For something a little lighter, please enjoy my niece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D-5s7z-h5M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1H05qfDcwA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFA8hTVr-v0
I'd like to point out her excellent pronunciation skills, as she's only 2.5. With another one on the way soon, I'll continue to brush up on the Uncling skills.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
finally it is done
Alright, I've done it. The transcription of my hand-written travel journal from Cuba is complete. I know it seems a bit late and a bit pointless by now, but I know there are some people out there who are interested and were given a link to this blog from SEDA.
If you are keen on looking at them, just do a search on here for Cuba, as all of entries are back dated and will appear in 2008, which is when I was there.
In other Cuba-related news, I just found out that Radio Enciclopeia has a website:
http://www.radioenciclopedia.cu/
I'd suggest listening for it just to hear the woman say: Raaaadio Enciiilopeeedi-ahh, Habanaa, Coooba. Just imagine that over some 1970s sounding tropical-ish jingle. Then straight back in to what I'd call Cuban communist elevator music.
It might not be the same not coming out of a 1950s vintage wood floor-model radio/phonograph.
If you are keen on looking at them, just do a search on here for Cuba, as all of entries are back dated and will appear in 2008, which is when I was there.
In other Cuba-related news, I just found out that Radio Enciclopeia has a website:
http://www.radioenciclopedia.cu/
I'd suggest listening for it just to hear the woman say: Raaaadio Enciiilopeeedi-ahh, Habanaa, Coooba. Just imagine that over some 1970s sounding tropical-ish jingle. Then straight back in to what I'd call Cuban communist elevator music.
It might not be the same not coming out of a 1950s vintage wood floor-model radio/phonograph.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
book tokens and croatia
So, last year I was asked to give a lecture to the first year design students. I quite enjoyed this experience overall and nearly forgot that I had been paid for it.
Initially I was to be paid cash-money, but later due to financial constraints at DoJ I was told I'd be receiving book tokens. Not a problem.
So, after nearly year of forgetting to drop by Christine's office, I finally picked them up - sixty pounds!! Now add on the £20 in book tokens I have left over from Christmas, that's £80. Time to get myself some free books.
In other news, I'm working on a paper for a design conference in Croatia. It will be on food orbits. I think I'm going to write something on here about my thoughts on visual thinking - to be a bit of teaser for the paper.
Because papers need teasers.
Goodness, papers need a free toy or sweet inside them.
I often wonder if there is an in-built catharsis with academic papers - I am going to sit in my academic dungeon of torture for days concocting this rancid elixir of poison so that those few people determined enough to read it will then feel the pain I had in its preparation. The conference being the ultimate showcase of tragedies - the cathartic event. We all walk away cleansed.
...but I'll get to go to Croatia. So it'll be fun. Plus Seaton will be coming and possibly on the Orient Express. I'll be arriving on RyanAir or EasyJet, so my sins will be atoned for before the conference.
Right, must get on to work. The submission date is in December, full papers only.
Initially I was to be paid cash-money, but later due to financial constraints at DoJ I was told I'd be receiving book tokens. Not a problem.
So, after nearly year of forgetting to drop by Christine's office, I finally picked them up - sixty pounds!! Now add on the £20 in book tokens I have left over from Christmas, that's £80. Time to get myself some free books.
In other news, I'm working on a paper for a design conference in Croatia. It will be on food orbits. I think I'm going to write something on here about my thoughts on visual thinking - to be a bit of teaser for the paper.
Because papers need teasers.
Goodness, papers need a free toy or sweet inside them.
I often wonder if there is an in-built catharsis with academic papers - I am going to sit in my academic dungeon of torture for days concocting this rancid elixir of poison so that those few people determined enough to read it will then feel the pain I had in its preparation. The conference being the ultimate showcase of tragedies - the cathartic event. We all walk away cleansed.
