on the internetz.
Simon Pegg has been tapped to play the young Scotty, in the upcoming Star Trek movie. An interesting choice, and one I look forward to watching. Plus mabe this means there may be a future Spaced special where Scotty comes through some kind of rip in reality and meets Tim, his evil bearded doppleganger…
We can but hope.
There is some movement across the EU to allow in-flight calls from mobile phones. At the moment this discussion is in its early stages, as all the national air regulators need to approve it, but the very fact that it is even being discussed seriously worries the hell out of me.
Even ignoring the possibility of remote triggering of terrorist devices, my vote is firmly against allowing in-flight mobile phone calls purely for social reasons. Smoking, that most anti-social of social behaviours, has already been banned on the grounds of safety but people of my age may well remember the frustration of being on a long haul journey when smoking was allowed. So instead of that pervasive stench, imagine the constant nattering of people on seats all around you loudly talking into their phones, or the beeping of text messages arriving. Argh! It’s already making me feel tense and I’m on the ground right now. Innovation in communication is a wonderful thing, but sometimes common and social sense should win out.
Today is Google’s 9th birthday – hence the natty pinata design they have on their home page. In some ways it surprises me that they’re that old, and then it feels like I can’t remember what life was like without being able to ‘Google’ anything. I’m sure even Larry & Sergey didn’t envision that it would turn out like this. Here’s to another interesting nine years…
Right now I’m about ready to keel over… At some point soon I’ll reveal all as to why this is, but suffice it to say that it’s a ‘three buses come along at the same time’ type scenario.
On the plus side so much has been done my whole self is glowing with completion endorphins.
More blogging when my fingers recover from typing. Nighty night.
Well after almost a full day of no Skype, the wonder peer to peer telephone app, after their mysterious unexplained outage it looks like most people can now log on again. It’s slow to sign on right now though and it’s not letting me make some profile changes, so guess not all is good in the woods. However this whole event means we now know more about the Skype ‘heartbeat’ page.
In most likely unrelated news, my website host is having their own issues, so at the moment Matt Hobbs is fine (ie, here) but is Useful is unavailable. They claim it will be back up soon, but it’s already been down since 9pm last night so that’s now 12 hours.
Hmm… maybe the whole internet just has a 12 hour cold or something. Makes you appreciate the value of a good sysadmin person!
Lightning + Empire State Building
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.
Well I’m glad I didn’t fly anywhere tonight. The most amazing lightning storm has been raging around New York for the last two hours. It kicked off in Jersey and just passed into Brooklyn about 45 minutes ago bringing torrential rain with it. Luckily I’d just bought my bike back in.
And the other good news is that it’s really taken the edge off the heat. That and I didn’t go on my roof to take pictures this time… probably would have been a good idea.
Admiring Fans of the 1990s @ Union Pool
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.
Last night went and caught up with Jess & Gerald down at Union Pool, backed by cause coMOTION and 1990s. Have to say that cause coMOTION didn’t really do anything for me with their uber short songs that all blended together. They had a few nice sounds but most of it just felt like noise. 1990s were much more pop rock and easier to get into, with some full on Scots accents in between to make me feel homesick. 1990s were tight and played a great set, full of rocking, guitar driven, catchy songs. I don’t think they’ll knock Franz Ferdinand off their ‘top spot’ but they are a very different sound. Go check them out tonight at Mercury Lounge if you get a chance.
Another usual morning in the Old Port, Montreal. While waiting for our usual morning coffees at the splendid Olive et Gourmando, M noticed John Hannah checking her out from the corner. His hair was pretty long so we weren’t 100% sure at first, but it turns out he’s in town for the filming of The Mummy 3, along with Brandon Fraser, Jet Li & Michelle Yoeh, but unfortunately not with the ever stunning Rachel Weisz. Ah well.
And no, yet again I did not take a photo, but suspect John Hannah pics ain’t quite as valuable as one of Brad. Sorry John, I prefer you to Brad but somehow I don’t think posters of you adorn as many walls as his do.
Oh, and Rowan Atkinson is floating around town somewhere today prior to presenting his latest Mr Bean flick this evening. Not to mention the other assorted global comedy stars for this years Just for Laughs festival.
The Kinetica Museum, slated to be the site of the first demonstration of the Orbo perpetual energy device from Steorn, has now announced that the opening of this exhibit has been “postponed until further notice”...
Not only has Steorn failed to get their alleged invention working in the real world, but Kinetica themselves are now staying closed until this exhibition is working. Could be a long wait, and makes me feel that Kinetica has no viability as an entity outside of Steorn’s marketing.
The current full noticed from Kinetica’s site follows:
“KINETICA OPENING DELAYED: Due to technical difficulties the planned demonstration of Steorn’s ‘Orbo’ free energy technology has been postponed until further notice. As a consequence, Kinetica Museum will not be open to the public during this period. A technical assessment is currently underway and information regarding the rescheduling of this demonstration will be posted on the websites of Steorn and Kinetica as soon as it becomes available. We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”
Today at the Kinetica Museum in London, Steorn are supposed to be demonstrating their new Orbo technology – a technology they claim offers free energy, or perpetual motion as it’s also known. As of now, July 5th 3pm BST, the demo is not working – with the following explanation:
“We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today. As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”
Hmm.. Note the use of the word ‘assessment’ twice – is this th pseudo-scientific equivalent of multiple exclamation marks???
Yes, as someone with a Physics degree and aware of the laws of energy conservation & entropy, I’m highly sceptical of free energy – highly efficient maybe, free no. That said I’d love to be proved wrong, as would many people, and I suspect that’s why Steorn has so much hype.
[UPDATE: It’s now Saturday 7th July, and the opening of the Orbo ‘demonstration’ has been delayed indefinitely pending further investiations. Going directly to Orbo’s site gives a “Virtual Folder Unavailable” error, and Kinetica themselves have delayed their opening. Hmm. The plot thickens.]