Wednesday 30 January 2008

rice population demographics


rice population demographics: a physical visualization of the world population demographics, by mapping 1 grain of rice to represent 1 human being. in the "of all the people in all the world" installation, population statistics are separated out in different piles to juxtapose compelling social phenomena, such as the comparison of all the prisoners in the world versus all the people in gated communities (roughly equal).
Infosthetics has linked two short documentaries on the exhibit: "we know how big a grain of rice is; we can see that the pile showing the number of Africans taken on British ships to be slaves, for example, is made up of a horrifyingly large number of grains. to render the fact as a number would be to diminish it."

Vibratosax: Complete Polymer Alto Saxophone

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Complete Polymer sax: chronicles of the long march to production for an innovative, nearly impervious all-plastic alto saxophone.
at last, an affordable alto sax that you can play in the shower. I mean, it's $200, custom made to please the King of Thailand, and you can play it in the shower, man! Or on the beach. Sounds pretty good too.
original link was www.vibratosax.com

Sunday 27 January 2008

Status: Unparticles

Gary found more unparticles under his desk. He's going to call Dr. Georgi right now; damn stuff is EVERYWHERE, its all scale-invariant and it just won't sit still.

Thursday 24 January 2008

Ukelele Ultraman

Ukelele + Road Safety + densetsu = ?

well, the ukelele is only part of it

Tuesday 22 January 2008

My Photos: Snow

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Snow and lots of it, an' it took him HOURS to finish, too ;)

Saturday 19 January 2008

Celtic Music Radio - Online

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Celtic Music Radio: Now streaming live from Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the sweet strains of Celtic Music Radio

"If you don't die flyin', what's the use ..."

Monday 14 January 2008

Oscar Peterson Tribute - Simply The Best

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Oscar Peterson Tribute - Simply The Best - CBC Radio 2 - Concerts On Demand: One of the world's best known and influential jazz pianists, Oscar Peterson, died at the age of 82 on December 23, 2007. "Simply the Best" celebrates Mr. Peterson's life through performance, memories and highlights of his spectacular career.
I had the good fortune to meet Oscar Peterson, but only once and only very briefly. I wasn't there to interview him (I didn't have my radio show yet, only my record store and backstage passes from my Pablo Records rep) but I was welcomed backstage and "granted audience" -- it was very much like meeting royalty, and I know because I've met the Duke of Edinburgh. And it all went by so fast, I don't remember what I said or he said or much of anything; all I remember was the gold rings, the big friendly smile, and the gilded entourage that quickly swept Oscar out of there and off to some important royal function.

Friday 11 January 2008

The Cosmic Vortex

The Egyptians, according to Iamblicus who wrote his famous 'Mysteries' in the early Christian era, believed in cosmic vortex forces they generically called 'gods' and which would arise in human situations inexplicably bending the universe surrounding us. The example he gave was of the pregnant woman and the swirling vortices of godlike forces attracting into her all of the rare and obscure materials now needed for the assembly of a new human being. Our culture only comically acknowledges the 'cravings' but as anyone who has been through it knows, there is much more to the story than just a merciless request for midnight pickles and ice cream. It is a force of nature.

Alan Watts tells us that the flower doesn't bloom. The flower cannot exist without the plant, the soil, the meadow and all of the insect and plant inhabitants who, together, form the unified ecological unit of being that is the meadow, and that this particular flower could not exist were it not for the environment that supports and is supported by it. And so it is that it is not the flower but the meadow which blooms.

Thursday 10 January 2008

Defending Whales: the sound of humpback whales

Defending Whales: the sound of humpback whales
Posted live from the deck of the Esperanza, the Great Whites send a delegation to meet directly with the Greenpeace vessel for a three hour conference. As someone rightly comments, not a bad day's work for a ship's crew who the Japanese Government calls "Terrorists" :)

Tuesday 8 January 2008

Alan Watts: A Conversation with Myself

A 1971 television recording with Alan Watts walking in the mountains and talking about the limitations of technology and the problem of trying to keep track of an infinite universe with a single tracked mind. Video posted by Alan's son and courtesy of alanwatts.com.

Come spend some time with Alan Watts, a four part complete video education in natural philosophy with the most gentle and surgically insightfull persuader I know -- "We may have to come to the conclusion that the Universe is smarter than we are," and other obvious urgent and doable results that follow one on another as simple and plain as the sunshine dances on the leaves.

Handfasting

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Handfasting - Wikipedia: Handfasting is a betrothal or wedding ritual in which the couple's clasped hands are tied together by a cord or ribbon ??? hence the phrase "tying the knot". The tying of the hands may be done by the officiant of the ceremony, by the wedding guests, or by the couple themselves.
cat's out of the bag now, and trust me, I've had some experience with cats and bags -- Annie's found out about our secret plan for 7:58pm on June the 20th, and yes, that's this year, and yes, that's the exact start of a Friday Solstice that peaks at a perfect party-hour of about 11pm and all of which just seemed too serendipitous a coincidence to ignore, especially when it turns out there's an Officiant who was secretly our nearly next door neighbour and getting right down to business, she specializes in these sorts of things.
ya gotta admire a wedding ceremony that involves a bit of bondage ...

Status: City Band

Gary now sits in the 2nd alto-sax chair of the Owen Sound City Band, and what a SOUND it is.

Monday 7 January 2008

Status: City Band

Gary now sits in the 2nd alto-sax chair of the Owen Sound City Band, and what a SOUND it is.

Sunday 6 January 2008

Masato Honda - Recorder Medley

In just 10 minutes, Masato Honda is going to forever change the way you look at the lowly grade-school recorder ...

Wednesday 2 January 2008

Dailymotion - Tiny Grimes

Tiny Grimes (1916 ??? 1989) began his musical career playing drums and piano. In 1938 he took up the guitar choosing the unusual electric 4-string tenor guitar. In 1940 he joined the Cats And A Fiddle as guitarist and singer. In 1943 he joined the Art Tatum Trio as guitarist and made a number of recordings with Tatum. The early Tatum Trio recordings made for the Asch and Comet recording labels are some of the more interesting early examples of Tiny Grimes??? guitar work.




Another year older? Well take it from Brother Lloyd here, no matter how far the clock gets, you're never too old to swing ...

Status: Police Check

Gary failed his police check :(
Question #1: do you have the correct form from the school?
Um ...