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Peter Nixon
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Friday, 30 September 2005
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www.multimedialab.de is online!
This is supposed to become the sucessor site to Director3d, and is about multimedia and software development tipps and tricks.
Not quite there yet, but feel free to surf over and check it out!
[undocumented Lingo]
10:22:16 PM 
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A British author and a team of scholars say they may have solved one of
the riddles of ancient Greece - locating the ancient city of Ithaca,
home of the legendary hero Odysseus.
I just love it when archeological research justifies a less than fictional interpretation of ancient stories.
[ABC News: Entertainment (with Mpeg1)]
9:54:58 PM
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Dammit! Riding my bicycle home from work, 10 km from home, a puncture!
No spare tube, no pump if I'd had a spare tube.
Fortunately I did have my
mobile phone (which is normally in another pair of pants, or on the
bathroom sink, or at someone's house, etc), so I was able to phone my
wee laddie who picked me up in the motor car.
I was really looking forward to that last 10 km of the ride too.
9:46:52 PM
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Thursday, 29 September 2005
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Astronomers using two powerful telescopes say they are surprised to
have detected a big baby galaxy, which is vastly heavy for its young
age and its location in the early universe.
I have no idea what this means, but it sounds interesting.
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
11:26:24 PM
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Tuesday, 27 September 2005
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People with challenging jobs may have to work hard but the pay-off
could be some protection against Alzheimer's disease later in life, new
research suggests.
The good news for me is that the
research suggests that teaching is a good example of the kind of job
that can protect against Alzheimer's.
The bad news is that this means the fact that I am practically gaga is probably due to alcohol!
[ABC News: Health]
8:59:59 PM
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Monday, 26 September 2005
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David Pescovitz:
Invented by Vladimir Vlad, the electric field shark repellent wet suit
is, er, outfitted with piezoelectric ceramic fibres. As the wearer
moves through the water, it generates several volts that will freak out
any nearby sharks. From New Scientist:
 If
the diver sees an undeterred shark and swims fast to get away âo[base "] a
natural reaction, one suspects âo[base "] the suit generates much higher
voltages and stronger fields.
If the shark still fails to get the message and bites the
suit, it gets a shock in the mouth and âo[base "] hopefully âo[base "] gives up for
the day.
Link to New Scientist article, Link to US Patent Application (via Gizmodo) [Boing Boing]
10:20:13 PM
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Sunday, 25 September 2005
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Just back from an excellent evening at the Bacchus wine bar with the Hiptones.
Got groped by women, had too much to drink, dug the music, refreshed
aquaintances with Chook (photographer and guitarist) and Ron (69 year
old Pom punter) and met Ron's wife. I hadn't seen Chook for several
months; he's been off the scene due to a death in the family. I can dig
that. I promised him that next time he phones me to play at the Monday
night blues jam at the Grace Emily, I'll be there.
The Hiptones were excellent, if a little loud.
The Hiptones' usual sound man was not there, which I thought strange at first. John had been a technical production student at Salisbury TAFE (and stage manager for AC/DC before that) and was always the sound guy for the Hiptones.
He turned up later; he'd been at the Grand Final! He told me that he
and his ten year old son Nathan had gone to Melbourne with no ticket to
the game, and no accommodation organised! They had milled around the
MCG with a sign around John's neck saying he needed two tickets.
Scalpers offered tickets at $600 each.
Eventually one man approached John and Nathan, asking who the tickets were for. John said, "Me and my ten year old son."
The man said, "Correct answer", and sold him the tickets at cost. So they spent the game together.
Eventually John and Nathan needed accommodation and finally lobbed at a
travellers' hostel, where John played and sang to entertain the
international travellers.
Cool.
11:27:26 PM
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Saturday, 24 September 2005
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British electronic music whizz Matthew Herbert is hoping to become the
first musician ever to use the sound of cancer in a dance track.
Now that everything is digital, the media can cross like never before.
This is a great example.
[ABC News: Entertainment (with Mpeg1)]
10:37:22 PM
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Cory Doctorow:
Spaceship Radio is a podcast featuring vintage science fiction radio
plays written by such giants as Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and
Frederic Brown.
Link
(Thanks, Adeh!)
Coooool!
[Boing Boing]
10:27:33 PM
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Friday, 23 September 2005
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Sorry this news is a week old (nearly), but last Friday at the Flinders Uni Tavern, Mister Fiction, all but the singer, students at Salisbury TAFE, won the state finals of the National Campus Band Competition, having won the TAFE heats and final.
They won a range of prizes, and now go on to the national final at the Adelaide Uni Bar.
This is a big deal. If they win, they will almost certainly be signed. They may be anyway. Jebediah and George came to national prominence throught this comp.
