Saturday, April 30, 2005

A comment from the previous link I posted lead me Google Sightseeing, and now I'm hooked.

The boneyard is still my favourite.
posted by alex_tea , 11:23 PM Þ 

the_unexplained: So tonight I spied on Area 51. Actually

I wonder if there are any secret military bases in the UK?
posted by alex_tea , 3:46 PM Þ 
Friday, April 29, 2005

... like having a piece of the future on your waist ... !!
posted by mary13 , 9:24 PM Þ 

Belt Buckle!
posted by alex_tea , 6:48 PM Þ 


Check out the sample Rhythmen mit Bass etc. MP3
posted by Claus Eggers , 11:08 AM Þ 

The BPI radar means that now people in the UK can spurn 'the man'
posted by meau meau , 9:49 AM Þ 





Your Taste in Music:


Geräusch-Kunst: Null Influence

posted by Irdial , 8:33 AM Þ 





Your Taste in Music:


80's Pop: High Influence
Heavy Metal: High Influence
Progressive Rock: High Influence
80's Alternative: Medium Influence
90's Alternative: Medium Influence
Alternative Rock: Medium Influence
Classic Rock: Medium Influence
Dance: Medium Influence
80's R&B: Low Influence
80's Rock: Low Influence
Hair Bands: Low Influence
Old School Hip Hop: Low Influence

posted by captain davros , 12:55 AM Þ 
Thursday, April 28, 2005
posted by Irdial , 11:03 PM Þ 

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.



“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

--Jean-Paul Sartre



“It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”

--Blaise Pascal



More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Existentialism

95%

Utilitarianism

60%

Hedonism

55%

Kantianism

45%

Justice (Fairness)

35%

Apathy

20%

Strong Egoism

10%

Divine Command

0%

Nihilism

0%

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com
posted by Claus Eggers , 10:55 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 10:54 PM Þ 

Barrie, I know Vancouver is not far away from Edmonton, but Malaspina Printmakers Society is an artist-run center with lovely studios, and a great location. Probably a good resource too, for studios in other countries, contacts. I'd travel if I were you, as far as you can. Now is the time.

As for Blogdial love, well, I'd still sport the chrome masthead if it were a belt buckle.
posted by mary13 , 10:15 PM Þ 

Possible consequences of acting without a second resolution

32. In assessing the risks of acting on the basis of a reasonably arguable case, you will wish to take account of the ways in which the matter might be brought before a court. There are a number of possibilities. First, the General Assembly could request an advisory opinion on the legality of the military action from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A request for such an opinion could be made at the request of a simple majority of the States within the GA, so the UK and US could not block such action.

Second, given that the United Kingdom has accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ, it is possible that another State which has also accepted the Court's jurisdiction might seek to bring a case against us. This, however, seems a less likely option since Iraq itself could not bring a case and it is not easy to see on what basis any other State could establish that it had a dispute with the UK. But we cannot absolutely rule out that some State strongly opposed to military action might try to bring such a case. If it did, an application for interim measures to stop the campaign could be brought quite quickly (as it was in the case of Kosovo). 33. The International Criminal Court at present has no jurisdiction over the crime of aggression and could therefore not entertain a case concerning the lawfulness of any military action. The ICC will however have jurisdiction to examine whether any military campaign has been conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Given the controversy surrounding the legal basis for action, it is likely that the Court will scrutinise any allegations of war crimes by UK forces very closely. The Government has already been put on notice by CND that they intend to report to the ICC Prosecutor any incidents which their lawyers assess to have contravened the Geneva Conventions. The ICC would only be able to exercise jurisdiction over UK personnel if it considered that the UK prosecuting authorities were unable or unwilling to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute the suspects themselves. [...]

