Postcard from Brighton

Logistically challenged mission this weekend as I find myself on tour to Brighton. We are staying in a rather bright hotel which seems to attract a particularly extrovert form of clientele.

We've already met others and managed a quick trip to Havana. Later, we head to a music gig and I suspect there will be more time in the rather unique shopping areas.

I hope I have time for at least a seaside ice cream.

the further one travels, the less one knows

With Copenhagen's energy summit getting fired-up, we are all thinking about the climate a little bit more at the moment.

One of the popular discussions is around new forms of transportation power, such as electric cars. I'm a believer in 'treading lightly' but I suspect some of the calculations will need refinement for electric cars to become mainstream.

The 'rule of thumb' equation for electric cars consumption goes something like 60mph = 20KWh. In other words, a car travelling at 60 mph for an hour uses 20 Kilowatts of power - roughly 10 fan heaters or 333 60 Watt light bulbs. As a quick cross check, the Toyota Prius peak output is between 43KWh and 73KWh, depending on model - higher than my figures.

To keep things simple, I'll assume that the 60 miles represents the equivalent of an average car's daily travel (ie 20KW) but that it only gets recharged on working days. Thats 220days x 60miles = 13,200 miles per annum or 220days x 20KWh = 4,400KWh per annum. 13,200 miles seems about right as an average.

Now for the average power consumption of a house. I looked this up on a US web-site. US homes have more central heating and are quite appliance rich, so their government statistics are a handy reference. Its around 960 KWh per month, according to the average of all of the States.

So a home uses 12months x 960KWh per annum (call it 12,000KWh) for simplicity. A single car uses 4,400KWh per annum.

Or around 1/3 of a home.

UK has around 25million homes and 33million cars. Lets make that 1.3 cars per household. That's average 5,700KWh per annum. Or an average of around a half a home of charge per night.

Now put the car electricity onto the household power grid. Most people would recharge at night. Say between 7pm and 7am. 12 hours. Thats 12 hours to deliver half of a house's average daily consumption.

Looks to me as if thats pretty much full continuous load.

So does that mean the whole grid needs uprating to support eCar charging? How big is the carbon footprint to do that? Maybe we will find out over the next few days - or perhaps it will take a three year study?

bah gum, there wern' 'arf an explosion

I seem rather unlucky with these Time Capsule dedicated backup devices. The new one that arrived yesterday has also failed. It was maybe half way through backing up an iMac, when it suddenly stopped working and the little indicator light went out. I've re-plugged it since but to no avail.

Its a trifle embarrassing, because this is actually the third one that has died. When the first one (pictured) went wrong, I put it down to bad luck. I'd had it less than two years and was a bit miffed that the backup device lasted such a short time, but it was out of warranty so I didn't think there was much I could do.

Then a couple of weeks ago another one failed in the same way. Dead except for the little lights for ethernet which momentarily flash when I plug in the mains cable. Again, its around 18 months old.

This third new one was in the middle of backing up 600 Gigabytes from one computer when it expired. Its a 2 Terabyte unit and is supposed to have a 'server grade disk' inside it.

Its pretty obvious to me that all three have suffered from power supply faults. I actually had the latest one plugged into an anti surge power adapter as well, so I've done what I can to protect it. I noticed it ran rather hot, so I'm guessing heat + electronics=fried apple.

I called Apple about the latest one and they are sending a replacement. I asked if they'd had this happen before, but was told by the technical guy that he'd never heard of anything like it.

Of course, I couldn't resist a quick google and was surprised when the Time Capsule Memorial Register popped up.



Along with the very handy link to the BBC's summary of UK Consumer Protection Law and the six year 'fitness for purpose' rule. I'll see how I get on at the Apple Store with the other dead one.

opening the pod bay door (again)

A sort of chain reaction has swept through the rashbre central IT infrastructure over the last couple of days. Some might remember that a while ago I had a backup device called a Time Capsule, which suddenly stopped working.
Strangely enough, its just happened again with another one. Both showed the same symptoms.

Nothing working except the little green lights on the back flicker when the mains is plugged in.

It's unusual when the backup device expires more frequently than the device it is supposed to be protecting.

This time I will follow up with the manufacturer, because I am now suspicious that there is a design fault with the power supplies or heat management.

Anyway, I've replaced it again although the act of doing so created more ripples across the technology cosmos than I'd have expected.

I've had to reboot various gizmos and even the big disk's blue light started flashing angrily.

At least it didn't turn red.

pixellated vampires

I abandoned the option to go to a bar and onward for a bite to eat this evening. I had more stuff to do involving big spreadsheets by critical deadlines.

