(site-wide visits since 14/05/2005)
3rd February 2007
My wife's first ever short film, Addition, is shortlisted in the BAFTA 60 Seconds of Fame competition.
If she wins the public vote we'll get to go to the BAFTAs, so please watch it and vote for it if you like it! Thank you.
Our friend Ed also made a film, All These Secrets, which wasn't shortlisted even though it stars me. I blame the sound quality.
15th January 2007
New
sculpture blog added! I plan to be writing there about
polymer clay art in general, and my sculptures in particular. Three entries so far: How I Make Cats, Different Kinds of Polymer Clay and Photographing Small Sculptures.
I have moved my other two blogs, Oolong's
Long Oo and Oolong's
Brain Workings, to this server; please update links to http://oolong.co.uk/oo
and http://oolong.co.uk/ac
respectively.
Incidentally, Cafepress is now doing various other colours of dark
t-shirts - I got my red
Jesus was a Gay Black Hippie Jew t-shirt and blue
t-shirt of Blue Strangeness in the post a couple of
weeks ago, and they're lovely.
25th December 2006
I've moved my entire site over to oolong.co.uk now - if
anyone has any links to anything starting with
http://fergusmurray.members.beeb.net please update them
- just replacing that with http://oolong.co.uk should work.
Oh - and if anyone spots any broken links, missing images or pages
which seem to have older content than they should, please tell me!
Many thanks go to the esteemed Haje
Jan Kamps of Photocritic
fame for hosting and general helpfulness.
22nd November 2006
My ISP managed to lose all my web
site data a few
weeks ago, so I've had to restore from local backups. Twice. So don't
be surprised if you find broken stuff, but do please tell me about it!
Two new applets, made using Processing - Dragoria, another animated 3D
interactive version of the Curlicue
Fractal; and Zoobie,
based on caustics.
Two new blogs, made using WordPress: 'Oolong's
Long Oo',
a general blog about stuff which fascinates me; and 'Oolong's Brain',
an academic blog in which I plan to keep track of my reading and
thinking for the PhD I started last month.
10th June 2006
Two new tea-related pages since the
last note: one about white tea,
one about Darjeeling -
the place, the tea and the way it's made.
Several new critters on the
polymer clay creatures page - I've had quite a few
commissions now, and they keep coming in.
Many new photos on Flickr - this
set from an adventure in the mist-shrouded Holyrood Park; some
pictures of books mainly from an enormous Christian Aid book fair;
photos
from Cramond, including a beautiful old deserted mill; Edinburgh's
Beltane Fire Festival (warning: includes almost-naked
pagans!); some
from Chai Teahouse, for which I am doing the odd bit
of work; lots
more...
Greatly improved my applet Rosaly, using
frame blending. I've also started working on an applet
inspired by Paul Friedlander's light sculptures, which seems
promising but there's plenty to do on it yet.
Added a new poem, On Not Being Bob
Dylan.
26th February 2006
Three new versions of Resonata: The Java 1.5 version, now with sound output;
a Flash version;
and one for mobile phones at oolong.notlong.com,
along with a mobile version of Rosaly.
18th January 2006
Three new things:
I've been working on a new version
of Resonata.
This one now requires a more up-to-date version of Java
than the old one did - I've finally dropped backwards compatibility
with Java going all the way back to around 1.1, and started taking
advantage of some of its newer features. Perhaps most excitingly,
there's now a 'Detach Window' button you can use to make it take up as
much of your screen as you like. The user interface has been
redesigned, several optimisations ought to make it faster, and some
quite major improvements have been made to the model: You can now have
multiple
drivers running, each with a choice of waveforms available. More
improvements to follow in the next couple of weeks, but I'd love some
feedback on this now.
I've also put up a brand new applet - sort of a variant on Trochor, but
not really - built in Processing. It's called Rosaly,
and I love it.
In December I got married again (to the same person), in India. Read my
blog about it, if you're interested: A Jamai
Writes. See also my
India pictures, and pictures
from the wedding ceremony itself.
20th November 2005
Cafepress is finally selling black
t-shirts! Get
your Jesus was a Gay Black Hippie Jew t-shirts now, in
time for Christmas! Or buy this
beautiful abstract design! Or this
thing with flying saucers like on my home page. Be the envy
of
all your friends, etc.
13th November 2005
I've been experimenting with Processing lately
- a sort of simple programming language based on Java and geared
towards digital art and animation. I think I love it. See one of
my first Processing applets, Yinyo, here. It's based on some
animations I made years ago, exploring the idea of the
interplay between Yin and Yang in the Tai Chi symbol.