...but I'll get to go to Croatia. So it'll be fun. Plus Seaton will be coming and possibly on the Orient Express. I'll be arriving on RyanAir or EasyJet, so my sins will be atoned for before the conference.
Right, must get on to work. The submission date is in December, full papers only.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
hi, is english your first language?
Then I don't want to eat your bread.
Well, okay there are a few exceptions, but as a general rule our bread is awful. Bread in the UK is awful, bread in Canada is awful, bread in the USA is awful. I don't really think it's a big stretch to say Aussie and Kiwi bread is terrible either.
Coming from the world's greatest wheat growing nation, you'd think I'd be a bit of a bread buff. Sadly, it's just not the case. There are small exceptions, I'm thinking specifically of Winnipeg -where the standard bread is rye. Canadians haven't exactly led the charge when it comes to baking, although we do control a massive bit of the industry - not just on the supply side. I'm talking to you members of the Weston family (who I'm sure are['t] frequent readers of this blog). I will not be too harsh because I do love the almost all the PC products, especially the Memories Of sauces, and Wagon Wheels (but only really because I had to trade my home made lunch things for them, which in retrospect seems idiotic).
This little tirade has been brought to you because of my trip to the local Russian shop. Dundee has a Russian Shop, yes - who knew? They have all sorts of odd things and a lot of vodka, but they also have Russian bread. Lovely Russian bread that is probably a month old and smuggled via mafia connections in sea containers full of feau-lex watches and trafficked persons. Each bite has so much flavour. I ate it today for lunch with some herring - fantastic.
Now a little dip back in to history tells me that us Britons were once making such bread, simply because we didn't have the climate to grow wheat. All we could grow was oats, barley and rye. It took many years of selective breeding to develop a wheat variety suitable for our cool and damp climate.
I should have really written this a while back after I went to Andrew Whitley's seminar. I shall now plug Mr Whitley and his website which is far more interesting than my rant:
http://www.breadmatters.com/
Also, does anyone know what is up with the large eared bear cub that seems to proliferate Russian stuff? I just drank some juice with him on it. The shop lady tells me he's the bear who likes kindness and drinking milk.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
critical and functional
Here goes my first design-y post in a while. It's good to get back in to the swing of things, especially the mindset.
Just a health warning, it's a bit of a design rant.
I found myself at DoJ's 'PhD Summer School 2009' this week. Now before I start, I must note that it was organised by my second supervisor, Jeanette Paul, and she may very well be reading this... But when first presented with the idea of a Summer School I must confess I was less than excited. As I recall, Summer School was generall for the kids who didn't pass their maths exam or something... not to mention the words 'summer' and 'school' just don't don't feel right together.
But...
I must say that it was a very worth-while experience. Mainly because it never hurts to get a bit of a spur now and then, but moreso because it got be talking about and thinking about my research, and ultimately a bit excited about it!
The main point I'd like to write about is Stuart Walker's presenation, but first I'll need to give credit to Mike. I've heard his presentation a few times, but I must say this time I quite enjoyed a little piece he added - a video clip of John Cleese speaking about how to write. Tortoise enclosure... brilliant. Although it was pointed out that he did go WAY over time, which I do believe was one of his own rules.
Anyway, Stuart Walker spoke about his work that explores the concept of functional clarity through his designs of everyday objects. I just tried googling for some images of his work, but no dice, as I think an image would explain this succinctly. Imagine a flashlight made from two batteries taped together and crudely wired to a light bulb; a telephone which is simply a circuit board, speaker and mic glued to a piece of painted plywood. These artefacts are designed to give emphasis to the function of a product as a way to critise convention design which often seeks to hide the working parts with a facade. Indeed product design is very concerned with enclosures *cough* apple *cough*. Since the early 1900s we have separated form and function and assigned them to different corners of the design world. What I think Walker is suggesting from this is that function aught to be enbodied by form.
