Evolution of a classic, part II; Tune!

If ye like more than one genre of music, then there's a fair chance you will have heard of the classic tune, 'Duelling Banjos' from the film Deliverance. If not, here it is:



Now, I hope ye didn't just skim past that or decide to not read on at all, because ye have to admit there is some seriously good fretwork going on there - both from the guitar and the banjo. Mind you, I have never understood why it's called 'Duelling Banjos' when there's obviously only one banjo there... Ah well.
All petty nit-picking aside, my point is that ye know when there is a classic tune when it's covered by other artists. And yes, a quick search reveals that it's been covered by pretty much all the usual suspects from much of the country and western world. However, the mark of a true classic is when artists from outside the original genre take an interest and decide to put their own slant on it.
For many folks recently, the most obvious example is to be found on the DVD of Bill Bailey's Tinselworm tour. On this, our multi-gifted, intellectual and absurdist comedian comes back to do an encore. This is no ordinary stand-up encore, though - not by a long chalk. Waiting for him are the Hindi group known as the Bollywood Pandits. Hopefully, ye can guess what happens...



Bill Bailey is well known fer striking out and beyond what many folks would consider to be 'normal', but there are plenty of places that you really wouldn't expect to find a cross-genre influence creeping in. The musical form known as 'Oi' is an offshoot of the British wave of punk. One of the most well-known proponents of this were Sham 69 ('If The Kids Are United', 'Hurry Up Harry'), but there were plenty of other acts too, all recognisable by the football terrace feel to their music: The Piranhas, Splodgenessabounds and The Toy Dolls. The latter were more famous for their punky rendition of the kiddie classic 'Nellie The Elephant', but the following clip shows they weren't averse to dipping their toes in foreign waters...



Obviously, once something has entered the collective consciousness to a great extent, it's going to be ripe fer - how can I put this - less serious renditions. There may be gentle ribbing, fond homages and complete piss-takes. Again, modern technology steps in and the glory of engineering helps to shoehorn tracks into clips of film that, until now, did not fit.
To that end, may I thank Marc Bullard fer providing us with what I feel to be a future classic; 'Close Encounters Of The Redneck Kind'.


Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Marc Bullard on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, in an alternative dimension, the Fabs still rule.

In 1971, the world ended for may music fans: The Beatles split up. Three and a half extremely creative people in a band that was effectively run by two who were growing further apart on a daily basis - let's face it, it was only a matter of time, really. From that point on, they were never to meet again as a four-piece.
Over time, the various members went their separate ways, following their individual destinies. Some were slow burners, whilst another shone brightly but paid the price. And, of course, there was always the dark horse, quietly working away and becoming perhaps the most critically acclaimed of them all.

Years went by and interest in the band came and went in waves. Finally, the barrels were scraped and demo tapes were dragged out of deep storage to provide us with 'new' Beatles tracks. And weren't they awful? George Martin may have helped them become the stellar talents they were in the 60s, but the new discs just proved that there was no replacing the chemistry of the whole band in the same room.

More recently, the Cirque du Soleil reignited interest - briefly - as emergent technology allowed mashups to effectively create new tracks from certifiable classic existing ones.
And wasn't that awful too?
Even more recently, gaming tech has 'proved' that anyone can have what it takes to be an utter prat a rock god, with games like Guitar Hero. And the cycle began again - after all, there was an opportunity for more money, wasn't there? Now, you could BE The Beatles. I couldn't possibly comment on how good it is since I don't have even the necessary hardware, but I did notice that it completely failed to reach its expected targets... Hmm...

In all this, everyone that knows The Beatles' music are thinking, 'I wish they hadn't split up and left us open to all this crap.'
Well, it turns out they didn't - in an alternative dimension. Someone has not only proved this, they have also managed to get hold of a cassette (LINK fer those who are too young to know what a cassette is) of one of the post-1971 albums they released. Even better, it has been made available as a download fer everyone to hear!
It's an odd tale, to be sure, but an entertaining one. It involves a knock on the head and waking up in a familiar, but strangely different place. It also involves pinching a souvenir from some otherworld bloke's tape collection (apparently, CDs never really caught on).
Here's that tape:

I've had a listen and it's quite enjoyable. However, it does look a lot like the individual Fabs had a few ideas going around in their heads that are common to both our worlds. It's just that they had to record them as solo efforts over here, as opposed to pooling ideas with the rest of the guys.

