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Carefully, Correctly Wrong
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| FAO Londoners: Comecidal Lolocaust @ Camden Head, London - 9-11th August |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|05:58 pm] |
Bah, I failed at pimping this earlier. Anyway, I can vouch that at least one of these people, namely ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) apiphile, is funny and awesome. So you should totally go, London people.
Fresh and tart stand-up comedy from the inimitable Rose Watt (slapstick ninja mistress), the incomparable Holly Burns (scientist and fashionista), and the irredeemable Del Des Anges (do not feed or disturb). Please allow plenty of time for digestion: fairy cakes offered to survivors, suitable for 15+
Buy your tickets here, only 7 quid for awesomeness! I know that most people I know in London will also have read this on apiphile's LJ, but there are some like peachweeks who probably won't... |
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| Left Hand, Right Hand, Arse, Elbow |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|11:16 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pissed off | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Nine Inch Nails - "Self Destruction (final)" | ] |
I find it hilarious that my New corporate Overlords have been so disturbed by the results of a recent employee satisfaction survey that they've instituted a special committee to improve staff morale, while at the same time cancelling the free Monday morning bacon butties, soft drinks and coffee... |
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| Weekend Plans |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|03:13 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | organisation | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | rushed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Earth Loop Recall - "Elevator Music" | ] |
It's been a long and busy week, and not a little frustrating. I've been on the early shift at work and made my 8:30am start every morning... until today, when I slept in a little. I've done some identity activism radio appearances, and lots of Lib Dem politicking. OTOH, I've also had a night round at tartful_dodger's place, and spent a pleasant few hours down the pub with co-workers last night.
Tonight I will be skipping my customary Currybeer in favour of catching up on a few things; tomorrow I'll be heading to FAB Caffor a munch with greyeyedeve, and perhaps Wagamama and the cinema afterwards. On Sunday I'll be out campaigning. |
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| Back on the Road |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|02:22 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cycling | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relieved | ] |
| [ | music |
| | DeathBoy - "Black Morning" | ] |
I am now the proud owner of a Trek 7.3 bike. It's been a bit of a fortunate coincidence really...
( long ) |
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| Politics Update |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|02:10 pm] |
FFS THIS IS NOT A FUCKING U-TURN OR RETREAT OR ANY SUCH OTHER FUCKING THING YOU JOURNALIST FUCKING RETARD SHITBAG MORONS
THE GOVERNMENT HAVE SAID THAT ID CARDS ARE VOLUNTARY FROM DAY ONE. THEY WERE LYING THEN AND THEY ARE LYING NOW
GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK FUCKING HEADS AND STOP SUCKING ALAN JOHNSON'S COCK WHEN HE'S JUST AS MUCH OF A LYING AUTHORITARIAN CUNT AS ALL THE FUCKERS WHO PRECEDED HIM |
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| Family Visit |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|11:19 pm] |
I don't talk much about my family on LJ. However, I mentioned that during their last visit my father was ill. To cut a long story short, we learned he had a tumour in his bowel. He's had surgery to remove it, and is feeling a lot better, and we hoped that was the end. However, they've found a second tumour in his liver, along with evidence that the cancer has spread to his lymphatic system.
He starts a six-month course of chemotherapy in a fortnight. He seems upbeat and has been insisting that things will be fine. However, he's making a special effort to come up and see me and my big sister this weekend, so I'm worrying that there's some bad news to come.
Even if there isn't, this may be my last time to see my father well; he's a lot better health-wise than the last time I saw him, since the bowel surgery dealt with tumour-related adhesions which were causing him pain. Certainly chemotherapy isn't going to be good for him, in the short term; some people deal with it pretty well but other people get wiped out by it and never recover.
