Category: Random

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit a friend in Primrose Hill. On the way over the bridge across the train lines I saw a beautiful sky. I like skies. You don’t get to see them enough in cities.

The site for the Text E-mail Newsletter Standard is a well-intentioned and intelligent attempt to develop some standards for plain-text e-mail newsletters. It only falls down because the accessibility-conscious design strategy they’ve taken doesn’t seem to be actually very easy for the non-visually impaired to read. I’d be really interested in the opinions of the b3ta and popbitch crews on this subject – they’ve made readable plain-text e-mails an artform (although screen-reading the ascii logos must be excruciating). cf. Stef’s comments on screen-reader browsers.

Noise. Where would we be without it? Trapped in a sensory-deprivation tank, perhaps. Maybe – at a push – in space (although we’d have to not have any air-tanks or helmets or anything to experience the absence of noise, and I don’t know what the auditory effects of boiling blood, near-absolute zero temperatures and explosive bodily decompression might be)…

• The Sound of Things to Come
  Through the magic of transmitting sound to directionally precise co-ordinates the HyperSonic Sound Amplifier (which has got to be about an hour and a half away from being usurped as a band-name) enables really specific and clearly defined parts of the 3-D real-world to be exposed to noise in such a way that people a couple of feet away can’t hear it at all. The most depressing part of this otherwise fascinating story is that the best thing they could come up with as an early application was a Coca-Cola machine that suggested you buy one when you went past… “Wouldn’t a Coca-Cola feel pretty good about now?”

• Babel Fish on the Horizon?
  A company is working to produce a device that uses text-to -speech software to take something someone says to you in French (for example) and then run it through a translation matrix of some kind (like Babelfish, but presumably not as funny) before speaking it out again. Essentially a portable computer translation device. In all likelihood, it’s going to work like a dog strapped to a badger in a big bowl of custard.

I’m slowly and systematically working my way around plasticbag.org, sorting out the weblog sidebar. I’m trying to find the best ways of helping the site to explain itself on each and every page – without compromising cross-site and inter-post navigation. It may sound naff and unremittingly tedious to you, but I’m finding it intensely satisfying. As a side effect of this process, I’ve decided to have a hack at the part of the sidebar that deals with my favourite weblogs. This is now almost a direct copy of my NetNewsWire subscriptions, which means one of two things – either everyone’s getting an RSS feed, or I’m gradually ceasing to read people without them…

Now, somewhere between fifteen and twenty years ago, I was a singular fan of the Bangles. I had all three of their albums, from the weird and vaguely unlistenable first one, through the poppy second album through into the lush soft rock third album. I hated Eternal Flame (still do), but loved songs like “Following”, “Glitter Years”, “Crash and Burn” and “Be With You”. I will make no apologies for this. I get pleasure from them still.

Last night I went to see The Bangles in concert with friends Francesca and Es. I went to see The Bangles in concert and not only was it really good fun, it was also a really good concert. Of course my initial assumption had been that it would be a vaguely tragic occasion – some kind of ludicrous nostalgia-milking exercise for the nearly-middle-aged. But while there was no shortage of the middle-aged in the audience, the band themselves didn’t look in any way out-of-place, out-of-fashion, self-indulgent or flabby. No – they were clearly a sharp and capable band up for having a very good time while rocking like pop-rock bastards…

When I was a kid, it never even occurred to me that I’d get to see them live. And when I booked the tickets it never really occurred to me that the whole experience would be so full of resonance and weird, trashy, idealistic, teenage emotions. Now, having seen them live, I realise that I’ve fulfilled a teenage dream that I didn’t know I had. And while it’s not without a hint of embarrassment, I feel bloody wonderful. If you get a chance to go and see them in concert, then go. I think you’d be surprised how much fun you’d have…

Two nights in a row I’ve left work with a burnt-out grey headache. Desperate-need-for-a-holiday time is here, and thankfully Actually-going-for-a-holiday time is rapidly approaching. But more on that later. More rested today – my head spinning a little, but with bits of brain no longer oozing from my ears – I can start to bring sense to the memeworld around me. Panic no longer. For I am back…