Proportionality

36. Finally, I must stress that the lawfulness of military action depends not only on the existence of a legal basis, but also on the question of proportionality. Any force used pursuant to the authorisation in resolution 678 (whether or not there is a second resolution):

· must have as its objective the enforcement the terms of the cease-fire contained in resolution 687 (1990) and subsequent relevant resolutions;
· be limited to what is necessary to achieve that objective; and
· must be a proportionate response to that objective, ie securing compliance with Iraq's disarmament obligations.

That is not to say that action may not be taken to remove Saddam Hussein from power if it can be demonstrated that such action is a necessary and proportionate measure to secure the disarmament of Iraq. But regime change cannot be the objective of military action. This should be borne in mind in considering the list of military targets and in making public statements about any campaign.

(signed) ATTORNEY GENERAL 7 March 2003 [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1472450,00.html


!!!!!!!!!
Pure Dynamite!
posted by Irdial , 7:12 PM Þ 

California proposes requiring baby ID numbers

Prisonplanet

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's attorney general introduced pioneering legislation on Tuesday that would require all babies born in the nation's most populous state to bear tiny identification numbers.

The bill, aimed at helping investigators solve crime, would require pediatric doctors to submit birth records to a state registry starting in 2007. Anyone bringing babies into the state not bearing the tiny serial number etched by laser could be punished for up to a year in prison.

"We are losing too many of our young people to seemingly random shootings and anonymous killers," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement. The bill "will strip criminals of their anonymity and give law enforcement evidence it can use to quickly and effectively solve more gun crimes."

Shocking
posted by meau meau , 1:26 PM Þ 

Taggregator collates tags from del.icio.us and flickr!

Blogdial
posted by meau meau , 11:37 AM Þ 



glenorawine - squaredcircle



Spell with flickr
posted by meau meau , 10:29 AM Þ 


You scored as Hedonism.

Hedonism


75%

Existentialism


70%

Utilitarianism


65%

Nihilism


40%

Strong Egoism


40%

Justice (Fairness)


40%

Apathy


35%

Kantianism


30%

Divine Command


0%

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com
posted by Alun , 10:24 AM Þ 

You scored as Existentialism

Hedonism

85%

Existentialism

85%

Strong Egoism

80%

Justice (Fairness)

75%

Nihilism

75%

Utilitarianism

55%

Kantianism

55%

Apathy

10%

Divine Command

0%


Hedonism seems very high, guess I should lighten up a bit.
posted by meau meau , 9:50 AM Þ 
Wednesday, April 27, 2005

You're getting this message because you once registered
for occasional email updates from TheyWorkForYou.com.

This particular mail is sent on that most occasional
of occasions: a United Kingdom general election.

First, our obligatory plea for help
===================================

We don't want cash, and we don't need love, but we do
need your help.

TheyWorkForYou.com has no marketing budget, no posters,
and no ad agencies working for us. We need *you* to be
our marketing department. Before you read on, (and only
if it's before May 6th 2005), please forward this email
to some other British electors you might know. Or blog
about us, if you're that way inclined.

...done it?

Ta, thanks.

(There're more ways in which you can help below)

Your MP's Report Card from TheyWorkForYou
=========================================

Still pondering whether to vote for or against your
incumbent MP? Well, to help you, we've sluiced together
all the facts we could about their behaviour and voting
patterns over the past few years, and squeezed them onto
one web page. Whether they were pro or against Iraq,
rebellious or absentee, aloof or taking money from the
dodgiest people, frugal with the public purse, or
blowing it all on train tickets, it's all here.

We think you'll like it, and even if you thought you
knew your MP, you may be in for a few surprises.

Just type in your postcode:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/

== Not voting this year? Tell the world why at
http://www.notapathetic.com/ ==


Electoral Fraud Special
=======================

If you're as worried as we are about electoral fraud,
here's what you can do:

* Don't vote by post. Turn up: it's worth it.

