in the 1990's I used to make clocks from old broadcast tv equipment (tape heads, motors/rotors etc) and old computer hard drives (10", 5.25". 3.5", 2.5" etc) and the like. I used to give them to friends as presents. I found an old photo album with some of the photos of the finished clocks + some of the clock bits. it's a shame I wasn't a better photographer at the time! this was pre-digital camera days so I didn't know the lighting (& framing) until the film was developed. I found one box of clock bits, but not the box of clocks and other clock bits boxes - maybe I can make some more if I find the right boxes.

Crankthesteza.org is a new brisbane Net / independent label in Brisbane. I am looking for the unusual, usual, weird and bizarre forms of music. Check it out and drop us your tracks on the drop box..

We also hire P.A's and production gear with a community approach. Will soon have a production library and memberships are coming soon.

Drop by and have a look.. any feedback would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks Stoicdee

peas :)

today (sunday) it was another rainy day. I went for a short ride to see where the track under the M4 went. I ended up at Auburn. I think the track goes all the way to Olympic Park, but I stopped and turned back as it was starting to get dark and I didn't think I'd make it there & back before dusk. for some reason I don't seem to have any gps data for this trip - I think it lost signal under the M4 then didn't tune properly afterwards. strange. I went to the hardware store and bought some cable ties and velcro to make a more permanent basket-cam solution. for the past couple of days I've been using plaited cotton ties to fasten the camera to the basket - I'd cut a hole in the basket for the camera lens. when I went over some bumps, the camera dislodged, and at one point lost focus - so some of the footage today has close ups of the basket wire framing the video. I like some of these shots actually!

I've split the videos up into ~2minute segments to make the files smaller

videos & gps tracks from the bike ride today to & around parramatta park. it was a rainy day. I was testing the video whilst riding - I don't like the fixed angle. this is basket-cam - I think helmet cam would be much better. but I modified the basket to mount the n95 phone camera - basically I cut a hole and braided some cotton yarn and tied the camera to the basket. it worked ok, the camera stayed in place, though I think I'll try find some cable-ties and velcro for future trips. I mustn't have been pressing record properly on the camera as it didn't record a lot of the trip - there's a lot missing! and it has recorded sections that I thought I'd switched off the camera. due to the rain I'd covered up most of the camera / viewfinder so it was hard to tell when I was recording or not. oh well - it's ok for an initial test. the clips below are each around 2mins duration. I recorded gps track too but the battery ran out on the way home. I wasn't having much luck with technology today!

gps .gpx file attached

:::

videos whilst riding the bike

raw video #1

bike riding in parramatta park #01 from kath on Vimeo.

bike paths :

parramatta cycling maps pdf

getting started - the safe road

bikely.com - has maps people have uploaded

Parramatta heritage ride

cooks river cycleway

RTA bicycle info page

parramatta to kurnell - lots of photos & a map here & here & here

I've made a quick pdf picture book of photos of some of the food & meals I've had during the past 5 years as a digital nomad. inspiration for food to prepare

For the past 5 years (2004-2009), I've been a
digital nomad of sorts - traveling for work in
countries such as UK, Australia, India, Turkey,
New Zealand, Israel and Malaysia. Living in
hotels and eating at hotels, cafes, and
restaurants. This is a picture book showing
some of the meals I've had during that time.
No wonder I've put on weight! -- kath
http://www.AliaK.com

download "food for digital nomads - picture book" pdf file (27.5 Mb)

"food for digital nomads - picture book" is hosted on archive.org

For the past decade, Vietnam has turned to be among the fastest growing economies in the World. The country has been known as one of the safest and the most friendly destinations in Asia. This is just the right time to travel to Vietnam: it saves you money most while it gets you the once-in-a-life-time experience. Now is the only time that every of your penny spent brings you the best values. Let's look further into the clarifications to know why.

drinking tea, reading zines and listening to jon hassell's music - a lovely way to end the long weekend. and Happy Birthday QEII. the washing has been done, the clothes are in the dryer which is heating up the apartment (& saving me from putting on the heater this afternoon / tonight - as it's cold!)

listening : "Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street" Jon Hassell

zines : I pulled out the zines I've recently come across + some from a few years ago. I've been sending them little thank you emails as I read them - I'm never sure if zinesters like this or not or if you're meant to - they have their contact details and sometimes say to write so I guess it's ok, but it's always nice to receive a thank you message.

came across some more interesting projects so listing them here until I have a chance to make separate articles for them (in no particular order...)

