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only I spell it Nature.
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- On 2006 in retrospect: "Name=http://techno-internet.blogspot.com/ all about internet,computers and last technologics,gadgets and devices=all about interneta . . ." [worrons]
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Recent posts
- Household inventory management (20 Jun)
- Music recommendations and information retrieval (19 Jun)
- Grameen Bank (1 Jun)
- Rieff on Sontag (28 May)
- Queer times pudding (23 May)
- Morality is complicated (9 May)
- I'm your man (8 May)
- Catching a cold from the cold (4 May)
- Apple / Microsoft marketing philosophies (3 Apr)
- How to build an accelerometer (30 Mar)
- Subverting the fairy tale (9 Mar)
Recent media
- Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (*** Film 6 Aug)
- Matthew Barney: No Restraint (*** Film 6 Aug)
- Team America: World Police (* Film 10 Jun)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (*** Film 28 Apr)
- Among Friends: Who we like, why we like them, and what we do with them (*** Book 1 Jan)
- 84 Charing Cross Road (**** Film 20 Dec)
- Boogie Nights (** Film 19 Dec)
- Garden State (*** Film 10 Dec)
- One Soul Now (*** Music 11 Nov)
- Hearts in Atlantis (*** Film 7 Oct)
- House of Sand and Fog (**** Film 17 Sep)
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Wednesday, 28 May 2008
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Rieff on Sontag
I am listening to an interview with Philip Rieff on his book recounting the experience of watching Susan Sontag, his mother, die of cancer.
In one ear: Ramona Koval, smart, straight-talking Australian, and in the other, WASPish Rieff, who is quick with works but uses them as defensive structures rather than as corridors for ideas.
There are all kinds of things you can't say, including comparitively anodyne things. For example, you can't really tell someone you love them, because if you tell someone you love them in the tone of voice you use with a dying person, what you're actually saying is, I love you and you're dying. So better not to say that for the other person's sake, even if you might yourself have wanted to. That's the way it was.
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Friday, 23 May 2008
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Queer times pudding
I listened to the delightful Ramona Koval on The Book Show reading from Mrs Beeton and declaring to her colleague, "Here's one for you: queer times pudding!"
What could be more a propos? I've found a Beeton website, but alas it's not there.
Anybody? Anybody?
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Friday, 9 May 2008
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Thursday, 8 May 2008
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I'm your man
Dear neglected weblog. What on earth shall I do with thee?
Today I walked with a couple of friends on the hills behind Sumner. It was dark,but I had my new headlamp. I ordered a couple of curries from Little India, and the man gave me free poppadoms because it was a slow night. Returning, I spotted a seal on the edge of the road. The two people standing nearby were DOC staff, and they commented to me that they didn't know much about seals. Me neither. It was a young one at the edge of the road next to Peacock's Gallop, and it looked bony but alert enough. I ventured that diagnosis. The DOC staff said there had been a few calls — the police had been called...wildlife in Christchurch? Clearly some kind of emergency.
I came home and started watching Leonard Cohen: I'm your man — Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Antony, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave, Beth Orton, all singing Leonard Cohen songs: I could barely contain myself. Beth was stunning. Rufus.
I moved into a new office today. A tiny speck of change amidst a torrent. Castle Hill looks in the window upon me, alone.
"The killers in high places say their prayers out loud" [applause].
Regards.
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Sunday, 4 May 2008
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Catching a cold from the cold
We all secretly know that you can catch a cold from exposure to cold, but science says "no."
"Exposure to cold weather will not give you a cold because colds are caused by viruses, says Professor Raina MacIntyre, adding that there are around 200 viruses responsible for the common cold." — Professor Raina MacIntyre at ABC Factbuster.
This is like saying I ate a sandwich because I had a sandwich in my hand, when really there are many factors that lead me to eat a sandwich.
Now, science has a new idea: having a cold nose increases our susceptibility to viruses already present in our nose. We know we live in a sea of viruses and bacteria, and our bodies fight a battle constantly. Exposure to cold may tip the scales so that disease may catch a foothold. OK I don't have a link for this, but here's a link about influenza being more resistant to attack in colde temperatures.
Personally, I know that one time I caught bronchitis from inhaling paint dust. The doors were being sanded in preparation for painting at my office, meaning they were open all day while the sanding occurred. Later in the day I felt a pain in the back of my nose, that became a cold, that moved to my lungs, and that resulted in several days off work. So everybody can stop investigating now, because I've proved it.
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