Saturday, September 18, 2004

posted by Ken , 8:04 PM Þ 

Fred's Vacuum Tube Projects

I really admire this type of devoted industriousness. Very interesting stuff. I would one day like to build my own tube-based amplifier... it would take a lot of trial-and-error though...

More DIY electronics stuff that I'm interested in
posted by Barrie , 9:33 AM Þ 

The Bottom Line:

The LaPolt Law handout on "Traditional Major Label Royalty Computation" was itself nearly worth the price of admission as it revealed the formula used by record companies to retain a much higher amount of money than might otherwise be expected from the way the artist contract is worded. There’s a reason major label artist payments are known as a "penny rate."

In addition, the NARIP-supplied "iTunes Artist-Producer Royalty Calculation" sheet was fascinating because it answers the question all artists on iTunes keep asking: "How much of a 99-cent download do I get to keep?" While indie artists do better, for major label artists, Apple collects 34 cents, the label keeps 55 cents, and the artist gets a dime.

Ah yes, a dime. Some things never change. [...]

http://www.narip.com/index.php?page=article/Shrinking

This is an interesting pane discussion about where the music industry will make its money in the future. Some clever person said that mobile phones might replace iPods.

And that was a clever person.
posted by Irdial , 7:40 AM Þ 
Friday, September 17, 2004

 Click For Small photo

Miss America (news - web sites) 2004 Ericka Dunlap from Florida signs to the audience after being crowned in Atlantic City, New Jersey, September 20, 2003. This year's contestants will wear more revealing swimsuits on stage following a 2-year contract with Speedo. The one-piece or two-piece suits, worn as bikinis by most competitors, leave little to the imagination and have caused some unease among the contestants. (Susan L. Gregg/Reuters) [...]

Note the hail satan sign she makes as she recieves her reward. Jezebel!
posted by Irdial , 10:14 PM Þ 

posted by Ken , 9:35 PM Þ 

The whole shebang

Google Hardware
posted by Claus Eggers , 6:27 PM Þ 



The picture above is of all the hardware it took to run Google (Lego bricks and all) back in 1999. Kinda freaks us out, though we’re not really sure why [...]

From the awesome Engadget.

To all the morons out there who dont understand that a small clutch of computers is how you start a huge business, look upon this photograph, and fucking LEARN SOMETHING!
posted by Irdial , 6:02 PM Þ 
posted by Alun , 2:32 PM Þ 

It seemed my last iTunes database was not read completely. I tried Firefox and this seems to work:

You appear to like House the most, with your favorite, which is weird since you've spent more time listening to Larry Heard , but then you have more of that artist than anything else (in this genre). Model 500 (Juan Atkins) is your favorite overall artist.


Artist Average Rating
Model 500 (Juan Atkins)
100
Glenn Gould
100
Jaqueline Du Pre
98
Aqua Regia
97
The Velvet Underground
93
my bloody valentine
90
Chic
90
Spiritualized®
90
Cocteau Twins
90
The Residents
89
cached: 09/17/04 08:01 am query: 0.085 secs

posted by Claus Eggers , 2:05 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:26 PM Þ 
posted by meau meau , 1:20 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:00 PM Þ 

This is the sort of poster you could find all over london in the days of Final Solution and promoters like that:



There were many of these posters around, in the same format. Some had backgrounds other than a single colour, and others had decoration in the place where there was no type.

They worked. Venues were always full of punters. These posters also dont impose a false image on a band or event, like some of those dreadful things at Gigposters.

posted by Irdial , 11:36 AM Þ 

He didnt come across very well in those comments did he?

Look at some of his other work:

http://gigposters.com/designers.php?designer=3275&s=10
posted by Irdial , 10:14 AM Þ 

ha, I was pouring over this art chantry cover last night:


posted by meau meau , 9:50 AM Þ 

Was it a nuclear test?

Was it a mountain being demolished?

No, it was a natural occurence.

Hmmmm.






A clematis in our garden is flowering for the third time this year. What's going on?