See what you think. Go visit the site at The Beatles Never Broke Up.

Taking it to the third dimension - Polaroid style.

Here's a question for ye: What do ye get when you combine Polaroid photography and sculpting?

Nope. The answer isn't 'a tourist in an art gallery'.
Instead, say hello to Korean sculptor Osang Gwon.

Neither of these chaps is the artist, of course.

They are, in fact three dimensional sculptures fashioned out of hundreds of polaroid photos, attached to a blank skeleton/dummy. Life-size sculptures, by the way. This, my friends, is what ye get when collages break out off the flat page. Naturally, it all takes a huge amount of time and effort - and no small amount of patience on the part of the subject(s).

See this sculpture of Tom Chaplin from the band Keane?

I know he looks more than a little like Jimmy Carr in this (poor bugger), but ye can see just how much work has gone into this. According to O.G., he took between one and three thousand pictures per band member. All to promote their album, Perfect Symmetry.

Below, you can watch the maestro in action - just look at the expression on Chaplin's face. O.G. must have started at the head and worked his way down and be nearly finished. Nearly finished taking almost 3,000 Polaroid pictures. And don't forget; those cameras need very frequent loading.

Osang Gwon, talented wee so-and-so that he is, worked his way up from humble beginnings. Considering the pace of his work, he had to begin with subjects that didn't mind sitting rock-solid fer three hours or so - his family, in other words. As his talent and  acclaim grew, Keane approached him for their promotional work and he's now being courted by the big names (like Nike) for advertising work.

I'll leave you with one final image. Here, O.G. stand in front of his sculpture of a mounted police officer. And yes, the horse was also snapped...

For more on this hugely talented guy, you can visit osang.net or drop by the page on Environmental Graffiti where I first came across his work.

Don't smoke it - build with it!

What a brick!
It's been a compliment for many years, used to indicate someone of good, solid and trustworthy character. These days, it's somewhat outdated, but could do with being brought back into use...
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In this day and age, there's an increasing emphasis on using more eco-friendly materials to build things with. Up until recently, the main emphasis has been on been on wood and other renewable sources. Then, having got that out of their system, the designers and architects moved onto reclaimable metals - they're easy to melt and re-shape, you see.
In all this, bricks were seen as pretty much a necessary evil. You can't do much with a brick once it's been made, apart from break it up. Bricks are made from clay and fired in a kiln. This is a one-way process, much like cooking an egg. Once it's done, that's it - it's either used or it's dumped. In all this rush to find better materials, bricks were left behind. At best, they were reclaimed from other building and had the mortar chipped off at great expense in time and money.
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Of course, there were always going to be those who advocated a return to more traditional materials, such as wattle and daub. This was never going to work, because there were very good reasons fer moving on from them in the first place - most notably the weather.
Obviously there needed to be a radical change in thought on building materials.
With that in mind, say hello to 'Hemcrete'.

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I know, I know. Considering I was just having a go at traditional materials, it seems a bit rich that I'm advocating an essentially revived method, yes?

Well, yes and no. Hemcrete works along similar lines to many previous materials, but the twist is in the treatment. Thanks to modern technology and industrial processes, the shredded hemp stalks are bound with a lime-based mix and can now be used in the same way as the more familiar concrete.

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It's got a few bonuses too. Like the more familiar clay bricks, Hemcrete is fireproof, waterproof and - as long as long as it's above ground - utterly resistant to rot. Furthermore, it's recyclable. Should a building need to be demolished, Hemcrete can be broken down and used as fertiliser for the agriculture industry.

Oh, and talking of that side of things, Hemcrete is actually a carbon negative product. This means that, unlike normal bricks will add to the atmospheric carbon during the course of their manufacture, AND unlike many new products that claim to be carbon neutral (ie add no carbon or offset it by planting trees), Hemcrete actually removes carbon and locks it away. Even better, when the hemp is grown, there are no unnatural herbicides or pesticides used.

One problem. The species of hemp used to make Hemcrete is illegal to grow in the USA. You can buy the product, but not the plant, so that's going to be somewhat pricey for import and on the environmental impact of the haulage.

You can find out a little more about Hemcrete at Limetechnology and Tradical.

