Vegas

As I head back from sin city I thought now would be a good time to get back on Bradblog and share some of the memories of my mom's 50th Birthday in Las Vegas. From the clubs to the slot machines there is really nothing better than a family trip in the city of lights. We had a huge group of people including grandparents, family friends and others who I have not seen in years. This combination can make or break a trip and I'll be the first to say it made the trip. Practically everyone had a funny moment that I wanna say I remember but there is just too much to share.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. With that said here are a few photos I thought would explain our trip.

TURNTABLE: The New Music Epidemic!!!!

Internet music is about to change. Turntable, a new beta recently released has been growing at a exponential rate with over 2 million users! I recently joined and it has been an amazing site to find new and classic songs from literally any genre you can think of. Once invited (hopefully open to the public soon) it sends you to a link to turntables main page. Here, you link your Facebook account to turntable and whooola! You then choose a avatar based on your dj point ranking. Obviously, I signed up with zero points, so I choose from the appropriate area. If you look over the avatars in different ranks you'll find people like Deadmau5 and Daft Punk at the top of the chart.

So, after making a Dj name and choosing an avatar you are now capable of going into or making a room to dj in. The room can hold as many listeners as you please, but there is a limit of 5 dj booths per room. Once djing, you can upload music from your personal collection right onto Turntable or you can grab other peoples uploads. This way, you can know every song uploaded and also a opportunity to purchase the song right off the site! The music is filed on the right side in whatever order you choose. The song selected for the dj queue is the song at the top of your list.

The image below is of me in room sh, where i am currently playing a song. It shows that I have 36 points because in 36 different instances someone liked my song rating it "awesome" or kicking me off the song by pressing "lame".

If you get a lame vote it does not take points away, it just means the song might get booted before its finished. One of the best features to Turntable is the chat spot for everyone in the room whether it's the dj or listener. This makes for good interaction with people who like to talk about their music taste and get an idea for where people are from. So far the sight has been released in the USA, Europe, Japan, and many other countries! So... if you can get an invite from a friend or myself I highly suggest this for summer boredom!

Feed Me - To The Stars

Feed Me, a new name to the old artist Spor, has just released a EP out now on beatport.com! This new EP is labeled "Feed Me - To The Stars" and it takes on true Feed Me style. The technical sounds and bass lines make it really fun to listen to. I have been a fan ever since he released his first album to the Feed Me Adventure series. A lot of electronic artist compile unique and interesting sounds just like Feed Me, but the rhythm and sound placement to Feed Me's music makes for something that sounds completely apart from the rest. Being under the Mau5trap label, it is obvious that Joel Zimmerman (Creator of Mau5trap a.k.a Deadmau5) would pick such a exceptional artist to join the team. I highly recommend downloading this EP exclusively on beatport.com

Here is a preview into the EP "To the Stars"!!! Enjoy!!!

Feed Me - Feed Me to the Stars EP - forthcoming clips by youfeedme

Humans!

Humans! was a video I StumbledUpon and it was everything I didn't expect it to be. Even though none of us have the intention to hurt/kill one another, it is quite interesting how someone portrayed us. A short clip, it brings to mind some questions we, as humans, should ask ourselves. As much as we love our planet it's hard to say that it loves us back. Our constant abuse of the earth's natural resources can cause major consequences. So watch this video, and see how it can put things in a different perspective.

The Invisible Web

I find myself spending a lot of time on stumbleupon.com these days. This website is not new, but it has been a awesome new tool for me. After setting my preferences on the free account I began to "stumble upon" a lot of interesting websites. Which got me thinking, how is it that Stumbleupon is able to show me these different websites and the normal Google search engine does not?

After doing some research, I found a website called makeusof.com. Reading a post titled,"Ten Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web" I finally found some good information. From their website to my blog I want to share some of the links they provide on Makeusof. This invisible web you are about to look into is much larger than the visible internet we experience today. A quote from Makeusof reads,""The figures are attention grabbers" “the size of the open web is 167 terabytes. The Invisible Web is estimated at 91,000 terabytes."" Wow, we are not getting the true access to the internet without some of these search engines. I highly recommend checking this out if you need research information for any field in school.

ENJOY: (Click on the name of the search engine to access it's webpage)

InFomine

The WWW Virtual Library

Complete Planet (I recommend this one)

InfoPlease

IncyWincy

These are just some of them, for more check out the official page at 10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web

Zephyr Cafe in Pasadena

Zephyr Cafe is one of my new favorite "chill" spots. Erika Cox and I went the other night and I got to experience what a real cafe should feel like. The building design is that of a comfy home making you feel welcome and relaxed. Zephry's also displays art from artist who submit their work.

