Family Picnic 2009

A few pictures from our recent family picnic in Surrey.

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Radiohead: Harry Patch In memory of

Did you catch this on BBCR4 Today this morning...? I thought it was very moving... lyrics inspiredby Harry Patch's own words from an interview in 2005.

You can hear the original interview and the full song at the Today Page here and you can pay a pound to download an mp3 from Radiohead's store site (Proceeds to the Royal British Legion) and Thom Yorke blogged about it here.

BBC - Today - Radiohead: Harry Patch In memory of.

August Update

The recent combination of hot sun and steady rain has had everything growing like mad - especially the weeds :-(
We have a roll of weed mat fabric for the footpaths and need to get that down asap - Steve is doing the hard work clearing the surfaces, should make some progress this week.
We are eating our produce quite often now - potatoes (Anyas are The Best), salad, rasps, red onions, multi-coloured carrots. Not much of anything, but still lovely.
The parsnips are about there, Id like to leave some for Xmas if they will keep okay in the ground.
The shallots which went in very late (gift from a neighbour) are doing fine, will leave them as long as possible before pulling.
The salad onions and chard are up, not ready yet but might try the chard leaves next week in a salad.
Another neighbour donated a few spare leeks yesterday, they are already in a gap in the onion bed.
Cucumber plants have their first teensy cucumbers on, about 1" long. They only get to 5-6" anyway, but still a long way to go. Some of the leaves dont look good - they have gone lacey and holey in the middle - not from being eaten, maybe sun scorch damage ?
The asparagus is going great guns. No sign of anything dying back yet, fat spears still coming up on the Backlim and Anjlim, the purple one is still tiny and skinny but a little better than earlier in the year. Quite excited about prospects for next year when we can pick just one spear per crown.
Rhubarb is troubling me a bit. A few of the newer leaves have gone a dark red/brown and are quite crunchy. Also poss caused by sun on wet leaves but not sure what to do - probably pull the damaged stems off. The volunteer rhubarb is thriving and the first one that seemed to be failing (too close to the hedge ?) has recovered a bit. I will move them both in the autumn.
Oh, we have had a blueberry ! Just the one that the birds left us :-) A couple more berries on the way - the plant needs to go back into a pot, it doesnt like being in the ground. I think I might put a red goosegog ('Pax') in the gap.
Runner beans are flowering well, no sign of any pods yet.
Squashes (Butternut, table Queen) are both stopped at about 6". Not sure why, maybe putting down roots before they take off ? If nothing happens soon they may be too late...
Flower beds are pretty raggedy looking. The Hollyhocks are just flowering but have quite bad rust on their lower halves. Need to pick the lupin pods to dry and plant the seeds - not sure how that works, will have to read up. Otherwise, grass is encroaching and needs riping out/edging and lots of dead-heading to do.
The large pepper in a pot still has lots of fruit, but they are going from green to brown without the red in between ! Not sure what is going wrong, but not a success.
Last thing for now - looking forward to making curry with home grown coriander leaves ! Lots of it coming up now, just a tiny bit longer to wait....

Charlie's Card for his teacher (photos)

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In these modern and enlightened times of kids and their teachers being.. erm.. friends - it is a new tradition for the kids  to give their teachers a card (and sometimes a present!) at the end of the school year.

Charlie and his friends have gone crazy on the Match Attax footy trading cards (whither Panini stickers... sigh) - and recently have taken to making/drawing their own for their favourite players and themselves.

So I helped him design and make some cards for his lovely teacher (Miss Taylor) and TA (Mrs Illingworth).

Petrols in Newcastle (Fri 10th July)

I had a fantastic afternoon and evening with the Petrols in Newcaste yesterday.

It was really great to catch up with Ciaran and Ray - and to meet the other band members too. I was fortunate enough to watch the sound check and have pre-gig- dinner with soem of the guys and their tour manager/sound-man Dino (good Persian food).

The band played the O2 Academy Newcastle - though the smaller upstairs room not the larger main stage.

O2 A

I’m going to see the That Petrol Emotion tonight in Newcastle. I shall be a proper hanger-on and get along to the soundcheck and hang-out with the band :-).

Village Gala Day (Sunday)

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It's our village's annual Gala Day tomorrow. It's an important fund raiser for our village Sports Association which controls the playing fields and pavilion - providing sports facilities to local kids and adults - primarily football, cricket and bowls. After some problems and disappointing Galas in recent years this year's event should be back to full strength (info here)

Ali & I are helping by running a mini-soccer tournament for local U8 & U10 teams in the morning.

I've also been involved in some of the organisation - there's some very talented and comitted people working together to get this done - and I've been helping with some promotion.

We made a formal press release and were helped by Richmondhsire Council distributing it to local media - it's delivered us articles in local/regional press (see here - although they did manage to print the wrong day!) and promotion on local radio - with one station recording an interview with the Sports Club chairman (BobT) for broadcast on Sunday morning.

Here's hoping for decent weather tomorrow.

Off to see the Petrols this evening...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="Petrols in Nottingham - July 09 - Credit: HughieD from TPE forums."][/caption]

I'm going to see the That Petrol Emotion tonight in Newcastle. I shall be a proper hanger-on and get along to the soundcheck and hang-out with the band :-).

Whilst the tour hasn't had any/much press coverage - the response on the band's website forum has been enthusiastic and the general feeling is that they sound better than ever. I think is what comes from getting older and becoming better musicians - a bit like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

TPE Forum

Forum post with recent pictures

I'll post a review later.

Harvest !

First of the potatoes this week - Charlottes. Charlie had some for dinner yesterday and declared them delicious, we will probably have them today. Mixed sizes from larger than expected to positively teensy, enough for a couple of family meals. Others are about ready too, foliage is dying off on first tub of each type so Anya and Juliette to try in next week or so. Should harvest a sack a week for next couple of months now :-)
*Make note for next year to grow lots more !
Still almost no strawbs making it into the house - Charlie is stripping them bare each day which is great to see. No rasps yet, still small and green but on their way.
Radishes appeared almost overnight, lettuces close behind, but a while before any for picking.
Cucumbers both doing well, as are the peas and beans, none lost, but none close to flowering yet.
Rhubarb doing well - no flowers, so just leave it to die off.
Asparagus still putting up new spears, all of which look healthier than the first skinny ones did.
Butternut has germinated about 2-3" tall, no true leaves yet. No sign of the Table Queen or the coriander.
Plum tree did the June Drop thing, still a good few tiny fruits there. Apple has 2 fruits, propped up one of the branches which was getting a bit heavy as the apple is right at the end.

Sowings this week: white lisbon salad onions, chard bright lights, more carrots (red, purple and rainbow - no boring orange !).

Jobs to do:
lime brassica beds ready to sow cabbages and swedes. Maybe brocolli and cauliflower too ?
weeding between beds
clear the empty bed where the volunteer potatoes have appeared, for summer/autumn planting.

Good Luck to the Petrols!

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My good friends Ciaran and Ray embark tonight on their first major tour for 15 years with That Petrol Emotion. They play the Birmingham Academy 2 tonight and then on for a total of 10 gigs (see list of gigs here). I will see them in Newcastle a week on Friday... can't wait!

