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Tweets
- RT @letstalkgeek: Due to #iweek2011 being this week were going to be having our show live at 17:00 today with @stevesong as our guest. h ...
- Been away from twitter for many weeks. Nothing has changed. Same old ppl, same old topics. Quoted tweets still have " at the end of URLs.
- Hmm, "Vegan Black Metal Chef" or "Nyan Cat Extended Edition". Choices, choices.
- WTF! Reddit down. Again? What's the point of being 'forever alone' if you can't spend a Friday night being smug about it?
- The surest argument against $noun is a 5 minute conversation with your average $nounal
- It took just 3 seconds looking at my inbox to confirm that 3 days of hiking, campfires and good company wasn't nearly enough.
- This is pretty cool. jesus phone lens attachment for making 360 degree panoramic videos. http://youtu.be/9o8AAOtOiPQ
- When complaining about cellphone charges be sure to swear a lot, make death threats and omit your cellphone number. #heretohelp #stayclassy
- @RichMulholland @justinspratt My last 4 Kulula flights were ~5 hours late to on time. Flying midday = on time. Early or late = delayed.
- <weep more> the fax number is fax-to-email service.
- <weep> email response to customer service query: if you'd like to lodge a complaint please send a fax #absa
- On hold to ABSA 20mins. Another 20mins of faffing. And then I can't even email them copy of payment - needs to be faxed #brandminus
- @Brettski we use switchtel - no complaints
- @shapshak unsub/stop message should not cost more than the lowest rated sms, which is 50c. MNOs won't use free shortcodes because of abuse
- RAM couriers. Lies, excuses and delayed delivery till after the long weekend. #brandminus
- @RichMulholland http://storify.com/doingitwrong/who-gets-to-be-a-cyborg Lepht Anonym mentions using sugru to coat cybernetic implants
- @dewet anecdotes from quitters include "I remember stuff now", "no stress", "I've become a morning person" and "can't sleep if I have 1 cup"
- @dewet I switched to no more than 2 cups in the morning, without sugar. Now, after few months 4+ cups in a day will keep me awake all night.
- @clivesimpkins thanks - ECT Act says spam must have opt out & second wave from them clearly doesn't :-)
- Anyone getting sms spam from the DA? Have sent stop once & WASP blocked my number. Now no originating number, just "DA". Can't reply stop
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Posts
- Simon Shackleton One Series
Simon Shackleton aka Elite Force, StereoPhoenix will be doing a 4 hour live stream tonight from London - don’t miss it - broadcasting via BE-AT.TV to the globe. Show runs 7pm to 11pm UK time.
http://www.be-at.tv/brands/bedroom-bar/the-one-series-presents-simon-shackleton/simon-shackleton
To celebrate the launch of StereoPhoenix, there’s an associated FREE download … think dirty, sleazy, balearic, epic, heavy, organic :)
https://soundcloud.com/simon-shackleton/simon-shackleton-number-one-1
Background
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_ShackletonSimon Shackleton is a musician, operating primarily under the name Elite Force, but also under aliases such as sHack, Killer Elite, Futurecore, Double Black, pHrack R and Zodiac Cartel. While a student at Exeter University he started his first band, Headless Chickens with future Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. He was then part of Lunatic Calm, which released two albums. sHack has been highly active as a solo producer & DJ ever since. He currently runs his own Used & Abused record label, having also run the Fused & Bruised imprint between 1996–2002, and is often cited as one of the leading proponents of the emergent Tech-Funk movement, fusing house, breaks, Electro & Techno. Some of his songs (both remixes and new tracks) have appeared on the Crystal Method remix albums, Community Service and Community Service II amongst others. He has also composed film music for films such as The Matrix.
