Monthly Archives: March 2010

One eighth of a pound

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Swimming in the scummy side of the news I find this written in the Daily Mail regarding the budget:

By contrast, average households with net incomes of less than £30,000 have been winners under Labour – with the poorest, on £10,000 a year or less, now 12.6 per cent better off than they would have been. Daily Mail

What precisely is the problem here? It is part of the budget to help society as whole isn’t it? It is part of the budget to address inequalities be that in the tax on cider compared to beer just as it is that living costs have risen and those with less need more just to be able to stand still. And yet the Daily Mail cries because it’s readers – it aspires to the middle class I suppose even though it is definitely embedded in red-top land – will be worse off by a fraction of that 12.6%. So who the hell does it want to pay?

I believe we should tax more to redistribute wealth, that the 12.6 percent is far too low (12.6% of a small number is an even smaller number. Junk like the Daily Mail always use the dramatic over-inflated figures) and that unless we do more for those targeted here that the whole country will pay. And yes, that means I believe I should give more of what I earn to the taxman.

For the Labour haters go read Every Child Matters. Then find even one credible source that says it is a waste of money, find one credible source that says it does not benefit the whole of society and then email the Conservative leader and ask him why he will be killing that dead. Why? because he’ll probably use the money to make changes that crap like the Daily Mail will trumpet as a victory for common sense. Nasty paper is that.

Selling domains

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I have some domains which were bought with bright ideas which never left the fertilised status. So rather than sit on them any longer and instead of letting them lapse because I think the names aren’t actually that bad I have listed them through Sedo. I did debate just putting them for sale but if you give me money and I transfer the domain then what is stopping you from claiming the money back for some spurious reason? I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

aphotoblog.com (also have the .net and .org)
This was meant to be exactly what it says. I did start it but like so many things I stopped.

contentnotstyle.com (also the net / org)
The Bloggies and similar annoy me. They are all about eye candy. There might be a blog there that does good writing but once it gets to voting it comes down to the lipstick and eyeshadow. I don’t give a crap what a blog looks like and some of the best I read are ugly so what I wanted to do was highlight some blogs where the content was excellent but it may not be pretty. This was linked to the next domain:

feedies.com (ditto org/net)
If you read a blog in a reader then the theme doesn’t matter. And if you want to read really good blogs that are not in the top 500 at any aggregator site then you need to hunt. Idea was people submitted their top real blog reads. Real meaning a one person blog, never in any top anything, just damn good reading.

fleshpress.com (as above)
Back in 2005 Jennifer noticed that many porn blogs were using her themes and in some cases badly. So we would make their theme, install the blog and get everything up and running for them. That was the idea anyway. I think life overtook us both. There is a band called Fleshpress so maybe they’ll want it.

thebestinblogs.com (yep, net / org too)
Bought on a whim, would be really good as an aggregator site. I imagine that a content scraper could have a good time with these. No time to devote to getting it off the ground.

The positive is that each name has the com / net / org
The negative is there is no history, no PR, no linkage at all (apart from the above). Not that this is so bad though.
If they sell I’ll buy a gadget or two. If they don’t – they are on auto-renew so now worries there.

A dislike of Spring

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Whether it comes in like a lion and out like a lamb – or vice versa – the joy of spring beginning is hard to resist, says Simon Schama BBC

I dislike intensely the Spring season. Just as many people don’t like the cold starkness that is Winter, I hate the newness that is Spring. Sounds odd maybe. Did you know that the Spring – Summer period is the highest for suicides? Go look it up – wikipedia has it but places that do real research have it too. It’s as if that cold starkness suits someone with depression but the warmth and colour of Spring does not. It is not a season that I derive any pleasure from. Summer has it’s evenings, Autumn has the leaves and Winter is one long glorious event but Spring? No, I’d pass on that.