After ordering a wild raspberry tea we walked to the outside seating area. The ambiance was incredible. Not only was everyone enjoying there beverage of choice, you also have the option of ordering food, hookah, even a Italian soda (one of my favorites). Everyone should take a night to enjoy the music, hookah, art and drinks.

P.S. I was told they play live music some nights..... Thursday I believe.

LINK: Zephyr Cafe

Forever - Wolfgang Gartner Ft. Will.I.Am

Finally, a mainstream artist (Will.I.Am) picked a great song to feature on. Wolfgang Gartner, as some of you are aware, is one of my favorite artist right now. He has made a name for himself in the electronic world on sites like Beatport and iTunes. The movement of electronic style is slowly creeping into the mainstream hip-hop. I first began noticing this trend in 2009 when the song "Let the bass kick" by Dj Chuckie came out. This style of music is clean and precise (you can even understand the lyrics lol). Overall, I really enjoy this song and hope to hear more like it.

Wolfram Alpha

Steven Wolfram, the creator of WolframAlpha, has now successfully made a search engine that can compete against Google. This "computational knowledge engine" sounds complex, and in fact it is. I wanted to share with everyone a great tool I use now to help me with any homework question (specifically math). Wolfram Alpha was designed to answer ANY math equation with exact precision and detail. When I first tried it I typed in: x^6 + 3 = y

and this is the answer:

 

INSANE!!!! Every question/problem you input the results are just as they are here, complex!!

So next time you feel stuck on one specific problem or you just want to know who shares your birthday with you check out WolframAlpha.

Link: Wolfram Alpha

Wolfgang Gartner: House of Blues San Diego

Wolfgang Gartner KILLED his set on Friday night!!! What a amazing display of lights and true elecrto house style. Before I go into some of the details of the concert I need to give you a run down of our journey:

Luke Fernandez, Treb Frederick, and myself drove the long 117 miles to San Diego in my current vehicle, a 2000 F-150 single cab pickup truck. Being that we had to cram into my tiny truck, I knew we were in for a treat. Blaring jams, slamming rockstars, and a little liquid encouragement all played a role in getting us to the concert on time and in the right frame of mind (and Luke spitting some rhymes on instrumental beats). After spiraling up to the 8th floor of the parking structure, we managed to walk down to the entrance and get in with no complaints. Not an hour later Wolfgang comes on and kills it!

His dynamics for high and low pitch tones makes his music intriguing and playful. Everywhere you looked people were dancing enjoying his unique display of lights and fog. His stage set was insane with what looked like giant vent holes blowing out smoke and a handful of l.e.d. displays to show some artistic imagery. Wolfgang ran his set for almost 2 hours before having to sign off. As the crowd demanded more, Joey Youngman (Wolfgang Gartner) raised his hands to show his graditute and forgiveness for not extending the set. Other than the exhaustion I felt having to drive round trip to San Diego in one night, I can speak on behalf of Luke and Treb that Wolfgang Gartner is someone we plan to see when he comes around again.

Here is a video I took at the concert. You can also check it out on my YouTube account DarbTheMan.

La Verne Fire Department

I had the unique opportunity today to visit the La Verne Fire Station #2 while on a field trip. This morning at about 9:30am, my Fire 9 Hydraulics teacher, Captain Robert Lopez took us to see how the fire engine pumps work. The picture featured above shows the exact engine we got to take a look at today.

The captain on duty was Robert Russel and he did a great job explaining how the pump works and how to use the equipment needed to operate. After 30 minutes of brief explanation, Captain Robert Russel and his crew rolled out some hose to show us how the engine pump works while running. I personally really enjoyed the experience and got a lot of "faces" to some of the equipment talked about in class.

I wanted to give a big thank you to the La Verne Station #2. They were very helpful and insightful.

Link: La Verne Fire Department

Facebook or Nothing

I have been thinking a lot lately about Facebook and how it has taken over our internet communication. Since the boom of Facebook, everyone and their dog now has a Facebook page. Did you know that 25% of the internet traffic in the US is from Facebook?! At first it seemed to be a subtle easy way to talk with friends on a online platform. Now it feels like our online platform (Facebook) is taking over the way we communicate entirely. It's not that I am against this new way of communicating, I just feel that like many others we are all stuck in "Zuckerberg's Dream".

