<p>quite awhile back i read on <a href="http://www.codingmonkeys.de/map/">Martin Pittenauer's</a> <a href="http://www.codingmonkeys.de/map/log/">blog</a> about a documentary called "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/">The Elegant Universe</a>" that originally aired on <a href="http://www.pbs.org/">PBS</a>' <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/">Nova</a>. i was pretty stoked to hear about it, because way back a few years ago when i lived in missouri (aka the state of misery) i remember seeing commercials for it and wanting to watch it, but then missing it. ah, you've got to love the internet.</p>

<p>just as he noted, the whole thing is <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html" rel="bookmark">viewable online</a>. but the annoying thing was that all videos were wrapped up in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronized_Multimedia_Integration_Language">.smil</a> file. in short that means, i'd have to stream it al and watch it while i had internet access and hope that there weren't any hiccups in network status. so after asking him how he watched it, he wrote me back with a copy of the smil and advice that now seems obvious. if you open the smil file in a <a href="http://codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/index.html">text</a> <a href="http://www.macromates.com/">editor</a>, you can see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier">URI</a> of all the movies chapters.</p>

<p>i did you the favor of busting the links out so you don't have to look at an ugly ugly <code>smil</code>.</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a388.g.akamai.net/5/388/142/3f9e93f2/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c01_hi_100.mov">A Theory of Everything?</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1572.g.akamai.net/5/1572/142/3f9e693c/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c02_hi_100.mov">Newton's Embarassing Secret</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1204.g.akamai.net/5/1204/142/3f9e68c5/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c03_hi_100.mov">A New Picture of Gravity</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a28.g.akamai.net/5/28/142/3f9e6ac5/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c04_hi_100.mov">A Strange New World</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1652.g.akamai.net/5/1652/142/3f9e6b39/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c05_hi_100.mov">The Quantum Cafe</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1420.g.akamai.net/5/1420/142/3f9e6982/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c06_hi_100.mov">Gravity - The Odd Man Out</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a920.g.akamai.net/5/920/142/3f9e6a34/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c07_hi_100.mov">Strings to the Rescue</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a16.g.akamai.net/5/16/142/3f9e6a87/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3012c08_hi_100.mov">Science or Philosophy?</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1988.g.akamai.net/5/1988/142/3f9e74cf/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c01_hi_100.mov">The Conflicting Sets of Laws</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a352.g.akamai.net/5/352/142/3f9e7c11/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c02_hi_100.mov">One Master Equation</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a376.g.akamai.net/5/376/142/3f9e7b6b/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c03_hi_100.mov">The Birth of String Theory</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1640.g.akamai.net/5/1640/142/3f9e7581/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c04_hi_100.mov">The Standard Model</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a176.g.akamai.net/5/176/142/3f9e7807/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c05_hi_100.mov">Wrestling With String Theory</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1740.g.akamai.net/5/1740/142/3f9e76b1/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c06_hi_100.mov">The Theory of Everything</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1920.g.akamai.net/5/1920/142/3f9e760c/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c07_hi_100.mov">Multiple Dimensions</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a576.g.akamai.net/5/576/142/3f9e7a62/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3013c08_hi_100.mov">Five Flavors of String Theory</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a500.g.akamai.net/5/500/142/3fa7ef34/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c01_hi_100.mov">The Wild West of Physics</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a2044.g.akamai.net/5/2044/142/3fa7f007/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c02_hi_100.mov">The Potential of Strings</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1716.g.akamai.net/5/1716/142/3fa7fd44/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c03_hi_100.mov">Getting to One Theory</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a612.g.akamai.net/5/612/142/3fa7edcc/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c04_hi_100.mov">Parallel Universes</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1040.g.akamai.net/5/1040/142/3fa7ece4/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c05_hi_100.mov">Escaping Gravity</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1168.g.akamai.net/5/1168/142/3fa7eae4/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c06_hi_100.mov">Riddle of the Big Bang</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a1096.g.akamai.net/5/1096/142/3fa8fd67/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c07_hi_100.mov">Signs of Strings</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="http://a304.g.akamai.net/5/304/142/3fa7dc5e/1a1a1afb6ae049ae214fc034aad839a91985ea187bea5786f362d841a61948bf2688f01f87fb6fdf0e7ceb61c22186fb/nova_eu_3014c08_hi_100.mov">Too Elegant to be Wrong?</a>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>go forth and nerd it up.</p>

<p>Currently playing in iTunes: <em>Simple Song</em> by Avail</p>

<p>does anyone remember that turd? basically <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour_(comics)" rel="bookmark">Zero Hour</a> was supposed to fix all the crazy continuity that poor editing / managing / writing for decades had created. all kinds of alternate futures, pasts, presents. ugh.</p>

<p><cite>Wikipedia</cite> had this to say:</p>

<blockquote cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour_(comics)">
  <p>It promised to do for the inconsistent future timelines of the DC Universe what Crisis had done for its parallel worlds: unify them into a new one.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>well, good luck with that.</p>

