I am currently collaborating with Strawberry Holiday, a fellow Second Life friend and creator, as the soundscape designer for H. Pearberry on an upcoming Android word alchemy app called - Tonic5.

It's an exciting development for me with many of the same restrictions found when making sounds for virtual worlds: file size restrictions, compression restrictions and duration restrictions etc but with a much larger audience plus new devices and new discoveries to be made. I'll keep you posted.

I recently turned on, tuned up and restarted my ancient unused Twitter account in extra well advanced preparation for getting news out about my book 'How Money Works'. Social web stuff is everything so I am told.

I can't and won't have a Facebook account so Twitter comes romping in the lesser of two all pervading weevils as Jack Aubrey would say, which, I am well aware, is as near as not recommending something as you can get while still talking about it.

I also refuse to pledge allegiance to any of the new feudal web lords who are in danger of owning our world under their claustrophobic cloud of convenience- Apple, Google, Adobe, Microsoft et al- so on both my Macbook and my Linux Mint PC I required a way of watching and posting to Twitter that didn't involve renting an app from the Apple App Store and wasn't reliant on Apple's beneficence for my continued use and ownership.

This is no easy task. Most of the better Applications are moving to the App Store lemminguously.
I won't bore you with reams of words comparing Twitter clients as this information is available all over the web; I will however point out a couple of regular shortcomings of many of the apps available if you too choose not to be beholden to the new feudal lords and would rather directly and fully support the work of an independent creative at a level that suits both people.

I would have gone with Hibari as both the design philosophy and implementation is well worthy of support, plus I loved the app after downloading it from the web for a free trial, but Hibari is in the process of transmigrating to the Apple App Store. Aagh and Bah!
Even so the Hibari web site is well worth a visit; colours, graphics, philosophy, quite lovely.

Most of the other independent apps as far as I can be bothered to see (so not an in depth review of all the apps then... ed.) use Adobe Air which I have had on my system and don't want again; to much, too unnecessary, to updatey, too Adobe.

So I was stuck.
Then I stumbled across Twitbin which exists as free donation ware app (if you like it you can donate money) and more importantly exists as an Add On for Firefox- so no app store, yay...

Twitbin is great.
Twitbin is installed and linked up to my Twitter account in an efficient second or two.
$5 sent to the developer.
Happy. Happy.
No cloud, no feudalism.

I've been adding and subtracting like a dervish on Moongold so take a look. A couple of new pages and lots of changes, it must be spring. Tah Dah...

I've started to put out information on my recent writing, slightly nervously it must be said and maybe even slightly prematurely, but here goes, it's a statement of intent - How Money Works.

I have totally re-done my Silver Surfer page; so much to say etc etc.

I have added a Sounds page to reflect a renewed interest and purpose in sound making inspired by my involvement in sounds for an upcoming Android game.

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Love Film.
Love Film who haven't got a chance of selling me a subscription but it's nice to see you ))

I just had a knock on the door and what I thought at first glance were Jehovahs Witnesses turned out to be from Love Film. Lovely people who brought sunshine with them. Nice to meet you guys.

I recommended they take a look at Biutiful directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. So should you. The most profound and affecting film that ever made you cry. Twice.
It's subtitled, if you don't speak Spanish. Don't let this bother you.

I also suggested they use Duckduckgo instead of Google. So should you.

Just, wow, on so many different levels.

The creation and making of the instruments. The re-cycling and beauty of the people, instruments and music. The sound and community and delight of the orchestra.

How can so many governments and states continue to deny that all people might be helped by their monetary systems and governing communities to be what they are capable of being, in their souls, as a positive and contributory part of a modern, loving economy.

How can we continue to assert that value is only value when it can be counted economically.

As the most patient of my friends and relatives will bear witness I am in the throes of writing a book about money tentatively entitled 'How Money Works'.

During my research and reading over the last couple of years I have delved into and read at length any number of different books, blogs and tomes, all of which have moved my research on a little or shown me new directions to explore. There has only been one traditional economics text book among that lot, very boring, and very little to do with money.

This traditional economics dry spell has continued right up until now when I am delighted to say that I have discovered an amazing little book called 'Economics of the Real World' written by Peter Donaldson and published by Pelican Books in 1973. 

Peter Donaldson read philosophy and economics and graduated from Oxford in 1956. He lectured at Leeds, Leicester & Nottingham; with the Workers Educational Association; at Osmania University in Hyderabad; for Ruskin College, Oxford; and finally did a considerable amount of broadcasting which is where we come in.

