Yes that’s right sun rise, not sun set, you seldom will see me posting this. From our hotel window.
Lake Huron Sun Rise
August 20th, 2010 by Andy T. Evans
www.uvumi.com Another Great Source of Great Independent Music Discovery
August 2nd, 2010 by Andy T. EvansI have been using another great website a lot lately to find new music. Although I still use thesixtyone.com probably more, I really like some other features Uvumi.com offers. It has better event and concert tracking, and also makes it easier to look at other media for each artist. I also like the “add to queue” option. So basically I can look around, add some music that looks interesting to my playlist and then go back to working, or whatever else I am doing, and hear what I found. If I like something, I can go back and rate it, comment on it, or queue up other songs by the artist. That was always something I wanted on youtube, or other places that I have searched for music before. It also has some nice options for genre surfing and a really great search engine that will let you play all your results. The site also has very nice user and artist networking, it seems a lot easier to connect then other sites. It is as if Facebook was done right, just for music artists. It is much easier to be become a fan of an artist or friend them then it is on thsixtyone. After your a fan, you will get updates when they add songs, or post concerts. They also have a number of tools for musicians to market themselves or promote their music. The charts playlist is another very handy feature I really like. You can find some of the hottest music and play though it. I like that it has a calendar mode, and other options, so I can look back further and see what was hot a few months back.
I highly recommend you check uvumi.com out, and discover some great music.
Fried Zucchini! One of my favorite comfort foods!
July 31st, 2010 by Andy T. EvansMy dad just gave me a TON of great veggies form his garden today. That included lots of zucchini. Which would happen to be my favorite squash. One of my fondest summer memories growing up, would be waking up to the smell of fried zucchini on a Saturday morning. My dad would wake up earlier, work on the garden and pick fresh zucchini. Then he would fry a lot of them up. The smell would wake me up, my room was right above the kitchen, and I would go down for that green breakfast. It would never be quite done when I came down, so I am sure I was rather annoying as I would watch and ask if it was done yet. The longer you could wait for it cook, the better it always seemed to get. Then when it got done, there was always that wait for it to cool, it seemed like an eternity over the wonderful aroma of cooked zucchini.
I decided to cook up a batch for a midnight snack tonight.
It is a really simple recipe, that it seems few people have had in their lives. Just simply slice up a few zucchini with the slicing side of a box shredder and cook in some butter. Add salt and pepper. Thats it! Really it is not “fried”, more in the sense cooked down, like fried cabbage or sautéed I suppose would be the word? Anyway Yum!
My Fried Zucchini!
Before you hate BP, look in the Mirror….then hate BP
July 30th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansEveryone seems to be jumping on the hate BP band wagon. Maybe thats not a bad thing. Well no maybe about it, it is a good thing. What is most concerning about the situation is BP is not the only bad oil company. As far as evil oil companies they are kind of the standard. Exon never even paid the fines for the Valdieze spill. In 2003, Greenpeace listed Exxon as #1 Climate Criminal. They spend huge sums every year funding global warming skeptics. They still use the same single hull ships that have caused a number of spills. Oh then there are a number of human rights violations. Citgo, owned by the Venezuelan government has a horrible track record. Chevron has done major damage to Ecuador and Angola and Niger Delta to name a few. Not to mention they own the rights to a number of battery patents and will not let anyone make them. Shell has the record for the largest fresh water spill.
All the big oil companies are pure evil, and few would argue with that. But it is time we look in the mirror. This is our own fault. We depend on oil and gas way to much. It is our oil consuming selves we need to put blame on too. We enable and have created this situation. We drive to big of cars, to fast, and wastefully. We need to really support EV efforts and stop blocking alternative energy development. We need to support wind and solar, not nuclear, and stop giving subsidies, tax breaks and incentives to big oil. Gas prices need to go up, period. That’s the only way to make people care. That might be thinking to big though. We really are talking about personal choices here. If you own an SUV, unless you have 10 kids, sell it. Does your car get less then 30 mpg? Stop driving it. Next time you speed away from the light, remember your enabling BP and all its friends. Next time your buying a car, think of fuel economy, not cup holders. If you can a ford one of the EV’s buy one, not a sports car. Have a commute to work? Carpool. Take the bus, train or ride your bike when ever you can. It’s time we look in the mirror and put some of the blame where its due.
From Wikipedia-Chart of the major energy companies dubbed "Big Oil", sorted by latest published revenue
Check out www.betterworldhandbook.com/gasoline.html to see how the different oil companies compare!
Or check this site out www.greenopia.com
Solar now cheaper then Nuclear!
July 29th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansThis is HUGE news and a historic moment. Solar is now more affordable, and more practical then nuclear from a business prospective! Read this article for more details.
http://theenergycollective.com/oshadavidson/40559/study-solar-power-cheaper-nuclear
Google notes… Yoga poses to flatten the stomach?
July 29th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansOccasionally, I will search for something, find a bunch of information and want to distill it down to a “best of” or summery if you will. Well that’s what this is. If you have any interest in yoga, strengthening your core muscles, or flattening your stomach, check out the videos and sites I found. If not pass on this low interest post….
