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[08 Jan 2010|01:15am] |
OMG I finally know what I want for christmas
http://bit.ly/181OWm
Please, please pretty please?
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| Fanboy Supercuts, Obsessive Video Montages |
[07 Jan 2010|11:54am] |
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music |
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Little Boots -- Stuck on Repeat |
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Annoyingly, most of these have been pulled already, e.g. "House: every 'lupus' reference": This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by NBC Universal. Fuck you, NBC Universal. How do you imagine that nuking this video helps your bottom line? "Gosh, I was going to watch House, but now that I've seen all the lupus references at once, I guess I won't bother."
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| Ethics of Free Software community research |
[06 Jan 2010|01:41pm] |
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Most of this entry is exactly a year old today and it's just sat around
in draft form all that time. Since I posted something
similar on Geek Feminism about research into women in tech and similar
topics, I thought I'd get it out there.
In January 2009 a researcher named Anne Chin of Monash University Law
emailed the chat list for the linux.conf.au 2009 conference asking for research
subjects to be interviewed about licencing and Open Source software. There were
several responses criticising her use of HTML email and Microsoft Word
attachments. I'll leave the specifics of this alone except that people should
be (and probably are) aware that this is almost always an unknowing violation
of community norms.
I did, though, think about making some notes on research ethics and Free
Software research. A bit about my background: I am not a specialist in ethics.
I'm somewhat familiar with ethics applications to work with human subjects, but
not from the perspective of evaluating them. I've made them, and I've been a
subject in a study that had made them.
For people who haven't seen this process, the ethical questions arising from
using human subjects in your research in general covers the question of whether
the good likely to arise from the outcomes of the study outweighs the harm done
to the subjects, together with issues of consent to that harm. (There are many
philosophical assumptions underlying this ethical framework, I don't intend to
treat them here.) Researchers in universities, hospitals, schools and research
institutes usually have to present their experimental designs to an ethics
committee who will determine this question for them and approve their
experiment. Researchers who work across several of these (eg, a PhD student who
wants to interview schoolchildren) will need to do several ethics applications,
a notable chore when the forms and guidelines aren't standardised and
occasionally directly conflict. Researchers working for private commercial
entities may or may not have a similar requirement. Researchers who use animals
also have to have ethical reviews, these are done by animal ethics committees,
which are usually separate.
At my university, essentially any part of your research that involves
measuring or recording another person's response to a research question and
using it to help answer that question needs a human ethics application.
( 6 more paragraphs )Originally posted at http://puzzling.org/logs/thoughts/2010/January/6/ethics
Please comment at http://puzzlement.dreamwidth.org/8991.html using OpenID.
See http://puzzlement.livejournal.com/253667.html for more info about Dreamwidth.
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| Donating our OLPC XO |
[06 Jan 2010|12:30pm] |
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Way back at linux.conf.au 2008 there was a large OLPC XO giveaway, but with
the rider do something wonderful with this, or give it to someone who
will. Neither Andrew nor I received one directly, but Matthew Garrett gave
his to Andrew essentially on the grounds that he wasn't going to do anything
wonderful with it. (If I have the chronology right, Matthew had a stack of
laptops in his possession at the time and did things to them regularly,
generally making them sleep on demand.)
In any event, neither Andrew nor I did anything wonderful with the XO: Andrew
intended to look at some point at Python or Python application startup times
(the Bazaar team have a bunch of tricks in that regard), but two years is a lot
of intending.
Still, better late than never. In the spirit of the original giveaway, we've
handed it over to be taken to New Zealand by someone going to linux.conf.au
2010. It will be donated to the Wellington OLPC testers
group, who meet weekly to work on various projects and who are somewhat short
on machines.
If you are similarly (morally) bound by the linux.conf.au 2008 giveaway
conditions, aren't doing anything wonderful with your XO, and are going to
linux.conf.au 2010 or can get your XO there, you could do likewise. You could
drop off to Tabitha
Roder at the education miniconf, the OLPC stand at Open Day or otherwise
get in touch with her. (You probably want to let her know yours is coming
anyway, so she has a sense of whether to expect one or two, or a
truckload.)
Other possibilities include getting involved in the Sydney group or
checking if they'd have a use for laptop donations. (They meet more regularly
than that wiki page implies; they are now meeting at SLUG.) I don't know what
the status of the OLPC
library is. The webpage being down is probably not a great sign, but
perhaps collaborators would help John out there. You'd at least be doing
something meta-wonderful.