I've also put up a page about The Hub,
where I currently work, with lots of pictures I've taken there.
16th October 2005
Shopdonkey is
closing down, and my UK shops with it. It's a shame, but such is life.
My Cafepress
shops are still there - Resonata, Jesus was a
Gay Black Hippie Jew, Trigonometry, and the original, perhaps cripplingly
miscellaneous Oolong
Designs.
I've sold a couple of things from each of the former two but I'm still
waiting on the last two. I'm optimistic about the trig shop, but I'll
probably re-do Oolong Designs completely.
In other news, I've added a bunch of my Flickr pictures to the bottom
of the Edinburgh
page, and I've moved
from the beautiful Dean
Village to
a much bigger flat just off Easter Road - also actually a fairly nice
area. Speaking of Flickr, I've also set up a group on the
site
for pictures of caustics,
which is pleasingly getting quite a lot of contributions from other
people. Quite a lot of my mathematical
animations and stills
were inspired by caustics, including many of the ones in the
Trigonometry shop.
18th September 2005
I've started seriously selling my polymer clay creatures
direct from the web site, as well as through a shop in Leith, called
Flux. It's going pretty well so far; I've sold several creatures, and
had a couple of commissions. I'm not exactly on my way to getting rich
like this, but I'm being able to
financially justify the
time and money put into it, which is a good start.
I've also been working on my shops selling t-shirts and things - my UK
mathematical graphics shop has a couple of new designs, and
I've set up separate shops on Cafepress for designs based on Resonata
and trigonometry.
I'm still holding out hope that one of these days people will actually
buy stuff from them!
24th July 2005
I got
married on the 1st of July, I (and my new wife, Padmini)
changed surname to Ray Murray. I took many photos on our honeymoon, and
I have started uploading them to Flickr.
6th June 2005
Have set up a
free forum with InvisionFree.com, to facilitate dicussion of
the things I make. Have started out with topics on my interactive animations, but
feel free to drop by and discuss other stuff.
Also, have a new camera and a Flickr account
to make it easier to share my photography. It might also be worth
mentioning my accounts on Deviant
Art (visual art), Stumble Upon
(links) and of course Everything2
(writing), all of which I've had for a while now.
3rd March 2005
Major updates to the written part
of Resonata, and minor
improvemets to the applet, which now allows the combination of one end
fixed and the other free.
New 3D
animations uploaded - nested glass polyhedra, and some balls
in a bowl, textured using tiles
from NOI, with a water
effect made by using one of my old 2D
animations as a bump map.
Some old, neglected 3D animations also uploaded.
18th February 2005
I have put up a page of pictures of animals which
aren't pets.
I could say 'wild animals', but we're talking bees, beetles, seagulls,
that sort of thing... so, not all that wild really,
let's be honest.
Also, I've had some fun with a big redesign of the Writings page.
Also, Alt-W have
officially confirmed that they're giving me a production grant to
develop Resonata, which
seems worth mentioning. I have told my boss that I'm leaving Scottish Widows; I plan to take
a few weeks off work to develop it - unless I get a better job quicker
than that, in which case I will have to work on Resonata at weekends.
9th January 2005
The
Bunny Mob now have their own page, with several new pictures.
There is also a new dragon
on the Clay Models page.
Also, I now have a
guestbook, which you might like to sign.
11th December 2004
Two new online shops open, just in
time for Christmas:
Buy Jesus
was a Gay Black Hippie Jew merchandise now, before CafePress
decides it's offensive!
Or buy it from ShopDonkey,
if you're in the UK - or get me to buy it and send it to you myself, if
not and you want a black Jesus Was t-shirt.
5th December 2004
Yet another new version of Resonata - now with a choice
of colour schemes!
16th November 2004
Another new version of Resonata, with filled polygons
and a few other little fixes, and improved accompanying text.
8th November 2004
New version of what was my applet Resonome - now called Resonata, a new name to
reflect the size of the developments in it. I have also made a start on
the accompanying text, not yet integrated as well as it should and will
be with the interactive, animated element. See here
for what I still plan to do with this.
I am very interested in getting feedback on this new version, and still
need to know a bit more about what and how people are learning about
waves elsewhere, to help guide its development - suggestions gratefully
received.
4th October 2004
New version of my applet Trochor - very much improved,
with ellipses taking the place of circles, and damping and non-integer
ratios added in. I've also added a lot of explanatory text.
The whole thing ties in nicely with the Resonata;
the maths are closely related to those of the harmonograph, used since
the nineteenth century to provide illustrations of musical harmony.
