The Blog
29 Jun 2015 My first public post in G+. 8 July 2011, a week or so after the launch.
https://plus.google.com/+JulianBond23/posts/1qBXL7B367V I've been searching for something in G+ that let's me see all the posts I've commented on. I can't find it yet. 4 years later. There's still no way of getting a list of all the posts you've commented on.   I've been searching for something in G+ that let's me see all the posts I've… »I've been searching for something in G+ that let's me see all the posts I've commented on. I can't find it yet. In the process I discovered a whole set… - Julian Bond - Google+ [from: Google+ Posts] [ 29-Jun-15 8:14am ] 27 Jun 2015 The dubstep pioneers talking about how it happened.
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/an-oral-history-of-dubstep-vice-lauren-martin-610/page/0 vs http://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/dubstep-in-hindsight.html Well it's History now.... 15 years since its earliest dawn-glimmers....seven years or so since it got hijacked / "went down the wrong path" - leaving the faithful bereft, making them disperse, or launch the postdubstep era --- If you're interested, that oral history is well worth reading.   The VICE Oral History of Dubstep | VICE | United Kingdom »The story of a genre, as told by some of its most pivotal players. [from: Google+ Posts] The Essential Guide to Cyberpunk
http://io9.com/the-essential-cyberpunk-reading-list-1714180001 It's not a bad starting point and you could do worse than read everything any of those authors have ever written. Or just start with Mirrorshades and follow the links to each author. But also these books and everything by these people as well. Paul Di Filippo - Ribofunk Lucius Shephard - Life During Wartime Michael Swanwick - Vacuum Flowers Mink Mole - Alligator Alley Jeff Noon - Needle in the Groove Walter Jon Williams - Hardwired Ken Macleod - The Execution Channel Jack Womack - Random Acts of Senseless Violence Samuel Delaney - Dhalgren Ian McDonald - The Dervish House Misha - Red Spider White Web Martin Bax - The Hospital Ship Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl St. Jude (R.U.Sirius, Mondo2000) - Cyberpunk handbook : the real cyberpunk fakebook http://www.librarything.com/tag/cyberpunk Back in the 80s and 90s I read everything cyberpunk I could find. My tastes veered off though towards Slipstream and the sort of cross breed between Cyberpunk, Slipstream, Magical Realism and the late 60s New worlds crew like JG Ballard. Part of the reason for that is that the writing is generally better. It's a common criticism of early books by new SciFi authors that the writing is often terrible even while the ideas are interesting. What's a bit sad is how much of that stuff is getting really hard to find now, long since out of print and pulped. Anyone got a copy of Lewis Shiner - Deserted Cities of the Heart?   The Essential Cyberpunk Reading List »It’s now been over three decades since cyberpunk first exploded, and in that time we’ve seen gorgeous movies, read fascinating books, and seen dozens of offshoots like steampunk (and my new favorite, deco punk) develop. Here are the 21 cyberpunk books you absolutely must read. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 27-Jun-15 9:28am ] 18 Jun 2015 It's 200 years since Sean Bean saved the day at Waterloo. He was younger then.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120111/   Sharpe's Waterloo (TV Movie 1997) »Directed by Tom Clegg. With Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, Abigail Cruttenden, Alexis Denisof. Based on the novel by Bernard Cornwell, "Sharpe's Waterloo" brings maverick Britis... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 18-Jun-15 8:25am ] 17 Jun 2015 Today's surprising mini-beast in the garden. A Rose Chafer beetle. Approx 20mm. Ware, Hertfordshire, UK.
http://www.uksafari.com/rosechafers.htm  [from: Google+ Posts] [ 17-Jun-15 3:22pm ] It may look like big picture planning but actually it's just emergent behaviour from the Hive Mind.
So which Ant Hive in the Hive Super-Collective gave the nuclear launch controls to a Google autonomous car? It's probably OK because the only accidents the robot cars ever have is when they're rear-ended by cars driven by humans. http://xkcd.com/1539/ http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/05/google-self-driving-car-report/   xkcd: Planning »Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors). BTC 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey ... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 17-Jun-15 2:12pm ] 12 Jun 2015 30 years this month since the Battle of the Beanfield. 1 June 1985.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jun/12/ukcrime.tonythompson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Beanfield   Twenty years after, mystery still clouds Battle of the Beanfield »This month marks the 20th anniversary of what has become known as the Battle of the Beanfield. 537 Travellers were arrested - the most arrests to take place on any single day since the Second World War. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 12-Jun-15 4:48pm ] 10 Jun 2015 Instead of repurposing shipping containers, repurpose a whole tanker into a popup village. It's a rather fanciful answer to the question of what happens to old oil tankers when global geopolitics and peak oil means they're no longer needed.
