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Archive for December, 2006
December 29, 2006 at 1:12 pm · Filed under life
According to a recent audit by the kings of audit, the National Audit Office, Bristol is seen by its residents as having the lowest anti-social behaviour levels.
That’s government speak for you which translated means that Bristol is the friendliest, politest, nicest place in the country to live, as voted by its population. You can read more here.
If you’re planning on visiting the UK, the placest to avoid are :
Corby 48.8
Mansfield 44.4
Hackney 42.7
Nottingham 42.7
Luton 42.7
Slough 42.0
Ashfield (Notts) 41.2
Knowsley (Merseyside) 39.2
Middlesbrough 39.3
Easington (Durham) 38.9
You’ve been warned. Come to Bristol – statistically pleasant.
December 28, 2006 at 3:02 pm · Filed under news
Recognise this street corner? I suspect not unless you’ve been to the Himalayan country of Bhutan and more accurately, its capital city named Thimpu.
This buddhist nation is quite unlike any other in that most government policies are set with the populations happiness in mind and not the GDP of the nation.
Hence, it wasn’t until 1999 that television was introduced as, until that time, it wasn’t felt that it would make the people any happier. Advertising is also banned since the rise in consumerism was also felt to be detrimental to the good of the people.
The traffic island in the picture above used to have the country’s one and only traffic light but that was recently removed because it did little to make the people happier. Bhutanians are happier seeing a police officer do the work instead.
Clearly, these policies have had a noteable effect on the profitability of the nation, for wont of a better phrase. People, despite the happiness policies, are worse off than many of their counterparts throughout the Himalayas.
A lesson though for the rest of the world though. Despite their relative poverty, the government and people of Bhutan are steadfast in their belief that protection of the environment is paramount to their success. Whilst other developing nations to their east and west (China and India) develop a commercialised future with considerable environmental impact, Bhutan’s policies reflect a wish to protect their natural environment, simply because a beautiful environment makes the people happy.
Are maintaining the happiness of the people and improving a nation’s wealth mutually incompatible?
December 27, 2006 at 5:19 pm · Filed under in the news
At 93 years old, America’s oldest living President sadly dies.
Gerald Ford had the good fortune to meet me in the mid 80s when he visited the town of Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire, UK. Gerald was in town to play some golf at the Bob Hope Classic Pro-Amateur tournament in Moor Park. I lived in the town – good fortune had me at the golf club because, as a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, I was on public duty providing first aid for those that needed it. I was a boy in uniform and Gerald was an average golfer.
What he recalls of our meeting is not public knowledge as, oddly, it doesn’t feature in his memoirs. However, for the curious, I’ll fill you in. Dressed in my uniform, I was granted access to parts of the club to which the general public were barred. It was a handy cover as I was keen on collecting autographs from anyone I could. And so I strolled off towards the 19th hole where all the pros and celebs were hanging out but due to Gerald’s standing in world politics, my route was blocked due to the US secret service. In Hertfordshire. Incredible.
I asked the gentlemen, politely, why I couldn’t get closer and they told me about Gerald, politely. And loudly. So loudly in fact that Gerald overheard and came across and apologised to me in person. He shook my hand. I asked for his autograph but he didn’t ask for mine. He apologised once again but said he couldn’t give me an autograph and I left a little crestfallen.
As I said, history doesn’t tell Gerald’s side of this story. Shame.
December 25, 2006 at 10:40 am · Filed under in the news
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, died today aged 73. Sad news for Christmas Day.
I had the good fortune to see James Brown live, playing a gig in a large marquee in my home town of Bristol. The summers here often see a number of music events held at Ashton Court, a large open space in the grounds of a stately house. Most concerts tend to feature local bands on the way up, or local made-it-big bands on the wane but this one was different : it cost money and featured artists you might want to actually see.
Our headline act was James Brown. Amongst my friends, we were incredulous that we were going to see the ‘actual’ James Brown, rather suspecting that it could well be the much less famous James Brown, of Bedminster, Bristol. As the lights went down on the previous set by Asian Dub Foundation, the anticipation rose. The spotlights focussed. The real show began.
But it was him. James Brown, legend, in Bristol, supported by his enormous band comprising maybe 30 people. What a gig, what a man.
He was an immaculate performer – even in his late 60s or early 70s. It’s important to remember though that we were not just hearing a man perform great songs (although, that was obvious), we were listening to a man that created a music genre and not just great music. That’s remarkable.
Sad day to hear he’s gone.
