John Allsopp

Professionally engineered Internet solutions for humans

The vegetarian argument: 28 May 2004: After hearing my partner talk about a radio phone-in about vegetarianism, I'm forced to conclude that the reason some people continue to eat meat is they're too stupid to consider the issues.; Where shall we start. Oh yes .. "if you want the pleasure of seeing lambs gamboling in the fields, you have to accept meat eating". OK, hands up all those in the country who've seen lambs gamboling in the fields recently? One, two, .. is that it? OK, I'm exaggerating, but really, how many people take the time to enjoy the lambs gamboling in the fields? If we didn't farm for meat, we wouldn't need so much land for agriculture, lots more would be wild, natural land, there'd be much more wildlife, and you could watch real animals like badgers, foxes (I see I've, quite by chance, chosen two animals guaranteed to make any fully paid member of the Countryside Alliance's blood boil), birds, butterflies and so on.; What about "what would happen to all the animals". Well, what, are we imagining some sort of government dictat "From 1 May the eating of flesh will be banned within the UK". That's not what's going to happen. In the long term, vegetarianism will grow, meat eating will decline, the demand for meat will go down, prices will drop, the economics of rearing animals will be less inviting, and so fewer farm animals will be born and bred. So, no issue.; "Wouldn't you rather be born than not born at all?" Well, let's see now. Would I like to be born as a battery chicken, kept in a cage so small I can't extend my wings, fed chemicals to keep me laying, and then sent off to a slaughterhouse? I'd rather not be born to that. Anyway, if I wasn't born, I don't know about any of it. And surely, surely you're not coming at this with a 'pro-life' argument?; "The previous vegetarian speaker was soft spoken .. vegetarians don't have any energy". He was probably soft spoken because he's kind and considerate. As I've said before, the most unstoppably energetic person I know is vegan.; "Hitler was vegetarian". Yep, so you can't have "soft spoken" nor "lacking in energy". As I understand it, Germany was going through a big health and fitness thing with lots of interest in healthy living, naturism, and so on. I suppose they saw vegetarianism as a healthy lifestyle.; She said the vegetarian callers offered reasoned arguments, the meat eaters offered complete nonsense, disrespect and fear. I suppose if you eat meat that will be because that's how you were brought up, that was normal. Those who have chosen not to eat meat will have researched the issues and made a conscious decision. So, vegetarians probably have a better grip on the issues than meat eaters who, if they've considered it, won't usually have gone into it in the depth that a vegetarian will before making their decision.; The fear thing comes up quite often. If we say we don't eat meat, some meat eaters feel like we're judging their lifestyle, so they feel attacked, so they move to defend themselves. That leads to discussions like the one here. And the more vegetarians talk, the more meat eaters feel attacked because the veggies are prepared and they're not. Nowadays we duck out. We were never evangelists and had no desire to change other's way of life. We simply made a decision for ourselves, and that is that.; For the record, we eat fish and dairy, but not meat. We have been vegan, and vegetarian, we are now, well, pescatarian is the word. I understand the fish bit isn't really right, but Ali finds she needs it in her diet to feel well, and I respect that. We made the decision when the BSE crisis made it impossible to ignore the way agribusiness treats animals. BSE happened because sheep were fed animal proteins. Sheep eat grass, wtf are we doing feeding them meat? Anyone could tell you that would lead to problems. So it was an issue of trust .. we don't know what agribusiness feeds and injects into our meat, and an issue of animal cruelty. The health benefits (my headaches and heartburn, issues which I'd had since childhood, went away) were secondary to our decision. So, the fish thing is less of an issue to us because they aren't factory farmed. Well, apart from salmon and prawns of course. Oh, and the issue of fish stocks.
The Old Car Manual Project: 28 May 2004: Love this.
