zrenneh

Why We Fight

2007-01-24T21:44:00.000Z

I've been watching Why We Fight, a great documentary about the thinking behind the modern state of continuous armament and readiness for war which has come to be accepted as a fact of life. The race to be the most-armed is circular, and it must be remembered that all money spent on arms is money not-spent on more productive things. Arms are often not used, become out-dated and are discarded, arms which are used have more serious consequences.
The film quotes a speech by Eisenhower. It speaks for itself:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.
It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.
We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Tagging MP3's and music files: Multiple Genres & Artists would be GREAT

2007-01-18T11:58:00.000Z

I'd really love to start using a media library. I have at least 150Gb of music and it would be nice to say, pick a genre and see what it throws up. Some of it is well-organised, a lot of it is not.

But one thing that really irks me is that there's no way to tag a file with several genres or with several artists. For example, 'Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans' has to be exactly that, but media library software won't connect together all the 'Cannonball Adderley' music with the stuff he did with Bill Evans.

Equally, being able to web-2.0 style tag genres would make life a lot easier for those hard-to-categorise records (like Pete & Fiete: are they flamenco, rock, jazz, what?)

Kevin Keegan has this to say:

I know that ID3v2 supports adding multiple genre tags to a file but does any software support this? I have not seen any that does and I don't understand why. Most music belong in multiple sub genres, take Fleetwood Mac for instance, it belongs in Rock, but also a sub category of Classic Rock. Most people just classify it as Classic Rock, but what if you want to here a mix of all Rock songs, then you would have to select each subgenre of Rock. Also imagine the issue of a song that people can not agree on what the subgenre is.

So first, a strong shout-out to who-ever is coding this stuff, I'd like multiple artist & genre tag-ability! Here's my suggestion:

It seems to me that the simplest multiple genre implementation would be a tagging style field (in the web-2.0 sense). See del.icio.us or flickr.com for example implementations.
The user would be free to enter as many genres as they want in free-text, separated by some separator character e.g. ;
Free-form text input is key for user-friendliness, but to avoid slight derivative spellings forming two genres, tagging software and media libraries could suggest what to write based on the genres already present in the user's library or 'tag cloud'. For example, is it 'electronic', 'electronic music', 'electro', 'electro-pop' or 'electronica'? Or something else? Your media-library would suggest whatever you'd previously used, but you'd equally be free to type electro-punk-funk if you felt like it.
As long as the ID3 standard doesn't place any limit on the length of the genre field, it is possible to enter multiple genres already. Genre searching features can then be added-on later.

It could be argued that non-standardised genres don't allow interoperability, but taking it a bit further, if genre tags could be listed online somewhere, they would take on a social dimension: i.e. you could utilise not only your genre listings but also those of others. Interoperability could be achieved through the net. Since genres are essentially subjective, this would give a similar consensus opinion, like Wikipedia.

It would also allow cool gadget features like a tag cloud of your MP3 collection.

Thoughts?

Richard Dawkins' Soul

2007-01-05T23:13:00.000Z

A while back, I sent this to Richard Dawkins:

Hi Richard,
I recently read a transcript of a discussion you had several years ago with Steven Pinker. Within, you express lack of belief in the existence of souls.
You define a soul therein as "the principle of life in man or animals", "the principle of thought and action in man commonly regarded as an entity distinct from the body, the spiritual part of man in contrast to the purely physical", "the spiritual part of man regarded as surviving after death, and as susceptible of happiness or misery in a future state", "the disembodied spirit of a deceased person regarded as a separate entity and as invested with some amount of form and personality".
With this in mind, can I buy your soul? It will be easy for you to fob me off with something like "what's the point of selling what is effectively a non-entity". However, as far as I'm concerned, it's fine if you don't believe in them. I would be buying your agreement that I own your soul, if you do have one. Please get back to me if you are interested. If you're not interested, why not? Surely it's free money to you? Either way, I would love to receive a reply.
Best wishes,
Henry

I didn't get a reply. At the time, I was very excited, but I guess in retrospect it's not that surprising. He probably doesn't want there to be any indication whatsoever that he believes in anything supernatural...

"Love is the Answer...

2007-01-04T16:37:00.000Z

but while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions."
Woody Allen

Sony Ericsson K750i as a Winamp remote control (via Bluetooth)

2007-01-03T09:11:00.000Z

I have a K750i. It's not the prettiest phone, but it has loads of gadget features (without being overly-complicated to use). A nice one is being able to remote-control your PC via Bluetooth, but no Winamp remote control settings come as standard.

I've made some, but they require a bit of custom setup: either you have to change the Winamp hotkeys to match the one's I specify below, or you have to use Sony Ericsson's software to make your own Winamp remote control settings file.

Straightforward setup:

Set your Winamp hotkeys to the following settings:
Click the image to see it larger
Download winamp.hid, save it to your desktop or somewhere safe if you want to keep it.
Use Bluetooth to send this file from your computer to your phone; right-click on the file and choose Send to, Bluetooth Device.
Once the file has been transferred, you will be prompted - on the screen of your cellphone - if you want to save the file and if you want to ‘Add to Remote control’. Press ‘Yes’.
You will now see this displayed on the screen of your phone:
The 2-key (play/pause) will play or pause depending on the current state, the 5-key (play) will play if paused, or start the track again if playing
The 1-key & 3-key skip tracks, the 4-key & 6-key skip 5-seconds
The 7-key plays to the end, the 9-key stops with a fadeout
The *-key presses 'Start', the #-key shows or hides Winamp

I hope using it is straightforward!

Custom setup:

If you'd rather keep your own Winamp hotkey settings, you'll have to make your own HID profile.
To do this, first download the Bluetooth Remote Control app from SonyEricsson.com
For the background, you can either use the one which comes with the app, the one I supplied (shown above), or you can adapt my Illustrator file to make your own.
If you want to do this, you're obviously fairly tech-literate, so I'll leave you to it!

Credit to atinyblip.wordpress.com, I borrowed some of your text.

Science is Practical

2007-01-01T18:08:00.000Z

As previously mentioned, I'm studying a Science & Technology Studies unit as part of my degree. Here's something I've half figured-out, comments will be greatly appreciated!

Current historical and epistemological views of science find no basis for truth in current scientific knowledge. Modernists believe that although we can never know that scientific knowledge is completely true, it is a good (and always improving) approximation to truth. Post-modernists believe that science is not objective and therefore not actually progressing toward truth.

