Leighton Cooke

Cookiemouse Tour de France

2009-08-27T15:06:00.002+01:00

Leighton is on the road in France so this blog will not be updated for a while. You can follow the Cookiemouse one pot kitchen on a bicycle on
Cookiemouse.com and on Twitter @Cookiemouse.

Easter bunny hat

2009-04-08T13:14:00.001+01:00

[WHITMAN CHOCOLATES, EASTER HAT], originally uploaded by George Eastman House.

This is a test post to try something out with Picnik.

Cookiemouse sepia Leica M7

2009-03-30T11:25:00.001+01:00

Cookiemouse sepia Leica M7, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

When I asked a few of my friends, they all said that they preferred the sepia version of this photo. Russian photographer Alex, from St Petersburg, was in Amsterdam doing some black and white film reportage photography for an exhibition.

A Leica in the hand uses a lot of film

2009-03-26T11:47:00.001Z

A Leica in the hand uses a lot of film, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Met a Russian photographer who was doing a photoshoot for an exhibition, using the Leica M7 with a 35mm lens and Ilford film.

Puneeta vs Susi

2009-02-11T20:14:00.001Z

The Wind of Sarayu

Silver statue fragment

2008-12-19T19:33:00.001Z

Silver statue fragment, originally uploaded by Susanne Boger.

Photo by Leighton Cooke
Part of a series of designs by Susanne Boger

ABW Cookiemouse slideshow

2008-12-05T18:18:00.001Z

Find more photos like this on Amsterdam Blogging Workshop

Amsterdam Blogging Workshop

Cookiemouse Ray Bans

2008-11-19T20:31:00.002Z

Cookiemouse Ray Ban's, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Today the weather was rather mixed, so I only needed my trademark Ray Ban's for part of the afternoon. The Amsterdam Blogging Workshop went for a photoshoot to the Waterlooplein. We'll be meeting again next Wednesday.

Manjushri

2008-11-18T17:00:00.001Z

Manjushri, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

The other day I passed by the Palbu Tibetan craft store in the center of Amsterdam, where I saw this beautiful thangka of Manjushri, the Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva of wisdom.

Giovanni Sollima plays biennale cello

2008-11-14T16:34:00.008Z

Giovanni Sollima plays biennale cello, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

This new cello was, built during the Amsterdam Cello Biennale.
Giovanni Sollima played "Terra Aria" to try out the instrument for the first time.
It was varnished afterwards.

To buy a signed limited edition (100copies) print contact me at leightoncooke at gmail.com and use the PayPal button in the left sidebar.

Amsterdam photographer Danielle back to back

2008-11-13T18:11:00.002Z

Amsterdam photographers back to back, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Amsterdam photographer Danielle Cornelissen also likes to be a photomodel as well as a photowoman. She has a great sense of humor as this spontaneous street shot shows.

Amsterdam blogging workshop tomorrow

2008-11-08T13:48:00.002Z

Amsterdam blogging workshop, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Cookie Mouse will be hosting a series of blogging workshops this fall. The first one starts on Sunday, November 9 at 3pm in
the OBA Leescafe in the central library. I decided to swap the copy of net magazine for a fairtrade organic banana, to keep the flyer simple. We shall be looking at blogging from a hands on perspective, and will be starting a new Amsterdam Apple blog. Also we hope to link live with a few of our blogging friends around the world. It has been a momentous week. The universe decided yesterday that I should find an old copy of Marshall McLuhan's classic "Understanding Media", while sorting out some boxes of old books. This paperback is a time capsule from 1964, one year after Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I have a dream." speech to the civil rights movement. Blogging has played a big role in many of the changes that have taken place in the years in between. Let's hope we are entering a new age of fair trade and fair politics, as well as a better deal for those worse off. Independent media has changed the world and its going mobile. As McLuhan said, "The medium is the message."

Marshall McLuhan understanding blogging

2008-11-07T15:24:00.002Z

Marshall McLuhan understanding blogging, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

The universe decided to give me the Marshall McLuhan classic "Understanding Media" yesterday. We are starting a blogging workshop in OBA this coming Sunday, starting at 3pm. This is one picture option for the flyer.
Anyone interested in joining us can email me at leightoncooke at gmail.com.

Amsterdam Cello Biennale

2008-11-04T19:02:00.003Z

A short animated slideshow of some of the photos I made recently at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale.

Cookie Mouse winks again!

2008-10-29T19:33:00.002Z

Cookie Mouse winks again!, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

The little winking Cookie mouse has had a makeover, boosting the color a bit and cropping the right and bottom edges.

Rick Sammon's Top Ten Digital Photography Tips

2008-10-28T16:15:00.003Z

Some practical tips on how to take great photographs. Get in close and fill the frame is my photography mantra. Rick has some good advice for us on how to improve the quality of our images.

Green Tara

2008-10-28T11:31:00.001Z

This beautiful Tara can be seen in the Temple bookstore, Prins Hendrikkade 20-21, Amsterdam (opposite the Centraal Station)

Amsterdam Cello Biennale

2008-10-27T11:09:00.001Z

Giovanni Sollima

2008-10-26T18:08:00.003Z

Sollima tries out the biennale cello in Amsterdam last Saturday in the Muziekgebouw aan 't Ij.
Works, Hell I - Giovanni Sollima

The open society and its enemies in Amsterdam

2008-05-26T17:24:00.000+01:00

In 1945 my mother was evicted from the miner's cottage she grew up in, shortly after the death of my grandfather. The trauma of being thrown out onto the street stayed with her all her life. The year before, my late father-in-law took part in Operation Market Garden during which many Allied soldiers lost their lives while helping to liberate the Netherlands. This was a history lesson I had to give a Dutch TV reporter today, when he asked how many Poles were in the building that was illegally evicted early on Saturday morning. As it happens most of the occupants were Dutch. Very early in the morning on the Eerste Oosterparkstraat in Amsterdam Dutch riot police entered the apartments while most people were sleeping and dragged them out onto the streets. The police also used pepper spray to pacify people, and according to witnesses who spoke to me, two were badly beaten. 51 people were arrested and 15 are still unaccounted for. So far only three have been given access to a lawyer. Everyone that was there had all of their property taken from them and it was only after a loud noise demonstration outside police headquarters that an agreement was reached so that the property would be returned. According to an eye witness, the riot police banged in the door and asked for someone's ID. It is not a legal requirement to carry ID inside your house in Holland (at least not yet) so the ID was not shown, with the result that the squatter was dragged out onto the street and arrested, as were 51 others. These apartments are still the subject of a court case and the eviction by the police was illegal. Today at 3.30pm I was denied access to the press conference given by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, so I did not get the chance to ask him the reason why this had to happen.
The police claim to have discovered weapons in the apartments such as a hockey stick and some knives. Most houses have knives to use in the kitchen, and I'm not aware that playing hockey is illegal. They are trying to spin this story as some kind of "war on terror" action, rather than what it really is, a typical Dutch cock-up. In the newspapers there is a nice list of the different nationalities that were present in the building and these included British and Polish nationals. My father-in-law was British and served his country well in 1945. Many Poles lost their lives in the Battle of Britain. This is a sad tale of media hype to paint a picture of a squatting movement intent on violence and disorder. Perhaps, Mr Cohen, you should think of the positive contribution that the alternative scene has made to the international image of Amsterdam as a tolerant and open city.

We're the famous Cardiff City and we do the Ayatollah

2008-05-15T17:01:00.001+01:00

They say you can take the boy out of Wales, but you can't take Wales out of the boy. Which is why this Saturday I will be glued to the box watching Cardiff City playing in the FA Cup final at Wembley. The last time Cardiff won the cup was in 1927 (that's nearly half past seven!) so it is high time we taught the English the Ayatollah! As always on these great occasions of local patriotism music is part of the action. Cardiff is a media capital so we all have to do our bit to support the "Bluebirds Flying High" by James Fox. Maybe we can get it to number one in the charts by Saturday? Over to you Chalky!

There is a beautiful Norwegian church in Cardiff Bay and as Saturday is the Norwegian National Day we should also remember that many Cardiffians have Viking blood. Cardiff City Supporters of Norway is preparing a double celebration.
Norwegian TV celebrity Tore Stromoy, who was at the semi final said: "It's quite fantastic [for Cardiff City] to be in the FA Cup final. And the best is that it's on Norway's national day, the 17th of May." Maybe I can persuade Milena to start a Croatian Cardiff City fan club? Were there any Vikings in the Adriatic? They made it as far as Sicily so you never know.

It's a proud moment for a Cardiff boy. All I need now is a six pack of Brain's SA and a City T shirt, and it's sorted, clarts! It's gonna be tidy! We're the famous Cardiff City and we do the Ayatollah!

Join my party on August 8, 2008 at 8pm

2008-05-09T17:48:00.004+01:00

We plan to have a fun party at 8pm on August 8, 2008. Maybe a picnic with some live music and some sort of energy saving, climate change theme. We will of course also be thinking of Tibet.

