Heavy harmony: Nell plays guitar in her studio. Photo: Penny Lane

Nell does not, at first, seem anything like a rock chick. Daily Zen meditation, committed yoga practice and a heartfelt email sign-off that reads "forever joy" are integral, telling parts of her life, personality and art-making.

Yet there she is in a video from this year's Mona Foma music festival in Hobart, riding along on the back of a truck, ripping into an electric guitar, down on her knees and throwing her head of tussled blond hair around to AC/DC's It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll).

She's there with a whole bunch of other pretty tough-looking rock chicks as well as the original bagpipers who did it for AC/DC's legendary film clip of the classic anthem in 1975.

Nell's imagery for Romance Was Born at NGV.

Nell reveals that she is actually such a bone-fide rock chick that she went to the trouble of tracking down those bagpipers for the Hobart performance. They were thrilled, and it shows in their playing just as the thrill Nell gets from hard rock cannot be denied as she thrashes away on her guitar.

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It seems, at first, impossible to connect these two parts of Nell who does not use a surname yet here she is, bright, calm and besotted with rock 'n' roll as much as she is by being in the moment with her breathing and being. She's a visual artist whose work is not only made to the sound of rock music (she has three iPods full of the stuff),but is also deeply informed with and reflective of that music scene.

Here in her South Sydney studio, Nell pulls out catalogues from some of her past exhibitions and they look for all the world like the covers of AC/DC vinyl albums from the 1970s and 80s. There's even the worn circular outline of the album showing through the sleeve thanks to her clever artistry.

How does she bridge her two worlds? Aren't they galaxies apart? "Not for me," she laughs. "I'm just making work about what I love and what I do. The possibility for not feeling that egotistical sense of self is there when you're meditating or when you are rocking out or truly listening to music. That's what I love. It slows down the tide of mental garbage.

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Rock-chick artist loves meditation, Zen and AC/DC

U.S Navy photo by Michelle L. Gordon

The Air Force 579th Medical Group prepared for a potential pandemic influenza outbreak during a medical exercise that culminated with a Central Point of Dispensing (CPOD)/Shot Exercise (SHOTEX) October 1 at the chapel on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB). During the CPOD/SHOTEX, nearly 1,000 active-duty service members, DOD civilians, retirees and dependents were vaccinated against the seasonal influenza.

During a medical exercise that culminated Oct. 1, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) prepared for a potential pandemic influenza outbreak.

JBABs Training and Readiness Division, and the Air Forces 579th Medical Group (579 MDG) led the exercise and the JBAB Installation Training Teams scenario development.

For the past two weeks, weve been conducting an exercise which prepares us to deal with a [potential] novel strain of pandemic flu, said Air Force 1st Lt. Zvi Gruenspecht, medical readiness officer for the 579 MDG.

When a new flu emerges somewhere in the world, it can pose a significant public health threat. In 2009, we saw that happen with H1N1 and theres obviously concern with Avian Influenza, H5N1, where you have flu suddenly working its way through the population worldwide. People get sick, no one has the immunity, and we need to treat or vaccinate huge numbers of people very quickly, Gruenspecht said.

One of the primary objectives of the exercise was testing local and regional communications between the public health emergency preparedness systems at JBAB, the Naval District Washington, 79th Medical Wing, and Air Force District of Washington.

It was the joint operations and communications between the various commands that was one of the two priorities of the exercise, said Tim Trammell, JBABs training and readiness officer.

Trammel continued, The other priorities were to prepare or update plans for a large public health concern, train new personnel in mass vaccination procedures and exercise the plans, execution of the plans for both the newer folks and those who have participated in a prior mass vaccination exercise.

He added, We accomplished all of this during our initial portion of the exercise, then completed it when we provided free flu shots and mist to a large number of people. Of course, the flu shots simulated other vaccinations that may be given for a pandemic situation.

Excerpt from:
Excercise tests Joint Base medical readiness

The Experience People movement has arisen out of a social network app developed by New York-based startup Dooble. Its driving aim is to promote the concept of digital enlightenment and help wean modern society off its addiction to all things digital.

Serial entrepreneur Brian M. Hiss is taking a road trip across the United States in his van, with the aim of promoting what he calls the Digital Enlightenment Movement. Key to this, he believes, is (re-)learning how to get away from our digital tools and experience people. Along the way, Hiss is talking to lots of people about how we can stop digital having a negative effect on our social lives and humanity. This is not about banning modern information and communication technology, but we do need to avoid getting addicted, argues Hiss. Regarding the Dooble app, he explains: I set up Dooble because there was no social network in existence that allowed you to switch from online to offline. The app, designed to provide New Yorkers with curated content on experiences in their city they should go out and try embodying the Hiss philosophy of using digital to enhance real-world experiences is due to launch in other US cities soon. He sees Dooble as a way for hyper-connected people digital natives to revive their interest in having real-life encounters.

As Hiss pursues his evangelical mission across the US, he is accompanied by a team making a documentary intended to spread the word about Digital Enlightenment using a lot of electronic equipment. If this seems like a paradox it is not the only one, since Hiss is himself a tech buff. He is nevertheless determined to point out the negative social consequences that ICTs can have if not used sensibly and with moderation. He encourages digital natives to put their phones down, get out and experience the real world. For those who currently spend 40 minutes a day on Facebook the average in the United States Hiss suggests people wean themselves off their addiction little by little, cutting the time spent on posts, comments and likes to 20 minutes, which would free up a total of hundreds of hours a year for other activities. During his 20+ city trip, he is meeting people from the tech sector, startup founders and venture capitalists. From his native NYC he has so far travelled via Detroit, Toronto, Nashville and many other tech hubs and will finish this month with a run down through Silicon Valley via San Francisco and San Jose, ending in San Diego.

The Digital Enlightenment movement and its Experience People tour is, inter alia, an opportunity for Brian Hiss to forge local agreements and get Dooble better known. Hiss is in fact very well-known in the New York startup world. He was Chief Operating Officer of the Eats.com restaurant guide, which was later acquired by online ordering website delivery.com, before launching Dooble, already his eighth entrepreneurial adventure. His prominence in the tech world gives him considerable credibility in his mission to help people disengage somewhat from digital technology. What the tech pioneer is taking issue with is US Americans voracious use of technology and social networks, which he reckons swallow up too much time and commitment. Were over-consuming technology right now. Technology should aid the experience, not be the experience, he stresses. And although very few people would nowadays dispute the fact that digital technology has benefitted our well-being, often in surprising ways, Hiss still argues that technology will always lack human values.

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Digital Enlightenment through an App and a Road-Trip