An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
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Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
An early Saturday!
Julian Assange is to be extradited.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/24/julian-assange-extradition-sweden-verdict
@Quog,
my fault, not Kim’s; I set up the scheduling incorrectly. I guess I’d better let it stand now.
@Casey,
More on the Assange extradition from the SMH. He has 7 days to appeal the ruling.
Read last night that both Assange and the other side were set to appeal if it didn’t go their way. Apparently it could take months. Wikileaks supporters are [allegedly] going to start selling t-shirts with Assange as Che Guevara.
An interesting article on the ME uprising from the perspective of economic history. It covers a bit more than the Middle East, so I put it here, and anyway, I could work out which ME thread it should go on.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41737611/
Apparently Paypal has refused service to a legal defence fund set up for the benefit of Bradley Manning. Pretty appalling – seems like an underhanded means of denying someone access to justice.
Can anyone tell me (or direct me to an online resource that can give me the info) whether it is possible to convert a Roland BR-8 so that the tracks are recorded on an external hard drive rather than those piddling little zip discs? Son the first is trying to record some stuff and is mega frustrated. His guitar teacher made some vague allusion to this but, bless his cotton socks, the guy, while brilliant is a complete pothead and I want to be certain.
For those of you who are following it, my latest history post.
http://beingahistoryheadandotherthings.blogspot.com/
I don’t quite know what’s happening but of the past few weeks I’ve been getting a thousand or more hits a week, many of them from the US. A lot of them are just to look at the picture of the chihuahua on my first post, but I have started to be mentioned or linked to by some of the better blogs in the US on the American Revolution/War of Independence. [Puts away trumpet.]
So, if I seem like I’ve got a swollen head …
Paul, yes, that’s what sometimes happens with blogs written by people who actually know stuff.
Alan Jones from Sydney. Demented.
Can you tell me when it is appropriate to chastise the PM as if she is a tardy schoolgirl? Who has ever done that? For being 10 minutes late. Odious. Second, disingenuous man misleading his 12 listeners, seeks to reinterpret and concoct everything the PM has said into a narrative which suits him. Third disgusting rude fracker who would call a PM “Juliar”, call her deceitful, saying she stole the election etc, etc, putting up an even more demented comment from ‘Brad’ who feels as if he could cry, what with all of this raping from he govt, he, poor Brad has to tolerate?????
I’ve never seen anyone talk to a Prime Minister in this way. And they say the war on sexism is done and dusted and that it’s ‘more blatant’ in other countries. LOL. Check it.
http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=8186
At least she dusted the floor with him.
Helen,
Or am I being too cynical? Probably.
I would like to be a fly on the wall in the discussions between lecturers and students if/when some of this Australian stuff linked to the War of Independence starts to turn up in US university term papers unacknowledged.
Yes Casey – If the Gov can find a way to reach Jones’ audience unmediated they should do so. There is no excuse for that kind of conduct, Rudd was never subjected to anything approaching that degree of sheer rudeness. What a tiny minded little shi-it is Jones.
At Griffith University yesterday, I selected the vegetarian option from one of the university’s catering outlets, only to find that the dish consisted entirely of potatoes. I miss the vegetarian restaurant at La Trobe University 30 years ago where I could always get an excellent ratatouille in generous portions.
I’m not game to suggest to Griffith Food Services that they consider serving ratatouille because they’d probably think it was something in which the main ingredient is rats, or parts of the anatomy of rats.
I know it is hard to believe, but Neil Mitchell was even worse with his interview of the P.M. than, tosser, Alan.
She, incidentally, “dusted the floor” with him as well and stared down the little ant-levy campaign that the turkeys were beginning to run.
Paul Burns:
Being unacknowledged/unattributed just comes with the territory, I’m afraid. Just hold your head high …. and outpublish and outblog the concept thieves. Who knows but years from now somebody may look back at the student papers of some wallah who had become prominent and ask him why Paul Burns in Australia didn’t get a mention. Something similar has just happened to Germany’s flamboyant Defence Minister.
Helen (on 8):
You’re right.
That is grossly unfair to Julian Assange. He is only being investigated for alleged sexual assaults not for murder.
Tigtog, it seems to be taking a couple of hours for your comments to appear – I can see them in the sidebar but they don’t show at the post for ages. Weird, and kind of frustrating.
Oh Mock if you must, GregM, but being asked to answer questions about your alleged conduct is exactly analagous to dying in a hail of semi-automatic fire. Also there is nothing hackneyed about Che Guevara t-shirts. Nothing.
I heard Jones chastising Gillard for being 10 minutes late. Disgraceful. Surely that’s such extreme behaviour that it will backfire on him? He’s not a stupid man. I think he was hoping that she would explode at him so he could make a fuss about that. Of course, she didn’t.
Ah, yes. Assange=Guevara. Goddess save me from the banality of this hero worship. And I’m talking about both blokes.
Su, if Tigs gets antsy, don’t take it personal like. It’s cause she’s been asked that 124 times already. I got in trouble when she mistook me for someone she already splained it to. Aaaanyway, it’s technical – the splaining, it’s a tech thing. Some glamouring glitch with the machine I spect – though I don’t much understand it every time she tells it.
Though. Apparently we have to suck it up and just live with it. This is cause we have no power here. None. Well baby baby its a wild world these days. I propose we go protest at some square about it, with placards saying
“Bring the preview panel back!!!” and “Down with side bar!!!” and “JPZ is not the master of the universe!!!”
I am not sure, but I suspect they may cede on the third point.
