London - Somerset - London, 27 & 28-12-19

London to Somerset
Perfect Gentleman - Wyclef Jean
You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart (Acoustic Version) - Eurythmics
Afternoons And Coffeespoons - Crash Test Dummies
Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
Solitary Man - Johnny Cash
We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service
Dead! - My Chemical Romance
Bing Bang - Lazy Town
Sweet Cheeks - Raf Rundell
Scooby Snacks - Fun Lovin Criminals
How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Slayers-Theme - Slayers
Since I Left You - The Avalanches
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me - The Pipettes
After All - The Frank And Walters
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - Eels
Tank! (Opening Theme) - Cowboy Bebop
Keep The Customer Satisfied - Simon & Garfunkel
You're So Vain - Carly Simon
Country Girl - Primal Scream
You Give a Little Love - Silvery
Electric Feel - MGMT
Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) - Soul II Soul
We're from Barcelona - I'm From Barcelona
Wearing My Rolex (Radio Edit) - Wiley
Girlfriend - The Darkness
Would You Love a Monsterman - Lordi
Jump on Demand - Spunge
Giving You Up - Kylie Minogue
I Lust U - Neon Neon
What Is Life - Olivia Newton-John
Suspicious Character - The Blood Arm
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance
If It Happens Again - UB40, Robin Campbell, James Brown, Michael Virtue, Ali Campbell, Earl Falconer
I Want an Alien for Christmas - Fountains of Wayne
Wimoweh - Karl Denver
Helena - My Chemical Romance
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom! - Vengaboys
Ready Steady Go! - L'Arc en Ciel
iPod Xmas - Hello Saferide
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk - Trace Adkins
Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
Andrew In Drag - The Magnetic Fields
Vogue - Madonna
The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix) - Passion Pit
Mary's Prayer - Danny Wilson

Somerset to London
I Ran - A Flock Of Seagulls
Sally MacLennane - The Pogues
This World Of Water - New Musik
The Show Must Go On - Leo Sayer
Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz
Pull It to Pieces - Elektralow
Dignity - Deacon Blue
Poison Ivy - The Lambrettas
The Way I Do - John McVie's "Gotta Band" With Lola Thomas
Smoothie King - Bowling For Soup
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough - Manic Street Preachers
Chug A Lug - Jawbone
Hey Mickey - Toni Basil
Under Pressure - My Chemical Romance & The Used
Tony the Beat (Push It) [Single Version] - The Sounds
Neon Genesis Evangelion Theme Tune - Neon Genesis Evangelion
Consolation Prizes - Phoenix
Something Good '08 (Radio Edit) - Utah Saints
The Most Beautiful Girl [In The Room] - Flight Of The Conchords
Stupidly Happy - XTC
I Told Her On Alderaan - Neon Neon
Can't help falling in Love - A-Teens
Love Your Money - Daisy Chainsaw
If You Let Me Stay - Terence Trent D'Arby
Mellow Yellow - Donovan
Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn
Skinny (Radio Edit) - Lo Rider
Dare (Radio Edit) - Gorillaz
Glamour Boys - Living Colour
Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Born Slippy - Underworld
Real Love (Studio Version) - Hillsong Young & Free
Hey Dude - Kula Shaker
Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson
Good As Hell - Lizzo
We Don't Stop - Michael Franti & Spearhead
Love In An Elevator - Aerosmith
Happiness Is - Paul Evans
La Bamba - Los Lobos
In Your Car - Kenickie
Ecuador (feat. Rodriguez) - Sash!
Dirty Harry (Single Edit) - Gorillaz
Best Of You - Foo Fighters
Shut Up Kiss Me - Angel Olsen
Clearest Blue - CHVRCHES
Ring a Ding Ding - Brakes
Go! (feat. Mai Lan) - M83
After Hours - The Velvet Underground
Destination Venus - The Rezillos
Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros - Flight Of The Conchords
------------

London - Wigan - London, 21 & 22-12-19

After The Goldrush: Neil Young
Tell Me Why
After The Gold Rush
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Southern Man
Till The Morning Comes
Oh, Lonesome Me
Don't Let It Bring You Down
Birds
When You Dance You Can Really Love
I Believe In You
Cripple Creek Ferry

Moondance: Van Morrison
And It Stoned Me
Moondance
Crazy Love
Caravan
Into The Mystic
Come Running
These Dreams Of You
Brand New Day
Everyone
Glad Tidings

