2009 is the third year Sydney has participated in Earth Hour, an annual event where people are asked to switch off their lights (just their lights) for 60 minutes. I've made time lapse movies of the event each year from different locations. 2007 I shot the city from my balcony in Watsons Bay. In 2008 I ventured into Fleet Steps near Mrs Macquarie's Chair near the official Earth Hour function site. Both these shoots were west facing and showed the Macquarie street neons plus the neons on Castlereagh and Elizabeth streets.

The 2007 event was very impressive as many building owners and managers communicated with their tenants to turn their lights off for the hour. Now, this shouldn't be too hard a task really because many buildings have centrally controlled BMS (Building Management Systems). Of course some organisations do have late weekend shifts, especially those who deal with US or European HQs or the NYSE.

2008 was also pretty good.

This year I ventured to the other side of the city to shoot looking east, over Darling Harbour (the body of water, not the tourist destination). I found a great (secret) location, set up the gear and started shooting. Sounds boring? Not at all. I was joined by Chris Larson (Larso) and we both proceeded to 'gar up. Me; Monte Christo A – superb! Larso: Hupman Magnum. Must have been good because he went for another.

Coincidentally an Earth Hour volunteer happened by. The Lars and I were thinking that this year the result was no so great. We saw some lights go off here and there. The major neons were off. Not so we were informed by Sara/Sarah. Best year ever we were informed. More companies participating than ever etc etc.

However The Bond, Australia's first 5 Star Green Rated building was lit up like a Christmas tree. Or so we thought. Because when Earth Hour finished they somehow found even more lights on the top floor, north end to burn up. The Bond is a 5 story low rise on the left side of the shots below. It's right above the light of the harbour beacon which thankfully stayed on all night, unlike a certain passenger vessel with 5 drunk idiots on board that ventured into the main channel without any navigation lights on. Fools!

Below are 4 pix of the event. Now you tell me; based on the fact that Earth Hour is a symbolic event to educate the public and enterprise that even something as simple as flicking a light switch off can make a huge difference to global warming, was Earth Hour 2009 a success?

For my money – I don't think so. I think the environment still plays second fiddle to the economy and Earth Hour this year should have tapped that idea ie save money, save the environment, and would have much better buy in.

7.30 PM – 1 hour before the official start

8.25 PM – 5 minutes before the official start (that's a plane, not a UFO)

9.00 PM – The half way mark

10.00 PM – 30 minutes after the official finish

(Technical notes – these images were shot on a Canon 30D using a 10-22mm f/3.5 Canon EF-S lens @ 10mm. Each exposure is 5 secs @ f/8. The ISO was set at 1600. They have all been cropped from the standard 4:3 to 16:9 ratio. Next time, I'd shoot much tighter to retain more image quality at larger sizes)

1. Jobs Are The New Assets – 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now – TIME.

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Rudd ‘slip-up’ creates a ‘shit storm’ | smh.com.au.

So after reading this story I’m confused; it’s OK to quote someone (PM or mere mortal) using an expletive in print/online. But on live TV that’s a no no?

For fuck’s sake! The world’s going to hell in a hand basket and ‘shit storm’ hits the fan! It’s probably the most honest thing a politician has ever said.

In the same edition of the SMH, channel 10 canned a pole dancing troupe from appearing on ‘Australia’s Got (Dubious) Talent’ even after long consultation with the troupe over costuming, performance and music. One can only wonder how many times the producers and rest of the male crew had the girls audition before they came to their ridiculous ultra conservative decision. And I bet not one of them handed over so much as a fiver for the privilege.

The skill and stamina involved in pole dancing rivals that of Olympic athletes. I’m glad the girls aren’t on AGT – they are far better than any of their B-grade, wanna be, street performing competitors. I think pole dancing should be in the Olympics as part of the gymnastics.

Archibald Prize 2009 | NEWS.com.au.
Well the Archibald had been run and won for another year. I’m pretty sure that at this year’s announcement Mr Capon would have said something like, ‘It was another stellar year and the decission of the judges was the hardest to make yet.’ But I think he would have been telling porkies. A look at this year’s finalists is not awe inspiring at all. Not one of them makes me want to run out and start painting. 

Of course Mr Capon is a man of great honour so he may well have been far more diplomatic than I, and perhaps talked about the struggle of the artist in the realm of portraiture through the worst financial crisis in living memory.

And perhaps the artists had the same thought as they were plying their craft. Perhaps paying the rent, buying more oils and canvas or food was at the forefront. I know it is for a lot of people.

Maybe the quality of art can be completely equated to the state of the stock market. Maybe creativity in the fine arts ebbs and flows at the whim of the Dow Jones or ASX. They’re both like tumours – all invasive to every aspect of our lives no matter if we’re investors, spectators or blissfully unconscious and unaware of them.

This is an interesting interview with a guy who has given up everything (all his directorships, anyway) to campaign against Howard in his seat of Bennelong.
His idea is simple; Howard has put the environment last for 11 and a half years, now put Howard last next Saturday. He is not advocating any party, he isn’t even against the Liberal party, just Howard. Will be interesting to see if he makes any impact.

Download 702_071116_0844.m4v

There was a line by an actor (who I can’t recall) in a movie (which I can’t remember) who said (something like): “The criminal mind is far superior to the ordinary.” And if you believe hackers are criminals then this article from Wired proves it.

The guys who invented the copy protection for Blu Ray and HD DVD must be pissed now the genie is out of the bottle. Thing is, at the end of the day you wind up with a 9GB data file. That’s going to take about a week to download. And the crack itself requires some pretty serious teck skills to do. But it won’t be long before some 16 yo kid build a cross platform app to get teh job done. It’ll probably be free, too.

Link: Gadget Lab – Wired Blogs.