Geeks, Games and Greatness Podcast - Episode 4

Your next installment of the Podcast is here! In which we talk about Doctor Who, Horse Riding, AFDA, Animation, GeoCaching, South African politics, Microsoft Surface tablets and privacy on the internet.

As you might have noticed, we're playing around with the name. If you have a suggestion for us as to what it should be, please leave us a comment, get hold of us on twitter (@OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m) or drop us a mail (oddcastblog@gmail.com)

So have a listen, share it around and tell us what you think :)

Thanks,
-Odd

Big Brother Inc.

According to a new study performed by Krux Digital, in the last year there has been a huge surge in the number or companies and services that are following you around the Internet.

Finding out what you do on the Internet is a massive business now and you are the product. Does that freak you out a little? It should. According to the Krux Digital study, the number of companies tracking you on “popular” sites has nearly doubled in the last year and the number of “data collection events” has risen 400% in the same period.

So what is all that information being used for? Who’s checking out what we’re doing? Well… that’s just the thing: We don’t know. You are not asked if you want to give the information, it is just taken. You are not asked if you are ok with them selling the information, it’s just sold. You are not given any warning about what sites or services are tracking you or what information they’re gathering. That should trouble you, it certainly troubles me.

It is, however, not all doom and gloom. The Internet is full of smart people (as well as trolls and cats) and they are aware of the problem – The smart people… the trolls and cats would not be of much use in this instance. So if this post has got you thinking, then I suggest you head over to TED and watch a video by Gary Kovacs. He will explain the situation, give you some tools to track the people that are tracking you and offer some suggestions on how we can work against this worrying trend.

One of the major powers of the Internet is it’s anonymity. That can get irritating when we have to deal with the trolls, but ask an Egyptian or Chinese citizen about how important it is and you will see that we need to be very careful about how we let the Internet develop.

-Odd

“If you stare long into the abyss, the abyss states back into you” – Friedrich Nietzsche

OddCast - Episode 3 - Storm Awesome

Here be the 3rd installment of the OddCast featuring our first ever guest: Storm Awesome. We chat about music, live shows and the industry in South Africa, photography, TV shows..... and also nipples.

WARNING: This podcast contains adult language and massive tangents :WARNING

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You can (as always) get hold of us on twitter @OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m or email OddCastBlog@gmail.com

Storm Awesome can be found EVERYWHERE on the internet:

www.facebook.com/StormAwesomePhotography

www.facebook.com/StormAwesomeDrummer

www.twitter.com/#!/StormAwesome

www.myspace.com/548172902

www.overtone.co.za/musician/stormawesome

http://za.linkedin.com/pub/storm-awesome/1a/42b/55

http://www.skillpages.com/drummer-percussionist+johannesburg-south-africa+storm.awesome

https://talent.me/storm-thomas

www.reverbnation.com/stormawesome

His bands are here:

www.energyrelated.co.za

www.jennasighed.com
www.facebook.com/thecarnies

www.facebook.com/DeathValleyBluesBand

And his sponsor Music Mate:

www.musicmate.co.za

The Savage Adam

In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of podcasts and I’m always on the lookout for new ones. I recently found out that the MythBusters have a website (Tested.com) which has a very cool podcast that unfortunately doesn’t have either Jamie or Adam as contributors.

There is, however, a new podcast on there: The as-yet untitled Adam Savage podcast. This man is absolutely fascinating and a huge inspiration to me. Listening to the first few episodes, I think I have figured out what makes Adam different from the rest of us.

Case in point: There is another inspiring man called Theo Jansen, an artist (for lack of a better term) who creates the most amazing moving sculptures (or artificial life) called Strandbeest. If you haven’t seen them, then you should really check out some of the videos… he’s incredible.

Most of us, when looking at Jansen’s work, are awed and inspired… but then we go on about our day with little change. Adam Savage on the other hand goes so much further. He’s apparently already got all the materials stacked up in the back of his workshop… waiting for him to have a little spare time to put one together himself.

I couldn’t conceive the complexity involved in building one… but he wants to build one with a saddle and peddles to drive around. Wow. Sugoi.