• Steve Bell’s Iraq Cartoons [via LMG]
• A word about your mobile phone [via Dan]
• iPod updater 1.2.6
• Old but entertaining sexuality questionaire
• Cal’s favourite bash.org quote du jour
• Weird irony: Missing Bill of Rights copy recovered
• Simon likes IV chords
• Interesting Google functionality
  (but their labelling and nomenclature sucks ass…)

For those Americans amongst our company who may not know who he is, Robin Cook was, until this morning, Leader of the House of Commons. He was a high-placed member of the British cabinet, and an ex-Foreign Minister. Today he resigned in protest at what he believes to be the inappropriate rush to go to war without the support of our international allies. He gave a rousing and intelligent speech in the House of Commons that has been circulated on all the UK TV stations, and which received a standing ovation from his colleagues. I can’t as yet find a transcript online, but I’ve found a RealAudio version from the BBC. I advise everyone to watch it. Addendum: Here’s a transcript of the speech from the BBC.

We all need things that are good to think with – interesting or fascinating questions that are worth exploring. Here are a few interesting questions people around the world have been asking this week…

• Is the BBC arrogant, unfairly subsidised and imperialistic?
• Has water been found on Mars?
• Is the future of urban development underground?

Clutter is my favourite new OSX toy. It starts off as a tiny little window that links in with iTunes. While you’re listening to music, it pops online and grabs cover images from Amazon. Now that – in and of itself – is quite entertaining. But then it gets really good. You can drag the covers off onto your desktop and pile them up like there were CDs on your floor. And when you want to listen to an album, you just double click on the cover. iTunes then makes a bespoke playlist and starts playing it straight-away.

There’s a couple of really interesting aspects to this. Firstly, there’s this nostalgic yearning for groupings of music in album-like shapes. Many of us using toys like the iPod have got used to thinking about the future of music as being song-sized – componentised. It feels kind of weird to start playing with albums again. But then again, maybe the rampant componentisation that we’re currently experiencing is a push too far – a utopian idea of totally fluid information chunks that will prove to be illusory and against the best interests of human beings. It could be that the ‘album’ is about to enjoy a resurgence. I’ll tell you one thing for nothing – the predictable and consistent noise of an album is much easier to work to than the on-the-fly “Greatest Hits Of Your Life” approach…

Apologies: I don’t know for how long it has been the case, but the game is now loading for me in a separate window – this could have been a change at their end or a browser bug at my end. Please disregard all that follows.

Every Friday, b3ta send out their newsletter – a newsletter that goes out to many thousands of people and is known world-wide. The newsletter contains links to fun things made by B3ta people as well as to cool things send in by members of the public…

Except this week it’s different. The b3ta newsletter contained a link to a game described as follows:

“>> Stroke the Kitty Game <<
“I’ve made a new game”, writes Jibbed, “I’ve
named it Kitty Stroke. The cat needs your help.
She’s in dire need of some serious stroking
action. Stroke that cat as if your life
depended on it.” TIP: The aim of the game is
to follow the cat with your cursor. Great.
http://www.magic-carpet.freeserve.co.uk/thb/kittystroke.html

When you click through to the page, however, the game isn’t there at all. It has been replaced with a button that claims to launch the game, but instead launches an affiliate link to Sky Digital. Also on the page is an advert for OneTel. Now, as far as I can make out, there are two explanations for this state of affairs. 1) The people at the other end changed the page “accidentally” or 2) The people at the other end decided to co-opt the mailing list and use it as a cheap and easy way of making some money.

Which leaves us with the question: Given that we don’t want our cool mailing lists and independent bits of cool and homegrown content usurped by unscrupulous idiots – how do we make sure that they make no revenue out of this? Presumably neither Sky nor OneTel wish to have their affiliate programmes abused in this kind of way…