Today was a day for a bit of culture, Gaudi supplied it in droves. What an amazing building I'm never seen a church on this scale being built you normally see them 100 of years after they were finished. Lovely building.

photos are on flickr click on the picture and you can access the set.

Stanley makes himself at home in Barcelona

Currently in Madrid, Spain for a few days...turned on the television last night to see can you guess? Yes, Bull fighting and there was me thinking animal cruelty as entertainment was a thing of the past ho hum....

There is nothing like a photograph and nothing brings back memories than standing there seeing the place again,  While I was in Central Park, New York I popped down to the lake and tried to recreate one of my favorite photos. It was taken in 2002 when I was in New York with friends
.

Its now 2007 and I've gone digital, over film and colour over black and white...i made it a mission to take the shot again.

Yesterday my blog was flodded by a bot called ID-Search bot with the useragent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; IDBot/1.0; +http:// www.id-search.org/bot.html). Within a few minutes it requested around 1,386 pages and came from the IP 66.90.101.75 raping about 50MB of band width in the process...you've got to love those Russian spy bots

Is this a spam-bot or a serious project? Three things which make we wonder

1.) The bot does not (yet) support robots.txt. A quote from their FAQ

Does IDBot accept the directives from robots.txt file?
IDBot can recognize the directives from robots.txt files only partially, which is the result of the scantiness of our resources. Full support of robots.txt will be launched soon.

2.) They are not willing to release their IP addresses. Quote:

Can I learn the IP addresses, which IDBot comes from?
Unfortunately, You can’t since it is against the rules of our company.

3.) They flood servers. According to their FAQ you can write an email to tech support if the bot is causing problems. IMHO this is not a workable solution.

A New Yorker in Battery Park

It feels like I haven't been away, its been nearly a year since I was back in Manhattan, how much fun and a boy have in the City?

While distracting Rupert from asking more embarrassing questions about MPEG muxing and I showed him Microsoft Surface. While we were on the site he asked me to see if it was built in Silverlight,  so I right click and look what I saw...Oh so even Microsoft aren't using Silverlight for their main production websites yet. (click on image for large)

This an existential psychological play was named "The Man in the Cube" and was written and produced by Jim Hensen (prior to his Muppets productions). It was broadcast on NBC's "Experiments in Television" series in 1969. It stars actor Richard Schaal, father of actress Wendy Schaal and one-time husband of Valerie Harper.This kind of explains why Sesame Street is so dark in places.



It very much like the Twilight Zone epsiode were the people are in the create and trying to get out, only to find they are toys in a toy box. Also like the film The Cube

In my time in tech support land and being a bit of a techie bloke you get some some of the strangest requests and some of the funniest from around the office because you know about technology they think you can fix anything, as I'm not there so often these days I do miss them. Today for instance someone in the office asked me if I could get their ActivSync working as their mobile phone would not sync with their email. Ok I'll have a look, I walked over to the mobile picked it up and noticed the black screen. I didn't want to say "Have you turned it on?" but it just slipped out.I pressed the power button and as if by magic it all started syncing! If only they were all that simple.

This was a classic blond moment if I've seen one.

looks like someone else is having one too http://www.gtvone.com/blogger/2007/06/is-it-turned-on.html

A coroner has recorded a verdict of death by misadventure on a reclusive Manchester man whose obsession with cleanliness led local children to dub him "Dettol Man".

Jacques Niemand, 42, of Didsbury, died of "an inadequate supply of oxygen to his vital organs" provoked by over-exposure to Dettol, the Telegraph reports. The inquest heard that he "habitually placed buckets of Dettol around his flat", while the rooms were "littered" with bottles of the liquid.

Niemand's sister Ruth Bain explained that her brother had suffered from an "obsessive cleaning disorder" for some years, but didn't seek medical help "because he feared the prospect of being detained under the Mental Health Act". Accordingly, he hadn't seen his GP since 1992. Bain said: "He didn't want any help and was scared of receiving it."

