Warren Ellis's Blog, page 324

Thought For The Day

Does it not bother anyone that the most beautifully and ambitiously shot (and soundtracked) programme on BBC television is in fact TOP GEAR?

FREAKANGELS Interlude 5

Skip week for the serial: instead, a short article and pretty things.

Absolutely Kosher Clearance

The fine record label Absolutely Kosher (I have lots of their stuff, from people like the Hidden Cameras, The Court And Spark, Xiu Xiu, Jukeboxer, Frog Eyes and The Dead Science) are trying to clear a load of their stock. They're doing it through Kickstarter.

We're talking about a sale on the scale of twenty American dollars getting you eight CDs, as an example.

You can sample the goods of Absolutely Kosher via this link here.

Station Ident: Yes, He's Going On About Phones Again

A week ago, the BBC ran a story about how smartphone sales aren't being impacted by the recession. Today?

Nokia has reported a loss for the July to September quarter after sales sank by almost a fifth.

I turn up this story immediately after reading that the Nokia N900 tablet/phone doesn't do MMS. Which might not be a big deal for many, especially in the States, but it's really kind of useful to me and my family.

I've been a Nokia user for more than ten years now. I had that slidy-clicky...

Links for 2009-10-14

British scientists develop 'brain to brain communication' - Telegraph
"The system, developed by a team at the University of Southampton, is said to be the first technology that would allow people to send thoughts, words and images directly to the minds of others, particularly people with a disability. It has also been hailed as the future of the internet, which would provide a new way to communicate without the need for keyboards and telephones. "
(tags:sci tech neuro )'Magnetricity' observed...

WW2 Statue Converted To Mobile Phone Tower

A bit of a boingboingy title, I know, but there's no better way: a giant Russian WW2 monument that used to have an "eternal flame" gas torch got converted to a phone tower with (pixel!) flames painted on the transmitter housing. English Russia has the story and, as ever, some of the best pictures on the net:

How Si Spurrier Shat Himself Underwater

Or, more soberly: the writer Si Spurrier's column for this week is very good:

I was diving alone the other day in a quiet lagoon beneath a series of jagged cliffs. Perfect conditions for Creepiness abounded: the visibility wasn't great, the seafloor was a mangled confusion of sharp ridges (urchins, anemones and polyps) and deep crevices with thick snakelike weeds coating the slopes. At any time one was either dodging Spiky Bits just beneath the surface, or hanging above inky canyons with no...

flickrgeist 15oct09

1. Big Island roid, 2. Photo Flurry 004 is up on Biorequiem, 3. Musée du quai Branly vertical garden, 4. Lost Highway , 5. Sleepsmile, 6. Be Mine

Quote Of The Day

From here:

Citizen journalists are almost as good as citizen dentists

Station Ident: At The Pub

And bugger me it's chilly out here today. I am brought to you by the power of Google Chrome on an Eee 901. If you're on a similar machine and are noticing unusual slowdowns and heavy battery use while using Firefox to read or write on the web, get it off your machine and install Chrome. All fixed.

I was worried for a while there that I'd need new kit. I mean, I carry too many devices as it is, these days. The time when I could travel with a Treo, a foldaway keyboard and an mp3 player...