Alternative Vote

(Please excuse me for being political)

What is it?

Want it even simpler than that?

Why vote for it?

This could be the most important opportunity to vote of your entire life, but because there is little political canvassing behind it however there is currently little awareness of the issues involved.

I genuinely believe AV is a good thing and will increase the fairness of voting in the UK. This referendum is likely to make more difference than any other vote you will ever make!

Spread the word on AV at a grass roots level and vote YES to AV on the 5th of May.

Listening to ...

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

Ben Folds - Gracie
Kingpins (The) - L'Aventurier
La Roux - Bulletproof
Madcon - Beggin'
Pete and the Pirates - Mr Understanding
White Lies - Farewell to the Fairground

The joy of Linux

Everybody wants something for free. But as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch? Is there? Well the open-source software community may well provide you with a feast of resources to feed your digital appetite. And at the core of any electronic device, whether it is a mobile phone or a laptop, is an operating system. Software which organises all the other software.

After having dabbled with Puppy and Xandros Linux I could see the appeal. But Puppy was too rough round the edges for a single OS and Xandros was fine except for some blue-tooth issues. However, upon adding up some costs for a new build PC, a genuine copy of Windows 7 was a large outlay and once again the draw of Linux came about. I had played with Mac's on many occasions, and whilst I am aware that some people swear by them, I could never get along with them. So I played around with Ubuntu (by far the most popular Linux distribution) version 9.04 and then 9.10 and loved them. It was crisp and clean and a radical departure from the rigid Windows world. So I made the radical decision to run Ubuntu as my sole OS on my new Desktop with only open source software to support it. After doing this for over six months now I have come to the following conclusion. Why would anyone pay for software? There is an amazing amount of open-source software out there including a truly usable non-windows/mac OS in Ubuntu.

Here is a list of my favourite open source software so far...

QCAD - In many ways better than AutoCAD - I just wish it was compatible with ALL of the new file formats rather than just some of them. The community edition is free, but you need to think around the installation a bit if you are a long-time windows user.
Quantum GIS - I haven't found anything I can't do compared with ArcGIS. Georeference, create interpolated rasters, use ESRI vectors, etc. Top bit of free software and a good (legal) way to save yourself something like £3000.00
Open Office - Take a bit of getting used to after years of Microsoft Office, especially with spreadsheets - but again, all of the functionality is there.
KolourPaint - Like Microsoft paint, with a few handy additions.
Klavaro - I'm learing to touch-type (only two degrees later).
Audacity - Fully fledged audio editor for anyone up to very-keen amateur.
Kdenlive and Kino - Video editing. They both have their faults, but i've been able to produce some pretty decent videos.

Stuff I was surprised that would work...

Skype - A Lunux specfic version is available
Google Earth - Again, a linux version exists.
Spotify - Runs well under WINE.


My computer spec

Pentium 4 2.8Ghz Dual-core 2MB cache
4GB RAM
500GB Hard disk
DVDRW
Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit (Purchased from ebuyer.com)

What I'm listening to

Ben Folds (Feat. Regina Spektor) - You don't know me
Gnarles Barkley - Smiley Faces
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Nena - 99 Luftballons. (German Version)
Plastiscines - Barcelona
White Lies - Farewell to the fairground

Music

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

Belle and Sebastian - There's too much love
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
Gramophonedzie - Why Don't You?
Stornoway - Zorbing

"Top 5 Records"

Well, quite a lot has happened since I last posted something on this blog. I have finished university (again), got a career, and cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats. ... But frankly, I can't be bothered to write anything about those things.

So, like John Cusack, i'm onto top 5's. Today top five cars.

This basically consist of the 5 cars that would adorn my garage were I able to afford it. Before you start to expect 5 super-mega-hyper-cars, i'm an eco-hippie/petrol-head hybrid so its a bit of an odd lot.

1. Citroen Berlingo.

OK, this is cheating as I actually already own one of these.

When my family first brought a Berlingo Multispace I was at uni. When I passed my driving test back in 2004 my family had a white Citroen Xsara 1.6i that actually shifted a bit. I know this because my parents mercifully (but foolishly) put me on the car insurance and I spent the long evenings after a hard day dossing in sixth-form knocking the thing for six. I'm amazed it survived. I went to university in September 2004 only to return a few months later to find that the medium-small family hatchback I was so fond of had become a bloated invalid carriage. I hated it. For a start, compared to the previous car it handled like a boat and accelerated like a paraplegic in quick-sand. For an 18-year-old this was catastrophic.

It took some time, but eventually I found the joy that can be had with a windowed-van. For a start you can carry just about anything in it. This is handy if you're a cycling enthusiast or a university student with your mother intent upon you carrying at least 14 kitchen-sinks at all times. Its a cathedral of a car! Secondly, you can fit loads of your friends into it - i've done 8. Thirdly, because its designed to be both builder and child-proof it is ultra reliable and you can fix it with a hammer. Finally, its big enough to sleep in comfortably should you rock up somewhere late or if its too muddy and cold to pitch a tent.

So for these reasons and so many more the Citroen Berlingo makes the list.

2. Caterham 7

A slightly more interesting choice. This car was built from the ground up to handle well and even though the desing has been round for about half a century it is still considered one of the best drivers cars ever. It weighs about as much as a bulemic squrril yet is mid engined, and rear-wheel drive. Even though the base models have the same power as a family hatchback, the configuration was prefect. I also like the simplicity. From working in a bike shop I have come to learn from bitter experience that complex things usually create more problems than they are worth. This has all you need. A seat for you and one for a friend, four wheels, a throttle, a piece of fabric in case it rains, and a space for your picnic basket.

