Seems I was very lucky to avoid the power cut last night. I got off the tube in Balham at about 6pm which was just before the power went and we had no power losses in the house even though areas all around us were apparently in darkness.
We didn't know anything about it until we watched the news.
More reasons not to vote Tory.
The Conservative party would switch off a swath of the BBC's digital services, including its website and the youth channel BBC3, if it won the next general election.Tories would close BBC website.
Of course, BBC3 wouldn't really be missed.
Bizarre clash of concepts. A much loved set of books from my childhood and my current publishers.
One of my favourite way to spend an evening is to go to a stand-up comedy club. I'm particularly lucky because one of the best comedy clubs in London (the Banana Cabaret) is held in the pub at the end of my road.
I've been a regular at the club for ten years, but in the last two years I've really got out of the habit of going. I had a friend staying on Saturday night so we decided to go along. This was a huge mistake. It was one of the worst nights out that I've had for a long time.
The doors opened at 6:30pm. Even though the show didn't start until 9pm we were worried about getting a seat so we were there when the doors opened. We easily found a table on the balcony and actually we would have still got a seat if we had arrived an hour later.
Although we could see the ground floor filling up, the balcony remained fairly empty until about 9pm. At that point a large number of rather drunk people arrived. There weren't enough seats left so many of them stood around. Some of them stood a bit closer to our table than the rules of personal space would normally deem acceptable.
Then the first act came on. He quickly discovered that the front row was made up of people on a stag party (I suppose the inflatable sheep was a bit of a clue) and that they were far too drunk to appreciate what we was doing. At about the same time, the people around us started talking to each other. Some of them were explaining the jokes to each other, some of them were discussing what drinks they were going to order and the most annoying ones were answering their mobile phones to make arrangements about what they were doing later in the evening.
This continued thoughout the first two acts. It was becoming difficult to follow what the comics were saying as there were always half a dozen other conversations going on around you. After the second act there was a short break. At that point we decided that we were wasting our time and we went home.
The reason why the Banana used to be sure a great club (both for the audience and, I''m reliably informed, the acts) was that it was a club where the audience was full of comedy fans. The atmosphere was always great. People who wanted to see great comedy would come along, see some top quality acts, have a few drinks and go home.
That's not how it happens any more. The Bedford (the pub where the club is hosted) changed hands a few years ago and the new owners are determined to pump every penny out of their customers. They now have a late license and a disco oafter the comedy. This means that the audience is no longer full of comedy fans. It's people who just want to get pissed and have a good time. If they hear a couple of good jokes, then that's fine, but they really just see the comedy club as a warm-up for the late night drinking and dancing that follows it.
And of course it's a viscious circle. Once the audience starts to go downhill, the comedy fans will stop coming. And the audience gets worse. Comics have told me that the Banana was once their favourite club to play, but that now it's a bit of a chore.
I'm supposed to be going back again next Saturday for a friends birthday. I have to say that currently I'm rather dreading it.
Ample have decided that they will no longer require my services once this current contract finishes in three weeks time. I was pretty sure that they would say that, but now I've had it officially confirmed.
So if you know of anyone who might have some work for an experienced Perl, Unix, Database hacker, then please let me know.
Spam doesn't really bother me. Since I installed SpamAssassin the vast majority of it gets filtered off into a junk folder that I never read. I get hundreds of spam emails a day and I'm currently seeing three or four of them. If you administer a mail system you should seriously consider installing SpamAssassin.
Viruses don't really bother me much either. A large proportion of them as also caught by SpamAssassin and anyway I run Linux so any that do get thru to my inbox can't do any damage.
Of course, I'd be far happier if spam and viruses didn't exist, but the point I'm making is that with my mail setup I can still function pretty normally even tho' I'm inundated with them every day.
Actually, make that "I could still function". That's no longer true. It's not spam or viruses that are making my life hell - it's bounce messages.
You know, I'm sure that most spam comes from a fake email address. And that viruses use random email addresses from your address book or other sources. It seems that some of my email addresses are amongst those that are being used for spam. Every day I'm getting hundreds of bounces saying that my email about penile enlargement or some other dodgy business couldn't be delivered. And now I'm also getting emails saying that the email I tried to send was deleted because it contains a virus.
Bounce messages are useful. Or, at least, they used to be. In the current climate they seem to be doing more harm than good. They are just adding to the problem. In my case they are most of the problem.
So if you administer a mail server here's what I suggest (if you don't administer a mail server you might consider passing these suggestions on).
Please help to make the internet usable again.
A few weeks ago I watched Excalibur for the first time for many years. It used to be one of my favourite films, but now I found it too long and badly acted. Bizarrely the deviations from the "canonical" Arthurian legends didn't bother me as much as they used to.
But it got me thinking that it was probably about time for a new film based on the Arthurian legends. I even started to think that as someone who has been fascinated by the story for as long as I can remember, I could probably have a good attempt at writing a screenplay. I dug out my copy of Morte D'Arthur in preparation.
Then in today's Guardian there's an interview (which I can't find on their web site) with Keira Knightly which mentions that she's currently in Ireland filming King Arthur. Sounds like this is going to be one those "historically accurate" retellings, a bit like Arthur of the Britons. Personally I'd prefer something based on The Mists of Avalon[1].
But anyway, it's something to cross off my todo list without actually having to do anything :)
[1] Actually there was a recent film of The Mists of Avalon but as far as I know it's never been shown in the UK.
It's Friday afternoon and I've spent far too much of the morning being pissed about by British Rail[1], so instead of working I'll tell you a story that I've just been reminded of by a discussion on IRC.