Benjamin Zephaniah.
Read again his perspectives on not accepting an OBE. Benjamin Zephaniah.



posted by Alun , 8:37 AM Þ 

posted by mary13 , 1:11 AM Þ 

An interesting article by Momus at AIGA. Read the comments too, just to see Art Chantry throw a hissy fit.

1. "I'm taking you off the case, you're getting too close." Like the cliché TV cop who takes the case too personally, the designer makes an excessive, futile, counter-productive investment in his work. Working around the clock, sacrificing mental health and personal life, he goes far beyond the call of duty, working fetishistic love, subtlety, skill and textural richness into products for which these qualities are surplus to requirement. This is the best sort of masochism, born of high standards and ideals. Pain is a by-product of pride, and comes in the form of pointless effort combined with a willingness to face inevitable disappointment—the moment the job gets taken out of the designer's hands, botched with a barcode, banalized, diluted.
posted by alex_tea , 12:53 AM Þ 
Thursday, September 16, 2004


Yo d00dz, checking in here via "Hello". Impossible to do anything but read Blogdial at work - I can't update via email as I don't own Blogdial! Anyway, enjoy this image of sulphur from the Greek Island of Nisyros. Posted by Hello
posted by captain davros , 7:38 PM Þ 

and there is no chance of someone looking up another patient’s records.

Imagine the filth that will be spread as sick people with colds flu, nail fungus all log into this bad system.



Then there are the people who dont wash their hands after taking a shit.

Disgusting.

posted by Irdial , 7:06 PM Þ 

Presenting at a recent Conference Better Information, Better Communication Dr Brian Fisher, a GP from Wells Park Surgery in London told delegates of a scheme working in his surgery whereby patients can access their medical records through kiosks based in the surgery.

The Wells Park Practice in Sydenham is one of only three practices in the country to trial the system and the first to have adapted it to make it easier for patients to use. The system went live on 21 March 2003 and has since been under trial by local patients to measure how useful they find it.

The Patient Access Electronic Record System (PAERS) allows patients visiting the GP to look up their health records and even book in for their appointments. Patients use their thumbprints to gain secure access to the system so no passwords or pin codes need to be remembered, and there is no chance of someone looking up another patient’s records.

Patients do not have to use the system, but those who do have their thumbprints scanned and stored. Once registered, the system will book them in on arrival to the surgery through touching a pad at the entrance. Once inside, they can visit a kiosk within the surgery and use a touch screen to view health records electronically.

[...]

informatics


Google
posted by meau meau , 5:47 PM Þ 

Portable Wi-Fi Radio

Reciva provide Internet Radio modules to the Consumer Electronics Industry.

Reciva Internet Radio Modules

Our Internet Radio Modules are used to build WiFi and wired ethernet Internet Radio products, and contain all the software needed to connect to the Internet and play all major Internet radio broadcasts without the need for a PC.

Stations

In excess of ten thousand radio stations broadcast their programs on the Internet. In contrast to traditional radio, these stations are instantly accessible regardless of location, providing listeners with an unparalleled variety of programme material, which ranges from mainstream content provided by major broadcasters, such as the BBC, to alternative content from niche markets.

Complete Product

If customers require a complete product, we can introduce them to our manufacturing partners who assemble products using Reciva Internet Radio modules. We also provide an Application Development Kit, with all the information necessary to build an Internet Radio product using our Internet Radio Modules, as shown below.

Reference design

The Product shown below is the Reciva WiFi Internet Radio reference design. It allows customers to evaluate our module technology.


RecivaNR230B.jpg (51469 bytes)

[...]


It doesn't attract as much attention as a laptop and if it doesn't get hacked within minutes to be slightly more useful...
posted by meau meau , 10:53 AM Þ 
posted by meau meau , 10:39 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 10:35 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 10:31 AM Þ 



Pre-emptive Paranoia

The administration has been so dazzling in misleading the public that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit. By MAUREEN DOWD

Here's how bad off the Democrats are: They're cowering behind closed doors, whispering that if it should ever turn out that Republicans are behind this, it would be so exquisitely Machiavellian, so beyond what Democrats are capable of, they should just fold and concede the election now - before the Republicans have to go to the trouble of stealing it again.

