If there’s one thing I won’t miss from this year at university, it’s the tutors who can’t write email.
Uni Email - One thing I won't miss
The World On Your iPod: OpenPodcast.org, and its natural successor
Back in 2004, Ben Tucker created OpenPodcast.org. The idea: Let anybody contribute to a community-run podcast; anything that gets sent in, goes out to the world.
This was one of the first steps to making podcasting a feasible platform for regular people. At the time, ‘podcasting’ was new, hacky, and took a level of technical understanding to implement. OpenPodcast.org served as a platform for content producers, back when implementing the system yourself was difficult.
I found OpenPodcast.org in 2005, and I was blown away. Every morning, hours of audio would just turn up: rambling telephone monologues (which became the basis for many early audio-blogs), independent music, as well as produced shows like the Sound-A-Day Podcast. I was experiencing a whole new world of content, thanks to this free, unmoderated platform.
In 2006, OpenPodcast.org went offline. It simply disappeared. Devoid of the service it provided, many producers moved to Blogger and Feedburner, which were making podcasting simpler. Content found its new home, as well as a better prospect for being found amid the sea of new media.
The death of OpenPodcast.org left the internet devoid of one particular service, though: a constant, always-on tuner for the audible world. Open, centralised platforms like OpenPodcast.org allowed for an intimate view into people’s everyday lives, from all across the world, in one place.
What’s replaced it? I would say AudioBoo.fm. It’s the only thing to fit the bill since OpenPodcast.org’s demise, allowing people to add a slice of their life to a collective pool. While slightly UK-biased in its active user base, it is truly a successor to the type of service OpenPodcast.org delivered almost five years ago.
My only question is, why did it take this long?
“Unsuccessful”
One life I won’t lead.
Not that I'm bitter or anything
Rant: Red Dwarfs
In a somewhat popular article on the Big Bang theory by Jon Skindzier, he notes:
“[The universe collapsing] probably won’t much matter to us — the sun will have long since gone all Red Dwarf and destroyed the Earth.”
Now, let’s think about this. A star’s colour is given by its surface temperature. ‘Cool’ stars are red, while ‘hot’ stars are blue / white.
When a star collapses, it gets hotter and becomes a white dwarf. When it expands, it cools off and becomes a giant. This is why stars can become white dwarfs or red giants. Make sense?
Right. Here’s the thing: while red dwarfs do exist, they are not a result of a star getting old and using up its fuel: these small, cold stars lie at the base of the “main sequence” of stars (while our sun is mid-way), and never amount to a red giant or white dwarf.
So, the sun, or any other star, isn’t going to go “all Red Dwarf”. Not even if it collides with Craig Charles.
In summary: Don’t take your physics lectures from an entertainment writer for AskMen.com.
PS: New articles coming this week.
Further reading: Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
A Quick Primer on Standard Form
Here’s a very short basic guide to standard form I put together for a friend.
If you’re starting on a maths or physics-related course, these things should be second nature. Get the PDF here.
Clarinet & Accordion Trio, Millennium Bridge, London
I was in London this past weekend, during which time I came across one of the more awesome street performers on offer in the city. In this case, it was a trio: a clarinetist, an accordionist, and, well, someone playing an upturned basket with empty drink bottles. Totally digging the improvisation. It makes me want to listen to Benny Goodman or Artie Shaw...
Video after the jump.
Continue reading Clarinet & Accordion Trio, Millennium Bridge, London »
The Sad State of DNS
It’s amusing to see that sites like wwwwwwwwwwwwwww.com are registered, as I did in a spout of boredom yesterday. But then it dawned on me.
How many thousands of dollars are being spent every year renewing these junk domain names?
About one third of all domains made by repeating a single letter are registered (I guess after 20 characters things get a little samey?)—A breakdown of registered sites is shown in the chart above.
Data scraped from public whois databases using a Ruby script.
Merry Christmas!
Here is a recording made on my iPhone and processed with Ardour2 of bells ringing at the local Christmas Eve service.
Happy holidays, and have a good start to the new year!
Photo A Day, Flash Heads, and Why Am I Here?
Once again, I’m taking up the challenge of taking one photo a day, maybe even for a whole year. Who knows.
Above are photos for the past two days, the first being on the day I started: November 24th, 2008. I’ll be posting an update monthly with my best shots, or you can watch everything on my Flickr page.
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In other news, I’m about to take my first dive into the world of studio photography. gasp
Earlier today, I ordered a set of two Elinchrom D-Lite flash heads with various other bits and bobs, hopefully to arrive tomorrow. The last time I played with a flash unit was in a portraiture course at the Edinburgh College of Art this past summer, and they’re just so fun. I can’t wait to play with them!
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And finally: Welcome to my new blog. As the subtitle suggests, it will be a little more arty than my last attempts, but I’ll make time to talk about technology and productivity, two issues that I fight with daily. x.x
Until next time, take care, and I’ll have a review of the D-Lite units up soon!