Toothbrush Vibrabot

This is very cute :) Watch the end of the video to see it buzzing about the place (better than you think believe me).

[via MAKE:blog]

Allahu Akbar

[via]

Vegan Vampire

More power to her!

1.0 Gigapixle Imagery

I happened upon gigapan.org, a website that allows you to upload your own gigapixle photography. Obviously the images are made up from hi res photographs stitched together, and most don't even come near to being 1gp in size. It does have a nice interface though and its fun to zoom around... as long as you don't mind the slow connection.

The above image is of Dublin Castle by Maria Bualat. Its listed as having 0.34 gigapixels.

This one has some sneaky zoom-panties :)

Fuel Cap Indicator

According to Paul, all cars have an arrow next to the fuel pump icon on the fuel indicator to tell the driver which side the fuel cap is on. I never knew this, in fact, I've never even noticed it before. It's the simple things in life really....

A Reason 4 U

I finally gave Reason 4.0 a lash this evening. Thor and the RPG-8 get a go in this simple little tune I made. Nothing fancy, just basic refil patches used. It was improvised in single takes. The RPG-8 does exactly what you always wanted it to do. Thor sounds great but far too much tweaking there for me. The new sequencer is a joy, an absolute joy to us. Also it seems as if the bounced wav's from Reason 4.0 are munchier than before... or maybe I'm just getting better at mastering... doubt it.

[Listen to Reason 4.0.mp3]

Richard Dawkins, Christmas and all that....

Richard Dawkins doesn't believe in god, but does he believe in Father Christmas? Be sure to check out his Royal Institution Christmas Lectures from 1991, you can either buy them on DVD for a few quid or watch them for free.



I used to love watching the Christmas lectures when we had "the channels". These ones by Dawkins are particularly fascinating. Don't let the DVD cover put you off. I admit its a bit Scientology with the L Ron expression and baby holding, but I assure you there is no religion here. The worst you'll have to contend with is Dawkins choice of gaudy shirts. Enjoy the first lecture embedded below:

Christmas Glock

I animated this back in 2000 (minus the branding obviously). I was bored at work one day in October and for some reason decided that Santa hates snowmen. I showed an american friend of mind at the time and he said it looked like Santa was using a Glock. Fast-forward to this year and a Glock is exactly what I bought myself for Christmas, airsoft obviously.

God bless Joe Duffy and his Live Line program, cos without him I'd never have known they became legal to own and sell last year.

Typical Leitrim Behavior

This is what Killinaskully should be like. Still the best Irish horror movie to date and yet, its hardly known.

Batman: Dark Night - leaked 7min prologue on youtube

This will disappear fast. I love the title they uploaded it under: "King Kamali at the Montreal Pro".

[via therawfeed.com]

Ritchie Blackmore & Christmas Carols

I've been hanging onto this gem since June, I think its time enough to post it. Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple fame, ended up forming a folk-medieval-renascence-king-Arthur type music band a few years back with lover, Candice Night. In the following video he discusses how Christmas carols were once banned by Oliver Cromwell (the bastard) because they are actually pagan in origin and considered "Satan's Music".


CGI Ritchie Blackmore

Candice Night doesnt say much in the vid but her presence is awe inspiring. You can almost make out the leash she has around Blackmores throat. What has happened to the man who once wrote hard hitting tunes like Smoke on the Water. Where is the guy that smashed up cameras with his guitar on stage. Not only has he lost his hair but he seems to have lost his attitude too. Candice Night is the new Yoko Ono! Ah well, as long as he plays the guitar and she blows his flute who cares.

Who am I to comment anyway, I have two Blackmore's Night albums myself! If you want more, here's the video to "Christmas Eve":

Is Dannii Minogue a Xenomorph?

Not that I care, but a recent commenter has provoked me to question whether Dannii Minogue actually comes from LV-426.

Wind-Turbines of the Mind

The Guardian recently reported:

"Micro-wind turbines often increase CO2, says study...

After the energy used in manufacture from aluminium, steel, copper and fibreglass, the carbon footprint of the turbine is exacerbated by transportation to the site and the need for regular maintenance to moving parts which bear the strain of rapidly changing loads during heavy winds, the report found. "

Well whatever, people need to stop lying to themselves. Getting "green" isn't about saving the world, its about saving money. You think Bertie gives a fuck about whales (no Mary Harney jokes please)? The electricity supply here is on its knees and they are hell bent on cutting back, like with their crazy ideas about banning incandescent lamps outright.