http://www.nextnature.net/2015/06/from-discarded-mega-oil-tanker-to-village/comment-page-1 They'll need to allow for sea level rise when burning the old contents of the ships results in global warming. I still have a Loompanics book on the shelves called "Free Space" exploring strategies for living space outside traditional nation state jurisdictions. One possibility was taking old tankers, loading them with soil and then scuttling them on one of the Pacific Atolls that lies just beneath the waves to make an instant island. The idea above feels remarkably like this. Then there's the abandoned aircraft carrier arcology from Snowcrash. The big problems with all these ideas is the cost of moving the abandoned ship. And the scrap value of the metal. Getting and maintaining control is not going to be cheap.  [from: Google+ Posts] [ 10-Jun-15 8:34pm ] 08 Jun 2015 One of those, "My god you can't be serious, how could you leave out XXXXX" articles. Anything entitled "The 100 best albums of " is bound to be rubbish. But I'm surprised by just how much of this I've never heard or even heard of, but also how many real but little known gold'n'nuggetz they included.
http://www.factmag.com/2014/07/14/the-100-best-albums-of-the-1970s/101/  [from: Google+ Posts] [ 08-Jun-15 3:05pm ] 05 Jun 2015 Friday Night cocktail: The Passenger
Refreshingly long for a humid early summer evening after a day of thunder storms. 45ml Adnams Copper House Gin (or any good dry London Gin) 15ml Chase Elderflower Liqueur (or St. Germain) 15ml Fresh Lime Juice Build in an ice filled Collins glass, Top off with San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa (NOT Tango!), Mint garnish But mostly, San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa is good stuff that's improved with a bit of Gin! I am a passenger I stay under glass I look through my window so bright I see the stars come out tonight I see the bright and hollow sky Over the city's a rip in the sky And everything looks good tonight Singin la la la la la-la-la la (c)Iggy Pop [from: Google+ Posts] [ 05-Jun-15 6:17pm ] 27 May 2015 Bruce Sterling's Austin, Texas, SXSW keynote speech from 2014. "The future is about old people, in big cities, afraid of the sky."
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/03/the-future-is-about-old-people-in-big-cities-afraid-of-the-sky/284459/ Bruce Sterling's post today on tumblr of Austin, Texas in 2015. Photos of a city, floods, menacing skies. You can't see the old people because they're all in cars. http://brucesterling.tumblr.com/post/120005089208   'The Future Is About Old People, in Big Cities, Afraid of the Sky' »And four other intriguing things: when otters attack, the objects of brain interfaces, WWI diaries, and a digital model of a piano. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 27-May-15 9:11am ] 22 May 2015 Gin & Germain
Today's Friday Night Cocktail is the Gin & Germain. Except that it's not St Germain. I've been given a bottle of Chase Elderflower liqueur which is a 20% Chase vodka and Elderflower concoction which is basically the same. The Gin is Adnam's Copper House from our trip last week to the Suffolk coast. So without further ado, 50ml Adnams Copper House Gin 25ml Chase Elderflower 75ml Fevertree tonic Over Ice, Collins glass, Lime garnish. It's really just a slightly sweeter G&T with some extra flavours but just the thing for a muggy evening that's an hour away from a downpour. http://barnotes.co/recipes/gin-st-germaine http://adnams.co.uk/spirits/our-spirits/distilled-gin/ http://williamschase.co.uk/collections/all-products/products/chase-rhubarb-liqueur-20 [from: Google+ Posts] [ 22-May-15 6:37pm ] 04 Apr 2015 Orphan Black Series 3 is coming up with the rest of the world premiere in April 18. In the UK it used to be shown on BBC3, but their website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04210v9) says "no upcoming broadcasts" and the various commentary sites have no UK dates.
So how do I get to watch it in the UK? And preferably without the 3 day delay BBC3 used to have so I don't get spoilers. Inevitably, the BBC America site is region locked online viewing is prevented in the UK. There are sometimes ways round that as long as you don't get too creative with things like a Chromecast. Why isn't BBC America available on things like Virgin Media? I guess it's the same reasons as why Sky Atlantic isn't available. ;) http://www.bbcamerica.com/orphan-black/  [from: Google+ Posts] [ 04-Apr-15 8:34am ] 27 Mar 2015 Avast thah, me hearties!
Google have a new auto-proxy service that speeds up unencrypted web pages by compressing them on Google's proxy servers between the website and your device. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2392284?p=data_saver_on&rd=1 This has an unintended but hilarious side effect. There's a bunch of websites that are blocked by UK ISPs for copyright issues. So if you go to, for instance, http://newalbumreleases.net/ you will normally be blocked by a Virgin Media/BT/TalkTalk warning message. But if you have Google's data saving Chrome extension installed it acts like a VPN and side steps the block. Then there's https://thepiratebay.se/ They've sucessfully implemented an https:// scheme that also side steps the same UK ISP block. For the moment, we're saved. But stand by to repel boarders! [from: Google+ Posts] [ 27-Mar-15 9:22am ] 23 Mar 2015 I wonder if anyone appreciates how serious, how close and how inevitable this is. Are the answers really: "extremely", "24 months" and "totally"?