I believe that both these views incorrectly focus on truth as the fundamental quality of scientific knowledge. I believe that science is in-fact the search for useful, practical knowledge: knowledge for the production of technology. “What gives scientists their special voice and power is not the ‘truth’ of their theories, but the application of these theories in technology.” (Nick Battey, Nature 399, 1999, Scientists must Bridge the Communication Gap, subscription required)

To be useful, knowledge must be reliable: you don’t want to board a plane which flies based on theories which only work some of the time! By redefining the focus of science studies on the usefulness rather than the truth of scientific knowledge, this does not rule out that science is progressing toward truth. I myself agree with the modernist view that reliability or repeatability indicates truth, and that science is progressing toward truth. That said, my fundamental view is that a focus on the truth of scientific knowledge produces a confusing view, but that a focus on the usefulness of scientific knowledge produces a clear view.

I intend to show that:

Scientific knowledge undeniably produces useful technology.
Historically, science has persisted due to its usefulness.
Technoscience demonstrates science as the search for reliable technology.
Although ‘pure’ science does occur, examination of the funding sources of this research demonstrates the ultimately practical aims of the funding organisations.
Science only appears to be the search for truth when its context within society is ignored. Scientific research is a complex investment opportunity: resources of society are given preferentially to scientific research programmes which eventually produce practically applicable knowledge.

Scientific knowledge undeniably allows useful technology. Electricity as an energy source was developed scientifically, and is now vital for most human activity: it underpins modern information and communications networks which are themselves fast, reliable and ubiquitous. Modern methods of transport also owe a lot to scientific enquiry.
Maybe it would be good to have some more/more-concrete examples here? Answers on a postcard...

History suggests that the persistence of science as a human activity is due to its usefulness, not its accuracy. As early as the 4th century AD, Augustine supported the practical aspect of ‘science’: “cognition of temporal and changeable things that is necessary for managing the affairs of this life”, referring to improvements of crop yields through study. Against a background of the mediaeval scholasticism, Francis Bacon proposed science as a method of obtaining practical knowledge to drive economic growth: “knowledge is power”/“Ipsa Scientia Potentas Est” (Meditations, 1597). Alchemy is an example of a human activity which was not fruitful and has died out: it was never found out how to turn base metals into gold.
Maybe it would also be good to have some more/more-concrete examples here? Answers on a postcard...

The practical goal of science is obvious within ‘technoscience’: the harnessing of science by large organisations for the purpose of managed innovation and invention. Technoscience produces technology; the value of technology is in not only its practical use but its originality, as only original work can be patented or copyrighted. Following from this, the financial value of the scientific knowledge which technology depends upon, itself ultimately depends on the usefulness of the technology allowed. This does not limit my view of science to that specifically directed toward the production of technology: I aim to demonstrate that almost all science is ultimately directed toward the production of technology. As an example, the study of disease associated with pharmaceutical development demonstrates how research with wide-ranging implications and applications can be funded to meet a specific goal.

In funding research, organisations typically require the knowledge to have a value to obtain a return on investment: this value arises from the usefulness of the knowledge. Organisations funding research and their motivations are pivotal in determining what research is undertaken: although the scientists who perform the research advise their financiers, funding organisations can ultimately veto the research undertaken in determining what grants are available. The scientists must therefore work within the objectives proposed.

Scientific research only appears to be ‘pure’ because the knowledge produces has no immediate application. From the scientist’s perspective:

He/She is working on a highly specific area within the body of scientific knowledge
He/She can see that the knowledge being produced may never have any practical application.
He/She has a commitment to repeatability in experimental work.

John Dalton discovered that elements combine to form compounds in specific proportions, and that this consistent composition distinguished compounds from mixtures. His well accepted, not by established scientists like Berthollet, but by the new generations of chemists for the practical usefulness of Dalton’s theories in their work. In this way, work produced by the scientist without an envisaged application can quickly find one.
The organisation funding the research, like all investors, works on the assumption that some investments do not give a return. If funding organisations are well managed, the costs of knowledge which has no practical value will be offset by financial gains through the knowledge which ultimately has practical application. The scientist has a commitment to repeatability in experimental work; although repeatability increases the likelihood that truth has been found, it can never guarantee truth. Gustin (1973) found that “recognition is a theoretically and empirically inadequate key to the motivation of scientists”: that “research was personally enjoyable” and “career reasons” (promotion and salary) were of primary importance.

The perspectives of individuals involved in scientific research are immaterial, the directions of scientific efforts are determined by market economics, which ultimately values usefulness.

Governments are possibly best positioned to fund research most removed from practical application: it can be justified as a ‘public good’. In fact, even if the knowledge does not directly make money for the Government, the eventual technologies enabled do make money. The Government then takes a cut through the tax system. Governments therefore fund a lot of ‘pure’ research through universities, allowing universities to determine the research undertaken.

This view of science as an aspect of technology suggests that scientific work should be limited to that which will have positive technological benefits: harmful technologies or research dead-ends reduce the efficiency of science as a method of generating useful knowledge. Lewis Wolpert has a different view: that although the application of scientific knowledge can be ethically/morally questionable, but knowledge itself cannot be held to be unethical/immoral. “Scientists cannot easily predict the social and technological implications of research” therefore research must not be curtailed for ethical/moral reasons: this gains nothing but does limit possible usefulness. “Whatever new technology is introduced, it is not for scientists to make moral or ethical decisions about its use, as they have no special rights or skills in this regard.” (Nature 398, 1999, Is Science Dangerous?, subscription required)

In answering the question: Is science a worthwhile activity?, previous evaluations which relied on the truth of scientific knowledge would give a mixed opinion. Evaluations which base the worth of scientific knowledge on reliability and usefulness find science to be an emphatically useful activity.

