Hey, you're always asking me where I find stuff...
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Demented Moles Update
We played our last game for the home and away part of the season last night and we won. Moles 5 - Foreign Legion 2. Three of us got yellow cards (including me for a reckless challenge), but we won. It was a must-win game because the Street Cafe won their game just before we played, which put them level on points on the ladder. So we played hard, won the game and NOW WE'RE IN THE FINALS! We finished up in third place.
What a turnaround from the bleak outlook of the mid-season...
Ladder
1. Albert Park Rangers 50
2. British Knights 46
3. Demented Moles 34
4. Charlatons X 32
5. Street Cafe 30
6. Foreign Legion 24
Stay tuned for exciting finals action!
What a turnaround from the bleak outlook of the mid-season...
Ladder
1. Albert Park Rangers 50
2. British Knights 46
3. Demented Moles 34
4. Charlatons X 32
5. Street Cafe 30
6. Foreign Legion 24
Stay tuned for exciting finals action!
Friday, June 25, 2004
Drum samples
Just quickly, if you're looking for a collection of drum machine & kit samples, check out this page from the Good People at Akai.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Demented Moles Update
Moles 4, British Knights 2
Yeah! We won! It was a great game, and we are now a good chance of Making The Finals. It was a spiteful affair though - many angry confrontations and two of our players got yellow cards. But that's what you've gotta do. Drag the other team down to your level.
Yeah! We won! It was a great game, and we are now a good chance of Making The Finals. It was a spiteful affair though - many angry confrontations and two of our players got yellow cards. But that's what you've gotta do. Drag the other team down to your level.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Oblique Brian
I've just been reading a bit about Brian Eno. He's a very interesting machine - no, hang on - musician. So far today I've listened to two of his albums - Here Come The Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. Both records make me think that Eno doesn't write a single note unless he's worked out first what he wants to write about. Some people like to improvise, continually bashing out notes until they find a combination that works. Whereas Eno's work just seems to drop out of the sky, fully realised. But we know he does improvise, because he created a set of cards called Oblique Strategies. Each card has a phrase on it that allows the reader to approach their problem from a different non-obvious angle. Which is exactly what improvisation is about. Here's a few examples:
It's an excellent way to find quick releases to creative blocks. I think I'll be reading more about Oblique Brian.
Incidentally, his essay The Long Now is an interesting read too.
Use an old idea.
Repetition is a form of change.
Don't stress one thing more than another.
It's an excellent way to find quick releases to creative blocks. I think I'll be reading more about Oblique Brian.
Incidentally, his essay The Long Now is an interesting read too.
Friday, June 18, 2004
runfuckthink
OK, so if you want your brain to improve its 'smartness', here's what you do.
First you go for a 5km run. If you can run longer that's better. Then when you get home, find your partner and engage in some vigorous horizontal activity. After that, have a shower, and then do something mentally stimulating like read an interesting book, or do a cryptic crossword, or some maths, or listen to Mozart. And you will be smarter.
Why? How?
The physical activity and the sex encourages the growth of new brain cells, and then by doing something mentally challenging (thus receiving sensory input) you prevent some of those cells from dying off. And so by running, fucking and thinking you've rewired your brain a little bit. The other bonus is that the production of new brain cells may also have an anti-depressant effect.
You can read about it in much greater detail on the ABC Radio National Science Show website...
First you go for a 5km run. If you can run longer that's better. Then when you get home, find your partner and engage in some vigorous horizontal activity. After that, have a shower, and then do something mentally stimulating like read an interesting book, or do a cryptic crossword, or some maths, or listen to Mozart. And you will be smarter.
Why? How?
The physical activity and the sex encourages the growth of new brain cells, and then by doing something mentally challenging (thus receiving sensory input) you prevent some of those cells from dying off. And so by running, fucking and thinking you've rewired your brain a little bit. The other bonus is that the production of new brain cells may also have an anti-depressant effect.
You can read about it in much greater detail on the ABC Radio National Science Show website...
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Tropical Lazor Beams
Over on Homestar Runner, Homestar has a video of his recording session with They Might Be Giants. The song he's singing is Tropical Lazor Beams and I have to say, I think it might be the best release of 2004. Here are the lyrics:
It just doesn't get any better than that.
A one, two three and four,
Aaaahhhhh
Tropical lazor beams
Lazor beams of love
Tropical lima beans
When you're away it's like a VOID
I try to avoid it
Every time you're away
I put my lazors on STUN
'Cos I gotta STUN you
JUST TO GET MY POINT THROUGH!
Lazor beams!
Lazor beams!
Pretty please!
With the lazor beams!
Aaaahhhhhh
Tropical lazor beams
Lazor beams of love
Tropical lima beans
Lima beans above
It just doesn't get any better than that.
Demented Moles Update
Hoorah! We won! We beat the Street Cafe 5-4. I didn't score any goals
this time. Following last week's debacle I stayed in defence for
almost the entire game. Credit must go to Kiwi Leon for his great
hat-trick. Especially his storming run down the left wing which ended
in a goal. Quality.