Blue: Joni Mitchell
All I Want
My Old Man
Little Green
Carey
Blue
California
This Flight Tonight
River
A Case Of You
The Last Time I Saw Richard

New Boots And Panties: Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Wake Up And Make Love With Me
Sweet Gene Vincent
I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra
My Old Man
Billericay Dickie
Clevor Trever
If I Was With A Woman
Blockheads
Plaistow Patricia
Blackmail Man
Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll [A-Side]
Razzle In My Pocket [B-Side]
You're More Than Fair [B-Side]
Englands Glory [B-Side - Live]
What A Waste [A-Side]

Electric Landlady: Kirsty MacColl
Walking Down Madison
All I Ever Wanted
Children Of The Revolution
My Affair
Lying Down
He Never Mentioned Love
We'll Never Pass This Way Again
The Hardest Word
Maybe It's Imaginary
My Way Home
The One And Only

Gorgeous George: Edwyn Collins
The Campaign For Real Rock
Girl Like You
Low Expectations
Out Of This World
If You Could Love Me
North Of Heaven
Gorgeous George
It's Right In Front Of You
Make Me Feel Again
I've Got It Bad
Subsidence
Moron

Wrecking Ball: Emmylou Harris
Where Will I Be
Goodbye
All My Tears
Wrecking Ball
Goin' Back To Harlan
Deeper Well
Every Grain Of Sand
Sweet Old World
May This Be Love
Orphan Girl
Blackhawk
Waltz Across Texas Tonight

Garbage: Garbage
Supervixen
Queer
Only Happy When It Rains
As Heaven Is Wide
Not My Idea
A Stroke Of Luck
Vow
Stupid Girl
Dog New Tricks
My Lover's Box
Fix Me Now
Milk

De Stijl: The White Stripes
You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl)
Hello Operator
Little Bird
Apple Blossom
I'm Bound To Pack It Up
Death Letter
Sister, Do You Know My Name?
Truth Doesn't Make A Noise
A Boy's Best Friend
Let's Build A Home
Jumble, Jumble
Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?
Your Southern Can Is Mine
------------

BBC makes 16,000 sound effects available

The Independent reports: [edited]

The BBC has made its sound effects archive available to the public for free for the first time.

The archive incorporates effects used by the corporation's radio output since the 1920s.

So you are in luck if you're in need of the sound of a South American parrot talking and screeching, the sound of the interior of a Belgian post office, or the sound of an inflating rubber dinghy. All this and more thanks to the BBC's easily searchable iteration of the archive.

There is one reservation on its usage: as per the RemArc licence, the sound effects can only be used for "personal, educational, or research purposes".
------------

Azatom Blackfriars DAB+ Portable Radio

This budget 13 x 9 x 18cm item, available from Amazon, ticks a lot of boxes. For £40 (£35 if refurbished units are available) you get a DAB+ tuner and a 1800mAh rechargeable battery. It also features a FM tuner, and a 3.5mm auxillary input. A USB charger and cable, 3.5mm audio cable and remote control are provided, along with a printed manual.

The sound quality is balanced and loud enough for an average size room. A small subwoofer helps to fill out the bottom-end, and the (surprisingly effective) equaliser settings allow you to tune the sound to your taste.

I initially purchased its more sophisticated 'brother', the Woodlands, which for the same price adds Bluetooth connectivity. Build and sound are identical, but the fascia controls are fiddly and confusing, changing the volume without the remote is almost impossible. And the LCD display is noticeably smaller.
------------

AI Speaker debates itself at Cambridge Union

Cambridge Independent reports: [edited]

On 21 November, the Cambridge Union Society hosted what turned out to be the most popular debate of term: This house believes artificial intelligence will bring more harm than good.

IBM Research’s Project Debater, the first artificial intelligence platform that can debate humans on complex topics, was the leading ‘speaker’ on both the proposition and opposition.

The night opened with a brief introduction from the principal investigator of Project Debater, Noam Slonim. He explained that the AI system uses a variety of techniques to anticipate the opposition’s choice of evidence: “The AI is not perfect but it’s going in the right direction."

Project Debater launched into its proposition speech in a soothingly monotonous voice. The audience was captivated by its ability to seamlessly weave together a series of arguments from the 511 responses submitted by members of the Union and others.