The other TAFE band (not an official TAFE band, but made up of students), The Battery Kids, acquitted themselves well.
Mister Fiction's bass player Clint Wylie, told me that he thought the TAFE
bands had an advantage due to their training. It was a condition of the
competition that all bands use the same equipment supplied by sponsor Derringers Music. All the Uni bands (two from each of Flinders, Adelaide, UniSA) had terrible trouble getting acceptable sounds. The TAFE musicians are used to using their own gear, and a wide variety of TAFE
gear, and pulling good sounds quickly as they perform each week in
Concert Practice. Clint thought this meant that they weren't fazed by
the unfamiliar kit, and just got down to pulling a good sound and doing
their set.
10:43:45 PM
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Cory Doctorow:
Reports Without Borders has shipped a free guide for "Bloggers and
Cyber-Dissidents" on publishing anonymously without getting fired,
imprisoned or executed.
 Bloggers
need to be anonymous when they are putting out information that risks
their safety. The cyber-police are watching and have become expert at
tracking down "trouble- makers." This handbook gives advice on how to
post material without revealing who you are ("How to blog anonymously,"
by Ethan Zuckerman). It's best of course to have the technical skills
to be anonymous online, but following a few simple rules can sometimes
do the trick. This advice is of course not for those (terrorists,
racketeers or pedophiles) who use the Internet to commit crimes. The
handbook is simply to help bloggers encountering opposition because of
what they write to maintain their freedom of expression. However, the
main problem for a blogger, even under a repressive regime, isn't
security. It's about getting the blog known, finding an audience. A
blog without any readers won't worry the powers-that-be, but what's the
point of it? This handbook makes technical suggestions to make sure a
blog gets picked up by the major search-engines (the article by Olivier
Andrieu), and gives some more "journalistic" tips about this ("What
really makes a blog shine," by Mark Glaser).
Some bloggers face the problem of filtering. Most authoritarian
regimes now have the technical means to censor the Internet. In Cuba or
Vietnam, you won't be able to access websites that criticise the
government or expose corruption or talk about human rights abuses.
So-called "illegal" and "subversive" content is automatically blocked
by filters. But all bloggers need free access to all sites and to the
blogosphere or the content of their blogs will become irrelevant.
Link
(via Copyfight) [Boing Boing]
10:03:00 PM
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this song is that the title, She's too good for me,
which could be read as ironic, and of course isn't, would be expected
to be the hook. But the line does not even appear in the song!
Instead, the title is turned around to "I'm not good enough for her",
which I think is so much more poignant, and, of course, does not mean
exactly the same thing.
Warren Zevon's
voice is also extremely moving. Never a great singer, he was already
dying of lung cancer when this was recorded, so his voice is weak,
reedy, and tremulous. I just love it.
9:52:40 PM
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Cory Doctorow:
The BBC has a great story on a pioneering 1954 transistor radio that
bears a striking resemblance to the iPod in form, disruptiveness and
marketing.
 The
Regency TR-1 transistor radio, made in 1954, had a decent claim to be a
genuine piece of innovation, however. It was, by popular agreement, the
world's first commercially sold transistor pocket radio.
Small enough to hold in your hand, and powered by batteries, it
came in a variety of delicious colours, including green, pearlescent
blue, lavender, white and red.
The device went on sale just in time for hip young gadget
freaks to hear Elvis Presley singing That's All Right - recognised by
many as the moment at which rock'n'roll was born.
The TR-1 was marketed under the slogan "See it! Hear it! Get it!"
Link
(Thanks, Mike!) [Boing Boing]
1:00:39 AM
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The final credits are rolling for film, writes Fran
Molloy, but there are plenty of people determined to hang on till
the end.
[The Age Technology Headlines]
12:02:28 AM
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Thursday, 22 September 2005
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Mark Frauenfelder:
In 1990, my friends Gareth Branwyn and Peter Sugarman conceived of of a
hypercard stack exploring near future developments in art,
entertainment, media, science, literature, technology, music, etc. I
drew a bunch of illustrations and drew a promotional comic book for the
stack, and Jim Leftwich designed many of the interface elements. It was
called Beyond Cyberpunk! and was a critical success.
The stack was ported to the Web, and Gareth unveiled it today. From his introdcutory essay, written in 1991:
 "CYBERPUNK."
Is it a literary genre? Is it marketing hype? Is it the latest style in
the culture industry? Is it the apotheosis of post-modernism? As
Dieter, the German nihilo-art snob on Saturday Night Live would say:
"Your questions have become tiresome." Regardless of what it is or
isn't, Cyberpunk (also called "Techno-culture" or "New Edge" culture)
has become a cultural phenomenon which bears looking into.
For a multiplicity of reasons, it has, in hardy memetic fashion,
taken on a life of its own. This stack is an attempt at holding up, for
further examination, some of the more interesting strains of this
curious cultural mutation.
