Sunday July 28
OK, pictures of my recent trip to London are now up. Enjoy, if that's your thing.
In the Observer, Barbara Ellen writes that BIG BROTHER needs a break. For reasons of space, my discussion of this is on a new page.
Anna In Wonderland
features Anna Nolan, a former BB contestant, lesbian, Irish nun. She's travelling the world in search of unexpected experiences. This week, she's looking at the US's obsession with not being gay. The whole thing has a totally surreal quality, and parts of it resemble the best Chris Morris / Armando Iannucci spoof.
Saturday July 27
Friday Five.
1. How long have you had a weblog? Blog as we know it - since August 2000. It's all back at the old Geocities site, if you must.
2. What was your first post about? Whatever it was I'd been doing that day. I haven't the faintest.
3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one? "Weaver's Daybook" at geo up to the end of last year, then "The Snow In The Summer Or So-So" here since the start of this year.
4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else? This is all handcoded stuff. I've thought about Blogger, but that doesn't give the control I want. Movable Type looked promising, but I want to compose these things offline, not on, so that's no good. Greymatter has been mentioned and might be worth investigating, but I'm happy to continue handcoding.
5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Or do you prefer to read people who have all of their writing in one central place? I'm probably going to be shot down here, but I don't think I know of anyone who doesn't concentrate almost everything in one place, whatever they call it.
The sparse guitar solos, the laidback acoustic sound, the sultry vocals. Hot summer nights at Kristin Hersh's Sky Motel
.
Anarchist meme of the day The government is becoming rather obsessed with the "ethnic background" of its subjects. Public bodies are being censured for not attracting enough "diverse" customers. Folk festivals are losing their lottery grunts for not including enough "diverse" (read: African / Carribbean / Indian) entertainment - evidently the flute players of Paraguay don't count to diversity targets.
How to strike back? Well, no one can possibly demand proof of one's ethnicity, as it's something that one defines for oneself. And requesting proof would be horribly politically incorrect, and lay the asker open to all sorts of spoof charges. So, fib. Say that you're Polynesian or Chinese Other or Paraguayan. Or do as I did on last year's census form, and say that you're "Other" and fill in the box as human. If you're a two-headed bug-eyed monster from the planet Gluurg, tick other and describe yourself.
If enough people do this, not only will the net Comedy Value increase at a rate of knots, but the statistics collected will fast become meaningless. And a meaningless statistic is worthless.
Friday July 26
Blimey, it's turned hot all of a sudden. And humid. Not good.
It's International Sysadmin Day. If you’re a good sysadmin, everything works, you sit around and read metafilter all day, your boss notices, and you get fired.
If you’re a bad sysadmin, you’re always fixing some things and breaking others so you’re always doing overtime. So eventually your boss hires people to help you, you become their manager, you let them fix all the stuff you broke, read metafilter all day, but with a higher pay and job security.
The Peter Principle applies.
It's also the grand finale of BIG BROTHER. Full coverage on a separate page. Could this be linked to the above? Read on...
Thursday July 25
Ah, remember the heady days of 1997? After the headrush of Britpop, we were left with a reinvented Blur, an Oasis that was bloated and past their listen-by date, and any number of bands that seemed stuck in a timewarp. Bis would turn out to be one of those bands. Their claim to fame occurred in early 1996, when their demo so impressed Ric Blaxill that he put them on the BBC's TOP OF THE POPS programme, even though they hadn't been signed, never mind got a record into the sales top 40. Back then, TOTP counted for something, and the group was signed and put out a single within weeks. The second album showed their pop sensibilities - Bis were never as glittery and spangly as Kenickie, and lacked the kickass tunes of their Newcastle counterparts. There are worthy tracks here - single Eurodisco leads the way - but overall, it's a bit of a mess.
Wednesday July 24
With July being sales month, and last week being an excuse for a trip to London, I got to make some very cheap additions to my record collection. One of them was Seka 2
, a folk/roots compilation for refugees out of Yugoslavia. (Disk was cheap: the charity's got a sizable wodge to make up the difference.) It's a bizarre record, mixing known quantities such as Mary Chapin Carpenter and Great Big Sea with folk I've never heard of before (Rosie Flores? Who?) Not everything is classic, but it's introduced me to Freakwater and reminded me of Tom Russell, so can't be all bad.
The latest from MPAA Comedy 24. The Massive Record Companies reckon they can get the US law changes to hack into the computer of anyone they reckon is engaged in any form of copyright breach. By that token, all we've got to do is send them one email (to which we would retain the copyright) then trash their entire networks, and there's not a thing they can do about it. You'll be able to find me in the EvilGenius corner.
