Huxley’s Brave New World inspired lots of cool fiction and music. Its message about soma, consumerism, and substances as manipulative agents was more or less lost or ignored in favor of 4/20, E, and radio hip hop , but its other themes helped to positively guide the formation of the world that Gen X would pass on to Millennials, and then on to Gen Z.

As a result, today’s technology dependence is highly peer driven and serves to enhance social networking. We see more utility instead of socially handicapping self gratification, as predicted/warned of by Bad Religion’s 21st Century Digital Boy [see playlist].

Themes alerting us to government controls and sheepish acceptance of policy inspired most of the songs in the playlist below. In other cases, the title Brave New World and its futuristic themes were simply catchy enough to be used in a song without any political reference. The songs range from heavy metal and punk to electronica and dance music. Also included, is a short interview of Huxley, and an alert regarding Obama and Globalism.

Real time GPS tracking is super exciting to me considering what it offer to hikers, stalkers, commuters, science enthusiasts, joggers, and of course drunk college students simply looking to find a way to get home or meet up with friends on a Friday night.

GPS/GIS technology has been available to the public for a while now but its moving closer and closer to the kind of 3D visuals and packaged real time tracking applications that actually inspire me to go out and pursue 5 out of 6 of the above mentioned activities. Varying with the day of the week and my current geographical location.

When you are ready to take things to the next level, check out the free software download GooPs (http://goopstechnologies.com/).

It will blow you away and doesn’t require users to be online. I am considering buying the new Garmin-Blackberry joint product that is coming out soon (or is it out there now?) and setting it up for GooPs usage. Basically you can download the maps from Google Earth and then use the software to track multiple paths of various “targets” ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

So say I took the stalking thing a little too far and I also combined that with a few Corona’s and now I need to employ some high speed, low drag technology to escape those that intend to pursue me. Dropped the car keys after I hopped the fence so this thing is going to go down by foot. Its okay, I’ve been using Sony Ericson’s jogger application to optimize my cardio (see video below). Plus, I covertly planted a $35 transmitter in their jacket. I pull out my Blackberry, check their real time speed against mine and determine that I have an edge of about 50 feet a minute for another 30 seconds before they catch up. Kind of close, so I do some quick algebra and determine that 50ft. * 0.5 minutes gives me a maximum escape path of 25ft that I need to use ASAP. I had, hypothetically speaking of course, the 3D Google Earth map of the neighboord right in front of me and chose the inconspicuous dog house to the far left and evasion was a success.

Yes there was a dog in the doghouse at the time, but lets not get into that.

Some Videos of gadgetry and GPS awesomeness:

Got some unproductive time? Get ToobBox to create this essential playlist:

Today’s recommendation is a compilation of videos from the online show, “Ask The Decorator”. Meghan Carter is not just hot, but unique in that she combines good journalism with technical exposure to things we normally perceive as pure art in interior architecture.

Example? From the second video in this playlist, this is the first time I have seen the theory of concentric circles explicitly applied to efficient office space.

Enjoy scented candles? Learn about the “Scentosphere” in the third video. After that, you might gain a greater appreciation.

Want to construct a rock star poker table? Video nine.

The topics included range from decoration to materials and provide some very digestible knowledge of layman’s interior design, home improvement, and green dwellings. Use it as a primer for a small home improvement project, to get ideas for cutting your electricity bill, or just enjoy the hosting (Do you agree with my title?!). My favorite episode was “Limestone Flooring”.

For the Intellectuals, I also included a segment on Frank Lloyd Wright and misconceptions about minimalist design.

==>Using the query “Ask the Decorator” will facilitate your search <==

1. Ask the Decorator Heads Across the Nation

2. Office Organization

3. Candle Basics

4. Fluorescent Lighting

5. Painting Kitchen Cabinets

6.Going Green

7. Edible Centerpieces

8. Wine Bottle Centerpiece

9. Poker Tables

10. Limestone Flooring

11. Frank Lloyd Wright

Osbourne later admitted that, at the height of his drug addiction, he shot his family’s pets saying: “I was taking drugs so much I was a wreck. The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.”

Utilizing playlists in YouTube is like Ozzie was, outside of Black Sabbath…a bit retarded. Notice how creating your playlist involves going to the account settings first and limited flexibility in randomizing or sorting the videos? As an alternative, ToobBox aims to provide a streamlined playlist and search interface (see demo tab above) that is scheduled for incorporation of new functions not found in YouTube. One example is quick user-to-user playlist transfer using playlist codes. As for right now, you can try out the current version and at least quickly add videos while making use of playlist controls that are actually built into the player, making editing and shuffling a little more convenient. I say the interface is also cooler.

Heres a suggestion for a ToobBox playlist:

I’ve embedded some of my favorite metal songs in this post. If you see anything you like, you can search for it using the list below next time you are using the ToobBox application. Feel free to send your own suggestions and if you happen to not care for heavy metal, all I can say is that my next post has to do with home decorating. Maybe that is more your style.

1. In Flames “The Mirrors Truth” Official Video

2. Megadeth - Washington Is Next! (Live 2008)

3. It Dies Today - Naenia

4. Pantera - Cemetery Gates official Music Video

5. Marilyn Manson - Lunchbox: Unclean Version

6. The Offspring - dirty magic

7.  Godsmack - Speak

8.  Soundgarden ~ Birth Ritual Demo

9.  Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave

10.  Black Sabbath - Snowblind

11.  HIGH ON FIRE - “Rumors of War”

12.  MEGADETH–99 Ways To Die

13.  Amon Amarth - Death In Fire

14.  Dekapitator - Eye of the Storm

15.  SLAYER ~ NO REMORSE ( I WANNA DIE )

16.  Motorhead- Ace of Spades

17.  Helmet “In The Meantime”

Khuram Is The American Bronson

Our friend Khuram rambles on our email list every once in a while. Here is what he had to say today:

“Fighting is Americana. Its a deviation from more traditional dispute settlement methods practiced by the Britishers, i.e. duals and passive aggressive snottiness.