Last night when I got home there was a package on the front porch – my jQuery book! I’m on the jQuery mailing list and when they announced someone was working on a book I went ahead and pre-ordered even though I usually like to preview technical books before making any decisions.

Book:
Learning jQuery : Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques

Description:

jQuery is a powerful JavaScript library that can enhance your websites regardless of your background. In this book, creators of the popular jQuery learning resource, www.LearningjQuery.com, share their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm about jQuery to help you get the most from the library and to make your web applications shine.

5 Minute Review:
The book is a nice size (I don’t like huge books), about 350 pages. I have no idea what the image on the cover represents… :)

Glancing at the Table of Contents – I’m happy to note there are no basic introductory ‘HTML/Javascript’ chapters (no fluff!) you dive right into a simple jQuery script where you manipulate some CSS.

Initially you start at the basics – jQuery syntax, selectors, events and using effects. Then you move into manipulating the DOM and using AJAX. Then forms (styling and validation) and finally manipulating images. It appears you initially work through basic scripts and as the book progresses – you combine what you have learned in previous chapters to develop more complex applications. I enjoy that form of progression – I can take my time as I go and as I advance – I can go back and review the simpler things if I get confused (which often happens!)

I’m only on Chapter 2 but I’m already beginning to think of some cool places I could use these techniques in the application I’m currently working on (which is a mess of old spaghetti code)!

My only complaint so far – and it’s a minor one – is the screenshots – it would be helpful if these were in color as many of the examples are dealing with changing colors of screen elements and it’s difficult to tell what is going on with the b/w images – but I know if they were color the book would probably be twice the cost so I can live with it :)

A few notes:

• The publisher Packt – has ‘Open Source Project Royalties’ – when you buy a book about an open source project – they pay a royalty to that project. Neat!
• The authors of this book are going to be coming out with a companion reference book
• There are a few other jQuery books in the works – hop on the mailing list to learn more

I’ll post more as I work through the book. I need to setup an http server on my local box at home so I can work through the examples – maybe it’s time to setup Railo?

Les Paul is on PBS tonight – featured on the American Masters.

If you like guitar – you must watch! His influence on the modern guitar and multi-track recording is inspiring.

And best of all – he’s 90 and still jams.

Two guitar related items:

Air Guitar Nation – this looks hilarious. I need to find out if this is playing anywhere nearby – I dig me some air guitar!

I also noticed that Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) has a solo project out now called The Nightwatchman. It’s acoustic (!) :

Musician and political and social activist Tom Morello’s stark new album as The Nightwatchman, ‘One Man Revolution,’ (April 24, Epic Records) is a dark, urgent portrait of a world in turmoil, 13 songs of “bitterness and revenge.” Morello, the Grammy Award-winning guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, compares war zones in the US and Iraq, proclaims that Jesus was black and pinpoints the sociopolitical struggles of the American leftist underground in the series of self-penned originals, singing and playing acoustic guitar for the first time on record.

There is a nice review/inteview on Michael Moore’s site.

This is a great article – what happens when a world famous violinist plays in L’Enfant Plaza in Washington DC during morning rush hour? The Washington Post asked Joshua Bell to bring his Stradivarius and play anonymously for the rush hour crowd.

It’s a fascinating and somewhat sad article about how people are too busy to stop and ’smell the roses’…

“It was the most astonishing thing I’ve ever seen in Washington,” Furukawa says. “Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I wouldn’t do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?”

Saw this on Slashdot… HardOCP has finished the second part of their ‘30 Days with’ series – the same author spent 30 days using both Linux and Vista.

I’m a bit biased (GO UBUNTU) but it’s interesting to read the conclusions for both:

30 Days with Linux:

XP is going to be my OS for gaming, audio loop editing, and Photoshop, but for everything else, Linux has transformed into an attractive, utility-driven, customizable, and generally easy-to-use interface that takes all of the virtues and none of the faults from the other major OSes and gives it to the consumer for free.

30 Days with Vista:

I really did want to like Vista. Yes, it is possible to enjoy both Windows and Linux – but unfortunately this product is unfit for any user. I still intend to keep a Windows XP partition on my computer for gaming and some multimedia editing, but as of the time of this publication, I have removed Vista entirely.

I haven’t had the opportunity to play with Vista yet though I would like to take it for a spin but there is no way I’m shelling out my $$ for it! And speaking with the IT staff here at work it’ll be a loooong time before we move to Vista.

So far I’m still very happy with my switch to Ubuntu at home – and would suggest anyone considering moving to Vista to try out one of the many ‘Live’ Linux CD’s…

Tom Scholz has a post on the Boston site regarding his memories of singer Brad Delp.

There are very few vocalists out there who leave a mark and Brad Delp will be one of them. It only takes a second to hear the trademark soaring guitars and then that vocal comes in and… it’s Boston.

Go listen.

I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away

Van Halen = Best Rock Band. Ever.

Velvet Revolver = Worst Band To Play Van Halen Tribute. Ever.

Watching the R&R Hall of Fame inductions on VH1. Who the hell picked Velvet Revolver to play? Ugh. It took me a few moments to figure out what they were playing. And Slash – get rid of the hat. Please.

I hope Eddie comes out of rehab in great shape and gets Van Halen on the road again. It’s a shame Dave couldn’t put the ego aside for an hour or two and show up – but, that’s showbiz!