Disinfecting people and surgical tools has always been quite a difficult thing to get right because bacteria are everywhere. Outside of a hospital it can even be harder, but now we may have found the answer in the form of a flashlight.
Continue reading Bzzt…Disinfecting the World with a Flashlight
Some Background
Following John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s marriage in March 1969, the couple embarked on a campaign for peace from their hotel beds, beginning in Amsterdam and moving on to Montreal. In addition to the bed-ins, the campaign involved sending acorns during April to world leaders to symbolise peace, hoping that they would plant them. In the spring of 2009, Yoko again sent acorns to world leaders in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the acorns sent in 1969. In that same spirit, Joan Athey sent copies of this book to world leaders, including Prince Charles and President Obama.
Continue reading Give Peace a Chance – John & Yoko’s Bed-in for Peace: A Review
It’s the 8th of April 2012 and ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ has just become the first album by a female rap artist to chart at number one in the United Kingdom, and on its debut too. Just as ‘Starships were meant to fly’, so it seems, was Nicki Minaj. Racetrack rhymes dipped in a form of chaotic genius (never mind the occasional odd peculiar noise), this is a woman that tightly fastens a new meaning to the word ‘rap’ – accompanied with ribbons, rainbows and an acid high that would make Liam Gallagher ditch the credit card and pipe. As eccentric and inventive as Gaga, Minaj is a woman that can emulate the unpredictability and entertainment value of bigger names – but without taking herself too seriously.
July 2007 saw the release of her first mixtape, a grassroots rap, edgier collection and light-years away from the technicolor trollop her critics accuse her of. New Nicki fans won’t find a vocalist, let alone a popstar on this thing. ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop’ features the already prominent Lil’ Wayne and with other gems like ‘Dilly Dally’, ‘Sunshine’, and ‘I’m Cumin’ – the release was a success, just not commercially. Her further two EPs ‘Sucka Free’ and ‘Beam me up Scotty’ both included Lil’ Wayne again – and the first, an appearance from Lil’ Kim & Gucci Mane on ‘Wanna Minaj?’. Nicki’s a girl who’s had a healthy contacts book from the word go, hardly a ‘starship’ but certainly a metaphorical jetpack.
Continue reading Nicki Minaj: From Jeffree Star to Starships
In the massive mobile phone market, where the war is won and lost on the operating system, it is no real surprise that Microsoft has hit back at market leaders Android and Apple. The release of Windows phone 7.5 mango is certainly trying to fight for marketshare, but has it got it right? Let’s take a look.
‘It’s not about the money, money, money, we don’t need your money, money, money
Just want to make the world dance, forget about the price tag’
I first heard this song as played through the built-in music system of a high-street chain store. The irony was not lost on me, in fact, within the context of the busy store it seemed like an encouragement for customers to forget the ‘price-tag’ of their items and enter into a reckless consumerist spree, buying any item that might aid them in the dance of life.
Continue reading Selling Out – The Question of Moral Integrity in Popular Music
With a rustic sincerity that manages to string country sounds from around the globe, Current Swell have a catalog of sounds that would do most artist’s a creative justice – how could I not make contact? I managed to prise a few answers from Current Swell’s Scott Stanton and dig deeper behind the folksy charm of these Canadian ‘news roots’ lads.