 A friend sent me a link to the The 22 Worst Place Names in the World

but I think they forgot a few of them.....

 
Pity Me, UK
http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=426500&y=545500&z=3&sv=pity+me&st=3&tl=Pity+Me,+Durham+[City/Town/Village]&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH, Anglesy, Wales
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A403642

 
Sockburn (Co. Durham)
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=434500&y=507500&z=3&sv=Sockburn&st=3&tl=Sockburn,+Darlington+[City/Town/Village]&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

 
Nasty (Herts.)
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=535781&y=224354&z=3&sv=Nasty&st=3&tl=Nasty,+Hertfordshire+[Town]&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

 
Monkey's Eyebrow, AZ
 

Paradox, CO
http://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=Paradox,+CO,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

 
Spuds, FL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spuds,_Florida

 

Two Egg, FL

 
Normal, IL
http://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=Normal,+IL,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

 
Truth Or Consequences, NM
http://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=Truth+Or+Consequences,+NM,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

 
Gayville, SD
http://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=Gayville,+SD,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

This was a shot i took over the weekend, i personally think its great

Sorry about the quality of the picture but i saw it and took it with my phone, I couldn't believe the price of the DVD's on the shelves at my local supermarket. How can they afford to have a DVD on the shelf for £1.97 and make a profit from it. Scary. Even if its a loss leader how much is the loss are they making 3 pounds???

WEP is dead - and here's the proof.

Phil Crawley made a post on his Tech Blog about Tech Support


To which I could only reply with that great Mark Parisi cartoon

as you may well know if you've been following my blog, that I upgrade the Miami Device to a Croquette and Tubbs phone that being the new Nokia N95.

Like I've said before I'd post a review of the phone up here when had a good look at it. Well before I starting writing my I say I've just phoned Orange to return the phone back to them. If that isn't a sign of how much we don't get on I don't know what is! Coming from a Window Mobile environment its was hard to use what seems like a backward OS in Symbian, I suspect if you've always used Nokia phones you find it a blast. I found that the phone took 3 clicks on the keypad to do any normal funcation. It seems Nokia have hidden away all the funations inside a lot of menus and you really have to dig down to get to some of the setting. Some of the feature of the phone I liked were the maps and gps navigation. I tried this out on Friday on a journey to meet a friend on the Southbank for drinks.

I turned the gps on and it started download the map via 3g. I typed the location of were I was trying to get to and the phone told me the location didn't exist, not a good start then i tried the postcode and it found the location and displayed with the address i typed in that it said didn't exist. Oh well not to worry lets check the route. The route seemed to be sending me down all the major roads and across all the main bridges. I check the settings and yes I'd set them to 'foot' rather than 'car'. The route that the phone would have sent me on was going around the houses down the main shopping streets when the quickest route was to use the back streets and across Hungerford bridge. Ok so the route planning looks off. Lets use the GPS to nativate there or find out were we are, I have a little Polstar GPS which I've used around the world to get about with Pocket Streets and it normally picks up the 3 satellites its needs to navigate in about a minute once your out of cover. The Nokia N95 didn't even connected once or give me any GPS data at any point during the whole journey to the Southbank. Yes the GPS was on as I could see 3 or 4 satellites on the information panel but it seems you need 5 for the phone to lock and start giving you data to navigate by. In London the chances of getting 5 satellites to lock if about 1 in 50 due to the height of the buildings and width of the streets which makes this possibly valuable feature useless. The feature set on the phone does seem to be tied together having two gps apps in different places on in applications and one in tools just seems daft. It looks like Nokia have just been trying to hard.

Also Orange have block access to Truphone the VOIP system that comes installed on all Nokia N95's from the factory, this feature has been disabled to Orange can protect their call revenue and not have you make cheap VOIP calls.

