http://moominply.multiply.com/ <div class="relatedlinks"><b>Links:</b> <font size="1"><a href="http://www.bathyform.com">Bathyform</a>, <a href="http://www.core77.com/">Core 77</a>, <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/"> Inhabitat </a>, <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/"> BLDG BLOG</a>, <a href="http://pruned.blogspot.com/"> Pruned</a>, <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/"> Treehugger</a>, <a href="http://www.worldchanging.com/">worldchanging</a>, <a href="http://www.halfbakery.com"> Halfbakery</a>, and <a href="http://www.halfbakery.com/user/moomintroll"> my little corner of it</a><br> </font><b>People:</b><font size="1"><a href="http://inertwall.spaces.live.com/">my little brother</a>, <a href="http://blog.wired.com/sterling/"> Bruce Sterling</a>, <a href="http://realtravel.com/bristol-trips-i2938560.html">Veryan</a></font><font size="2"></font></div> <b><a href="http://www.spreadshirt.net/shop.php?sid=202740">You like T-shirt? You buy T-shirt? You buy my T-shirt, very good, very clean! You go clicky click here, okay? </a></b> Sat, 2 Aug 2008 15:17:06 -0000 Wed, 21 May 2008 06:43:50 -0000 http://images.moominply.multiply.com/logo http://moominply.multiply.com 100 100 <a href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-evening-chronicle/2008/05/12/geordie-crowned-britain-s-hairiest-man-72703-20896125/">Britain&#39;s hairiest man is bald on his heid.</a><br><br><br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/223/Weird_fact_of_the_day Wed, 21 May 2008 06:43:50 -0000 <a href="http://www.slowplanet.com/design"><img src="http://www.slowplanet.com/bilder/rotation_alt.jpg"> </a> It started with Slow Food; now those who would make a plea for a slower, more meditative pace of life are going global with their new beta site <a href "http://www.slowplanet.com/"> Slow Planet</a>. The site has four main subdivisions, of which Slow Food is <i>not</i> one; instead, there is Slow Travel, Slow Sport, Slow Work, and (obviously the one I'm most interested in) Slow Design. I understand the others - but Slow Sport? What? I don't think it really fits. Rushed travel, rushed work, rushed design - I understand why these can be argued against... but rushing around playing sport? Why not? If you prefer yoga, then by all means. But why favour one over the other? Anyway. This is from the <a href="http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/slow_design_9655.asp#more"> core77 </a> blog entry on the topic: <i>They've got some interesting things to say about design, notably a framework of six principles for slow design from their friends at the <a href="http://www.slowlab.net/">SlowLab</a>: 1. Reveal: Slow design reveals spaces and experiences in everyday life that are often missed or forgotten, including the materials and processes tha... http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/79/The_Slow_Movement_goes_um_planetary Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:39:04 -0000 Oh so sad. The phrase 'a national treasure' is overused, but Radio 4 is the most common accompaniment to my life and I can't think of any voice I welcomed more than his. 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' was/is quintessential Radio 4, and has been a fixture on my radio for as long as I can remember, right back to sitting listening with my family over dinner as a child. To be in the audience was one of my lifelong ambitions. As any Radio 4 aficionado will tell you, no comedy show was ever more lustily cheered, or more fondly remembered - and at the centre of it all, the unchanging institution, was Humph. It was a long time before I discovered that Humph was more celebrated as a legendary jazz trumpeter than as a merely brilliant comedy presenter, but when I did I was blown away. What a guy. He will be http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/78/Humphrey_Lyttelton_dies Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:07:01 -0000 Question: What do you want? <br> Answer: I don't know.<br><br>David Barringer muses on the essential grinding necessity of desire which underpins capitalism. It&#39;s a <a href="http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/desires-design">very interesting article</a> in Voice, the AIGA Journal of Design. I don&#39;t agree with his last paragraph about a mature economy having transcended the need, though; after all, the Japanese economy has the worst case of novophilia of pretty much anywhere in the world, and that&#39;s what drives design there. And besides, I live on a crowded island and I&#39;m not seeing any sign of moderation. I don&#39;t think this is geographical, or even linked to anything as concrete as material resources.<br> <br>Nonetheless, I totally agree with him on one point: we don&#39;t know what we want.<br><br>Failing that, maybe we need some lessons in how to want.