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And finally (what - is this the 6 o'clock news, then?), if you want to be ecologically minded with your bricks in a different way, why not build your home using some bricks that have been specially designed to help some endangered species?

Quick - to the Bat-box!

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Pipistrelle bats have been on the endangered list fer quite some time now. The main problem was that houses were being built without the beamed eaves. Bats aren't the only ones to have this problem - and to have it solved in a similar fashion - have a look at the swift brick.

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It's simple, unobtrusive and it provides a home for bug-eating wildlife. Yeah - because you were thinking about wasps too, weren't you?

Go visit Ibstock for more details.

Cartoon fun. Let's make a point.

Yes, I like cartoons and comics.
Here's a couple for ye. One's from Kevin and Kell. Not too sure about the new Sunday format, but this one makes a decent point.
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The next couple are from a new discovery by the name of Rock, Paper, Cynic. That's me right down to the ground there.

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Aaahh... I can feel my cynicism levels slowly refilling....

Lost skills and lottery wins (transferred from Myspace)

I've been talking to a friend today about training for a job and having some decent skills but paperwork ruining everything. As it was, I was reminded of a blog I set out on Myspace some time ago and thought it best to transfer it to here than just link to it.
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    Bear in mind I love folk music, hate multi-national conglomerates and try to buy local stuff when I can. Obviously, then, this is going to be right up my country lane.
    As it turns out, it's as much to do with Askwith's mid-life crisis and coming to terms with his father's illness and death as it is with bemoaning the loss of village life.
    However, his journeys around the (mostly Southern parts of) the country do reveal certain common themes. The closure of village shops, post offices and, most importantly it seems, schools are definite signs that a village is about to lose its 'soul'.
    Askwith doesn't come out with the reasons himself, but that's alright, because there were plenty of villagers of various temperament to place blame. Essentially, I managed to boil a book's worth of village moaning down to four causes:
    1) Cars. Everywhere has become easily accessible these days, thanks to the internal combustion engine. Now, this means that people can range a little further in their search for entertainment or supplies.
    2) Home technology. Why bother talking to people you live near when you can watch mindless celebrities 24/7 on TV or join internet communities? (er... *ahem*...)
    3) Cheaper products from elsewhere. Because it's 'less expensive' to import stuff from China, France or Argentina, local farms and manufacturers suffered and were forced to shut down. That's without all the health scares too...
    4) People just don't work in villages anymore. The farms went (previously a focal point for the community), and disaffected young people left to get jobs in the city. Even better, you get the moneyed city folk buying village properties for teeth-suckingly high prices that the real locals can't afford - but commuting every day to the towns and cities.

    People talk these days about the 'global village' and how the miracles of modern communication have made this vast world of ours smaller. I don't think it has though; Ok, so I live in a largish town, but the fact remains I'm more at ease talking to you (at least one of whom isn't even on the same continent) like this than I am to people who live two doors away from me.
    And that's not good. Which brings me to part two of this blog.

WHAT TO DO WITH A MASSIVE EURO LOTTERY WIN

    Yeah, I wish. It's not even as though I buy a ticket that often, so the odds are rather remote.
   The thing is, one of my more recent fantasies (because, let's face it, that's what they are) has been to buy somewhere in the countryside. A nice, large plot of land next to a wooded area, with a stream and/or a small lake nearby.
    And then build a house. The most carbon-neutral, free-from-the-national-grid, environmentally friendly - and yet technologically stacked - house my money could buy. With the rest(???) of the money, I would have large areas for raising some animals and growing as much fruit and veg as I could. All this would be in an area that is as wildlife-friendly as I could make (and, I suppose, stand) it.

    After having read Mr Askwith's book, I now find myself furthering this little fantasy and desiring to create a modern village - from scratch.
    This village (well, hamlet, I suppose really. It wouldn't be able to be that large) would be built along the lines that I suggested for the main house. Everyone would be working at their own tasks, but for the community's welfare. Since there would be more people, it would be possible to have larger areas for crops, so maybe a rotational system could be used there.
    Hopefully, there could be a large central hall, where evening meals could be taken and events could take place.
    The best thing about this idea for me is that people could be making use of all those skills we seem to have nearly lost and only exist as curiosities for craft fairs or BBC programmes.* Oh - and to prevent this looking utterly WASP, I would ideally like people from other cultures in there too. Just because they weren't here during the agricultural revolution, that doesn't mean to say they can't take place in my own little reactionary idea.
    And the best thing about this idea? Because the people would have to work in conjunction with each other, therein lies the kernel of a new village community.
    Well - I can dream, can't I?

