Cheese. The making of.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_5_gallons/CHEESE_5gal_00.htm

Who doesn't want to make cheese? Something I would need someone's help with, that's for damn sure. Looks pretty complicated, and temperature/time sensitive.. Apparently mozzarella is the training grounds for this stuff..

Top 10 songs: Joel Plaskett - Non-believer

Joel Plaskett's transcends song of the day.

Song #1 of 10, in no particular order... and there may be more than 10 at some point.

Lyrics: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858601047/

So gorgeous. This entire album is gorgeous. I'm gonna try to over-analyze it line by line one of these days soon. For now, here is this song.

Also, album torrent: http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4345193/joel_plaskett_-_la_de_da.4345193.TPB.torrent

Why I have no problems uploading/downloading/sharing music

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

Beyond that, sharing gets the music out. If I like it, I think others may too. From there, simple exposure will lead to indirect sales of the album, band paraphernalia, and perhaps most importantly, attendance at live shows, which will increase. These kinds of sales are what ultimately support the artist, not the album sales.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong here... any differing opinions?

Poem: Leonard Cohen in New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/03/02/090302po_poem_cohen

I used to be your favorite drunk

Good for one more laugh

Then we both ran out of luck

And luck was all we had

You put on a uniform

To fight the Civil War

I tried to join but no one liked

The side I’m fighting for

So let’s drink to when it’s over

And let’s drink to when we meet

I’ll be standing on this corner

Where there used to be a street... (con't)

Artist asked for payments countersues.

In a pre-emptive strike, the street artist Shepard Fairey filed a lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press, asking a federal judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous campaign poster image of President Obama...

..According to the suit, A.P. officials contacted Mr. Fairey’s studio late last month demanding payment for the use of the photo and a portion of any money he makes from it.

The suit asks the judge to declare that Mr. Fairey’s work is protected under fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which allow limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/arts/design/10fair.html?_r=1

A better look: http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/02/shepard-fairey-sues-associated-press.html

-- Bob Clarida, an expert in copyright and intellectual property laws, has stated that, “This would be a tough fair use argument (for Shepard Fairey) to win because the 'transformation' is purely in the look of the work, not the purpose. There's no commentary going on.

_ I disagree. I think it's quite clear that a purposeful transformation has taken place. The message of the work has changed with significant value added.

More theoretical physics..

In search for the theory of everything. I'm still on this crusade that the LHC peps are lost and know what they are looking for is wrong. Hence the buying time and lack of results. Here is an option....

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_wallacewells?currentPage=all

You may want to be high for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xHw9zcCvRQ&fmt=18

oh twitter.

http://sesquipedalis.blogspot.com/2009/02/finally-use-for-twitter.html

Fantastic blog entry re: twitter and The Real Shaq.

The Boxtops

Bob Odenkirk?


From wiki: The Box Tops were a Memphis pop music group of the late 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow", "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. (ed: legit white soul pop band)

the money maker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD9mCp8SifM

Joe Cocker cover, 1970: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RnjWLVyMps

aside, has Cocker's voice ever changed? short answer, no. :

1986; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoW81x4j7ow
2007; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n6V2NzkXO0

http://boxtops.com/btnew.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Tops

Additional songs:
(1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXeLn8zzoDk haha.. listen, not watch. It's a fucking 45 spinning. ... sounds a bit like Joe Cocker no?

(2)
meh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrigYjpsbjY&f

(3)
great voice, but not the emotion of, yes, Joe Cocker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHtI1Z5xWE8

http://boxtops.com/w_door_you_closed.htm

- Another Alex re-introduction band. Procol Harum next!

Bloor business should be for bikelanes

Spacing.ca

The report: Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business (pdf file)

Bells on Bloor

A lot has been written about this Bloor bike lane, so I'm not gonna repeat it here.. .not sure if it would make that much of a difference immediately, but would definitely have a longer term impact making novice riders feel safe and comfortable biking on Bloor street, enhancing business, and eventually add to a tourist-type package potential of Toronto. It's an easy concept that has obvious benefits for all. Side steets in Toronto are great for riding, but something like this would be marvelous.

I like theoretical physics.

Not necessarily the math parts, just the what could potentially happen, has happened, is happening parts. From large to small. Also, many of the physicists themselves are really interesting people, and have fun breaking down their science into layman's terms... Here's Dr. Neil Tyson on black holes and asteroids hitting earth. Hahaha.. great intro. No really, it's worth watching.