<br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/222/What_do_you_want_I_dont_know Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:12:33 -0000 This has been doing the rounds recently - somebody tell me if it's already been posted by someone. <i>"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb" </i> <a href="http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/"><img src="http://data.tumblr.com/fSymsOGXO6t0mwobgXEtiYRm_500.gif"></a> http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/76/garfield_minus_garfield Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:10:50 -0000 <P>WhatIwantedtotalkaboutis</P> <P>computers</P> <P>and&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; their</P> <P>profoundlyinhumanspeedofuse-it'snotthattheygoinhumanlyfast<EM>necessarily</EM>-weexpectourtaskstobecompletedinstantly</P> <P>but</P> <P>whathappenswith&nbsp; all&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; software&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've</P> <P>everknownisthattheimmediatetasksyou'replacingonthecomputerareonlyonepartofthedemands<BR>placedonthemachinessystems;theantivirussystemthepowermanagementsystemandfranklygodknowswhat<BR>all</P> <P>conspire to</P> <P>createtheseburstsofnearinstantperformancecoupledwithstrangelullswhichhavenorelationtowhatI<BR>Imightbedoingorthinking...andasaresultIfeelalternatelyrushedthenfrustratedinaclassic"hurryupandwait"<BR>situation.Thisbleedsoverintomylifegenerally,andIfindmyselffeelingtheinternalpressurewhichseemstobe<BR>referredtoas'paceoflife'-thisinternalpressure(maybethewordI'mlookingforis'stres... http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/221/A_rant_on_computers_and_cadence. Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:47:00 -0000 <img src="http://jasonbryant.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/playstation-3.jpg" align=right> A couple of weeks ago (just before the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war was proclaimed to be over), I bought a PS3. Actually, no, we need to go back a bit further. Just after Christmas, I splurged on a flatscreen TV. It's not enormous, but it's sufficiently nice that suddenly it showed up all the flaws in my TV signal (of which more in some other rant), and I started to feel the need to buy a DVD player, or something - something that would do this staggeringly expensive bit of kit justice. I looked into building a Home Theater PC (HTPC) - a computer which would run as PVR, DVD player, and home media server - and would have built one, too, but for the fact that someone suggested I look at a Playstation 3 instead. And in my research, it really looked like it ticked all the boxes. The boxes look like this: Box 1: Play DVDs. Box 2: Play DivX and Xvid movies which I have, ahem, acquired. Box 3: Be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance">DLNA compliant</a> so I could use it as a server for my <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinnacle-Systems-230100160-Soundbridge-HomeMusic/dp/B000IWV324/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204454814&sr=8-1">Pinnacle Soundbridge</a>, which is my on... http://moominply.multiply.com/reviews/item/9 Sun, 2 Mar 2008 11:28:40 -0000 Imagine turning over the paper in your Pub Philosophy exam, and seeing the following question: 1. A fundamentalist government may well use severe punishments such as beheading. However, future medical progress may make such punishments less terminal. Discuss. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Land-Headless-Gollancz-S-F-Roberts/dp/0575077999/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1201715419&sr=8-1">'Land of the Headless' </a>is Adam Robert's answer. It's also a nice novel following a rather foolish, impetuous man who has his head cut off and then has to deal with becoming part of an underclass in a rather stilted fundamentalist society, but who eventually finds love, escapes, and lives happily ever after. As ever with Mr Roberts, you kind of get the feeling that the plot is almost incidental; but what it lacks in drive, it makes up for in sheer wonder. The characters are typical Roberts creations - stupid, stiff-necked, misunderstood creatures whose paths through life is complicated by their own mistakes, they are all the more human for their so-obvious failings... and that delicious central premise, that beheading is no l... http://moominply.multiply.com/reviews/item/8 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:56:33 -0000 <a href="http://cache.lego.com/2057/anniversary.htm"><img src="http://cache.lego.com/2057/img/img780x402_Mainstage.jpg"></a> Best toy ever! I don't think I asked for any toy other than more Lego between the ages of six and twelve. Okay, http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/75/Happy_birthday_Lego Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:17:08 -0000 &nbsp;<a href="http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Engineer-Status/">http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Engineer-Status/</a><br><br>Sign! Get everyone in your office to sign, too. Everyone should sign, dammit! Everyone in the world!