All in all if your not it a big city, not into VOIP and you like Nokia OS you might just think this phone is the bees knees but I'm sorry to say its not for me....looks like I'll be getting a SPV E650 after all.

but really couldn't be arsed... well Tracey Moberly, Tony Pletts and Mark Thomas have the solution for you.... McDemos


We provide bespoke or off the peg demonstrations against governments, corporations and occasionally neighbours at a price to suit all pockets. No job to small or too big, from a discrete "boo" to a literally renting a mob, we cater for all your protesting needs!

McDemos is a protest solutions company (06153817) registered at Companies House UK

Neil king knows that a man should be judged by the devices he owns, with this in mind the old Orange M5000 aka the brick as James Clarke called it. Has been upgraded and retired and I got a all singing and dancing Nokia N95 as a free replacement. Well see how it goes and i'll post a review in a few days. Love the intergrated GPS so far.

Sime doesn't like blackberries much, well i think he's made his point that he really wants it to work. But i don't think that the blackberry could stand the Extreme Tech Support that can be meated out by engineers these days. Other PDA's be warned.

Should this be classed as bullying in the office?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6633745.stm
A senior policeman in Los Angeles has been demoted and his deputy and about 60 other officers have been reassigned after an inquiry into May Day clashes. Last week protesters and journalists were injured when police fired some 140 rubber bullets to break up the crowd. The rally had been peaceful until the clashes, which the police department said were prompted by agitators throwing rocks and bottles at officers. But TV footage showed a police officer pushing people who were walking away.

Judge for yourself from the clips below from the major news networks
clip 1
cnn msnbcprivate journo

* Comcast issues apology for programming glitch
Disney Channel viewers in New Jersey were stunned to see the inadvertent display of pornographic programming in place of the children's show "Handy Manny" on Tuesday. The error was chalked up to a technical issue at a Comcast facility. New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities will reportedly take up the matter with the cable provider. 
----
i just wonder how many heads have rolled. I know many stories like this from my short time working in Soho. I especially like the one that had a company dubbing tapes and someone used some recycled vhs tapes instead of new when dubbing a supermarket training video. The training video was played at a conference they let in run on after the end of the video and the guy didn't stop the deck, so after the training video finished there was about 30 seconds black and then the hardcore porn that had been on the recycled tape. Sadly the guy who dubbed the tape carried the can for that one and lost his job. always remember use new stock....

I fancied a bit of nostalgia so i logged onto the WayBack Machine and pulled up Atomiclava.

Atomiclava was mobile blogging platform way a head of its time, from James Clarke its was a vision of how we are going to be going mobile technology to show the world whats going on when the blogsphere was a twinkle in a journalists eye. Well time has moved on and James is now at Microsoft developing cool technology around Microsoft Silverlight and Atomiclava has ceased to exist.

If only the picture below could be true, what do you say James.... Atomiclava + Sharpspace + Silverlight.

James Clarke: Creating Silverlight Media with Expression Media Encoder

move uncle joes car on:
http://englishrussia.com/?p=865

The monkey has landed, again. In the surreal work that is Los Angeles who joys does this town have in wait for me, its always eventful and fun.

Today I had two days off in Washington DC before heading to NAB in las Vegas, This is my fav photo I took while out today, it from the Lincoln Memorial looking out over the Reflectling Pool down to the Washington Monument.

My Flickr Pool http://flickr.com/photos/akira_kev/sets/72157600070646782/

The former boss of a no-win no-fee compensation firm which told its 2,500 staff by text they would not be paid has been killed in a car crash.

Mark Langford, 43, from Cheshire, fled to the continent after Manchester-based The Accident Group (TAG) collapsed with debts of £100m in May 2003.

Mr Langford's car was involved in an accident in Marbella, Spain, on Monday, the Foreign Office said.

He was being sought by HM Revenue and Customs for £4.1m in unpaid tax.

