March 2004 – Page 2 – Hello Curns

Defining Your Own Space

The BBC is reporting on an interesting piece of research about the way people are using personal music players to claim back something personal from a world where we are surrounded by advertising messages:

Through interviews with Walkman owners and now iPod buyers, he found that listening to music acts as a shield, aura or cocoon … Using headphones helps to keep the world at bay and reclaim some space.
BBC: More than just a pretty interface

Yesterday I listened to my own choice of music in the gym rather than watching one of the televisions hanging from the ceilings. It was a very different experience and – to be honest – I almost caught myself singing along. I had purposely chosen a lot of upbeat pop/dance to keep me going and it worked. While my usual fare of Sky News and Chart Show TV are interesting, this time I knew my whole musical selection would be good and I would find the whole hour interesting and commercial-free.

But what about the aspect of the Walkman or iPod as a space definer? I think this is probably very obvious. I often ride the London Underground listening to music to cut me off from the rest of the people there. In the morning, it does give you a sense of your own space when you are sardine-squashed into a carriage. In the evening it keeps you occupied – less likely to be engaged in a conversation with somebody who you might find threatening.

A few weeks ago, cityofsound pointed me to Traffic Island Disks – an interesting radio programme looking at the music people are listening to as they wander around an area of London. It is very interesting listening to how people define their own spaces through the music they are listening to (it’s also a pretty good idea for a radio show).

Similarities At BBC Radio

Still passionate about radio, noting schedule shifts and age dynamics.

I don’t often talk about radio. It’s been one of my passions since I was a child, but there is not a great deal to say on a day-to-day basis. Yet, last week Lesley Douglas, the new controller of Radio 2, announced a few schedule changes that included Dermot O’Leary joining the network for a new music show.

I find this odd. For the last few years, I have been a Terry Wogan listener because I couldn’t stand most of the rest of the frantic morning shows, and he’s the best in the business. Last month, I switched back to Radio 1 where Chris Moyles surprised me and has been very, very entertaining. I do miss Wogan and I find it hard to make that choice in the morning.

Over the last few years, Radio 2 has been re-positioning itself to attract new younger listeners. This is good because it allows Radio 1 to be squarely aimed at the youth market. But where do the Radio 2 listeners go? The BBC doesn’t seem to be providing them with a choice – and isn’t that the BBC’s public service job? Radio 2 is becoming a thirtysomething station. The BBC introduced 6music which seems – to me – to be a thirtysomething station. Where do the fiftysomethings – who don’t want speech – go? The BBC is missing something here and while I, personally, like the changes to Radio 2 (and the imminent arrival of Mark Radcliffe to late nights – his true home – is to be celebrated by street parties in my opinion) where will I go when I start complaining about the loud music of today’s youngsters?

It Was 20 Years Ago

It’s more-or’ess twenty years insce the beginning of one of Britain’s most bitter industrial disputes.

While I am on the subject of anniversaries, Friday (5th March) was also the day in 1984 that it was announced Cortonwood pit near Barnsley was to close. The men walked out on strike – some would never go back and, those that did go back wouldn’t go back for a year. The miner’s strike was the moment when things changed for Britain’s workers.

My life in March 1984 was quite different. I would have been 13 years old and the pictures of striking miners, horses charging picket lines and Arthur Scargill’s statements seemed very far away. To a middle-class kid it was another world. Oddly, my granddad had worked for the collieries near Wigan but I have no recollection of his thoughts on the strike at all.

My own world was turned upside down that year. It was the year my father announced the family was all moving to the Midlands and for most of the year that was what pre-occupied me. The striking miners became just another news item.

Looking back, of course, it was much more than that. There were so many changes to the working lives of so many people. Our working lives in the UK today would be very different had the strike not happened.

Happy 10th Birthday Spam

Spam was ten year’s old yesterday and look how it’s grown.

If you’re into celebrations, you might be interested to know that yesterday was spam’s tenth birthday. Ten years ago a message was posted to Usenet and Usenet was never really the same again. I do remember a time when Usenet was rendered, almost, useless thanks to the spam but I am now finding some newsgroups useful – and much easier to manage than hundreds of emails.

The question right now revolves around the future of email. Will email go the way of Usenet? I suspect not. It’s too fixed in our social and working lives to be abolished. At one time, I thought Instant Messenger looked like it might become the de facto online communication method – but, with hindsight, I think that was wrong.

I am pleased to note that a number of my anti-spam measures have started to kick-in. Demon’s filtering seems to be pretty effective (100s of spam down to 10s). I note Phil Gyford is pleased with his Knowspam.net – I am not sure I want to go that far yet because I don’t think it would be widely accepted (although he is proving that theory wrong).

So, in a bizarre way, Happy Birthday Spam – you’re ten. It’s the next ten years – the teenage years – which are going to be your most difficult.

Formula 1 2004 Race Calendar For Outlook Import

Yet again I have created a csv file to import the new Formual One racing season calendar into yuor Outlook calendar so you need never miss a race (unless I got my timings wrong).

Michael Schumacher, driving his Ferrari, won the 2003 Formula One championship on the final race. This weekend it all starts again with the Australian Grand Prix. It’s about the only sport I follow with anything like an interest but I won’t be up at 2am for the start of ITV’s coverage. I may, however, be around at 1.30pm for the repeat showing.