He’s also a collector of collections: everything from R2D2s to Katana to movie props. As a big collector of “junk” myself, this is hugely comforting. So there’s my little bit of inspiration for the week. Enjoy.

-Odd

“I reject your reality and substitute one of my own.” -Adam Savage

The Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad Pun of the Opera is Heeeeerrreeeeee

So now that Odd is back to posting regularly, I've decided that I need to fall back off the wagon too. But today, I don't have a stream of words to amaze and amuse you, but rather a collection of punny pictures I've made over the last little while. Please remember, I'm not saying these are funny, just punny.

 - Ian

The OddCast: Episode 2

Here is the second episode of The OddCast, in which we discuss Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, old PC games, Evolution, Creationism, E3, Anime, TV shows, ICON and assorted other randomness... also monkeys.

WARNING! This Podcast may contain a bunch of spoilers and swearing. 

You have been warned.

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Please let us know what you think in the comments below or you can drop us a mail at OddCastMail@gmail.com or find us on twitter @OddModlin and @I4n0fD00m

America showing a trend against evolution

Last week saw the death of Professor Phillip Tobias, arguably South Africa's foremost scientist and a world renowned expert in the field of palaeoanthropology. He was a giant of the academic scene and he will be greatly missed by his family, colleagues, students and thinking people the world over. 

At the same time as this great man was leaving us, The Gallup Group released the results of a survey asking the American public if they believed in evolution. The results are shocking... or at least they should shock you.

The results show a marked increase in the number of people who disbelieve evolution. Not just those who believe that evolution happened with God guiding the process. No. There is a rise of the number of people who believe in Intelligent Design. Against all evidence, argument and rationality there is a growing number of people who would forsake science for religion.

This is terrifying to me. The USA is still the ruling power of the world and it is sliding more and more towards a willfully ignorant and uneducated population.

I simply don’t understand how anyone can ignore such a huge body of evidence with such ferocity.

-Odd

"...evolution is not a religious tenet, to which one swears allegiance or belief as a matter of faith.. It is a factual reality of the empirical world. Just as one would not say "I believe in gravity," one should not proclaim 'I believe in evolution." - Michael Shermer

The SKA

For those of you who didn't hear, the announcement for who will host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) was a while ago. The two big contenders were South Africa (with other African partners) and Australia.

In true committee style, it was decided to go for a compromise and give it to us both. >.< This may sound like a disaster, but while it complicates the management of the project - it doesn't really have any effect on the science.

The SKA is made up of many smaller radio telescopes and will use essentially two different set-ups. There will be a medium-frequency  array (hosted mostly in Africa) and a low-frequency array (hosted in Australia). The two arrays would have been technically distinct from one another even if only a single country had won the bid.

The South African portion of the SKA will be mostly in the Northern Cape, but installations will also be done in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Ghana, Madagascar and Mauritius.

It's nice to see an international scientific project happening in Africa, and I just hope that it doesn't get bogged down or disrupted by politics - either international or internal.

You can find out more about the SKA at their website: http://www.skatelescope.org/

-Odd
"ET phone home"


P.S. I've added a download link to the PodCast post below... as I know I prefer listening to my 'casts in my car rather than streaming, and I'm sure you do too.

The OddCast - Episode 1

We've got some exciting news! We've started a podcast. Yes, instead of having to read our random ramblings, you can now listen to us instead.

So here is the first of many OddCasts, in which we discuss DnD Next, Dragon X, The Zombie Apocalypse, Game of Thrones, Settlers of Catan and get attacked by cats.



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This is obviously our first attempt at this medium and we found a few challenges, both technically and personally but I'm sure we will improve immeasurably in the weeks and months ahead. So please give us a comment on what you thought.

You can get hold of us on Twitter @OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m or you can email us at OddCastMail@Gmail.com.

Thanks for listening :)
-Odd

"Social media is like a snowball rolling down the hill. It's picking up speed. Five years from now, it's going to be the standard." - Jeff Antaya, chief marketing officer of Plante Moran