(Noise of a car screeching to a halt)
Whilst I agree with the above completely, I find the form-function debate a little tiresome. Nature doesn't have this debate. I found it very revealing that someone later pointed out that it is quite 'right brain-left brain'. I think I must now quote another Mr Walker - Fergus Walker, who once remarked "The Enlightenment has a lot to answer for". That it does, when it comes to the way of thinking it has precipitated. Form and function cannot be viewed like two sides of a river - with the person on the form side saying: "Oh goodness it's awfully pretty over here, but look at the function side, it seems all harsh and edgey, actually there's something cool about that..." Meanwhile, the function side is saying "What's old formy up to again, he never gets anything done". It seems like that's how it might be, but really, an object - artefact - design must be thought of as one. There are no sides... hmm, running out of analogies, it's a SPHERE! Yes, there are no sides, it is all one thing.
But anyway, I liked Stuart Walkers presentation. I agreed with it all, but I guess I'm a hard line holist. It did also gave me some ideas about critical design.
I was thinking that perhaps what I am doing at Belmont is an excercise in critical design. It is design that is meant to inspire though, not neccessarily just critise... But I like the idea that the process or act of designing should be part of research. Maybe the artefact isn't as important as the design. That's a good idea, as we don't seem to have a lot of money for artefacts!
Also, I liked - local manufacture of products with mass produced parts. Lots to talk about there... later.
Right, so there is my completely half, no, quarter-baked ideas about Wednesday. I don't think I even properly expressed them, but I'm glad they are down. I also came up with a brilliant idea for a paper. So brilliant I may have to keep hold of it and not tell anyone, lest someone steals it. Probably won't happen though... I can give you a hint - it involves Mark Newhall. If you know who he is, then your name is probably Roddie Fraser.
Just a health warning, it's a bit of a design rant.
I found myself at DoJ's 'PhD Summer School 2009' this week. Now before I start, I must note that it was organised by my second supervisor, Jeanette Paul, and she may very well be reading this... But when first presented with the idea of a Summer School I must confess I was less than excited. As I recall, Summer School was generall for the kids who didn't pass their maths exam or something... not to mention the words 'summer' and 'school' just don't don't feel right together.
But...
I must say that it was a very worth-while experience. Mainly because it never hurts to get a bit of a spur now and then, but moreso because it got be talking about and thinking about my research, and ultimately a bit excited about it!
The main point I'd like to write about is Stuart Walker's presenation, but first I'll need to give credit to Mike. I've heard his presentation a few times, but I must say this time I quite enjoyed a little piece he added - a video clip of John Cleese speaking about how to write. Tortoise enclosure... brilliant. Although it was pointed out that he did go WAY over time, which I do believe was one of his own rules.
Anyway, Stuart Walker spoke about his work that explores the concept of functional clarity through his designs of everyday objects. I just tried googling for some images of his work, but no dice, as I think an image would explain this succinctly. Imagine a flashlight made from two batteries taped together and crudely wired to a light bulb; a telephone which is simply a circuit board, speaker and mic glued to a piece of painted plywood. These artefacts are designed to give emphasis to the function of a product as a way to critise convention design which often seeks to hide the working parts with a facade. Indeed product design is very concerned with enclosures *cough* apple *cough*. Since the early 1900s we have separated form and function and assigned them to different corners of the design world. What I think Walker is suggesting from this is that function aught to be enbodied by form.
(Noise of a car screeching to a halt)
Whilst I agree with the above completely, I find the form-function debate a little tiresome. Nature doesn't have this debate. I found it very revealing that someone later pointed out that it is quite 'right brain-left brain'. I think I must now quote another Mr Walker - Fergus Walker, who once remarked "The Enlightenment has a lot to answer for". That it does, when it comes to the way of thinking it has precipitated. Form and function cannot be viewed like two sides of a river - with the person on the form side saying: "Oh goodness it's awfully pretty over here, but look at the function side, it seems all harsh and edgey, actually there's something cool about that..." Meanwhile, the function side is saying "What's old formy up to again, he never gets anything done". It seems like that's how it might be, but really, an object - artefact - design must be thought of as one. There are no sides... hmm, running out of analogies, it's a SPHERE! Yes, there are no sides, it is all one thing.