Away from BT

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I said on the 8th that we were moving back to BT. Big mistake.
The first 10 days I was asked to be patient – to use the guy’s actual words – “to cooperate” while the line settled down. He did say that my line could only support 2mb down, I said No, it could do 3.5 but the guy was insistent. He stated that O2 (the previous provider) probably had  their own superior equipment at the exchange. I cooperated for a couple of days, rang back and was told the 10 days were nearly up and then things would be fast. I rang for my MAC. Amazingly I got routed to someone within 300 miles of me. We went through some stuff, he assured me that O2 do not have any other gear there and that BT should be able to match O2. I cooperated some more. It’s day 11. BT ‘tech support’ guy rang. He told me he had done what he could, that I was now getting the very best 2mb that the line could support. I told him everything that is written above. He insisted 2mb was the top limit. I said that O2 could give me 3.5mb so he replied they had changed the line (so he’s saying BT downgraded their customer’s broadband?). I asked when, he gave no date, I asked if it was at the moment I changed routers. I pointed out that BT own every piece of copper between me and the exchange so why should a company that rents it from them be able to do so much more? I asked him that if BT are insisting the line cannot do more than 2mb then how on earth did O2 manage this? I also asked him why the router was reporting 2.8mb down when he was saying 2mb maximum – why was the router giving me a false figure in their benefit? I asked him if he played games online, told him I play MW2 and that my pings had gone from 40ms to 100ms. He was silent. How can someone who does tech support when dealing with broadband not know what a ping is? I then said that the tech support people for both ISP’s I have been with before have run tests on the line and required me to do things – I asked if we should do them. No reply to that one. He said he would raise it with BT Wholesale and he’d call me Wednesday.
So I move to BT and the broadband goes to hell. At no point has anyone with a clue got in touch despite several calls. At no point have they got away from their “2mb is it” mantra. So if the line does now support only 2mb down then BT have downgraded not just me but many others too. I’ll email the Leicester Mercury tomorrow, check some local forums. And if they have not then the people ringing me from BT are plainly lying. In neither case do BT look any good and if I have a problem with the line or the broadband I want to talk to someone who really does know what they are doing and has the equipment there to test and report.
So in the morning I ring BT, get a MAC and ring O2 and start with them as soon as possible. I didn’t leave them because they were bad, I left them to bring the phone and broadband into one place. BT was absolutely the wrong place for that. When I left Zen Internet – who were fantastic but too pricey – they gave me the MAC over the phone. I will certainly be insistent on that tomorrow. And then the fight will start about the broadband part of the BT package we bought. I’m sure they will say “But you need to give us longer” but then they would. It would be so nice if they just said “Sorry, we screwed up, we’ll drop that part for you”. But they won’t, will they.

A shin

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First the good news. Last March or thereabouts I started to diet and around July hit my then desired weight of 75kg. This was a very good thing. Eating slipped in and out of okay though and I went back up to about 79kg. A bad thing. My method of dieting was restarted and today I hit 75kg again. I aim to stay much closer this time. I actually aim to drop a little more but not sure how much.

The bad news. Out with the dog I sometimes jog for some 200 yards. I like doing it because the weight loss means I can and it means the dog get to move a little quicker. If he doesn’t want to run far he runs right in front of me forcing me to stop. Not entirely stupid. Anyway, out one day early last week and leg or rather my shin suddenly hurts. Got back in much pain which is a hand-width above the left ankle. One area of sharpish pain, none at all above and less sharp below. Next day still much pain, couldn’t walk properly. Next day the same. Gave it a good check and when I push on it or hold my hand on it and flex my foot it creaks. It feels like 2 rough surfaces moving badly over each other. Various diagnoses on the net for this from 2 word injuries to 4 word injuries. Took it easy, walked on flat surfaces and all seemed good. Took the dog out and without thinking went over rough ground on his walk. I’m right back where I was at first. Pain, some swelling, limping. Not funny. I’m sure I’ve had this before so writing it here means I can search for shin when it happens again.

Hiding a little

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On 2 Feb I found a site that was centered around mental health and experiences. It appeared to be quite new and such sites are far less intimidating then those with established members who have already set the world in order so I thought I’d join. In a couple of months I expect to have matters to discuss so a few posts prior won’t hurt. On the first page I get asked for a username. I make one up and click Continue. I don’t mind someone knowing the label I have but that doesn’t mean I want to plaster it everywhere. Next screen asks for more information including my name. Complete that, agree to terms and then I’m in. There is much profile stuff to be completed but I head to the forum. As I do I see that Mark Riley has just joined the site. I switched pages and yes, it says Mark Riley has joined and is live online right now. That was a definite wtF moment.