EEK, question withdrawn Blogmistress, please don’t swish that riding crop so. Oh well, if you must.
mmmmm, kinky!
Yes, clichéd ’80s humour to match my Che t-shirt.
@su, @Casey, I’m not going to get antsy, promise!
I answer most comments via the backend, because it saves me time! This time I’m coming to the actual post (pout) so that you see this right away.
My comments show up in the sidebar quickly because of how the page is constructed using a modular system, and that module auto-refreshes. It seems to be a WP-multisite glitch, and perhaps one that is only specific to some browsers, this current thing where the same comments don’t seem to show up in the actual thread as quickly (I always see my own comments there just dandy when I go to look, so I’m going only on reports).
I’m curious to know whether refreshing the page makes my comments appear. I’m taking my cape *swish* back to my admin backend interface now for further commenting, and would welcome reports (which should only go here on this thread, not other threads please) as to whether a simple page refresh does the trick or not.
su @ 6,
I had a quick look online, and found the BR-8 user manual. It doesn’t mention any support for external hard drives.
However, your son does have another option: http://www.blamepro.com/mwn/br8-250.htm
An unused 250MB Zip drive can be bought on eBay for $15-20 + postage from the US…which would more than double his recording length/track count.
And, don’t quote me on this, but I can’t see any reason why a 750MB Zip drive wouldn’t also work. There’s one on eBay from the US for $30 + postage.
Hope that helps!
I’m moving to Tokyo on Sunday to take up a position as an Assistant Professor at Tokyo University Graduate School of Global Health Policy.
Tokyo! It has a population bigger than Australia. Should be interesting…
No Tigtog, your comments do not magically appear on refresh. If you want to increase your powers, I suggest you forget that interminable IT stuff which I didn’t understand AGAIN and concentrate on cape activities which are funner. Like finding a suitable blog sacrifice to be held on a full moon. Why I can think of a few right now that none of us would miss at all. From my wide ranging experience in the area of human sacifice, I assure you it fixes everything. Further I can find nothing in the comments policy about blog sacrifices, so I assume it’s doable.
Let me know.
Congratulations Assoc. Prof. sg.
Damn. Assis. Prof. sg. How exciting.
They use the american naming system, Casey, so “assistant professor” is the bottom rung. But it’s one of the best universities in the world, apparently, so it’s a nice place to be assistant professor, and the faculty looks really interesting – lots of opportunities for research in epidemiology and health services in developing nations. Exciting!
This one’s for Lefty E: Bitar’s email bombshell on the ‘Lindsay test’. It’s behind the Crikey firewall, so I’ll quote you the first three key paragraphs:
Good one, Bitar. Choose an urban electorate with possibly the longest commute to the CBD in Australia (55km, in case you’re wondering), and use it as the sole bellwether. No wonder the ALP nearly lost.
Interesting. At least they’re shit-canning it. Perhaps this is helping to give Gillard a bit more bravery?
Tigtog was going out back to comment again – should we be coding up a big old St.Bernard with a little old cask of rum, cos no further comments have appeared?!
Thanks Nick, that looks kind of technical but I guess we’ll have to do something along those lines – 100MB is useless, he now has 1.5 unfinished songs on a full disc and refuses to delete either.
@su – damn life and laryngitis! I’m off doing other things for a bit. Might try experiment over weekend.
TT, still happening. Now if you can come over here and help me with my work IT stuff, there’s a dear…
“Might try experiment over weekend.”
OMG hide the cocky!
Price comparison time…
Two years ago when i sent my 20″ iMac from Devon to London it cost me 70 pounds and took about 5 days.
Today, I sent a 24″ (I think? Anyway, fucking huge) iMac, 3 boxes of books, and two huge bags of clothes (one twice the size of a suitcase) from Beppu to Tokyo. That’s about 3 times the distance from London to Devon. It cost me 80 pounds and arrives on Monday morning (you get to choose 3 hour time slots).
Why people live in the UK if they have a choice is beyond me.
@Helen, my own IT work is nasty enough, ta. Have changed into black velvet sulking cape to come to front-end comment interface *mutter mutter*.
@joe2, cocky remains safe and sound, munching on next door’s citrus trees.
phew! eeeek! lemony!
SG congrats. Better to be on the lowest rung etc etc Keep us all informed ’bout your work
Su – PayPal unbanned them… http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/paypal-bradley-manning-lifted/
joe2: “She, incidentally, “dusted the floor” with him as well and stared down the little ant-levy campaign that the turkeys were beginning to run.”
Time to distance yourself from Gillard joe2, her latest carbon tax stunt will be the end of her.
Na, couldn’t do that PeterTB. In fact I celebrated today by signing up for a few more solar panels because, unlike you, obviously, I give a stuff about carbon pollution.
P.S. re cocky – cocky is not a caged bird. Cocky lives wild in the area with cocky’s chums and they go on the rampage in various local gardens whenever something they fancy comes into flower/fruit.
Here is original photo of cocky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigitogs/1469459213/
Can anyone recommend a good recipe for Chocolate Mousse?
@TT since we are talking IT thingys, with this natty new server thingy Jacques has put LP on, can we have nested comments back? Or have I opened a huge can of worms there?
I’m fairly sure that the LP collective has reached a consensus on our shared revulsion for nested comments a long time ago, Mindy. Or at least those who don’t care have deferred to those who do. I don’t even remember LP ever having them, and if so it must have been briefly, by accident, during an upgrade period.
Cold dead fingers, dragging them from, the situation is.
Tigtog and Mindy please forgive my ignorance but what is a nested comment?