There's no evidence - it's just a preposterous, paranoid fantasy at this point. But it speaks to the jitters of the Democrats that they're consumed with speculation about whether Karl Rove, the master of dirty tricks and surrogate sleaze, could have set up CBS in a diabolical pre-emptive strike to undermine damaging revelations about Bush 43's privileged status and vanishing act in the National Guard, and his odd refusal to take his required physical when ordered.

In this vast left-wing conspiracy theory, Mr. Rove takes real evidence on W.'s shirking and transfers it to documents doomed to be exposed as phony (thereby undermining the real goods), then funnels it through third parties to Dan Rather, Bush 41's nemesis on Iran-contra. A perfect bank shot.

The secretary for W.'s squadron commander in the Texas Guard told The Times that the information in the disputed memos is correct - it's just the memos that seem fake. [...]

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,318275,00.html
posted by Irdial , 10:10 AM Þ 

Annan: US invasion of Iraq was illegal

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has described the US-led invasion of Iraq as illegal and a violation of the UN charter.

In an interview with BBC on Wednesday, Annan also expressed fears that holding credible elections in Iraq may not be possible as planned in January 2005 in view of the escalating violence. "I am one of those who believe that there should have been a second resolution from the UN Security Council to green-light the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime," Annan said. "I have indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of view it was illegal," he said. [...]

http://english.aljazeera.net/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3661134.stm

Not that this will change anything, but it is now on the record.
posted by Irdial , 9:32 AM Þ 

Economic Left/Right: -7.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.79

Wayyyy down there to the lower-left. Now we know why I feel so out-of-place in super right-wing Alberta!
I felt some of the questions on the quiz were a bit too vague or unclear though.

2 days on, 2 days off ( which really fucks with the body clock )
This summer I worked a job where the shifts would, er, shift 3 to 4 hours every day on short notice. I found myself to be constantly exhausted by this irregular, unpredictable shift work. I can't imagine what it would be like to flip everything around every two days! I think night shifts are inherently unhealthy, even for "night people," who will only really work on into the night when they really need to.

I almost got a tube pre-amp this summer, but a bastard used "buy it now" and my dreams were forever shattered...

The past few days I have been intensely researching string/m-theory and related ideas (having access to a physics library helps). There are some truly mindbending notions like the possibility of an infinite expanse that pre-dates the big bang. However I don't reccomend doing research quite as intense (and short-term) as I have, because it really hurts your brain trying to stretch it beyond ideas of three dimensions, or trying to conceive a state lacking space or time, in such a hurried fashion as I have done.

posted by Barrie , 4:25 AM Þ 
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Email me?

Post it.
posted by Irdial , 11:11 PM Þ 

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Otis Ferry

Individualist Environmentalists

iGreens

On August 3rd Otis Ferry, the 19-year-old son of rock star Bryan Ferry, was arrested while attempting to plaster pro-hunting stickers over the windows of Tony Blair's constituency home in Trimden, Co Durham. He was protesting against the Labour government's plans to prohibit hunting with dogs.

"I felt I was not doing enough to try to save hunting" he said. "I haven't done anything wrong and I am certainly not going to be dissuaded by what happened."

Ferry works as an amateur whipper-in for the Middleton hunt in Yorkshire.

"I feel strongly that, during this so-called 'consultation' into hunting, the more disruption is made by people showing their true feelings of anger, the more likely the Government is to take their concerns on board," he went on. "It's no good acting after the issue has been decided."

Too right, Otis! We've elected you iGreens' celebrity of the week. Carry on the good fight.

Jim Thornton 17th August 2002

posted by Irdial , 11:06 PM Þ 

I'm doing a profiled RGB/CMYK to PDF/X-1a workflow now, and it's the niftyest thing since the wheel. Post if you want to know more...