It was a little unnerving to hear that “AI will not be able to make morally correct decisions, which can lead to disasters. It can only make decisions that it has been programmed to solve, whereas humans can be programmed for all scenarios” from the Debater itself.

It also urged the floor to vote for the motion by raising issues of employment, disconnected societies, and abuse of control.

The AI then proceeded to argue against itself as the first ‘speaker’ of the opposition, claiming that “Artificial Intelligence is the technology of the future designed by humans”.

It continued to assert that AI can eliminate human errors in mundane and repetitive tasks, giving the example of autonomous vehicles.

Following this spectacle of self-sparring, Sharmila Parmanand, second proposition speaker and PhD candidate in Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge, spearheaded the human debate against artificial intelligence.She warned against labour displacement and entrenching biases, and raised the critical observation that the context in which AI is being developed – a world plagued by “already-existing power hierarchies” and an “inherently weak regulatory environment” – requires careful consideration.

By contrast, Sylvie Delacroix, professor in Law and Ethics at the University of Birmingham, highlighted that the rise of AI has led us to spiral into an unnecessary degree of paranoia. She compared this fear to people being scared of electricity or cars, which could and can still be used to kill people: “We should see AI as a special tool because of the sheer speed at which it is transforming us”.

She acknowledged that artificial intelligence might be at risk of being manipulated, but also emphasised that as long “as wide a variety of people can select this data,” it can be extremely “beneficial”.

Neil Lawrence, DeepMind professor of machine learning at the University of Cambridge, concluded the proposition debate with the foreboding thought that “over the next 10 years, we will be on a perilous journey that will undermine our very selves”.

He drew particular attention to the dangers of big data: the “new route to manipulating statistics as presented to us”. Lawrence reiterated the importance of precautionary measures: “We should believe that AI should do us harm, because it is the best way to prevent us from doing that harm”.

The debate ended with a final speech from Harish Natarajan, head of economic risk analysis at AKE International in London, who raised the perceptive point that any criticism towards bias in artificial intelligence is made redundant by the fact that “cognitive biases exist on all sides: there is plenty of bias in human interaction”.

He reassured the sceptics that the “benefits of the democratisation of AI will be huge” in a “world that needs multiple layers of improvement”.

And with that, the noes beat the ayes on this occasion.

Image: Tomi Baikie
------------

Brain has huge capacity to rewire itself

Discover Magazine reports: [edited]

In severe cases of epilepsy, a patient’s seizures can become so incessant, and other treatments so ineffective, that doctors will remove half of the brain during childhood to stop them. It's a procedure known as a hemispherectomy. Yet these patients still have intact motor, language and thinking skills.

In a study published Tuesday in Cell Reports, scientists studied six of these patients to see how the human brain rewires itself to adapt after major surgery. After performing brain scans on the patients, the researchers found that the remaining hemisphere formed even stronger connections between different brain networks — regions that control things like walking, talking and memory — than in healthy control subjects.

And the researchers suggest that these connections enable the brain, essentially, to function as if it were still whole.

The six volunteers — who all had hemispherectomies as children — are now high-functioning adults with intact language skills, Kliemann says. Brain scans of the patients were compared to individuals with normal brains, in addition to a database of 1,500 typical brains from the Brain Genomics Superstructure Project.

The research team studied the parts of the brain that control specific functions, such as vision, movement, cognition and emotion. They found that the brain activity in hemispherectomy patients was strikingly similar to the participants who still had all of their brain matter.

Another finding came as more of a surprise. Many brain networks rely on both hemispheres, leading the researchers to predict that they would find weaker connections between different networks in the six patients. But the scans showed that the patients had even stronger connections, which means that different parts of the brain were communicating with each other more consistently. For example, there were more links between the motor and visual networks than in people with typical brains.
------------

Solar Power Breakthrough

CNN Business reports: [edited]

Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.

The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution.