Frizz Restaurant in Phonm Penh used to have an excellent and very popular Chocolate Mousse. I remember that Frits, the owner, said that the secret ingredient was the Bundaberg rum that went into it.
Poun, his manager, told me you had to use 70% cacao dark chocolate to make it.
I hope this helps.
Bugger, not nested comments, that thing LP had before where there was a post title and recent commenters underneath it. I don’t remember what it was called.
No, nested comments are of the debbil.
@ 9
when i first came to sydney i used to wake up to 2gb. i quickly found myself with morning sickness. and i wasn’t pregnant.
@Mindy,
the sidebar widget? That relies on a plugin, and when we tried to activate it on LP after the transfer, it broke the whole multisite deployment of that plugin for troppo, catallaxy, skepticlawyer et al, not just us. So now nobody on ozblogistan can use it.
Unfortunately, the developer for that plugin isn’t updating it much, plus it just doesn’t seem to work on sites above a certain number of posts/comments. It will probably stop working on Hoyden eventually too.
Maybe Jacques can work some magic, but there seemed to be a pretty good reason why it would end up with a constant timeout error once the underlying database got beyond a certain size. I wouldn’t be too confident.
Dark chocolate mousse.
melt 170 gms of dark chocolate ( Lindt 70% )with 60 grams of unsalted butter.You can add a shot of espresso if you like at this stage.
Use a double boiler and don’t let the mix get too hot nor too cold.
Separate the yolks from 4 eggs and place aside.
Whip the 3 egg whites with a tablespoon of sugar till it is firm – peaks will stand in the mix.
Whip 200 mls of cream.
The chocolate / butter mix should be warm enough for you to put your finger in without discomfort.
Mix into the chocolate (I use a wooden spoon ) the 4 egg yolks, then mix in half the whipped egg whites, then mix in the whipped cream and lastly fold in the last of the whipped egg whites.
Put in a bowl and refigerate for 6-8 hours.
Eat within a day.
.
The trick is to not over mix the egg whites and cream otherwise a separating will occur and the lower part of the bowl will have a liquid mix rather thana mousse.
This recipe is rich and a great dessert after a substantial meal- coq au vin , beef stew etc.
Good luck!
Casey @ 9, thanks, for the audio link, that was good, now if we could get on friday morning with Tony Biggs on the RRRs, yes i am dreaming.
Pabs
What murph said @51. Provided you slip the Bundy in with the espresso (or maybe later- the important thing is that you slip it in- lots of caramelly flavours).
Oh, and melt the chocolate slowly, Over simmering water is best. It’s a pain to this but it makes a big difference.
GregM: nested comments is what you have at something like slashdot: comment A can have one or more children B1, B2, B3, which in turn can have more children, etc. Generally, each generation of comment is generally indented by a certain number of pixels, making the whole thread look like a tree on your screen. It’s the sort of thing you find at Slashdot.
In contrast, LP uses a flat comment layout, which I prefer. It’s easier to scroll up and down on one’s mobile.
I just listened to the Gillard/Jones stoush (its NOT an interview). My God Gillard is a saint! I cant imagine where she developed the patience to not hang up the phone on him. I hope his behaviour backfires on him.
Why Ms Gillard wasted her valuable time talking on 2GasBags and 3ArseWholes is beyond me. I had to explain to my Canadian wife that Australian talkback radio is our version of Fox News Channel.
I think it might have been Mercurious who made the point elsewhere that the people who listen to this drivel would rather die then vote left. (or centre, which is what the ALP is, recent sanity notwithstanding.
Bob Carr explains why he used to enjoy a stoush with Alan Jones, and wonders whether Julia feels similarly.
I’m conflicted about this Alan Jones thing. On the one hand, why give the bastard oxygen? OTOH, Labor does need to counter his lies and misrepresentations. If Gillard can erode his credibility, well, good on her.
Am starting to become a Julia fan again, but I’m still a bit suspicious re her attitudes towards welfare etc, which got me really worked up a little while ago.
Thanks for the link Tigtog. Nothing like a rapid response!
I’d rather put a knitting needle in my ear then waste time with the likes of Jones, but I guess other people feel different.
Well until I saw the Carr link with the excerpt from Gillard vs Jones I would have been on the side of “Don’t give the twit oxygen” argument.
But, from the transcript, it seems she got the better of him tactically and ethically.
The latter wouldn’t be hard but the former is well nigh impossible on his little patch.
She seemed to manage it however.
Dunno how many of his fans she got traction with tho’.
I’m with Paul above, I’m a fan of Julia Gillard the master [??? ...what is the non sexist word...'expert/talented/mistress"?] performer but not sure about some of her policies, teacher bashing for example.
Still its hard to separate the person from the leader of the ALP isn’t it?
And, of course, bleedin’ obviously, she and they are much better than the alternative.
@su 6.
Re the Roland BR8, I have used the Roland BR16 and found the same poblem and could not find a viable solution with track transfer. My answer was to sell it and buy a m-audio computer based audio interface which came bundled with ProTools 8 LE which is a joy to use. There are other interfaces available on ebay that use Cuebase which is also similar to protools. The main draw back is if you have a suitable computer to use these programs with.
Christopher Pearson weighs in on ‘an unaccustomed oracular note’ to declare that the carbon tax will be the end of Gillard. He refer to an IPA commissioned poll,saying it shows that ‘Only one-third of Australians think the world is warming due to human carbon dioxide emissions.’
