Owner: rashbre central URL:http://rashbre2.blogspot.com Join Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:11:54 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: there is some fun going forward Site statistics:Click here
generally speaking 2007-09-28 12:28:02 I was expecting an announcement about a general election for the UK today. By my reckoning, if there was to be an election before the end of the year, it would need to be in October at the latest. I don't know quite how many weeks notice one has to give, but I'm guessing 4 weeks or a calendar month. Elections are usually on a Thursday, so that limits the number of dates left. I can't imagine we'd have an election too close to Christmas; that rules out December. November starts to see grotty weather and coldness, so that could put off voters visiting their polling stations. The week of Guy Fawkes Night would be a strange time to vote for a new Parliament (after all, Guy Fawkes was the fellah that tried to blow up Parliament), so my bet would have been for the last Thursday in October. Thats the 25th October. Or at a pinch the 1st of November.But as we are past the calendar month point and we have a weekend in front of us, I'd have thought now would have been the time to announce it
don't mess 2007-10-13 18:46:45 I was reading maximum bob's tune complilation for the shuffleathon, which is an organized way to swap music (aka mixtapes - but nowadays on CD). Bob described the various tracks he'd selected and sent, which largely had a US-style country feel to them. I'll admit, I found the descriptions interesting although other than the Julie Roberts track about Whiskey and (worryingly) another track about tequila I don't know any of them. I did spot the holyhose compilation on iTunes though, so it would be easy enough to revise.The descriptions of the tunes remind me of a place I've visited several times which is like a wild epicenter for country type music. That's Austin, Texas and especially the area around 6th Street. Its full of bars and clubs and the general idea is to wander from one lively place to another listening to the bands, enjoying some comedy and just chillin' in the bars. Austin is also one of those places where what happens in Austin stays in Austin, so whether its the arom
starbucks coffee cup camera in 10 minutes 2007-10-13 11:50:11 A few days ago I was musing about devising an upgrade for the juicebox spy camera to allow ease of photo shooting in public areas. I decided that the design point was to be able to improvise something in a few minutes
from easily available components. Okay, I know you need a digital camera as well, but that's really the point of the post.Walking along the street with a colourful juice box and drinking straw may be a little unusual but the preponderance of people carrying Starbucks, Costas, Pret a Manger or Coffee Nation "To-go's" is pretty high.So here it is. Starbuck's coffee cup camera1) Drink the coffee first. Mine was a grande latte. Don't try with expresso.2) Check that the camera will actually fit into the cup. Mine did 'portrait' style.3) Stand the camera next to the cup, observe where the lens hole need to be and tear out a small opening. Mine was right over the small logo face on the back of the cup. I tidied the hole with scissors later.4) Grab some cardboard packing (e
traffic 2007-10-13 07:23:08 I've changed my plans which were originally to go to the town of Reading later today, because I've spotted that there could be some above average traffic
disruptions. Reading has a mysterious and overloaded traffic system at the best of times and now its augmented with the side effects of the end of Ramadan (رمضان). The Eid celebration(عيد الفطر) is this weekend and apparently 80% of the taxis in Reading are Muslim operated and will be out of action. I can't work out whether that means there will be more or less traffic, but I suspect the answer is more.For Muslims, Ramadan is the month of fasting and Eid-ul-Fitr is the celebration to mark its end, at the showing of the new moon marking the start of the next lunar month of Shawwal. I can remember from my time in the middle east, that after the celebrations, a lot of folk take an extra six days in fasting because one day of being good by fasting is repaid ten times over. So 36 days of fasting pretty much covers the full
affair 2007-10-12 14:57:13 I see a part of the USA is really catering for all eventualities nowadays with the recent West Hollywood billboard advertisment for the dating service for people who are currently married. And now there's the related advertising for the divorce lawyers. Don't they just think of everything?
pootered 2007-10-11 16:58:10 It would appear that even space has bugs.And thanks, cartoonlife, for the suggestion about a bass-line for that synthy thing. Here's a slightly buggy bass enabled space cathedral version. phat space reason
everything except compromise 2007-10-10 13:23:25 For part of yesterday I was with Johnny in the basement mixin' up the medicine. And then Mark Ronson did this, which I happen to think is rather good.