The international Stop Esso campaign has cocked a snook at French courts. The justices over la Manche decreed that Greenpeace couldn't use Esso's logo with the letters in the middle of the word replaced by dollar signs. Several other frivolous claims, including the allegation that the doctored letters resembled the Nazi SS logo and an attempt to stop search engine's linking to the site, were thrown out as ludicrous by the judge.
The new website includes the offending logo but is hosted in Houston, Texas, outside France but close to an oil refinery owned by Esso's parent company, ExxonMobil.
"Esso's efforts to stamp out protest in France have backfired. We've now got a new site in French, hosted in Exxon's back yard, and more people have now seen the campaign than ever before," said Cindy Baxter of the UK arm.
Why airport targetted passenger screening is flawed. Bottom line: Don't try to profile, give everyone more rigorous screening.
And finally. Absolute disaster for traffic in central London today - it all ground to a halt when 800 traffic lights turned red and stayed red. Gridlock lasted well into the morning. It's a shame this didn't happen during last Thursday's tube strike, you would have been able to hear my laughter in Australia. Who has more fun in the walker's treehouse than we do? Nobody!
Tuesday July 23
New Record of the Week review: Complicated for Avril Lavigne. ObCanCon it is. Looks like more Doves next week, with John Meyer, the Calling, Nelly, and The Streets in the running for future weeks.
One door opens, another door opens. Chris knows his game shows. And byron is not Austin, so don't leave a message on his answering machine suggesting he is. Anyone else want a link? Drop me a line.
From rec.humor.funny, submitted by "Catherine"...
Panic gripped the streets of London this morning when patches of sky took on a bizarre blue tint and a bright glowing ball appeared above the city.
The phenomenon, believed to be known as 'the sun,' and commonly found in Mediterranean countries, unleashed an unprecedented level of heat and brightness upon the capital, causing many pedestrians to take off their bowler hats and flapping scarves, while motorists were able to turn both their headlights and wipers off.
World President Tony Blair urged people to remain calm and return to work as normal, stating: "We've seen this sort of thing before, but it never lasts. It will not last; for if it does, the terrorists will have already won."
There are forecasts that this 'Sun' thingie could remain visible throughout the weekend, but a spokesman for No.10 said, "I wouldn't hold my breath. I'd turn all purple and my chest would swell up and I'd have to be popped like a balloon."
Usually, my clock radio wakes me at 7 to Sunshine Radio from Ludlow. News, an 80s kids tv theme, a classic record, and I'm up. Today, for its own reasons, it woke me to Sarah Kennedy. News, a not-so-classic record, a joke that was funny every other time I heard it, and I'm reaching over saying "Shut *up* you old has been. Go off to Teamtalk 252, and take Steve Reich with you." Bring Alex Lester in. Or Mo Dutta. Or Tinky Winky. Or the Rangdo from Arg - that would make a *lot* more sense.
It'll be Monday Mission time, then.
1. Do you remember your first encounter with computers? Tell me about that. It's back to the days when mother worked at a building society, and they were amongst the first in the country to do away with the old handwritten passbooks and use a mainframe computer via dedicated telephone links. This would be circa 1981, and AFAIK the fundamentals of the system are still in place.
2. How late can you stay up and still be functional the next day? Do you do that very often? To be functional by 0830, when work officially starts, I need to be up shortly after 0700, and hence asleep around 2330. Midnight at a pinch. Do that no more than once a month. To be functional before midday, I can stay up till around 0200, but that's a once-a-year thing.
3. When was the last really good hug you got from another adult? Who was it and what was the situation? Easy peasy. Sponsor Lisa, who is not only a top bird but also a thoroughly good hug therapist. That would be earlier this evening, in circumstances that are either Obvious or Completely Mysterious, depending on who you are and what you know.
4. One thing about children is that they all like to draw. We all shared the same ability and skill level at one time. Do you still like to draw? (Not do you think you draw well, or do others, but do you like to?) If not, how come? Did you get discouraged at some point? My best work was "Rainy Day At The Seaside," a random splattering of paint over paper. I was two weeks in school. The teacher hated it. Go fig.
5. I way overslept today. I had to head to work with no shower (don't get too close), and I am not in the best of moods. Have you ever overslept on a day you had something important going on? What's the story there? No. Up to three alarms, one battery powered, tends to wake me on important days. And going to bed before 2330 means I'll wake up automatically around 0720.
6. Ever go shopping for something you know you can't afford? You look at it and even think about how it will look when you get it home, somehow you justify the cost and believe it can happen? And just before you get to the counter come to your senses? What was the last thing you almost bought, but thought better of it? And why the heck do we do that to ourselves? Last thing I put back on the shelf was a magazine for the train journey back home. I wasn't thinking straight, and almost forgot I'd bought the BB3 book for that purpose.