Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, recorded an album of Calypso songs under the name "The Charmer".  One of the tracks is "Is She Is, or Is She Ain't", a song about Christine Jorgensen, the first person to be widely known for gender re-assignment surgery (male-female).

Allmusic.com has a snippet here : http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:3xfoxcyhldte

(I'd never heard of Ms. Jorgensen until reading about J Edgar Hoover, who I was reading about because of Pretty Boy Floyd, who I was reading about because of John Dillinger, who I was reading about because Johny Depp plays him in his latest film which had just been advertised on TV which I watching because... well, we can stop there, I think).

I really don't write enough.  Here or anywhere else.  I need to get in the habit of writing more.  Only way to keep in contact with some people, it's rewarding and occasionally it's useful and rewarding to document what I've actually done, thought or said.

But enough navel gazing (I wouldn't want to gaze at my navel for very long, de-fluffed or otherwise).  On with the most recent arts and culture stuff what I has been reading/seeing/listening:

"Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" - Amanda Palmer

PZ Myers had a link to the video for 'Oasis', which I watched, and loved. It's a pop song about abortion, rape and love of Brit-Pop.  I had a vague awareness of the Dresden Dolls but not really on my radar.  A collaborated album with Ben Folds couldn't be an awful thing, and it's not.  A mixing of catchy tunes, more soulful piano/vocal numbers and the aforementioned pop song, which is the lightest of the numbers.  Fantastic.

"Swoon" - Silversun Pickups

Not Silversun (who sound like the Pet Shop Boys for the indie generation).  Silversun Pickups.  I'm not sure if they are named after a brand of electric guitar parts, or trucks.  They might once have been shoe-gazers, if shoe-gazing had met emo and Billy Corgan.  The vocals sound emo anyways, but the rest of it is layered guitars, long instrumental breaks and insistent rhythms.  The single 'Panic Switch' is pretty typical of the rest of the album, and probably my favourite track from the last three months.

"Matter" - Iain M Banks

Mr Bank's last sci-fi "The Algebraist" was noodling space opera bunk.  It started well, wandered off into Piers Anthony any three ideas will do and left the reader hanging with no real ending or fulfillment.   With "Matter", we're back to the Culture, sort of.  A low tech race living on a mysterious multi-leveled planet are at war.  The Culture is at peace, but still interferes where it sees fit.  As do a variety of other races, and were led on an interesting story split between the Culture's interactions with other highly involved races, and the more human scale story of the war, revolution and aftermath.  Much better, but still not as good as earlier works.

"The Steep Approach to Garbadale" - Iain Banks

I've decided Iain Banks is just not good at endings.  Maybe that's my problem wanting a good ending with most of the threads resolved.  I don't mind short stories with hanging endings, but if I read 500 pages, I want some sort of resolution and pay off.   Especially if you wend of into a long chapter about a boat trip which seems to serve absolutely no point, despite promising to.  Maybe I missed something subtle.  Great writing, not so great plotting.

According to Google Scholar, by PhD has been cited in a paper by a group of scholars from Nanking University, China. This pleases me as the number of people I expected to cite my thesis was close to 0.

However, I can't actually download the paper anywhere without paying for it. So, lazyweb, what's the best way of getting a copy... I do have access to the University of Victoria. Yes, this is vanity searching.

Interestingly, I have also discovered that my research lead also published another paper on the general area in 2005... 6 years after the last mention of Hyper-sequential programming. I'm sure a short email to Uchihira-sensei will get me a copy of that.


EDIT :: Thanks to dekucat and makyo I have shiny copies of the paper in question, which does indeed cite my PhD thesis.

It occurs to me that those MPs stepping down at the next election should instead be applying for the Steward and Baliff of the Chiltern Hundreds, or the Steward of the Manor of Northstead.

I had a reasonably relaxing day last Thursday, heading towards the airport, doing my chores.  The trip over was dull, as most plane flights are, but uneventful.  Arriving in London, I dropped myself off at a hotel, showered and dozed off until 4pm.

I then was woke up, met the erstwhile dealer for a couple of British Ales and then proceded to try and sleep of the rest of the jet lag.  This wasn't too successful, and I've been tired for most of the week.  Some of that may have been a couple of later nights and strange beds though.

I headed over to kauket and zenithed's house in Muswell Hill, played some board games, caught up a little, then headed back south for beerfood with a few old colleagues.  Then into Camden for beers with a variety of folks, from York, Rag, London, ex-colleagues and other assorted places.  Was marvellous to see steer, whom I don't think I've seen for a few years.  Beer was drunk, I wandered back on the night bus, watched the eurovisions scores with my hosts and slept the sleep of a man who'd had several good beers (but not too many good beers).

