Mashups are not usually my thing, being the musical equivalent of puns without the benefit of being sometimes funny. However, this is great.
Bath Skyline Parkrun
This is Nigeria
Oh wow...
Lyrics, Vocals & Recording: Folarinde 'Falz' Falana | Video Director: Iyobosa 'Geezy' Rohoboth | Video Producer: Wande Thomas | Internet: David Evans-Uhegbu | Executive: Sidney Sule, Femisoro Ajayi & Folarinde Falana | Transmitted by Bahdguys Records through Jungle Entertainment Ventures | Originally by Childish Gambino | Falz in 'This is Nigeria!'
Why America is the World's First Poor Rich Country
America fills me with utter terror. The absolute lack of interest the state takes in the well-being of its citizens, and the total private ownership of every service that would provide the foundation of a caring society wishing to invest in those citizens (cough... healthcare) leads to an undervaluing of human life and an over-emphasis on individual financial success. The actual ability for an individual to become successful (which in American English is synonymous with wealthy) is a dream bordering on delusion. The American Dream. As Cory Doctorow said in 2014:
“Human beings are the gut flora of immortal, transhuman corporations.”
This is chilling in its ten-word horrific truth.
This article in Eudaimonia expands nicely on the economic system that drives this paradoxical move towards poverty-despite-wealth.
“All the things that really elevate people’s quality of life — healthcare, finance, education, transport, housing, and so on — have come to consume such a large share of the average household’s income that they have little left to save, invest, or spend on anything else. And what’s worse, while the basics of life have seen massive inflation, wages and incomes (not to mention savings and benefits and safety nets and opportunities) for most have stagnated. The result is an economy — and a society — that’s collapsing... Predatory capitalism coupled with total economic mismanagement of social investments has made the basics of life ruinously unaffordable.”
Read it all here.
RTCUK Sleepover 2018
The Recreational Tree Climbing UK annual Sleepover is always good and, as usual, failed miserably to disappoint.
By no means everybody. Lots of shirts were in evidence. Kerry, Lawrence, and I had nice high hammocks...
This is the canopy above my bed...
The dawn chorus was amazing, but that early in the morning I was all zipped up and snuggled down. Later on (7:30 - very respectable) I recorded this:
This is how to get out of bed in the morning. It does rather mean the route to bed the night before is a right pain in the arse.
Treetop lodgings
Looking forward to tonight's sleep beneath the stars. And above the ground...
Rachael Talibart's Amazing Seascapes
Newhaven never looked better. Rachel Talibart uses superfast shutter speeds and telescopic lenses to pick out these dramatic solid-looking waves.
“Growing up in southeast England, Rachael Talibart spent several weeks every summer on her father’s sailboat, exploring the coastlines of France and the Netherlands. These family voyages were meant as a vacation, although Talibart never had much fun—she was a “shockingly bad sailor” who was almost constantly seasick. Because her nausea was worse inside the boat, she spent most of her time alone in the cockpit, looking out over the ocean.
’I spent ages staring at the waves,” she remembers. “I used to imagine creatures in the sea.’”
Found on Wired. See them all there.
Wakazono
Can it ever make sense to talk about 'art' or 'craftsmanship' in the context of a computer-machined hunk of aluminium?
Yes!
Designed by Nendo:
“Firstly, grooves of 5mm deep, 1.8mm width were carved in constant intervals on the vase’s exterior, resulting in two different levels on the surface. The first pattern was then carved 2mm deep from the external surface, while the second pattern was carved 6mm deep from the deeper immersed surface.
This calculated process results in the creation of a four-layer surface with different depths, allowing the patterns to appear visually according to the angle in which the vase is viewed. The dimensions and proportions of this process were carefully examined and tested due to the effects of deviations; if the initial grooves are too deep, the dark casted shadows will visually block the pattern, conversely if it is too shallow, the two patterns will blend together without a distinct separation.
By using multi axis machinery, some grooves were carved to 1.8mm in width, and only 1mm thickness at the edge. These narrow dimensions cause complications, as the grooves can easily break due to clogging of scraping material. Furthermore, if the cutting speed is too high, the temperature of the cutter rises, and can cause metal distortions. Accordingly, the production’s duration and dimensions were carefully adjusted, and milling was done gradually in 0.5 mm deep layers.
This delicate process originated from a 100kg block of aluminum, that after 7 months, resulted in a 15kg vase.”
Man Cave
Right now you absolutely cannot get me out of the man cave.
The midst of GCSEs
I am so impressed at the sheer graft our kids are putting into their revision.
Up a tree in the sun
Another brilliant climb in the wonderful weather. A huge (and very familiar) London Plane in King George V Playing Fields in Exeter. Just great!
Brilliant Steganography
FontCode is an ingenious system of tiny font adaptations to hide messages in printed (or screen-text) documents. It would be perfect for watermarking, for example, while the video demonstration uses it as an elegant (though undetectable?!) alternative to QR codes.
from Wired.
Mohini and Marco
Mohini Dey is the most exciting bass player in the world at the moment, and if a phone-quality video of her with Marco Minneman is all I can get, it's all I am going to watch. This is just great.
More...?! OK.
More wisteria.
Shut up. You're just jealous.
Top Cache Award
I just received two more Top Cache awards for my treetop geocaches. I'm absurdly pleased with all of these. Thanks to Amberel for his awards, and his craftsmanship!
Blue Angels 360
Some 360 video is better than others....
Almost at peak Wisteria
Westonbirt Arboretum
Arb Show 2018 is very good. But not as good as the entire rest of the arboretum!
Jim's Ukulele Songbook
Goodness gracious me, Jim Carey has updated his 2000+ song songbook for ukulele. You can get it from his amazing website here in pdf form.
(Though if you are online it is worth looking at them on his website because you can transpose any song into any key, change the chord diagrams if you are left-handed, change what instrument you are using etc. It’s a real piece of work.)
Facebook's T&C Reading Level is College-Age
I thought I'd run a reading-age checker over Facebook's Terms. I did not include the onerous "other terms and policies" because they are only available as separate documents. (It is curiously tricky to just get all the terms you sign up to in one place.)
The Flesch Reading Ease level is 39.6. This is the middle of the "College Age" range (30-50).
It seems to me that any Terms document should be written at the reading-age of the youngest people you allow to create accounts. Facebook's is currently thirteen. (I am assuming of course that all people over college age have a reading level that reflects that. They don't.)