This really sucks, though for once that's good.

"Super Slurper, a starch-based polymer with a powerful thirst, has been employed in diapers and filters, but researchers want to turn the page and develop a different application: drying waterlogged books.
It may look like a nondescript powder, but a mere teaspoon of the stuff can absorb a gallon of water, sucking up over 2,000 times its weight in water instantaneously"
link

Again, from Moby, some Bush one liners:

"President Bush is supporting Arnold. But a lot of Republicans are not because he is actually quite liberal. Karl Rowe said if his father wasn't a Nazi, he wouldn't have any credibility with conservatives at all."
Bill Maher

"President Bush is on a 35-day vacation, and before he left he had his annual physical, and it turns out his cholesterol now is lower than his approval rating."
David Letterman

"Yesterday, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would run for governor of California. The announcement was good news for Florida residents who now live in the second flakiest state in the country."
Conan O'Brien

"Apparently Arnold was inspired by President Bush, who proved you can be a successful politician in this country even if English is your second language."
Conan O'Brien

"They're saying Arnold will get 95% of the vote. At least according to his brother, Jeb Schwarzenegger."
Craig Kilborn

Get them all by going there yourself: link

The Island Chronicles

Still very interesting and an insight into island life, the island chronicles by Mark Frauenfelder are on the LA Weekly website. The first one is here

Word of the day

After reading Moby use it in his 'journal', I decided I like the word ennui today. Most of the time it's a pain, but it has a feeling of importance that feels appropriate following a game of touch rugby. The journal entry.
On that note, having not played for nearly two months, I was officially shit today. Better luck next time.

Ennui, remember that.

Just ran home from work

And staggered through the house to lay down on the grass out back. I could hear all the birds around me twittering away, alighting on branches of the trees around, and then the whirr of their wings as they took off again. The speed of their flight is amazing - they just flit about like there's nothing to it, no energy needed.
As I lay there I could see the steam rising from my t-shirt. It's not a very cold day, but I could still see the whisps of water vapour disappearing upwards. It's wonderful sitting on the grass, feeling your head swim from the rush of blood due to the running, listening to the sounds of nature in the city.

Battle of the media behemoths

Coming this week is the announcement by the UK Radio Authority of who will win the jackpot radio license to broadcast in the West Midlands. With this comes disappointement for 11 applicants, or 'media conglomerates' as they're otherwise known, for they have lost out. It's amazing how we manage to have twelve applicants for a £25 million jackpot and so many of them are attempting to offer the same well worn formula: rock music for the 30-45 market. Tired and dull, radio 2 has enough listeners already. Give it to either Jazz FM or to the kids thing - Disney/Chrysilis. Checkit here: Guardian story
The latest developments will be here first. www.mediaguardian.co.uk

Talked with Rebecca

She said he likes me! And that's a likes in italics:
He likes me. hmmm, wonder when that'll be proven wrong!

My official time for the Great North Run: 1:49:55

My official placing for my agegroup: 23!
yes, twenty three!
wow
so, if i improve like a LOT, then i'll be well, somewhat good!


Name ___sex __ time __ position overall __position in age group
Brian Alldis m 00:56:40 9 1 <----- look at that time - amazing - that's a lot better than next year's target!
ANDREW LAWRENCE M 01:18:39 126 2
Bob Daly m 01:21:49 191 3
Sam Clegg m 01:22:18 210 4
DANIEL PARKINSON m 01:29:33 560 5 <----the times really start to increase here though!
Sam Cooke m 01:30:38 661 6
David Stayner m 01:31:36 746 7
Luke Johnson m 01:32:37 853 8
Stuart Maynes m 01:34:49 1128 9
keir feeney m 01:35:12 1182 10
Matthew Garthwaite m 01:35:14 1185 11
Adam Dobson m 01:38:28 1671 12
Peter Concannon m 01:42:28 2548 13
Michael Chater m 01:43:11 2725 14
ANDREW CRAWFORD M 01:43:12 2728 15
Simon Woods m 01:43:17 2752 16
Thomas Coffield m 01:44:11 2973 17
Chris Lormor m 01:46:39 3539 18
Bill Atton m 01:46:58 3702 19
David Riley m 01:48:18 4100 20
Stephen Fleck m 01:48:40 4213 21
david thirsk m 01:49:40 4573 22
Patrick m 01:49:55 4684 23 <------------ me yah!


