Blue Foam Garden

Ray Bradbury, in an anti-minimalist office I can admire.

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:47:08 -0600

Ray Bradbury, in an anti-minimalist office I can admire.

The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1668)

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:35:07 -0600

The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1668)

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1669)

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:32:47 -0600

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1669)

"There may still be some developers who say there’s no place for style and fashion in UI, that..."

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:56:43 -0500

“There may still be some developers who say there’s no place for style and fashion in UI, that usability is usability and that’s that. They’re mistaken, because part of human nature is to get tired of things and want fresh things, and UI is where the computer meets human nature. Human nature is not going to change on this matter. And I’m glad about that.”

- Brent Simmons in Daring Fireball: The Future of NetNewsWire: An Interview With Brent Simmons and Black Pixel’s Daniel Pasco

DARA PUSPITA in CBS Studio, London, 1969. L-R: Susy, Takki,...

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:48:43 -0500

DARA PUSPITA in CBS Studio, London, 1969. L-R: Susy, Takki, Tikki & Leese. In the middle of recording their single Ba Da Da Dum/Dream Stealer. // Photo: Handiyanto (via el_yucatan on Last.fm)

LaunchBar Search Templates for AllMusic

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:16:37 -0500

I made these search templates for LaunchBar this morning for performing quick searches on AllMusic. Because AllMusic displays different output for their search queries depending on whether or not there is a unique match, using these templates to spoof a POST request from their search box will give you much better results than using the GET-based URL scheme for their search result list pages.

To add your own search templates to LaunchBar, select “Show Index” from the “Index” menu, and select “Search Templates (UTF-8)” from the source list on the left. (AllMusic.com is UTF-8 encoded.) Click “Add…” at the bottom of the right panel and enter a name for your template and the format of the template itself in the new row that is created.

AllMusic Search Templates:

Name:   AllMusic Artist
Details: post-http://allmusic.com/search?search_type=artist&search_term=*

Name:   AllMusic Album
Details: post-http://allmusic.com/search?search_type=album&search_term=*

Name:    AllMusic Song
Details: post-http://allmusic.com/search?search_type=song&search_term=*

Name:    AllMusic Classical Work
Details: post-http://allmusic.com/search?search_type=work&search_term=*

Photographs of CRT displays the moment they’re switched...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:01:55 -0500

Photographs of CRT displays the moment they’re switched off (via They wanted what is possible only once: the now. - but does it float)

‘Male Narwhal or Unicorn. Greenland Shark.’ from W....

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:57:46 -0500

‘Male Narwhal or Unicorn. Greenland Shark.’ from W. Scoresby, “An account of the Arctic regions with a history and description of the northern whale-fishery,” 1820.

Finished this notebook today. Used it as a daily work journal...

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:53:26 -0500

Finished this notebook today. Used it as a daily work journal starting in August 2010. Recorded work done in 7 cities in 3 countries and tracks progress on my dissertation research, 6 client websites and the early stages of a socially networked publishing platform for Watchdog International.

Riverview Cemetery accident (by The Library of Virginia)

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:28:25 -0500

Riverview Cemetery accident (by The Library of Virginia)

via scimaps.org

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:39:58 -0600

via scimaps.org

From Road Trip in Waiting: The Case for SXSW | A Continuous...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:18:47 -0600

From Road Trip in Waiting: The Case for SXSW | A Continuous Lean.

“Not only the Heavens, and other vast, and more excellent...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:18:40 -0600

“Not only the Heavens, and other vast, and more excellent parts of Nature declare the glory of their Almighty Maker; but even the least and most despicable of his productions do also discover the work of his hands, and raise their minds who attentively consider them to a grateful admiration of the greatness of his power, and an humble acknowledgment of his Sovereignty: Out of a perswasion therefore that there are some who delightfully search into the secrets of Nature, and contemplate the wonders of God, who out of his inexhaustible treasures hath endued the most inconsiderable of his creatures with so many rich ornaments, occult qualities, and rare beauties, we shall bestow this Chapter on the considerations of certain Insects commonly seen in these Islands, all which have some peculiar properties, as so many beams of glory to raise them from their natural lowness into some esteem.”

From Charles de Rochefort’s The History of the Caribby-Islands as translated by John Davies for publication in London in 1666.

"But Casual Victim Pile isn’t any sort of manifesto or template. To quote Cosloy again, it is a..."

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:15:07 -0600

“But Casual Victim Pile isn’t any sort of manifesto or template. To quote Cosloy again, it is a “snapshot of a particular time and place,” and it’s difficult to imagine a more compelling vision of what exactly this slab of Red River is all about. In that respect, Casual Victim Pile is not the last word on Austin’s music scene for 2010, but the first. How wonderful it would be if this labor of love inspired many more testaments, from the experimental havens of the Church of the Friendly Ghost to the bruised concrete of the Broken Neck to the congregations of our house shows to everything else. It’s a time to stop wringing hands about blues-rock’s dopey shadow or the over-glorified confines of one particular extinct venue - be it The Vulcan Gas Company or Liberty Lunch or even the Back Room. In spite of (or because of) Austin’s comfortable ties to the past, everything feels fresh and new and very, very exciting, with so much more to be uncovered in the year to come.”

- I have to admit that I’m as guilty as anyone of lamenting the loss (and impending loss) of places like Armadillo World Headquarters, Liberty Lunch, and the Cactus Cafe, but at the same time this kind of enthusiasm for what’s going on now and how it lays foundations for Austin’s future excites me. There’s of course some cross-talk involved in highlighting how creating a historical snapshot for the sake of posterity demonstrates a focus on the future, but this kind of affection for our place and the cooperation it so frequently inspires expressed through an actual collaborative project, rather than some abstracted Chamber of Commerce initiative, can only be a good thing. (quotation from Casual Victim Pile: Album Review, Show(s) Preview - Austinist)

Colonel Granville Ryrie and a box kite, 1914 (via Australian War...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:46:14 -0600

Colonel Granville Ryrie and a box kite, 1914 (via Australian War Memorial collection)

Given the Australian setting, this has to be the most exemplary image of what was horrible and is fascinating about the First World War.

As fast as a leopard…

Marine Society cadets (via National Maritime Museum)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:39:20 -0600

Marine Society cadets (via National Maritime Museum)

My favorite musician from my teens covering my favorite record...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:02:32 -0600

My favorite musician from my teens covering my favorite record ever - hard to beat / Record Club: Skip Spence “Little Hands” on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

Charlie Brown’s pub showing curiosities brought back by...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:51:32 -0500

Charlie Brown’s pub showing curiosities brought back by sailors (via National Maritime Museum)

French liqueur advertisements on cigarette paper books (via...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:52:22 -0500

French liqueur advertisements on cigarette paper books (via cigpapers.co.uk)

French rum advertisements on cigarette paper books (via...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:51:19 -0500

French rum advertisements on cigarette paper books (via cigpapers.co.uk)