Cycling: Photos by Anthony Margetts, Jul 23, 2011
The team from Royal British Legion who will cycle from Bangkok to Phuket in October as a charity event
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Choosing the Healthy Option
I have been guilty of not uploading recently but I have been reading The Secret War Between Downloading and Uploading by Peter Lunenfeld: see the following:-
The networked computer offers an antidote to the junk culture of broadcasting. Why not choose the healthy option?
THINK of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that, regardless of the indignities of commercial air travel, you are flying, higher than a bird, an Icarus safe from the sun. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a manila envelope, or your cellphone nestled in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.
The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, pacifists, cranks, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.
The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production (you can make stuff), means of distribution (you can upload stuff to the network), site of reception (you can download stuff and interact with it), and locus of praise and critique (you can talk about the
stuff you have downloaded or uploaded). The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.
But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine. I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.
All animals download, but only a few upload anything besides faeces and their own bodies. Beavers build dams, birds make nests and termites create mounds, yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.
Television is a one-way spigot gushing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after they have turned it on. The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.
What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere. Tweets about celebrity gaffes are not sticky but rather little Teflon balls of meaninglessness. In contrast, applications like tumblr.com, which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others - and engendering more of the same. The explosion of apps for mobile phones and tablets means that even people with limited programming skills can now create sticky things.
The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. It is far more profound than that, because it can bring about a radical break from the culture of television and a shift from a consumption model to a production model.
More uploading to follow soon
The networked computer offers an antidote to the junk culture of broadcasting. Why not choose the healthy option?
THINK of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that, regardless of the indignities of commercial air travel, you are flying, higher than a bird, an Icarus safe from the sun. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a manila envelope, or your cellphone nestled in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.
The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, pacifists, cranks, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.
The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production (you can make stuff), means of distribution (you can upload stuff to the network), site of reception (you can download stuff and interact with it), and locus of praise and critique (you can talk about the
stuff you have downloaded or uploaded). The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.
But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine. I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.
All animals download, but only a few upload anything besides faeces and their own bodies. Beavers build dams, birds make nests and termites create mounds, yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.
Television is a one-way spigot gushing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after they have turned it on. The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.
What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere. Tweets about celebrity gaffes are not sticky but rather little Teflon balls of meaninglessness. In contrast, applications like tumblr.com, which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others - and engendering more of the same. The explosion of apps for mobile phones and tablets means that even people with limited programming skills can now create sticky things.
The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. It is far more profound than that, because it can bring about a radical break from the culture of television and a shift from a consumption model to a production model.
More uploading to follow soon
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Songkran in Bangkok
Here in Thailand 13, 14, 15 April is the Thai New Year and it is celebrated by sprinkling water on Budda and those you love at the Temple, out in the street the sprinkling takes on a more war like meaning but it is all good fun but be prepared to get wet
Monks Bless the New House
I move to a new house, here in Thailand Monks have to bless a new house and here is the story of the day
Thursday, 17 March 2011
The Fukushima Nuclear Plant Crisis
In all the publicity of the terrible earth quake and tsunami in Japan there is a huge amount of TV time devoted to the striken Fukushima Nuclear Plant. In China and Europe Governments are considering closing down existing nuclear plants until further studies show them to be safe.
Sadly many thousands have died in the Tsunami in Japan, but as yet no-one has died as a result of emissions from the Nuclear Plant.
Even though these reactors are 40 years old the safety engineering ( thick steel shield plus reinforced concrete shield) has done its job and has prevented major release of radiation into the surrounding area even with the biggest earthquake ever in Japan and the Tsunami that knocked out the standby generators. The effect here is much less than at Chernobyl in 1986.
The Chernobyl meltdown was hideous and traumatic. The plant there did not have the thick steel shield plus reinforced concrete shield. The official death toll so far appears to be 43 workers in the initial few months, then a further 15 civilians by 2005. Totally unacceptable, of course; but a tiny fraction of the deaths for which climate change is likely to be responsible, through its damage to the food supply, its contribution to the spread of infectious diseases and its degradation of the quality of life for many of the world's poorest people.
Coal is the primary driver of human-caused climate change. If its combustion is not curtailed, it could kill millions of times more people than nuclear power plants have done so far, see this:
Coal mining: Most deadly job in China
By Zhao Xiaohui & Jiang Xueli (Xinhua)
China produced 35 percent of the world's coal last year, but reported 80 percent of the total deaths in coal mine accidents, according to statistics with the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS). Coal mining has become the most deadly job in China. There is about one death every 7 days.
However people are very worried about radiation and this worry can feed on itself and the news people love this. Today a fake text message warning people that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked beyond Japan has been panicking people across Asia including in here in Thailand. It is complete rubbish !!
FAKE E-MAIL (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12745128).
BBC Flash news : Japan Government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24, remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Philippine at around 4 pm today. If it rains today or in the next few days in Hong Kong. Do not go under the rain. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it is only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.
Sadly many thousands have died in the Tsunami in Japan, but as yet no-one has died as a result of emissions from the Nuclear Plant.
Even though these reactors are 40 years old the safety engineering ( thick steel shield plus reinforced concrete shield) has done its job and has prevented major release of radiation into the surrounding area even with the biggest earthquake ever in Japan and the Tsunami that knocked out the standby generators. The effect here is much less than at Chernobyl in 1986.
The Chernobyl meltdown was hideous and traumatic. The plant there did not have the thick steel shield plus reinforced concrete shield. The official death toll so far appears to be 43 workers in the initial few months, then a further 15 civilians by 2005. Totally unacceptable, of course; but a tiny fraction of the deaths for which climate change is likely to be responsible, through its damage to the food supply, its contribution to the spread of infectious diseases and its degradation of the quality of life for many of the world's poorest people.
Coal is the primary driver of human-caused climate change. If its combustion is not curtailed, it could kill millions of times more people than nuclear power plants have done so far, see this:
Coal mining: Most deadly job in China
By Zhao Xiaohui & Jiang Xueli (Xinhua)
China produced 35 percent of the world's coal last year, but reported 80 percent of the total deaths in coal mine accidents, according to statistics with the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS). Coal mining has become the most deadly job in China. There is about one death every 7 days.
However people are very worried about radiation and this worry can feed on itself and the news people love this. Today a fake text message warning people that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked beyond Japan has been panicking people across Asia including in here in Thailand. It is complete rubbish !!
FAKE E-MAIL (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12745128).
BBC Flash news : Japan Government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24, remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Philippine at around 4 pm today. If it rains today or in the next few days in Hong Kong. Do not go under the rain. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it is only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Visit to Hospital
Visit to Hospital: "Photos by Anthony Margetts, Mar 1, 2011 - I bought a new knife and managed to cut my arm then a quick trip on a motor bike taxi to Bangkok hospital nearby"
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