That’s the title that’s been given to this amazing image captured by a camera on the Cassini spacecraft.
Year: 2006
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I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue
OK, so it’s 15 years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. And, one would think, that commercial organisations would be pretty savvy on how to use it to get information out there to the likes of you and me.Yesterday, as you probably know if you’ve been reading my blog meanderings, I went to watch the Amsterdam Canal Parade. Last year, Shell in the Netherlands took a chance and sponsored its GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) employees’ network to put a boat in the parade. It was a great success, and yesterday as a result (I think) the Shell boat was joined by boats from employee networks in other major companies: IBM, ABN-AMRO Bank and the ING Bank.I was curious to see how all these companies (Shell included) would handle the public message that they were comfortable with the fact that their employee networks were participating in the Canal Parade. So I went to each of their web sites and typed in "Canal Parade" into each of their search engines. And do you know what I found? Yes, you guessed: Zilch, nada, nothing…What a missed opportunity! Now, it’s quite likely that these companies had some sort of press statement deep in their media relations offices, which they would refer to if they were approached by the mainstream media. But the fact that they couldn’t be bothered to get it out onto their public web site would seem to indicate that they are all still a long way from understanding the cluetrain manifesto. They need to wake up. The last time I saw this head in the sand approach to marketing your message was the Brent Spar fiasco of Shell. I’m disappointed that they at least do not seem to have learned a lesson from that bruising experience. -
The Protection of the Law
I’ve said it before, and doubtless I’ll say it again, I have a lot to be thankful for; living as I do as a gay man at this particular time in this particular country. I have the fact that the laws of the land grant me equal rights with my straight neighbours.In many parts of the world this is not so. In today’s Observer comes a reminder that Iraq seems to be following Iran in using the majesty of the law to pursue gay men to their deaths. -
The Last Librarian of Alexandria
While I’m waiting for the photos from yesterday’s Canal Parade to be uploaded into Flickr, I’m in a somewhat reflective mood – caused in no small part I suspect from the glass (or two) of Rosé that I have recently imbibed.I came across this entry from Brent Rasmussen, over at the Unscrewing The Inscrutable blog. It’s about the Great Library in Alexandria, founded in the 3rd century BC, and which stood for centuries until it was finally destroyed in 646 AD. It also mentions Hypatia, the last librarian. She was a remarkable woman by all accounts, but in 414 AD, as Brent reports it: "a faction of fundamentalist Christians, led by a shadowy character named Peter, ostensibly endorsed by Cyril, Pope of Alexandria, dragged Hypatia through the streets by her hair, beat her to a pulp inside their Church, and then scraped the living flesh off her bones with broken tiles and abalone shells. Her remains were cremated; there is no grave. Cryril was made a Saint, a status he enjoys to this day". So it goes.Brent reflects: "We take science for granted these days, we trust that knowledge hard won will not be lost. But it wasn’t always so".I think, looking around at the state of the world today, that I would say that I am less certain than Brent. There are times when I feel that the candle of science is flickering once again in a new rise of the Demon-Haunted world. -
Amsterdam Canal Parade – Part II
Just a quick note to say that I came back with nearly 400 photos from yesterday’s Canal Parade. They’ll take a while (a couple of days) to upload into Flickr, so please be patient. Once they are there, then I’ll write a proper entry on the day, with a selection of my favourite photos… -
Amsterdam Canal Parade
This weekend it’s Amsterdam’s Gay Pride 2006. Today is the day of the annual Canal Parade. Hopefully the weather will remain fine. I’m about to make the two hour journey off to Amsterdam to take some photos of the parade. In particular, of the Pink Pearl boat – crewed by the GLBT employees of my old employer, Shell. -
Country Music Protest Song
And by way of light relief, here’s Eric Schwartz with a cheerful little ditty aimed at America’s religious right entitled: Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you click on the link, but it’s very good, albeit somewhat rude if you’re easily offended. -
Department of the Bleeding Obvious
Research carried out recently indicates that churchgoers are likely to be superstitious. Well I never, cor blimey, knock me down wiv a fevver, what a surprise… I also got a chuckle out of the fact that the research team was led by a "Professor of Practical Theology". "Practical Theology" – isn’t that another example of an oxymoron, like "military intelligence" or "airline cuisine"? Jesus and Mo’s barmaid says it all, really. -
Um, How Exactly?
Seen at the Pride Parade in San Diego. One wonders at what passes for thought processes in his brain (I use the term somewhat loosely, you understand). -
Life’s Final Curtain
Dr. Crippen has another of his excellent posts. This time it’s about the touchy subject of how to acknowledge and cope with the process of dying. As he says, it’s not a happy-clappy learning experience for all the family. It’s often messy, protracted, and not pleasant for all concerned. Nonetheless, it’s what we are likely to have to deal with at least once in our lives, and we’d better face up to the fact. Worth reading. -
Whose Culture Is It Anyway?
