a lot of stuff and nonsense from eclectech

Life is busy at the moment. Lots of exciting things going on, but offline rather than online so blogs posts and pictures and other new stuff is scarcer than usual. That said, I have made a new thing of moving pictures. It has a little scribbly babbling man going for a walk and some nice music by Mr & Mrs Swing.

All The Time Like (1MB Flash).

Labels: flash animation

Kurt Vonnegut

A great writer, artist, satirist, and humanist.

It's sad that he's gone, but good that he left so much behind.

Boing Boing : Remembering Kurt Vonnegut
BBC Obituary
Guardian Special Report
New York Times article
Wikiquotes

'And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, "Kurt is up in heaven now." That's my favorite joke.'

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Labels: blether, news links

Greenpeace have launched a report today, Carving up the Congo.

Mr DogHorse and I have made a shortened, slightly quirkier version if you want to dip your toe into the topic without embarking on the full report.

What a carve up! (700KB Flash).

There's also a video version over at YouTube.

In other news I've started animating palindromes. No reason other than someone suggested 'a dog, a panic in a pagoda' and it seemed like a good idea. So far I've only made 2 (the other is evil olive) but any suggestions of fun palindromes welcomed.

Finally, interesting lecture by Jeffrey Sachs on the radio today (the Reith Lectures), downloadable for the rest of the week from the BBC.

Labels: flash animation, neat links, silly joke

There is an inclination to think that people who go on about the dangers of ID cards and biometrics and Big Brother and the value of privacy are, well, paranoid nutters. I know people find it odd that I'm so sceptical given my love of computers and t'internet. Here's a few links that might help to explain why...

How to clone a biometric passport while it's still in the bag

Pensioners receive secret details

Woman gets 75,000 bank statements

Go-ahead for Net voting as ministers ignore watchdog

The blatant incompetence of our government to reliably manage data makes me think the proposed website to 'shame' absent parents is an accident waiting to happen. Imagine being the person they incorrectly list.

I was amused by the attempt by McDonalds to redefine McJob. Fighting a losing battle I think, as is the person who attempted to launch a petition to "stop school for people who dnt want o go". Heh.

And finally, boo to Flickr for stopping my old account working. Boooo I say.

I don't use it much but liked being able to track photos of a couple of contacts and I've just discovered that in order to log in I now have to register with Yahoo. I don't have (and don't really want) a Yahoo account.

My annoyance at having to sign up for something I've been signed up to for years was topped off with a set of fabulously recursive links. The page where I'm instructed to sign in with Yahoo has a massive WHY? link. As a curious person I clicked on it and found links to help files and a place to 'speak up' if I had a comment about the change. Both took me back to the sign in page. Arf! It seems I'm too late to do anything other than comply. Well, that or leave the account to slowly whither away of course, pining for the old days of the net.......

Oh dear, I'm such a moaning minnie at times. Have a nice serene picture of a pretty sunset and birds to compensate.

* I have nothing to add to this statement really. It's just the most bizarre thing that's happened to me since my last post and I didn't have a title.

Labels: disgruntled, news links