In case you haven’t noticed, I listen to scores of new releases (so you don’t have to) and pick out my favorites (for one reason or another). So, check out (won’t you?) these excellent releases from the first half of 2007 (part 2 of 2):

• Ghost Stories - Quixoticism
• The Good, The Bad and The Queen - The Good, the Bad & the Queen
• Gus Gus - Forever
• Hem - Home Again, Home Again (EP)
  
• The Hours - Narcissus Road (MySpace)
  
• Idlewild - Make Another World
• Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know?
• Interpol - Our Love to Admire
• Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
• Lemongrass - Filmothèque (iTunes)
• Lucine ICL - Podgelism
• M.I.A. - Kala
• Maps - We Can Create
• Menomena! - Wet and Rusting (EP)
• Monta - The Brilliant Masses
• Mordant Music - The Tower Parts VIII - XVIII
• Moss - The Long Way Back (MySpace)
• The Noisettes - What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?
• The One AM Radio - This Too Will Pass
• People Press Play - People Press Play
• Pop Levi - The Return to Form Black Magick Party
• Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd - After The Night Falls and Before The Day Breaks
• The Sea and the Cake - Everybody
• The Secret Handshake - Summer of ‘98
• Sia - Lady Croissant
• Sophie Zelmani - Memory Loves You
• Switches - Switches (MySpace)
• The Tuss - Rushup Edge
• Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye and Quicksand Memory (EP)
• Various - Nouvelle Vague Presents: New Wave

Yes, I’ve been lax in keeping up with new album picks. Still, that’s no reason not to check out these excellent releases from the first half of 2007 (part 1 of 2):

• !!! (Chk Chk Chk) - Myth Takes
• Amandine - Solace In Sore Hands
• Amon Tobin - The Foley Room and Bloodstone (EP)
• Andrea Corr - Ten Feet High
• Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
• Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
• Apparat - Walls (homepage)
  
• Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
• Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling
• Bjork - Volta
• The Black Dog - Book of Dogma
• Blackfield - Blackfield II
• Blonde Redhead - 23
• Calla - Strength in Numbers
• Carla Bruni - No Promises
• Caribou - Andorra
• Charlotte Hatherley - The Deep Blue
• Christ - Blue Shift Emissions
• Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
• Clark - Ted EP
• Client - Heartland
• Cut City - Exit Decades (Myspace)
• Dog Day - Night Group
• Dora Flood - We Live Now
• Erasure - Light at the End of the World
• Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
• The Fashion - The Fashion (BBC)
• Federico Aubele - Panamericana (homepage)
• Feist - The Reminder
• The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City (Myspace)
  

In an effort to practice more eco-friendly lawn care, save money on gas, minimize noise pollution and reduce our carbon footprint (hurrah), we recently purchased a push reel mower for our modest lawn.

One might mistakenly assume that only Depression-era penny-pinchers and DIY-zealots would use a non-motorized mower to cut their grass. But, the May 2007 issue of Readymade magazine examined green alternatives to the traditional gas engine mower, including electric and push reel mowers. So, practical? Yeah.

A visit to our nearest Lowes store turned up the affordable Task Force 16″ Cut Reel Mower. After a quick unboxing and assembly, it was ready to cut some grass!

Some initial observations:

• It is very lightweight and much easier to push than our gas push mower
• It cuts the grass a lot shorter.
• Working on the sloped berm in our front yard feels a lot safer now.
• Small twigs can jam the blades, so clearing away debris beforehand can help.
• The exposed blades on its back take some getting used to, but a pair of thick-toed shoes seems like adequate protection against any missteps.
• The scissor-like noise of the spinning blades is preferable to the din from all the other engines in the neighborhood on any given weekend.

• Unix/Linux Command Cheat Sheet (PDF)
  (tags: cheatsheet reference unix shell commandline tutorials)

Soliton:

A pulselike wave that can exist in nonlinear systems, does not obey the superposition principle, and does not disperse.

Found here.