I would love to know more. Email me?

mary13 at gmail dot com

posted by mary13 , 10:54 PM Þ 
posted by telle goode , 9:54 PM Þ 

JASON VICTOR SERINUS
WHISTLER AND ENTERTAINER EXTRAORDINAIRE



Jason Victor Serinus whistled Peppermint Patty’s ice-skating music, Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" as The Voice of Woodstock in the internationally televised Emmy-nominated Peanuts cartoon She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown.

Jason frequently uses his whistling for healing purposes. He regularly performs in pioneer dancer/choreographer Anna Halprin's annual Planetary Healing Dance atop Northern California's Mount Tamalpais. He has also performed in many Peace the 21st Meditations, in Robert and Alyssa Hall's meditation/labyrinth workshop at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and in the closing ritual of the International Somatics Conference in San Francisco. Jason has led group guided meditations/visualizations which promote healing via the use of whistled tones.

only in california...

posted by telle goode , 9:35 PM Þ 

Post Pages give each of your posts their own unique web page, in addition to appearing on your blog's front page.


testing....


not enough space!

now, if only i could mount a gmail volume on irdial.com for an extra 1g of space!

posted by Irdial , 6:29 PM Þ 
posted by Claus Eggers , 6:27 PM Þ 

Hey all:

Haven't posted about this yet, but the new issue of Subsystence is now online. Mr. Kirby even submitted an excellent photo-essay, and there is plenty of free music to leech. I also highly recommend the photo galleries.

It's all good.
.k
posted by Ken , 4:41 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:17 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:04 PM Þ 

Through some companies you can send flowers...
Through others you can send book vouchers...
Through us you can send alcoholic drinks!

It’s easy.
1.

Click on Corney & Barrow below and select a drink to send to your friend.
2. Choose from champagne, wine, beer, plus more. Enter their mobile number and your message.
3. Pay.

It’s that simple. Your voucher is sent via SMS & your friend simply shows their SMS at any Corney & Barrow bar.

Be one of the first. Try it today.
posted by Irdial , 2:35 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:38 PM Þ 

Design-wise Blogdialins,

I am looking for an office color printer to be mostly used for proofs and very small jobs. Speed is not an issue, but accuracy of color and variety of paper sizes and stocks is. My budget is ~ US $5000. Does anyone have insight into the world of color printers?


Forget about small runs. Send those jobs off to digital printing. For those $5000 you should get an inkjet with hardware rip. Canon, HP and EPSON has those. An entry level tabloid-size colour laser will come in at around $5000, and will not be able to do small print runs either.
Inkjet is your best bet in your pricerange.

I've switched from Quark to InDesign as well this year. I find my work faster and easier to modify/see results. The PDF output function hss been invaluable. As has Preview/Bleed/Slug Mode.

I swiched to InDesign when it hit 2.0, now I'm on CS and haven't looked back since. InDesign is so much more capable and productivity enhancing than Quark. I'm doing a profiled RGB/CMYK to PDF/X-1a workflow now, and it's the niftyest thing since the wheel. Post if you want to know more...
posted by Claus Eggers , 1:25 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:16 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:07 PM Þ 

I've got a red wooden transistor
Everything sounds best on that...
posted by Alun , 1:03 PM Þ 

The image “http://cqout.helpinghost.com/SB/Roberts_R505.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Thankfully I had mod at slashdot when this article was posted.

I mashed down every "I could never afford a tube amp so it must suck" post by ignorant cloth eared jaskasses that I could. And I liked it.

What you see above is a classic Roberts Radio. There is nothing like the sound of a classic Roberts Radio when it is playing a pure FM signal. Sadly many of the FM stations today play signals that go through 25+ different stages of destruction before they reach your radio. Kiss FM is the worst offender, it sounds absolutely dreadful.

Melody FM used to sound very much sweeter than it does today. I suspect that they are now pumping their signal through racks of garbage (aparently to increase signal reach).