Science and Technology Studies (STS)

2006-12-27T00:30:00.000Z

Recently I've been revising for a university unit on science and technology studies (STS).
As a general rule, I've often found articles to be written in an overly opaque style. As an example, here's one from my lecturer (scroll down to the abstract by Gooding, you'll get the picture).
Why the obscure language?
I've also noticed that the titles all follow a particular style with a catchy/obscure headline, a colon, and a tagline- "Great Big Jugs: The Use of Amphora in Pre-Eruption Pompeii". STS scholars also like to unnecessarily use words from other European languages, my lecturer is fond of referring to science as scientia and art as ars (both from Latin).
Plenty of examples of this writing style are available (just refresh the page for another).
Why the pretension? Maybe they need to dress up their ideas with all this to obscure triviality. As an example, Ihde and Selinger coined the phrase 'epistemology engine' to refer to inventions which have inspired a lot more scientific thinking than was required for their invention. It is a cute phrase, but did it really require a 16-page explanation?
Many STS articles are critical of science and the idea that humans can obtain objective knowledge, but STS has produced no alternative. Do you really expect scientists to adopt your new paradigm?
What is the solution? The STS community is currently highly insular: it needs to broaden its appeal and get scientists on board. Scientists are often very interested in what STS has to say, but are put off by the pretentious writing and the perceived anti-science prejudice. It seems that your intended audience is one-another...surely as a critique of scientists, your intended audience should be scientists?! Scientists may also have a lot to contribute: "many eyes make all bugs shallow" (Linus Torvalds). Widen your possible audience and you might widen your influence!
P.S.: This isn't intended as a flame, but as constructive criticism!

2006-08-06T11:46:00.000Z

Liv knows the German for 'washboard abs' ('Waschbrettbauch', if you're interested). I'm working on 'em...but she didn't learn it from me?!

WASABI!

2006-08-03T18:31:00.000Z

That little inocuous pile next to your sushi. What a daft green colour for such a powerful heat...but it doesn't last long. Chili burns for hours afterwards, but with the long-lasting effects of chili, you swallow it and it's gone.

I always challenge people to wasabi eating competitions but the stuff is powerful, it's all talk...then last week Sam took me up on it. It escalated. We got to eating a piece about half the size of my thumb. The last bit didn't just feel like having my tongue stapled, the feeling scratched all the way from the front of my head to the back and down my neck.

Herb sez:

"Wasabi activates your ANKVT1 receptors (or something) and they are on thermoceptive neurons, which apparently, link into your sympathetic nervous system, which makes you do things like make your hair stand on end and pee. So you be careful with that stuff! After your scalp feels weird, you'll probably pee everywhere! But at least your pupils will dilate, so you can see it really clearly."

2006-02-23T14:29:00.000Z

Concealer is the most fun! Liv put it on her nipples and they disappeared!!!
They are back now.

"Faustus, the Last Night" and "L'italiana in Algeri" at the Staatsoper, Berlin

2006-02-20T13:27:00.000Z

Last Monday, I saw "Faustus, the Last Night" with Liv, Hugo & Theodore.
Reviews are ecstatic, talking of "eight solid minutes of fervent and constant ovations". I need to explode this myth: this production is a serious case of the emperor's new clothes.

“A giant clock dominates the stage of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden for Pascal Dusapin's new opera, "Faustus, the Last Night". Its hands move in both directions, signaling the suspension of time in an otherworldly void between life and death, heaven and hell.

The opera opens with Faustus plaguing Mephistopheles with questions about the universe in his search for knowledge, while a distraught angel sings high-pitched fragmented sentences.

Dusapin, born in 1955, laces his impressive though daunting work with references to European literature and philosophy. His English libretto borrows from Christopher Marlowe's version of the Faust parable rather than Goethe's and quotes liberally from Shakespeare.

The ending moves into Samuel Beckett territory: There is no descent into a Dante-style vision of the inferno. Instead, there is a fading into nothingness, as the music melts away and Togod (an anagram of Godot) sings: 'There is nothing. That's the way it is.' ”
Overview by Catherine Hickley on Bloomberg

Without referring to the synopsis, my understanding was something along these lines (be warned: I give away the ending!):
A giant clock dominates the stage of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Mephistopheles perches on one arm of the clock, mischeivous and smug, assured of his triumph. Faustus is desperately clinging to the clock. He looks almost identical to Mephistopheles, in a black suit with goth makeup. A girl in a bright white body stocking sings very high indistinguishable sounds, and rolls around intermittently. This continues for twenty minutes or so.

The surtitles indicate that Faustus is grilling Mephistopheles for even more knowledge, however the diction in the singing is unclear. The music is difficult, with long sustained syllables; however this is not a great excuse for the most highly thought-of opera house in Berlin: much more work on English pronunciation is required.

A large carrier bag is present, the girl gets in and out occasionally. A very fat man enters. He is also wearing a body stocking, and is covered in mud. They remove all the markings from the clock, leaving only the hands. The numbers are used to make stepping stones, and Mephistopheles quietly leaves.

Two more characters enter, wearing bunny suits. They get out of the bunny suits: one is Mephistopheles! The other is God, but he has forgotten this.
The surreal experience continues for the rest of the production. The ending is spectacular, if pretentious. The holes which once marked the hours on the clock are removed, and the red fires of hell shine piercingly upward through the dark void of the stage. Faustus lies in one of these holes, and slowly descends downwards. A single white balloon rises, floats uncertainly, and is captured and burst by the dark fat angel.

Whilst I didn't admire the production as a whole, two aspects stood out. The setting was remarkable and innovative: it gave a weighty presence to Dusapin's purgatory. It was starkly minimalist, yet surprisingly adaptable with lighting: the 'fires of hell' were particularly effective, the twelve shafts of light shining menacingly upward.
Dusapin's music was perfectly fitted. It was insistent filling the auditorium to the point of claustrophobia, but evoking an eerie emptiness. The mood of the music was dominated by low drones, the strings adding abstract melodies which spurred confusion and fear. The tension was relentless: but nothing could maintain that level of tension for an entire 90 minutes. The music became irrelevant and monotonous.

Dusapin envisioned an empty, monotonous void; it swallowed his production.

On Friday, we saw "L'italiana in Algeri" by Rossini. It was great fun, and totally restored my faith in the Staatsoper. The full plot is extremely complex, and needless to say, I didn't understand it all. What I did understand was great fun: the plot had been adapted to the present day.

The Bey of Algiers was remodeled a pimp. The set was an extravagant portrayal of his brothel and the street, but with the front of the stage portraying his apartment. A single freestanding door cleverly divided the space. Miraculously, the designer complemented blazé neon with expressionist painting to make something spectacular. A corridor led through the city backdrop: red lights pinged on and the stage was suddenly full of writhing belly dancers, exotic and enticing, almost vibrating with their strange style of dance.