*By the way, if you're interested in trying out some of those lost crafts yourself, you could do far worse than to take a look at this book.

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It certainly points me in the right direction fer a great many worthwhile activities.

Nerds and dance. Wait - what?

I like to listen to music - yeah, I know; bleeding obvious and all that. But the important thing is that I like to listen to stuff I haven't heard of before. For me, one of the best things around is my local library. For 80p per album per week, I can try out something I'm not 100% sure of, but looks interesting.
And this one looked very interesting:
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Datarock are exactly what they seem to be from their name. Electronic, Scandinavian (Finnish, to be precise), nerdy and infeasibly danceable. I love it and will certainly be adding it to my wishlist (not a short list, as you may well imagine). Have a look at these two videos and see what you think. The first on is Computer Camp Love - see if ye can spot the Grease references:
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And here's 'Fa Fa Fa'. Nothing to do with Otis Redding's (sad song) - they seem to be channelling Talking Heads funky groove though.
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Getting good and steamed.

Steampunked, that is.
For those that don't know what steampunk may be, it's a genre of art and fiction that essentially shoehorns modern machinery and ideals into Victorian English/European technological levels. Since the tech at that time was basically steam-driven (or horse-drawn), everything must be powered by steam. No electricity, just steam.
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The general results are plenty of gadgets and gizmos built in wood and bound in brass and leather, leaking steam or having little smokestacks on the top. Also, since this is obviously well within the realms of science fiction, there ore steampunk robots and other such genre standbys.
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It's long since left the realms of the word and the screen, though. Often as not these days, artists will specialise in creating Steampunked* versions of familiar items and/or people. A cracking example is Sillof. He specialises in steampunking sci-fi characters from Star Wars and the Marvel and DC comics.
Here's a great article via Wired showcasing a whole mass of familiar items that have been steampunked:

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This? It's an eye-pod of course...
Go HERE to see the whole glorious lot.
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*wondering why I haven't shortened the word 'steampunk' to save wear and tear on my fingers? Well, considering you also have cyberpunk and now greenpunk, there needs to be some indicator for a difference. Unfortunately, that leaves us with 'spunk'. Yeah. Not happening, mate.

Dinner, dinner - Flatman! (sorrysorry)

(Of course, there's going to be loads of people who won't get the damn awful pun in the title, but never mind)
Having said that, it does serve as a little clue for you. Have a look at the picture below and try to work out what it is:
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Give up?

Of course ye do.

It's a dining table, seen from the top. Mind you, I'll be the first to admit that 'wall' would probably be a better term. Take a look at the picture below; you can see just what's going on:

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It's a funky, space-saving design that essentially has ye eating off plates and the like that are slotted into the tab.. er.. wall. Great idea as it may be and superb fer training people to really, really refrain from trying to put their elbows on the table, I really can't see it succeeding anywhere other than in the eating places of the terminally hip and trendy. Can ye really imagine coming home from a night out on the tiles and drunkenly attempting to slot your plate of kebab and soggy chips into what now appears to be three holes?

Clever idea, but ultimately a Fail in my book.

Thanks to Dornob for this.

(Insert gas joke here)

I'm a fan of comics and cartoons. Always have been, always will. I did try my hand at it myself, but I'm just not good enough an artist to make it work.
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One of the webcomics I follow goes by the name of Questionable Content. It follow the daily lives and misadventures of a bunch of variously acquainted young folk, most of whom have some basic design fault in their personalities.
Take, for example, Hannelore: she's OCD about cleanliness and amazing with numbers, but really quite the innocent abroad when it comes to other people. How to get to know your neighbour better? Stalk them! Obvious, really.
Then there's Marigold, a WOW (World of Warcraft) online gaming geek with the appropriate housekeeping skills.
Oddly enough, these two get on quite well, although this was inevitable...
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I swear that last panel makes me laugh uncontrollably each time I see it...

Exercise your water clean!

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As part of an architectural festival in Poland, Jakub Szczęsny designed this outdoor exercise area which, when there are a few people using it, will actually purify water. I couldn't find any details on efficiency levels or quantity of water processed, but it's a good idea nonetheless.

