ASFO 2022–10–08

You too can receive propaganda by mail! Whatever else I originally meant to talk about, I got distracted by Green hypocrisy and disingenuousness, in Ireland (where ten people were killed in the accidental explosion of a petrol station), in British Columbia (where the government recently announced ambitious “climate targets”, in conjunction with the Pacific Coast states of the USA, despite its continued pursuit of an immense and economically questionable gas scheme), and elsewhere. Also I mention how my uncompromising committment to whatever–this–is attracted the attention of some very serious law enforcement types. And in the last couple of minutes I start talking about emigration to space settlements, which may be the theme of next week’s show.

Supplementary Show

2022–10–14 Some selections from the 1967 Winter number (“Vol 3 No 25”) of Canute, house magazine of “The Nuclear Power Group Limited”, from Knutsford, England. Tidal Power in Tomorrow’s World by TL Shaw, Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, discusses the possible development of the Severn Estuary for power and transportation. Then Doing the Easy Bit… in which an architect identified only as “EJB” discusses the troubles of his job ; and a description of the Hunterston B power station, for which the contract was placed on Friday, October the 13th of that year ― which is to say, 55 years before the date of reading, almost exactly to the day. Hunterston B, a two reactor–station of the AGR type, went into operation in 1976 and was shut down at the beginning of 2022, after a lifetime generation of 287 terawatt–hours. Although it was the third AGR station to be ordered, it entered commercial operation years before the first (Dungeness B) and some months before the second (Hinkley Point B, also built by TNPG).

Bits In Stereo – 2022.10.02

Tracklist

  • Frantzvaag – Goodbye, (link)
  • Latour – People Are Still Having Sex (Ralphi’s Orgasmic Mix), (link)
  • Leftwing & Kody – I Feel It (Original Mix), (link)
  • Daniel Slam – The Love We Feel (Original Mix), (link)
  • Gene Farris – Jackin (Original Mix), (link)
  • Samurai Sam – House the Japanese, (link)
  • Pablo Ferrero – Get Jackin (Original Mix), (link)
  • Sugar Hill – Feeling For You (Sugar Hill & Wasabi Remix), (link)
  • Cerrone – Supernature (Marty Fame & DJ Lvov Remix), (link)
  • Gustavo Reinert – Reality, (link)
  • Mat.Joe – When You Hear That Sound (Original Mix), (link)
  • The Rumours – The Real Shit (Original Mix), (link)
  • Mark Knight, Discoworker & Robbie Leslie – The Diary Of A Studio 54 Dj (Original Club Mix), (link)
  • David Penn – A Different Story (Simon Doty Remix), (link)
  • Rightside & Max Beat – Take Speed (Main Mix), (link)
  • Lovebirds – This Time featuring Novika (Gorge Remix), (link)

Available for download in the archives.

ASFO 2022–10–01

Cheers for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test and the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University! Also, I test the Watermelon Hypothesis (“Green on the outside, Red on the inside”) and find it wanting. In particular, personal experience leads me to believe that life in a solar–powered city would be far more socially unequal, and far less pleasant, than in a nuclear–powered one.

2 Supplementary Shows

Bits In Stereo – 2022.09.25

Tracklist

  • Lee Haslam – Here Comes The Pain (Original Mix), (link)
  • Colin Barratt – Let It Rip (Original Mix), (link)
  • Storm – Time To Burn (Original Mix), (link)
  • Mike Taylor & Digital Mafia – Rave To The Grave (Original Mix), (link)
  • Lisa Lashes – Lookin Good (Original Mix), (link)
  • Britney Spears – Toxic, (link)
  • Roland Kenzo – Love Blind (Manox Remix Edit), (link)
  • Heaven’s Cry – Til Tears Do Us Part (Flash Harry Remix), (link)
  • Hiver & Hammer – 5 Million Miles, (link)
  • 999999999 – 000000005, (link)
  • Basswell – Around, (link)
  • Tiesto & Junkie XL – Obsession (Frank Biazzi Remix), (link)
  • Toro – Universum, (link)

Available for download in the archives.

ASFO 2022–09–24

In which I step outside my usual track and talk about Computers and “AI” for a bit. This is, if anything, a propos of the misguided efforts to tame inflation by depressing wages, when labour productivity has grown much more rapidly than wages since the 1970s, with the result that direct labour costs are a less proportion of the cost of providing goods and services than they ever have been. Also something about a video game and what it implies for our efforts towards space settlement. Maybe next week we’ll have a Double Asteroid Redirect Test or SLS launch to talk about.

A page with the text A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION (as discussed on the show)
This appears to be from 1970s IBM training materials
View of a "claw machine" with a bin of plushies. On the mechanism is the text "MACHINE'S DECISION IS FINAL".
The opposing viewpoint
A desktop with a mailing envelope on which the recipient address has been obfuscated ; some pro-nuclear stickers and pamphlets ; and an accompanying letter
Sample parcel of stickers as mailed to a Reddit user
Supplementary Show

Bits In Stereo – 2022.09.18

Tracklist

  • Goldfrapp – Systemagic, (link)
  • Kormac – Wake Up featuring Bajka, (link)
  • Pretty Lights – I Can See It In Your Face, (link)
  • Gramatik – Hit That Jive (Original Mix), (link)
  • Caravan Palace – Rock it for Me (Defunk Remix), (link)
  • Der Dritte Raum – Swing Bop (Acid Paulis Kosmik Remix), (link)
  • Elmo – Everything New, (link)
  • Nightmares On Wax – You Wish, (link)
  • Back To The Essence – Nu Funk, (link)
  • Hess Is More – Yes Boss (Tensnake Remix)
  • DJ Shadow – Lonely Soul featuring Richard Ashcroft (7 Version), (link)
  • GRiZ – Mr B featuring Dominic Lalli, (link)
  • Ohm Guru – Jazz Brake, (link)
  • Pretty Lights – Drift Away, (link)
  • Apollo 440 – Heart Go Boom, (link)
  • Daft Punk – Doin’ It Right (B-Side remix), (link)

Available for download in the archives.

Notes

I couldn’t find the “Hess Is More – Yes Boss (Tensnake Remix)” online, so no link there. I’m not sure how I acquired that song. If you have an official online source for it, please provide the link and I’ll update this page.