Join me...social decision making

2008-05-03T17:44:00.003+01:00

Why do people join groups? Why do people buy stuff? According to Darren of ProBlogger because other people do. He calls it social decision making and says it has improved his affiliate marketing sales. There is a book about a guy who put an ad in a newspaper and said just "Join me!" and people did. I've not read it yet, but I'm going to keep a look out for it.

Maybe we should put an ad on Craigslist and say "Join us!"

Whatever happened to Polaroid?

2008-04-28T16:26:00.003+01:00

Technology comes and goes, and often stuff gets left behind and becomes no more than a nostalgic memory. So it is that I've become sentimental about Polaroid, even though I never owned one of their cameras. Still I now have the possibility to produce digital Polaroids with a mouse click. Derivative art, post modern kitsch or call it what you will. Where are the boundaries of the real? Recently I've got into the habit of reading books again, curled up on my couch with a cup of green tea, without a care in the world. At the end of the eighties I bought a book called "The Western Way" by John and Caitlin Matthews. It is two books in one, dealing with the native western and the hermetic traditions. The authors know their subject well, and years before the "Da Vinci Code" they were writing a serious and well researched account of the western mystery tradition.

The heart of the western way is a paradox that can only be known in silence. Yet the call to respect and love nature and appreciate the world as a living organism still holds an appeal in the age of scientific rationalism. This book is a wonderful journey of the heart to a magical time and place whose spark is in us all.

Tibet Amsterdam demo, 31/3

2008-04-03T17:54:00.003+01:00

On Monday, March 31 there was a demonstration on Dam Square, Amsterdam on behalf of Tibet. These two videos show the speech made by Tsering Jampa, director of the International Campaign for Tibet in the Netherlands. The demo was part of a worldwide day of action.

Eyes of the world on Beijing...Free Tibet

2008-03-20T20:00:00.003Z

Tibet has a right to self determination. How can we hold the Olympics in Beijing this summer, when human rights are being abused in China?

Prayers for a free Tibet!

2008-03-16T20:14:00.002Z

Prayers for a free Tibet!, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Peace and freedom are indivisible. In the year when China wishes to hold the Olympic Games, they should show mercy and justice to the Tibetan people. This picture was taken in Monmouthshire, Wales.

Update: China has closed Tibet to the media and is censoring and blocking news websites. Here is the letter sent to the Chinese embassy by the editor of the Guardian. How can anybody now justify holding the Olympics in China?

Green and fairtrade shopping online

2008-03-10T13:31:00.001Z

Ethiopian fair trade coffee..., originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Shopping and caring for the planet is relatively easy in a big city, where there are lots of specialized stores and products available. But what do you do if you live in a remote area? Shop online? Well now there is thepurplebook green, an eco-friendly guide by Hillary Mendelsohn to shopping online. There are over 400 store listings, keyed with little helpful symbols denoting fair trade practices, recycled materials, and the like. You can also visit our new Cookiemouse Store which has a section on recommended eco-friendly and fairtrade products. More and more people are doing their shopping online and there is a growing need for useful information on products that can help to reduce our environmental footprint. Did you know that just by turning off the water when you brush your teeth can make huge savings. Also not getting a receipt from ATMs could save thousands of trees if everybody did it!

German police dogs get shoes

2008-02-26T17:58:00.004Z

Today saw the beginning of the end for German Parmesan as the European Court of Justice dealt with the question of what is Parmesan. The German government argued that in Germany Parmesan was a generic name for hard cheese. However the court said that only the authentic product bearing the name "Parmigiano Reggiano" could be sold using the name.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." said Juliet. It is an old trick. A specific product is given the name of a similar, but better, more exclusive product in the hope that more people will buy it. Sherry, champagne and feta cheese all have their names protected for the same reason, to prevent cheap imitations spoiling the reputation and the sales of the brand. But how do we decide on the names of things? By common consent or after a struggle over markets and definitions. What would happen if I called my cat "iPod?" Could Apple sue me? Of course not. Often the naming process ends up with the top brand (such as Hoover or Biro) ending up being the general name. (Don't worry by the way. We'll get to those police dogs in a minute.) Thus we google as well as search. In the future the German consumer will not need to worry about where the Parmesan came from. Words have power, and so it is that people will go to great lengths to protect them. Not just consumer products but also ideas are subject to the same struggles over ownership. Copyright and patents are the subject of much political and legal debate at the moment. One issue in particular is of vital importance to future generations. As a result of the trend by biotechnology companies to patent seeds, much of the world's food diversity is being put at risk. Recently India and Pakistan have taken steps to protect the name and the genetics of Basmati rice from attempts to patent them. Brand recognition means big bucks and so the temptation to deceive is also great. But what about the German shepherd dogs with shoes? Well they got them because of an idea maybe. The dogs are being given shoes in Dusseldorf because of broken glass on the streets in the famous Altstadt where the Cookiemouse has drunk many glasses of Altbier, one of the best beers in the world. Some years ago, in order to help the environment, the German government put a deposit on cans of beer, and so the glass bottle became popular again. Sadly it seems that the habit of throwing the empties on the street also caught on to the extent that the poor police dogs now need boots! Last night I had to walk home because a piece of broken glass punctured my bicycle tyre. So a plea to drunks with empty beer bottles to dispose of. Can you maybe think of the dogs and bicycles who have to deal with the consequences of your throwaway mentality? Ideas tend to develop a life of their own. Now it seems that as well as giving a dog a bad name, we can also damage its paws with our carelessness. To close on a positive note here is some random Berlin photography that's well worth looking at, and a Lhasa Apso snowdog in Central Park. Wonder if he needs boots?

Happy Birthday, Chalky!

2008-02-21T13:04:00.002Z

Happy Birthday, Chalky!, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Do you know who was number one when you were born? In 1950 when I saw the light of day the best selling song was "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino. On my birthday Nat King Cole was number one with "Mona Lisa" which is still one of my all time favourites. Chalky shares her birthday with Nina Simone, which seems only fitting for the writer of a blog called Terrible Love Songs and so Chalky, I would like to wish you a great day, and thanks for the tea tips!
Here is my Nat King Cole favourite, with George Shearing on piano. This song cures all known ills, at least for me!

Arya Tara, mother of compassion and liberation

2008-02-18T20:20:00.003Z

Some random search and browser numbers

2008-02-16T13:31:00.003Z

After the recent takeover bid for Yahoo I thought I would check some of the search and browser numbers for the Cookie Mouse blog. Almost 99% of my search traffic came from Google, while just under 2% came from Yahoo. No wonder Yahoo must be worried. MSN was nowhere to be seen. Then when I looked at the browser numbers I got another surprise. Check this out:
Internet Explorer 48.92%
Firefox 41.35%
Safari 9.19%
Opera 0.54%
Now for me the Firefox number is the big surprise, much higher than I would have expected. These are the Wikipedia web browser stats which give Firefox a much lower percentage. OK, my little blog may not be representative but I'll be following this trend. Open source seems to be far more widespread than media reports indicate. So here's a little promo for the browser I use most myself. The other one I use is Safari as I have a MacBook.

The most popular pages were, hardly surprising, the chocolate pages and I must say that I can think of a few worse niches to be in.

Auf Wiedersehen, Polaroid...instant art moves on

2008-02-15T19:18:00.002Z

Polaraude..., originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

We must say goodbye to the Polaroid picture as the company announces that it will be ceasing production of the film for its cameras. The technology that produced this picture is what brought it to an end. Digital is instant so the demand for instant film has disappeared. Nowadays we upload via our mobile phones. The image has become ubiquitous. Yet it was Polaroid that first got rid of the middle man and allowed us to see our pictures just after we took them. Speed mattered more than quality. When I was small I had my picture taken at the beach with my mother(left) and my aunt. The photographer sent us the picture later, through the post. Polaroid changed all that, and now, like the cassette tape Walkman and the VCR, has become part of the history of technology.

The ability to produce instant content and publish it from just about anywhere is one of the forces that is driving the information revolution. Words and images become memes that spread virally, self organizing and building new connections. Sonia is back blogging and has posted a book meme, which is also a form of instant art that depends upon the speed of the spread of ideas. Most of my philosopher friends are not post-modernists, but somehow the news of the demise of the Polaroid after such a short period (around forty years) does leave me in a mood to deconstrust my world view and to realize how transient it is.
My Polaroid Blog

tuttobene... innovative design collaboration

2008-02-07T17:06:00.001Z

tuttobene... innovative design collaboration, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

The Amsterdam public library had a presentation about innovation in the city today. Young designers showcased some of their new ideas on the various floors of the building. Tuttobene were on the ground floor. Their website says that they like "design with guts, that is visually challenging and tells a good story too.

Tuttobene believes that design has a strong influence in making changes, not only visual changes, but also in a cultural or social way.
The environmental and social consequences of many items that we produce cannot be neglected. But we are consumers too and are seduced by beautiful objects. Therefore Tuttobene stands for design that contributes to a economic, ecological and social sound world, design that initiates from designers that are aware of the consequences of their actions and that suits a wide range of our human demands."

