Monday Morning “Impediment to Productivity” – 20080414

Hi,

Still plowing through the silliness of server upgrades. At least it’s nearly done. I am looking forward to a few days to catch my breath. As I mentioned last week Ian (of MFI fame) has finally released his solo CD (No Jack for thse of you who know him), there are some great songs on it, even if my marac solo ended up on the cutting room floor. IT had to be just one marac as a pair of maracas would have trashed the budget. just kidding. Actually I played a small piece of guitar on one track and it really was the one that didn’t make the cut.

Any way Ian is launching the CD here in Melbourne on May 3rd at the Clifton Hill Hotel, tickets are starting to move so I suggest that you head over to his site http://ianbland.com.au and
A: Have a listen to the samples he has there
B: Pick up a ticket or two
C: Buy me a drink on the night (this one is optional)

Ross: I will get you a trophy, a small one and have it shipped to you.
Finn: I will get an explanation of what the hell an impediment is.

Lets do the real sillies.

As some of you will be aware I am a fan of “Numb3rs” (big surprise huh?) The idea of a show based on the premise that you can solve a crime in 20 minutes using a laptop is so preposterous I just love it.
This ad is brilliant, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVSFzswY3XY
If you haven’t seen the show, you really should watch it. Well I think you should, here is a sample of the show where they rave about game theory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCinK2PUfyk

Staying with the numbers theme for a minute, I found this one. Felix Jung has writen pi10k. It converts the first 10,000 numbers in pi to musical notes. You determine which notes correspond to each integer by clicking on an on screen piano keyboard. This is weird (even for me) in a Terry Riley minimalist way. and they supply the Key of C as a preset (sorry obscure music joke).
http://www.avoision.com/experiments/pi10k/index.php

And let’s leave the last word to Jools

“Yes, yes . Now where do you think you are going – this is an impedimentia after all.
Love, Jools
http://www.sayyad.ca/phonesongs.html “

I actually did this some years ago when I programmed my old mobile phone to play Layla, now I just use a recording from the concert last year. Sometimes progress is good.

Actually let’s work through some more pieces of “Blame”.

Bill C sent this item along
http://www.break.com/index/dirty_deeds_done_with_sheep.html
Take it up with him.

Jools also sent this one along

“This is an animation about optical illusions. I think it would make a good MMI
Love, Jools
http://haha.nu/beautiful/eugen-erhan-optical-illusions/
P.S. The soundtrack is a band called Tiamat from Sweden. Check duggup”

Craig H sent along this scurrilous piece of slander..

“A killer of a quiz. I’d like to see an Australian version – “Now where do I know that face from? Was it Snowtown or Pretentia???”
http://www.mattround.freeserve.co.uk/files/killerquiz.swf “

Pretentia indeed, the lawyers will be chatting with you during the week.

And finally Kalene C sent along “Craft Skills Gone To Waste”

“http://facefoodbento.blogspot.com/
I love the super Mario- on this link towards the bottom.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf080329dinner_in_the_sky_fa “

Take it with the respective people. I’m innocent (well it sounds better if you all don’t snort derisively), not believable. just better.

Dead Tree Story: Futurismic has published Leonard Richardson’s story called “Mallory” and this one has got everything. Seriously – geek hackers and classic arcade games, electronic Darwinism and domestic espionage, venture capital and Silicon Valleyish start-ups . and a healthy dose of intellectual property panic. Futurismic also point out for the benefit of the easily-offended that there’s a generous sprinkling of profanity in “Mallory”, right from the outset.

Not put off? Click on the link and away you go. If you need a hint, think “Snow Crash” and then turn left and head for the horizon.

MALLORY by Leonard Richardson

Audio Book: This week StarshipSofa (http://www.starshipsofa.com/ which I highly recommend) has a great little story by Ted Chiang called “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” The MP3 is at

and as a bonus for you dead tree types and you know who you are, there is a text version here.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/tc01.htm

Duggup was the usual madhouse. Jools posted “Tiamat” who are a really classy “Goth Metal” band. Me, I was writing up “Ghost Orchid”, “Weinland” (who you shouldn’t miss) and “The Raveonettes” (who surprised me by being fabulous). Head over and check it out. http://duggup.com.au

Flash Game Time: Today’s impedimentia is a triumph of elegance and minimalism. It’s called Nanotube, and the really cool thing is that all you need are two keys to play it. Here’s the deal. we have a circle that has partially coloured blocks, and using the directional keys, you can manipulate and spin the colours around the circle, much like you would move the paddle in Pong. As coloured balls come towards the circle from the center, you attempt to block them with the appropriately coloured block. If you succeed in doing this, you will get points, if you don’t, you are toast. So if you survive, you move onto the next level (it gets harder, trust me). Enough talk, click the link.
http://www.slakinov.com/nanotube.html

Well that’s enough for this week. Have a good one.

thatch

{Currently listening to Mike Oldfield and Mad Violet }
{Currently reading: That would still be those bloody Micro$cum manuals. bugger. again}
{Quick Status Check: If I could get hold of the dudes who wrote the manuals mentioned above. they would be going to Hell}
{Crop Circle Status: It’s not long to May now (about 18 sleeps) and the games will begin again.
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2007/2007.html }

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