It is thought the businessman was at the wheel when his car went off the motorway near the resort. He died in hospital later.

as sent to me by a friend

1. Begin with lust and rage and mean-spiritedness if need be, but write yourself through to shared laughter, one the "victim" shares, unless you mean a death struggle.

2. If you write anonymously about anyone other than a public figure, and mean to wound, can't help wounding, consider making the victim a "type," not a person. Make up a name for your speaker, but also for your target: "Sir Richard Surly," or whatever.

3. If you need therapy, get therapy.

4. Remember that satire by definition has a moral point.  Vindictiveness, flaming, making an example out of a minor figure, none of that is satire.

5. I believe that by definition real satire is directed at those who are, in ordinary life, in a position to not only retaliate, but are in a position to retaliate by inflicting real injury: the pillory, Guantanamo, an IRS audit, termination from a job. Unless the risk to yourself is heroic, don't call your cruelty satire.

6. Remember that satire is a gun that recoils upon the speaker, and the author too. Remember that it "takes one to know one." The Fool reviles the Knave, and the Knave reviles the Fool.

7. Often the strongest and best satire isolates in the "Other" the writer's own faults. We overcome ourselves by wounding our own sinful nature. But remember that the boil that most needs lancing is on your own laughing face.

8. To rejoice in the suffering of those weaker than yourself, or vulnerable people, is not satire but malice. (As Oscar Wilde would say, "That is a fault.")

9. To run with a mob and lynch even a person who deserves it is not satire, but a sin.

10. Satire wounds only to heal, inflicts pain only to instruct, and leaves the target either untouched (since only a type has been satirized), or laughing, if ruefully.

11. When the victim laughs at his own folly and the crowd laughs too, the satirist has prevailed.

12. When the victim extracts the satirist's blood, or sues and wins, the satirist has lost.

13. The satirist also loses when the victim, innocent or guilty, is broken upon the wheel, while the mob jeers. This is only excusable as a last resort when the victim is the Tyrant and the mob are those who were his minions, including the Officers of his Kangaroo Court, his Palace Guard, and his own Headsman.

14. Satire is a noble trade, but no easier than butchery to master. If you have never vivisected a dog, don't practice on a friend.

15. Never dish out what you can't take.

Well i thought it might only be a matter of time before my Xbox 360 broke again, at Christmas the unit failed with a error were Icould not load any disc into the CD drive the drive made some crunching and loud buzzing sounds on start up. That unit was replaced under warranty by Mircosoft. Today while in the middle of playing GRAW 2. The DVD drive made an awful sound for a second or two. I thought the worst but the game kept on playing and I completed my mission. I turned the console off and then went to do some work I came back tonight to play again and what do I find. the DVD drive will not accept any games or dvd movies it just comes up that every disk is unplayable in the tray icon. So it looks like I'll be returning a second console to Microsft with the same problem. below is a picture of the error from my cameraphone

if you were looking for a bus in east london this morning. Then the reason is they were all probably here. There was another 7 buses waiting in the queue just around the corner. All thanks to District Line engineering works.

We've all heard about employees being sacked for blogging. will staff soon be sacked for failing to blog? Last week, Sony BMG UK issued a new corporate marketing strategy.

According to an official release from the group, Ged Doherty, chairman and chief executive of SonyBMG in UK and Ireland, said the company "has made it obligatory for all senior staff at both Columbia Records and RCA Records to start blogging actively".

So what happens to staff who refuse to toe the corporate line, or perhaps fail to produce the required quantity of blog blather?

more at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/02/compulsory_blogging/

from http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog

Kermit the Frog -Hurt by Nine Inch Nails.....in Johnny Cash Stylee sent to me by Neil King

Meme stolen from Planet Mark

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (Zune, iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

