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Saturday, 04:33 pm, 30 October 2004 As Promised... I got the October Mailout up this afternoon. Also, here are a couple of Kirill's latest works in progress. The first one is just known as 'Cheez'.   Good afternoon. Saturday, 09:00 am, 30 October 2004 Lost in Translation I woke up early this morning to tune into WeFunk. Towards the end of the show, I went to the BBC News website and read about the latest bin Laden tape. I switched on the television news at 7am, and the UK media was only running the US candidate responses. The speech's existence, rather than the speech itself, seemed to be the issue. Here are three translations. Al Jazeera BBC News CNN I was reading the Lancet (a medical journal) report on the civilian death-toll in Iraq. 100,000+ Far higher than I had heard - even on the independent sites it seemed to be around 40,000. I haven't seen any statistics for Afghanistan. It seems strange, and I have written this in the Log before, that no statistics of civilian dead have been kept. The Lancet article is as much a debate about statistical collection as it is about collateral damage. Another BBC The Buy Barbalet's Clutter eBay sell-a-thon continues with a lot of my Games Workshop related clutter going under the digital hammer over the past/next couple of weeks. The aim of general volume reduction seems to be making some impact. It is funny the element of emotional attachment - or lack there of - has produced a far larger sell-pile than I wound have imagined six months ago. I have written about the ebbs and flows of obsessive collecting in the past. But I feel I am more centred in isolated software development and supporting so-funky-it's-nasty internet radio. My days of commissioning painting will be limited to occasional commissions from the likes of Chris Blair, Fred Reed, and Kirill (with his Imperial Guard at leisure collection). I should really put more photos online of Kirill's work. He is a genius of sculpting and satirical humanism. I have a mailout to finish. Good morning. Wednesday, 07:21 pm, 27 October 2004 Are you from United Utilities? (part II)  Good night. Tuesday, 10:54 pm, 26 October 2004 Dun Wif English It seems a little insular to write a log entry on the same night about a previous set of log entries. But I came to writing the Mailout draft and I was thinking back to the previous log entries this evening. My initial thought was, 'There were a number of strange conjugations in there.' I went back, and the read English was appalling. Through working so heavily and almost exclusively with code and through the language used with my homelife, I often feel my English skills are dropping off the map. I probably spoke better English in the US than I do in England. I do like writing but I find my spoken vocab often stilted. Unnecessarily stilted. Jehovahs Leave Happy... One of the United Utilities callers today were Jehovah's Witnesses. The question I have been putting to a lot of people - particularly topical with the (US) election - is explained somewhat convolutely below. There are a lot of people that know about the power dealings and the problems that are facing the world and there is a lot of money being made and a lot of documentation of how this money is being made. The problem is that whilst people like Michael Moore make films, this apparent polarisation has failed to find a solution to anything. So, what do the disenchanted masses do post education? What happens after Moore? After you understand the politics of fear and the fact that those that vote don't elect any more. Where do you go? I stayed with an uncle in Australia about seven years ago who talked about the New World Order. I made the point to him that I agreed with everything he was saying although I came from a different political view-point. I pointed out what was important was how we moved forward with this knowledge. It is one thing to narrate up until a point. This is the difference between history and determination. People need to evolve into a point of determination and modern society - elections, political parties etc - clearly aren't providing any answers because they all play their own tunes. The claim of polarisation in democracy actually hides the fact that there is no choice. You are offered Coke or Pepsi, but you need water. So the question I put to the Jehovah's Witnesses and the question I have put to a number of people recently is - where do we go from here to get to a point of determination. Good night. Tuesday, 07:17 pm, 26 October 2004 Everything has a start... Following the eBay narrative, I was going through some old boxes and I found the Develop article [October 2003] that inspired the Noble Warfare development. For your viewing pleasure, I have put it online. The importance of a historical narrative for a development is debatable. But everything has a start. The Time Commanders article acknowledges greater deficiencies over time. There was never a second series, sadly. Time Commanders at its best was gripping viewing and at its worst it was unwatchable. I have never screamed at the television as I did through Time Commanders. The general lack of strategic knowledge of the public, the assumptions of hierarchy equating to intellect, and the erroneous perception of the simplicity of games. Time Commanders RIP. But from Time Commanders and the arrogance of the Develop article came Noble Warfare. Another slow and steady Barbalet development. It couldn't be any slower. The next few evenings will be spent writing the monthly mailout. Are you from United Utilities? For the past three months the end of our street has been blocked. The street collapsed and the water is regularly cut, only to resume with additional grit. When I called United Utilities, they called me back and said there was no record of the hole. Everyone who comes to the door now, I open the door and ask, 'Are you from United Utilities?' All kinds of cold callers are put off-guard. After about three minutes of chatting about the huge reinforced hole and the 'big-diggers' that are never being used, nothing - from the end of the world to cheaper gas - seems important. Good night. [ Previous Log ]
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