Contact Light [169]
The only light in the room comes from my monitor. I’ve been hammering away at the keyboard racing the guests currently speeding towards my village. They’re here for the weekend and I need to make the house look less like it’s just been broken into.
If you are new here, welcome.
This is the bi-weekly free version of my multimedia offerings.
#TheAction
Last weekend saw me and many others at Orgcon2019.
If you don’t follow the Open Rights Group you can connect here. I give a little bit of money to them every month as I believe they do great work in fighting for my rights regarding privacy and free speech. It’s not enough to just hope that someone will look after all this for you. You have to get involved in some way. There are lots of things you can do to support them.
On top of this I highly recommend their events. OrgCon is well worth putting in the diary. Even if to just connect with like minded individuals. This year was more hands on than I remember. The one thing I wanted to do (workshop with Tactical Tech) was unfortunately so over subscribed instead I hung out in the IOT spaces.
So much to do and learn. After marvelling at a robot that learns your ambient noise levels at home, then knocks your wall to alert the neighbours that they’re being noisy — I grabbed this audio conversation in a corridor with @Edent.
If you wanted to catch up on all the speakers including the Keynote from Edward Snowden (who had high praise for the Open Rights Group) you can check out the video feed here.
In an attempt to get a little more experience on the new bike, I took my life into my hands and rode the Triumph Tiger into London for ORGcon. One thing I don’t like about the Tiger is that it looks angry. God knows what the designers were thinking. I want a bike with a wide eyed look of wonder. One that says Yeahhhhh! As it punches through the air with its face.
But this is the angryist looking bike I’ve owned. On the streets of London though, this may have worked in my favour. People seemed to notice me and reconsider cutting me up or pulling out in front. Let’s see how long this lasts.
Also in the week, this happened.
My kids handed me two envelopes from school seeming oblivious to what was inside.
I never had a report card this good. There was always a ‘must try harder’ somewhere in the mix. Forgive me if I take a moment to feel like a proud dad.
At breakfast this week. Me and the kids were listening to ‘Ice Cream’ by New Young Pony Club on BBC6 Music. My lad stopped eating his hoops for moment, stared at the radio and said...
“Isn’t it amazing. All this is coming out of that small box. We are listening to this with thousands of other people right now. Anyone in the world that has a box like this can listen to the same thing, at exactly the same time as us. Humans are so evolved.”
We don’t have a TV in the house, but we do have a dumb screen attached to a Raspberry Pi media server. So this was much less a stating the obvious and more an embracing of the shared experience.
We take so much for granted. I love it when we can stop for a moment and give thanks like this. To embrace the minutiae in the machines and wonder at their magic.
I’ve also been testing mic options on the bike. If you are wondering, the shirt I am wearing is fully armoured with all the pads etc.
This was just a snippet as I have a 14min video of a selection of these tests I will drop into the subscriber feed.
#ThePictures
If you fancy making your own abstract aerial art here is a kit list of what you will need.
No I’ve not used FaceApp. Seems like i’m the only one. I don’t know enough about the company making it. But let’s face it, there are enough photos and video of me online too grab every biometrical angle and nuance. Yes the app’s T’s & C’s are questionable. But who’s aren’t. Of course if I were a nefarious government wanting access to every face-locked iPhone crossing my borders then I’d certainly be putting in a bid for this companies data. Perhaps the Russian government already has. Maybe they don’t need to ask.
I’m enjoying the discussion from the general public though. People who never cared about this stuff are now wondering where their data is going and what’s being done with it. Maybe some of them will join the Open Rights Group those guys are all over this kind of stuff.
Confessions of a Downing Street Photographer.
Lovely animation.
As is this.
It has wonderful sound design too.
#TheWords
Anime brings in more than $19 billion a year. Yet its artists are earning barely enough to survive.
After reading this I saw this article about one of Japans worst cases of arson resulting in the death of many. It happened at an animation studio. Looks like it was a disgruntled author.