The Andy Diet explained
July 28th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansFor the past 6 months I have been trying my own version of vegetarianism. It is similar to a weekend vegetarian. I thought I would share my diet with others incase you want to try or what to give me feedback or share your thoughts. It came out of my desire to eat healthy, and have less of a negative impact on the planet and its other inhabitants. All while still not missing out on enjoyment of food and culture. Continue reading for more info.
Care about the environment? Hate oil spills? Change your attitude about mowing grass!!!
July 27th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansGrass mowing is one the most widely ignored environmental strains in the USA. It’s one we can not even avoid if we want to. Most places have laws against tall grass, and a huge amount of social pressure to have a nice lawn. This pressure is so strong even a University, a place that forward thinking, and “liberal” ideas abound, would not even consider anything but the golf course cut. Our ideals must change! If we really care about the environment, clean air, and future generations we have too think differently about what is right and wrong. Tall grass or an unkept lawn is actually a positive habit, not a negative one. We need to applaud, not fine or scorn people that DO NOT mow and put that social pressure on those with the manicured, environmentally damaging lawns. Maybe you don’t think a manicured lawn is that bad? Well read further for more info.
Curetogether.com using the “cloud” to self diagnose and treat medical conditions
July 21st, 2010 by Andy T. EvansImagine your doctor just told you have a medical condition. One you may never have heard of. You get home google it, read all about it, and learn the dizzying array of treatments, medications, home remedies and lifestyle changes that all claim to help. What if you could ask someone that has the same problem as you what worked and didn’t work for them? What if you could ask a 1000 people and have them rate how effective each was? That’s kind of how CureTogether works.
Hesta Prynn’s New EP “Can we go wrong” released and worth a listen
July 9th, 2010 by Andy T. Evans
Can We Go Wrong EP
Hesta Prynn’s first solo album(EP really) was just released on July 6th and I am quite liking it. She clearly understands what makes a catchy pop song. Yet at the same time keeps the same deep content you might expect from a true artist in the “underground”. With her unique voice and a indie rock band sound you will not be left with that hallow feeling most songs currently on the radio leave. It is a fun, welcoming sound that might remind you of the Ting Tings or maybe even the White Strips. Also, you can hear the influence touring with Tegan and Sara when with Northern State has had on her work.
Pizza Pal for Palm WebOS available now for FREE!
May 27th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansCheck out my latest app for palm webOS for FREE. Read about Pizza Pal here.
Lunar Pal for webOS finished!
March 25th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansI finally finished my latest Palm app. It is the ultimate moon companion called Lunar Pal. With any luck Palm should approve it to be sold in the app catalog in a few days. It turned out to be far more complex then I had originally hoped. Making all the astronomical equations work, required me to use some calculus skills I thought were long gone.
Read more about it here and see the screen shots! If you think something is missing let me know.
thesixtyone.com is an Amazing Music Adventure!
March 18th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansMaybe this is old news to many of you, but if you have not checked out the website www.thesixtyone.com you are missing out on a wonderful music experience. I have been using it for almost a week all day every day, while I work. It uses an innovative and fun, quest based system to help you explore new music. The sixty one has many game aspects, like experience points and levels. The higher you get, the more songs you can rate, and the more important your opinion is in the ranking system. It links up with facebook and includes many social networking features that make it easy to share your favorites, make playlists, and explore your friends favorites.
If your a musician even better! You can upload music, share it for free, or even sell it. It will let you post lots of info including concert dates, and your bio. They also support creative commons releases. It also has an option for record labels to join and discover you.
The interface is the best part though. It is clean, effective, and gives each artist the opportunity to create a very artistic full screen, changing page. Forget a cd case, this gives you so much more freedom and information. Another very nice feature is the ability to navigate the entire site, and not have the music stop, or have any trouble getting back to the full screen page.
Some genres may not have as much as others(blues is a bit low), but they do have a lot of great indy music, I have not had to repeat after a few hundred songs listened too. I highly recomend you try www.thesixtyone.com, you will be happy you did.
Oh feel free to friend me, my user name is cooolate. That’s right it has an extra o.
Mortgage Pal for Palm WebOS finished
March 4th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansI just finished a rather simple mobile app for Palm WebOS. It’s just a simple mortgage calculator, but there did not seem to be a good one out there. It hopefully will soon be approved for $.99 in the app store.
Check it out here: http://coolate.com/blog/?page_id=210
South Bend Drivin’ Movies now has a facebook group to follow
February 19th, 2010 by Andy T. EvansI just created a facebook group for our South Bend Drivin’ Movies club. Go ahead and join to be notified when and where movies will be shown.
About: SB Drivin Movies is a group of people that show public domain and independent movies for FREE. Just like a drive in, only in a parking lot! We will list the movie and location ahead of time, and you can show up in the parking lot and enjoy a movie! We will broadcast on FM radio, and have some snacks available.
Join the group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=326341034456
More about guerilla drive-ins : http://mobmov.org/
