This fun star wars weather tool shows the weather around the world in terms of star wars places. So like it’s cold here in Chicago, but it’s much more fun to say it’s like Hoth. The description goes, “cold, ice, freezing desolation. you may have to climb inside a tauntaun for warmth.”

A little view page source tells me there are 9 places:

• tatooine — hot, dry, occasional sarlacc — utinni!
• dagobah — hot and wet and not in a good way — Yoda might be hiding somewhere
• yavin 4 — hot and cloudy — bits of the Death Star might fall on your head
• endor — temperate, grey and cloudy — stick around and you may get your own animated series
• bespin — fog, mist, cloud, can’t see a thing — Lando is going to betray you.
• kamino — wet — there’s also a significant chance of unconvincing CGI aliens
• naboo — temperate, dry and pleasant — meesa like-a the weather these days
• hoth — cold, ice, freezing desolation — you may have to climb inside a tauntaun for warmth
• alderaan — huh? does not exist

So Hoth isn’t good, we should aim at Endor or Naboo.

[via giz]

Because of all the eating over the Thanksgiving holiday, I knew i had to do some serious running for the remainder of the weekend. The weather had been good, and then today when I woke up…it was raining and i heard rumbles of thunder. Sigh.

I did go out after lunch, and now with my new long-sleeved running shirt on top, and running gloves. I ran south along the lake, past Montrose beach. It was pretty deserted, I saw fewer than 10 other runners. At first it was fine, and then after I turned around it started to get very, very, very windy. The worst was that I was running against the wind, which slowed me down a lot. And then it started drizzling. Sigh. I was glad of my dryfit shirt and my hat.

So now I have to be prepared for winter running and figure out how to do it when it starts snowing. There’s a lot of good clothing and tips out there:

• attire — layers, shell, hat, gloves, probably have to wear long pants soon — remember to wear a technical shirt underneath and not cotton
• visibility — I’m thinking of getting some reflective strips for extra visibility, the neighborhood street lamps aren’t terribly bright
• safety — I used to run at all hours, like 11.30pm, midnight. Not anymore in Chicago cos it’s unsafe, and I’d never go out to the lake in the dark. I already carry my ICE card in my ipod pouch, I’m gonna get a road ID soon

I was watching the baseball last night, it’s the World Series between the Yankees and the Phillies. First of, competition between teams in the same country does not “world” make, but I give up re: Americans’ lack of awareness of the rest of the world. Anyway, the game was interesting, albeit boring with all the stop-starts (another characteristic of American team sports, think American football. The other insane characteristic is the obsession with numbers and statistics). The Yankees won, which I’m mildly happy about.

Then I read today about where commemorative t-shirts from the losing team go and I’m very very happy that they go to charity and then to people in poor countries.

The merchandise doesn’t go to waste, people living in poverty receive new, clean clothes, and the clothing makers recoup some of their losses—they get tax credits for the charitable donations. Why don’t the clothes go to needy families in the United States? Overseas donation is part of the agreement between World Vision and the leagues. The farther away the clothing is, the less likely it is to offend a losing player (or heartbroken Buffalo Bills fan).

My second Landshark event today was the oyster festival at Roscoe Village. According to the original blurb in Time Out it’s supposed to be a Guinness and oyster event; but somehow Guinness disappeared.

The entrance fee was $5, and of all the events I’ve been to this year, this $5 was a waste. First off, I expected oysters — as in raw bar oysters. Was very disappointed that there was only one stand, selling baked stuffed oysters at $20 for the half dozen. I guess Americans have this paranoia about serving raw seafood, but if that’s the case why have the festival in the first place. Tasted okay, and nice with beer, but nothing like fresh raw oysters, right? Sigh.

Still hungry, so I had a lamb kebab and another beer. Took the bus and was home by 5pm.

The Air & Water Show took place over this weekend. I found a spot at the lakeside between Oak Street Beach and Ohio Beach, it wasn’t as crowded as the main area at North Beach. Weather-wise it would have been better to come yesterday, cos today it was overcast and rained a bit. I had my hat on so I wasn’t bothered, I was more annoyed at the lack of blue skies and good light. I got there just before 2pm. Seemed like I just missed whatever was on the program before cos it was a good 30-40mins before the display started again.

