Another fascinating story in Nature – this time about a study of Buddhist monks. Just one nagging thought occurs to this cynic – how did the researchers know that the monks were telling the truth? As the saying goes: Mandy Rice-Davies Applies.
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Virtual Reality – Take Two
Look out – Façade is on its way. Billed as "an artificial intelligence-based art/research experiment in electronic narrative – an attempt to move beyond traditional branching or hyper-linked narrative to create a fully-realized, one-act interactive drama". The blurb goes on:
You, the player, using your own name and gender, play the character of a longtime friend of Grace and Trip, an attractive and materially successful couple in their early thirties. During an evening get-together at their apartment that quickly turns ugly, you become entangled in the high-conflict dissolution of Grace and Trip’s marriage.
Er, excuse me, is this entertainment, a training experience, or a reminder that I sometimes want to get away from real life and switch off for a couple of hours? I don’t think I want to witness the breakup of someone’s marriage – I’ve seen too much of that in the real world.
I think I’m getting nostalgic for the days when computer games consisted of "go North" and "a hollow voice says ‘Plugh!’"
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Robot Suit Takes A Step Closer
Following on from a story reported in New Scientist in April this year, now comes news about the unveiling of the latest version of the "Robot Suit" – an exoskeleton that enables people’s physical strength to be augmented. I’ve wanted one ever since Sigourney Weaver donned an exoskeleton in Aliens for the ultimate catfight with the Alien queen.
I just wish they hadn’t called it HAL (for Hybrid Assisted Limb). It reminds me too much of HAL 9000 – the murderous computer in 2001 – A Space Odyssey.
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Anne Bancroft
So Anne Bancroft has died. Yes, of course she was great in The Graduate, but for me, the role that I will always remember her for is that of Ma in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy. She and Fierstein played the cat and dog roles of mother and son to perfection, with affection. One of my favourite films.
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Virtual Reality Too Real
The BBC news site is carrying a story at the moment about an online gamer who has been sentenced to life for killing a fellow gamer. The motive for the killing? The dead gamer "sold" a virtual sword belonging to the killer. So alongside the Virtual Economy now arrives Real-life Crime. This may be the first, but it won’t be the last.
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The State of Marriage
Today I came across Gabriel Rosenberg’s blog that, in his own words, is "A mathematician’s thoughts on same-sex marriage, and little else of late". While obviously a lot of the discussion revolves around the culture and mores of Americans, I noticed that one of the entries referred to an article by Stanley Kurtz that was called "Lessons of the same-sex marriage debate in the Netherlands". Intrigued, I went and read the piece, which turned out to be arguing that same-sex marriage signifies the demotion or abolition of marriage as the socially preferred setting for parenthood.
The article leads off with a graph that strikes me as being a very questionable piece of statistical cooking. It is a graph from the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics showing "Out-of-Wedlock births" for the years 1970 – 2003. That in itself is fine – the questionable bit comes in having certain years marked with the milestones in the moves to introduce same-sex marriage in the Netherlands, and the suggestion that the conjunction between the introduction of same-sex marriage and the rise in out-of-wedlock births "is no coincidence". There are of course plenty of other factors that play out in Dutch society that might influence the figures, but those are ignored by Kurtz.
I thought that I would visit the Central Bureau of Statistics web site to see what they might have to say about the matter. I found a paper by Jan Latten on Trends in samenwonen en trouwen (Trends in cohabitation and marriage) published in Q4 2004. It’s in Dutch (unfortunate – if you don’t read the language) and it illustrates some of the complex interactions. Latten himself warns against simplistic interpretations using the traditional categories of marriages, divorces, etc., but I can’t resist pointing to the very first graph in the paper, showing the numbers of marriages registered during the years from 1960 to 2003. What that shows is that the rate of marriages rose during the swinging sixties to a peak in 1970, and then fell very rapidly thereafter to a low point in 1983, whereupon it picked up again and oscillated at around 85,000 per year up to today. These facts clearly didn’t suit Kurtz’s argument. Also, at first sight, graph 8 is startling, showing that in 2003, nearly 40% of the firstborn were born out-of-wedlock. However, as Latten points out, many parents now marry after their first child is born – and graph 8 also shows the effect of this.
What all this boils down to is that ideas of marriage are indeed changing, but that simplistic, Chicken Little-like cries of "The Sky is falling" are not the answer, particularly if the "blame" is placed at the door of same-sex marriage.