Heliogen uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection and other sophisticated technology to train a field of mirrors to reflect solar beams to one single spot. Heliogen said it is generating so much heat that its technology could eventually be used to create clean hydrogen at scale. That carbon-free hydrogen could then be turned into a fuel for trucks and airplanes.
------------

London - Wigan - London, 16 & 17-11-19

Bridge Over Troubled Water: Simon & Garfunkel
Baby Driver
Bridge Over Troubled Water
El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
Cecilia
Keep The Customer Satisfied
So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
The Boxer
The Only Living Boy In New York
Why Don't You Write Me
Bye Bye Love
Song For The Asking

Give 'Em Enough Rope: The Clash
Safe European Home
English Civil War
Tommy Gun
Julie's In The Drug Squad
Last Gang In Town
Guns On The Roof
Drug-Stabbing Time
Stay Free
Cheapskates
All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)

Get Happy!!: Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Love For Tender
Opportunity
The Imposter
Secondary Modern
King Horse
Possession
Men Called Uncle
Clowntime Is Over
New Amsterdam
High Fidelity
I Can't Stand Up (For Falling Down)
Black And White World
5ive Gears In Reverse
B Movie
Motel Matches
Human Touch
Beaten To The Punch
Temptation
I Stand Accused
Riot Act

A Walk Across The Rooftops: Blue Nile
A Walk Across The Rooftops
Tinseltown In The Rain
From Rags To Riches
Stay
Easter Parade
Heatwave
Automobile Noise

Steve McQueen: Prefab Sprout
Faron Young
Bonny
Appetite
When Love Breaks Down
Goodbye Lucille #1
Hallelujah
Moving The River
Horsin' Around
Desire As
Blueberry Pies
When The Angels

New York: Lou Reed
Romeo Had Juliette
Halloween Parade
Dirty Blvd
Endless Cycle
There is No Time
Last Great American Whale
Beginning of a Great Adventure
Busload of Faith
Sick of You
Hold On
Good Evening Mr. Waldheim
Xmas in February
Strawman
Dime Store Mystery

Plumb: Jonatha Brooke & The Story
Nothing Sacred
Where Were You?
Inconsolable
No Better
West Point
War
Made Of Gold
Is This All?
Full-Fledged Strangers
Paris
Charming
Andrew Duffy's Jig

Songs: Rich Mullins
Sing Your Praise To The Lord
Awesome God
Sometimes By Step
Creed
We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are
If I Stand
Screen Door
Let Mercy Lead
Elijah
Calling Out Your Name
My One Thing
Boy Like Me / Man Like You
Alrightokuhhuhamen
While The Nations Rage
Verge Of A Miracle
Hold Me Jesus
------------

Pronghorn – Second-fastest animal in the world

The Generalist Academy reports: [edited]

The pronghorn, also known as the American antelope, is built for speed. It has shock-absorbing toes, hollow hair, thirteen 'gears' (gaits, i.e. leg movement patterns), and takes huge gulping breaths to fuel its push. The pronghorn is the Maserati of even-toed ungulates.

The cheetah can manage short bursts of up to 112 km per hour, but that doesn’t last more than a hundred metres before it has to slow down. Over longer distances its speed is more like 64 km per hour, and the pronghorn has that beat: it can go 88 km per hour for close to a kilometre, or 56 km per hour for 6 km.

Why does it need to be so fast? The cheetah has to be fast to catch its prey, but the pronghorn is a vegetarian, and there are no predators in North America that are anywhere near as speedy. One hypothesis is that there used to be predators fast enough to catch it – the extinct American Cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani) is a good candidate – so the pronghorn evolved to outrun them. And now that the American Cheetah is gone, they’re left to speed on their own.
------------

Carrera Crossroad Electric Bicycle

Cycling Weekly reports: [edited]

Priced at £999.99 the Crossroad Electric is the first electric bike from a recognised brand to drop below the four figure mark.

The electrical assistance is delivered through a Suntour motor system situated in the rear wheel. The external, removable 312 W/h battery promises to provide enough power to provide a range of up to 40 miles on one charge. A larger 418 W/h capacity battery is available.

Power delivery is controlled by a crank-based torque sensor rather than the less-accurate cadence sensors specced on most ‘budget’ e-bikes.

The Carrera Crossroad Electric features a specifically designed aluminium frame and fork. It features dropped seatstays and mounting points for mudguards and rear rack.

The disc brakes are mechanical Tektro versions. The groupset is a mix of Shimano nine-speed Acera and Microshift. Tyres are 32c volume Kenda Kwik Trax.

The medium size bike weighs 19 kilograms. It is available in small, medium and large, to fit riders from 5’4″-6’2″.
------------

AI allows paralysed man to write with his mind

Science reports: [edited]

Some people who are paralyzed by stroke or neurological disease have trouble trying to communicate even a single sentence. Electrodes implanted in a part of the brain involved in motion have allowed some patients to move a cursor and select onscreen letters with their thoughts. Users have typed up to 39 characters per minute, but that’s still about three times slower than natural handwriting.