As we move deeper into the 1990's, Techno-culture has become
"important." In the tunnels of the underground, in the halls of
academe, and in pop culture, people are talking about C-punk, taking it
seriously. What these people are talking about has little to do with
Cyberpunk as a literary movement. Those SF-ers who proclaim that
"Cyberpunk is dead," are probably right. As far as literature goes. To
the current generation of users, Cyberpunk is synonymous with the
hacker underground, non-Luddite forms of anarchy, and the strategy
(borrowed from C-punk lit) of extrapolating "20 minutes into the
future." Cyberpunk has come to mean simply the grafting of
high-technology onto underground, street, and avant pop culture.
Here's a review of the print version of Boing Boing from Beyond Cyberpunk.
Link
This is a classic interactive piece from the early days of multimedia - about when I was an early practitioner.
[Boing Boing]
11:56:19 PM
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Cory Doctorow:
David Mery is a London geek who was going down into the tube one night
in July when he was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. He was held,
his flat was searched, his computers and phones were confiscated, his
data was copied, and his photo, DNA and fingerprints were taken. He was
denied access to counsel.
He was released the next day, but his computers were not returned, nor was his record expunged.
Mery's "crime" was carrying a "bulky" backpack (e.g., a laptop
bag), wearing an "unseasonably warm" coat (it was one of the coldest
July days on record), and "avoiding the police" (he was looking at an
SMS on his phone when he went through the turnstiles and so didn't make
eye-contact with the officers there).
There is not one single piece of evidence to suggest that Mery
is a terrorist, and yet the tools of his livelihood and all his
personal data are now squirreled away in a police evidence locker --
the police haven't even given him an inventory or receipt for all the
goods they stole.
This isn't an anti-terror investigation, it's a mugging. And it could
happen to you. Hell, if it happened to me, I'd probably just be
deported, since I'm only an immigrant, and not a citizen.
If you don't want to get mugged by the coppers whose salary you pay, write to your MP and city councillors about David's plight. I just sent a note with much of this post and some additional text to mine:
This is institutionalised theft masquerading as anti-terror
investigation. It makes Londoners less safe because it deprives us of
the certainty that the police are taking sensible measures to protect
us against terrorism, and because it instills the fear that the copper
in the tube is a mugger in waiting, who might at any moment swoop in
and confiscate thousands of pounds' worth of kit and insert us into the
criminal justice system.
Link
(Thanks, Ewan!) [Boing Boing]
11:21:03 PM
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On the way back to work from my
lunchtime walk, down a narrow space between a building and a fence, I
had to walk through a group of four or five 13 or 14 year olds,
in which a dominant female was asserting herself, or showing off to her
friends of both sexes, with raucous banter.
As I headed towards them, she called out to me, "Don't eat too much will you!" I was eating nuts from a bag at the time.
I ignored her, and her friends.
She called out another remark, meant to be personal.
I remained stone faced.
I was drawing closer, and she called out another.
I remained impassive.
Then she got me.
"I find you sexually attractive".
At that, I just had to laugh.
11:15:43 PM
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Tuesday, 20 September 2005
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A few weeks ago, Opera celebrated their 15th anniversary by offering the software free for a day.
It's always been free, but if you paid you got a version that had no ad popups.
Being a serious web geek, I snagged one.
Now they're offering it for nothing, for all!
Excellent.
It really is a lean, fast browser.
Download it now.
[The Macintosh News Network]
11:18:04 PM
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Sunday, 18 September 2005
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The thinking is that the marketing
force of the iPod Nano will shift reseach away from the hard drive
towards better flash drives.
Maybe.
[The Macintosh News Network]
9:38:07 PM
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The person with no imagination has no wings.
Muhammad Ali
[Thriving Quotes]
9:17:03 PM
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The seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica has widened to a near-record
size, at approximately 27 million square kilometres, the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says.
It had been shrinking.
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
9:02:21 PM
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Friday, 16 September 2005
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Nudity has always been a controversial part of the entertainment world, often provoking strong moral debate.
This article is mostly about how little performers are paid to perform naked.
An interesting subject.
[ABC News: Entertainment (with Mpeg1)]
10:26:10 PM
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The Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says the Government hopes to begin an overhaul of the Native Title regime shortly.
The idea expressed here doesn't sound bad on the face of it. Quicker decisions, good.
But I don't trust the buggers.
[ABC News: Breaking Stories]
10:14:57 PM
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Tonight, on the way home from work, I called in at Scholars Bar, part of the training restaurant complex at Regency Campus of TAFE SA.
One of the courses I teach
supplies bands and artists every Friday evening for this bar for the punters there
for Friday night drinks, or for drinks before dining at the training restaurant.
