Here are links to three of the free tracks I’ve found on Amazon UK over the last week (you have to be in the UK to download these). The best is probably the dark and brooding Robert Rich track but I bet the retro (very short) Phil Collins track will appeal to plenty, even if not much to me.
Filed under: Music | 1 Comment »
I’m heading to California en route to OSCON (where I’ll be speaking on Wednesday at 5:20pm about open source continuity – use code os10fos to get a 20% discount if you’ve still to buy your ticket). I just got a voicemail from the airline delivered as a transcription by Google Voice and it’s definitely trying to put me in a California retro mood:
Hello. This is united with an easy update. Departure reminder message. United flight number 9:55. You will be departing on time, and hence. Yorty 5 hey m once again flight, yeah 9:55. Yum. Yeah, London Heathrow. 2 Yeah Francisco, California. Yawn. You July. Hey extinct. Yeah, we’ll be departing on time, and hence. Yorty 5. Hey M, flight information is subject to change. Please check the flight information. Monitors at the airport. Thank you for choosing United. Goodbye.
Hey, yeah extinct yum baby.
Filed under: Travel | Tagged: Humour, United | 2 Comments »
By way of explanation for my preoccupation and paucity of publication of late, I finally made it back home today after my trip to the US with ForgeRock. We had a varied and busy trip that included several visits to potential customers and partners. I also had the chance of dinner with James Gosling and an interview with Robert Scoble, as well as many press engagements. There’s no doubt that interest in OpenAM is strong.
Both journeys were affected by the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. On the way out, we had to route round the ash cloud, so the plane was 4 hours late departing due to the inbound flight doing the same, and then we flew first almost to Stavanger (home of so many colleagues) and then north of Iceland – you can see the route from the airshow screenshot. We eventually arrived in San Francisco about 7 hours late.
On the way back, the flight Monday was canceled completely and I found myself in an airport hotel at SFO. Then Monday morning I went to the United check-in and was faced with a day on standby. Fortunately I’d already browsed flight alternatives and was able to “help” the agent find a pairing with standby seats via Washington DC. Providentially, both segments not only cleared but also upgraded and I was able to fly home in relative comfort. Thanks to Jasmine at SFO Red Carpet Club, who was able to achieve in moments what a Global Services agent found too hard.
Filed under: Travel | Tagged: ForgeRock, Volcano | Comments Off on ✍ Home, Pele Permitted
In the best traditions of both british music and democracy, Thea Gilmore wrote a song to celebrate the election. Some people – politicians in particular – seem to think that the election is the chance for British citizens to express their views. We then hear ridiculous statements about how “the electorate has voted clearly to…” {demand tax cuts | oppose health care reform | say no to proprortional representation | demand electoral reform|…} from people with the predictive chops of a fairground fortune teller.
Rubbish. I voted for a representative. I wanted to be represented. To do that requires constant consultation. An election doesn’t have enough bits to encode everything I want to say to my representatives. So I’ll still be using my voice.
Filed under: Issues, Music | Tagged: Thea Gilmore, YouTube | Comments Off on ♫ I’ll Still Be Using My Voice
I’m sitting at Heathrow Airport waiting for my flight to the US, volcano permitting, reflecting on the week.
It’s been a busy week on multiple levels. Last weekend I was up in Liverpool at OggCamp, where the photo to the right was taken after my keynote address – one of the delegates had brought a full picnic basket and we sat eating cake and drinking Pimms on the steps in the centre of the city.
OggCamp was a great event, full of energy, enthusiasm and optimism (which I almost felt sad to be damping with my pessimistic views on the future of our freedoms). An unconference created on-the-spot by the attendees,, it was well worth the trip to Liverpool (despite the Millwall “fans” on the train home). I’d recommend attending next year.
Following OggCamp I went abroad for the start of the week, spending an intense three days with some really great people talking about a very exciting set of plans and ideas we share. I’ll be announcing full details on Monday when I’ll have two pieces of news I find tremendous.
The week ended with the general election in the UK. No political party has overall control in Parliament and I view that as the best outcome from a bad set of options. The politicians have the chance to create consensus-driven minority-led government, if they choose to set their egos and power-lusts aside. Drawing together the views of many individuals is exactly what’s needed to deal with the hard problems that face us – participating in a highly-meshed global economy, providing security in a connected society without eliminating privacy and rights, conducting politics in a diverse and rapidly changing society.
For those sorts of problems, we need people who understand the connected society first-hand rather than from the dinner tables of the powerful. I think that a Parliament where respect for the views of many is an essential predicate for progress is actually what we need, rather than the hollow bluster we heard from the political parties.
