a lot of stuff and nonsense from eclectech

Aside from a few lines on twitter, a couple of new silly dogs and some photos I've not been online much recently. Part has been having fun in the sun with Mr Tech and The Techling, the other part has been doing lots of work that will be going online over the next month or so. The first bit has been working on a web site for the new Rubik's puzzle, the Rubik's 360. The best bit? Getting together top audio mangler Doghorse with 3D whizz Chris Ollis/Happy Toast to make this fantastic launch animation; Twisted Thinking (360).



The worse bit? The fact that I'm just as rubbish at the 360 as I am the cube. I'm not the most patient person with puzzles :)

Labels: neat links, video

... featuring Mushroom the Marmot here, but as it's running a little late I thought I'd spend 10 minutes clearing the rest of my bookmarks out. It's a little bit of a "I'm back online" frenzy from my point of view.

First up, I do rather like the atheist adverts being run on London buses, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." A worthy message and a nice change. I also found this photo great. Well, that's not quite right, I can't bear the hatred shown in the demos, but the protest placard is wonderful. Hooray for that.

I've had a big moan in the past about the quality of comments on YouTube. This Firefox plugin was obviously made for me. Fantastic.

This is definitely the best BBC headline in a long time... Military penguin becomes a 'Sir'. Frankly all a bit nuts, but still a great headline. A slightly sadder headline involves my first penguin love. Berke Breathed has said goodbye to Opus. Again. This time for good it seems. It's a bit of an odd one for me. I've not kept up with the recent Opus cartoons, to me he belongs to the eighties when, along with Calvin and Hobbes, he was my cartoon favourite but I've always intended to catch up. There's something sad about knowing he's gone for good. On the plus side Mr Breathed is about to delve further into kids books, and as a new parent this makes me quite happy. I can't express how much I'm looking forward to reading "A wish for wings that work" to the techling this Christmas.

More books... I strongly recommend Ben Goldacre's Bad Science. I've always enjoyed the blog, but I 've just finished the book and it's tops. Well written, entertaining and informative. A great defense against the horror of "well I read in the newspaper that..." He also mentions me. I was quite chuffed about that. Unfortunately it was because that awful poo woman threatened to sue me, but he called me funny too. Rah!

Finally, Scaryduck has rewritten Romeo and Juliet in txt speak.

Jlt: Rmo Rmo WTF art thou Rmo?
Rmo: Here 4 am I art LOL
Jlt: Oh, you is so lush

Read it!

Back tomorrow with Mushroom the musical marmot in action.

Labels: blether, neat links, news links, penguin joy, poo woman

Now it's nothing to do with me but bumbling comedy MP for mayor? Are you sure? Crikey!

Anyhow, on to other things in the form of a quick bookmark spring clean.

The Great Architect, excellent topical satirical images.

A particularly nice doodle from a beautiful revolution.

Some amusing remixes of those awful anti-photographer terrorism posters.

A wonderful machine, jam packed full of silly.

I won a caption competition! A bit of a fraud really, as someone pointed me at it and said "you know what this needs..." but the fish was all mine. A good blog anyhow, and an excellent project.

And a sad farewell to Humph. A very fine musician and fabulously silly man. He will be missed.

Labels: neat links, silly joke

A little something from my formative years. Watching this transported me back a good 17 or 18 years in a very impressive manner. The Cardiacs rock.



Stumbling across things like this should help balance out my YouTube moans; sometimes it really does come up trumps.

In other news my web site just turned seven years old. How quickly they grow. To mark the occasion I knocked together some little pairs games with images from my gallery.

Mutant Match | Nostril Eye Mutant Match | Posh Pairs

Labels: flash games, neat links, video

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

The bad pun is, I assume, self evident. This is the responsibility of an email correspondent who has taken to tempting me with things to animate, so blame David H. please.

Is this a UK thing? Ah, yes.

As for the huge Humph, you can see him at the other place, where I'm also asking for opinions on what I should stick into a gallery at Photobloc. Cartoons are currently in the lead. Hooray for Humph!

Stumbled across a lovely gallery of sky photos and some fab drawings that are work a peek, if you've had enough Humph.

Labels: blether, neat links, silly joke

... believing it to be Wednesday.

I am now confused, but quite pleased as I seem to have gained an entire day.

Probably a good job really, as I have rather a lot to do and wasn't sure when I was going to fit it all in.

But now I have Wednesday.

Hooray!

If you've discovered some free time down the back of the sofa and don't already have stuff to fill it you could always write some ten word reviews or become an exhibitionist about your home.

Oh, and if you're a youngster expecting to get your first passport in the next few months can I recommend you get your skates on and do it in the next month. People applying for their first adult passport from April 2007 will the guinea-pigs for a process the government is calling "Authentication by Interview" (encouragingly described by the Government as an "intrusive interview"). Lovely. You can find more information over at Renew for Freedom.