Two singers from my Ensemble class were performing (one plays guitar to accompany). It was excellent!
Tony Lillywhite organises our performance program, and does a fantastiec job.
9:15:29 PM
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Thursday, 15 September 2005
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Ever wonder why your favorite shows never get nominated but "The West Wing" always does? Here's why.
Presumably you already have your Salon day pass, so you might as well read this.
A while ago I did a rave about the best show ever on television, that no one except my sister and I watched.
It features prominently in this article.
[Salon.com]
1:18:10 AM
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Bill tells it like it is. Kind of.
Microsoft is certainly still in
the best position on the planet, but there really is no good design or
innovation in that culture. Even here, Bill sees his task as to catch
his competitors. I'd feel sorry for him if he had less money.
[The Macintosh News Network]
12:48:34 AM
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New information from the 9/11 Commission shows that the U.S. was warned
in 1998 that al Qaida might "hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a
U.S. landmark."
To read this you will need to click on a sponsor's ad. When I did this it was a non-animated black and white ad for a new Martin Scorsese movie about Bob Dylan. The article is definitely worth reading.
[Salon.com]
12:40:04 AM
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Xeni Jardin:
Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia came up with an ingenious way to
fight back against anti-choice fundamentalists who block clinic doors
and harass workers and patients. The idea: hold a fund drive in which
donors give cash for each protestor that shows up. The more there are,
the more money Planned Parenthood receives. And, let the harassers know
how much their presence is helping the clinic raise funds.
Every time protesters gather outside of our Locust Street
health center, our patients face verbal attacks from them. They see
graphic signs meant to confuse and intimidate. They are sometimes
blocked from entering the building and occasionally they are
videotaped. They are offered anti-choice propaganda and free rides to
the closest "crisis pregnancy center".
Staff and volunteers are also seen as targets. We are all called
murderers, are lectured to about committing sins, and are told we will
pay the â"ultimate price" for our actions. You can stand with others in
the community against these acts of intimidation and harassment.
Here's how it works: You decide on the amount you would like
to pledge for each protester (minimum 10 cents). When protesters show
up on our sidewalks, Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania will
count and record their number each day from October 1 through November
30, 2005. We will place a sign outside the health center that tracks
pledges and makes protesters fully aware that their actions are
benefiting PPSP. At the end of the two-month campaign, we will send you
an update on protest activities and a pledge reminder.
Example: If you pledge 30 cents per protester, and PPSP has 100 protesters in October and 160
protesters in November, your donation would be 78 dollars for the entire two-month campaign!
This is a wickedly clever use of lateral thinking; use the action of your enemy against him.
Link (via Warren Ellis) [Boing Boing]
12:19:21 AM
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Wednesday, 14 September 2005
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I try to get to work as often as I can (unfortunately only 2 or 3 times a week) in the following way:
I ride my bike to the Grange railway station, catch the train to
Adelaide, transfer to the Gawler line, get off at Salisbury, ride to
TAFE.
To get home, I ride to the Salisbury station, catch the train to
Adelaide, or if not an express, to North Adelaide. From there I ride to
Henley Beach, about 14 km if I use the Linear Park, or about 10 km if I
go by road, which I do when light is a problem. Either way, it takes
about the same time.
This evening, on the way home, I was hurtling along Adam street,
between Port Rd and Manton Tce, minding my own business, pushing
pedals, when I hear, out of nowhere, a huge screeching of brakes. I
look behind me and see some guy who has obviously fallen asleep at the
wheel, not seen me, and who would have killed me had he not spotted me
at the last minute. He would have driven right through me.
1:17:10 AM
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Tuesday, 13 September 2005
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The last week has seen two music personalities leave us.
After making mention of the repeat of an interview with Clarence
"Frogman" Henry, and the fact that he survived the chaos of New Orleans, it is sad to note that he died over the weekend.
Also gone is RL Burnside, one of the last Delta blues
men. First recorded by Alan Lomax in the fifties, he made his first
commercial recording in 1967, but it wasn't until he was "discovered"
in the nineties by a pair of young producers of post-punk, hip-hop, and
sample based music that he achieved wider success. He recorded with Kid
Rock and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion among others. I have several
of his albums recorded from 1991 on. He was wonderful, and the modern
production techniques work well with his raw, real blues. He will be
sadly missed.
11:31:06 PM
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A South Australian footballer is taking the unusual step of having one
of his fingers amputated to improve his playing prospects.
I know from family experience the kind of commitment you need for elite sport, so I kind of understand this.
[ABC News: Offbeat (with Mpeg1)]
8:44:32 AM
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Monday, 12 September 2005
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Is a critical mass ride an act of advocacy or civil disobedience?...
Kids, bicycle power is important!