Why ask for a username that will not be used? Why not say in big bold letters that your real name will be seen by everyone be they a site member or not? Why not respect the convention that a username is what others see, that your real name is never disclosed except by you? And why not realise that if you want people to discuss mental health issues – their own issues – you need to provide a degree of anonymity? Some people might not mind using their own name but the majority probably do not want their name alongside a mental disorder when they are googled. A quarter of Americans have a mental health disorder so if you know 12 people then 3 are affected (statistically anyway). But how many broadcast this fact? Bet it’s not the same quarter. Anyway, 2 Feb I open this site account and within 60 minutes it is deleted. I sent an email to the site owner expressing my concern.
On 11 Feb I got a reply. In the forum it’s my username, for the Rest Of The World it’s my real name. “Do you have any suggestions?” was in the reply.

“My suggestion would be to make it fantastically clear that your real name will be publicly displayed as soon as you join. Given the reason for the site and the stigma associated with mental health and the way that Google and others will never remove information I would expect any display of a real name to be double prompted with “Are you sure?”
I fully expected my username to be displayed everywhere. Literally everywhere, not my real name. I expected my real name to be known to you and you alone for some good reason.
What users choose to display is up to them. How users interact with others outside of the site is up to them. But otherwise I think the site should do everything possible to protect privacy and promote that fact. Promote the fact that you know it’s a sensitive subject but they are safe here with their username.”

On 23 Feb I got a reply (not quick are they?) saying changes would be made soon. I joined again 3 days ago with completely made up details and again the name displayed would have been the real one. If you insist on real names in any forum anywhere you run the risk of less particpation but in one that deals with a sensitive issue such as mental health then it can only be worse. It is worse because those that don’t mind others knowing will be open and those that wish they too could be open will not join. I don’t see a winner here, just loss all round.

I found a couple of other forums which I joined with the expected fake name. Both are established, both have users with thousands of posts. Back when I just had depression I also had access to usenet – a wonderful place until Google did it’s best to kill it. You can tell it was Google that did it because it’s full of spam with no effort to remove it. In usenet there were various groups for depression, most had irc chat. They were helpful to a point but there were many there who were swapping in-jokes and talking in a way that you knew there was a long relationship there albeit a text one. Odd in a depression ng and the same people led the discussions. Anyway, meds kicked in and I wandered off. A couple of years later I go back and it’s pretty much the same people in the ng and irc. I didn’t know if I was joining a social club, interrupting chat between friends or what. It was strange having the same people saying the same thing. I wondered if they were depressed or they needed that chat to stave off the depression or they were dependent on it. Yet here too it was loss. I got nothing from it and I have no idea what it was doing for them.

It’s a difficult thing trying to find some support. In real life it’s practically impossible and online it’s as bad. The lack of intimacy is fine, the fake names is fine but it’s the non-judgemental non-’this worked for me so it will for you’ people you want. It’s forum posts from others that fit your need you want to see. It’s somewhere to write where people say the right things back even though you probably don’t know what that right thing is until you’ve read it twice. So you end up alone with your thoughts, thoughts which the docs are hoping chemically influencing and possibly bad things happen yet when they do the Govt and others express surprise because they say so much help is out there and it isn’t. It really is not there. Which is sad.

And in case you are wondering, I’m absolutely fine. That website just annoyed me.