Tecnical skills update, again: 28 May 2004: I've updated my technical skills (it doesn't seem too long since I last did it, it should be a quarter). This one's quite satisfying because it's beginning to stabilise. This time last year I was just finishing off my final exams and wondering if I was going to get enough work, working for myself. The time analysis going back to that period, includes things I was studying and revising, for instance C programming, which is why it's rapidly falling out of the charts as I don't expect to use that in my work.; The top of the chart does reflect my daily activities, and I'm really pleased that networking has made it into the top three. Also search engine optimisation is working its way up nicely as my sites mature and I spend time making sure they get noticed. Expect Java and J2EE to rise up the charts over the next few quarters as I get stuck into developing the myKitchen project which is based on J2EE.; I'm really pleased about the new entries too, Linux, web services, and usability are all good. I've no idea why Flash is rising, I've just got rid of it on one client site and I don't have a lot to do with it.; I've also introduced a new feature, Johnny's bookshelf which tells you what I'm working on at the moment. I don't know why, but the whole idea .. the title, and the ridiculous caching system just makes me grin.
Amnesty: 27 May 2004: I always liked Amnesty International. Look at that response at the bottom from the American authorities. And then they moan about having lost the moral high ground.
Friends Reunited: 27 May 2004: I was contacted the other day by a friend from school through Friends Reunited. He said he'd seen this site, and then sent me a message through FR saying "get in touch".; We were good friends, but I can't remember why, our group of friends fell out with him in the last year or so, and I've been thinking that was a bastard thing of us to do ever since. So I'm really pleased he's got in touch. I did try to prompt contact several times through his dad who I used to work with, but never heard anything back so presumed things were still bad.; Anyway, I've been wondering about this for hours .. I really, really, really resent paying FR their £7.50. Not because I don't think it's worth it, it's absolutely worth it. But because I'm cornered, and I'm emotionally blackmailed into paying it.; Why this friend didn't just email me using the email address on this site, I don't know. So on the one hand I could dismiss his contact with "use my email address for gawd's sake", but I run the risk of continuing this strange non-existent rift.; So there you go. I'm spending the £7.50, but in doing so, I'm hating Friends Reunited. That can't be good for business surely .. ah, I knew I'd get to my point eventually.; Oh Jeez, it's an annual fee.; Oh boy, it gets better. I tried to pay by a Solo card, and it throws it back at me saying I need an issue number. But the form doesn't have a place for an issue number. And, it throws me back to the form without any of the details I entered .. so I have to enter my address again anon.
Websites are popular: 27 May 2004: According to this having a website is the second most popular marketing method for small businesses (albeit in America, and that I've only just got around to blogging this from almost a year ago). Once they've considered yellow pages, a website, newspapers, direct mail, magazines and radio they might think about search engine optimisation and search engine marketing. Obviously I think the search engine part should be higher.
Sardana: 26 May 2004: SPAIN: Another Spanish thought .. it was really lovely at the end of our stay to see the real, older Spanish coming into Tossa de Mar for a Sardana festival (the local dance), having fun on the beach, and they really knew how to use the restaurants well .. where us tourists were selecting items from the menu, they asked for what they wanted, in the style they wanted it :-)
So excited: 26 May 2004: I was so excited last night, I woke up at 3am dreaming of vegetables, and couldn't get back to sleep for an hour.
I just FOAFed: 25 May 2004: It's kind-of against my nature, but I just wrote a FOAF file and loaded it onto my site. The against-my-nature bit is that I like to know all there is before implementing. But I didn't have time, so I did the minimum. It looks funky anyway, but I think the real fun is coming.