Amsterdam wishes to promote itself as a knowledge capital and centre for ICT. The Dutch have always been famous for design. I like Tuttobene's ecological approach and was happy to see that some of the products they had on display were made with recycled materials, including this bag.

The project follows the "cradle to cradle" design philosophy invented by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s and popularized by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book of the same title. This framework seeks to create production techniques that are not only efficient but are essentially waste free. In cradle to cradle production all material inputs and outputs are seen either as technical material that can be recycled or reused with no loss of quality, or biological nutrients that can be composted or consumed.

Chinese Buddhist New Year, Amsterdam

2008-02-07T13:16:00.001Z

Chinese Buddhist New Year, Amsterdam, originally uploaded by Cookiemouse.

Kuan Yin receives the new year offerings at the Mahayana Buddhist temple on the Zeedijk in Amsterdam's Chinatown. The traditional new year service started just before midnight, and afterwards we all received some small presents as blessings for the coming (Cookie)mouse year, which the nuns said would be good for prosperity and success. It was a lovely moment and I was quite moved by everyone's quiet sincerity and devotion.

Cookie mouse year mission statement

2008-02-05T15:58:00.000Z

This is ground control to Major Tom. The Beatles went "Across the Universe" yesterday. Thanks to Chalky's Terrible Love Songs for putting me on to this event, as well as introducing me to Cat Power. Here's one of their laid back tracks:

Now to the mission. Cookie Mouse already has a fair trade, organic mission statement. Now Cookie Book needs one too. With the Chinese and Tibetan New Year almost upon us this seems like a good time for some more resolutions as well as a few fortune cookies. More green issues again maybe, or how about some art? Photography would be cool as it is one of my passions. I feel the need to focus on something that is creative but also allows me to dabble in the music and ideas that I like. So if anyone out there has any ideas I'm open to suggestions. I'm looking for another niche and the challenge of trying to find and develop it. While I'm fascinated by the internet I'm no expert and at best report ideas developed by others in that field. So don't be shy. What would you do with a blog that has a middling page rank but needs a sense of direction?

HitTail, the long tail of natural search

2008-01-31T13:52:00.000Z

For some time now I have been using the HitTail keyword long tail search service. HitTail works on the principle that it is the long tail of infrequent natural search hits that can be built upon to build traffic. This video by the developer explains how it works. I have found it to be a most useful tool in helping to understand just what my readers were looking for.

Do you like nostalgia? The Superimposers are a Beatles/Beach Boys duo featured today on Chalky's Terrible Love Songs. "The Superimposers are Dan Warden and Miles Copeland, a London based duo (not American as I originally thought). If you haven't heard The Superimposers before, I'd describe them as The Beach Boys meets The Beatles meets Air meets something in 1950's America-there are a lot of other hints and flavours in their songs but I can't quite put my finger on them yet... worth a listen." says Chalky.

To be or not to be...symmetrical or asymmetrical

2008-01-24T19:21:00.000Z

Symmetry or asymmetry? When I saw these two books together I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of titles. The one book says that we exist because of asymmetry while the other says that the beauty of symmetry shapes the world. You pays your money and takes your choice. Could it be that Newton found the symmetry and quantum mechanics the asymmetry? I have just started reading both books, by Frank Close and Nobel Laureate Christopher T. Hill, so I'm not yet ready to give an opinion but I'm somehow fascinated by the possibility that they are both right. Here we go down the rabbit hole with Alice. It's like that in music too. Harmony and disharmony together in a dance. I'm listening to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as I'm writing this. Is it not the interplay of opposites that makes the whole dance possible? Thesis, antithesis and synthesis and...
Don't think I'm gonna sort this out tonight so I'll just listen to Diana Krall and Tony Bennett. They have the world on a string.

A last word from William Blake perhaps:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

A Leonard Cohen miracle worth waiting for

2008-01-23T18:12:00.000Z

This year the maestro will be on tour. Thanks to Terrible Love Songs for this great news. Apparently he is heading for Europe in the summer. Leonard Cohen Forum The first Cohen album I bought was Songs From A Room and that was A Long Time Ago. Leonard Cohen is my favourite musical poet. For me his music is timeless and unique. Now that Oscar Peterson is gone he must surely take the crown as Canada's national treasure?

Talking Teddy Afro with Ethiopian friends

2008-01-21T19:43:00.000Z

This evening I had supper with some friends from Ethiopia. The food was simple Italian and we drank of course good Ethiopian coffee and the mood was convivial. We spoke of the politics and culture of the country, but mostly we spoke of food and music. The track below and in the sidebar was the one my friends spoke of most. I am a big fan of Ethiopian music though the language barrier means I don't know much about it. Thanks to my friends, though, I'm picking up some tips that I can share with my readers. Sometimes we need to get into another cultural orbit to experience new ideas and to appreciate things from a different perspective. Today I also made another nice discovery thanks to a comment left on Chocolate Covered Vegan by Lizzy of Trying Veganism. I found her interesting Street Art in Kreuzberg on Picasa, which got me thinking that maybe I should put together a nice album on Google's photo sharing platform. At present my pictures there are just a cluttered mess. Sometimes I think that, just as in life, we leave behind a trail of unfinished bits and pieces on the internet. Like all those unread books that one day we will get around to reading we have a blog here, a social network there, gathering virtual dust. Every day I postpone the inevitable upcoming internet spring clean. Does anyone else have a trail they left behind on the web that they feel is in need of a cleanup? I know I won't make a start today. The weather is too bad and I want to listen to some nice music.

Mr Scruff and why the internet is lovely

2008-01-19T14:33:00.000Z

Finding something new is always exciting and for me finding exciting new music is always cool so I am grateful to Terrible Love Songs for helping me find Get A Move On as well as a lot of other cool stuff. I woke up the Amsterdam public library when I clicked on her blog and music blasted out of the MacBook but nobody noticed here on the fifth floor where most of the students sit. This is an amazing building and much more than a traditional library with lots of desktop internet terminals, and ongoing art exhibitions and events for both children and adults. In fact there are so many lovely distractions that I hardly get to read a book! It's no longer as quiet as in the picture, which was taken just after the opening.

I did manage to find a book to read, James Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton, without whom I would not be writing this now. Newton seems fitting reading, surrounded as we are with all of the technology whose very foundations lay in his ideas and contribution to science. Thanks to his laws we must keep on moving. The internet is indeed lovely! Would the world be a better or worse place if Newton had never lived? Joli weekend, mes amis!

Pirates fight copyright's brave new world

2008-01-16T13:01:00.000Z

Chalky (of Terrible Love Songs)and I were just commenting on synchronicity and once again I found myself looking back at another of my oldest Penguins, Huxley's Brave New World. Thanks to Josef's United Diversity I came across this Google video on the brave new world of copyright and patent law. (Below)
The subject is the connection between copyright, patent law and civil liberties. I know from the Navdanya seed saving project in India and the Monsanto terminator seed fiasco just how scary patents can be (in that particular case patenting the very seeds of life itself!) but this was the first time I was made aware of just how central copyright laws are to our basic freedoms. The Pirate Party is based in Sweden but is also part of a worldwide movement that wishes to reform copyright laws so that we all have the right to our privacy and to end the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights to the detriment of the freedom of information.
"The fight against copyright aggression tends to focus on economic aspects of the shift to a networked economy. Rick explains how this conflict is much more important than that: the fight against the copyright regime is about the right to fundamental civil liberties - down to the postal secret, whistleblower protection, freedom of the press, and the very right to an identity. Rick Falkvinge is the founder and leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, as well as the founder of the international politicized pirate movement. His leadership and vision took the Pirate Party from nothing into the top ten parties in the last Swedish general election, without a dime in the campaign chest. His personal candidacy came in at rank #15 out of over 5,000 candidates for the 349 parliamentary seats." writes Josef on United Diversity. Watch this video if you value your liberty!

La Nausée

2008-01-15T11:02:00.000Z

This book was one of the very first paperbacks I ever bought. The Sartre classic seems these days to belong to another age. This is the 1965 Penguin Modern Classic with the Dali cover that was still being used in 1972 and I remember this seven year period of my life as being the time when the world changed forever. I was living in London at the time and had a French girlfriend who was also very much into Sartre and Chanel, a combination that was irresistible. As I said in another post on Cookie Mouse
"No book was ever more seminal in my development and as I return to it again over forty years later I realise what a profound effect Jean Paul Sartre had on both my thinking and my unconscious mind. Like an individual archetype he stands colossal in my memory and in my mind's eye. The English Penguin edition was my most prized possession and when I later learned French it became the paperback I used to pose with on the rive gauche. Avec Gaulloises, naturellement! It so impressed the first love of my life, Josette, that she asked me to a party in London and I got my first bottle of Chanel Pour homme for Christmas, 1968."
It amuses me to think that "la nausée" is the second most popular search keyword for my blog. Is Sartre still so popular or are a lot of French speakers not feeling very well at the moment?

