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Monday, July 2, 2007

sunday update.

...first the brunch and stampin up! review. Wow - the liquor bottles are overwhelming the beautiful food and smiles? Sorry, we had creme de cassis and peach schnapps to add to the prosecco ... a new-to-us version of mimosas! Delicious food, too! Quiche lorraine, blueberry muffins, three-fruit (blueberry, strawberry and peach) muffins and fruit salad. What's not to love about summer food?! After we ate, Karen and I dove into the new catalog. LOVE! and can't wait to use the new colors! Inspired me (at some point over the next few weeks) to go through the inks and papers I have and consolidate. Clean house. Get down from the 48+ colors I have today to the 16-18 colors I really use. Makes me feel better just thinking about it. And think of all the room it will make for other stuff?!

The photos. So - I was giving myself too much credit for being organized before. Turns out the photo box wasn't organized by time. That first sleeve of photos from 2004 was just a random first sleeve. There are photos from 2002 through about 2005. Except for a HUGE missing chunk from about fall 2004 through early summer 2005. Not a single photo to document Christmas, Katie's 18th birthday, senior prom, graduation...near as I can tell, the entire year is a blank. (Except I do think there may be a few photos from Sara's 13th birthday...of course that might be #12 or #14...). If anyone has any photos from then to share, please do - I'd be grateful. So now the project is taking a more defined shape. About 500 pictures - even with the gap...and two new albums! Heads up, Mom, I may be bringing it with next weekend!

...the first photo - summer 2002 beach trip (Sara is 10, Jillian 11 and Paula 7?)

and the last - from the hat's debut last week...

Marc left for his business trip in the dark early morning hours. So Sara and I are on our own for dinner. We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's (after the Dick Blick stop for the new albums) and have hummus quartet with vegetables and tortellini with fresh tomato sauce on the menu. Made even better because we'll eat on trays while we watch Little Miss Sunshine.

  1. Oh, help!! All of your comments about the good food leave me am I supposed to compete with this? I thought I had some good menus planned but now I wonder. Maybe 25 years from now you'll know where I'm coming from. No, I won't let it bother me as I will just continue on with what I have planned. Mother

  2. The crepe myrtles are beautiful, no idea on the flowers, could be something a bird "dropped". I have some graduation party photos I'll get to you. I finally got my photos caught up. Need to do 2006, which is primarily our cruise, no photos of the move. Think with the blogging, I'll have more for 2007. Enjoy Florida.

  3. Mother - I'm sure the food will be lovely and delicious like always! Please no worries on that front - after all, who taught me what I know?! -m.

  4. Your father said we have some photos that you want--will do this while you're here.

Thanks for the feedback!


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Join Wendy, John and Michael as they soar into the night sky with Peter, to a magical land of mermaids and fairy dust, where children can fly and all sorts of exciting adventures happen every day.  But beware – danger is just around the corner. Captain Hook and the pirates are looking for revenge and Peter Pan is top of their list!

Peter Pan opened for Christmas at Exeter Northcott Theatre and utilises projection across a moving set designed Ellan Parry to create a Neverland inspired by the visual language of early cinema, hand tinted photos and assemblage with moments like Peter’s shadow and the looming crocodile created in cutout animation.

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About Me

My photo
Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. Author of FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND THE SECULAR STATE (2012), HUMANITY ENHANCED (2014), and THE MYSTERY OF MORAL AUTHORITY (2016).

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Anonymity on the internet - Farhad Manjoo puts the case against

Over at Slate, Farhad Manjoo puts the case to do away with anonymous comments on the internet. His argument is essentially that there will be a massive increase in the quality of comments if people are forced to take responsibility for them. Read the entire post, because he develops this theme in quite impressive detail.

That doesn't mean I agree - at the end of the day, I do think there's a place for anonymous interaction. Many people would be deterred from putting unpopular opinions, or even discussing unpopular subjects, if their participation was available to be searched online by actual and potential employers, family members, potential lovers, educational institutions, and who knows who else. While it might work for Slate to insist on people revealing their real identities, it's not something that I'd want to insist on here, or something that I'd like to see insisted upon routinely by blogs, message boards, and the like.

Nonetheless, anonymity can be abused. We saw plenty of that in recent times, with the Tom Johnson/You're Not Helping saga, and it happens every day. Even without blatant abuses such as sockpuppeting, identity faking, and the like, we often see people behaving with a degree of hostility and anger that goes far beyond satire and snark. Personally, I'd rather, where convenient, comment under my own name. I think it good to take public responsibility for my words. That might not apply to all possible topics in all possible forums - even over at Wikipedia I don't normally use my real name if I edit an article (though in this case it's not hard to track me down).

I do, of course, appreciate that I'm far better placed than most people to get by without the need for anonymity. Within quite broad limits I can get away with saying very controversial things without suffering for it - this is almost expected of someone whose public presence is as a writer and a philosopher - and in recent years I've reached a point where, although I'm far from rich, I can live a comfortable life with some little luxuries without having to worry about falling into poverty. To be sure, I could do with funding for purposes such as travel, to get out my message, blah, blah ... but I don't need to worry about actual bosses and employers. Not many people are in that position unless they're fully retired.

I totally understand that commenters here, or many of them, really do need anonymity/pseudonymity as a protection. But it's also true that anonymous commenting can have a downside, even if it's not actually abused.

What do you think of Manjoo's piece, and this issue more generally?

H/T Tauriq Moosa.

DEEN said...

Manjoo sucks! ;)

Seriously though, a few comments. Manjoo writes:
"In all but the most extreme scenarios—everywhere outside of repressive governments—anonymity damages online communities."
The problem here, of course, is who gets to decide which societies are too oppressive, and which aren't? Gays or atheists living in the Bible Belt may feel quite differently about how oppressive their society is than their Christian neighbors. And even if our current society would be not oppressive at all, if we ban anonymous commentary, where are we to complain if society is becoming more oppressive?

"You're responding to an author who made his identity known, and your purpose, in posting the comment, is to inform the world of your point of view."
First, the original author may also be pseudonymous. Second, the validity of my views should be independent of my identity. Nor is it necessarily my goal to promote myself along with my view - maybe I even want my view to stand all on its own, rather than getting into debates about qualifications, etc.

I also don't understand his fixation on Facebook as a solution. Has he seen the trolling that goes on on Facebook itself? Does he really think that Facebook pages can't be faked? And that the most obnoxious trolls won't go through the effort to do so? And he'd still receive those emails he was complaining about at the start of his article.

Which brings me to the final point. The fuckwads exist. Their opinions are out there, and are held by many, even if it is in secret. What is really gained by hiding these facts? When did the world get better by hiding its ugly bits?

OK, one more quote:
"I'll take sterile and neutered over vulgar, stupid, irrelevant, sexist, racist, false, and defamatory any day."
First, false dichotomy. Second, he can't be serious that banning anonymous comments would do much against the latter category. Glenn Beck isn't anonymous, is he?

March Hare said...

I am appalled by this article.

Ignoring the obviousness of an anonymous commenter being against the removal of anonymity, I think he fails to make a solid case.

His main point is that it reduces spam and increases civility. Which is true to a point, however I can easily see a hacking group getting together to generate anonymous spam/comments in protest so his utopia would be short lived.

Th argument for privacy is much stronger. Take myself as an example, I am (relatively) polite yet opinionated both online and in real life and an expert(ish) in a few limited fields. I do like to engage people who know more than me on certain topics and when I post my amateur opinion and take the intellectual beating that I deserve, I try to learn from it and improve. If it was ME rather than March Hare that was taking the intellectual pounding I'd probably shut up and never learn why I am wrong.

Could I argue with a biology major about evolution (somehow he thought it had a direction!?) if I was posting as ME? Would I have the balls to disagree about philosophy or morality with a published philosophy professor (Jean K) as a mere economics grad?

Another reason is that if it's me posting my ignorance then the internet is permanent, who wants to be reminded of the stupid things they've said when young and/or drunk?

However, his argument dies with the following statement:

"This introduces to the Web one of the most important offline rules for etiquette: Don't say anything that you'd be ashamed to say in front of your mom."

This is the line that authoritarians use when they want to introduce some draconian crackdown on civil liberties.

I have no respect for someone who thinks like this.

thephilosophicalprimate said...

There's a better solution to poor discussion quality than doing away with anonymity.