The internet gives you the ability to create and do almost anything you want. With this knowledge why are we all going to one place for communication when there are thousands of ways to interact? For example, (and the main reason for this post) Blogger, a great tool created by Google allows everyone to make a customized profile and share whatever knowledge they want. The difference with Blogger is it allows you to make your profile however you wish and change the way you want it to look or feel. If everyone had a blog instead of a Facebook we would more freely exchange ideas and have more personable pages. I mean it's not like everyone shops at the same store to get her clothes right?

Everyone wants to be an individual. Rightfully so, we should change the way we see the internet and make it ours by creating our own blogs, websites, ideas, etc. In doing this we will be more independent and able to change the internet, not let the internet change us.

Crazy Night in Vegas!!

As you all are aware I took the incredible journey to Vegas to see Deadmau5 perform live at Club XS for their 2 year anniversary! Myself, Jonny, Matt, and Chadwell made our way out there around 2 o'clock looking to spend the rest of our night at the club dancing and raging. Turns out the trip was exactly how we thought it would be. A few drinks in the hotel room before hand, a 40 minute wait into the club and next thing you know we are inside one of Vegas' hottest new venues! Once inside we took the liberty to walk around and see what the club was all about. All of it was incredible from the bars to the lighting and even a pool in the patio area. We even got to see the Mau5 right outside of his cabana before the show!! As the night went on his set got wild playing songs like "Raise Your Weapon", "Sometimes Things Get Complicated", "City In Florida", "Moar Ghost And Stuff" and of course "Strobe". The highlight of my night besides being able to see Deadmau5 perform was getting to shake hands and give a shout out to his manager Paul Macrae. Overall I think I can speak for everyone who attended that it was a wild show and one of Deadmau5's best performances yet!

O and did I mention I took that photo... with my blackberry!! Haha

Deadmau5 this Monday Night $50 Bucks in Vegas!!!

I'll be attending this at Club XS on Monday night! Definitely going to try and take some photos and post them Tuesday!! ENJOY!!

Soda Tax in California??

To tax or not to tax? Seems to be the big question lately especially with the economy taking a dump. California Lawmakers want to impose a new law that would force taxpayers to pay more for beverages that contain sugar or sweetener. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez is the person behind this new law proposition. Specifically, the law would allow a one cent levy for every teaspoon of sugar or sweetener in every drink. The "taxing" would not be the responsibility of the consumer but instead the corporations that are responsible for the bottles of soda. Either way the American Beverage Association (who includes companies like Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods) are not too happy about this proposal and we all know if they get hit with a new tax the price we pay for soda's will go up.


The main motive behind the law is set on the premise of changing the obesity rate in California and putting money back into schools/programs. Thirty percent of our children in California are overweight. Something definitely needs to change but who is really responsible? Parents? Schools? Corporate Food Companies? Whoever you want to blame, putting a tax on sugar drinks is not going to effectively solve the problem. Food addictions related to obesity are no different than ciggarette smokers who need a drag. If people need their fix, their going to get it. Lawmakers project an estimated one and a half billion dollars to be made in one year if this law goes through. So is California really out for the interest of obese funding or is this another plot to make some profit? If you want to change obesity rates, talk to the parents feeding their kids and get them involved in healthy alternatives so they can reverse what is happening. Maybe dropping food prices on healthier products so people don't have to buy junk food would be a good place to start. Our country and this state have become to sensitive and involved with everyone's business. Americans need to focus on the bigger picture and realize that we run ourselves a lot better without a helping hand in every area of our life. Let's change the obesity by working to make better products and promote healthier living, not adding another tax to our state.

Blogging

Welcome to BradBlog. A lot of the driving force behind this blog was the realization of how much people depend on the internet. Since the development and success of sites like Facebook, the internet has become a second reality for most of us. Anyone with something to say can now use mediums like blogs to express their likes/dislikes to whomever wants to take a gander.

My First entry is of one of my favorite songs of all time "Strobe (Original Mix)" by Deadmau5. Not only is Joel Zimmerman tearing up the world of electro, he is also changing the way people experience music. What draws me to artist like this is how expressive they are in their music. Joel is the type of artist that gets lots of feedback from fans with live streams of concerts, random recording sessions, and the occasional free track from one of his websites. He embodies the point I made in the first paragraph. Not only has he become famous through means of good music and a original style, but also because of his dedication to his fans and making that personal connection.

The song "Strobe" to me in one word is peaceful. The slow build up and technical breakdown together make my ears rejoice! It's music like this that to me does not need words; not to mention the bass if you have a nice sound system :) More songs, videos, links, and things to come on my blog. Just glad I got the first blog jitters out of my system. ENJOY!