Busy Day

Sunday 28th - my reminder of whats done, whats planted and where.

1. Cucumber greenfingers x 2 moved into growbag with growpots and a mini pergola to climb up.
2. More parsnips seedlings moved from cold frame into the parsnip bed. Will put some more to germinate indoors, last set probably.
3. Topped up the paris market carrots row - there were a few gaps - only ones with poor germination.
4. Put coriander in 2 corners of the onion bed where the onions didnt take. Might be too dry - soil is very free draining there.
5. Winter squash - put butternut at one end of the onion bed, Table Queen at the other, both under bottle cloches and both x 2 per station, thin to 1 later if they both germinate. Hopefully, onion swill be out before squash becomes too big for them to share.
6. Salad bed. This had been dug up by some animal visitor, so back to square 1: sowed lambs lettuce, radishes, 3 types of lettuce to heart in the middle of the bed and 1 row of salad bowl for CCA. Still space for 1 or 2 more row of CCAs. Put a net over it !
7. On the maypole there are now 5 x runner beans, 1 x purple french beans. Sowed 2 more purple french under bottle cloches this time after 2 were dug up. 3 x waxy yellow dwarf beans in the gaps, one germinated indoors, other 2 direct.
8. Kids square - replaced some paris market carrots - theirs were patchy germination too. Added a few more dwarf/bush peas.
9. Weeded everything.
10. Summer rasps not all looking happy, some have died off after the leaves started to brown from the outside edge, drying out and leaving a dead stick. Adjacent canes thriving, no sign of aphids/beetles and no idea yet of cause.
11. Our postcode area is in a full Smith Period now, so need to watch potatoes for blight. At least early blight gives some warning and you can still get a crop.
12. Stevie dug a path the whole way along, beside the rasps. This needs to be levelled a bit more then covered with weed fabric and a mulch, poss large gravel, need to check prices at local quarry.

About a dozen baby frogs and toads were out in the garden today - they came out after the heavy rain and were extremely cute.

We Can Haz Strawberries !

Our first few strawbs are fat and red and certainly look delicious. Sadly, I will never get to taste them as they are in the 'kids corner'. This is the raised bed donated to a few of Charlies friends who have helped in the garden. They have a 1m square bed with strawberries, multi-coloured carrots and a couple of dwarf peas, just for themselves. They chose the seeds, sowed them and come and weed/water it a bit, I keep an eye on it for them.
So, they need to visit after school asap and pick these strawbs before the slugs do.

Our main strawberry bed is a little way behind but will get there soon and a few rasps are just starting to take shape now too for late summer.

Today should be sowing salad leaves and more carrots but there are thick black clouds and I can feel the pressure dropping - rain is gonna come. Soon.

No Surprises (na na na na...)

The pea/bean things are runner beans ! I was confused yesterday as when I sorted through my boxes of seed packets none of them prompted a reminder. Until today - as soon as I saw the runner beans packet (not put back into the box) I remembered sowing them. Good, now we know..
Sowed some more today - dwarf french beans (waxy yellow ones) and climbing french, purple/green. Both sets in a propagator for a few days to germinate then out they will go in their little loo roll towers.

Some of the latest parsnips have now germinated, a bit scrawny to go out yet, need another week or maybe two indoors but not covered or they will be too leggy. I will also put them in the cold frame for a week before planting out fully.

Both greenfinger cucumbers are on 2 leaves each, they will go into a grow bag I think, next to the spuds, after a spell in the cold frame to harden off.

the weather forecast is for some unpleasant combination of heavy rain, thunder, hail, flash floods in the next 48 hours. Fingers crossed it doesnt destroy anything - except the rabbit warren, I am hoping that floods and forces them further away from our carrots !

Garden Surprises

I have done a daft thing (what, just the one, dear ?) I planted some seeds in paper pots in the propagator and now I cant remember quite what they are ! A type of pea or bean certainly - but they could be any of half a dozen varieties, colours, tall or bush type. I have put them outside with a 'maypole' to grow up, so we shall have to wait and see what surprises us in a few weeks time.

Something, an animal, has been making mischief this week. The newly sown salad seeds, carefully marked with little wooden pegs have been scratched about and the marker pegs were found about 4 feet away from the bed. It must be pidgeons or a cat, cant think of anything else that would/could do this but not do anything else. There were a couple of shallots pulled up, one of them is over the fence and in the field... Please not the rabbits - dont let them find us !

Today, Stevie dug and I weeded, put out the pea/bean things, put straw under the strawbs, weeded again, made a frame to net the salad.

Tomorrow (Sun) will be put the nets/mesh over strawbs, salad and carrots, direct sow yellow beans at the maypole, redo the salad leaves, tidy the flower borders, water everything.

Weather permitting (wind speed) we will also spray nasty stuff on the jungle of weeds in preparation for putting down grass seed to get it under control for the summer. Might put our tent up there for some family friends to visit if its a bit easier and safer to walk on than it is now !

CVJFC Presentation Night

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We had our footy club annual presentation night yesterday evening. All our U8's Saturday morning Soccer Club go medals and took part in a penalty competition.

CVJFC Website News Item

Photos on Flickr

Psychopathic Personalities...

I listened to this morning's Desert Island Discs with the loathsome Piers Morgan. He comes across as a bright and determined person - clearly his career and successes reflect this. His access to rich and powerful people has enabled him to collect (and polish?)  a number of interesting and genuinely amusing anecdotes (e.g. his interview on the beach with a barefooted Rupert Murdoch prior to being made editor of the News of the World at 28 years old) - his choice of songs was quite interesting and varied - as a PR exercise he did very well.

However - listening to him attempt to justify his role and participation in the stupidest and nastiest parts of the media and his double standards on "privacy" (his is important - other people's isn't) -  put me in mind of this from the much missed Kurt Vonnegut back in 2003 - read it all...:

"I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka “Christians,” and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or “PPs.”

To say somebody is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable medical diagnosis, like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete’s foot. The classic medical text on PPs is The Mask of Sanity by Dr. Hervey Cleckley. Read it! PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. They cannot care because they are nuts. They have a screw loose!

And what syndrome better describes so many executives at Enron and WorldCom and on and on, who have enriched themselves while ruining their employees and investors and country, and who still feel as pure as the driven snow, no matter what anybody may say to or about them? And so many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick.

What has allowed so many PPs to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can’t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody’s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!"

via Kurt Vonnegut vs. the &#@ -- In These Times.

Most of us are in no position to make real diagnoses of PP in an individual, especially somebody we only know of via the media. Yet so many of the most successful leaders in government and business appear (to me) to conform to the stereotype.

I think the PP lens is an effective tool for comprehension of incomprehensible times .

The question remains - why do we let these people assume power over us?

Doubley Toothless Charlie!

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The Tooth Fairy is being kept busy by Charlie... as his second top-front tooth came out this evening at the FA skills football session in a freak "running/drink-bottle" incident.