December 24, 2006 at 11:01 pm · Filed under life
Brilliant. A cold for Christmas. Seems so unfair really doesn’t it? My wife had the right idea and managed to get a cold on work days in the buildup to the festive period (… I hate that cliche).
Tis the season for giving and receiving. I’ve received a cold.
December 24, 2006 at 1:31 pm · Filed under digital life
The ammonite theme on this website lasted a few days then before boredom took hold and a new theme started to germinate.
The current look, entitled “Yosemite”, is based around the photo in the header that I took on honeymoon in July 05. Cleverly (and because the base code used here is K2), it’s all controlled by a subsidiary CSS sheet which makes it remarkably easy to flick between styles and to create afresh.
More details, when I’ve actually got any, can be found on my projects page.
December 23, 2006 at 6:46 pm · Filed under digital life
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of the Wikipedia organisation, has announced plans to launch a search engine based on the same wiki technology.
Named Wikiasari (‘Wiki’ from the Hawaiian for quick, and ‘Asari’ from the Japanese for rummage), the service will be launched on Amazon.com first. It was first mooted under the Wikia name some time ago.
Personally, whilst I’m sure Mr Wales sees Wikiasari as a great opportunity to make a few million dollars of the back of his current not-for-profit companies, if Wikiasari is anything like the quality of the search on Wikipedia, then I can’t see people queueing up to use it. A search engine that fails to recognise “Jonathan” as being the same as “jonathan” is painful.
And named after the Japanese for rummage? When I rummage, it’s a rather uncoordinated search process with several shouts of :
Will this do, Hazel?
Will it make money? You bet. Will it rival Google? That I seriously doubt.
December 22, 2006 at 6:40 pm · Filed under digital life
Nearly three years ago, I was introduced to a neat iTunes plug-in called Audioscrobbler that sat in my MacOSX toolbar and quietly listened in to my musical tastes. It didn’t pass judgement, which was pleasing.
I’d forgotten that it was still installed until, quite by chance, I stumbled across an RSS feed that someone had set up on a wordpress blog. Great thinking thought I and tried to set up a copy. Sadly though, it appeared that audioscrobbler had stopped listening in September, recording a rather melancholy week in which Johnny Cash was my top musical artist.
last.fm is the successor although quite when it changed, I can’t tell. The program itself invites users to tag the music they’re listening so building an excellent database of what we’re all listening to and, importantly, what we all describe it as. With such tagging, personalised radio stations can be built using the last.fm software.
All I need to do now is to get the RSS feed to work properly. Clever – another excellent application of a folksonomy.
December 22, 2006 at 5:40 pm · Filed under life
I got my hair cut today. It’s a 6-8 week event that I truthfully really look forward to. It’s not the thought of getting a smart haircut that excites, oddly, it’s the small talk.
Sure, there’s a smattering of “going anywhere nice on your holidays” and “what are you doing for Christmas” – after all, it is a hairdressers, but it’s the neat dovetailing from the banal to the inflamatorily dangerous which I love. Today’s conversation combined skiing in Canada (“great nightlife in Banff you know”), to how rude the French are (“they even dare speak French”). Well, it doesn’t get ruder than deigning to speak their own language in their own capital city, n’est pas? My fingers cannot type the stream of conscious filth that spewed forth, children might be reading.
Reminded me of this news story, describing a condition called Paris Syndrome, often caught by 30-something Japanese women visiting the French capital. So shocked are they by the bustle of Paris and their lack of manners (when compared with Japan), that they go into shock, retreat at once to the Japanese embassy and seek immediate repatriation.
It appears my hairdresser might be a sufferer.
December 22, 2006 at 10:03 am · Filed under life
I’ve left it late and have no one to blame but myself. The consequences are clear, unavoidable and painful; I have to go shopping with all the other poor procrastinating souls.
We’ll all be like fish on bicycles in shops that are just not designed for men. But I have a plan. It involves been ruthlessly organised which is a state somewhat contrary to the one that got me here in the first place. It involves writing a list of items and detailing a shop name against each one. Next, a route between the shops needs arranging, that way, you minimise the time needed. Efficient, clean shopping, no blood spilled. At least, not mine.
And what if an item is not available in a given shop? It’s never bought and never ticked off the list. Dangerous activities such as “browsing” and “window shopping” are absolutely out of the question. It does mean that each name on my shopping list has more than one item against it, just-in-case somethings not available. That requires more thinking or detective work for sure, that’s just my tough luck.
Wish me luck, I’m about to go out there.
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