As Elite Force, he’s played at Burning Man, including the Distrikt party in 2011 & 2012, some videos below
- 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUmEOGzj99o
- 2012, part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PMIYWbO0e4
- 2012, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fc8R8dJ6ZQ
- You can also play/download the full 2012 set here: http://soundcloud.com/elite-force/elite-force-live-distrikt
- And as Simon Shackleton he also played a sunrise set at the Nutz camp http://soundcloud.com/elite-force/elite-force-live-nutz-burning
Facebook
- http://www.facebook.com/djeliteforce
- http://www.facebook.com/Simon.Shackleton.Music
- http://www.facebook.com/Stereophoenix.Music
- http://www.facebook.com/TheOneSeries
Soundcloud
- http://soundcloud.com/simon-shackleton
- http://soundcloud.com/elite-force
- http://soundcloud.com/the-one-series-mixes
Twitter
Other
- Main site: http://www.eliteforcemusic.com/
- Tumblr: http://the-shackleton-chronicles.tumblr.com/
- Like my facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Cablespaghetti
(creating links for google to index)
- Free music via net labels
I’ve been curious about record labels that release music for free, and in some cases accept donations towards their efforts. There are many more than the list below, I’m just highlighting 3 I’ve used :)
1. wide variety of psy genres available at http://www.ektoplazm.com/
2. techno at http://www.digital-diamonds.com/
3. breaks releases at http://unstablelabel.co.uk/ (repost - had to pull original)
Recording of my set from NYE (roughly the same set played at two parties, this recording is from the first).Ootz, recorded live at the A Maze Interactive Jump ‘n Run party in Johannesburg, 1 September 2012. Visuals by Chris Palmer
Event
http://www.amaze-festival.de/interact-2012/jumpn-run-party
More info:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ootz-Tha-Afronaut/62086154383
http://twitter.com/ootz85
http://soundcloud.com/ootz85
https://www.myspace.com/ootz85
http://www.reverbnation.com/OOTZWiiJ Timski (http://www.wiijtimski.com) performing a live set at the A Maze Interactive Jump and Run party on 1 September 2012, with visuals by DJ/VJ Chris Palmer
- Roadtrip Music Spring 2012
Over about 36 hours of driving through South Africa, in particular the rural Karoo and Free State areas, I had the opportunity to review various mixes on an ipod.
To see my earlier travelog+photo posts check out [one] [two] [three] [four]
I particularly enjoyed listening to the following mixes, unfortunately some of them have disappeared from artist profile pages.Anyer Quantum - Digital Diamonds Mix
Bad Tango - August 2012 Promo
Bassmyth - two mixes
DJ Smokealot - Skydive
DopplerDefect - Psychedelic Starlight Terrace II
Hedflux - two mixes
Ishkur - Pure Trance
Unknown - Final Mix_.mp3
(thought it was Liam Shy, but not finding the download)Magnet! - A Pleasant Psyprise
also Magnet! - Sunday Morning Antics mix (since offline)
MarkJ - multiple mixes
Max Bett - two mixes
Mishima - Mr Toast
Mr Rogers - The Doramey Fossillotti
(you’ll have to hunt for this online)Neelix - Mainstreaming
(since gone from soundcloud page)Pieman - Black Gloss Mix
Prefix - recorded set from Fu Cha party Spring 2012
I might have missed a mix or two, but most of the ones I remember enjoying while driving are listed above.
- Tilting at waterwheels in Trompsburg (day two)
The N1 route between Colesberg and Bloemfontein is full of road works (stop and go), trucks and inconsiderate drivers.
Penny (of Kuilfontein) suggested going to Bloemfontein via Trompsburg. Lexi also suggested stopping at a coffee shop in Trompsburg, which I did. The route only adds 20-30min to travel time.
