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Trent Reznor’s advice to young artists…

Trent Reznor’s advice to young artists…

“Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s even more good advice here. This is not just good advice for musicians but for authors as well. (via Powazek)

For no particular reason… My current desktop.

Update: Because several people have asked, GeekTool is what I am using to display the data on the desktop. I am using icalBuddy to to give command line access to iCal and display Today’s events. Can’t remember where I got the Desktop picture from. Had it for a while.

Also updated the click-through on the photo to take you to a larger size.

Introducing Fotovine

Introducing Fotovine

jorgeq:

Digital photography has revolutionized the way we take photos. This new method of chronicling moments has spread so rapidly that equally impressive are the slew of services, software, books, gears and iPhone Apps that can all add excitement to how we take our photos and what we can do with them afterwards.

My natural passion towards anything related to the field has led me to share these photographic gems in what I’ve come to call Fotovine. Suggestions are highly recommended for the purpose to share those undiscovered photographic ingredients that can spruce up anybody’s experience even more.

Very nice indeed.

Independence Days – Al Franken and the Odd Politics of Minnesota – NYTimes.com

Independence Days – Al Franken and the Odd Politics of Minnesota – NYTimes.com

“A newbie reporter to Minnesota politics, I watched as democracy broke out in earnest on the convention floor over the fight to replace him. There were walkouts, prayer meetings, candidacies that came and went in the blink of an eye, all perpetrated by delegates who had the stamina of Marines. Their various causes righteous, their faces flushed with excitement, they went into extra innings, deep into the night. My head spinning, I climbed up into the bleachers and sat near a shaggy-looking guy in a shiny hockey jacket from Anoka. We watched the full pageantry of electoral politics silently and then I finally looked down the row and spoke. “Is it always like this?”

“Yes,” the man said, turning toward me. I recognized him as someone who should know: Garrison Keillor.

Nice piece about the sometimes kooky electorate we have here. What other state elects former pro-wrestlers and comedians to high office?

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.”

The Netbook space is getting more and more interesting daily.

The Mother of Invention

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. I would say that, more often, problems are. This was recently brought to mind when I read about and subsequently purchased this pencil:

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You see, I have always hated writing with pencils. I hated the way they felt on the page (scratchy), I hated that the line would become uneven quickly as your sharp point quickly ground to dull. I hated constantly having to turn it slightly every couple of words in an attempt to keep the point sharp.
Uni-ball has solved this problem with the Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil line and it has done so in a very simple way. It has a spring-loaded clutch system that slowly rotates the lead every time it hits the page. This in turn keeps the lead constantly sharp at the point. It is one of those eureka moments that makes one say “Why didn’t I think of that?”.
I suspect the answer to that question is that, most of us, work with a problem instead of looking for a full fledged solution. In my example, I either did not use a pencil or, when forced to, came up with a solution that, in truth, was a way to work with the problem. The difference is a subtle one, but it is often times what separates folks like you and I from the folks that come up with brilliant “million dollar” ideas.