A day in the life of an atheist
A day in the life of an atheist | Corrente
Being an atheist and all, I killed a few dozen people this morning, took all their stuff, and urinated on some priceless art.
Music = Comedy plus Time (with a V8 engine).
They say that laughter is caused by a shock, and that when we realise we are safe, we laugh. A good joke takes us by surprise, it twists what we expect- the outcome is not the anticipated ending.
Good music i believe does the same thing. Our musical tastes are expanded when a common sound takes a new twist. We also seem to like music that conjures up the past, even the recent past. A good tune is almost never interesting on the first listen, and a crappy tune we digest and get bored by after only a few plays.
cover of the punk band “Dead Kennedys” single “holiday in cambodia“
Not funny? But you are safe..
Music also seems to be innate, we all like some of it. Even the dumbest understand music. Not everybody likes abstract art, yet music is totally abstract. Music seems to beat the time of our lives -starting with our mothers heartbeat. As we get older some music we have listened to in our past makes a short cut to memories in our brains, much as a smell from our childhood can take you right back to buried memories.
I wonder if rock and roll will survive the internal combustion engine? The rise of rock and roll could be linked to adolescent access to dads car in an affluent America of the 50′s. “Driving” power cords on a Stratocaster sound similar to an engine (just play “Born to be wild” by Steppenwolf or L.A Woman by the Doors ). If you are driving in the USA, there is good driving music and there is crap driving music- non of it can be played on an acoustic guitar.
When the oil runs out, and assuming we can still light up our ipods, will hard driving rock music still be popular? Bach could never understand modern music, but maybe after a year or so on a road trip across the USA in a car with a big V8- he might understand why.
So when the oil runs out will we all get into new age humming. And after the last memories of the car have died off, will our descendants wonder what the hell we were listening to.
Oh, and just in case you think i have dropped a rod – I also think one of the first punk songs was the batman theme song from the 60′s TV show. Just have another listen to “You’ve got my Number” by the undertones.
lucky post
OK well i have absolutely nothing to say, I just wanted to make a post with a bunch of sevens in it – can not imagine why – perhaps just the thrill of knowing that this post will appear at exactly 7,07 on 7/7/07.
Geek thrills are pretty sad.
New and old Photos
I wasnt too happy with the online photo services, picassa was great for uploading pictures quickly and easily, but the customisation was minimal, and, well, i want my photo album to work like i want it to work. So I made my own using the Gallery2 framework and have uploaded a few hundred pictures already. Some new photos, but mostly old stuff. Once the old stuff is organised, it will be a doddle to send new photos online. I hope it is intuitive, but if anyone is baffled or has suggestions, please let me know.
Go to my photos
Cape Town road trip
marine supplies
Drove down to Cape Town and Hout Bay, via George and Victoria bay. A nice stop at “The waves” guest house in Victoria bay, then down to Cape Town and Hout Bay. Have a look at the complete album at my photo site .
AfriGadget
Africa may have its problems, but it is not short on ingenuity; a site that showcases Africans “Solving everyday problems”
AfriGadget (via Treehugger)
The SCORE multi-function stove, fridge and electricity generator
An all-in-one cooker, energy generator and fridge could soon be improving quality of life in developing countries, thanks to an international project launched this week.
A small company in Madagascar is working to get electricity to rural areas of the island. This video shows them taking the solar panels around in a van to show people how it works and educate the children on solar power. It’s an interesting video, especially near the end where Bill hooks up his computer to the internet through a satellite connection at night – all powered by the solar panel’s stored energy.
$100 Bicycle Motor Gets 50 km per Liter
This is a motorized bicycle, made in Kisumu, Kenya and purchased in Kakemega. They hold about 2 liters of petrol and can get theoretically around 50 km a liter. They cost around 7,000 Kenyan shillings. To start the bicycle you start pedaling manually, then you flip a switch on the left handle that starts the engine. Then you have a normal motorcycle throttle control on the right side.