Jumping for gardening joy: 25 May 2004: Absolute gobsmacking wow. Those friends who we helped with the sofa and window thing earlier this month (see bottom of this page) knocked on our door today, and the upshot is, we've got about a 30 feet square of allotment space to work with, and it's only a stone's throw away from our house. WOW!; It's such a big deal because we live in the old town of Scarborough, and the houses are packed in tight so we have no garden .. well, we have a small room sized plot out the back of our house, out of the sun, and paved, so not much potential there.; The plot we've ended up with is one part of a long length of land behind the houses on the other side of the street. It was sold a few years ago, divided up and offered first to the nearest houses. We saw the sign but assumed it was another house for sale .. we'd definitely have tried to buy one if we'd have known. So we've been sick about that ever since.; Now, one owner's fallen a bit ill and doesn't think she'll be able to tend the land, so it's overgrown. We can use it as long as she still owns it, and so long as we slip her a carrot every now and then.; There are several funky things about this, quite apart from the pure fact that it's happened. It's a kind-of co-operative thing, there's the owner, and the two friends, and us, and we all want to be part of it which is just so funky.; But there's also the way it all came about .. through our friend's networking skills / nosiness / sheer cheek. And, I guess, it's come about because we've given to that relationship too. So that's proof .. give and you shall receive. Wonderful.; Then there's the fact that, we were considering perhaps moving at some point because Ali really wants a garden. Well, now she sees no reason to move, simple as that.; There's also a personal exercise for me. When I had an allotment before, well, I've had a few, and I've spent far too much time making plans and trying to work out the best way of planting stuff. I even started to write a computer program to help at one point. I just can't (still) get my head around the complexity of it. But Ali's mum's approach is just .. plant it where you feel is right, and see. I don't have time to spend doing all my planning and recording and so on. I'm just going to have to relax and enjoy it and let nature take its course.
Ferrari: 24 May 2004: The other recommendation was Ferrari. Ha ha. Go to it with Mozilla Firebird .. there's literally a black screen. Absolutely nothing. Clearly their Italian spirit of independence doesn't translate to browsers.; In IE, Jeez it's resized my screen .. what gave them the right to do that?; Update: Ah, apparently, that's because Mozilla by default disallows popups. If you allow popups (there's a blue circle bottom left, double click that), then you get the complete Ferrari experience. At least they use Java. (Thanks to Stevio for that insight).
Louis Vuitton: 24 May 2004: Someone told me to go to the Louis Vuitton website as an example of a really good one. I found it disorientating. I chose Men spring/summer 2004, catalogue, watches, and chose a watch somewhere near the right hand side, and it was a ladies watch. Hows that then?; I chose 'animation'. What's an animated watch going to be? Anyway, it turned out to be rather like an advertisement for LV watches. Then something wonderful happened .. "click on three things you like, and we'll show you watches you'll like from our range". Oh, OK, err, the LCD screen, the globe, and the funky old briefcase chest thing. More animation, a flash of a clockface, something about being able to tell the time in two places at once, and, err, that was that. Was that it? The watch I liked? That one back then that I saw a glimpse of? Oh.; If I click on e-shopping (US only) (why?), I end up back at the page I was at. Why?; I'd give it maybe 3/10 for the ideas. I like the idea of clicking on some items to demonstrate my taste, I wonder what the algorithm is behind it though. And, it looks OK. But it just doesn't work.
More sacred geometry: 24 May 2004: Apparently zero is quite a new concept created in India in the 8th century AD. It was resisted by the church as the work of the devil, but taken up by commerce because it made counting stock easier.; Zero allowed all kinds of crazy mathematical things to be done, like divide by zero, and it pushed 1 (God) to one side. 0 became the central number, with negative numbers on one side, and positives on the other.; So what was prior to zero? In ancient Egypt, apparently, the numerical progression was like 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 which more closely matches reality .. well it matches the laws of sound anyway. A string length 1/2 will vibrate with a frequency twice as fast as a string length 1 .. so halve the one and you get two .. see? previous
What has the middle east ever done for us?: 24 May 2004: I don't know where I heard that, but a few weeks ago the question rippled through society like a meme, and people didn't know the answer. The unwritten answer is, well, nothing. The unspoken consequence, we can bomb the living hell out of the place because we don't owe them anything.; It's bugged me that, and now I think I've worked something out. Asking the question is like saying "I'm ignorant, kick me". Anyone asking that question clearly has the idea that nothing came from the middle east. They are announcing their ignorance to those in earshot. The fact that they don't know what the middle east has done for us, doesn't mean they haven't done anything.; I don't know the answer, but at least I accept my ignorance and don't act like all there is to know is in my head.