I know I can take at least ten minutes off my time by just starting at the front/near the front of the line. And I'm also sure I can run at least ten minutes faster. So next year I'm hoping to run this in a maximum of 1:30. Good luck to me! Anyway, I get the impression that with some hard work I could really get into this long distance running thing. Not from a professional sense or anything, but from a 'being good' sense, I think I could do it.
A lot of people have an attitude towards running of thinking that there's really little point to it: it's a lot of hard work and pain for little gain. They have a kind of point in a way - it's not really a social thing unless you do it in a club and if you do it well, the work is, quite simply, hard. The benefits however are also great - you get a huge psychological boost from running a great time, beating yourself, and achieving something. It takes some sort of dedication - going out until 3 in the morning DOES affect the way you run, and eating lots of heavy fatty foods DOES make you slower and give you cramps. So when you streamline yourself and just go for it for ten miles or whatever, you do get a benefit. Plus, if you're trying to lose weight, it's a superb tool. You can start out slowly walking and just ramp up your workout, going a few minutes faster every week or trying for 30 seconds faster a day or whatever. You don't have to kill yourself with exertion to do well!
I don't. Speaking of which, doing well is something unique to running (and other solitary sports like cycling too I suppose) - as you judge your success against yourself. You quantify what is 'good' and what is 'bad', not someone else on the sidelines. If you're making an effort and achieving your goals, then you're doing well.

Looking down Chambers Street

A highly poetic account of a visit to the area that surrounds Groud Zero in New York. Clearly written some time ago, reading this kind of piece makes me think again of the horror that was 9/11. We are forgetting it slightly: the ebb and flow of daily life has pushed it out of life as a constant reminder, but the fact remains that at the time the feeling of shock was enormous and terrifying.
I was in an Art class on the Tuesday afternoon. The day was beautiful and hot, we were all in light shirts and happy from the late summer sun. At the time I lived a half hour walk from school during which I walked down tree-lined avenues, past sports pitches and along busy family filled roads. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary: I walked with a spring in my step and singing to myself as I went. Only when I stepped through the door of my house and came through to the living room where my sisters daily would sit watching tv, did I find that something was afoot. I was shocked and appalled that I had been so happy, so buoyant when an even so terrorizing had occurred. I feel this because I am a news person, I obsessively listen to news and consume news. Partly, I am sure, this has been influenced by a guilt feeling of being so happy when a catastrophic event was occurring, but it was present before.
I was gaily living, whilst others perished publicly and deliberately. Their loss is remembered and mourned.

New Metropolis Edition out!

The new edition of Metropolis has a superb article about Frank Gehry's new Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. One of the most interesting sections of the article discusses how the psychoacoustics of the hall is very important, nay, key. Psychoacoustics is the impression the audience and musicians get from the look and feel of the hall then affects the way the musicians play and how the audience hears a performance. Yasuhisa Tokyo (the acoustician) and Gehry have covered the interiors of hall in a Douglas Fir verneer but say that it's the concrete walls behind them that are essential to the acoustics - the sound would be just as good without the wood layer over the top.
Also stunning is the description and photos of the new Prada store in Tokyo by Herzog & de Meuron. They've got a moss garden:

"Initially the architects wanted to inject moss spores into limestone, a technique developed by the French biologist Michel Chiaffredo to clean beaches contaminated by oil spills. But implementing the technique in Japan proved problematic. The solution involved treating moss like a textile: sewing it into stell mesh, which is irrigated from behind the wall.

I work in Borders in the UK, you can get metropolis there, or get a subscription. The international subsciption costs $70 a year, but it's definitely worth it. (look for the Grit coin purse page 49 - they're made out of the currency notes from present and former enemies of US administrations).