THAT PETROL EMOTION - Great Photos

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The TPE guys linked to some great photos from last year's Electric picnic gig - as they gear up for their series of gigs in July.

via Time to get excited. | THAT PETROL EMOTION.

Best pictures of the football season

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I enjoyed this selection of the best pictures of the football season by the Guardian's photographer Tom Jenkins.

I particularly love this one of Messi with his European Cup winners meddle. I was thinking how childlike he looks - just like a 12 year old kid - Jenkins' own comments reflect this too:

"At this moment as he wraps his winners medal round his head, the best footballer in the world looks like a proud, little boy showing off his prize from the school sports day."

Link to Tom Jenkins's best pictures of the football season

Early June in the garden

Most of the asparagus is progressing well – Backlim is shoulder height, just starting to fern, Ariane (early variety) made it to above knee height and is quite ferny with berries, but the Purple Stewart isn’t happy – lost 2 crowns entirely, the rest has a bit of fern, but is skinny, shriveled, you wouldn’t want to eat it. Main concern now is keeping the stems upright in the strong winds. Have put a Heath-Robinson frame up but it needs to be more substantial and able to be dropped into place each year. Will blunder along this season hoping nothing snaps off and get something organised for next spring.

Onion sets all seem to be okay, we have lost a couple at most. Main job is to keep the bed weeded and to deter the soddin cat that confuses a raised bed with a litter tray. I think I will try 2 things, bits of spiky twig laid around on the soil – lots of that available in the hawthorn hedge and perhaps a net surround – cats don’t like to jump over things apparently, just onto things, so that might help. Also thinking of some evil solutions if the humane ones don’t work, as I am not prepared to sacrifice our food just to be kind to someone elses cat.

Strawberries have coped well with being moved from a planter to a permanent bed. No idea which variety is which any more, but some are clearly going to fruit sooner than others, so that might help me work it out. Added half a dozen alpine/woodland plants which may not fruit this year but will be delicious when they do.

Potatoes are looking good, first tubs should be ready from the end of this month then at 4-6 week intervals. We have only done Anya, Charlotte and Juliet this year.

Carrots are okay but no roots yet, just early foliage.

Parsnips I am a bit worried about. They are supposedly quite difficult to germinate so I was pleased when my first attempt was successful, but the rain and quite cool temps of the past 24 hours seems to have traumatized them a bit. One has disappeared completely, a few are wilting, only half the row looks robust enough to make it. Might put a cloche over some of them for the rest of the weekend. My second sowing of parsnips seems to have failed totally as the soil dried out, so we could end up with none ! I will put some more into pots and others direct sown to see if we can manage some for Christmas day lunch.

Rasps are coming along nicely. Autumn ones are ready to flower, summer canes have finally started sending up shoots that will fruit next year.

The rhubarb, or rather one of them, is looking lovely but we can’t eat that this year, needs to establish. The other has failed, probably the soil is too poor there so I will move it for next year. The soft fruit bushes are not doing much, a few berries/currants but should now be setup for next year.

Lots of work to do clearing space for more beds ready for summer and autumn planting and it will soon be time to put the brassicas and winter roots into their beds. Salad crops should be in but aren't, so next fine day that has to be done or we'll miss out on summer salads.

Some of what I had hoped to do will have to wait a year, it's taking a lot of time and effort to get control of what is essentially a pile of weed strewn rubble.

I forgot about the trees ! No flowers on the cherry this year, that can take a couple of years to start fruiting, loads of tiny plums - will lose most over next couple of weeks as the tree sorts out what it can sustain, a few applets (is that a word outside of IT ?) which have to go, to let the apple trees build up for next year.

Toothless Charlie!

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Charlie's first top front tooth has come out!

he is wavering on belief in the Tooth Fairy - seems to be happy to accept it for tonight.

Also check today's latest spiky haircut.

2009 election results - useful resources online

Some useful links to cover the election results as the counts are declared.

BBC Live election results map (UK wide - pick your region)


North Yorkshire County Council : 2009 election results live. (my area)

No European results until Sunday apparently - to allow all of Europe to vote.

Larry Ellison relives reveals network computer netbook dream • The Register

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Was it really so long ago...

Back in the mid-nineties I worked with for Giles and with Mark (or Grooty as I know he loves to be known). I used to travel around Europe (or was that EMEA) with a two of these devices and a server (Tadpole Sparcbook) and network rig. When we had the original and ONLY 2 N|C devices in the whole of EMEA we named them "Sandra" and "Magaret" - after two of the women who worked in our group.

It was a fun and rewarding time - and whilst the technology was somewhat flakey the principals were fine - actually even then "back to the future" as the approach was essentially the same as the well established "Sun Discless Client" workstation method (netboot via DHCP, OS and useer files on a "file server").

The devices became affectionately known as "NOTwork computers" - and over time came in various flavours (Java Stations) and from various vendors. We should remember though that back then a PC cost around a thousand dollars (without a monitor) - and often around a thousand UK pounds. Larry's vision was to forsee a tiome when devices to attach to a network (the Internet) could be simpler and significantly CHEAPER.

Larry Ellison relives reveals network computer netbook dream • The Register.

Medieval Day!

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Today is Medieval Day for KS1 at Charlie's school.
All the kids go in fancy dress and will have a packed lunch/picnic on the field.
Charlie's costume is homemade by his Mum with support from his Dad.

Click the photo or here for more photos.

Bowie vs Elvis (.. Superman, 2001, Roswell)

Wonderful insane writing linking Bowie/Elvis/Roswell/2001 A Space Odyssey/Superman:

"The alien that crashes to Earth during the supposed Roswell crash in Bowie birth year is also the starchild that evolves at the end of 2001 . Astronaut Bowman is in cryogenic suspension for 18 months and then evolves into .... something else. It is curious to note that Bowie was Ziggy Stardust for 18 months and then became .... something else. Elvis recorded at Sun Studio and was under the guidance of Sam Phillips for 18 months and then became ... something else."

link:   Bowie vs Elvis.

Paolo Maldini - Superman Retires!

Great article by Amy Lawrence on the impending retirement of Paulo Maldini.

The paragraph below really does put it in perspective.

Maldini the one and only bows out

A quarter of a century in the first team of any club is a staggering enough feat. To do it at one of the world's elite teams, sweeping up five European Cup medals and seven Serie A titles along the way, sets a benchmark that looks unmatchable. To put it into perspective, 35-year-old Ryan Giggs would have to play on for Manchester United for another seven years to equal Maldini's length of service. Real Madrid's Raúl, who turns 32 in the summer, will need to continue for another 10 years. This is a man who has won the European Cup in three different decades.

CVJFC Tournament2009 photos

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Photos from the recent tournament we hosted here in Catterick Village. Photos taken by Sandy Norrie of our U8s team - including Charlie.

CVJFC Tournament2009 - a set on Flickr.

Robert Fripp is 63 - nice collection of online videos

I noticed this nice colection of Fripp Videos on allaboutjazz.com to celebrate his 63rd birthday.