The route I took was from:
1. Kuilfontein/Colesberg, north up N1
2. turn left at Trompsburg turnoff
3. turn left into main road, then right on Jan street / R717 towards Jagersfontein and be aware the coffee shop is almost immediately on your left. Stop and have a cuppa
4. Heading out of Trompsburg towards Jagersfontein, take the R704 to Jagersfontein
5. This ends in a T-junction at the R706. Turn left for Jagersfontein, or right for Bloemfontein.
6. Once in Bloemfontein, jump back on the N1 towards Gauteng
The Waterwiel Bakhuis & Koffee Shoppe (Waterwheel bakery and coffee shop?) is a pleasant surprise on the road out of Trompsburg. I stopped for a coffee but ignored the treats as I already had too much food for the trip home.
The R704 is a very pleasant drive, farmhouses all along the way. There are more photogenic homesteads along the way, but I didn’t stop in time to take photos of them.
There are lots of horses in the area too, and they’re quite friendly if you walk up to them.
Once on the R706, expect one very long road, from horizon to horizon, until you reach Bloemfontein.The road ahead:
The road behind:
Once back on the N1 north from Bloemfontein, expect lots of trucks and inconsiderate drivers. Next time I’ll have to try further alternate routes home.
- Route 63 (day one)
Important: If you want to do a day trip for the flowers in the coming weeks (Sept&Oct) you can loop back to Cape Town via Fraserburg->Ceres.
Much like I took the R62 route on the way down to Cape Town, I took the R63 back to Colesberg. It passes north of the Tankwa Karoo, where Afrikaburn is held.
The route I took was from:
1. Clanwilliam to Calvinia (via the Pakhuis and Botterkloof passes)
2. to Williston
3. to Fraserberg
4. to Loxton
5. to Victoria West
6. to the N1, and onwards to Colesberg.There are a few interesting passes, the first of which is the Piekenierskloof Pass before Citrusdal. It closely follows the route originally built by a road engineer, Thomas Charles John Bain before he got famous. He followed in his father’s footsteps, engineering 3 times as many mountain passes, for a total of 24 passes, and did it in the late 1800s by horseback and cart! Talk about one tough son of a bitch! Which makes me wonder how tough the prison labour he used was?
Looking back down the pass:
and up ahead
Further on the route is another of Bain’s passes, the Pakhuis Pass, which he completed while completing 4 other passes at the same time. Looking backwards:
Further ahead on Pakhuis Pass, looking ahead:
Looking down into the valley on the other side of the Pakhuis Pass:
The scenery starts getting impressive:
The route turns to dirt road after the crossing of the R364 and the turnoff to Wupperthal/Bidouwvallei:
However, unknown to me at the time of travel, about 100m back is the Englishman’s Grave, which is the main attraction in a story of an English mother traveling across the world to erect a grave for her son, killed in action in 1901. That would have been a steamship journey, then across terrain that wasn’t nearly as passable as it is now. (Source)
Here’s a streetview screenshot of the grave (streetview ends shortly thereafter)
Continue along the dirt road and onwards to the Botterkloof Pass. It’s little more than a path carved into mountain, with some gravel on top. It’s really impressive to drive! There is so little info about Botterkloof pass on the internet. Just a few traveler diaries consisting of 1-2 photos before descending into martian moonscapes.Looking backwards somewhere towards the end of Botterkloof Pass:
but it continues up again:
Then just keep following the dirt road along the R364:
Mid September and already pretty flowers:
When you reach Calvinia, take some photos but just keep on passing through (according to internet feedback). It’s a very Afrikaans area, has 80% starlight at night, and is renowned for the flowers in summer (Source). There is also an asteroid named after it.
From Williston, take the R353 towards Fraserburg and you’ll start to see the familiar Tankwa Karoo landscape again.
I didn’t take too many rest stops again until shortly before Kuilfontein which is just before Colesberg. Got some great sunset shots:Thunderclouds loomed on the horizon, however the storm never reached Colesberg/Kuilfontein, it just lingered through the evening, lightning shooting through it like veins.
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Reading
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Info
- Internet | Johannesburg Area, South Africa, ZAExperience
- Jan 2001 - PresentCommunications / Future Foundation
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