Okay, so I’ve not watched it for a few years now, but it’s still sad to learn that the BBC have just recorded the last ever “Top of the Pops.”
Tag Archives: uk
Thames Cruise
This last weekend we hosted our wedding reception. Actually, it’s probably our second or third depending on how you count it. But we’re not keeping track as we fully intend to celebrate for as long as we can get away with it…
Rather than book a hall and get people to sit next to almost total strangers for a couple of hours, we decided to hire a boat and cruise down the Thames for a few hours. In the end thirty-two guests turned up in the rain to help us celebrate. We sailed west towards Westminster, then east as far as Greenwhich and back to Temple.
I think a good time was had by all. This was certainly helped by my mums great wedding cake.
One of the disadvantages of hosting an event is that it’s difficult to get behind a camera. I only have a few photographs and none are as good as those you’ll find on B’s blog. Check out the pictures of our cruise.
Thanks again to all the people that came along. It was a special day for both of us.
UK music biz wins right to sue AllofMP3 here
This is a bit of a weird one. For those that have not come across it, AllOfMP3 is a Russian competitor to music downloading sites like Apple’s iTunes Music Store. It distinguishes itself by offering higher quality (good), in a number of different formats (good), without digital restrictions managements (also good) and for a much lower cost.
(DRM is the bit in iTunes that stops you burning your purchases more than five times or streaming to more than five computers.)
How do they do this? The UK and US music publishing companies allege that it is illegal. AllOfMP3 contend that they comply with all Russian laws (and the local authorities seem to agree).
The BPI is taking it to court to find out:
UK music biz wins right to sue AllofMP3 here | Reg Hardware
My take is that it probably is illegal. Anything that is too good to be true generally is. However I suspect most people are not naive enough to think it is 100% legit. So, given that it’s illegal, why are people willing to pay for the service if they can get the same songs from your common-or-garden P2P network?
It has to be convenience.
In the UK AllOfMP3 is the second most popular download service after iTunes. They are clearly doing something right and maybe record companies should be trying to find what the secret sauce is rather than trying to shut them down. Is it not in their favour for more people to buy more songs?
To hate America is to hate mankind
As today is Independence Day in the US, there has been a lot of introspection on the state of the country in much of the press.
“To hate America is to hate mankind” is the UK-based Telegraph’s take on things. It investigates the results of a recent survey which concluded that “many Britons regard America as malign, although they remain fond of individual Americans.” (I’m anti-Dubya but married a Californian so I think it’s fair to say that I agree with that!)
“We Need Fewer Secrets” talks about the “Freedom of Information Act” and compares its efficiency with some of those countries that the US is trying to impose its values on.
The Scariest Terror Threat of All
I liked Bruce Schneier’s article in Wired entitled The Scariest Terror Threat of All. Most articles we see these days are asking for more surveillance and intrusions into our private lives in order to fight the “War of Terrorism,” but this one explains why all that effort is misdirected.
[G]ood terrorist ideas are a dime a dozen. Anyone can figure out how to cause terror. The hard part is execution.
He builds his case by asking readers of his blog to post suggestions for the next big terror attack. Certainly imagination is not in short supply as some of the plots are truely scary and downright evil.
He concludes:
Terrorism has always been rare, and for all we’ve heard about 9/11 changing the world, it’s still rare.
Winchester, 2006
I took my birthday off work. I had some great ideas of places to go but, unfortunately, I also had a lot of Christmas shopping to do so in the end we spent the day roaming Oxford Street. To some this would be a great birthday. To me this was only a better option than hitting central London on the last couple of weekends before Christmas. I hate shopping.
So come January we decided to celebrate it being half way between our two birthdays. It’s a common event down our way.
Eventually we decided to go to Winchester as B had not been there previously and I have a friend who lives nearby. It was a cold but fine day so we spent some time darting around outside and longer periods inside, learning to appreciate log fires and fine beer.
We were not there long but we covered many of the more obvious sights. We started at the imposing Cathedral, wandered up the main street, past the Civic Centre and into a park which follows the river back to where we started. We follow variations of this route a couple of times, stopping off occasionally as I regain my bearings and the temperature varies.
As dusk approaches we meet a friend for a few drinks. At the end of the day, realising we missed dinner, we stop off at a kebab place on the way to the station. So much for fast food, we missed our train by about two minutes and ended up waiting on a cold platform for the best part of an hour. A poor end to an otherwise great day.