In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.

This is a contender for my ’song of 08′. Before now, I knew the only way to listen to this song – the best from ‘In Rainbows’ IMHO – was with volume set to max and eyes closed. It’s no good listening to HOC softly.

This unique vid requires you to open them. Incredible, unique and fresh as the vid is, the song is still better with eyes closed for me, a bit like the book and the movie.
The movie’s great, but thoughts are more poignant without the visuals.

Checkout Radiohead’s YouTube channel for more detail..

The Court of Arbitration for Sport have ruled against an IAAF ruling to prevent him competing in the Olympics. His personal best time for 400m is 46.5 secs and he needs to run a bit under 46 secs to run an SA qualifying time.

I wrote about his history here

The details of the latest on the ruling:

South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that has given him an Olympic Games lifeline.

The disabled 21-year-old sprinter runs on specially adapted carbon fibre blades after having his legs amputated below the knee.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had banned the 400 metres runner from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage.

However, CAS ruled against the IAAF decision.

“As you can imagine I have been struggling to hide my smile for the past half an hour,” Pistorius told a news conference.

“Now I can definitely say the truth has come out. I have the opportunity once again to chase my dream of the Olympics if not 2008, in 2012.”

After CAS’s ruling, Pistorius’ participation in the able-bodied events in Beijing will depend on him achieving the minimum Olympic qualifying time of 45.95 seconds, or 45.55 if another South African runs less than 45.95.

Pistorius’ personal record is 46.46.

-AFP/Reuters

Video from about a year

From SMH ‘Deadly Dawn breaks in Berowra home):

Daniel Emerson
May 15, 2008 – 12:44PM

Police are investigating whether a woman found dead in Sydney’s north was killed or whether she attacked herself after stabbing her children.
A family friend reacted with horror at the news that the 29-year-old woman had been found dead at Cambewarra Crescent in Berowra Heights about 5am today after reports of a domestic-related incident.

Neighbour Jenny Coombes said she heard a man cry out about 5am.
“I heard someone say ‘help’,” she said. “It was just that one word I heard. You would have thought there would be more noise.”
The woman’s four-year-old and five-year-old daughters were taken to hospital with stab wounds.
The four-year-old is in a serious but stable condition and her sister is stable, a NSW Ambulance spokesman said.
A male family friend who had coached their 31-year-old father as a junior soccer player said he knew of no problems in the marriage.
“[The dead woman was] a lovely girl. She was my son’s first girlfriend,” he said.
“They are terrific kids, they are friendly, bubbly. We’ve got no idea what’s going on. Obviously something’s gone wrong.
“I think you can tell my reaction. Shock. Horror.”
The family friend who arrived at the street about 11.30am confirmed that the dead woman’s mother, Helen Darlington, had been in Queensland, but he believed she was travelling back to Sydney today.
Multiple stab wounds
Ku-ring-gai Local Area commander Craig Rae said the mother was found with multiple stab wounds.
“There were a number of children at the scene also – a nine-year-old male was not injured, a five-year-old female who has minor injuries, and a four-year-old female with some significant injuries.”
He said the woman’s wounds were to her upper body, and the four-year-old had been stabbed in the neck, while the five-year-old had a minor stab wound to her hand. The 31-year-old man was unhurt.
Asked to comment on reports that the woman might have attacked the children before harming herself, Superintendent Rae said: “It’s certainly part of our inquiry.
“We will be keeping an open mind in terms of the investigation. We are obviously at the very early stages of what occurred this morning,” he said.

Officers shaken
Superintendent Rae said officers had been shaken by the bloody scene they confronted.
“I think it is a very difficult situation for all the police. My feelings at the moment are obviously for the three young children who have lost their mother and now we are trying to speak to family members and provide support and counselling for them,” he said.
Superintendent Rae said he was unable to rule the 31-year-old male in or out as a suspect at this stage.
He said the nine-year-old boy was with his father. He said he believed all five people in the house at the time were related.
‘Normal, happy family’
Mrs Coombes, 69, said she knew of a young family who had been lodging with a relative in the part of the street where the death occurred.
Mrs Coombes said a neighbour in her 60s had told her a few months ago that her daughter and family were moving in with her.