This little book came out of a joint publication between Pelican and the BBC and so far seems to be an absolute gem for the non-professional searcher for economic knowledge. That'll be me and you.

I am considering quoting a large part of the first two pages of the book in my preface. Peter speaks with my scepticism, some of my passion, but with more knowledge, so as to briefly and succinctly describe economics in as small a nutshell as you are ever likely to find.

I confess I'm only up to page 33 as I write but it seemed appropriate to break off and post about Peter Donaldson's wonderful little book - 'Economics of the Real World'- this link will take you to Amazon's secondhand section and if you buy I will receive a minuscule percentage of your purchase in a long while.

If you do, you won't regret it.  If you do, thank you. 

PS - This is the only economics book I have come across where you encounter the sentence: "Households, on the other hand, are the places where people live, eat, drink and ,ake love."


Peter Donaldson (27 October 1934 – 6 September 2002)

I developed a passion for using fountain pens sometime last year that is both a delight and a continuous itch. And the process of seeking out the 'best' pen started. My first new purchase was a beautiful Lamy Nexx in aluminium and orange, beautifully made and reasonably if not cheaply priced that wrote like a dream. Smooth and easy, thick ink line, seamless ink flow - lovely.

What more could one ask for.

Having the perfect pen wasn't enough though and various Ebay searches pulled up an increasing amount of awesome, interesting, old, strange and expensive pens for me to browse through; so much so that ones enthusiasm becomes slightly blunted, even.

Eventually my second fountain pen purchase was a Reform 1745, NOS (New Old Stock) in green and black with an inbuilt resevoir and built-in piston filler from Ebay seller bigeddiephotography -most excellent service btw.

The nib of the 1745 is an Iridium item. This is ranked as being better than not being Iridium by those that know about these things. The piston filler, a little built in twist cap on the end, works faultlessly. The pen holds loads of ink. There is a little clear section in the pen so that the quantity of ink can be easily seen, nice. The Reform is a delicate pen in the hand, easy to write with for long period and comfortable for even big (ish) hands. The cap screws on, this I like tautologically both for certainty and for sureness. And there is a simple level of detailing and a quality of finish that far exceeds the Reform's purchase price.
But in writing, the only test one might say, the writing experience of the 1745 was ever so slightly scratchy and a little ... rough even, after the Lamy. Still perseverance persevered and ...

Now, after a few months I find the Reform is my go-to pen. I like the sound and feel of writing. Thin sound, thick sound, different grips on paper, all movement has a certain Reform sound and feel to it which I value and enjoy. The scratchy has transmogrified into tactile feedback, which I enjoy.
The nib also has a definite spring in it's step, a little flexibility, that allows for a flourishing variety to the line width, and my writing with the 1745 has become undeniably more expressive and interesting.

The Review experience will vary a great deal with the ink you use. This is something I'm only just getting to grips with, for instance Diamine Asa Blue is smooth and lovely all the time in a Review where as Diamine Damson just won't flow regularly or sometimes at all in the Review so I use it in a different pen. I have a Parker Frontier which just loves Damson, can't get enough of it.

Rough and noisy is the new perfect.
Different pens suit different inks.

Another more conventional review of the 1745 here.

My favourite ink is Diamine. Made, nay Manufactured in England since 1864.
The colours are perfect. The price is perfect. The size of bottle-v-price is perfect. Perfect.

My favourite pen and pen supplies supplier in the U.K. is Cult Pens.
Astonishingly good service or exactly the service you can easily come to expect.

Here's the second of my walk, talk, photograph videos. The aim is to show all the pictures I take over a short walk and commentate over them my thoughts and motivations at the time, as remembered. 
This time I am using a tripod for all the pictures, it gives a different aesthetic and slows down the process considerably. There is more consideration and thinking space. It also helped this time as the mist and low light levels meant longer exposure times, not such a problem with digital as with film.
I am aiming to enjoy a moments photography and being in a landscape and not actually looking for anything special or searching for a killer photograph. My style and taste is for small scale and intimate personal interpretations of spaces I am in. More often than not, if I am in a good place, I do take one picture that really works for me. Always an exciting moment. On this walk I immediately recognised that picture and took almost a snap, without setting up the tripod properly, lovely.
Enjoy and comment, it's a pleasure hearing from people.