* Ring your council, ask for the Electoral Register
Division, and check you're name is not on the
"marked register" - ie, someone has already voted in
your name. Find your council's number here:
http://www.upmystreet.com/lgc_roles/

* Finally, if you suspect fraud, email

electoral.fraud@guardian.co.uk,

who are collecting incidents to report on, and contact
the police.

Heeeelp us! (No, we don't need money)
======================================

Our biggest constraint is publicity.

We're rather allergic to spending time and money on
blowing our own trumpet
(Just writing this is making us feel a bit shifty).

But without publicity, people who might want to learn
more about their MP and the issues this election won't
know about us. And that means they won't
find out everything they need about this election.

The other constraint is this damned Internet thing.
Try as we might, we can't get away from it - even though
we know that many people don't have access to it. Or
when they do, they're so battered with pop-ups and
viruses, they'd never find us.

So we wondered if you might be able to help us a little
with publicity, and escaping our fancy techno-shackles.

Here's how:

Pledge, Print and Post
======================

All of us here have pledged to load up our own MP's
report card from http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp,
print it out ten times on our bubblejet printers, and
deliver a copy to ten other houses in our neighbourhood.
As we're mild cowards, we'll only do this if 100 other
people across Britain agree to pledge, print and post
with us.

If you think it's important for your fellow voters to
be impartially informed, rather than drowned in spin
and ad copy, we'd like you to join us.

It'll only take a few minutes, and, you know, it gets
you out of the house.

Click here:

http://www.pledgebank.com/theywork to sign up with us.

You'll only have to do it if 100 other people are as
brave as you.

Other Things To Do
==================

If that's a bit *too* scary, just forward this email
(or your MPs Report Card) around your friends;
or if you're one of those blogger people, write about
us.


Other Sites You Might Like
==========================

We're just one of a growing community of independent
British civic sites which aim to provide tools for all
kinds of civic and political action.

A list of some web sites that we know about is below.
Some of the sites we know the people involved, others
we have no connection with. But we all think they're
brilliant, and we really hope they'll help you make an
informed choice, and act on it, this election.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/election.php
- the one minute quiz to find out how you should vote

http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/
- more detailed analysis of you and your politics

http://www.politicalsurvey2005.com/
- now find out how you compare to the rest of Britain

http://www.notapathetic.com
- say why you're not voting (if that's what you've
decided to do), and make yourself heard.

http://www.writetothem.com/
- our sister site for contacting your representatives,
local, national and European.

Finally, Our Partly Political Broadcast
=======================================

You'll hear a lot from the politicians and pundits in
the next few weeks about how this is the
"Internet Election".

We think it may will be; but that won't be thanks to
them. We think it'll be due to people like you, and the
volunteers who build these sites, to make this an
election based on free information and no more spin.

For the last parliament, for good or bad, they worked
for us.

But sometimes - and especially at election time - you
have to do the work yourself.

Have a good election,

-- The TheyWorkForYou Volunteers.
posted by Irdial , 9:29 PM Þ 


You scored as Hedonism. Your life is guided by the principles of Hedonism: You believe that pleasure is a great, or the greatest, good; and you try to enjoy life’s pleasures as much as you can.



“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!”



More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Hedonism


90%

Divine Command


85%

Justice (Fairness)


85%

Existentialism


75%

Utilitarianism


50%

Strong Egoism


40%

Kantianism


25%

Nihilism


25%

Apathy


0%

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com

NO!
posted by Irdial , 6:58 PM Þ 



http://www.yarnivore.com/francis/archives/001102.html

Its vile, but then, what the HELL are you doing buying corporate prostitute music? You feed the enemy and complain that they abuse you...not very smart!

If you are frightened of CDs that might not fit your consumer, then double check them with the RIAA Radar service from MagnetBox.

There arent any excuses anymore; use the internet to find whats good, dont buy from the bad guys, honour and patronize the people who do the right thing and stop complaining, because it acomplishes absolutely NOTHING.
posted by Irdial , 6:56 PM Þ 

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.



