dKurzius

Back On The Wagon

2007-03-25T00:05:00.000-05:00

I just realized I haven't posted anything to my blog since April, oops!

I've been super busy lately, lots going on at work and I got married several months ago :)

So now that I've dusted off the cob webs, it's time to get back on the stick, more to come...

MailChimp Needs Your Vote!

2006-04-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

We just received word that MailChimp has been nominated for a 2006 Webby Award in the IT/Hardware category, too cool!

Before we get to excited, we're up against some pretty big names:

Dang, that means we need your help, please show the Chimp some love and place your vote today!

We've also created this handy badge, if you'd like to join the cause and help get the word out:

Link:

Graphic:

Thank you in advance for your support!

We need rocket brooms ASAP!

2006-03-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

We sometimes get mail sent to us at The Rocket Science Group from kids trying to tackle school science projects. The other day we received a letter, that is by far the best one yet, have a look.

The illustration almost looks like a modified potato gun :)

Unfortunately the sender didn't include a return address, so we're unable to send a response.

Bright Futures Needs Your Help

2006-02-28T10:03:00.001-05:00

Tim and friends over at Reformation are hosting a special Benefit this Thursday to help raise money for Bright Futures Atlanta (site is slow to load, please be patient). Through art, music and other creative outlets, Bright Futures has done a lot to present positive activities to children often influenced by the dark side of inner city life.

The Organization:
Bright Futures Atlanta founded in 2002, provides unique educational, social and spiritual opportunities for adolescents and their families of the Grove Park neighborhood, an inner-city community in Atlanta, Georgia.

As a way to break the cycle of too-early parenthood, glorification of criminality, and criticism of academic achievement, a year-round program of activities, including an after-school program, summer day camps, a youth-led community outreach program, and other spiritual and physical activities, offer an environment conducive to learning for the physical as well as spiritual growth of approximately 30 of the community's middle school-aged children. Through these activities, Bright Futures hopes to achieve its goal of helping to end the cycle of poverty, violence, and low self-esteem of its community.

The Event:
For this month's "Paint In the Pods^TM" Paint installation, we are offering pieces from this student population in a wonderful "Price Pods". Each pod will offer different pricing categories ranging from $5 - $200. All proceeds will go directly to benefit Bright Future’s day to day operations, which include daily meals, transportation home, art materials and field trips.

The Location:
"Paint In the Pods^TM"
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006
7 to 10 p.m.
The Sun Dial Restaurant, Bar & View

This is a great cause, so if you're in and around the Atlanta area this week, I highly recommend you check this out! If you're not in the area, donantions to Bright Futures can always be submitted through their website.

Slip, Sliding, Oh My Gosh!

2006-02-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

Slip
I just got back in town from a relaxing snowboarding trip in the mountains of North Carolina, the Sugar/Beech area to be exact. What a great time that was, the weather was awesome and we managed to get 6 inches of fresh powder while up there. Pictures coming soon...

Sliding
On the music front, Meegy and I caught the She Wants Revenge show last night at The Earl in East Atlanta. Another very memorable show! Concerts lately have been a blast, Block Party last summer was jamming, Depeche Mode in the fall took me back and now I can't get She Wants Revenge out of my iTunes rotation.

The SWR vocals remind me of Joy Division's front man Ian Curtis (R.I.P.), then on stage, the leader singer exhibits some of Prince's mannerisms. The music itself is deep/dark/funky/dramatic/moody and draws from all kinds of 80's and 90's influences. Everything from Public Enemy, to Italo Disco producers such as Giorgio Moroder, to Chicago House, to modern electronic artists. Very interesting stuff, they are coming back through Atlanta end of March, so I'll have to catch them again.

Oh My Gosh!
It was announced the other day that dB Software Giant Oracle recently tried to acquire open source super hero MySQL. Holy cow would that have been a bummer had that gone through. I'm sure Oracle wouldn't have killed off MySQL and it's open source nature, but still. While on the topic of MySQL, here's a great article that gives insight into MySQL's market share philosophy.

Tools of the trade

2006-02-03T11:49:00.000-05:00

Everyone else seems to be blogging about it lately, so hey what the heck, you only live once right. Here's a list of all the web applications and software I couldn't live without.