reason 2007-10-09 15:25:16 Minimalist music today. I'll be honest, I don't really get on with the old school patch map based synthesizers when I mess around with music. All the wires and analogue instability which some people love, but it seems to leave a lot more to chance. So although I have a copy of Reason, which I used to experiment with on a PC, it has never made it across to my macworld. Until today. It's an old copy, and I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I simply set up a few mournful arpeggiates on a couple of the synths included. So it is not really a tune, more a few sweeps of sound. Perhaps it could use a bass-line. no reason with two nn-xt
North West Frontier Art 2007-10-08 13:32:51 Great to hear from friend Imran this week. He's been putting together a bit of a portfolio and I'm expecting great things in the future as he expands it into a gallery of some type. Imran is one of those people with a great eye for the scene and I'm looking forward to online galleries at the very least and hopefully a proper facility somewhere too!tags technorati : rashbre art photography liverpool
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, Frontier
snappy slurpy 2007-10-08 13:29:49 Debra wrote a few days ago about photographing a street scene and then being semi accosted by a drunk who she had randomly captured on film. It all played out okay, but did also get me thinking. In some places it quite easy to look like a tourist and take purposeful pictures with crowds of people in a fairly innocuous way. Other times its best to look like 'an artist' trying to take 'the perfect shot' without overtly paying attention to the folk around.In reality, like a spy, its always good to be aware of the surroundings and the possibilty of attracting unexpected attention. Being out in a group can help and tiny digital cameras don't draw so much attention.If I take pictures of single individuals, or small groups where they are really the focus, then I try to ask for permission. If its a 'busy street scene' or similar, then I think its fair game when the people are really an incidental part of the composition. It is like there is a line between 'street' and 'candid'. I su
why (fi)? 2007-10-08 13:28:36 If, like me, you are busy roaming a major city this weekend, but still feel the need to go online, than this tee-shirt could be quite useful. Who needs keychain detectors when you can also operate as a public service with this black number?The wi-fi detector tee-shirt displays glowing bars to indicate signal strength. A couple of minor problems though? It picks up peer network enabled PCs and the batteries are NOT included.tags technorati : rashbre wi-fi t-shirt clothing street
nuts 2007-10-08 13:26:46 Crunching a couple of Grilled Steak and Theakston's Old Peculiar crisps, whilst I mused the derivation of Jack Straw's reference to "discombobulation" today, I noticed the disclaimer on the back of the crisp packet.Recipe : No nuts.Ingredients: Cannot guarantee nut freeFactory : No nuts.What can it all mean? A disclaimer on a bag of potato crisps that havn't been anywhere near nuts, that there may still be some inside? Are they embarrassed that they don't know whether they've included nuts by accident, or that they feel the need for an allergy disclaimer even when they don't need one? Perhaps they couldn't make up their minds? Perhaps, like, Gordon Brown (according to Mr Straw) they were discombobulated.If we are not going to have a General Election in the UK until 2009, despite Mr Brown's closest advisors telling the press it was 'game on', then maybe a certain confused embarrassment will now flicker over Gordon's face. A sort of discombobulation.Recipe : Truth and trustIng
travelling companion of the earth 2007-10-04 17:55:04 Fifty years ago, on the 4th October, the first Russian Sputnik was launched and marked the start of the space race. Firing a silver beachball with four antenna into space led to America then galvanising the Apollo program to get Neil Armstrong and friends on the moon just 12 years later. Sputnik Zemlyi helped give a name to the beatnik generation and heralded the Americans and Russians doing amazing things with relatively ancient high-technology - old space capsules are filled with relays and electro-mechanical componentry. Of course, part of the agenda of sputnik was Russia's attempts to build ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and the sputnik was a first attempt to get a payload into orbit. The agenda of both superpowers continued to be around advanced weaponry and the Americans built the halls at Canaveral big enough so that rockets could be assembled ready to fly rather than having to be upturned and then fuelled (which could take more than a day). So using today's custom
burma 2007-10-04 06:57:34 Calling Burma by its other name is what the junta wants. The military rulers of the country have been systematically quelling the pro-democracy protesters, of whom a large proportion appear to be Burmese monks. China is a major trading partner to Burma and has been supplying arms to support the junta, whilst resisting the efforts of the United Nations to exercise sanctions. China has also developed ports, factories and power plants in the country as a way to further its own economy.Here is another corner of the world where major state imposed tyranny pushes the population back with brutal suppression. Neighboring China's agenda is supposed to be one of stability in the region, although its own record illustrates that its not too picky if that is achieved using guns and tanks as a form of suppression. China's eyes are also on its upcoming Communist Party politburo reshuffle and the 2008 Olympics as a global stage. So now we have a United Nations envoy visiting Rangoon and the United S
arcs 2007-10-04 06:56:23 I normally refer to the fun of going forward, but the last few days triggered thoughts from the past.One moment related to childhood summer, when it was possible to lay on grass in the garden looking towards the sky at distant silvery passing planes. So when I fly back into London at this time of year, it is still light enough in early evening to pick out landmarks. If I spot the route traverses the area of my childhood, then I look for landmarks of the river, certain roads and the area of that garden, so I can look back from the plane to the spot where I used to gaze upwards. My return from Amsterdam this week gave a perfect moment.And then, today, I was propelled into another situation evoking the past, an improbable amalgam of people, illustrating possibilities and paths. Yes, it was a school re-union.tags technorati : rashbre childhood sky planes stars school renunion west hatch london
