Hi,
We’re back. Ross got the bonus points for correctly identifying the quote last week.
Song: The Pretender / Album:The Pretender / Performer: Jackson Browne.
One thing I will say about the work I have been doing for the last week or two, it’s been entertaining. Well actually the people I have been meeting has been nifty. I seem to attract musicians and audio nuts. Cool huh?
One of the tools I found last week that was cute was http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/ take it with a grain of salt but it will at least give you an idea how your internet connection is running.
Lets do the real sillies…
Mur Lafferty has released her book “Heaven” as a podcast. Here is the hype.
“What if Heaven wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Friends Kate and Daniel find that after their untimely deaths, Heaven leaves them dissatisfied and itching for something… else. So they’re off, with a passport to discover more afterlifes, heroes and gods. During their adventures, they find out that their travel isn’t a journey taken on a whim, but may be orchestrated, or even prophesied.”
This is a ripper story and you can get all the parts if you want all at once. Dog Heaven in Part 5 was a hoot.
Download one or two a day, whack them in your MP3 player and enjpy your transit time. You can find it and a bunch of other stuff at Podio Books.
http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=97
Prefer a Dead Treee book? You can download Rudy Rucker’s Postsingular. 21st Century Cyberpunk? Psipunk? Who knows what to call it, all I know is that this is better than the stuff he wrote in his wetware era.
“Postsingular takes on the question of what will happen after the Singularity-what will happen after computers become as smart as humans and nanotechnology takes on the power of magic? A mad scientist decides it might be a good idea to create a giant virtual reality simulation that is running a copy of Earth and of most of the people in it. Fine, but in order to create this simulation, the mad scientist plans to grind our planet into a zillion supercomputing nanomachines called nants.” And we are away.
Rucker can be a frustrating read but this is him at the top of his game.
http://www.rudyrucker.com/postsingular/
Jools spotted the drummer in this YouTube clip and feels he has been sadly miscast in this band. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWjNX4PBlI
More importantly is the question “What the hell was she looking for to find this”?
This is pretty, clever and I want it. Here is all the cool justification.
“Y5 _ framework 5*5*5 refers to informatics’ modular workspace, called a framework. Here, Y5 ‘s “frames” constitute the framework, a space built up by five modules of 2*2m, divided in 5*5 squared elements, establishing a matrix of 5*5*5 = 125 modules. At the one side diffusing the light (white) and at the other side absorbing the light ( black ), the modules constitute a binary language (0,1) and a space of 125 pixels, allowing to transcribe captured data from the physical environment in a kinetic and luminous play _ in between opening and closing, in between transparency and reflection, in between light and dark.”
Essentially it’s a bunch of LEDS, servo motors and control circuits.
Down at the bottom of the page is a video of it in action. Forget the hype it’s just fab eye candy.
http://www.lab-au.com/f555/
Bruce Sterling has an article in the March Metropolis Magazine entitled “Revenge of the Slow”.
“Slow Food began as a jolly clique of leftist academics, entertainers, wine snobs, and pop stars, all friends of Italian journalist and radio personality Carlo Petrini. Their galvanizing moment, which occurred in 1986, was an anti-McDonald’s demonstration at which Petrini and his dining buddies brandished pasta pans while folk-dancing in the streets of Rome. This prescient intervention predated Jose Bove’s violent wrecking of a French McDonald’s by some
13 years. While the anti-WTO crowd was politically harassing corporate globalizers, Slow Food was methodically building constructive alternatives. Today, Slow Food is well-nigh as “global” as McDonald’s but networked rather than hierarchical. Year by methodical year the Slow Food network has stuck its fingers into a host of pies.”
This is a thought provoking article about the Slow Food movement, a massive, moneyed global phenomenon that aims to fight globalization by creating cachet for items that can’t be scaled up to global prominence.
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=3190
I am not really a fan of Flash websites (just the games folks) but this one is awesome. It takes a few seconds to kick in, trust me it’s worth the wait. This is the silliest thing I have seen for ages.
http://producten.hema.nl/
Duggup has been fun (yes I still managed to meet the daily publishing
deadlines) Jools posted “Early Music Consort of London” who are absolutely brilliant, we are hosting a few of their pieces. I finally reviewed Ian Bland’s “Drifter” (yep that’s Ian of MFI infamy” and it was a bit of an alternative rock week. Head over and check it out.
http://duggup.com.au
Flash Game Time: I actually had a lot of fun with this one, it was a metaphor for my last fortnight. One step forward two steps back and the occasional illusion of progress. Blame Jools.
“This is similar to an earlier game I sent as an Impedimentia. Good way to kill a few hours.
Open Doors Created by: soapaintnice
Simply move the square to the X. Moving through lots of doors along the way.
To Move the Square use the Arrow Keys, The R Key Resets, The Q Key Changes Quality, The S Key Toggles Sound
http://www.kongregate.com/games/soapaintnice/open-doors/?referrer=Jayisgames
Love, Jools”
I actually got a reasonable score.
Well that’s enough for this week. Have a good one.
thatch
{Currently listening to Yeasayer and Dochas }
{Currently reading: Back with the Micro$cum manuals. bugger}
{Quick Status Check: Coming off caffeine can be Hell}
{Crop Circle Status: It’s not long to May now (about 24 sleeps) and the games will begin again.
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2007/2007.html }