In new experiments, a volunteer paralysed from the neck down imagined moving his arm to write each letter of the alphabet. That brain activity helped train a computer model known as a neural network to interpret the commands, tracing the intended trajectory of his imagined pen tip to create letters.

Eventually, the computer could read out the volunteer’s imagined sentences with roughly 95% accuracy at a speed of about 66 characters per minute.

The researchers expect the speed to increase with more practice. As they refine the technology, they will also use their neural recordings to better understand how the brain plans and orchestrates fine motor movements.

Image: Frank Willett
------------

'Prime Editing' Crispr Tool

Nature reports: [edited]

For all the ease with which the wildly popular CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing tool alters genomes, it’s still somewhat clunky and prone to errors and unintended effects. Now, a recently developed alternative offers greater control over genome edits.

The alternative method, called prime editing, improves the chances that researchers will end up with only the edits they want, instead of a mix of changes that they can’t predict.

CRISPR–Cas9 and prime editing both work by cutting DNA at a specific point in the genome. CRISPR–Cas9 breaks both strands of the DNA double helix and then relies on the cell’s own repair system to patch the damage and make the edits. This can lead to an uncontrollable mixture of edits that vary between cells.

In addition, the DNA repair system in most cells is far more likely to make those small, random insertions or deletions than to add a specific DNA sequence to the genome. That makes it difficult for researchers to use CRISPR–Cas9 to overwrite one piece of DNA with a sequence of their choosing.

Prime editing bypasses these problems. Although it also uses Cas9 to recognize specific DNA sequences — just like CRISPR–Cas9 does — the Cas9 enzyme in the prime editing tool is modified to nick only one DNA strand. Then, a second enzyme called reverse transcriptase and guided by a strand of RNA, makes the edits at the site of the cut.

The prime editing enzymes don’t have to break both strands of DNA to make changes, freeing researchers from relying on the cell’s DNA repair system — which they can’t control — to make the edits that they want. This means that prime editing could enable the development of treatments for genetic diseases caused by mutations that aren’t easily addressed by existing gene-editing tools.

But Liu’s team and others will now need to carefully evaluate how well the system works in a variety of cells and organisms. “This first study is just the beginning — rather than the end — of a long-standing aspiration in the life sciences to be able to make any DNA change at any position in an organism,” says Liu.

Image courtesy of  David Clode
------------

Uniti One Electric City Car

Auto Express reports: [edited]

The Uniti One is a Swedish-designed, UK-engineered, all-electric city car, which features an unconventional one-plus-two seating layout out and a maximum range of 186 miles. Prices start from £15,100 (after the £3,500 government plug-in car grant), with first deliveries expected by mid-2020.

Standard equipment includes LED daytime running lights, power-adjustable side mirrors, an electrochromic panoramic sunroof, tinted electric windows, a heated front windscreen and a rear-view camera. Inside, buyers get a customisable ambient lighting system, a touchscreen infotainment system and the choice of either dark- or light-coloured upholstery.

The Uniti One is fitted with split-folding rear bench seat as standard, in a bid to maximise its practicality. With the bench in place, the Uniti One offer 155 litres of boot space – but with the rear seat stowed the Swedish EV offers an impressive 760-litres of storage capacity.

Optional extras for the Uniti One EV include LED headlamps, a heated driver’s seat, air conditioning and an upgraded six-speaker stereo system. Buyers can also choose from either a comfort-spec interior (which is clad in carpet) or a utility-spec interior (which features durable rubber matting).

It’s powered by a 12kWh lithium-ion battery pack as standard, which supplies power to a rear-mounted electric motor. The system has a maximum output of 67bhp and 85Nm of torque, which provides a 0–31mph time of 4.1 seconds, a 0–62mph time of 9.9 seconds and a top speed of 75mph.

With the 12kWh battery pack fitted, the Uniti One has a claimed range of 93 miles. However, the Swedish brand offers a larger 24kWh battery pack as an optional extra, which extends the One EV’s maximum range to 186 miles.

