Ant UK’s Neighborhood

Don't Forget to Water the High Tech Audio Equipment
Speakers? Desktop topiary? Why be forced to choose between the two? Via Lisa E.

High Tech TP
Design meets function meets...bodily function? Carey Milicich has an idea...

Metabricks and Mortar
What if Legos could build things themselves? A trippy video from Ant UK.

Suggestions? If you have suggestions for posts, photos, or Voxers to spotlight on the Technology page, send me a message.

I occasionally use my Vox blog as a place to put memes and other stuff I wouldn't like to post on Wordpress (my blog is generally not treated as a MySpace bulletin). There's not much difference between all the platforms where blogging is concerned - words are words no matter where they are - but the commenting systems and privacy options SUCK on both Vox and LJ.

You can't comment on LJ and Vox blogs without having an account on there (or in the case of LJ, sometimes having an OpenID also suffices).
I don't use my LJ account at all. I don't need another blog to update, and I hate faffing about with trying to remember who my OpenID provider is. Also, my OpenID doesn't link back to anything I want it to, which is annoying when you're trying to get a friendship going via blog comments. "By the way, this is my blog URL, but this isn't spam, honest! My OpenID doesn't lead anywhere."

Vox is apparently an OpenID in itself, but anyone who has a blog on Vox is restricted to only getting comments from other Vox members. So, in theory, I could comment on LJ blogs, but anybody who doesn't have a Vox account cannot comment on my posts on there.
[I forget what happened when Six Apart owned both LJ and Vox, but I believe it was still strictly members-only; Vox wasn't even an OpenID then.]

Most of my friends are not Vox users. The community there is not for everyone. Ever since I started using it several years ago (beta testers FTW), not much has been done to it or changed. You still can't make your own themes from scratch (you're stuck scratching your head on the best size for your custom banner, and what colour of text will make your blog title show up), there's no API, and it's plagued with spam - even after a user is deleted for spamming, their comments are still around for people to delete manually.
Generally, it sucks.

And, like I said earlier, it excludes non-members. People who have blogs already don't really want to sign up to another blogging service just so they can comment. If I didn't have a Google account already, I probably wouldn't even bother reading blogs hosted on Blogger.

I have my name, my email address, and my website URL. Surely that should be enough? I have difficulties commenting on others' blogs as it is, and I'm not going to jump through hoops just so I can leave a comment.

Originally published at rammi.glomp.me. You can comment here or there.

Pets were few inside the hidden cities, but many people kept caterpillars, and helped nuture them from worm, to

The Caterpillar

1 comment

So many animals, and people, had been lost to the change, that a catepillar represented the chance for emergence from the situation. While the change was happening, some species of caterpillars threatened environments and people when the never ending rains, extended from the period of change to longer seasons, created habitats where the creatures thrived. Some over-thrived.

In Liberia, mass breeding of caterpillars, in an exceptionally wet climate, pushed people out of their own homes. The masses of caterpillars devoured plants and food for other wildlife became scarce. Normally, the caterpillars would not all fully develop, but in the extreme damp conditions the creature's multipled, nearly all growing to full adulthood. It became known as the caterpillar crisis of climate change in Liberia, and consideration was given to spraying the country with chemical pesticides to defeat the munching worms. The threat of poisoning the environment made the authorities decide against any pesticide use, and so the people moved away from the caterpillar infested areas, taking shelter in refugee camps.

While Liberia hated the caterpillars, other parts of the world were marveling at the growth of the species, and the

Chrysalis

Many people who lived in the hidden cities remembered the seasons of the butterflies with joy, and desired to keep the Monarch caterpillar as pets in their living areas. These pets were hand-fed leaves and grass, and given safe, dark places to build their chrysalis, and time to allow the transformation. When the caterpillar began to break out of its chrysalis, people gathered to watch the butterfly emerge.

When the birght coloured creature spread its wings and flew into the air, the people clapped at the performance.

Monarch Butterfly

Welcome to Haiはい。my transmedia journey,
-Lisa

*Flickr photos by:

Caterpillar - Brenda Anderson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouskiwi/

Chrysalis - MsEli: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mseli/

Butterfly - dwain77: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwain77/

So, I've been using my Typepad account instead of VOX, and whenever I come back over this way I have shit loads of spam comments to delete. Surely, VOX, if you delete a spam account, it should automatically delete all of the spam comments they've left as well?

Did you know that next month Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be coming out. I've already pre-ordered it from Game so i can get the exclusive tin and figurine set. I might do a reiew soon. Check out this picture and video.