Employee fired after MSFT critical report

An @Stake employee who wrote a Microsoft critical report for the security company has been fired. As a complete coincedence, @Stake do a lot of busines with Microsoft. Hence, many people drawing the obvious conclusions and a general sense of outrage erupts. Read the report here (800k pdf file) and get upset about it yourself. (via BoingBoing via Dan Gillmore)

The states scare me

Joshua Micah Marshall writing about Edison Schools. This is a scary tale as it reveals (again) the depth of the corruption in US democracy at the moment. What's most outrageous is that few are commenting about it.
link

yoox

I'm really wanting these camper shoes. only £70!
hands up, who wants to buy them for me? No-one, well THERE'S a surprise.

the weekly rundown

at the www.blacktable.com. It's very funny, topical and yet sad.
enjoy
link

I don't know

This blog sucks. I don't know what I'm aiming for it to be. I'm a boy: I'll write about that. I'm interested in things: they're fun to tell other people about. It's a mix. If you don't like it, tell me so it can be made better. Please?

blog entry

I caught the bus home today after a long day's work. I didn't have to wait long, but the time dragged somewhat as I'd been out last night celebrating JP's birthday. Following this drinking, work began at seven which meant a five o'clock start. That's AM boys and girls. Waiting at the bus-stop, thinking of nothing in particular, a former colleague came across me. She had her daughter in tow and had been shopping. We chatted until the bus arrived; she quizzed me on my comings and goings, I tried to remember her name. When the name Jane popped into my head about half an hour later, the moment had passed somewhat. I was already home and long gone from the few minutes of polite 'oh yes how interesting' conversation.
What struck me about this though was that the most valuable way to value a person, to really show you care, is to remember. A slice of your memory is very valuable in social terms, and to remember someone's name or a fact about their life, an event, is very special. I feel bad to have not cared much about her but, perhaps despite our wishes, memory is honest. It may not always be honest in what it remembers but it is honest in the priority to which it assigns the memories. Those things we value highly we remember clearly and in this case, if you don't care much for a person it is astonishingly easy to simply forget about them.
I left school but three months ago and I already find I can't remember who people are let alone their names. It's a powerful feeling.

over it

The thing with an obsession is that when it recedes you know that's happened. You also feel rather irrational and faithless and stupid, grasping at straws to get something there's no chance of. It's clear thing were and are not to be and I'm able to believe that, but the thought of it is still a dull ache. I'm an ass. This is all something I've come to myself - there's been no big bang, no sudden revelation or confrontation. I think that with the tireless references to 'Mark and I are...' I'm able to piece together the fact that when I came out to him and he said, "I've been waiting so long for you to say that" he in fact didn't mean anything by it. He was in fact still just being a gossip queen. What a loss.

i'm a foetus freefaller

I suppose this makes me just completely messed up!
"Freefall (7%): Lying on your front with your hands around the pillow, and your head turned to one side. Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations.
The Foetus: Those who curl up in the foetus position are described as tough on the outside but sensitive at heart. They may be shy when they first meet somebody, but soon relax.
This is the most common sleeping position, adopted by 41% of the 1,000 people who took part in the survey. More than twice as many women as men tend to adopt this position. "

link

talking about boys

I don't know now whether I was right to be so explicit about my thoughts concerning re about Richie. Richie and I work in the same store and we get along like a steam train struggling uphill; we both know we're supposed to be going in the same direction but seem to intentionally make things difficult for one another. In a way I feel bad revealing the issue in the open but at the same time rather liberated by the fact that whoever wants to can read this crap. Don't get me wrong - to be honest, there's nothing there between us. There's been nothing said, there's been no hinting, but there've been thoughts on my side, in my head, from my ego.
I was talking to him about myself LAST Monday night when we were all a little bit tipy, sitting on his couch just talking. There's me not wanting to give away too much - too much would be if I alienated him by being too forward or too obvious or implying too much that I think I'm better than his current boyfriend. I'm sitting there thinking these things as he looms over me with his long arms propped on the sofa, and all I can think about is a) his beautiful and surprisingly sparse chest hair and b) not sloshing my red wine all over his carpet.
I want to walk up to him, run my hands over his chest, grap his crotch and forcefully kiss him. But that's not going to happen, as it's all too reserved and dainty.
Fuck that - when's the action going to start?

anna wintour interview

Earlier in the day was reading a Gawker summary of the WSJ interview with Anna Wintour. I liked it - the summary was great, but only because one normally can't get the WSJ articles online as they're hidden behind pay-for screens. To my astonishment, when looking through my backlog of adrants emails, there was a link to the actual interview which indeed DID work! Read it, it's actually completely fascinating.

WSJ: I have just been dying to ask -- why don't you carry a handbag? The most we see you carry is an agenda or a notebook.

MS. WINTOUR: Handbags weigh you down.

WSJ: Where do you keep your keys and lipstick?

MS. WINTOUR: In the car. And then I stuff the money inside the little notebook. As long as you have a $20 bill, a phone and a notebook you are fine, you can go anywhere.