I must confess I have no idea what models the planes were, just that they were very impressive — both the planes and the pilots’ flying skills. I was a bit too far south to be in the middle of the action, even though I could see pretty well. First there was a series of single plane displays. The biplane was especially crazy.



The main attraction was of course the US Airforce Thunderbirds and even I knew they were flying F-16s. The cloud cover gave them an advantage to sneak up on us, I was looking around trying to spot them approaching. All in all it was a magnificent display of precision flying. And the noise!! Especially when they flew over my head.

I had both my camcorder and my camera. The photos needed to be photoshopped, and somehow the audio went missing when I converted the mpg to mov. Need to fix that sometime.

video of thunderbirds (no audio): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PM7HgiddXM
photos full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/invisiblecompany/sets/72157621936484447/

I spent 9 hours (1-10pm) on Sunday at lollapalooza, which is one of America’s prime music festival events. It’s a 3-day event, but as I looked at the lineup, I decided I could only do one day, especially since I had to go to work friday. I was a bit bummed that I missed Depeche Mode on Friday and Gomez, TV on the Radio and Tool on Saturday. Ah well, next year.

 

It was a HOT, HOT, HOT day. We were allowed sealed bottle water, and throughout the day I made sure I was hydrated. Okay, I had 3 Bud Lights in addition to the water, watermelon and smoothies I enjoyed. I also diligently bought and used sunblock; and a cute fedora I bought at one of the stalls. The first pic here shows a fire department “mobile ventilation unit” which they used to fan water for a cooling shower for the participants. The second pic shows what seems to be all 225,000 attendees.

 

There were 8 stages, and with Grant Park 1 mile long, it was essential to plan. There were only a couple of overlaps where I had to decide, most of the time it was obvious who I wanted to see. I caught the end of Bat for Lashes, who I’ve never heard of but will likely buy their album now. Then mid-afternoon it was Airborne Toxic Event, who were more subdued than I expected. I wondered if I should have gone to see Kaiser Chiefs instead. I was fairly close to the stage, although being short it was difficult to see over the shoulders of people in front of me.

A short break afterwards, during which I chomped down a portion of Jack Daniels bbq wings washed down with a watermelon wedge. Then it was back to the same stage to see Vampire Weekend, which got us jumping and doing screams. I only know their most well-known songs, and I sang along like the other audience members.

It was then time to explore the other side of the festival, more food, looking around the stalls, bypassing the autograph area. Found myself in the dance pit section, where DJ Boyz Noise was spinning. Then caught the end of Dan Auerbach before heading to Lou Reed. Unfortunately Lou was disappointing, so I walked the whole mile back to the south end, got a tamale/taco combo, a smoothie and a frozen kefir (like frozen yogurt), my last Bud Light and found a seat on the lawn to wait for The Killers.



Brandon Flowers and gang did not disappoint, opening with Human, rocking hard through their repetoire and finishing with a flourish with Read My Mind, Mr Brightside and All These Things that I’ve Done. We sang “I got soul but I’m not a soldier” over and over and over again, it was brilliant. Two encores later, I joined the thousands on my way home, very satisfied, very buzzed and feeling a little like I was 21 again.

Sooner or later, with all the gadgets we own, we end up with a mess of wires everywhere. There are plenty of cable organisers around. I bought 3 of these cableboxes for: a) their aesthetics — they’re well designed, almost Swiss; and b) their capacity. I was able to fit a wide surge protector, the mbp adaptor, the airport, stiff cable wires, adaptor for the modem and usb charger for the iPhone/iPod into the box. Impressive.

 
While I was on their website, I ordered a spacestation to replace the usb hub and other wires for the mbp. This one isn’t as useful as I thought, and since I already have a coolsink, the “prop the end of the laptop for cooling” bit is less relevant. Still, looks nice.

[facebook readers: click on “view original post” to see pics]

 

Midsommarfest is:

one of Chicago’s most unique street fairs. Born out of Andersonville’s Swedish heritage, Midsommarfest retains its quaint, international flavor. Old-world Swedish traditions, including a festive dance around the Maypole, are incorporated into an unrivaled array of entertainment for families and adults.