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/never-let-the-facts-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-plot/story-e6frg7ko-1226012238537
CP doesn’t mention the 38% of those polled for whom ‘There is conflicting evidence and I’m not sure what the truth is’ best matched their views from the proffered statements.
A quarter went for ‘The variation in global temperature is just part of the natural cycle of nature.’
The ‘only one- third’ CP points to went with ‘The world is warming and man’s emissions are to blame.’
http://www.ipa.org.au/library/publication/1298438094_document_230211_-_not_buying_the_climate_scare.pdf
What was that about not letting the facts get in the way of a good story? Stating that ‘only one-quarter of Australians believe we are experiencing climate change’ would be just as acceptable a response, using CP’s approach. Lies, damned lies, and statistics, CP.
The ‘statement’ options were so very, very loaded, too.
Whoops, big stuff-up in last paragraph. Meant to put
*Stating that ‘only one-quarter of Australians believe the variation in global temperature is just part of the natural cycle of nature’ would be just as acceptable a response, using CP’s approach.
Kevin @61, yes – I wanted to go down that route from the start but the lad likes analogue technology and has some peculiar ideas about where the boundary between digital and analogue lies. I mean – it is recorded on a zip disc so surely that means it is digital technology!? Half the attraction is playing with all of the twiddly knobs and sliders I’m sure, and using a computer keyboard just doesn’t give the same satisfaction.
Kuke @ 39 – Thanks for the update. I’m not sure I believe Paypal’s explanation, but that is good news.
I hope your (recurrent??) laryngitis gets better soon, Tigtog.
Anita [and all]
The IPA.
As you are probably aware that mob have no credibility.
I was listening to Radio National a week ago and near the end of the show on tobacco [see link at the bottom] the IPA’s Tim Wilson was caught out, sprung badly thus:
“IP Australia can confirm that the claims made by the Institute of Public Affairs are incorrect and misleading.”
Here is the relevant section.
“Hagar Cohen: Tim Wilson says he’s recently obtained Freedom of Information documents proving that the government agency Intellectual Property Australia, has advice that plain packaging isn’t legally sound.
Those FOIs are also being used by the Chairman and CEO of Philip Morris International, who’s mentioned them in a recent investors’ conference in New York.
Louis Camilleri.
Louis Camilleri: IP Australia, the government’s own agency responsible for advising on intellectual property policy matters have stated that it believes that plain packaging may not be consistent with Australia’s intellectual property treaty obligations.
Hagar Cohen: In Melbourne, Tim Wilson says the documents he’s obtained are revealing.
Tim Wilson: Well the documents tell a surprisingly large number of things. Firstly, that there are people within Intellectual Property Australia who believe that plain packaging would violate WTO obligations, and Intellectual Property Australia wasn’t consulted, that there may be breaches with our bilateral trade agreements, that the evidence or that robust legal advice the government has, would appear to be very weak, according to internal discussions, and that they believe that it will not necessarily cover the government.
Hagar Cohen: Background Briefing has shown a transcript of this explanation to Intellectual Property Australia, and we received this comment in response. It reads in part:
Reader: IP Australia can confirm that the claims made by the Institute of Public Affairs are incorrect and misleading.
IP Australia’s advice in documents released under the FOI Act acknowledged that tobacco companies would see plain packaging as a restraint on the use of their trade marks. The advice indicated that they may try to challenge the legislation implementing the policy. The advice did not suggest that a successful challenge would be made or that the tobacco industry would be entitled to compensation.”
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2011/3139515.htm#transcript
su @ 64, the controlling software for the nifty soundcard would have all kinds of virtual sliders and knobs. It’d keep the lad occupied for hours.
If your son likes that old analogue sound, you should buy the lad some phonograph cylinders, su.
The phonograph has it all. It sounds crappy, and is both fiddly AND expensive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EdisonPhonograph.jpg
Su – sorry to echo the bad news, but for the sake of “convenience” (!), these otherwise excellent for the money recorders have no ability to address an external volume, as they say.
You should tell him that the signal in it is only analogue until it gets through the input preamps. ALL the processing is digital – EQ, dynamics, FX and mixing down are just ones and zeroes bouncing around.
It does have a digital output, in the form of optical s/pdif, which depending on your soundcard might be able to connect to a PC. But this will only record the mixdown, not the separate tracks. If that’s what he wants, no problem, but if he wants individual parts kept separate, then it’s going to be annoying… Doable, by exporting a solo “mix” of each track on its own, but hardly better than arseing around with Zip disks.
If you can talk him into recording and mixing just on PC, then he’ll probably be a little more limited for simultaneous inputs (depending on your soundcard), but a whole WORLD of know-twiddling will open up. If mouse and keyboard annoys him as much as it does me, there are plenty of cheapish generic “control surfaces” that are just a bunch of knobs and faders which connect by midi to the PC, and you can assign whatever functions/parameters to them you like and control the software much more organically.
Also, download Reaper. The free version is not limited in any way like everyone else’s “LE” or “light” or “demo” package, and it is incredibly cheap even if you do decide to pay. Compatible with all DX and VST plugins (i.e. almost everything everyone makes for fun processing), and easy to use (though this is a concept relative to both user and what you’re comparing with). Certainly easier than protools.
For an also-free but much simpler package, try Audacity.
This is getting tedious to passing readers perhaps, so if you (or anyone, hell!) want more info about anything audio, old or new, get LP to give you my email. Free advice, and if you’re in Melbourne the option of paid consulting/procuring/repairs/installation. I can get deals well below retail for friends, and anyone contacting me from here qualifies.
Ewww, sorry LP.
