Monthly Archives: September 2007

Current Affairs, Movies & TV

Another Blue Peter Scandal

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Apparently after faking the results of one competition, it has been revealed that producers of Blue Peter have again deceived the public with a story that their new cat, Socks, wasn’t the name that was selected in an online poll.

Having said that, dig into the story a little bit, and you’ll actually find it was because the poll selected an unsuitable name. Amusingly few of the articles have actually said what the unsuitable name actually is. Expecting something shocking, I came across this Times article which drops the following hint:

Socks was the name chosen for the Blue Peter cat by the programme’s producers, although insiders said that the decision was taken because the most common name selected – a variant on Puss – was deemed to be inappropriate.

The Sun has no problem revealing the name.

Having found out what the name actually is, I do think that you’ll find that there were a good few non-viewers who voted for that for a laugh. As to it being inappropriate, and the fact that neither the BBC online service or the broadsheets are reporting the actual name, it is ironic to consider that thirty years ago prime-time BBC comedy series Are You Being Served used the same name as the basis for a running gag… How times have changed!

Update: The BBC have now released a statement claiming that the name that won the poll that wasn’t used was Cookie – quite why producers changed the vote and went for Socks instead I don’t know. The Times is still quoting the original story attributing it to BBC staff – but also quoting that the corporation is officially saying ‘Cookie’. Digital Spy is saying that it is because Socks was considered a more suitable name for a kitten. On what basis is Cookie considered inappropriate for a children’s programme or less suitable for a kitten than Socks? Certainly I’ve known several people who have used one or other of the names for pets before and not had any concerns about the names being inappropriate for their children. Very strange…

Calendar/Contact Syncing, Computers/Technology, PocketPC

Thank Heavens for Sprite Backup

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This morning I had one of those real sinking feeling moments. I got to work, pulled out my Dell Axim PDA and plugged it into it’s cradle hooked up to my PC and rather than the usual screen was greeted with a big error message stating that there was memory corruption and asking me to press one of the buttons to continue. Pressing this caused the PDA to reboot, and then go through the first start-up screen calibration routine before dumping me at an empty today screen.

Now this isn’t the first time this has happened. The first time I had to reinstall all my applications, fix all the configuration – basically it was a long job. After that experience I looked around and bought a copy of Sprite Backup a bit of software that does a significantly better job of backing up a Pocket PC device than the included option. Every morning when I plug in my PDA it automatically takes a backup of the contents of the device – this morning I was very grateful that it did.

The only thing I had to install back onto my PDA was the Sprite Backup software, and then I just had to configure that to use the ActiveSync connection to talk to the other part of Sprite Backup on the PC. Then I just had to select my last daily backup and click the start button. Twenty minutes later after replacing all the missing files and putting back on all my settings the PDA rebooted and everything looked as it should. Then you only have to wait a few minutes whilst ActiveSync, which unfortunately decides that all the replaced contacts and calendar entries are new sorts itself out (just a question of letting it replace the data – the stuff in Outlook is probably more up to date than the backup anyway), and then everything is back to normal.

Seriously, if you’re running a Pocket PC PDA, something like Sprite Backup is an absolute life saver. True if you’re syncing your calendar and contacts to a desktop your information is relatively safe, but even then it still does take a lot longer to rebuild if you have to manually reinstall all your applications – Sprite Backup does the lot. The backup each morning is a bit annoying at times, but I’ll happily take that instead of the frustration when invariably the Pocket PC crashes.

Church, Music

The MacGregors come to Finchampstead

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Back in May, Ian MacDonald posted about a Canadian Band called the MacGregors who were coming to the UK looking for opportunities to play at Churches and Youth Events. They already had bookings around the London area, and were going to be finishing off around Oxford, so trying to arrange something for them in the Wokingham area seemed like a good idea. We thought about maybe doing something at St James at that point, but with a big Youth Group event a couple of weeks before, and multiple conservation fund raising events, not forgetting the Harvest Supper, all falling around the same time, there didn’t really seem to be a slot. I tried to help by putting them in contact with people around the Wokingham area, and again nothing seemed to work.

Since having visitors from Canada seems to be something we do quite regularly (can’t quite think why that is 😀 ), I’d also been offering suggestions about the best touristy things they could do whilst they were in the area, it was a bit disappointing when neither the Wokingham gig, nor something at Finchampstead seemed to come together. However it also posed a problem for the band as they still had a gap in their schedule, so in a nice offer they said that if we in Finchampstead could provide them with some accommodation, giving them a chance to go do the touristy stuff like Windsor and Stonehenge, and by way of a thank you they’d play us a concert for whoever wanted to come along and listen. We’re currently trying to find them all beds for the week that aren’t too scattered around the village (any other offers of beds most welcome too).

So, as a result, we have the MacGregors playing a concert in the Parish Centre at St James on the evening of Friday 12th October, at 7:30pm. We’re totally unsure what support we’ll get from the congregation, as the Harvest Supper is the weekend before, and there is another big conservation event the week after! Tickets will be £7, plus a contribution of pudding or main course for a bring-and-share supper, and any profit that we make will go into the conservation fund (less than £100,000 to go!). So if you’re not doing anything on the night of 12th October it would be great to see you at the Parish Centre, although they have been really nice about the prospect of not having many people, it would be great if we could get a good number along to support them. Also if anyone knows of someone with a a six input powered amp with speakers and two mics with boom stands I need to get hold of those for the night too.