a nice matter 2007-10-04 06:55:16 Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory has a lot to answer for, if in addition to her more obvious contribution, she also influenced the derivation of the living organism known as the meme. I was rewarded with a meme a few days ago by bob-kat, who cited rashbre central as a place where 'nice matter
s'. So I feel honoured and then honour bound to pass the award along. I'm already in august company, with many who have already received the award. So I thought I'd head across to a few sites that consistently amuse and challenge me, but in most cases they are the sort to normally eschew memes and similar.So I'll start with one of my sources of Web 3, social networking in the form of webby's world which provides an almost daily commentary on new bits and pieces of our ever more online existence.Then onto a big site...that of the most maximum bob, someone with eclectic comment, swooping between idyllic holidays in France to the merits of the helvetica typeface, via excellent critiques of
smashing 2007-10-04 06:52:07 The saga of the lounge sofa continues and the next version is being delivered later this week. This will be the third set, based upon the various colour (yellow instead of brown) and configuration (righthanded instead of left handed) erros of the last few months. The Autostrada from Italy now charges a discount to the trucks shipping furniture to England for rashbre central. But to keep the story going I've had another spot of bad luck. The light fitting was ordered over the internet from a well know store with a spelling similar to d*b*nh*ms. It arrived in a big box, the delivery man zoomed away at warp factor five and before opening the box I noticed an unusual rattling sound. Yes, the glass was broken into quite a few small pieces. We called to have it collected and sure enough another van picked it up a few days later. The cost of the delivery and return was deducted from the credit card used to pay - a d*b*nh*ms store card. However, the original item was neither replaced nor had
masque of the red death 2007-10-04 06:50:44 The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. Or so I've been told.I'll have to wait a few weeks to check this out, but I do seem to have managed to blag some tix for this rather interesting evening at BAC. First part is wandering around inside a building filled with a live performance of Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death and then its down a secret path to a private party at Prince Prospero's Palace.tags technorati : rashbre red death
battersea BAC theatre avant-garde arts london buzz party masque
OTA : Wordless Wednesday 2007-10-04 05:32:27 Every balloon a winner from Saturday's school reunionAdd a comment or trackback for Wordless Wednesday
! Tag: Wordless Wednesday trackback
touching 2007-09-28 18:43:32 Slight hiccup today when it emerged that a photo of an MP (the Secretary of State) was slightly 'retouched' because he hadn't actually been present when the picture was taken. Some other MPs turned up on time, but the final picture seems to have accidentally merged them with the separate picture of the missing person. A terrible mix-up, even the hospital trust where the photo was taken and the MP's press office appeared confused. In this new era of spin free politics, exemplified by the recent original speeches from Gordon Brown we must guard against accidentally being misled by this kind of thing. In another news item, Gordon has just published a new book about everyday heroes, which he claims to have written himself after talking to the people featured. I see its being serialised in the Daily Mail at the moment. Interesting that several of the people featured in the extensive chapters had only (allegedly) had brief 3-4 minute phone calls with the man until they met him at the b Read more:touching
generally speaking 2007-09-28 12:28:02 I was expecting an announcement about a general election for the UK today. By my reckoning, if there was to be an election before the end of the year, it would need to be in October at the latest. I don't know quite how many weeks notice one has to give, but I'm guessing 4 weeks or a calendar month. Elections are usually on a Thursday, so that limits the number of dates left. I can't imagine we'd have an election too close to Christmas; that rules out December. November starts to see grotty weather and coldness, so that could put off voters visiting their polling stations. The week of Guy Fawkes Night would be a strange time to vote for a new Parliament (after all, Guy Fawkes was the fellah that tried to blow up Parliament), so my bet would have been for the last Thursday in October. Thats the 25th October. Or at a pinch the 1st of November.But as we are past the calendar month point and we have a weekend in front of us, I'd have thought now would have been the time to announce it
Thursday Thirteen (V46) 2007-09-28 10:19:16 1) Today, I awoke to start the day in darkness2) Today, I left the house to start work in darkness3) Early today, When I looked into the sky, I could see a bright moon as well as some space hardware. 4) The brightest item appeared to be what I guess was the space station.5) Today, when I arrived at the airport, it was still dark.6) Today, I watched the sun rising like a big red ball from the window of the plane parked on the tarmac.7) Today, when I arrived at my destination, there was a big rather menacing looking black car which swooped in to pick me up. Several people looked around becuase it was one of those funny sunglasses and dark clothing moments.8) My driver was on the cellphone for the whole journey, speaking Dutch and trying to sell a camper van for €11,000.9 Today, at lunchtime, I completely randomly bumped into a friend who I havn't seen for a while and we had a brief chat10) Today, in the late afternoon, I requested a car back to the airport and on the way the driver d Read more:Thursday
, Thirteen
OTA : Wordless Wednesday 2007-09-25 17:33:11 View from my hotel, Zaventem, BelgiumAdd a comment or trackback for Wordless Wednesday
! (I'll give you a link back!)Thanks marTag: Wordless Wednesday trackback
Vote 2007-09-25 16:56:22 Vote for a budding short story author in Netchick's great competition here.
