Hi,
I am starting a bit early this week, it’s actually Friday and I am sitting in a small caf‚ having a hot chocolate, listening to my iPod and am having such a cool time of it. Apple didn’t invent shuffle but they sure as hell raised the bar to a seriously high level.
The playlist just spat out Simon & Garfunkel singing “America” (the Concert in Central Park version) followed by Imogen Heap, Dragon Force, Leo Kotke playing “Eight Miles High” and it just finished Show of Hands “Roots”. This is the same kind of sequence that Pandora used to give me on the PC, but I am truly impressed by the iPod. Even if you are left with the nagging thought “How did it know?”
Just in case you think I am turning into an Apple “fan boy”, don panic – I am writing this on my handheld PC, I have used the iPod’s exhausting screen based thumb pad only once and if it involves more than a URL or email address you can forget it. I know (and have watched with gob smacked astonishment, people dashing off what seems like “War and Peace” length emails in their iPhones), but it all seems a bit hard for me. I will just keep scribbling on the palm top.
What else this week (and the week before and the week before that)? I honestly don’t know where the time goes (Sandy Denny 1969 Unhalfbricking). I notice that democracy flexed it’s muscles once again over in the states and for once the right dude won.
If the comedians are any thing to go by, Dubya is toast.
Here are some of my favourites –
And political analysts are saying today that Barack Obama’s win was unprecedented. Which again confused President Bush? He said, “Unprecedented? You mean, he didn’t win? He got unpresidented?”
or
Barack Obama is now gonna receive the daily White House intelligence briefing on things like, you know, security and terrorism, stuff like that. It’s the same briefing President Bush gets every day, but without the pictures and the colour by numbers.
Or
First Lady Laura Bush called Michelle Obama and invited her and her young daughters to the White House. Isn’t that nice? Laura Bush told Mrs. Obama, “While I give you a tour, the girls can watch Spongebob with the President.”
Or
President-elect Barack Obama spent the day thanking the people who helped him win the election. That’s right. Yeah, and actually, Obama’s first phone call was to Sarah Palin.
Or (and this is really my favourite)
Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama is our new president. And I think I speak for most Americans when I say, anybody mind if he starts a little early?
Let’s get started shall we.
Jools sent this one along
“From the era that taste forgot – many, many 80’s music videos as a MMI.
Love, Jools
http://www.80smusicvids.com/ ”
Ted Talks: Larry Lessig, the Net’s most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the “ASCAP cartel” in his argument for reviving our creative culture. I think this guy is one of the most important people currently sucking air.
SO Why should you listen to him?
“No expert has brought as much fresh thinking to the field of contemporary copyright law as has Lawrence Lessig. A Stanford professor and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society, this fiery believer foresaw the response a threatened content industry would have to digital technology — and he came to the aid of the citizenry.
As corporate interests have sought to rein in the forces of Napster and YouTube, Lessig has fought back with argument — take his recent appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, fighting the extension of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years — and with solutions: He chairs Creative Commons, a nuanced, free licensing scheme for individual creators.
Lessig possesses a rare combination of lawerly exactitude and impassioned love of the creative impulse. Applying both with equal dedication, he has become a true hero to artists, authors, scientists, coders and opiners everywhere.”
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html
Bonus Ted Talk. John Hodgman is a PC, actually he is a writer, humorist, geek celebrity, former professional literary agent and expert on all world knowledge. Hodgman rambles through a new story about aliens, physics, time, space and the way all of these somehow contribute to a sweet, perfect memory of falling in love.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/john_hodgman_s_brief_digression.html
This is hysterically funny stuff.
This on the other hand is seriously disturbing ( and funny in an Itchy and Scratchy way).
I wish they had done a ull size statue of the coyote.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/10/27/cool-stuff-splatter-exhibition-in-london/
duggup’s has published over 800 reviews, isn’t that amazing? So what’s been put there recently? We had the usual eclectic crop, Jools found this amazing Irish band called “High Kings”, think of a celtic Il Divo but better with better tunes, they are pretty good. My favourite this week would have to be “Hooray For Earth”, bigger than life. Stroll over to http://duggup.com.au and have a look.
Flash Game Time: We haven’t done a “tower defence” game for awhile. There is a reason- I’m crap at them. I start drawing all these baroques strategies that look great and are about as functional as Malcolm Turnbull’s credibility.
The trouble is they really do “impede productivity” whether you re winning or not (that is loser speak for “I’m crap at them”) Today’s version gets through because it uses a whiteboard metaphor for the battleground, which so works for me and the “enemies” are really cute with their really really annoying sound effects. Since most of you will be be playing this at work, there is a mute button in the top-right of the window.
The only fly in the ointment is the Easy level bears absolutely no resemblance to easy. It’s surprisingly hard, trust me on this one. I have no idea about the higher levels (see former statements about losers)
As usual we wont be entering into any discussion about my performance on this one either.
Have a good one
thatch
{Currently listening Leo Kotke (blame the iPod) and Will Ackerman’s new one}
{Currently reading: Dreary MS Sharepoint manuals (does it really need to be this bloody hard???)}
{Quick Status Check: Hell, all those punters on Oaks Day just found out about train cancellation roulette, I play this game nearly everyday.}
{Crop Circle Status: Move along, nothing to see here. }