The last day

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I had wanted to see the Shofukuji Temple and Naoko had said we could do that on the Sunday. But with Yasu offering to show me some places and Naoko – along with Noel and Ned – needing to head to Tokyo then the temple dropped off the agenda. It didn’t matter because I had no checklist as such and I had also experienced other shrines.
On the saturday night I tried to get some cash from a machine and the machine said No. I emailed Jacqui who spoke to the bank and Visa who assured her it should have said Yes. She had done this before I went so the card being used abroad wouldn’t set any bells off. So Sunday started with me a little concerned over the money but a machine that said yes then a Starbucks and then some food meant that as I headed around shops to try and buy the girls something I was feeling pretty good. It’s not a tourist place which is excellent and not excellent and I was struggling – they didn’t even have any Hello Kitty gear in the right sizes. I was meant to be outside the office by 12:00 and I had left at 09:30. I gave up around 11 and settled for some jewellery. Not a bad choice in the end and it was the same type of gift I brought back from my first visit to San Francisco but I would have preferred something slightly more japanese. Anyway, by 11:45 I’m sitting on the kerb sharing some cake with the pigeons.
Ishibashi appears and a few minutes later Yasu does in his car. Turns out it’s his brother’s but he is in China. We drove across the city and after stopping for coffee (they do a lot of chilled coffee over there. Each time I ordered coffee anywhere I had to say I wanted it hot) we met one of the other guys from the company and he was with – I think – his girlfriend. Off to a train we went.

Getting the tube to Wordcamp there had been barriers between the platform and gates between those barriers. Those gates said to stand in 2 lines. Of course the train stopped in perfect position. This overland train probably did too but I didn’t notice. The station and journey were unremarkable and we hopped off at Dazaifu.

I think that if you went to Japan with a checklist of the types of things you wanted to see this would hit several items – stone carvings, shrines, ornamental bridge, blossom, koi, trees, history and a huge museum. My camera battery ran out after a couple of pictures.

It was busy being a Sunday and it was obviously a tourist spot for many japanese. Tea was called for. Into a cafe(?) where you took your shoes off, sat on a platform at chair height then swung your legs around to be under the table. It would look like you were sitting at a very low table (as if you were sitting cross-legged at a table). I passed on the food and instead had a bowl of green tea then a larger bowl of better green tea. It was surprising seeing elderly men and women doing the serving and moving up onto and off the raised platform. Refreshments done we slowly made our way up to the museum pausing briefly on the ornamental bridge to see the huge koi swimming below. At the museum Yasu found a guide who spoke english and after I said I’d like to know a little about everything off we went. It was incredibly good of Yasu and the others to not only take the time to show me but also to probably walk around a place they would have been at other times. It took a fair amount of time to get round because it was a big – and perfectly clean – place. On the way back down to the train station we passed a shop selling chopsticks so I bought a pair (black, cherry blossom pattern) and I also got to see some other of the structures.

The plan had been to go bowling then to a yatai for food. Time had crept on though so bowling was skipped. Instead we headed to a car park in the city after the train brought us back. This car park was several floors high and free to park. It was free because it was the carpark the pachinko players could use and so not having to pay for the car can only have helped the people who ran this place. Going down in the lift I was asked if I’d ever heard pachinko. At the first floor I could hear a machine-like noise. On the ground floor it was really loud and when the doors opened it went straight into Health and Safety territory. Very very loud. Lanes of players all sat in their bright chairs, almost all with several boxes of the steel balls stacked behind them – boxes that cost 5000 yen which at the rate I got would be £37 / $56 a box. The noise was incredible and the machines were all coloured and flashing brightly. I managed to get a couple of pictures and started to video but that had to stop when we were told to so it is very brief. I knew about pachinko but it wasn’t something I felt I had to do. I had walked through a couple of arcades but this huge hall was really amazing. We left and walked around the corner to what was effectively yatai lane – lots of stalls all the way down on one side. In the city it might be one of two together but here they were next to each other. In we went for food.

From the left: Fish paste inside something. Not sure what it was but it was edible. The grey item is some sort of boiled vegetable extract I think. Very rubbery indeed. The yellow is mustard which actually does taste like english mustard. The skewer is the beef tendon. See the bit at the bottom? The one that looks gelatinous? That was mine… Other dish is tofu and a huge chunk of radish which I assume is horseradish.

