my dream home

been dreaming about this a long time, and may take action on it soon. This home would withstand bushfires, if on a hill it would be fine in floods and would be in a non-earthquake location. It could, if closed down (I'm assuming where the solar panels are are sliding walls that close down) it can form it's own ecosystem. I was reading the other day how in the future whole cities may well have huge domes over them, to protect from pollution, sun etc., and these would form ecosystems within. I find the scenario horrid, for example they're meant to protect from nuclear bombs and radioactivity, but what happens if a nuclear bomb or air poison occurs WITHIN the dome? I would prefer to be in my own dome in the country somewhere. That of course means I'll also have to have horses in there for transport, chooks for eggs etc. My own self sustainable dome, aka earthship.

This house below could easily become one:

with a touch of Buckminster Fuller Wichita design below - although my man, who is architect trained, ridicules the Wichita design as impractical (eg. the use of metal is too hot) and although it was claimed to be hurricane proof it looks like it may well become a UFO during a hurricane!  And I do like the idea of being built into a hill overlooking running water:

And the interior would be 1950's Tiki/Maori/hunting lodge style, but ECO lodge. Sort of like this, which I scanned from one of my 1950s mags (click to view detail):

cattle dogs are SO clever

Teka, an Australian cattle dog in central Queensland jumped up and down on her owner's chest after he suffered a massive heart attack and may have saved his life. Owner Jim Touzeau's heart stopped and he collapsed unconscious when Teka climbed onto his chest and began to jump repeatedly with all four paws. Teka also barked in his face, rousing him enough to raise the alarm with his son, and ran outside and barked to attract attention.

Medical experts have been unable to say whether the canine CPR had any medical impact but say Mr Touzeau would not be alive today if not for Teka's efforts. Mr Touzeau said he remembered nothing of the heart attack, but recalled waking up to Teka on his chest.

"I got Teka three years ago and she's a terrific companion. She just never leaves my side. Because it's just the two of us, I rely on her and she relies on me .... She was really thumping my chest with her two front feet,'' he said. "It was out of the blue [behaviour] for her ... She must have been thinking 'I better wake this fella up or I won't get any dinner' ... I don't know if she actually kick-started my heart. But the doctors said that if I hadn't come to and called for help the chances are I would be dead ... My heart had definitely stopped." Mr Touzeau said.
Teka has been awarded an animal achievement award. RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said Teka had shown incredible intuition.
"This award isn't given away lightly. If she hadn't been there he probably would not have woken up."

The pic below is my Dad's cattle dog giving me CPR a year ago (and my shirt was on inside out), and he's also saved me from a snake or 2. Yes, they're smart animals...........

Can't wait for the Apple slate!

As a virtual worker who is often travelling and whose office is where her computer/phone is, getting my technology mix right and streamlined is vitally important. If I have to buy anything new (the only thing I seem to buy new is technology) I believe in buying the best once only and milking it until it's completely burnt out dead. I very rarely turnover my technologies because doing so requires effort. For example I still use a 20 year old analog Sony tv (am waiting for a better convergence between Apple TV and 'TV' hardware - give it a couple of years - and until then the only tv I watch is Top Gear) and my last computer I used for over 7 years.

As a former addict to a touchscreen tablet that never left my side up until about 3 years ago, I am suffering a frisson of excitement and anticipation for the rumoured Slate assuming it will be net connectable. I carry a large Mac Pro with me and to stop breaking my back considered getting a Mac Air, but the Air seemed too 'midrange' - too lightweight for my computer needs and would still require a backpack laptop bag. If the Mac Air was a smidgeon smaller it would fit the bill (handbag), but designers mustn't have considered ladies handbags.... Whereas the tablet will be perfect for throwing into my handbag (which admittedly is biggish). In sync with a large screen Mac at home, my computing portfolio should be optimised. If I can load my iTunes onto the 'Apple Slate' then I will no longer need an iPod, and I'd start questioning the worth of an iPhone.

A key point is that I'm not going to be buying it primarily to download and read ebooks/mags (although that sounds nice and I did just buy this one). I just want an Apple internet enabled device that is robust, fits into my handbag, and (unlike the iPhone) I won't need to squint my eyes to view the screen. Even though Apple have made no announcement that they're working on an ebook-style device, if the article linked above is correct and they are, I hope Slate answers my mobile information need.

