Blog – Page 47 – Hello Curns

What’s Happening on Channel Four?

Next Friday night is Channel Four’s big Friday.

In 2002, Kate won Big Brother 3. I started the summer with little interest and then, gradually, watched more and more of it. Last year, I seemed very aware of Big Brother 4 from the beginning. Then I grew to support Fed despite the bad press, and gradually, you get sucked in.

So, this time next week – in a clever bit of scheduling – we will see the last episode of Friends and then watch as the new contestants enter the new house for Big Brother 5. Perhaps I will try to avoid it again this year. Still, it means interest in Dermot O’Leary will pick up again, and that tends to go hand in hand with the beginning of summer. It’s a good time of year!

Channel Four will have a big night next week, but C4’s boss Mark Thompson won’t be celebrating with them as he’s just jumped ship back to the BBC.

Thursday In Milan

Flying into Milan yesterday I watched as the plane flew over the channel and across the French borders.

Flying into Milan yesterday, I watched as the plane flew over the channel and across the French border. I have never noticed how beautiful the French countryside is from above, a big patchwork of browns and greens stretching before you. It was a lovely, clear sky, and thus I could see for miles. It really was a beautiful sight.

Arriving in Milan and a 40-minute train ride into the centre of town I made my way to the Windsor Hotel,which was very nice and, despite its name, not very British. I spent most of the evening in the bar with one of the sales guys from our Italian office. Usually, these trips are pretty lonely as I arrive late and am holed up in a hotel room until it’s time to get up and make a meeting, taxi or office. This was nice, but I still managed to get to bed at a decent time last night to make this morning’s meeting.

Open Letter To The Woman in Massachusetts

At this moment in history, Massachusetts seems to be at the forefront of those striving to improve upon what we have.

Yesterday, I was in my hotel room watching BBC World News. I generally have it on in the background when I am alone in hotels, mainly for the company rather than the fact that I am interested in the repetitive cycles of 24-hour news programming.

I looked up from what I was reading when pictures of the first legal US gay weddings in Massachusetts came on. Obviously, this is a topic that I have a personal interest in. My congratulations go out to all who have legally wed over the past few days. While I understand that not every gay couple wants to marry, I strongly believe in the equality that this decision represents and the dignity it affords all people in the state.

Of course, any balanced media coverage had to include those who objected. There were scenes of people praying and some placards, but nothing looked like it had turned into mass rioting, and I took that to be an encouraging sign. However, there was one female opponent to the legalisation of gay marriage who did frustrate me – perhaps irrationally – more than the others. Her comments to the camera went along the lines of “they want to destroy traditional values”.

Despite the whole ridiculousness and stupidity of that comment and the fact that it doesn’t even make sense, it angered me more than anything else I heard.