Both battery packs can be charged using a domestic 7kW wall box or a commercially available 50kW fast charger. When using the latter system, the 12kWh battery can be charged from 20 percent to 80 percent in just nine minutes, while the 24kWh unit recovers the same amount of charge in seventeen minutes.
------------

London - Somerset - London, 05 & 06-10-19

London to Somerset
Soldier Girl - The Polyphonic Spree
You're Moving Out Today - Carole Bayer Sager
California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg) - Katy Perry
Drink The Elixir - Salad
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira Feat. Wyclef Jean
Around the World (Radio) - Daft Punk
Why can't we be friends - Sublime
Indestructable - Alisha's Attic
What's Up [Radio Edit] - 4 Non Blondes - DJ Miko Version
Radar Detector - Darwin Deez
Stella - Ida Maria
Don't You Want Me - The Human League
Uptown Girl (Remastered) - Billy Joel
Dreamer - Supertramp
Street Tuff (Scar Radio Mix) - Rebel MC & Double Trouble
Murder on the dance floor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Jealous (I Ain't With It) - Chromeo
Unwell - Matchbox Twenty
Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy
Even Better Than The Real Thing [Perfecto Mix] - U2
You Only Live Once - The Strokes
Hi Jo Hi - Deaf School
Right Back - Maxine Nightingale
King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar
Got To Get - Rob 'N' Raz feat. Leila K
You're Not Alone - Olive
Love Shack - The B-52's
Us - Regina Spektor
Nothing To Find - The War on Drugs
Boys - Lizzo
Airport - The Motors
Do I Worry? - The Ink Spots
In The Morning - Razorlight
Suicide Blonde - INXS
What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones
Strict Machine - Goldfrapp
Sixteen Saltines - Jack White
Echo Beach - Martha & the Muffins
Touchdown Turnaround (Don't Give Up On Me) - Hellogoodbye
Devotion (feat. Cameron Hayes) - Dimension
Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
Brand New Lover - Dead Or Alive
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - The Andrews Sisters
In For The Kill - La Roux
Pacific 707 (single) - 808 State
This Is The World We Live In - Alcazar

Somerset to London
Untouched - The Veronicas
Cinnamon - The Long Winters
Roadrunner - Jonathan Richman
Super Trouper - A-Teens
1985 - Bowling For Soup
A Bar In Amsterdam - Katzenjammer
Ev'rybody Wants To Be A Cat - Aristocats
I Feel For You - Chaka Khan
B.A.B.Y - Rachel Sweet
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
C Moon - Paul McCartney & Wings
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) - Cher
Pass This On - The Knife
Stutter - Elastica
Me No Pop I - Coati Mundi
You Make My Dreams - Daryl Hall & John Oates
Banquet - Bloc Party
Like Toy Soldiers (clean) - Eminem
Tongue Twisters - Danny Kaye
Young Love (Ft Laura Marling) - Mystery Jets
Song 4 Mutya - Groove Armada Ft. Mutya
The Ketchup Song (Asereje) - Las Ketchup
I Won't Change You - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The Wire - HAIM
A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off - The Magnetic Fields
Wuthering Heights - China Drum
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
Crying At the Discoteque (Radio Edit) - Alcazar
Moonlight shadow (trance remix) - Mike Oldfield
Gonna Get Along Without You Now - Skeeter Davis
Pass Out - Tinie Tempah
Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) - Black Kids
Don't Bring Me Down - Electric Light Orchestra
I Will Never Love You More - SoKo
Lazy Sunday - Small Faces
Kim & Jessie - M83
Lipstick On Your Collar - Connie Francis
Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic feat. Felly
The First Picture Of You - Lotus Eaters
Seems Fine - The Concretes
I Can't Wait - Stevie Nicks
Don't Look Back Into The Sun - The Libertines
New Sensation - INXS
------------

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas does Parkour

Boston Dynamics reports: [edited]

Atlas uses its whole body – legs, arms, torso – to perform a sequence of dynamic moves that form a gymnastic routine. We created the moves using techniques that streamline the development process.