But anyway, I liked Stuart Walkers presentation. I agreed with it all, but I guess I'm a hard line holist. It did also gave me some ideas about critical design.
I was thinking that perhaps what I am doing at Belmont is an excercise in critical design. It is design that is meant to inspire though, not neccessarily just critise... But I like the idea that the process or act of designing should be part of research. Maybe the artefact isn't as important as the design. That's a good idea, as we don't seem to have a lot of money for artefacts!
Also, I liked - local manufacture of products with mass produced parts. Lots to talk about there... later.
Right, so there is my completely half, no, quarter-baked ideas about Wednesday. I don't think I even properly expressed them, but I'm glad they are down. I also came up with a brilliant idea for a paper. So brilliant I may have to keep hold of it and not tell anyone, lest someone steals it. Probably won't happen though... I can give you a hint - it involves Mark Newhall. If you know who he is, then your name is probably Roddie Fraser.
Saturday, 15 August 2009
How I spent my summer holidays
Despite rumours to the contrary, I am still alive and living in Scotland. I would like to excuse my several month absence with the following lines stolen from my favourite band, The Weakerthans:
'I have a headache. I have a sore back. I have a letter I can't send. I have desire, it falters and falls down, it calls you up drunk at three or four a.m. to wonder when...'
Well, I wasn't drunk, but I did have a sore back and was off work (with doctor's note and everything) for a couple of months. If I appeared to be drunk, it was just the painkillers. That's been all sorted though, since about June.
What's my excuse since then? Well...
I was away for about 6 weeks, 4 to Canada and the 2 prior to various places around Scotland with my friends Daniel and Ben, brothers to Theresa of http://fenomenalarecept.blogspot.com/ fame.
So, here are photos for your pure enjoyment - Steve and Sandy's Cross-Canada Tour 2009:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=285824&id=608190647&l=e9f54f65aa
For those people interested - tour t-shirts will be available at a modest cost.
I promise to get right back to everyone with more important food and salutogensis-type stuff right as soon as I: finish compiling all the data from the spring field trials, writing a journal paper and catching up on all my fun APEGM stuff.
Cheerio!
'I have a headache. I have a sore back. I have a letter I can't send. I have desire, it falters and falls down, it calls you up drunk at three or four a.m. to wonder when...'
Well, I wasn't drunk, but I did have a sore back and was off work (with doctor's note and everything) for a couple of months. If I appeared to be drunk, it was just the painkillers. That's been all sorted though, since about June.
What's my excuse since then? Well...
I was away for about 6 weeks, 4 to Canada and the 2 prior to various places around Scotland with my friends Daniel and Ben, brothers to Theresa of http://fenomenalarecept.blogspot.com/ fame.
So, here are photos for your pure enjoyment - Steve and Sandy's Cross-Canada Tour 2009:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=285824&id=608190647&l=e9f54f65aa
For those people interested - tour t-shirts will be available at a modest cost.
I promise to get right back to everyone with more important food and salutogensis-type stuff right as soon as I: finish compiling all the data from the spring field trials, writing a journal paper and catching up on all my fun APEGM stuff.
Cheerio!
Thursday, 16 April 2009
The dirty dozen and the clean fifteen
Breaking with tradition, I am about to write something slightly useful. If you know me, you'll know that I am quite critical of 'organic food'... especially as as brand. You might as well just say organic=gentrified, there are exceptions however and it is the classic confused issue.
For those of you un-initiated, organic food is food grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. How this is defined is very broad and as such I believe it is a fallacy to say it is always a better choice. A very obvious example: Tayside strawberries (conventional) vs organic strawberries from California. You may be faced with this choice at Tesco. Clearly the local berries will taste better and given good managment might also be better for the environment than ones grown under organic husbandry with irrigation in 45 degree heat somewhere in California.