[About Bicycling]
11:59:09 PM
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Sunday, 11 September 2005
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If anyone has visited in the last few days, you may have noticed some weirdnesses. I've stuffed up my template for this blog.
I'm gradually fixing it, but the problems might last for a few days yet.
Sorry
11:20:55 PM
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A windy, but sunny morning found me walking along the beach for a breakfast at Zootz in Henley Square;
not too expensive, excellent food and coffee. I love that they serve "A
dogz breakfast" - a free bowl of water and dog biscuits for the punters'
dogs. Because, let's face it, many people are walking their dogs at
this time along the beach.
Met up with the kids and went to Marion to see Sin City.
What a trip!
This was shockingly violent, but all presented in a comic book art
mode, although with live action. The CGI was stunning and used to
reproduce the graphic novel look. There was a kind of recursive
feeling, in that the look exposed what film noir and the comic book
owed each other, in terms of shots, lighting, focus, POV, and so many
other techniques that now seem old fashioned.
But, of course, by using CGI to achieve effects film noir couldn't, and
by mimicking current popular culture, the film is paradoxically
extremely modern. Or is that post-modern? Or post-post-modern?
It uses all the comic book effects of (mostly) black and white,
sometimes in reverse, extreme use of tone, stylised and obscure
backgrounds, grotesque characters (visually, and as characters), and
dutch angle after dutch angle, and other distorted perspectives. Or is
this another example of where the comic book has imitated film?
The form was also a now familiar one. Quentin Tarantino
was a guest director, and with essentially three interweaving stories
told slightly out of chronological order, it was reminiscent of Pulp Fiction, and of course, can you get any more pulp fiction than the comic book?
The music was excellent, all performances beguiling, and it was an altogether wonderful film.
Not that edifying; it didn't make me feel a better person, being
violent, sexist, and pushing the film noir sense of honour to the
extreme, but damn, it was entertaining.
After all this it was home for some exercise, a take away Indian meal from Hurry Curry, and some television.
11:15:16 PM
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Saturday, 10 September 2005
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A man attempting to walk the length of Britain in the nude has been jailed by a court in Scotland for two weeks.
Now really, who among us hasn't wanted to cross some great nation or other totally naked?
I know I have.
[ABC News: Offbeat (with Mpeg1)]
10:02:58 PM
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In his defense of the administration, Limbaugh intentionally flubs N.O. Mayor Nagin's name. Give a listen and you tell me.
Audio-MP3
"Mayor Nayger." What a "fracking
" tool. The racism that is pouring out of the mouths of the apologists
is sickening. I'll have a spot by Mark "Puke" Williams later and it
doesn't get any worse than him. [Crooks and Liars]
9:55:24 PM
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Friday, 9 September 2005
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Federal Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull has called for the Government to give every Australian their own email address for life.
Not, on the face of it, an utterly ridiculous idea, but he wants birthdate to be included in the address!
Privacy Malcolm!
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
10:48:53 PM
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 Meet the F--kers
TDS-oh so subtle, oh so sweet-and oh so visciously
takes apart the idiots who are supposed to protect us during a time of
crisis.
The Daily Show is nearly always right on the money.
Video-WMP
BitTorent-WMP [Crooks and Liars]
10:44:59 PM
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Thursday, 8 September 2005
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I've just got home from this wonderful gig!
I was there courtesy of a 50th birthday gift from my sister Margaret,
my brother John, and their respective spouses, James and Helen.
I went alone, but soon found old chums, Charli Holoubek, and his wife
Sue, and Eric Stevenson. Charli and Eric both play in Gumbo Ya Ya.
The audience seemed mostly a little more geriatric than myself, which
is probably about right. I would have been a very young fan of his
songwriting in the sixties. But I always loved the pop music thing done
with the harmonic sophistication of modern jazz, or Debussy, or even
Wagner, that Jim Webb seemed able to pull off.
After an excellent set by the support act, Tania Bowra on guitar and
vocals, and then piano and vocals, Jimmy Webb took the stage and the
piano. Most of the his two hour set was from his new album, Twilight of
the Renegades. The first song was Paul Gaugin in the South Seas, a
beautiful story of the life dream of perhaps any man of Webb's age
(that is to say, pretty much mine; he's nine years older than me), the
pursuit of paradise.
He went on to play several more songs from the new album, interspersed
with scintillating anecdotes from his career and colleagues. He clearly
has much affection for those he has worked with, particularly those who
have since gone to Elvis. He is quite the raconteur.
While he is not a good singer, I think he is a great singer. Much about
his singing is weak, but the strength of his belief in, and commitment
to the song shines through like precious jewels.
