If it was my home

A scary tool that shows you how big the gulf oil spill would be if it was centered on your home.

gareth

New pics up

Have had an evening of sorting through photos and as such have updated my Flickr for the first time in a while! Too much to talk about but shall list the sets:
Homegame, Whitehills windfarm, Edale, Scope, Love Calculator, Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway before Christmas, and even Paris!

Here's one at random:


I am Roy.

Haarfest announced.

Fence Records News � Haarfest!

Fence's Haarfest festival has been announced for Monday 16th to Saturday 21st of August, and as a pleasant surprise confirmation to me, features both Inspector Tapehead, and a certain Jon Rogers and pals of Product Design in Dundee. Good times.

Roy

Allotment tonight

This is very late, having done one of these gigs already, but allow me to publicise tonight's performance of Allotment 4 at least.



NTS say:

Produced by Angie Bual and Caroline Newall, the final Allotment offers an alternative night out by embracing cyberspace and the phenomena of social networking. An artistic take on websites including Facebook, MySpace and My Single Friend, Allotment will bring virtual networking experiences to life. Through live music, art and performance, the final Allotment experience will enable punters to reclaim the art of conversation, make new friends and take part in some dating games. As the night unfolds, three secret locations will also be brought in to the mix.

I say, I would never dream on basing a piece of musical work on a website, so can't really back up that statement! Fergus and I are, however, interested in the social dynamics of immprovisation, and as such we are putting on a version of Scope, the jam session where visual and musical improv coalesce. Following the practices we did last summer, this idea has come to fruition in a modified form, with Inspector Tapehead forming the core band. There are three 20minute sessions throughout the night, each time with the lineup including a different guest musician and visual artist. So at Allotment we can offer you:

Fergus Dunnet
Inspector Tapehead (Jonnie Common, Chris Croasdale and me, Roy)
Stuart Macpherson (dbass/JSS/formerly of Engine)
Justin Eade (Glimpse)
George Murray (dBass/One Ensemble/GIO)
Aby Vulliamy (One Ensemble/Nalle)
Jenny Soep (Drawing the experience)
and last night we had the percussive prowess of Peter Kelly (Moon Unit/ formerly of Galchen).

Check out this link for the event info, it's in Govancross Shopping Centre from 8pm tonight and last night was a corker.

Roy

Mr. Murphy on the Shanghai Expo

entschwindet und vergeht: Shanghai Expo - Armchair Review!

I think it is safe to say that Murphy is the only person capable of writing an architecture review that makes me laugh out loud.

That might have been read as it being the quality of his writing that is laughable, but I must stress that is not the case: it's purely the wit. Read it, chump.

Roy

A picture of my favourite pavilion follows..



Hoho. Seriously though, the Danes win hands down:

Janelle Monáe - Tightrope - Late Show with David Letterman

This just has to be seen to be believed! I wish I was in her band..

Roy

Eyjafjallaj�kull and Maths Sculpture � Maxwell’s Demon

Eyjafjallaj�kull and Maths Sculpture � Maxwell’s Demon

On the topic of that volcano..

Found this great image while surfing on the topic of hexayurts: mathematician Edmund Harriss, who has an interesting blog here, and has done some new layouts for hexayurts.

What the real big society means for the economy, charities and copyright

Two excellent mini docs just posted to the Guardian videostream from Heydon Prowse and William Pine:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/may/11/ethical-living-diy-big-society

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/may/12/ethical-living-real-big-society-two



These make essential viewing in my opinion, if only to come some some way to understanding where I'm coming from: ie. spending my time and earnings on the sometimes seemingly pointless area of open design. Its the empowerment stupid.

Roy

the coalition on CCS

What do certain sloggers make of this extract from our new government's new manifesto?

• The establishment of an emissions performance standard that will prevent coal-fired power stations being built unless they are equipped with sufficient CCS to meet the emissions performance standard

• Continuation of the present government's proposals for public sector investment in CCS technology for four coal-fired power stations; and a specific commitment to reduce central government carbon emissions by 10% within 12 months.

We are agreed that we would seek to increase the target for energy from renewable sources, subject to the advice of the climate change committee.

