2011 in Music

Just over 6 months into the year, and here are my favourite new songs of 2011 so far...
Enjoy.

Radiation Dose

Following the Nuclear trouble currently facing Japan, the awesome XKCD decided to compile the data for Nuclear Radiation Dose into one handy chart which manages to show how harmless the vast majority of nuclear radiation is.

Click on the image to see the details:

A Japanese tale of superstition

Conspiracy theories, aren’t they fun?

9/11 was an inside job.

Princess Diana was killed by MI5.

The Titanic sinking was insurance fraud.

There are cameras in ham, called ‘hameras’.

These theories tend to have one thing in common, they defy common sense and have NO supporting evidence.

Today, I learnt of the latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds, namely that the devastating 9.0 Japanese earthquake… was triggered by the moon. (or as the retards conspiracy theorists are calling it, Supermoon)

Let me explain, the moons orbit around earth isn’t that of a perfect circle, the orbit is elliptical. Currently the moon is in a phase of its orbit around the earth known as the Perigee. This is the point in the procession at which the moon is closest to earth, due to some complicated mathematics about different cycles and positions relative to the sun, the moon is currently the closest it's been to earth in 20 years.

Crackpot "amateur scientists" then took it upon themselves, with no supporting evidence whatsoever, to mean that there would be a spate of bad meteorological and geological conditions during this period, had nothing happened this ridiculous idea would have been rightly dismissed. Unfortunately however; the Japanese earthquake struck, and this niche, crackpot theory got some international news coverage (albeit from sources well known for their high journalistic standards).

Now, i'm no expert in Astronomy or Geology, and it's a pretty well known fact that the moons orbit does influence tides on earth. But the moon has absolutely no effect on geology, the moon being a bit close CANNOT cause part of the earth crust to move and trigger the largest recorded Japanese earthquake in history. Neither can it, as is also being claimed, affect earth's weather systems.

Here's a TO SCALE picture of the moon in earth's orbit to demonstrate just how little of an effect Luna has on anything but our tides:

You see that little blue dot on the left, yeah? that's Earth, and the smaller grey dot on the right, the Moon. That is LITERALLY the distance between them.

But here's what upsets me most about this, and all, conspiracy theories.

In Japan, over ten thousand people have died as the result of this horrific and devastating set of events. Yet, thanks to good government regulations and an understanding of the science behind earthquakes, in Japan, right now, there are possibly tens of thousands more people who are alive today, who wouldn't have been if it wasn't for those regulations and that understanding. Without it, their buildings wouldn't have been built to withstand earthquakes, without it they wouldn't have known what to do when an earthquake that big struck.

Wilful ignorance of science lead Britain into the dark ages, and they're called that for a reason. Superstition costs lives that could well be saved with progress. 

So here's my call to all those people who believe that the supermoon caused the earthquake, or that global warming isn't real.
We live in the age of enlightenment, where you can get facts at your fingertips in an instant. Don't rely on ignorance and scaremongering to inform your opinions, especially when it's so easy to find out the truth for yourself.

This world is cruel enough without people needlessly hurting because they weren't armed with the right information.

Donate to the Japanese Tsunami appeal HERE

The true cost of AV.

In the last week (since the bill got Royal Ascent) the campaigns for the Referendum on First Past The Post (FPTP) Vs. the Alternative Vote (AV) voting systems has really stepped up a pace.

I've covered why I believe our current voting system should be upgraded to AV here, and I don't really want to cover old ground now.

What I do however want to mention is the cynical lies being used by the No2AV campaign.

It started when they announced that introducing AV would cost the UK Taxpayer £250m, and then used that as the basis for their advertising campaign.

Apart from the issue with these sickening adverts suggesting that the choice is between AV and other essential things (it isn't), the major problem is that the sums done to find the £250m quotation don't add up. the No campaign's own website break down the costs as being:

£82 Million - for the referendum itself

£9 Million - for voter education (ahead of the referendum)

£130 Million - for the introduction of electronic voting machines

£26 Million - for voter education (at the next elections)

Total Cost - £247 Million

And here's the problem with this valuation. It's Bullshit

Firstly, £82 Million for the referendum. This figure is massively exaggerated, simply because it's based on the cost of a referendum alone. but May 5th isn't just a referendum, there are local council elections happening around the country that day as well as elections in the devolved nations, the cost of adding a referendum to this is going to be minimal. the polling stations are already going to be open, the officers are already going to be present, the only actual extra cost to the existing elections is going to come from the paper and the time added to counting the election ballots.