Small is Beautiful...

2008-01-05T09:26:00.001Z

E.F. Schumacher...Small is Beautiful..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

Yet a another new title for this blog. The last one was the same as a web design company and could end up leading to confusion. Wanting to stay somewhere near Cookie mouse I googled Cookie book and the search result was promising. Only the other day I was thinking it is time to read a few books and when I saw a new comment on my Satre Penguin photo it made up my mind for me. So I'll be off to the bookstores more often in the near future to look for a good read. We all spend a lot of time online these days so it is perhaps a good idea to balance that out with something different. Books are old school IT and a very different way of thinking about and interacting with the world of ideas. So Cookie Book it is.

DP Logo with slogans

2008-01-03T14:11:00.001Z

DP Logo with slogans, originally uploaded by Chris Saad.

dataportabilty.org

Scoble Facebook account disabled

2008-01-03T13:45:00.000Z

Uberhacker Scoble has been chucked off Facebook. I picked this up on Mashable and nearly wet myself laughing. After all the old rascal is asking a fair question as to to who owns your social graph, you or FB? They offer us a free service and we offer them loads of free content and free information in return, but they don't seem to like it when someone tries to move their stuff elsewhere. All this happens just when I decided to add my sparkling new year mugshot (to your left) to my FB profile as I thought it looked shady enough for Zuikerberg's pot of gold. Ah well, nice one Scoble, and keep up the good work. Some of these issues are being adressed by dataportability.org a site well worth checking out. Somehow FB seems so last year these days, but the lemmings keep on signing up. I'd rather stick with blogging and work for myself, thanks. But first I need some coffee, fairtrade and organic as ever.

2008 will be a very good year!

2008-01-01T14:47:00.000Z

On the streets of Amsterdam the Champagne flows as 2008 comes in with a bang as usual. Manon turned up for our end of year dinner which was fantastic. It was very Italian. Peppers stuffed with goat's cheese and olives stuffed with peppers as antipasti followed by Bruschetta and onion soup and spaghetti pesto genovese (to celebrate Manon's new Italian base). Cosy as we were with our bubbly, pasta and espresso we had to check out the big Dutch New Year bang. And bang it did loud and clear. Our poor dog was terrified by all the loud noises. When I tried to take him out yesterday afternoon a banger went off just outside the door and so poor Freako ran terrified back upstairs and hid in the corner till it was all over. We went to the Nieuwmarkt, which was terribly crowded as always, and it all went boom, boom, boom! At midnight we celebrated with of all things cans of Heineken as we had run out of bubbly earlier on. One Welshman, one Italian and one Dutch girl in a crowd of happy and crazy revelers said cheers and welcomed in the new year. Some of the fireworks were so loud that you could feel the force of the explosion. Someone gave me a bottle of Luxembourg Cremant which was very tasty. The year started lucky and happy so I think that 2008 will be a very good year. I thought of taking my camera with me downtown but then decided not to under the crazy circumstances. After all, if a picture is a thousand words then a thousand words could make a picture. People with mobile phones were all taking loads of pictures anyway. I'd be curious to see what some of them turned out like in the dark and jolly chaos. Someone asked me if I had made a new year resolution. To be happy I replied and afterwards I thought of our dinner table chat the evening before. We talked about how young Dutch kids no longer know what to believe in a world overloaded with information and how to keep the nasty big picture at a distance and create your own world. I was as usual ranting on about the big picture and upon reflection found myself agreeing with the Dutch point of view. Holland is a peaceful country and we are lucky here to still enjoy tolerance and freedom. As one particularly loud bang went off and its shockwave hit me for a brief moment I counted myself lucky that it was just a firework. My resolution? To look for and tell the truth within my area of competence and to create that positive small world that my Dutch friend described. Have a wonderful 2008, people, and let the heart be with you!

David Airey, logo designer, hacked...

2007-12-25T19:20:00.000Z

I came across this story on Digg and as it is Christmas I would like to offer David some googlejuice to make up for his loss. So if you are looking for a logo designer and want to spit in the eye of the nasty hacker Peyam then check out David Airey logo design and read this nasty story. It might also be a good idea to check your Gmail filters and POP forwarding on a regular basis just to make sure that Peyam hasn't hacked into your account. Good luck, David!

Cookie mouse profile...

2007-12-24T14:43:00.001Z

Cookie mouse profile..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...Male, City: Amsterdam, Country: Netherlands, Hobbies: running around wheels, eating cheese and nuts Occupation: famous photo model.

Blog: The Cookie Mouse
Friends: emdot

Navdanya Organic Movement...

2007-12-16T15:02:00.001Z

Navdanya Organic Movement..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...Navdanya is an organic farming project in India where they try to save seeds and biodiversity and support small organic farmers.
"With the establishment of seed banks in different parts of the country Navdanya aims to protect native seeds because it has become a system of resistance against monocultures and monopoly rights. The shift from uniformity to diversity respects the rights of all species and is sustainable. For us protecting native seeds is more that conservation of raw material for the biotechnology industry. The diverse seeds not pushed to extinction carry with them seeds of other ways of thinking about nature, and other ways of producing our needs." says Navdanya.
After the Bali climate change fiasco which was only just saved in the nick of time after the delegate from Papua New Guinea told the Americans:
"If you're not willing to lead, get out of the way." after the American delegate had heckled India from the back of the room, it is perhaps time for the West to stop being so selfish and listen to what the rest of the world is saying and doing. After all we all live on the same earth.

Cerys or Kylie?...

2007-12-12T09:21:00.001Z

One woman garage band..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

Is the medium the message? Nobody wanted the Citizen Kane Oscar at Sotheby's in New York and it often seems that nobody wants to buy good music if CD sales are anything to go by. The medium is changing the message as the iPod replaces the Walkman. Soon the iPhone will replace the iPod. The big change I've noticed in my media habits this year is that I no longer read a book from cover to cover. I skip pages and always seem to be in a hurry to get to the end. Is that because of the internet and the need we now have to digest vast quantities of information every day? I listen to less music, but I like the new Kylie CD my son got for his birthday as it helps me switch off and want to dance. In the past few months I have watched loads of television which I have not done for years. The medium has changed The message of endless reality shows, tacky ads and breaking news all seems stale and dated and the Zeitgeist seems to have lost die Zeit.

LinkedIn for business...

2007-12-10T17:05:00.000Z

...This has to be my favourite quote of the day:
"LinkedIn is quite clear on one thing: they don’t want Facebook-style donut-throwing time wasters;" says Mashable . As LinkedIn is developing a business API they don't want to be squatted by vampires. Here at Fortune Cookie we are very optimistic at the moment in spite of all the early Christmas sales and the financial doom and gloom. The internet is going mobile and in a period of transition those who are serious and professional should survive and thrive. The shine has gone off Facebook for many reasons and we welcome LinkedIn's attempt to target a more businesslike audience. This app should also be cool for job hunting and finding people to work with on your projects.

My first iMac...

2007-12-08T23:20:00.001Z

My iMac's new home at Rebeka's house..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...and some coffee from paradise. This little baby is still working fine and is now used by the children. I still like to connect the keyboard to my MacBook and sit on the balcony in the evening.

iPhone brings Apple and Google closer together...

2007-12-06T21:45:00.000Z

...as the Google Interface is optimized for the iPhone. Google says, "the iPhone's Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it enabled our product and engineering teams to create an optimal Google experience on a mobile device." So Gmail, Google Reader and other services will be available on a single interface. Instead of Android being a competitor to the iPhone the two companies seem to be moving together to exploit the opportunities available in the mobile internet. This makes sense as Android's Linux and the iPhone's UNIX based OS are similar enough to enable developers to create apps for both platforms without too many difficulties. Then a 3G iPhone would really make sense. In the long run Apple will have to open up more in the mobile market where the rules are different. The two companies have much to offer each other.

Block Facebook Beacon...

2007-12-06T00:56:00.000Z

...by enabling this Firefox plug-in. As more news comes out about how Facebook Beacon follows you around and collects data from other websites you visit perhaps it's time to think twice about clicking the "Remember me" button and to disable cookies on a regular basis. This is one Cookie that's getting tired and bored of Facebook. Hang on I just need to throw this sheep and bite that vampire. I'll be right back. Leighton is drinking green tea and eating chocolate (at this time of night too!) and the tea is organic. The chocolate is left over from my son's birthday and I've been listening to some classical music, and...ah! Get a life!
Update December 6: Mark Zuckerberg has now apologized for the way in which Beacon was launched and there is now a complete opt out option according to Macworld:
"Still, Zuckerberg's blog posting doesn't directly address the findings of a CA security researcher that have fueled the privacy controversy over Beacon in recent days.
Stefan Berteau found that Beacon tracks users even if they are logged off from the social-networking site and have declined having their activities broadcast to friends.
In this case, users aren't informed that data on their activities at these sites is flowing back to Facebook or given the option to block that information from being transmitted, according to Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group."

