Making a difference – Jeff Campbell and Hungry for Music

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Karl

NPR.org: “Instruments Of Good: The Healing Power Of Music”:

Another fan of Campbell’s work is singer/songwriter Peter Case. “When I was a kid,” Case says, “my guitar was like a piece of wood off a burning ship: I clung to it with all my strength and it saved me during rough times. Hungry for Music is doing important work, steering kids to instruments, and providing them to those who otherwise couldn’t get them. I think lives are being turned around by this, just like mine was.”

Hungry For Music

Pepsi Refresh Project: Get 10,000 free musical instruments to 10,000 underprivileged kids

ProPublica relaunch includes ‘future of context’ ideas

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Karl

You can read about it at Nieman Journalism Lab.

Check out some sample reports:

ProPublica: Gulf Oil Spill

ProPublica: Tainted Drywall

ProPublica: Buried Secrets: Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat

The Future of Context

bobince – “Parsing HTML with regex summons tainted souls into the realm of the living.”

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Karl

Stack Overflow: bobince answers a question about RegEx and XHTML.

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Karl

I hope you are having a great 4th of July weekend. Yesterday was a big one here, hanging out with family and friends. The parade was fantastic, and it was capped by one awesome fireworks display. They were lighting off directly above us. Some days I can’t help but feel like the luckiest person in the world, and yesterday was definitely one. Some great memories to keep, including watching Emma have fun with her friends and watching her smile and laugh light up brighter than the fireworks. I just posted part of the display to YouTube: “86 Seconds: July 3rd Rockledge Fireworks”:

I hope you have a safe and great weekend.

A new Java mode for Emacs

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Karl

I’m going to have to check this out: Malabar Mode.

Ever front a database with a RESTful interface?

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Karl

This looks like it could be handy – or at least the recipe one to consider: PHPRESTSQL.

Putting together a lightweight HD video recording rig

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Karl

I have a Kodak Zi8 recorder that I am planning to use to upload videos to YouTube with. It produces fantastic quality videos, but more important, it has a stereo microphone jack, so that I can use it to record live music or interviews with a high degree of audio quality.

Tim Conneally, over at Betanews, has put together a great guide to putting together a kit that will fit into a 15 inch notebook sleeve.

Based upon its recommendations, I have already purchased a Dynex Video Bracket.

Next steps are two by a microphone and lastly, a lamp. I’m looking for recommendations if you have them.

Mat Schaffer has offered, based upon personal experience, the SP-BMC-1 from Sound Professionals.

My price limit is up to the Rode VideoMic being used by Tim Conneally.

Fran Guidry recommends the SP-SPSM-15 from Sound Professionals and the (discontinued) AT825 from Broadcast Production & Microphones.

A shocking source of TV news coverage of the oil leak?

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Karl

G4 and Kevin Pereira: “BP Oil Spill Effect on Wildlife”.

G4, the games channel. Yes, the games channel!

This makes sense in a world where the most informative pieces of national news journalism are coming from a music magazine and nightly comedy show doesn’t it?

Video Game – E3 2010 – AOTS Exclusive