davidgilbert

You know how it is, you click on a YouTube video. “Hmmm, that’s kinda interesting”, you say, “wonder what’s over here”, and off you wander to the next shiny video. Two hours later, your brain is mush, and that ‘other stuff’ you wanted to do, well it’s still there.

Here’s how a typical session might play out – at least take a quick 20 second listen to the following link, it’ll be worth it. You start with this little bit of bass, and then head on over for some Bach cello. And you think, that’s nice. What’s next. And then, like, whoa,

some one playing some pretty damn good Beethoven, who really paled in comparison to this other bit of Bach. Oooh, a really ancient cash register. And now, what’s this… a beautiful unheard-of singer, quickly followed by some dude doing some street-level poetry. And then the piece-de-resistance: a Gameboy and a mini-Moog – sahweet.

Culturally enlightened you realize you just spent another wasted hour wandering aimlessly around. You and I, we are simply wasting valuable oxygen. Not so Mr. Kutiel, aka Kutiman. Oh, no. He wanders around YouTube with purpose, with quiddity. He wanders around like you just did, but takes bit of each of those videos, mixes them up, switches them around, speeds them, up and down, and comes up with this incredible YouTube mash-up.

And then he does it again with using this beautiful voice, a flute, and some drum lessons, and a review for a 20" cymbal. The end result, “Just a Lady”.

Head on over to Kutimans web site. Be sure to click on the Credits link, which shows a list of all the videos contributing to the mash-up. Play the sounds of you wandering around YouTube wasting your life.

Update 12-Mar-2009: The Petaminx is now on sale over at eBay. One of a kind, impossible to solve (not really, but hey, damn tedious), and yours for just a small outlay!

Update 22-Mar-2009: And sold for the bargin price of US $3,550.00 :)

Google Sets is a little known Google tool that helps to expand lists of a few items, into a list with many items. For example let’s suppose you want a set (or list) of Star Wars characters, but can only think of a few. Enter a the ones you can think of, and Google sets will return a whole list of others.

That’s a simple example. It works for a huge array of things: lists of planets, lists of people working in a particular field, list of stuff to eat for breakfast, places to visit in a town, or lists of CMS or blogging systems. Hey, go ahead, and find a new sports car.

So, next time you looking for things related to other things, or doing some research, or simply shopping for something, remember Google Sets.

I came across this excellent list of photographs from various photographers through out 2008. Despite so many of them being about war and disasters, they all tell an incredible story: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The music just makes this totally engaging!

https://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?umid=297756

After finding MC Yogi’s sonic missive I decided to find out how far music has made its way into this seasons politics. Turns out, there is quite a divide.

Obama has a fairly large and musically talented following. McCain’s followers on the other hand appear to be less musically inclined. What is not clear is whether this divide is a simple difference in musical talent, or whether it reflects more on the medium of distribution: the Internet. One possibility is that Obama supporters are just more net-savvy than McCains, hence the apparent discrepancy in sheer production numbers. That doesn’t account for the vast difference in the quality of the productions though.

Perhaps Obama is spreading the wealth down to musicians, or maybe some positive 527 action? This is a possibility, but seems unlikely given the nature and passion behind the music. It really does seem that Obama is more able stir the passions than the more staid McCain – let’s see if this translates to more voters.

What follows are some of the better examples I managed to find for both Obama and McCain.

Welcome, the next President of the United States of America.

Original is here.. Here’s what she actually says, written down, so you can make sense of it. Not.
That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too, shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track, so health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got, we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bail out is a part of that.

And McCain gets him some music too.

Of course, everyone makes mistakes, but it’s how you handle them.

Astounding video, great song. Inspiring. From MC Yogi. Download the mp3.

Tomorrow is the Hunters Moon. Nothing particularly special about it, except it’s a full moon (in October, November, or December), and the time period between the sun setting and the moon rising is very short. This supposedly gave the average hunter and farmer the ability to work from the day right through into the night. For me, it means another chance to try and photograph a full moon.

You can find out what time the moon rises in your area, or simply check out some neat moon type information.

Rating:

The Kata DR series of DSLR camera-backpacks has received a number of very good reviews: high-quality materials; designed by ex-soldiers (must be good); rugged. I was expecting a lot – pretty much can’t go wrong, right? Unfortunately the overall impression is one of a company that tried hard, but had to cut corners, and made some poor choices. The bag is close to being very good, but until some design changes are made to ensure separation of the top and lower sections, and to use something other than thin nylon, I would not recommend it.

Compared to a Crumpler 5 Million Dollar bag.