Vodafone loses iPhone case in Germany...

2007-12-05T13:10:00.000Z

...as a Hamburg court yesterday turned over its own ruling on T-Mobile's exclusive deal with Apple. The new ruling seems to mean the end of unlocked iPhone sales in Germany, leaving France the only country where an unlocked iPhone is legally available. So far 20% of all iPhone sales in France have been of unlocked phones, say Orange.

Broadband digital divide...

2007-12-05T10:31:00.000Z

...It's getting bigger. The digital divide between broadband services in cities and towns and the countryside is getting larger says the BBC today. I know this to be true from talking to some farmers recently. They were complaining about their poor internet connection and how it was directly affecting their business. Farmers who wish to get into direct marketing of their produce need a good internet connection. Part of the Raluy permaculture project in Spain is dedicated to looking into finding a solution for the digital divide by using WiMAX which avoids the need to use prohibitively expensive cable connectivity.
Wimax stands for Worldwide Interoperablity for Microwave Access. It is based on the IEE 802.16 standard, also known as WirelessMAN.
It can provide wireless data over much longer distances than wifi.
In countries with good fixed line infrastructure, WiMAX acts as a filler but in some developing countries is can be the dominant infrastructure for broadband access. Countries such as Pakistan are planning nationwide WiMAX rollouts.
WiMAX can deliver speeds of up to 70Mbps and operate over distances of up to 50km, although not concurrently.
WiMAX Forum
WiMAX has the potential to be a cost effective means for rural communities to get a fast broadband internet connection and could play an important part in rural development.

iPhone magic...

2007-12-03T14:33:00.000Z

...this iPhone even makes coffee and you can use it as a shaver.

All we want for Christmas is an iPhone...

2007-12-01T13:48:00.000Z

...so do we head for Paris or Berlin? How about starting a campaign to persuade a UK mobile provider to offer a discount on a deal on an unlocked iPhone just like Debitel are doing in Germany. You get 600 euros cashback when you sign up with them, which means you end up getting an unlocked iPhone for 399 euros. Or should we wait till next Christmas and get a 3G iPhone with much faster internet connectivity? I'm inclined to wait as I think that faster internet will help to make this an amazing piece of kit. PC World The only downside could be battery life so we shall have to wait and see how Apple solve that problem.

Cookiepedia...conspiracy theories...

2007-11-30T22:01:00.000Z

...started shortly after 911 BC when Julius Caesar was murdered by the Illuminati. A secret society based inside the tomb of Tutankhamun took over the world and invented the Republican party. This annoyed the Roman emperor who invented the bible to convince everyone that they had to give everything to Caesar, who by then had been reborn as the Roman emperor. When this scam no longer worked the Emperor wrote his name with a capital letter and invented the Catholic Church so he could have a regular supply of choir boys. In 911 AD he changed his name to the Pope and claimed he knew God's telephone number. When the Templars found God's email address the Pope had them all burnt at the stake. Meanwhile Leonardo da Vinci painted a picture of the pope in drag and sold it to the Louvre for 1789 euros and they renamed the pope Mona Lisa and got Nat King Cole to sing a song about him. When Nelson defeated Napoleon at Waterloo Station in a game of poker he would have brought the Mona Lisa to London but it went down with the Titanic at the Battle of Trafalgar. So the secret Da Vinci code was lost till Turing cracked Enigma during the Battle of Britain thus allowing the Freemasons to go on tour with Glenn Miller. They also went on to go on tour with John F. Kennedy, Marylin Munroe, Martin Luther King and John Lennon, all of whom died mysterious deaths shortly afterwards. The pope then changed his name to Bush and went on to win the Florida recount for Miss Drag Queen, 9/11 2001. Since then the world has been run by a supercomputer called Blow Jobs and everything you experience is just an illusion created by the mice.

iPhone latest prices...

2007-11-28T23:00:00.000Z

...749 euros unlocked in Paris, France or with a 600 euro rebate from Debitel in Germany when you by the unlocked iPhone from T-Mobile for 999 euros. The Debitel contract is for 40 euros per month.
Update: You may want to wait for the 3G iPhone rumoured to be coming out next year.

Cookiepedia...the internet...

2007-11-28T19:45:00.000Z

...The internet was invented by Al Gore, Made in China and is run by the Pentagon in the US and by the CIA in the rest of the world. It is mostly used for watching porn, selling stuff and throwing sheep at your friends on Facebook. The internet has a zero privacy policy. It is highly addictive and requires large amounts of coffee to be understood.

View Larger Map
WWW should not be confused with the internet. WWW stands for World War Won and was a secret group of Nazi scientists working for Al Gore to create viruses that would destroy the internet. WWW was sold to Google in 1984. To use the internet you need to be under 16 and fluent in HTML, which is short for Hotmail, and is used for spreading viruses. On no account open a hotmail as it can cause impotence and brain drain. The internet is housed in a building called Web 2.0 which stands on a paradigm shift that is expected to cause a tsunami soon.

Cookipedia...coffee...

2007-11-28T01:05:00.001Z

Breakfast...
Originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke

...the sacred ritual sacrament of offices, breakfast and insomnia Coffea arabica, known originally as the wine of the bean, owes its origins to the observation of particularly vital goats. Coffee became widely accepted after it was baptized by Pope Clement VIII in 1600. Also known as latte or espresso, coffee is the cure for all known forms of mental derangement and is an excellent substitute for breakfast. The reason why you are reading this is because British supermarkets have a habit of numbering coffee strength. So I decided to use up the rest of my French blend (strength 5) in my coffee pot. The remains turned out to be double the usual dose, which as you all know is much better than being half the usual dose, and the resulting brew is the mother of all black coffees. Now I know why the Sufi drank it to prevent sleep.
Status update: Leighton is wide awake.
Leighton and the Yemenite Sufi mystic Shaikh ash-Shadhili, observer of vital goats while traveling in Ethiopia, are now friends.
Leighton and the vital goat are now friends.

Cookiepedia...online banking...

2007-11-26T22:04:00.000Z

...is readily available in Siberia at the phishing branch of most High Street banks for as little as $75. You will need two CD copies of the ID of 25 million people to set up your own branch or you can get details from a Russian-registered vendor "offering UK and US bank logins with 'good price and service!'" At some time of course you will need Money for online banking.
(Cookie's First Law: For most things you need money.)
(Cookie's Second Law: For most things Richard Branson always has money.)
(Cookie's Third Law: Try buying Branson's ID in Siberia.)
Money has been known to work as an aphrodisiac, especially in the part of Amsterdam to the left of the Damrak as you come from Centraal Station. It can also be exchanged for drugs, alcohol, coffee and chocolate. For these pleasures offline banking, or even better, hard cash is recommended. Hard cash is the kind that can be exchanged for drugs...etc.
Online banking, like blogging, has its health hazards but is very handy if you want to buy sexy underwear on eBay.

Melinda has rhythm...

2007-11-23T22:38:00.000Z

...and soul. Tony Bennett is right. Melinda Doolittle is a great singer and she sure made my day as I discovered her for the first time this evening. What a voice as she puts real feeling and power into her music.

Amsterdam Photoblog...goes live...

2007-11-22T21:45:00.000Z

...with lots of friends online. Based on the concept of the Barcelona Photoblog the Amsterdam Photoblog will be a unique insider view of this amazing city, with lots of cool links to the inside track of all the latest in Mokum.

Cookiepedia...Amsterdam...

2007-11-22T15:46:00.000Z

...Considered by many to be a figment of the imagination especially this week as this lovely Thanksgiving website that looks like a Christmas tree shows. A residential home for old hippies, the City of Amsterdam is in fact a theme park that is far more fun than the one run by a certain mouse in Florida and Paris. Also the home of the famous Cookie mouse, Amsterdam has more mice per square mile than anywhere on earth. A mecca for dreamers, metrosexuals and those who have difficulty in speaking Dutch, Mokum is also famous for bicycles and bicycle thieves. It is the only city on earth where a pickpocket will steal your pocketbook and your bicycle and then offer to sell it back to you for 10 euros on the Koningsplein. Spinoza came from Amsterdam but got thrown out for proving that God is everywhere and doesn't give a damm. (Or was that a dam!) Anne Frank kept a diary in Amsterdam which is why the Prinsengracht near the Westerkerk is always so crowded and should be avoided at all costs if you are in a hurry. The cheapest organic beer in Amsterdam is available on the Overtoom in OT 301. Cannabis is available everywhere so please buy plenty of chocolate. Coffee is the Dutch business drug of choice and also goes very well with chocolate. As the euro is going up we recommend you should visit Amsterdam now or never if you are on a budget.

Cookiepedia...Privacy...relevance 100 per cent...