Did you know that Radio Three used to have a dude that adjusted the volume of a transmisison by hand so that the quite parts of a classical recording would be more audible on the radio? They refused to use a compression box to do this because they are too brutal.

Pirate radio sounds much better than most commercial / legal radio stations - they dont have the money to buy the equipment that destroys the sound.
posted by Irdial , 8:48 AM Þ 
Tuesday, September 14, 2004

posted by Irdial , 10:07 PM Þ 

Economic Left/Right: -2.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.92

Authoritarian
Left





















Right
Libertarian
posted by Irdial , 6:48 PM Þ 


Studiomonitor, tubeamp and iPod. Pure genius.
posted by Claus Eggers , 5:46 PM Þ 

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.38

A little bit to the right of the Dalai Lama.

But I knew that.
posted by meau meau , 5:05 PM Þ 

altering your mental relationship with the world
some years ago i had the great good fortune to take on a job as night attendant at a 24-hour petrol station, 10pm-6am, 2 days on, 2 days off ( which really fucks with the body clock ) ... i thought it might be fun, might allow me to write music with no distraction ... no such luck ... doors were locked at 11pm, in time for ritual through-the window abuse from the pub throw-outs, shelf re-stocking duties followed until the early hours ... after a couple of weeks, i started trying to make friends with the market traders arriving at 4am, to their bemusement and irritation ...
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 5:03 PM Þ 

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -6.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.38


Down there at the anarcho-syndicalists with Mandela, Dalai Lama and Gandhi.
posted by Claus Eggers , 4:23 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:25 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:18 PM Þ 

Tired of Bush's rhetoric? Sick of the appeals to fear and references to 9/11?
Think you could do better? Here's your chance! With this fun Interactive Tool!!
George Bush Speechwriter
posted by telle goode , 3:08 PM Þ 

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -6.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.10


International Chart
A diverse professional team has assessed the words and actions of globally known figures to give you an idea of how they relate to each other on the political compass.
















Right

Libertarian
posted by alex_tea , 2:50 PM Þ 

A rhythmic digression in human voice.
posted by Josh Carr , 2:45 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:26 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 11:24 AM Þ 

Alun Brings the light...

7. Are exceptionally sensitive to light

In the first Time Machine, malicious Morlocks live in caves and have glowing eyes.
The tanned hero needs only to light a match...
...And they scurry off, shielding their eyes.


posted by Irdial , 11:18 AM Þ 

If I could be awake at night and sleep through the day every day.....

...you would miss your 'normal' friends and 'normal' interactions too much, altering your mental relationship with the world, and your physical characteristics would change. A friend who worked at the Telegraph for 3 years of nights found, most obviously, his skin pigmentation getting fucked up and has been told to expect it to be 1-2 years before it returns to 'normal'.

Is it worth it?
posted by Alun , 11:04 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 10:47 AM Þ 

Index of /Dr._Brontosaurus-Crabwise-EP

-2004-DrB

      Name                    Last modified       Size  Description 

[DIR] Parent Directory 12-Sep-2004 14:40 -
[IMG] 00-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:54 1.0M
[SND] 00-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:54 1k
[   ] 00-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:54 6k
[   ] 00-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:54 1k
[SND] 01-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:54 2.1M
[SND] 02-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:55 5.0M
[SND] 03-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:55 3.4M
[SND] 04-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:56 2.3M
[SND] 05-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:57 4.8M
[SND] 06-Dr._Brontosaurus-..> 18-Jul-2004 13:57 5.0M
posted by Irdial , 9:57 AM Þ 

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements that exemplify Bruce Mau's beliefs, motivations and strategies. It also articulates how the BMD studio works.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
VCs don't understand this one, and practice the opposite of number 3.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 7. Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 10. Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 11. Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 12. Keep moving. The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
Allow both failure and sucess, and reap the benefits of both.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 13. Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 15. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
Hire stupid people; they will supply you with stupid questions.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.16. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 17. ——————————. Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 18. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.
I can personally vouch for this one. I work best at night, I've done my best music at night, I think better at night. If I could be awake at night and sleep through the day every day.....