Next day was more hanging out with my hosts, playing some guitar hero, and then down to Covent Garden to see a friend from York and his wife (not from York), and Chess from Sheffield (even if she lives in Bristol area, she'll be Chess from Sheffield to me).  More random catchingupnostalgia, and a pie which was not a pie.  Pie crust on soup.  Edible, but not a pie, dammit.  I wanted pie!

Next day, kauket escorted me on the tube towards Paddington, where I jumped on a train and headed west to Cardiff.  There I spent two worthwhile days with my sister, her husband, and her two kids (3 months and 30 months).  The youngest is new, not seen her before, and sits and grins, wriggles and cries (a little) in turn.  Very cute.

The oldest runs around, talks and plays with things, but only for 3.72 minutes at a time.  Hard work dealing with a butterfly mind you can't really converse with.  Still was excuse to run around a science experimenty place, and watch all the latest toddlers shows.  Peppa Pig seems to have half the cast of absolutely, Roary stars a Big Chris, In the Night Garden scares me as I'm reading too much into it, and Chuggington is really daft.

I ten headed to Scotland, to meet the folks and visit the Scottish Borders.  The borders were green and lush, the scenery as impressive (in a much less imposing way than Canada's big mountains, but still impressive) and my parents aces.  We visited a nature reserve/sanctuary and saw wildlife, brought whisky (mine) and headed to the Scottish Musuem of Flight.  This was well worth it, as it has a Concorde you can get on and walk around.  Once you realise the fuel consumption of the supersonic passenger jet, you realise why it wasn't kept up.

So in the front room now, writing a journal entry.  Off on the 1300 plane to Heathrow, and then onwards to Seattle and finally Victoria.

Charles Kenneth Horne, of "Beyond Our Ken" and "Round the Horne" Radio 4 light comedy programming fame was also chairman of Chad Valley Toys and Triplex Glass.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4143594&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

Well, I suspect not even Cleveland fans care, but my second Favourite Lion of all time now gets to play in his home state of Ohio.

1) I've always held it to be a truism that a Bacon Butty is the best cure for a hangover, and most of what ails you. Gotta be proper rashers of bacon, none of that lame, crispy streaky bacon stuff they use out here in Canada. Big rasher or two, fried till just the edges crisp, some good bread, a mere smear of butter and splash or two of red (or brown). Now my theory has been proven by SCIENCE : Link stolen from PZ Meyers who stole from someone else, who blogged on someone else work.

2) Puscifer is a side project of Maynard James Keenan, vocalist for Tool and A Perfect Circle. Heavy airplay is being given to 'The Mission' on the local radio here, which as is great, stripped down track, with a marching pace bass and drums, and dark, brooding vocals but still elements of pop. And the singer is Milla Jovovich. Leeloo sings ambient metal. I've also downloaded Rev 22:20 from emusic (off the Saw 2 soundtrack, whose cover gives me the creeps) which is similar atmospheric gloom.

Oh if anyone cares, I do have a Twitter account at "TheCesspit" (random cess) and "CesspitTuna" (random music I have been liking, or at worst sticking in my head).

1) George Galloway to blame Canada : Galloway May Sue Canada. Steven Harper, the acrylic haired prime minister of Canada, is the equivalent to John Major. Without the affair with Edwina Curry.

2) If your advertising a) don't try and sell cheap cosmetics on a comedy channel (Sirius Laugh Channel or something...) as I'm confused if it's a joke or not and b) telling me it was given away in Oscar party goody bags doesn't equate to it being popular and making it work. Or maybe it was a subtle joke. Along with the advert to buy Municipal Bonds.

3) A Baseball catching mitt is for catching balls. Your balls are not made for catching balls. Especially not ones flying at what ever the crap speed the batter hit it at 30 foot away. Actually your balls can catch a ball. It's funny. My balls, it hurts.

4) Back to London in less than 2 months for a visit.

5) Erm.

6) That's it (continued page 93).

I've not lived in this house over two years. I've not lived in the same place for more than 20 months since moving out of Woking End in around 1994 to go to live in the digs that was otherwise known as 36 Heslington Road.

I wonder if they ever fixed the broken window there.

As evidenced by my application for a clean police record (it stretches over 2 pages), I've moved roughly once a year between 1994 and 2007. 11 moves, plus a couple of more temproary abodes. And I hardly think of myself as a migratory, wandering person.