(Confession: I skipped through these videos - it's a lot of time if you play them all fully)

I first listened to Fripp on his contributions to Bowie's 'Heroes' - and on from there to his ongoing work with Eno and Talking Heads. He then contributed to some of David Sylvian's early solo work before they recorded and toured together. In fact, Sylvian & Fripp at the Royal Albert Hall in 1993 was the first gig Alison and I went to together (although as it was a "sitting down gig" I'm not sure if she would say it really counts).

Fripp has contributed to much of my very favourite rock/pop music and also led me to many other artists along the way.

Link: Jazz News: Sat Eye Candy: Robert Fripp.

"Guitarist extraordinaire and musical theoretician of the highest order, Robert Fripp has dipped his talented fingers into a lot of pies over the years. Besides the many and still-mutating configurations of King Crimson, he's worked with Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Steve Vai, David Bowie and numerous others, often steering his compatriots into cerebral spaces that stretch all involved. He is ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone's list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." JamBase wishes a very happy birthday to one of the thinking man's greats."

Recently Added Photo Sets

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Pam and Arthur - April/May…"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Charlie C's Birthday - 2009"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Charlie C's Birthday - 2009"][/caption]

Chores

A list of garden jobs done/to do this weekend:

1. Moved some 'rosebud' primulas from the nursery bed to the raised bed in the back garden. Rest next week, a few are for mum - they are sooo small and pretty.
2. I put the largest Dicentra Spectablis into the front border and have another 3 on the way. 1 is for mum, 2 going spare - hadnt expected any of them to germinate after forgetting about them since last year, but they all did !
3. Removed loads of Herb Robert (aka 'Stinky Bob' !) which I hate, from the front beds. It looks pretty enough, but yerch the smell is disgusterous !
4. First sowing of parsnips are still hardening off, they will go in next weekend and then I will sow some more.
5. Last of the potatoes ready to be 'sacked up', so thats about 6 weeks between first and last, should give us a few meals worth. I might have done lots more, but blight was so bad last year I was relucatant to risk it this year. First sets are already showing good foliage so will be earthed up in their bags, at the weekend.
6. Steve is going to prepare the next 2 raised beds this week, so then I will be ready to sow lots of carrot varieties when I get back.
7. Havent done onion sets, but should have as we eat lots. If its not too late, will get some brown and red in for the weekend...
8. Must check regional sowing/frost dates again - its so much later here than London and most planting guidance doesnt allow for that. Not time here yet for the brassicas, so their beds are waiting.
9. Autumn rasps doing well, might have lost 1 of the 10, not bad. Summer rasps are still dead sticks in the ground - hoping to see some growth this month or I will worry that I have lost all of them !
10. Asparagus - green varieties are doing well, Purple Stewart not so happy - thin, small, some a bit brown at the tip. Must investigate incase soil isnt right.
11. Top/back garden has been rather neglected while we try to get control of the veg garden, so did a bit of emergency weeding. Attacked the thistles and a mustard thing that frankly grows like a weed !

Charlie in his England Kit

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Charlie chose to buy the new England Football kit with some of the money he received for his 7th Birthday.

Click on the photo or follow this link to see more photos.

Misc. Planting

We have received the 20 rosebud primulas  and 10 Ariane asparagus crowns, both will go in today, as will the sweet peas from Auntie Sue which have been neglected in their pot until now.

A couple more raised bed frames need making up, so Steve can dig/build/fill them this week, for next weekend when I  will start planting seeds.

First 3 potato sacks are done - with 4 tubers in each of Charlotte, Juliette and Anya. Next round of those in another weeks time.

Putting a small wooden border around the raspsberries, to protect them from the wind and to retain a bark mulch I plan to put down.

Thats going to take more time than I have so Id best get started.

Strawberries and woodlice

Last year we planted a few varieties of strawberry in a large planter, as we didnt have space anywhere to plant them out. This year, we have plenty of room, so I have transplanted them all into a 2x1m bed.

Biggest challenge now is woodlice - how to keep the little blighters out of the fruit. I dont normally bother about them, they are fairly benign, but they do like strawberries so they have to go ! I would normally use straw to mulch, but as that is a perfect home for woodlice Id rather not, but I dont know what else would work instead. Need to find something in the next few weeks, maybe something artificial that is less welcoming to wildlife ?

Asparagus

Our order was for 10 crowns each of Backlim and Ariane , plus 12 of Stewarts Purple.

So far the Backlim and Purple have arrived and are in two beds. 7 Backlim and 4 Purple in one, 4 Purple in the other waiting for 7 of the Ariane. The rest will go to Loulou and Booya for their lottie.

Beds are fab - Stevie dug them out, we put compost and cardboard in the bottom, premium topsoil above, with a few handfuls of FBB mixed in.

As much as one can do really to give them a good start. They were a little bit dry - left in the bag in the box for a couple of days while I was away, but not too bad.

Now though, we have an unanticipated problem. One of our blackbirds likes asparagus ! Maybe he thinks they are worms/caterpillars, but he is having a real go at them and has damaged 2 so far. I will have  to net the rest asap until they are strong enough to withstand his attention.

I got a name check on El Reg!

I tipped off The Register (Top IT News site) about some preposterous "strategy boutique" tosh for the naming of the new Palm device (Palm  Prē) and they ran a story and credited me for the tip. Shucks..!

Naming the Palm Prē: Strategy Boutique OD's on joss-sticks • The Register.

Scarborough - Charlie visits with Pam & Arthur

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="167" caption="The Windmill"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Tardis!"][/caption]

Pam and Arthur took Charlie to Scarborough and stayed overnight at the fantastic Windmill Hotel.  Beyond the fantastic Windmill itself it also houses a vast collection of Toys from the 1960's and on. I recognised some of my faves (Thunderbirds, Batman) along with tons of other cult classics (Super heroes, Star Wars).

I joined them for the first day and then brought Tinker home.

Click on the TARDIS photo or this  link to see the photo set.

Kudos to Liam and a great post on music, coolness and parents.

I bumped into Liam's nice music blog and really enjoyed this post: Fuzz Box: Help! My Parents are Cooler than Me!

It helps that I know the people involved - but it's great (and a bit strange feeling) when someone you've known since they were (what?) about 8 yrs old turns into a grown-up - and not only that but a wise and thoughtful one.

Nice post - great writing.

David Byrne @ The Sage - 1st April 2009

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="David Byrne - not my own photo - click to see a nice set at Flickr by user pebblesfromheaven"][/caption]

Alison and I saw David Byrne's concert at the Sage (Newcastle) last night (Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour tour).

It was absolutely amazing - brilliant, funny, heartwarming, touching.... and funky... great musicians, 3 dancers, that amazing voice, that back-catalog of songs in collaboration with Eno (Talking Heads & Solo) mixed with the new (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today) album.

It's hard to pick a highlight - there were so many...:

• The long funky grooves of the Remain In Light era


• The simple beauty of "Heaven" ("is a place... a place where nothing... nothing ever happens")


• The art-pop classic "Once in a lifetime" - one of Byrne's/TH's best known - still fresh and intriguing ("...and you may ask yourself.. how did I get here... where does that highway go to")


• The dancers (simultaneously all NY artsy pretentious and yet funny/quirky) - added to the spectacle and showed DB's love for presenting a "show" whilst avoiding "rock clichés".  Praise to him to take 3 dancers on a world tour... I'm sure it would be more profitable to tour without dancers.. but he chose to bring them along.