Dear Madam
I saw your comments last night on the television news and how you feel that, through the legalisation of gay marriage, ‘they’ (whom I take you mean to be homosexuals in Massachusetts) are trying to destroy traditional values.
I wanted to ask you about your traditional values, but you were a vox pop on the international news, and I will never get the chance. So I choose to write my thoughts here. Perhaps one day you will read them and think.
A tradition is usually something that has been around for a long time. It has roots and a history. Culturally, traditions are often important and significant, but they have not always existed, nor have they always been as they are. Traditions develop with human life on earth. They are of their time. Your implication is that traditions are good and anything that changes (or – in your eyes – erodes them) is bad. But, forgive me for my rudeness, this is pure crap.
For centuries, we burned people we considered witches. That tradition is gone. Should we be fighting to keep it? There was a tradition of denying women the vote, or perhaps I should say that traditionally, men voted while women stayed at home. I don’t hear you shouting for that tradition. Can I say there was a tradition of slavery? Perhaps not, but certainly – at one time – reasonable, decent people of the age thought it was acceptable. Quite rightly, we deny that tradition now.
But regardless of my flippancy here, your comments angered me, for they tried to dress your bigotry up. You tried to hide it by using an argument that says, because it has always been one way, that is the way it should stay. If I were from your country, I might attempt to rationalise this for you by saying you were outside your ‘comfort zone’ and that’s why you react as you do. Fortunately, I am not, and thus, from a distance of an ocean away, I can see your intolerance for what it is.
So, let me set the record straight. Nobody is trying to destroy traditional values, for there really is no such thing. Massachusetts has seen that so-called traditions that uphold prejudice, intolerance, and preach inequality must, like witch burning, slavery and dancing around a maypole, be consigned to a part of human history where people of the future can look back and laugh at us.
I wasn’t angered by the prejudice of the religious zealots who were featured in the news. While I believe them to be ill-informed and not speaking for any deity I perceive, I do understand the roots of their opposition. I am angered by your hiding behind the reasoning that, because something has always been, it should always be so. Traditions are often no more than superstition justified by repetition over extended periods of time. So, please, accept the fact that your opposition is rooted in fear (I did want to say prejudice, but I hope that your prejudice is caused by fear) and embrace the inclusive new traditions of your state.
One of the facets of a civilised society is its striving to be better for all its people. At this moment in history, Massachusetts seems to be at the forefront of those striving to improve upon what we have. Perhaps in the north-eastern corner of the US we are seeing one of the most civilised places on earth emerge. That is a cause for celebration.
You don’t realise how lucky you are to be living in such a place.
Jon

Free Software?

I can’t write code so I can’t contribute in that way so I really ought to pay something for it. I think it’s only right.

I am sitting in Madrid thinking a little bit about my last post about Movable Type. Yes, I am on another business trip. This time, the hotel is close to the airport and was a quick taxi ride away. I should be asleep in 30 minutes, but I have been thinking about software that is apparently free.

As I noted earlier, I don’t have much of a problem with the concept of Movable Type morphing into a proper paid-for, licensed piece of software. They say it will not be crippleware and that trust will very much be part of it. Six Apart allows you to determine how many ‘blogs’ make your site (it’s not a hard-coded limit) and allows you to determine how many users are really active in using the software. There is a great deal of trust there, which I am not sure is sustainable. Nonetheless, I think this is a good approach.

When I look around, I look at what else I use regularly (and I will stick with personal software rather than work-based software). My version of Windows XP at home was pre-installed and properly licensed. I use HomeSite if I ever need an HTML editor. It’s fully paid for. Paint Shop Pro is my image editor. It was a full free version which they chose to give away on some magazine cover or other, so it is, therefore, properly licensed despite being unpaid for. I tend to use Windows Media Player (which is free), but I have paid for Real Player Plus to get some of the additional features.

So far, so good. I’ve noted before that I have licensed Opera as a browser even though I do not use it a great deal. But the most-used piece of Software on my machine is Mozilla. I use it for web-browsing and for mail. It handles all my mail accounts. I think it’s superb. I have never contributed to it since the very beginning when I acquired a licensed version of Netscape 0.9/1.0 (and even then, the company I worked for bought it for me). I can’t write code, so I can’t contribute in that way, so I really ought to pay something for it. I think it’s only right. As with Movable Type, there are people who work for the company that makes it. If I want them to be around, I should support them.

And that’s why today I will make a donation to Mozilla.

Sticking With Movable Type

Movable Type must continue to lead and if it is to keep my trust. I will pay for this version and I hope my commitment to the product is rewarded.

So Six Apart have finally announced Movable Type 3. I have to confess that, from what I have read, I will be disappointed. It doesn’t appear to be loaded with a great deal of new features, which is sad. I hope this is the foundation for some new development. To be honest, if there were some way of handling photo galleries from within the tool, then I think I would be very happy. I will, however, not pass further judgment on it until I have installed it, and I am going to wait until it is released properly (rather than the developer’s edition) before I install. In that way, I hope some of the plug-ins that I would like to install will have been tested, and then I can upgrade and add functionality all at once.

