A-Power Energy Generation Systems (NASDAQ: APWR) rose over 10.3% to a yearly high of $20.60 after the Chinese power system manufacturer announced that it signed a deal to supply turbines to a 600 megawatt wind farm in West Texas.

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) rose over 11.4% to a yearly high of $5.55  after the furniture retailer announced a 3Q profit of $0.02 per share, beating analyst estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Yey I finished it!

Icosahedron with simple pattern cut out of it

It was quite fiddley but I felt like I was in nursery doing crafts again. It was so much fun putting it together. For some reason I decided to make life a little difficult for myself too by cutting a simple pattern into it which took tonnes more time but now you can see how the pattern relates to the shape and also a kind of indication of the 3D structure that forms an Icosahedron.

So continuing from last week the images below show the process for making it:

Icosahedron template

Cutting pattern into each face of the Icosahedron - which is made up of equilateral triangles

Template of icosahedron with pattern cut in all faces. The thicker borders are where the tabs are for attaching edges to the neighbouring edge

Assembling the Icosahedron

So obviously as soon as I got that done I just had to start experimenting. I used my reflective sheets and cut-out from a few weeks ago and formed a quick sculptural piece similar to what I would submit for an installation. I laid this flat, turned the lights off and left the small PIR unit at the end of the cone like shape to allow the light to flow through this towards the icosahedron and onto the cut-out pattern below.

View of installation prototype from above

View of prototype head-on - before main light is turned off

prototype side view in dark which is how it would be exhibited

Only the PIR light has been left on and creates the view seen here. There is a mix of shadows competing with reflections and larger areas of light and shade.

Close-up looking into the cone like area to where the icosahedron sits

I like how this looked against the black of darkness. It conveys the high contrast I was after and allows the distinctive shapes to show clearly.  The reflection of light makes it much brighter and the shadows cast from the patterns much darker therefore it stands out with much more contrast and visibility. I also like the fact that the whole piece is surrounded in darkness and therefore allows it to seem like a standalone installation that could fit into a generic gallery space.

In addition to this it looks quite futuristic and space age – not really something I considered before. I may contemplate this at a later stage – whether I want to leave this aspect as it is or change or remove it.

I also realised that the shapes and lines and use of the cone shape remind me of architectural structures. This was reaffirmed when I received feedback in which a similar comment was made.

I don’t think the photos do this piece justice though. It’s meant to be viewed in its physical form with the naked eye. In trying to capture it as an image it loses some of its awe. The good thing about it being a physical and 3D piece is that it encourages the viewer to move around it and explore it from different angles. By doing this the view changes with shapes changing according to the direction of light and casting of shadows and reflection.

I think for this point of the course – with the Unit 1 assessment just around the corner – it’s a good thing I’ve been able to experiment with the shapes and lighting even if it is still only the early stages of this.

The set-up of all the parts and the addition of the lighting meant a lot of time has to be set aside for this in future.

My next objectives are to:
- Do more research into lighting – especially motion sensitive options.
- Look into stronger materials for another prototype.
- And sooner or later I will need to pick my final pattern – which I will need to convert into a vector image suitable for use with the laser cutting machine.

Il PIR propone di votare scheda bianca alle presidenziali in Romania. Intervista a Giancarlo Germani, presidente del Partito “Identità Romena”

(FIRI, 19 nov. 2009, Roma)

Ha fatto molto scalpore, nel mondo della diaspora romena, la notizia del neonato MRE – Movimento dei Romeni d’Europa, di cui, data la composizione eterogenea (associazioni e partiti veri e propri tra cui il Pir) e l’assenza di uno Statuto o di altri elementi precisi, non è chiaro se si tratta di un movimento politico o no. Anche perché la prima iniziativa è stata quella di invitare i romeni a votare scheda bianca per protestare contro tutti i candidati iscritti in corsa per le elezioni presidenziali di domenica prossima. Perché la scheda bianca?

Il Mre è nato riprendendo una idea del Segretario del Pir Mihai Muntean, di creare un brand sotto il quale riunire tutte le organizzazioni romene. Pur avendo all’interno alcuni Partiti espressioni delle comunità di residenza come Il Pir in Italia ed il Pirum in Spagna, il Mre non fà politica ma è un contenitore delle varie componenti delle comunità romene le quali continuano a fare in piena libertà ed autonomia quello che facevano ed hanno fatto prima la legate adesso da un simbolo e da una idea di unità e di collaborazione tra di loro. I partiti romeni, tutti, chi più chi meno, non hanno mai avuto una politica seria verso la diaspora. Perciò, le organizzazioni della diaspora europea che hanno fondato il Mre hanno deciso che era ora di lanciare un segnale forte sia alle comunità della diaspora che ai politici romeni: così non si può andare avanti.

