January 2008
“The truth is that buildings belong firmly to their own time. This is especially...”
– ‘Why Architects Can’t Predict The Future’. Read it here
“In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of...”
– Raoul Vaneigem - The Revolution of Everyday Life. Read it here
21st Century Careers - Girl Bodyguard
Its just one big Bond movie out there in the place formerly known as the USSR. From here ”Russia’s most famous female bodyguard Anna Loginova has been killed after failing to prevent her own Porsche being carjacked. The glamorous 29-year-old died from head injuries after clinging on to the door handle of the Cheyenne and being dragged along the street at high speed as the car...
Redundant Technology - The Compact Disc (and...
From here: ”Unsold copies of Robbie Williams latest album will soon be used to resurface Chinese roads. The solo star’s record label EMI has confirmed that over one million copies of RUDEBOX will be crushed and sent to the country to be recycled. The products will be used in street lighting and road surfacing projects.”
Corporations At War With Their Customers (cont..)
From here: About 27 per cent of the iPhones sold in 2007 are being operated on unauthorized wireless networks, according to research released today. That works out at about one million handsets. The unlocked phones are used largely in regions where the must-have device isn’t officially sold, according to a report issued by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi. He says the appetite for...
Celebrate a century of Womens Rights - become a...
From here: ”A goth who leads his girlfriend around with a dog lead and collar was stopped from getting on a bus amid fears for passenger safety, a bus firm confirmed. Dani Graves, 25, and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, 19, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, claim they have been discriminated against by bus firm Arriva Yorkshire. The black-clad couple said they had been told to leave one bus and prevented...
“I was hosting a jolly party at Mint Leaf when the news arrived and it really put...”
– Z List nightclub microcelebrity Jodie Harsh mourns Heath Ledger
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to restrict the size of umbrellas...”
– Todays E-Petition to UK government from here. More wacky matters of concern for Gordon Brown at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk
Suicide is Painless?
From here. “Social networking websites could be “romanticising” suicide, an MP claims after the deaths of seven young people from her area in the past year. Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon will raise internet use issues with police. She will air her concerns at a meeting of a focus group, which includes the police and members of the local health trust, schools and council. Mrs Moon...
“This is a crisis as big as war and you couldn’t trade your ration book in...”
– Phillip Pullman gleefully anticipates green totalitarianism. From here
Phrase of the day: "Satan's Sudoku"
From here: ”I refuse to buy (my children) portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains.”
My Peoples Health
Wakefield Health Profile headline data - from the NHS 2007 UK Community Health Profiles. “Wakefield’s rates of smoking, binge drinking, obesity, and healthy eating are all estimated to be less favourable than the England average. Less than 1 in 11 adults engage in 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five times a week, which is the second lowest proportion in the region. Male...
Maybe I should switch to being Mr...
Rather than just being a nom de tumblogging. Wouldn’t be alone. From here ”Migrants who come to the UK are abandoning more than just their homeland. Thousands of new arrivals are adopting common British names to avoid discrimination or just poor pronunciation. Arabic names such as Karim and Muhammad are being changed to Kevin and Michael, while Indians bearing the surname Shital...
“To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that...”
– Mikhail Bakunin
“Teenage Dirtbag” as covered by Girls...
“Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime, and...”
– Machiavelli: The Prince. Quoted approvingly in Lawrence Lessig’s “The Future of Ideas”. Get em both - here and here, and think on.
“We want a wild and ephemeral music.
We propose a fundamental regeneration:...”
– Detourn your email sig files via the Bureau of Public Secrets’ collection of May 1968 Paris wall graffiti here 