I always like playing the Street Cafe because there's this guy who
plays for them who must be over 40 years old. He hasn't got much pace
anymore but he has a lot of skill. They stick him up the front and try
to get the ball to him. I often end up playing on him and we always
have a word or two to each other - he's a nice guy. Top work old
feller. I hope I'm still playing when I'm his age...
this time. Following last week's debacle I stayed in defence for
almost the entire game. Credit must go to Kiwi Leon for his great
hat-trick. Especially his storming run down the left wing which ended
in a goal. Quality.
I always like playing the Street Cafe because there's this guy who
plays for them who must be over 40 years old. He hasn't got much pace
anymore but he has a lot of skill. They stick him up the front and try
to get the ball to him. I often end up playing on him and we always
have a word or two to each other - he's a nice guy. Top work old
feller. I hope I'm still playing when I'm his age...
Thursday, June 03, 2004
The Stupidity of The Age
For those who don't know, The Age is a newspaper here in Melbourne. Recently I sent in an application to become the paper's editor, but after what I've discovered today I'm glad they didn't take me up on that offer. There's no way I would now want to be professionally associated with that gang of imbeciles.
So much spleen - but why? Well, despite it being a crap newspaper, The Age has a rather good website. Most of the annoyances of the paper version are gone leaving you free to read the selection of articles. However, this year the good people at The Age decided to ask its readers to register on the website. Soon the entire site will only be available to registered users. The reason for the change is so they can get more bucks out of their advertising partners by giving them more detailed demographic information about their readers.
The upshot of this is you'll need a username and password to read the site, and everything you do read will be used to make up a profile of you, and then they will start pumping ads at you for things they think you specifically will want to buy.
Well, that's guaranteed to make me not bother with them anymore. Bye bye The Age - I'll stick with Google News from now on. Google News will destroy you because you treat your users like morons, whereas Google will let us read whatever we want without any targetted demographic marketing bullshite.
So much spleen - but why? Well, despite it being a crap newspaper, The Age has a rather good website. Most of the annoyances of the paper version are gone leaving you free to read the selection of articles. However, this year the good people at The Age decided to ask its readers to register on the website. Soon the entire site will only be available to registered users. The reason for the change is so they can get more bucks out of their advertising partners by giving them more detailed demographic information about their readers.
The upshot of this is you'll need a username and password to read the site, and everything you do read will be used to make up a profile of you, and then they will start pumping ads at you for things they think you specifically will want to buy.
Well, that's guaranteed to make me not bother with them anymore. Bye bye The Age - I'll stick with Google News from now on. Google News will destroy you because you treat your users like morons, whereas Google will let us read whatever we want without any targetted demographic marketing bullshite.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Demented Moles Update
An extended Demented Moles update this week, due to the nature of the thrashing we were handed last night. We got belted 3-14. 14 goals is a lot - it's like a hundred point loss in AFL. I was keeping in the second half - I actually lost count of how many times I had to pick the ball out of the back of the net, but I think it was about eight.
So what happened? Well it's a team sport, so basically the team failed. Thinking about it reminded me of how often sporting analogies are used to explain other activities in life. Often those analogies seem trite, but that's because using sport as an analogy immediately puts people on cliche-alert. But anyway here's some of the lessons I learnt from team sport last night.
a) Personnel: all season we've struggled to field a regular team. From week to week we have an unsettled team, so what we learn from one week doesn't carry over to the next week, because half of the people who learnt it last time aren't playing this time. That's why high staff-turnover in organisations is a sign of poor performance - every time someone leaves you lose some knowledge and experience.
b) Training: we basically don't train. It's hard to find time to get everyone together. At the start of the season we did train and it did help. But as the nights got colder we've stopped doing it. So now our skills are atrophying. Similarly, if your employees don't train regularly, they won't improve, and might actually get worse.
c) Confidence: ours is shot now. You have to play with confidence or you're dead. The other team senses it which gives them more confidence and then they play better. But if you have confidence you try harder because you're confident you'll get the reward for your efforts. When people in a group have poor morale they don't try very hard - things don't get done and if you're not careful the situation gets worse.
So for the Moles to improve we need to have a committed core group that plays every week and trains regularly, and then the wins and confidence will follow. But not this season...
So what happened? Well it's a team sport, so basically the team failed. Thinking about it reminded me of how often sporting analogies are used to explain other activities in life. Often those analogies seem trite, but that's because using sport as an analogy immediately puts people on cliche-alert. But anyway here's some of the lessons I learnt from team sport last night.
a) Personnel: all season we've struggled to field a regular team. From week to week we have an unsettled team, so what we learn from one week doesn't carry over to the next week, because half of the people who learnt it last time aren't playing this time. That's why high staff-turnover in organisations is a sign of poor performance - every time someone leaves you lose some knowledge and experience.
b) Training: we basically don't train. It's hard to find time to get everyone together. At the start of the season we did train and it did help. But as the nights got colder we've stopped doing it. So now our skills are atrophying. Similarly, if your employees don't train regularly, they won't improve, and might actually get worse.
c) Confidence: ours is shot now. You have to play with confidence or you're dead. The other team senses it which gives them more confidence and then they play better. But if you have confidence you try harder because you're confident you'll get the reward for your efforts. When people in a group have poor morale they don't try very hard - things don't get done and if you're not careful the situation gets worse.
So for the Moles to improve we need to have a committed core group that plays every week and trains regularly, and then the wins and confidence will follow. But not this season...
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