• The country gospel tinged new stuff... and the amazing "Take me to the River"...


• DB "being the sampler" and vocalising the sampled sermon from "Help Me Somebody"...
  
  
  
  • "There`s no escape from Him. He`s so high you can`t get over Him. He`s so low you can`t get under Him. He`s so wide you can`t get around Him. If you make your bed in Heaven He`s there. If you make your bed in Hell He`s there. He`s everywhere."
  
  
  
  


• All those great lyrics:
  
  
  
  • this aint no party.. this aint no disco....
  
  
  • I'M AN OR-DI-NARY GUY!
  
  
  • I'm changing my shape-I feel like an accident
  
  
  • Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same as it ever was...
  
  
  
  

Wonderful evening - a priviledge to be there.

UPDATE: These 2 reviews (of other concerts on the tour) are fair and good:

• The Times


• The Guardian

David Byrne @ The Sage - 1st April 2009

Alison and I saw David Byrne's concert at the Sage (Newcastle) last night (Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour tour).

It was absolutely amazing - brilliant, funny, heartwarming, touching.... and funky... great musicians, that amazing voice, that back-catalog of songs in collaboration with Eno (Talking Heads & Solo) mixed with the new (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today) album.

I have loved this music since I first listened to Talking Heads back around 1980/81 - I was lead there via Bowie/Eno collaborations and the Talking heads albums were a continuation and extension of the Eno produced experimental art pop/rock... leading then to the wonderful My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and The Catherine Wheel. Up until recently most this stuff had become "orphaned vinyl" - lost in the loft and un-played. Fortunately Alison bought me the complete set of Talking Heads CDs (remastered, re-released with extras etc.) for my birthday a few years ago and I went through phase of listening to them all again... like old soul-mates reunited.

Last night's concert featured a fine mix of the older stuff and the new...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Photo on Flickr (not my own)"][/caption]

Treee !

Ages ago, we said we would plant an apple tree in our garden, for Granny Pam.  Pending the new veg garden, we weren't sure where it would go but now that is all sorted, it was time to get it done.

So, here is the evidence - Granny Pam, ably assisted by Charlie, planting her tree. But not any old tree, it is a 3-apple tree. There are Gala and Sunset dessert apples AND Bountiful cooking apples all grafted onto one dwarf tree. Not sure how long before any of it will bear fruit, but we shall offer the first harvest to GP to make pie !

At the same time, we planted a dwarf dessert cherry nearby.

Germinating Parnsips

First parsnip seeds have been set to germinate, using the widely recommended kitchen-roll method. Basically, the seeds are put on damp kitchen roll, kept warm until they germinate and then moved out into a prepared drill by which time the soil has warmed up a bit more. The bed isn’t even dug yet so we need to get cracking on that asap.

If this works, I will start another batch off in a couple of weeks time for succession planting.

The wireworm risk is high for parsnips (and all roots), given that we are planting on land that last year had sheep and cows grazing on it, so I am a little nervous about how well they will perform, but we have to give it a go.

The parsnips (Picador) will share a 3m x 1m bed with a few different types of carrot – round ones - cant recall the name, came free on a magazine, as well as Purple Haze, a rainbow mix and Samurai (red). Some of the local kids want to grow the coloured and round carrots too, so in return for their help moving stones, I have set aside a 1m square bed for them to share and they can choose any of my seeds that they like. So far, all have gone for the ‘funny carrots’, with one considering a side order of yellow cherry tomatoes. I think a few pumpkins will be fun too, if only for making lanterns.

Asparagus beds - almost done

Having read in various gardening forums that 2009 asparagus deliveries are already underway, it was time to get the beds to their next stage of readiness.

Steve has moved a whole load of the topsoil from front garden to back – an ingenious ramp system on the wooden steps made it possible to get the whole way with the barrow without having to unload/reload it or use buckets, phew.

We now have both beds filled to ground level. We are allowing them a day or two to settle during which my job is to get the edges weeded and straightened up, line up the raised bed surrounds nice and straight, then fix them into position for Steve to top them up with more soil. We will fill them almost full, as they will sink down as the compost composts and we can top up as required from there. I will also add some fertilizer to the topsoil layer – probably bonemeal.

Planting will be in blocks, 11 plants to each 2m x 1m bed which is perhaps too many but I am hoping it will be okay:

X X X X

X X X

X X X X

I will use 7 of each green variety and an extra purple one. The rest of the order will go to BooLou for their lottie:

Stewarts Purple x 12 early, sweet, purple

Ariane x 10 (organic) early season

Backlim x 10 (organic) mid to late, can be grown as white asparagus after a few years

Bah Bah Bah... Ba-ba-ba Bah Bah....

Just watched West Ham 5 vs 0 Newcastle (Div 2 - 1979) with Charlie....

Yes we should have been doing spelling or reading I suppose... but.. it's Friday.. and... er...

Brooking, Devonshire, Bonds, Lampard.... Pop Robson.... standing on the terraces... jumpers for goal posts... Brian Moore... marvelous.

Even the Cardif City fans singing "We'll see you all outside" during their game with Stoke City had a bit of a nostalgic ring to it. A young Garth Crooks poaches a goal.

Interactive/User-generated content in 1979...?

Brian Moore holding the original letters sent in by viewers asking "just what was Alan Ball doing at the end of last week's League Cup final" (Answer - nicking a piece of turf as a souvenir)

The Big Match Revisited (The Big Match - Wikipedia)

Great Nostalgic 80's football video

The Guardian's online sports pages have a weekly selection of sports video clips (plenty of football) with a mix of nostalgia and current weirdness/sensational stuff - usually decent picks and worth a look.

This week's:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/mar/26/youtube-bbc-liverpool-lewis-hamilton

is a corker...:
"Featuring a Brian Clough left hook, Manny Ramirez swapping baseball for cricket and a belting simultaneous double KO"
And the very nostalgic: "...1987-88, the BBC did a Goal of the Season competition just for Liverpool."

Test Entry

This is a test to see if it propogates via FriendFeed... to Twitter.... then on to Facebook...

Garden Diary #8

We received our topsoil order today.

I also continued work on our raised beds - adding compost then covering over with old newspaper and cardboard (as per instructions from wifey).



The topsoil was delivered by a local company (Farnaby) who deliver via a huge artic. lorry (er... wagon in Yorkshire) with a 3-wheeled fork lift on the back to lift the large bags of soil off the wagon and deliver to the customer site.

Made me think... I wonder how much energy (joules, KW, calories - whatever) will have been used in "producing" then delivering the soil we received... and how much food will we need to produce to generate the equivelent amount of energy. Also... can you imagine the idea of shipping topsoil around the country - even relatively locally - without the aid of fossil fuel based transport and "mechanical muscles"? I guess I'll find out what it's like to shift 2 tons of soil about 30 meters at least... by wheelbarrow!