Considering I live 3 minutes away, it’s a no-brainer, especially when the weather was so nice. I thought I’d get some good pictures too. But no, it was too crowded and the stalls not that interesting. There were lots of arts and crafts, food and beer. Religious, political and community groups were well represented. I took a picture of one of the stages, and one of the spit roasting pork, that was it.

I actually went back home, dropped my camera and went back. Tried a 10” long Italian sausage sandwich, a corn dog and a sangria that everyone was drinking. It was a nice way of spending the late afternoon.

gama-go are the people who made the boing boing hoodie, which I missed. :( They’re now doing the boing boing t-shirt, but I’m not interested. Instead, I entered into thehoodie roulette in which I sent in $40, and they sent me back a hoodie. The fun part is that I didn’t know what the design is until I receive the package.

It turned out, I got #61/360 of the pastoral dirty bird design. Pretty cool.

Yes, I’m a gadget freak, and I love looking at shiny gadgets. Interestingly though, I’m not an early adoptor, and I use gadgets for a long time. The mbp is an original from 2006, camera is a 350D from 2005, cellphone is from 2007, i only got my ipod nano recently. So it’s a pleasant surprise to hear Anil Dash and Gina Trapani talk about how cool it is to keep using older gadgets. Anil has even set up a new website last year’s model to promote the idea:

It’s totally normal to lust after the hottest new geeky gadgets. It’s also cool to put some thought into what we buy, and what we throw away. So this is a place to show the world that a lot of us are choosing to use Last Year’s Model.

gamma-go, maker of the boing boing hoodie, is having a hoodie roulette. At $40 each, we don’t know what we’d get in the mail, only that it’ll be one of their limited editions. but design? Pot luck.

We had this at OldJob last year and it proved very useful. via lifehacker, a great little strip calendar from marlie’s creative universe. Doesn’t fit on the mbp or the flat screen monitors at work but I will be pinning them on the bottom of the monitor stand or the top of the keyboard. It’s very convenient. There are two versions to fit different sized paper: letter, which is okay on A4 paper too; and legal for a longer strip.

This should be on the tumblelog but I can’t resist. I mean, TWO Doctors in the same Tardis? :drool. People say “your” Doctor is the one you grew up with; and I grew up with Peter Davison. This mini-episode entitled Time Crash was produced specially for Children in Need and has the 5th Doctor (Davison) as well as the current, 10th, reincarnation. I must say, I lurve David Tennant’s hair.

Well, I’m officially a web-lemming. I got the download link for Radiohead’s In Rainbows today. The download was fast and in no time at all I had a zip file of shiny new songs from one of the best group of musicians today.

A bit of technical information — 10 songs, 160kbps, DRM-free. Even though there were no advanced copies, reviews are already appearing. I think it’s a brilliant marketing move.

All ten songs were previously available on youtube as live versions and a cursory check shows that the album versions are already on limewire. I don’t know why I thought otherwise — to think that people won’t make the songs available for downloading out of respect for the artist is wishful thinking. The argument is that they don’t deserve special treatment just because; then again they’ve gone out and done something that shakes the music industry on its head and they should be recognised for that. It’s interesting to read that Nine Inch Nails, Oasis and Jamiroquai are considering going down the same route of disintermediation. It’s like giving the power back to the people who created their work.

This is the way the world is heading, of direct interaction between suppliers and end users — it boggles my mind to remember the days when we can arrange travel only through a travel agent, for instance. The music and entertainment industry has to evolve, but only time can tell if they are successful in changing their working model.

Meanwhile, I’m in rainbowland.

of course I pre-ordered the latest Radiohead. Of course I could have put £0.00 in the checkout box. But I didn’t. I paid what I would normally expect to pay for a CD. It really was up to me.

I’m not a big enough fan to pay £40 for the gorgeous-looking discbox, though I was tempted if only to show support … and the novelty factor. I’m sure a lot of people paid a minimum and many more will download it. But the online consensus seems to be that this is a great move, a challenge to the stale operating model stubbornly followed by the recording industry.

Many indie bands and writers do this, Jane Siberry does it, fruit sellers in sleepy European villages do it, Just Around the Corner restaurant has been around for ages. But what makes this event powerful is that it’s Radiohead, a known super-selling entity with clout and a huge fanbase. Kudos to them. I hope this model works and more follow. What would also be great is an easy way to search for bands distributing their own music.