As an aside, reading some of the comments on Gabriel’s blog gives me a strong impression that their writers are particularly unpleasant people. Phrases such as "same-sex impersonation of marriage" and how homosexuality "crushes responsible procreation". I think I need to go and have a wash.
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New Research Study
Mixed-gender p0rn0graphy boosts sperm… is the intriguing headline* of a story in today’s helping of news from Nature. I note that the study involved 52 heterosexual men. The scientist in me wonders what the result would have been if they had recruited 52 homosexual men…
* I had to insert a 0 instead of the letter o in order for the title to sneak past MSN Spaces profanity filter, which tends to be a bit nannyish.
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The Periodic Table
Today’s entry in Improbable Research reminds me again of Mike Stanfill’s great animated version of Tom Lehrer‘s song: The Elements. If you haven’t seen it before, click the link.
And thinking about Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of the Elements reminds me of another humorous take on it: the Periodic Table by Creationists at the reDiscovery Institute.
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Apple Jumps Ship
If you’re interested in computers, you probably already know about the big announcement that Apple made yesterday. If you didn’t already know, then Apple has announced that it’s moving from processor chips made by IBM to ones made by Intel. Take it from me, this is a big deal.
John Siracusa has written another excellent article giving the ramifications, as he sees it (and I think he’s hit the nail on the head), to this major change of direction.
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Photo Organisers and Online Photo storage
I’m returning to the topic of tools to organise photo libraries again. I’m not particularly impressed with the photo capabilities of MSN Spaces at the moment, for the following reasons:
- IPTC metadata is not preserved, and
- The quality of the online images looks pretty crap to me (at least in comparison to Flickr). Here’s a photo on MSN Spaces and the same photo on Flickrfor comparison.
- Flickr automatically makes a range of sizes available for each photo. MSN Spaces doesn’t.
I’ve just been playing with the Flickr plug-in to Picajet, and this seems to me to be much closer to what I’m looking for. It’s easy to select a batch of photos for uploading – they can be resized, or left at the original sizes; metadata is preserved, and transferred seamlessly to Flickr (no more re-tagging images), and the Flickr image displays are much better than MSN Spaces.
Come on, Microsoft, pull your fingers out!
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A Morning Out On The Lakes
Today, we joined a neighbour when she moved her boat from a mooring in Gouda to one in Reeuwijk. That meant boating through Gouda’s rivers and canals until eventually we arrived in the lakes at Reeuwijk. A very pleasant way to spend a few hours. Some photos are attached.
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A really Hot Cup Of Tea
That was one of the essential ingredients in building an infinite improbability drive in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Alas, as Neil Gaiman discovers, it’s rarer than it should be in the real world.
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Romania Holds Its First Gay Pride March
Saw this on Towelroad. It takes me back almost 30 years to the atmosphere of the early marches I went on in the UK. Read the comments following the post, in particular the one from Eddie Martin. This sort of thing makes me realise how lucky I am to be living where, and when, I do.
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Improve Your Dog’s Self Esteem
Another of the "it’s like shooting fish in a barrel" posts… This week’s New Scientist has a story on the monetary worth of the pet industry (Billions, apparently). The full article is only available to subscribers, but the abstract sounds rather juicy:
BARRY seems pleased with his new super-enhanced testicles that Jane got him as a treat from the silicon implant catalogue. She is already planning the wedding, and Barry looks so smart with his new haircut and Gucci jacket. But he does seem to be getting a little chubby. Ooh, and she must remember to get that life vest for him – she doesn’t want him falling overboard on their sailing holiday. She is always worrying about him dying. He’s not as young as he was. In fact he’s 12, which is quite old…for a dog, that is.
Dog’s bollocks as silicone implants? Must be a joke, I thought. Nope, it turns out they really exist, and over 100,000 pet owners have bought them (presumably for their darling pets).
The web site for Neuticles (what a wonderfully toe-curling name, BTW) contains some real gems:
Neuticles – allowing your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aids in the trauma associated with neutering. (aids in the trauma associated with neutering?)
With Neuticles– It’s like nothing ever changed! (apart from the fact that your dog’s lost his real testicles and now has a couple of lumps of silicone). The FAQ expands on this:
We feel the removal of a God given body part – leaving a male pet looking unwhole after the traditional form of neutering is not only unethical but unnatural. With Neuticles it’s like nothing ever changed.
