April 18, 2005

The Progress Paradox

Posted in GlobalGood
3

Perhaps men and women must re-examine their priorities – demanding less, caring more about each other, appreciating what they have rather than grousing about what they do not have, giving more than lip service to the wisdom that money cannot buy happiness.

Gregg Easterbrook quoted today on why shopping might go out of fashion – not quite such an airy-fairy idea as it at first might seem; it strikes me as odd that we care more about the living conditions of chickens (and occasionally opt to become vegetarian as a result), than we do about the working conditions of factory workers in the Far East.
Big businesses are anticipating a shift in consumer priorities now, by starting to take corporate social responsiblity seriously; but I think we have a long way to go before shoppers demand the social equivalent of organic chicken.
[Anyone who cares to point out the hypocrisy of this post next to the last one should be reassured that I have emailed Faith to ask about their corporate social responsibility policy]

Karen
  • Comments: 3
  • But I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't buy a pair of Nikes, because they don't hav... - Adrian
  • Social responsibility can probably buy at least a little more comfort for the factory work... - Karen
  • Although money can't buy happiness, it definitely buys comfort. I'm not sure social respon... - Adrian
  • Comments: 12
  • If my wife wore those shoes, she'd be about 6ft 6in high. That would never do. - Graybo
  • The correct etiquette is to call the shoes unusual. - Karen
  • I think the colour of the shoes and the colour of th enail polish have equal temperatures ... - Gert
  • Pah. If it ain't white or stiletto I ain't interested (exceptions made for red, black and ... - Gordon
  • * Blue is the new green * - Mr.D.
April 16, 2005

The Under Toad

Posted in Gravitas
3

Book #18
The World According To Garp is a book about a father’s fears, and is lurid with death, violence, and complications. Featuring the themes of rape, bears and Vienna, which have recurred in everything I’ve read by John Irving, at least this time the bear’s role is only a cameo; otherwise it might start to get a bit old.
This book fails to live up to either The Hotel New Hampshire or A Prayer For Owen Meany, which is still my book of the year.
Garp is a writer of sorts, and the son of a famous feminist whose story is far more engaging than his own. Sadly it is his life, and the various deaths, injuries, infidelities and sex-changes of the other characters, that take up most of the book. It is of course beautifully written and an easy read, but perhaps I need to take a break from John Irving for a little while.
3/5

Karen
  • Comments: 3
  • Garp stomps on Owen Meany with big pointy steel-toed boots. - Destructor
  • I'm a huge Irving fan; 'Garp' was the first of his I ever read. Perhaps explaining why I ... - Jennifer
  • Irving books tend to blend into each other after a while as there are so many recurrent th... - stroppycow
April 14, 2005

Things That Make You Go “Ah, poor little fella”

Posted in Garden
7

So I was in the garden, weeding furiously, pulling up these things with leaves and little blue flowers and two-foot roots, and it’s all going nicely. I’d grab the base of the plant with my nice thick-gloved hand, and tear the leaves off. Then, with my narrow hand-spade (or whatever it’s called… Graybo! Help!) I’d dig around the stump to a depth of about six inches, so that I could grab the top of the root and pull that long pale-green tapering snake out of the soil. Highly satisfying.
Then it starts to spit a little.
“Just a touch of rain,” I think to myself, “I can soldier on through this minor inconvenience.”
Tear, dig, tug.
Tear, dig, tug.
And then…

Continue reading →

Pete
  • Comments: 7
  • In fairness, one positive aspect of the green-blue fuckers is that at least they hide the ... - Hg
  • Regarding the blue things, as long as you get them before the leaves are about four inches... - Pete
  • and paint it green, Hg - to preserve the illusion, y'understand. - Mr.D.
  • Those green leafy things with the little blue flowers and the evil roots are FUCKERS. Our ... - Hg
  • Ah, trowel. I always assumed that trowels where the things that bricklayers used, but now ... - Pete
April 13, 2005

On The Town

Posted in Gravitas
13

At the weekend, we watched On The Town, and while taking notes about things to see in New York, I remembered that a little while ago, Stuart asked for pre-New York book recommendations; like him, I like to do my literary homework before travelling. The thing is, an awful lot of novels are very-New-York, and even more are very-USA, which I think makes it difficult to single out a few for recommendation.
Of course I’ve read The Catcher In The Rye and we taped The Bonfire of the Vanities when it was on last week.
I mean to go down to the library and see if they have Breakfast At Tiffany’s later in the week; what else should I be looking for?

Karen
  • Comments: 13
  • Read: Poetry: Walt Whitman: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Hart Crane: TO Brooklyn Bridge Novels:... - Sven
  • I wasn't disagreeing that Catch 22 is a piece of genius, by the way...oh, and don't be put... - Stuart
  • I agree that Catch 22 is a fantastic book, but also that it's not really a New York book. ... - Karen
  • Catch 22 is hardly New York! Have you read 'Kavalier & Clay' by Michael Chabon, Karen? I f... - Stuart
  • Catch-22 Just finished re-reading it after too long a time and probably enjoyed it more se... - Mr.D.
April 12, 2005

Pop Idol

Posted in Goo
2

Last week, Pete and I both fell in love with the same man: the delightfully cute, swishy, glittery jockstrap-wearing Rufus Wainwright. This has introduced a certain element of competition into our own relationship, about who would be more likely to score.

Karen
  • Comments: 2
  • How 'bout we just put the chilli named Rufus next to the chilli named Kate? - Karen
  • whichever of you marries him, i think i deserve to be bridesmaid, mm? - kate
April 11, 2005

Linux – Converting Audio Files

Posted in Geek

A few ugly ducklings have crept into the flock. Amongst a herd of MP3s are some OGGs, FLACs and WMVs. How to deal with? How to deal with?
Converting OGG to WAV, WAV to MP3
Converting between MP3, FLAC and WAV
Converting WMA to MP3 (using mplayer)
As always with Linux, the key is in knowing which tool to use for which individual stage. Use lame to encode mp3s, flac to encode/decode flacs to/from wavs, and so forth.
Haven’t yet done the WMAs, due to mplayer availability.

Continue reading →

Pete
  • Comments: 20
  • Well, more usually wiggly to the point, which I suppose could be taken as obfuscation. Kin... - pixeldiva
  • No, chillis are straight to the point. - Karen
  • I did think that "Vaughan" might be an appropriate name for a chilli plant. Then... - Graybo
  • You can only take/send plants to the US if you apply to the Plant Health and Seeds Inspect... - Graybo
  • Don't forget Rufus and Kate, and of course, Pete Doherty (who's probably suffering from a ... - pixeldiva