When in the studio making tracks or recording DJ sets, Ableton, Audacity, Logic Audio, TRAKTOR, etc. Even though I mention software in regards to DJing, you still can't beat the feel and sound of real vinyl.
Playing music while working, iTunes. That was a tough one to guess eh.
Editing code, Homesite when on PC, Vi or TextWrangler when on Mac. Homesite is pretty much unsupported these days, which is a shame in my opinion.
Working with creative files/general graphics, Fireworks.
Access to a terminal/Shell, when not on my PowerBook, SecureCRT or PuTTY.
Managing server files via SFTP, CuteFTP Professional on PC and Transmit on Mac.
Kicking around on the Internet, Fire "I love Tab Browsing" Fox.
Making sure the lights don't get turned off, Quickbooks.
When I do have to chat with folks, Gaim.
Sending email newsletters, MailChimp, of course :)
Knowledgebase and/or customer service ticketing, Timpani.
Reading RSS feeds, Bloglines.
Tracking development tickets/bugs, Bugzy.
Time tracking, PunchyTime.

Hmm, that's about all that I can think of at the moment, I'll update this post if anythig else comes to mind.

At some point I'll have to post a list of tools/software I wish I could find. Already I could use a good to-do list manager. I've tried a couple of tools that would be considered popular and I honestly wasn't impressed. Atleast I didn't find them any more helpful then having stacks of post it notes around my desk. Anyone out there have anything they could suggest?

Detroit Producers Round II

2006-01-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

All kinds of cool electonic news coming out of the wood work this week. Canada's Richie Hawtin creates music for the XXth Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremonies in Torino, Italy.

Olympic ceremony producers K2006 invited Richie Hawtin to collaborate with renowned Italian choreographer, Enzo Cosimi, on a key section of the XXth Olympics Winter Games Opening Ceremony taking place in Torino on February 10th. The new composition titled 9:20 was written & produced by Hawtin and will accompany Cosimi's provocative choreography featuring famous Italian dancer Robert Bolle along with dozens of other dancers, performers and acrobats. Hawtin & Cosimi worked together in Hawtin's Berlin studio to fully realize the drama and emotions of Cosimi's performers, building an evolving soundscape of sounds and effects to accompany the different movements of Cosimi's piece.

Ceremony producers have assembled an energetic program planned for the Opening Ceremonies with a theme originating around the foundation elements of Rhythm, Passion and Speed. Internationally renown not only for his music and global DJ performances, but also for his interest in new creative technologies, Hawtin is in perfect harmony with both the concept and its global audience. "Enzo and I are very much interested in pushing boundaries, both as artists and for our audiences. Working together for the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Games delivers the creative endeavor to not only entertain a huge audience, but to also introduce them to sights and sounds that they may have never experienced before," says Hawtin from his studio in Berlin.

Born in England and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Richie Hawtin is highly regarded internationally for his recordings both as Richie Hawtin and his pseudonym as Plastikman while on the world stage as one of electronic music's most innovative and in demand performers. His recent album, DE9 | Transitions boasts a CD mix plus DVD featuring a 5.1 surround mix produced by Hawtin. Today, in between touring the globe, the Canadian producer spends time between his studios in Windsor, Canada and Berlin, Germany.

Cheers and congrats Richie!

Detroit Electronc Producer Up For A Grammy

2006-01-18T15:18:00.000-05:00

One of the God Fathers of techno, Detroit's Juan Atkins, is up for a Grammy for his contribution to Missy Elliot's "Losing Control" single. Some of you may know Juan through some of his past production aliases Cybotron, Model 500 and Infiniti or perhaps for his remix work on Inner City's "Big Fun" single. Still doesn't ring a bell? Then how about the use of his "No UFO's" single in a Ford Focus commercial from several months back. The list goes on...

Whether you know him or not, Juan's a very talented guy and has been a tremendous inspiration through the years. It would be great to see him honored with a Grammy. Here's a little something regarding the matter from another Detroit legend, Mad Mike, head of the infamous Under Ground Resistance artist collective.

------------------begin transmission--------------------

Troops your services are required. Juan Atkins has been nominated as a writer as part of the song "Losing Control" by: Missy Elliot. Tell everybody you know that owes they're @ss to Juan Atkins to vote for Missy Elliot's "Losing Control" for best rap single. Lets show these people (Mike ) the power of what they cannot see...

Mad Mike 040 - UR -

www.undergroundresistance.com

-----------------end transmission-----------------------

Macromedia Incubation 'Labs'

2005-10-18T21:12:00.000-05:00

If you're a Macromedia fan, you'll want to give the new Macromedia Labs site a once over. Basically they've opened up ALPHA and BETA access to new products. Here's your chance to have a say it what they are building or get a jump start on understanding new product integration.

Personally I wish they would pick back up on Homesite development. I really like using Homesite, but it sure has some issues when it comes to managing memory. Anyone else out there know of any similar editors?

On a side note it looks like Microsoft is coming out with their own design suite called "Microsoft Expression". I'm starting really wonder about Microsoft, seems like they are too busy chasing what's cool versus staying focused on their core products. I would think producing a secure reliable operating system would be more important to them then drawing pretty pictures.