The Cutty Sark, Google and Cape Town
scantily clad witch
As a younger lessgrump man, I spent over a year sailing the Atlantic, eastern USA and Caribbean as deckhand, mate, engineer and sometimes acting Captain of a 175ft three masted topsail schooner (the: Port Bougainville /Eric Borgman). It was an amazing time, a private vessel sailed by professionals (mostly). My teachers were the Portuguese ex bosun of the Sagres, Gesuino (Jesuino?) and Captain Jack Showers (not Sparrow, I met him later). I learnt a lot about the tall ships that sailed at the end of the 19th century. The clippers like the Cutty Sark and the famous iron masted P ships that rounded the Horn to Chile were the pinnacle of engineering- the end product of a millennia of refinements to the art of moving cargo across inhospitable oceans with just the power of the wind and iron men.
I have seen the Cutty Sark at Greenwich and while its a magnificent site, one cant really appreciate her as she sits in dry dock, the underwater lines can perhaps be appreciated by a student of naval design (most sailors), but the hull looks a bit squat out of the water, its a cargo ship remember. I am sure that only when you see her afloat and sailing can the real power and beauty of this tea clipper become apparent. The recent fire is a tragedy, sailing or squatting I certainly hope she is restorable- I have a hope they will restore her to full sailing capability, I would give my left nut to be passed by her on the ocean, but i doubt that will happen.
I was doing a google search for the Cutty Sark and used a useful new search criteria, if you are looking for anything that may have a history or chronology, just append “view:timeline” (without the quotes) onto the end of your search term. Look at the timeline for the Cutty Sark . I was interested to see that the Cutty Sark was re-rigged and renamed the Maria do Amparo in Cape Town after being dismasted off the Cape of Good Hope in 1916. I will be in Cape Town in a few days, perhaps a glass of scotch to the scantily clad witch is in order.
Legend has it in sailing circles, that the exposed breasts of a young women will placate the sea- hence the proud carved protuberance on the semi-naked figure below the bowsprit, well you can see the sailors mind at work here; should they come across a wench, the first thing to do is get them out and point them at the sea. Some believe this to be myth, but i can personally attest to it’s veracity.
Smithfield
Typical iron roof of Smithfield South Africa
As I prepare to return to Europe for a spell, i am organising my photos, and will now be keeping a few of my favourites online with google at my photo site. The albums are not large yet (and probably wont be until i get some good old EU broadband). I still have some of – my photos with google picasa. And some for the family
Mellow Yellow
Colour-fields abound in the garden as the autumn days shorten, a brief cruise with the camera, a belly full of tea - and everything is Yellow.
A few more can be found on my photo site of my garden in Smithfield
(read on…)
Colony Collapse Disorder
Via Treehugger – No tinfoil hats for bees a more balenced view of -Colony Collapse Disorder – a Moment for Reflection? » Celsias
Call that humiliation?
Guardian Unlimited | Call that humiliation?
No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch
Storm in US over chocolate Jesus
BBC NEWS | Americas | Storm in US over chocolate Jesus
Now- in the run up to what the Christians call “Easter” a chocolate Jesus is about the funniest thing that I can imagine, puts our modern condition right in perspective. Hey, much more chocolate than your average bunny, and the icing on the cake (or lack thereof), as reported by the BBC “the sculpture, unusually, depicts Jesus without a loincloth.” -classic. I wonder if it’s hollow.
It also occurs to me that in the run up to Aprils fools day, the BBC could have really hit the sweat spot with this one…
Scott Ritter: Calling Out Idiot America
Truthdig – Scott Ritter: Calling Out Idiot America
Few people have been as consistently right about the middle east and the consequences of western policies in the region than Scott Ritter. When he told us that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq he was ridiculed by the masters of war. As a former marine, intelligence officer, and weapons inspector- he was in a position to know.
I have always been a bit sceptical about the notion that the invasion of Iraq had opened the door to insurgent terrorism, and that was the war being currently fought by the UK and US. The concise history, delivered by Ritter in this article, puts the Muslim schism in perspective, and answers the question of what 20,000 extra troops are going to achieve in Baghdad.
With bellicose sabre rattling with Iran ongoing – Have a look at Ritter’s record on The US War with Iran has Already Begun (2005) – and plenty more around the Web
Lesotho pictures
Another amazing trip to Lesotho. This young lady came up to me and asked to have her picture taken, she was wearing yellow ochre on her face and looking very stylish.
