Metric, the right musical measure...

Metric is a Canadian indie pop rock band led by singer-songwriter Emily Haines. Their music is somewhere between the new wave tendency and modern dance rock. Originally formed in Toronto, the band has also, at various times, been based in Montreal, London, New York City and Los Angeles. Along with Haines (who plays the synthesizer and guitar), Metric is completed with guitarist James Shaw (who also plays the theremin), bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key.

Despite the fact that they have not been highly publicized (except in recent times thanks to their song Eclipse  (All yours) for the soundtrack of the film Eclipse of the Twilight series), Metric has already a completed musical history :

- Juno Award 2010 : Won Alternative Album of the Year and Group of the Year
- 4th Album : Fantasies (2009)
- Polaris Music Prize (2009) : Nominated for Canadian Album of the Year
- 3th Album : Grow Up and Blow Away (Released 2007, Recorded 2001)
- Live At Metropolis EP (2007)
- Polaris Music Prize (2006) : Nominated for Canadian Album of the Year
- Juno Award 2005 : Nominated Best Alternative Album
- 2nd Album : Live It Out (2005)
- Juno Award 2003 : Nominated Best Alternative Album
- 1st Album : Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003)
- Static Anonymity EP (2001)
- Mainstream EP (1998)

More :
@ http://www.ilovemetric.com
@ http://www.youtube.com/user/metricmusic

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Fallen, The story of a little meteor's journey down to earth

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.


Check the other films of Sascha Geddart @ Geddart.com

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God is somewhere... The early universe as seen by Planck mission

This is the first all-sky image of the universe delivered by the ESA’s Planck mission in July 2010. Image shows the ‘cosmic microwave background radiation’ (CMBR), that's the oldest light in the Universe, the remains of the fireball out of which our Universe sprang into existence 13.7 billion years ago. God is not so far.

Some familiar sky objects are indicated in following image :

How the image was built by the ESA's Planck : 

More @ Planck unveils the Universe – now and then

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Visiting The Millionaire, by George Anthony

Visiting The Millionaire

1

In the end, it got a bit tedious, queuing to see the millionaire. As befitted our colour, marshals waved us through the outer gates into the court of preliminary investigation; but here we waited for some hours with perhaps a thousand others until, eventually, there were checks on the authenticity of our displays; and then more serious enquiries into records. In eight of our group a deficiency was revealed. Our number fell to twelve.

After that it was the whole day progressing along an upward-spiralling ramp, rehearsing answers to hypothetical questions, eyeing each other until we reached the first level platform and presented ourselves.

"You have been informed," said the evaluator, "that only one qualifies here. I decide who".

Tests continued throughout the night; but I experienced no difficulty in producing correct responses. As the sun rose, the other eleven of my group were on the downward ramp, while I rejoined the slow onward climb.

It was not easy to avoid contact with those around me, who - also sole survivors of their groups - attempted to find out in disingenuous conversation what level of competition they now faced. I feigned an auditory defect and gave short, bizarre, answers. I was soon left to myself.

The second level was reached, once again, some time towards evening. Here the questioning was more indeterminate, designed to pick up motivational anomalies, signs of ambivalence.

But my preparations were adequate. The reasons for wishing to observe the millionaire were seen to reflect an inherent temporal sense, developed to a keen historical perspective. My experience would have novelty.

And so I rose to the third and final level. The thousands which had presented themselves at the outer gate had been winnowed down to some twenty - the maximum permitted at any one time - being those most likely to pass on something of value. It was possible, indeed, that we might be the last. The existence of the millionaire was after all a statistical improbability, and one which grew steadily more improbable as the years passed.

2

We passed through various final security screens; but, again, my preparations proved faultless. A chain of locks took us up a gentle pressure gradient and into a hall where the millionaire's chamber hung suspended in an intricate maze of conduits. We began the last stage of the journey: a spiral ramp leading to the viewing platform. I made myself ready.

*

Looking down at the millionaire in its envelope of support machinery, I found it difficult to believe that such a misshapen, pallid being was of any cosmic significance. Yet its race had at one time dominated our space, not through force, but through the irresistible spread of its freely-shared technologies and cultures.

And now, here was the last of them. The natural ageing of the species had at some point deprived it of fertility; but its biology had been engineered to give each individual effective immortality.

Yet, in the end, they could not defeat the grindstone of time. Accident, conflict, the wear-and-tear of existence had whittled the numbers down: from trillions to billions, and then to millions; from millions to thousands, hundreds, tens; and at last to one, who, according to the records, was over a million years old. The millionaire.

My moment had come. Reciting the codes, I focused energies on the being below, and watched as the radiance flowed from its body, turning the liquids in the surrounding tubes to vapour, the metals and synthetics to liquid. Attendants reached out for me; but it was over. The light below ended as suddenly as it had come, leaving only black dust.

So died the last of the human beings. A thousand civilisations, smothered in infancy by human benevolence, had been avenged.

See more Short Stories @ Eastoftheweb

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Coming soon... The urine batteries !

See on New Scientist Magazine (21 August 2010) :

© New Scientist

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LaserMotive : Making Laser Power UAVs

Laser weapons can down an airplane, but lasers can also keep aircraft in the air. As explained in the following paper from LaserMotive company, lasers can transmit power to UAVs in flight, giving them potentially unlimited endurance aloft. Silent, refueling-free laser-electric UAVs are practical with current technology and could be developed and deployed quickly.

Laser Power for UAVs

LaserMotive is a Seattle-based company developing laser power beaming systems to transmit electricity without wires, for applications where wires are either cost prohibitive or physically impractical (electrical power lines cost 20 000 USD or more per mile for low power residential lines, and 250 000 USD or more per mile for high-voltage transmission lines). This company won 900 000 USD in the NASA-sponsored Power Beaming Challenge in 2009 (Level 1, part of the Space Elevator Games).

