ZEITGEIST

Coming March 9th, is Kevin Michael (Downtown Records). Downtown Records features amazing talent like Gnarls Barkley, Art Brut, Cold War Kids, and Eagles of Death Metal. R&B prodigy Kevin Michael has a voice and style all his own. Originally from Philadelphia, Kevin has appeared on The Roots Greatest Hits album and is currently collaborating with some [...]

Many people recognize the ace of spades as the ’signature’ card in a deck, but what most probably don’t realize is that the intricate illustrations are not simply for decoration. In the 1600’s King James I of England passed a law requiring an insignia on the card as proof of manufacturing tax payment. This mundane little fact is only one in a string of hundreds that tie playing cards integrally into history, art, government, philosophy, fortune, creativity, diversion, probability, and unlimited potential.

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I was watching the O’Reilly Factor the other night (YES, I do watch it sometimes to see how the other side thinks). ANYway, they were ranting and raving about some NBC News contributor posting his thoughts on the Washington Post’s blog basically comparing our troops to “mercenaries”. He said it, it’s done. I don’t agree with his analysis, per se, but I have had a lot of fun watching the right-wing press keep the flames burning on this for WAY longer than was necessary.

Back to my point: There was a news analyst on the Factor who was a Marine who fought in Korea (and Viet Nam if I remember right) that said something to the extent that “I fought to protect our freedom of speech, but not THAT kind of speech”. Something about that hit me as rather odd and disingenuous on his part. Freedom of speech is freedom of ALL speech, not just the speech you agree with. Wouldn’t that basically make his efforts in the war(s) he fought in tantamount to him being a mercenary fighting for a pro-government mindset alone and not a soldier fighting for the freedoms of ALL Americans? I could be over-simplifying it, but that’s kind of how that feels to me.

And don’t get me wrong, I respect the shit out of every single person who’s ever put their life on the line fighting our wars. I especially respect those fighting in the Iraq war since it’s so fucking pointless and unnecessary. Respect and support the troops, but ALWAYS question the judgment, motives and competence of those who command them. ALWAYS!

Pete did the first solo artist LunchBox of the series. He brought with him cd’s for all the employees here, many got free tickets to his show as well. He took a tour of the agency and loved the gym where he shot hoops for about 20 minutes, hung out in the nest, and didn’t [...]

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend Derek Featherstone’s day long workshop on Accessibility for web applications at Web Directions North in Vancouver, BC. Derek did an amazing job of illustrating common web accessibility faux-pas as well as some applicable solutions for the app heavy web 2.0. It was all very informational and eye opening. It’s one thing to understand why accessibility is important, but it’s quite another to experience the web as a screen reader user would. I don’t think I’ve heard so much synthesized speech in a single day…ever. But it gave some real insight into how screen reader users interact with the web on a day-to-day basis.

Here are 5 things I learned from Derek’s workshop:

1. Assistive technology

When narrowing the scope to web accessibility, assistive technology can be described as any piece of hardware or software that aids a person with a physical disability or mental impairment. Some of the most commonly used assistive technology devices on the web include screen readers, voice recognition software, refreshable braille displays and screen magnification tools. Text-only browsers such as Lynx are also in this category, although I have to wonder if there is a legitimate use for text-only browsers outside of testing these days.

2. Accessibility is not just for the disabled

Web accessibility is about making content accessible to all types of users and technologies. (more…)

After a sold out show at the Crystal Ballroom, it was a Roots afterparty with Questlove on the decks until 3am. There was a long wait outside as people stood in the cold hoping to get into the party. At the end of the night hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts were handed out. [...]