Secondly, even if this £82 Million figure was correct. Whichever system people vote for it's going to cost that for the referendum itself. And yet you aren't seeing the No campaign asking people to boycott the ballot to save the money, people voting No is going to cost as much as people voting Yes. which brings me onto my third point...

£130 Million for the introduction of electronic voting machines, this is the biggest fabrication by the No campaign yet, there simply isn't going to be an introduction of electronic voting machines. Australia has managed to use AV in its elections since 1918 without the introduction of electronic voting machines, but the No campaign seems to assume the British electorate is too dumb to vote in order of preference without the help of machines. And even though the government and the Electoral Commission (the impartial organisation that organises the UK's elections and referendums) have both said there are no plans to introduce the machines, the No campaign is still using it's £250 Million figure as a reason to vote no.

Lastly, £26 Million in voter education in preparation for the next election is also massively inflated, currently your ballot paper lists candidates and asks you to mark an X in the box of the candidate you want to win. Simply changing that text to ask voters to put a 1 in the box of their preferred candidate and 2 in the box of their next preference and so on, will not cost £26 Million.

Unfortunately this £250 Million cost claim is just one of the No campaigns many attacks on the referendum and AV which doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but I guess when you're trying to defend an electoral system which no longer works properly and therefore can't defend it, all you can do is attack the proposed change.

Prepare to see much more of this negative campaigning from No2AV. Meanwhile, Yes to Fairer Votes (the Pro-AV campaign) has published this video of reasons to vote yes.

I know which side I'm on, can you see past No2AV's lies??

Vote YES in May

Shep

Review: Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Radiohead
The King of Limbs
Released 18th February 2011 on XL Records

Radiohead are becoming renowned for their unconventional way of releasing music, their last album 'In Rainbows' was released on a 'pay what you want' basis, and in the early stages of recording for this album they released the song 'These Are My Twisted Words' for free with DIY artwork.

The King of Limbs' was announced only last week as having a February 19th release date, only for people to wake up on the 18th and find the full thing available for download.

Released 4 years later and named after a thousand year old Oak Tree near the recording studio where they recorded the critically acclaimed 'In Rainbows', can 'The King of Limbs' live up to it?

Opener 'Bloom' starts off well with a crackling piano melody, but soon ends up losing it and sounding a bit muddled up, the second song 'Morning Mr Magpie' does little to remedy this lacklustre start, fortunately third song 'Little by Little' is something of a gem which feels much more like 'In Rainbows' territory, the slow soft voice of Thom Yorke singing "Little by Little" over a fast paced percussion background. Fourth song 'Feral' again feels like an unorganised string of ideas meshed together with very little in the way of melody.

Luckily, at this half-way stage the album starts to turn around into a more focused effort. Fifth song, and first single 'Lotus Flower' is a more traditionally structured slow burner which adds layers of electronic and percussion rhythm over Yorkes soft vocals. Song six, 'Codex' is undoubtedly the best song in this collection, a soft piano melody and strings carry the music while Yorke sings "Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / No one around", the sense of sadness and the build up in the instruments around it can best be compared to 'All I Need' from In Rainbows.

Seventh song 'Give Up The Ghost' starts with bird song, and continues in an acoustic like manner throughout, some eerie atmospheric keyboard noises compliment the acoustic guitar and restrained use of percussion.
Eighth and final song 'Separator' is the perfect way to close this album (and has spurned a whole host of conspiracy theories due to the lyrics "If you think this is over then you're wrong"), it's the most uplifting song on the album and showcases Radiohead at their best.

This album is a difficult one to summarise, it's obviously a departure from the faster paced 'In Rainbows' into a body of work that is slower and much more atmospheric, this itself may be the problem with it, on first listen, to be totally honest I wasn't too impressed, but the more I've listened the more I've enjoyed it. The decision to move the guitar based sounds into the background and make the electronic atmospheric sounds more prominent could put off some Radiohead fans and is unlikely to win any others over.
All in all this album is a slow starter which improves as you listen through it, and although it's obviously no OK Computer, is still a great body of work which most fans will love. To me it feels like a slower more atmospheric sibling to In Rainbows, and given that In Rainbows is my seconds favourite album that is no bad thing.


Check Out:
Little by Little
Lotus Flower
Codex
Separator

Avoid:
Bloom
Morning Mr Magpie

Science; learning how to re-engage

I’ve just watched this week’s Horizon titled ‘Science under attack’. And apart from some qualms over the amount of time the programme spent dealing with ‘Climategate’ and not properly explaining the scientific process and why it is trustworthy, it was a great programme highlighting some of the issues with getting scientific knowledge across to the general public. 