Here's a crap video I made when I visited the Wind Turbines in Portlaw. It was really only to document the speed they were spinning at (really flaking around they were). The music is by Tom COSM. I think it suits it well, but more importantly it was the only piece of music I had around at the time.



I dont know what this post was about really. I just had a video lying around that I want to post and needed to write something.

My Christmas is Ruined!

Yamaha don't make the MO6 anymore, noooooooo! I finally decided to buy one. I said fuck it, could be dead next year or worse (broke!) so I might as well spalsh the cash and go for a mid range Motif model for myself this Christmas. I did and a day later Turnkey.co.uk told me they are no longer available. Bastards! They left it up on the web site deliberately to annoy me I think. So where does that leave me? I don't know. I spent so long deciding on it that I can't decide on anything else. I convinced myself it was perfect. I hope Yamaha replace it with something soon, but thats going to mean its going to be an expensive model again. Oh don't tell me the MM6 is the replacement!? Surely not, no no, it can't be, its far too basic to be a MO6 replacement... isn't it!? It's too basic for me anyway, it should never have left the factory without a loop feature after you record a track. As bad as the Technics AX-7 is, at least composing 2 bar phrases loop when youre finished.

I fucking gutted to be honest. I could wait till after Christmas if it was just an "out of stock" problem. Arrrggghhhh I want it so bad, must have material items! Wheres my inner Buddhist when I need him!

New "real" road safety adds

I wrote this two days ago, I wasn't happy with parts of it so I left it. I just saw that there are new road safety adds coming out using real victims of traffic accidents so I'm posting it now for completeness:

***

I've complained about tv road safety adds before, about the message they give. They heavily emphasise speed as the be all and end all of car accidents which just isnt true. Speed will insure death, absolutely, but it is not necessary to cause a fatal accident. Shameful road quality is just as lethal and can cause an accident even at speeds below the set speed limit. The point missed by some when I bring this up; sure, bad driving on a good road verses bad driving on a bad road is just the same but the good road is an awful lot more forgiving. We can't sit back on the moral high ground. Its not good enough to just say "let the bad drivers kill themselves" or "we should take them all of the road". The sad unfortunate fact is, there will always be incidents where even the safest driver will do something stupid; incidents where the most vigilant of drivers will suffer a sudden medical complaint and loose control of the car. It only takes one lapse in concentration to cause an accident on a over burdened, softmargined, narrow, twisty, pot-hole ladened single carriageway which could lead to a major carnage in both directions. The roads are bad but thats not what I'm getting at today.

We live in a country that claims equal status to all without prejudice, claims at least. We have campaigns in aid of the disabled, to highlight the fact that they are still a valued citizen not just a lump of flesh and bone plopped in a wheelchair. Juxtaposed to this we have road safety adds showing stereotypical visions of miserable entities wheelchair bond, drooling quadriplegics being hand fed, parents and spouses with tears in their eyes because "johnny" isn't the same as before, a persons life now ruined because they aren't "beautiful" anymore. Being told to be upset doesnt work on me, it sickens me in fact. When someone trys to play on my emotions I usually reject it completely[see Michael Moore]. If its real then give us reality, not something nominated for an Oscar. I find it more upsetting to listen to a disabled person describing their delight at achieving a simple goal they set themselves, something which I might take for granted. I begin to value myself rather than pity others.

When youre attempting to break the land speed record on the back road to clonakilty, the outside world melts away, all youre left with are your instincts. Appealing to ones higher sense of morals will proove futile, but appeal to their basic sense for self preservation, and you might just have an influence on them. Then again you might not, but contradicting oneself by hijacking disability to save lives, is just robbing peter to pay paul.

***

I doubt these new adds will be any more effective than the others though.

Christie Hennessy 1945-2007

Taken in November 2005 at the Cork Opera House

As some may have heard and taken note of, Christie Hennessy died today. I had only recently become fond of Christies music, up until a few years ago he was something of joke character to me. When I went to see him in the Cork Opera House in 2005 with my late father my opinion completely changed. A warm and funny individual, his showmanship was simple but effective. A talented composer and musician, with an abilty to make the beautifulist of songs out of the simplest of structures.