 Bill Smith originally shared this post: California is in the grip of a record drought tied to climate change. This water crisis holds the potential to collapse California’s economy if the state truly runs out of water. What an irony that the state most focused on global warming may be its first victim. California anchors U.S. economy. It has the seventh largest economy in the world, approximately twice the size of Texas. California’s economy is so large and impacts so many other businesses that its potential collapse due to a water crisis will impact the pocketbooks of most Americans. #California #Drought   Climate Change Puts California Economy at Risk of Collapse »California faces one more year of water supply -- a water crisis that holds the potential to collapse the state’s economy. What an irony that the state most focused on global warming may be its first catastrophic economic collapse victim. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 23-Mar-15 2:01pm ] 22 Mar 2015 Electronic music, released on cassette labels, from Novosibirsk.
http://calvertjournal.com/articles/show/3744/siberian-electronic-music-scene-klammlang-cassettes   Breaking the ice: the independent cassette label putting Siberian electronica on the map »A feature about the Klammklang label and the Siberian electronic music scene [from: Google+ Posts] [ 22-Mar-15 7:24pm ] 21 Mar 2015 If Europe is getting worried about immigrants from N Africa taking the perilous journey to Italy, there's an obvious solution. Make the countries of the southern and eastern mediterranean part of the EU.
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/europe-defends-itself/ Note: I hate contentious (and non-contentious) blogs that don't allow comments. But then I don't allow comments on my own blog because I can't be bothered to moderate them.   Europe Defends Itself »German NWO-magazine and US State Department mouth piece der Spiegel hates to say it, but Europe seems to be getting serious about defending itself against the waves of invaders from the South. In t... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 21-Mar-15 6:30pm ] 18 Mar 2015 Now this is interesting. Small (and quite cheap) daughter boards for IPod Classics that let you run CF Flash, SDXC cards and mSATA SSDs. This (for a price!) will let you build a solid state 1TB iPod Classic!
http://www.tarkan.info/ Hidden away in there is the gotcha for owners of the iPod Classic 6g/6.5g with the 80gb thin and 160gb thick. These used an unusual CE-ATA interface but this is just the ribbon cable. You can get and fit a very cheap alternate ribbon cable designed for the 5g, 5.5g and 7g iPods. This then let's you use the ATA disks. It's unconfirmed but it looks like this would let you fit the fat 240Gb disk in a 6.5g 160 iPod. The catch here is that the thin 80Gb and 160Gb fat iPod will only address 128Gb unless it's a hard drive. So while >128Gb hard drives may be possible, >128Gb solid state drives are not. You can however step round this limitation by using Rockbox to replace the firmware. So while there are some new upgrade options, it still looks like you need to start with the very last 7g classic with the v2.0.5 firmware. None of this is cheap in terms of the storage. And you may still have to switch to Rockbox because even if the firmware will accept use of the disk space it may still bork at the quantity of tracks and metadata.  [from: Google+ Posts] 17 Mar 2015 #WeLoveTheNHS Don't let them destroy it. And pay attention to NHS promises in the coming UK election.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/15/labour-and-tories-refuse-to-commit-to-doctors-nhs-funding-plea http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/15/nhs-needs-extra-8bn-to-survive http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/12/nhs-agrees-largest-ever-privatisation-deal-to-tackle-backlog  Labour and Tories refuse to commit to doctors' £8bn NHS funding plea »Alliance of senior doctors warn that future of health service will be at risk without extra £8bn a year, with the Lib Dems the only party to make any such pledge [from: Google+ Posts] [ 17-Mar-15 7:47am ] 13 Mar 2015 So farewell then, Zero the Hero.
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/rip-daevid-allen-founder-of-gong Proud to have seen you perform at - Hammersmith Palais - Watchfield Festival - Glastonbury Festival (Twice) - Cambridge Corn Exchange - And numerous times in my head. You Never Blow Your Trip Forever. http://www.lyricsmania.com/you_never_blow_your_trip_forever_lyrics_gong.html   RIP: Daevid Allen, founder of Gong | Music News | Etc | Tiny Mix Tapes »From The Guardian: Daevid Allen, the leader of the legendary prog-jazz eccentrics Gong, has died aged 77. The news was confirmed on the Facebook page of Allen’s son, Orlando Monday Allen. […] Last month, Allen announced he had been given six months to live, after cancer for which he had previously been treated had spread to his lung. “I am not interested in endless surgical operations and in fact it has come as a relief to know that the end is in... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 13-Mar-15 3:44pm ] 
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