First, an optimisation algorithm transforms high-level descriptions of each move into dynamically-feasible reference motions. Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one move to the next. Using this approach, we developed the routine significantly faster than previous Atlas routines, with a performance success rate of about 80%.
------------

London - Wigan - London, 21 & 22-09-19

Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
Disorder
Day Of The Lords
Candidate
Insight
New Dawn Fades
She's Lost Control
Shadowplay
Wilderness
Interzone
I Remember Nothing

Nothing But A Burning Light: Bruce Cockburn
A Dream Like Mine
Kit Carson
Mighty Trucks Of Midnight
Soul Of A Man
Great Big Love
One Of The Best Ones
Somebody Touched Me
Cry Of A Tiny Babe
Actions Speak Louder
Indian Wars
When It's Gone, It's Gone
Child Of The Wind

Fat City: Shawn Colvin
Polaroids
Tennessee
Tenderness On The Block
Round Of Blues
Monopoly
Orion In The Sky
Climb On (A Back That's Strong)
Set The Prairie On Fire
Object Of My Affection
Kill The Messenger
I Don't Know Why

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: Pavement
Silence Kit
Elevate Me Later
Stop Breathin
Cut Your Hair
Newark Wilder
Unfair
Gold Sounds
5-4=Unity
Range Life
Heaven Is A Truck
Hit The Plane Down
Fillmore Jive

Bring 'Em All In: Mike Scott
Bring 'Em All In
Iona Song
Edinburgh Castle
What Do You Want Me To Do
I Know She's
City Full Of Ghosts (Dublin)
Wonderful Disguise
Sensitive Children
Learning To Love Him
She Is So Beautiful
Wonderful Disguise Reprise
Long Way To The Light
Building The City Of Light

Sophie Zelmani: Sophie Zelmani
I'd Be Broken
Stand By
There Must Be A Reason
So Good
Always You
A Thousand Times
Tell Me You're Joking
Woman In Me
You And Him
Until Dawn
I'll Remember You
I'll See You (In Another World)

Beautiful Freak: Eels
Novocaine For The Soul
Susan's House
Rags To Rags
Beautiful Freak
Not Ready Yet
My Beloved Monster
Flower
Guest List
Mental
Spunky
Your Lucky Day In Hell
Manchild

Bring It On: Gomez
Get Miles
Whippin' Piccadilly
Make No Sound
78 Stone Wobble
Tijuana Lady
Here Comes The Breeze
Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone
Get Myself Arrested
Free To Run
Bubble Gum Years
Rie's Wagon
The Comeback
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iPhone 11

Apple's latest range of iPhones were announced yesterday. They're faster, more power efficient, with brighter, wider colour range screens... for full specs and prices you can visit your region's Apple website. But really, it's all about the camera(s).

Here's some snippets from Digital Photography Review:

"All three devices offer a standard 12MP camera and a second 12MP ultra wide camera with a 13mm equivalent F2.4 5-element lens, which provides a 120 degree field of view. A new feature uses the ultra-wide camera to show you what's beyond the frame when using the main camera, helping you decide whether to switch to the wider field of view."

"Portrait mode is now available with the wider 26mm field of view, since a depth map can be generated using the main and ultra-wide cameras, and portrait relighting brings a new 'High-Key Light Mono' for high contrast black-and-white portraits that mimic studio lighting."

"The 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max continue to offer the telephoto camera of previous generations. This is also a 12MP sensor paired with a faster F2.0 lens with optical image stabilisation."

"'Night mode' turns on automatically in dim conditions and uses 'adaptive bracketing' to capture and fuse multiple exposures. A new 'Deep Fusion' mode, promised later in the year, captures up to 9 frames and fuses them into a higher resolution 24MP image. Four short and four secondary frames are constantly buffered to ensure short shutter lag, and one long exposure is taken after the shutter press. These are then intelligently combined to produce a blur and ghosting-free high resolution image."

"The front facing 'TrueDepth' camera on all three iPhones have been upgraded, now with a 12MP sensor. It takes 7MP selfies in portrait orientation, but automatically switches to a wider field of view with 12MP capture when you rotate the phone to landscape orientation. Also new is the ability to record slow-motion selfie video clips at up to 120 fps."

I'll conclude with a pertinent comment from LoSPt1

"It's really easy to hate on iPhone 11 Pro simply because of how expensive it is, but if you solely look at the camera technologies used on this phone, you start to realise why compact digital cameras are falling behind phones in terms of sales. No compact cameras are capable of:

— Always on, zero shutter lag HDR with local pixel aligning that introduces far less ghosting artefacts than the traditional image stacking method
— Handheld pixel shift HDR shots
— Handheld long exposure HDR shots (Night Mode)
— 4K 60 HDR video with real time effects being shown in the viewfinder
— Audio zoom during video recording
— Portrait mode with very easy-to-use pseudo aperture control