There was a short piece on the RTÉ news about Christie. Long enough to be respectful and highlight his passing but short enough not to outstay its welcome. If only the reporting of all "famous" deaths could be treated in this manner, respectful but with a feeling of "getting over it". It mentioned that he was working on a album of duets at the time of his passing. Hopefully there is enough material already completed for one final album from Christie to be released.

‘ Happy Christmas to everyone who’s come out to see me and bought my records over the years. Happy Christmas and thank you very much for all your love and support

Much Love
Christie
7/12/07

Chemtrails

Thanks to Donncha, I now know what Chemtrails are. I took these pictures in 2005 on my Nokia 7650, hence the crap quality. I always thought it was just engine trouble but nope, I was being deliberated poisoned apparently.

RC Helicopter + Shotgun = Ideal Christmas Present

Stupid, but I want one nonetheless.

Computer Problems of late

Trying and failing


Using a 10 year old 1GB IDE drive as a stand in. The IDE cable was so short I had to leave the drive hanging out like this. It booted up Windows 95 though, in safe mode. Notice the EMU 0404 audio interface card out on the RAM sticks. That PCI card is my favorite part of the PC :) With the new/old hard-drive were my troubles over?


... not a chance


With my SATA drive now working I thought things were on the way up, but seeing the above screen during an XP installation is never a good thing.

Gordon Ramsay - Humble Pie

I got given this last Christmas and I only finished it a little while ago, mind you I did have other things to get through. I have a vague interest in Ramsay's work, I know him from Hell's Kitchen and thats about it. Hell's Kitchen is one of the few tv programs I'd sit down and watch, and yeah it is just for the violence. One of the things I admire about Ramsay though, is his dedication to his goals. What sold me on Ramsay was one episode of Hells Kitchen UK (one of the years) where a woman went up to complain with her tits all flopping about on display. Ramsay having none of it, barked back at her "Would you mind getting your fucking glands off my hotplate".

Anyway, the book was, as expected, a bit dry and underdone. Cookings not my thing, neither is building a restaurant empires, nor reading about short football careers. The personal aspect behind it, the "stories" etc. did provide entertaining reading though. The most interesting part for me was in the beginning where he discussed his early life, the poverty and his obnoxious father. Like a lot of successful persons, he came from nothing. The book started off cleanly and then the 'fuck'ing started. It didnt sit well in the book to be honest. Fuck works well in speech and when its used sparingly in written pieces but in the book it was used everywhere. I did get used to it after a while. Here's a sample of his writing style, describing the births of children:

"I couldn't have handled being at the births, and I don't mind admitting it. Emergency situations, I can handle. But not gore. Not placentas. I'm useless at it, absolutely fucking useless. I can imagine childbirth as like being stuck in a room with a thousand skinned rabbits. When Tana [wife] turned round and told me that she didn't want me there, I was fucking relieved. I had this image of an alien in my head."

I find it surprising for a chef to be so afraid of gore. Anyway, the book was alright. I read it during TV3's showing of Hell's Kitchen USA, and it was striking how his actions mirrored what he wrote in the book. He said he'll push people only if he thinks they have it in them but he'll support them if they just can't do it. He doesn't like liars, he'd take a bad cook over a liar any day. So in that sense he's at least as good as his word.

Was it worth the read? Yeah. Do I think differently of Ramsay now? Its strengthened my respect for him. Who should read the book? Probably only those with a related interest.

On a final note, the day I finished the book was the same day people were coming out saying Ramsay's Irish restaurant was a load of shite...

Picture of the Week

Katy French 1983-2007

The following is taken from her wikipedia entry. This is now as much as I know about Ms. French. Most interesting is the final paragraph which highlights the fact that people accused her as being a "non-entity celebrity" even when she was alive. Knowing nothing previously about the woman I was unaware of this, and made no reference to it when I posted earlier. While I regret the unrest it generated I stand over my own personal feelings. I am unable to dislike someone I never knew existed. I have little interest in pop culture and I am baffled by everyone else's addiction to it.