The main issue they reported is that it is left too much to the media and politicians, who don’t necessarily understand the whole science, or who are only after something sensational to fill a headline.

So here are my three ways in which I think the scientific establishment should start to address this gap in understanding:

1. Give, or ensure scientific reporters for all major news associations and political advisers have a thorough background or understanding of the scientific process.This would allow newspapers to be more impartial when airing the views of lunatic who think that evolution is a sham or the sky is a curtain with holes in it, or whatever else. It would ensure the consensus view of whatever is being reported is talked about in reputable terms, and that the controversy is explained.One example of where this was needed was during the furore over the MMR vaccination. Basically one rogue scientist found that there was a link between this and autism, and instead of following the rigorous scientific process that could have proved whether this was true or not and been verified by the scientific community, he decided to go straight to the press.

Obviously this was tested (and already had been prior to the vaccines widespread use) and discredited. But, as a result of the media hype surrounding this bad piece of science the number of vaccines being given went down, from 96% immunisation in 2002, to 84% in 2003, (down to 61% in some areas). Of course what followed? outbreaks of disease. Measels cases rose 10-fold between 1998 and 2006, and Mumps reached epidemic levels in the population. People became severely and permanently injured and there were even deaths, all because of sloppy journalism about a massively important piece of science.

Of course, saying that scientific journalists should know what they’re talking about is one thing, actually doing it another.

2. The second thing I think that should happen is that the scientific establishment needs its own PR wing. Scientific culture is seen by many as too elitist, articles are peer-reviewed and published in journals, scientific magazines then write up a summary of the articles and their place in the consensus view and their implications. Each piece of evidence is tested to destruction, all by the scientific community with very little input from the general public.

If there was some way to engage the public with what is going on in the scientific community, to let them view their opinions I think people would be a whole lot less untrusting of science.

Unfortunately as is stands people see the smaller but more ambitious things that science brings to society (potential cures for cancer, the moon landings), not the larger scale, but smaller things that fundamentally change society (vaccinations, technological advances). This is something that needs to change; science needs a way of entering a public forum and explaining the latest research or project and explaining why it is being done and what the potential benefit could be.

I think the internet gives a great opportunity for this kind of dialogue to happen, hopefully sooner rather than later.

3. The final, and probably smallest way in which science can bring back some of the trust it’s lost is for a simple updating of its vocabulary which would allow people to understand the scientific process with much greater ease.

In science an idea is called a hypothesis, this hypothesis is then tested, and verified by other scientists and published, if it fits with the existing evidence it is added to the existing consensus (or theory), if it doesn’t then the entire theory is called into question.

Once a theory has been established as fact by the great weight of evidence supporting it then… nothing happens.

In scientific history these well established theories used to become laws (the law of gravity, the laws of motion etc.) but for some mysterious reason this part of the process has been dropped, and it leads to a fundamental misunderstanding of science (how many creationists have you heard calling evolution “just a theory”). This way of labelling the process doesn’t make sense to most people without the last part intact.

The law of evolution, even to someone as nerdy as myself, sounds much more authoritative than the theory of evolution. I think this is a small step that would really help people identify understand and identify with science.

Anyway, that’s enough of a nerd-out for now, thanks for reading.

Shep

Review: White Lies - Ritual

White Lies
Ritual
Released 17th January 2011 on Fiction Records


White Lies are an odd band to try and categorise, like Placebo they have a wide appeal, NME seems just as likely to write about them as does Kerrang.

Following on from their superb debut album 'To Lose My Life...' Ritual finds White Lies developing their sound, experimenting with new ones and dropping many of the aspects that once saw them seen as a Joy Division rip off band. However, I suspect this new sound is going to alienate some of their fan base and drawing comparisons between the two records is going to be difficult.

'Is Love' opens the album, and by the time the song's finished it's apparent this album isn't going to be To Lose My Life 2.0. some interesting instrumentation is played around with on this one, but it's going to be a great live song and builds up to be quite anthemic.

Second track, 'Strangers', is quite straight-forward song, but even here the use of synthesisers is something that wouldn't quite have fit in on the last album. First single 'Bigger Than Us' is the first (and maybe only) song that would feel at home one 'To Lose My Life...', with some great music and the White Lies-esque lyrics of "I wanted to stay / and lights on the hillside don't take me this way / I want you to hold me, and I want you to pray / This is bigger than us" there's no question this is going to be a live favourite to sing along to.