WSJ: And I've got to ask -- why do you wear sunglasses all the time?

MS. WINTOUR: I have horrible eyesight, bad eyes. The sunglasses are prescription. I started to wear them when I first started to go to the shows because my eyes started to water and I would get the most awful headaches. I really wear them for the shows most of the time, or when I am tired.

WSJ: The speculation is that you wear sunglasses at the shows because you don't want people to see what you are looking at.

MS. WINTOUR: I am probably taking a nap. But it is really the light.
Link

New bike rack anyone

cheeky aussie ad for a bike rack makes you sit up and listen.
via Adrants

Coral dive diary

If you scroll down the page here Howard Hall, a documentary maker for IMAX, details his company's production of a feature on Coral Reefs. I came across this whilst looking for an image of bull sharks (ie below). The way he writes is clear and engaging without seemingly attempting to make more of events than are necessary. I'm not overly interested in marine life; I find it interesting, but I'm no expert. The text here however really shows how the beauty of the underwater world can hit you - how stunning and varied it is.

"Most of the time, once the camera has been mounted, I look through the lens and decide the composition is not right and we have to disassemble everything and repeat the entire process. Of course, with all this heavy activity, the ribbon eel immediately retreats to the far depths of his hole. So we all hang around waiting for the eel to reappear. It took us two dives and three hours underwater to get a very simple shot of a blue ribbon eel that would take your average sport diver about ten minutes to shoot with his video camera. This is typical for underwater IMAX� production.

The exciting thing about the ribbon eel dives was that the outside leg of the tripod was planted only two inches from the edge of an underwater cliff that plunged hundreds of feet below us. Completely assembled, the camera on the tripod is about one hundred pounds negatively buoyant. If the tripod leg were to slip off the ledge, it would have been very difficult to keep the whole thing from falling into the abyss. Crush depth on the housing is about 200 feet. It would have been a real race to arrest the camera's fall before it deformed and flooded.
The coral reef surrounding Wakaya is essentially dead. Something terrible happened here. The die-off occurred before the La Nina set in, so elevated water temperatures don't explain the destruction. There are almost no living hard corals on the reef. Rob and Cat say that this reef was alive and vibrant only two years ago. It just reminds me how fragile coral reef habitat is. If something we can't even identify can kill an entire reef, then it becomes easy to imagine how global warming could destroy all coral reefs within our lifetime. A very frightening thought. "
Link:

Discovery Channel to broadcast video of shark biting man

A behavioural scientist who thought that he could prevent himself being attacked by sharks through yoga inspired breathing techniques has had a chunk torn out of his leg during a filmed experiment in the Bahamas. In the event, which the Discovery Channel will be televising, he stood in the water attempting to fool the sharks into thinking he was another predator rather than prey. However, when a parasitical fish swam between his legs looking for shelter, his calf became the target of the razor sharp bull shark's teeth.
He spent six weeks in hospital after being flown to Florida for treatment.
"On my way to the hospital I started to get cold, and I felt disconnected to what had happened to me. Then I found some form of peace and acceptance that I may die."

Link

Students achieve a ban on school district purchasing sweatshop products

Liza Baer and Hanna Shepard in St Paul have managed to have their school district pass a resolution banning schools buying equipment that has been produced under sweatshop conditions. Even their Amnesty International 'adviser' thought they wouldn't succeed, but by going around church groups, the teachers union and talking to lots of classes, they've managed to make a difference. The Saint Paul Pioneer Press:
"They found students receptive to their message, but they had questions and some misperceptions.
Baer said some thought clothing prices would go way up if they didn't buy from such factories. Others believed these businesses were only located in other countries. But Shepard said some in the United States don't operate under the federal Fair Labor Act.
'The ones who saw the presentation wanted us to go through with it,' Liza said. 'They were shocked by what they heard.'"

The Morning News - Dear Hollywood

Ken Womack: Dear Hollywood: "Dear Hollywood:

It seems like lately you’ve been out of touch. I know that you’ve been busy, of course, what with your summer blockbuster season and all. Heck, it must take a lot of time and energy to promote all those movies! By the way, what happened to Gigli? It only came out a few weeks ago, and yet it no longer seems to be playing at my local Cineplex."