LaserMotive believes in laser power beaming as a “powerful” solution for a variety of applications, from powering unmanned aerial vehicles to launching rockets via laser power to beaming limitless solar energy from space to the Earth.

State of art of this technology is at the demonstrator state (small laser-powered helicopter that climbed a 900-meter cable), but I really hope this will be the beginning of space elevator applications as dreamed by Arthur C. Clarke in The Fountains of Paradise (1978).

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Gayngs - Relayted

Gayngs are an indie band from Minneapolis. Founded by producer Ryan Olson, their debut album Relayted features 23 musicians – members of a variety of Minneapolis bands including Solid Gold, Megafaun, Lookbook, Leisure Birds, Rhymesayers (rapper POS), the Rosebuds, Bon Iver – Mike Noyce appears here on guitar and vocals, while Justin Vernon lends his sweet falsetto to a couple of tracks.

Their first album, Relayted, was released by Jagjaguwar and receives positive reviews for its unique vocal stylings, a 1980s soft rock-inspired sound and a retro-but-contemporary sound. The Guardian called the album "a triumph" and listed it as "the album of the year". Stereogum placed Gayngs in the 40 best new bands in 2010.

Hereafter a video of the first show at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Song is The Gaudy Side of Town.

My favorite song is Faded High:

Download now or listen on posterous

Gayngs_-_Faded_High.mp3 (10513 KB)

More @ Gayngs

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New OMD album : History Of Modern

History of Modern is the first OMD's album in 14 years ! First album of OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) was released in 1980. This new album is due for release in the UK on 20 September 2010 (in the US on Bright Antenna on 28 September 2010).

Here is the the first single from the album, If You Want It, released last monday 6 September 2010.

Hereafter you'll find the opener of this album, New Babies : New Toys :

 
Download now or listen on posterous

OMD_-_New_Babies_New_Toys.mp3 (7243 KB)

More @ OMD (where you can download for free the Sister Marie Says demo)

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"Conciencia sin Límites" Movie Soundtrack

Telefunka es una banda cuyo ritmo usa influencias desde el rock, el jazz, el house, pero primordialmente posee un sonido electrónico como el estado del arte así lo impone. Al escuchar el tema Zenit no se puede evitar pensar en las mas clásicas y minimalistas bases de un Kraftwerk, como tampoco en el colorido sinfónico que un Jean Michel Jarre le daría a alguna de sus antigüas piezas musicales.

Este grupo de músicos proviene de México y a ocho años de haberse conformado han editado, de manera independiente, dos LPs, un EP de remixes y un DVD en vivo junto con una orquesta sinfónica de 27 músicos.

He aqui el tema Zenit, del disco Electrodomestico (2003):

(Conciencia sin Límites Movie Soundtrack?)

Telefunka

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Conciencia sin limites - 14/14 (FINAL)

14

Las Cóndor estaban acopladas en el centro de la gran Estación Espacial Lunar en forma de rueda que giraba lentamente alrededor de su eje orbitando el satélite selenita. En una de las salas de conferencias, ubicada en la periferia de la estación en donde la gravedad era artificialmente emulada, los capitanes Liemman y Pessoa, se encontraban enfrentados en una acalorada discusión con varios representantes y directivos civiles y militares de la ASE, explicando el porqué de sus acciones e intentando justificar la destrucción de una de las "puertas". En otro compartimiento, el resto de la tripulación de las Cóndor, rodeaban a Mario y lo vitoreaban por su total recuperación, cuando en ese momento, un silbido indicó que alguien estaba al otro lado de la puerta. Elena se acercó a la puerta, activó un comando eléctrico que la hizo deslizar hacia un costado, miró a los nuevos visitantes y prontamente hizo retirar al resto de las personas. Cuando se retiraba y mientras la puerta se cerraba automáticamente, alcanzó a ver como Nancy y Mario se confundían en un fuerte abrazo acompañado de ojos llenos de lágrimas. El pequeño Marcos aún entrelazaba con sus brazos las piernas de Mario, cuando éste le daba a su amada esposa un dulce beso en la mejilla…


Mario se despertó, miró hacia el costado y encontró a Marcos durmiendo plácidamente entre él y su esposa. Los rayos del sol que llegaban a la superficie lunar, eran reflejados por ésta y por momentos, según la posición relativa de la estación, inundaban la pequeña habitación con un brillo albo que se desplazaba desde un costado al otro. Mario se maldijo a sí mismo por olvidar polarizar los cristales antes de dormir, extendió su brazo hacia una pequeña consola y entonces los cristales se oscurecieron menguando el reflejo lunar. Mario cerró sus ojos. En pocas horas sería entrevistado por el grupo directivo de la ASE y quería estar bien descansado para resultar lo más convincente posible en sus declaraciones e impedir que se cancelara el proyecto. El doctor Mario de Alesandro se durmió nuevamente y soñó que mediante innovadoras teorías físicas y abstractos conceptos relativos a la conciencia humana, lograba diseñar un escudo que aislaba la conciencia del universo y mantenía invariante la unión conciencia-cuerpo en sus viajes a través del hiperespacio. Soñó que él y cientos de seres humanos a bordo de una gran nave espacial se desplazaban instántaneamente de una galaxia a otra en búsqueda de planetas similares a la Tierra… Soñó que finalmente la raza humana se expandía por todo el universo…


FIN


Conciencia sin limites, de Claude Martín Brito
Es una historia corta realizada en 1999/2000.


Conciencia sin limites por Claude Martin Brito se encuentra bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Unported.

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