The preparation of a dead girl / bride

Article in today's Globe and Mail

Gustave Courbet's painting above, The preparation of a dead girl / wife has a wonderful story of accidental modernism behind it. Courbet, probably better know for different painting, painted the above with the ... ahh fuck it; time for more work. Here's Sarah Hampson from the Globe article above:

"

What is a wife? A dead girl.

That is the message – unintentional, mind you – of a painting by French artist Gustave Courbet that belongs to Smith College, a famously feminist all-women's institution in Northampton, Mass.

The 1850s-era work depicts a young bride surrounded by women who are helping her prepare for her wedding. But for many years, there were questions about it. Why is the bride's head slightly lopsided? Her arms limp by her side? Why is she slumped in her chair?

An X-ray provided the answer. Mr. Courbet had painted a scene of women preparing a dead body for a funeral. He left it unfinished, however, and after he died his sister asked another artist to make adjustments to create a happier scene so the work would sell. Mr. Courbet's original title, The Preparation of the Dead Girl, had been changed to The Preparation of the Bride.

The Smith College Museum of Art now uses the before-and-after to help teach students about art history and painting technique, says Louise Laplante, the school's collections manager – not as a comment on marriage.

"

Anyway, pretty cool! Another NYT article.

Camera deal fell through..

Still looking for that camera... had a beat on a d90, but sold to someone else.. still looking, but may have a lens by tonight.

Maturity

... is a weird thing. Intentions, willpower, responsibility... I'm reminded of the memory when I was a teenager, helping take out groceries outta my mom's car. We've just gone swimming beforehand, and my dad reminded me that I forgot my swimming bag in the trunk... ahh, I'll get it later I remember saying. He turned around and said, why delay it?... later you'll have your shoes off, comfortable on the couch, maybe eating... you really wanna do that later? Are you actually going to do it later?.. If not, the car is going to start to reek (paraphrasing), and someone else will have to do it for you, most likely resentfully (really paraphrasing)...



Yeah.. it has something to do with cleaning up your own messes, has something to do with running your own life, or at least taking some responsibility for it.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along."

Well, luckily (and very thankfully!) I've had people help me along. Maybe now I can help myself and others, take out my swimming trunks, maybe the rest of the fam's swimwear, and go fucking wash them.

Smoking in cars

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090216.wsmokingban0216/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090216.wsmokingban0216

A 20-year-old Port Hope, Ont., man has been ticketed for smoking in a car in which a 15-year-old girl was one of his passengers.

(Umm.. I'll ignore the obvious)

While Tory Ashton was waiting for his $155 ticket, the girl got out of the car and legally lit up a cigarette of her own.

So, second hand smoke: http://heartdisease.about.com/od/smokingandheartdisease/a/2ndhandsmoke.htm?terms=second+hand+smoke

"While secondhand smokers only inhale about 1/100th the dose of smoke inhaled by the smokers themselves, the effect of that secondhand smoke is large. Secondhand smokers have a risk of coronary heart disease that is 30% higher than for nonsmokers who are not exposed to secondhand smoke. In contrast, the risk for actual smokers is increased by 80%."

Yeah, smoking is bad, I agree. But the rest of your lifestyle choices are infinitely more important to your overall health, quality of life and longevity, especially if you smoke in moderation. I suppose that's one problem people have, is the moderation part. Anyway, back to this new law, I don't feel cops should be pulling people over in traffic because they're having a smoke in the car. There are better ways of going about this kind of thing.

http://banthebanwisconsin.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/formula-for-youth-is-beer-and-cigarettes/

I'm glad they're doing good things.

Very inspirational, and within our own city.

http://illegalsigns.ca/topics/ad-nauseam/

Time to get a good camera!

Also, very cool video found here... helps understand both sides:

http://illegalsigns.ca/2009/02/05/kect-tv-report-on-illegal-billboards-in-los-angeles/

Just one thing, and I'm sure there is a good reason for this; why are billboards posted on exterior walls worse than the ones mounted on roofs straight into the sky line?

Is it always better to know the truth?

Sometimes it helps you sleep better knowing the full truth of a matter. Sometimes it drives you crazy with sorrow. I think I'm going to get a good night's rest tonight. Intentions are a weird thing... It takes a maturity to get to them, to reach those intentions, and sometimes that maturity comes with a cost. That's life, right? Sometimes you only get one shot. Either way, better to know the truth to help you in the future.



Neko Case - Favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPkIOS0TXp8

Lyrics: http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/neko_case/favorite-lyrics-585823.html

Wise, found favorin' heaven
And I at your side
But I never felt sorry
For those shimmering lies
When I laid down and cried
I was faking
And I said Amen