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 19. Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 20. Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
We do that.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 21. Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 22. Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
Thats why when everyone is using the same set of tools (Protools) in the studio, you should run away from them as hard as you can. If you don't, your stuff will sound like their stuff. Differentiation of your tools and methods is fundamental to arriving at your own sound. For example, when our studio is running, nothing is permanently plumbed in, and between sessions, everything is unplugged. That way, each setup is unique, each session is unique. When you have permanent routing, your place has a "sound" and whilst thats great if you want to sell studio time and have big clients its anathema for anyone wanting to explore. Ideally, all your equipment should be in....later!

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 23. Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
Use with caution obviously.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 24. Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it.
Bingo! Unless you write your own software.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 25. Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
Guilty as charged mlud.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 26. Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

The image “http://www.iww.org/graphics/utilities/nukesigns/check-no.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 27. Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”
Cut it up. Why not go all the way?

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
If they get stuck to you albatross fashion as the coiner, you could be trapped in an atenololian nightmare.

The image “http://www.cosmicus.nl/groups/themes/Intermesh/images/questionmark.png” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.29. Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. The image “http://www.cosmicus.nl/groups/themes/Intermesh/images/questionmark.png” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.30. Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
Freedom is slavery? "Suits" are the people who try to stop every innovation we can think of. They were against the record, the radio, television, the VCR, they are against file sharing, they have no vision, no guts and live only for today. The truth is, Frank Gehry is a superstar. This is how he gets over the first hurdle. secondly, he budgets properly, setting out the financing he needs to realize a project leaving a good margin of error so that he can deliver on budget. He does this by having suits under his control. That is the key, to have suits working for you as a tool, and using that tool effectively. If you cooperate with them, they will control you...even if you are paying them!

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. The image “http://www.faqs.org/contrib/linux/images/caution.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 31. Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
Translation; get rich as fast as possible. Only then will you be free enough to not borrow money and do what you want no matter what the consequenses are. Ask George Lucas about this. No one understood what he was trying to do with Star Wars. Even the producer admits that he didnt understand it, but backed it anyway. Now, Lucasfilm can make any film that it wants, can invest in any technology that needs to be created...and you know the rest.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 32. Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 33. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 34. Make mistakes faster. This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 35. Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

The image “http://www.iww.org/graphics/utilities/nukesigns/check-no.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 36. Scat. When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.
tology.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 38. Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
Acid!

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 40. Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
Skype.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 41. Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 42. Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. The image “http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/html_img/check.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. 43. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.

http://www.brucemaudesign.com/index.html
posted by Irdial , 8:40 AM Þ 

It's not about the world of design.
It's about the design of the world.

Design has emerged as one of the world’s most important forces and nature itself has fallen to the regime of design. Design has placed us at the beginning of a new, unprecedented period of human possibility where all economies and ecologies are becoming totally global, relational, and interconnected and there exists one complex network of dominion over the forces of nature.

Massive Change

This is the new exhibition I will be touring at the gallery this fall. Check the site, it is a massive blog! Training starts next week. I am hoping it will be as cool as the cyborg exhibition, which was both fun and mind-expanding. I was debating if I would have time to tour this exhibit, but how can I not?
posted by mary13 , 3:07 AM Þ 

Does anyone have insight into the world of color printers?
At work we use a Tektronix Phaser 780. It is a colour laser printer. The quality is very high though it cannot handle high volume because the rollers get crapped up (unfortunately it gets a massive amount of work at the office). A seven-colour Epson printer would probably be a good choice too. I had no idea that Heidelberg made desktop print solutions but if they do I bet they are pretty good. Heidelberg is very highly regarded in the printing industries. To see a press check off a Heidelberg sheetfed is to cream one's pants. mmm.