The views of other users also sadden me. There has been a long history of collaboration online. I remember when I first joined the connected world, having some basic legal questions answered via Usenet. How great it seemed back then. In the end, of course, nobody was going to dish out free legal advice forever, and properly paid-for advice will always have a place. In the end, good things will – in the main – be worth paying for.

I believe the good folks of Six Apart deserve some recognition for the work they have put into building a publishing tool that’s as easy to use as Movable Type. It was never open source software. It’s always been the work of Ben and Mena (and now Six Apart). I find it sad that the large number of negative comments does not reflect the fact that the continued development of such a fantastic tool requires a full-time commitment from people and, somehow, these people have to be paid for it. Even Mozilla has a staff!

I honestly believe that we can be sad at the lack of additional, out-of-the-box functionality, but we should not be sad that Six Apart is turning into a business that needs finances to support it. Of course, our expectations as users will now change too. Six Apart is really going to have to show that this is a professional product backed up by proper support. Once, users would forgive the lack of customer service (we weren’t paying anything), but no longer. And in my experience, it is the mishandling of customer service/support that always lets people down.

Movable Type must continue to lead, and if it is to keep my trust. I will pay for this version, and I hope my commitment to the product is rewarded. If, in the future, Movable Type does not live up to users’ expectations (brought on by the way it was streets ahead of other systems at first), then the company suffer. Yes, as Jason Kottke notes, the pricing structure is wrong at the moment – but that’s no reason to leave. Yes, there are alternatives which really are free (as Mark Pilgrim notes and goes on to prove by– apparently – switching seamlessly), but for now I am sticking with Movable Type because they haven’t let me down. They’ve shown that they have addressed the need to turn it into a product that needs people to develop and support.

But please, sort out the pricing structure.

Odd Thoughts

The oddest things come into your mind while travelling.

The oddest things come into your mind while travelling. While I was sitting on the plane earlier in the week, I started to think about humour. I have no idea why. But I wondered what the reactions were like to the first joke? What was the first joke?

I can understand how language developed. As we evolved, we needed to find ways to communicate (where is the food, or what dangers are there out there?) But how did the first joke happen (and by that I mean the first gag rather than the first thing somebody did that brought on laughter)? How did those who heard that first joke know to laugh? What were the cues?

I’ve no idea why it came to me but now it’s fascinating me.

Euro Winners

A few more words on the Eurovision winners 2004.

So, to update. Voting was very political (as always). Terry was funny, and James Fox did not disgrace us, though it wasn’t the best song. There was a disproportionate amount of male singers, and some, like the French, resorted to gimmicks (a stilt woman) to try to draw attention to the song. I like the fact that all countries can now vote (even if they did not make it to the final) despite the fact that the voting process takes longer.

The apparent political dimension to the voting could pose interesting questions on the future for Europe, but I think I just choose to find it amusing. Ukraine won (Ruslana was her name), which must have had something to do with the fact that it was visually stunning, but I really do think Sweden deserved to win.

This year we found a whole new dimension to the contest by watching the extra coverage on BBC Three, although we did not get to watch the translated lyrics as subtitles – a feature I think just goes to prove that even the BBC don’t take it too seriously.

And what should I say to my Norwegian friends about another ‘nil points’?

Eurovision 2004

James Fox is Britain’s entry to the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

And so it comes to pass that another year has passed, and tonight is the Eurovision Song Contest. James Fox is our entry, but I don’t hold much hope based on the fact that voting is so political these days. I wasn’t aware of him on the television show that brought him to light (I think it was the BBC’s Fame Academy), but I got to hear him last November when he supported Liberty X at a charity concert I went to. He mainly performed cover versions (with a couple of original songs thrown in), which were fine but not fantastic, but he had charisma and a small but very vocal fan base (they probably sounded loud because I was stood right next to them).