La scheda bianca, strumento per capitalizzare il malcontento?

No, il voto in bianco è uno strumento di protesta ed è l’unica arma che i milioni di romeni emigrati per necessità hanno per tentare di instaurare quel dialogo serio e vero con le istituzioni romene che è sin qui sempre mancato.

Ma allora le associazioni, per esempio, cosa devono pensare di un movimento della diaspora avviato da due Partiti, che si dice apolitico ma che di fatto è anche politico?

Molte organizzazioni dei romeni all’estero sono a parole apolitiche, ma soltanto perché sono controllate dai partiti romeni o per vendersi meglio al miglior offerente di volta in volta.

A Roma abbiamo avuto associazioni che non solo hanno fatto campagna per i partiti romeni ma qualcuno anche per tre partiti alla volta. E spesso sono proprio quelle associazioni o quei personaggi che hanno disertato manifestazioni organizzate dal Pir perché loro “non fanno politica”, io aggiungerei che non la fanno alla luce del sole.

E’ di questa politica apolitica che bisogna avere paura, non di quella fatta da chi come il Pir od il Pirum ha nell’interesse delle rispettive comunità l’unica sua stella polare.

Certo. Ma si sa che i partiti, non solo in Italia o in Romania, hanno la tentazione “naturale” di controllare le associazioni e queste a loro volta hanno spesso bisogno di aiuto istituzionale o politico per raggiungere le gli obiettivi. I confini tra associazionismo e politica non sono chiari a molti, perché mentre i partiti sono delle associazioni, non tutte le associazioni sono partiti o entità con finalità politiche. E quindi, per tornare al Movimento, quali sono le finalità che si prefigge?

Lo scopo del Mre è quello di promuovere, attraverso la collaborazione di tutte le organizzazioni romene della diaspora e quest’ombrello comune costituito dal Mre in tutta Europa (per ora Spagna, Italia, Portogallo, Austria, Serbia, Germania, Moldova) l’immagine della Romania, il sentimento di unità e di appartenenza comune sia verso le comunità romene che verso l’esterno, favorendo contatti e scambi di informazione, di esperienze e la possibilità di costruire progetti comuni tra i vari membri del Mre.

Praticamente ci proponiamo di rendere l’associazionismo romeno meno individualista e velleitario costruendo ponti e contatti sinora inesistenti, e siamo fieri di averlo fatto senza alcun aiuto esterno e quindi senza alcuna ingerenza.

Si fa spesso appello all’unità dei romeni, non solo in Italia dove la situazione è degenerata, ma in generale nella diaspora. Ma l’ottenimento di un diritto individuale dev’essere condizionato dalla “unità” di un gruppo etnico o sociale? Se un tifoso laziale è insultato o picchiato in quanto tale, deve prima contribuire all’unità della tifoseria laziale per sperare di avere riconosciuti i diritti individuali davanti alla legge? E tale contributo, da chi sarà valutato e con quali criteri?

E’ chiaro che i romeni possono tranquillamente entrare nelle organizzazioni italiane, sia sociali che politiche, come alcuni hanno già fatto ed intraprendere un loro cammino individuale che è perfettamente legittimo.

Ma è altrettanto chiaro che qualche candidato romeno, per esempio eletto in Italia nel Pdl o nel Pd, non potrà aiutare la propria comunità perché sarà una goccia romena in un mare di italiani che hanno altri interessi da tutelare.

“Goccia romena in un mare di italiani”: ma così la faccenda non è affrontata in termini etnici?

No, non è affrontata in termini etnici, è affrontata in termini reali, l’individuo singolo ha molte meno difese di un gruppo di individui che hanno delle origini e degli interessi in comune e che dovrebbero solidarizzare tra di loro. Sinora queste componenti sono in larga parte mancate nella immigrazione romena che non a caso è la meno rispettata sotto ogni punto di vista.

L’unità della comunità romena conviene ai romeni, perché uno, due, tre non contano nulla, già 300-400.000 persone legate dal vincolo della comune nazionalità e dalla comunità di intenti di inserirsi con dignità e coscienza nella società italiana come individui ma anche come comunità socio-culturale, possono contare ed ottenere molto di più.

Perché possono contare e ottenere molto di più?

Perché un tifoso che và allo stadio da solo e isolato rischia di prendere le botte da tutti (e questo è quello che è successo ai romeni in Italia sinora), mentre un tifoso che si organizza ed appartiene ad un gruppo organizzato è più sicuro, ottiene delle agevolazioni, sui trasporti, sui biglietti etc.