Labels: blether, neat links, NO2ID

Now, I don't really "do" Valentines Day but I like an excuse to make something silly and a new tune from DogHorse seemed perfect for a topical animation. I give you...

One Heartbeat (1.5MB Flash)

It stars Jack Java (the monkey of lurve), a couple of penguins and some pants. The song is just a little bit rude. Well, very rude in places.

We've also got a new animation for Greenpeace online, if you like your moving pictures to have a bit of a point. Stop the Horror (500KB) is part of a campaign to stop illegal timber and help save the lovely orang utans and other affected creatures.

I must mention a topic that I'm afraid amuses me far too much for terribly low reasons. As Jess points out in the comments of my previous post Gillian McKeith is in trouble again and is now banned from calling herself a doctor in her adverts. What a shame eh?

A Menace to Science, Guardian article by Ben Goldacre
Previous bit from me about Ms McKeith.

Other things that have entertained me recently include this fine campaign from Sir Montgomery Cecil of Spurt via Beau Bo D'Or and this fantastic photography project; Running From Camera. I'm not quite sure why but this appeals to me very much.

Oh, and if you do want to send someone a special message today* you can always say it with pants!

Enjoy!

*Or, in fact, any day... which is much nicer really.

Labels: flash animation, flash toy, neat links, poo woman

Lots going on at the moment so very little time to play online. Busy with work after the holiday, preparing for a terribly grown-up* dinner party this weekend and my only distraction has been the occasional animangle.

I tend to go through different phases with graphics stuff, and a realisation that I hadn't created any new breeds of animal recently led me to make some dog-bird hybrids. I think this wee fellow is my favourite of the bunch.

I call him the doggle. There is a wallpaper version if you'd like to see him in all his glory.

For those interested there are two source images for this, the base hawk image and the cute dog.

For the very interested my next favourite is the pigeon. Mainly because I have a silly fondness for visual puns.

I have also, on my occasional spare moment, been perusing the blog of Mr Yaxlich. I recommend popping over. He has been making me grin.

Have a good weekend all.

* well, maybe not that grown-up

Labels: animangle, blether, desktop wallpaper, neat links

Oh. They are. Unfortunately despite my best animated efforts and the fine songsmithing of Mr JonnyB it looks like the government is poised to close thousands of them. Bah! Bad government!

Save the Post Office, that's what I say! I don't care if nobody listens*.

JonnyB is currently up for the best UK blog at the weblog awards. As suspicious as I am of any award where they encourage you to vote every day I encourage you to vote for him here.

I'm off to scribble some pictures so have an 'and finally' link... a 1938 fire alarm that conveniently traps the person using it. Splendid.

* Not true, obviously.

Labels: disgruntled, flash animation, neat links, news links, post office

There is a current frenzy of activity around fingerprinting. School kids having to give prints to take a book out of the library or sign in, consumers having to give prints to hire a car, police carrying mobile devices to check prints remotely...

It's a shame they're so easy to fool isn't it?

Beau Bo D’Or provides his usual high standard of commentary on the issue. As an aside it's good to see Beau Bo D'Or's images being published by both the Guardian and Channel 4 in regular spots. Top notch.

So, fingerprinting frenzy. Police trying to target criminals before they're criminals. Evidence that the new secure passports are easily cracked. Reports from the information commissioner that we're adopting uncomfortably high levels of surveillance... surely it can't really be that bad. I mean, the people in authority who have access to this data won't abuse it will they? People given power must be responsible, level headed and able to keep things in perspective?

Bah. Sometimes I just want to run away to the hills and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. Then I remember that it's only a wee bit of the world that drives me crazy, and that I should stop being so overly dramatic.

The annual reports from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada are a fine example of someone talking sense on these issues, and contain a nice response to the "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" brigade.

The truth is that we all do have something to hide, not because it's criminal or even shameful, but simply because it's private. We carefully calibrate what we reveal about ourselves to others. Most of us are only willing to have a few things known about us by a stranger, more by an acquaintance, and the most by a very close friend or a romantic partner. The right not to be known against our will - indeed, the right to be anonymous except when we choose to identify ourselves - is at the very core of human dignity, autonomy and freedom.

Quite right.

There's some upbeat news on the release the music front too. A "well placed Government source" has told the BBC that the Gowers report won't be supporting an extension to the copyright term of musical recordings. Although, as the BPI kindly point out, the Government can ignore this report, and that of the Institute for Public Policy Research that came to the same conclusion, but frankly that would just be wrong. And silly.

Neil McCormack, a music journalist quoted in the BBC article commented

"You can make a record in 1955 and have been getting royalties .... Suddenly they're gone."

Suddenly!