The iPhone 11 Pro also comes with the best OLED viewfinder of any cameras in the same price range, dual pixel autofocus, and class-leading performance as a mobile phone."
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VII Review

Digital Photography Review has published a comprehensive review of Sony's flagship compact zoom. Snippets follow:

Key Specifications
— 20MP 1"-type stacked-CMOS sensor with phase detection
— 24-200mm equivalent F2.8-4.5 zoom
— 20 fps continuous shooting with autofocus/auto-exposure
— Seven frame, 90 fps 'single burst' mode
— Retractable 2.36M-dot EVF
— 3" touchscreen LCD (flips up 180°, down 90°)
— Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC

Conclusion
The RX100 VII is the most capable pocket camera ever made, both in terms of video and stills. It doesn't seem to offer much over the RX100 VI [but] a vastly improved AF implementation and general usability improvements make the VII easier to operate and enjoyable to use.

The RX100 VII not only has the easiest-to-use autofocus implementation of any compact, it also has the most reliable. Real-time Tracking AF does a great job of sticking to whatever you point the camera at. The silent, fully electronic shutter mode used in bursts introduces little to no rolling shutter. But there's no zooming while AF is engaged. Image quality is excellent in good light, files display pleasing colour and good detail capture.

The RX100 VII takes the speed and AF accuracy/usability of a high-end sports camera and puts it in a body that not only offers an incredibly versatile zoom range, but also fits in your pocket. For parents or travel photographers seeking a camera that will 'just get the shot,' regardless of the distance or movement of the subject, this is a fantastic choice.

Price: £1200
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Pamu Slide Bluetooth Earphones

The Pamu Slide is Pamu's third Indiegogo offering. I went for the 'basic' version, which cost me £45 including carriage. The finished item arrived a week ago (click here for unboxing images), and first impressions are very good.

I am not a lover of earphones, my travelling headphones of choice are the Bose Quietcomfort 35s, but having worn the Pamu Slides for a few 2-3 hour sessions, they are very comfortable, and sit securely in my ears (there is a wide range of alternative size 'buds' provided).

The earphones have touch controls for controlling volume, music playback control as well as activating Siri/Google Assistant. They are IPX6 certified, so should survive sweat and light rain.

The charging case's lid slides back to reveal the storing/charging area. The earphones are held in the correct place by magnets. When removed the earphones automatically pair with one another, and then connect to the device you have paired them with.

The sound is clear and balanced with controlled bass and the stereo imaging is impressive, significantly better than Apple's standard wired earbuds. Unlike many bluetooth earbuds, they are capable of decent volume levels without distorting. I wore the Pamu Slides on a tube trip to London and they were the most comfortable buds I have ever worn. Compared to my Bose headphones, the only thing I really missed was the active noise cancelling, especially when a hen night troupe boarded half-way through the journey.

I don't usually wear headphones to the gym, but they remained comfortable and secure during a 50 minute cardio workout, including running, rowing and cycling. The Bluetooth connection did not drop or glitch.

I haven't had the chance to test the battery life, but current reviews put them at around 9 hours on a single charge, nearly double that of Apple's Airpods. The case supports fast charging of the earphones, 5 minutes in the case provides another hour of playback.

UPDATE: In January 2020, the right earbud stopped functioning. A Google search revealed that I was not the only one with this problem. I tried all the suggested fixes, but no joy. An email to Pamu was eventually replied to, requesting I send a video showing the earbuds being removed from the case. I did this, and they have replied promising to send a replacement pair of earbuds.

UPDATE 2: Received replacement earbuds 5 February 2020... paired up fine. Will add another update if they fail.
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Protein from air

World Economic Forum reports: [edited]

Finnish company, Solar Foods, is planning to bring to market a new protein powder, Solein, made out of CO₂, water and electricity. It's a high-protein, flour-like ingredient that contains 50 percent protein, 5–10 percent fat, and 20–25 percent carbs. It looks and tastes like wheat flour, and could become an ingredient in a wide variety of food products after its launch in 2021.

Solar Foods makes Solein by extracting CO₂ from air using carbon-capture technology, and then combines it with water, nutrients and vitamins, using solar energy to promote a natural fermentation process similar to the one that produces yeast and lactic acid bacteria.

Solein production is not dependent on arable land, rain, or favourable weather. The company is working with the European Space Agency to develop foods for off-planet production and consumption (the idea for Solein began at NASA).

Image source: Kristiana Pinne

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