Rossini's music was beautiful: intricate duets which captured your attention. I particularly enjoyed one duet between Mustafà, the pimp, and Lindoro, remodeled as a street cleaner. Lindoro wants a woman he can love and marry. Mustafà sings over him that he could have any woman in his brothel. Lindoro continues about the joys of love and marriage, Mustafà continues: "black hair, blonde hair...blue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes...you could have any woman you want!"

The production was perfectly executed glitz: way over the top, but fantastic fun.

French Maids

2006-01-20T15:29:00.000Z

Do they really have French maids in France?
It never occurred to me to connect the two.

I gotta go to France.

THREE WAY BATTLE: Plot vs Content vs Writing Style

2006-01-20T14:03:00.000Z

What makes a book great? Liv said at lunch today that it was writing style that made a book great. Writing style doesn't improve as a book continues, so bad writing style are her grounds for quitting a book. Plot and content aren't cause for concern: a book which seems to have a boring/lacking plot at the outset may get better later on; characters which are difficult to identify with, irritating or just unbelievable may later redeem themselves.
Plot and content are different. For example, the plot of Madame Bovary runs something like:

Girl marries man. Man is boring, girl has affair. Affair is boring, girl has another affair, and another. Girl realises the futility: kills herself.

There: 350 pages condensed into two lines. But this doesn't convey anything of the content of the book: Flaubert is trying to convey the feelings of restlessness and boredom, possibly due to depression, of Madame Bovary, who never quite attains what she would like.
To me, writing style isn't a priority. I can overlook bad writing if the content keeps me interested (Is that a coded way of saying I have a short attention span?!). I recently finished 'We' by Zamyatin. It is so badly written that critics have termed it a prose-poem, to cover up for the awkward, melodramatic sentences. On the other hand, the world he constructs throughout the book is believable and well thought-through. George Orwell used it as a source for '1984'. Although it did not directly inspire Huxley's 'Brave New World', there are many striking similarities between the books. His dystopian vision, envisaged before ubiquitous technology in the 1920, was of society as a machine striving for efficiency. Individuality is superfluous, people are given numbers. Members of the society are assigned tasks, which have been mathmatically analysed to eliminate inefficiency. Humans are taught to see their predetermined path through life as defined by the equations assigned to them. Feelings are eliminated.
There are millions of books out there in the world. You'll never be able to read them all. So judge them by their covers. Pick any arbitrary way of doing it. Only read books with red hardback covers.
Read, and if it's not telling you anything, move on. Don't read beautiful, literary daytime television. Read something that influences you and makes you think.

I did the best scam this weekend...

2006-01-16T13:51:00.000Z

I went to this concert that was totally crowded and full, and the door-people shut the doors and wouldn't let anyone in (the doors didn't have handles on the outside). BUT I put my coat in the cloakroom, then I went and asked if I could go back in. Obviously she didn't believe me, but I said "Do you really think I came here, in this cold, wearing just a T-shirt?!", and then she let me in! YAY jammy!

"I will resist your breakfast impositions!"

2005-12-16T11:23:00.000Z

Liv tried to make me eat boiled eggs.

Christmas Tree

2005-12-14T15:01:00.000Z

Liv and I bought a Christmas tree. It is frikkin awesome. We spent a whole weeks wages on it, and a whole Saturday, getting up early and everything. The man we bought it from was a geezer. He was square with muscles, lifting trees around all day. We asked for the biggest one in the shop. It's three metres tall.
I wanted to decorate the tree in a really dark way, with black gauze and rubber bats. Liv objected. This was my concession:

Something sweeter:

We hung the tree with chili peppers. We had the obligatory chocolates, of course. I love the idea of hanging a whole tree with real organic things. I found a big dark red bean tree down our road, and collected the beans. They look beautiful. In the Weihnachtsmarkt in Spandau, a stall sold dried fruits from all around the world. Lovely green fruits which look like splayed fingers, spiralling seed pods, fluffy gouards.

And rubber ducks! My favourite!

We fly back to London next week! Two Christmas trees in one year. Our neighbour gets this one.

WE ARE MEDIA: Sticker (in progress)

2005-12-12T19:38:00.000Z

Normal people could replace journalists.
Thousands of people write, every day, for fun. Bloggers with opinions, critique. Bloggers everywhere. No need for a journalist to fly out to the latest story, it happened on somebody's doorstep. Through the internet, they can let everyone know.

"The clicking of fingers on keys...these are the sounds of our revolution. These are the 21st century's marching armies."
Madeleine

All that's needed is a robot editor, something like a search engine that will sift this vast amount of information to find news. Maybe with a nifty slider for more or less detail in a particular area, and a memory for what you like to read.

"Information is no longer a scarce resource - attention is."Clive Thompson

Being a robot, it could be completely unbiased, the closest thing to objectivity yet.

"The only way to attain objectivity is to collect the infitessimal subjective perceptions and draw a sample of the mix."
Nabokov

I am making a sticker to represent all this. It doesn't just stand for publishing on the internet, but for all the freedom of information and expression which goes with it.
It's gotta be:

Easy to draw: as a guide, I figured anything that could go on a rubber stamp would be fine.
Instantly obvious and recognisable: we wouldn't want anyone mistaking the revolution for something corporate/communist... Daily Mail reporters must quake in their boots at the sight.
Semi-religious: something obsessive, cultish, that people will draw and follow. Religions have the best symbols (only 2000-odd years of design refinement).

Something like OBEY GIANT.

Space invaders are also great icon design, and Owen showed me a graffiti toaster which is also fun.

Here are my attempts so far:
Idea 1: Computer Man

It has a little man on it who has a computer head and he is thrusting out a keyboard. It says 'WE ARE THE MEDIA'.
While cute, I think it's too childish.

Idea 2: Running Man

I drew the running man from a soviet socialist realist statue in a park outside Budapest. I like the simplicity and directness of soviet socialist realism, and the propaganda feeling it injects. But this design is too complicated. This is a major problem I am having on this project, trying to suggest a lot of people working toward something collective, but keeping the design extremely simple.

Idea 3: Pixellated Man

This design is more simple in appearance, but again complicated to draw by hand.