Currently reading:

Google music - does it spell the end of copyright agencies?

a couple of years ago I put to a global informal group of music industry enthusiasts and experts the notion of a global central registry, similar to a 'global barcode' concept, e.g. every piece of music has a single unique identifier which ties in a registry to the music ownership details and is used by all systems worldwide, and can be used sans intermediaries...... It was dismissed as pie in the sky utopia.

I envisaged a Consumer service copyright model:

A basic process by roles is described for illustrative purposes below. It includes examples of entities currently in operation that perform the same or similar roles.

A Musician (or music entity)
• registers payment details (ie Paypal account) with Payment agency;
• registers music to obtain unique identifier (?) with Registry; and
• release music into various places in the music pool (anywhere music is available online, for example, P2P, online stores, social networks, compact discs which later become online).

A Consumer
• nominates play measurement entity of their choice (this could be a service that streams or play monitor software);
• registers;
• regular utility payment (perhaps via ISP bills or streaming service). Note consumer payments are fixed, not variable upon usage (don't want to turn consumers off listening to music); and
• plays music and details of what is played how often are recorded by play measurement entity.

An ISP or streaming service
• Upon notice from consumer registers them to the play measurement entity to track for central pool; and
• bills consumer and processes 'royalty' funds into the central $ pool.

A Registry
(example: Musicbrainz, Gracenote - GOOGLE?)
• receives song details from musicians and allocates unique identifier; and
• is linked to play measurement entity;

A Play measurement entity
(example: Last.fm, consumer streaming stations such as Pandora, Rhapsody, social.fm, anywhere.fm. These track plays by consumers across all digital music devices)
• records and aggregates songs played by consumer.

A Play measurement aggregator
• periodic aggregation of play measurements; and
• apportion play percentages.

A Payment agency
(example: non-existent although if market issues are addressed (monopoly issues) this is technically possible. Traditionally this is performed by copyright agencies (APRA) and publishers. Existing entities serving similar functions are Paypal and the global Creative Commons)
• Receives play percentage data from play measurement aggregator;
• Receives funds from ISPs/Streaming services; and
• Processes payments to musician.

The process map above highlights that the inclusion of the ISP/streaming service is questionable. It's convenient to add a utility amount onto a utility bill, but perhaps it could be sidestepped and consumers deal directly with a payment agency. Similarly the play measurement aggregator and payment agency could be one entity. Market monopoly concerns may also prevent these two options.

Privacy concerns are minimised because it is voluntary, consumers can opt in. There are sampling concerns, for example only a particular demographic may opt in, and measuring by plays may negatively impact longer songs, but plays measurement could be by time duration rather than number of songs. A significant impediment to this approach is structural, it minimises the need for traditional publishing and copyright agencies because it removes the need for sampling focuses on the end consumer rather than a plethora or devices and platforms. It removes the need of traditional copyright agencies to undertake samples. This currently happens on a country by country basis. This approach could be scaled globally, and it recognises that the online music market is global. There may be country specific regulatory impediments, however Creative Commons has been successful at resolving many of these. Apart from structural issues and roadblocks, a major impediment is consumers. In this process it is the consumer who performs most actions. It is questionable whether consumers would opt into such as system and volunteer payments and play measurement. However the explosive growth of play measurement services shows privacy is not an issue. For example, according to Quantcast.com, Last.fm site hits grew 35% in the United States during February 2008. Last.fm commenced in London and Europe is it’s strongest region. If the alternative is P2P legal action they may be swayed.

Now I may well be putting gold into the horse before the cart, but Google music may be the start of such a thing. But then again, it may not be. But seeing as Google is global, instant and direct, if anyone can do it, perhaps Google might. Initially perhaps not, but further down the track.... perhaps? Structural change unfortunately takes time.

High on arrival

Hmmmm just finished this book in one sitting. 'Enjoyed' isn't a word to describe it, but I couldn't stop reading it, with my mouth slightly agape throughout. The cynic in me squeaks that she probably wrote it to demonstrate attrition to keep out of jail. The sensible part of me ponders the impact of hedonism combined with $$$$. I found myself at the end of reading it looking closely at her arms on the jacket photos, and noting her clean white teeth, and wanting to watch American Graffitti.