MCA zine workshop - MCA are hosting a zine making workshop in August. it's over 3 days, and participants will learn the RISO print process. I'm not familiar with RISO printing so I asked on the aus-zines mail list and Keg de Souza was kind enough to send this reply:

hey kath
the riso is a stencil press
the rizzeria is a collectively run print press
and that's who will be running the workshop
there's some examples of what it can do and
more info on the rizzeria here:
http://www.rizzeria.com/about
cheers,
keg

starting a list of knit for charity sites & links - I wrote up a short piece about knitting for charity for "Winter Zine" after reading their call for submissions, so adding to it here to keep track of the links

---
(zine submission - I still think I tend to write in 'promotional' style even though I don't mean to, so not sure if they'll use it..)

Knitting for Charity to keep yourself warm (... in person and in spirit)

The best thing about winter is that it's too cold and rainy to go out often at night, so I tend to stay in and catch up on my knitted UFOs - unfinished objects. I pull out yarn and patterns and needles and sit on the couch under a warm blanket, with the heater on, and watching TV or a movie or listening to music. So far this winter I've finished a knitted cushion cover which was started towards the end of summer, and have almost finished a knitted pillow toy for my cousin's son.

I went along to the Engage Media - Sydney screening in May 2009 and saw four Indonesian community-based films. It was amazing to hear of some of the collectives and community work going on there. Engage Media work tirelessly in documenting projects across Asia Pacific and have a large video library of films. Regular screenings are held to share the films with people in other communities. I asked Andy from Engage Media what the organisation was all about :

video @ http://aliak.blip.tv/file/2127156

trying out ARToolKit. the software is installed OK and the initial post-installation tests worked. this is the the first example. it shows a plain blue virtual cube on the hiro marker.

http://vimeo.com/4793992 :

GE AR - augmented reality
I tried playing this AR video at home tonight and it worked! this is the first attempt so the video I took is a bit dodgy but it gives an idea. the cat was purring whilst I was recording and kept nudging my head. I tried blowing on the mic but couldn't get the windmill blades to spin. try it out! now I want to try make my own!!
thanks to @LukeSnarl for tweeting the link

http://vimeo.com/4764743 :

GE AR - augmented reality from kath on Vimeo.

GE page
- print out the marker
- u might need to upgrade your flash player to v10
- turn on your webcam (mac - do this with flash player not photobooth - read the help tips on the url for help)
- launch wind power or solar energy links
(if you just see the green oval spinning then it probably can't see your camera)
- hold the marker printout so it's facing your webcam.. then watch the 3d images appear!

http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality

http://bit.ly/9V5hV is a better video demo (clearer than what I've done - but I wanted to try it myself)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00FGtH5nkxM

luke sent me a great AR game by Julian Oliver (NZ) :
http://vimeo.com/1320756 :

levelHead v1.0, 3 cube speed-run (spoiler!) from Julian Oliver on Vimeo.

this is amazing!
he's made a game using cubes - called Levelhead - it's won all sorts of awards (deservedly so!)
he explains it on his website @ http://julianoliver.com/levelhead (& has code for you to try too)

Julian is part of HIT Lab NZ - The Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand - from their site it looks like they're doing some pretty cool stuff!!

ARToolKit

ARToolKit
ARToolKit documentation page - with samples, tutorials and background details

QR code twitter posts (bookmarks) :

11:18 AM May 15th from web : Invader's tile graf - using QR codes / binary code street art @ http://bit.ly/CIZ1T (via nettime-l)

9:41 PM May 15th from web : nice. just found out my phone already has a built in QR barcode scanner & it read one I'd made & saved ok

9:42 PM May 15th from web : now, are there any secret coded messages out there

10:00 PM May 15th from web : oh right, so I could scan a mobile code on a poster/flyer and it'll take me to the url. maybe I could make a video/flipbook-book of codes

10:01 PM May 15th from web : codezine decoded via phone

(you can almost see the lightbulb light up here..)
10:01 PM May 15th from web : maybe ARGs are using these? they're popular in Japan

:::

used Nokia's mobile codes page to make a QR code

QR code wikipedia page

link to a movie file :

Award-winning, upcoming Sydney alterna-pop/electro/funk/rock band Super Massive will be touring the Port Macquarie area for the first time next weekend, bringing their funky, uptempo show to the Laurieton Hotel on Saturday 23rd May.

Entertainment starts at 8:30pm and entry is FREE.

Super Massive is a creative band, lovingly crafting evocative pop songs with their own unique blend of multi-layered synthscapes and live instrumentation.

The shared musical vision of singer/songwriter Malina Hamilton-Smith and drummer/composer Glenn Abbott (best known for his work with Machine Gun Fellatio), Super Massive was awarded ‘Best Alternative Artist” at the MusicOz Awards (Australia's premier national music awards for unsigned and independent artists), and released a self-titled debut EP through MGM and iTunes to rave reviews mid last year.

Aesthetica is looking for entries to the 2009 International Aesthetica Creative Works Competition. The 2008 Competition was a successful springboard for artists’ careers around the globe.