L’idea è molto chiara. D’ora in poi, con la nascita del Mre, le energie del Pir dove saranno concentrate di più: sulla diaspora, sulla Romania, sull’Italia?

Per noi il Mre è un brand che cerca di raccogliere più organizzazioni della stesa comunità sotto una bandiera comune e per uno scopo comune sul quale sarebbe assurdo dividersi se non ci si fosse già divisi troppe volte. Il Mre è la prova che si può dialogare e costruire qualcosa insieme, anche se per ora è necessario scegliersi i compagni di viaggio perché non tutti hanno gli stessi intenti, c’è chi vuole dividere e frammentare a tutti i costi per motivi politici. Non è un caso che il Mre sia nato da organizzazioni libere da ogni condizionamento da Bucarest… a buon intenditor poche parole.

***

Un breve video con recenti considerazioni dell’avv. Germani sul Pir, la diaspora e le elezioni in Romania può essere visionato al link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8iRSIK39Lk

It’s not great but I hope it illustrates some of what I was trying to explain in my previous post in regards to experimenting with light, shadows, reflection and the patterns. Just to remind you it’s the PIR unit I’m using as the light source and it turns off when it cannot detect movement hence it going dark a couple seconds into the video:

"Rattlesnake Hill" is a perfect place to view the racing at Phoenix.

Looking ahead to Phoenix Int. Raceway this week, we finally have championship battle on our hands!  Jimmie Johnson crashed just three laps into the race at Texas last Sunday, and Mark Martin finished fourth to land just 73 points behind Jimmie. The big story at Phoenix will be whether Mark can cut into Johnson’s lead even more, or if Johnson can put a cap on this year’s title. Both drivers have been exceptional at the 1-mile flat oval in recent races. Johnson has won three of the past four races at the track, while Martin dominated from the pole to win there this past spring to break Jimmie’s winning streak.

What do I think?  I think both drivers will be up in the top-ten and top-five, but Mark will probably come out of this deal about 40 to 50 points behind Jimmie heading into championship weekend at Homestead. That means Jimmie will finish only a few spots behind Mark in the race. Mark can win it, but who is the driver that will most likely keep Mark from winning it?

Denny Hamlin is the man when it comes to Phoenix. In fact, he is the man when it comes to flat tracks in general. You name it, he can win it. Phoenix, Richmond, Martinsville, Loudon, Indianapolis. Although he’s never won in the Valley of the Sun, he needs to be considered in your fantasy lineup. In races at Phoenix with the COT (Car Of Tomorrow) chassis, his average finish is 6.6. Pretty hefty.

Jimmie Johnson boasts a pretty number, too. In 12 starts at Phoenix, Johnson’s average finish is 5.4, with three wins. Compare that to Mark’s average finish of 9.0 in 25 races, and we have a fight on our hands.

- If Jeff Gordon can qualify good, he can run good. Jeff has been very hit-or-miss at Phoenix, with one win, eight top-fives and 15 top-tens in 21 starts. His average start of 8.7 is tops among Chase drivers. But he has also had days where that team is just off the board, speed-wise. If Jeff wants to be a part of the championship fight at Homestead with Mark and Jimmie, he needs to gain maximum points at Phoenix.

• Joey’s pick to win: Denny Hamlin, who is stout on flat tracks, as I previously mentioned. Hamlin, who has been very inconsistent in the Chase, finished second last week at Texas. Now he needs a win.

It has been a hell of a month, this October. So huge it spilled into November! Here’s why it’s been ages, well, more than a month, since I wrote on this blog:
We kicked off October on Bribie Island at our annual Edge Writers writing retreat, this year with Sean Williams and Alison Goodman as tutors. We were able to celebrate the news that our Paul Garrety has scored a two-book deal with HarperCollins, first one due out in 2011!

And brickbats to the Queensland Government for its plan to close the State-run complex, although there is hope whoever picks up the tender for the centre will continue to make it available to groups such as us. For the third year running, I had a manuscript staked out in the sun to burn after it failed the worldbuilding test. On the bright side, I did finish a very rough novella set — surprise — on an island. This is my backup story, the one I write only on the island after all else has failed.

dinner at court of two sisters, new orleans

After Bribie, my beloved Kirstyn McDermott and I flew to New Orleans, where we had an awesome week. Highlights:

My old friend from Canada joining us for a long weekend of merriment

Lunch at the Green Goddess, where I’m very happy to report the ‘mezze of destruction‘ is still on the menu.