/crass spruiking
Good call Duncan. I’m sure the Br-8 has a wax cylinder-cutter output round the back someplace.
Seriously though su – if he’s really into analogue all power to him. Tell him to learn how to solder and order some kits online for valve mics preamps, compressors, EQs and stuff. Even the same design and parts, built twice by the same person, won’t sound identical. It’s a cheap, time-consuming way to get really unique sounds before those nasty A-D converters force you into software.
sg (on 24):
Congratulations!
(on 28): I’ve never been happy with the anglosphere’s use/abuse of the terms: professor, doctor, colonel, general, etc.; it’s time for reform of all titles. b.t.w., Benito Mussolini was Professor Mussolini before he became Il Duce – so let your ambitions fly.
(on 35): You asked “Why people live in the UK if they have a choice is beyond me.” That’s easy: for the food and for the bracing climate, of course.
Anita says,
In terms of the beneficial effects of a carbon tax, the science is actually not that important [queue silly comments from people with poor English comprehension]. Fact is that the major emitters aren’t even close to doing anything to reduce emissions, so therefore we will be wasting our time and money with this silly approach.
The responsible thing to do is to commit to fall in line with the large emitters when they act – to encourage them.
Unless you want to talk nuclear……
Assistant Professor SG @24
And Tokyo has a land area twice that of Brisbane (and 35 million people to fit in it).
Thanks (and ouch) FDB. Judging by my fruitless googling which only turned up a number of other plaintive SOSes, the webs were in dire need of a definitive answer so I hope people will forgive the tedium. I discovered PAIA last year and the lad and a relative put together his first guitar pedal from smallbear over the Christmas hols – definitely the way to go, but I just don’t have the know how, hence our mutual frustration.
Back to your regular programming.
That’s good to hear su. Another generation of folks who want to go beyond dialling up presets on a dinky little window is heartening. It’s going to be increasingly the case that if you want analogue gear you need deep pockets and good connections, and/or soldering skills and some basic electronics nous.
I was going to recommend PAIA by name, but figured I’d been crass enough with my mercantile shenanigens. I’ve built a vocoder, a few mic preamps and a little monophonic synthesiser from their kits. It’s sometimes worth upgrading the parts – chunkier capacitors especially – but they give excellent instructions and support, so if you want to go beyond just assembling something to a diagram you can learn quite a bit.
Seriously though, do get in email contact with me if you want advice or you’re in Melbourne and want to buy something. The place I work at has decent deals with the distributors of pretty much everything.
Before I forget: let me add my congratulations to Assistant Professor sg.
Thanks kids!! I just had my last onsen (hot spring) experience in Steamy Beppu (and nice it was too) and am going on a sake and plum wine pub crawl to finish it off. Then I have to start being all serious and professorial, I suppose, and hold forth about something important over my plum wine (how’s that for pretension!!?) But if Mussolini could do it, so can I. I suppose it’s worth remembering that Gaddafi’s son is, theoretically, qualified to be an Assistant Professor as well.
What illustrious company I am keeping!
Provided that you don’t aspire to the pretentions of Mussolini or Gaddafi’s sprog, sg.
Congratulations, and enjoy.
If you’re wondering why LP and the rest of ozblogistan were AWOL this morning, Jacques has a techy explanation.
If you don’t care about the details, be reassured it was just one of those server glitches, it has been glowered at and showered with invective, and it’s now behaving properly.
Best comment on a youtube thread ever:
“She has more fun in 31 seconds than I have in my entire life.”
“Might try experiment over weekend.”
The site has been down for hours and hours, Ms tigtog. Thankfully, the rest of the interweb has been left standing.
@joe2, not guilty, m’lud! I never did nothing, guv!
@29 Down & Out: Wow. Hitherto that was only as much as I suspected (the giveaway was when JG made the mind-boggling inept error of being seen within 100kms of the NSW Premier in the final week of the Federal campaign – IN PUBLIC. It was as if they had no idea at all about electioneering. I then realised Bitar was in fact more interested in NSW politics all along).
The definitive proof is utterly damning.
NSW Right – they name is FAIL.
And what FDB said about Audacity – best sound edit software edit evah.
No doubt I will be floundering again over this in the future so that would be great FDB. Is it possible to pass the email deets on Oh Allseeing Ones?
@su, happy to pass deets along if FDB confirms he’s happy with that
/arsecovering
FDB
Thanks for the tips & recommendations re music mixing/ manipulation.
As a part-time/ hobbyist DJ I miss the organic feel to mixing real-time off vinyl, but I certainly don’t miss the logistics of walls full of the stuff and lugging around many kilos of plastic fantastic from venue to venue. Very happy to have my music collection on a hard drive with the obligatory back-up – (something i never had in analog days).
I think Protools is better than Audacity.
I agree Protools is certainly better/ more advanced Fine, but its harder for beginners to use. Audacity is very intuitive.
Holy cow! Some non-religious students have been forced to sit in on scripture classes in NSW public schools!
http://www.news.com.au/national/made-to-listen-in-on-gods-lessons/story-e6frfkvr-1225999404604#ixzz1F8120Pzi
Barry O’Farrell is opposed to the new ethics classes that Kristina Keneally installed this new school year to overcome these problems for non-religious students, but O’Farrell has wisely pledged to keep the ethics classes. A few conservative religious leaders like Pell and Jensen are still upset with the ethics classes and no doubt will be pressuring O’Farrell to abort them.
Essentially past a few thousand comments it breaks down, no matter how I rejig the query or the PHP code. The underlying schema causes MySQL always to go to disk to create the join tables.
tl;dr it’s performance arsenic, sorry.
