With less than 3 months until Christmas the supermarkets are already getting prepared for the onslaught of retail ahead, loading their shelves with christmas puddings, selection boxes and advent calendars.
Whatever happened to waiting until after Halloween of Bonfire night before engaging in the full Christmas mode? This year - and it's become something of a trend of late - the summer heat has hardly disapated before the christmas chocolates are on sale. Just imagine, you buy some for a relative. 3 months on, December 25th, Aunt Agatha opens the chocs to find they're all oddly shaped blobs in the bottom of the box. "Sorry about that Auntie", says you, "it was that September heatwave that must have done it".
Crazy. The thought of Christmas has only momentarily crossed my mind, and that's only because I've lot of friends and family abroad who I'll need to send off pressies early to. Early. But not September! Not even October - although I may have started browsing by then.
If we're going to have to put up with 3 months of Christmas tunes and cheer, then most people are likely to be quite fed up with it when it arrives. Surely the joy of Christmas is that it's a special annual events. This becomes somewhat dilluted if the festive apparel of the holiday is extended to encompass a quarter of the year!
I rant about this every year, but it always seems justified, and it always seems to be pushed earlier and earlier. AAARGH!
20050924
50 years for everything
There seems to be a great number of things that are celebrating 50th anniversaries at the moment.
ITV has been making the most of its birthday with reams of self-congratulatory 'best of ITV' programmes. Of little surprise, Corrie was voted favourite ITV programme of all time. Let's face it, if you're asked to list quality ITV programmes nowadays you're likely to come up short. Happily the Muppet Show came 8th, although I'm not sure exactly how much input ITV had in that.
As if that wasn't enough, this morning alone BBC Radio 4 has featured a programme marking the 50th anniversary of the patenting of the hovercraft. Very worthy too, and good to hear that after a period of decline a new generation of hovercraft will soon be appearing.
But a half-hour later we discover that From Our Own Correspondent is also celebrating its 50th, originally created it turns out to keep the corporations widely dispersed reporters happy by allowing them getting their experiences heard even if their country of base is not making the headlines otherwise.
Any more takers for a 50th birthday bash?!
ITV has been making the most of its birthday with reams of self-congratulatory 'best of ITV' programmes. Of little surprise, Corrie was voted favourite ITV programme of all time. Let's face it, if you're asked to list quality ITV programmes nowadays you're likely to come up short. Happily the Muppet Show came 8th, although I'm not sure exactly how much input ITV had in that.
As if that wasn't enough, this morning alone BBC Radio 4 has featured a programme marking the 50th anniversary of the patenting of the hovercraft. Very worthy too, and good to hear that after a period of decline a new generation of hovercraft will soon be appearing.
But a half-hour later we discover that From Our Own Correspondent is also celebrating its 50th, originally created it turns out to keep the corporations widely dispersed reporters happy by allowing them getting their experiences heard even if their country of base is not making the headlines otherwise.
Any more takers for a 50th birthday bash?!
20050917
Saturday
*Yawn*. Good morning.
I was listening to the radio while walking back from work yesterday when I came across Stuart Marconie on Radio 2. Now it has to be said that it was seriously chilly yesterday afternoon, as if a weather-front of winter was passing over. Yet here was Marconie, playing (Here comes the) Summer Sun, by Texas. Hang on, have I been hibernating for 6 months without noticing? Are we in Spring, and looking forward to the approaching long, heady summer months? Er... no. Not even close. Autumn is beginning to beckon, and as such any optimistic "wha-hey the summer is coming" songs should be banned from playlists. It's about time someone wrote a song along the lines of "winter is coming, but we'll do our bloody damndest to enjoy ourselves before it arrives". There's a niche place in the market just waiting to be filling.
Maybe it already has been. Suggestions on a postcard please.
I was listening to the radio while walking back from work yesterday when I came across Stuart Marconie on Radio 2. Now it has to be said that it was seriously chilly yesterday afternoon, as if a weather-front of winter was passing over. Yet here was Marconie, playing (Here comes the) Summer Sun, by Texas. Hang on, have I been hibernating for 6 months without noticing? Are we in Spring, and looking forward to the approaching long, heady summer months? Er... no. Not even close. Autumn is beginning to beckon, and as such any optimistic "wha-hey the summer is coming" songs should be banned from playlists. It's about time someone wrote a song along the lines of "winter is coming, but we'll do our bloody damndest to enjoy ourselves before it arrives". There's a niche place in the market just waiting to be filling.