So, someone records a song in 1955. The law states that they can receive income from it for 50 years before the recording enters the public domain. They get income from it for 50 years. Income stops after 50 years*. Apologies if this seems harsh but surely that's only "suddenly" a problem if they're an idiot?

Fran Nevrkla, chief executive of rights societies the PPL and the VPL, is quoted in a Guardian article as saying

"I sincerely hope this government ... will not duck this critical issue by conveniently hiding behind academics and other 'thinkers'"

Oh my! I love that. Pesky thinkers eh?

Thinkers are obviously trouble though. For example someone with an obvious tendency towards thought pointed out that Fran, in his role at the PPL** earned £487,000 last year, over 0.6% of all performance income in the UK. Not bad eh? The FT has a great column about the impact of the proposed extension; breaking the deal and on a related note Suw Charman of ORG has started an e-petition up at the number 10 petition site to request the right to private copy. Worth putting your name to if you want to be able to turn your music CDs into MP3s without breaking the law. I'm interested to see how the petition site goes, and pleased with the number of people signing up to scrap ID cards anyhow.

Oh dear. I've rambled on far too long. Have a look at this superb collection of souvenir photos while I disappear and stop reading articles about things that make me explode.

* As an aside, if they composed the song they retain those rights for life plus 70 years; the 50 years is for recordings.

** a music industry organisation collecting performance royalties in the UK

Labels: disgruntled, neat links, news links, NO2ID, open rights group

The Fartsichord is possibly the classiest thing I've been involved with. It's an online musical keyboard, you can choose between two instruments and play, record and save tunes. The instruments are farts and burps.

I am so proud.

On completion Mr Tech immediately played the National Anthem and I giggled far too much.

I am a child.

Some other fun things that have ended up in my bookmarks recently...

Liquid sculpture, beautiful high speed photography

Musical rollerblading (video)

Flame Warriors, a pertinent oldie revisited following the disintegration of one of my online haunts

Ridiculously cute cat. I wish the photographer published them under a creative commons licence allowing derivatives, as I would very much like to play with these photos. There are some ace ones.

Apple campaign site from Greenpeace. I was genuinely surprised by some of the information here. Apple have good PR obviously.

Passport offices map, ignoring all the stuff about having to go for interviews for passports and the Government grabbing all manner of personal information from you for no good reason, what on earth have they done to Scotland?! It does look like they've redrawn some rather critical bounderies and claimed a large amount of lowland Scotland. Shocking!

Finally, a new song from DogHorse. A quite scary and sinister recording using Rachel North's lyrics, have a listen to The Rules of the Game are Changed.

Labels: dance, flash toy, neat links

I have a new silly interactive oojimaflip online. Pick your nose and make silly faces with the Face Mash.

As it's possible to see from the above link my 'far too busy' work period is over. I still seem to have a lot to do as an awful lot of things got put in the "I'll look at that in September" virtual pile , but I have some free time and have made the decision to not let myself get so busy again.

This is a good thing, I think.

Finally, some old friends have just launched a web site about the bear rescue centre they're running in the Tat Kuang Si Park. If you're interested in wildlife or planning a trip to Laos check it out; Laos Bears. They've sent me some splendid photos of the bears so I'm hoping to make them dance in a Flash animation soon. I've already been playing with the bears, just a little.

Labels: blether, flash toy, neat links

A couple of weeks back I promised a frisky tortoise so here he is. Rumour has it that later on he did actually manage to mount the lady tortoise the correct way round; he was 100 odd years old so I suppose he's not doing bad really.
Tortoise of Lurve

And whilst I'm here (and as I have another mad week ahead and am unlikely to get much online playtime) I recommend having a wee peek over at indexed, I particularly liked this one.

I'm restraining myself from ranting about this. I saw a couple from the plane being interviewed saying something along the lines of "Rightly or wrongly the atmosphere changed when they got on board".

I think you'll find that's wrongly. Yes. Definitely.

Och well. Enjoy the tortoise of lurve. I hope to reappear before the week ends with the next part of my Baked Beats animation but I might be being overly optimistic.

Labels: blether, neat links, news links, video

I am ridiculously busy at the moment but my bookmarks are overflowing so time for a little link dump.

I was touched by this thought provoking post at Stranger Than Fiction. Thanks to Dana Shalash for commenting on here, leading me to nose around her site.

Interesting article about how only traitors try to make us afraid of terrorists, particularly given the recent declaration from Reid that terror 'may force freedom curbs'.

And that was before the alleged terror plot of a couple of days ago.

A depressing addition to these pieces is this quote from Hermann Goering, at the time of the Nuremberg trials.

"People don’t want war [...] the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Hmm. Anyhow, onto lighter things at YouTube.

I don't use YouTube for my personal stuff as I prefer to keep control over it on my own web site, am not entirely happy with the terms of use and remain generally unsure about it all. That said, one of my animations is up there at the moment; Chained to My PC. Originally created for the TUC's WorkSmart site this new version was adapted for the Communications Workers of America.

