infobong.com the absurd courts the vulgar

• Versiontracker: SWF & FLV Player
  I have not used this, but it may make a nice OS X substitute for Swiff Player on OS X.
  (del.icio.us tags: OSX useful Flash)

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• FCC Fines Noncommercial Station for Enhanced Underwriting Announcments that Were too Commercial
  Given the non-ad ads on that are on KUT all the damn time, I wondered when this would happen. The article doesn’t say what station was fined, however.
  (del.icio.us tags: FCC advertising broadcast public_broadcasting)
• TapeDeck. ▸▸ The tape recorder…fast-forwarded to Mac OS X.
  This audio recording application uses the interface metaphor of a portable cassette recorder from the 1980s. I wonder how relevant that is to users under thirty.
  (del.icio.us tags: hmm mp3 interface audio OSX)
• Lifehacker: Powerset Searches the Wikipedia with Natural Language
  This looks interesting, but I generally “search” MediaWiki wikis like Wikipedia by simply editing the URI with my keyword.
  (del.icio.us tags: semantic_web search wikipedia)

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• Information Design Patterns
  This work for a Master’s thesis identifies common techniques used in information design.
  (del.icio.us tags: hmm Flash information_design)

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• The Future of the Internet—And How to Stop It
  Jonathan Zittrain’s new book on Internet law and policy is available online with a Creative-Commons license. This site presents the book in an interesting hypertext format that allows readers to comment on specific passages.
  (del.icio.us tags: publicpolicy Web2.0 telecom CreativeCommons)
• MediaWiki Markup for WordPress
  I practically think in MediaWiki markup these days, so this WordPress plugin could come in handy.
  (del.icio.us tags: useful WordPress blogging)

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• Nick Sibicky, Composer - My Music
  I saw “Life and Afterlife ” performed last night at the Eyes, Ears, and Feet recital and I really enjoyed it.
  (del.icio.us tags: utexas mp3 music)

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• User Labor: A framework for sustaining user labor across the web
  “With User Labor, we propose an open data structure, User Labor Markup Language (ULML), to outline the metrics of user participation in social web services.”
  (del.icio.us tags: metadata Web2.0 labor)
• QSR Magazine: Taco Bell Helps Oklahoma City Get Fit
  Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has announced a partnership with Taco Bell promoting its “fresco menu” for the “Mayor’s Challenge” program, which encourages OKC residents to pursue healthy lifestyles.
  (del.icio.us tags: health stupid OKC)
• Create Digital Music: Record Sales Up — No, Really, Actual Records
  Vinyl LPs appear to be the only segment of the physical music business that is growing. I suspect music fans prefer the tactility and size of the LP format.
  (del.icio.us tags: business music technology vinyl)
• Social Design Notes: Water Table

  (del.icio.us tags: weird information_design development journalism design)

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• Graffiti Taxonomy
  “The intent of these studies is to show the diversity of styles as expressed in a single character.”
  (del.icio.us tags: typography streetart)
• The Great Porteño Smokeout
  This account is interesting for many reasons, but I’m posting this because I learned that Argentine ranchers would rather raise soybeans than cattle, but the government has policies that coerce them into making meat.
  (del.icio.us tags: Argentina agriculture economics)
• Photoshop Brushes: Your Number one source for Photoshop Brushes
  This site has oodles of no-cost Photoshop brushes.
  (del.icio.us tags: useful design photoshop)
• Victim Complex: Coping With Bike Theft
  BikeSnobNYC offers some sound advice for dealing with bike theft that makes a lot of sense for computers as well.
  (del.icio.us tags: crime cycling)
• Honda Navigation System Warns of High Crime Areas
  If this weren’t being rolled out first in Japan, I would flag this system that alerts drivers to bad neighborhoods as automated racism. Still, I suspect that would be the case in the states.
  (del.icio.us tags: racism creepy crime GPS)

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• AP: Charges dismissed against NY professor who obtained bacteria for art
  A judge did the right thing and dropped the charges against Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble.
  (del.icio.us tags: lawenforcement art)
• Rough Type: Open source as corporate joint venture
  A recent study shows that most Linux contributors are not hobbyists, but employees of software-development organizations.
  (del.icio.us tags: opensource economics linux)

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• Tim Robbins’ NAB Keynote
  Here’s an mp3 audio file of actor Tim Robbin’s address to the National Association of Broadcasters convention. In the speech, he decries the current state of discourse in the media.
  (del.icio.us tags: broadcast celebrity media)
• Introduction to Whiteness Studies
  In this short essay, Gregory Jay outlines what whiteness studies studies and its goals.
  (del.icio.us tags: race cultural_studies whiteness academic)

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This Saturday is Record Store Day, which celebrates the role of local, independent record stores in music and local cultures. I haven’t run across a page that aggregates the Austin stores observing Record Store Day, so I’m posting a list here.

My favorite Austin record store, End of Ear is celebrating the day with swag giveaways and in-stores by the Shackeltons and Nic Armstrong. If you’re looking for a little eastside flavor, Music Mania has a celebration planned, and while Trailer Space Records is not on the record with an event, I definitely recommend this new store.

Other Austin stores observing Record Store Day include Waterloo Records, the dance-focused Backspin Records, Out of the Past Collectibles, and The Screw Shop, which is new to me, but I presume specializes in Texas chopped-and-screwed hip-hop.

Regardless of what record store you visit, I hope you get out Saturday, buy some hot wax, and meet new people on Record Store Day!

Update: Here’s another run-down of the event. It looks like Trailer Space will be celebrating it after all.

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