Well, anyway, one can hope there's a better solution.

Come to think of it, Randall Munroe imagined a better solution. If only it could be put into practice.

Anonymous said...

If the subject is controversial, then people who comment on it will need anonymity to protect them against unwanted consequences (from bosses, spouses, etc.). And if the subject is not controversial, then it's just boring, and not worth the time to comment on.

(Or is that a false dichotomy? ;)

What Manjoo states is really a false dichotomy: either pure anonimity or real names. The actual problem with abusive commenting is that all comments carry the same weight, whether they come from an account that was created 5 minutes ago, or from an account that has a track record of 10 years of constructive commenting. We may need an equivalent of Google's PageRank algorithm, applied to web identities. (Although even Google's geniuses periodically need to modify PageRank, to stay ahead of hackers.)

Talking about hackers: I'm more or less execting a comment on Slate, stating something like "Manjoo sucks!"... posted from Manjoo's own FaceBook account.

DEEN said...

@March Hare:
"Another reason is that if it's me posting my ignorance then the internet is permanent, who wants to be reminded of the stupid things they've said when young and/or drunk?"
I think that's kind of Manjoo's point: he hopes that with that risk, you'll think twice before you say something stupid.

Of course, you don't have to give up your privacy for this effect to work. You can get the same effect simply by using a consistent pseudonym, and trying to build and maintain a reputation under that name.

March Hare said...

@DEEN the point is that when young and stupid you THINK you're right, so you won't hold back on giving your opinion regardless. Now you might use more invective if you think you're anonymous, but you will still make the same fundamental argument.

If it later turns out that argument was wrong, or you simply change your mind, then there is no way to stop that being associated with your name.

I hold some exceedingly libertarian positions regarding socially taboo issues and since I think they're logically coherent positions I don't mind debating them, anonymously. However, you force me to put my name to them and suddenly I am out there as someone who defends consensual incest? Not that I have a sibling, but if I did suddenly people are looking at them differently. That's not fair.

I happen to think polygamy is not for me (I am actually against all state-approved marriage) but I am more than happy to argue the rights of others to do it. Should that be associated with my real name any prospective partners suddenly see me in a different light.

No, we need anonymity to protect freedom of speech. Arguments stand or fall on their merit, but if the argument cannot be made then we're back to the Emperor's New Clothes.

Svlad Cjelli said...

I think we might see a general decrease in comments, if we're lucky centering on comments of low quality, but more likely centering on comments of low blandness.

We would not, I believe, see a larger amount of high-quality comments. As for comments that were not of a high quality yet were not eliminated, I don't suspect that their individual quality would be much affected.
They could be, if they are currently in a way contaminated, or dragged down, by comments of lower quality.

Dave Ricks said...

A newspaper may publish a letter to the editor with "name withheld by request". Of course the newspaper verifies the identity privately — so this is not exactly "anonymous" — but the identity is protected from public view (from future employers, etc.). I worry that Farhad Manjoo is against that arrangement:

You're responding to an author who made his identity known, and your purpose, in posting the comment, is to inform the world of your point of view. If you want to do something so public, you are naturally ceding some measure of your privacy. If you're not happy with that trade, don't take part — keep your views to yourself.

In his Utopia:

I hope every site on the Web adopts Facebook’s comment system.

Wow. Not just the technology sites, but every site? I suppose he knows infinitely more than I do about alternative communities on the Web.

We should also be aware that once our personal information is on the Internet — for the rest of our lives — someone may spend their time searching for the "worst" things we ever said, so they can make the most negative judgments against us — e.g., this compilation:

Not to single that guy out, it's just an example at hand. I'm saying that's part of human nature — we want to be right, so we make others wrong. I try to rise above it. One day at a time.


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Florida #2 In Nation For Cyber ScamsIt seems with each passing day we rely on smart phones, laptops or tablet computers more and more in daily lives. And we’re not alone.
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Panther Found Dead, Struck By Car In SW FloridaFor the 10th time this year, a panther has been struck and killed by a car.
Popular Camel Dies At Zoo Miami A camel frequently used for rides by Zoo Miami park visitors died Tuesday after becoming septic from a recent fall.
Pygmy Sperm Whale, Calf Die After Washing Ashore S. Fla. BeachThe bodies of two pygmy sperm whales, who died after washing ashore in South Florida, were sent to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility in Miami for necropsies.
Malayan Tigress, Indian Rhino Dead At Zoo MiamiOfficials at Zoo Miami are mourning the loss of a female Malayan tiger and an Indian Rhino, both of whom died at Zoo Miami Monday.
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Anti-Freeze Blamed For South Miami-Dade Cat DeathsA chemical found in virtually every car on the road, and in many home garages, has been blamed for the death of more than a dozen cats in the Hammocks area of Southwest Miami-Dade. Unknown is whether the cats were given the chemical, or whether they found it on their own.
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Exclusive: Nearly A Dozen Dead Cats Found In Hammocks NeighborhoodResidents in The Hammocks want to know who killed nearly a dozen neighborhood cats.
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Ukraine Crisis: A briefing on the current events

Join a briefing on the current crisis in Ukraine 4 p.m. Monday, March 17, in 302 Harrison Hall. Presented by Miami University's political science department and the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies, the briefing features three speakers.

  • Karen Dawisha, political science professor and director of the HavigHurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies
  • Ivan Ninenko, political science professor, Havighurst Center Postdoctoral Fellow and the deputy director of Transparency International's Russia office
  • Ivan Grek, native of St. Petersburg, graduate student in history

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Contact Karen Dawisha, or 513-529-3383, for more information.


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Monthly Archives: February 2015

persian and jewish goodwood wedding

image of goodwood museum wedding

This Persian and Jewish Goodwood wedding was one of the neatest weddings I have ever photographed. It was a gorgeous blend of two cultures and traditions that came together beautifully. Daniel spent the entire day whispering in Layla’s ear. He was saying, “I knew from the first date that I was going to marry you.” […]

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Tuesday, 14 March 2017

When despair at the world rises in me
And I wake in the night at the slightest sound
And worry as to what will become of me and my children
I go lie down where the Woodrake rests in its beauty on the water
And the great Heron feeds
I come into the presence of wild things

    Wendel Berry

Last night I woke in the night not because of a sound but because of a thought triggered by something one of us had said.
     Upon arrival they said that they he had meant to bring their electric chainsaw but had not managed to carry it.  I fealt a sense of dejavu, like what happened with the Fair Close Field Group upon the arrival of power tools. However in Meadowshare we do not have a foe of the peasant farmer to ridicule and call us Luddites so I feel more confidant to express myself. Thankyou!
     When I started Fair Close Field I did everything by hand without power tools , rebuilding the barn
scything etc and going out from St Edwards in free lessons to turn the hay etc. However when I wanted to go away on holiday I had to buy a milking machine so that the newly formed group could milk Gemma the cow. It was a strange irony that now I had ten times more people to help it appeared that they wanted to do ten times less work. The next thing was an Alan Scyhte so that instead of "Ten Men"mowing to the beautiful rhythmic "swishing" of sharp dewy blades on morning grass we were ten trailing and choking in the wake of a noisy polluting engine.
     When I prepared the Canal field I had to carry all the materials down there on my trustee sack trolley. I cut willow to make the fencing and manger which was big enough so that all the cattle could feed. And I found a scip full of old bricks to create a hard standing so that animals were not knee deep in mud. I layed a smooth path to the barn, made from concrete slabs from Sallies stables.All this was done without power tools. I loved it : squatting in my tea breaks, contemplating the steady progress of that mornings-days-weeks-months work. And always in the back of my mind was the anticipation  that I would be joined by another or others. last saturday I fealt that anticipation being met as we all worked together with Hay forks and rakes
        All my life I have sawn and chopped wood by hand with bowsaws and axes to heat my house and domestic water. Although my muscles have become honed to this work and with balance and rhythm I can make the saw slide through the wood with ease, when joined by another on the other end of the blade the effect is magical.
             It makes me ask " What is work for?"
If it is to get the job done then indeed get a chain saw. If however it is to connect with nature ; to know the tree and the rhythms it asks of our bodies. then lets use our hands our arms our feet our lungs. Lets make Hook Meadow our Greene Gym
        "You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
           For to be idle is to become a stranger to the seasons,----
           When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music"

Monday, 13 March 2017

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Early Morning Wren Pond

Stealing the common back for the goose

17th Century folk poem
Stealing The Common From The Goose
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who takes things that are yours and mine.