<br><br>It&#39;s a long time since anyone mistook me for a car mechanic, but that&#39;s probably just because I look too sickly. <br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/220/Downing_street_petition_-_Restrict_use_of_Engineer_title Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:46:07 -0000 Because it's <i>important</i>, people! Or at least, fun. Whatever little competition this is seems to be run by some sort of ecological group... but whoever they are, I don't think much of their graphic design nouse. Their <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/finalists/"> selected finalists</a> are, frankly, rubbish. With the possible exception of the buckyball, although it looks kind of fiddly for putting on small stuff, and is also not very scary. In a fit of extended, finger-twitching boredom, I trawled through the entire archive (coz that's the sort of sad person I am), and thought these were much better: too bad you can't vote for them any more... <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/nanohazard-entry5.jpg.html"> <img src="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/d/3501-2/nanohazard-entry5.jpg" width=240></a> <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/nano061213d_20061213_055029.gif.html"> <img src="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/d/6276-1/nano061213d_20061213_055029.gif" width =240></a> <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/MVP_Nanohazard_4a_20061211_214832_001.jpg.html"> <img src="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/d/5851-2/MVP_Nanohazard_4a_20061211_214832_001.jpg" width=240></a>(this one in particular looks to me like something it would be unwise to gargle with) <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/nano-hazard+by+XyXzen_20061229_000707.jpg.html"> <img src="http://www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/d/8986-2/nano-hazard+by+XyXzen_20061229_000707.jpg" width = 240></a> (yeah, maybe a little too friendly, I dunno). via <a href="http://blog.wired.com/sterling/">Bruce Sterling.</a> http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/74/Nanohazard_Symbol_Competition Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:55:29 -0000 FINALLY available in the UK! Yay!<br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.snowfusion.co.uk/sc/367/Ribcaps.htm">http://www.snowfusion.co.uk/sc/367/Ribcaps.htm</a><br><br>Somewhere there&#39;s a rather alarming video of someone swinging a baseball bat at someone&#39;s leg encased in this freaky stuff, d3o. Failing that, though, here&#39;s a link to a news story about it: <br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.asp?intStoryID=5015">http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.asp?intStoryID=5015</a><br><br>Anyone fancy buying me a hat for Christmas?<br><br>(btw, sorry a out the NY Times links in the previous post. I was able to see them for a bit and only after I posted the link did they blank out and do their usual &#39;subscription only&#39; thing. I forgot.) <br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/219/d3o_hats Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:16:23 -0000 For months now I&#39;ve been banging on about a disease which makes you more amenable to cats, and people have been looking at me strangely. Now at last, some proof it really exists.<br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09_10_catcoat.html?ref=magazine"> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09_10_catcoat.html?ref=magazine</a><br><br>It&#39;s a parasite rather than a disease, and its called Toxoplasma gondii, and it makes you more likely to be eaten by cats. The last line of the article does make it sound like a send-up, but I think he measn, like big ones. Lions and Tigers and other Kenya-based animals (although not giraffes or zebras). <br><br>From an (actually much more interesting) article in the NY Times:The <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2007/12/08/magazine/index.html">Year in Ideas</a><br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/218/Two_Cats_Mad_or_just_Two_Cats_Ill Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:25:02 -0000 <img src="http://images.moominply.multiply.com/image/2/photos/27/600x600/1/friede_auf_erden_2_copy%5B1%5D.jpg?et=nLImKQcRBFN%2BfuIq8XS4DQ"> It's that time of year again. No snippets to whet your appetite this time round (sorry) - hopefully we might have a snippet or two of us singing when we've done the concert. This term it's Schoenberg, Britten, Poulenc, and some Swiss dude who has a christian name for a surname. They're all kind of tricky, but they're also all very rewarding. "Friede auf Erden" is an archaic German phrase meaning 'Peace on Earth' - unfortunately the first batch of tickets I printed out had a minor typo on them (I missed off the final 'n'), which apparently meant they translated as 'Peace on dirt' instead. Hey ho. http://moominply.multiply.com/calendar/item/10008/Moom_in_concert_-_Friede_auf_Erden Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:54:19 -0000 I had a few minutes before my train left (from Kings Cross), so I persuaded Summer Girl to let me scoot around the new refurbished St Pancras station. I only had a few minutes, so I didn't get time to really do it properly, but I just wanted to get some snaps of the refurbishment, which has been hailed as a great http://moominply.multiply.com/photos/album/26/St_Pancras Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:12:25 -0000 ...for the first time, and (apart from reminding me to buy a Pet Shop Boys album, just for those damn catchy tunes), I couldn't help but be struck by how much Rhydian looks like Arnold Rimmer. Maybe it was just the ridiculous uniform they made the poor boy wear.