Originally posted at http://puzzling.org/logs/thoughts/2010/January/6/donating-our-xo
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| Well done, Kodak! The Goatses will continue until morale improves. |
[05 Jan 2010|12:44pm] |
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Powerman 5000 -- An Eye Is Upon You |
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 How to show everyone what's on your Kodak frame. So much win: - If you know or guess the MAC address of any Kodak wireless digital picture frame, you can extract the images that are displaying on it.
- You can also remotely reset the frame, meaning you can 0wnz0r it and change its image sources.
So Kodak has built an appliance for letting complete strangers (a) browse your family photos, and (b) beam shock porn directly into your living room! GOD BLESS AMERICA! This all works because the appliances won't connect to (e.g.) Flickr directly, they only phone home to Kodak's server, which then proxies all of the requests. But at least they're using OAuth instead of making you type your Flickr password into Kodak's server. This is a little surprising, actually, given the tip-top job their security engineers did of designing the rest of the infrastructure of this product line. I guess I ought to add a WebCollage source to generate random Kodak MAC addresses for use as an image source!
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| Two Thousand Nine -- A Year in Review |
[05 Jan 2010|11:10am] |
Originally posted at The Blight
As the new year has come around, I thought I'd again bring you some of the past year's highlights (see the post from last year). Two-thousand Nine was marked by two major changes for me: the first, that I actually got enough room for a full studio; and the second, more subtle but much more far-reaching, that I have adjusted my focus to higher quality over quantity (both in events attended and pictures taken). I'm no longer going to three shows a week and taking a million photos; rather, I'll attend two and shoot a few score. So without further blather, here are my favorites from 2009 --
(Every image can be clicked to enlarge)
Jill Tracy for Constellation Magazine
It seems fitting to start with one of my last images of the year, this portrait of the beautiful and talented Jill Tracy; after all, I've had a whole year to hone my craft, and I've hardly been sitting idle... Jill and I have been speaking of doing a photoshoot for years, and I'm quite pleased with the results which will grace the cover of Constellation Magazine, shot at her apartment in San Francisco. You may find some of her magnificently malevolent work at her website, JillTracy.com
Savannah, Raven
This photo of Dreamtime Circus performers Raven and Savannah marks the first official studio shot I ever took; the white of their makeup and costumes, provided by them, was a happy coincidence.
Calamity Lulu, Quaintrelle Designs
It's a serendipitous thing indeed to have as a partner someone as beautiful and talented as miss Calamity Lulu (who made everything you see in this Tudor gown), who now runs a costume and fashion line called Quaintrelle.
Eva, Quaintrelle Designs
Following the thread of both studio work -- still a relatively foreign concept to me -- and costume design is this photo of Eva, where the outfit and assistance directing comes again from Lulu.
Jenny Atomik atop the Sunshine Biscuits factory
Jenny Atomik and Mike Estee came to my studio for a photoshoot, and it was only appropriate to use the architecture and neighborhood as a setting and backdrop.
HUMANWINE poster/flyer shot for show promotion
Visiting from Boston, I had the distinct pleasure of befriending M@ and Holly of HUMANWINE, whose music I've enjoyed for years. The concept and editing for this photo were done by M@ for an upcoming show in Boston. Go listen to their music here.
The Man burns at Burning Man 2009, shot from a boom lift
Watching the burn from a boom lift -- the best seat in the house -- was an incredible (and fortuitous) honor. The story of how I managed to get up there was one of luck and timing, to be told another day. Thanks again to Cameragirl, Andy, and Gadget.
The DPW of 2009
This motley crew is responsible for the building of all the infrastructure of Black Rock City not provided by the participants themselves: the generators, the roads, the trash fence, heavy machinery (for setting up art, etc.), building the Man and Center Camp: the list goes on. But they also stick around after the event is over to clean up the detritus left by 50,000 people who, though good at policing their own trash, are by no means perfect. This image is a composite of seven photographs shot in quick succession with little to no direction from me (I just flipped 'em off to get the official DPW "salute").
John Cervelli in the Black Rock Desert at Fourth of Juplaya
John and I went for a ride and a glass of wine after I finished a grueling two-day epic ordeal to get my blasted car out of the mud. The surface of the playa is treacherous: undisturbed, the dry lakebed turns from tan to white when there's water beneath the surface as salt rises up from below; it's subtle, and if you're driving 25MPH and looking for a crossing over the railroad, you'll quickly find yourself in the middle with a hard way out.