Approximately 3 hours, according to my records.
It seemed cunningly timed to catch the early risers of the East while I slept in until ~9 here in Darwin.
True Lefty E. It has a few little quirks I find irritating.
“It seemed cunningly timed to catch the early risers of the East while I slept in until ~9 here in Darwin.”
Today the East tomorrow the country.
….so iT is Jacques Mubarak Chester, interweb killer, who must be watched!
Apology Ms tog.
Audacity is entry-level stuff, to be sure. Plenty of good stuff, easy to use.
Protools is the proper shit. You can do anything at all that anyone has ever done. But it’s inextricably linked to proprietary hardware and it’s not very easy to learn.
Cubase does everything too, and though you don’t need special hardware they’ve made it harder (especially with the latest versions) to try it out and decide if you want to commit.
Reaper is the frickin’ bizness. The only ‘downside’ is that it doesn’t come with a whole bunch of processors. Personally, that’s a plus for me, cos instead of bringing up the default EQ or reverb or compressor or whatever, you think about which one is best to use (as in protools).
One thing that’s super-awesome about Reaper is the way it stacks up takes when you’re going repeatedly over a looped section of a song and improvising variations. It’s really easy to switch between one take and another, and to edit together a final part.
Screwing with tempo is also very easy, with no discernible oddness. So you can seem to be a much better player than you are. Not that I’d ever resort to such chicanery.
Audacity is free. Dunno about Protools.
I actually had a play with an Edison Phonograph when I was a kid (more than 50 years ago, I reckon). I reckon every cylinder would’ve been individually cut – I don’t see how you could press such a thing.
Reaper is free.
Reaper Reaper Reaper.
Get it if you care.
End communication.
I’ll try to get Reaper, FDB.
Hmmm … just went to Reaper’s website FDB – it doesn’t look free. They mention $40.
Fuck it, there is no try DI(NR), just get it 11!! This thing was called Reaper, not Reaver, right?
Thing is, su, I got Audacity (free), and it works. Reaper looks not free from their website, so …
I prolly won’t even try.
BREAKING: Wisconsin Police Have Joined Protest Inside State Capitol
Upthread a way I mentioned Reaper has an “evaluation” copy for free, which is in every respect identical to the incredibly cheap $40 version, except each time you start it up it reminds you that you haven’t paid yet.
The “free” trial versions of other programs invariably limit your options in some way, prevent you saving projects, or expire after x days from installation.
But does “Evaluation Reaper” come with free salmon mousse?
This Wisconsin thing seems to be getting very little publicity in Oz but from my fairly uninformed understanding, the Koch bros., fathers of tea bagging, have just over-dipped.
I imagine this is quite a significant event in U.S. politics generally.
Whacko! Viva Wisconsin Libre!
Here’s hoping the Wisconsin unionists win their fight. Its no surprise its hardly been covered over here. The big-business backed media likes to keep the Australian worker in the dark.
On a lighter note, sort of, is this Bleak House, Louisiana style?
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20110227/ARTICLES/110229562/1212?Title=New-suit-filed-in-historic-claim-to-Last-Island
Test
Don’t know what the coverage of the ongoing Wisconsin Follies is like over there, but it’s possible you folks aren’t getting the whole story accurately. It’s being cast by the left and by the MSM (BIRM) as a fight over principle, when in reality it’s more like a fight over practical nuts and bolts, as well as over political leverage. I didn’t realize that myself until I started looking deeper into the question. It’s still possible for a reasonable person to side with the unions on the matter of nuts and bolts — but it’s a lot harder to do that way, and the case you have to make is more complex, rather than simply wrapping yourself in the flag of alleged principle and joining a drumming circle.
Governor Walker gives a good accounting of his position in this interview (transcript here.)
Also, Ann Althouse over at the Althouse blog has been doing outstanding work covering the whole thing. Althouse lives and teaches in Madison, so she’s right there on the scene, taking pictures and video, giving commentary on all aspects of the dispute. An excellent new-media source from a highly informed law professor with a maverick disposition.
Here’s the thing. When I first read about all of this, as a general supporter of unions (surprise!), my reaction was the same as many people:
1. The state is facing a grave budget crisis;
2. So the governor has demanded give-backs from the public employee unions to fix the budget;
3. The unions agreed to the give-backs;
4. So what’s the problem? Why is Walker causing such a fuss?
Well except that I temporarily forgot everything I ever knew about life on earth. If you’ve ever been involved in any sort of serious horse-trading (I have), especially in a complex labor dispute (hey, I did that too — labor side, btw), you know how many ways there are to give with one hand and then take back with the other. Even Chuang-tzu talks about it in his parable of the monkeys and their keeper. Walker explains all this in the interview in detail, as it relates to the state’s situation.
And therein lies a crux. Simply because the unions agree to the give-backs does not mean they will actually happen, and unless the whole thing is ironclad (which is really what Walker is seeking), there they all will be again next year, except another billion or so deeper in the hole.
Listen, guys, for real: the Koch brothers are not the bogeymen here, that’s not a serious person’s position.
The essence of the problem is: practical, political/ethical, and tactical.
Practical — see above. Walker doesn’t believe he can get a deal that will actually materialize unless he hobbles the unions as a matter of law. Is he correct? I don’t know, but his argument is well reasoned, not fanatical as people have (often fanatically) suggested, and it must be taken seriously. It can’t be argued seriously in the present circus atmosphere, and with the Senate Dems having shamefully absconded from their sworn duty, in order to nullify the results of a legitimate election. “This is what democracy looks like” they chant?! No, democracy was when the left got slapped silly by the voters in the recent free election. It’s what they like to call, a ‘teaching moment’ — but the lesson is one the left doesn’t like.