Hopefully it will continue to go down well, although I see I'm accused of 'poor taste' and vulgarity. Heh. I can't get excited about a dog peeing I'm afraid. I did fume when I was informed that there was a company down the road with call centre staff unable to go to the loo without putting their hands up and asking a supervisor, which I feel is more important. Fortunately it seems a few folk agree.

While I'm at YouTube I did find this amusing; Python's Camelot interlude, by Kirk and crew. A very nice ludicrously silly mashup. Hooray.

There's the 95 theses of geek activism post over at science addiction that's a fine read. Good points well made, and some interesting links.

I was both amused and irritated at the news that a website for Mums has had to request all users avoid discussing Gina Ford, allegedly a childcare guru, after she attempted to get their entire site taken offline for people slagging her off in the forums, although the powers-that-be were removing the offending posts. I don't know if she understands kids (although from what I've read over the last week I don't think I'd have a great deal of time for her) but she certainly doesn't seem to understand the net. A ridiculous overreaction to a site that was doing so much that she requested. Thanks to John for the tip.

And finally my random Pants Pirate Message of the day, because it tickled me.

/link dump

Edit: The observant will notice that this claims to have been posted on Friday, but appeared on Monday. That'll be the 'chained to my desk' problem interfering with my blether, although being more accurate I was chained to a model of an alternate world and my camera. More fun than a desk at least.

Labels: blether, disgruntled, flash animation, flash toy, neat links, NO2ID

I realise that this doesn't sound like a great achievement but it happens maybe twice a year and is such a pleasing sight. Ahhhh. Lovely.

Moving swiftly on from my rather pathetic indication of achievement it's time for some links as my bookmark folder needs emptying.

Following my whinge about banks and security the other day I was interested to see that Shell has suspended chip-and-pin payments after more than £1m was siphoned out of customers' accounts. So that's reassuring, particularly as "Shell's chip-and-pin solution is fully accredited and complies with all relevant industry standards."

There's been movement on the Guantanamo Bay issue as well, as the Supreme Court has ruled that "the military tribunals at Guantanamo violated both US military law and the Geneva Conventions." Well, quite. As an aside I rather liked this edit of George Bush singing 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday', if you've not seen it.

In other news, whilst I find non-disabled people parking in disabled spaces inconsiderate beyond belief I thought painting the disabled bay after the person had parked there a trifle unfair.

And finally, every now and then I have a trawl through the messages being sent through my Pants Messengers and I was embarrassed at how much this made me giggle. Shockingly bad joke. On a related note, if the person who keeps trying to link to a pr0n site through my pants squirrel is reading this - it doesn't work. Give it up. They don't parse HTML links, they're not about to start and they're not going to be shown on the random message page. Thank you.

Oh, the cute kitty above is available in desktop wallpaper size if you like.

Labels: blether, desktop wallpaper, disgruntled, flash toy, neat links, news links

Mr DogHorse has recorded a George Formby-esque ode to the World's Greatest Nutritionist. I can't express how much this made me laugh.

Go listen.

You can read the lyrics here

In other news here's a great piece on Fafblog about the US response to the suicides in Guantanamo and a congressman looking particularly stupid on The Colbert Report.

And I appear to be having a dinosaur moment.

Hmm.

Labels: neat links, poo woman

Two silly things that please me

Spin DJ is a god (short film)

The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments

Two serious things that anger me

US response to the Guantanamo suicides
"I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of warfare waged against us" (Rear Adm Harry Harris, Camp commander) and a "good PR move to draw attention" (Colleen Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy).

UK DNA database is shared overseas
So on top of containing information on 24,000 children never cautioned, charged or convicted of anything and having no real safeguards in place to protect against misuse, the misuse is international.

Labels: disgruntled, neat links, news links

Something was here but now it's gone.

Sorry about that.

Options are being considered, advice is being sought.

Whilst I contemplate these things, and consider my cork and the difficulties it encounters, I can still point you to Mr DogHorse, who has been extraordinarily prolific recently. He's recorded Captain Birdseye and Cameron Creep.

Both are superb, go and have a listen.

Labels: neat links, poo woman

... hip hip hip hooray!

I've had a pleasant couple of days making some silly pictures, getting the framework of a new Flash animation put together, blethering online and catching up with stuff. Lovely.

One of the things I've caught up on is the last couple of weeks of the Friday Thing, which I recommend subscribing to if you like a slightly cynical view on the news. It's just gone free, which means I no longer need to feel guilty about receiving unexplained copies from them*.

I also stumbled across this disturbing story about an editor banning puns from headlines. Shocking. I do hope it's an isolated incident.

* Obviously not quite guilty enough to tell them to stop sending them, but that would have seemed terribly ungrateful.

Labels: blether, neat links