Garden Diary #7

The topsoil arrives Tuesday pm. I imagine Steves biceps are protesting already at the prospect of barrowing that lot down the garden path !
I am doing remote support by reading the latest 'Garden Answers' mag - free asparagus ! I wish Id known about that a month ago.

Garden Diary #6

Mothers Day :-)
Ordered 2 tons of topsoil from Farnabys, just down the road near Scotch.

This will come next week sometime, mainly to start building up the asaparagus beds once Steve has put in layers of compost, cardboard and any other organic stuff we can get hold off. I am now officially talking horsesh*t !

Recent Photos

Some recent photos sets [see ALL OUR PHOTOS AT FLICKR]

CVJFC Matches

Charlie as Four Arms

Christmas at the Mee’s

In the Snow - Dec 2008

London - October 2008

Garden Diary #5

TO DO #1 – dismantle the old raised beds, rebuild as 2 x 2m instead of 3 x 1m squares. Use the old site near the lawn to prepare for the two trees. New beds will be for root veg and/or salad, not sure which to do first, must check planting plan.
TO DO #2 – order topsoil for next weekend.
TO DO #3 – make a list of what to sow/plant and when, by month.
Ordered a starter pack of Gripples, mainly for the raspberries.

Garden Diary #4

Ordered some fruit from Blackmoor Nurseries: A ‘Family’ apple tree, this is a dwarf tree with 3 varieties of apple grafted onto it, courtesy of Dr Frankenstein. It grows to 8-9’. Bountiful is a cooker as we don’t have space for a Bramley. Raspberries: 10 canes of Prosen & 10 canes of Polka for extended season and finally a Cherry Maynard - 2 Year old tree on a dwarf rootstock, about 6’ max. That’s the 'orchard' sorted.
Picked up a bunch of free pallets from the local garden centre, to stand the potato sacks on – keeps them a bit further away from the slugs ! Also, will help keep weed fabric in place over the wild patch at the southern end of the lawn.

Garden Diary #3

I planted the gooseberry bush and blueberry bush which were previously in pots, at the south end of the plot, next to the shed and next to one of the rhubarb crowns, all in an east-west row. They will get lots of sun there, from mid-late morning for the rest of the day. These are all straight into the soil, not in beds but with good soil and compost added to the stoney mess of the original ground.
Blueberry is not looking very happy – it needs ericaceous fertilizer asap.
Rhubarb already has shoots appearing ! Must resist urge for rhubarb crumble – they need to be left alone this year to help the new crown establish.

Garden Diary #2

Steve and I made up the 2 new linkabord raised beds, 2m x 1m each.
Steve dug pits 6-8” deep, so we can put sharp sand and compost into the bottom, before adding the raised bed sides and filling with topsoil. End result will be about 12” deep beds of which 6” will be raised. These run north-south along the western edge of the plot. Lots of sun but also lots of wind so we plan to put a windbreak screen up along the wire fence.
These beds are for the 3 varieties of asparagus crowns which arrive end March/April. Asparagus fern gets to about 5’ tall !

Garden Diary #1

Received a large rhubarb crown from Uncle Tommy, variety unknown. Divided it into 3 parts, rather unscientifically with a spade, but making sure each segment had some shoots. Planted one in each southern corner of plot, 3rd one is for mum. Put lots of home-made compost into the hole first and backfilled with growbag soil from last years tomatoes.
They need a FYM mulch when the leaves die back later in the year and poss some nitrogen before then.

Garden Diary

I am going to document our work to transform a patch of former agricultural land into a working fruit and vegetable garden, providing the majority of our produce, hopefully within about 12 months.

When we took ownership, the good thing was that it had been grazed by both cows and sheep so was well manured and not too out of control. The bad bit was the soil level varied by about 6 feet with a big 'basin' in the centre of it, and the only thing slowing down the couch grass was the rocks.

The basin has now been levelled but with fairly low grade filler - lots more rocks, just a bit of soil, not good enough to grow anything except more couch grass.

The fence is up, so we are now taking control and starting to lay out the raised bed areas. A little bit later than I would have liked for this season, but we should have time to get a good range of crops in, even if its not everything - like we probably wont have a greenhouse until next year.

Happy 5th Birthday Charlie

Our boy Charlie was 5 years old yesterday. It's his party today in the village hall with lots of friends.
What a smasher... here's a recent picture.

Red Nose Day

I'm a bit (ok, a lot) of a grumpy-old-man when it comes to charridy events like Red Nose Day. A mixture of political views (charity replacing social duty etc. - I won't rehearse the well worn arguments here) coupled with manufactured (and joyless?) organised-compulsory-mass-participation-fun!!! and all that it entails (TV, Radio etc.).
However, Charlie has been counting down the days as they are allowed to wear red noses and red T-shirts at school. Bless.

Bowie on working in a record shop in the 60's

These could be heroes . . . one day-Arts & Entertainment-Music-TimesOnline:
This is to promote DBs involvement as a "Nokia Music Recommender".
Some nice recollections about a time I don't really remember, yet can associate with.

"A record shop was just about the coolest place one could hang out in back then — perhaps not quite as cool as a coffee bar or the burger-selling innovation known as the Wimpy Bar, but it ran a very close second. People who were “aware” were attracted to record shops."

does it suck or rock?

does it suck?
Just in case you can't decide if something in your life is good/bad (rocks/sucks) these nice people have provided a simple tool to help you :-)
High scores are good.
Here's a few things that are clearly important to me - it seems the Gruffalo rocks all our worlds and I am entirely average.
The West Ham result clearly shows this system doesn't work!!!

the gruffalo 10.0
bowie 9.8
sylvian 9.5
west ham united 9.4
northstar 9.4
marmite 6.9
linux 6.3
steve adams 5.0

ARTO LINDSAY Photos

Stumbled upon these great recent Arto Lindsay photos... (dig the beard!)
DARIO VILLA - ARTO LINDSAY
whilst I was attempting to see what he is up to since his last solo CD.
Not much it seems - though he did produce this interesting sounding CD on Matthew Herbert's label: MICAH - Everything.
The photography site has some other nice jazz musician sets too.

Ask tries U.K. guerrilla marketing campaign

This News.com article reports on an attempt at an edgy, guerrilla marketing campaign by Ask.
It seems fairly lame to me, both in the approach (trying toooooo hard to be cool and edgy) and in the arguments it makes about "information freedom". Yes, we need to be careful about handing any company a monopoly.... but what makes Ask such a great alternative?
Their site seems laden with more obtrusive advertising per results-page (than google), and less relevant results (than google or yahoo)

Ask tries U.K. guerrilla marketing campaign | News.blog | CNET News.com
More here: http://valleywag.com/tech/advertising/a-botched-revolt-against-google-244111.php

Blue Peter fakes phoneline winner

Blue Peter fakes phoneline winner | The Register:
This has been covered everywhere, of course... but I had to laff at the wonderful subheading from the Register on this:

"Here's one we made up earlier"

No rules, no boundaries for Frisell

No rules, no boundaries for Frisell:
Nice interview with humble-guitar-genius Bill Frisell.
"Music has always been the place for me where anything is possible,'' he says. 'You can just do whatever you want, and it doesn't hurt anybody. You can try anything -- you can jump off a cliff, or a tall building. You can be aggressive or not. It doesn't do anything but good."