The Pirate Bay is still doing its thing.
#TheSound
Ever clicked on something you wish you hadn’t?
This episode of Digital Human is one of their darker ones and asks why we are drawn to violent content.
I really want a giant gong.
They are not cheap though.
This looks like a interesting event in London next Wednesday… The Poetics of Sound. Thanks to Anika Saigal for the heads up.
#TheConsumed
On the smallholding where I was brought up, we only had well water. Well water that the local farmer would add nitrates to. Probably not on purpose. We’d boil it and had it tested regularly to make sure it was safe, but it never tasted as good as if you put squash in it. I also remember ‘flavour crystals’ as a kid. Some sachet with a brightly coloured sugary substance you would add to water.
In America they have Tang.
I never got to try Tang. It went to space though. Buzz wasn’t a fan..
I had a little picnic on a bench in Huntingdon with Dave @Laica23.
I’ve eaten plenty of BLT’s but this is the first time I’ve seen an LGBT. This is obviously just the box. I was hungry. The hint of chilli in the guacamole was a nice surprise.
#TheThings
My boat is for sale. Full details here.
If you read last week’s email you know the how and why of it all.
Anyway… It’s on its way to London and ready to live aboard. More than enough room for you and a few friends if you wanted to buy a part share. Ask me for mates rates. Obviously your paid subscription is now worth a massive discount.
I also tweeted a link to the advert here.
Feel free to share onwards. Someone somewhere needs this kind of adventure.
Been honing my monopod/tripod set up to get something small to take on the motorbike.
I’ve ditched the Manfrotto option (top) for the much more stable option below it (bottom). I’ve used a mini camera ball head on an Insta360 selfie stick on a FeiyuTech mini tripod. It packs small and is the most stable option of the two. It’s handy for the iPhone, Sony RX100iv compact or GoPro.
If you mostly work on a Mac you might like this minimalist calendar.
As seen in last weeks email I am still disproportionately impressed with my new folding cap.
Such a simple design. I can’t find the patent but I hope someone has managed to retire off the back of this idea.
I’ve spotted others that fold twice in the peak. Not sure how I feel about them. Seems over engineered. If you would like me to test one on your behalf I have added one to my wishlist. Also, as a reminder, some of the links I share in this email are affiliate links. You are under no obligation to bend your wholesome ethical outlook and purchase from these links. But if you do, I might get a few pennies. It’s one way to support the production of this email. As much as it looks like I do little but play around with tech and take long lunches, I still need some money.
What a beautiful thing.
I’ve upgraded from my GoPro Hero 5 to the Hero 7 Black.
They are very similar looking is size and even accept the same size battery. The 7 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 5 though. The camera mount on my Rode mic test I linked above was vibrating like crazy. But the footage from the 7 looked great. A lot of the footage I shot in the US with the 5 was unusable but first tests suggest the 7 has amazing stabalization.
Here is a handy video overview and one way to set up the 7.
#TheWeb
Do not look into The Story Diamond. You have been warned.
Have you added yourself to the Documentally Newsletter map? It might be I will be riding your way soon.
That’ll teach me to ask questions about god and the multiverse. (Click to expand)
In case you didn’t know. This is how to whisk.
I’ve been looking for nice places to crash should I make it to France. If you want to sleep in a large Trojan owl they book up fast.
Now would be a good time to subscribe, it’s only £4 a month. Next week is a subscriber only email and for the following two weeks on the road I’ll most likely only be posting audio/photo updates to the subscriber feed. Here’s a handy button…
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. As this free channel quietens down for a summer break, the full fat dispatch will continue going out to supporters.
Next week I need to pay my tax bill. I wonder if they accept motorbikes. I’ll also be preparing for the trip I keep talking about and have no real idea what it looks like. I’m also home with the kids so there will be lots of play.
What are you up to?
“First, we must figure out how to live successfully for the long term on Earth, and then we can go to the stars.” ~ Donald Goldsmith
Behold the moon,
See you out there.
Over…