I swear, I couldn’t make this up if I tried. The rest of the FAQ reaches dizzying heights of bizarreness – it’s worth reading. But I did learn one interesting fact – it’s not just dog’s bollocks they’ve got covered:
Neuticles are now available for any-sized canine, feline, equine, bull or any neutered pet. Refer to sizing chart for additional information and 3D sizing chart. Custom sizing is available.
I love that "custom sizing" bit.
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Balkenende: The New Dr. Pangloss?
If you’re not familiar with the reference, Dr. Pangloss is a character in Voltaire’s novel Candide, who is a hopeless optimist. "All is for the best, in this, the best of all possible worlds".
I was reminded of this when I read the Dutch press reports on the debate in the Dutch Parliament over the outcome of the referendum on the EU Constitution. The Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, was quoted as saying that he even saw a "ray of light" in the outcome: he told MPs that people are finally "thinking and talking about Europe." Well I suppose that’s one way of looking at the situation – immediately after the Dutch electorate have delivered a metaphorical punch to your face leaving you with a very bloody and broken nose…
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Guestbook
One of the features missing from MSN Spaces at the moment is a way to comment on the space itself. There is a workaround and this is it: I am creating this entry as an "off-topic" area, or a Guestbook.
Post about anything in the comments here!
49 responses to “Guestbook”
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Yes! I am your first. G’day from Sydney. Commiserations on the EU constitution referendum. You’ve probably noticed from the refferals that I am a regular reader. Keep up the blogging.
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Congrats on being the first! Will do my best to keep blogging…
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hiya nice site but how do you do the guest book please could you let me know
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Hi, hunnybunnie… I followed method 2 given here: http://spaces.msn.com/members/d3vmax/Blog/cns!1pG9JUCZPzr_xPSf3UMkJf4A!586.entry Hope it works for you…
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many thx …. very grateful for it
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Wow, just finished watching the Impact. The flyby’s vew of the impact is spectacular!
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Just watching the press conference on the early analysis of the Deep Impact results. Thanks for the reference to the NASA TV stream. There was a great sequence of images from the Impactor showing the dive into the comet. Amazing stuff.
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*GASP!* How dare you not leave a message in my guestbook! How dare you not add me to your blog list!? LOL…Shamola!
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hey great space :¬)
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Hi there. I’m just wondering around Spaces. Great blog you have here. Quite interesting! Keep on blogging. Ciao, Amanda in Nova Scotia~
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Thanks, Amanda, even if you seemed to be damning me with faint praise… "quite" interesting – the word "quite" has almost as many meanings as the word "nice"…
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o.m.g ur soooooooo fit !! how do u stay looking so young at 56???? id love to meet up with u ur soo sexi!!!!
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Hi… just passing through… cool site and some real interesting stuff. Cya
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hi just found your pages, very good stuff on here.Being retired beats work don`t you think.
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Geoff, Just having a look around and wanted to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year. .｡.:⊹⊱✿*Rose PS Ref. ‘Civil partnerships ‘ Not perfect… not yet. Let’s give them another 200 or so years and they might get it right one day. (from a hetro granny who has Oscar Wild and Quinten Crisp amoung my list of people who suffered because they were born before their time. Also on my list Janis Joplin, Maralyn Monroe, and Judy garland to name but a few – It’s not just a gay thing. Why should people have to suffer for simply being themselves?) Sorry. Hope nothing offended you.
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Hi ChrisI don’t know where you are on the death penalty and the 3500 on death row in the USA but I am part of a campaign looking at Cory Maye whose conviction gives grave cause for concern. Have a look at:http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2005/12/lethal-injections.htmland http://www.mayeisinnocent.com/Do you feel you can help?John
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Hello, Geoff!
A few years ago, we connected via phone regarding our shared geneology. You made a trip to Seattle on a Shell business trip and met my brother and mother and went up to Coupeville to visit Tommy Coupe and his family.
Googled your name and that’s how I found your blog.
Couldn’t tell if you are still in the Netherlands or went back to Douglas. I spoke to your mom in around 1996-1997. Is she still alive?
Any more revelations on the connection between Thomas Coupe of Douglas (he founded Coupeville on Whidby Island) and your ancestors?
All the best from the States.
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Hi, Bruce – I’ll send you an email… Regards, Geoff
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Hey there, Just browsing through spaces at the minute, and not very often do you come across spaces like this, This space is a really Good space and you can ell youve worked hard to make it 🙂
I totally agree with your marrioge btw, In my view i think people can do what they want, n every1 else if they dnt like it can bugger off lol! i have great respect for you for having a ‘Gay’ Marrige and you must have alot of courage.