<br><img style="width: 234px; height: 172px;" class="alignleft" src="http://static.whatsontv.co.uk/images/071019_132439_rhydian_1_XFACTOR_024.jpg" border="0"><img style="width: 207px; height: 175px;" class="alignright" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Rimmer1.jpg/200px-Rimmer1.jpg" border="0"><br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/217/Watching_the_X-factor_last_night Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:43:00 -0000 <img class="alignright" src="http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/area/ecards/valentine/bunnysick_preview_90x60.gif" border="0">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (stands for Another Boring Medical Update)<br><br>It's been a while since I posted anything, mostly because I've been a bit poorly for the last few weeks. Five weeks, in fact. It started with a fairly normal, if rather severe, colitis attack - stomach cramps, diahrroea, feeling completely washed out. After a fairly prolonged period of liquid poo, I felt so washed out that I decided to take some iron tablets - something which is normally pretty good at perking me up. <br>However.<br><br>Iron supplements do have a tendency to make you constipated - not such a problem, you might think, and even a bit of a relief. This time, though, I found myself in considerable discomfort, which got worse and worse. After a couple of days, I was having to sit quietly for five minutes after going to the loo. After five days, I was in continuous pain from my rear end, and going to the loo was utter torture. A visit to see Kindly Consultant was quickly arranged, and that same day I was able to get a consid... http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/216/ABMU_2 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:12:00 -0000 <a href="http://www.hemmy.net/2007/09/28/wireframe-toyota-corolla/"><img class="alignmiddle" src="http://images.moominply.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RwNwDAoKCtIAAA0uF781/toyota_wireframe_rendering.jpg?et=EqQNfYW%2BT10OwMVS6G9rkA" border="0"></a><a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/RwNwDAoKCtIAAA0uF781"><br></a> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/215/Caption_me_Sketchy Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:32:00 -0000 <br><br>Thee have been sitting in my inbox for ages, so it's high time they were posted. <br><br>The first, <a href="http://livelygrey.com/">livelgrey.com</a>, is the work of a certain Igor Asselbergs, who as well as working as an illustrator and CEO of a company making digital colour design tools (whatever the heck they are), lectures and writes about colour. It's not that frequently updated, but what he says about the use of colour in design is interesting.<br><br>The other one is a bit more fun: <a href="http://infosthetics.com/">infosthetics </a>looks at how information is presented, and the aesthetics at work. 'S good.<br><img class="alignmiddle" src="http://infosthetics.com/archives/justin_quinn.jpg" border="0"><br>It also has, I notice, a post about <a href="http://infosthetics.com/archives/2007/09/gapminder_video_webcast_gapcasts.html">gapminder</a>, which has to be one of the most fascinated and brilliantly presented look at international economic and social trends ever.<br><br> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/214/A_couple_of_interesting_links_about_colour_and_presentation Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:19:00 -0000 I've been thinking about <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo </a>again. <br><br>I was planning to focus on the story of the first colony on Titan, that I alluded to in <a href="http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/14">Government Joe Must Die</a> - the disastrous settlement which collapsed and resulted in the Howl which haunts the Saturn system in GJMD, and which gave rise to Government Joe itself. But I decided that there probably wasn't enough material there to let me reach the magic 50k word count. So I've been thinking about the other real character from my first NaNo novel: the Bantolith.<br><br>The Bantolith in GJMD doesn't talk. He manipulates people like automata, and anyone within the boundaries of his domain can never be sure if their actions are the result of free will or the Bantolith's machinations - so subtle are the AI's directives that it's impossible to tell the two apart. But why does it operate so obliquely? How did it come to be so silent, so unknown?<br><br>I'm thinking that the two stories - the birth of Government Joe and the creation of the Bantolith - are maybe not s... http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/213/NaNoWriMo_revisited_Pan_and_Titan_revisited Mon, 1 Oct 2007 16:43:00 -0000 In this life, I have certain fundamental beliefs which I hold to be fundamentally true. They are:<br><br>Everyone is born equal and deserves to be treated equally.