I was watching the Postmarks’ Goodbye on youtube (because listening to music on youtube is interesting) when I clicked on a few more links and came across this — Advice for Young Mothers to be by the Veils. What caught my eye? The song title. What was surprising? Good song.

I should have known. The Veils and the Postmarks come from the stable as Brookville and Midlake. My type of music. What’s even more cool? This song, as well as many others, are available for download from world’s fair own website — click on the artists’ names under the Releases menu.

via cnet and a bunch of techie, geeky, weird stuff websites, here’s one rollercoaster for the adventurous, but only if you have lots of insurance.

The Skycycle (Japanese site — English translation) in Okayama Japan isn’t terribly terrifying — it doesn’t have any loops or whizz its passengers around while seemingly suspended in mid-air or offer experiences of near-zero gravity. Instead, the passengers do all the work, they need to pedal themselves around the track quite a height above ground. The “bikes” look like the ancient types you see in very old fashioned amusement parks.

Heh. Take that, spinning.

March 26 things is done. From the trip of course.

full set at flickr

I really wanted to do 26 things, and I wanted for all the pics to be from the trip. So I enlisted everyone to help, and I’m happy to report that I completed it. The first time I actually completed it.

full sized pics at flickr

Okay, I don’t normally frequently post stuff that’s more than PG-13 (um, except the one about the customised paddles or the other one about the SMS-enabled vibe) but I just gotta admire how entrepreneurial this guy is.

Via USA Today. Now couples who want to join the mile high club but don’t want to be rushed, or cramped into tiny smelly airplane bathrooms (cos, not many people dare, or have the opportunity to, do it in the passenger cabin) should make their way to Atlanta.

$299 buys them a whole hour in the secluded cabin of a specially customised Piper Cherokee 6 that is guaranteed to reach an altitude of at least 5,280 feet, an ultra discreet pilot, a bottle of champagne and a certificate. Oh, and “you get to keep your sheets as a souvenir of this special event.” Although I have reservations about the sheets, they’re this awful pink colour.

This seems a tad too deliberate for me. I thought part of getting to be a member of the mile high club involves a certain degree of illicitness, adventure … and the fear of being seen / found out. That’s the adrenalin rush that makes it so titillating. Paying for it and enjoying an hour of fun is all very well, but it doesn’t beat the real thing.

IMHO, YMMV and all that.

I threw out the fish tank today. It’s the end of our fish-keeping days. It all started when mm and I went to a funfair in Hampstead and won a goldfish. I remember buying a small glass bowl, but then realising we need more — food, filters, aeration and such like.

So we bought an aquarium system and learnt how to keep tropical fish. The goldfish we gave to a friend of ours. We kept to easy fish like guppies, angel fish and catfish. We always preferred live plants. Water must stand in buckets for a while before adding. Change water regularly. Add fish slowly, let them have a taste of the aquarium water first. All these became second nature.

Then I started having to travel a lot, so the fish became neglected and eventually they all died. The tank’s been empty for a couple of years, and starting to look grotty.

I suppose one day we might go back to keeping fish. I like it, watching them, it’s peaceful.

I watched the trailer for World Trade Center the film. I didn’t think I would be affected, not after so many years, not after so many other tragedies and atrocities. But I had goosebumps all through.

Watch the trailer:
Apple
youtube

My NYC hotel room overlooked ground zero. Every day we walked past the site to get to the office. There are always people there peering over the fencing and taking pictures. The PATH station is fully operational of course, but everything around is still a big construction site. This is from my room, click for the larger version at flickr.

I should be excited. I should be watching, following, reading. But not yet. The football doesn’t interest me yet. I read somewhere that the last time the 666 dates appeared, at 6.6.66, England won the World Cup, so they should win again this time, because it’s 6.6.06. Snerk. Judging from the first game, they need a bigger miracle than coincidental dates. This from the London metroblog.

Fussball? Nein Danke!

