Link articles

When only the rest will do.

Mother & Baby Yoga

26 Feb 2007

Yoga is such a pleasant and healthy way to pass an hour or so. (If only pleasant and healthy went together more often.) It’s good for everyone — especially busy people, such as mothers of small babies. But what can mothers do with their babies when going to yoga? Well, they can take them along! Yoga is good for everyone, and that includes even tiny babies.

I’ve put up a web page for a Mother and Baby Yoga class near me because I think it’s such a great idea and I’d like it to catch on. It helps the baby to socialise as well as learn to use its body, and it’s also good for the mothers to have a fun play with their babies and have some relaxing exercise for themselves. I’m hoping that one day I will be able to go…

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How to tie your shoelaces

5 Jul 2005

For years I have tied my shoelaces using a special knot that is easy to tie, but never comes undone accidentally. I can’t remember where I learned this — maybe I invented it myself — but I always planned to pass this knowledge on to my children (when I have them) as a valuable piece of family wisdom.

I recently discovered the excellent Ian’s Shoelace Site (“Fun, fashion & science in this quirky site about shoelaces”) as I was looking for more information on shoelace knots. He lists my knot, which is actually called the Better Bow. He seems to find it difficult to tie. Even when I first started using it, I found it as easy as an ordinary knot; that’s why I like it so much. In contrast, his own secure knot, Ian’s Secure Shoelace Knot, is more symmetrical than the Better Bow but quite fiddly to tie, especially if your laces are a bit short.

Ian’s main contribution to the world of shoelace-tying is the astonishing Ian Knot. It’s actually just the standard shoelace knot, but he has invented a much quicker way of tying it. One split-second flourish and it’s done. Demonstrate it to your friends, and be prepared for surprised looks and cries of “how did you do that?” (Or perhaps not, depending on how interested they are in shoelaces.)

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More great BBC online music shows

22 Jun 2005

Here’s some more of my favourite online radio, following on from my earlier list of great BBC online music shows.

There are several customised online radio stations out there now. These purport to divine your unique taste in music and give you what you really want to hear. Some of these are definitely worthwhile too, but there’s no substitute for a good human selector. These BBC shows have some of the best.

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A nice cup of tea and a sit down

26 May 2005

“Well I think we should all sit down and have a nice cup of tea, and some biscuits, nice ones mind you. Oh and some cake would be nice as well. Lovely.”

That’s the mission statement of NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com. The world needs more websites like this.

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Great BBC online music shows

23 May 2005

I learned to love BBC radio when I lived in the UK last century; the shows covered every kind of music, and every week I would discover some new (or old) musical treasure. Now that I’m back on the other side of the world, I still listen in most days, thanks to their Radio On Demand — you can listen to any show up to seven days after it goes to air. Here I’ve put together notes and links to the shows that I listen to regularly.

Normally you’re supposed to use the built-in player on the BBC website to listen, but with a bit of poking around, you can get the RSTP URLs and listen using RealPlayer. This is much more convenient, since you can easily rewind, fast forward, and bookmark shows partway through. I have done the requisite poking around, and included the RSTP URLs in the notes below.

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Send your action figure on a tour of Italy

15 May 2005

Have you ever wanted to go on a tour or Italy, but could never find the time? Well, why not send your barbie doll or garden gnome instead?

My friend Doug is auctioning “a trip of a lifetime for your favourite action figure“. Your action figure, stuffed animal, doll or gnome will tour several beautiful Italian destinations, pose for photgraphs, buy you some souvenirs, and send you postcards of gratitude.

Hurry! There are only nine days left for this eBay auction. eBay are listing it in their “Totally Bizarre” category, but as Doug says, “I guess I’m just blind as to why this auction is so outrageous… it’s just a nice, normal vacation. For an action figure. ;-)”

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REMO Global Community General Store

11 Feb 2004

In the ’90s Remo was the coolest shop in Sydney. They disappeared for a while, but now they’re back and on the Web. The site is fun, because the people and the products are fun. Everyone should own at least one REMO item; their T-shirts are the best in the world. Tell ’em I sent you.

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The Long Now Foundation

31 Oct 2003

A group of people who care about the future, and who realise that the way we think about the future also affects how we live life in the present. From their website:

“Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking. All are on the increase. Some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed – some mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where ‘long-term’ is measured at least in centuries.”

The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996 to develop Clock and “Library” projects as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. It has been nearly 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age and the beginnings of civilization. Progress lately is often measured on a “faster/cheaper” scale. The Long Now Foundation seeks to promote “slower/better” thinking and to foster creativity in the framework of the next 10,000 years.”

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All Music Guide

7 Jul 2003

An amazingly huge collection of music reviews and information. Search for an album, read about it, fins out what else the artist has done, who else has recorded the same song, the histiry of the genre, the album producer’s favourite icecream flavour, etc. The site has about a quarter of a million album reviews. Need I say more?

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