I've just finished and am now watching a TV program set in a southern state of America, where some of the people appear to be vampires. The TV remote buttons are across the room somewhere so I've no idea what I'm actually watching.

I was wondering why the vampire faces break up like a kind of pixellation at certain times and thought this might be a sign that they were about to transform.

Then suddenly it was the advert break advertising shampooed hair with hair extensions also with pixellations.

I've realised that the channel I was watching must have a low signal and most of the clues in the program were just a technical fault.

Like the small print in the TV ads, things are not always what they seem.

No fire without windrush ventures ?

Some chatter around Westminster now that the Guardian is flipping through the various trading structures allegedly created by Tony Blair.

Something about how his money flows from TBA into the various subsidiaries, with off the shelf names like BDBCO No822 Ltd.

Tony's own company's management fees for administering it all seem quite steep at a reputed £6m, but I suppose that's what happens when dozen or so legal entities in the organisation get convoluted. We are also told that these structures wouldn't get around any of the Gordon Brown imposed inheritance tax changes.

There are also charities included and the Guardian has just put up a set of documents to help shed light on what's occurring. The so-called Blair Mystery Project is asking for assistance. I remember that the FT had a go a couple of months ago.

I'm sort of intrigued that after a relatively Blair free period, as we now approach the end of the current government, there seems to be a range of new stories surfacing. European leadership, Chilcot tribunal and now finances. One wonders if there is someone specific stirring the pot?

And with the apparent financial run rate from the various companies, Blair in the Euro role wouldn't have made much sense. It would have meant stopping most of the other activities and making this complexity far less opaque.

Santa sighting 2009

I almost forgot that Santa does a test run through our neighbourhood at this time of year. He doesn't bring the full sleigh, just the sporty little number, which has a really good acceleration, considering its only 1rp.

Yes, early evening there was a loud knock on the door and I could hear faint music. Bizarrely, I actually thought "I wonder if its Santa? If so, he's a bit early this year" as I headed for the door.

And sure enough.

He seemed to be adding me to the 'Nice' list.

Elves were also present.

Poles Apart at Rich Mix

Poles Apart was an excellent theatrical experience on Saturday evening.

Our little group arrived at Rich Mix with just enough time to round up a few drinks and settle into seats before Polish tunes heralded the start of the show.

It was Hardgraft's presentation of Mark Whiteley and Daniel Hoffmann-Gill describing their reverse immigration experiences as two Brits seeking work in Poland. A 2000 or so mile job hunt adventure from Oldham to Warsaw mirrored the journey that thousands of Polish people have made to the United Kingdom.

And what a trip! Dan's defective car stranded him somewhere in France calling upon Wizzair (Yup, its real) to get them to what proved to be an almost job-free zone.

The action was cleverly constructed and whilst engaging and downright funny, there was a strong back story and narrative throughout. Amongst the humour was much poignant description of the European relationship to Poland, through terrible war years and including the horrors of Nazi and Russian occupation. War, Genocide, Poverty, Expatriation. All topics were handled and in a way that fully and sometimes literally engaged the audience.

What also came through was a genuine delight and positivity about the Polish people that Mark and Dan had met. They may have found it tough to get work with their badly written letters of introduction and stuttery speech, but they commented positively on the people they had met, their kindness and sense of humour.

They also described the feelings they found as two people isolated as non-workers outside of a community and the inevitable arguments and stress between them that this created.

Both players were strong performers and able to move into improvisation, whether with volunteers on stage or handling unexpected questions from the audience during some of the interactions. The set was minimal but effective and the two actors filled the stage with a confident presence and a wealth of moves that also ensured no slowing of pace throughout the entire show.

There were some additional scenes woven in to this performance, which reminded me of the cut-aways sometimes in Lorca or Brecht, to add side bar commentary. Recent UK immigration developments with election of MEPs from the BNP drove the points being made, involving a variety of denial scenes with musical accompaniment. Funny, but in that bitter sweet way reminiscent of 1930s German burlesque.

I was impressed with this show. Two fellahs on stage dressed in suits and white trackies, wouldn't always work, but here the performance skills, the foundation storyline and agenda as well as a willingness to go 'off-sausage' during the performance kept us all entertained throughout.

Well done and thank you.

Poles Apart from Hard Graft Theatre on Vimeo.

the eyes have it

As if I'm really posting this at 23:59. I'm not even home yet.

After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening, the sideways rain arrived like bullet shafts of water mingling with the electric lighting from the Cinema in the Kings Road. We'd already run from this apparent shelter to an adjacent bus stop after seeing a Number 22 disappear in the opposite direction with one of our number.