The Aesthetica Creative Works Competition: Artwork, Photography & Sculpture, Fiction and Poetry
Three winners will be awarded £500 each
All finalists will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual, in stores December 2009
Entry to the 2009 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is £10
This allows you to submit up to 5 images, 5 poems or 2 short stClosing date to receive Creative Works is 31 August 2009

The winners and finalists from last year, went on to secure further exhibitions, commissions and publications. The winners and finalists were published in the Aesthetica Annual. It's a great opportunity to bring your work to a wider audience.

helping with a new site - using drupal 6 to build it. it's for a music label. I haven't had a chance to talk to the guys much yet about what they want, so it's very early stages & I'm testing some of the new drupal 6 modules that I haven't used before + some old favourites

I want to try an online store to sell file downloads and physical cds etc

stl

I've been reading Erik Davis' "Techgnosis" book and thinking about MUDs and MOOs again. I used to play on the MOOs back in the early-mid 90s and read up about them again to see if they were still running a while ago : mud articles + moo articles. so I was thinking on the train home last night that twitter seemed very similar - it seems similar to IRC to me, as well as the MUDs/MOOs - the syntax of the commands ie the @ like the @command_name in MUDs/MOOs & IRC. some twitter software uses the auto-reply DM when people follow you, so I was wondering if you could reuse / subvert this to be used in a MOO/MUD on the twitterverse? or even not using DMs, but just open tweets.

Inder Salim on reader-l posted about The Mango Tree in his community. some people in his block of flats have 'claimed' the fruit from the tree as their own, and he comments about the validity of this.

at the end of the article, Inder asks, "So has anybody tasted a real mango, if there is one, and if yes, who deserves to eat that, and relish?". I've taken his question as literal and replied with the below post. I didn't comment on the issues that are also mentioned in the article - about people in his community living well together and sharing the fruit of the common tree - breaking down the community social control structures, or regarding some of the children who may not have eaten a mango. on the reader-l, a couple of people commented on some of his terms, calling them racist.

hi Inder, my mango eating experience is also from Australia similar to

I thought it'd be cool to get a personal projector and project videos onto the ceiling of the train for people to watch during the ride to & from work. have a website where people could suggest videos, or perhaps they tweet them or sms. they could rate them too on the site. I was thinking art or landscapes - trainscapes. but I suppose eventually it'd be overtaken by advertisers or spammers. would be nice for a while though! just look at all this ceiling space doing nothing - apart from the bright lighting in the train, this would be ok for an adhoc screen. 29/04/2009

http://blip.tv/file/2050621

yesterday, @DustForEyes posted an "AR scratching" video by vanderlin to stealth board & twitter. it's tagged with tags such as AR, augmented reality, opencv, and openframeworks, so I googled some of these. the AR markers seem like the fiducial markers found in reactable - note there's going to be a performance / demo of one of these called dubtable at ripped next week which would be cool to check out.

audio test

itunes rss feed test - for podcasts/video blogs

- this test is for an audio file - ~10sec of an mp3 file
- attached it to this blog post

itunes sees the post and can play the audio file ok (pc) :
- there's no image file or song details etc but I didn't add any to the mp3 file in itunes

added some details to the song in itunes and reuploaded the file (filesize increases to 227kb)

tonight I'll try installing the 6x itunes module - I think it can add extra fields for itunes rss
then I'll try making a custom view / CCK type

I've been reading my old copy of Localizer 1.0 this weekend - a book compiling art, music, labels, personalities from the early-mid 90s technohouse culture in Europe - mostly Germany, but also including Holland, Norway and other places. I still love much of the music from back then. and also the art works at the parties - below are some examples from Localizer book - I still love these styles. I think maybe I need to go to some more outdoor parties to see them again. to me, it was partly a promise of a new future with technology, music and art, which started in the late 80s (for me). whatever happened to that feeling though? I'm now living with technology, working with it, yet nothing seems that new & fresh anymore. I think it's information overload - new things come out so quickly and with the internet I hear about them too quickly that they don't feel new anymore.

any ideas of history/origins of Apollo Space program samples in electronic dance music? (Q via maillist, pls help) http://tinyurl.com/cdx84e

I'm on a maillist which discusses EDM (electronic dance music) and one of the members/list managers, Graham St John (an Australian scholar who has compiled a few books on EDM) has asked about origins of samples from the Apollo Space mission in music. he's asking specifically about dance related music but the discussion has brought up Sun Ra's name. so I was wondering if anyone here knows of examples/history along hip hop / funk /soul / electro (80s, not 2000s) & electronic dance music lines which might help plot the history deeper? (the discussion then went onto alien imagery at some psytrance events but that's another topic)

here's the initial request from Graham St John :
I'm attempting to trace the appeal of Apollo Space Program dialogue