Oh yeah - I've got a blog!

I had forgotten my (hardly used) blog - poor thing!

So - today I am sucking down an Ubuntu 10.10 iso - hoping it takes less than an hour via torrent - then take it to lab for deployment - even though I'm sure they already have this version...

Also tried to get some life out of this bare bonez shuttle I rescued...little mobo light comes on and slight fuzz sound from psu - nada mas....

Not having so much luck with found hardware in recent times - the Toughbook CR-52 found put out with the rubbish with sticker on it saying "Works but no HD or RAM" was evidently a lie. It is dead. Right down to the onboard discreet fuses not being the cause of death....I suspect it either the power supply it was put out with - a 19v when it should be a 15.5v, or someone thought it would be a good idea to test out it's toughness by dipping it into the bath....May never know. Will have to sell for spares I think...

Web browser wars steps up a level!

After the German government advises people not to use M$ Internet Explorer on the back of the recent cyber attacks (via IE) in China, Google is clearly aiming to take a big chunk of the web browser market. I can't recall ever seeing a full size bilboard poster advert campaign (as seen here outside Tesco's in Eastville, Bristol) to promote a web browser before!

They mean business, and it is business - after all, the more of us that use Google Chrome - the more money Google make, and with the browser shaping up nicely with it's ChromeOS netbook operating system following closely behind, and recent entry into the mobile phone market, it is obvious that Google is clearly up for challenging the global domination that M$ has enjoyed for the last couple of decades! And good luck to them.

But can they really be trusted? Already many people shun the temptations of their very competitive products and services due to their 'imaginative' privacy policies, so although they may be champions of the open-source software movement (citation needed!), it can be argued that they are simply using the best tools available to conduct their business and make money - selling our profile data - anonymized or not....

'New' Banksy found?

A fine example of his early work, recently uncovered in an old garage in St Andrews?

G-ification of Linux system backend?

Linux is moving fast - improving/developing at an impressive pace - so much so, that it is difficult to keep up with the latest developments and changes - so much so, that we often don't even know about a change until it hits our desktop - often a year or more since the change was made!

And I notice a trend happening here - yep, the removal of the core 'backend' config tools: dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, alsaconf, and even xorg.conf itself!

Now, it will be argued that Linux has improved so much that these tools are simply not needed any more, however - it is patently obvious to all from the Linux community forums, that these utils have been removed without substitution, leaving users who's systems have gone blank/quiet after upgrades etc. in the dark as to what to do next.

OK I do appreciate that things shouldn't be any more complicated than they need to be, and if something can just work without the user needing to even know about the possible configs - thats can be fine, *but* - where is the option to tweak/alter/adjust if we so want/need to? Isn't choice a fundamental core of the open source movement?

Is it our fault that a 'major change' to how an app/driver works isn't known about until it slaps (or doesn't!) us in the face?

Do we still have to put up with arrogant Linux devs telling us to RTFM?!

I don't think I am too happy about having 'functionality' being removed without decent explanation or equivalent/alternative choice available. I'm all for having a system that just works - but there is a fine line between that and a system lacking in simple and obvious config options!

The Big Green Gathering is dead! Long live The Big Green Gathering!!

After a years gap with no Big Green Gathering, we were all set to have a stonking time this year and all set up to do so - time and money spent in preparation for what would have been a great event. But it wasn't to be. It soon became apparent that the powers that be had other plans. The result was The BGG having no option than to hand back the license to Mendip district council and announce that the Big Green Gathering 2009 was canceled. The exact details of how this situation have been written about already ( more here), and there is no question about the financial reputation of the BGG based on previous disasters, this simply made it easier for those who wanted to stop the BGG to achieve their aims.

The repercussions of the cancellation, however, may be far worse for the powers that be than they realize, as it seems likely the majority of people planning to attend, are law abiding citizens from a very broad range of backgrounds, who now feel pretty angry about what has happened, and will no doubt not be content to sit back and say "Oh well - they should have been better organized", but likely react to this blatant attack on the green movement, by using the same powers they used against the BGG - the law! And then there are those who were/are already there, plus the hundreds who have nowhere else to be anyway, now have to find somewhere else to go, which will pose even greater potential problems for the authorities.

Essentially what has happened will likely be seen as an act of war against the Green/environmental movement, and not be seen as a blanket punishment caused my the 'naughty' minority of activists who had planned to be at BGG, but a blatant move by the powers that be, to crush any attempts to protest against anything - be it war, environment or politics. This will simply result in any movement going (further) underground in order to realize it's aims, aims which, in the case of the climate protest/eco campaigns, movements that governments should really be opening up to, and taking on board their views. Of course government is simply a tool for the management of the population, for use of 'the powers that be' to meet their aims, which certainly aren't compatible with any green policy/ideology, which seems to be a pretty depressing reality that the majority of the population doesn't seem to realize.

The direct effect of the event being stopped is the bankrupting of numerous business and individuals, some people had re-mortgaged their homes to raise cash to meet the spiraling costs demanded by the authorities, whilst others who depended on the revenue raised at the BGG now face bankruptcy including, apparently, Croissant Neuf - one of the biggest venues at the BGG.

