August 2005 Archives
[Moozik: Faithless - The Garden]
Another week, another new justification for the Iraq war. How many are we up to now? Oh and for those that argued that it wasn't about the oil might be a little surprised by this week's justification.
President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.
[Moozik: Lead Into Gold - Faster Than Light]
So yeah, as expected I've failed for the past three years to give up drinking coffee. I've now decided that I'll just keep on drinking it. Well, for starters, it's better for you than fruit & veg :-)
Coffee is likely to contribute far more antioxidants to the British diet than fruit and vegetables.The evidence comes from the United States where scientists measured the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and beverages. The information was combined with US Department of Agriculture data on the contribution of each item to the average American's diet.
Coffee - caffeinated and decaffeinated - emerged as easily the biggest source of antioxidants, taking account of the amount per serving and level of consumption. Black tea came second, followed by bananas.
Blimey, the national weather service isn't beating around the bush. Let's hope the devastation isn't as severe as predicted.
AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. MANY WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW POSSIBLY TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. MANY WINDOWS WILL BLOW
OUT.AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.POWER OUTAGES MAY LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MANY POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED.Current Conditions, Forecasts, Watches and Warnings for Lower Plaquemines, LA
[Moozik: Duran Duran - My Own Way]
So Sally and I sat down to see how much of this year's rap & R&B awards (ahem I mean, the MTV music awards) we could stomach. We could only take about half an hour and then had to bail. In recent years, the MTV VMAs have been completely un-watchable. I will probably watch next year as I still hold out hope that rap & R&B will cease to be the music of choice for the typical American teenager.
Could happen :-)
[Moozik: The The - Sweet Bird Of Truth]
From the "stating the bloody obvious department": Poor films explaining box office slump.
You think?
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The main reason for the box office slump is the quality of the movies themselves, according to a survey of moviegoers' opinions found in Internet chat rooms and posted on message boards.
[Moozik: The Human League - Almost Medieval]
Wikipedia rocks. While the this is old news those who contribute to the 800 million hits a day the site receives, every now and then you stumble across a page that reminds you how much the wikipedia rocketh.
For example, the list of songs with titles that don't appear in the lyrics. I actually became a wikipedia author this week after adding The Cure to that page.
I think I'll be adding quite a few things to that page over the next few weeks :-)
[Moozik: Tears For Fears - Watch Me Bleed]
So this week signaled the end of free time as I know it because the new University semester started last Monday. Yuck.
So, I'm taking a University Algebra class which is quite hilarious if you only knew (a) how much I hate maths and (b) how crap I am at maths. Well, to give myself a little credit, I'm going to school now because I *want* to and not because I *have* to. So I'm putting in 497% more effort than I did when I was doing to ol' GCSEs back in blighty all those years ago.
By the end of this class I'll be solving quadratic equations along with the best of them but I must admit that I'm rather scared after the first week. It's going to be hard work that's for sure.
I do have one secret weapon though; my wife. She is an absolute wiz when it comes to all things mathematical. Giving credit where credit is due, she is really quite smart. I’ve been trying to convince her that she’d make a fantastic maths instructor but she just thinks I’m joking. I’m amazed that she knows these things off the top of her head without even refreshing her memory by looking at a textbook.
So, this class is proving to be a little scary but with some effort I’m hoping that I do well.
Either that or I won't. Time will tell :-)
[Moozik: The Cure - Out Of This World]
Don't mess with an Aussie's mateship.
To Australians, it is the linguistic equivalent of beer and barbecues - but for a short time yesterday the ubiquitous greeting of "mate" was in danger of being banned at the nation's centre of government.In an edict from a senior civil servant, security staff at Australia's national parliament in Canberra were told not to use the greeting "G'day mate" when admitting visitors and politicians in case they caused offence.
News of the ban sparked national outrage and ridicule, not least from the prime minister John Howard, who uses the term often, especially when addressing George Bush.
[Moozik: The Teardrop Explodes - Reward]
I don't always agree with Howard Dean but he certainly hits the nail on the head here.
Mr. Harris: Were you troubled by President Bush's endorsement that intelligent design should be taught alongside the evolution to schoolchildren?I have absolutely no problem with religion. If that's what you believe, fine with me - whatever blows your skirt up. Just don't force it onto people. When it comes to intelligent design, please don't go teaching it in the classroom as if it has any basis in fact.Dr. Dean: The president has been anti-science for a long time. This is the most antiscientific regime that I've seen in America in my lifetime. I'm a trained physician, as you're aware. I'm insulted by that. It's going to harm America. What serious business is going to invest in America if a scientific education is influenced by politics? Science ought to be taught as science. If you want to teach religion, that's a separate debate. But science should be taught as science.
[Moozik: New Order - Fine Time]
As seen on Boing Boing, photos of unintentional faces in manufactured objects.
Well, it amused me anyway.
Five random Sunday musings.
(1) When outside trimming the trees in your front garden, neighbours who take pity on you and bring you beer officially rock. No really, they do.
(2) Things you don't want to hear when your wife is cutting your hair: 'whoops'.
(3) Purchasing seven CDs from ebay in one day is probably an indicator that I have a music addiction problem :-) (Well, the most I paid for a single CD after winning the auction was $5.00 so no harm done right?)