Maybe it already has been. Suggestions on a postcard please.
20050915
New webspace
I've finally got around to upgrading the webspace for the website, and fixing the eurobahn domain which for a few weeks has been broken, due to a previous change in website.
The main improvement is that I now have a massive 1GB of webspace to play with, which should give me plenty of room to upload photos directly onto the site, rather than having them hosted elsewhere.
The transfer process may have made some links break. If you come across a broken link or page, please e-mail me on feedback@danielatkinson.co.uk
The main improvement is that I now have a massive 1GB of webspace to play with, which should give me plenty of room to upload photos directly onto the site, rather than having them hosted elsewhere.
The transfer process may have made some links break. If you come across a broken link or page, please e-mail me on feedback@danielatkinson.co.uk
20050910
Last night
I managed to catch the end of Last Night of the Proms this evening. It's one of the events that I think people either watch annually, or don't bother with it at all. I do enjoy it though, especially towards the end when they play the favourites: Sea Shanties, Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, and Jerusalem.
They do of course also play God Save the Queen, but as a programme currently on BBC 4 testifies, many people think this this should be replaces as the national anthem by Jerusalem. I think this is pretty good choice.
I've always liked Billy Connelly's satirical suggestion of using the theme to the Archers as the national anthem. It's certainly upbeat.
Jerusalem though does have some cracking lyrics. It is religious in nature (as is the God Save the Queen of course), which some might bawk at in today's rather secular society. However as a reflection of the very traditional values associated with England, it is perhaps unsurpassed.
It's a tune I associate very much with the Conservative Party, and I wonder, since they're trying to get back on their feet, whether they should run on a manifesto on changing the national anthem to Jerusalem. Not very Conservative, possibly divisive, but what a statement to make - especially if they did it in time for the 2012 Olympics, when hopefully plenty of Gold medal winning British atheletes would have a decent tune to sing along proudly to!
They do of course also play God Save the Queen, but as a programme currently on BBC 4 testifies, many people think this this should be replaces as the national anthem by Jerusalem. I think this is pretty good choice.
I've always liked Billy Connelly's satirical suggestion of using the theme to the Archers as the national anthem. It's certainly upbeat.
Jerusalem though does have some cracking lyrics. It is religious in nature (as is the God Save the Queen of course), which some might bawk at in today's rather secular society. However as a reflection of the very traditional values associated with England, it is perhaps unsurpassed.
It's a tune I associate very much with the Conservative Party, and I wonder, since they're trying to get back on their feet, whether they should run on a manifesto on changing the national anthem to Jerusalem. Not very Conservative, possibly divisive, but what a statement to make - especially if they did it in time for the 2012 Olympics, when hopefully plenty of Gold medal winning British atheletes would have a decent tune to sing along proudly to!
20050909
Chilled laptops
My laptop went belly up during the height of the summer, and following a replacement of the overheated hard-drive I was up and running again. However now it's a case of once bitten twice shy. If I'm going to leave my PC on during the day, which is necessary from time to time, I don't want a repeat of the overheating and a bill for replacement components (a hard drive in my case.)
Following some research on-line, it seems that I am by no means the first person to encounter overheating problems with their laptop. In fact, it's very much a trait with powerful portable PCs. As a result, there are a few different solutions on the market designed to keeping the underside of the laptop at temperatures below which it could happily fry an egg.
In general these laptop coolers consist of fans built into a metal base, which, while providing a cool resting place for the laptop to begin with also blows air onto the underside of the laptop (typically where fan grills and vital components reside) keeping everything within acceptable tempatures. I opted for the laptop cooler by Akasa, which cost about £25 including delivery from Watford Electronics (savastore.com).
It did pretty much what it said on the tin. The fan is very quiet, and the laptop feels a lot, lot cooler than normal, even during long periods of intensive use. I don't have software installed yet to measure the temperature difference, but I might also give this a try in due course for some more scientific results. Furthmore the base is also angled in its design, which is supposed to angle the keyboard more naturally for typing.