Of course, most of the audience was there for the old songs. I thought
Wichita Lineman was a syrupy goo of a song when Glen Campbell recorded
it. Jim Webb's version on Ten Easy Pieces moves me to tears, as did his
performance tonight. This is always assisted for me by the inclusion,
and tonight the repetition, of what I consider to be the single best
couplet in all of pop music lyrics...
I need you more than want you,
And I want you for all time.
Where does that beauty come from?
I'm also fond of the line...
I know I need a small vacation
because I know I do.
His singing may be not that of a great known singer, but his piano
playing was certainly something! He slipped in all kinds of modulations
and excursions during instrumental sections. He did not do any solos in
the sense a jazz player would recognise. Although I'm sure some things
were improvised, the instrumental sections were integrated as part of a
compositional, or at least an arrangement, conception. And it was
beautiful playing.
The surprise song for me was Up, Up and Away.
This is another song I had regarded as a very trivial pop song, but
tonight's performance made me reconsider. Certainly, Jim was only 17
when he wrote this, but the longing, the potential for regret, the
hope, the idealism, the sensuality, the emotional maturity (which I
recognise when I see it, even if I don't actually have it) are amazing.
In a short encore set, the penultimate song was Didn't We (complete
with Sinatra ancdotes and impressions) and I suddenly understood what
has always troubled me about this disturbing song. I have no life
experience that could ever lead me to even think about the ideas and
situation expressed in this song, so I can't imagine how such a
miraculous song could be written. Why miraculous? Because, even though
I have no experience that could lead me to understand this song, I
totally and absolutely do. That's the magic of a great songwriter.
The final encore song was, of course, Macarthur Park. I had been warned
that he had a thing about having to do this song over and over again,
and that, in his last performance in Adelaide, he had started to send
it up. But tonight he gave a beautiful, sensitive, restrained version,
full of sincerity and that kind of belief I have referred to before.
But he belted in the instrumental interlude! It was wonderful. It was like Chopin improvising!
Did I mention I had a good time?
Thanks to my benefactors!
11:49:04 PM
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Tuesday, 6 September 2005
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Cory Doctorow:
The Johnny Applesandal is a sandal that contains seeds in its soles,
which wear away slowly, evenly depositing seeds of phytoremdiating
plants around your urban landscape.
This is great; I'd wear 'em. Of course with the wrong seeds, they could be environmentally disastrous.
Link
(via We Make Money Not Art)
[Boing Boing]
11:07:50 PM
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Monday, 5 September 2005
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Four fathers gathered with the
rest of the Nixon tribe on Sunday for a wonderful lunch, much booze and
conversation at the Chester St, Henley Beach campus of community Nixon.
Nieces, of course, were gorgeous. The luminously beautiful Genevieve
was stunning just by her presence, and her development is wonderful to
see. She is so sharp.
Then there is the lovely Ruby. She is so curious and talkative and warm and friendly. Aah, it does my cynical old heart good.
This was the first chance the girls had to get to know Kato's
Australian bulldog, Wednesday. After initial reticence (fair enough,
Wednesday could eat me without too much trouble), Ruby became very friendly with the brute. Lovely to see.
After the family had left, a walk on the beach to view a lovely sunset.
And a run with the beautiful Wednesday.
11:38:54 PM
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Sunday, 4 September 2005
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Cory Doctorow:
Kittiwat Unarrom, a Thai baker's son, was trained as a fine artist, but
has switched to baking realistic putrefying human body parts and organs
out of bread and other ingredients, and has become a trendy sensation:
 Along
with edible human heads crafted from dough, chocolate, raisins and
cashews, Kittiwat makes human arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. He
uses anatomy books and his vivid memories of visiting a forensics
museum to create the human parts.
I suppose this is kind of cool, but don't expect me to eat it
Link
(Thanks, Digitaler Lumpensammler!)
[Boing Boing]
8:26:00 PM
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A new study has found cane toads are drawn to disco lighting.
Of course it sounds sensational,
but it's not that surprising that a particular light frequency should
attract a reptilian creature.
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
7:42:00 PM
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Newt Blasts Bush
"I think
it puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command
planning for the last four years, because if we can't respond faster
than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why
do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological
attack?" said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich....read on
Ezra Klein: He's
neither able to effectively deploy government or call on his friends
outside of it. He's just incompetent, as I said before, a small man in
a big office. He speaks the language of small government conservatism
because it gets him elected, pushes big government solutions because
they prove easiest, but is so separated and uninterested in the whole
enterprise that the result is a wreck of incoherence and unexpected
outcomes....read on
Even La Shawn Barber isn't thrilled:
"I'm ashamed of this country and its bumbling leadership today...
Billions we spend, and all we have to show for it are four-day-old
corpses on the side of the road, starving and injured people, and women
and children being raped by animals who shouldn't even be alive. [Crooks and Liars]
12:45:36 AM
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I went to a 6.00 pm session at the cinema earlier tonight to see this. It starred someone
who has to be the most beautiful looking human being alive, and has
been for years, in my opinion. To top it off, my party went Gold Class.