2007-11-21T22:08:00.000Z

..."Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to control the flow of information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively." says the good old Wikipedia. It's not been a good week for privacy as the personal details of millions of British citizens and their children go missing. Join a social network on the internet and you agree that they can and will collect data about you to "enhance your user experience." They will also collect data about you from third parties and broadcast your shopping habits to all and sundry. I was actually wondering whether I should post copies of my bank statements on my blog just to prove that I've nothing to hide, which in my case would quite literally be the case. Where will this all end? Is it perhaps not time to go offline and live an analogue life? Well the government has put pay to that illusion. You can't even claim child benefit without living in fear of your private details going lost. As Privacy International says, "criminals need to have only a basic level of information about an individual. They can then use resources such as public records or the Internet to fill in gaps. Social engineering tactics such as impersonation will then ensure that they can take over a person’s identity.”
“NI numbers, address data, date of birth and bank details are more than enough to nourish even the most incompetent criminal.”
There must surely be a growing mistrust of all kinds of electronic data storage and the uses, or rather misuses, to which it is being put. What about data protection? The very concept seems to be an illusion. Fast forward in time...The Gruaniad November 2017...Privacy shock as copy of entire national identity database is lost when junior civil servant loses mobile phone at Thanksgiving party in Amsterdam (known over there as the Cannabis Cup). When questioned by police the official said he had forgotten to send the details of the register to the National Audit Office before popping over for a naughty weekend in Dam. Far fetched? Remember that the records and bank details of 25 million people were on just two CDs! Recently I've had loads of spam claiming to be from banks with whom I never opened an account. I even get spam on Skype! Every day we lose a little bit more of our privacy one way or another and the increasing use of public and private partnerships means less, not more, security and protection of our data. A government that is so incompetent is not fit to govern.

Get your iPhone in Germany...

2007-11-21T14:57:00.000Z

...where as the result of a court injunction in Hamburg, after an action brought by Vodafone, T-Mobile is to sell unlocked iPhones for 999 euros. It will also now be possible to get the SIM lock removed if you already bought an iPhone from T-Mobile in Germany.

What a little darling!...

2007-11-20T16:08:00.000Z

...as the Revenue & Customs loses personal details of 25m people and its chairman Paul Gray resigns, how secure would our personal data on a national ID register be? The information lost includes names, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and in some cases the bank details of those claiming child benefit. So when the government starts collecting your travel information when you enter or leave the country how do you know that the information collected will be secure? Campaign group Action on Rights for Children (Arch) warned that children could have been put in danger. "It's a simple and vital precaution which any self-respecting government agency should be practicing," its director, Terri Dowty, said.

"This appalling security lapse has placed children in the UK in immediate danger especially those who are already vulnerable.

"Child benefit records contain every child's address and date of birth. We are not surprised that the chair of HMRC's board has resigned immediately."

No more dollars at the Taj Mahal...

2007-11-18T17:54:00.000Z

...as India decides only rupees will do to visit the Mughal's jewel in the crown. In a word it's over for the dollar. The only question to be answered is will there be an orderly queue at the exit or a stampede. We are of course talking about Gresham's law "When there is a legal tender currency, bad money drives good money out of circulation." Or, more accurately, "Money overvalued by the State will drive money undervalued by the State out of circulation." Very simple really. So it's all over for the the dollar. China will quietly and slowly buy Euros and sell dollars. That's it really. Cookienomics for dummies. Soon we will see a spot market for oil priced in Euros in Rotterdam. Till that day comes keep your powder dry and hang onto your hats. There will be a bumpy ride ahead. Without a revaluation of China's Renminbi the country is facing fierce inflation. The only way out is to convert their foreign reserves into Euros and, as Japan did before, revalue their currency. So, bye, bye dollar, it was nice knowing you.

Light from the gods...

2007-11-18T15:38:00.000Z

...is just what we need. After all Lucifer brings his light in many ways. Dear Rachel has been fighting the good fight for freedom and civil liberty while Big Brother Brown has been doing dark deals with Raytheon or Dr Death as they are more widely known. Wanna go to Paris for a dirty weekend? Check in with Dr Death. "Raytheon means "light from the gods." Makers of "Bunker Buster" bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, this company loves big noises and large civilian casualty counts. When a missile killed 62 civilians in a Baghdad market, that was Light from the Gods." Nothing like a bit of enlightenment to brighten up the day. So there you have it. Freedom to travel. Fuck off. Privacy. Fuck you! Welcome to the light from the gods. Care of a Home Office and a Big Brother Brown near you. They must think that we are idiots. I suggest that the next time that you travel anywhere you should file a complaint against the British government under European data protection legislation. Or fill up the form and shut the fuck up. The choice is yours.
"Washington - A contract to monitor the Amazon rainforest in Brazil will include a shadowy company once described as ''virtually indistinguishable'' from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), IPS has learnt.

The 1.4-billion-dollar contract for satellite monitoring of drug trafficking and deforestation in the 3.2-million-square-kilometre forests in the Brazilian Amazon was awarded last summer to Raytheon, a 12-billion-dollar, Massachusetts-based company that makes Patriot and Sidewinder missiles.

Part of the Raytheon contract is to be implemented by E-Systems, a Texas-based company that Raytheon bought last April. E-Systems' major clients have historically been the CIA and other spy agencies like the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office.

An unnamed Congressional aide told the Washington Post last year that the company was ''virtually indistinguishable'' from the agencies it serves. ''Congress will ask for a briefing from E-Systems and the (CIA) programme manager shows up,'' the aide is quoted as saying. ''Sometimes he gives the briefing. They're interchangeable.''"
Welcome to Britain's new border police.

Cookienomics for dummies...sample exam questions...

2007-11-17T00:26:00.000Z

...You are the prime minister of a medium sized European country and you have just been told that global warming is happening a little bit (well a big bit actually) faster than expected. In fact so fast that you have decided to cancel your skiing holiday as there won't be any snow anywhere. Do you:
1) spend 5 billion pounds on an ID card scheme that nobody wants?
2) lock up everybody that you don't like for 56, 58 or 90 days?
3) knock 300 million pounds off the climate change budget?
4) invade Iran?
Please write on both sides of the recycled paper. Or use the multiple choice option, be totally silly and go with all four possibilities to qualify as a competent and decisive modern leader.

Aqua Dots...Public Service Announcement...

2007-11-16T16:51:00.000Z

...The previous post was in jest. This one is not. I've just been talking to the Cardiff Trading Standards Office about this product that really has been banned in the USA by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If you see this product on the shelves of a shop anywhere in the UK please notify your local trading standards office as this shit really is dangerous for kids. Swallowing the beads can be poisonous.
"Hazard: The coating on the beads that causes the beads to stick to each other when water is added contains a chemical that can turn toxic when many are ingested. Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression, or have seizures.

Incidents/Injuries: CPSC has received two reports over the past several days of children swallowing Aqua Dots. A 20-month-old child swallowed several dozen beads. He became dizzy and vomited several times before slipping into a comatose state for a period of time, was hospitalized, and has since fully recovered. A second child also vomited and slipped into a comatose state and was hospitalized for five days.

Description: The recalled toy is a craft kit which allows children to create various multi-dimensional designs using small colored beads. The beads fuse together when sprayed with water. The recall applies to all models of Aqua Dots. The product is available in various different kits with accessories such as a drying fan, applicator pen, design templates for the beads, and spray bottle. The product is labeled for ages 4+."

My Spacepedia gets you high...

2007-11-16T11:55:00.000Z

...Whales do it, jobs do it, even educated gates do it. Let's do it, let's all get high. Human search is gonna be the next big thing as our Gossip killer app hits the streets before Christmas in Beta. And who better to do the manufacturing than our old mates, the Chinese. The first product in our range of Virtual Intoxication Toys will be based on Aqua Dots the well known popular toy beads that contain liquid Fantasy or GBH. These have already been banned in America and Australia so this must be some serious shit, folks. We asked CEO van der Zuikerberg just what the fuck was going on here, and he was quoted as saying, "It's quite simple. Everyone gets sucking the Chinese kiddie love beads, gets high and then writes up their best friend's profile on My Spacepedia, giving the whole social networking bubble a much needed kick in the arse."
By further undermining the already dodgy reputation of online infopedias Zuikerberg intends to dumb down everything, everywhere, all the time and thus create the Totally Dumb Information Vortex just in time for Year Zero.

Spacebook merger details emerge...

2007-11-15T09:26:00.000Z

...as this morning's sub prime ripple hits banking stocks, details are emerging on the MySpacebook megadeal. Cookienomics sub prime CEO Marco van der Zuikerberg has hinted that this will be the mother of all social networking deals. The buzzword on the street is the revolutionary new killer app Zeroprivacy, part of the top secret Singularity Project. This will allow anything to be done anywhere at any time to anyone without them having a clue about what is really going on. This business model will be monetized by phishing and spam software managed by a secure database in St. Petersburg. Which St Pete has not been revealed for security reasons. The opportunities for optimization are awesome as this will replace Web 2.0 by Web 3.0, which will then be replaced by Web 4.0. The plan is to reach the Total Web Infinity.0 loop by Christmas. 2008 will then be renamed Year Zero and the Total Information Vortex will be up and running. The government will introduce a Zero beer and fags policy in order to channel all consumption into the Vortex. The Virtual Intoxication App is already in Beta testing and the advertising model will be quite simple. Click ads will be linked to a virtual intoxication Experience Interface (available with a USB port for 99 pence on eBay) and a built in vibrator is being developed in China, along with a virtual bicycle sex kit for $9.99. There will be a social network called the Pets Dating and Marriage Agency as it takes all sorts. "World domination is our goal." van der Zuikerberg was quoted as saying as he left his local greasy spoon and got into his Bentley.