The only disadvantage I found is that the USB cable provided has built in blue LEDs. Although this is handy to tell that the base is being powered, it is rather distracting. It does seem to be something of a feature in Akasa products, as their hard drive case I use also heavily features the same blue lights, both along the side of the unit and in the sockets of the USB cable. Funky to begin with, but perhaps a bit OTT.
Nevertheless, I feel much more at ease having the cooler in place, safe in the knowledge that my laptop is unlikely to get too hot under the cover and blow a gasket. I'd recommend this, or similar cooler products to laptop users, as its said the additional cooling extends the PC's life, improves performance, and you've for the benefit of a more egonomically agreed typing position to boot.
Following some research on-line, it seems that I am by no means the first person to encounter overheating problems with their laptop. In fact, it's very much a trait with powerful portable PCs. As a result, there are a few different solutions on the market designed to keeping the underside of the laptop at temperatures below which it could happily fry an egg.
In general these laptop coolers consist of fans built into a metal base, which, while providing a cool resting place for the laptop to begin with also blows air onto the underside of the laptop (typically where fan grills and vital components reside) keeping everything within acceptable tempatures. I opted for the laptop cooler by Akasa, which cost about £25 including delivery from Watford Electronics (savastore.com).
It did pretty much what it said on the tin. The fan is very quiet, and the laptop feels a lot, lot cooler than normal, even during long periods of intensive use. I don't have software installed yet to measure the temperature difference, but I might also give this a try in due course for some more scientific results. Furthmore the base is also angled in its design, which is supposed to angle the keyboard more naturally for typing.
The only disadvantage I found is that the USB cable provided has built in blue LEDs. Although this is handy to tell that the base is being powered, it is rather distracting. It does seem to be something of a feature in Akasa products, as their hard drive case I use also heavily features the same blue lights, both along the side of the unit and in the sockets of the USB cable. Funky to begin with, but perhaps a bit OTT.
Nevertheless, I feel much more at ease having the cooler in place, safe in the knowledge that my laptop is unlikely to get too hot under the cover and blow a gasket. I'd recommend this, or similar cooler products to laptop users, as its said the additional cooling extends the PC's life, improves performance, and you've for the benefit of a more egonomically agreed typing position to boot.
20050907
Ideas factory
It's been a busy old week. Lots of ideas milling around. The challenge is to find time to put some of them in practice, while juggling them with everything else. God, I feel like such a typical time-poor Londoner.
20050831
The internet media marvel
There's an impressive range of radio stations, TV channels, internet stations, shows and podcasts now available to stream or download over the net. For someone like myself who's never happier than browsing stations from the four corners of the world, the internet is like a dream come true. There's still the problem of separating the wheat from the chaff though. As any regular internet user will profess, the web is a timehole. It will suck your time away; minutes turn into hours. Before you know it you should have been in bed an hour ago. There's just such a vast amount out there, that you can pass from one site to the next, link to promising enticing link.
I tend to use internet media as something of a replacement for the programming of shortwave and mediumwave radio, with some the content of international satellite TV if I had that option. There's the additional bonus of having much more scope on the internet to discover new and interesting content, if the chance provided.
Until now there's not been very many options for organising online watching or listening. It was largely a matter of trying to find some decent online media directories, firing up the stream, seeing what you found, and if necessary tallying this with a programme schedule on the content provider's website. It's cumbersome, time consuming, and not necessarily very satisfying, given dead links, poorly designed websites or the complete absence of schedules and explanation of the programming.
Happily, some interesting software now seem to be appearing that allow recording of streams for on demand listening of particular programmes. As time permits I'm going to see what's out there, and see just how efficiently and effectively it's now possible to make the most of online media content. The .net magazine website reviews a program called 'Replay Radio', which sounds promising. I believe there are some similar programs that also allow timed recording of live streams. It makes perfect sense, especially when you consider the complications of time zones when listening to overseas content providers.
I suppose that's one of the fine things about the internet. If there's a demand for, well, almost anything to do with exploring the online world, there's more often than not some software been written to do the job.
In any case I feel I've been spending quite long enough with the same few bookmarks in my Real Player. It's time to see what's out there.