Read more at I New Idea or at the project page.

Radio Gaga

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With this radio, you can certainly rock and roll. Well, 'roll' anyway...

As ye may be able to tell from the picture, there are no external controls as we would expect for a radio. Underneath, though, there are tracking wheels running on an 'x/y axes' basis; one for volume and one for tuning in to stations.
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Developed by Il-GuCha, a South Korean, it has been designed with blind people in mind. This way, there's a minimum of fuss and no unnecessary dials. It's not in production yet, but it's only got to be a matter of time, right?
See more of Il-Gu Cha's work HERE.

Pinball wizardry. Yes, it's a pun and it's crap. Just read it, will you?

You know what you don't see in pubs these days that used to have them packed to the gills with people?
Pinball machines.
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The thing was, pinball machines are a toy and don't make money like fruit machines do, so out they went and in came the cash-gobblers.
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Nevertheless, the fact remains - I WANT A PINBALL MACHINE. But they ain't cheap, ye know. Not only that, but there's all these fiddly bits that could go wrong.
Is that a fact? Well, take a look at this baby, the Multipin digital pinball machine. It's all top-end graphics, so no physical parts to destroy. Not only that, you get the opportunity to have 17 tables in one!

Take a look at the video:

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Looks good, but would it ever have the same feel as a table with all the physical gubbins?
Anyhow, if yer still interested, ye can buy one for a mere $6,000 from NanoTech Entertainment.
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I want this T-shirt.

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Just how awesome is this T-shirt design from Headline Shirts?

Intelligent with just a touch of geeky and a whole bunch of Pete Townsend-style rock.

If you're like me and want to have this item of pure brilliance, you can get it HERE. Actually, it's worth going there just to read the fun little article about the 'newly discovered' designs and drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci.

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Of course, the above design is really a rip-off homage to da Vinci's famous Vitruvian Man. (see below)

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The only time I have found the Bible to be beautiful.

 

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I know it looks like a cross between the Aurora Borealis and a seismometer gone mad, but this is actually a graphical representation of the Bible (King James version).

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Each of those tiny grey icicles near the bottom represents a chapter from the Bible, while the length of each shows how many verses are contained therein. The multicoloured arcs, in the meantime, show where there is cross-referencing going on; this may even only be some kind of allusion to an idea presented elsewhere, but often there will be events or people represented.

Obviously, each extreme of an arc will the be the appropriate verses, while the colour (and height, to prevent it becoming an unmanageable mess) shows just how far apart these verses are.

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Reaching across the Atlantic, this amazing image was developed as a result of a collaboration between Lutheran pastor in Germany and a doctoral student of computer science in Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

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Book Review: "Diamond Dove"

I like to read. I'll read a lot of things and have even, when boredom and a lack of alternatives beset me, read one of those naff little romance paperbacks belonging to my mother. I can't really remember what that was about, so don't ask and I won't lie. It was crap though.
Anyway. Enough of that.
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These days, I manage to avoid situations like the above. This is generally down to two factors: I have something in the region of two hundred books at home, ranging from fantasy, detective, thriller, natural history, popular science, all the way to biographies and pure mathematics. And, unlike many folks, I will read a book again and again if I like it enough. Lord of the Rings has been read maybe six, seven times. Skallagrigg* has reached double figures, and my Pratchett collection barely has time to go cold.
Then again, I visit the library every week. Once more, this is for two reasons, the foremost of which being that I simply cannot afford to buy all the books I want to read (nor do we have space in which to store them). The other reason is that I can take these to work and not worry too much about damage or having people ask if they can borrow them and then damaging the books themselves.
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Honestly, does nobody know how bookmarks work?
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To the task at hand. This time around, I'm reviewing Adrian Hyland's award-winning 'Diamond Dove' (if you're wondering about the award, it was the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for best first crime novel).
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Set in contemporary Australia, far from the cities that are known worldwide, Diamond Dove introduces us to Emily Tempest (a classic name for a heroine if ever there was...). The wayward daughter of a white man and a black woman, Emily returns from her travels in the wide open world and ends up right in the middle of the usual small-town outback rivalries, petty politics and casual racism. Worse than that, one of the most respected elders of the Aborigine camp is brutally murdered and it looks as though it's the work of the local mystic/resident nutter.