“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

--Jean-Paul Sartre



“It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”

--Blaise Pascal



More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Utilitarianism

85%

Hedonism

85%

Existentialism

85%

Strong Egoism

70%

Justice (Fairness)

65%

Kantianism

35%

Nihilism

35%

Divine Command

10%

Apathy

10%

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com
posted by alex_tea , 6:42 PM Þ 

http://del.icio.us/irdial

did you know this?
posted by Irdial , 4:07 PM Þ 

Can you have group del.i's?

meauxtwo, it's possible to subscribe to all/any user's del.i's and then every link that user links goes into your inbox (which has it's own rss stream, i am sure you know this.) It might also be something worth considering to create a single del. tag, such as 'blogdial,' and then it would be possible to go the tag 'blogdial' for all users and it would have its own RSS feed, meaning all links by blogdialians would be feedable anywere else.

here we go:Blogdialat del.icio.us

I've got a new motto, if you want to know it, it's: you can't lead a horse to water, but you can make it drink
posted by telle goode , 3:56 PM Þ 

British devolution:

Wales & Scotland although having regional assemblies have representatives in the UK parliament because there are issues that haven't been devolved to their assemblies (many fiscal powers have been witheld), this also gives rise to the so called 'West Lothian Question" where Scottish (and I suppose Welsh) MPs can vote on policy applied solely to England.

Representatives of the regional assemblies are voted for in separate elections and have no legislating rights in the UK parliament.
posted by meau meau , 11:31 AM Þ 

While we are having our love-in, I like the esoteric/specialised knowledge that everyone brings, looking back at the archives the amount of tech stuff seems lower now.

Barrie you should cast your eye over Telle's del.icio.us links, also to avoid flat staring remember the thought 'what haven't I been told lately'.
Can you have group del.i's?

-

The inside view of the Vitamin B12 show is at steviecat's livejournal
posted by meau meau , 9:49 AM Þ 



The one on the right is the 'original'....in sepia. Hmmmmmm!!!!!??
posted by Irdial , 8:52 AM Þ 

Performance lectures at BALTIC centre for contemporary art
26.05.05
andrew mckenzie
09.06.05
bill drummond

I would have liked to see this whole series if I was in the area. This kind of performance idea interests me incredibly as I am starting to see it form in my visual works, which are beginning to suggest a more public role or direction for themselves. The art you make tells you what to do, never pretend it is ever any different.
posted by Barrie , 8:40 AM Þ 

Davros asked something along the lines of my plans after University. Well, I am taking a year off to work and will probably be working in a rented studio with printing presses and such, in order to further my work or at least keep my juices flowing. During the year off I will be getting ready to apply to several schools for postgraduate studies, and my search for places to apply to starts now. I am not limited to Canada either - I may be able to travel. I am thinking that I should just refuse to study in the us of a though.
So, I ask Blogdial whether anyone knows of any interesting schools I could look into. I'm looking for 2-year or more MFA programs. Such information would be totally helpful.

Aphex Twin - "rhubarb." Wow.
posted by Barrie , 5:58 AM Þ 

Blogdial reminiscences?

The big arguments/discussions.

The excitement of sharing exciting things with exciting people.

Being called "leet" for the first time.

People changing their names.

Meeting Josh Carr in real life!

*more to come, maybe*
posted by captain davros , 12:24 AM Þ 
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

has anyone made a film about numbers stations yet? has anyone contacted you to enquire about it?
posted by alex_tea , 10:05 PM Þ 

People 'spend £1.5m' during lives

Is that all? I'm really surprised, it seems quite a small amount, I would have imagined it to be more, a lot more. Considering the amount of debt I'm in already, at less than quarter of a century, and the fact that I have been earning (and spending) around £1000 a month for a couple of years.

I'll update you on ATP later, I missed Vitamin B12, although I did meet, albeit briefly, one of them. My highlights were Afrirampo and James Chance and the Contortions.