<br><a href="http://www.habitat.co.uk/pws/Home.ice">Habitat</a>, despite being a furniture shop, sells the best dressings gowns in the world.<br><br>Just occasionally, you come across a product offering which is so good that you'd never want to try anything else. I have two: the aforementioned dressing gowns (big fluffly clouds of towelling, just perfect for curling up with a cuppa on the sofa - wonderful) and Body Shop's Men's Shaving Cream (not so much for any skin benefits it offers, but because the razor always rinses perfectly). I firmly believe that these are the best dressing gowns and shaving creams in the world. Everything else, I could be tempted to try different suppliers - I'm not picky about what sort of bread I buy, or what brand of car I drive (I'm currently driving a bus pass). But dressing gowns and shaving cream... nah.<br><br>My question is: do you have things which you'd never, ever ... http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/212/When_youve_tried_the_best_call_for_list Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:09:00 -0000 I did have a couple of interesting blogs lined up today on the subject of colour and information presentation, but they'll have to wait, because core77 flags up this amazing video of the work of <a href="http://www.husseinchalayan.com/"> Hussein Chalayan</a>. Aren't they just incredible? I've never seen anything like this. Such elegant use of smart fabrics - a field which has been promising so much for so long and yet (so far) delivered so little.<br><br><br><br><p>Admittedly, it'll still be a while before these are ready for the high street... but by the look of it, not that long. I've never before seen anything that hinted at the possibility, so to me these look just incredible.<br></p> http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/211/Amazing_transforming_fashion_I_mean_it._Really._Amazing. Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:47:00 -0000 I have a confession to make.<br><br>At the beginning of the summer, I had cause to book some train tickets for a weekend trip to London. I booked them well in advance, via the website of the train company involved - the estimable but increasingly inaccurately named Great North Eastern Railway. The confirmation page poppeed up, complete with the reference number which I had to take to the station to collect my tickets. I duly printed this out, and thought no more about it - until the day I was due to travel. The timetable was a little tight, so I was going to the station straight from work - but that morning, I got to work and realized I had left the piece of paper (with the reference number) at home. With no time to go back and retrieve it, I worried briefly - but then I realized: all I had to do was log on to the GNER website, call up my account details, and the transaction would be recorded there. I logged on, found my account details, and inspected my list of recent transactions.<br><br>It was emp... http://moominply.multiply.com/journal/item/210/The_Customer_is_Always_Right_or_A_Comedy_of_Errors Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:39:07 -0000 Also from core77, but even better than <a href="http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/69?mark_read=moominply:links:69">the paean to foil</a>, is this. Also includes tips on making your own images. ARen't they gorgeous? <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gadl/sets/72157594279945875/"> <img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/112/251305287_77218efdd5.jpg?v=0"> </a> http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/70/Wee_planets_-_a_photoset_on_Flickr Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:00:59 -0000 (via core77, which has a particularly good front three pages right now) In praise of foil! Yay for aluminum foil. If you can read the comments and keep your temper while all around you are repeating themselves (then you're an Internet Zen Master, my son, as Rudyard Kipling never wrote)... like I said, if you can read the comments without losing it, there are some interesting insights there too. Use a bit of aluminium foil to rejuvenate a stripped thread in a hole in a piece of wood? Who'da http://moominply.multiply.com/links/item/69/15_awesome_uses_for_aluminum_foil_-_DIY_Life Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:45:45 -0000 While I was on holiday, sailing the west coast of France, we stopped one day in a sheltered cove for lunch. As luck would have it, anchored in the same bay was this contrivance - which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropt%C3%A8re"> has its own page on Wikipedia</a>. It's a sailing hydrofoil - a rare beast indeed! More photos of the holiday <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moominply/sets/72157602059426507/">here.</a> http://moominply.multiply.com/photos/album/24/Lhydroptere Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:22:16 -0000