Filed under: Issues, Links, Travel, Webmink | Comments Off on ✍ Changes, Personal and General
It’s Saturday, and we’re sitting around listening to the rich soundscape of the new Hybrid album Disappear Here (there’s a free track from it on Amazon UK). One thing led to another and now we’re listening to their latest dub set (the second one in the list below) on SoundCloud. Blissful.
Filed under: Music | Comments Off on ♫ Saturday Hybrids
More of my weekly music picks. They are free of charge, as long as you’re in the right place to get them. This week’s favourites: The Six Degrees Sampler and the great Loscil ambient track.
| Loc | Title | Artist | Comments |
| USA | Coupled Key | Cydelix | Acoustic Spanish guitar lead, dreamy electronica backing, earnest piano melody growing to sustained sound-wall with psychotic fiddler – yes, people, we have a decent instrumental chill-out track on our hands. |
| USA | The Best Treasure Stays Buried | Zoey Van Goey | Sounding for all the world like a junior Suzanne Vega |
| USA | Dub for Cascadia | Loscil | Great ambient track that could have escaped from the Myst soundtrack. |
| USA | Album: Global Grooves Sampler | Six Degrees Records | Another great sampler album from Six Degrees, with eleven quality tracks of world music. |
| UK | One Time | Justin Bieber | A taster for the latest teen heartthrob. Disco heaven but I’ll be waiting until his voice breaks before I listen again. |
If you don’t already have it, bookmark Mercedes-Benz Mixtape. Every eight weeks the M-B marketing folks post a new mix of new artists on this page, complete with a zip-file of the MP3s for easy download from anywhere (mouse over the player and click “MP3 Downloads”).
Filed under: Links, Music | Tagged: MP3, Music | Comments Off on ♫ More Music Picks
Music picks. Because I like them – Bonobo is best this time.
| Loc | Title | Artist | Comments |
| Global | Bright Orange Air | Inlets | Enjoyable acoustic track with close harmonies and quirky modulations. They are at SXSW Music. |
| Global | Eyesdown(Warrior One Remix) | Bonobo | Dancing wildly in a darkened room with the bass turned right up. The original track is cute as well, see below. |
| USA | Rocket | Goldfrapp | This was on my UK list last week, now available for US download as well. |
| USA | Album: Six Degrees Sampler | Various | Great selection – try listening to Ceu if you’ve not already |
| UK | AlphaMonsterMashUp | AlphaBeat | Boppy poppy mashup of Lady Gaga tracks, nicely done. |
Here’s the original of that Bonobo track:
That’s it for this week, more coming soon.
Filed under: Links, Music | Tagged: MP3, Music | Comments Off on ♫ Music Picks, Probably Free
Another week, more music picks (a bit early because there has been some great stuff this week). I keep playing Lake Orchard and I think JagaJazzist is a real find here.
| Loc | Title | Artist | Comments |
| USA | Peace Among The Bones | Sean McCann | A modern folk-rock in the Fairport tradition. But from the US. |
| USA | Lake Orchard | Loscil | Magnificent, pulsating, anthemic, ambient; think Robert Rich meets The Engineers |
| USA | Magnetic North | Fin Fang Foom | Dark, guitar led, quite heavy but still nodding allegiance to shoegaze |
| Global | Playlist of 5 tracks | JagaJazzist | Another group I’ve missed all these years, playing musical yet experimental jazz that is definitely worth a try. Video below too. Sample track: Going Down |
| UK | BBC 4 Sessions | kd lang | Great performances in an intimate and warm venue. Fantastic viewing, bound to end up on YouTube when it times out on Tuesday |
Here’s a video of JagaJazzist in action playing “One-Armed Bandit” recently:
Filed under: Links, Music | Tagged: MP3, Music | Comments Off on ♫ Music Picks Now Spring Is Here
§ I think the time is coming to fill in a few gaps in technology history – including a little trivia. If you have photos, let me know!
A piece of history that many of us older Java geeks remember is the stunt someone pulled at JavaOne in 1997. Java was the hottest new technology in town, the embodiment of the emerging web culture. The JavaOne conference was in its infancy – it started in 1996 – and was sharing the Moscone Center in San Francisco with another conference, Software Development West. The relationship was friendly – indeed, the two conferences clubbed together to close Howard Street and hold a street party for delegates of both events. Continue reading
Filed under: History, Java | Tagged: IBM, JavaOne, Microsoft, T-Shirt | 2 Comments »
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