Bookmarks for Monday September 1st 2008 through Wednesday September 3rd 2008

Links For Sunday 31st August 2008

  • Dammit. Must not buy… Must…not…buy…

    Well, maybe after christmas. Maybe.

  • Nothing exactly shocking, but y'know, it is what it is. Be interesting to see how closely the next couple of months campaigning hews to the line he lays out here.
  • In summary: The Bush administration has done things that may fuck the US intertubes. The McCain administration will also fuck those tubes. Not exactly revalatory or unexpected stuff, but if you're curious about the major political issues affecting the (US) internet, and have 15 minutes to spare, then this is a good primer on them anyway.
  • del.icio.us's blog auto-poster seems to be having problems, so I'm trying this plugin as a possible fix for this. Link crossposting may be a bit wonky for a few days as I get the new system bedded in.
  • This looks like it could be seriously fascinating, in 18 months or so. The principles, certainly, represent a massive shift in the way we might use the web, and while Ubiquity is a little clunky, I'm sure better interfaces for doing exactly this sort of thing will get developed over the next few years.
  • Via Matt Jones, Jason Kottke on Fake Following, a brilliant new idea at FriendFeed that I fully expect every social network site to implement by the end of next year.
  • I would give my eyeteeth to make this conference. Sadly, there's no way work will pay for it, and even if they would, I am going to be buried in work at the point it's on. Dammit.
  • Don't agree with them all, but I'd have to admit, it's only a minority I really have to take issue with, and most of those are by people who have been dead a long time. My really big problem is that it's a bit anti-Christianity-centric, and while I know it's kind of implicit that atheism defines itself in response to theism, I think you can make a stronger argument for it without resorting to just swiping at the alternatives.
    (tags: atheism quotes)

Links for Thursday August 28th 2008

  • Lawrence Lessig on McCain on Technology – In summary: The Bush administration has done things that may fuck the US intertubes. The McCain administration will also fuck those tubes. Not exactly revalatory or unexpected stuff, but if you're curious about the major political issues affecting the (US) internet, and have 15 minutes to spare, then this is a good primer on them anyway.
  • Shifting Mind » Postalicious – del.icio.us's blog auto-poster seems to be having problems, so I'm trying this plugin as a possible fix for this. Link crossposting may be a bit wonky for a few days as I get the new system bedded in.

The Wisdom of Bill Drummond

“Yeah, I know we all need to recharge and reassess where we are going. We need to make mistakes and sometimes we need the comfort that only a Rich Tea biscuit or baked beans on toast can give. But bring on the unknown, and risk all on the art yet to come.” – from his book, “17”.

Been meaning to post that quote for a week or two, since I read the book. Drummond is the only artist I know who has made art criticism into art in and of itself, and I recommend his books unreservedly.

Auld Reekie

Auld Reekie

I feel less annoyed about this one than I do the other, despite the fact that it’s a worse picture, mostly because this genuinely was a quick snap while I was passing, without really giving it any thought at all. That’s because I took this first, not knowing that 24 hours later, I would be passing a matching piece in Glasgow, and had I not been able to get something I vaguely liked out of the Glasgow one, this would never have seen the light of day.

No Mean City

No Mean City

Annoyingly, a crop of this that includes the hill and necropolis also includes a load of pedestrians and distracting colours, and generally fucks this show. One day I’ll learn not to rush when composing shots, to really take my time and see everything before hitting the button.

Outboard Brain

Since almost everyone I have spoken to it reckons that http://photogr.aphi.st is a rubbish domain name for selling photos through (and on reflection, I am inclined to agree, on the basis that the better-punctuated http://photo.graphi.st/ is someone else’s site) I need a URL to start selling photos through at some point in the not-too-distant future. I lack inspiration, and would welcome suggestions. Anyone got any clever ideas?

And a secondary concern – do any of these prices seem wildly unreasonable:

15 quid for an unframed A4 print on good quality matte stock, 25 quid for framed.
20 quid for an unframed A4 print on good quality glossy stock, 30 quid for framed.

Frames are good quality A4 size clipframes.

P&P not included.

(In case anyone’s curious, I would recommend framed matte. Gloss looks a bit weird under glass.)