Lovin the pics btw!!!!!!
:)Keep it up!Andy -
Andy, thanks for dropping by and leaving a positive comment. Cheers, Geoff
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Hi Geoff,
New to all this came across your space almost by accident, still working things out technicaly, getting there slowly.
Flutter
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Hi, Flutter (whoever you are!), thanks for dropping by!
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I am desperately trying to get a copy of the two fat ladies recipe for "Roman Mustard" which I have lost. I saw a comment you made on a site I visited using Google, refering to their mustard. Do you have it?
Randy Yost, Houston Texas randyyost@hotmail.com Thanks for any help -
Randy, the recipe is on its way to you via email…
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We had apricot cajun chicken tonight using the Two Fat Ladies Roman mustard as one of the ingredients. Everyone in my household sends their heartfelt thanks!
Randy Yost -
Hey Geoff. Just found this. Normally too busy reading you and following your links. I so love visiting your blog. And I just read that comment up there about you being ‘soooo fit’ from Janinex. Hehe. Flattery eh. Mind you, you do look good mate.
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Totally new to Spaces, but now I have just created mine I thought I would take a look around.I must say yours is so totally professional, a credit to you & an interesting read.Paul
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Thanks Paul – much appreciated!
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WoW…………………….ur fotos are sooo excellent I enjoyed them hehe
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Thanks, gOoGOo.V – glad you liked them!
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Hey!
with nothing else to do i googled my dance teacher and came across your
website, with a picture on her 😀 dont you have any other pictures i can
suprise her with? ;P Its jette im talking about by the way!
feel free to email!
Erica -
Erica, you have mail.
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hello there, so great to find a space where i can read all of it.
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Hello, Muma Fran. Thanks for dropping by. Glad you found something interesting to read in my space. Oh, and thanks for putting a link up on your space as well!
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Thanks, for providing a much needed diversion and some interesting things to peruse whilst having my Time Out cup of tea this afternoon. Gay Rodeo has to be a classic, I felt the need to spread the word and share that one a little further!
If you have no objection I shall stick your feed on my page too, I love the lack of text speak and flashy sparkling things here!
Take care and congrats on the nuptials
Tinkerbell & The Wee Fat Squidge xx -
Hello, Katherine and Samuel (or should that be Tinkerbell and the Wee Fat Squidge? 🙂 ). Thanks for dropping by. Always pleased when someone finds my wittering to be less than boring! No objection to sharing the feed either. Take care…
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Hey Geoff!
Finally took some time to have a look at your blog. It’s great! As you might know I’m not such an internet expert nor fan, but I really do enjoy your form of putting together a lot of different and mostly funny information! Your comments are absolutely marvelous! Nice pictures, by the way. Specially the ones of your neighbours : P
Lots of warm greeting!
Jose. -
Hoi, José! Leuk om jouw hier te zien… Groetjes!
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Hello Geogh i noticed you visied my page hope you enjoyed it your page is very interesting iwill call again best wishes Pat
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Hi, Pat. Just returning the compliment, since I saw that you had dropped by my pages. Cheers.
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Hi, Geoff. Just a quick hello and want to say how great your blog is, always something of interest on it.
Good luck to you both and take care.
Cheers Keane -
Keane, thank you I’ve sent you a private message. Cheers, Geoff
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Hi Geoff…was space-hoppin’ when I came across your blog. It’s fascinating! Nice to see I’m not the only person who discovered the Jabberwacky site. Take care…
Kathy -
Kathy, thanks for dropping by, and for your kind words. Cheers, Geoff
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Hi Geoff,
I’m a daily reader of your blog (especially when I get bored at work) and just wanted say ‘thank you’ for putting up lots of interesting information about what’s going on in the world and also for recommending some books. Your blog is very professional, unlike mine…lol. I have added some of the books you have mentioned to my reading list. Thanks! There’s always something new to learn on your blog and I appreciate the effort you have put in to writing them.
Keep on bloggin’ and we will keep on readin’.
Cheers,
Wai -
Wai, thank you for your comment. I also read your blog – and it comes from the heart. So, no need to apologise. Let’s keep on reading about each other’s take on life. Cheers, Geoff
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Hi Geoff, lovely website, thought provoking and very interesting (just like you!). I am straight but have acquaintences (who become good friends) from all backgrounds in society, so I am not trying to convert or scare you o.k? My father’s family originated from Denmark and one day (when I get some time – lol!!!) I will research over the channel and find more roots to my tree. Anyway, take care xxx
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Hi Bal Maiden, thanks for dropping by. Good luck with the family tree…
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Hi Geoff and the Dutchman. Have a lovely weekend together! xxx Thanks for the advice on the family tree link – will have a peek when I find some time. Take care both of you.