Never done this before, what a hoot! It was at least partly a gift, so
cost was minimal. Yay! Bottles of wine, food, and cups of tea delivered
to your seat. Way to go.
The movie was wonderful, with Mr Depp camping it up much as he did in Ed Wood, and in Pirates of the Caribbean. Even the less campy roles
always have a quirky strength with him. He is so strong, and given such
excellent dialogue, but not so much that his physical work doesn't make
a significant contribution to the performance, that it's hard to
believe that the rest of the cast won't be overshadowed. But they're
not.
The script is excellent. I particularly enjoyed all the 60s references in Depp's lines, even including lyrics from songs from Hair. Tim Burton's vision is, as usual, astonishing, but very true in feel to the book. The design generally is astounding, from the CGI intro sequence to even the makeup on the children. As in many Burton films he integrates the CGI look with the real world by making the real world look idealised, as in Edward Scissorhands, or Batman.
The music was wonderful and dark in that typical overblown Danny Elfman way. Think Batman, Nightmare before Christmas rather than The Simpsons.
The credits showed a huge range of compositors, animators, designers,
modellers, etc, etc. But, in spite of the hi-tech input, it is a very
warm, human film, with funky songs from the Oompaloompas, the common
touch from Australian Noah Taylor, Helena Bonham-Carter, and David Kelly, and the over-riding humour and design sense of the whole production.
Did I mention that I enjoyed it?
And, if you can afford it, choose the right film and treat yourself to Gold Class sometime.
12:34:47 AM
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Saturday, 3 September 2005
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The Girl Scouts and Starbucks!
The Concerned "Women" for America have attacked Starbucks Coffee
Company for "promoting the homosexual agenda". Gee, and I
figured they were just going to complain about the coffee.
Link to Article - Link to Alternate Article
Well, it's warpath time for the Concerned "Women" for America,
as they've chosen to vent their rage on someone they think
really deserves it - Starbucks Coffee Company.
The Concerned "Women" for America... [morons.org headlines]
9:48:26 PM
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Making the world safe from feminism. Some days I just want to kill myself.
The Concerned "Women" for America have attacked the Girl Scouts
for apparently trying to make feminist lesbians out of girls.
At least, that's how they portray it.
Well, it's warpath time for the Concerned "Women" for America,
as they've chosen to vent their rage on someone they think
really deserves it - the Girl Scouts.
But WHY would these people be attacking such a well-loved
organization? According to the...
[morons.org headlines]
9:45:53 PM
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I found this sig on a MacNN forum. It amused me.
To dislike Sinatra is a sign of highly questionable taste. To dislike the Beatles is a serious character flaw.
3:11:20 PM
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David Pescovitz:
Two scientists propose that the first case of mad cow disease may have
been caused by human remains in the animals' food. Alan Colchester of
the University of Kent and Nancy Colchester of the University of
Edinburgh published their findings in the current issue of medical
journal The Lancet. From News@Nature:
(The researchers) point out that during the 1960s and
1970s Britain imported hundreds of thousands of tonnes of whole and
crushed bones and animal carcasses. These were used for fertilizer and
to feed livestock.
Nearly 50% of these imports came from
Bangladesh, where peasants gathering animal materials may have also
picked up human remains, the researchers say...
Religious
customs in Bangladesh and surrounding areas mean that many corpses are
disposed of in rivers. People may have collected remnants from such
bodies when foraging for animal carcasses, the Colchesters argue in The
Lancet. Any prions in these corpses might then have caused mad cow
disease.
Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)
[Boing Boing]
2:23:38 PM
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There is a hot spot on one of Saturn's moons which should not be there and has yet to be explained, scientists say.
The two most popular explanations
are decaying radioactive materials, or friction from gravitational
tides. Neither hypothesis fits all the facts.
And why is the hot spot at the pole? The poles of all planets are cooler than the equator.
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
1:50:12 PM
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Friday, 2 September 2005
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Legendary singer-pianist Fats Domino was rescued by boat from his
flooded home, his daughter told CNN after identifying her father in a
photograph.
[ABC News: Entertainment (with Mpeg1)]
10:31:33 PM
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Legendary New Orleans singer-pianist Fats Domino, famous for 1950s hits
Ain't That a Shame and Blueberry Hill, is missing in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina.
[ABC News: Entertainment (with Mpeg1)]
10:29:54 PM
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A week after my last freelance gig,
I have heard reports that the rest of the band all thought I played
well, so maybe my judgement of my own performance is seriously
impaired. I'm not sure that this is good news.
