The Null Device

2000/9/12

New uses of technology: New versions of the Eudora mail client will feature MoodWatch, a feature which analyses outgoing email for aggressive language and warns the sender if they might regret sending a message. Wonder whether it is any more accurate than the classification mechanisms in censorware.

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Inspired by Danny Hillis' Clock of the Long Now, Longplayer is a device that plays a piece of music lasting 1,000 years. The first prototype uses a Macintosh and SuperCollider, recombining components; though a mechanical version, designed to last for millennia, is under development. (via Slashdot)

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First it is claimed that Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper, and now Arthur Conan Doyle is accused of plagiarising one of his most famous stories and murdering its author.

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Oh dear: Corporate Goth.

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Sympathy for the recording industry: Heroin-pop band Smashing Pumpkins recorded a follow-up to their most recent album at home. Unfortunately, their recording company (EMI) was not interested in releasing it, and their contract prohibits them from distributing it. Hence they leaked it as a bootleg onto the Net.

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Wouldn't you love to own a personal luxury submarine? One can be yours for only US$78 million. (via Potential Fossil Assemblage)

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CDO update: I noticed today that the Nike store in Melbourne isn't taking any precautions; most of their windows have been occluded by a wooden facade (painted with Mammonic Games-related camouflage), and they had two security guards outside their entrance. I haven't seen any increased security at the nearby McDonalds in Bourke St. though.

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Why do I get the feeling that Tanya Headon is a reasonably well-known music journalist by day (under a different name, of course)? Of course, that could not be the case and she could work at a large record store (which would explain a lot).

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About bloody time too: Disposable, single-use credit card numbers for the web. So far, they're only for American Express customers in the US, but hopefully the idea will catch on.

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Giving a new meaning to "droppin' the science": MC Hawking, the gangsta rapper who brought you A Brief History of Rhyme, and songs like F*ck The Creationists: (via Pearls)

Fuck the damn creationists, those bunch of dumb-ass bitches,
every time I think of them my trigger finger itches.
They want to have their bullshit, taught in public class,
Stephen J. Gould should put his foot right up their ass.

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And today's bizarre search-engine query leading to The Null Device: "gothic fashion trends".

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The curious story of NATO's in-house arts division, chartered to promote global stability and stave off cultural threats through conceptual art: (via Robot Wisdom)

One of the most interesting of the five projects--at least as explained in the catalog--involved the infiltration of a radical Japanese art group... Rom explained that, in a way, the Sakhalin Five represented NATOarts' evil twin brother. "Instead of attempting to support international security and stability, this was a leftist arts organization, making art and affecting international security in a negative way. So Alexander Perls was sent to investigate these occurrences."

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Backtracking a bit, on Saturday, I went to see Dandelion Wine, a local band, at the Continental. The show was the launch of their album, Tunguska Butterfly, and was pretty doovy, with Naomi's lovely æthereal vocals skilfully complemented by various guitar-like instruments. They're well worth seeing if you get the chance.

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The Civil Disobedience Olympics have gotten off to a modest start. No running street battles, tear gas or water cannon, and neither the Nike store nor any McDonalds has been razed to the ground yet (though give them time), but the casino hasn't been doing a roaring trade, and various delegates have had trouble getting in. Meanwhile, in an Onionesque piece of doublespeak, a Sun executive says that protestors are afraid of losing jobs, and that there is nothing to worry about, as in future there will be more work and technology will connect people to their jobs at all times. Though wouldn't that be even more frightening; a feudalised society as high-tech panopticon, with contracted serfs constantly on call, working Frankie Teardrop hours just to survive? Already in the US, real wages have dropped so that many workers cannot subsist on one full-time job, whilst CEOs' wages and profits have gone up disproportionately.

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Life imitates paranoid fantasies, as human microchip implants move closer to reality. One way of kickstarting the trend and winning mass acceptance may be for someone to release one with a built-in MP3 player. (via FollowMeHere)

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I received in the mail today the CD of Needle In The Groove, by Jeff Noon (the author of the novel, and the spoken-word pieces on the CD) and David Toop (who did the music/noise). It's interesting, for those who have read the book and preferably are into noise-sculpture music. Others will find it to be just deadpan voiceovers (sounding perhaps a bit like a Northern English version of Malcolm McLaren in Paris) over weird rhythmic noise. Though bass instruction #2 is pretty funky...

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I just got the latest issue of NextMusic, which has a section on DJ CD players (dual CD units with features such as pitch control, cue points and wheels for scratching). If I had A$3,000 or so to spare, I'd be tempted to buy such a unit and a mixer and try my hand at DJing.

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