I haven’t heard his song for this year’s contest, so it will be a first for me. As always, I look forward to the event for its more ridiculous elements. I’m sure Terry Wogan will have plenty to be sarcastic about. I do wonder if I will watch it (if anybody will watch it) when he stops commentating. PY and I are visiting friends to watch it. I think I will end up overeating and undoing all the benefits of the gym.

Travelling from Central London to Heathrow Airport

Off to Rome again.

This is a note to myself. I must remember that for a journey from Central London (in my case Piccadilly Circus) to Heathrow you should allow a good 45 minutes. Heathrow is in Zone 6 which means I need an extension to my travel pass for that (thank goodness for Oyster as the pre-pay option which means you don’t have to think about buying a ticket while you are rushing for a train). The Piccadilly Line was quite a pleasant journey.

Office Alone

I’ve been in the office alone all day today – with Radio Four as my only company.

Today has been a very strange day. I have been alone in the office; all of my colleagues are on the road or on holiday. Despite previous thoughts of working alone and/or from home, I can categorically say that I like the stimulation of the office environment, and I am pretty certain that I won’t be looking for employment from home in the future. I currently work in a small four-person office space, and even that gets very difficult at times. Since early 2002, I have worked with three other people in two different jobs. I think next time I will be looking for something larger. If you work alone or from home, how do you manage it?

While sitting alone this afternoon, I started listening to Radio Four for a little bit of company and was reminded how good PM was as a news show. I don’t believe there was anything that stood out today – apart from the obvious talents of Eddie Mair – but I can recommend it if you’re in need of company! Also, while I was working through my tasks earlier, I got a call, which means I will be attending a hastily organised meeting in Rome on Friday morning, so I will be spending this evening trying to get as many of my belongings into the smallest possible bag that I can. It is at times like this that I wish my employer had purchased a lighter laptop for me.

Tate’s Anniversary

The Tate Modern is celebrating four years this year.

I’ve mentioned before that the South Bank is one of my favourite areas of London. Although I am not a big gallery goer (can I say that?) I do like the Tate Modern – basically because you can wander in and out as you wish and, for the most part, it’s free. I have always been a big fan of the exhibitions/installations in the turbine hall. There’s something about the sheer size of the art that is appealing. The turbine hall allows for some huge installations or just a lot of space in which to interact (or lie on the floor as we did for the weather project). They are celebrating their fourth anniversary this year and BBC News has some great pictures from some of those bigger exhibitions.

Celebrity Gardening

I visited the Urab Gardens show at Olympia this weekend.

Over the weekend, I brought Man of the Moment into the new look. It was pretty easy, so once again, I’m understanding the value of style sheets. I also changed the naming convention of the individual pages, which was made very easy by Movable Type and a little harder when I decided to try lots of URL re-directing.

Reading through today’s web-reading, I hear Blogger has also had a face-and-feature lift (here,here and here). It doesn’t interest me a great deal as I don’t use Blogger, but then I went to the new site and found that my browser had a username already populated. Lo and behold, I found an account I created in 2001. It does appear that the new blogger has some nice features, but I’m going to sit and wait for Movable Type 3.

picture of matt james - the city gardener — *Matt James – The City Gardener*

The main event of last weekend was a visit to Olympia to look at the Urban Gardens show. As we were there early, we managed to catch the first ‘celebrity’ presentation. It was Matt James on things to look out for when planting an urban garden. As it turned out, he’s a good speaker, and I found it really interesting, which is a little more than can be said for a lot of the rest of the show. It was full of stands offering a lot of hard landscaping, garden ornaments and furniture and very little about plants – although there were some fantastic ferns and Canadian Maples on display. Matt himself is very good-looking in the flesh so I imagine he was a very big draw to the show. We didn’t get the chance to see Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan on the Sunday but I guess that might have been fun.

