Tomato Harvest

This morning I harvested a bike helmet full of tomatoes, peppers and herbs from my plot in Mickel's Garden. I lost about another helmet's full due to rot or blight (I might blame myself for just not picking them fast enough). Tomato blight has hit the northeast. The NY Times reports on Tomato Blight. To learn more about plant pathogens check out Cornell's Vegetable MD.

All Points West Reviews

Couldn't go myself but the rain didn't stop some folks form enjoying Liberty State Park and some music.

Check out the All Points West Recap.

Linguists using GIS to find remote villages

NY Times article on Linguists documenting dying languages mentions Geographic Information Systems as a way to help identify fringe villages. I'm guessing they are using aerial imagery or image interpretation to find them.

2009 ESRI User Conference & Google Voice

Tomorrow I leave New York for San Diego for the 2009 ESRI User Conference. I would be more excited to go but the weather here in NYC has been so amazing. I'll try to post updates and such from the conference and will be testing out my new Google Voice account.

I received an email from Google saying I could try out Google Voice. Google Voice is a new phone service offered by Google that consolidates your phone and messaging exchanges into one easy-to-use place.

US News shows us the 10 reasons to use Google Voice.

Lifehacker checks out Google Voice.

One number for all your calls and SMS

• Call screening - Announce and screen callers
• Listen in - Listen before taking a call
• Block calls - Keep unwanted callers at bay
• SMS - Send, receive, and store SMS
• Place calls - Call US numbers for free
• Taking calls - Answer on any of your phones
• Phone routing - Phones ring based on who calls
• Forwarding phones - Add phones and decide which ring

Voicemail as easy as email, with transcripts

• Voicemail transcripts - Read what your voicemail says
• Listen to voicemail - Check online or from your phone
• Notifications - Receive voicemails via email or SMS
• Personalize greeting - Vary greetings by caller
• Share voicemail - Forward or download voicemails

More cool things you can do with Google Voice

• Conference calling - Join people into a single call
• Call record - Record calls and store them online
• Call switch - Switch phones during a call
• Mobile site - View your inbox from your mobile
• GOOG-411 - Check directory assistance
• Manage groups - Set preferences by group

Nasa makes ASTER and GDEM data public

from Nasa:

NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry (METI) released the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) to the worldwide public on June 29, 2009. The GDEM was created by processing and stereo-correlating the 1.3 million-scene ASTER archive of optical images, covering Earth's land surface between 83 degrees North and 83 degrees South latitudes. The GDEM is produced with 30-meter (98-feet) postings, and is formatted as 23,000 one-by-one- degree tiles. The GDEM is available for download from NASA's EOS data archive and Japan's Ground Data System.

Death-Media: on Indie Rock vs. Jam Bands

While on my own I've debated the merits of indie rock vs jam bands, the blog Death-Media has also commented on this topic drawn from Todd P. Roosevelt Island concerts and Animal Collective concerts. Summer is a time of the rare road trip for us New Yorkers. We embrace the chance to load up a car and move at speeds much faster than a subway train into the great greenery and explore rural geographies while shuffling through road trip mixes to help unwind.

Yet, at such times of real release, not the instantaneous sonic and/or olfactory vacation required when jamming into a packed summer subway, it is not the indie music or valued Brooklyn bands that I turn to but classic Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Phish or Tom Petty, classic rock, Wilco, Califone, older Modest Mouse, and the darlings Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes (either def. not from Brooklyn) or anything else that reminds me of the American musical landscape. You can't get into this stuff in 2 minute listens or listen to the last 17 minutes of a Dark Star jam without that first 10 minutes. Perhaps it is just that point why the Brooklyn scene (if it can be classified as a scene, ie hipsterdom, ie indie music - all of which have their merits but combined yield highly image-conscious snootyness towards the jam band scene, of which has also transformed in the years after the Grateful Dead and/or Phish's hiatus's) is more orchestrated into short songs. City dwellers need quick immediate releases from daily inconviences while the rest of the country is capable of absorbing sounds, not from earbuds or designer headphones, from their car stereo over their more relaxing and spacious commute.

Wilco (the album reviews)

Reviews are starting to roll in for Wilco's 7th effort Wilco (the album). I'm hoping to get my copy on vinyl sometime this week. I've been listening to this album a lot more than when the first mp3's were posted. Its a slow burn that creeps up on you. I can't deny liking Sky Blue Sky and find that Wilco, while not blowing me away as much anymore, is consistantly releasing solid albums while other bands come and go in one or two albums.

Professional reviews

• Allmusic link
• Addictive Thoughts link
• Drowned In Sound (7/10) link
• The Independent link
• Pitchfork (7.3/10) [1]
• The Observer link
• PopMatters link
• Spin Magazine link
• The Sunday Times link
• The Tune (A-) link
• Chicago Sun-Times link