Year: 2004

I’m back, and wish I could have updated this from the desert (there were some Internet Cafes nearby) but forgot to take my bleeding password. So couldn’t post.

Bugger this i’m off to Marrakesh, Morocco. Then into the Sahara, wonder if I can blog from there?

I love the Grauniad

“Prescott fuels speculation on futureamid claims he discussed ‘peacefulsuccession’ with Gordon Brown.”

I just wonder where the new Ministry of ‘peacefulsuccession’ is.

Pure Gnieus

‘Experts have developed computer games specifically designed to boost people’s self-esteem.’ (Source BBC News)

Wa? Bollox. I know exactly how to improve self-esteem with a computer game.

1) Take one copy of Fifa 99.
2) Set up friendly between Real Madrid and Tottenham/Leeds.
3) Go to options and remove bookings and set game difficulty to easy.
4) Start game.
5) Kick the living crap out of oppostition, to the point all subs are used up and opposing team are gradually reduced to around 8 men.
6) Win game 27-0.
7) Laugh like evil genius.
8) Repeat Steps 1-7 ad infinitum until happy.

‘Scientists have gathered some remarkable evidence which shows that it is possible to see something without observing it’ link

Ofcourse we see without observing, damn fools. Can you imagine what our brains would have to cope with if we took in everything. I pity the fool that does that.

Infact most of this seems rather similar to the idea of Schemata – schemes which allow us to integrate knowledge in ways by linking traits and facts together so that the ‘lumpiness’ of reality is accurately represented in our minds. Algorithmic analysis rather than continuous meticulous observation, i.e. if it quacks like a duck, swims like a duck, and has feathers like a duck, it is probably a duck.

It went well, my legs now feel like somebody replaced them with concrete posts.

It turned out the race wasn’t for women – I got the wrong website. Also when I rang them to confirm my registration they were somewhat confused by my gruff voice and male name. Oops.

I have rather stupidly agreed to run 5km tonight for ‘Race for Life’ Although looking at the website: ‘Join us in one of our 150 women-only 5km races across the country and help us cure cancer faster’

Oh dear. Firstly, I’m a bloke, secondly I am a very unfit bloke.

No worries, 80’s steel will get me through (a sax solo and a key change woudn’t go amiss either). And ofcourse the fact it’s for Charidi.

Risin’ up, back on the street
Took my time, took my chances
Went the distance
Now I’m back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times, it happened too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

* It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Risin’ up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And his fortune must always be
Eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry
They stack the odds
Still we take to the street
Fot the kill with the skill to survive
(Repeat *)

Risin’ up straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance
Now I’m not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive
(Repeat *)

The eye of the tiger
(4 times till fade)

The story broke last week about abuse by British soldiers on Iraqi POW’s (are they POW’s if we have the supposed moral high ground?). Yet subsequent comment seems to suggest that these images may be false. This story follows closely on the heals of the issue concerning the Iraqi kids holding a cardboard sign.

So what’s going on here? Are they real or are they false, the fact that nobody can quite say it somewhat distressing. Of course photos have been doctored for years, think of the Cottingley Fairies hoax of 1917 by two Yorkshire girls, or the photo of the Loch Ness monster, shot in 1934 by a London gynaecologist and more recently John Kerry and Jane Fonda. This is not new(s). But the fact that is so bloody easy to do today (Photoshopping) coupled with a rabid media hungry for the next scoop means the creation and distribution network is that much more prevalent (and of course more eager to publish).

“While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph”. American documentary photographer Lewis Hine circa 1900

The above raises the issue that photographs have always had this aura of falsability, indeed before photography, paintings were considered the documentary medium of the day. And look how painting has diversified since the 1880’s. It moved gradually into impressionism, expressionism, simulacrum and even to an extent distruction of itself. Is photography moving in a similar direction (abeit slowly due to the lack of a successor), it was obvious that the painted image could be very easily manipulated however, we had nothing else and the trust was given over to the reputation of the painter in question.

Can photography (coupled with photographic manipulation tools) be trusted? Maybe as with painting we need to look to the author to garner the truth, or indeed the publication in which it is reproduced. Of course this will lead to the authenticity questioned about genuine images, which is a shame.

Once again I seem to have answered a question with several others…damn you Guardian Newspapers and your ‘let’s look at both sides of the story’ – I blame you.