These are ideas for the future:

Idea 4: Blog Face
A huge, anonymous, pixellated face. Each pixel would actually be a complete screenshot of a blog. The colours of the blogs would be used to form the face.
This would be fantastic as an artwork, but does not work for this symbol, as it cannot be easily drawn or stamped. It wouldn't even make much sense viewed small.

Idea 5: Blog Badge with Face
A blog badge. Like the badges on the right, at the bottom of the side-bar. Each of the eighty by fifteen pixels, a blog screenshot. The image on the left could be the face. The text on the right could read 'WAM'.
Again, fantastic as an artwork but not symbolic. Cannot be easily drawn or stamped, wouldn't make sense viewed small.

The problem I'm having is not with ideas, but with simplicity. How can I represent thousands of contributors with a simple line drawing. Either I must show one and leave the rest to the imagination, or show something which represents many. A globe would serve well, but it clichéd. A spider's web is another possibility, but is difficult to draw convincingly. The Pastafarians cunningly circumvented the whole evolution vs. intelligent design issue (and the many associated design possibilities) by replacing the whole issue with a flying spaghetti monster. Although fantastic, I want to see if I can solve this more elegantly.
More to come...

Chestnuts and Tasty Contrasts

2005-12-07T16:03:00.000Z

Yesterday evening I was sitting in my kitchen minding the oven. This oven is a piece of crap. It has a safety mechanism so the gas doesn't come out when it's cold, but the mechanism is broken, so the gas doesn't come out at all (unless the knob is held in). So I light the gas, stick the chestnuts in, hold the knob in while I close the door, then hold the knob in using an oven glove and a walking stick stuck into the rug. The walking stick is covered in little metal badges from stately homes round ole England. There's a lot of random stuff like that in our flat.
I settled down with my laptop and some Nathan Barley (hilarious, btw) and waited for my food to cook.
After a while, a collosal thud echoed around the little box of our oven. What the fuck? I pulled off the headphones, moved the laptop, dismantled the ridiculous oven-maintenance contraption, shoved it out the way, and opened the door. The hot air in the oven blasted my eyes. (The oven is stuck on really hot setting). The air in the oven was full of atomised chestnut particles. I'd forgotten to spike the chestnuts. I pulled the tray out and put it on top of the oven.
You'd think that a little chestnut would just pop. You're wrong. They explode better than any other foodstuff (except perhaps tuna, when still in the tin). Two more went off. The whole kitchen was covered in little teeny bits of chestnut. All the washing up Liv had spent so long on. I looked like I had the worst dandruff EVAR.
But they were tasty.

This is also tasty:
For two, you need:

Paella rice, for two (About 125g, and water, duh)
4 Tomatoes
1 Lemon
Salt
1 Avocado
Bacon bits, about 200g (or bacon rashers and scissors)
Pumpkin seeds, a handful, but they're good so you might want more. (sunflower would do)

First:

Put the oven on, about 180°C.
Boil the kettle.
Dice the tomatoes. You want little chunks about the size of the end of your finger. Cut them on a big plastic board, and keep all the juice.
Tip all the tomato bits and juice into a big bowl. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. The two tend to cancel one-another out, so be careful how much salt you put in! Put the bowl in the fridge.

Then, all at the same time:

Put the rice on. You want to cook it until it's sticky and gloopy, not dry.
Put the pumpkin seeds in the oven. They need to go in for about 10 minutes. Earlier is healthier, but longer is yummier.
Fry the bacon bits. Make them really crispy.

While that's going on:

Pop the avocado flesh out. I find it's easiest to take the stone out with my teeth (only when I'm cooking for Liv and me!) Cut it up like you cut up the tomato.

Then:

Serve it all together. I know the tomato is cold, that's the idea.
Faff about with pretty presentation a bit, if you're into that.
Don't allow any condiments! Your creation is perfect.

What Happens When You Die?

2005-12-06T15:26:00.000Z

Liv has been reading the Diary of Anne Frank. Anne has a lot of time to wonder about the imminent possibility of her own death. Liv asked me if I'm scared of death. Scared of death, no. Scared of dying, yes. And here's where I make up the rest of the conversation:

Why not scared, and why scared?

I'm not scared of death because I don't have a soul. I don't believe anything from my body will persevere after I die.

If you don't have a soul, how can you think? What makes your mind work?

I believe my mind is a biological illusion. It's important for survival and proliferation. Complex minds allowed Homo Sapiens to become the most dominant species on the planet. This kind of advantage would promote evolution of a mind. So we evolved it. I don't claim to know exactly how this evolution took place, or how minds work. But evolution has produced some extremely complex systems and ingenious solutions: for example the internal area of a your circulatory system is the more than that of a football pitch.

"Holding my hand to keep his balance, as trees and bushes made strange, sliding movements in his peripheral vision, Lefty was confronting the possibility that consciousness was a biological accident. Though he'd never been religious, he realised now that he'd always believed in the soul, in a force of personality that survived death. But as his mind continued to waver, to short-circuit, he finally arrived at the cold-eyed conclusion, so at-odds with his youthful cheerfulness, that the brain was just an organ like any other and that when it failed he would be no more."
from Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Are you worried what will happen to your body after you die, or what there will be there?

No worries, because there won't be anything. Not endless blackness, or any similar quantifiable nothingness; but a complete end to me. But I am worried about dying. I don't think it will be fun in any way. Life is everything, I don't believe in anything else, so to lose life is to lose all:

"There is no more deep-seated biological instinct than that which expresses itself as a firm grasp upon life, there is more dignity, as there is more hamnity, in fighting for life than in passive abdication from our most hardly won and most deeply prized possession."
Biology and Man's Estimation of Himself,
by Peter Medawar

And if that all sounded a bit morbid, you could read an Introduction to Atheism! Something yummier tomorrow, I promise!

Snow and Sun

2005-12-05T16:05:00.000Z

Advent

2005-12-02T15:03:00.000Z

Oh yes.

