Chris' Linkjockey blog links to unique, fantastic sites on the web that you haven't seen before.

Monday, April 30, 2007

How much money does every current NBA Player make?

Who earned their salary and who was overpaid?
HoopsHype ranks the top 30 players, team payrolls, and salaries for every player on every team, including contracts through 2010/11 season.

I wonder if there are sites listing salary information for the other sports?

read more digg story

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Inspiring portraits of children

Flashes of Hope is a non-profit that encourages professional photographers to create beautiful, uplifting portraits of terminally ill children. The photos are joyous and inspiring, and are such a wonderful tribute to these courageous young subjects as they fight cancer and other life threatening illnesses.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

How to Shuck an Oyster (without shucking your hand)

How to Shuck an Oyster - Esquire.com

After enjoying a few delicious fresh oysters in beautiful Tofino, BC , I decided to focus on oysters. I got them at Trilogy Fish, the only local place that buys and sells from local fishermen. Esquire has a surprisingly good how-to for shucking oysters, complete with pictures.

Bonus Link: Global Gourmet has some great oyster recipes and oyster trivia.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Amazing street art

Mark Jenkins Street Installations

In another example of guerilla street art , Mark Jenkins puts whimsical human-like sculptures in the streets in the New York and Washington DC areas. Well worth a look!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Deepest Secrets Revealed!!!

PostSecret
PostSecret is an online art-confessional. People write confessions on the front of a postcard and mail them in to get posted weekly on the website. Some confessions are scandalous, others banal, but the combination of text and images are often striking and creative examples of graphic design.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Roger Ebert can't be stopped

rogerebert.com: Overlooked Film Festival: Ebertfest '07

America's most famous art critic, Roger Ebert, is recovering from cancer of the salivary gland. As part of the surgery to remove the cancer, he had part of his jaw removed and a tracheostomy. He can't speak, his mouth droops and he's wearing bandages.

But like Robocop, Terminator and John McLean, he can't be stopped. Roger Ebert is still going to attend his Ninth Annual Overlooked Film Festival (aka Ebertfest '07), which runs April 24 -29, 2007, despite suggestions that he will be mocked in the press. Kudos to him for having the courage and the passion to continue to support what he believes in, despite what others might think.

And what are the overlooked movies? Here's the list of films at Ebertfest '07:
Gattaca
The Weather Man
Moolaade
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Sadie Thompson
Come Early Morning
La Dolce Vita
Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs: The Untold Story
Holes
Man of Flowers
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Where can I get great new music free?

Ummm, how about Today's Blog Music/ The Hype Machine?

This site is AWESOME!!!
What's the deal? People have blogs, and they post links to free mp3 music files. Hype Machine aggregates the links together, and links to, and streams, music from a huge range of these music blogs. I've heard stuff recently on Hype Machine from the Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Bloc Party, Bjork, Timbaland, LCD Soundsystem, Chemical Brothers and more, so the music ranges from mainstream to obscure. There are some dj mixes as well.

Presumably, all the files are all legal, and are used by the labels and musicians to promote their work. Hype Machine offers you several ways to purchase more work by each artist if you like them, but otherwise it's gloriously free.

I subscribe their podcast feed, but they also do several streaming options and RSS feeds too.

It's not Napster, but at the moment, I think it's the best source of great new music for free on the web.

Monday, April 23, 2007

USB turntable

Ion Audio - iTTUSB Turntable
I've found this neat little gadget. It's a standard turntable that plays vinyl records, but it connects to your computer by usb. You can use the spin records live, digitize your vinyl, put some effects on your records and get new sounds for your recording project. The iTTUSB Turntable works with Mac and Windows computers, and includes basic Audacity software to digitally record your audio and clean it up.

I've even heard it suggested that new kinds of turntables are leading to an increase in sales of vinyl records. Increasing music sales, eh? Now there's something you don't hear everyday.

Has anyone used the iTTUSB Turntable? I haven't seen any real reviews, so if you have any opinions, please write something in the comments.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Your friend, linkjockey, thinks you’ll love these free tips on "light green living"

Happy Earth Day!!

I've been getting these daily green/ environmental tips by email for the last couple of months. The tips are great, and you gotta love their consistency. This is the best kind of daily email subscription. You should totally sign up!