Dinner at Irene’s, where we were shouted a drink because of the length of our wait — the place is popular, and no wonder, given the excellent service and food.

A memorable dinner at my favourite restaurant, The Court of Two Sisters.

Hanging out over superb bloody marys at the Pirates Alley Cafe, where absinthe is a specialty.

Gospel brunch at the House of Blues.

Catching some sets with Big Al Carson at the Funky Pirate (and getting a shark attack from the Tropical Isle next door).

From New Orleans (more pictures here), we caught a Carnival cruise ship, the Fantasy, for a quick voyage to Progreso and Cozumel in Mexico. Out of Progreso we took a bus tour to Uxmal, a superb set of ruins I’d visited on a previous visit to Mexico. In Cozumel, where, very disappointingly a tour to Tulum wasn’t on offer (wonderful beachside ruins), we went snorkelling on three dive spots and saw lots of fish. Some pictures are here.

I don’t mind cruising as a stress-free way of covering some miles and relaxing. It’s nice to be waited on once in a while, eh? Even though the focus on the casino and the bingo is a tad sad, and the buffets can be case studies of gluttony. I was impressed with the efficiency of embarkation — US domestic airlines could learn something there — and was happy to fork out for a behind-the-scenes tour of how the ship works, including tours of the galleys, bridge, engine control room and soforth.

Back in New Orleans, we had time for a Lucky Dog and a bloody mary before heading to the airport and San Francisco.

at the golden gate bridge

SF is a grand city, and while it doesn’t have the atmosphere of the French Quarter (where does?), it is a relaxed and pleasant city for visitors. We bought a week-long passport for the public transport system and hopped buses, cable cars and street cars all week, visiting Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, a Tutankhamun exhibit at deYoung and hitting the wharves. We also got out of town, hitching a bus to Muir Woods and arty Sausilito, and the Winchester Mystery House. The latter is well worth the effort, with its amazing staircases to nowhere, chimneys that don’t reach the roof, doors that open on to walls, and so on…

We also saw a local musical about a zombie attack that used Ozzy Osbourne as a deus ex machina of sorts — brilliant — and saw the movie Zombieland (light, fun, flawed) and caught an awesomely fun gig by Emilie Autumn. Sadly, a trip to a bayside music venue resulted in an annoyingly smug performance by a semi-rockabilly dude (who did do a very fun, very fast version of Sweet Home Alabama that foxed those dancing to the Yankee classic) and a debilitating case of suspected food poisoning for Kirstyn.

From San Francisco we caught the Caltrain, and what a sweet deal that is with its double-decker cabs, to San Jose, to attend the World Fantasy Convention. Aussie superstar Garth Nix, as far removed from acting like a superstar as you can get, was a guest of honour. I was chuffed to get to spread the good cheer that is Australian red wine amongst the guests at an Aussie party thrown by Garth and Sean Williams, with t-shirts designed by Cat Sparks. It was a fun bash, and I got to meet new faces and also renew some contacts made at last year’s WFC in Calgary.

Other highlights of the con were seeing Jeff VanderMeer throw stuffed toys at his launch party, hear Garth and others read Poe’s The Raven, enjoy the wit of Tim Powers (whose Anubis Gates is right up there on the awesome reads list, and has landed some Pirates of the Caribbean action), and see Aussies Shaun Tan and Margo Lanagan score World Fantasy awards at the banquet where we enjoyed the company of our fellow Aussies. (Check out Deborah Biancotti’s take on it here, and see Cat’s pix here)

flowers at bega cemetery

Back in Australia, we picked up my car in Brisbane and drove highway 1 down the coast to Melbourne, taking five days including layovers with family. Driving highlights: Kiama’s foreshore, fish and chips at Bateman’s Bay, Lake’s Entrance, and the cemetery at Bega.

And now we’re back in Melbourne — home becoming, for this recent arrival from interstate — where the weather is warm and the coffee very fine. There’s a pile of mail on the table, more holiday pictures hitting Flickr as the mood takes me, and a plan to get some words down, sometime soon.

A quick w00t though: I got home to the news that the Federal Government has decided to retain the current copyright and import laws for books. Hurray!

And editor extraordinaire Ellen Datlow included my short story, “Smoking, Waiting for the Dawn”, from Dreaming Again, in her highly commended list that includes a bunch of Aussie talent. Happy dance!

The Government today rejected the Productivity Commission’s Report on Copyright Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of Books, in which it was recommended that parallel import restrictions be removed.  This conclusion accords with the findings on an earlier ACCC Report.