It gets more complicated, I could go on.
Anyway, I found a nice little summary, American, but could likely be applied to the UK and elsewhere.
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods
I'll summarise [my notes in square brackets]:
12 Foods You Should Probably Buy Organic
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale [umm, who eats this stuff?]
9. Leafy Greens
10. Grapes
11. Carrots [not sure if applies as much in the UK]
12. Pears
[13. Bananas - this should be number 1]
[Having applied many a pesticide myself, I would think most of these are obvious. Fruit and veg that come in to contact with the spray itself and have a porous skin are going to be most likely to absorb the chemical.]
15 Foods You Can Probably Buy Normal
1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Peas
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant [Aubergine]
11. Papaya
12. Watermelon [wow, water in melon form!]
13. Broccoli
14. Tomato [aside from the fact it'll probably taste awful]
15. Sweet Potato
Well, there you go... if you are concered about pesticide residues, that's some good advice. However, I think that you would do far better to just educate yourself and think a bit. A good clue is often place of origin. If they come from a country where bribes form a substantial part of the GDP, you might want to think twice (okay, well we have to exclude Italy, where even the mafia wouldn't accept a bribe to allow bad food). Also, think about where you are getting the food. Really great food often goes bad quickly, so learn how to bottle!
For those of you un-initiated, organic food is food grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. How this is defined is very broad and as such I believe it is a fallacy to say it is always a better choice. A very obvious example: Tayside strawberries (conventional) vs organic strawberries from California. You may be faced with this choice at Tesco. Clearly the local berries will taste better and given good managment might also be better for the environment than ones grown under organic husbandry with irrigation in 45 degree heat somewhere in California.
It gets more complicated, I could go on.
Anyway, I found a nice little summary, American, but could likely be applied to the UK and elsewhere.
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods
I'll summarise [my notes in square brackets]:
12 Foods You Should Probably Buy Organic
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale [umm, who eats this stuff?]
9. Leafy Greens
10. Grapes
11. Carrots [not sure if applies as much in the UK]
12. Pears
[13. Bananas - this should be number 1]
[Having applied many a pesticide myself, I would think most of these are obvious. Fruit and veg that come in to contact with the spray itself and have a porous skin are going to be most likely to absorb the chemical.]
15 Foods You Can Probably Buy Normal
1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Peas
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant [Aubergine]
11. Papaya
12. Watermelon [wow, water in melon form!]
13. Broccoli
14. Tomato [aside from the fact it'll probably taste awful]
15. Sweet Potato
Well, there you go... if you are concered about pesticide residues, that's some good advice. However, I think that you would do far better to just educate yourself and think a bit. A good clue is often place of origin. If they come from a country where bribes form a substantial part of the GDP, you might want to think twice (okay, well we have to exclude Italy, where even the mafia wouldn't accept a bribe to allow bad food). Also, think about where you are getting the food. Really great food often goes bad quickly, so learn how to bottle!
USA-miable
I've always had a pleasant ambivalence with respect to the nuts-and-bolts details of American politics. That is except when their system generates something interesting to me, the past eight years offering a notable gap.
Given my chronic scepticism toward spin-related politicking, I find myself being mildly impressed on at least a fortnightly basis with the new President. Even on issues where his decisions may not be in line with my views, it seems that there is surprisingly fresh level of thoughtfulness exhibited.
Anyway, on to what matters: food. This blog has details Mr Obama's interactions with food on many levels. It even has recipes!!
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/
Given my chronic scepticism toward spin-related politicking, I find myself being mildly impressed on at least a fortnightly basis with the new President. Even on issues where his decisions may not be in line with my views, it seems that there is surprisingly fresh level of thoughtfulness exhibited.
Anyway, on to what matters: food. This blog has details Mr Obama's interactions with food on many levels. It even has recipes!!
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/
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