Volume 82
22 Dec 2007
Fabulous : accordion, bagpipes, harmonica, tuba all featured. 3 of my favourite instruments.
21 Dec 2007
20 Dec 2007
Just having a play with Firefox 3 Beta 2 - good grief it's fast : I've seen comments saying that people haven't noticed any difference, but on my machine it is very noticeable.
19 Dec 2007
OK, it was on BB but I do have to link to the Beatles' Stairway to Heaven. It manages to make a song I genuinely hate into something worth listening to.
18 Dec 2007
I was playing with my Father's Cowon D2 DAB at the weekend - a very impressive peice of kit.
Deep, deep joy : I just the first nine issues of "The Bifurcated Review", the in-house magazine of the Bifurcated and Tubular Rivet Co. Dating to the mid 1950s and with lots of photos of the staff and articles about slightly odd things.
Mumbai (though strangely there is nothing that really tells you where this is at all : I had no idea till I was told, though I suppose the flamingos might have been a clue)
17 Dec 2007
It was my birthday yesterday : I got the BLind Willie McTell book and a nice 6 CD set of his recordings, an olive wood pestel and mortar, a history of Jazz, a bottle of Mezcal, a Japanese copy of King Kong, a book about weights and measures, The Piano Blues from the Blues series.
15 Dec 2007
14 Dec 2007
13 Dec 2007
12 Dec 2007
RIP Ike Turner
"What do politics and music have in common?" "Both are too important to be left to professionals." (quote from Michelle Shocked reported by Mister Anchovy)
11 Dec 2007
10 Dec 2007
9 Dec 2007
BB had a post today entitled "Security seals on the London Underground" and I really did wonder for a minute how they had trained seals to do security.
8 Dec 2007
Made xmas cake today
6 Dec 2007
5 Dec 2007
4 Dec 2007
OH, I'm on the train again.
I do like the winner of the Times National Motto competition : "No motto please, we're British"
3 Dec 2007
I just read on Spitting Image that John Cieciel has died. John was a regular source of links here and of generally interesting chat. I will miss his e-mails.
2 Dec 2007
1 Dec 2007
Just watched Saturday Live Again on ITV - it was very very funny, and the human slinky was remarkable : I must see if there is a youtube video of him.
RIP Evel Kinievel
30 Nov 2007
RIP Hank Thompson
29 Nov 2007
Hah (via presurfer) - the Kenwood in the first ad is exactly like the one we have (it was P's mother's)
27 Nov 2007
26 Nov 2007
25 Nov 2007
24 Nov 2007
23 Nov 2007
22 Nov 2007
21 Nov 2007
Just got a bifurcated rivets tin that was entirely new to my collection! A very early one.
19 Nov 2007
Watching the Kindle video : looks slightly less chunky in the video, but the interface looks clunky. Newspapers seem to look dreadful, and being only B&W seems to be a major disadvantage. Far too many "shopping opportunities" as well. Might be good for carrying around documentation though, but it's too pricey and of course it is US only.
Just looking at the Kindle pictures - that is one ugly hunk of plastic. It looks like one of those '60s plastic address books where you pressed on a letter and relevant section popped up. Of course it may be wonderful, but at first sight it does not appear to be the iPod of e-books
17 Nov 2007
We were practising at the Sage last night and there was a big do on upstairs - NE Businesswoman of the year or something like that - so we had go in and out the stage door. As we were leaving all these people in evening dress came out from front of house (presumably winners or otherwise important people) and they just couldn't make any sense of this little cluster of people in coats carrying instrument cases who were clearly not Sage employees. Very strange.
16 Nov 2007
14 Nov 2007
13 Nov 2007
11 Nov 2007
I managed to get my level up to 50 on Free Rice.
10 Nov 2007
RIP Norman Mailer
9 Nov 2007
7 Nov 2007
I put Leopard on the Macbook yesterday. Lots to like and lots to dislike - I immediately got rid of the glass dock and the transparent menubar. I also don't like the new folder icon - I need to see if I can change it. But the coverflow in teh finder is really good : I don't like it in iTunes because I don't have many covers but for files it is great.
6 Nov 2007
I made a google maps thing today which was fun.
5 Nov 2007
4 Nov 2007
Went to see the Kirk Lightsey Trio last night - excellent. Go and see them if they are playing near you.
3 Nov 2007
2 Nov 2007
Lord, I see that Boing BOing are ecstatic because that awful, awful load of badly acted, badly scripted, unfunny rubbish the IT crowd has been booked for a third series. It really does make you despair for Channel 4 if that is the best they can do.