a nice matter 2007-09-24 18:12:50 My thanks to bob-kat for the flattering nomination for the 'nice matter
s' award. Correctly, bob-kat and mar surmised that the standard form of the award might not look comfortable on rashbre central, so the art department had a very quick go at a makeover. The original main components are a white low heeled shoe, some pink ribbon and a lot of pink flowers. This, perhaps slightly edgier, variation uses a red soled, black high-heeled louboutin, some red ribbon and some co-ordinated black-fronted red-backed nail varnish instead of flowers. I think it does the trick. Anyway, the real award picture is here if you want to compare.I'll do nominations when my brain is working again. And a big thank you to bob-kat.
reserved reversal 2007-09-24 16:16:20 Yesterday, after playing with bicycles, I was working in London and then tucked away in a hotel for the evening. Earlier in the day I'd listened to some of the new KT Tunstall album in my car and was slightly taken aback. The album starts with a track that could easily have been on a Sheryl Crow recording and uses some similar production values too. Nothing against Sheryl, but the point with KT Tunstall was that she sounded like, well, KT Tunstall. The next track continued with a shimmered studio production and for me this hides some of the 'gaps between the sounds' that make the earlier Tunstall albums interesting. The 'eye to the telescope' sold several million, so I guess the record company know what they are doing, but I also suppose that's part of the point. Its not good if all artists get produced in a way that tends to make them bland or derivative.I'll be in a minority on this, I'm sure, and other people have already said how 'drastic' and 'fantastic' the new album Read more:reserved
Kate Walsh at Union Chapel 2007-10-18 14:59:39 An enjoyable evening at UnionChapel
, which started by bumping into Mel and John at the McD's in Islington. They were in pole position in the window on the special funky chairs.I'd got a business call before we started the main evening, so I was on the phone as we entered Union Chapel just after seven pm and the call lasted another 20 minutes or so, with me mainly on mute. We managed to get some excellent seats (pews) very near to the front, and left some coats whilst we wandered around to the side to grab a Red Stripe before the support act came on. Then back at eight to see (I'm not sure who) who played acoustic guitar, harmonica and sang some of his own songs really well. By this time the Chapel was pretty well full.A short pause and then Kate Walsh
took to the stage, with three accompanying musicians comprising a cellist, violinist and an acoustic slide accompanist. Kate played mainly from her 'Tim's House' album, interspersed with a couple of new songs - one in the encore. K Read more:Kate Walsh
zero... 2007-10-18 03:27:12 ...time to blog at present
starcam 2007-10-16 06:28:05 Some relief today that rashbre central has survived its migration from Windows to Linux, at a data centre somewhere in Germany. I've had to rebuild my secret little website, but everything seems to be working. Good also that its been relatively 'hands off' because today I've been at various meetings in London and in between decided to try out the 'StarCam' Starbuck's coffee cup camera. So the story starts at the busy area around Oxford Street and Regent's Street., with plenty of London traffic to dodge, whilst carrying a cup of coffee. The early shots were quite difficult to aim until I'd figured out where the clicker button was, through the coffee cup.Then a gap in the traffic and across Regent's Street, aware that whilst moving fast, the camera will probably blur the shots. And because I'm moving from outdoors to indoors yet not using flash, there's quite a varaton in lighting to handle.So here I am going into a store in Regent's Street, this won't win many prizes, but
clunk 2007-10-14 07:21:17 Please do not adjust your sets, but I've had to take the covers off rashbre central this weekend. It was making a sort of scraping noise. I discovered that some of the cogs are not meshing properly, so I'll be doing a small amount of maintenance over the next week or two. For those more technically minded, I will be changing the wibbulator; the less technical may be interested to know that I'm adding proper php support to the server in Germany so that my various javascript and css add-ons can be a little easier to maintain.Short term, this means that the formatting and layout may look a little stranger than usual. I'm hopeful that things will start to look more normal by about Wednesday.
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