The poor and wretched don’t escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.

Friday, 9 October 2015

Friday, 21 November 2014

Monday, 11 November 2013

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

summer with woofers 2012

Wolvercote scything Olympics 2012

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Friday, 6 July 2012

Well and Hen coop

Monday, 12 March 2012

Scything on the Village Green

      Locally grown for thatch and bread

THRESHING WHEAT.   Locally grown for thatch and bread

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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Reckless Waif and Merciless Predator

Sorry for the lapse in posting lately, things are crazy as always. I should have a fair amount of new art to show in the next 6 weeks leading up to Illuxcon. So much to do before then, just typing that I only have 6 weeks left is freaking me out.

Here is a double sided card from the upcoming Innistrad expansion that was just previewed.

These double sided cards are a new mechanic in the Innistrad block. They all start with a human character of some sort that can then flip over and change into a werewolf (or other monster). In order to link the images together, certain things like hair/fur color had to be the same in both paintings. Thus, I was in all seriousness, asked to paint a strawberry blonde werewolf:

Both images are 13 x 18 oil on paper on board. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more Innistrad paintings, a Warcraft card, the Arthur and Morgana commission and one, hopefully two personal paintings for Illuxcon.

  1. those are beautiful
    i really like her face and cloths

  2. Love the first one especially, wonderful work.

  3. Thanks guys! Daniel your Innistrad cards were all kinds of awesome.

  4. One of the reasons I play MTG is the great artwork, and this is definitely a favorite of mine from the Innistrad block; and it's double-sided, so more art for me! Especially love the look of deviance in her eye! Well done, thanks for creating kickass work and making Magic that much more enjoyable!


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Air Filter and Air Conditioner Intervention Study

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TMCNet:  Travelers at Denver International Airport To Receive Free Global Calling Service

[November 14, 2012]

Travelers at Denver International Airport To Receive Free Global Calling Service

DENVER, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Travelers at Denver International Airport now have the ability to make domestic and international phone calls free of charge. The free, ad-supported calling service, called RMT Free Phone, is accessible at more than 200 landline phones located throughout Jeppesen Terminal and all three concourses. The airport's advertising concessionaire, Clear Channel Airports, partnered with RMES Communications to launch this world-class customer amenity in November. Denver International Airport is the first airport in the world to offer free global calling.

More than 50 million passengers a year now have access to unlimited, local and national calls free of any charges. In addition, all international calls will be free of any charges for the first 10 minutes; calls lasting longer than ten minutes will be charged at the rate of $0.25 per minute and 15 percent tax.

"This is another example of how Denver International Airport continuously looks for ways to enhance the customer experience and provide world-class service," said Chief Commercial Officer John Ackerman. "While mobile phone usage has increased over the years, there is still a significant population who may not have access to a mobile phone because they do not own one, are traveling abroad, or their phone needs to be recharged. This new service offers travelers the ability to call most areas of the world for free, connecting customers with loved ones and business partners around the globe." To support this free telecommunication service, the phones are equipped with true high definition 17-inch LCD screens that are used for digital advertising and run over Voice over IP. This new technology allows advertisers to promote their products airport-wide with 15-second digital advertisements, and offers customers digital coupons via QR codes as well as opt-in SMS-advertising.

"The new network has been in development for quite some time, and we are excited to finally offer it to Denver International Airport customers," said Miles Malone, Vice President of RMES Communications. "Although mobile is the most effective and convenient way to stay connected, there are times when cellular service for international visitors is not convenient. We're excited to partner with Clear Channel Airports and Denver International Airport to make domestic and international calling accessible and free to customers." About RMES CommunicationsRMES Communications, a 36-year-old firm providing a variety of telecommunications products and services throughout the industry, has offered services at Denver International Airport since its opening in 1995. The organization employs a full staff of telecommunication engineers, data network design engineers, project managers and technicians. Through unique teaming arrangements RMES Communications provides additional personnel for a number of multi-discipline technical support and engineering requirements. Areas of coverage include, but are not limited to the following: Voice, Video and Data. RMES Communications recently partnered with Clear Channel Airports and service provider, Rich Multimedia Technologies (RMT), to provide RMT Free Phone at Denver International Airport.

About Denver International AirportDenver International Airport (DEN) is the 11th-busiest airport in the world and the fifth-busiest airport in the United States. With more than 50 million passengers traveling through the airport each year, DEN is one of the busiest airline hubs in the world's largest aviation market. DEN is the primary economic engine of the state of Colorado, generating more than $22 billion for the region annually. For more information visit, check us out on YouTube, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Media Contact: Herman MalonePresidentRMES Communication303-839-5200 SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor

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Thursday, 12 January 2017

Barry Hutchison's Worst Ever School Visit Moments

We are super-excited to be taking part in a joint blog tour today! Stripes are running a fabulous tour to promote TWO school stories they're releasing in January - Karen McCombie's St Grizzle's School For Girls, Goats and Random Boys (illustrated by Becka Moor), and Barry Hutchison's Beaky Malone: Worst Ever School Trip (illustrated by Katie Abey). Both of these look like hilarious reads with great illustrations! We're excited to have Barry talking about his worst ever school visit moments in this post.

2017 marks my tenth year as a full-time children’s author (I think, although I’m not very good at maths, so don’t quote me on that). As well as writing books lots of books in that time, I’ve also visited hundreds of schools, speaking to tens of thousands of children about what a jolly jape this whole writing lark is, and how books are all great an’ that.

Thankfully, the vast majority of those visits went brilliantly, with lots of enthusiastic students, teachers and librarians helping to make every event a success. Or, almost every event. Sometimes, things don’t go quite as smoothly as they could do. Take the incidents below, for example, which I present in no particular order.

1. Back in my second year of being an author, I was invited by a head teacher to visit her school. She was very friendly, full of great ideas, and we made plans for a whole day of workshops and author talks. The day arrived, and I got up at 5am to drive the 130 miles to the school, only to find out the head teacher was off sick that day, and hadn’t told another living soul at the school that I was coming. They were unable to get her on the phone, and so, unsure about this strange, six-foot-four unshaven man standing at the front door, they decided they couldn’t let me in, and I had to drive 130 miles back home.

2. I was invited to a boys-only boarding school to talk about my Invisible Fiends horror series back in 2012 or so. The plan was for me to do a talk in the evening, after the pupils had eaten dinner. What I didn’t realise was that, prior to my event, the younger boys – aged 8-10 or so – would be sent to shower and get ready for bed, and so I ended up talking about some deeply disturbing horror novels to 100+ kids, half of which were wearing pyjamas, dressing gowns and slippers, and clutching teddy bears. I was then asked to pose for a photograph with them after the event – a photo I hope never surfaces on the web…

3. Questions! One of the parts of an event I love and dread in equal measures is the Q&A session at the end. Questions generally range from the repetitive (“Where do you get your ideas?” “How much do you earn?”) to the probing (“Your female characters are always more impressive than your male characters – discuss.”)

Sometimes, though, there are some really memorable questions thrown my way. My favourites include:
“Do you know the queen?”
“You know you said Mr Mumbles tries to kill the hero? Have you ever killed anyone?”
“What’s the best noise you’ve ever heard?”

One question that really sticks out in my mind, though, came at the end of a talk to a group of completely impassive Year 9s, who had spent the previous 50 minutes glaring silently at me, and wishing me dead. When I asked if anyone had any questions, I was delighted to see a boy near the back put up his hand. “Yes?” I said. “What’s your question?”

To which he replied: “Can we go now?”

4. Or how about the time when I turned up twenty minutes early at Elgin Academy in the North of Scotland, and got increasingly annoyed as I was left waiting for half an hour in reception for a member of staff to come and take me to the library…

…and then discovered I was supposed to be at Elgin High School at the opposite end of the town, instead, where everyone was already waiting patiently.

And let’s not even mention the event where the 14 year old tried to punch me in the face!

By and large, though, school visits are great fun, and from my initial nervous ramblings have quickly become one of my favourite bits about the job.

Most of the time, anyway.

Beaky Malone: Worst Ever School Trip (written by Barry Hutchison and illustrated by Katie Abey) is published today, 12th January, by Stripes Publishing.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

June 26, 2002: When did it start?