Having trouble viewing this email? Read it online.
FORWARD TIP PRESS KIT ADVERTISE BLOG TIP LIBRARY SIGNUP
Ideal Bite
Apple Picture
Aug 15, 2005

BANG FOR THE BITE


Pitcher or faucet filters cost about $600 over 5 years. Bottled water services or bottles cost nearly $2000 in that same timeframe!


COCKTAIL FACTOID

The average person in the United States uses between 80-100 gallons of water per day (flushing the toilet actually accounts for most of this).


SEE MORE TIPS

RATE THIS TIP
Radio ButtonRadio ButtonRadio ButtonRadio ButtonRadio Buttongo
12345

Love your bottled water but feel a little naughty each time you toss the plastic bottle in the recycle bin?

The Bite
Use water filters instead - tap water might contain contaminants, but (believe it or not) bottled water isn't always cleaner. Use home water filters such as faucet-mounted or pitcher filters - the best way to ensure a clean supply of drinking water at home.

The Benefits

  • Save the 1.5 million tons of plastic expended in the bottling of 89 billion liters of water each year.
  • Get rid of contaminants normally found in tap water such as chlorine, cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead and pesticide runoff.
  • Save money - check out the Bang for the Bite (left) for the juicy details.
  • Filters are a safer bet - up to 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, just like tap water.

Personally Speaking
We both have faucet-mounted Brita filters and are somewhat notorious for refilling and carrying hard plastic water bottles with us everywhere.

Wanna Try

  • Brita - this is our favorite - $34.99 (refill filters are $32.99 for 2)
  • Pur - Very pretty, for you brushed chrome lovers... $49.49 (replacement filters: 4 for $37.98)
  • Top 10 home water filters, water purifiers & water treatment system brands compared by price, performance and ongoing costs
  • Nice cost comparison of various water filter options available

Foward Tip Blog Link Save To My Bites
Join the Bite Club: give companies your 2¢ and get discounts or freebies.


Ideal Bite Biter Bottle
Join Ideal Bite

PRINT THIS TIP

CONTACT US EDITORIAL POLICY PRIVACY POLICY DISCLAIMER AFFILIATES
© IDEAL BITE, INC.

All above editorial suggestions are the result of testing and preference. No one can pay to be in a Daily Tip. Read more on our editorial policy.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Bubbles!

bubblesphere
The best resource for fans of all kinds of bubbles.
There are recipes for Bubble Recipes, Bubble Machines, Bubble Games, Bubble Books, Answers to Bubble Questions, and great links to other Bubble Sites.
Great fun for a sunny weekend in the park!

Friday, April 20, 2007

List of 103 Free Security Programs for Windows, Mac and Linux

103 Free Security Apps for Mac, Windows and Linux

Wow!
I'm probably a little naive about computer security since I use a Mac, and they've been resistant to viruses and malware so far.
No matter what your platform, today's link offers links to give you protection from Spyware, Viruses, Rootkits, intruders and web surveillance. There are also ways to increase your security for email, networks, virtual private networks, and wireless networking, and there is firewall software and encryption software.
All of these are available at my favourite price, free.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winners

The Pulitzer Prizes - 2007 Winners

On Tuesday, April 17, the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded for excellence in Journalism (14 awards in 2007), and in Letters, Journalism and Music (7 awards in 2007). This is the best of the best of American writing, and the Pulitzers are the pinnacle for American journalists. Two special awards were awarded in 2007 to science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury and jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane.

Today's site is not just a list, the highlight of the site is that there are links to the Pulitzer winning works for most categories, including: editorial cartoons, feature photography, investigative journalism, editorial writing, and breaking news photography.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

How do NFL players get so fast and nimble?

ESPN.com : The Chase

A great article from ESPN about a small town in Florida called Muck City, that has a very successful high school football team. The high school has 28 graduates that have gone on to play in the NFL, including Fred Taylor and Santonio Holmes, and its players are known for their speed.
How did they get so fast?
The surprising answer is that they chase wild rabbits through the burning sugarcane fields. This article by Eric Adelson paints a vivid picture of an unusual subculture that feeds elite athletes into one of America's biggest sports.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

What are the weirdest music videos of all time?