My highlight was when someone said they liked reading what I wrote. Ha! I have such a fragile ego.
posted by alex_tea , 9:25 PM Þ 

Dav: I should be taking slides of my work from the past two years some times soon... I need to find a decent place to take them first. Then I plan to set up my own webpage but I suppose in the meantime those could go on Flickr. A good idea, sir.

I am very sick today, my body is fighting back after having been treated so poorly. Hopefully this is brief. Yesterday I had a piece of art I made stolen, a hand-bound book of woodblock prints. It had been set up, along with several much larger prints, in the studio for display for the grad exhibition jury - and had been stolen before they got a chance to look at it. They said if it is found before the exhibition starts then it can be displayed next to my larger prints. This is a very weird situation. Who would steal such a thing? What kind of total bastard would want to do that? Not happy. Not happy at all. This book was not editioned and I don't have the money right now to do it again (it contained some digital printing which is exxxpen$ive). The campus police are on the case so hopefully it will be tracked down. The studio is card-access only so we will be able to find out who entered the studio when.

One of my favourite Blogdial postings was the one about the "Musique Concrete Smash Hits." There have been many many others but my sick brain has a compromised memory at the moment. I learned about Celibadache from Blogdial too. And a lot of good information about European politics.
Speaking of politics, a friend and I were discussing how we did not understand how British federal government works. Does the Federal election affect Scotland and Wales? What is the status of Scotland and Wales? Are they semi-autonomous, with their own parliaments, or what? We were unable to clarify this. This isn't common knowledge at all.
Yeah!
posted by Barrie , 9:01 PM Þ 

Blogdial reminiscences?

Getting and putting up the mastheads - the quality and artistry of the people here constantly inspires me...it isnt all over!
posted by Irdial , 5:37 PM Þ 

what you are worth to them.

i love Blogdial. only today, an ancient post by Irdial Discs regarding a harpsichordist named Elisabeth Chojnacka helped me to brighten the life of the smelly old codger who runs (and probably comprises the complete membership of) The Balfe Archive. also, i have this forum to thank (and Alun in particular) for turning me on to R.H. Blyth, who has become my favourite writer since Julian Cope (they have much in common, actually).

what are your favourite Blogdial reminiscences?
posted by Mess Noone , 1:54 PM Þ 

Hi.
Just thought I'd let you know that your site is a Googlewhack.
By typing in "crepuscular" and "stringbean" in the Google search engine, one, and only one, entry came up, and it was your site.
Unfortunately, this rare find is not eligible to be entered as an official Googlewhack (in the "Whack Stack") because the dictionary www.googlewhack.com uses does not recognize "stringbean" as one word, but rather two words or hyphenated, which doesn't count.
Jim the Cat
=^..^=
posted by Irdial , 1:18 PM Þ 

"If you want to learn how to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where a road crosses that way, where a crossroad is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little 'fore 12:00 that night so you'll know you'll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself. . . . A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar, and he'll tune it. And then he'll play a piece and hand it back to you. That's the way I learned to play anything I want."

That link shows where that is.
posted by Irdial , 1:12 PM Þ 

From that Forbes article, a link to the essay released by The Bruges Group who wikipedians say is:

...a euro-sceptic think tank associated with the British Conservative Party. It claims to be an all-party group but its Honorary President is the Baroness Thatcher and it has no non-conservative politicians on its board.

Its co-chairs are Brian Hindley and Norman Lamont, and its Director is Robert Oulds.

And here is some of the article:

[...]
If the statement that you have no right to do something is to have meaning, then somebody else must have a right to penalise you if nevertheless you do it. The Charter doesn't specify who in the EU has that right or what the penalties will be. Setting out empty legal boxes, though, invites ambitious politicians and bright lawyers to try to fill them. Do we really want to allow such a process to start? Surely not: freedom of speech is too important to become a plaything in the political process-especially the political process of the EU, where support for free speech is often so qualified that it is closer to hostility than support.