Quark issues: Akin, you're right on all counts about what Quark needs to do, I've felt their business/programming strategies of the past few years have bordered on "fucking retarded." I do think that they'll stick around though. Most of Quebecor uses Quark, and Quebecor alone could keep Quark in business. Of course that's nothing to say for Quebecor's legendary miserly nature - most terminals haven't even been upgraded to OS X yet, so who knows what the hell they'll do. Insane.

Blogger's interface is starting to go totally crazy on me. not impressed.
vvvt - bing. I have class from 8am to 9:30pm on Tues/Thurs. Better get moving.
posted by Barrie , 2:39 AM Þ 
Monday, September 13, 2004

foster the extensions community into making Quark much better.

Imagine if it were as easy to write extensions for xpress as it is for Movable Type. Can they do this without exposing the source of xpress?
posted by Irdial , 11:05 PM Þ 

what they could do is buy up all the functionality they need in the form of these xtensions, optimise them and then ship them as the default feature set of xpress, that way, they keep the door open for developers to extend xpress and reduce the amount of re-writing from scratch that they have to do.

Which is the same route Apple have been taking of late, no? Also Quark need to make it easier to develop extensions and support hobby extension makers, that way it could foster the extensions community into making Quark much better.

I think Quark may be fighting an uphill struggle though, I would wager that most small design studios and agencies have moved over to InDesign, the behemoths only staying with Quark because of the huge investment of updating all their systems. I reckon they're on the brink though.

Quark also needs to reduce the prohibitive entry price to its products.

Josh -- I'd love $5000 to spend on a printer. At work we have an Epsom Stylus Photo 1270. It's OK for the stuff we're doing right now, but I'd love a networked, rendezvous postscript printer with Coloursync support. That won't happen for a while though. I'm using a 19" Apple Studio Display that can't manage 85Hz above 800x600. I'm using it at 1600x1200 at 60Hz and slowly going blind.

Heidleberg make good printers. Not sure if any are in your price range (although I expect so). It would be really nice if there was a professional design community website out there with reviews of products, tips and techniques, etc. I guess Creativepro comes pretty close.
posted by alex_tea , 10:46 PM Þ 

If you were Fred Ibrahimi, the man who created and owns Quark Inc., what would you do to squash the threat of Adobe InDesign?

I see that you can now download the 6.1 updater for free and without any registration or barrier from quark.com - perhaps they have got the message that locking people out of updates (even people who are not registered, or non purchasers) simply moves users to programs that dont lock the user out, ie ones made by Adobe.

Or perhaps not. You still have to register to download the full res preview extension, an extension that adds a feature that should have been build in to xpress ages ago.

It looks like a feature war, after real stability is fixed. Once your programme will not crash and eat your work, then you have to offer tools, sensibly laid out and accessible. Quark needs to:

  • take the best features from all the other DTP programmes, and bundle them all into xpress 7.
  • hire more developers in to do this.
  • create a talk-back like feature to identify and fix bugs rapidly.
  • to patch more regularly and actively.

They cant rely on third party extensions to provide functionality to xpress. Doing this makes running xpress as a fully featured dtp programme hideously expensive - actually, what they could do is buy up all the functionality they need in the form of these xtensions, optimise them and then ship them as the default feature set of xpress, that way, they keep the door open for developers to extend xpress and reduce the amount of re-writing from scratch that they have to do.

hmmmmmmmm
posted by Irdial , 9:08 PM Þ 

I meant US $5000 (this is for my work office). Perhaps that is too much for what I need, which is really just high quality CMYK proofing and small job runs (CD-ROM labels, some one-off brochures, &c.). Any ideas on models or brands?
posted by Josh Carr , 7:59 PM Þ 

My budget is ~ US $5000

For that amount of money, you can probably get a six colour fine art printer...from what I hear...or did you mean $500?
posted by Irdial , 7:35 PM Þ 

posted by a hymn in g to nann , 7:26 PM Þ 

www.skeletonhome.com

Fascinating artworks right there, by Mr. Bruce Tovsky.
posted by Irdial , 7:03 PM Þ 

Design-wise Blogdialins,

I am looking for an office color printer to be mostly used for proofs and very small jobs. Speed is not an issue, but accuracy of color and variety of paper sizes and stocks is. My budget is ~ US $5000. Does anyone have insight into the world of color printers?