The Strangest Music Videos Of All Time

Yep, watch and vote for the strangest music videos in the history of the universe.

I hear you asking, "What kind of strange videos are we talking about here?" Well, the Genre Formerly Known As Electronica is represented by many of the top videos, including Aphex Twin, Bjork, and The Prodigy. Rockers Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, They Might Be Giants and YouTube fave, OK Go are here, as are TV celebrities David Hasselhoff and Leonard Nimoy. There are lots of other crazy videos by people you've never heard of, including Zlad, Tunak Tunak, and Klobbermeister.

Hours of YouTubing music video fun!

Monday, April 16, 2007

What's the deal with Yahoo! Pipes?

YouTunes: An Example Yahoo! Pipe

There are lots of nooks and crannies on the internet powerhouse, Yahoo. Their latest invention, Yahoo Pipes, is getting a lot of attention. Essentially, it lets you mash-up web-based RSS feeds (from Flickr, blogs, news sites, podcasts, Twitter, Linkjockey, YouTube, etc), and blend them, filter them, remix them, and have them cross-reference each other.

Today's link is the one that really showed me what Yahoo Pipes are all about. Nick Bradbury created a simple pipe (RSS feed) that took the Top 10 from the iTunes store, and got the music videos for them from YouTube.

There are some great write-ups about it that go into more detail, like the introduction from Tom Johnson, the one from Australia's Computerworld about how to build your own Pipe, and the Pipes Tutorial from zdnet.

I'm hoping to have a few to show off over the next week.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

The head of the Human Genome Project talks about his faith

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God - CNN.com

An intriguing editorial piece by the head of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins, writes on CNN.com why he believes in God, and why it's not a contradiction to be a scientist and a Christian. He attributes his faith not to his upbringing, but to some experiences as a Grad student and reading CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity".

Interviews with Francis Collins are also available online from Salon and PBS Religion & Ethics.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Is it a dream? No it's a web video game.

Fly Guy

This is one of the most unique and relaxing videogames I've ever played.

You're a guy, and you float around in the sky. It's very surreal and the music is hypnotic. I'm not even sure if there are any goals. Despite the Mac Plus graphics, it's a dreamy way to pass the time with a cup of Kona coffee.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Where's the best place in the world to live?

Highlights from the 2007 Quality of Living Survey

The folks at Mercer Human Resource Consulting provided the results of their annual Quality of Living Survey. This survey helps international HR people choose the postings and compensation for expat employees, reflecting 39 factors.

The Top 5 Best Places to Live for 2007 are:
1. Zurich
2. Geneva
3. Vancouver
4. Vienna
5. Auckland

These are the safest and most stable cities, but the survey acknowledges that the top cities may lack some of the sizzle or cool of some other cities on the list. Go Vancouver!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

We got dugg!!! Help out and digg it UP!

The Best 11 Places for Free Audio Books On The Internets Fill your iPod! This is a great list of sites to download free audiobooks as mp3s or podcasts. Get your download on!



read more digg story

The Best 11 Places for Free Audio Books On The Internets

Load up your iPod with these great sites to download free audio books. Most of these are from older works, and are done under the Creative Commons license.

1. LibriVox
Open source comes to audio books, as public domain books are read by contributors from the public. There is a large selection of works here, but audio quality can vary. If you can't find what you're looking for, why don't you record your own version and upload it?
LibriVox also features a podcast.

2. ThoughtAudio.com
Has a smaller selection, but they feature classics from Kafka, Shakespeare, The Bible, Plato, Mark Twain, Ghandi and more.

3. Free Christian AudioBooks
A selection of classic books about Christianity from authors, such as: Brother Lawrence, G. K. Chesterton, and Charles Spurgeon.

4. Naropa Poetics Audio Archives
Features lectures and poetry readings by some of the greats, including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, and is hosted by archive.org.

5. AudioBooksForFree.com
Has lots of books that are browseable by genre and read by voice actors. Genres include mystery, comedy, classics, science fiction and children's books.

6. Open Culture: Audio Book Podcast Collection
Links to lots of famous books that are available as podcasts through itunes.