In his press release, Dr Craig Emerson MP (Competition Minister – amongst other things), claimed the Australian book printing and publishing industry already experienced significant online competition from international sources:

Task one

Programmers

Programmers spend most of their time in a quiet space, so that they are able to concentrate.  They spend most of their time at a computer when they carry out their average 40 hour week, however they do have to interact with other departments when programming software.  This requires them to attend meetings where the requirements and ideas from these other departments, e.g. design and analysis, can be discussed with the programmer; which will give them a better idea of what the end user wants.  Based on information that I have gathered from various websites, the average programmer spends about an hour a day in meetings gathering feedback and other information from the different departments.   With the programmer carrying out a 40 hour week that means that they have an 8 hour working day, which means that with spending  approximately 1hour a day in meetings, it is estimated that 12.5% of the programmers week is spent in meetings.

Click on the link below to see, how unproductive the time spent in front of a computer by a programmer can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nkYsMq6Ayk

Systems Analysts

Typically systems analysts spend most of their time on a computer checking data, they then spend a lot of time in meetings, as they have to keep department heads up to date with daily, weekly and monthly data.  Based on the information that I have read, partly from the following link http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4798478_sap-system-analyst-spend-workday.html , I would say that about an hour and a half of a systems analysts day is spent in meetings.  Systems analysts also carry out 40 hour weeks just like the programmer and this therefore means that they approximately spend 20% of their week in meetings.  This is more that the programmer as the analyst is responsible for updating department heads, whereas the programmer uses meetings to get feedback on what they have carried out so far and what they have to carry out in the future.

Task two

The purpose of a post implementation review meeting.

A post implementation review meeting is carried out after a project has been finished and implemented for a period of time.  It is used to make the final improvements on a project.  It can be carried out either by the team who were responsible for developing and implementing it in the first place or it can be carried out by another team who had nothing to do with its development or implementation.

The PIR is carried out to discover whether the project meets with the end user requirements, and recommends what can be done to improve its functionality.  The PIR is therefore used as the final stage of development.

What happens before during and after a structured walk through?

The purpose of the walk through is to find errors, not to correct them.  It is a presentation, which involves people carrying out different roles.  Before the walk through the presenter gets all the information that they need for the presentation, i.e. specs and listings.  The coordinator is then notified when the presenter has all the required details and they are then able to organise the meeting.  They are also responsible for making sure that everyone has all the information that they will require for the meeting and that they actually show up.  The rest of the team is required to read the material that they receive from the coordinator, which usually means about half an hour of preparation prior to the walk through.

During the walk through there are two rules that are generally followed, following the procedures that are agreed on and reviewing the product and not the producer.  Each person says their part in terms of reviewing the product, it is therefore voted as to whether the error should be accepted, accepted but fixed or fix them and then come back for another walk through.  The last is used if the errors that are found are quite substantial and if they are not fixed will have an effect on the end product.

It is the coordinators job to avoid arguments by maintaining peace amongst the reviewers.  During a structured walk through a secretary is present to make notes on everything that is said.

After a structured walk through the coordinator is responsible for generating a management summary and details comments made from the secretary’s notes, this summary is then passed onto the appropriate parties.  The producer is then required to fix whatever he deems fixable and have valid reasons for not fixing other errors.  Another walk through can then be held, once all this is carried out.

The roles of ‘chicken’ and ‘pig’ in a scrum meeting.

A scrum meeting is used in developing software and the chicken and pig analogy comes is based on the following joke:

A pig and a chicken are walking down a road. The chicken looks at the pig and says, “Hey, why don’t we open a restaurant?” The pig looks back at the chicken and says, “Good idea, what do you want to call it?” The chicken thinks about it and says, “Why don’t we call it ‘Ham and Eggs’?” “I don’t think so,” says the pig, “I’d be committed, but you’d only be involved.”

The pigs are committed to building the software, who are actual members of the team and everyone else is a chicken.  Pig roles include the ‘product owner’, who has to be committed to the project and the ‘team’ who are put together to develop the software.  All of these roles carry a large amount of responsibility.  The chickens are the people for whom the software is being produced, they are consulted when the software is being developed and they are kept up-to-date with its progress.

The following link tells the classic story of the pig and the chicken.

http://www.implementingscrum.com/2006/09/11/the-classic-story-of-the-pig-and-chicken/

We once had an Irish Setter. We had three of these wonderful dogs over many years and I suppose I could tell the following story about any of them, but I will choose one. Flash was the most recent. He was energetic, enthusiastic, enlivening, every else that starts with E.