10:19:18 PM
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There's been some discussion of
New Orleans as a deeply racist city, but these captions come from
all over the United States. Have they no shame?
Flickr user dustin3000 uploads two similar news photos that show flood
victims in New Orleans wading in chest-deep water. In each, a person
appears to be dragging a bag or box or two of food or beverages.
The images were shot by different photographers, and captioned by
different photo wire services. The Associated Press caption
accompanying the image with a black person says he's just finished
"looting" a grocery store. The AFP/Getty Images caption describes
lighter skinned people "finding" bread and soda from a grocery store.
No stores are open to sell these goods.
Perhaps there's more factual substantiation behind each copywriter's
choice of words than we know. But to some, the difference in tone
suggests racial bias, implicit or otherwise.
Link to comparison, and here are the originals: one, two. (Thanks, Howard)
Reader comment: oboreruhito says,
"1.) AP has consistently named all people stealing items as looters.
2.) Some grocery stores had been occupied by police, who were taking
food, drinks and essentials and distributing them to people. Then
again, some cops were looting outright, as well, and others were trying
to stop it all."
Snip from Times-Picayune news story:
Law enforcement efforts to contain the emergency left
by Katrina slipped into chaos in parts of New Orleans Tuesday with some
police officers and firefighters joining looters in picking stores
clean.
At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial effort to hand out
provisions to stranded citizens quickly disintegrated into mass
looting. Authorities at the scene said bedlam erupted after the
giveaway was announced over the radio.
Link
Reader comment: Amid says,
I'd like to refute the reader comment that AP has consistently named everybody stealing items "looters." This is an AP photo of a white guy "looking through his shopping bag." ...coming out of a store with a broken window. [Boing Boing]
10:09:38 PM
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It has come to my attention that I
may have a regular reader I did not know about. This means my regular
readership (about which I know nothing) may well have skyrocketed from
1 to 3 in a matter of months!
I'd like to think that this may be related to my more personal approach
of recent times, but it's probably just the lack of sunshine keeping
people indoors with nothing to do and nothing on TV.
Unless people use the comments, I have no idea.
9:59:20 PM
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Katrina: anecdote on civil defense in Cuba (often sans phones, power). Xeni Jardin:
Ned Sublette says:
I
just spoke to nelson valdes, a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about
cuba, and asked him how civil defense is conducted in cuba. he ticked
it off while i listened with my left hand and typed with my right. here
are the notes i took:
* * *
less than 2 months ago, cuba was able to move 1.7 people on short notice.
the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. people know ahead of time where they are to go.
they come to your door and knock, and tell you, evacuation is coming, then they come and tell you, now.
if no electricity, they have runners who communicate from a headquarters to central locations what is to be done.
the
country's leaders go on TV and take charge. but not only the leaders
are speaking. the TV weatherpeople are knowledgeable. and the
population is well educated about hurricanes.
they not
only evacuate. it's arranged beforehand where they will go, who has
family where. not only pickup is organized, delivery of people is
organized.
merely sticking them in a stadium is
unthinkable. shelters all have medical personnel, from the
neighborhood. they have family doctors in cuba (!), who evacuate
together with the neighborhood, and already know who, for example,
needs insulin.
if they evacuate to a countryside high school -- a last resort -- they have dormitories there.
they
also have veterinarians and they evacuate animals. they begin
evacuating immediately, and also evacuate TV sets and refrigerators, so
that people aren't relucatant to leave because people might steal their
stuff.
it's not throwing money at the problem. it's not financial capital, it's social capital.
the u.s. in this sense has zero social capital.
dealing with hurricanes in cuba, as compared with how it's done
in the u.s., is similar to the differences in how they deal with
medicine. it's not reactive; it's proactive. they act as early as
possible. the u.s. doesn't have civil defense, it has civil *reaction.*
[Boing Boing]
9:41:24 PM
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Thursday, 1 September 2005
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Scientists have unveiled the genetic code of the chimpanzee, showing
that humans are biologically distinct from apes thanks to a small
handful of important differences in DNA.
Quite recently, there were moves afoot to rename the chimpanzee, or pan troglodytes, the way it originally appeared in the nomenclature, homo silvanus, or man of the woods. This would have acknowledged the chimp as a species of human. We would then have been not so alone.
I guess this may put the kibosh on that.
[ABC News: Science and Technology]
10:57:22 PM
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Just when you think it couldn't get any worse...
I wish I could say I was making this up. But I'm not.
The Religious Right has lost its last marble. Anyone who
believes the nonsense that they're dishing out now has got to be
completely and utterly brainless. If you're reading this and you
think that the positions taken by these fundamentalist
wackos...
[morons.org headlines]
9:44:56 PM
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© Copyright 2005 Peter Nixon.
Last update: 30/9/05; 10:22:44 PM.
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