I'm annoyed that I'm having to break a promise to tartful_dodger to spend the day with him, but I feel the need to make the most of this day. I'm thinking of things I can do with him; perhaps a trip to the Lowry or Imperial War Museum North. It goes without saying that I'm scared for him, but there's not a lot I can do. I just need to know that if this is my last chance to see him as a well man, that I made the most of it. |
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| Secure Bike Storage |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|01:53 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cycling | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Radiohead - "Street Spirit" | ] |
On a cycling theme, when I have a new bike, locks etc. I'd like to be able to cycle around Manchester to deliver leaflets. I'd like to have more leaflets than I can reasonably carry myself, on the offchance that somebody else shows up to help out, but I obviously don't want to lug them all around myself. I'm looking at some kind of secure storage I can firmly attach to my bike, without having to worry about scrotes running off with the contents.
A while back at the hospital I ran into a man with a Bike Bin which looked quite good, but on second glance isn't - it looks quite easy to break into, but more importantly is "secured" to the pannier rack through the rubber handle, which is trivial to slice through. A bit more research found the Otivia Cargo Cache, which looks well secure - the box bolts down onto the pannier rack, and is made of the same material as car storage boxes. All I'd need is some padlocks or small D-locks to secure the pannier rack to the frame. However, it looks like the cargo cache stops you from attaching regular panniers to the side of the rack, which would mean I'd have to unbolt it for my large shopping trips - this would be a not inconsiderable pain.
What do other people use for secure panniers? |
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| New Bike Options |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|05:06 pm] |
Wow, it's been ages since I updated... this week has been crazy busy.
Last Saturday I went to look for a replacement bike. My experience at Bicycle Doctor was better than before - I didn't feel I was being upsold. Perhaps knowing a bit more about bikes meant I came across as someone less likely to be pressured. I was looking at road hybrids like my old one, and was recommended a Trek 7.3. It looks quite good, has the 700x32C tyres I loved so much about my old hybrid, but is quite pricey at £425. There's a cheaper option at the Trek 7.2, but that's heavier and a little bulkier, and takes wider tyres which will impact my road speed.
I also popped back to Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Operative. I'm not keen on buying from there again, but the direct replacement for my old bike is £350 - if I could avoid relying on them for servicing and parts, then that's money I could save. Would have to make sure I get the complete specs for the bike and investigate good online parts retailers though.
While there I also looked at some more pure road bikes, the Ridgeback Flight 01 and the Specialised Sirrus Sport. These would both probably be better for my usual road commute, but I'm not sure about the small bits of harder cycling (through the park, or just roads in poor condition with potholes) on them - the bloke in EBC said it'd be a problem, but I'm no longer sure whether to trust him.
Unfortunately, Bicycle Doctor don't have a Trek 7.3 in my frame size in; I'd like to test-ride one before forking out cash. Ditto the Sirrus, which looks like it might be an even faster commuting bike if it can deal with crappy road conditions.
I'm not going to have a chance to do anything about this this weekend now, but need to keep pushing this forward - the longer I go without a bike, the more unfit and unhappy I am. Feedback is as ever welcome. |
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| Back on the road... for under five miles |
[May. 26th, 2009|09:56 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | cycling | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | pissed off | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Aphex Twin - "54 Cymru Beats" | ] |
About a month ago, my bike's rear wheel got stolen. Since then, I've had real trouble getting a replacement from the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Operative; I've repeatedly had them try to sell me the wrong part, or order the wrong part for me. This week (on Wednesday, I think) I finally managed to get hold of a rear wheel which was the right size for my frame, and had a freehub the right size for my 8-speed gears. On Sunday, thanks to minnesattva returning my monkey wrench, I assembled the wheel, rim tape, tube, tyre and rear mech; yesterday I put it on the frame and got everything hunky-dory.
Last night, I rode my bike into town to meet tartful_dodger, mr_parsnip and others. I locked my bike to a Sheffield hoop outside Manchester Met SU; two hours later, it was gone. I wish it'd been nicked a month ago rather than wasting all that time and money on replacing a back wheel only to have the whole thing stolen. I've reported it to the police, but I don't think they'll bother to investigate, even though it's £350 worth of bike, and was stolen in view of at least two CCTV cameras.
I'm feeling really upset by this for a lot of reasons. I've been out of the saddle, and therefore getting no exercise, for a month and it's startign to take its toll; I'm increasingly stressed out and snappy. I don't have the time or inclination to take other forms of exercise. It's going to make getting between my flat and Olly's a hassle, as well as doing political campaigning anywhere off the main bus routes.
