July 2009 Archives

Now then, in less than three years time, London will begin its hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games. It might be a little bit rubbish compared to the well prepared and astonishingly brilliant Chinese games of last year, but let's face it; it's the only chance in my lifetime that such an important worldwide event will happen in this country. We may be chosen to host the Football World Cup in the future and we already have been chosen to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup with come matches being played at Elland Road which I can see from my house! However, the Olympics is the biggest event in the sporting calendar for so many more people.

The official 2012 site is an every changing beast and I haven't spent a massive amount of time looking at it recently. However, I had a quick glance today and came across the webcam section. There are 18 cameras spread across the building sites and they take single images every hour. These images are stored and can be put together to create a wonderful time slip film.

My favourite is the aquatics centre which will have a 2,800-tonne wave-shaped roof. (The Beijing colour changing aquatics centre was one of the most beautiful sights of the last Olympics, however...)

Take a look. Things are quietly coming together.

I've signed a letter to Gordon Brown asking for a referendum at the next election on the way we elect our politicians. As a supporter of the Vote for a Change campaign I believe there's been too much talk and not enough action on bringing about the reform at Westminster we need to clean up our politics.

It's high time that people were given the chance to reform our unrepresentative voting system.

Please sign the letter too and add your name to the thousands of voices telling our politicians it's time for change. You can read the letter to the PM here.

I adore comedian, musician and wizard-a-like Bill Bailey and so found this brief interview with him a lovely insight into what makes him tick.

With the challenge of guaranteeing a laugh a minute, comedian Bill Bailey tells the BBC's Matthew Stadlen about music, the joys of foamed milk, his mastery of languages and a love of wildlife.

I found the audio to be a little quiet though so be ready to strain your ears.

Link (will open in a new window): Five Minutes With Bill Bailey

Via: BBC News.

At the end of May, although it seems like much less time has passed, I visited a couple of friends who now live in Lincolnshire. While I was there - actually, while they were working during the day, I visited the gorgeous Belton House.

Here are the photos.

The music of Brad Skistimas has been a part of my life for a good long while now - I can't actually remember how I stumbled upon him. Whatever, he's a wholly independent artist who releases his own albums from the money in his pocket.

Over the next month (until August 16th) he is partnering with the website KickStarter.com and is attempting to raise $20,000. But he needs your help.

Your support will enable me to release Five Times August's next album "Life As A Song" with enough financial backing to make it the success it deserves to be. I know it sounds like a lot of money in a short amount of time, but I wouldn't take on a project of this magnitude if I didn't think we could do it together! I just need EVERYONE'S participation, otherwise my next album might not come out for a while.

Being an unsigned artist has its pros and cons. I have always found more pros, which is why I have yet to sign with any kind of record label. I get to spend more time connecting with the fans, I get to write the music I want to write, and I get to be who I want to be without some corporate fat cat telling me how I need to change. All in all there is simply a lot more artistic freedom. The one major speed bump is that the cost of every album I release comes out of my own pocket. I am by no means a rich man, especially in a day where most people opt not to buy music.

It can be a major struggle making an album a success without the proper funding. Besides the standard costs of recording, mixing, and mastering a CD, more money actually goes into the promotion and publicity of an album than making it. That's what this money will be used for. With your help we can get this album to people that may have never heard of Five Times August before. We will be able to afford a publicist to help spread the story of Five Times August, and also do major promotion so we can bring a lot more awareness to this album. Your pledge will also help us while on the road this fall, enabling us to promote our upcoming tour better than we have ever done before, while still keeping gas in our tank, food in our bellies, and not so many nights sleeping in our van, hotel rooms are nice every once and a while! The great thing about your donation is that you will be rewarded tenfold!

With every donation there is a prize in return. This can range from signed advanced copies of the album (so you can hear it before anyone else does!) to a full on weekend camping trip with me, some friends, and our guitars around a campfire! There are different levels of pledges, a lot of really cool prizes, and the more you donate the more you will get in return! However, if we do not raise the full $20,000 by August 16th I will get nothing, you will not be charged and do not get your prize, and all will be lost! Without your help "Life As A Song" might not be released!

And, here is my own pledge to you... If we do reach the full $20,000 before August 16th I will donate HALF of all my album sales for the rest of the year to various charitable causes. Over the years I have been a part of some really cool organizations and I've always believed in giving back to the community when you can. So let's do this together!

I believe in you! I wouldn't have made it this far in my career without your help and now it's time to take Five Times August to a whole new level. YOU are my record label and together we can change the music industry forever.

Thank you so much for your support,
Brad w/ Five Times August

Go to KickStarter.com if you want to help.

Here's his progress so far (this will automatically be updated):

This is pretty cool.

A US spacecraft has captured images of Apollo landing sites on the Moon, revealing hardware and a trail of footprints left on the lunar surface.

The release of the images coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The descent stages from the lunar modules which carried astronauts to and from the Moon can clearly be seen. The image of the Apollo 14 landing site shows scientific instruments and an astronaut footpath in the lunar dust.

It is the first time hardware left on the Moon by the Apollo missions has been seen from lunar orbit. The pictures were taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June. The spacecraft is carrying three cameras on board: one low-resolution wide-angle camera and two high-resolution narrow-angle cameras mounted side-by-side. These are known collectively as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument.

"The LROC team anxiously awaited each image," said the instrument's principal investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University. "We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill - and to see how well the cameras had come into focus. Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus."

The camera instrument was able to capture five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution. Long shadows from a low sun angle make the locations of the lunar modules' descent stages particularly evident. The image of the Apollo 14 landing site had a particularly desirable lighting condition that revealed additional details.

The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, a set of scientific instruments placed by the astronauts at the landing site, is discernable, as are the faint trails between the module and instrument package left by the astronauts' footprints. The LRO satellite reached lunar orbit on June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15.

Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images were taken before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit.

"Not only do these images reveal the great accomplishments of Apollo, they also show us that lunar exploration continues," said LRO project scientist Richard Vondrak of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, US. "They demonstrate how LRO will be used to identify the best destinations for the next journeys to the Moon."

Although the pictures provide a reminder of past lunar exploration, LRO's primary focus is on paving the way for the future. Data returned by the mission will help Nasa identify safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the Moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies.

[Via: BBC News]