The March of the Penguins

2005-12-01T09:10:00.000Z

'The March of the Penguins' "is not just a story of survival, it is a story of love.” But "not so fast, penguin breath. I am prepared to admire animal mating lust, animal sacrifice for the survival of their species and even, as we see in the movie, animal cooperative behavior as they construct a living, moving mass penguin scrum to help them survive the freezing Antarctic blasts. However, I am not prepared to believe that penguins or any animals actually fall in love the way we as humans understand romantic love. That's where I get off the iceberg."
And here Rabbi Marc Gellman does indeed get off the iceberg saviour of free thought into the frozen ocean of religious doctrine. Marc beleives that God created the world (in seven days, no less), and specifically gave humans abilities far greater than the other animals, such as the human capacity for love.
I beleive strongly in evolution. This leads me to question why humans love, why emotions exist at all. They evolved, like everything else, for the benefit of the genes which specify them. Emotions were selected as the increased the proliferation of their parent genes, either through increased survival (suspicion), increased procreation (lust) or increased survival of offspring (due to increased care and cooperation through love). Emotions push us to do things we can't rationally justify- Dylan Evans calls this "emotional intelligence". Sometimes daft, like that crush who you never could've dated anyway, but often very sensible. The dodgy guy on eBay who had six Paypal accounts, the three-card guys on Liebknecht Brücke. Everyone who bets wins, except you. Your emotional intelligence tells you it's dodgy, don't bet. Five minutes later, you figure out that all the winners are plants.

What compels the penguins to lead such a fragile life? Emotions. Emotions draw them into relationships, lead them to starve themselves for weeks, help them evade predators hunting, and to then give all their food to their child. Lacking the cognition to see that they need to raise a child, for the survival of their species and for the continuation of their genes, emotional intelligence and real love is all they have.

More Thoughts on Surveillance Cards:

2005-11-29T08:35:00.000Z

Previously, I wrote to my MP regarding the compulsory introduction of ID cards. Here is his response:

"Dear Henry,

Thank you for your letter of 15th November concerning ID cards. As you rightly assume from researching my voting record on the subject I do not object to the proposed introduction of ID cards in the UK.

As you will appreciate many European countries operate a ID card system without adverse consequences to individual citizen's liberty or rights. In an age when, as you say, many private companies have very detailed information on our movements, our shopping habits, our use of the telephone and so on, I do not see a problem in a carefully regulated system under which an individual's identity is officially recorded by an ID card.
True, but the ID card database scheme provides a platform for all privately gathered information to be tied together to form something much more pervasive and useful from a surveillance standpoint. That said, I think the effect on most individuals will be minimal; however I have heard that personal expression against Government policy can affect job applications to the civil service.
We do live in an age when identity poses a growing problem both in terms of criminal activity and in evasion of immigration controls. We also know that more detailed biometric information is being required by some other countries without which passports will not be accepted. It makes sense in my view to use the more detailed information required for new passports as the basis for a national ID card system which I do believe will help to control crime, fraud and illegal immigration. That is not to say that I have no concerns about the current proposals. There is an obvious issue about the cost of the ID card. While the LSE estimates are probably an exaggeration, it is nevertheless imperative in my view that the scheme is introduced in a cost-effective way which does not impose unreasonable charges for a passport/ID card. The commitments which the Home Secretary has given on capping the costs to the public are therefore welcome.
"I do believe will help to control crime, fraud and illegal immigration." Any justification for this belief? And is the huge cost of the scheme worthwhile?
The LSE estimates probably are exaggerated, but the Government's costings are also probably played-down.
Although the Home Secretary has capped the price of the card to any individual, the cost is still effectively picked up by the individual through taxes. It also seems unfair to introduce a compulsory card, then make individuals pay for it. I would suggest that the card is free (although a fee to replace lost cards would discourage negligence.)
There is also the question of the reliability of the biometric data and the capacity of the Home Office to introduce a complex new IT based system such as this without mishaps. I can assure you that I will be keeping a close watch on developments with these concerns in mind.

I hope these comments are helpful."

All in all, I think a fair answer. My MP has to balance his views against his career in line with the party whips. His letter effectively says: I respect your opinion, but I have mine. Unless the situation changes, I have my reasons, and this is how I will be voting.
Despite incomplete arguments, my opinion is changed slightly in favour of ID cards.
I think that the biometric aspect and database aspects of the scheme are inevitable. These will be required for passports to remain relevant. However I still have issues with the compulsory nature of the scheme. Why is it necessary? Being forgetful myself, I can imagine having to pay fines for not registering a change of address within the allotted time. For the scheme to be relevant, the time allowed for registration following change of details would have to be short. But keeping the Government informed is probably not a priority for many, especially when office opening hours are (something like):

Monday to Thursday: 07:00 to 12:00
Except Tuesday: 10:00 to 16:00
Friday: 13:00 to 18:00
Closed for lunch between 12:00 and 13:00

but when you get there you find the website hasn't been updated since 2001, and Wednesdays are appointments only, nevermind you took the time off work.

Ice Glass: Photos

2005-11-26T18:45:00.000Z

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.

2005-11-25T18:45:00.000Z

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!

2005-11-25T10:30:00.000Z

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

2005-11-24T17:15:00.000Z

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:

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.

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.

2005-11-23T09:46:00.000Z

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

2005-11-21T16:43:00.000Z

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

2005-11-21T16:01:00.000Z

"The obvious answer [to D R M] 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

Mickey Mouse is creepy

2005-11-18T12:19:00.000Z

A mickey mouse mask, in silhouette, towering on a huge canvas, would make an interesting artwork.
How did I get this idea? On Saturday I went to see 'Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahogany' at the Deutsche Oper. The staging was amazing. The whole stage floor was black and shiny. The stage had a normal straight front, but the other sides were curved round into a semicircle by a huge white cloth, which was lit from behind. All the cast were dressed in dinner jackets and wearing mickey mouse masks. The cast were so numerous they appeared as an army in silhouette, the Mickey ears silhouetted above them. There was a sharp side-lighting as well, giving the faces harsh contrast. At one point they held the masks up. The light shone through the eye sockets.
In the second act there was a hurricane, depicted as a huge German flag, the size of the stage, descending onto the cast. It was very graphic and bright, but sinister.

Photos of Berlin

2005-11-18T12:18:00.000Z

I've posted a whole load of photos of Berlin, trying to capture

"its various resemblances to an industrial wasteland and slightly pompous imperial bits-and-pieces"

(quote from Adam)

A typoporn bite: "mimi numinum...

2005-11-17T09:49:00.000Z

Blackletter types don't distinguish well between i, u m and n, especially since there aren't any dots on the 'i's. A 14th century joke to illustrate this was "mimi numinum niuium minimi munium nimium uini muniminum imminui uiui minimum uolunt". It translates as "the smallest mimes of the gods of snow do not wish at all in their life that the great duty of the defences of the wine be diminished". Blackletter types on Wikipedia.