From metafilter, the top 15 skylines in the world. Some of the entries are contentious and subject to debate on metafilter, but most are agreed on #1. Heh, my reaction has a huge dollop of “yeah right” in it, simply because most days it’s impossible to enjoy a single bit of that skyline — everything is covered by a thick dark blanket of disgusting smog.

In other news (and this is for mary), Klimpton is the best hotel chain for wifi. I remember my problems at the Oberoi in Mumbai, where the wireless conked out without notice and took almost 2 hours to return. While I’m traveling I usually have to wrestle with awful in-room internet services that are expensive and not always Mac compatible. So it’s refreshing to read about a hotel chain that not only provides free wi-fi, they make sure the network covers the entire hotel. Like the article says, the hotel is perfect for “business travelers, hip leisure travelers, and globe-trotting bloggers.” Globe-trotting? They mean ‘North-American continent’ trotting surely? The chain is only found in the US and Canada.

metroblogging redesigned. It’s now kinda grey and the fonts are larger and seems to have more ads. With my interest in so many cities it’s one of the sites that i visit often. I’m not sure about the new design — it’s neither better nor worse than the previous one, just different and something I won’t even think about when I get used to it. They’ve added a lot more icons and the navigation is more hidden. Lots of good stuff to come apparently.

All I can say is, with 42 cities, it’s an impressive website and makes someone like me who doesn’t live in a “mainstream” location (ie one that doesn’t have enough contributors for our own metblog city) feel closer to the people who do.

Saw Harry Potter 4 today. I was trying to finish the book in NZ, knowing we’d see it when we came back. And throughout the film, I had the the feeling I know the story. And at the end … yep I’d read the book, I’ve just forgotten about it. Ooops.

Dinner at her place, she cooked. mm is such a great home cook.

I don’t want to go to work tomorrow.

What can I say? I'm in my hotel room and on TV it's been Iron Chef, Mortal Kombat and Friends. I'm b.o.r.e.d. so I started looking for things to do. This from otto's monday madness.

1. Do you prefer to be out in the sun or in the shade?
   In the shade, where it's cool and not so bright.
2. Regarding the walls in your house, do you prefer neutral colors or bright colors?
   Neutral colors, they're cool and not so bright.
3. When hanging pictures on your walls, do you like things symmetric or asymmetric?
   Symmetric.
4. How about where you'd like to live; country or city?
   I've only lived in cities all my life, can't imagine if country suits me. City.
5. Your blog; Blogger, Blogdrive, Blog-City, or another one altogether?
   Movable type.
6. Email; Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, or other?
   Yahoo, I'm still waiting for a gmail invite. I have a lead though ... and I'll never be caught dead voluntarily using something that comes out from Redmond.
7. Air conditioning or just a fan when it's hot at night?
   Aircon, I need it to be cool.
8. Dinner; seafood or steak?
   Steak, rare.
9. Your all-time favorite music media; CD's, cassette tapes, or vinyl (or 8-tracks)?
   Anything that can fit on the iPod, failing that CDs I guess. I used to own some vinyls, they were great though.
10. When learning a new software program, do you find it easier to follow a book or an online tutorial?
    Book, I need to finger the pages.

Winter was officially over and the day passed me by. Hmmm. Not so much in tune with nature am I. It's interesting to note the main pagan holidays, something I only had a slight awareness of before I researched it for my stories.

Candlemas falls on Feb 2 and marks Mid-winter. Also known as Imbolc and Brigits’s Day. Brigit, or Bridget of Kildare, or Bìghde is the the Celtic goddess of fire, the hearth, smithy, fields, poetry and childbirth.

Spring Equinox marks the first day of spring, March 21, when the farming year begins. Also known as Ostara.

Beltane May Day, or May 1. When the seeds that have been planted in the spring start to grow. In pagan terms the day is one of celebration of all things godly.

Summer Solstice the first day of summer, normally June 22, is the longest day of the year. Hence it's alternative name of MidSummer.

Lammas or Lughnasadh August 1 when fruit begins to appear and can be harvested.

Autumnal Equinox marks the first day of autumn, around September 21.

Samhain also called All Hallows Eve or Halloween and falls on October 31. When the barriers between worlds are thinnest and those who have gone on before can walk in this world. A day of rest and reflection.

Winter Solstice the shortest day of the year around December 22nd marks the first day of winter.