Except Emily Tempest can't leave things alone. Within a short time, she's asking questions and getting up peoples' noses. In the meantime, she's struggling with trying to settle back into her old life.

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Sound familiar? It should do; the plot device isn't new at all. The return of the prodigal child, an epochal event, a crime to be solved and plenty of bad guys you really ought to know by now aren't going to be the killer.

Hold on a bit though. Like I said at the start of this, Diamond Dove won an award. How come, if the story is that predictable?

Well, it has to be down to the presentation and the way Adrian Hyland has managed to write things with just the right amount of detail. Well aware of an audience beyond Australia, he's avoided becoming becoming too bogged down in authentic patois and over-elaborate descriptions of the landscape (etc). That's not to say you have no sense of place, however. It's a very easy read and you get caught up in the lives and trials of the folk in the town - even the less salubrious types.

If you want a comparison, then you might want to think of Alexander McCall Smith's detective series set in Africa (No1 Ladies' Detective Agency), although Diamond Dove feels a lot less cosy. I heartily recommend this book.

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* Skallagrigg is my favourite book of all time. I seriously wish more people would read it. And forget the TV adaptation ever happened.
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Recharging your batteries: going that extra mile.

 

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Rechargeable batteries. They're a good thing, right? I reckon so anyway. I mean, I have an mp3 player which is on quite a bit. However, I decided before buying it that I wanted one where I could change the battery as and when the juice ran out - after all, you hear all these stories about iPods and the like being useless all of a sudden just because the battery died. 

The internal, hard-wired battery.

Sod that.

Naturally, I quite clearly had to invest in a set of rechargeables and a unit similar to the one above. Plug it into the mains and the little blighters soak up that juice like a happy sponge and are ready and raring to go in a few hours. Great stuff. I even went to the trouble of buying a unit with a built-in cut-out system that switches the whole thing off after the batteries have been done to a turn.

The thing is though.... you know those hand-cranked radios you can buy (as invented by the incredible Trevor Baylis)? Well, I was looking at them and wondering, 'surely somebody has come up with a wind-up charging unit?' Because my current unit still has to take juice from somewhere.

And they have.

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Sadly, it's only a power unit, rather than a means by which batteries themselves can be recharged.

So near and yet so far.

But then I found this. I hope you don't suffer from carpal tunnel or some other wrist-related RSI (stop it you mucky buggers, I know what you're thinking...).

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Yes, that IS an AA battery and yes, you do have to do what it says on the tin cover. Essentially, this little beauty is powered by vigorous shaking and works on the basic science of a kinetic motor. Take a look at the picture below for a peek at the internal workings.

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The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed one drawback with this otherwise brilliant design: the battery's capacity for storing energy is reduced by half - the price of installing a kinetic motor half the size of an AA battery inside an AA battery.

Having said that, for those that have the mind to do so, take a couple of these in each hand when you're out jogging and the pumping action should do both you and the batteries a world of good. 

And you know what?  They may last long enough to do the job.

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Thanks to I New Idea for the story.

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Kitchen Sink?

 

See this?

It's a pen knife. You pull the blade out and cut things with it.

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This is also, technically, at least, a pen knife. However, I get the feeling it does rather more than just cut things...

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This, my friends, is the new SwissChamp XAVT from Victorinox, the folks who make the world famous Swiss Army knives. As you can see from the picture (click it for a larger view, as per usual), it stretches the term 'pocket knife' somewhat. Having said that, at $425, it's going to stretch your budget too...

This little beast, while being almost square in profile manages to cram in 80 'essential' features. No, I'm not going to list them, but you can read more about it here. Then again, do you really need a pen knife with a pharmaceutical spatula?

And what the hell IS a pharmaceutical spatula anyway?

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I think the only whittling you're likely to do with this is eat away at your savings....

Evolution of a classic OR Life? Pah! Who needs one of those anyway?

 

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Everyone knows the puzzle classic that is Rubik's Cube. Invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, a Hungarian professor of Architecture, it was licensed for sale by Ideal Toys in 1980 and went on to win the prestigious 'Toy Of The Year' award for that year. Within a year or so, it was a massive, world-wide craze and there were hundreds of similar rip-offs, tacky accessories and unlikely alternatives. There were national and international competitions to see who could solve the cube in the quickest time (according to Wikipedia, the current record is 7.08 seconds by Erik Akkersdijk. How??).