Flash loved to wrestle. My son or I would get down on the floor and growl and he would get into position, hind-quarters up and forelegs and chin on the floor, eyes alive. We would make our move and grab him around the middle and he would try to lick us into submission, wriggling and twisting all the time to get free.

It was impossible to hold him for long as wriggling and twisting was his best thing. As soon as he was free he would get back into position for the next round. We tired out before he did.

There’s an irony in wanting to get into the wrestle, only to wriggle free. Can I leave the metaphor with you?

Don Grover is CEO of Dymocks Booksellers. John Forsyth is the Chairman of the family company that owns Dymocks. Dymocks is one of the members of a retail coalition that wants to get rid of territorial copyright on Australian books. The other members of the coalition are Coles and Woolworths. These other two are supermarket giants who between them own 80% of Australian grocery business. This is the highest concentration of grocery ownership in the world. They want to sell cheap books and they want to get rid of territorial copyright, saying this will make books cheaper.

Here’s a quick run through on what that means. English speaking countries have territorial right to publish and distribute books in their own place. UK, US, Canada, Australia. They respect the right of local publishers to distribute books on their patch without interference. Because each territory has differences in culture and language, books for each territory are edited to suit the differences, and those editions only sold in the appropriate territory. New Zealand gave up their PIRs some years ago and have paid the price for it since.

This is how it plays out in practice. An Australian author writes a book. It is taken up by a US publisher. The US publisher wants the Australian idiom changed to US norms. Elements of the story have to change. Cricket is changed to baseball, wombat is changed to opossum, Mum is changed to Mom, Dubbo is changed to Dallas, the main character no longer has freckles but has to have long golden hair to reflect the US desire that everything be beautiful. In other words, what was an Australian book has to be edited to reflect the US publisher’s marketing guidelines.

OK, those changes are made and the US edition goes on sale in the US. But the Australian version has territorial rights for sale in Australia, so the Australian reader gets the original. The US reader gets the Barbie and Ken version but not the Australian version. That is the idea behind Parallel Import Restrictions. Each country guards the right to publish for their own culture.

The proposal to lift PIRs in Australia would mean that the US version can be shipped into Australia and sold in competition with the local version. And with publishing costs cheaper in the US because of matters of scale and lower quality of paper and binding etc, the local version would not appear on the shelves. So the local publisher who has put the original and costly work into getting the book up and running can’t sell locally produced copies in the Australian market. And they can’t sell into the US or UK either, because those markets are closed to Australian sellers by the US and UK  PIR legislation.  Australian publishing business drops.

Dymocks, who want to see an end to PIR so they can sell cheaper US imports, recognise this. They recognise that those US versions will lessen the ability of Australian publishers to stay in business. They recognise that Australian authors will therefore find it more difficult to get published. After all, what US publisher is going to spend money on Australian authors, especially in developing new talent?

So Dymocks has a suggestion. They suggest that Australian publishers have a 1% levy applied to them by the Government. And that levy be used for ‘Australian writing grants’.

How about that? Dymocks, the retailer, recognises that removal of PIRs will hurt Australian writing and publishing. So to help prop it up they suggest a new tax on the ailing publishers. And out of that tax we give grants to Australian authors to write what they call ”culturally worthwhile books”.

Is it just me or can somebody else see a bit of wriggling and twisting happening here?

Are you up for a list of questions?

• What does “culturally worthwhile books” mean?
• Who decides what it means?
• Who decides what authors get a grant?
• Who decides how much that grant will be?
• Once the author has written a “culturally worthwhile book” who publishes it?
• Where does it get published?
• If it is published in the US does it have to be edited into a US “culturally worthwhile book” so it’s marketable there?
• If such a book was to be published by a US publisher and imported to Australia does that US publisher have to pay 1% of everything they publish into this grant fund?
• How much of this grant levy goes into administration, and by what govt. department?
• What if somebody was to suggest that 1% be levied on retailers and not publishers?
• Would Dymocks support that?

I tell you, it was a lot more fun wrestling with Flash than trying to sort out the wriggling and twisting of this suggestion.

You can chase up a news report on the Dymocks suggestion here.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/dymocks-says-levy-could-fund-writers-20091026-hgr4.html

Al Jazeera reports that security consultants, specifically British company Hart, trained Somali men to combat illegal fishing boats. Now many of those same Somalis are working as pirates in the notoriously dangerous Gulf of Aden. Hart insists that it is not a part of the ransom portion of the Somalis business, but according to report from UK’s Guardian, someone in the West must be, specifically in London. These London based consultants provide information about which ships to hit, when, and even a ship’s layout. This allows pirates to prepare for a hit days in advance. They also can target ships based on cargo and national flag, analysts noting that British vessels have been avoided. Once a ship is taken security consultants swoop in again to deal with kidnapping, ransom, and all of the legal implications surrounding a modern day “walking the plank.”