Finally, if you want to hear what they sound like before you decide, you can find their album on iTunes. The following also sums up what they have been up to in Canada:

From playing at huge shows, like the Bell Centre (13,000 people), to playing at coffee houses, The MacGregors are drawing listeners from across Canada and the world. Combining ear-catching harmonies with their mature and creative songwriting and acoustic and electric instrumentation, they create a sensation when they play. Mixed in with their live performances has been radio airplay on local and national stations. Although they are young and entering full swing into the music industry, they already have had tremendous success. They completed their first EP “Rain” when they were 12 and 13. Two songs off of that EP received recognition in the well-respected International Songwriting Competition 2003. Rachel won first place in the teen category and Alisha received an honorable mention. Rachel attended Berklee College of music on a full scholarship to their summer program. They won favorite New Artist in the Okanagan Musician Awards 2004. Alisha 15, and Rachel 17, recently finished their first full length CD, Dark Beauty. Again this year, both Alisha and Rachel are winners in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. This time Alisha took first place and Rachel took 3rd. Alisha will be travelling to Boston to Berklee’s summer program on a full scholarship. They competed against teens from around the world and the competition had 15,000 entrants in total (www.songwritingcompetition). Rachel’s song Dark Beauty is also a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition (www.jlsc.com) competing against songwriters of all ages. Most recently, The MacGregors won an all expense paid tour through Music BC called “Get Outta town Tour”.

Update: Okay we’ve got places for them to stay – indeed enough that they could change host part way through the week if they wanted. We’ve also got someone who has volunteered an amp too. Ticket sales are going okay – as expected lower thanks to the Harvest Supper but a real mix of the congregation – quite literally eight to eighty! Still room if anybody else wants to come along though.

Current Affairs, Politics

A Good Old British Panic

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So after the announcement from the government last night, calm seems to have returned to Northern Rock branches across the country – well aside it seems for Golders Green where savers were still queuing this morning with the government guarantee being seen as some sort of ruse.

However social commentators are already starting to draw comparisons with another September panic – the UK Fuel Protests, or more precisely what happens if ever there is a rumour of another blockade. For example in September 2005 after a series of news stories about potential protests, long queues started forming outside petrol stations, and thousands were emptied of supplies. However the protesters said several times that they had no intention of blockading refineries again, and in the event only a small number even protested. The panic produced more of a problem than the event itself.

In exactly the same way, the Northern Rock applied for a bail out from the Bank of England, and despite people regularly saying that the bank was financially solvent, queues quickly formed of savers withdrawing their money, exacerbating the problem.

So was it right in both cases for people to panic? In the case of the September 2005 Fuel Protests people only needed to remember a few years before to the chaos that was caused by the first UK Fuel Protests. There was also a general level of mistrust both of the protesters themselves, and of government assurances. This time around, again people distrusted government and official assurances. Also anybody who looked at the compensation scheme realised that for any sort of reasonable level of savings, you were going to lose – only the first £2000 is fully guaranteed. Certainly back in 2005, whilst I didn’t queue for hours, I did make sure I’d filled up both cars so as we could get to work, and if I’d had any money in the Northern Rock I’d probably have moved it as a precaution.

So maybe the commentators are slightly wrong, the British don’t like a good panic – they just fundamentally don’t trust people in authority and what they say – hence why the people in Golders Green were still withdrawing their money this morning.

Apple/Mac, Computers/Technology, Web/Internet

Are You Going to Get an iPhone?

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Much as expected, this mornings ‘surprise announcement’ from Apple revealed that in the UK the iPhone would be exclusively on O2 and available through the Carphone Warehouse.

In terms of pricing the handsets will sell for £269 and will not be subsidised. Users will have to sign up for an 18 month contract which will cost either £35, £45 or £55 a month. All the contracts will include unlimited data, plus free access to the 7500 wi-fi hotspots operated by The Cloud. Other important points to note are that this is the same iPhone as in the USA – so no 3G. The phone will operate on the older GPRS system, making use of EDGE where available – currently only about 30% of the country.

That is certainly going to make things interesting over how the phone will sell and who will buy it. The majority of phones in the UK are subsidised, so comparatively the iPhone is a big outlay. The free wi-fi is nice, but in comparison to the high speed connection I can get pretty well anywhere using my 3G phone it is a definite step back. Certainly a quick straw poll around here has found that the lack of 3G is a definite sticking point for the UK techie. However much the funky touch-screen attracts them, over here 3G is a big issue.

However, where it might sell is with the fashion concious who are only after a phone. Certainly the hype and the unique look may well find a lot of users going out just to have the latest and greatest phone. Even without 3G it is still perfectly able to make phone calls, and works fine as a music player – it’s just that I don’t think you’re going to find too many of the techies queuing up for it come November 9th. I’m sticking with my Nokia.