The second question most people ask with respect to Hendrik Schön is "When did he start faking data?"

(The first question is either "Why did he do it?" or "How could he possibly think he could get away with it?" Neither of these questions can be answered without a Vulcan mind meld.)

In our investigation committee, we did not seek to answer this question, only to pursue allegations that were brought to our attention, either directly or through Bell Labs. In fact, as the number of papers under suspicion grew from five to 25 or so, we realized we needed to close the door to new allegations, and we set an arbitrary cutoff date of June 20, 2002. We had plenty of material to work with for our report.

It turns out that a few days later we got another allegation that gave a strong hint that the faking began when Hendrik was in graduate school at the University of Konstanz, before anyone at Bell Labs knew anything about him.

To be honest, we were somewhat relieved that the new information came in after the cutoff, because investigating it would have involved us in a completely new class of materials and measurements, as well as new co-authors (obviously none from Bell Labs). We also did not have access to the digital data that was so useful for the other papers, and our authority to investigate this work would have been somewhat questionable, since we had been invited in by Bell Labs.

As we would later be told, Hendrik's thesis was rather unexceptional: lots of slow experimental work trying to accomplish a rather mundane task of introducing electrically active dopants into potential solar-cell materials. Reportedly, he was not having much success despite stead efforts, but at some point he suddenly reported dramatic success in doping the materials.

There were several different experiments on different materials with different dopants. Three figures from the papers are overlaid in this animated gif:

At least in the context of the other clear cases of copying, this looks pretty clear. Obviously not all the curves are the same, but some are, and the three figures are represented as coming from three different materials. However, the committee never examined this case in detail, so there may be important caveats.

The University of Konstanz decided in 2004 to rescind Hendrik's doctorate, deeming him "unworthy." This retroactive action struck me as rather odd. A court concluded in 2010 (amusing translation here; follow either link for a relatively recent picture) that the revocation was inappropriate, but in 2011 that decision was reversed.

In 2003, Jennifer Couzin reported in Science that "a committee at the University of Konstanz examining the work of disgraced physicist Jan Hendrik Schön found inconsistencies in several papers Schön published during his studies there, but no proof that he had deliberately manipulated data."

But I think we know he had already started down the path.

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APS: Suspicious test scores in schools nationwide | Schools

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APS: Suspicious test scores in schools nationwide
APS: Suspicious test scores in schools nationwide

ATLANTA - The cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta Public School system is apparently just one small part of a larger national epidemic.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation analyzed more than 1.5 million standardized tests from 69,000 schools nationwide.

The AJC found nearly 200 districts had "suspicious scores" that "resemble those that entangled Atlanta".

The cities with improbable test score gains included the school districts of Los Angeles, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston and Dallas.

The latest report gives the rest of the nation is getting a taste of what Atlanta has dealt with for a few years when the newspaper first reported on determined statistical improbabilities with Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) scores.

A state investigation into APS last year implicated nearly 180 teachers in 44 schools.

So far, about 70 teachers have resigned or retired.

Earlier this month, Damany Lewis, a 7th grade teacher at Parks Middle School, went before a tribunal and became the first in the scandal to be fired.

Lewis admitted to state investigators to opening tests booklets using a heated razor blade and changing wrong answers to right.

Now, that dozens of others districts are under a similar dark cloud, the newest APS board member, Byron Amos said he's not surprised to learn of problems in other cities because of the pressure for improving test scores.

"I feel sorry for the systems that are now beginning to come out and I would never pass judgment on their systems, because everyone has their own house to attend to," said Byron Amos, Vice Chairman of the APS Board of Education. "I feel sadness for them because I know the bad light it shined on the city of Atlanta, but more importantly, the bad light in shined on our kids that had absolutely nothing to do with the cheating scandal. Unfortunately, it was the adults who cheated. Our children did exactly what we asked them to do."

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Monday, May 24, 2010

Frank Cho unused "Jungle Girl" cover

I've said it before several times how I love the way Frank Cho draws women.  His work at Marvel is wonderful.  He has really become a superpower in the biz.  This pic of JANA and a sabre tooth was originally intended for the last issue of Jungle Girl season 2...he did not use it. It's a shame though it's a light hearted fun piece of art and to see it inked and in full color would have been cool.
    Perhaps he can use it for season 3?  I know one thing though....that sabre tooth.....and the girl?  Of course I'm thinking SHANNA and ZABU!~

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new followers...please feel free to leave positive and friendly comments. I'd like to know your thoughts and feelings.


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Tuesday, 30 June 2009

The Red Square

Stills from The Red Square, animation on Sinclair ZX Spectrum (2006) (2 minutes)

 A pastiche of Soviet modernism and the endurance of an ingrained Protestant work ethic, The Red Square was made in the first nine months of 2006. The first three were my last at the civil service where I had been working myself to death modernising the archiving system. Designing databases, cleansing data, maintaining large filestores and then programming machine code at night all blended into one after a while. Work is the theme of The Red Square. Indeed in its world the square is the unit of work. It is the product, the currency and the simplest form of being. The animation ends when the means of production create language.

Sunday, 21 June 2009

Alpha Omega

Stills from Alpha Omega, animation on Sinclair ZX Spectrum (2009) (1 minute, 50 seconds).

Alpha Omega began with another animation and drawing entitled 'Barmouth, Portstewart, 2002' which itself was a response to a recurring dream. I come from Ireland but live in England, and for years my home in dreams was situated somewhere between the two - on board the ferry forever and ever, stopping only in the middle of the night to pick up passengers, others adrift, in need of rescue, and no one ever disembarked.

The dream occurred so often I wanted to capture the images within it. This began an interest in pixellating  the sea and sky. In seeking how to best represent these within the confines of 256 x 192 pixels, I became interested in a plethora of mathematical concepts. My knowledge is still embarrassingly  shallow but my interest is keen and passion resolute.

These plethora of concepts fall under the heading of algorithmic information theory, a term associated with Gregory Chaitin of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. While still a teenager Chaitin discovered the Omega number which, in short, is the halting probability of a randomly generated computer program. His work is a continuation of Godel's and Turing's.

Algorithmic information theory sees the universe as a quantum computer processing itself as information. Temperature, for instance, is a measure of information. The number of bits needed to describe the regular structure of ice is relatively small compared with the number of bits needed to describe the chaotic movements of the molecules in steam. If the second law of thermodynamics holds true then the universe will approach a state described by  2^∞ bits.

Frank Tipler's Omega Point theory states that the universe's computation power will become infinite as it collapses into singularity. By this stage our descendants will have harnessed the quantum computer nature of the universe, and will be able to run artificial intelligence versions of everyone forever. This is where algorithmic information theory becomes quasi-religious. Tipler's Omega Point theory has its origins in the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), Jesuit priest and scientist, who envisioned a future of self-conscious and reflective unity beyond animalistic being in what he called a noosphere.

I should point out that at no time have I heard or read any mention of Omega Point theory by Chaitin who describes himself primarily as a computer programmer and then as a meta-mathematician. There is, however, a connection beyond the use of the word Omega. The Omega number is theoretical, its absolute value unknown. The problem being that the closer the calculations are to its answer, the longer it takes to calculate. In fact it will take infinitely long to find its value. However, as with Turing's uncomputable real numbers, Tipler's infinitely large expansion of the universe's computing power allows these calculations to be made.

Omega Point theory is of course wildly speculative. Despite Tipler's claims of its proof in physics, it still reads like a religious prophesy of technological determinism. Surprisingly for me, I find it easier to consume Teilhard's version as something which is to be striven for and spiritually dedicated to. In this animation, Alpha Omega, it is the audacity within Tipler's theory which is being satirised. It is, admittedly, audacious to create animation on such an apparently redundant machine as the ZX Spectrum, but, to raise the spectre of my pretension, learning machine code programming over the last seven years has involved spiritual dedication.

Compression plays a central role in algorithmic information theory. To compress information is to enact an understanding of it. The compression algorithm is that understanding.

Gregory Chaitin :

I think of a scientific theory as a binary computer program for calculating the observations, which are also written in binary. And you have a law of nature if there is compression, if the experimental data is compressed into a computer program that has a smaller number of bits than are in the data that it explains. The greater the degree of compression, the better the law, the more you understand the data.