Next up 'Peace & Quiet' starts off like a new-wave version of a slow White Lies song, but the chorus feels a bit too cheesy pop ballad for my liking, but hey, maybe it'll grow on me. 'Streetlights' starts off quite minimalistic in it's sound and has some pretty decent lyrics "I'm bored and I'm afraid I'm falling like rain for you / So tired of picking skin, just 'coz it's something to do", a shame then that the chorus kinda just bumps along rather than going anywhere or lifting the song to new heights.

'Holy Ghost' then picks the album back up a bit, possible single material this song is going to be another live favourite, and is a great example of the new sounds and structures they're experimenting with on this album (n.b. anybody else reminded of Boney M's 'Daddy Cool'with the bass line?).
'Turn The Bells' is notable for it's almost Nine Inch Nails-esque use of percussion (that said, they were using Nine Inch Nails producer), unfortunately however this is one of the albums weaker songs, it just doesn't do anything.

'The Power & The Glory' is the most enjoyable song on the album and likely to be the second single, or would be if I had my way, a slow-starter it builds up to be a beast of a song, perhaps White Lies most uplifting song to date, even with their pendant sinister lyrics intact "As empty handed leaving as I was when I came / Tip-toeing through the rubble / and running through the flames".

Shame then that it is followed by 'Bad Love', musically it's one of the heavier songs, but it's let down by some suspicious lyrics "I'm gonna write your girl a letter / It'll make everything better" and it just feels a bit generic. Last song on the album 'Come Down' is another good one, it's a really slow starter (it doesn't really kick in until it's over the 3 minute mark), but well worth the wait.

All in all Ritual finds a band who don't want to repeat past glories and have instead pushed hard to experiment with new ideas and sounds, they've improved alot as musicians in the last two years and vocally there is a vast improvement. Sure, not all songs are quite up to the standard of the last album and the new sound may alienate some fans, but it's a price worth paying for a band that wants to develop and get better at what they do. I recommend this album simply because when it's bad, it's mediocre, but when it's good, it's fantastic.

Check Out:
Is Love
Bigger Than Us
Holy Ghost
The Power & Glory

Avoid:
Turn The Bells
Bad Love

What America Needs Now...

Following the assassination attempt of US Senator Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday, the US needs to wake up to the danger of allowing free access to guns to almost all citizens without stringent checks, and needs to tone down the violent rhetoric in it's political debate.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution allows all citizens "to keep and bear arms", this has lead to a situation where a majority of Americans believe it is within their rights to own a firearm. Currently, for every 100 US citizens there are 90 legally owned guns.

Whenever there is a major shooting in the UK, the debate that follows is almost always on the control of guns and of the environment in which the shooting occurred, as seen with last years Cumbria Shootings and Northumbria Manhunt. But, because of the Second Amendment in the US the control of guns portion of debate is always missing, no politician will go near it, suggesting Americans should give up their guns is political kryptonite.

So, what should be done, I believe the senate needs to have an open and honest debate about the place of guns in society, with the aim of implementing Canadian-style gun control.

In Canada citizens are legally allowed to own guns but there are 4 steps to go through before being allowed a licence:
1. Pass a gun safety course
2. Provide three character references
3. Provide information on your marital status and financial affairs
4. Post this off and receive your licence within 4-6 weeks.

One other difference between the US and Canadian law is that in Canada self-defence is not a valid reason to hold a gun. This means that in Canada a much more reasonable proportion (22%) of households hold guns.

Now the other half of this debate is about the environment and glorification of guns, especially in politics. The Republicans (but to some degree Democrats too) have allowed a culture of violence to appear in their politics, instead of disagreeing in an open debate, senators have (literally) been making targets of those they disagree with, this simply has to end.

And no matter how you defend it, if your response to the shooting of someone you disagree with is to scrub your website of any inappropriate messages, then you have a guilty conscience, and for good reason.

Sarah Plain's map of senators who voted for a health care bill she disagreed with...

Glenn Beck being his usual opportunistic, hypocritical self:

Anyway, i'll leave you with this impassioned speech by Keith Olbermann on the shooting:




Shep

A Small Change...

On May 5th, The Coalition government will hold a referendum on replacing the current First Past the Post voting system with that of the Alternative Vote. This is an issue I am passionate about and will attempt to explain here the differences between the two systems, why there is such a debate going on about it, and hopefully convince you to vote Yes to AV.