More sacred geometry: 24 May 2004: Everything vibrates, and everything that vibrates makes a sound. The study of sound is the study of everything. Wow :-); The octave represents the full circle of life through death to life again. 1 represents God, 2 represents duality, 3 the triangle, the first surface made from intangible points and lines. It's the mother of form. 4 represents nature, it's the first born number 4 comes from 2 x 2, the product of procreation. Is this good stuff? I'm open to it :-) previous
12: 24 May 2004: Apparently, twelve is the number that occurs most often to represent the universal mother of life (I've not noticed any universal mothers of life so this may be complete nonsense), and it turns out that the chlorophyll molecule has a twelvefold symmetrical pattern which backs the whole thing up .. we'd have no life without chlorophyll, so it's the ultimate mother.; I'm not saying that makes much sense, I'm just trying to introduce the book I'm reading atm, Sacred Geometry by Robert Lawlor. Expect more comments about this :-)
Fantastic weekend: 24 May 2004: Well, I had a really good weekend. Ali's parents came up and it worked out that everyone contributed what they wanted and could to the weekend, and everyone got what they wanted out of it. Ali's mum likes to do, likes to 'get on', and she wakes early. Ali is fulfilled by that, but needs to be pushed sometimes. I .. well, I'm the same in one sense .. I'm here now and every morning at 7:30am, but I'm much more cerebral, I'm a planner, I think before I do anything. Obviously that frustrates Ali who prefers to 'do'. Typically in a DIY project, Ali will destroy and then stand back and think "what have I done? how do I proceed from here?".; So, Ali and her mum did our garden, and spent two days at it. I worked up here in the times when I wasn't needed, but was dressed for DIY and got to do things like drilling holes and mounting stuff, and cutting down the trellis. I also contributed most of the cooking. When Ali and her mum re-painted one of the walls .. they did the main bit and left the high bits for me while they went out to buy stuff. When I came to it there was the high bit, yes, but there was also all the edging (which takes as long) .. I felt the love in that .. that me being painstaking (Ali's mum called me that one day, so we use it as a joke descriptor of me), I'll contribute the edges because they are both 'do-ers', they'll think they've done the wall, then go out shopping. It's about acceptance.; Ali's Dad loves sport, and has his own part-time business. He watched the FA cup final and the cricket while doing his paperwork, then came out for a drive to the rubbish tip. I wanted to take the car through a car wash, he suggested we did it ourselves with a bucket and sponge, which we did. Even when we did the Guardian crossword in the evening, I'm not as good as Ali and her dad at that, so I was happiest reading out, while they came up with the answers.; I'm guessing, but I think the comfort of the weekend came from everyone trusting each other to give what they can. We all had the opportunity to provide to the group what we were good at, yet all were also able to do what we wanted. No-one hassled anyone else about doing less. It was just a supremely balanced weekend and could only be done by a group of people who trust and love each other. No-one in the group had ever intentionally harmed any of the others, so trust could be absolute. Impressive stuff. We're both very lucky to have good families.
Michael Moore: 23 May 2004: Fantastic news, that Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Palme d'Or.
Leon Sellers: 23 May 2004: I keep feeling like Leon when I'm either clicking bits of the hoover together, or getting my power tools. Leon was an assassin, it's like piecing together the rifle. Once I start, though, I mostly feel like Peter Sellers. I particularly remember a scene with him and some snooker cues.; I just took a bucket of soapy water out to wash the car and ended up pouring most of it over my trousers. I was painting earlier, and the cat wandered through and padded yellow paint through the ground floor. I think it looks cute.
72,500 people all shouting at once: 22 May 2004: There are 72,500 people in our living room all shouting at once. It's unprecedented. My father in law's watching the FA cup final. I didn't realise we could get football on our telly. I'm off into town while the shops are quiet.
What do you think of our website?: 22 May 2004: I'm completing the Unite electricity subscription and there are loads of things wrong with the form .. like they want my email address but don't show a privacy policy, and they want to know how many kwh I use in a year, and my statement tells me how many units .. are they the same? So, being a good citizen / pain in the arse, I wanted to feedback to Unite. There's a link for that: "What do you think of our website? Please take a couple of minutes to fill in our quick questionnaire". No. No no no, I don't want to fill in a questionnaire. I want to tell you what I want to tell you, and then get on with my life. We all know what's going to be in that questionnaire .. "Question 84: When thinking of Unite, and considering the first page you saw when you arrived, did the font on the page make you feel very much more, more, equally, less, much less happy than you were before?" Zzzsssstststststsssssszzt, ptang. That was the sound of my brain fusing. (Actually, when I looked at it, it wasn't too bad at all).
