open street map

Open street map is the place to be, us Londoners should all use it a bit more as the maps are often much more detailed and cycle/walking friendly.

As much as I love google services, I do prefer the principles of open street map and it has much more potential for doing clever collaborative things.

You can compare the two types of map here: http://tools.geofabrik.de, or use this clever transparancy tool to switch between the two.

map elephant and castle

paint dancing

This has shot right to the top of my list of things to take up…

Londoners - join in here!

art dance

Robin Hood

I’m no economist, but the Robin Hood Tax seems like a good idea. I would like to understand it further though. It seems to be a rebrand of the Tobin Tax (they are the same thing, right?).

Instead of a website telling me only why it is a good idea, I want a place that gives these things balanced views. It made me think of Debategraph - a site that attempts to make the best arguments on all sides of any public debate freely available to all and then continuously open to challenge and improvement by all. A sort of open debating forum. But it surely failed me… as it claims that a relevant issue on this matter is ‘Paris Hilton for president’. Surely not where we need to turn on a debate on Tobin Tax. Interesting though.

So I think it’s back to newspapers, magazines, journals and dinner tables. I bet the financial times have written some good pieces on it. And perhaps James Tobin, the chap who came up with the idea back in 1972. Please send me any insights you have.

And if you came here for music. Another good idea, was the song Robin Hood by Ocean Colour Scene.

economics

Seal song

I’m loving these natural synths that are coming out of the Weddell Sea, off the West coast of Antarctica. Big up the Leptonychotes weddellii.

The frequency range of the Weddell Seal’s vocalisations are apparently 80 Hz - 24 kHz. Us humans typically have ranges of 85 Hz - 155 Hz for blokes, and 165 Hz - 255 Hz for woman. It makes me think, we are just so restricted in our range, I wonder why?

nature

Samamidon

There was a song I once loved for a fleeting moment, but I became distracted and forgot about it. Then I was sitting in the Union Chapel the other week, waiting to see an artist who goes by the name of Final Fantasy when this chap called Sam Amidon came on stage…

It was his album “All is well” I picked up in 2008, recommended by the musically obsessive Boomkat record store. I did like it but it ended up a little lost with a lot of other music I was listening to at the time. So it was a real pleasure to see and hear him again. Especially to hear the song Sugar baby. Man that hit the spot. He is an amazing performer. And it was also extra special to see Beth Orton play songs with him too.

He also does book readings. Here is one…

folk music

The swimming song

I learnt to play a song on my cousin’s mandolin last week. It is a lovely song and it goes like this…

The life of the world to come

The Mountain Goats released a nice album last year called ‘The Life of the World to Come’. Each track on the album is inspired by a different bible verse. I like themed albums - another one I just picked up is the Darwin Song Project, a collaboration of eight artists who were sent on a retreat to write an album of songs that have a resonance and relevance to the life of Charles Darwin - this was part of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival - the town where Darwin was born.

This is from another Mountain Goats album called Get Lonley…

And from the Dawin Song Project…

music folk