7. Free Classic AudioBooks
The Classics as read by humans and computers, and available as mp3 or m4bs for ipod.

8. Podiobooks.com
Free serialized audio books available as podcasts. Lots of modern, but lesser-known books in a wide range of genres.

9. LoudLit.org
Collection of Classics, short stories, poetry and children's books. The cool thing is that some of the books have text that you can read on your ipod while you are listening.

10. Gutenberg: The Audio Books Project
Large collection of public domain literature, available in human- and computer-read formats. Good source of foreign language books.

11. Audio Poetry
This site has well known poems read by poetry fans, and is hosted by archive.org.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut.

Know any other good sites? Include them in the comments!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Google Earth focuses on genocide in Sudan

Google zooming in on Darfur

Google Earth has updated satellite images of the Darfur region of Sudan to document destroyed villages, displaced people and refugee camps. Using icons to represent destroyed villages with flames and refugee camps with tents, users can click on the icons to get more information about the extent of the destruction. Google Earth has high resolution satellite images for parts of the region so that users can zoom in to see the burnt remains of homes.

This article in Australia's Herald Sun paper discusses the project as a partnership between Google and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to document the genocide, human rights violations and other atrocities in Darfur. Estimates from the United Nations state that more than 2.5 million have been displaced and 200,000 people killed over four years.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

What if one of the world's greatest violin virtuosos played for spare change?

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

In a social experiment, one of the world's greatest violinists, Joshua Bell, played his multimillion-dollar Stradivarius, incognito, outside a busy subway stop in Washington DC during the morning rush. Would people notice his virtuosic performances? Would they crowd around and cause a scene? Would he make any money as a busker?

The Washington Post had the original idea for this experiment. This fascinating article features some hidden-video footage and answers some questions, but poses even more about why people reacted to the Josh Bell's performance the way that they did.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Ultimate hockey pool manager

officepools.com

The 2006-2007 NHL regular season is over, and the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs are about to begin. My beloved Vancouver Canucks had a great year with the league's MVP (whether they accept it of not), Roberto Luongo, and won the Northwest Division.

My friends and I are getting organized for the playoffs by entering a playoff hockey pool. We've tried a few websites for managing the pools, but officepools.com is clearly the best that we've tried. It's well-designed, and officepools.com does the calculations every night. For once on Linkjockey, the link isn't free, but officepools.com does offer a free demo. They also offer the most stats and give you fantastic value for your $20.


The playoffs start on Wednesday. Go Canucks! Go!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Why Easter is important for Christians

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10: 9

It's that simple. Happy Easter.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Free TV for the Internet Age

Joost

Skype totally disrupted the long-distance calling industry with free phone calls over the internet. Now the founders of Skype have started a new enterprise, Joost. Joost aims to do for TV over the internet, what Skype did for long distance calls.

Imagine Youtube with real "tv shows" from real television, combined with internet user content. It's full-screen on your computer, and on-demand, so you can watch it anytime you want. It's for Mac and Windows. And it's free, like television should be. Joost currently has channels from Canada's Much Music, poker tournaments, Ministry of Sound , Vancouver's Nettwerk record label, World's Strongest Man, Fight Network, documentaries, videos and more. Maybe it's not "essential" TV yet, but I'm sure more content will be added all the time.

They started under the code name "The Venice Project". At the moment they are in beta-mode, so you have to sign-up and wait for them to offer you the software to download. I got accepted yesterday, downloaded the software and I'm pretty impressed. The software works really well and the video quality looks really good. This is going to be huge!

Friday, April 6, 2007

What is "GOOD" about Good Friday?

beliefnet: What is Holy Week, What is Good Friday, Maundy Thursday, Passion, Easter, Resurrection, Last Supper, What is Palm Sunday
"Why is it 'Good' Friday?" - Rev. Dr David A. Killian

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday. It's the day that Christians use to celebrate the day that Jesus Christ was killed on a cross, and it is a statutory holiday in many Western countries.