My camera post Burning Man
I am a very vocal proponent of relax and use your damned camera. This isn't to say I go out of my way to damage my gear, but I don't expend much effort to protect it, either: because everything you do to keep your gear safe is one more hindrance to taking a shot. And the harder you make it, the fewer pictures you'll take. Many people refuse to bring their nice equipment out to Burning Man, safe guarding it at home instead (where it takes no pictures). Rather, they bring out cheap gear -- and then, when it dies, use this as justification for not bringing out the good stuff. Counter intuitively, the high quality (and hopefully weathersealed) gear would have been just fine. It all boils down to this: did you buy the gear to sit on a shelf, or to take pictures?
Eva at the Edwardian Ball
My favorite portrait from the four days of Edwardian Ball last year, this picture of Eva in her fantastic swimwear was hastily taken in the middle of the crowd in front of the stage. This year's Edwardian Ball is rapidly approaching; do you have your costume yet?
Vau de Vire girls spin 'round the room
One of the most technically difficult (read: "lucky") shots I took all year is this one of two Vau de Vire girls spinning around in big circles in an drastically underlit room in the upstairs lodge of the Regency Ballroom for Sunday's Edwardian Ball.
The fabulous Victor at Supperclub for the Marquis Fetish Ball
A frequent performer with Bad Unkl Sista, Victor can always be counted on for some of the finest costuming and makeup. This was just a quick snapshot on the stairs at Supperclub, where after plenty of contract wrangling, I was finally OK to shoot the Von Gutenburg/Marquis Fetish Ball.
Other than Burning Man, only three of the above images come from events, a marked departure from all of my previous years. I learned photography backward, diving headfirst into the chaos of parties and clubs and galas without ever meticulously working in a controlled environment; it just seemed the natural way to do things. These days, working in a studio is something of a double-edged sword: you have full control over everything, but it's up to you to make it work.
2009 was great -- here's to 2010.
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| videos |
[02 Jan 2010|06:43pm] |
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There is a certain thematic continuity to the first few.
Consider this evidence of a world gone mad.
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| Today in Torture Phallus news: |
[02 Jan 2010|01:39pm] |
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music |
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Oxygiene 23 -- Adonis |
] |
Ducks fight the battle of the sexes in their genitals The male duck's penis is spiral-shaped: like a corkscrew, it twists in a counter-clockwise direction so that sperm will target the oviduct on the female's left-hand side. In almost all birds only the left ovary is functional, but in a 2007 study, Brennan and colleagues noticed that in ducks the female's vagina twists in the opposite direction. Brennan thinks that, while the males are evolving long and flexible penises to help them force copulations, the females are using their complex vaginal anatomy to take back control over which sperm fertilises their eggs. When a female wants to mate with her chosen partner, she can make the process easier by relaxing the muscles around the vagina entrance. Brennan's team also timed the male's penis eversion, which took a mere one-third of a second - around 60 times faster than was previously thought (see video above). "This definitely gives the males a mechanism by which they can copulate," says Brennan, who was taken aback by the speed. "To be totally honest, I'm still in shock," she says. Previously, previously, previously.
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| how deep does this navel go? |
[02 Jan 2010|01:24pm] |
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music |
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The Faint -- The Geeks Were Right |
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There are 15,740 social media gurus on Twitter. 445 social media gurus
12 viral marketing gurus
340 internet marketing gurus
20 new media marketing gurus
41 digital marketing gurus
68 social media stars
8112 social media marketers
2091 social media consultants
807 social media experts
931 social media strategists
576 social media agencies
79 social media ninjas
626 social media companies
271 social media marketing specialists
560 internet marketing specialists
154 internet marketing agencies
401 digital marketing agencies
206 digital marketing strategists
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| My 'Aughts |
[01 Jan 2010|09:02pm] |
In the end, all you have are your stories. Every year that you don't have at least one story, be it good or bad, is a waste of a year. The following are my own abbreviated adventures that I experienced from 2000 to 2009. For each and every adventure, there's a story to go with it. May you enjoy my journey down memory lane just as much as I did.
( My full adventures are below the cut )
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| A public service announcement on decades. |
[01 Jan 2010|06:40pm] |
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music |
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Duchess Says -- A Century Old |
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Many of you seem to be confused about this. The 201st Decade, known as "The Aughts", ended last night. - The "Twentieth Century" ran from Jan 1901 through Dec 2000.
- The "Nineteen Hundreds" ran from Jan 1900 through Dec 1999.
- The "Nineties" ran from Jan 1990 through Dec 1999.
- The first "decade" only contained nine years, making it an "enneade".
Some people say that the current decade should be called "The Teens". I think we should only call it that if we pronounce the first few years as "Twenty Teen", "Twenty Oneteen", and "Twenty Twoteen".
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