One for my Dad - twirl a squirrel...

YouTube Video - twirl a squirrel

Arrgggh!!! - my Palm T3 just died

"My Palm T3 just died.
Symtoms:
Working fine in the morning, pulled it of my pocket in the afternoon - no life whatsoever."
I posted a message to this forum... let's see if anyone can help...

Petition to stop the BBC crippling it's new digital services.

I don't sign many petitions, but I signed this one.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent the BBC from making its iPlayer on-demand television service available to Windows users only, and instruct the corporation to provide its service for other operating systems also.

Go here and sign up.

Don't let Granny Pam see this !

The Daily Puppy (Warning: Overly Cute).
Also goes with this: DogsBlog.com

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes (Youtube Video)

The term Web 2.0 (Two dot oh) has been widely used over the past year or two to describe the "next generation" of web services and technologies which "emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users" (Wikipedia Web 2.0).
The video (link) is a very nice summary for techies and non-techies alike - it's worth the 5 minutes.

MS Vista

There was lots of press coverage of the new MS Vista OS recently.
Some of my friends and family ask me for advice about technology and I usually make it clear that I generally dislike MS and their products and think they do not provide good value for money.
Increasingly both of the main options (Windows or Mac) utilise restrictive technology (e.g. DRM) to stop your computer doing what you want and doing what it is told by the content companies (i.e. music and film).
I think that Linux (see: www.getgnulinux.org) is now ready for most "civilian" users these days - although if you have some specialist needs or devices you may well be tied to a MAC or Windows.

Here are a couple of links to mainstream (i.e. not the geeky ones) reviews:

Dim Vista - Forbes.com: "Windows Vista: more than five years in the making, more than 50 million lines of code. The result? A vista slightly more inspiring than the one over the town dump. The new slogan is: 'The 'Wow' Starts Now,' and Microsoft touts new features, many filched shamelessly from Apple's Macintosh. But as with every previous version, there's no wow here, not even in ironic quotes. Vista is at best mildly annoying and at worst makes you want to rush to Redmond, Wash. and rip somebody's liver out."

NYT's David Pogue on Windows Vista : The New York Times' Tech Editor with an amusing video review (Youtube) comparing the "new features" in Windows Vista with Apple OSX.

Schneier on Security: DRM in Windows Vista: This is a bit more techy but worth reading about the restrictive technology in Vista.

Bottom line from me: Don't "upgrade" to Vista unless you really are sure you know why you want it.

Roddy Frame

It's my birthday tomorrow, and Alison very kindly treated me to a concert by Roddy Frame (myspace) on Sunday evening in Buxton (Opera House). It was a really great gig with a mix of old Aztec Camera classics and songs from his highly recommended recent CDs (The North Star, Surf and Western Skies).
There was an unusual interval when Roddy left the stage for "a cup of tea and to chillout" after some apparent problems with the sound, an inability to see the audience and perhaps some nerves due to the gig being filmed for a DVD.
On his return to the stage after some 10 minutes or so he received a very warm response from the audience and went on to give a really fine performance... Roddy suggested this might be due to a shared 'trauma bond'.
This thread over at the excellent fan site (www.killermontstreet.com) has some good reviews, comments and set list etc.
Thanks to Alison for getting the tickets... a big night out on a Sunday... blimey!

Cat on a piano

While watching this funny "cat on the piano" video (YouTube - Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat) I realised it was not so dissimilar from parts of a CD I had been listening to earlier...
Reconstructive Surgery - John Medeski & Matthew Shipp
hmmmm

Resurrecting distractions...

IMPS - The Relentless
An impressive Star Wars Fan Flick

Polaroid-o-nizer™
Lovely retro-polaroidonizing website... have a play...
As prompted you just need to add some text and give the URL of a photo (must be online somewhere already)
here's some examples...

Louise makes a 'Pam says thanks' Page

The Crimson Room
Minos passed this on.. kind of a cross between japanese-anime style graphics and Myst... can you escape ? Some lovely Engrish subtitles.
Warnings:
- This is the kind of thing which rapidly becomes very adictive !
- There is one piece of info you absolutely need, which is not contained within the game directly, I only got it by finding a cheat page.
Clue (slight spoiler but not really): "1994" - this is not a teaser - it will be obvious when you need it.
**Apparently there are different versions of the game out there where this number is different - be aware.

The game is a freebie shockwave app - and seems to have been copied all over the web, here the link Minos sent to me: The Crimson Room.
Here is a solution - for if you give up: Crimson Room Solution.

BBC SPORT - When does it all kick off again?
just when you're enjoying a break from it all - the new footy season's start dates...

Redferns Music Picture Gallery: DAVID BOWIE PIN UP

This exhibition is a celebration of an artist with a real understanding for rock’s visual appeal.
Featuring rare and unseen images by an impressive list of legendary photographers: Terry O’Neil, Andrew Kent, Mick Rock, Ian Dickson, Denis O’Regan, David Bebbington, Brian Aris, Ray Stevenson, Michael Putland, Barry Plummer and Kate Simon all contribute to this amazing photographic narrative.

PledgeBank - Tell the world "I'll do it, but only if you'll help"
This is another interesting idea from www.mysociety.org/.

"The way it works is simple. You create a pledge which has the basic format 'I'll do something, but only if other people will pledge to do the same thing'."

On Toothache, music and musical heroes...
I have been suffering from a persistent toothache from a wisdom tooth... it's "impacted" see here for an explanation and here's a picture (aaaaarrrrrggghhhh !)


So, whilst waiting to see a dental surgeon at the hospital last Saturday, I was catching up on some reading, including the most recent entries on the ever-readable David Byrne "Online Journal" (don't call it a blog!).

Just imagine my ironic chuckling as I sat in the waiting room reading the following, with toothache, waiting to see a DENTAL SURGEON whilst in the background an eazy-listening-musak cd played chunes from the popular songbook in ver-so-luvverly synth, drum-machine and panpipes arrangements...

NOTE: This is from the entry from June 5
"One can not only hear the music one chooses all the time if one wants, which seems like a good thing, but one can also seek out music from far-flung places, scenes and from times very different than one's own. At least in recorded form it’s more or less all out there.
I find this overwhelming. Probably as a musician I find music either one or the other — completely invisible, inaudible — even sometimes when it’s playing loud — or completely intrusive — impossible to ignore. As a musician there are times when even quiet background music in a bar or restaurant is completely distracting and impossible to ignore. It’s like the effect of having a TV on in room is for most people — it tends to demand attention. All conversation either stops or has to deal with the TV program. Music is like that for musicians.
In this way the easy access to and ubiquity of music is oppressive. It often feels like a passive aggressive assault. I’d pay extra for silence."

Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It...
I spotted this a while back - thought it would be good for Louise :-)

Brian Eno on Song-Writing:
I came across these comments on song writing by Eno..:

'Song-writing is now actually the most difficult challenge in music. It's very easy to make music now but lyrics are really the last very hard problem in music. What I think lyrics have to do is engage a certain part of your brain in a sort of search activity so your brain wants to say 'here are some provocative clues as to what this song might be about'. They don't have to be explicit... in fact for me they certainly shouldn't be explicit'.

Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion
Some nice organic food advocacy in a star wars stylee [Flash Movie] - Righteous !
Thanks to Giles for the tip.

eNormicom: Welcome to eNormicom!: "Is your company having an e-dentity crisis? Then you need the eNormicom Image Bucket Program™..."

The Adventures of ACTION ITEM!
Wonderfull send up of consultancy-speak in the form of a DC/marvel comic strip.

Free Online Graph Paper / Grid Paper PDFs
Exactly as it says on the tin. I think this is one for Alison and Louise!

Antique Radio Classified--With The Collectors
Isn't it great that these consumer devices are already considered antiques !
I still have a Rio 500 - which I actually picked up from Michael ... back in 2000.

Today is April 1st
in case you hadn't noticed... here's some nice date-appropriate articles I noticed today:

Could Tom Parker Bowles become second in line to the throne after the royal wedding next week?
BBC Radio4's Today program: RealAudio Clip

Bowie to launch new Perfume: Mesmer
Mesmer by David Bowie is a spellbinding and erotic blend of sensuality and warm awakening aromas of bergamot, lemon, and patchouli singapour balanced perfectly with musk, red marechal rose and African wengue wood.

Bloglines Helps Bridge The Vastness Of Space
News Feed and Blog Reading In The Warrior Tongue
Oakland, CA, Earth -- Stardate: 2005.4.1 -- Bloglines, the world's most popular free online service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content, today opened the doors of its service to audiences beyond our solar system with a new translation in Klingon, the galaxy's fastest-spreading invented language.

*Apple founder Jobs joins IKEA | The Register
KEA's flatpack days may soon be a distant memory, as Apple and Pixar founder Steve Jobs turns to his latest challenge. Inter IKEA Systems BV will employ Jobs as "acting CEO", from next month. The technology icon will maintain his twin CEO roles at Apple Computer Inc. and Pixar Inc. but will also take command with a wide-ranging brief at the retail giant. For the technology guru, it's just another job, but for the Swedish furnishing franchise, it's a massive gamble. IKEA had a turnover of €13 billion last year, and has over 200 stores worldwide.

Boring Boring Parody of Boing Boing

Ingenious Google-like front-end to BBC's Ceefax: ceefax.tv

As reported by The Register:

BBC throws strop at 'Ceefax Google'A Dutch consultant has provoked the anger of the BBC by creating a website which lets users browse Ceefax, the broadcaster’s popular teletext service. The BBC has demanded the closure of the site, claiming copyright infringement.

The FactCheck website
The Guardian reports a soon to be launched website...

MediaGuardian: C4 site subjects politicians to truth test
Channel 4 today launches a website that will enable voters to check the factual basis of politicians' claims in the run-up to the general election.
The FactCheck website, which has been inspired by a similar online venture launched in the US in 2003, has been set up to inform voters about the factual accuracy of claims politicians make in speeches, press conferences and press releases.
"We believe FactCheck will be an important service to the public during the election period. With so many statements flying around, it is often difficult for the voter to know where the truth lies," said Dorothy Byrne, the head of news and current affairs at Channel 4.

Channel 4 FactCheck

Ciaran, Ray & Damian from That Petrol Emotion on the Radio - Thursday 31st March
This just in from Ciaran...

Ciaran, Ray & Damian from That Petrol Emotion will be
live on Resonance FM (104.4) on Thursday 31st March
from 7-8.30 p.m talking about their favourite records
and playing some new songs!!
You can listen online too:
www.resonancefm.com/audio
Check it out - and pass this on - its the next big
thing don't you know :)

Julian Beever's pavement drawings
I seem to remember blogging about this guy a year or so ago.. this site has lots of great photos.

Sponsor Alison In the Race For Life for Cancer Research
Alison and her mum (Granny Pam) have signed up take part in this year's Race for Life event.
You can sponsor her online here: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/alisonadams

"In 2000 my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Three terrible operations later and I don't know who was in worse shape - her or my dad - mums illness took it's toll on him too. Now, they are both happy and healthy and my son Charlie really loves his Granny Pam and Grumps.
I will be proud to wear number 479, and even more proud to be taking part with my mum.
Please sponsor me now and tell a friend too !"

Myst island birthday cake
One for Alison.

The secret of bananas - caught on tape
how did we live so long without knowing this ?

You'd think after eating a fruit at least a thousand times, you'd know all it's capable of. Maybe not. I recently learned something about bananas that, quite frankly, blew my mind.
I'm sure it won't be news to everyone, but for me this revelation was up there with seeing the secret arrow in the Fedex logo for the first time...
BANANAS NATURALLY DIVIDE INTO 3 PERFECT WEDGES.

Snap Galleries
"Rare and exclusive rock and roll photography from Snap Galleries"
bumped into this today.. lotsa photos of all your favourite rock gods/godesses.

Heavy Chamber Music
Ever wondered how choice rock cuts such as Radiohead's Creep and the Tap's classic "Big Bottom" (not to mention the "Wild Boys" cover) would sound as arranged for and recorded on bass clarinet ?
Of course you have !
Well, you can find out here.. download the mp3s here: Edmund Welles: Audio
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Talk about bun-cakes my girls got 'em....

CIA - The World Factbook
Does what it says on the tin. Pick a country... any country...

Jazz Recording Artists Go Into Business for Themselves
A WSJ article about the emergence of new music labels run for and by jaz musicians.
I think this is the answer for the less popular (i.e. real !) music genres, let the artists (those who have the "content") and their public (that would be the "consumers") communicate and buy/sell directly - who needs the parasites of the big labels in the middle ? If the established artists can promote and endorse (and help) their up and coming less established colleagues - then we the fans/audiance will find and promote new music and artists... in the way we already do: by referal.

Here's an artist based label (there are many springing up now) which features some new music from Roger Eno (that was my link to them):
Burning Shed: Specialist online music label and shop

Scott Rope: Jack in the box Voicemail

Very Very Funny Voicemail ! [apparently genuine]
This is probably all-over-everywhere by now.. but this made me laugh out loud. Follow this link Jack in the box Voicemail
for an introduction and a link to an mp3 [4MB, 3.5 minutes] of an apparently genuine voicemail message...

"...when an operations manager was late for a meeting and called his boss to tell him he was running late. As he was leaving the voice mail message, he witnessed an accident and went on to provide "play by play" of the incident."

The Urban Legends Reference Pages considers this "Status: Undetermined" - and their investigation hasn't proved it to be a hoax (yet), see:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/mishaps/beating.asp

Montage-a-google

Montage-a-google
Searches google images based on keywords you enter, then builds a photo-montage before your very eyes... simple genius, highly compelling... highly distracting.
I found music/bands to give nice results, e.g. "david bowie 1976" and "that petrol emotion". Alsion tried some for Charlie.. like "brake down truck" and "diggers".
Nice, instant personalised art !