"Katy French (October 31, 1983 – December 6, 2007) was an Irish socialite and model. Born in Basel, Switzerland, French's family moved to Ireland when she was two years old and settled in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. According to the BBC, "in the space of less than two years, she had become one of Ireland's best-known models and socialites."[1]

French studied psychology before working for the Assets Modeling Agency. She represented Sony Ericsson and Suzuki, coming to greater acclaim in 2007 when she made numerous television appearances on shows such as RTÉ's Celebrities Go Wild (where she proclaimed she'd brought a vibrator as her luxury item) [2] and The Podge and Rodge Show.[3] She also recently appeared on Tubridy Tonight, as well as working for the Irish charity GOAL in Calcutta, India.[4] Her fiancé, restaurateur Marcus Sweeney, ended their relationship in a very public fashion after French was photographed for a lingerie shoot in his restaurant in January 2007.[5] In an interview with Hot Press she was asked if she had ever used cocaine and denied ever having done so. Yet in November 2007, Katy confessed to an Irish tabloid that she had previously been a regular abuser of cocaine, only to be come disillusioned with this practice. She then warned young people not to follow her example.[1]

Katy died on the evening of December 6, 2007 in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan in Co. Meath,[6] having collapsed at a friend's house in Ashbourne in the early hours of Sunday December 2. The post mortem revealed that she had taken cocaine before her collapse, and suffered brain damage[7]. The Garda Síochána have launched an inquiry into her death.[8]

She was seen in some aspect of the media as someone who was a "non-entity celebrity"[1] [2] and disliked by many because of this.[3] [4] The phrase "FOKF" (Fuck Off Katy French) became a popular saying, appearing on t-shirts. Katy herself even posed once in a FOKF shirt."

The image was taken from Katy French's page on the Assets Modeling website (link now removed).

Bertie questions need for full time Irish boss

I just read this on the irishexaminer.com. I find it hard to believe that even Bertie Ahern could be this stupid (fair is fair like). If it did indeed come from the real Bertie Ahern it would smack of deep hypocrisy, being the highest paid leader of state who does nothing but flute around the place.

"I sometimes wonder is it a full time job at all to manage the Irish team. You don’t have to go round the world looking at Irish players.


‘‘Seventy per cent of the team picks itself anyway.

“And as far as going out to look at the opposition, maybe sometimes you’d be better not to because it only depresses. So I wonder is it a full time job. €700,000 to have a few matches a year? It’s a good question. "

I'm guessing its a Gift Grub Special or something. "The full interview is on Today FM’s Premier League Live, sponsored by the Irish Examiner, from 2pm-6pm." It must be on now so.

Who The Fuck Was Katy French?

Who? I'm lost! Can't we just leave her family alone and not drag her name through every radio station, newspaper headline, TV program and news bulletin. Yeah, a good healthy dose of shut-the-fuck-up is whats needed.

Reason 4.0

Its probably more correctly called "Reason 4" but I'm a fan of the whole .0 thing in earlier versions. The new modules and sequencer look shit, they don't sit well in the old Reason line up, they are more like Cubase rubbish, but the new features look fantastic! At last, an arpeggiator! At last, you can add vector variables to sequencer tracks. Changing time signature and tempo is as simple as blobbing a box on the transport track... oh man, and because its using vectors now, all changes will be ramped up and down automatically! I'm cumming in my pants! I'm off to download buy a copy immediately!

Up and Running again

I'm back, computer all sorted... well kinda, I've figured out that my gfx card isn't working to its bestist but whether its a direct problem with it or if its a conflict somewhere I dont know.

Man do I need to spend more time away from the computer... last weekend was an absolute joy to be a way from the internet. Jesus I hate computers! And tags, never using those fucking tag things again!

My computer has Aids

International Aids day today, and my computer is bust. It was always a bit iffy but after spending 6 hours trying to coax it into booting i bit the bullet and
decided to reinstall XP. Of course it wouldnt install, why would it! Since its a newer dell machine it doesnt come with a disc but rather some funky partition
on the hard drive. Well at least i thought it did,but ill be damned if i know how to find it, so i threw in an old XP cd off another machine i had. No luck,
for some reason it couldnt find the harddrive so i used a WinME disc to get me going. I installed it even though i couldnt find the certificate key. Well it
didnt matter because it only got half way before crashing. So back in time even more with windows 98. I stripped the ram back to 512mb cos i have a feeling one
of the sticks might be bad. I had to call my mother to get the key off my old laptop (went easier than i thought). It just booted up now, some bit of good
news, but jesus, ive never seen so many critical errors during an install. I think i have bad sectors on my harddrive too; my system is totally whacked. What a
brilliant saturday!