Waking Up	UB. Jesus - David Byrne
First Day At School	die wunderwelt der technik - welle:erdbell
Falling In Love	Gamma Ray Blue  - Cleaner from Venus
Fight Song	DSMO (VNV Remix) - Front 242
Prom	Crazy - Aerosmith
Life	This Is My Hollywood - 3 Colours Red
Mental Breakdown	NRG: That's What You Want? - Eskimos & Egypt
Driving	The Same Hole As Yesterday - Autoclav1.1
Flashback	Citylights remix - Revolution By Night
Getting Back Together	Interstellar Overdrive - Pink Floyd
Wedding	A Day in the Life –The  Beatles
Birth of Child	Forever - Bruderschaft
Final Battle	Raverbashing - Atari Teenage Riot
Death Scene	Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles
Funeral Song	Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
Remembrance Song	Tainted Love - Soft Cell
End Credits	A Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers

 
 I thought this was so good that I’d better comment on the tracks that the meme popped into the slots

Waking Up :                     UB. Jesus - David Byrne

What a great opening for a movie, I can see it now it’s a montage. “Breathing  like humans do”

First Day At School :        die wunderwelt der technik - welle:erdbell

The translation of the title of this track is “the miracle world of the technology” I think that it does sum up my schooling, it introduced me to the world of electronics and technology  and I haven’t looked back.

Falling In Love:                 Gamma Ray Blue  - Cleaner from Venus

“I’m so in love with Gamma Ray Blue” I forgot I had this in my mp3 collection till I did this meme, the cleaner from venus were a great avant garde act. Must make a point of getting the Vinyl out and play it later.

Fight Song:                     DSMO (VNV Remix) - Front 242

Two of my favourite bands working together, I’ve had some of my best nights out and festivals  with Ronan and Mark and there is nothing like taking the Headhunters music and putting a spin on it.

The photo is from Brussels at the Front 242 25^th Anniversary show. © All rights reserved (K2 Visuals 2006)

Prom:                                    Crazy – Aerosmith

Well  what would a movie of my life be without a Aerosmith track, yes I used to be “Rock Boy” Aerosmith, Thunder, Quire boys etc oh how I loved the guitar sound. Donnington 1994 watching Extreme getting bottled off stage, then Aerosmith came on and blew me away.

Life:                                       This Is My Hollywood - 3 Colours Red

3CR a great Newcastle band who made it, the album Pure that this track was on was stolen when I got mugged in Walker. “This is success” was the word that rang out in my head when I got my first Job in television. “Who wants  to be in Hollywood” was what rang out a few months later when the reality set in.

Mental Breakdown:           NRG: That's What You Want? - Eskimos & Egypt

Graham Moore (from Crave, Electrocide, Wisconsin Terror Project and In Virtue of Being) was the guy who introduced me to E&E with a great album that had Side A, Side B, Side C and Side DJ. NRG riff is ”Guns and Roses  O’ Sweet Child of Mine” played backwards and then a massive bass line popped over the top of it. Yes I think I was having a mental breakdown when I was listening to this, my father had just died and life was at a very low point. Somewhere I still go the first recording of “Away – Crave” which Graham record in my bedroom that song also means so much to me. “Electrocide, inside your mind, never let the lights go down on me”

Driving:                                The Same Hole As Yesterday - Autoclav1.1

Taken from Autoclav1.1’s first album by Tony Young, I’ve just started driving and this would be one messed up car journey if this was my movie, a bit scary and mood swinging. Great tune though..

Flashback:                           Citylights Remix (demo)- Revolution By Night

RBN was a band I used to play in and this was the last track they worked on before I left the band due to having too much going on at work, I was just starting a new job and things were moving forward.

Getting Back Together:       Interstellar Overdrive - Pink Floyd

Another song Graham introduced me too, it was the first thing he taught me to play on the guitar, bar chords all the way.

Wedding:                                A Day in the Life – Beatles

The best story about a song being made ever “The beginning was based on 2 stories John Lennon read in the Daily Mail newspaper: Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van, and an article in the UK Daily Express in early 1967 which told of how the Blackburn Roads Surveyor had counted 4000 holes in the roads of Blackburn and commented that the volume of material needed to fill them in was enough to fill the Albert Hall. Lennon took some liberties with the Tara Browne story - he changed it so he "Blew his mind out in the car."

