distractedbyathing.net

Thanks for the greetings people… and can it really be 5 years since my 40th.

Petrols play at my 40th birthday

We had a great party with some great live music.. including for of The Petrols playing together. Here’s some photos from that party – weren’t we young!

This year after breakfast at Granny pam’s we’re off to see Ponyo with Charlie (now a Miyazki fan after watching My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso on TV recently).

Looking geek chic, Computer Engineer Barbie® wears a t-shirt featuring binary code and computer/keyboard icon along with a pair of black knit skinny pants. Computer Engineer carries a Barbie® smart phone, fashionable laptop case, flat watch and Bluetooth earpiece. With stylish pink-frame glasses and a shiny laptop, she is ready to conquer the day’s tasks on the go or from her desk.

via Computer Engineer Barbie coming soon to a toy store near you • The Register.

Lovely – real fans will spot all the references:

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL—NASA officials announced today the successful launch of the new shuttle Moonage Daydream, marking the beginning of a long-anticipated two-week conceptual mission inspired by British rock star David Bowie.

From The Onion

Funny – via Martin Kelner’s Guardian column:

[set on a british inter-city train] a passenger gets a cappuccino, a cheese and tomato sandwich, a packet of crisps and a Kit Kat and hands over payment, saying: ”I’m sorry, I’ve only got a twenty-pound note.”

The buffet car steward replies: “Well, you’d better put the Kit Kat back then.”

The column also discusses ESPN’s “Free View Weekend”. I watched (some of) their coverage of the Milan Derby. An eventful and quite interesting game. I don’t understand why anyone would want to PAY FOR a subscription though… especially when they subject you to long (4+ minutes?) of ads in the breaks. Pay a subscription and still get bombarded with (stupid!) adverts – How is that supposed to appeal?

The Professor

Don’t forget Eno Night on BBC Four this evening (then repeats – MythTV box primed and ready!)

I’m excited to finally see (missed it on TV last year) the film of the Apollo missions that the very wonderful Apollo soundtrack was made for. (See Guardian mini-interview from last year).

Also – last week’s Observer had some extracts form Paul Morley’s interview (for the TV) with Eno – I particulalry liked this quote:

“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn’t last, and now it’s running out. I don’t particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you’d be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.”

Similar to Bowie’s “music like water” quote from 2002

”Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity,” he added. ”So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.”

Link to Eno Night schedule info

1. 21:00–22:00
   Arena
   Brian Eno – Another Green World

   A profile of Brian Eno, former Roxy Music keyboardist and a pioneer in ambient music.
2. 22:00–23:00
   Brian Eno: Hits, Classics and Tracks

   Paul Morley talks about some of Brian Eno’s hit tracks, including Heroes and Viva La Vida.
3. 23:00–23:55
   The Roxy Music Story

   Profile of the glam band Roxy Music, who reformed after 25 years to make a new album. (R)
4. 23:55–01:10
   For All Mankind

   1989 documentary relating the story of the 24 men who travelled to the moon with NASA. (R)

Great commentary and collection of links on the recent news on Google vs. China.

Bruce Schneier is well respected in computer and real world security – always worth a read.

Schneier on Security: Google vs. China.

Bowie - Nov 2009 SoHo NYC

My hero David Bowie is 63 today – so Happy Birthday to him.

It’s been several years since his last album (Reality, 2003) and well publicised ill-health whilst on the tour to support the album – and he’s been laying low with infrequent media appearances (celeb stuff with his wife Iman, supporting his son’s movie “Moon“, some movie and music cameos). Recently there’s the stamps thing plus a new live album (based on the live DVD) of his Reality tour out at the end of the month.

There has been no new music either rumoured or released – and some fans have speculated that he’s really not well.

It was almost a relief when back in November these photos surfaced of DB walking around in SoHo NYC looking quite the dapper man about town (what’s in that bag? a new album?)  

So – happy birthday DB and lets have some new music you old bugger!

This is from last summer -  but I just bumped into it.

A comprehensive list – many I know and remember fondly – many which escaped me till now (e.g. No 2 “Christian the Lion” – how had i missed that?).

It’s hard to argue against the “Star Wars Kid” being at No 1.. but my favourite is still probably “David After Dentist” (No 7 – if you only watch one… watch that one).

A good list with useful contextual commentary too.

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos [Full List] – Urlesque.

Originally broadcast back in August to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Miles’ Kind of Blue album,  I finally got round to listening to this today (whilst cleaning the kitchen). It’s a good one hour doc presented by Brit trumpeter Guy Barker with plenty of clips of the record, interesting comments and historical interviews. I have a copy in mp3 if anyone’s interested.

BBC – BBC Radio 2 Programmes – The Secret Kind of Blue.

I’ve been involved or around all of these over the years.. AI and CASE at BP’s IT Research Unit in the late 80’s. Thin Clients (yeah!), ERP, B-to-b marketplaces while at Oracle and more recently Enterprise social media.

IT snake oil: Six tech cure-alls that went bunk.

In most cases I think the approach, ideas and technology/applications are (still) valid – it is the expectations which were incorrect:

• HYPE & timing:
  • over-estimating the short-term impact; under-estimating the long-term impact
  • technology is not quite ready/mature enough – yet the trend is towards what’s required
  • Vendors always over-HYPE the potential of the tech and it’s impact
• resistance to change:
  • most people and organisations resist change and most managements can’t/don’t/won’t lead their employees properly
  • as the article points out -people like the way they do business already