Amanda Palmer reads “Is There a Santa Claus?” – the famous editorial which appeared in The New York Sun on September 21, 1897.
Download this track, compose (or mix in) a bed of music for it, and share your “mash-up” on The Shadowbox…we’ll be picking our favorite/most original and use it for a special holiday video from Amanda in December!
credits
released 27 November 2011
Original letter by Virginia O’Hanlon
Editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church
Read by Amanda Palmer
Today’s inbox sample is straight from the “it’s an oldie but a goodie” school of phishing;
We are having some difficulties in logging you on (Error Code: NTB09).
In order to maintain access to NetBank please update your phone number in this Contact form to avoid online service suspension.
1.) Where is the image hosted?
http:// geckoitonline.com /img/cms/Icon%20Images/CWLTHBankLogo.jpg
This is a reuse of an image from the geckoitonline payments page.
2.) The Contact form?
http:// virtuitivesolutions.net /aust2/ykm9z9ff
A Six Sigma training organisation collecting on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank? I think not. (The actual link has been removed so it looks like there has been a clean up on the virtuitivesolutions end.)
Verdict: A very simplistic phishing email, don’t give them the time of day let alone your details.
Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM (born 13 January 1976) is a New Zealand pop recording artist whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ charts. She has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history. Runga has also found success internationally in Australia, Ireland and to some extent in the UK.
In January 2006, the Queen made Runga a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Zealand New Year’s Honours List.
– wikipedia
We had all three of these on our “Kiwi Touring Music” play list for our trip back in 2004, it is amazing how often they still get played – they are some great tunes and I am very thankful to the unknown Kiwi who originally pointed us in Bic’s direction.
* Self-interest is ruling Australia’s piracy debate (2011-Nov-29) [Delimiter] Australia’s love affair with piracy is not an effort to gyp content creators of their rightful remuneration for that content — it’s a simple attempt to get at content which is too hard to consume otherwise. Once again, audiences want to be able to get whatever content they want, at the same time as everyone else, on whatever device they want to be able to view it on, and at a reasonable price.
* Why everyone hates the IT department (2011-Nov-25) [PC Pro] “One thing workers often fail to grasp is why IT has to say “no” to requests so frequently. When employees ask for a new desktop, or whatever update they feel is critical to their job, IT is bound by the two indomitable forces of budget and time. These two constraints frustrate IT managers just as much as employees, often even more so.”
Summer is finally here, and we want to celebrate making it through winter, suffering from hayfever in the spring (even though the floral display was magnificent) and now getting ready for a New Year!
RIP Anne McCaffrey, the literary world has lost one of its greats.
Because we build the worlds we wouldn’t mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there. — Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011[1][2]) was an author of science fiction and fantasy fiction, and was best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. She published nearly 100 books, mainly fiction, beginning in 1967. Born in the United States, she emigrated to Ireland in 1970, where she lived in a home of her own design, “Dragonhold–Underhill”.
Up until 1990 McCaffrey co-authored more than 30 books: at least fifteen with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough; other fiction with Margaret Ball, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon, Jody Lynn Nye, and S. M. Stirling; the non-fiction Diversity of Dragons with Richard Woods. During the last decade she and her middle child Todd McCaffrey collaborated to continue the history of Pern. … — wikipedia
* PR experts said the campaign was perhaps Australia’s greatest public relations failure and a classic example of the dangers of unpredictable social media.
– Epic fail for Qantas Twitter competition [Reuters]
Game of Thrones Season 2 (A Clash of Kings)
HBO has released an in-production trailer for the second season of Game of Thrones. The trailer provides a behind-the-scenes look at the filming on season two. The new season of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO in the US in April 2012.
@cfsmtbation absolutely - I broke toes at the winter classic in similar conditions, didn't find out until being transported back to accom. 14 hours ago
