Amazon unveiled their clip widget recently. I thought I would put it up here to see how it performed. This one just has a sample of my latest purchases:
Steven Aitchison recorded his energy level when wearing a watch, and when he wasn't, and to his surprise his energy level was higher without the watch. Obviously, this wasn't a scientific survey with a good sample size, thoughts to the standard deviation, etc, but I found the article interesting nonetheless.
I have long been under the assumption that our productivity is inversely tied to our level of information. While having time pieces isn't new, think of all the substitutes that we have to see exactly how far behind our mountain of work that we are already at. Our cells, computers, iPods all show the time, and add to the guilt factor of not getting things done. Seems pretty simple that the constant reminder on our wrists would do the same.
Just some thoughts to a pretty interesting idea.
I tend to shy away from speaking or writing of politics in my blog for several reasons. First, I believe there are many that are much better informed than myself, and thus when you don't have much to add, it's better to listen. I also view politics for more the entertainment value rather than expecting immediate change. A republic system is very, very slow to change. More importantly though, I have always viewed C. Wright Mills The Power Elite as a pretty good explanation as to why much of the direction of my country isn't really in the public domain as we were taught in our civics classes.
If I can't really affect or influence change, then why should I really bother worrying of the consequences? I tend to not really focus on things that I have little control over, which makes my life a bit easier and my demeanor a bit nicer at the end of the day. Thus, it's entertainment for me (quality entertainment at times) more than something that I should spend time losing sleep over.
That said, I can't help but think that the Ron Paul run is possibly the most apt example that proves the hypothesis that C. Wright Mills put forward fifty years ago. It's almost poetic in the way his candidacy still has legs even going against the all of the powers that be. Perhaps good ideas (and some really bad) can't be contained in the information age. Anything is possible, right?
For you mash up fans out there, 2008 has started out very good. Best of Bootie 2007 was released today. While it doesn't seem to be as strong as the 2006 version, there are some very nice tracks. My favorite is the Sympathy for Teen Spirit so far.
I've been listening to Tullycraft of late, particularly "The Punks are Writing Love Songs". I'm not one to keep up with band's blog sites much, but I have to recommend Tullycraft's blog. Almost daily they post a song for download from various other bands, and almost daily that song is great. Worth the look.
I am not doing much in the Xaraya community any longer (for no reason other than time constraints), so I could be mistaken but I believe Xarigami is Jo's new site. Crisp design, and quite a few downloads available. Well worth the visit.
I have relatively strange music tastes. I just like what I like, regardless of the genre. I used to love the idea of Indie bands when i was younger, more for the snobbish ability to say, "I've been listening to them for years" than for the actual music. At this point in my life it's about the music.
I have a list of four bands that I think are absolutely great, and I can listen to all day. All four are probably even better live, but I don't know if I will be able to catch any of the four soon.
Vampire Weekend is amazing. They have really nice, catchy tunes that are never far away from the tip of your tongue. Cape Cod and Oxford Comma are two of the best songs I have heard in quite some time.
Matisyahu is a bit from my norm. That said, I try to challenge myself to enjoy all music and Reggae is no different. I love Jerusalem and if it was a record, I would have already worn out the fresh analog sound to it.
Another band that I find myself spending a ton of time listening to is The Wiyos. They are a bit of blues, a bit of vaudeville, and all good. I just wish I could get more of their songs on Amazon or iTunes. Right now, I only have 3 songs to listen, and that's a chance for boredom.
Finally, to satisfy my bluegrass roots, I can not recommend Old Crow Medicine Show more. James River Blues is in my top 10 songs of all time, which for me is saying quite a bit. I love the sound but more I enjoy the emotional high that I get from each of these bands.
I just wish they would release some live performances on their web sites. It's not like when I was in my twenties and collecting Dead show's on cassette. We do live in the internet age;)
I don't know why I never looked before, but you can buy Elgin Hot Sausage online. I have such fond memories of the afternoons in Texas eating sausage until I could barely walk. If I remember correctly, it was about an hour and half drive to go and pick it up, but it was worth every moment.
I am ordering some this week I think. Thankfully, they also sell their sauce. I just can't decide on whether to buy the pre-cooked or un-cooked, since it is almost past the grilling season here in PA.
CartridgeFinder.com is the first of many things that I will be rolling out before the beginning of the year. I finally have my rewrite of our framework stable enough to support a live site.
This site revolves around the idea of being able to quickly find supplies for your fax, copier, or printer. Sometimes, that is rather difficult to do, particularly with older models, and the shopping sites aren't particularly helpful while browsing on a model by model basis.
We still have quite a bit of data work to do, but it is starting to shape up quite nicely. In addition, we have a great deal of "community" aspects to add to the site as well.
I know this is a bit of a niche site, but I think it will be rather helpful to many folks looking for supplies and then also finding their lowest cost.