11th August 2004
Having received a Research
& Development grant to look into developing my applet Resonome into a full-blown
teaching tool (to be called Resonata)
to help people learn about waves and resonance, I am now researching
the use of computers in teaching, and particularly in teaching about
waves. To this end, I would be very grateful if any teachers among you
could fill in this
questionnaire, and anyone who has studied anything about
waves in the last few years could fill in this one.
Thanks in advance! As ever, any other random thoughts can be sent to me
by email.
Also, I have added pictures of the
Highlands, from my recent trip up there (to Glencoe, among
other places).
15th May 2004
Another shop
added - this one with fire
pictures.
Also, I have added a piece about the Greek word logos,
and a series of poems
inspired by my work at Scottish Widows.
7th April 2004
New piece about 3D
scanning added.
6th March 2004
New shop!
In fact, two new shops with five products each (one for mathematical
graphics, one for everything
else). I have discovered a site called ShopDonkey,
which is sort of like CafePress but much smaller, and in the UK. Also,
it sells dark t-shirts, which is nice.
25th February 2004
I have significantly improved the
Java version of Net of Indra,
my big cellular automata project, in preparation for submitting it to
the online exhibition Machinista:
It now has a working reset button, more stable initial conditions,
random fluctuations and a choice of palettes available.
I have also written and linked a piece about English
tea.
28th January 2004
New shop open!
I have opened a CafePress
shop, selling t-shirts, mugs, hats, bags, lunch boxes and a bunch of
other things. Go there now, check it out! Tell your friends!
And please tell me if you have any suggestions for other images of mine
you'd like to see on t-shirts, or whatever.
Also, I've added a piece about sinister Tory leader and former Home
Secretary Michael Howard,
and a review of the raucous Dylan live album Hard
Rain.
15th November 2003
I have started putting links to
local copies of me Everything2 writeups, since the site was down for
some time. The ones with local copies, which originally appeared on E2,
now have 'E2 version' links in brackets after them.
Also, I've added a link to an mp3
of me singing Pub Woman.
8th November 2003
I have put up an account of my
brothers' and my strangely rude-word-laden appearances on Countdown, here, and a review
of the new Belle and Sebastian
album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress.
Both originally appeared on Everything2,
which is currently broken, but I hadn't got round to adding links to
them. I have also given my CV
a much-needed update.
24th August 2003
Alfonso 'The Bunny' Bunniti, a
shady, leporine associate of mine, has joined forces with several other
reprobate rabbits on the clay models
page, to form The Bunny Mob.
I have also added links to my pieces on Everything2 about the Belle and Sebastian albums Tigermilk
and Fold
Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant, and
their former label Jeepster.
2nd August 2003
I have decided that it's time to get
a band together and record
some of these
songs I've been
writing...
Please get in contact if
you might be interested.
Also, I've uploaded a little song-poem I wrote a few years back, about a woman I met in a pub one time...
11th July 2003
Added three new pictures to the
Edinburgh page, added a tiled border and shrank the largest pictures to
be happier on an 800x600 display.
Also added pictures of a
new creature I recently made from Fimo,
Molotov the Dragon.
5th June 2003
Links to two new writeups added - on
Hungarian
Pulis, the breed of dreadlocked sheep-dogs of which Bilbo is a member, and New
Deal, New Labour's grand scheme for reducing unemployment
figures.
23rd May 2003
Major frontpage redesign to
celebrate 10,000th visitor, and to make it clearer that I would like to
sell goods (prints,
CD-ROMs, etc.) and services (private
tutoring, web design
etc.) through this site.
Order your Fergus Murray originals
today!
20th May 2003
Split up old cityscapes page so that
London, Bristol and Edinburgh each have their own
page; added a couple more pictures of Bristol.
3rd May 2003
Added a new writeup about trigonometry, the branch of
mathematics which has inspired most of my graphics.
Also added a link to my latest mathematical plaything, the cellular
automata system known as NOI4
(a co-creation with Mike Lesser) - which for once has very little to do
with trigonometry.
1st May 2003
Added link to a greatly expanded
writeup about Belle
and Sebastian, saying a bit about each of the band's releases.
Also added a page of photographs of Edinburgh,
and a page of tiling spiral patterns,
grown by cellular automata.
7th April 2003
Added a review of the Dylan album Planet
Waves.
5th March 2003
Added a page of my creations in Fimo and Sculpey
(coloured modelling clay)
23rd February 2003
Added photos and my account of the 15th of February peace march.
8th February 2003
Added a piece about carbon,
a song I wrote about Jesus
and a new, C++/OpenGL version of Toroidia
with several added features.
21st January 2003
Added review of Naomi Klein's new
book, Fences
and Windows; also added links to Linux and Mac OS X versions
of my Curlicue Fractal
program, thanks to kozmund
and fuzzie
respectively.