Automate Your Beer Mug

2005-10-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

I wish I would have thought of this:

A beer mat that knows when a glass is nearly empty and automatically asks for a refill

Details and pics can be found here.

I'm not sure if this is pure genius or just plan laziness, either way I'd give it a spin.

BMWs, get them while they're free

2005-10-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

A free BMW, well you do have to print them out and put them together :)

Dang, I need to track down a color printer...

What the experts had to say

2005-09-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

I little something from the geek corner, pretty random and funny computer predications from the past :)

'I think there is a world market for maybe five computers'
* Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

'While a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 10000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers of the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.'
* Popular mechanics, 1949

'I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year'
* Editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

'But what... is it good for?'
* Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems division of IBM, commenting on the microchip, 1968

'There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in the home'
* Ken Olson, Present, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

'640K should be enough for anybody'
* Bill Gates, 1981

More Geek Related Quotes...

The Web, Round II

2005-09-28T10:37:00.000-05:00

Lots of interesting stuff going on lately regarding the web.

To start, a group of developers, some hailing from the Mozilla Foundation, are getting ready to release a new browser called Flock. Billed as "The world's most innovative social browsing experience", Flock is going to integrate more closely with popular web services and provide features such as widely compliant WYSIWYG and drag-and-drop blogging tools. Wire Magazine recently published a little piece on the movement titled "Killer Buzz Flocks to New Browser". They claim that Flock won't directly compete with FireFox, I wouldn't be surprised if FireFox absorbs Flock sometime in the future.

Ex Atlantian Aaron Boodman has created an extension for FireFox, called Greasemonkey, that allows coders to create scripts that can alter web page content. Tired of seeing right rail ads in your favorite site, no problem. The possibilities are endless.

MailChimp is going to start offering list management services starting the first of October. If you're not familiar, MailChimp is a great do it yourself email delivery tool. Up till this point you had to have your own newsletter subscription process in place to use the service, now they will even lend a hand with that. The Chimp just won the 2005 Web Marketing Association web award for "Best Application Service Provider".

Microsoft Windows Officially Broken

2005-09-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

It sounds like the techs over at Microsoft have bitten off more then they can chew in trying to redevelop/reinvent their OS.

This article gives interesting insight into the issues Microsoft now faces in getting Longhorn/Vista out of production and into the hands of consumers.

This doesn't surprise me, as a whole Microsoft has lost so much focus on their core product over the past couple of years. I can only imagine how many doors this opens for the guys over at Google.

Prepare for the robots... Space is the place!

2005-09-25T08:15:00.001-05:00

Being a DJ and label director I'm always on the look out for good electronic projects. Not just club tracks, but what I would call inspirational music. Tracks that push past standard beats, simple hooks, catchy vocals or chunky loops. Too often electronic music is saturated by records that sound just like the ones that came out the week before.

With great pleasure I can finally say I've come across a gem of a compilation, well my buddy Adam turned me on to it, but still.

Amsterdam's technosoul label Delsin has just released a compilation called Planet Delsin and man is it packed full of good stuff. It totally takes me back to Detroit circa the late 80's early 90's. A solid 10 on the deep and moody space ship music scale.

Here's the basic run down:

Planet Delsin
release date: September 22nd 2005
01. Terry Brookes - Isis 3007
02. Vince Watson - The Way It's Meant To Be
03. Starfighterz - Flavor 3
04. Speakwave - Bass Attack
05. Shed - 728
06. $tinkworx - Calimaro
07. D5 - Floatation Tank
08. Aroy Dee - Hill
09. Nubian Mindz - Red Sky
10. Peel Seamus - Seducer
11. Dj Yoav B. - Root And Branch
12. Newworldaquarium - Pyramid Rd

Full details can be found through the Delsin site. If you can track it down do so, you won't be disappointed!

Taxes, we don't need no stinking taxes!

2005-09-16T11:40:00.000-05:00

A buddy at the office recently turned me onto The FairTax Act of 2005. From what I have read the concept sounds pretty promising, a shake down of the current IRS system is definitely much needed.

If you're not familiar, the concept as defined through the FairTax website:

Simply put, the FairTax replaces the way we're currently taxed - based on our annual income - with a tax on goods and services. The FairTax is a voluntary "consumption" tax: the more you buy, the more you pay in taxes, the less you buy, the less you pay in taxes.

There is also a best selling book that covers the topic The FairTax Book.

So basically tax revenue shifts from pay check to consumption of goods and services, no more IRS, no more stressful April 15ths.

I personally still have to do more research into this before I can form a final opinion, right out of the gate though, I have to say I'm very intrigued by what I've seen and heard so far.

Rare Funktion 002.