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During the 1990s, however, people apparently decided that they'd had enough of straining their brains and getting nothing but ridicule and "Rubik's wrist" for your efforts.However, the rise of Sudoku and other related puzzles seemed to catch at the collective grey matter and the time seemed right for a resurgence.

Now, what you have to bear in mind that technological skills have improved somewhat over the years. Not only that, but not everyone forgot about that multicoloured cube.

Over time, new versions came along, all sticking to the same basic layout, but using 4x4 cubes, 5x5, 6x6 and even 7x7. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Nothing is really different, you just have to spend a bit(!) longer solving it.

Mind you - this is an interesting variation on the theme...

 

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Finally, somebody got around to wondering if they could make something with more that the standard six sides. Oh yes they could. Fancy a puzzle dodecahedron, anyone? How does 12 sides of multi-coloured brain strain grab you?

 

(as ever, click the pic to enlarge)

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Sadly, the Petaminx isn't available commercially as yet, so you can put your wrist bandages away again.

Or can you? Now, while some folks decided to continue with the idea of using regular solids to create their puzzles, it seems that others wanted to have a twisted take on the classic cube and really mess with our minds. Why bother with one cube, they wondered, why not two or three - or maybe more? And, said the puzzling Drs Frankenstein, how about we stitch them together?

Wait - what?

Take a look at these conjoined triplets:

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If that's not bad enough, you can also buy (yes, buy - unlike the Petaminx, these babies are available right now) this and its siblings over at Dealextreme.

Fancy a five-cube headache anyone?

 

You know, it strikes me that you could create some interesting cubist (sorry) sculptures with this one....

Defusing panic has never been so artistic.

 

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Yeah, I know, snappy title, eh? Unfortunately, the quote I was going to use (the alternative title for the film Dr. Strangelove) had already been used by the guy whose work I'm featuring today; David McCandless. He's been a bit of a writer (The Guardian, Wired), a bit of a satirist (Crackbook is hilarious and clever) and is even responsible for a fun little flash game (Fly it here). The particular skill that concerns us today, however, is his ability as a "visual & data journalist" (his term).

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Basically, David got pissed off with all those so-called helpful diagrams that newspapers used to accompany news items. He found that, like us, he couldn't really make head nor tail of what the diagram was really supposed to be telling us. And that's in spite of - or maybe because of - all the clever pictures tagged with apparently exciting facts and figures.

Reckoning that he could do a lot better, he decided to sit down with a batch of relevant facts and figures and come up with his own set of diagrams with which he could make a point.

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The things is, he's managed to do the job far more clearly and far more objectively than any other person/committee of graphic designers ever could. In fact, to rub salt vigorously into the wound, he's even managed to do so with just the right pinch of humour and made the diagrams look aesthetically pleasing into the bargain.

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Take, for example, the following diagram:

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(click on the picture to see a larger view - or just go to the main article.)

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Essentially, the diagram above is a response to the one featured in The Grauniad (sorry, Guardian) attempting to illustrate just how 'fragile' the state of nuclear affairs are in the world:

 

Messy, isn't it?

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By contrast, David's work is almost beautiful - and it dispassionately presents the facts that humanity is a lot safer than the panicmongers seem to want us to think.

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To see more of his work, got visit his site; Information Is Beautiful. You'll be glad you did.

"Death isn't the handicap it used to be" - not a line from a comedy, apparently.

 

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Some while ago, I wrote a blog about some jobsworths over in Lambeth Council, London (click here for the original post). These petty officials were seemingly doing their very best to hinder an already severely handicapped and elderly gentleman in his attempts to get out and about.

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Now, it would appear that Lewisham Council (also London) felt a little left out of things and decided to make their own little presence felt a touch more keenly. Again, I will type out the article verbatim:

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A lesson from Lewisham Council in how to handle the bereaved.

Earlier this year, Cyril Dadson, 92, a resident of sheltered accommodation run by Lewisham Council, died. His son Robin, who lives in Devon, quickly sorted out [Cyril's] flat's keys to the council. But a couple of months later, Dadson Jnr received a letter addressed to "Mr Cyril Dadson - deceased". It demanded rent for a period after the keys had been handed back to the council.

