The Null Device
2000/9/26
Some daring filmmakers will attempt to film James Joyce's Ulysses, with Stephen Rea playing Leopold Bloom.
I think I'm being followed.
There is a busker who frequents Melbourne's trains. He is middle-aged with a ponytail and an acoustic guitar with plastic flowers at the top. His MO is to board trains, ask "anyone mind if I strum a tune?" and start playing, usually lacklustre renditions of 1960s folk (Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and that kind of thing); he often introduces himself as "buskers' federation of the universe" and "better than your average train ride".
When I lived in Carnegie, he would board trains at Caulfield and play all the way to Richmond. Shortly after I moved to Northcote, he started appearing on the Epping line, boarding at Clifton Hill and playing. Once I boarded a tram to Brunswick St. and he was on it, guitar and all (though, mercifully, not playing).
Could all this be mere coincidence?
Why does toothpaste come in such oddly-sized tubes? Today in the supermarket I saw different categories from the same company in tubes of 100g, 120g and 130g, respectively. It's not a matter of density, as the tubes vary in size as well. Is it some sort of measure to make comparing prices difficult without a calculator?
Oil company Shell, long accused of complicity in genocide in Nigeria, is facing trial in New York on charges relating to the genocide and the execution of pro-democracy activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. (via RobotWisdom)
In a reversal of science-fiction clichés of parthenogenetic amazon civilisations, a geneticist claims that, with techniques currently being developed, gay male couples could conceive children, from their combined genetic material. A surrogate mother would still be needed (unless the rumoured Japanese artificial-womb research bears fruit). In the short term, chances are this will be banned in the more reactionary countries (the Australian federal government will probably rush through a bill at the first opportunity). In the long term, we can probably expect to eventually see children born of the combined genetic material of many combinations of parents.