Some shrug Article 54 aside. It is, they say, mere rhetoric or bombast, of a type that EU membership should by now have familiarised us with: we ought not to worry about it. Over the years, though, a lot of words and provisions that successive British governments dismissed as idle Continental rhetoric have damaged us. Even if it is bombast, we should worry about Article 54. Tolerating Continental posturing that has no injurious potential is one thing: to shrug aside postures that threaten vital freedoms is quite another. [...]

!!!

Even the French understand that this constitution is dangerous. It cant possibly survive referendums in all the EU states.....hmmmmm
posted by Irdial , 10:48 AM Þ 

Liberty, European-Style
Dan Seligman, 04.25.05
Companies, People, Ideas

The EU has funny ideas about human rights. For example, the idea that free
speech is not among those rights.
Viewed from 3,000 miles away, the European Union looks like a kind of
parallel United States. On both sides of the Atlantic, living standards are
high, government is democratic and educated people speak English.

View it up close and you see striking differences. One of them is that
America has the First Amendment and Europe doesn't. You can argue endlessly
about whether the Founding Fathers intended the free speech
clause--"Congress shall make no law Š abridging the freedom of speech"--to
protect flag-burning and nude dancing. But news stories from assorted Old
World democracies make a persuasive case that they badly need a First
Amendment over there. Not impeded by one, governments engage in a degree of
speech suppression unimaginable in the U.S.

A lot of the suppression takes place via national "speech codes" somewhat
similar to those imposed on numerous American campuses in the 1990s but
repeatedly struck down by First Amendment rulings. Here, for example, is a
news story (broadcast by the BBC) reporting that Croatia, currently a
candidate for EU membership, is broadening its laws against "hate speech" so
that it would be criminal to engage in "spreading racism and xenophobia."
Here is another story reporting that a respected political scientist in
Finland--he happens to be the father of the country's prime minister--was
being investigated by the "central criminal investigation department" for an
interview he gave to a newspaper, in which he expressed the view that
Africa's economic problems reflected low intelligence, not the heritage of
colonialism. (He was eventually cleared.)

[...]

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0425/097.html

!!!!!!

Honestly, this is a case of the blind telling the crippled how to knit a jumper. It is hilarious in so many ways, outrageous, absurd, simple minded....it beggars belief.

Or does it?

This is the mentality we have come to expect from Americans now, blinkered, insular, ignorant, fingerpointing, lawbreaking, murdering, porn peddling, rights abusing, pot the kettle black calling, lying, destabilizing, stupid, moronic, bigoted, warmongering, lie spewing, terror exporting evil dismantlers that they have become.

The European constitution is bad. It was written bad deliberately, by people with more common sense , humanity and education than anyone in the current Bush administration. They wrote that constitution with the american model very much in mind - what the drafters of the EU constitution wanted to avoid at all costs is Europe turning into another america, a nation suffering from the death of its moral centre, raging like a wild animal all over the world, exporting cultural poison, murder, instability hatred and nonsense wherever they go. A country without a national health system has no business telling any civilized country that they are not goverened properly, and any nation that handcuffs a 5 year old girldoesnt deserve to exist at all.

Look at all the abuses that took place just before the last election in the usa; Forbes would be spending its time and ink far more productively if it turned its bloodshot eye inward to its own countries failings, which are legion, rather than pointing its bony finger at the EU, where at least if you get sick, ANYWHERE in the EU, a doctor will see and treat you - for nothing, where the governments, problematic as they are, are for PEACE and not WAR.

One of you may now take up the baton....
posted by Irdial , 10:11 AM Þ 

THE wound in my uncle Toby's
groin, which he received at the
siege of Namur, rendering him unfit for
the service, it was thought expedient he
should return to England, in order, if
possible, to be set to rights.