This boy is not the marrying type.

Birth of Child:                        Forever – Bruderschaft

This song could have gone down one place but as you not allowed to cheat. Rexx Arkana’s father died of Cancer in 1999 and during the last few days that his father spirit was around on this planet Rexx wrote “Forever”. It then took some years to get the track release but it brings together some of the greatest dark wave musicians with the most powerful lyrics ever in a song. It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. Rexx’s dediiation on his website http://www.razorburn.net says it all.

“I  humbly dedicate this song, "Forever," to my father: Charles Richard Millhouse, 1942-1999. I am sentry to you now, until we meet again.......... “Rexx Arkana

Final Battle:                       Raverbashing - Atari Teenage Riot

From heart felt tune to one of complete noise, ATR were one of the bands I saw at the Purcell Rooms on the South Bank Centre, they  blew me away. The power the energy. Perfect for a battle. So what I’m I Rocker, Indie kid, Metaller, Goth, Raver?

Death Scene:                     Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles

I don’t know about this one but I suppose it works, it was the first song played on MTV when it launched and being a techie I live in video…..Living on Video by Trans X remember that one. Lets go down how I’ve lived in technology

Funeral Song:                    Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

Someone has been playing with my record collection again as this one is too good, the best version of this is a “A plus D” mashup  “Love Will Tear You Apart (She Wants Revenge vs. Joy Division vs. Bauhaus)” its brilliant and if anyone wants a copy drop me a comment. I’ve never been a Goth honest, its not just about wearing black. But you try and tell the EMO kids that these days.

Remembrance Song:      Tainted Love - Soft Cell

Marc Almond is a God, this song has been killed by so many bands in the past. The pussycat dolls should be ashamed of version that they did. Some of the best versions are by Depeche Mode(it hurts to say that) and Deathline International.

End Credits:                       A Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers

I love the world of chaos and randomisation as the most perfect song and the band that mean the most to me in all my life land on the final credits. The Manics they are a band that have gone through a lot and come out the other end fighting. It doesn’t matter what people say about them, they do there own thing in the best way possible. That’s how I want to live my life. You don’t have to win ever battle as long as you know how to fight a war.

 If you want to listen to any of the tracks mentioned drop a comment in and I'll see what I can do

Mark Thomas describes how you can become a serious criminal (whether you want to or not).
On Radio 4 Listen Again:


My other posts on SOCPA

Human Writes Homepage

Did you hear the snigger as Britain complained that Iran had broken international law

It is an awkward question to ask but did anyone else hear the rest of the world sniggering?

I thought I heard it, that’s all. The sequence of events went like this: the unfortunate British soldiers were kidnapped by Iran, Britain announced that Iran had broken international law... and that was when I thought I heard a global giggle, though it could have been a snort of derision.

more at http://www.newstatesman.com/200703290002

The US Marines are banning the wearing of large tattoos, saying they do not represent "traditional values". From Sunday, tattoos on the head or neck, or large tattoos on arms or legs will not be allowed. Marines already with the tattoos are exempt. Unit commanders will photograph and document all existing tattoos to make sure Marines do not touch them up. Dozens of Marines are reportedly queuing up at tattoo parlours to beat the deadline.

Marines have long been banned from having racist or sexist tattoos. But from 1 April, "sleeve" tattoos that cover most of an arm or leg will be banned, as will smaller half or quarter sleeve tattoos if they are visible on arms or legs when a Marine is wearing shorts and T-shirt.

It seems my blog is block from viewing in china, I suspect it's really nothing i've done. my sin is that I use a blog host (Blogware) which is probably being mass blocked.


Still, all in all a good example of how pervasively stupid and arbitrary the whole web censorship meme is.
Test your own site

This is one of my fav photos i've ever taken, it just got great atomsphere