Once again, Toxoplasma gondii is back in the news. Carl Zimmer, over at the Loom, continues to be fascinated by this organism and draws our attention to some new research. This seems to suggest that Toxoplasma is capable of modifying human behaviour to the extent that the influences can be seen in human cultures.I find the implications of this fascinating, and was particularly struck by some of the comments on Zimmer’s post, to whit, what is my mind’s "I" anyway? Is it not simply the collection of my (brain) cells and the chemicals produced by both them and any parasites and bacteria that I am currently playing host to… -
Disrespectful To Dead Eels
The traditional game of Conger Cuddling at Lyme Regis is no longer going to use a dead conger (a type of eel). Animal Rights activists have claimed it would be disrespectful to the dead eel. Spare me, don’t these folk have anything better to complain about? -
Stiff
I’ve just finished reading Stiff, by Mary Roach. It’s a delightful book (no, really), all about human cadavers. Roach writes with a wry wit, possibly in part as a way to cope with the subject matter at hand, but she does it very well. She opens her book with a bang, describing the scene of forty heads (each "about the same size and weight as a roaster chicken") sitting in individual roasting pans awaiting their turn to be practiced on by plastic surgeons attending a facial anatomy and face lift refresher course. Subsequent chapters are devoted to cheery topics such as body-snatching, human decay, crash test dummies, crucifixion experiments, head transplants, cannibalism and such like.One chapter gives the back story of the work of Susanne Wiigh-Masak, who is turning dead bodies into compost (and good luck to her, I say; it seems an eminently practical thing to do). When Roach met her, Wiigh-Masak was still trying to get her ideas accepted, but as I reported last year, it does seem as though she has now won over the parish administrators of Jönköping.In the pages of Roach’s book, we meet not just sensible people and dedicated professionals, but also (in Roach’s words) a number of wacks. Somewhat unsurprisingly, one of them (a Dr. Pierre Barbet) was devoted to proving the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. This involved crucifying dead people and he spent many happy hours banging in the nails.I was also delighted to see the appearance in Stiff of another "wack" – the simply wonderful, and completely barking, General Albert N Stubblebine III. Roach can’t resist retelling the story of one of General Stubblebine’s experiments in remote viewing, and who could blame her. For more on the General, and his colleagues in one of the wilder shores of the US Army, I thoroughly recommend Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare At Goats. Ronson opens his book by describing the true story of the scene where General Stubblebine believes that he can go to the office next door by simply walking through the wall. Yep, you read that correctly. Ronson’s book is by turns both hilarious and chilling, and its pages are liberally sprinkled by a cast of characters who are either deluded or certifiably insane. The really bothersome part is that Ronson’s book is ostensibly not a work of fiction. These people are real.So there you go, two book recommendations for the price of one. Both are excellent. -
The Burton Repertory Company
I got around to seeing Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride tonight – and thought it was brilliant. In these days of CGI, it is wonderful to see how good stop motion animation can be, when it is carried out at the very highest levels. Corpse Bride, like the best works from the Aardman stable, is filled with an unstoppable inventiveness that makes the puppets more alive than many live action films. The film is filled with visual and verbal jokes on all levels (the second hand shop, with the second hands pointing the way in which the fugitive Victor has fled, for example)What also struck me is how Burton increasingly seems to be the manager of his very own repertory company – he uses the same actors time and again in his films: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Christopher Lee, Albert Finney, Michael Gough, and, doing the music, Danny Elfman.Whilst Elfman’s music is immediately recognisable (and in Corpse Bride, has clear echoes with his Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas), there were moments of pure Gilbert and Sullivan or Cab Calloway coming through in this score. In several places, the music took centre stage to advance or to illuminate the plot (for example, According to Plan or Bojangles’ Song), and animated film became operetta.There were also some new additions to the repertory company, who I hope will make reappearances in future Burton films: Joanna Lumley, Paul Whitehouse and Jane Horrocks.All told, Corpse Bride is simply wonderful.Oh, and as an aside, it was interesting to see Burton and Bonham-Carter, who are, apparently, an item, sporting the same birds-nest hairdos… -
Don’t Lose Your Head
I’m somewhat disappointed to learn that the female praying mantis does not always bite off the head of her mate during the sex act. Apparently, it’s much more likely to happen in the laboratory, where the sights and sounds (of anxious observers?) can make the female become more aggressive.Coturnix, over at his imaginatively-named Blog Around The Clock (he specialises in chronobiology), has more information about what the male praying mantis should know before he goes a-wooing… -
Clarifying the Big Bang
The Angry Astronomer (Jon Voisey) has a useful post over at his blog that addresses some of the misconceptions that people have about the Big Bang. For example, despite the name, it was not an explosion – it was an expansion of space… It’s worth a read. -
Photosynth
Microsoft Live Labs has some news about their Photosynth project. It will be shown at Siggraph next week. Meanwhile there are a couple of videos on their web site. An Overview and a Demo – this latter video is the more interesting one, as you get to see something of what the system can do.And may I just say, as a grumpy old man, that whoever was responsible for the making of these videos should be taken out, put against a wall and shot. There is nothing that gets up my nose more than videos with lots of insane jumpcuts, weird angles and DEAFENING, IRRELEVANT BACKGROUND MUSIC. I blame MTV for the death of narrative cinema* as we know it.*With thanks to Mark Kermode, despite his reported cynicism about evolution.Addendum: And of course Microsoft has now scrapped the Photosynth product and technology, so none of these links work anymore. It’s dead, Jim.
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The Forbidden Corner
My brother is just back from a trip to Yorkshire and recommends a visit to The Forbidden Corner in Middleham. Apparently it’s a series of architectural follies created in a four-acre garden by a Colin Armstrong who was once the honorary British consul in Ecuador. It sounds intriguing, just the sort of thing that would appeal to me. -
The Silly Season Has Begun
Margot has discovered that the Silly Season has begun in the media. Sometimes I wonder whether it ever went away… -
A Hairy Tale of Soy Sauce
The Museum of Hoaxes adds some more background to the true tale of Soy Sauce made from human hair.I’m intrigued to see that the original paper (published in the online Internet Journal of Toxicology) is by Alexander Tse-Yan Lee of the Queers Network Research in Hong Kong. Alexander is clearly on a mission to alert us to the dangers of what we eat, and seems to have plenty of source material to research. Some of his other papers include The Foods From Hell, Vegetable Borne Poisoning, Deadly Cooking Oil and Faked Eggs.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 