Meanwhile we'd entered the Twilight Zone of Night Buses and the thought of water mixed with electricity for a second time was more than any of us could bear.

But let's wind back a bit.

Art
Brick Lane, late afternoon. A quiet errand to pick up a copy of Glitter and Doom from Rough Trade, and to drop into the Hidden Arts Fair in Truman's Brewery. All to plan and a chance to catch up on gossip from artydesignerfriend Linda.

Linda makes vibrant joyful designs on fabrics which I think should be placed in frames as proper artworks.

Drink
Then, via the salsa dancing in Spitalfields to the Commercial Tavern for the next stage.

I'd arranged to meet a small gang there ahead of a visit to show in the neighbourhood. The slight trouble was I wouldn't recognize one of our group.

I was first to arrive, listening to slide guitar blues, watching for an empty table or for any of our group to arrive. I knew train works meant the whole area was a total exclusion zone for tube connections so everyone was likely to be late.
Meet
Then she arrived, alone, eyes scanning the room, looking for someone.

I began to think I should have chosen a pub that wasn't famous for always being completely dark and candle lit. I paused and introduced myself, except something was wrong. It was the eyes. They didn't look quite right.

"No, thats not me", she politely replied, before going to stand at the darkest corner of the dark bar fiddling with her phone. I glanced a few minutes later as her companion joined her and thought their shadows moved upstairs.

A few minutes passed and I noticed her arrive again through the front door. Alone. Except something was different - it was the eyes - they looked recognisable.

She headed purposefully to the same corner of the bar and continued chatting to the man, who somehow looked different in the dim light. But I noticed her disengage as my phone scuttled across the table. I stood, turned as she turned towards me. It was Ellie. We'd met, but both intercepted other people first.

The complicated wonders of blog-world.

Gang
Of course, we needed a full gang to make the trip to the next venue work - plenty of whooping and hollering would be required. So a few minutes later, John and Melanie appear and then a little later our last team member, Beth. With an umbrella.

Curry
We left Hoxditch and headed back into Brick Lane. Choice of food...Why, curry of course, complete with street corner negotiations and a somewhat compressed time to chase down Cobra beer, poppadoms, curry and rice.

Then the speedy stroll through the length of the area once wandered by Jack the Ripper, before arriving at the evening's venue.

More of that tomorrow...

over 50k words on nanowrimo

Bleary-eyed, surrounded by reference books and unwashed coffee cups, Thursday blipped over 50,000 words on the NaNoWriMo project. To be truthful, it surprised me. To be even more truthful, the coffee cups were clean and I use the internet for reference. But I was bleary-eyed.

It surprised me to be at that point before the last weekend in November. When I tried using the 'official' word counter instead of the one in my software, my word count actually went down again. I probably needed to add some more weather descriptions to bulk out the word count.

But I'd written a couple of sections separately on another computer, so when I finally combined everything it suddenly jumped to just over 51,000 words. I ran it twice because I didn't believe the numbers the first time. I was sure I'd need a few more evenings to get to the number.

There's a couple of big things to do though. Firstly, although I think I know how to wrap things up in the story, I will need to write another 10-20,000 to get to that point. Secondly, there's a plot change that I thought of part way through and I need to re-apply to all of the front part of the story.

I don't think there is any danger of getting this finished in the next few weeks and I suppose it would be wise to create a gap before re-assessing for an edit.

quiet day at the office

I can still remember when $60bn was a lot of money. Today, the interest on it would only buy a couple of new Formula 1 circuits.

So when the news about Dubai defaulting on interest payments popped up today, most of America was on holiday. And the middle east is getting ready for their long weekend celebrating Eid.

I know the London Stock Exchange ground to a halt. I know it was explained to be for 'technical reasons'. But its probably nothing to worry about.

wrong kind of shopping

I'll admit that the first of my seasonal shopping has started, although this year there are some quite noticeable High Street changes. One is the narrowing of stock from certain retailers.

Its okay for generic items, but some specific items are not in the stores. There's a difference between, for example, 'a book' or 'a CD' and one with a specific title. I suppose that is an internet impact.

I tried to obtain at least three different items using traditionalist "walking into shops" methods, but was unsuccessful. I also walked into a shop which then asked all of the customers to leave because their computer systems had crashed and would take twenty minutes to re-instate.

Inevitably I'm moving my searching across to the internet, but if my experiences are commonplace, then it does sound a warning bell for further high street stores.

Update Since I wrote this, I see one high street book chain is having some trouble.