Ken Womack teaches English at Penn State University’s Altoona College. He has published widely on literary and popular culture.
Read the whole open letter here

The West's 'obscene' failure fighting AIDS

"The United Nations special envoy on HIV/Aids has denounced as a "grotesque obscenity" the lack of cheap anti-Aids drugs in Africa.

Stephen Lewis was speaking at the opening of a major international Aids conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

He condemned the behaviour of Western powers, saying "we can find over $200bn to fight a war on terrorism, but we can't find the money... to provide the anti-retroviral treatment for all those who need such treatment in Africa!"

Just $1bn was spent on combating Aids in Africa last year, he said."

The source: BBC

bad date?

not THIS bad!

just return from the Great North Run

As the world's LARGEST half-marathon the Great North Run, taking place in Newcastle, is one of THE most amazing runs around. I've just come back from it, having been stuck on motorways for the last 5 1/2 hours in an attempt to get home. I did the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 42 minutes, though my official time will be 1:50. I was SO pleased, and had a great time. It's a really exciting field to run because there are so many people - over 47,000 - and they're all sorts of abilities. Plus, since people are very 'optimistic' in the time slot they think they'll complete the run in, I was passing lots of people the whole way around. What a great event! Paula Radcliffe, our native star won again, and got a record breaking time of 1:05:40!! Yeah!
"With the World Half Marathon taking place in a fortnight's time, there was a possibility Radcliffe might ease down to save some energy.

But that wasn't in the battle plan of last year's "World Athlete of the Year," whose bobbing head continued roaring around the tarmac of the Tyneside streets at breakneck speed.

"Really it just happened," said Radcliffe who last weekend ran the World's fastest-ever 5K ever in London's Hyde Park.

"I knew I was on schedule to break the course record and picked-up in the last half mile because I saw the clock on the timekeeping car. But it was only with 30 metres left I realised the World best was possible and I gave it everything I had."

"The crowd were magnicent right through the race and particularly in that last mile.

"But the most important thing was just to win the race. The training sessions beforehand had all gone really well.

"I was looking forward to it and it was such a great feeling to win the race."

She's so great, with her bobbing head and sunglasses! I was so buzzed by it, and also most of the way I used a guy who must have been around 50 as a pacemaker, and just breezed through it! 1:30 next year let's hope. Yah me! I'm thinking of doing the marathon now in london. How cool is this - real success (lol) from all the boring slogg of running all the time. What WILL I do with this physique?
quotes from onrunning.com

phones

i'm looking at phones and agonising over the fact that it feels impossible to get genuine reviews and information online. annoying

Anti-gay campaign against TV show - billingsgazette.com

Campaign against 'gay' TV show. Just read about this via blah, blah, black sheep, 'chrisafer's' superb blog. There's a supposed backlash regarding the screening of the stupidly lighthearted programme Queer Eye for the Straight Guy which screens on NBC affiliates. Why is it that in the US there has to be such a vehement denial of other people's rights and actions - just because the show involves gay issues doesn't mean that it's promoting them. It just acknowledges that the issues exist and incorporates them into society. There's no point in denying the gay existence, surely doing something about their intolerance would be more productive.
On a similar note, about a year ago we in the UK had a huge fuss generated over the number of 'asylum seekers' attempting to gain entry into the country. At the time Tony Blair preached tolerance over the issue - trying to calm the whole 'situation' down. (In reality of course much of the 'situation' was simply in the minds of tabloid newspaper editors attempting to generate more sales). My problem is that I don't want more tolerance, but acceptance. I don't want to be tolerated, implying a rather underhand dislike of the issue, I would much prefer to be considered part of the whole, a member of the crowd, not one on the outskirts who can be shunned when conveniently out of the spotlight.

'Cool Urban' Streetwear

Cool Urban Streetwear Boutique - Urban clothes, Hip-Hop Clothing, Skate Clothes, Fashion clothing store at Karmaloop and this

Bumfights

Bumfights It seems these bums are fighting just for,well, hell of it. They fight, other people fight, they film it, we (supposedly) laugh. Not funny. Boring, and painful.

Johnny Cash dies

I feel bad because I hardly know who he is, and don't think I've ever even heard one of his songs.
MTV article about the man and his life.
update: So now I do know who he is and I've heard some of his songs, it does seem rather sad he's died. What's most telling and in a way wonderful about this tale is how he has died so recently following the passing of his wife. My mother works in a hospital, often with elderly people, and she's told me how over the years it's obvious that the heath of one clearly is related to the health of the other. The couples she treats one half of are living quite literally for one another. It's beautiful and terribly sad how the death of one will lead to a clear deterioration in the condition of the other - regardless of whether they've been taking care of each other or not.

