September 2003 Archives

Bloody hell. Dr Who is coming back to TV.

It won't be on for a couple of years and there are about a million and one things that can go wrong before then and it'll never be as good as it used to be.

But it's pretty exciting news all in all.

On the way to the london.pm technical meeting last Thursday I stopped into Forbidden Planet and picked up some comics. The most important purchase was probably a copy of Neil Gaiman's new Sandman[1] book Endless Nights.

I also picked up copies of Gaiman's 1602 and Joss Whedon's Fray. Unfortunately because I don't visit comic shops as often as I used to, I seem to have missed previous issues of both of these comics. I've tried all of my usual online sources, but to no avail. So if anyone knows where I might get copies of 1602 issue 1 and Fray issue 7 then please let me know.

[1] Well, they call it a Sandman book, but he's not actually in most of the stories. It's more of a book about all of the Endless.

I don't download illegal music files from the Internet. I've found the ebook version of Data Munging with Perl on enough dodgy web sites to know how it feels to have your copyrighted material ripped off.

I do, however, listen to music mostly at my computer and I have something like 40 Gb of digital music files that I've ripped from my CD collection. I like the convenience of being able to select from a huge number of tracks and not having to constantly change CD.

It's therefore a little galling for me to find that I've inadvertantly come into possession of two CDs that have digital copy protection on them so I can't play them on my Linux system. They are The Other Side of Daybreak by Beth Orton and Youth and Young Manhood by Kings of Leon. In the case of the Beth Orton album, the disc seems to contain software to allow the music to be played (but not, of course, copied) on WIndows and Mac systems. but this is of no help to me on my Linux system.

I've visited the websites for both of the record companies (EMI and BMG) and have sent them emails asking how I can get a refund for what are effectively two expensive drinks coasters to me. I'll let you know if I get any rely.

My step-daughter has just started an A level course in flim studies. This means that I (hopefully) get a good excuse to buy lots of classic films on DVD.

It also means that we get to have interesting discussions about films. Like this one from last night.

Gill doesn't like many Hollywood films. She thinks they are often far too formulaic and the the endings are far too easy to guess from pointers in the early scenes. It's hard to disagree with that, but I pointed out that formulaic films aren't all necessarily bad. Without thinking too hard I came up with two popular formulas for recent British films.

1/ Child exhibits talent in something that a parent thinks is totally unsuitable. After many adventures the parent conceded that they are wrong. See Billy Elliot, Bend It Like Beckham and (longer ago) Kes.

2/ Working class community is threatened with disaster. A large part of the community throw themselves into a new activity which they do very well at. See The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Calendar Girls.

Oh look. It seems I have an interview for a job at the Guardian. I'm going in to see them tomorrow morning. Anyone know Nik Silver and can have a quiet word with him for me?

Under the terms of the multi-million-dollar fund which have been made available under President Bush for abstinence education, schools and groups can only claim federal money for sex education programmes if the classes have as their "exclusive purpose" the promotion of abstinence.

They must make clear that sexual activity outside of marriage is harmful, both mentally and physically. If contraception is mentioned, it must only be in the context of its fallibility.

The state of Louisiana, for example, has abolished all programmes providing what is known as comprehensive sex education - classes which give students information about contraception and abortion in addition to encouraging them to wait before entering into a sexual relationship.

Chastity pressed on US teens

Face it people. Teens have sex. You're not going to stop them. The important thing is to give them the facts they need to do it safely. Not trying to scare them into staying celibate.

George Bush has gone on record as saying that Saddam Hussein had no involvement in the WTC attacks of September 2001. This clarifies his previous somewhat confused message on the subject. A recent opinion poll showed that 70% oF Americans thought that Hussein was personally involved in the attacks (and therefore, by implication, that this was one of the major reasons behind the war on Iraq).

Bush still maintains that there are links between Hussein and Al-Quaida, but there seems to be only shaky evidence to support this.