But if the experimental data cannot be compressed, if the smallest program for calculating it is just as large as it is... then the data is lawless, unstructured, patternless, not amenable to scientific study, incomprehensible. In a word, random, irreducible!

Gregory Chaitin :

Compression techniques are useless if they are applied to noise, to the mad jumble that you get if an antenna is disconnected, because there is absolutely no pattern to compress away.

Another way to put it is that the most informative picture is one in which each pixel is a complete surprise.

Above is some further evidence of the Spectrum running the animation. The BASIC program which you can see runs two files of machine code. Each one has a sequencer routine which runs smaller sequences of even smaller routines embedded with calls to other even smaller routines, and scattered amongst this hodge-podge of code are the bitmaps. Each time an animation is made new routines are designed which are then re-used in a library for the next project resulting in the bottom of the code looking relatively elegant, but then the rest becomes spaghetti of increasing complexity towards the top. If ever an animation is made of complete code elegance it would probably be the last one I would want to make. It would signify that there wasn't anything new to learn.

You can tell from the clarity of the stills that the animation isn't just being run on a Spectrum but, instead, it is an emulation. Actually very accurate to the real thing but it allows me to work on a laptop with all the benefits, i.e. fitting the work around a busy life, grabbing bits of time in a cafe before the day job and in a library at lunchtime. No nervous tension during cassette loading! Having spent the last 7 years using the old method on the real machine, an emulation has been a liberation. Besides, the idea of running one system inside another is appealing. It is very Omega Point.

Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Incommensurables series (2008)

Based on dysfunctional conversations between leading figures in the 20th century, this part of the series explores the probability of success in communication.

Here, the graphical form of a dysfunctional exchange is derived from the idea of an immeasurable mid-point on the diagonal between corners of the unit-length square, i.e. pixel.

These four figures of modernism are, in attempting to communicate and understand each other, trying to unscramble Dedekind's "secret of continuity", the irrational diagonal of the unit square. In using rationality, they spend their time chasing their tails. However, all dialogue between them, no matter how extensive, could be encoded into the infinite decimals of the unit square's diagonal length.

Formal axiomatic system

The set of all unmentioned words

B radiation

 T makes a point to W

Lines of argument

Radiating communication (ideal)

Unknowable Centre

The diagonal of a unit length square is the incommensurable √2.

The diagonal of a square drawn is pixels is equal to the length of its side:

Each pixel is a unit length square.

Each pixel contains incommensurability.

I was inspired to work on this part of the Incommensurables series by reading of the meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg during October 1941 in Copenhagen. This is an example of how dysfunction in conversation can help to steer the coarse of history. Bohr was sent to meet his former pupil in order to assess Germany's ability to produce an atomic bomb. Heisenberg who, although leading the German atomic research, was engaged in 'active resistance' with the aim of slowly not producing a weapon. It was Heisenberg's intention to communicate this to Bohr but it was not straight forward as any explicit message would inevitably be interpreted by the Gestapo as treacherous.

The following quotations are from 'Brighter Than A Thousand Suns' by Robert Jungk (1956):

But unluckily the important interview in Copenhagen between Heisenberg and Bohr was ill-starred from the beginning. It had been reported to Bohr that Heisenberg had defended, at a reception given in his honour shortly before, the German invasion of Poland.  The fact that Heisenberg in order to disguise his true sentiments, was in the habit of expressing himself quite differently in society, especially abroad, from the way he talked in private. Bur Bohr, that fanatical devotee of truth, neither could nor wished to recognize such a double game, learned in the hard school of totalitarian compulsion. Accordingly, when Heisenberg came to see him, he at once assumed an extremely reserved and even chilly attitude towards the pupil who had once been his favourite.

...unfortunately [Heisenberg] never reached the stage of declaring frankly that he and his group would do everything in their power to impede the construction of such a weapon... The excessive prudence with which both men approached the subject caused them in the end to miss it altogether.

When Heisenberg took leave of his master he had the impression... that the conversation had made matters worse rather than better. Bohr's mistrust of the physicists who had remained in Hitler's Germany had not been lessened by his pupil's visit. On the contrary, he was now convinced that the men in question were concentrating intensively and successfully on the manufacture of a uranium bomb.


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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

White Alligator

Here's an image that works well for a portfolio. It immediatly gives the viewer a character, and a situation. This was inspired by some real albino alligators that I had heard about back in 1995. I imagined what it would be like for the poor guy the first time he figures out that he doesn't look like everyone else.

Look what I found!

One of my favorite's from my 1995 portfolio. Simple, funny, clear. I really like this little girl, and she's just so pleased with herself. If they could all be this pure.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Nice costume, but...

He's a drawing that, while I like it, is a total failure as a portfolio piece. It's a nice character design, but that's about it. There's no hint of a story or a struggle, and, while the gesture works, it seems to be very static, conveying no movement at all. Eh...can't win them all.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What are you looking at?

More from my 1995 portfolio. Originally, I wanted this to look as if he was hiding behind the mailbox, and peeking out a bit. However, it ended up looking as if he was trying to blend in with the mailbox and not be noticed. I liked either one, but felt I should have been more in control of the image.

Friday, March 12, 2010

You've got something on your face...

Here's another from my 1995 illustration portfolio. One thing I like to think about when I create an image, is to wonder what part of the story it's from. Is this the beginning of a story, the middle, or the end? Who nose? Get it?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sinking Ship

Here's an image from my old illustration portfolio. I am going to be posting all of the work that I showed to publishers when I first began to look for illustration work in 1995. I hadn't seen these in a while, and I'm really stuck at how bold and simple they are. If I remember correctly, they were drawn with a grease pencil on heavy watercolor paper. These drawings were all from ideas that I created myself, my goal being that they would seem as if they were pulled from dramatic, exciting books.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Looking out the window

This one was drawn one summer night while the family was eating a relaxed dinner. I remember the boys leaving the table and returning a few times while waiting for something to cool down. I don't do enough life drawing, but I really enjoy it when I get the chance. I know it's a bit ironic, but I can't wait for Grad School (Visual Arts Education) to be done in May so that I will have more time to make art.


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Cynthia Jones-Bryson

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About Cynthia Jones-Bryson

Cynthia’s creations are statement pieces, for women with a well-honed sense of style who use every occasion to express it.

Combining traditional millinery techniques, innovative styling and insistence on top quality the finished products speak for themselves. As such, Cynthia’s creations can be left on display long after the event is over.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sitting With Alice

2 Heart Lessons From the Ones With Dementia

Part I

"I feel lonely", she tells me, her voice so faint I have to strain my ear to understand.

Alice* is another long time resident at Zen Hospice, whose old age dementia has wiped out most of her thinking brain.  I can feel her loneliness, and I let her know in my own words . . . She nods, and gives me her usual big smile. "What is this place? Is this home?" Short phrases, big fears. She's relying on me, her alter memory, to orient her again, and again.

After a while of shared sweetness, I start noticing the unpleasantness. All inside, and made up of boredom, with a strong flavor of aversion.  And soon, the relief from suddenly knowing. Thinking brain -mine - is not liking being forced on a diet.  I have come to depend so heavily on thoughts to give me a sense of substance. Unbeknownst to her, Alice is teaching me a big Dharma lesson.

Grateful for the wisdom gained, I 'return' to Alice with a new sense of ease.  Boredom, frustration still there, but no longer getting in the way. Feeling heart has taken the center stage. When the time comes for me to leave, Alice teaches me yet another lesson, this time in caring. "Make sure to watch your step."

Part II

I read the post I wrote a few days ago about 'Letting the Heart Open Wide'. And I am shocked. The conversation I had with my mother then, is the same, word for word, as the  one I had with Alice today. Only this time, I am left with a different residual feeling. With my mother, our few minutes together on the phone had left my heart wide open for her pain, and my pain, and the love that bonds us. With Alice, the luxury of more time gave me the chance to explore the heart even more.

Feeling much gratitude for all these heart and mindfulness lessons from the ones supposedly 'without a mind' - dementia, from Latin 'demens' = without mind -

* Not her real name.

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Mindmistress/Paula Solomon: If you'd told me... Dean: I didn't piece it together until I saw the scorch marks...you were disappearing then. I'd no way to summon you..rooming with a...murderous pyromaniac.Prosecutor: So, you say Mr. Delouise was behaving...erratically?  Lucas: He was absurdly sure in his...theories.  He didn't question.  He didn't doubt.  The idea of his being mistaken didn't...register.