<p>but this isn't about that. this is about a different kind of <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zero_hour" rel="bookmark">zero hour</a>. about a month and a half ago, i wrote about my new email policy which i called an <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2006/6/1/1/email-zero-hour/" rel="bookmark me">email zero hour</a>. basically, restarting the clock on my inbox.</p>

<p>i completely caught up. and i've vowed to keep up by acting on all new mail within 3 days. also i no longer store everything on my machine. i've been popping mail down from <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2006/6/3/2/obfuscated-email-address/" rel="bookmark"> my gmail account</a>, while leaving an archive of it on the google servers. so i was just eating up tons and tons of hard disk by keeping mail that i never really ever went back to and that i already had a copy of somewhere else. pretty silly, right?</p>

<p>i reply faster now. i delete locally now. i've started clearing out the archives, too. its just boat loads of crap in there that i have no idea why i think i'd ever need it.</p>

<p>all along while doing that i had planned on doing a weblog zero hour, too. there are always these little things that i wanna blog about that i see on the webba or that we do or that i hear someone say, but i don't feel right blogging those little things when i have all these bigger more important things that i've been planning on writing about forever. <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0108037/" rel="bookmark">FOR. EV. ER.</a></p>

<p>so this is the start of the Weblog Zero Hour. here's a teaser of the shape of posts to come.</p>

<ul>
  <li>copy what you like</li>
  <li>the answer to <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2006/6/26/2/the-hint-718-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-song-and-a-backward-k/" rel="bookmark me">the hint</a>

</li> <li>everything burns bright when its new</li> <li>1000 number paintings and the million dollar website</li> <li>elegant universe</li> <li>gmail help straight dissing me</li> <li>ev, i♥4</li> <li>social networks of the future? look no further than…</li> <li>salt lake city planetarium</li> <li>ev-sb date recaps</li> <li>seattle mariners baseball game against the giants</li> <li>$20 parking</li> <li>i guarengodamnfuckentee it</li> <li>tags, categories, wordpress and technorati</li> <li>re: vk. i’m a big dumb dummy</li> <li>my dad is a dead beat</li> <li>emily stapzka. i’m sorry</li> <li>a whole series of very public apoligies</li> <li>good time. bad times. haunt me. looking back.</li> <li>timone was a good dog</li> <li>godzilla was too</li> <li>my friends are my family. they’ve saved my life many times over.</li> <li>trial reunion show trip (yes, i’m still planning on finishing this)</li> <li>sxsw goodies</li> <li>the problems i have, catholic guilt and penance</li> <li>new theme</li> <li>kern hoodie</li> <li>comiccon recap</li> <li>tufte, new project, listyourlist and dashboards</li> <li>bulletproofing</li> <li>upcoming project redesign</li> <li>batting cage</li> </ul>

<p>looks like i've got my work cut out for me. so i'm off...</p>

<p>Currently playing in iTunes: <em>All Falls Down</em> by Kanye West</p>

<p>for years and years it seemed like, save for a couple exceptions, i was the one always traveling all over the place to visit friends. but they would never come to visit me. but the past year or so that has changed. more of my friends have come the other direction. my family still hasn't. and a few friends that are really important to me. but it feels nice to be in a way street sometimes. [a couple were just here visiting, and we have 3 - 6 more on the way real soon like. nice.]</p>

<p><cite>J.Ivy</cite> in a kanye west song</p>

<blockquote cite="http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Kanye-West/Never-Let-Me-Down.html">
  If I were on the highest cliff on the highest riff<br>
  And you slipped off the side and clinched on to your life in my grip<br>
  I would never, ever, let you down
</blockquote>

<p>its just so good.</p>

<p>i've already shown what <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com">this site</a> and <a href="http://zinedistro.org/">zinedistro</a> <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2006/6/1/2/websites-as-graphs-zinedistroorg/">look like</a>. now you can hear what they sound like. i made these by using <a href="http://69.111.148.2/wlb/webmusic.aspx">The World's Largest Band</a>.</p>

The World's Largest Band applet works by translating HTML tags into notes. When a tag opens, it starts a loop, which will continue until the tag ends. Nested tags lead to nested loops, while the attributes of those tags will trigger the appropriate beat drops and solos. With a little trial and error, HTML can be written explicitly for this instrument, to quickly make some very intricate songs.

here are both zinedistro as midi (in mp3) and this blog as midi (in mp3). i’ve been sitting on these for a while meaning to post them. like a million other things. i’m trying to get caught up. so these next handful of posts might be a bit shorter.

<ul>
  <li><a href="http://assets.veganstraightedge.com/audio/linked/2006-06-30/zd.mid" title="World's Largest Band">zinedistro in .mid</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://assets.veganstraightedge.com/audio/linked/2006-06-30/tra.mid" title="World's Largest Band">the resistance army in .mid</a></li>
</ul>