Springfontein
Springfontein Guesthouse – Free State, South Africa.
Just put up a new site for a local guest house – gotta get some links and give it a plug…
Pisser dans la fontaine de Duchamp
PARIS – A French appeals court ruled Friday that a 78-year-old Pierre Pinoncelli who attacked Marcel Duchamp’s famed porcelain urinal with a hammer last year does not have to pay $260,000 in damages. Apparently Pinoncelli argued that he had in fact added value to this seminal piece of work, the originals long gone, and each of the eight 1967 signed copies now worth over 3 million each- it seems to me that he may have a point.
Despite the shock and skepticism with which Dada was initially considered, over the years, it has worked its way into museums and is now registered in people’s minds as falling under the category of ‘proper art’. The irony of this situation is what Pinoncelli is trying to call to our attention. By attacking Duchamp’s work – work originally intended to puzzle, offend, and annoy – which is now so widely praised and recognised that in 2004 Fountain was ranked as the most influential work of modern art by a poll of leading figures in the art world – Pinoncelli is attempting to restore the original artist’s principle to the piece. Duchamp wanted to deconstruct common ideas about art and its presentation; Pinoncelli, in his turn, is acting according to the same principles, but, as standards have shifted to favour artists like Duchamp, he must turn the older master’s work back on itself, destroying it in order to save it.
McNaught
I have just been watching comet McNaught in the early evening sky – it’s pretty impressive awesome here in Smithfield, bright, with a long feathered curved tail, but then I don’t suppose there are better places than the semi desert (in the middle of nowhere) for sky watching- except of course the ocean on a calm night (in the middle of nowhere).
Have a look at these photos from South America – pretty much the same as we have been watching here.
Are You An Addict?
To answer this question, ask yourself the following questions and answer them as honestly as you can:
- Do you lose time from your work due to sending more troops to Iraq?
- Is sending more troops to Iraq making your home life unhappy?
- Do you send more troops to Iraq because you are shy with other people?
- Is sending more troops to Iraq affecting your reputation?
- Have you ever felt remorse after sending more troops to Iraq?
- Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of sending more troops to Iraq?
- Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when sending more troops to Iraq?
- Does your sending more troops to Iraq make you careless of your family’s (country’s) welfare?
- Has your ambition decreased since sending more troops to Iraq?
- Do you crave sending more troops to Iraq at a definite time daily?
- Do you want to send more troops to Iraq the next morning?
- Does sending more troops to Iraq cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
- Has your efficiency decreased since sending more troops to Iraq?
- Is sending more troops to Iraq jeopardizing your job or business?
- Do you send more troops to Iraq to escape from worries or trouble?
- Do you send more troops to Iraq alone?
- Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of sending more troops to Iraq?
- Has your physician ever treated you for sending more troops to Iraq?
- Do you send more troops to Iraq to build up your self-confidence?
- Have you ever been to a hospital or institution on account of sending more troops to Iraq?
If you have answered YES to any one of the questions there is a definite warning that you may be Addict.
If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an Addict.
If you have answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an Addict.
The above Test Questions are used by John Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, Md. In deciding whether or not a patient is alcoholic. (“Drink” has been substituted with “send more troops to Iraq” -substitute what you like – air – food – sex – rock an roll – and find out your addictions).
Bright comet appears in night sky
spacetoday.net: Bright comet appears in night sky
Gather your disciples, put on your nike’s and break out the lethal cool-aid, the brightest comet for 30 years has appeared in the night sky!
He’s a fucking addict, remember?
Would You Trust This Man With 20,000 More Lives? | CorrenteWire
So our junkie President wants 20,000 more of something to inject into his veins, 20,000 more to save his high, his dream, his party. I say we don’t give it to him, but it probably won’t matter. His wealthy friends will more than likely sneak contraband to him in the bathroom and help him to straighten his tie and tamp down his hair, but he’s just another fucking junkie with fake friends who are using him to keep their wallets fat. Poor Bush: all of his friends feel sorry for him. They will try to cheer him up with 20,000 more toys to play with, but he’ll burn those up in time. Like any good junkie, he eventually burns everyone he touches