All in all, it seems all too apparent, that the Green movement is under attack from the defenders of the multinational corpocracies, and that if you are thinking of actually doing something about what you believe in - be prepared to face up to the state, dressed in full riot gear and teams of fat back-pocketed legal teams ready to stitch you up, label you a terrorist, and send you down.

The BGG have stated on their website that they will be back, and no doubt the green movement will rally round to help recover the costs, and hopefully we shall see BGG's in the future, right now - people are sorely pissed and it remains to be seen what they are gonna do about it - but one thing is for sure - it ain't gonna be to "Shut up, and be happy"!!

Here are a few photos of the BGG 2009 during the preceding weekend.

Danny MacAskill - street bike skillz - viral video!

I do this sort of stuff all the time - as you can well imagine!

TheTrainLine.com fail rant!

I suppose if you Google'ed before buying anything online, you would probably be put off ever buying/booking anything online, but the fact that 99% of the time, it all works fine, is little consolation when I doesn't all go fine. Especially when it involves travel. And especially when it involves traveling to see your family. And when it comes to dealing with the imbecile automatons at TheTrainLine.com - if things go wrong - you're luck is out!



This episode kicked off when the usual ticket I purchase for this journey (which involves train change in London) simply wasn't available - unless I wanted to start my journey at 9 in the evening and arrive at 7.30 the following morning! After inquiring as to why this should be via customer service email, I was informed it was due to engineering works that weekend "Sorry" - great! So now I have to buy two separate tickets ensuring I get the timings correct, having to pay booking fee twice AND having the joy of the second leg of my journey split into three with connecting bus service covering the engineering works section. Great.

Interesting side note, previously my outward journey is usually available as a single ticket, all the way through, all in one ticket and costing a reasonable £19. The return journey, however, is always £10 dearer, or more. 'Two singles could be cheaper' prompts the online booking form. Why? And why only in one direction is this so?? Oh well - I usually have to get two tickets on my return which costs similar to the outward single, so I can live with that.

So - I set about booking my outward journey - still plenty of trains, but the second leg will be a bit slower than usual - never mind. Book that leg first then go back to get a ticket for the first half of the journey. Bollocks! Fare I had just seen at £13.50 is now gone! Sod it - buy the connecting £16.50 ticket and be done with it. All selections carefully made, card details entered and click 'Buy now' button. Whats this? A pop up window asking for more details about my account - this didn't happen just now when buying previous ticket - so why now. Could be fishy - better check this out first - clicked 'Cancel' and look into this first to make sure it isn't some fraud attempt. OK - checked it out it is genuine - so went on to book ticket. get usual email confirmation - all seems well.

Few days later - whats this on my bank statement - they have debited my account twice for the journey I booked - so much for the 'click safe' security feature - it failed! So it looks like I now have two tickets when I should have only one. Only got one email confirmation - not good! OK - here we go - try and sort this via customer services.

Initially they were "We don't normally refund..." but then agreed to do so, responding with:

> I have found that the two different Booking Reference Numbers for your
> journey from Bristol Temple Meads to London Liverpool Street are 613031XXX
> (Ticket Collection Reference Number G3LFXXXG) and 613040XXX (Ticket
> Collection Reference Number J2GXXXF).
>
> Please do not collect ticket with Ticket Collection Reference Number
> J2GXXXF.

OK - sorted - just need to make sure I have the correct collection reference number and all is good. Not!

Two days later I see two email notifications back to back from Thetrainline.com notifying me that both tickets have been refunded and that payment will be made at some point in the future (in 5 working days they say but if you used credit/debit card...).

WHAT THE F..!!

Idiots!!

It is obvious that whoever deals with this stuff cannot read - or cannot be bothered to read, as my correspondence with them confirms. Anything more than a sentence of ten words, seems beyond their reading ability, prompting a generic auto-responder:

> "Thank you for contacting back to us.
>
>Unfortunately, I am unable to ....... Please write back to us for your queries.
>
>Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused."

response. Fantastic - so now I have no ticket to to meet the second half of my journey, and chances are any available cheap tickets will now be long gone.

OK - time to get serious. Lets try phoning. 0870 number eh? Good thing my friend has unlimited mins. on their phone, here goes.

Get through to a gruff sounding bloke, who conjures up an image of an overweight, crisp eating rugby oaf who doesn't give a flying f&%k about his job, customers, people etc.! Line is terrible - get an echo of everything I say. All is futile as I only get as far as confirming my personal ID details, before three beeps indicate the call is terminated!

Superb!

Well I tried. Now tired. Angry. Pissed. Go for a walk and then have a pint and forget about it, hoping it will magically sort itself out later/tomorrow...

Tomorrow brings another email response:

>Thank you for contacting back to us.
>
>Unfortunately, I am unable to find your response in the chain email. Please write back to us for >your queries.
>
>Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

- because I am too lazy to be bothered to read, that's why!!

Right then, time to sort this out myself, and if they have refunded both tickets - I'm gonna need a replacement, and I don't think anyone at Thetrainline.com is gonna sort that out for me any time soon. Over to First Great Western to get tickets from now on - and luckily for me, there are still tickets available at the same price!!! Grabbed one - and look - no £1 booking fee!! WTF?! Why on earth had I been using Thetrainline.com paying them £1 every ticket, when I could get exactly the same service, for free, direct from the train operator company?? Well - I will be from now on - thats for sure!!