I hacked my start button

2005-11-17T09:46:00.000Z

Howto: icon & text.

Rising Sun Trousers

2005-11-16T15:47:00.000Z

I made meself some trousers, based on the Japanese naval flag.
The paint is normal household gloss: careful to put paper through the legs or the paint will bleed through.
The sun does indeed shine out of my arse.

UK is the new OneState

2005-11-16T14:46:00.000Z

The UK Police announced recently that they will be using the UK's almost blanket CCTV coverage to monitor all vehicles

The primary aims claimed for the system are tackling untaxed and uninsured vehicles, stolen cars and the considerably broader one of 'denying criminals the use of the roads'... Having one every quarter of a mile on motorways quite clearly means they'll be used to enforce speed limits as well,...otherwise, checking a vehicle's tax and insurance status every 15 seconds or thereabouts would seem overkill.

The Government is pulling the terrorism card far too freely:

Iraq: the supposed 45 minutes (pdf) it would take Iraq to launch an attack has never been substantiated

ID cards: will have what relevance exactly, when the terrorists are British?

New Anti-terrorism legislation: seems ill-justified. Is it supposed to inspire confidence that they need 90 days to work out who they've arrested?

So I wrote to Nick Raynsford, my MP, to protest against compulsory ID cards (also, sticker):

Dear Nick,
I would like to protest very strongly against the introduction of ID cards in the UK. I have read thoroughly on the subject and so far cannot see any sense in their introduction.
I would like to attend one of your surgeries but I am living in Berlin until next August. Maybe I will be able to come around Christmas.
Your voting record on the issue is strongly in favour. I know you will be extremely well read on the subject, but I hope in this letter I might give you a fresh perspective.
My main objection to the scheme is that the return on investment of the scheme is poor. The Government estimates the cost of introduction to be six billion pounds, or £100 per person. The LSE estimated the cost may be as high as eighteen billion, or £300 per person. Six billion alone would pay for thirty new hospitals (or many other possibilities). Hospitals are a direct and tangible outcome from spending, as opposed to the uncertain benefits of ID cards.
The Bill lists the aims of the scheme as national security, prevention or detection of crime, enforcement of immigration controls, enforcement of prohibitions on unauthorised working or employment and securing the efficient and effective provision of public services.
I cannot see that the bill will effect these aims in any significant way. Focusing on immigration control as an example, how are ID cards any more effective than passports? Asylum seekers will not be affected, they are not UK citizens and as such are not entitled to a passport or ID card. Terrorism also lost credibility as an objective after all the London bombers were found to be British, and therefore would be entitled to an ID card.
I also object to the compulsory nature of the scheme on privacy grounds. ID cards are one of many modern examples of the use of technology to monitor individuals. There is a balance here of the right of the individual to privacy and the right of the society to know. I believe that unless a strong case can be made otherwise, the right of the individual should default over the right of the society or Government, because individuals are more fundamental. Societies come and go, individuals remain.
Modern computer systems would allow monitoring of all email. Mobile telephones allow the locations of individuals to be crudely monitored. Just because a technology is available for monitoring individuals, it does not mean it should be implemented, unless a clear benefit to the individual is apparent.
I am extremely interested in your response.

Ideas for Theatre:a Play to be Interpreted, 'Dream', the 'Corpse Bride' and 'Festen'.

2005-11-16T10:24:00.000Z

Has anyone ever written a play which is designed to be interpreted? The trend in modern theatre (as opposed to Shakespeare etc.) seems that the author envisions almost everything and puts it down, to make any performance one of his original vision. I was thinking that if I wrote a play with no reference to anything about the character or appearance of the characters, maybe try to even leave out character genders, then performances would all be very different. Maybe I could use colours and typefaces to distinguish who was speaking.
I also thought it would be fun to do A Midsummer Night's Dream set in an office.
I envisage Puck as the computer nerd who does all the odd-jobs; Oberon as the grumpy senior management who can't work the gadgets himself, and can't quite articulate what he wants his staff to do; Titania the pretty but manipulative character (no change there) and Theseus as the CEO who occasionally comes on, takes control and sorts everything out.
Why was I thinking this? Liv, Betty and I went to Brecht's house at the weekend. It was lovely. Wide and tall and confident rooms. Full of books, shelves and shelves of Lenin and of English detective stories. He liked to have lots of tables out so he could work on several different things at once. His study looked over a cemetery, apparently he liked to look out at the graves of people he admired.
Thinking about corpses, the Corpse Bride by Tim Burton is masterful, and so much fun! The characters are fantastic (especially the Corpse herself, I would much rather her with her frown than the bland living girl: you can see her teeth through her cheek).
I also watched Festen with Liv and Betty on Friday. Another great film. Rather than fighting against the Dogme rules, Vinterberg works with them to produce a very grounded and realistic film which draws you in and makes you care for all the characters, for their success or demise.
This makes me want to make films! Good ideas don't present themselves to me, but I think maybe I trying to think of an idea for a film directly is too great a task, I should think of funny things first and try and scale them up.

New Mobile Phone Business Model

2005-11-15T08:55:00.000Z

UK mobile phone contracts are pretty unfair:

You get a mobile phone contract. With this you get a phone handset. Whether you pay something toward it or not, the network whom you connect to absorbs most of the cost.
You pay high line rental and call charges to allow the network to recoup the cost of the phone.
If you bring your own phone, you still have to pay the high call charges.
Therefore people are forced to upgrade their phone every year and pay for it whether they want to or not.
Pay-as-you-go seems fair, but actually the call charges are high as the phone is still subsidised.

A new network business model which offers extremely cheap rates and no line rental to users who supply their own handset will slowly but surely overtake 'traditional' businesses and their pricing models.

NO 2 ID: Sticker

2005-11-14T09:48:00.000Z

I made a sticker. Stick it on all your friends!

George Bush as Che Guevara

2005-11-14T09:44:00.000Z

Personal Cinema

2005-11-11T09:17:00.000Z

I was thinking about air travel and airports being boring (captive audience, everything is expensive). I had an idea- maybe you could have something a bit like an internet cafe but where you watch films. You get a computer which can serve you up films or TV shows, an armchair or sofa and some big headphones. Every show listing has a time duration next to it, so if you ahve 20 minutes you can watch Simpsons, if you have 3 hours you can watch Dr. Zhivago or some other epic. I think this would be a very interesting system. Maybe you would have to pay more to have a three-seater sofa instead of an armchair, but definitely not three times as much. Maybe there would be a minimum charge. I'm sure it's a great business proposition. I claim IP right here. Anyone want to do business?