As Rev. Dr. David A. Killian from Brookline, Massachusetts says:
"What is 'good' about an innocent man being arrested in the middle of the night; betrayed by one of disciples, Judas; denied by another, Peter; accused falsely by the chief priests; mocked and scourged by soldiers; and condemned to death by the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate? What is 'good' about crucifixion as a criminal and being scorned and mocked in one's dying hours? What is 'good' about the crown of thorns on his head, the nails in his hands and feet? Yes, this is a good question, Why is Good Friday called Good ?"

There are different views on this, but the linguistic view is that it is the result of the changes to the English language over hundreds of years. One theory says that Good Friday was " Godes Friday", meaning "God's Friday". Another view is that "Good", used to be the same as "Great" or "Holy".
The spiritual view, as Rev. Dr. David A. Killian from Brookline, Massachusetts puts it, is that "Bad Friday" becomes "Good", "because God took the treachery, cruelty, and injustice of the crucifixion [on Good Friday] and transformed it into an expression of love, forgiveness and faithfulness" by bringing Jesus back to life on Easter Sunday.

Today's beliefnet link explains "Good Friday" and many of the Christian terms and ideas that are used to describe the events of Easter week.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Simple counter and web stats

Tracksy - Free Web Stats and Counter

Tracksy is a great, free little service. Be registering and inserting a couple lines of code into your website, Tracksy gives you a counter for each page on your site, and gives you great statistical analysis of which pages people are visiting, where they're from, who referred them etc. It's super easy-to-use, and gives you accurate web statistics.
Now, if I could only figure out how to get more people to come and visit... Mom, can you digg my site?

Shout out to Alex Etchell for pointing me to this excellent link.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

What's on TV in Canada?

Best TV listings for Canadians: Sympatico / MSN TV Listings/ TV Guide

Mrs. Linkjockey doesn't like me flipping through every single channel, trying to find something interesting to watch on the boob tube, and the local cable company's listing is too slow for me. Yesterday, I saw a review of all the TV listings sites on the Internet... for Americans. You enter your postal code, and the sites tell you what's on television in your area. None of the sites worked for Canadian postal codes. None.

So I did some of my own research, and discovered that the best results for me, the best TV listings for Canadians comes from old reliable TV Guide . They show listings for cable, digital cable, satellite providers and antenna for your postal code, over a 2 hour window. They show all the channels on the same window, and if you click on the name of a show, you get a little synopsis. In other words, they provide everything you're looking for, without actually streaming the show to you.


Honourable mention: Canadian Cable Listings from TV Times
If your TV provider isn't listed on TV Guide, TV Times may have a better selection of TV providers. The only downside is that they only show 20 channels at once. And my dad was telling me that TV magazines are dying.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Documentary about the State of Music in America

Before The Music Dies

Before The Music Dies is a new documentary about the state of music and the music industry in America. Through interviews with musicians, industry insiders, music critics, and fans, and performances by artists from The Dave Matthews Band and Erykah Badu to Seattle street performers and Mississippi gospel singers, the filmmakers try to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong with music.

Focusing on grassroots, word-of-mouth advertising, the filmmakers are promoting their movie by encouraging people to host a screening party. By giving away dvds to people wanting to host a screening party, the want to get hardcore music fans and their friends together to discuss the music, the industry, and the politics of it all, and hopefully, to inspire them to get involved.

Go to a screening of Before The Music Dies in your area, or host one yourself. Or send me an email, and watch Before The Music Dies with me this weekend.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Innovative Strategy for tonight's Final Four championship

King Kaufman's Sports Daily

I love coaches and players that try out some wild & crazy new idea. I love ideas that've never been tried in a sport before, that leaves opponents standing around looking silly. Salon's King Kaufman wonders why basketball teams don't target opponents key players to get them to foul out. Even the threat of fouling out often puts them on the bench. Why not use that to your advantage, and get the best player on the other team out faster?

read more digg story

Sunday, April 1, 2007

"Six things God hates (and one more that he loathes with a passion)"

Proverbs 6:16-19

  1. Eyes that are arrogant
  2. A tongue that lies,
  3. Hands that murder the innocent,
  4. A heart that hatches evil plots
  5. Feet that race down a wicked track,
  6. A mouth that lies under oath
  7. A troublemaker in the family.

from Proverbs 6:16-19 (Also includes how not to be an April Fool), in "The Message" translation; a sharp, modern paraphrase of the Bible.