Prosecutor: So what's his mental state...? Psychiatrist: Shortly after his sister's death, the subject had a...vision. A fantasy-female, inhumanly wise, guided he and his nephew to new...cosmic revelaations.Judge: Dean Delouise, in the murder of your nephew, Tyler Partridge, we find sufficient evidence of mental abberation--to commit you to a mental institution--- Dean (Caption): Truthconfessed/disbelieved...on counsel's advice.

Mindmistress is hosted on Comic Genesis, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.


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ItemPhysic Mod for Minecraft 1.11.2/1.10.2

Sometimes, you can get away with installing mods only on the player end of Minecraft, without adding the files to the server side of the game when playing online. However, the ItemPhysic mod does so much to change Minecraft that it’s necessary to install it on both the player and server computer for it to work – unless you’re playing single player, of course. Not only does the mod add a number of new items to Minecraft, but it also updates some of the existing stuff to make it more realistic. For example, you know how stone blocks don’t burn near lava? Now they won’t if you break them and throw them in, either.

Besides that, items won’t be destroyed by colliding with cacti if you have the ItemPhysic mod installed. That’s a great boon for those who farm cactus, since they usually destroy each other while you’re trying to break them up. This stops that from happening. There is a full version of this mod which includes all of the changes mentioned, as well as a lite version which does far less – making items rotate on their axis while flying or sitting on the ground. This feature is included in the full version too, of course.

Like the name would suggest, the ItemPhysic mod adjusts the physics for some items. Beyond that, you won’t get much more from this mod. There are no new blocks, items, equipment or monsters – just a fresh look and feel to things which already exist in vanilla Minecraft. The best part about this mod is probably the fact you can retrieve an enderchest if you happen to die near a pool of lava. Since they don’t burn, you can pull them right back out of the fire with the help of a resist fire potion or something similar.

ItemPhysic Mod for Minecraft 1.11.2 Changelogs

  • Fixed crash when putting something inside the microwave of MrCrayfish’s Furniture Mod
  • Redesigned onCollideWithPlayer asm transformer (should fix SpongeForge incompatibility)
  • Fixed items always burn (crash log causing low fps as well)
  • Fixed crash if checking for ore directionary.

How to install ItemPhysic Mod?

  1. Download the mod!
  2. When you haven’t installed Minecraft Forge yet, download and install it.
  3. Move the downloaded .jar into the mods folder.
  4. Have fun!

Required Library:

Download Links for ItemPhysic Mod

for Minecraft 1.11.2

for Minecraft 1.10.2

for Minecraft 1.8.9

for Minecraft 1.7.10

Credit: CreativeMD – Original Thread on Minecraft Forum

  1. I installed the full verison to my game and the blocks float like
    the average minecraft, but they spin when throwen and still land like the mod is ment for. just when they land they are still off the ground.

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Andrzej Duda – kandydat na Prezydenta RP Meta Description

Oficjalny serwis KW Kandydata na Prezydenta RP Andrzeja Dudy w wyborach prezydenckich 2015. Przyszłość ma na imię Polska. O mnie, aktualności, kalendarz, kontakt. Test Results Mobile Usability: 89/100

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Fuji X-Pro1 vs Sony NEX-7 vs Oly OM-D E-M5 – Low Light Test

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In this video, the gang from DigitalRevTV look at the low light performance of the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and compare it to two other latest mirrorless cameras: the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Sony NEX-7. How do they perform with autofocus in low light and what is the EVF like? We also compare the noise performance of each camera. Special Thanks to Oasis Dance Center – www.oasis-dance-centre.com Belly Dancer – Emmy Abir

Best Price on the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 16MP Digital Camera with APS-C X-Trans CMOS Sensor (Body Only)

NEW LOWER PRICE! Olympus OM-D E-M5 16MP Live MOS Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3.0-Inch Tilting OLED Touchscreen and 14-42mm Lens (Black)

Best Price on the Sony NEX-7 24.3 MP Compact Interchangeable Lens Camera with 18-55mm Lens

MrJooDoe says:

The dancer dances like Bonnie Five performs surgery.

bichonfrisegallery says:

“You should just put everything in moii pocket” haha

saleh3177 says:

رقصني ياجدع

OswaldoTheChamp says:

Remnufacture says:

you should compare them again.. all with the same lenses. maybe a 35mm or a 50mm to all. that would be nice

shadowblack1987 says:

Fiji IQ wins and great ISO. BUT OM-D is RIGHT behind. It wins in AF and ergonomics. Oh and it’s half the price!

awreckingball says:

Erm. It’s wasn’t really that funny.

Mesdriver says:

I picked it.
Its awesome!

alienpanda says:

oh just looked at a few photos, kai’s one is or similar to a cartier, and alamby’s one is or similar to a tiffany and co

alienpanda says:

yea i noticed there’s a ring too, and i been wonder if they were the same lol

MrJooDoe says:

That Lok due cheated on the hammer and scissor!
RX100 soon?

Ben Yau says:

Sony is like the unpopular kid. Picked last.

cputeq007 says:

I’ve got the OM-D coming in, but I have to hand it to the Fuji – the output (when focused) is outstanding.

Jgatti41 says:

For the money I’ll keep my E-M5 and the widest selection of lenses out of all 3. In fact I think there is a better selection even if you put the number of Sony lenses and added it to the Fuji lenses. 🙂

salaudinsau says:

Hey there, do you know “PhotoSFXart” (google it)? There you can watch a great free video showing the best way to create awesome photos. This made it easier for Matt to create photographs that leave you with that wow-effect any time you look at them. It might work for you as well…

Einheitskreis says:

Fuji sensor is unreal!

suryaprihadi says:

I like you guys man……..funny and video content is good.

kenan yapıcı says:

fuji isbetter

Kryxtal says:

Congrats on your engagement Alamby! ;o

chris69photos says:

How can you compare noise with so different pictures ? You have to zoom more on Olympus/Sony on your JPG compare to Fuji to obtain the same picture detail.

hellsperm666 says:

i knew that they gonna choose which cam! LOL

kloakan1 says:

he guys, your vids are really funny. your pics are shitty and doesnt make sense for you to buy better cams than compact. everybody knows fuji x pro 1 has nice colours but its AF and noise perfor. is not so good as you showed us. for fast AF- buy oly. for resolut. buy sony. but fuji? i dont know why to buy pricey camera with bad af..

franscartoons says:

thats the KY

SwisssBolla says:

I don’t understand the top comment. Should it mean that the belly dancer is a transvestite? What did you “noticed”?

king4soso says:

ليههه م تظبط الوضع , ولا لازم تطلع سوني خايسهه

fawkinjoocy says:

5:27 priceless

adventuresofbo says:

I just love the arabic music playing!x

redandbluebeater says:

3:40, why are his pants wet?

thebleeding7 says:

LOL 😛

ian rama says:

 kai=jeremy, lok=hammond, alamby=james.

ian rama says:

they work like how the top gear uk works, kai=jeremy, lok=hammond, alamby=james.

InventorSolidworks says:

2:41 As a pervie perv I recorded her moaning and play it in a loop all day! Thumbs up if you like her moaning! Cheers!

basicmilk says:

Is it only me who notice Kai’s pants is a little wet when he is trying to fit the camera into his pockets?

vinzerx says:

Find something else to watch, then. Digitalrev amassed their current cult status by eschewing the traditional review style for something else that also works, and they’d lose viewers by taking an approach hundreds of other reviewers already do.

vinzerx says:

Well, they sell cameras and they still get the likes of you to watch, so there. It’s a pretty plain concept, really.

Harley Torres says:

haha. Mirror-less cameras. Belly Dancing studio. Mirrors everywhere. I see what you did there.

Peichen01 says:

What do you mean?

ItsMeAngel21 says:

Whats KY?

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Recipe of the Week – Rhubarb and Amaretti Crumble

Oh, I know we’ve done crumble almost to death recently, but a couple of weeks ago I had some late rhubarb (one of the few redeeming features of the cold, wet Seattle spring we’ve been having) and made that most quintessentially English delight – a rhubarb crumble.