All of this home-style probably explains why I spend part of Saturday afternoon glued to UKTV Bright Ideas(or whatever it’s called now) watching lame home shows. Still,Wild & Fresh(which seems to be a Canadian/UK co-production) has one of the most amusing title sequences of any show I have seen for a long time and a would-be Jamie Oliver in the form of chef Danny Boome. It was kind of fun, but, as the Why Don’t You? used to say, I should have got up and done something less boring instead. Sadly, I started to watch the Coronation Street omnibus to catch up on the latest Todd and Karl storyline. Wish I hadn’t.

—
Originally posted at musak.org | Wayback – original | Wayback
Posted May 10, 2004

Fantastic London

Peter Ackroyd’s London is one of the best TV programmes I have seen for a long time and I caught it by accident.

Last night, the BBC aired the first part of Peter Ackroyd’s London– a totally fascinating history of London. Yesterday’s episode was Fire and Destiny, which, according to BBC Two’s site, went “From Boadicea’s torching of the city to recent bombings”. In the programme, Peter Ackroyd traces London’s extraordinary ability to survive and grow stronger every time it burns.

Actors re-created historical figures talking about their time in London; Charlotte Brontë, Samuel Pepys and a Roman historian were among the characters featured last night.

Of course, the main features of the programme were September 1666’s Great Fire (officially, only 4 people died) and the German bombings of World War II (6000 people killed in the first 30 days of the bombing), but it seems that London has burnt many times since its founding in 50AD.

It was a thoroughly fascinating programme and well-made. It was not your typical history programme, for Peter Ackroyd gives London a real personality. I wholeheartedly recommend the other couple of programmes in the series. I’m quite interested in taking one of the walks that have been designed to work with the programme.

PMOS Says Nothing At All

Reading what Downing Street says makes you wonder why they bother opening their mouths.

One of the sites I most visit is ‘Downing Street Says‘, an unofficial site recording the official opinions of Downing Street and, I assume, the Prime Minister. One of the real benefits of reading the transcripts of the briefings rather than a journalist’s interpretation is seeing how the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman tries not to express opinions. It’s no wonder people have a disregard for the political process in the country when you read,

Asked to explain why the Prime Minister was willing to express a view about the pictures relating to alleged US mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners when their investigations had not yet concluded either, the PMS pointed out that the Government’s view had been set out very clearly by General Sir Mike Jackson last Friday night when the pictures had first emerged. [source]

What I think most right-thinking people won’t understand (and I am sure the civil servants can explain it away very well) is why disgust can not be expressed every time the question is asked. If the British pictures are real, then such treatment should be strongly condemned. If the pictures are fake, then the actions of those who made them should be discussed in the same terms. Why do they have to hide behind the diplomatic speak?

Really, there doesn’t seem to me to be much point in having a ‘Big Conversation‘ with the people if you don’t understand what one half of the room is saying.

It’s May

After a relaxing weekend for the bank holiday I was about to rant about parking fines.

I had a really relaxing holiday weekend. To the extent I don’t want to be back at work (but we all have to try to make a living), and I didn’t want to be in front of a computer. So I haven’t written anything for a few days.

I had a nice email from somebody in Poland, thanks to my entry welcoming the new countries to the ‘New Europe’ (can I trademark that?), which was welcoming, and Marek, I will reply (reasons for not as above).

Just when I thought I had nothing to say but to moan about the rather strange weather we are having here in London, I read ‘Booked in 60 seconds‘ from London’s Evening Standard newspaper (by way of thisislondon.co.uk) and became all irate with the AA stating ing that ‘There should be leeway’ when it comes to parking fines. It appears – and here’s where I go all Victor Meldrew – that I am the only soul in London who believes that parking rules are here to serve us and should be enforced. If your time is up, it’s up. Give up the space, you selfish moron. No leeway for parking. Rules are rules.

Anyway, I was going to compose a nice long rant about it, but then I found Ab Mania and felt – instantly – better by laughing.

The moral of this tale is that laughing is good for you (and the weather is still very strange in London).