今天是个强势市场。下午TEN stop out。

另外在9.05买了BCRX，感觉昨天应该入场。在1.61买了PCBC，感觉时机也不太好，要么刚涨时买，要么突破2.1再买。现在是夹在中间可上可下。

开盘前注意到VNDA成交量巨大，有利好消息，且伴随利好消息。于是在9:40左右12.7空了1000股。在12块设stop limit。中午stop hit。

同时空了HIG和TEN。HIG在28进，27.12出。TEN先在14.6空，空不到再改为14.5，然后又下移到14.3才能入场。不久TEN的反弹力度不小，但没有到14.8的stop.

教训：撤单重填只能有一次，还追不到放弃。

下午发现PIR从早盘高点跌落，加上今天的天量，高开和利好消息，在5块空了2000股。

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) rallied over 11% to a yearly high of $5.01 after Dow Jones reported that the company had entered into an agreement to sell its St. Charles Ill. distribution center $11 million.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) hit a yearly high of $47.90 after analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded the stock.

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) hit a yearly high of $6.05 after the company announced that K-Touch Mobile Indonesia, a mobile phone maker, had licensed Bitstream’s mobile we brower for distribution.

Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) rallied over 6% to a yearly high of %6.62 after FBR Capital upgraded the apparel stores industry. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) rallied over 12% to a yearly high of $4.22 after the company’s subsidiary, Sinclair Television Group, intends to offer roughl $430.00 million in debt which will be used to pas for its cash tenders for its 3% senior covertible notes due in 2027 and 4.875% senior convertable notes due in 2018.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Salah satu jenis pangan sumber zat gizi yang dianjurkan untuk dikonsumsi lebih banyak adalah buah-buahan. Bagi Anda yang ingin mencari buah untuk mencegah radikal bebas, pir adalah jawabannya.

Pir mengandung asam klorogenat, salah satu bagian dari asam hidroksi sinamat. Asam hidroksi sinamat berperan sebagai antioksidan yang membendung pembentukan sel kanker.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan, asam tersebut mampu mencegah pertumbuhan bakteri Shigella sonnei, penyebab penyakit pada saluran pencernaan.

Asam hidroksi sinamat mencegah terjadinya kanker kolon. Asam tersebut bekerja mengikat nitrat di dalam perut, sehingga menghambat terbentuknya nitrosamin, senyawa penyebab kanker.

Asam hidroksi sinamat banyak terkumpul pada bagian kulit pir. Untuk mendapatkan manfaat terbaik, konsumsi pir bersama kulitnya.

Pir baik untuk mencegah radikal bebas disebabkan kandungan vitamin C yang cukup tinggi. Vitamin C memacu sel darah putih melawan infeksi, membunuh bakteri dan virus, serta meregenerasi vitamin E. Vitamin E merupakan antioksidan larut lemak, sedang vitamin C larut air. Tanpa kehadiran vitamin C, vitamin E akan teroksidasi oleh radikal bebas.

Konsumsi pir juga dapat menghindari kerusakan organ hati. Glutathione dalam pir diperlukan dalam metabolisme hati untuk menghilangkan racun dan juga sebagai antioksidan utama di dalam tubuh. Konsumsi buah yang kaya glutathione mengurangi sekitar 36 persen risiko gangguan organ hati.

From:kompas_news

I am experiencing a surge of brainstorming (I am told this is no longer a P.C word but I can’t remember what the new term is so no offence to anyone) in relation to the work I must complete by December for my assessment.

We’ve been told we should have something along the lines of a proto-type complete for that stage in our course but with all these new and exciting ideas I want to have more than just one project outcome.

I am very excited about creating the physical pieces that reflect the research I’ve been doing for the last year and have been particularly thinking about the space in which my work will be displayed,shown or installed.

There are many different ways a person can present their work and these have inspired me to think of all alternatives – not just as Plan B’s in case my main work doesn’t turn out how I wish but also as accompaniments.

At the moment I am contemplating having 3d shapes with patterns either on, around or made up from the patterns. It’s hard to explain this so I’ll leave it to when I have some pictures once I get experimenting with the shapes.