The disparities between the advertised, and real event were such that you wondered if there could have been some kind of mistake. Weren't Tower Bridge and the Thames meant to be somehow involved, instead of just picturesquely adjacent? And on telly, a wide-eyed Nicky Campbell had referred repeatedly to "solitary confinement". Blaine had also stressed a desire for "no distractions... I think that's the purest state you could be in... " In practice, he has made his lit-up box the pinnacle of a non-stop party. Passing riverboats and vans tootle jolly hellos at him. Women wave. Spectators guffaw more or less in his face, shout at him to "put the kettle on", mime flying with their arms, threaten to come back with signs reading: "Are you mental or what?" When, laboriously, Blaine wraps a sheet round himself and makes as if to wee into a hidden tube, there are uproarious shouts of, "He's having a piss!"; then, "He can't still be having a piss"; then, "No - he's wanking!"; then - after the business is seemingly complete - hearty cheers and applause.

The Defence System & Equipment International Arms Fair has opened in the Docklands. It is, of course, disgusting that the UK Govenment would consider letting something like this take place in the UK, but it is becoming increasingly pointless to expect New Labour to exhibit any kind of moral judgement.

A couple of interesting stories from the show. Apparently cluster bombs are on show even tho' exhibitors have been asked not to display them. Also it seems that the police are using the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act to detain protesters - even tho' there is clearly no terrorism involved.

There's another view of the fair on the BBC web site and at times like these I'm always reminded of the old McDonnell Douglas Military Aircraft Satisfaction Survey.

£30M Wiped off Man Utd Shares screamed the headlines on yesterdays Evening Standard. But what the hell does that mean? Can you work out how badly Manchester United shares had done yesterday from that headline?

Of course you can't. For the £30M figure to mean anything, you need to know the total value of issued shared (it's apparently in the region of £450M). On its own that headline means nothing.

It would have made far more sense for them to have said that the shares dropped by 10p to £1.68 or that they lost 5.5% of their value. But that, of course, doesn't sound as sensational as a £30M loss.

Join the campaign for meaningful headlines :)

According to a report in the Washington Post, Opus the penguin will be returning soon. During the 80s Opus was one of the main characters in Bloom County which was the best comic strip ever.

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get himself a big dish of beef chow mein
Ah-oooh... Werewolves of London

Warren Zevon dies :-(

People have obviously decided that it's high time that my musical horizons were broadened. For my birthday yesterday I got three CDs by artists I've never listened to before. Some friends in LA sent me an Amazon package containing Us by the Mull Historical Society and Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground by Bright Eyes. Then my stepdaughter gives me a copy of Youth and Young Manhood by Kings of Leon (but I suspect that's at least partly because she wants to listen to it too :)

Can't remember the last time I bought an album by someone I'd never heard of. I'm looking forward to listening to then.

Dubya is apparently planning a trip to the Yookay at some point soon and a group of people are trying to ensure that he gets an appropriate welcome.

Bare Your Bum At Bush

Suddenly the last of a very small band of well-wishers has gone, and I am alone. Alone in a box with nothing but the clothes on my back and enough water to last me 24 hours. And a little mat to sleep on. And a sleeping bag and a pillow. And an extra fleece in case it gets parky. And a mobile phone, for emergencies. And a couple of magazines and some books. And a radio. And some cashews.

Now that there are three of us living in the house (with me as resident computer support bod) I've just realised that we all use different operating systems. I'm going to have support Linux, MacOS X and Windows. I think it's Windows 98 SE, but my first job is definitely to ensure that it's fully up to date with all the necessary patches.

It's only a couple of months since I got rid of all the Windows on the home network. It's slightly worrying to have it back again so soon.

As part of the mass clearout I mentioned earlier, I found three boxes full of cassettes. They haven't been played in five years so I made the (painful) decision to throw them away. I'm an incredible horder so this was immensely painful. I estimate there were about four hundred of them - prerecorded albums, compilation tapes I'd made for parties, things I'd recorded from the radio, all manner of things. If I remember rightly there would have been a lot of obscure compilations of obscure 80s indie bands.

There were only three things I insisted on holding on to. Bootlegs from two gigs I was at[1] and Marillion's demo tape from 1981.

But I feel I'm growing as a person :)

[1] Leonard Cohen, Albert Hall, May 1993 and Velvet Underground, The Forum, June 1993.

By the time I get home tonight my stepdaughter will have moved in. She's coming to live with us whilst she does her A levels.

We've spent the last couple of days massively rearranging the house so she has somewhere to put all of her stuff. It's amazing how two people can fill a large three bedroom house with their stuff in only five years.

I'm wondering if this added responsibility will finally make me feel grown up :)