AlterNet: Countering a Wave of Hate

Tim Robbins speaks to the National Press Club (in April). But all the same an amazing speech that is worth the read, worthy of note and attention for its substance. Robbins makes many good points, not least of which is that whilst the US celebrates its freedom of the press, its civil liberties and openness, it is in fact becoming less food at each of those things because of business and political pressure. People can be made to not speak their mind by refering to threats to their jobs or careers. Children of those who do speak out are stigmatised. What is this all about, is the debate not allowed in the US. Why can Americans not stomach the arguement, why must there be an absolute consensus on war or in fact anything conservative led. Can debate not flourish and the best argument win. It just might be Bush's who knows - but the opportunity isn't present now.

some music:
Dial 'M' for Monkey
Bonobo
GREAT cooking music - shake your ass but don't knock the saucepan. 'Phat' baselines and funky xylophone esque tops. great stuff
As Heard on Radio Soulwax Vol.2
2 Many DJ's
the funkiest mix every perfect for boogying along to - but only when it's really good. This is like a club mix of all the best songs, but on a cd, which lasts a continuous hour long! superb

What happened to all the opportunity - all the chances

Would Gore have done all this, where are the other leaders of America. What can change to make things better? Why does it take someone as controvertial as Michael Moore to stand up and state the issues? Was breaking apart Iraq, Afghanistan, and the economy really necessary?

9/11

Regrets to all those affected. One listens to the news and feels a welling of sorry for those victims and their families when the attacks are mentioned - the pain at the constant reliving of events, the loss of loved ones. At the same time I feel sad that we don't know as much about all the thousands of other people suffering around the world at this very moment. Thousands die each day from preventable causes and we don't recognise it, acknowledge it or memorialise it. For this too, I pray - in whatever what that may be, I pray.

Where's waldo

I can't see Alaina out there ANYWHERE. what's going on?

Floetry

I'm going to be checking out this group as a result of the recommendation of Young Bradford. I completely get what he's been talking about in the way that people like Erykah Badu and Macy Gray seem to have one great album and then disappear - ie where's Lauren Hill? What's the incentive for the consumer to invest in a artist by buying their works if there's going to be no progression, if they're going to just disappear. You create a kind of comittment to the band when you buy their records, which is an investment in them, there's no getting around that, and when they don't deliver down the line you're going to be disappointed and less willing in the future to buy more records. Surely the record industry can see this, that through the expensive high publicity marketing of artists taht they're carrying out they are also killing their own market base.

Mr. Sandman

After seeing them doing a dance/practice/sketch to it the other day in the episode Grace in the Hole, I just had to go and find the original version of the song Jack and Karen were singing. Not being the oldest person in the world I hadn't heard it or of it before, which made it all the more wonderful. I look up Mr Sandman on the web and get pages like this one: The Chordettes Mr Sandman Lyrics. Then a quick p2p search brings up the song - an amazing little 50's piece. According to this page the song was released in 1954 and remained at number one for over seven weeks, selling more than a million copies! With this information it's amazing that I've never heard it before. www.fiftiesweb.com is recomended for further info.
"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I’ve ever seen
Give him two lips like roses and clover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.
Sandman, I’m so alone
Don’t have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream"

CIA World Factbook

I know it's a little late in the coming, but I had to say how much I've been loving the Factbook. I got it a few years ago from the Project Gutenberg website download server, and but then when I heard the 2003 edition was coming out, headed over to their website. One of the best things about it is the online maps that open with Acrobat. They're superb for general quick reference, and the tables of facts about each country is fascinating. It's a 15 MB zip download, but it's also really useful and interesting. It reminds me of the tiny book that The Economist publishes every year of economic facts; The Pocket World in Figures. Just the everyday references - Bangladesh is described as "slightly smaller than Iowa". That's so twee!