--

I've switched from Quark to InDesign as well this year. I find my work faster and easier to modify/see results. The PDF output function hss been invaluable. As has Preview/Bleed/Slug Mode.
posted by Josh Carr , 6:17 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:33 PM Þ 

Hi Anthony,

Thank you for your suggestions regarding our commenting system. As this is
a new feature for us, we are very interested in getting input from users
so we know how to improve the service. We will certainly take into account
the issues you raised.

Thanks for using Blogger!

Blogger Support

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: "a hymn in g to nann (160854, )"
Subject: comment formatting
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 03:30:16 -0700 (PDT)

Hi

Many thanks for a great tool, it's a joy to use.

I allow anonymous commenting on my blog and have been trying to figure out
how to apply css to differentiate between my comments and those of all
others. I can't use your suggestion of placing the $BlogCommentAuthor$ tag
in the class tag, because I can't know in advance what names to look out
for.

A really simple way of achieving this would be for you to add a tag to the
Comments family, something along the lines of $BlogCommentAuthorStatus$
which would output either "BlogOwner" or "BlogVisitor"; this variable
could be inserted into the class tag and css applied accordingly.

Thanks again

Anthony Manning
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 1:01 PM Þ 

Whoever wants to fake documents, wether they be the "Niger Uranium" docs "George Galloway in Saddam's pay" papers or these "Bush is a lowdown dirty chickenhawk" files, they need to read Stop stealing elections and find our how democracy works.
posted by Irdial , 11:19 AM Þ 
Sunday, September 12, 2004

CLAUDIO ARRAU

BIOGRAPHY

Claudio Arrau, renowned throughout the world as one of the supreme keyboard masters of the century, stands today at the summit of his long and legendary career, for the one artistic goal he has pursued for a lifetime: the total fusion of virtuosity and meaning.

Where other famous pianists play the piano for excitement, power or display, Arrau plays to probe, to divine, to interpret. Says Arrau, "An interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted."

The famed late doyen of London music critics, Sir Neville Cardus of the Guardian, explained Arrau vividly: "Arrau is the complete pianist. He can revel in the keyboard for its own pianistic sake, representing to us the instrument's range and power, but he can also go beyond piano playing as we are led by his art to the secret chambers of the creative imagination."

In a tribute by the Berlin Philharmonic, which bestowed the Hans von Bulow Medal on Arrau in 1980, on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of his debut with that great orchestra, it was put even better: "When Arrau bends over the keyboard, it is as if Music and only Music itself, is flowing out of his entire body. There is not a nuance of feeling or sound that he has not mastered. His pianissimo is more eloquent, more mysterious than that of others, and his fortissimo has more depth of dimension and is more limitless."

But a London Sunday Times interview some years back explained the Arrau mystique best of all: "One regards him as a sort of miracle; the piano is the most machinelike of instruments except the organ - all those rods, levers, little felt pads, wires, no intimate subtle human connection with it by breath, tongueing, or the string player's direct engagement with speaking vibrations. But Arrau makes it live, like God teaching Adam on Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel roof; liquid, mysterious, profound, alive."

At 86, Arrau today is a legend in his own lifetime, not only for the penetrating profundity of his interpretations, but for a still transcendent virtuosity completely at the service of his art. Explains Arrau: "Since in music we deal with notes, not words, with chords, with transitions, with color and expression, the musical meaning always based on those notes as written and nothing else - has to be divined. Therefore any musician, no matter how great an instrumentalist, who is not also an interpreter of a divinatory order, the way Furtwangler was, or Fischer-Dieskau is, is somehow onesided, somehow without spiritual grandeur." [...]

http://www.princeton.edu/~gpmenos/biography.html

posted by Irdial , 1:35 PM Þ 
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