I have been doing some very bad sketches in my notebook in order to consider how lighting needs to be placed within a rectangular room for example. There also the need to consider where a person might enter from and how they may navigate through the space according to what first comes into their sight. This is very important because I am planning to have my work illuminate itself based on the viewer’s movement into the space. They need to be able to see where to go for safety reasons but it also needs to be dark enough for the light to make the right kind of effect when it comes on. I also need to consider if my work will be one large focul piece or made up of three or four pieces.

Page 1 of sketches and notes

Page 2 of ideas

These sculptures/shapes also need to fit to either the walls, floor or ceiling but with the light source either pointing towards or from behind them. Once again I won’t know which is best till I try it out. The light source itself is also something I am looking closely into. In my last tutorial Andy and I discussed sensor activated lighting and he agreed this may be the right thing for me to use. I’ve had a look at PIR lighting products and am trying to find something wireless which would be less of a safety concern as well as less shabby looking once up. Pricing is also a factor and how it might be fitted to walls/ceilings.

Another really cool idea I had was to have a sort of very large 3d hollow shape, perhaps made from card or papier mache (or maybe something a bit like stiff canvas or whatever is used to make lampshades), hanging from the ceiling but high enough off the ground to allow someone to pass under it. As they would come closer it would light up and then they would be standing beneath it. When they look up into the work they would see layers of shapes cut into the material and these would overlap so that the shadows and holes would create an ever complicated pattern. What I imagine in my head certainly looks quite spectacular. I wonder if I can actually achieve it.

It reminds me of the Muqarnas found in many mosques around the world, some of the most famous being at the Al-Hambra in Spain and at the Imam Mosque in Isfahan, Iran as seen in the image below. It is a very interesting architectural feature which I will just show you instead of trying to explain:

Muqarnas at the Imam Mosque in Isfahan, Iran. Image from http://www.musliminventionsthailand.com

And yet at the same time what I have imagined also reminds me of a kaleidoscope. As my youngest sister was sitting next to me as I jotted this down I asked her if she knew what a Kaleidoscope was. She’s ten years old and, well, her generation is quite different to mine so I can well imagine that they aren’t likely to be as familiar with a non-electronic/digital toy such as a good old kaleidoscope. And I was right, she didn’t know what it was so I did a quick search and had a look through google images as I explained it to her. I then came across this very interesting image of a human mirrored kaleidoscope:

Human kaleidoscope - Image from http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/Duck_Into_Kaleidoscope.jpg

These kids are clearly having fun, and it means they are engaging with the space too. The effect is brilliant and I think if I could adopt this in some way but have my patterns in there too then it would just be sooo good. But I’m not sure if it would be over ambitious for me to go down this route, least of all because I’d have to actually build an enclosed space with mirrors inside. Or maybe I could make a cheap and tatty/plasticky version? We’ll see. But the use of mirrors is certainly worth keeping in mind.

All in all I am really getting into this and I knew it would be the stage I would enjoy the most. I may be thinking about some of the aspects of the installation a little to early but this is how I have always worked – I like to get down to the nitty gritty much in advance so that I have contingency time as well as other work in place if needed.

Following on from my previous post, you can chase up more stuff about the PIR debate in Australia here http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com/

Old Town

Idag, söndag gjorde vi en utflykt till Old Town. På med solkräm och sedan bar det iväg på mopeden/motorcykeln. Man lär sig snabbt nya rutiner, numera tycker vi det är helt ok att åka 3 på en moppe. Oscar fram som hastighets och tankmätar kontrollant, Martin i mitten vid styret och bromsen och Mari därbak som resesällskap.

Dax att tanka

Moppen behöver bränsle ibland, se bild nedan på Koh Lantas eget Shell.

Koh Lantas eget Shell

Old Town ligger på öns sydost sida och det är ca 2,5 mil dit och man passerar berget som skiljer öns väst och ostkust. Old Town är gamla “huvudstaden” på ön och det är där sjukhus och andra instanser har sitt säte. Det är en mer en gammal genuin by med mindre turism om man jämför med Saladan. Många av öns long tail båtar som tar oss turister ut till snorkel och dykturerna har hemmahamn i Old Town.

Efter en rundvandring blev det en god lunch innan vi åkte vidare söderut mot Gypsy Village där vägen tar slut. Invånarna i denna lilla by är en sorts urinvånare besläktade med indianerna, dom lever helt på det som havet ger. Nu har vi sett hur dom har det men det är inget jag åker tillbaka till. När vi kom hem tog vi ett svalkande dopp i poolen. Nu ska jag gå och hämta dagens middag och tvätten. Imorgon är det en ny vecka, undrar vad vi ska göra då?

MJ

Hängmattor till salu

Oscar provar sin nya slangbella