How to resell iTunes tracks

George Hotelling has gone about the legally tiresome and rather acedemic process of selling on his property - a purchased iTunes track. He details the process in his blog. He had to sell his whole account to the customer, a friend, which contained a single song, for which he charged 50 cents. He'd previously attempted to sell the song via eBay, but they withdrew his auction from public viewing, claiming it violated listing policies. Apple said on Wednesday that they would be meeting to discuss the company's resale policy, expecting to make a statement later in the day. This whole saga, highlighted in a CNET news article highlights the interesting conflicts and difficulties that are looming with copyrights on the net. According to the article, the 'first sale' doctrine implies that and owner of a lawful copy of a copyrighted piece of work is allowed to sell it on without the prior permission of the copyright holder. However, this has been challenged recently by a US Copyright Office study saying that the doctrine does not apply to digital services/goods, because often these involve duplication of works, a copy is made, with the potential for the original to remain.
"It was a success," he said. "I was able to transfer the song, I documented it, and Apple even said it was probably legal. I think the biggest success was raising the issue in a lot of people's minds." "

Mind games

I was telling Rebecca about how whenever Richie and I are together the atmosphere always feels dangerous, as though we're on the edge of something. We have fun when with other people, but when alone, we argue a little to much, he appears strained and wary. I didn't like that and commented about it. She said that there was a reason for that - that there was something behind it. I don't know what to think as there are only two real reasons. I dont' think I have to spell them out here, but my problem is that she wouldn't spell them out at all, she knew which one it was, and wasn't telling.

Sunday, running, weights

Our store opened on Thursday - big hassle, major problems like tills crashing and people not knowing what to do. In the complex where the store is, there are like 50 other stores, all opening on the same day. It wasn't until Sunday that I was able to go around any of them to have a look for myself, as it had been a building site right up until the night before. In the long run WHEN you see the stuff doesn't matter, but I was still eager. And yah for me, we have a Nike store finally in Birmingham. It was like we were being spurned until now, but finally we have equipment. I bought, of course, the most wonderful thing: wrist weights. Now the thing with me is that I do a lot of running, but have almost no upper body strength. If someone needs a box to be moved around our store room, I am NOT the person to call! To remedy this deep failure in my personality (!) I bought these little beauties. They weigh 1lb each so aren't really heavy, but do help to do that little bit of toning. I've only used them three times, but enjoyed them each time. They're light, and you can ignore them once they're on, they don't keep sweat badly, they're just 'there'. You put your thumb through the hole, (the picture shows the right hand one) and then wrap the rest around your wrist. Attach with the velcro. Superb piece of equipment, simple and well executed.

we open tomorrow

10 AM GMT. Be there, or be somewhere else.
Borders, in Birmingham, in England.

BBC to put its output online for free distribution

They're calling it the Creative Archive and Greg Dyke, the Director General of the beeb is lauding the idea as "free and available to everyone". The BBC charter indicates, unlike most other media companies who have to tightly restrict content distribution, that they should spread work by the corporation as widely as possible. One method they appear to be considering is through P2P networks on the net. The idea is that the BBC will host servers for people to download high quality copies of their programmes and then, the crucial part, to share them. Currently the Beeb gets a small percentage of their £5 biliion revenue from selling copies of its programmes in consumer products, but this might well be risked in favour of a wider spread of it's work.
The idea is admirable and also a difficult one. The BBC has to look forward 13 years to 2016 and say how they want to progress to that time. This is all because of their charter renewal currently being hyped. Every 'few' years the BBC is made to justify itself and its tax on UK citizens by lobbying for a new lease of life. Now is the time for it to do so, and as a result it is looking to see how it could be by the time of hte next one. Considering that most people will be on FAR faster net connections by then (not stuck on 512 broadband even, but more like the japanese who are on a minimum of around 11 Mb/s), distribution could well change. Autie is looking to lead the pack by getting its content out there - and here are the story links.
BBC Online Coverage Media Guardian Comment
"The real roadblock to putting the old shows online isn't technical. It's legal. The Creative Archive's license could allow unlimited viewing, editing, and reuse of the digitized BBC programs, which are funded by an annual TV fee (don't call it a tax unless you're ready for a pub brawl) on UK viewers. The archive's license would contain specific language to prohibit resale or any use the Beeb sees as an attempt to cash in on Britain's public property."

iTunes gets a serious shouting down today - the criticism stemming from the fact that of the 99 cents they charge per song, the artist gets 11 despite all the supposed cost savings of the web. So Apple get 35 cents and record company gets their cut whilst the artist is left with little/nothing. What's new!
"iTunes Music Store. Facelift for a corrupt industry!