Drumming: 21 May 2004: My neighbour came round the other day and invited me along to play drums with him (guitar) and a friend (bass/vocals) next week. They do copies of the usual stuff purely for pleasure, so there's no pressure. I can't tell you how excited I am about that .. I've never played drums in a band before (guitar, yes) :-)
Amazon conclusion: 21 May 2004: I finally received that Amazon order I placed in February, yesterday. I got a later edition of the book, covering the latest version of the software, which is good. The problem was Amazon's feedback .. if that was explained at any point, I'd have been much happier.
High praise: 21 May 2004: I visited The Tin Shop yesterday and they told me of a colleague of theirs who is a successful businessman who thinks the Tin Shop site is the finest website he's seen anywhere ever. He'd use me for his own web development except some family member also does it .. and has quoted £10,000 at least to get similar functionality. He says he shows the Tin Shop site to everyone he knows who has a basic, say 2-page, website. It's professional, fast, and easy to use, he reckons. I must have done something right then :-)
Being nice: 21 May 2004: I think this story is just the best thing I've heard in years. Imagine the community feeling if everyone is trying to be nice. What a beautiful usp (unique selling point). So if you have the choice .. would you fly with the airline where all the passengers are friendly, helpful, chatty, and upbeat? I predict overwhelming sales for that airline. And doesn't it illustrate the power of an idea?; Also, it's against those who think they can gain something for themselves by either complaining loudly, or by dressing in a suit and hoping for an upgrade because people will think they're important. Gain through niceness. I love it.
Fantastic doctor: 21 May 2004: We have a fantastic doctor .. Dr. Thompson at the Prospect Road Surgery. I just went in and said I fancied doing a marathon and all the information says "go and see your doctor before you start", and she threw her hands in the air and with a big grin said "Oh, go for it!". So we had a laugh about them spreading their risk around. Anyway, cholesterol and blood sugar's getting checked, my blood pressure's 136/70 which she says is fine, I've no heart murmers, and I'm being referred to podiatry. Oh, I said "I wonder about my cholesterol because I eat too much butter", and she said "so stop eating so much butter". Wunnerful, it's almost Tommy Cooper "my arm hurts when I do this" "well don't do it then".
On the other hand ..: 17 May 2004: On the other hand, LoveMyDog may look great, but it fails as a website in a number of ways. First and most importantly it doesn't list highly in the search engines. This is because there's next to no text on the site. Much of the text is hidden in images. For instance, in the product listing page the product name and the 'more info' are part of the image too. There's no alternative text for the images which means there is NO text on this page at all .. the equivalent of blindfolding a search engine. And while we're at it, anyone with serious sight difficulties would find this site completely unusable.; When you click on a product, the price table is an image too. That makes it more difficult to change their prices.; The weird thing is, the designs they've chosen are perfectly do-able in HTML (the language websites are written in) and CSS (the way the 'look and feel' of a website is defined). If I were to use this method to design a website, I'd want to get away from the squareness of HTML/CSS and perhaps use some organic shapes.; The HTML is awful, and there's no functionality .. no shopping basket, no multicurrency, no allowance for disability or different browsers.; I guess the big deal is, they clearly think their visual design is more important than any of those things .. more important than our needs as customers. That's a big problem. This site completely misses the point of a website, which is to deliver information the way the user wants it.
Shop by colour: 17 May 2004: Fantastic .. at last, I just found a site that lets you buy things by colour (see previous post, Britart, below) .. Pampered Puppy, see the "shop by colour" option on the left hand side, it works wonderfully. Gasp .. it's got "shop by personality" too .. how good is that!; Why am I so excited about that? Because it's shopping in shopper's terms. It's how we really shop, not how the marketers think we shop. We want a dog coat to go with our coat (shop by colour) not a coat by any particular brand, or we want a gift for a particular dog (shop by personality). Brand is secondary.; Not only that, the site 'gives' you stuff .. interesting articles, product reviews, a photo competition so you can get involved. They don't seem uptight about the competition either, if I develop a rival website, they'll link to us, and they give instructions to link back. There's a newsletter too. Even the code behind the site looks tidy and well written. Honestly, this could be the best website I've seen in years .. and I don't even own a dog.; Oh no! I just tried to send them some praise, and the form timed out! Disaster!