As for replacing it, I'm a bit skint at the moment due to lending money to cover a friend's rent, which is not ideal. Even if I can afford a replacement (and one undesirable option here is to ask my parents for a new bike for my impending birthday), I'm then stuck with the choice of going back to a supplier I know to be incompetent for a bike I know I like, or investing time in researching an alternative, when I know bugger-all about bikes.
Bicycle Doctor are expensive, inconveniently located, and have tried to upsell me a lot in the past; I'm a bit wary of Bicycle Boutique because they're tied in with the anarcho "cyclista" crowd who get my back up, and will probably try to sell me a fixie. I've heard there's a place in the Northern Quarter selling refurb bikes, but if I want somethign for a daily commute then it probably needs to be something higher-quality than I'm likely to acquire from there.
It's almost like I didn't have enough on my plate, and the world decided to come give me yet more crap to deal with. |
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| Spawning A Campaign |
[May. 24th, 2009|11:27 pm] |
As part of the Manchester Free Software group, I suggested a while ago that we should lobby MEP candidates for their opinions on matters relating to free software, particularly the software patent legislation which keeps appearing before the European parliament and which damages small software producers, both free and proprietary.
Being a busy sort of chap, I didn't get round to this until Friday night, when I worked up this half-finished draft letter. I was going to come back to it, but first this e-mail hit my inbox; it seems that somebody at the FSF noticed my wiki updates and turned it into a major campaign.
On the one hand, I think the action will get a lot more attention this way; on the other hand, I think the finished sample letter is rubbish. It doesn't mention software patents, doesn't have any links in it to further background on free software (Stephen Fry's free software video is very worth watching), and just generally assumes far too much knowledge on the part of MEP candidates.
I'm also a bit cheesed off that nobody mentioned it to me. Given the text is on a GFDL-licensed wiki, and Manchester Free Software got credit, I don't have any reason to complain - my group has certainly got credit (and you can check the history on the wiki page), but it would have been polite to drop me or the group an e-mail perhaps.
Anyway, I'm going to edit the text a bit to address some of the complaints before I send it off. I'd encourage everybody reading this to contact their MEP candidates too (a list of contact details is provided) - the issues surrounding free software are important in their own right, but also affect proprietary software and small businesses across Europe, making them vulnerable to the big American giants like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.
Update: I've made the changes to the sample letter. |
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| Writer's Block: There Can Be Only One |
[May. 23rd, 2009|09:29 pm] |
Yes, I believe that monogamy exists. I believe that there are many people (or rather relationships) for which it works, and many for which it doesn't.
I don't do the whole poly thing. Clearly, I entertain multiple simultaneous committed relationships, but I don't consider myself poly. Mostly because it seems to require signing up to a whole set of in-group vocabulary and arguments that I don't agree with.
I don't believe that I can have all my wants met by one partner. But then, since I've never met anybody with the moon on a stick and many ponies, I don't think I could have all my wants met by many partners. Looking at Maslow's hierarchy, the needs which can be met by a partner are pretty low priority, and if you really can't get by without them, you may need to examine your priorities a little.
Still, I do get different things from different relationships, and some of those things within a relationship are more important to me than others. I don't try to rank my relationships in terms of priority, because it's a massive exercise in comparing apples to oranges. |
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| Pub Suggestions |
[May. 23rd, 2009|12:26 am] |
My friends Tim and Datch are visiting Manchester this weekend. I need a suggestion for somewhere good for a pub lunch, preferably in Levenshulme or Chorlton, because my brain is completely frazzled. Help please! |
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| Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles |
[May. 19th, 2009|01:02 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | terminator, tv | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Faithless - "Killer's Lullaby" | ] |
I've just learned that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been cancelled. This makes me deeply sad - it was high-quality science fiction, with good story arcs, strong characters, actual character development, exploring some fun themes like Singularity, with nice mythic references and so on. By far the best sci-fi TV I've seen in decades, and a more than worthy addition to the Terminator franchise.