Political/Ethical — Collective bargaining is a good idea in principle, and for the private sector it’s always a good idea. But for the public sector it presents several political and ethical challenges, the most obvious of which is, self-dealing. (DISCLOSURE: I have many, many friends who are members of public-sector unions. I understand their concerns fully, and in normal times I generally sympathize.) Here’s the thing: in the private sector, a union bargains with the company owners, and they both represent their up-front self-interest. So they give and take what is rightfully theirs to give and take. But a public-sector union does not bargain with the “owners” (viz. the taxpayers), it bargains with politicians, who are elected/bought using the campaign coffers of… the public sector unions. This is (or can devolve into) self-dealing, plain and simple.
In good or even normal times it is an ethical lapse that a society can (and probably should) afford to ignore, because it brings the superior benefit of guaranteeing a decent standard of living to working families who happen to provide services for the state. And that’s a good thing. I get that. In fact, I’ve lived that. But in bad or abormal times this ethical lapse necessarily comes under the microscope, as many other things do. It may be that, thanks to the warped recent history of US political economy, it’s simply a luxury that can no longer be afforded. This is an uncertain point, and it’s one that should be debated — but debated, not screamed about or lied about. This conversation was had in public last November, and it so happens that the left doesn’t like the consensus. They should remember their god-king Obama’s despicable sneer in similar circumstances: “I won.” How’s that shit taco taste now, thugs?
Tactical — yes, I believe it’s true, the GOP is using the Wisconsin struggle as a template which if successful will be enacted nation-wide to curb the power of the public sector unions, which are basically a species of Democrat-electing perpetual-motion machines. Is this a form of political war? Why yes it is. But it is merely a reprisal against the Democrat political warfare which deliberately uses such structures as clubs with which to beat the GOP. That’s, well, politics, and it ain’t pretty, but it’s how the game is played.
My two big problems with this conflict, on the two different sides respectively, are:
GOP — contempt for the opposition, which I think is undemocratic in spirit if not on paper, and spirit matters more. A 4-point margin of victory merely gives one a mandate to govern, it doesn’t give one a mandate to re-make the world in one’s image. Of course that is precisely what King Bammy was trying to do since before he got the brush-back during last November, innit. Hey, remember? Mercy, how time does fly.
Dems — the attempt of the state senate to nullify the results of an election, which is an absolute outrage. The protests are irritating but they are totally legitimate; the flight of the Dem senators OTOH is utterly despicable. Of course, what you’re seeing right now from the left is a micro-version of its very own Tea Party: that is, an attempt to mitigate an electoral loss by taking to the streets. I think it’s legitimate. But when the right did the exact same thing with the Tea Party, you leftists reacted very, very, very dishonorably.
Remember that.
Moderator — I wrote a longish comment here trying to explain the Wisconsin protests as seen from my spot in the peanut gallery, but it went into moderation, probably because it’s rather long. Sorry about that, but the topic does require a spot of delving into. If you could fish it out I’d appreciate it, as it represents a bit of effort. Thank’ee.
Seriously jpz, get a blog! You can sign up for a free one with a webmail address even.
I know a guy who, a few weeks back, was offering blogs to anyone who asked.
1. The Founding Fathers of Wisconsin instituted their quorum laws for reasons that may well have encompassed the present circumstances. If Wisconsinites don’t like some of the consequences arising from these circumstances, they are free to change their constitution.
2. Dishonorably? Dishonorably??
“get a blog!”
Sorry. Y’know, I get that it was long-winded, but I don’t think you’re being fair with that. The comment is an anatomy, not a rant or a screed. It’s a service to those interested. The situation in WI is complex, and there are nuances that may not travel to Oz, and people upthread were interested and talking about it, so…
If I contribute anything faintly useful around here, it’s a viewpoint from across the Pacific. So I was doin’ me duty, guv.
I do apologize for the Tolstoyan length, though.
Did you know that “Stephen King” is really just one of the pen names of Joyce Carol Oates?
Now THAT’s scary.
j_p_z, I believe that it was the quality of your comment as much as its quantity that promted TT’s call to get your own blog.
And not in a bad way.
You’re too kind, FDB
FDB — I’m confused by the ambiguity of your tone. If that was a slap, then why not make your case? I’m a good listener!
Thing is, Japerz, the governor of Wisconsin could fix his problems by raising taxes. That’s how any sensible government would deal with that situation.
I merely meant to say that TT’s call may have been to the effect that someone with plenty to say, on a wide range of topics (irrespective of agreement with your viewpoint &c &c), is the sort of person whose blog, if they had one, would be interesting and worthwhile.
You would still be free, and welcome I’m sure, to come here and link to it, and you’d get plenty of bites on your links I think.
I completely agree with FDB @ 116, btw, Japerz. I’d certainly read it.
DInr — “the governor could fix his problems by raising taxes”
Two things are wrong with that assertion:
1. It ignores the fundamental (and I would say increasingly undemocratic) issue of who gets paid, and who pays, and why. If you understood the local political dynamics more you might almost be inclined to view it as a species of baksheesh. It’s not good nor democratic to create special categories of citizens, which is what this has been evolving towards.
2. I believe Bob Marley made the argument best:
“Every day the bucket it go a well,
One day the bottom a go drop out.”