Britart: 13 May 2004: This held my attention for a while. I like their no-nonsense approach to selling art. Personally, I think it needs to go one step further and match art to people's room colour schemes. People buy pictures that go with their rooms. They want a picture containing the colour of the sofa and the carpet. I think you should be able to pick those colours and find art that would complement your decor.; But wow, they show a small graphic of the artwork versus a six foot tall person so you get a sense of scale. Fantastic :-)
Logitech: 13 May 2004: I completed the form on the Logitech site to ask a question of the webmaster .. I wanted to let them know that I was going to link to them, ask their approval, and (obviously in vain) ask if they'd link to us. It was nice that they actually gave the means to contact the webmaster. Anyway, I got this back:; Dear Logitech Customer, Thank you for taking the time to write to us. To better serve you, we request that you direct your questions or comments through one of the following venues: Our Customer Support Department is available for live assistance to help resolve your technical issues or to find out about receiving a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA). To determine the correct Customer Support phone number for you, please visit the following URL ... To receive support within 24 business hours via email, please contact us through the following URL .. Thank you for your interest in Logitech.; Why don't they just go the whole hog and send out random messages. "Hello. Is that Mister Allsopp? Manifesto slate screwdriver drowsy palpable ardvaark Queen Mary rainy elephant" "err, well, my mouse doesn't work" "flibble bobble, yankee trousers boss jumping yak yak yak telephone, thank-you, goodbye." Sometimes real life can make Vic Reeves appear completely normal.
Sulman's: 13 May 2004: I buy water pistols from Sulman's toy shop on Westborough in Scarborough. I don't know, but I get the impression it's been there since Victorian times, and the old guy working downstairs I imagine to be Mr Sulman .. who knows. Anyway, the first time I bought water pistols he said "so, what are YOU going to get up to?" "Err, cat training" .. it's a good tip for training your cats not to scratch the sofa.; The second time I went in, after I'd worn out the first water pistols, he said "cat still naughty then?", which I was impressed with, since about six months had passed. I liked that as a good example of how retailing used to be.; I went in again on Tuesday and he said "so, what are YOU going to get up to?", and I said "I've still got a very naughty cat". He said, in a loud, booming voice .. "So, you're going to have a very WET PUSSY then". Err, yeah, but keep it down or they'll all want one :-)
Further evidence that cats don't think like we do: 12 May 2004: Apparently, if you want to take a good cat photo, stick your tongue out and pant like a dog. The cat stops being its normally bored, nonchalent and frankly superior self, looks interested, and you can take the pic. Does the cat really think you're a dog? I think this is evidence to support the idea from that art book that animals function mostly with the subconscious part of their brain. There's nothing logical in there that says "hey, my owner just turned into a dog, that can't happen, so it didn't happen", it's simply "alert! alert! Tongues and panting are generally bad".
Walking on cats: 12 May 2004: One of our cats just made a noise exactly like the first brass note from Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on sunshine".