So, what is First Past The Post.
First Past The Post  (FPTP) is our current voting system, voting itself is simple, for each constituency there are a list of candidates, we mark an X onto the candidate we most want to win in our constituency, from there all the votes are counted and the candidate with the most votes wins the seat, seems simple enough. Only it's not an entirely fair system, if there are say 5 candidates in a constituency, it is feasible that the winning candidate could win with only 21% of the vote, meaning 79% of votes cast are wasted, leading to scenarios like this in 2005...

Because of this the system creates safe seats, where one party can keep control of a particular seat because of an above average number of their voters in that area meaning the rest of the population in that area have little chance of changing their MPs and can theoretically be ignored, not very democratic.

Other issues include the fact that smaller parties are excluded, especially if they have a support all over the country (rather than isolated pockets of support), in last years elections UKIP received roughly 1 million votes, compared to the Conservatives 10 million, but because the support they had was not enough in any one seat to get them an MP those votes are wasted, whereas the Conservatives currently have 306 MPs.

Tactical voting is widely used under FPTP, this occurs where voters vote for a party which they do not fully support in order to keep out a party they don't want to win, (I myself tactically voted Labour in an attempt to prevent the Conservatives taking my constituency), this blurs voting intentions and means many thousands of people in swing seats give up their preferred vote in order to give another party a boost.

The final issue with FPTP is that it only really works in a 2-party political system (such as that of the US), but in britain we're increasingly becoming a three or multi-party system. In 1951 only 3.2% of votes cast were for someone other than the Conservatives or Labour, skip forward to 2010 and that figure stands at 34.9%.


So, if First Past The Post is broken, what is the Alternative Vote, and why is it better?
The Alternative Vote (AV) (Also known as Instant-Runoff Voting), is similar to FPTP but improves upon its weaknesses, so instead of marking an X next to the candidate they want to win, the voter instead ranks the candidates in order of preference (if you only want to choose one you're still free to do so), from there all first choice votes are counted and if the winner doesn't have the vote of 50% of the electorate the candidate ranking last is eliminated and the second preference votes for that candidate are then counted and added to the totals of the remaining candidates. This process is continued until one candidate has over 50% of the electorates support.


Some benefits of this system are that it means MPs have to work harder to gain and keep their constituents support, the need for tactical voting is removed as voters can put an undesirable choice as their last preference (or not vote for them at all) under AV, removing the need to vote for a second favourite party in order to keep another out.

It also removes safe seats, so that all MPs have to work hard to get the support of the electorate. Another benefit is obvious, it gives the voter a greater choice to choose between candidates.

One of the nicer changes AV would bring is a drop in negative campaigning, a candidate is less likely to attack another candidate if they feel they may well end up receiving some of their second choice votes.

Many people who oppose the introduction of AV claim that it doesn't result in 'strong government' and leads to more hung parliaments, this simply isn't true, since 1910 Australia (which uses AV) has had two hung parliaments, whereas in the UK, we've had 4. If anything AV will help our electoral system as we move away from a two-party system and help prevent future Hung Parliaments.

Also remember AV is already used in the UK, Labour, The Liberal Democrats, and (yes) The Conservatives all use AV to elect their leaders, isn't it time the public got the same choice?).

I think i've laid out the facts here for you to make up your own mind (hopefully, like me you'll agree AV is better), but before I go i'd like to make one more point. This is not a referendum on either the Coalition or the Liberal Democrats, voting no to spite Nick Clegg may seem like a good idea, but it would delight the Tories and mean we lose out on this once in a generation opportunity to change the way our democracy is run,. as always, others say it better, so here's this weeks editorial for The Independent:

AV is a good change on its own terms. It ensures that voters have an equal chance to influence the outcome in their constituency, and to express their preferences honestly so that they can be counted, even if they do not support the winning candidate.

The alternative vote is not perfection, or a magic solution to the problem of disillusionment with politics. Yet it is an important step towards a better democracy that empowers the voter, and so deserves our wholehearted support.

Shep

Vote Yes on May 5th

2010 in Music...

I'm not a fan of nostalgia, but at the end of a year it's become something of a tradition to look back and self-indulge in a best of / worst of list, to that extent this is a play list of my favourite new songs of the year:



EDIT: If the above player isn't working please find the play list here

please note, if you know me you'll know I'm not exactly a conventional pop fan, so please don't expect to find the latest Take That song on here, this play list is self-indulgent and only reflects my most played songs of the last year.
If you have a similar taste in music to me I hope you'll enjoy it, if not I hope you'll find something you haven't heard before which you enjoy (if not there's always the skip button)

Shep