Google-Analytics.com

2005-11-10T14:52:00.000Z

When I posted just now, I noticed my browser pass through google-analytics.com. When I tried to load this page, I got a Google 404 error (i.e. not the standard one from my browser).
Whois gave the following:

Registrant: Google Inc. (DOM-1394389) 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View CA 94043 US

What are Google doing with my blog?!
Recently, they've been moving into indexing 'people stuff', rather than the usual 'information stuff'. Could they statistically analyse all this in some way to create a talking machine, whereby you could request information naturally from Google, as you would talk to anyone else?
Would people want this?

Update (18:30): Apparently google-analytics.com is to be the address of Google's new website traffic monitoring service, acquired as a buy-up of Urchin. The question remains as to why all blogger traffic routes through there...

"Everything in Berlin...

2005-11-10T14:05:00.000Z

has this bizarrely intellectual twist to it."
- Andy

Don't breakdance on the S-bahn...

2005-11-10T11:14:00.000Z

I wore this to work yesterday...

2005-11-10T11:12:00.000Z

I love this German casual dress. Nothing like the British casual (secret code for a pinstripe shirt and chinos). British casual is never casual, as I would never wear that stuff at home. You end up having to buy two sets of clothes for work, instead of just a bunch of suits.

Palast der Republik to be demolished:

2005-11-10T10:48:00.000Z

I thought it would never happen. The Palast der Republik is actually being demolished, starting January.

Smack in the middle of Berlin is the Schloßplatz, the site of the current Palast der Republik. In the mid 1800's, when it was fashionable to do such things, the current Kaiser demolished and re-built most of Berlin to put his Palace slap-bang in the middle. The roads all gyrate around it.

Naturally, the GDR flattened the castle, as a symbol of the bourgeois. They built the Palast. It is giant, copper coloured, uniform and fantastically ugly. It's ugliness has gone way past brutalist blandness to a cool irony, a bright 'fuck you' in the centre of Berlin. I love it. Most people hate it, some because of the ugliness, some because of the memory of the GDR.
When asbestos was found throughout, the politicians jumped on this as a great reason to knock it down. What they didn't really mention was that you have to remove asbestos before demolition, in exactly the same way as if the building was renovated, and at exactly the same cost.

The public were presented with the choice:

Keep the Palast, or
Rebuild the Schloß

I vote the Palast. While both ideas are retrospective, the Palast is real history, the Schloß is a folly (and expensive: at least €400,000,000). I would expect most East Berliners to want the Schloß back and erase the remnant of the GDR, and the West Berliners to be more impartial. But it is the other way around. Is this another case of the West conquering the East?

Invention: plate with shelves

2005-11-10T10:23:00.000Z

I love to cook. All my favourite dishes balance contrasts, salty & sharp,
creamy & grainy, smooth & crunchy. So the worst is when everything
gets mixed together.
My plates will have three levels:

The rim
One half of the plate a little lower, for the crunchy stuff
The other half of the plate lower still, for the saucy bits.

Yummy.

Male or Female

2005-11-09T14:46:00.000Z

I love it when I can't decide whether someone is a man or a woman. I think it's so funny. You whisper to the person sitting next to you, and try and work it out. So I thought of an idea for a website. It would be like hot or not, but for people you see who you can't guess what sex they are. Take a picture of them with your phone, send it to us. Visitors to the site get presented with pictures and they have to guess simply MALE or FEMALE. Then they get to see roughly what other people voted, and maybe roughly how long people take to choose. Pictures which are hardest to work out become more popular.
A bit like FEMALE or SHEMALE...

"This is one of the best Saint-Emélions...

2005-11-09T12:18:00.000Z

which I've had, recently"
- Pete

"I hate you...

2005-11-09T12:17:00.000Z

with A PATHY!"
- Henry (ME!)

CMY Toothpaste

2005-11-09T12:07:00.000Z

You need three tubes of toothpaste, one yellow, one cyan and one magenta. Not stripey or pastel coloured, but straight-up process colours.

Put some on your toothbrush. Maybe some from one tube, and some from another. Maybe some from all three.
Brush teeth.
Spit any colour of the rainbow (but only one at a time).
Would this be good for getting little ones to brush their teeth? I want some!

Toothbrush image from Daniel Fogelqvist

A hard day at work:

2005-11-09T11:20:00.000Z

Can porn stars ever say "not now, darlin', I've had a 'hard' day at work"?

Much sexier than plastic porn?

2005-11-08T15:55:00.000Z

These illustrations, by Gerda Wegener, are from her book 'Les Délassements d'Eros'. They are so much fun, so much more stylish than bleached blond, artificially inflated porn.
They are from the Erotic museum in Berlin, where I also saw illustrations by Louis Berthommé Saint-André from 'La Folle Journée de Gaby d'Ombreuse', some beautiful lithographs, very sexy and very French.
The Erotic Museum gave me the overwhelming feeling that:

Sex isn't fun for girls
Mens' brains are in their cocks

This is unfortunate, as the museum was started by 'sex-icon' Beate Uhse to dispel the taboos surrounding sex. The plastic pink decor, soft porn music and occasional cheesy waxwork are still a definite middle-aged men-in-macspuller.

A brief lesson on how the world works...

2005-11-07T16:58:00.000Z

From Simonetta on Slashdot:

Let's take a time out for a brief lesson on how the world works.

People have some money.

People give a little of this money to lawyers.

Lawyers give some of the money that they get to politicians.

Politicians pass laws requiring you to give more of your money to the people who gave a little of their money to the lawyers.

A positive feedback loop. It continues to grow until:

People kill the politicians, or

People kill the lawyers.

This is how the world works.

Reminds me of the fabulous Assassination Politics.

More blogs

2005-11-03T14:19:00.000Z

Hi.
I've decided to create a new blog!
For all the readers of my ole travel diary, this is on zrennehinasia.blogspot.com. I also finished it on my Uni webspace: Link.
My new blog is a collection of my ideas. Check it out.