The-legend-of-zelda-spirit-tracks-20091105045117328

I hate waste. Wasted food, wasted resources, wasted time; all these things lead to a very annoyed Rammi.

Even if I'm full up, and feel as if I can't eat any more, whenever someone is about to throw perfectly good food away, I am always tempted to take it from them. And sometimes I do. I'm not greedy, but I just hate seeing something that could easily be salvaged go into the bin.
People in third world countries are starving, and yet some people still think it's OK to throw away half their lunch because they "just didn't feel like it after all". I'm the type who is very particular about the stuff I leave behind. I squeeze and squeeze a ketchup packet until there's nothing left, and when tipping a soft drink can into a cup, will tap and tap until I'm satisfied that all the last drops have come out.

I'm the same with everything else too. It's not just food that annoys me. If there's a tiny bit of paint left in the tube, you can bet anything that I will be the one to spend 20 minutes trying to get it out. I will cut open a toothpaste tube when most of it is gone to try and get the last bits in the tube, and will attempt to use every single inch of paper that I get. Aerosol cans? I press and press until nothing - and I mean nothing - but air comes out. None of this throwing away when it begins to splutter nonsense for me.

People who throw away money also deserve a slap, in my opinion. I've walked alongside people who, after coming out of a 99p shop, will casually throw away their pennies. Statistics have shown that every year, people throw away millions on the streets. Why would anyone waste their money like this?
In the scheme of things, a penny isn't a lot. But when people who frequently throw loose change away calculate how much money they've thrown away, it can add up to quite a lot of money.

Wasted time also irks me. I hate being late (although I sometimes often am), and will often get quite angry at friends who leave me hanging. I know some people don't mind lateness at all, but if a friend I'm meeting up with is an hour late, that's an hour I could have spent at home in bed, or doing something equally as worthwhile. >.>

I don't know where my obsession with saving comes from (besides from not really having enough money to buy all the things I want to buy). It certainly doesn't come from my mother or grandmother. My family are the type to leave everything where it is if they don't like it, and will frequently throw good food away when they feel that they don't want it any more - my grandma is a prime example of this. This makes for awkward mealtimes, when I insist that they at least finish some of their food (one mouthful of a meal they just made isn't good enough), then get tired of arguing and eat it myself, whereupon I am rebuked for being greedy. It's a no-win situation.

Frugalness isn't an admirable trait to have when you live in a developed country, where practically everyone wastes what they have without even thinking about it. I know I can get quite obsessive over this, but it's difficult not to be. I would be able to understand throwing things away if people at least made an attempt to use them, but when they don't even make an effort, why should I bother trying to understand?

If I ever get the chance to be a parent, I wonder what I will be like. I hope I'm not one of those parents who forces their kids to eat all their greens and clear their plates even if they don't want to, but I can see myself heading that way already. ^_^

Originally published at rammi.glomp.me. You can comment here or there.

Nine hundred dollars, (I know, only?) gets you the worlds cleanest keyboard.  Great for popular coffee shops I guess, or ultra clean electronic rooms (chip makers).  But $900?  I'd be okay with just running it through the dishwasher at the end of the day.  Yes you can do that, no soap though.

Har Mar Superstar - Game Night Har Mar Superstar Tour Dates 11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND 11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE 11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO 11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK 11/30/09 Relentless Garage London 12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK 12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK 12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh 12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK 12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK 12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow 12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK 12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK 12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland 12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland 12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK 12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK * with Bang Bang Eche Read More Har Mar Superstar http://weheartmus... Har Mar Mall - I mean Superstar - is back, after five years of absent since 2004's The Handler......

Parking in the college area known as "Dinkytown" in Minneapolis can be kind of hard, especially when the meters on 4^th Street runs until 10pm. I didn't mind walking a few blocks to the beautiful Varsity Theater as the weather was nothing less than perfect that Friday evening.

Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.

Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.

The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.

Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09)

Compared to the last time I saw Har Mar Superstar, which was basically a man and his undies and boombox - he now has a full band, all dressed in white with a red cross on the back. Also, the last time I saw him, he basically stripped down after the first few songs - this time, he started off very heavily dressed with an African cover, hat, etc.

After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.

Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"

By the time "Brothers & Sisters" was played, he inevitably took off his shirt. The pants disappeared with "Apple Sauce", followed by "Turn it Around". The finale song was "Tall Boy", which Zach, from Bang Bang, and some woman called Melinda Park (or was it Mindy Park?) joined on stage to help sing the song. Park would later turn up again to help sing one of the encore, "Powerline".

The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.

Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon

 11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu () ♥ harmarsuperstar.com ♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar ♥ twitter.com