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When Robin Dadson pointed out that the letter was clearly a mistake, the council apologised. Several weeks passed, then more letters arrived in Devon - this time demanding unpaid council tax for his late father's home. Mr Dadson contacted Lewisham again and reminded them that his disabled father had been exempt from council tax. This did not stop the council from sending him a further letter, informing him that "the money was due, as although exempt from council tax whilst alive, he became liable once dead".

Glad that's sorted out.

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In other words, the economy has now become that bad local councils are trying to tax us for being dead.

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Thanks again to Private Eye for bringing this to light.

An apology - the first of many, I don't doubt...

 

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I do mean to post every day if I can help it, but there were two very good reasons fer not doing so Yesterday and Tuesday.

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Yesterday's reason won't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that knows me - I had a severe headache - the type that's almost but not quite a migraine.

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Tuesday, on the other hand, I had a much better excuse: It was Julie's birthday. We didn't do much to celebrate; it wasn't as if it was a major landmark for my wife. We had a nice quiet evening, a cup of tea - and then she proceeded to thrash me at Scrabble. I think her final winning margin was about 100 points. Pretty good, but it pales into insignificance when ye take into account her all-time best (and the highest Scrabble score I have ever seen in my life).

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593.

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That's right, 593 points. On two occasions, she put down all 7 seven tiles reaching two sets of triple word scores each time.

Me? I think I managed just over 200...

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Ah well....

Guess what this is...

 

 (click on the pic fer a larger view - opens in a new tab)

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*Agricultural equipment?

*Bizarre weapon made from a design found in some MMOG?

*The claw from a steampunk velociraptor?

*The cocoon of a ladybird about to shag a wheel (my wife's suggestion)?

*The helmet of a skateboarder with a funky wheel motif?

*Futuristic S&M device (my wife again... sorry...)?

*Alien chariot?

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Actually, it's an everyday device, albeit one that you buy and then never use again because the job's usually already done.

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Give up? Scroll down and find out.

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It's a pizza cutter.

Yup, ye read that right - a damn pizza cutter.

I found it here on Geekologie

Why here, why now?

Well, now. Nothing stays the same, ye know. Evolution isn't just fer the animals.

When I took my first stumbling steps out into the wide wilderness of the wwweb, all those years ago, I stumbled upon Myspace. I wasn't too worried about it to begin with, as I was heavily involved with chatrooms. The less said about those, the better. I was young and cocky and thought I could be a 20-something lad when I was, in reality, an outspoken, yet somewhat reserved 30-ish bloke with a belly.

So why did I eventually turn to Myspace? Well, the thing is I'm rather into music and will try many ways to expand my collection and my horizons. What Myspace offered (and still does, to a degree) was an opportunity to do both at the same time. There's loads of unsigned acts, plenty of established ones - and, quite frequently - the means to download tracks by said acts.
On the way, I made a few friends, made a few contacts... and wrote a whole bunch of blogs.

I wrote about things that made me laugh, books that I'd enjoyed, news articles that angered me beyond belief and games I liked to play. I dropped in some cartoon strips about hedgehogs (a major theme with me and my wife), some fiction about said characters and, as I became more confident about my skills as a writer, some none-'hoggy short fiction. I even gave some science lessons on a couple of occasions!

So why the defection to here?
Well, the blogs were fairly well received, but only by one or two faithfuls, which wasn't what I wanted. The problem is that Myspace is primarily a social site, so most folks aren't interest in blogs about sometimes esoteric topics.
As it was, the lack of reaction to my blogs led to a slacking off in my writing there. It didn't help that I began a page on Deviantart to profile my short fiction.

Ah well, perhaps it's best I left it.
At least I can now talk freely about whatever takes my fancy.

LINKS:
My Myspace profile - all the old blogs will still be there
My Deviantart profile - drop by and see my fiction.

An explanation, of sorts.

Just to help ye understand just what the blog's name actually means.

The thing is, life is never simple. Some folks may be, but life itself usually isn't. However, that's not to say it's all bad. It's often quite uplifting too. And, of course, there's all that messy, morally uncertain ground in between.

I was going to call this blog 'Shades of Grey', but that was apparently already taken.
A pity really, as all the posts I intend to make will range across the board from ultimate good, to ultimate bad and sad.

Anyhow, that's it for now. Stay tuned fer observations, moans, links, laughs and tears.