Social DNA...dramatic new breakthrough...

2007-11-14T10:28:00.000Z

...as early this morning scientists at the University of Illesota Department of Pseudoscience found that buying too much high tech stuff is linked to dramatic rises in crime, alcoholism and click ad fraud. Measures are now being taken to compel each citizen to compile a register of their social DNA which will include orchestral instruments, openness in relationships, Top 10 movies and toilet etiquette. All this is of course intended to waste more of the citizen's precious time and money to stimulate economic growth and this blog must declare an interest here as we receive secret payments in kind from the coffee and chocolate lobby (we should be so lucky!) which, by the way, is a hint LOL! (Whatever that means? Answers on a postcard containing a stamped addressed envelope containing a few used fivers to the DEFRA Bird Flu Hedge Fund c/o Cookienomics, Lichtenstein.) Not compiling your social DNA profile is not a criminal offence, but if you refuse to do so, you may be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 28 days detention roulette which could be doubled to 56 days very soon, vampires. You have been warned. Get your social DNA profile done for you by our experts. Just fill in our easy Social Optimization DNA Obviously Free Form and join our Facebook group today.

Buy turkey futures now while stocks last...

2007-11-13T23:52:00.000Z

...as the meltdown in the US banking sector continues and the dollar goes down the drain, why not invest in turkey futures? Now that the bird flu in Suffolk has been confirmed as the deadly H5N1 variety, turkey prices should rise before Christmas. Get a roast instead of a roasting! Sell all those overhyped Web 2.0 stocks that aren't making any money and offload all those banking shares before they become worthless and get on the turkey bandwagon. What better place to start than on Facebook where our new Bird Flew Free Turkey Killer App will be launched tonight at midnight CET and the first three users will also win a free iPhone! Rachel has been talking turkey with the Home Affairs Committee today but as HMG is seriously out to lunch we do not expect much action this side of Christmas for fear of frightening the horses, or in this case the turkey punters. So get your turkey futures here. You know it makes sense.

Mad Browns and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!...

2007-11-12T23:41:00.000Z

...and the next outing in the sun will be...Iran! With the dollar in meltdown the Yanks could do with a jolly good war. The poodle is dead! Long live the poodle!
With thanks to Through Balanda Eyes for reminding me of this Noel Coward gem.

Knowledge is Power...Is Big Facebook Watching You?...

2007-11-12T11:01:00.000Z

...I've been involved in a thread on Mashable titled Facebook asks Can we see your id? The post throws up a number of issues connected to our privacy and also the possibility of identity theft (BBC story) a topic in the news again this morning. I have contacted the Welsh office of the ICO for clarification of some the issues raised by the mass collection of personal data. The Wales network of Facebook alone already has 195,586 members and Wales is just a small country! It is perhaps important at this stage to make sure that all this data being collected is not breaking current data protection legislation and also to ask the question: Where do we draw the lines between the individual's right to privacy and the practical control and knowledge of all the data being collected. Facebook has a few spooky connections such as possible CIA links
and the now defunded Information Awareness Office whose motto was "Knowledge is Power." Some of the aims of the IAO were:
* Human Identification at a Distance (HumanID) to develop automated biometric identification technologies to detect, recognize and identify humans at great distances.

* Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment (WAE) focused on developing automated technology capable of identifying predictive indicators of terrorist activity or impending attacks by examining individual and group behavior in broad environmental context and examining the motivation of specific terrorists.

* Futures Markets Applied to Prediction (FutureMAP) was intended to harness collective intelligence by researching market-based techniques for avoiding surprise and predicting future events. The intent was to explore the feasibility of market-based trading mechanisms to predict political instability, threats to national security, and other major events in the near future.
All a lot of innocent fun to provide us all with useful suggestions as to what to buy for Christmas based on our known interests and purchasing habits? In view of recent deadwood press criticism of bloggers and the cult of the amateur (story/Rachel) why aren't our gatekeepers doing more to investigate these issues?
This is what the FT had to say this morning: "...allowing advertisers to exploit the deep connections between users on the Facebook site - a web of relationships known in the industry as the "social graph" - could backfire if the move ends up alienating the users themselves.

"What we've learned from the commercialisation of the web is that people are more than happy to exchange their privacy for free stuff and greater convenience as long as you allow them to maintain the fiction that their activities are not being monitored and recorded," writes Nicholas Carr, a prominent technology author, on his blog, Rough Type.

"In breaking that illusion, Facebook is taking a big risk. It may set off a rebellion among its users, who up until now have felt comfortable cavorting behind Facebook's walls." There is a perceived and real inequality between the rights and freedoms of the citizen and the power of large multinational corporations and an urgent need to make sure that advances in technology do not deprive us of our liberties.

Anti GMO Protest Action in Portugal...

2007-11-11T23:23:00.000Z

Find more videos like this on Ceridwen

...as Chris Huhne of the Lib Dems says that GM crops 'should not be approved.'
"Mr Huhne, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "People want to be safe and not sorry on GM foods, as the overwhelming bulk of responses to the government's consultation show.

"Ministers should not give any go-ahead for commercial planting until they can state confidently that GM varieties would not contaminate non-GM foods and that they are safe.

"This is essential for consumers who prefer non-GM foods, but also for organic farming which is the fastest growing part of British agriculture."

The Cookie Mouse gets everywhere!...

2007-11-11T17:04:00.001Z

Things I've loved
Originally uploaded by emdot

...and is going to be the mascot for our permaculture project. Cookie mouse lives in de Pijp in Amsterdam with two young girls from Prague. He is a very friendly and clever mouse and just loves all the goodies he gets from the organic market. His wink is what made him famous. Thanks to Emdot for this lovely collage.

Open social networks...

2007-11-02T00:40:00.000Z

Find more screencasts like this on Ning Network Creators

Fair Trade - The Movie. An eq.tv original.

2007-10-30T10:09:00.000Z

...Please watch this great video and pass it on. Oxfam

Sick of spam...get Gmail...

2007-10-30T00:08:00.000Z

...I just love the music on this one and as I have Gmail there's more time to learn esperanto. Thanks to Mashable

Al Gore for President!...

2007-10-27T10:28:00.000+01:00

...Gore Vidal and the Condition of America. The one Gore wants the American people to vote for the other Gore. Vidal for Al. Their names seem full of puns. Perhaps Al could have Gore as Vice President. Then it really would be an Al Gore Administration.

Cardiffnet internet workshops...

2007-10-25T12:50:00.000+01:00

...with the idea of going local and global we have set up a new workshop group in Cardiff called Cardiffnet intended to be an interface between the local and global in the Cardiff County area. A googlejuice bar with Web 2.0 munchies and blogging geeks for dummies. It will be hands on learning by doing for people into social networking and community. I hope it will also keep me off the streets and glued to my MacBook. Talking of which if anybody knows of any public open wifi in a nice Cardiff cafe or pub could you let me know? Then we can set up our first open meeting.

Scary movie...

2007-10-24T20:53:00.000+01:00

...when you think about the odds we only have one choice.

Tantra for your pets...

2007-10-14T02:00:00.000+01:00

...gets my weird bad taste award of the week. Sorry but I could not resist this.

This is maybe taking the New Age to the outer limits!

Google buys Jaiku...

2007-10-09T23:43:00.000+01:00

...according to the Jaikido blog today. New user sign up will be by invitation only for the time being. As the search engine's share price soars to over 600 dollars there are rumors of a Google mobile phone coming out soon. According to the Telegraph it will not be a phone but a mobile operating system that will be offered for free in order that Google can gain a foothold in the small, but rapidly growing, mobile advertising market. All of this fits in with my view of the coming mobile internet being the next big thing as technologies converge and more people adopt a mobile online lifestyle. This time Nokia lost out but they are still very much in the game. I quite like Jaiku as it's fun and has many practical possibilities. What I have yet to find, though, is my favorite mobile phone.

Increase your WiFi signal...

2007-10-05T22:02:00.000+01:00

...with just a mobile phone, your laptop and an Ethernet cable. Awesome!

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein...

2007-09-28T19:29:00.000+01:00

The Shock Doctrine
...We should arm ourselves with information to defeat the effects of the shock doctrine.

Riot at Shwe Dagon Pagoda East gate in Burma...

2007-09-27T23:40:00.000+01:00

Nine killed in Burma...