He was four years totally confined, --
part of it to his bed, and all of it to his
room ; and in the course of his cure,
which was all that time in hand, suffer'd
unspeakable miseries, -- owing to a suc-
cession of exfoliations from the oss pubis,
and the outward edge of that part of the
coxendix called the oss illeum, ---- both
which bones were dismally crush'd, as
much by the irregularity of the stone,
[...]

Tristram Shandy
posted by meau meau , 9:36 AM Þ 

Speaking of blogdial as a repository of interesting articles there is an interesting review of new books about global espionage and the history of Anglo-American military code breaking efforts here:
Black Arts by Thomas Powers at NY Review of Books.
Worthwile historico-politico reading for those interested in the subject, even slightly.

Includes a fun 1930's quote from the father of American cryptography, Herbert O. Yardley:

The chief danger of an air raid, he said, was splintered glass from windows.
Thus, when one hears the siren one should get a drink,
lie down on a couch and put two pillows over oneself—one pillow over the eyes
and the other over the groin...if the eyes or groin were injured,
life was not worth living.
posted by telle goode , 3:21 AM Þ 
Monday, April 25, 2005
posted by chriszanf , 11:28 PM Þ 

Related, there needs (needs) to be some kind of information repository that any blogdial member can go to and easily find 100% useful, interesting and provocative articles on the internet when one feels this state of flat non-productivity going on.

Barrie, it existeth! It's Blogdial itself!!! We *are* what we *need*.

Alternatively, Wikipedia is proving to be a great source of good articles for me. Has anyone here added an article yet?

Furthermore I would really like to see the fruits of your college years, esp the printmaking. Get a Flickr account and pop some up, or get a special site up! Having been there myself, a Fine Art Degree can be a very hard thing to do. Have you any plans for how you might continue with your artwork out of college?

Now, the supermarket calls, for food, and then continuing to watch Heimat 1 on VHS from 1987 (including bits of preceding programmes inbetween). Heimat 2 and 3 are coming on BBC4 this summer I believe! (*Excited*).
posted by captain davros , 7:21 PM Þ 

Secondly have you heard that new numbers station again? The cynic in me thought they may have been trying to spoof you into saying something stupid off-hand.

Yes indeed; a subtle edit made my proclamation that finding that station was 'wild' seem a little OTT - the actual scenario was this; they arrived at the place where my radio was hoping to find something - anything - to add to the programme while we were recording the session live. They picked the time at which they would come over, and I agreed and had my radio set up. I started tuning around (astonishingly, they had "never seen a shortwave radio being tuned before", or at least that was the unlikely sounding story that was told to me) while the MiniDisc was recording and I was talking them through 'how a radio works'.

I'm not making this up.

Anyway, I tune round and round finding ordinary broadcasts, one of which prompted that pointless 'Morcambe and Wise' comment which I dont know how got into the final edit, and then to my total surprise, a numbers station that I had not heard before, blasted into the speaker.

What are the chances that a station that I have not heard before, found while tuning around at random, in the middle of the day, in the middle of an interview on the subject, just at the right time, I mean, honestly, it was just too much! and I actually said, "unbelievable; what are the chances that while you are here I would stumble across something that I am not familiar with", and of course that was the part that was edited out making the 'wild' comment seem incongruous.

These things happen when programmes are made; there are cuts, omissions etc etc, the most important thing is that the thrust is generally correct. There were some interviews that were left out that were spectacularly odd and fascinating. A shame, but thats the way it works sadly. Keeping the correct thrust is hard enough to achieve, and of course it can go totally the other way when people edit what you say and put it completely out of context to change the meaning of your words and misrepresent you, which thankfully didnt happen in this case.

Some other interesting things were said in the show and went unchallenged; "some of them are hoax" an old sounding voice intoned. Oh really? Which ones in particular? Where is the evidence? And then there was the female voice claiming by inference
that she knew whiich party was responsible for a transmission by saying that she would not reveal the fact - left unchallenged. (OR was this a case of subtle editing skewing some speech?).