(4) Cookie dough ice-cream might actually be the best food substance on the planet.
(5) Now that the Quake III source code has been released I can learn from it and go on to write my own games, start my own game company and... Ahem, could happen.
[Moozik: Murder Inc - Mania]
For the past few nights I've been ripping the rest of my CDs that had not already found their way onto my iPod. It's so much fun listening to albums you haven't played in years. I've re-discovered some really bloody good stuff; early OMD, Japan, and Talk Talk albums. Why I'd left them in the ol' CD rack to gather dust remains a mystery :-)
My two faves from last night were the two early Human League albums - 1979's Reproduction and 1980's Travelogue. Those were the good old days when the group consisted of Phil Oakey, Ian Craig Marsh, and Martyn Ware. Bloody good synth tunes. Then Ian and Martyn left to form Heaven 17 and Phil & The Human League mk II went off to chart success. I actually like the post Marsh & Ware years as well but these two albums were a good reminder of how good those three guys were together.
I'd love to see the original trio reunite and start writing some songs again.
[Moozik: Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Extended Remix)]
Thankfully the RSI in my elbows is but a distant memory. In case it ever rears it's ugly head again, I'm going to keep this list of alternative keyboards handy.
[Moozik: Danse Society - We're So Happy]
When trying out the headphones this afternoon the bloke thought I should listen to the store's iPod instead of my own. I didn't argue until he told me that their 60GB iPod had only one song on it. Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl'. I told him that the only song I'd listen to off that album was 'The Real Thing' because then I could pretend it was New Order with a female singer.
He looked at me as if I was a complete wanker. I asked him if he'd actually listened to Gwen's album. He said he had because he'd bought the CD. So I asked him if 'The Real Thing' sounded a little like New Order with a Peter Hook bass guitar vibe going on. He gave me the deer-in-the-headlights look and told me he'd never heard of New Order or Peter Hook.
I just rolled my eyes and told him I'd use my own iPod for the test.
Where do they get these kids eh? What do you mean you've never heard of New Order or Peter Hook. Good lord.
[Moozik: OMD - The Romance Of The Telescope]
It's no secret that Apple's iPod headphones are not exactly audiophile quality. Well actually, that would be an understatement. I've made do until this point but decided on a little upgrade on my way home from work today. Well that and the right ear bud gave off some static when my ear moved or I touched the bud itself. So in short, I needed some new headphones.
Hmm, those Shure E3Cs sure are nice. I listened to them in the store and loved how they felt and sounded. Punchy bass and the treble was just right. They're a little pricey though and I think I'll wait until Christmas to buy myself a little treat. So in the meantime, I decided to take a smaller step and after trying them out, I bought the Sony MDR-EX71SLs.
Of course they're not as nice as the Shure's but the sound quality is sooo much better than the Apple headphones. In fact there's such a difference that it's like night and day.
So yeah, I'm quite the happy chappy tonight.
[Moozik: New Order - Krafty]
While watching Battlestar Galactica last night I flipped channels to VH1 on every commercial and actually got quite interested in their 'Ultimate Albums' show. It was Kiss's 1975 live album Alive. It was quite an eye opener to be sure. Perhaps I've been quite naive thinking that when a band releases a 'live' album, the songs have actually been performed live on stage.
Not so with the 'Alive' album. The producer and band members openly admitted that their live shows were a little bit crap and they forgot lyrics, dropped guitar chords, missed drum beats, and sang out of key. So they fixed it after the fact in the studio and re-recorded all the shite bits.
Again, I may well have been living in a cave but I was took completely by surprise by this news. I wonder if this is standard procedure for live recordings and all those 'live' albums I own are not exactly what I thought they were.
[Moozik: Thomas Dolby - Windpower]
As I was waiting to pay for the weekly groceries, I couldn't help but notice the gossip mags. One thing became quite clear. What we need are more stories about Jessica Simpson & Angelina Jolie. Not enough magazines are covering those two :-)
Fer crissakes, someone make it stop.
To whoever is buying that shite, please don't.
[Moozik: Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly]
Flickr's interestingness is wonderful. Something tells me I'll be visiting their interesting photos in the last 24 hours page quite often :-)
This is truely stunning. In fact, the majority of tomkanazawa's diving photos are amazing.
I think Dave said it best this morning, "This is the kind of thing that makes me think I should stop pretending that I know anything about taking decent photographs.". Well said that man. One day I would love to be able to take decent photos. Perhaps a better camera? But then there's that whole bad workman blames his tools thing isn't there.
[Moozik: Peter Gabriel - Different Drum]
I lost track of Peter Gabriel after 1986's So album. Well I was only 13. I suppose I got sidetracked on just-about-everything-else that I somehow forgot he existed. Odd because I can remember "Shock The Monkey" and "Games Without Frontiers" like they were yesterday. Anyhoo..
So today I was listening to Disc2 of his Hit album. Wow. (Thanks little Sis, I owe you one.) Good stuff indeed. You know that you're listening to a good song when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. This happened to me today when I listened to "Different Drum". Bloody good stuff.
Welcome back Peter. I'll be buying everything you've done since the 'So' album :-)