I’ve setup a new personal blog at:
Please redirect your browsers and newsreaders. See you there from now on. 
Note: The spam blocking on the new site is meant to be much better, so commenting isn’t restricted to members only!
Archive for the 'General' Category
In the words of Shonen Knife:
Riding on the cycling road
Green green grass surrounding me
Wind is blowing through the trees
Sun is bright and I feel happy
I’m so happy. 
Just a few things I saw on YouTube recently that I wanted to post here:
- Ok Go performing “Here it Goes Again” at the MTV Video Music Awards; Everyone loves the original “treadmill dance” video and this live version is great.
- Hugh Laurie singing “Mystery” on Inside the Actors Studio; I always liked Hugh Laurie as a comedian in the UK before he scored the leading role in House. This comedic song is very entertaining.
- Say It’s Possible by Terra Naomi is yet another internet music phenomenon; At least judging by the number of covers on YouTube. Although admittedly probably helped along by her How To Play “Say It’s Possible” video.
Finally, so as to not let Google Video out in the cold, anyone who hasn’t seen this compilation of Japanese ISUZU Gemini commercials from the 80s needs to check it out now. The music, the choreography, the general awesomeness is… well… awesome!
I generally don’t comment on trends in fashion, but sometimes some things become hard to avoid (like cargo pants back in the day), and it makes me feel like saying something.
Anyhow, here it is: Hypes (Horizontal Stripes) are so hot right now.
No barrier to entry!
They’re seriously everywhere. It looks like the emos brought it back from rock fashion inspired by the Ramones (in combination with skinny pipe jeans… heheh, “hypes and pipes”) and it’s spread like wildfire. It seems to know no social or age barriers. There are emo stripes, metro stipes, golf shirt stripes… the list keeps going. Whether it’s socks, shirts, or sweaters, hypes are everywhere.
What else is hot?!
Continuing with the pseudo-emo trend being followed in the clothing lines picked up by major retailers (it’s just like the “citrus colours” wave from a few years ago), we’re also being subject to a lot of simple colours (black, white, and red) and simple shapes (stripes, dots, and spots).
I don’t know if this is a knee-jerk reaction to the ridiculously busy clothing that came about with “directional streetwear”, but it has led me to design the hottest pattern for today’s fashion-conscious trend-setter (follower… what’s the difference?). I present “spotted hypes” in red, white and black:
Um… just picture the dots to be more uniform and the sketch to be more “good” looking in general…
Play at Home!
Heidi and I have a game; when we see someone wearing horizontal stripes we say “hypes” and punch the other person on the arm (except without the punching because Heidi doesn’t really like that). We stopped playing the game last week because in a trip to the city we spent most of our time saying “Hypes!”.
Ignore the exclaimation point, we don’t yell it out to embarass anyone. It’s like that Volkswagon Beetle game people used to play when I was in school.
Well, that’s what came to mind when I saw VideoJug, a website with a ridiculous number of instructional videos. It’s simply awesome! I’ve learnt how to make butter chicken, how to make naan bread, and how to make mango chutney! I could start an Indian restaurant with these skills!
I’m not sure that I believe in fate or providence, but I think that the internet was made solely to lead to this point; Videos detailing how to do anything you want… it’s the ultimate pinnacle of human achievement.
Note: Yeah, this post turned out a little (okay, a lot) over-the-top, but this website put a huge smile on my face!
I’m turning older next month and a few people have asked what I might be interested in receiving as a present. There isn’t much that I want and either don’t already have or could reasonably expect as a gift, so I’m asking people to donate to any of the organisations below.
Humanitarian aid, environmental protection, and conservation:
- Amnesty International or Amnesty International Australia
- UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency or UNICEF
- Oxfam or Oxfam Australia
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) or WFF Australia
Free software and information:
- Free Software Foundation
- Electronic Frontier Foundation or Electronic Frontiers Australia
- Wikimedia Foundation
- Creative Commons
If you really can’t resist the urge to get me something else, I have a brief list of things after the jump.
It’s clear that there is a move towards streaming video hosting on the internet, and I’m rather interested in where it’s all headed. I have a few predictions and I relate them to television. It’s a very different medium (to television) but the television licensing model is the closest system to base it on.
The following seems likely to me:
- YouTube pays royalties or licensing fees to host content, effectively becoming a world-wide “free-to-air” television station sponsored by advertising. Is this already happening with their pursuit of music video licensing?
- Some other websites operate subscription services or pay-per-view becoming online “cable” television stations. This model didn’t work out so well (before YouTube), and might be restricted to live events (like sports). People won’t pay for something they feel confident of finding for free elsewhere (with little effort).
- Independent media and amateur video makers migrate to profit sharing sites like Revver. Ask a Ninja has already mentioned that this is an easier way to monetize an internet show.
- Sites like VideoSift remain as a sort of online “television guide”. Increasingly important as visiting single sites (like YouTube) can limit the amount of media you might find.
- For people interested in simple free hosting or promotion, YouTube and Google Video remain good options. As Google video automatically (?) grabs videos, it may run into more copyright concerns than YouTube or similar which put the onus of responsibility on the video submitter.
Another prediction that might change the way things progress: a large multi-format media company (like Fox) screws over an amateur video maker by exercising their royalty-free license and pfofiting from use of a popular internet video in their larger media (television) network.
Housing prices have been going through the roof. The reserve bank recently increased interest rates. Now the housing industry is advising that another rate increase is a bad idea. That’s just a quick list of recent events, but what does it all mean?
What’s behind it all?
Established people are buying investment properties using money borrowed against their current property. Demand is high and they are competing with people who want to buy somewhere to live. The government provides a first home buyers grant to help prospective owners compete in the market. Arguably a positive gesture, but it fails to offset rapid price inflation. Many people can’t get into the housing market and end up renting.
What does it mean in the long run?
Maybe interest rates increase and people default on their loans and have to sacrifice their homes. A bunch of people lose out and spend their money paying off overseas banks, instead of spending their money here. That can’t be good for the economy. Would this really happen? Maybe the government will bail people out if it’s a widespread (vote affecting) problem.
Maybe people actually manage their loans by offsetting them against their real estate assets and a lot of people get rich. Of course this happens for the people buying investment properties, and not for the people buying their first home (who get stung by interest rate increases). One generation owns the majority of the land and subsequent generations are stuck in the rental market. Unless they get land via inheritance. Yay. Nouveau riche and a greater gap between rich and poor.
If the government has to choose between (high percentage of the voting population) baby boomers and (lower percentage of the voting population) later generations… well, someone is going to get screwed. Maybe a better preemptive move than the first home buyers grant would have been to increase taxes on speculative investment properties… but that wouldn’t have been popular with their demographic.
Is it wrong?
Is it ethical for people to own property that they don’t live in at the exclusion of others that need it? Especially when they can exploit the need (for housing) and (collectively) set a rental fee that is the maximum the underprivileged can tolerate?
If you’re running Ubuntu, you might get an update notification for xorg-core. I’d advise not installing it. It broke Xorg on my computer and this seems to be a common problem.
The solution posted on the Ubuntu Forums is to downgrade the package:
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-core=1:1.0.2-0ubuntu10
And then restarting X. It’s strange that an update to a core element resulted in such widespread problems. (You’d expect that they’d catch it before release.)
AIBO’s playroom is a research project and art installation with a lot of AIBO styled accessories and environments. It includes a range of items from AIBO spacesuits to AIBO bowling (for the AIBO, not with the AIBO).
I came across this via an article at Electroplankton and I was reminded of Minh’s previous post on the UWA AIBOs.
Recent Comments