30th December 2002
Added a piece on Camp
X-Ray and its position in international law.
12th December 2002
New pictures of clay sculptures uploaded. Also: Curlicue Fractal page
redesigned; now includes screen shots.
7th December 2002
New
3D version of the Curlicue Fractal uploaded, written in C++.
Includes source code and Win32 executable.
28th November 2002
Added a clutch of new writings - an essay about the
implications of quantum
entanglement, partly extracted from my dissertation; another about
the Curlicue
Fractal; a review of 28
Days Later, and one of the BBC Wildlife series Blue
Planet; a piece about Exponentials;
and a pretty extensive guide to vegan
ingredients, the sort of things you should be able to cook
with if you want to make satisfying vegan food.
5th November 2002
Added a piece about the
USB programming model and another about the classic card game
Family
Business to the Writings
page.
16th October 2002
Shuffled the Writings page around a
bit; added my piece about hidden
variables theories of
quantum mechanics, several recipes and a couple of other things.
22nd August 2002
Added six new pictures to the Fire page; added links to my
pieces about photosensitive
epilepsy and The
Book of Tea.
4th July 2002
Added links to about 18 of my Everything2
writeups to the Writings
page.
16th May 2002
Added new creatures to the Models page.
11th May 2002
Added May
Day 2002 to the Events
page.
29th April 2002
Added Events
page, with pictures from last Octobers'
Peace March,
the Cannabis
Festival 2001 in Brockwell Park and the Cannabis Peace March to
Trafalgar Square, and Glastonbury 1999. The pictures and reports on May Day 2000 and the Cannabis Festival 2000 which
were there already remain.
26th March 2002
Added a page of fire pictures.
There are also a couple of new pictures on the Who
I Am page.
My articles on the Dutch Experience cafe and the Liberal Democrats on
drugs policy are now appearing in the newly-launched Spliff Magazine.
18th March 2002
Added two new pictures to the page
of my models and links to
two pieces I've recently written, on the Liberal
Democrats on Drugs and The
Dutch Experience.
14th March 2002
Added a picture of seagulls above a
cliff in Cornwall to the Landscape/Skyscape
section.
Updated my CV a little, and
added some more writeups
to the Writings page.
27th February 2002
Split Landscapes section in Cityscapes vs Landscape/Skyscape.
24th February 2002
New applet uploaded! Resonome: A resonant loop.
Several links added to the Writings
page, to things I have written on Everything2.
A new picture of me, by Haje
Jan Kamps, added to Who I Am
page.
25th September 2001
Oolong
page added. Links updated.
21st July
Added new Art/Animation and
Reference/Miscellaneous sections to Links
page; updated Who I Am page
with a couple of new pictures.
23rd June
Uploaded Trochor
1.1 and Toroidia 1.1 -
fixed a bug which meant that on certain browsers, they didn't work
properly.
29th May
Uploaded Quadrina
(Quadra 1.1), now optionally rainbow-coloured and with many more
settings to play with.
26th May
Uploaded another interactive
animation, Quadra 1.0.
Moved Politics to the top of my Links
page in recognition of the impending General Election.
Turned 23.
22nd April
Added a bunch of links. I also added
a nice animation of some links at the top of the page a while back.
15th February
Added the second part of the Skywatcher's Guide, on night-time.
14th February
Trochor 1.0
- fun with
trochoids - uploaded. My latest geometric toy.
I've also shuffled the links page around again.
10th February
Dragoric 1.4 uploaded, with a pause button and the option
of looking out for and reporting repetition
(the latter is so far pretty unreliable though).
9th February
Added a whole lot of new links.
8th February
Uploaded a new interactive applet: Toroidia (Adventures in
Toroidal Geometry).
Also added some comments to the code
for Dragoric.
6th February
Dragoric 1.3 uploaded; now with a
'Wipe every n frames' slider.
26th January 2001
Dragoric 1.2 uploaded; another big
leap forward in terms of interactivity.
There is also a new explanatory mathematical piece about it.
And I changed a couple of little things around the site.
20th January 2001
Moved the politics section to the
top of the Links Page, added
Corporate Watch and a couple more political parties, and generally
shuffled things about a little.
Uploaded new version of Dragoric 1.1 with various sliders and buttons.
18th January 2001
Uploaded the new, massively improved
Dragoric 1.0, the
Animated Curlicue Fractal - now has attractive rainbow colours and
added symmetries.
Will keep working on this; it's beautiful now, but it still has a long
way to go.
10th December 2000
Added this page and a few new links.
(site-wide visits since 14/05/2005)