Antihero: 12 May 2004: I recently expressed the opinion that I'd like to see a film that didn't centre on a single hero, and got roundly ridiculed. Weird that. I just watched Mission Impossible 2, and it's a fine film and you know what you're getting when you sit down to watch it. But I think my point is that nowadays I see the 'hero' as an American thing, the John Wayne type of character. Basically a hero, Hollywood style, is someone who beats all the odds to get what he wants (yes, usually 'he').; Now, there are some genuine heroes in this world, Rosa Parks maybe .. ummm, can't think of any others (5 days later, still can't) :-), and sometimes it does need someone to stand up and be counted.; But to 'beat all the odds' means to go against society, against the rules, against what everyone else is thinking. I'm sure Palestinian suicide bombers are seen locally as heroes. They do what they think is right in the face of all opposition.; The alternative is teamwork. Where are the films about teamwork? About working together, forming a well oiled machine. I understand that a film about a load of people who follow all the rules wouldn't necessarily be a blockbuster, but, I dunno, a film about the GM protests would be about a mass of people with no particular heroes. That would be fascinating.; I guess I'm just sick of American heroes because in film it feels like I'm being fed propaganda in that they legitimise America's current go-it-alone political climate (I'm talking about climate, weapons, Iraq, agricultural subsidies). I'd prefer it if we all worked together.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs description: 12 May 2004: I like this description of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
More good GM news: 12 May 2004: More good GM news as Monsanto ditches GM wheat. I thought Monsanto itself had died, but I guess when it got sold they wanted to keep its good name :-O
Crime in Scarborough: 12 May 2004: This is kinda interesting. According to the area statistics for my postcode, violence against the person is 8.5/1000 population in Scarborough versus 11.4 over England and Wales. Similarly, sexual offences 0.8 versus 0.7, robbery 0.5 versus 1.8, burglary 5.1 versus 7.6, theft of a motor vehicle 3.3 versus 6.4, and theft from a motor vehicle 6.7 versus 11.9. So, basically there's higher unemployment and fairly low education here generally, but that hasn't turned into crime. So Scarborough's a nice place to live :-) I've just been comparing us with NW10 in London where most crime is twice the national average and one, robbery, was something like five times. I don't think I'd like that :-)
Now that's service: 10 May 2004: I finally decided to get our combined telly/video sorted .. it plays only the sound of any video. I called a couple of repairers, one who said he'd pop round to take a look. After a couple of hours he arrived, chatted pleasantly, fixed it in about twenty minutes, charged a tenner, gave me a receipt, and that was that. Fantastic. In case anyone wants similar, it was Graham Holt on 351448 (I can't find him in yell but he's in my printed yellow pages). I hope he doesn't mind me publishing his number.
First steps: 10 May 2004: Wow, I took the first psychological step to maybe possibly perhaps developing and implementing a plan to run a marathon. I called the doc. Don't laugh .. all the online training plans say I should get a health check-up before starting. Plus, I need to sort my knees out :-) Anyway, in my head, I've taken the first step.
Jaguar XKR: 7 May 2004: I'm currently sharing the pain of some friends who bought a secondhand soft top Jaguar XKR from a garage, took it to the Jaguar main dealer to have it checked and serviced, and ended up having the car impounded by the police on suspicion of it being stolen.; This after they did all the checks they could.; It's especially gutting, not because of the amount of money that might simply be lost, but how it impacts the innocent who did everything they could to get it right. It's also kinda my dream car (maybe hard top version, I wouldn't want people to think I'm posing), so I feel for them. Not that I need a car, far from it, we're trying to get rid of the one we've got.
Chop smacker: 7 May 2004: Grown men who eat their sandwich opposite you on the train and smack their chops precisely twice between each and every mouthful need to be taken aside by their girlfriends and given some manners. Similarly, people with wet sneezes shouldn't be allowed on trains, and schoolgirls who talk entirely about things American (eg. how funny a particular scene out from the fresh prince of Bel-Air was) should be forcibly re-educated. Only then will I be happy.
The land of the free: 7 May 2004: It's good to see that, despite Disney's decision not to distribute Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, here in the free world we'll be able to see it.; OK, I admit it. I pinched that 'free world' comment from the entertaining Jeremy Clarkson. I've been trying to find an opportunity to use the phrase since I heard it.
The correct pronounciation of "The Internet": 7 May 2004: Thanks to Fred Elliot for teaching us all the proper way to pronounce the Internet: "Thinternet" (like 'thin'). Actually he did a whole spiel about megabytes and floppy discs which I was tempted to try to get as a wav file. Good for a laugh I guess .. the first time. Was he really in The Clockwork Orange?
