reviresco
I certainly have some blogging to catch up on! Earlier this month Elroy released Powers Cosmic Episode 4 (appropriately, I’m wearing the very limited-edition blue Powers Cosmic tshirt). I’m pretty sure the whole thing is based on actual events. Since the zombie uprising is on everyone’s lips these days, do yourself a favour and check out Powers Cosmic: Episode 04!
I’ve been meaning to mention a top quality ambient release from the artist formerly known as Audio Gourmet. If you like organic ambient then you need to get this disk. Since it’s free for download you don’t have an excuse! Harry Towell sets the bar high with the first track Six Years Dreaming and takes it from there,
Eyes Flutter Beneath – Inside The Dream Laboratory (PHCH007)
So today I celebrate my 24th birthday. Who knows what will happen! Overall I’m pretty happy with where I am after all this time. Bring on year 24!
In troubling news circulating this week it appears that the One Laptop per Child project has shifted its focus soley to large scale deployments.
“A program for donors to employ between 100 or more laptops for small-scale deployments, called “Give a School,” has been removed from the participation page of the nonprofit’s Web site. The nonprofit is now offering options to directly donate laptops or to make corporate purchases.”(Source)
This could be a serious problem! While there are plenty of XOs out there (near here) to accomplish things with, being unable to buy more units is going to have a serious impact on how things proceed for a lot of the community that supports the OLPC project.
Briggs (he doesn’t have a last name) is off deep into the Cambodian jungle to study other cultures and primates. His blogging his experiences although I don’t know what the chances are of meeting an orangutan with a spare Wimaxx dongle are, the updates are coming regularly. This is going to get pretty anthropological, people!
“night safari is awesome as well. its a completely different zoo right next to the normal one. only open between 6 and 11 pm, but full of nocturnal animals and really well laid out. plus they have this crazy ‘fish spa’. you pretty much sit with your feet in an aquarium full of cleaner fish and they nibble away at your dead skin. the little ones just feel like bubbles. the bigger ones, yeah. they feel like a fish biting you. but in a good way. the water was also cool and moist (sorry. inside joke) a lot of people flipped out about it all, but after a day trekking around in mid 30s with insane humidity and monsoonal showers it felt pretty good.”
Monkey magic – Brigg’s blogspot.
I’m not sure if my international readers know, but currently parts of the state of Victoria is enveloped in a firestorm with potentially 200 people dead. I was forwarded this pic today. It naturally follows on from the “Koala sitting in tub of water” pictures doing the rounds on the internet. Awwww!
This could be Rafe’s first mention on BuzzMoo.com! Well, we go way back. And now he’s on the other side of the world doing a live set for Czech radio very early in the morning for some reason. If you like cheeky folk (potentially a new sub-genre I’m coining just for him) or comedy and are a morning person, make sure to check it out..
“The lovely folks at Radio Proglas have been foolish enough to give me 45 minutes of air time. I think they think that because the majority of the audiance doesn’t speak English, I can’t do any harm.Radio Proglas is a Christian Radio Staion, but from 7.15 to 8pm Feb 12, I promise there will be no mention of god…possibly of alcohol and sex, but no god.Feb 12 @ 7.15pm in Czech / EuropeFeb 13 @ 5.15am in Australia” (Radio Proglas)
For a preview, it’s worth checking his MySpace and if you like what you hear do yourself a favour and join his Facebook group.
Yesterday I flew down to Melbourne (managing to make my day trip for the city’s hottest day, ever!) for Joomla Day ‘09, hosted by the Melbourne Joomla User’s Group, at Melbourne University.
The day was well balanced and very valuable. The audience of around sixty comprised of people who had never used Joomla before, to seasoned gurus, and everyone in between. For the uninitiated, the first hour was used to show how quickly and easily Joomla can be set up in a variety of environments. A very thoughtful suggestion from Raoul Callaghan for people who don’t have their own web hosting account was to use JumpBox, a virtualisation package that allows for a nearly instant install of Joomla for you to play with! Being told about JoomlaPack, a Joomla backup and migration tool, probably made my day! CASE is always looking for handy tools to make things easier, and JoomlaPack looks to be one of them.
The day moved onto discussions about templating, general design and then security. A tip from Nick Sibbing has three big ticks and a star next to it in my notepad, and that is putting ?tp=i after a URL to reveal location and name of each Joomla module – no more hunting! Potentially the most shocking number of the day was that despite millions of downloads of Joomla, only a few tens of thousands of people have subscribed to the Secuity Alert email service. If you run Joomla but aren’t subscribed, do it now!
During the day there were two other pieces of software shown off, all Joomla friendly of course. OpenFreeway, an Open Source e-Commerce solution, I think, shows great potential. I would be very nervous using a FOSS e-commerce solution (especially if credit cards are envolved) but a note the FreeWay people made was that, unlike any other in it’s class, will be PA-DSS certified (that is, appoved by the credit card companies). So, FreeWay holds potential for small business and not for profits that previously couldn’t afford to take their commerce online! Then, in a global launch, the guys from Zac Ware revealed Jentla, the world’s first Joomla Enterprise Layer. This could be an exciting development for CASE, because it allows you to administer up to a thousand different Joomla sites from one point. This means security updates, rolling out new extensions network wide and things of that nature may have just become a lot, lot easier.
This is just a taste of what took place during the day and I can highly reccomend that anybody interested in Joomla to attend the next one, well worth the trip!
I’ve been anticipating Telefon Tel Aviv’s new album for quite some time now. This evening, devestating news reached me of the death of Charlie Cooper, one half of the group. From their Myspace:
“Hello, Everyone.
It breaks my heart to inform you all that Charlie Cooper, my better half in Telefon Tel Aviv, passed away on January 22nd.
We have been friends since high school, and began making records together a decade ago. We have been so fortunate to tour the world together, while at the same time having a massive amount of laughs at one another’s expense.
Aside from Charlie’s singular genius and musical gifts, I can tell you that he was a total sweetheart of a guy, and a loving friend and confidant to people everywhere. His musicianship was surpassed only by his greater gift to the world – his warmth, his generosity, his unquenchable humor, and his undying loyalty to those whom he loved. In the spirit of honorable mention, however, I should mention that he had a shoe collection that was marvelous, knowledge of hip-hop that was profound, and knowledge of wine that was subtle.
He is survived by a sister, a neice, a nephew, his mother, his stepfather, me, and more adoring friends than the Universe has dark matter. As such, his family and I ask for your discretion and consideration of our privacy during these extremely turbulent waters.
Yours in Music,
Joshua Eustis”
Terrible, terrible times!
Pia has just posted a detailed list of suggestions if you were ever interested in getting your hands on an OLPC XO laptop in Australia and New Zealand. Before she does, though, she makes an important note that I feel that I should copy here. I’ve seen people (especially at ZDnet) somewhat miffed once they finally get their hands on one. And that’s simply because the recipients were middle aged men who thought they were getting something like an EEEPC. So;
Before outlining how you can get an XO, it is important to understand that these computers are not like normal laptops, they really are specialist collaboration devices meant for children aged 5-12 to be used in the classroom as part of their normal education process. They won’t necessarily make great gifts in isolation, because most of the value comes in collaborating and sharing with others, particularly in an educational setting.
Check out the post over at OLPCFriends and get involved!