2005-09-09T13:37:00.001-05:00

Tim and friends are hosting another Art gathering over at the Doo Gallery. Lots of great local talent both on the canvas and behind the turntables. Click here for full details.

I wasn't able to make the first event, heard it was off the hook, so don't be a sucker like I was and miss the second!

Napoleon Dynamite Action Figures

2005-07-20T11:17:00.000-05:00

Ok I'm not into stuff like this, but these are to funny!

Napoleon Dynamite Action Figures, figures include a gangsta Kip, a dazed-looking Pedro and three Napoleons: one in mid-dance, one decked out in prom attire and one engaging in hot tetherball action.

There is also mention of a talking Napoleon, dang.

More info can be found here.

Koo-Ki Sushi

2005-07-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

This one falls in the "now I've seen it all" category, Chocolate Sushi.

I have to say I'm curious to give this Sushi a try, but just like the real deal it's a bit pricey. $30 for a box of three pieces, hmm maybe next time. Well it is hand made but still.

Jumping the Great Wall

2005-07-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Pro skateboarder Danny Way pulled off jumping across the Great Wall of China, videos and pics can be found here. The 5th video does the best job of putting into perspective how big the jump itself was.

Crazy seeing Danny around and pulling off stuff like this. I remember seeing him back in Houston Texas as an amateur skater, that was about when he came out with ollie blunts. One of my favorite tricks from back in the day. Dang, now I'm starting to sound like an old man :)

Ikea comes to town

2005-07-08T13:26:00.000-05:00

The big buzz around town lately has been the Grand Opening of the first Ikea store in Atlanta. At first I was just as excited and interested as the next person that the store was opening. Now that I have been there I have to say the store is pretty cool, but my overall experience hasn't been much fun.

It all started when I came across a print called Norrsund. It's basically a photo taken in my home town, Albuquerque New Mexico circa the 1960's. Immediately I discovered that the print is out of stock, I'm told in store that I can either buy the print online or come back in a couple of days when they have more in stock.

Not wanting to come back to the store because of the amount of people hitting that place I jump online, credit card in hand, to purchase the print that I hope will soon hang over my living room couch. Once online I find out that the print is only available in store, not online as I was told. Dang, they got me :(

So now back to plan A, head back to the store once they have the prints back in stock. That's exactly what I did today, I turned the corner and there they were, a huge stack of them. So I rush forward to finally score a prized Norrsund print and well they are all warped to heck and back. Double dang, they got me again :(

Do you care probably not, do I feel better now that I was able to rant a little, absolutely. Will I ever get my Norrsund print, perhaps another day.

Sparkle, Sparkle, Bang!

2005-07-05T09:08:00.000-05:00

July is here which of course means cooking out and blowing stuff up, what a great country we live in :)

This years 4th weekend was a blast, we did a little cooking out by the pool with friends, ran up to the roof deck by work to view the Centennial Park Fireworks display hosted by the city and then popped off a couple of fire crackers ourselves.

The law makers in Georgia decided it was time to allow fireworks back into the state that didn't get air born or massively explode. Of course we had to take full advantage of this new found freedom.

Happy 4th everyone!

Bloc Party & a Crazy Russian

2005-06-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a little music hook up to get this weekend started off on the good foot. Bloc Party is currently touring the states in support of their "Silent Alarm" CD. The folks over at NPR.org have been kind enough to stream their DC show.

On the DJ front I've come across a Russian guy that claims to have created an actual analog tape DJ mixer. That's pretty darn impressive if it does truly work, here's more info on the device.

Gadgets and Pranks

2005-06-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

It seems like creating gadgets and add ons for iPods are the thing to be doing these days. Here are two that I thought were pretty cool.

iPod Movie player, this could be pretty cool when traveling. Glad they thought to add some extra battery power to the package.

iPod alarm clock, another handy little set up for home. I wouldn't mind giving this a try, but the price seems a little hefty.

Now my favorite, office pranks caught on camera. This one is by far my favorite :)

And then came the rain

2005-06-12T09:09:00.000-05:00

Day two at Music Midtown started out pleasant, but soon turned into a practical wash out.

Rain aside I wasn't about to miss hearing, Bloc Party, The Killers, etc. Here's the run down:

Louis XIV -- I don't really know much about these guys, thought they put on a pretty decent live act, going to have to see what their album is like.

Block Party -- Awesome to the 110th degree, I'm really digging their latest release Silent Alarm.

The Killers -- Another great live act, the drummer kind of reminded me of Keith Moon from The Who when he played.

Black Eyed Peas -- I probably would have enjoyed their set more had it not been pouring rain and had the retard behind Meegy and I not been bumping us around.

The Pixies -- What can you say here that hasn't already been said, great to see that these guys and a girl, are still around.

Overall a great day of live music.