I tend to use internet media as something of a replacement for the programming of shortwave and mediumwave radio, with some the content of international satellite TV if I had that option. There's the additional bonus of having much more scope on the internet to discover new and interesting content, if the chance provided.
Until now there's not been very many options for organising online watching or listening. It was largely a matter of trying to find some decent online media directories, firing up the stream, seeing what you found, and if necessary tallying this with a programme schedule on the content provider's website. It's cumbersome, time consuming, and not necessarily very satisfying, given dead links, poorly designed websites or the complete absence of schedules and explanation of the programming.
Happily, some interesting software now seem to be appearing that allow recording of streams for on demand listening of particular programmes. As time permits I'm going to see what's out there, and see just how efficiently and effectively it's now possible to make the most of online media content. The .net magazine website reviews a program called 'Replay Radio', which sounds promising. I believe there are some similar programs that also allow timed recording of live streams. It makes perfect sense, especially when you consider the complications of time zones when listening to overseas content providers.
I suppose that's one of the fine things about the internet. If there's a demand for, well, almost anything to do with exploring the online world, there's more often than not some software been written to do the job.
In any case I feel I've been spending quite long enough with the same few bookmarks in my Real Player. It's time to see what's out there.
20050830
Joys of the British Summer
Just when you think that Summer in turning into Autumn; cool days, almost a chill in the air, as was the case last week; this week goes to prove the the wonderous unpredictability of the British climate is still King. It's the dying days of August, yet the forecast for London tomorrow is sunshine and a scorching prediction of 31 degrees.
I'd be lying if I was particularly looking forward to having to work through such a heatwave, but if summertime is going to cling on for a while longer before letting go, well that's just fine by me. As Summer does draw to its natural (if always unexpected) conclusion, I tend to find it a time to cast a look back on the the heady long days that have passed, before the psychological and photo-period drop into dark, dank Winter. Have I made the most of it? Could I have done more? Should I be wracked by guilt at letting these days pass too easily, I wonder.
Well, if I face the facts I've been working throughout the Summer, more or less. Unlike many, many others who leap at the first chance to head off to some sun-drenched beach during the height of the Summer, I am in contrast no sun-worshipper. I tend to endure the unairconditioned heat of summertime Britain, and holiday at other times of the year. In some ways this is daft. It would be perfectly logical if I, in the off season, heading away to some Southern land still enjoying warmth and sunshine. Somehow, however, this never quite works out, and I end up meeting friends in some particularly chilly parts of Europe. Hey-ho. I've no complaints about this state of affairs, but you know that one of these days I'll get my act together and somehow arrange to go Up North in the Summer and Down South in the Winter. Heck, the birds can manage it, maybe I can too.
I'd be lying if I was particularly looking forward to having to work through such a heatwave, but if summertime is going to cling on for a while longer before letting go, well that's just fine by me. As Summer does draw to its natural (if always unexpected) conclusion, I tend to find it a time to cast a look back on the the heady long days that have passed, before the psychological and photo-period drop into dark, dank Winter. Have I made the most of it? Could I have done more? Should I be wracked by guilt at letting these days pass too easily, I wonder.
Well, if I face the facts I've been working throughout the Summer, more or less. Unlike many, many others who leap at the first chance to head off to some sun-drenched beach during the height of the Summer, I am in contrast no sun-worshipper. I tend to endure the unairconditioned heat of summertime Britain, and holiday at other times of the year. In some ways this is daft. It would be perfectly logical if I, in the off season, heading away to some Southern land still enjoying warmth and sunshine. Somehow, however, this never quite works out, and I end up meeting friends in some particularly chilly parts of Europe. Hey-ho. I've no complaints about this state of affairs, but you know that one of these days I'll get my act together and somehow arrange to go Up North in the Summer and Down South in the Winter. Heck, the birds can manage it, maybe I can too.
20050829
Tallinn Online
Estonia, and in particular Tallinn, has now been added to the travel section of the website. The destination guide is based on a trip I took with two friends back in March of this year, and features recommended sights, and most importantly, some good eats!
Tallinn is a fine looking city, with one of the best preserved Medieval city centres in Europe. It's now in easy reach thanks to regular flights by Easyjet and Eastonian Air.
Click here to read more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