And, not a just any old crumble either, but a slightly adjusted Rhubarb & Amaretti Crumble, courtesy of dear old Delia Smith, the doyenne of English cooking.  Which ended up being just about the most fabulous crumble I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Approx 10 sticks of rhubarb

4 tbsps water

6 tbsps caster/baker’s sugar (or to taste).

Crumble Topping

40g chilled butter

75g self raising flour (or plain/all purpose flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder)

50g demerara sugar

50g whole almonds

4 Virginia Amaretti biscuits.

Unfortunately I forgot to measure out everything in cup measures, but if you use the proportions of dried ingredients  to butter to sugar that I give here then you should be OK.

Unlike Delia I stewed the cleaned and chopped rhubarb beforehand in the sugar and water for about ten minutes until soft, just because that’s how I’ve also always done it. I also didn’t add ginger  because I wanted the full flavour of the Amaretti to come through (also, truth be told, because I’m not very fond of it).  But feel free to add a teaspoon of ginger or cardamom at this stage and follow Delia’s method for cooking the fruit in the recipe link above.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C /350 degrees F /Gas Mark 4

Then put all the crumble topping ingredients into the food processor and whizz until crumbled.

Pat the crumble ingredients down over the stewed fruit and bake in the oven for around 35 mins until slightly golden round the edges and dig in.  Normally I like crumble served slightly warm, but this was fabulous spooned up straight out of the fridge.

That’s it for the moment folks. On Sunday evening we’re off on our three-week European grand tour – a week on the French Riviera, a few days in Provence, a couple of days in Paris and a week in London, meeting friends, godparents and family along the way. There won’t be any proper bloggery while I’m away, but I’ll try and post up some ‘Postcards from Europe’ so you can vicariously join us on our travels.  Don’t miss me too much.

Go Fug Your Room – Carrie and Big’s Apartment

Well, we all know the movie’s crap – two of the best reviews here and here –  but what did we think of the set design?  Most specifically what about Carrie and Big’s new grown-up married folks apartment?

Carrie confesses in the film that over the past year or two she’s been ‘cheating on fashion for furniture’ and she’s been working with same designer, Lydia Marks, who also revamped her apartment in the first movie.

So let’s take a tour.

One of my main bugbears with this new apartment is the colour scheme, which is basically blue and brown. I know Carrie is trying to create an environment that Big will also feel at home in, but it just makes everything seem rather dark and depressing and yet again very not Carrie. I know she’s grown up now, but where’s the fun, the liveliness, the inventiveness, the eccentricity and the bohemia?

The entrance way sets the tone for the whole, some great pieces – love the wallpaper and green glass bottle -  but just a little too fussy and cluttered and somehow old fashioned. Would Carrie really have a glass case of dead butterflies on display?

Entering the living room, I like this view of it. The Rug Company rug is beautiful, as is the coffee table, though, as in her old apartment, the sofa and chairs still seem rather more for ‘perching’ than truly relaxing, though much is made in the movie of Big turning into a couch potato.  I think I like the gold painting though I can’t help thinking that Big and Carrie would have a more striking piece of modern art.

 Picture 11

Sex and the City 2

Paul Smith got an excellent bit of product placement in here with his ‘Birdie Blossom’ cushion, which Carrie is seen cuddling like a new lover.  It’s lovely, though I’m not sure the pattern really works here, but it does seem more authentically ‘Carrie’ than much of the rest of the stuff.  It’s also great to see all the books everywhere. One of the things we all complained about last time was the lack of books in bookworm Carrie’s apartment.

Sex and the City 2

From here though things go downhill faster than an Olympic skiier. This view of the sitting room is a cluttered and fussy as a pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers.  There are just too many little pieces of furniture, too many patterns and too many little splashes of colour against horribly dark and serious walls.

sitting area 2

This little seating area seems especially ridiculous. Are Carrie and Big really going to sit here as if they were in doctor’s waiting room taking afternoon tea? Isn’t this the perfect spot for a huge comfortable reading chair facing out towards the view?

Sex and the City 2

 Sex and the City 2

I like the lighter fresher feel in the formal dining area. The Lee Jofa fabric works well and the light fitting is wonderful, though shelves could do with a bit of editing. It goes through to what I think must be the kitchen, though it seems rather impractical to cook in, and I would never, ever, EVER put a rug, however pretty, in space for cooking.  But maybe that’s just me.

050410-satc-one-383 Picture 13

Looking to the left from the entrance hall we catch a glimpse of the bedroom, with another fabulous light fitting in the small library and beautiful Cole & Son wallpaper on the bedroom walls, which echoes the paper in the hall.

Carrie makes a huge amount of fuss in this movie about Big’s purchase of a big TV for their bedroom, thus confirming a) that we were right that the big TV in Carrie’s old apartment was incongruous and out of character and b) the TV product placement people have a lot of money.

The bedroom feels a bit ‘hotelly’, but I do like the way they’ve echoed the pattern on the wallpaper with the headboard.  And below we’ve got another lovely rug/useless seating area/boring artwork situation happening.

Picture 12

The piece de resistance is naturally the closet, with ridiculously twee ‘his and hers’ sides.  I know people have been charmed by this conceit, but to me it looks as ludicrous as having two different his and hers sinks, one ‘feminine’ and one ‘masculine’ side by side in a bathroom.

Sex and the City 2

Not bad shoe storage though.

(By the way Habitually Chic has put together a great post on where to source many of these pieces, including identifying the books that Carrie and Big are currently reading.)

So what do you think?  Additional comments hugely encouraged.

All About Me – New Dwell Bedding

So the plan was that on Mondays I was going to keep you updated on something that’s been happening chez moi but our routine is all discombobulated at the moment due to the beginning of the interminable school summer vacation, so this week you’ll have to make do with Tuesday instead. Do feel free to change channels at this point.

As you already know I’ve recently become addicted to shopping sale site RueLaLa, a lot because they not only feature great sale boutiques by a host of designer clothing names, but also they have fabulous homewares brands as well.

One of my recent triumphs was a set of Dwell Studio bedlinen (two pillow cases plus a duvet cover) for the incredibly bargainaceous price of $99 (down from approx $300).

I’m loving how well it goes with the Emma Gardner rug too, but I’m basically horrified by these photos. When we first moved into this house I swore that one of the first things I’d address was the horrendous sauna-like cladding of unfinished floorboards in the bed alcove, but here we are three years later and I’m LIVING WITH THEM.  The light fitting’s pretty sucky too.

Which just goes to show that when you move house you should get all those horrible jobs done quickly otherwise you’ll stop noticing the flaws until the time comes to post up photos of your bedlinen on the internet.

Not quite sure what to do with them to be honest.  The boards themselves are rough and unfinished but I’m dreading what removing them would reveal.  I think a coat of light grey/blue gloss paint is required pronto quick.

Our crazy-ass 90s bed isn’t a good fit for this alcove either, but I’ve had it for about fifteen years now and sort of can’t bear to get rid of it.

What deeply embarrassing ugly features have you been living with for so long in your house that you’ve stopped noticing them?  Anyone brave enough to send/post up a photo?

Oh and if anyone still needs an invitation to RueLaLa, just click here and you too can go nearly bankrupt.

This Week’s Recipe – Madeleines au Chocolat

A week or two ago I was lucky enough to be invited with a host of other Seattle foodbloggers to meet Mireille Guiliano, the extremely petite and chic (that’s her on the right below) author of ‘French Women Don’t Get Fat’  who was promoting her new cookbook ‘The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook’, who has been one of my foodie heroines for the longest time.

Her books are full of good sense about eating only delicious food, eating slowly and deliberately, eating exactly what you want to eat but only in small portions, eating a good breakfast and balancing each meal between carbs, proteins and fats. She exercises by walking and doing yoga, and she looks… incredible.

<KENOX S760  / Samsung S760>

For Mireille cooking can’t be separated from the joy of eating and her cookbook is a delight, full of charming anecdotes about the role food plays in Mireille’s life, making it definitely a cookbook for the bedside table.

It’s also full of recipes which aren’t really diet food, but which are rich and flavoursome and for which a little goes a long way. Her recipe for Chocolate Madeleines is a case in point. Six tablespoons of butter sounds like a lot, but not so much when spread between twenty madeleines, and just one of these is light and fluffy and decadent enough to satisfy any chocolate craving.

3 1/2 oz  (100g) of dark chocolate

6 tbsps unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup plus 3 tbsps all-purpose/plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

(I also added 1/2 tsp salt, because I like what salt does to sweet things, and 1 tsp of vanilla essence).