If you say something, you have to prove it, or at least be challenged. I especially love the writers who completely missed the existence of Numbers Stations taking a dismissive tone. They stand in their positions because they claim to have some insider/broad knowledge of clandestine activity, yet, totally missed Numbers Stations, which means one of several things;
  • their sources are not very good
  • they have never used a shortwave radio
  • their sources are poor quality
  • thier sources are high quality but feeding them stale crumbs
  • the are not 'experts' at all
  • the are inside the game (pArAnoiA anyone!?)
othewise, they would know about Numbers Stations, would have commented on the bizarre sound of them in their 'writings about security', the huge amount of them etc etc.

This makes the thinking person wonder, "If they totally misssed Numbers Stations, what on earth else dont they know about that is going on right under our noses?". I'm suspicious of dismissive people, generally, and dismissive of people who litter their speech and writing with the word 'impossible', but I digress.

David Shayler; interesting guy, but he has no direct personal experience of Numbers Staions, judging by what he said on this programme. No one involved in Numbers is talking - yet - this is the thing that I would like to get a hold of (and another thing that I spoke about that was cut out; I want to publish a first hand account of Numbers Station operation written by someone who worked in one decades ago. This is why we released the 'Six Degrees of Separation' experiment, which I also talked about, to try and track someone down) and I am sure that there must be someone out there who is ready to talk and present his/her diary.

We shall see. 1000 cards were printed and they are now in circulation. It is now a matter of waiting.
posted by Irdial , 11:58 AM Þ 

I thought the 'Poacher' programme was reasonably done,given the sort of show that goes on in daytime slots, as an introduction to the broadcasts. It managed to get across that the numbers stations exist, that it is most probable that they serve/d government intelligence programmes, but this approach is not enough, by the nature of the broadcasts the Intelligence Services don't mind if third parties overhear or are aware of their existence.
Two particular things stood out in the programme - the presenter made a throwaway comment about 'alien' involvement, I don't know if this was a lazy conflation of Akin's other interests or what but it was a silly remark that wasn't followed up so shouldn't have been in, it also gave an indication of the territory (light-hearted-aren't-these-guys-are-eccentrics) the program may have been trying to steer itself to (also asking Simon Mason if he needed to go to shady back alleys to receive broadcasts).
Secondly have you heard that new numbers station again?Tthe cynic in me thought they may have been trying to spoof you into saying something stupid off-hand.

-

The Google Search History seems fine enough to me - its a thing you actively choose to use by logging in. I shall not be.
posted by meau meau , 10:30 AM Þ 

The article about addictive email was great. It clearly highlights a problem I have noticed is possible in myself: there is so much information input that one can easily fall into a state of no-focus, non-selective media processing. It is so much easier than actually having to concentrate on something. I find it quite difficult to not do it after spending a lot of time on a computer. There are so many things to pay attention to that it all becomes one FLAT non-productive blank stare, constant check-recheck.
I find this state to also induce INCREDIBLE DEPRESSION, which is why I attempt to avoid it at all costs by giving myself projects that require direct and specific concentration and intent. Working in the studio is one good antidote. Just keep the computer away.

Related, there needs (needs) to be some kind of information repository that any blogdial member can go to and easily find 100% useful, interesting and provocative articles on the internet when one feels this state of flat non-productivity going on. Sort of like an emergency brain-reviver that makes one think for a while, then stand up and walk away. Hmmm! I wonder if I am capable of making such a thing


Also, I just finished my BFA degree after the most intense 2 weeks of my life. I'm glad I have done this while young, as I would not have been able to put my body through such torture if I was even a little bit older. It feels good. Now there is a big drop and I'm floating.
Images still forthcoming.
posted by Barrie , 10:12 AM Þ 
Sunday, April 24, 2005

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/patton1.htm

...thats how I learned how to play anything that I want...
posted by Irdial , 12:39 PM Þ 
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