Links for 23-01-2008
Longevity research; computer generation not so hot with computers as you’d think; masses o’ music reviews …
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1 – Unshaking and refocusing your photos
“… you can remove shake and blur from your pictures after the fact. Several Linux-friendly utilities can help you.”
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2 – Album review: Saviours – Into Abaddon
“… the musical equivalent of a truck-stop drive-by; pull in, smash some glass and break some limbs, take what you want and head for the horizon. Their flat-bed is already full of shining nuggets of pure metal genius.”
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3 – Album review: These New Puritans – Beat Pyramid
“There’s a certain paranoid vibe to it, as well as a studied aloofness, as if the band were afraid of appearing too intelligent — which, given the current musical and political climate, might not be that far from truth.” Impressively different.
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4 – Album review: Birds Of Prey – Sulfur & Semen
“This is not the sort of album you want to play to your mother … unless, of course, your mother has a taste for mosh-pits, strong whisky and the stink of amped guitars played fast and hard.”
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5 – Album review: Mexican Institute Of Sound – Méjico Máxico
“Méjico Máxico is a quirky cut’n'paste buffet of twee electronica blips and squelches welded to found sound snippets and samples of Mexico’s rich native musical heritage.”
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6 – Album review: Glyder – Playground For Life
“… while they’re about as original as batwing jumpers and studded belts, if you’ve got a secret soft spot for the glory days of British metal, Glyder have the ability to give it a damn good scratching.”
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7 – Album review: All Our Good Friends – Promise
“… the initially mellow vibes hide a bitterness beneath the surface, an anger articulated in words rather than crushing volume and thundering drums.” ‘Sokay, if you like that singer-songwriter stuff.
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8 – Album review: Obskuria – Discovery Of Obskuria
“… covers of Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls†and “Come Together†by The Beatles, performed as if by a very very stoned Hawkwind tribute band.” Very silly, and not much else.
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9 – 10-Fold Life Span Extension Reported
“Biologists have created baker’s yeast capable of living to 800 in yeast years without apparent side effects.” Interesting implications.
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10 – How Email Brings You Closer to the Guy in the Next Cubicle
“… email doesn’t stop you from wanting facetime, too. Just the opposite: By enabling us to maintain productive business relationships with more people, it encourages more face-to-face contact.”
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11 – The “Google generation” not so hot at Googling, after all
“Knowing how to use Facebook doesn’t make one an Internet search god, and the report concludes that a literature review shows no movement (either good or bad) in young people’s information skills over the last several decades.”
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12 – Clive Thompson on Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing
“From where I sit, traditional “literary fiction” has dropped the ball. I studied literature in college, and throughout my twenties I voraciously read contemporary fiction. Then, eight or nine years ago, I found myself getting — well — bored.”
