. Now this website lets you share a bunch of websites that you found interesting. So people can check out your del.icio.us account and find some websites, videos, whatever, that you think are neat. It's also a fairly discreet way to add interesting links, that aren't quite worth a post to the blog. So scroll down and on the left side of the page, above the clustrmap, you'll see my del.icio.us links. I'm starting with a website that has lots of great Mac how-to tutorials.

Stairwells, Porches and Pool Halls

Zach Condon and his team, known as Beirut, have a record coming out October 9th and in concordance with that release, Beirut along with French music blog La Blogothèque are shooting a live performance of each song from the new album. The performances are shot in Brooklyn and are shot in apartments, stairwells, porches, pool halls and so on. It feels as though the band decided to spontaneously break out their instruments and preform on the spot. The songs are also fantastic. The new record "Flying Cup Club" sounds like it will be the best thing Beirut has yet put out. Check out this video for "Nantes".

The rest of the videos:
Flying Cup Club

KisMac

It's been over a week since my last update so I need to put something up. I found something that might be extremely useful for some readers. There's a program, albeit an extremely illegal one, that helps Mac users find wi-fi connections. It not only does that but it breaks the encryption most people use for their wi-fi connections. Which basically means your breaking onto their wi-fi network. The people at KisMac also tell me that this program isn't for novices, you have to have some knowhow to not cause yourself trouble. So, if you're up for it, and want to find even more wi-fi networks, try KisMac.

KisMac

Impossible

I have been listening to the second single off the new Shout Out Louds record, "Our Ill Wills", for about a solid day now and it's still amazing. It's a 7 minute track that is catchy the whole way through, and not just that but the chords never change through the whole song. It's of course about being unloved, but Adam Olenius, the frontman, seems to have a knack for that. The video for "Impossible" is directed by the bass-player of the group, who also did the video for "Young Folks". In yet another PB&J connection, Björn Yttling produced "Our Ill Wills". The video is also pretty cool.

ARRRR!!!

It's National, or International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Ice cream baaaarrrsss!!!

Sharing Is Caring

I'm not a joke shirt kind of guy, because what happens when the joke gets old? Well, then you've got a washed up shirt. It turns out the hilariously informative people at Mental Floss seemed to hit the right notes when it comes to hilarious shirts. Now you can give a graphic shout-out to your favorite historical icons while dishing out some premium puns.

Is Loneliness Genetic?

A group of researchers out of UCLA did a study on the health effects of social isolation.

"In their 'lonely' volunteers, various genes tended to be 'over expressed' compared with those at the opposite end of the scoring scale.

These often had known links to the body's mechanisms for fighting off disease, such producing inflammation. Too much inflammation can damage tissues and cause disease.

Other genes, including those thought to be important in fighting viruses and producing immune antibodies, were less active compared with the non-lonely volunteers.

Dr Steven Cole, who led the study, said: 'What this shows us is the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most important basic internal processes - the activity of our genes.'"

"He said the differences he found were not connected to other factors such as the age, wealth or health of the people involved, but were specifically connected to their feelings of social isolation.

They were unconnected with the size of the person's social network.

Dr Cole said: 'What counts, at the level of gene expression, is not how many people you know, it's how many you feel really close to over time.'"

As always correlation does not equal causation, but it's interesting either way.

BBC

No Survivors

That's Not How Gay Works

Some would say I'm being lazy by posting for funny, they would be right. Besides the fact that a Federal Court basically sided with AT&T, AKA telecommunication monopoly sanctioned by the FCC, in a case about Net Neutrality, there's nothing in the news. So enjoy this video now, before AT&T charges Youtube millions of dollars to ensure their video gets delivered. It's gonna be like Mob protection, except legal. Whew, alright. Two videos. Daily Show "Trapped in the Closet" spoof about Larry Craig and skit with Kristen Schal and Bill Murray. Hmmph, that looks unsightly, but whatever.

The Great Challenge of the 21st Century

There's a threat coming, it's real, it's a danger to the American people and our children. If we don't do something now, we'll never forgive ourselves. Just watch this press conference.

This Is Somewhat Confusing

Apple released so much new stuff today that it's a bit overwhelming, so I'll just list some key facts.

-The 8GB iPhone is now $399, down from $599.
-iPod Touch is like the iPhone, but without a phone. 8GB is $299, 16GB is $399.
-iPhone and iPod Touch has wireless access to iTunes.
-New regular iPods have aluminum front. 80GB is $250, 120GB is $350. Improved battery life, more colors and new menu system.
-New iPod nano also comes in new aluminum colors and has a 2 inch screen. New menu, new colors and improved battery life. Looks awkward.

Including the Shuffle, there are now four iPods. I bet Apple will phase out the regular iPod and the Nano once prices go down, but for now it's a bit much.

Here's what they look like.

Bat For Lashes

In September of last year the debut album by Natasha Khan, known as Bat For Lashes, was released. Only recently did I give her a good listen. I happened to catch the end of the video for "What's A Girl To Do?", which by the way is an awesome video, and got interested. The song, "What's A Girl To Do?" starts with a very "Just Like Honey" drum beat, but then this spooky harpsichord comes in, and the track takes on a Bjork vibe. The harpsichord may just make the song by giving it a Halloween feel. The harpiscord really reminds me of the score to Final Fantasy VIII as well. The only sore spot may be the talking parts - I could imagine people not liking them, even though I do.

This Wasn't Supposed To Be Any Good

So Britney Spears has a new single out called "Gimme More' and it's decent. As is obvious by the shout out at the end, Timbaland protégé Nate "Danjahandz" Hills produced this number. Seeing as he co-produced "Sexy Back", "My Love" and "Promiscuous", he knows how to make a hit or two. It sounds like "Danja" could have probably done this song all by himself, but I'm don't mind a decent Britney track, even if she doesn't have much to do with it.

Gimme More