I’m all for trying new food. And I did here. It was amusing that Yasu said all the food was good. No matter what I pointed at he said it was good. Even when the others proclaimed something that suggested strongly was wrong he insisted he was right. The mood around the table was really good, friendly and funny. One item was ‘fish paste’. I said I didn’t like fish that much and Yasu said it didn’t taste like fish. Others laughed, he insisted so I ate some. He was wrong and everyone – including him – laughed again. He indicated a skewer of what looked like raw meat. I’d be eating some but it didn’t look like beef. He is pointing to his arm and he couldn’t get the name he needed. One of the ladies used Excite translate (no-one used Google translate) and as I picked the ‘best bit’ up toward my mouth I was shown the translation. Beef tendon. That would explain the ‘no meat’ appearance. It was an opaque but shiny orangey lump of what looked like firm jelly. I ate it. It did not taste of beef at all and it wasn’t actually that bad. Not sure I’d repeat the experience but if I had to it would not be a problem. I was pretty good with the chopsticks by now too. Other highlights were chicken (which looked like chicken) and lots of fresh shredded ginger too. Was a good meal and I insisted I paid – least I could do for the day they had given me. Back in the car park I said farewell to the other couple and I was dropped off at the hotel.

That day really does rank as one of the best I have ever experienced. It had everything in it I could want. I got back to the hotel room and felt so relaxed, fulfilled and just so damn great. And it was all down to the people I was with – how do you thank people like that enough?

Back to BT.

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A few weeks ago the phone line went very crackly to the point of being unusable. The net connection was also almost unusable. We had the phone number with Southern Electric, internet through O2 and the physical line belonged to BT. The problem was obviously with the actual line so rang BT, put my phone number in and was promptly cut off with a “This is not a BT number” message. Rang Southern Electric but they don’t open at weekends (Massive clue to some companies – have mobile friendly pages with your numbers on. Simple linked text. Opening weekends is sort of important too) and their pages took ages to load. So I rang O2 who said to contact BT. But I need to contact SE and they really have no number for any broadband issues at the weekend. So I had nowhere to go and it was all someone else’s fault. In the end I gave up, managed how I could with the net and hoped BT-using neighbours noticed and complained. Monday rolled along and the problem was sorted out. It showed how the desire to save money by combining gas/electric/phone was actually a bad idea especially as the phone is essential to my work.
So we switched back to BT. Line is BT, net is BT, number is BT and if anything goes wrong it’s one number to call. I have no idea if we are saving money and if we are or are not the cost will be minimal but the hassle factor is going to be a lot less.

The bottle is green.

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Been to the USA 4 times I think and each time going through Heathrow here it has felt oppressive doing so. It’s as if the security (or whatever they call themselves) are after any excuse at all to stop you boarding. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been pulled for a security check just because of my tattoos. But it’s something that makes me feel uncomfortable. The drinks/liquids thing is annoying. The 100ml thing is pure crap and from what I’ve read no security expert on the planet can justify why they picked 100ml – except those paid by the airlines and the governments. So you go into the airport and at first security you have to give up the liquids. Nice visible way to start scaring.
In Narita airport at Tokyo I landed and left the secure area, went outside. Just before getting on the plane at Heathrow and in the ‘secure shopping area’ I had bought 2 large bottles of water. One had been drank the other was half full. So I go outside then come back in. Checked in and went to first security. Bag went through the machine I went through the detector. My belt set it off so that meant a pat down and that handheld detector. The guy then goes to my bag, opens it and removes the opened bottle of water. I start to apologise but he places it in an angled recess at the end of the conveyor. I see a green symbol light up and he tells me the bottle is okay and puts it back in my bag.
So the same security stage and the approach is as different as it gets. Maybe the japanese government doesn’t see a reason to scare the hell out of it’s citizens and so keep the imposition of oppressive laws.

Posted by Mark

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Like just about every other blog there is one person who writes this blog – me. So why don’t theme creators have an option “If no-one else writes for this blog do you want “Posted by [your name]” on every single entry? I would bet that 99.99999999% of bloggers would say “No thanks” to that. And it saves us digging through numerous files trying to remove it from main view, single, cat, tag, page and whatever else. Please – make that conditional and let us decide. If not then at least tell us where to look so we can edit. Thanks.