Ice Glass: Photos

Liv and I took these photos of a smashed phone-box glass we found. The bright blue one was a happy accident of a digital camera and a bright flash. Link.

Tasty! Grilled Aubergine with Feta and Grated Carrot.

I love food. Liv loves food. We always make tasty dinners. She introduced me to the joy of beautiful food, even after a day at work, not just munch some frozen reconstituted stuff as fuel.

I used to invent something every meal I cooked as a child. Living at home the cupboards were always full, but not necessarily with things that matched. My favourite meals jumped together (the disasters were thrown together).
Here's something I made last week. For two, you'll need:

• Two aubergines
• Olive oil
• Feta: a piece about the size of your fist
• Carrots: three or four
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Brown/Demerera Sugar
• Half-baked rolls: four to six. I used Pillsbury ones that come in a tin, but the frozen ones are good too.
• Butter.

• Stick the oven on and bake the rolls, following the instructions on the packet. If you can grill and oven at the same time, you can do the rest at the same time. Otherwise you'll have to keep the rolls hot under a tea-towel or something.
• Stick the grill on.
• While the grill's heating up, slice the aubergines into finger-thick slices. Dip the slices into a dish of olive oil.
• Grill the aubergine slices. Remember to turn them half way through.
• While the aubergine slices are grilling, peel then grate the carrots. Add a bit of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar to the grated carrot ('til tasty)
• Slice the feta, pretty thin.
• Get the aubergine out the grill when it looks tasty. Put a slice offeta and a lil' bit of grated carrot on each aubergine slice.
• Serve it all together! Don't forget the butter.

SNOW!

Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

The following is apparently an actual question given on "National University of Ireland, Maynooth Chemistry finals". Becci emailed it to me this morning, and I thought it was hilarious ;)

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law that gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed or some variant.

One student's answer was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell. Because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay constant, the volume of Hell must expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Sandra during my 1^st year that 'it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is endothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is extinct...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being - which explains why, last night, Sandra kept shouting 'Oh my God.'"

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

Who should I vote for? Idea for Website.

Germany had 77.7% voter turnout in their 2005 general election. Almost four fifths. In comparison, the UK managed 61.4%. This is less than two thirds. Although it may not sound like much in percentage terms, if the UK had the turnout of Germany, almost ten million more people would be going to the polls. Why does the UK have such low voter turnout? Because the mainstream parties have fairly similar policies, and because the traditional positions of the parties no longer hold. For example, Labour was traditionally left-wing, but is now centre/right. Liberal Democrats are similarly centred. It is difficult to choose. People want to make an informed decision, but don't have the time to fully read party manifestos (and read between the lines!)

A website could do it for you! You are presented with 20 questions (or so), and various aspects of Government policy. For example, 'Do you support the introduction of compulsory ID cards?' or 'Do you support the legalisation of marijuana?'
There are various other possibilities. Each question could have more than a yes/no answer, for example 'Support Strongly', 'Support', 'Neutral', 'Disagree', 'Strongly Disagree' and 'Don't know'. This would allow more tailored service. Each question could also have links alongside it to various sources of opinion: Government web-pages, news articles, campaign groups. It would be integral to the success of the project that the selection of sources was impartial. Party manifestos would not be included here, to try and preclude the user choosing with a certain party view in mind.

Once the user had made their choices, the website would combine these mathematically to decide which party to recommend. Having searched, I found that a similar website already exists, but how it reaches its decisions is completely mysterious. This is what it told me:

Who should I vote for? v2

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

abour -7
Conservative -22
	Liberal Democrat 65
UKIP -5
	Green 43

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

The impartiality and transparency of the site is the most important thing:

• The method of calculation would be explained.
• The party views for each question would have to be demonstrated, with links to the relevant page of each party manifesto.

How did I get this idea? From my friend Florian. He studies something to do with propaganda (it sounds really fun!) As part of his course, he set up a group called Politik Fabrik. They started a similar website. They also had a big campaign, visiting schools to tell kids the benefits of voting and why it is important, and how to research before you choose. On election night, they turned a disused metalworking factory into a club. There were huge screens showing beautiful women casting their vote (propaganda student at work), and you got free entry with your voting paper. Dance all night, vote on the way home!

Foundation Art: some advice

I studied Foundation Art in 2005, at London Guildhall Uni, now London Met. Every now and then, people ask me about it, so I thought I'd let y'all know. This information was definitely good in 2003.

Foundation lasts a (university) year. The idea is to try as much stuff as possible, to get an idea what you might want to do as a degree.

The courses are very variable, but mine was like this:

• 4 days a week.
• Of those, Wednesday is always for learning a skill, like how to develop your own photos, how to make prints, etc.
• Fridays off, go to galleries.

• At the start of the year, you get one two-day project (Monday and Tuesday) and one one-day project (Thursday). The projects give you a reasonably broad base, but there's plenty of opportunity for expression and individuality. They ranged from 'draw whatever you like all over the walls' to 'play consequences, then illustrate a six-page book on the results'.
• After a while, you get week long projects. Still with briefs.
• After Christmas, you get month long projects with no brief, or a very broad/minimal brief. They want you to start choosing a discipline and working in that. If you want to be an animator, make animations, etc.
• After Easter, you have to do one enormous project on your own material. This is all that is assessed.
• The teaching is as and when you ask for it, especially further on in the year.

If you are interested in Foundation, look into the following:

• TEACHERS:PUPILS ratio. This is super important.
• Teaching style. I really enjoyed everything about London Met. From what I have heard, at Camberwell (good reputation) there was less teaching, and they started on month-long projects. I got the impression it was a lot less fun. At Central St. Martins (really good reputation) I heard the teaching was non-existant. The open-day gives you an air of arrogance and disinterest. On the other hand, I think I might've learnt more from bouncing ideas off the people I studied with, than from the teachers! In this way, maybe the well-regarded colleges will be best, as they should attract the most talented pupils.
• Particular subject focus. For example, Ravensbourne is where you go for fashion. The London College of Printing, for print-making. Duh. If you want to do a degree afterwards, you might want to consider this.
• A portfolio. You'll need one to get in. It doesn't have to be extensive, but should include a sketchbook, some finished looking stuff, and some of the in-between work, that looks kind of messy but shows your explorative side. They like people who try lots of different media and ideas. Your portfolio will look better with selected things rather than everything you've ever done. Lots of A-level stuff is OK, but show you've not neglected art in the interim time.
• About nine hundred quid in fees.

Application:

• For application in London, get an application form from one of the London colleges. The form lists all the places you can study.
• When you choose, you give an order of preference. Before you choose, ask your choices if they resent being not first choice. For example, Central St. Martins will only take you as a first choice applicant.
• Before you apply, visit lots of places. Try and talk to the students themselves about what they think and the style of teaching (if you get taught at all). You could also consider other places. I think London is most exciting from a galleries and events point of view. One place that is a complete break from the norm is Falmouth. It's down in Cornwall and very beautiful. Lots of artists live there for the light- good if you're into traditional drawing/painting.

Why do Foundation?

• It's really fun and broad.
• You get to try loads of things.
• The pressure is pretty low, at least before the final project.

Good luck!

Digital Rights Management vs Digital Rights Money

"The obvious answer [to DRM] is to pay with money similarly protected - special digital rights money, which would vanish, like fairy gold, when you stopped playing with the new toy. Nobody would accept payment on those terms. Why are there companies which think the opposite is fair?"

Genius.

Andrew Brown, November 19th 2005, The Guardian