Japerz, I view taxes (preferably progressive, so wealthy people pay proportionally more than poor people) as the way we fund a civil society, not as a form of theft. I’ve noticed that wealthy Americans (and, increasingly, Australians) don’t generally agree.
I suggest that there are already special categories of citizen – the underpaid public sector workers, people who live in areas where there isn’t the capacity to pay land taxes, and so on. (Yes, I’m a kind of socialist.)
DInr — what I think it actually suggests is that you don’t quite have an accurate view of tax structures and tax stratification as they exist in the US, nor what the long-term effects of the policies are.
This is not surprising; I know zero about Australian tax policy. But I don’t have strong opinions about it either, and that’s one of the reasons.
I also would read JPZ’s blog.
I don’t really understand taxes in the US, Japerz (although what I do understand strikes me as being a rather strange way to go about things).
For instance, as I understand it in many localities at least, schools (etc) are financed out of land taxes. Since you don’t get much land tax out of a slum, this strikes me as an excellent way to entrench disadvantage.
And on topic—there are undeniable problems when public sector unions have political links to Parties and Governments.
On the one hand there’s the conflict of interest taken by unions such as the PSA/CPSU (disclosure: my union) which isn’t just representative of public sector workers but formally affiliated to the Labor Party. Personally I think the nurses, teachers, fire brigadiers etc. have been wiser by disaffiliating or choosing never to affiliate. On the other hand you get really ethically murky situations like in pre-Wood Commission NSW, Victoria and Queensland in the Joh years where the police unions more or less dictated the makeup and policy directions of the senior officers, if not actual investigations.
I don’t know enough about WI labour politics to say how much of that goes on in the state.
Well look at that slip of the keyboard. I could imagine a bunch of Fire Brigadiers would be very well dressed, and competitive about being promoted to Fire General or demoted to Fire Colonel.
I’m fairly confident that TT didn’t suggest “in a good way” that Japerz should get a blog.
However, I too would read Japerz’ blog, in a good way.
Katz — yes I agree, I don’t think tt intended much in the way of an encomium wit that’un.
OTOH I also don’t think yours @ #111 (which I had missed earlier) is up to much of a good standard. But the thread seems to be waning, ceteris paribus, so I’ll let you off with just a sternly-worded note to Old Lady Herlihy, Headmistress for Student Discipline, pinned to the lapel of your anorak.
“Anorak”, is it, Japerz?
Do you, by any chance indulge the hobby of train-spotting, incognito, on some dank English Midlands branchline in your spare time?
I imagine you tucking yourself into a narrow British bed with Horlicks drying on your upper lip.
“Anorak, is it?”
See, now this is what I get for trying to be “multicultural”!
.
Or for that matter, just for reading “The Seafarer” or “The Weir” too much.
Given the clime, I don’t expect most Australians have ever had any reason at all for ever wearing an anorak OR a parka (or a snorkel) — which is what we always called it.
But man, they were sorta fun.
Back in the days when the Ramones were still fresh, I used to teach my kindergarten-age kid sister to sing “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” and “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” while we were washing the dishes… and then she would return dutifully from school with a note pinned to her tiny parka, reading something like “What exactly is GOING ON in your household??!!”. They didn’t yet know to go !!!111!! In those primitive days…
Having just returned from a day’s seminaring, I confirm that my comment to jpz had more than one meaning.
A) the comment was indeed a leetle long, in general, for what we like to see in the flow of discussions here;
B) it was also well written and informative, and stuff like it would definitely attract readers to a blog where such positions were expounded at length.
“Don’t know what the coverage of the ongoing Wisconsin Follies is like over there, but it’s possible you folks aren’t getting the whole story accurately.”
Maybe youse folks aren’t getting too much of the story either. Wonder how that could be?
http://www.truth-out.org/the-liberal-media-strikes-again68115
Well joe2, I guess it’s just like the Pez dispenser always says:
Pez ipsa loquitur.
j_p_z,
In Britain, “anorak” is slang for (as wikipedia puts it):
I’m not sure if that was a meaning you intended in your comment, or one that Katz was obliquely referring to in his response (trainspotters are the source of the term).
But, either way, in the context of this discussion, “anorak” seems an apt description for you, rather than for Katz’s overgarment.
I too would read JPZ’s blog in a good way, ut I actually came here to quote Clive Hamilton in today’s Crikey — a passage containing a moment I think all old LP hands will enjoy, despite the serious subject matter.
PC, just imagine the effect were Graf von Bazarov and Joe Cambria to join the Press Gallery as well.
I got spat on and threatened with being a victim of systematic murder “When the Revolution comes!” by various lefties during my student politics days.
Crazy people are not a monopoly held by any corner of politics.
If it is the same “Graeme Bird” (and the rhetorical similarities are compelling) then there is hardly a person alive today he has not abused in like terms.
Mr Bird was an endorsed candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party in 2007, I believe.
[cough] 182 votes [cough]
That many?
Perhaps Mr Bird appealed to the Tourette’s Community.
Ask not for whom Dobell polls, it polls for thee.
And Birdy’s campaign platform was a list of demands, giving everyone the impression he was not so much standing for Dobell as holding it hostage.
David Hicks claims proof Howard govt interfered.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/hicks-claims-proof-howard-govt-interfered-20110302-1bdy0.html
I’m starting to think The Greens don’t understand how government works when it comes to ASIO – http://www.zdnet.com.au/asio-handed-powers-to-share-spy-data-339310563.htm
BOILOVER!!! Ireland chases down England’s massive total of 327. Tiocfaidh ár lá!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/03/3153576.htm?site=sport§ion=all