And yet they renewed David Boreanaz snooze-a-thon Bones for another two seasons. This is why we can't have nice things... |
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| Number Crunching |
[May. 16th, 2009|02:42 pm] |
The MP expenses scandal is rolling on with depressing regularity. The Lib Dems are coming out pretty well, even though we're not squeaky clean. Still, few sources are reporting how the Lib Dems have repeatedly attempted to reform expenses and been voted down by the Labour / Tory pact.
It looks certain that this furore from the Torygraph is likely to bring down the Government, and I think that sucks. I have no love for Labour, nor the Conservative government that the Telegraph wants in power. However, I don't want them to fall (and the BNP and other whackjobs to rise) as a result of something so petty and tawdry as this.
Yes, dodgy expenses claims are unjustifiable. Yes, it's a breach of the public trust and of the duty of an Member of Parliament to use public funds wisely. But the total of all expenses claims over 2007-2008, dodgy or legitimate, is under £50m a year.
The running cost of the National Identity Register, a scheme proposed by Labour and voted in with Conservative help, is £500m a year. That's ten times the total expenses, to treat the people of the United Kingdom like cattle and put them at greater risk of abuse or failure.
The war in Iraq in 2007 was estimated at £1bn each year. This was an illegal invasion of a foreign country, based on lies about nonexistent WMDs, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, loss of moral authority across the world and increased extremism globally.
Figures from Private Eye (quoted here) put the cost of tax evasion in the UK at £42bn a year. That's nearly a thousand times the total cost of MP's expenses, three orders of magnitude, and it's something which Labour and the Tories have done absolutely nothing to solve.
Those are just three examples. Those are three examples of why Labour and the Conservatives should be punished in the polls. This is not about all MPs of all parties being tarred with the same brush - this is about the two biggest and richest parties in British politics being on the take, while simultaneously failing to stop far more serious wastes of taxpayer's money, and far more serious abuses of duty and morality.
And that's why front page stories about a comparatively pathetic amount of money, important though the principle behind it is, fills me with rage. |
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| Back in Civilisation |
[May. 16th, 2009|01:57 am] |
Back home after a week away protecting Stumpy the Bum-Faced Tyrannosaur (aka tartful_dodger) from the bum rats in London. Moar update tomorrow, coach fuckups meant I've not been home long, and I'm desperate to snuggle up with greyeyedeve. |
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| London Update |
[May. 13th, 2009|09:02 am] |
I am currently stuck in bed with tartful_dodger - I can't get up without waking him, at least, and he had trouble getting to sleep so I'm letting him snore away.
London so far has been fairly relaxing. We've been hanging out, doing some pottering, relaxing in our hotel room. On Monday evening I met up with some old schoolfriends - natrul and Earthworm, in Julia's pub at Baker Street. Julia was at work so I didn't get to chat to her much, but it was nice to catch up with the guys. Ben's risen from games testing to middle management at Sega Europe, and is heading down to Oxford on Friday for a meeting at Rebellion, where I know a few people. Andy and my old band, The Long Slide , are now actually playing gigs around London; I wonder what they sound like these days and may have to head back down for one.
I'm meeting up with Julia this afternoon to catch up properly, then heading off for some identity activism; we've got some plans to meet up with some of Olly's friends too. London is generally annoying me by being big and crowded and expensive and hard to get around. Still, back to civilisation on Friday to see my snuggly greyeyedeve which will be ace. |
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| Visitation Rights |
[May. 10th, 2009|07:25 pm] |
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In London. Annoyingly, my colo is down so I have no e-mail. Don't know how many of you have been clamouring to see me. Going to head out for food with tartful_dodger now. Sorry if we end up missing anybody. |
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| London Ho! |
[May. 10th, 2009|12:45 am] |
Off to London with tartful_dodger for a week. Not sure how much I'll be around, but drop me a comment, e-mail or text if you fancy meeting up, probably on Sunday evening with Olly or Monday evening solo.
Back in Manchester on Friday. |
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