Liberal Democrats have long opposed any new nuclear construction. Conservatives, by contrast, are committed to allowing the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided they are subject to the normal planning process for major projects (under a new national planning statement) and provided also that they receive no public subsidy.

We have agreed a process that will allow Liberal Democrats to maintain their opposition to nuclear power while permitting the government to bring forward the national planning statement for ratification by parliament so that new nuclear construction becomes possible.

This process will involve:

• The government completing the drafting of a national planning statement and putting it before parliament

• Specific agreement that a Liberal Democrat spokesman will speak against the planning statement, but that Liberal Democrat MPs will abstain; and clarity that this will not be regarded as an issue of confidence.

My questions: is this wildly different to current policy? And what on earth do the last paragraphs mean in practical terms??

Roy

Maps!

Delightful exhibit on at the British Library until September: Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art. For those that haven't figured it out yet, yes I am a map addict, but bias aside, I love this map. Click through to explore...

gareth

Enez myspace up

The demo for Enez is now up on myspace here, we'll be doing our second performance ever at Moniaive Folk Festival on the 8th May. All comments welcomed..

Climate Tricks - Update

Well 2009 is truly over so I thought I'd update that image from the post I made pre-christmas without dropping 2009 data. Doesn't help does it? Dang. Perhaps this will become a yearly effort, that way, every new year of data I post in isolation of any trend, the greater chance I have of proving global warming stopped after 1998. Come on Eyjafjallajokull I know you want to help me out in 2010.

How do you cut UK emissions 80%?

Nice interactive on the guardian website that allows you to play being the PM by dragging sliders to try and cut UK emissions by 80% by 2050. It also demands that you balance the electricity demand from different sources (though it is not exhaustive: no gas/coal/biomass with ccs). Anyway, I tried to do it without limiting consumption and travel. Answer, impossible. And as for flying, I'm going to climate hell...

Another fine graphic

From Mr. McCandless, brought to my attention by George, another great infographic on a rather pertinent topic..
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/

Aural Dispatch

Some new Canadian indie finds from a recent Jason Collett gig. Collett was good but I was equally, if not more, impressed by sometimes Feist band-member Afie Jurvanen recording as Bahamas and the Collett backing band in and of themselves, Zeus, were a joy to listen too.

Good gig.

gareth

Malcolm's Missives

Is anyone reading Malcolm Tuckers Election Briefing over at the graun? Singularly the best take on the election I've read...

With props to the real Malcolm: Jesse Armstrong.

gareth

three happenings in three days

1. Love Calculator @ The Forest Fringe @ The Arches, Glasgow.

- Fergus Dunnet and Angie Bual present a machine that *will* calculate
your match, as part of this microfestival in The Arches. I'm providing
the sounds for it!
Friday and Saturday from 7.30, £10/£5. flyer here.

2. Ganghut @ GI @ Southside Studios, Glasgow.

- The southide's opening for the Glasgow International Festival of
Visual Art, with Dundee's Ganghut presenting their musical/
environmental/ performance based endeavours along with the usual
southside shenanigans.
Saturday from 7. Featuring homemade pizza, all free.
Exhibition open everyday until the 30th, when there will also be a
closing party.



3. Inspector Tapehead @ The Gentle Invasion @ The Roxy Room (formerly
The Bowery), Edinburgh.

- It's a gig. With Inspector Tapehead, Nathalie Stern and the Japanese
War Effort, Tapehead premiering some new stuff ahead of the album
release this summer.
Sunday from 7.30, £5.

Love Calculator at Forest Fringe

I have built a few wee noisemakers for an interactive piece of theatre to be part of The Forest Fringe microfestival at the Arches at the end of this week. I shall actually be in it too playing said instruments. The piece is called the Love Calculator and is amongst a whole host of other wee happenings in the festival - flyer above, tickets here

Roy

Openthing revamp

Have given Openthing a bit of a revamp this week, from the comfort of my home and the discomfort of a stomach bug. Any comments welcomed, whether they be on the site, niftymitter or open design in general.
Roy

>> Sorry, have fixed that link now. That was a bit embarrassing.

Map Envelope