Combine the chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water and melt, stirring until smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and reserve.

Whisk the eggs until frothy, gradually add the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is pale yellow and has thickened.

Gently fold in the cooled chocolate-butter mixture until well combined. Then gently fold in the flour until just combine. Then cover the mixture and chill it in the fridge for 3 hours.

Thoroughly butter your madeleine tin, which is an excellent job for small fingers, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Spoon the chilled batter into the madeleine pans until they’re three-quarters full.

The mixture will be quite thick and cold at this point, so don’t make the mistake I did with my first batch of these and not spread them right into the crevasses of the madeleine shapes. I’d expected the mixture to spread while cooking, but it didn’t enough and my first batch were very misshapen.

Bake for 11-13 minutes until puffy. Do not overbake.  Cool on a rack and serve either slightly warm or at room temperature. Eat and marvel at how much slimmer you’re feeling ALREADY.

Things have been all over the place this week because of my computer problems, but I’m intending to make Wednesday ‘ Recipe of the Week’  day – where I play at being a food stylist  – going forward. Thanks to Keren at Frantic Foodie for organising the coffee morning and do check out Mireille’s excellent website which is full of ways to keep slim the French way. Oh and you can buy the Atelier LZC tea towel I used above from mirrormirror.

Go Fug Your Room – Meg Ryan’s Beach House

I opened the most recent copy of Elle Decor with some trepidation.

The front cover promised views of Meg Ryan’s Martha’s Vineyard beach house, and given what she’s managed to do to her face, I was worried what would happen if she managed to get her hands on an actual house.

No, not a young Joan Rivers

I was fretting needlessly though, as the house itself is very, very white,  very, very bland, the very epitome of quiet good taste, utterly devoid of personality and not at all what I was expecting.  Maybe that goofy, quirky schtick that Meg does in her movies really is acting after all?

I can see how for some people this might be a haven of peace and tranquility and the house certainly has excellent bones; but to me all the white seems absurdly unimaginative and would make me feel PROFOUNDLY uncomfortable.

Can you imagine trying to eat pasta with sauce in this dining room?  I would have a nervous breakdown. Though I must admit to liking the table and the overall architecture of the room. And aren’t ghostly chair covers very passe’ anyway?

And you can just imagine the stylist on this shoot screaming at her assistant, ‘Flowers! Leaves! Fruit! Throws! Bombay Sapphire! Just rush to the shops and get me some COLOUR, dammit!’ And you just know the stylist also brought in that metal ‘FLOWERS’ thingy, though I do like that very much.

celebrity-homes-photos-meg-ryan-13 meg-ryan-house-bathroom-1

I love the textures of these shelves and the fabulous wooden bench in the kitchen. Of course I would be terrified to actually cook in there.

So, am I being unnecessarily harsh?  I don’t hate it but it’s quite a long way from what I’d do if I had eleventy million dollars to spend on a beach house. The view’s very lovely though and has awakened a hitherto unsuspected yearning to go to Martha’s Vineyard.

So, your turn. Additional comments always welcome too.

Ha! So that bit of dynamic bloggery didn’t last long. My computer has been taken away to computer hospital to cure its severe case of  ‘fighter jet fan’  so I’m currently working off the home server which the Husband has set up for me. I didn’t even know you could do such a thing. But it’s not a terribly efficient set up, so posting may be a little light over the next few days.

In future every Tuesday will be ‘Go Fug Your Room’ day IF I can find enough subjects. If you see articles which might be good candidates for GFYR then do let me know. They need to feature decor which is at least somewhat controversial, and of course being snarky about celebrities or celebrity designers is always much more amusing than making fun of people we


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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Week in review

I had the most intense vivid dream last night..... I didn't wake up remembering it though.. I had been awake a few hours and then I remembered it!! It was incredible though... Someone who I've really needed forgiveness from for about 8 years now, sat me down in my dream and we had a lengthy discussion and I was able to explain myself and then I was granted forgiveness. What a relief I felt when I recalled the dream.... I truly believe it was God at work. God knows our internal struggles, even if we don't verbalize them out loud. Now, I feel as though that something that had been holding me back has freed me.  I've been forgiven by that person, but more importantly I realized that God forgave me....

The past 2 weeks I have been eating better, I cut out all junk and eating primarily clean. I read the Skinny Bitch book, which I now carry with me in my handbag because It's my new food bible to live by LOL... However the past week in particular I have had no meat. I have in fact had limit animal products. I have had 3 pieces of cheese and 1 egg in the past week. WELL let me tell you I feel amazing!!!!

It is hard to introduce a new lifestyle to others because it comes with  a lot of questions!! I'm not a crazed PETA member, although I am now a PETA member because I can't stand the thought of the harm that is done to animals including fish!!! MORE importantly though, is the amount of antibiotics and pesticides that are pumped into these animals to keep them healthy enough to murder  for our meals. It really got me thinking about the illness we experience, so many of them are linked to the toxins we are pumping into our bodies!!

I have been reading the bible since Christmas, it's my goal to complete it this year. Anyhow, in the bible they kill their own meat for meals. In the bible, they rarely speak of illness, and most of them lived over 100 years!!! Perhaps there is a reason that people lived longer back then... Their meat wasn't exposed to pesticides and antibiotics.

I don't begrudge anyone who want's to eat meat, I do however challenge you to make smart choices to be aware where your meat is coming from and what your meat was fed!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Outraged by this news story!

I watched this on the news last night and it really bothered me for a few reasons: Click the link below and read the story, then I will continue:

This is a direct quote from the article:

Back in 1981, the company that made Glycol Ether, Union Carbide, issued a warning about possible miscarriages and birth defects. In 1982, the California Department of Health Services issued a Hazard Alert that said the chemical caused birth defects in test animals. Even the Semiconductor Industry Association issued a warning in 1982.
More warnings came out in 1987, 1989, and 1993. But experts tell us they believe the chemical was still used in the chip-making process well into the 1990s.

So this company knew that the chemical caused birth defects in animals and still allowed people of childbearing age to work there! It just blows my mind! I hope they have to pay out millions upon millions of dollars to these poor families!! The second thing that really chapped my hide was the animals! I am absolutely against testing on animals and this story is an example why!

These poor helpless animals were tested on, and had little baby animals with birth defects and what for? The humans didn't heed the warning!! So it was pointless!! JMJ (Jesus Mary & Joseph) Where is the logic in that?

I have been doing a lot of research on animal cruelty lately and it sickens me to see and hear what is done to animals. I seriously sit there staring at the screen in disbelief and disgust, and it makes me want to burst out crying because animals are treated so badly. With this being said, I haven't converted to becoming a strict vegan, however I have definitely changed the way I view animals. I won't eat real eggs anymore now that I see how the hens are treated in wire cages, and besides real eggs are bad for you. There are so many alternatives to eating meat that are healthy alternatives. I have however made the commitment to make some serious lifestyle changes based on what I saw on those links.

I encourage you to click on these links and see the reality of what is happening:


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Dichotomous Rubric for Assessing Math Portfolios

My final project for our Writing Across the Curriculum class is to develop the template for my math portfolio. It's due May 5th (I think?) which means I haven't really started on it yet. I have ideas in my head and a few resources. I plan on it being a mix of data (graphs from Lee Jenkins) reflections on that data, the math part, and reflections about the math part. A lot of writing, but not an overwhelming amount. It has to be doable. And my goal is not just for them to write but to use writing as a tool for learning. I may or may not have that part figured out yet.

Anyway, Lee Jenkins came a couple weeks ago to meet with us again and even though I haven't started any of his ideas yet, he did introduce me to the dichotomous rubric. The examples he showed me were about writing but so is my math portfolio so it wasn't too far of a stretch.

So I've made my own and it's the first real contribution to my portfolio but hey, it's a start.

It's pretty and it's colorful and I quite like it.

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text:
Assessment FOR Learning Ch 6-9

Notes from text
An Introduction to Student-Involved Assessment FOR Learning
Stiggins and Chappius

These are the presentations from the other groups in my class in case you were interested.

Chapter 6 Written Response (Essay Assessment)
Chapter 7 Performance Assessment
Chapter 8 Personal Communication as Assessment
Chapter 9 Assessing Dispositions

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