([1] Or whatever they want to call themselves these days.)
I just sent this email to the Guardian.
I'm used to regarding Jack Schofield's columns as Microsoft-influenced opinion presented as facts, but by refering to "the Linux Taliban" in this week's piece he has beaten even his own record for poor journalism. Is there any chance you could replace him with someone a little less biased?I doubt they'll print it.
Diana Mosley died on Monday. Today's Guardian has an obituary along with a handy guide to the Mitford sisters.
A fascinating but deeply scary family.
I see that the Cindy Sherman exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery finishes in a couple of weeks and I'd really like to see it before it closes. So I'll probably go on Saturday afternoon. Anyone fancy joining me?
I've looked at all the photographs
But Cindy, which one of them was you?
- Cindy of a Thousand Lives (Billy Bragg)
Over the last few weeks I've rewatched all of the Alien films. I was quite surprised by some of the conclusions that I reached.
Alien (1979) - This has always been my favourite and that opinion hasn't changed. Didn't make as strong an impression as it did all those years ago but then it's important to remember that just about every spaceship interior since then has been modelled on the Nostromo.
Aliens (1986) - I used to really like this, but it hasn't aged well. Just a bunch of marines running around shooting big guns. And the addition of Newt was a terrible idea (which is why, I hope, she died before the end of the credits of the next film). Still has some good lines in it tho'.
Alien3 (1992) - A whole bunch of British actors playing prisoners and religious nuts. I don't remember enjoying this when I first saw it, but it holds up surprisingly well. I like that we're back to just one alien so we regain some of the tension from the first film.
Alien Resurrection (1997) - Another one that I don't remember liking much when I first saw it. But I really enjoyed it this time round. It was written by Joss Whedon and the crew of the Betty are certainly close relations to the crew of the Firefly. You have to suspend disbelief a little (since when did cloning someone also clone parasites growing inside them) but in general it's a nice attempt to get back to the shoot-em-up genre of Aliens without going over the top. Oh, but it all goes wrong in the last ten minutes. That human/alien hybrid was just ridiculous.
After a week or so of promises (or is that threats?) from the Met Office, the UK finally broke 1990's temperature record yesterday. Parts of the UK reached 38.1°C (that's 100.6°F for people who still like to use the old money). And now they're saying that this record probably won't last very long.
And the BBC weather site has been lying to me. All over the weekend the 5-day forecast has been claiming that Monday would be a lot cooler. Now it's here, they're saying that it's going to be 33°C. That's cooler. But not a lot cooler.
The Guardian covers the important stuff as always.
It is also possible that thong knickers, which move around, can transfer bacteria from the back passage, leading to infections such as cystitis.What not to wear
The UK govenment has helpfully issued a list of guidelines for coping with the current heatwave.
Their tips are:
I just got an email from a recruitment agency who are "branching out into life coaching".
I'm now waiting for the inevitable Feng Shui CV advice :)
So I finally got round to finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's taken me about a month to read it - not because it was so long, but because it was so dull. I kept having to go off and read other stuff inbetween chapters to stop myself from falling asleep. I didn't enjoy the last one much, but this one has made me seriously consider not bothering with the final two books in the series.
And I feel more than a little cheated. I was promised the death of a major character. The way I see it, the Harry Potter books have five major characters - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid and Dumbledore. You could perhaps make an argument for Snape and McGonagal if you were feeling generous. It wasn't one of those who died. It was another character who has made fleeting appearances in the last two books.
I think I'm going to have to go and reread all of Martin Amis' back catalogue to reaffirm my faith in English Literature.
The UK rail network is a bit of a laughing stock. In the past we've had train delays blamed on "leaves on the line" and "the wrong kind of snow", now many rail companies have imposed speed restrictions because of the danger of rails buckling in the heat.
It's ridiculously hot in the UK at the moment. People are talking about breaking all sorts of weather records. I'm reminded of when I was at school. We had to wear school uniform which consisted of a blazer and a tie. As a special concession when it got too hot, the headmaster would issue a special edict allowing us to remove our ties in class. Last week I got back from Paris to find an email from my boss with the subject "Dress Code". I expected that he would be relaxing the dress code (normally suit and tie) during the heatwave but actually he was reminding us of the details and warning people that disciplinary action would be taken against anyone who wasn't following it.
Some people concentrate on the most inappropriate things.
Flash mob in London this Thursday (7th August).
www.geocities.com/londonmobs for more details.
Just heard I also failed to get the job I was interviewed for at Yahoo.
Not a great start to the week.
I've been described as an "open source expert" in an article in the October(!) 2003 issue of Internet Works.
On the downside, it's also my first experience of being interviewed for a magazine like this and my comments don't really say what I thought I said. For example:
So what about the downsides of open source? "Ok you don't get support for OpenOffice," says Cross. "But have you ever tried ringing Microsoft with a query?"Which is, I guess, accurate, but fails to mention the wonderful community support for OpenOffice or that you can pay for Star Office and get support that way.
The article also contains a link to mag-sol.com which is a bit of a shame as it looks a bit crap right now.
I had a telephone interview on Wednesday evening for this job at TradeWeb. I spent well over an hour on the phone with various people in New Jersey. I thought it went pretty well but apparently I was mistaken. Seems I didn't manage to persuade them that I'd be happy to make the switch from Unix to Windows as they've decided not to proceed with my application.
I'll be available in about six weeks time. Let me know if you know anyone who could make use of my talents.
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