Interesting findees: 7 May 2004: I've just been looking through my log files and traffic to my site just keeps improving, which is nice (homage: John Thompson as jazz buff in the Fast Show), albeit from a small beginning. I've still not got any work through it yet.; After searching for my name, the next most popular way of finding me is via an enquiry about Vance Miller or Maple Industries, the major UK kitchen retailer with quality problems I commented on in January. Along similar lines people seem to be wondering about a keeneze scam.; After that, appropriately, comes 'extra long trousers'. There's clearly a demand. 'Colourful suits' comes soon after.; Uma Thurman's nostrils are popular, as are quantities of floor brads and headphones ears ring.; Usefully, it appears people have found my comments on the Spice Lobster in Scarborough, Tossa De Mar crime, Sarfa Bus (for transport from Tossa de Mar to Barcelona), the Brunswick Centre at Christmas (I can't remember that one), and the hostal abrevadero. That, I think, is the whole point of blogging, so that makes me happy :-) Power to the bloggers :-)
I said this would happen: 7 May 2004: When Alastair Campbell quit as the prime minister's director of communications and strategy, I thought Blair would start to falter. Just look at the crappy way the media was handled in the run up to his turnaround on the EU constitution vote. Now there is talk of Blair losing his magic touch, open talk of what might happen after Blair goes. He's even had to confirm that he intends to stay on for a full third term. I think things would be different if Alastair Campbell was still in place.
Sorry, been out: 7 May 2004: Sorry I've not blogged for a few days, I've been out in client meetings.
Bouncing vegans: 2 May 2004: The most energetic person I know is vegan (hi Chris). So that puts paid to Jo Brand's joke "There aren't any homeless people, they're just vegetarians who didn't have enough energy to reach the greengrocers".
Do dairy foods encourage cancer?: 2 May 2004: I was sent an email that said there's one hormone in cows milk that's exactly the same as a human hormone, and it makes tumours grow. Then I read a similar story in the Observer today although I can't find a link to it, this time about prostate cancer. That would be bad .. I do take a fair amount of dairy, and it doesn't matter if it's organic or not.; The Observer story contained the other side of the argument, part of which was someone saying "there's insufficient evidence" to back this up.; That's like a big flag to me nowadays. Since my brief encounter with official spokespeople about genetically modified food, that phrase "insufficient evidence" is trotted out often. As a "we don't know yet" it's not so bad. But I think it's more sinister than that.; The romantic days of Newton are gone. Scientific research is paid for by industry. What gets discovered is what industry wants to be discovered. So "insufficient evidence" is more likely to mean "not only is there nothing to support what you say, but since it harms our industry, there's never going to be. In the unlikely event that something comes out, we will fund counter research, and your truth will never be 'the truth' because we have bought science." Scary eh.
Iraqi prisoner pics: 2 May 2004: I'm left with the feeling that Bush's reaction was insufficient. I saw him say "that's not how we do things" .. evidently, it is. The Guardian reports him as saying "I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated", which falls short of saying "and we're going to do something about it".; It appears there is more to query about the British pics, but Blair still said "completely and totally unacceptable" and Straw said "There is a very high level investigation taking place. These allegations are being taken extremely seriously". That seems more satisfactory.; A Channel 4 News report when the story broke about the American pictures said that the American media hadn't covered the story barring one local paper .. albeit that local papers are more important in America than they are here. It reminded me of a book I read which I sadly can't remember the title or author of right now (I did later), about how press bias operates even if there's no intention. It helped me understand how press bias happens, and, frankly, how good the British press is. But then, both sides seem to have sat on these pics for some time, Piers Morgan of the Mirror had the British ones for a week before publishing.
Introspection or object love: 2 May 2004: Back to the art book again, and (in 1967) he said that he thought the era of artistic introspection was ending. That the search for the essence of what is human, the driver of all the modern art to that date, was ending. This art focussed on ways to remove the 'object' from art. He says what is to come next is 'object love'. A focus on what is real. Did this lead us all the way to Damien Hirst's pig sliced in half?
Sofa moving: 2 May 2004: I spent yesterday very enjoyably transferring our old sofa to a friend's house about seven doors down. The previous weekend we worked out that we could never get the sofa through his hallway, so we decided to take a window out and pass the sofa through there. I think it was Dave's first DIY experience, so he's a brave man letting a rank amateur like me loose on his window. But anyway, we got it in, didn't break the window, and had a great day to boot.
Welcome: 1 May 2004: Welcome Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. We are now 25 countries, and 450 million people (the largest free trade area on the planet by population).