Illegal Rave

Apparently:

In 1994 the then Conservative home secretary, Michael Howard, introduced the Criminal Justice Act to tackle unlicensed raves. Zero-tolerance policing and legislation that banned gatherings of more than 10 people listening to music "wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats" drove many abroad.

Where does a government get off banning dance music/parties? Who does it hurt? Perhaps noise pollution, trespass, drug/alcohol abuse are factors, but there is already legislation against that stuff. Do we really need to ban everything to protect ourselves?!

Gfail

Gmail has died. Google is my rock of stability on the web; It's not allowed to fail... Help?

pandoras.box

I found this band a short while ago; Sort of electronic/indie rock. I really like them. Their album is worth a free download (and purchase if you like it).

Chimpanzee Magic

This is really impressive (the chimp, not the magic). I never realised how intelligent they really are. It adds a whole new meaning to that Banksy stencil... I recommend turning the sound off. Japanese TV is irritating.

The Robots Cometh

This is simply incredible, especially the mobile phone trick. Fully functioning prosthetics can't be too far off. I get images of cyborg arms with much higher precision than any human limb. Fucking awesome.

For more see the inventor's website.



From Boing Boing

Singing Kitties

From Boing Boing.

Tony Blair

Materialism a threat to planet and human identity, says Tony Blair:

The pace of modern life and the restless search for short-term material gain in a globalised economic system constitute a threat both to the planet and to human identity, Tony Blair has warned fellow Catholics.

In a speech to the prestigious Communion and Liberation conference at Rimini in Italy the former prime minister and Middle East Quartet envoy also told people of all faiths around the world that their own conflicts and divisions "allow aggressive secularism in part of the West to gain traction" when the faiths should be united in standing up for justice and solidarity.

It scares me a little that this man used to run the country...

Photo Portfolio

I keep a Picasa web album of my favourites from my photos, so I thought I'd share it. It gets updated intermittently.

Higher Dimensions

Beyond space and time: Fractals, hyperspace and more:

We don't have any trouble coping with three dimensions – or four at a pinch. The 3D world of solid objects and limitless space is something we accept with scarcely a second thought. Time, the fourth dimension, gets a little trickier. But it's when we start to explore worlds that embody more – or indeed fewer – dimensions that things get really tough. 

These exotic worlds might be daunting, but they matter. String theory, our best guess yet at a theory of everything, doesn't seem to work with fewer than 10 dimensions. Some strange and useful properties of solids, such as superconductivity, are best explained using theories in two, one or even no dimensions at all. 

Prepare your mind for boggling as we explore the how, why and where of dimensions.

From Boing Boing

Killer Plant

It's time lapse videos of plants like these which make the idea of Wyndham's Triffids, seem all the more possible.

Talk Like Warren Ellis

As my favourite graphic novel writer, I naturally subscribe to Warren Ellis' blog, full of the weird and wonderful, written in his wonderfully mad style. If you read graphic novels, Transmetropolitan is a must. If you don't, try Crooked Little Vein.

For a taster, see this great little script, which "randomly generates a Warren Ellis-like greeting based on his tweets", one of yesterday's posts on the aforementioned blog.

Homebrewed Nuclear Power?

Amazon.com are now selling Uranium Ore. Make your own power plant today!

(Some of the reviews are great)

Stuck in Customs

I want to get this good:

From Stuck in Customs

HDR Photos

Yesterday I discovered a new photographic technique called HDR (High Density Range). It basically involves taking multiple exposures of the same scene and combining them cleverly. And so, today I went down to the South Bank and tried it out. I'm no where near as good as this guy yet, but it was fun, and I'm learning :).