“She told me that her daughter was moving with her husband and three little kids to stay for a while. She was very happy about that.

“They were trying to save money to move to Queensland.”
Mrs Coombes said she believed the neighbour was in Queensland to assist another daughter due to give birth.
Mrs Coombes said she believed a grandson of the neighbour, aged about eight, was also part of the lodging family.
“They are normal, happy,” she said. “Isn’t it awful? Good heavens.”
A woman in her 60s arrived about 8.15am and asked reporters: “Which house is it?” before approaching police.
The woman then began sobbing loudly and was led by police to a house.
Her car, which had been left idling in the middle of the road, had to be moved by a policewoman. Another younger woman arrived at 8.30am and spoke briefly to police before driving away in tears.
A male neighbour in his mid-60s, who did not want to be named, said the woman’s death was totally out of character for the street.
“It’s very pleasant here, there’s plenty of bush,” he said.
“People don’t live in each other’s pockets, but it’s very quiet and very pleasant.”
The neighbour said he had seen the children playing in the street and he believed the older son was aged in his early teens.
Another neighbour driving away from her house said: “We are absolutely shocked and devastated [at the death].”
- with AAP
video

How good was that!

Here are the lyrics for Business Time:

Aww yeah
That`s right baby.
Girl, tonight we`re gonna make love. You know how I know, baby? `Cause it`s Wednesday. And Wednesday night is the night that we make love. Tuesday night`s the night that we go and visit your mother, but Wednesday night is the night that we make love. `Cause everything is just right conditions are perfect. There`s nothing good on TV. Conditions are perfect. You lean in close and say something sexy like, “I might go to bed I`ve got work in the morning.” I know what you`re trying to say baby. You`re trying to say, “Oh, yeah. It`s business time. It`s business time.”

It`s business.
It`s business time.
That`s what you`re trying to say you`re trying to say let`s get down to business it`s business time.

It`s business.
It`s business time.
Next thing you know we`re in the bathroom brushing our teeth. That`s all part of it, that`s foreplay. Then you go sort out the recycling. That`s not part of it but it`s still very important. Then we`re in the bedroom. You`re wearing that ugly old baggy t-shirt from that team building exercise you did for your old work. And it`s never looked better on you.

Oh, team building exercise `99.

Oh, you don`t know what you`re doing to me.
I remove my jeans but trip over them `cause I still got my shoes on. But I turn it into a sexy dance.
Next thing you know I`m down to just my socks and you know when I`m down to just my socks what time it is?it`s time for business. It`s business time.

It`s business.
It`s business time.
You know when I`m down to just my socks it`s time for business that`s why they call it business socks.

It`s business.
It`s business time.
Oh.
Ooh, makin` love.
Makin` love for two.
Makin` love for two minutes.
When it`s with me you only need two minutes, `cause I`m so intense. Two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven. You say something like, “Is that it?” I know what you`re trying to say. You`re trying to say, “Aww yeah, that`s it.” Then you tell me you want some more. Well I`m not surprised. But I`m quite sleepy.

It`s business.
It`s business time.
Business hours are over. Right, right.

It`s business.
It`s business time.

Brilliant ad – so, so true.

I wanted to share something from his latest post regarding ‘fire-fighting’ which is a trap we all get caught in, in many spheres of our lives. This has been a struggle I’ve had in every job I’ve had.

Do you have a plan?

A long or medium term plan for your brand or your blog or your career or your project?

You can have grand visions for remodeling your house or getting in shape, but if there’s a fire in the kitchen, you drop everything and put it out. What choice do you have? The problem, of course, is that most organizations are on fire, most of the time.

Add up enough urgencies and you don’t get a fire, you get a career. A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along.

I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today’s emergencies. Break them into steps and give them deadlines. Measure your people on what they did today in support of where you need to be next month.

Spot on! Working in fire-fighting mode is laborious and no fun at all. Set long term objectives, break them up into 100-day plans and measure, correct and implement. The trick is not to get ‘buy-in’ but rather staying the course – Our bosses are always keen on the idea, but they’ve got deadlines, and need xyz at the next meeting etc – it’s not an easy juggling act by any means!

Read the full post here
And his blog here