geeky

Someone emailed me about the little picture that changes every day at the top of the sidebar. Its from the Joy of Tech and leads to their daily cartoon.

November is mine

I can't help feeling a bit proprietarial about November. Its my month (by which I mean its my birthday month). A few days yet to go, but as the First arrives, I think, "Yes!".

Its not got anything to do with presents or celebrations. Its just my month. And I still feel a bit cheated that October has 31 days (have to wait longer for November to start) and then November only has 30 days.

There's that woody smokey edge to the air, the mix of leaves, a sharper edge to the wind and an intangible excitement as the season really starts to change in a more purposeful way.

So to Scorpios everywhere - have a great November!

Tag: november, scorpio, eagle

400th Anniversary of Treason

It may be the last day of October, but the fireworks of November the Fifth have already started. The build up is to next weekend when something peculiar happens across Britain. Everyone stands around outdoor fires as big as they can make, eating baked potatoes and looking into a sky illuminated by fireworks. On top of those fires and you'll see an effigy usually of Guy Fawkes who was accused of the plot to blow up Parliament.


At the real centre of the conspiracy was the Warwickshire gentleman Robert Catesby. He wanted to blow up the King, together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons during the ceremonial opening of Parliament. He recruited Italian explosives expert Guido Fawkes to assist and then 400 years ago, on the night of Nov. 4, 1605, Guy Fawkes and 12 fellow conspirators prepared to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the state opening by James I.

The conspirators had hoped that King James would be more tolerant of their Catholic faith than his predecessor Queen Elizabeth I and so they decided to assassinate the king by packing the basement of Parliament with 36 barrels of explosives. However, an anonymous tip-off letter foiled the plot and Guy Fawkes was found in the basement with a fuse in his pocket. He was imprisoned and tortured with his fellow conspirators before being executed on Jan. 31, 1606.

So for 400 years, Britain has celebrated the day the plot was foiled. The celebrations started in London on Nov. 5, 1605 the day after Fawkes' capture. Until 1859 they were supported by an Act of Parliament that made Nov. 5 a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of the king's deliverance."

But time moves on - The day is no longer a public holiday, though nearly all towns and cities still have some form of Bonfire Night celebration, as well as private events. The actual reason for Bonfire Night, though, has faded like the end of a Roman candle firework. For many years, it was a celebration of Fawkes' capture — a denunciation of popery and a rejoicing in the king's life being saved. Nowadays everyone just goes outside for a social evening and maybe to burn a few (un) popular political figures on the bonfire, just as much a Guy Fawkes.

scary post

OK.

Time for a scary post.

This is not as bad as the spooky French hospital from a couple of weeks ago, but is worse than the extreme pumpkins.

Click Enter at your own risk.

Routemasters of the Universe

London's public transport has been progressively removing the most iconic of London buses - the two person double decker Routemaster and replacing it with single operative double deckers and European style bendy buses. The last Routemaster will be de-commissioned by the end of December. Another route (the 38) finished yesterday and was commented upon by diamond geezer. He has also ridden their bendy Mercedes replacement and noteworthy is that the new post also includes 38 tributes to the 38.

The Routemaster double deckers with the open rear platform, grab rails and twisty stairs are probably considered less safe than the shooshing doors of a more modern bus, but much more fun to ride.

The loading platform and separate conductor meant these buses could get around quite fast with passengers optimising their exits at traffic lights and when the bus was caught in traffic. Some conductors could choose a form of performance art on their routes - Duke Baysee (38 conductor) as an example. The lower deck somehow 'connects' the passengers with the street so inside and outside merge in a very different way from a closed in bus. The top deck (once the smoking deck) gives some great 'above it all' views of the bustle of London. The 73 bus project gives 73 73-word essays about the route 73. "Any more fares, please?"


Tag: London, Routemaster, bus, London Transport, No38

its warhol actually

Tin foil is a great way to start to recreate the Factory of Andy Warhol. Then add a Velvet Underground band in the corner of the room and film everything in black and white.

The blocking out of the action hasnt started yet, but there's enough film in the can to begin editing a trailer (watch this space). In this version everyone may only be famous for 15 seconds, but its immensely good fun.

And if you'd like to see some Warhol influenced performance art, check out Fischerspooner who emerge with some sweetness

Tag: music, art, warhol, film, culture

lateen

A couple of late evenings, with Thursday being so late that Ray was texting from starting his Friday morning before we'd finished the night before's revelry. Friday was mere 2 am although I think Julie's malt whisky tasting went on until around 6am. So, not much blogging in amongst John's guitar solos, the Halloween Party, the Warhol tin foil event and the mini birthday celebration. Chilled balance is just being restored. More of the tin foil later.

blogarama

When I started this blog a few months ago, as an experiment, there were reportedly 13 million blogs worldwide (a number I doubted at the time).

The latest Technorati count is saying there are now over 20 million blogs in existence. My link to this story is via empulse. I've tried to leave a comment on their site (it won't let me!).

My comment is that I am puzzled because Technorati seem to count blogs up to around 750,000 in their rankings and then to stop. This blog is currently ranked 104,660 on Technorati, although I find it hard to believe that in roughly six months I'd move from number 13 million to around the top 100k. Something doesn't seem to add up?

Anyone got any suggestions?

Tag: blog, technorati, 20000000

Thames Valley Day

Today I had to visit the Thames Valley. The river that cuts through the middle of London upstream meanders through a pretty part of the English countryside. The cottage is scene of a worrying short story from the Thames Valley writers' circle.


And this introduces National Novel Writers' Month NaNoWriMo, which runs from 1st to 30th of November. Just write 50,000 words and you have a complete novel in a month!

So here is another autumnal scene from the Thames Valley, painted by Thomas Richardson.

Can you use these scenes in a NaNoWriMo novel?

any questions?

Here is a script useful as a countermeasure against telemarketers. It can be handily left next to the telephone for those awkward moments when a friendly person calls on an overseas line to ask you some 'market research questions' which may permit you to win a cruise, mountain bike or gift voucher. Here, below, is an extract from the script...

Developed in Amsterdam by egbg and spotted by accordian guy, there is still an important decision to make at the start of the call about whether to:

a)end it fast to let the poor impoverished student making the call move to the next prospect
or
b)have some fun working through the counterscript.

Obtain a downloadable pdf of the full script by clicking here.

So - do you answer the questions from a telemarketer? hang up quickly? or what?

a new week, a new fad

Thought I'd try this breakfast coke thing. Nah. I still prefer tea or coffee.
What about you?

i predict a pumpkin

This week will be a riot of pumpkin posts, as we head towards Halloween. The best site I've seen is Lorianne's post which features a full on pumpkin fest.
And here's Mark's Jack O'Lanterns!
If you want to be scared try the all halloween blog, which also has some pretty scary pumpkins though maybe extreme pumpkins (you'll have to find your own link for that) has some that are even worse.

Have you seen/ got a good pumpkin post?

Tag: halloween, pumpkin, scary