Beck just finished the first round of a project called Record Club. The idea is he gets together with some friends (Devendra Banhart, Jamie Lidell, MGMT) and covers a classic album.

The first album they did is The Velvet Underground and Nico, an ambitious choice to be sure. Some of the songs turned out better than others, but I really liked “Run Run Run,” which I’ve embedded above. Check out the rest of the tracks and videos here or download the mp3s here.

Dazzle camouflage was a paint scheme used on ships with the intent to confuse. A complex pattern of lines was used to hide speed, heading and size. See some more examples: 1, 2, 3.

It was used extensively during WWI, but became less important as aircraft and radar became commonplace. It’s too bad too, because the ships look amazing with it. It looks like a giant Banksy prank or something. It’s not surprising that it inspired some painters.

• The original kilogram—the one made in 1889 and the one that all scales are based off of—is losing weight. Scientists have been working to redefine the kilogram using Planck’s Constant.
• 90 years of air travel in pictures from the BBC.
• Ohio is an instrument: there are 88 counties in Ohio, and 88 keys on a piano. Now you can explore that coincidence by mapping the notes in different ways. Also play route melodies and metro area chords.

I made a mix cd to share. It’s called “Follow Your Spirit Guide,” and it’s inspired by spaghetti westerns, the writings of Carlos Castaneda, and the Simpsons episode “The Mysterious Voyage of Homer.” Hopefully it evokes a hazy desert journey. Or even…

A man defined by his troubles loses himself after a particularly hard night, only to wake up in a new reality. He must adapt and begins to find his way with the help of mysterious muses. Finally, a violent act brings redemption. Or was it all dream?

Download a zip of the mp3 files from this link, or click through to see the track list: Read more »

Here’s what the the boys look like in the new Beatles Rock Band game.

• Translation Party is a fun little site that takes a sentence you type and translates it back and forth between English and Japanese until an “equilibrium” is found, that is until the words stop changing.
• Some Russian guy found what looked like an old airplane in a forest using Google maps. So he drove there to check it out and took pictures.
• A preview video of the new Mario game for the Wii. I love Mario.

I made this panorama from the Wilson train stop, looking east. You can drag around and zoom in like a map. The back of the Bridgeview Bank Building is visible to the north, and the Sears Tower is on the right side, due south. Check the detail and enlarge it here.

I found a collection of decently high-quality photographs by Danny Lyon. In the 1960s, he traveled around with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, taking photos along the way. I’m sure all of these can be found in his book, The Bikeriders.

Google is overhauling their search. Word is the industry standard may be feeling a pinch with the success of Bing (and their big deal with Yahoo), but it could just be that time of the lifecycle. You can try out the public beta here.

Aside: Is there a glass ceiling for search performance in Google’s business model where the results get too good and people stop clicking on ads?

Finally, the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.