And once again this year I have trawled the net looking for a list of the year’s races in a format easily importable into Outlook. And once again I have been frustrated because I couldn’t find it anywhere. Many years ago, before I went Corporate and joined the merry band of worldwide Outlook users, I used Time and Chaos – an excellent organiser. They have a transportable record set ready for the 2004 Formula One season. Yahoo enables you to import the race list into your Yahoo calendar (although the race order on the Yahoo site is different from the official list on the FIA site). None of which is really any use to me.

So, once again, I have created a basic .csv file containing the data which can easily be imported into Outlook. After last year’s rant I said I would learn the vCal format but I didn’t so it’s a plain-old .csv file for you. If you want to import F1 races into your Outlook calendar, please feel free to use the file.

Once again I took the race order and timings from the Official FIA site. This year, hover, I have modified the times so that they reflect British Summer Time (GMT+1) where required. I can, therefore, use it. I have noted the time zone in the ‘description’ field in Outlook so you can change it locally if you wish. I couldn’t find any time zone field in the .csv format.

If you check different sources of the race calendar there are some slight variations in the timings. Don’t blame me if you miss it and, in my best continuity announcer’s voice, check local listings.

Also this year I have added information about the distance and laps in the location field.

I have provided the file as a .zip so you must first extract the .csv from that. Then, in Outlook, you will need to go to the File menu and Import the data (import from another program or file) and place it in the calendar. The file is provided as is and you use it at your own risk. I don’t know anyway you can remove it without deleting each entry individually. This year I have included a category name ‘Formula One’ so you can easily find all the entries this file creates. It should be easier to find them in Outlook and remove them if you need to. If you already have a Formula One category in your Outlook calendar you may want to edit the file before importing so you can change the category name. The file is fairly simple and you should be able to read it in any spreadsheet program (and even some text file readers will read it).

As always, your comments are welcome as are suggestions where an official version of this file can be found.

Real Player For Palm Devices

Do you know how hard it is to find the link to the Real Player for Palm devices? It’s not very well-signposted. Perhaps, if I post a link here, search engines will improve its ranking! If you’re looking for the Real Player for Palm connected devices (Treo 600, Tungsten C, Tungsten T3, Tungsten T2, Tungsten T, Tungsten E or Zire 71) then you should visit the Real Networks page devoted to it!

Additional note: the user instructions for the Real Player for the Palm are also available.

Graffiti Shop

Wandsworth council clean up at a so-called graffiti shop in Clapham Junction.

My local council has just cleaned up what it calls a ‘graffiti shop’ at Clapham Junction. Without wanting to comment on the merit of graffiti as an art form or not, I think the shop covered in graffiti looks OK. Perhaps not the best thing ever but it’s not the worst. If you look closely you’ll see the nice neat edges to the graffiti so it doesn’t cross onto anybody else’s wall – which is a nice touch, don’t you think?

You Can’t Hear Yourself On The Tube

Plans are afoot to allow you to use your mobile underground. I hope it doesn’t happen.

Does the thought of being able to use your mobile ‘phone on the tube fill you with dread? Actually, that’s probably a little excessive but being underground has always been the one sanctuary from the calls (admittedly, you have to switch it on to be reached – which is something that I must learn). At least it’s only on the stations. The thought of people talking on a packed train in a morning really does fill me with horror. It’s bad enough on the overland trains.

Love Revolution

I wonder who does the Phixx marketing. A low budget way to get noticed?

this is the phixx car sticker - honestly — this is the phixx car sticker – honestly

So, the official Phixx web site alerted me to two interesting facts this week. Firstly, Andrew is giving away his car. Honestly. In one of the most bizarre (and possibly desperate) publicity stunts for a single, Phixx are giving away Andrew’s car. How do you win? I’ve no idea because they won’t tell you until the single is out. And then, today, I received an email with the subject ‘Phixx Window Sticker’. The clever marketing bods have ‘put an A4 poster together for you to download and place in the back window of your car’. I thought that it might be a nice idea to go and look at it – except anybody could have knocked this up. What a disappointment. That’s the picture. The pdf doesn’t render properly on my machine (but the World version does). All in all that’s brightened my afternoon. So, despite the simplicity, I may now be forced to buy the single – Love Revolution is out on Monday. You may have seen the car stickers!

What Did You Say?

A new site is launched that should tell us what the PM said. Or something like that.

If you have an interest in UK politics then this could be right up your street or, at least, somebody’s street. The design is a little crude but downingstreetsays.org has just joined my list a Bloglines. Somebody’s got to keep an eye on what Tony’s saying!

I was mighty impressed that the report highlighting downingstreetsays.org at BBC News didn’t feel the need to explain weblogs to anybody. Hoorah. Happy Tuesday!

St David’s Day

Fewer posts at the end of February.

February started so well on this site and then I faded by the end of the month. I am not entirely sure what lead to this state. It’s a double-edged sword – or some such saying – as during the time I could have been writing here I have been the gym which is proving more enjoyable than you might imagine. For those of you that know me you’ll understand what a surprise that is to me. However, I do want recommendations for the perfect tracks to fill one hour in the gym to stick on my mp3 machine. Sky News can get quite depressing when you are on a treadmill.

I have managed to say very little about marriage in San Francisco – except to say congratulations to Jase – because, frankly, a lot of other people were saying it better than I was. I decided I want to go to Paris again, but instead booked a holiday to Orlando.

So, I’ll leave February by saying congratulations to Lord of The Rings on winning 11 Oscars. Not because I, for one moment, think anybody from that film will read this but because I enjoyed the trilogy very much indeed.

Anyway, I predict an interesting March. I hope it’s reflected here.