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Beethoven Downloads
The BBC is about to broadcast every single note of all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works this week on Radio 3.
What’s more, it’s going to offer all of Beethoven’s symphonies in a downloadable format for a period of one week after they have been broadcast.
To quote Alex de Large:
"And it was like for a moment, O my brothers, some great bird had flown into the milkbar and I felt all the malenky little hairs on my plott standing endwise and the shivers crawling up like slow malenky lizards and then down again. Because I knew what she sang. It was a bit from the glorious Ninth, by Ludwig van."
And again:
"Oh bliss, bliss and heaven. Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal, or like silvery wine flowing in a space ship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied I knew such lovely pictures."
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Tomorrow is Mad Sunday
I grew up on the Isle of Man. As well as Manx cats, the island is also famous for being the home of the TT (Tourist Trophy) races. This coming week, the annual TT races will be held on the island.
Tomorrow is Mad Sunday, when a large proportion of the 40,000 visitors (the island’s population is only 70,000) to the event will take to their motorcycles and ride around the racecourse. But this is not a specially-built racetrack – the course is run over ordinary roads. The course runs for almost 38 miles, and is extremely dangerous – if you come off the road, you are likely to have your speed stopped dead (literally) by a stone wall or a telephone pole. These days, everyone taking part in Mad Sunday has to go round the course in the same direction. A sensible development – at one time, people could ride around in either direction, with the inevitable result of accident carnage.
Every year, riders taking part in the races are killed – but presumably they know the risks, and no-one is forcing them to take part. And with the advance of motorcycle technology, the race is getting faster all the time. I grew up in the 1950s, when riders such as Geoff Duke were doing laps with an average speed of under 100 mph. Geoff Duke almost broke the 100 mph average speed barrier when in 1956 he did a lap at 99.97 mph. In 1967, Mike Hailwood set a speed record that would last until 1975 when he did a lap at an average speed of 108.77 mph. The current lap record stands at 125.69 mph.
Remember, these are average speeds – that means that on parts of the course (such as the Sulby Straight), speeds of the bikes will reach up to 180 mph.
I recall growing up when "doing the ton" – that is, riding your bike at a speed of 100 mph – was seen as a rite of passage, and an achievement. And certainly, the first (and last!) time I did it on my own 650cc Kawasaki, it was both scary and exhilarating. But the superbikes of today are capable of almost twice that speed… I’m glad I don’t have to prove my manhood today.
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The Shining
I’ve put this under the category of "Entertainment", but it deserves connections with other categories. Now read on…
I mentioned "The Shining" in my post on the "Wollemi Pine" last month. BTW, I have to get back to you about the outcome posed in that post. I promise I will do so…
Anyways-up, to quote Julian and Sandy, my husband is out this evening, so I thought that I would put the DVD of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining on the DVD player.
Gawd, it is so brilliant! Kubrick was a master. I was listening to the audio feed of an interview with Phillip Pullman at the Hay festival yesterday, and he made a point about the modern novel being aligned with Cinema. It is very true – he describes how his masterpiece: His Dark Materials reads like cinematography – close-ups, long-shots, and the like. Whereas the "voice" of the traditional fairytale is very different. And he used other examples of his writing to illustrate this. And it was true, they had none of the close-ups or voiceovers of what the hero/heroine is thinking. The difference is staggering when you hear it or see it – and I hadn’t really appreciated it before.
And what struck me, which I hadn’t thought of before, is what is exactly so powerful, and so right about Kubrick’s vision of Stephen King’s novel is that it is exactly filmed as a fairytale, and not really as a modern piece of cinema or the modern novel. There is no deep introspection as to why these people behave the way they do, they just play out their parts in front of our eyes, the way a Grimms’ fairytale conjures up the action in our imagination.
Brilliant.
And, I must comment over the styles of the actors. Jack Nicholson gives (to my senses) a really over-the top interpretation of the role of Jack Torrance. It’s OK, and perhaps it’s what Kubrick wanted. But when I see Philip Stone in the role of Delbert Grady, and I cannot think otherwise than this, this is how it should be played. Supremely understated, yet with the underllining of faint, yet absolutely bottomless, evil. Stone is just perfect in the role.
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