2007-09-27T22:12:00.000+01:00

...the dead included eight protesters and a Japanese man, identified as a video journalist working for APF News - with 11 demonstrators and 31 soldiers hurt. Update: According to Australia's ambassador to Burma eye witnesses say that the death toll was significantly higher, perhaps by a factor of ten.
BBC
After decades of brutal dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising--and they need our help.
Clicking below will add your name to this petition to Chinese Premier Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

"We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed."
Petition

and see Rachel for more updates.
Also photos on Saffron Revolution

iPhone turned into pocket Mac...

2007-09-24T21:57:00.000+01:00

...by Victor and Albert who work for Martin Varsavsky's FON Labs. The race is now on to optimize the unlocked iPhone.
Update (Friday): It seems that according to Scobleizer a lot of people have been having trouble with iPhone updates, including many that have not hacked their phones. Will this be a PR disaster for Apple?
Wikinomics on Apple

Craig Murray's blog censored...

2007-09-23T16:27:00.000+01:00

Cartoon/Matt Buck (Creative Commons)

...as, following threats by Usmanov's lawyer Schillings, Craig Murray's ISP takes his blog down. Usmanov, a Russian billionaire, has a large holding in the Arsenal football club. Once again free speech is under threat from the super rich and their fancy lawyers. Schillings proudly proclaim to protect the reputations of high profile individuals, corporates and brands. Presumably from the rest of us, the great unwashed of the blogosphere. See Areopagitica and Chicken Yoghurt for plenty of details. See also Wikipedia/Alisher Usmanov and check out these links:
Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots (and another), Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides, Matthew Sinclair, The Select Society, Liberal England, Davblog, Peter Gasston Pitch Perfect, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, Conservative Party Reptile, Ellee Seymour, Sabretache, Not A Sheep, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, The People’s Republic Of Newport, Life, the Universe & Everything, Arsenal Transfer Rumour Mill, The Green Ribbon, Blood & Treasure, The Last Ditch, Areopagitica, Football in Finland, An Englishman’s Castle, Freeborn John, Eursoc, The Back Four, Rebellion Suck!, Ministry of Truth, ModernityBlog, Beau Bo D’Or, Scots and Independent, The Splund, Bill Cameron, Podnosh, Dodgeblogium, Moving Target, Serious Golmal, Goonerholic, The Spine, Zero Point Nine, Lenin’s Tomb, The Durruti Column, The Bristol Blogger, ArseNews, David Lindsay, Quaequam Blog!, On A Quiet Day…, Kathz’s Blog, England Expects, Theo Spark, Duncan Borrowman, Senn’s Blog, Katykins, Jewcy, Kevin Maguire, Stumbling and Mumbling, Famous for 15 megapixels, Ordovicius, Tom Morris, AOL Fanhouse, Doctor Vee, The Curmudgeonly, The Poor Mouth, 1820, Hangbitch, Crooked Timber, ArseNole, Identity Unknown, Liberty Alone, Amused Cynicism, Clairwil, The Lone Voice, Tampon Teabag, Unoriginalname38, Special/Blown It, The Remittance Man, 18 Doughty Street, Laban Tall, Martin Bright, Spy Blog The Exile, poons, Jangliss, Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?, Imagined Community, A Pint of Unionist Lite, Poldraw, Disillusioned And Bored, Error Gorilla, Indigo Jo, Swiss Metablog, Kate Garnwen Truemors, Asn14, D-Notice, The Judge, Political Penguin, Miserable Old Fart, Jottings, fridgemagnet, Blah Blah Flowers, J. Arthur MacNumpty, Tony Hatfield, Grendel, Charlie Whitaker, Matt Buck, The Waendel Journal, Marginalized Action Dinosaur, SoccerLens, Toblog, John Brissenden East Lower, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Peter Black AM, Boing Boing, BLTP, Gunnerblog, LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair News Blog, Journalist und Optimist, Bristol Indymedia, Dave Weeden, Up North John, Gizmonaut, Spin and Spinners, Marginalia, Arnique, Heather Yaxley, The Whiskey Priest, On The Beat, Paul Canning, Martin Stabe, Mat Bowles, Pigdogfucker, Rachel North (193).

The human condition...

2007-09-21T09:32:00.000+01:00

...after a very good few bottles of Taylor's port in Cardiff is not a pretty sight. Still Tim (as in Tim Brett, photographer-plug, well he deserves it) made some coffee, so it's all good...yes, well before we lose the plot we must ask ourselves where are we going. After the family outing of the past week that is not an easy question to answer. After all I'm now an uncle to a load of good looking kids. What will their world look like when they are my age? Warmer? Chateau Cardiff vin rouge? A very nice year. But what of the wider consequences of our little experiment with mother nature known as market capitalism, or globilaztion? Who gives a fuck? Scary movie? I will probably die in the next fifty years. My kids will probably live on to face the consequences of the global and liberal market party. I do not envy them, nor do I wish to be in their position fifty years further down the road. I have had a wonderful night with my family drinking port and falling over like a good trooper. The internet kept me awake all night pondering my kid's future. It was not a pretty sight at least in my imagination. Spinoza would say we have a moral duty to be good and not to harm. As Deus sive natura I take it that we, as well as the rest of creation, are included in this most divine of integrated plans. Darwin's "dangerous idea" put an end to all the speculations of the philosophers and the world's religions, no matter how sweet and enticing they may be. We are left to clean up the mess. Postmodernism tried and failed. So now, like Kant, we awake from our dogmatic slumbers and look around at a planet that is in ecological meltdown. This is not a Roman fin de siecle. This is the real deal. The hitchiker's guide to the end of life, the universe and everything. 42. Anyone got the question? Since the Pax Americana invented the end of season sale of the assets of planet earth we are all living in a pre apocalyptic state of fear. The war on terror engulfs the agenda of the chattering classes. Then they define our reality. Hitler and Goebbels would be proud of the legacy of ignorance that is the modern world. Sadly we have neither the time or the freedom to escape the karma of our modernistic largesse. We must act. Now. Il faut cultiver notre jardin, Thus I petition the Prime Minister of England to take up the baton of Winston Churchill, who talked us through our darkest hour, and engage in a policy that will encourage the people to see that is in their own interest to work for the preservation and sustainability of life on earth.

Facebook and privacy...

2007-09-06T14:40:00.000+01:00

...Social networking site Facebook is changing its privacy policy to allow public profiles and one month from now Google search listings of members information. Sensitive data such as date of birth could become a security issue as we all leave more digital tracks behind us. According to Gigaom "This move transforms Facebook from being a social network to being quasi-White Pages of the Web. Every time a non-Facebook user finds someone on Facebook after a “search,” they might feel compelled to sign-up and get more information. It is a virtuous cycle, meant to attract more people to the Facebook network." We have one month to change our personal security settings. This seems, as Gigaom points out, to be a move to increase traffic and boost Facebook's e-commerce potential and "yet another small step in the overall erosion of personal privacy, thanks to the ever growing popularity of the social networks. I don’t like the direction where all this is headed." I agree, Gigaom.

Calling the Lama from afar...

2007-08-24T22:42:00.000+01:00

Photos copyright: Leighton Cooke 2007
...I come from the land of song, so I was happy and proud to be present yesterday evening when Claron McFadden received the Amsterdam Culture Prize in the Musiekgebouw aan 't Ij on the city's waterfront. Claron sang, with Aleksandra Anisimowicz, the duet "I' mi son Giovinetta" by Luzzasco Luzzaschi which was, for me, the high spot of the evening. Alessandro Pianu played harpsichord. Afterwards we talked about music, her native city of New York and our mutual love of Mozart. Claron reaches out beyond the classical medium to embrace dance and many different aspects of the performing arts. She also loves children and Rebeka was captivated by the opportunity to meet a real star. Me too. It was an evening I'll never forget and a fitting finale to my years in Amsterdam. As I prepare to return to the hills of Wales I'm more than a little sad about the dear friends I'll leave behind. For a long time I've been calling my Lama from afar and now he has answered. Nothing is more precious than the chance to be with a great spiritual friend who can lead you out of confusion. I remember an afternoon with Geshe-la many years ago in Bromley, near London. It was one of those timeless moments when you simply know that the heart has no limits. Geshe Damchos teaches with laughter, the best medicine of all. Now many years later those seeds are ripening as this evening I listen to a beautiful solo Tibetan chant of Om Mani Padme Hung Hri. One day Tibet will be free and its people will know no more fear or suffering. Till that day comes we shall sing our songs of the heart, wishing to return to those we love. I am very fortunate to be going home and I wish that everyone who this night is separate from their home and those that they love finds their way back.

Interview with David Holmgren...

2007-08-20T17:33:00.000+01:00

...co-founder of the permaculture movement. David tells how , by finding small scale, slow solutions, we can achieve the transition to a lower energy society based on cooperation rather than consumption. Local small scale food production will be crucial to this process. We will all be gardners in the future.