But the most appealing thing about this car is that it comes as a CKD kit. This isn't like a normal kit where you get a chassis and not much else - it is a flat-pack car with all the bits included and a friendly Caterham rep on the phone should you have any issues. Not only this but you can buy a basic one for about £10,000 - which is nothing for one of the best performing sports cars on the market today.

I'm definately having one some day.

3. Toyota Aygo / Peugeot 107 / Citroen C1

Don't be fooled - they are all the same car! The point of this one is what do you really need from a car? Lets face it - motoring is an expensive business. Once you've paied for the car (not to mention watched it depreciate daily) you've got to put fuel into it which at >£1 a liter isn't cheap. Then there's tax, insurance, servicing, tyres, MOT's, and washing the thing. And what for? So you can take hours out of your life sitting in traffic jams? Looking for a paring space? Worrying about running people over? Complaining about the state of the roads, other motorists, the government and just about everything else besides? What do you really want from a car? Electric windows? PlayStation 3's? Senually vibrating seats? Since when did cars become brothells? ... No! 99% of the time all you want is to take you and a small amount of luggage, with maybe one passenger, to anywhere else in the UK with minimum fuss and cost.

What if there were a car that could help with these things? Well there is, and its this plucky little Czech creation!

4. Audi S5 Coupé

OK, its fine to have a cheap-as-chips car every day. But what about the times when you don't want people to know that you're a cheap-skate. Something you can turn up at Downing Street in and not feel out of place*. Basically a car to suit your Armani suit and Rolex watch. A uniform. But hey - if you can choose your uniform then you don't pick one thats made of hessian sacking. I saw one of these in a car park a week or two in white and it instantly became my new favorite car aesthetically (replacing the new VW Scirocco). But its not just the looks. I've always liked Audi's. To me four-wheel-drive makes a lot of sense for cars that weigh more than say 1500kg and with their "quattro" system Audi led the way back on the 1980's rally circuit. That combined with some decent engines makes the the formula for the S5 a good-one!

5. Bowler Nemesis

Before explaining this choice I would like to make one thing perfectly clear. I do not like Land Rovers. Unlike most of the cars in this I have actually driven a couple of these and didn't like them. The Defender is the worst. For a start the seat isn't adjustable and are designed for midgets with rickets (which explains the unnecessary step). The build quality is an unwanted hangover from the British Leyland ere (a point proven by my uncle's Range Rover) and the hand break is by your feet to make room for an unnecessary middle seat. What is more is that the TD5 engine they put in most of them these days has no power and the transmission just causes you to rev the tits off the thing on the road. The reason I'm going on about this is that Land Rover is a sort of cult symbol for many of my friends. But not me. I like the idea. Bullet-proof simplicity, and ruthless practicality - but I just don't think that it works in the real world.

However, I do like the Bowler Nemesis. No, I haven't driven one of these, but the principle is to take a Land Rover and make it better. That isn't hard from the way I see it, but with a good few thousand pounds to spend they will have made something pretty special. Providing it all works then the Nemesis will be a pretty decent bit of kit.


* - Just for the record. This is not a way of thinking that I subscribe to. Substance will always be more important than style. But as a product of middle-class England, I can't always help myself.


WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

Love Grenades - Young Lovers (Sam Sparro Remix)
Miss Li - Bourgeois Shangri-La
Owl City - Fireflies (Reminds me of the Postal Service)
Royksopp - Happy Up Here

A Triumph

Last night, a group of us went to sandies to pretend we were dirt-jumpers. We messed around for too long and only got maybe 45 minutes of riding in before we were forced to abandon the mission due to bad light at about 19:30 (BST). Mind you, in that time Scully forced Matt and I into doing a new and scary (but in no way technical) step-up gap jump. However, for me the highlight of the evening was not the destination, but the journey*. Perhaps I should be more precise and say the vessel in which we conducted that journey, for it was a forty-year-old classic Triumph Herald saloon.

I am not a classic car enthusiast. I am a pretty typical man, and consequently that means I am certain to like at least four things: girls, beer, meat and anything with an engine. I just don't really see the point in classic cars. They are slow, inefficient, unreliable, awkward, and potentially dangerous. All of these points and more were proved last night by Stuart's Triumph. Surely the entire point of engineering is to make things faster, more frugal, reliable, convenient, and safe? If you can have these things then why look back without a hint of anger?

I can certainly think of more practical student cars, especially for a chap that spends his weekends throwing himself down Wales' most treacherous waterways. To strap a kayak to the roof involved some friction-mounting roof bars that look about as old as I am, and a long series of progressively more structurally unstable straps. Concerningly, the same method of attachment went for my bike!

In fact, there was any number of safety issues with the car. Inertia-reel seatbelts were not available in the front, and in the back there were no seatbelts at all. In fact there was not much of anything in the back, including leg room. Jim had to lie across the bench-seat like some desperate porn star. I became aware that safety features in the rear consisted of two pillows and a quilt. The front quarter lights were zip-tied shut (apparently as a theft-prevention measure), and perhaps most concerningly there was a potent and quite overwhelming smell of petrol when the vehicle was in motion meaning that both windows had to be constantly open. Not that this mattered as the cabin heater had to be run on full all the time to prevent the engine overheating.

The engine has as much power as Chad and the roof was as waterproof as the titanic. Yet, I didn't really care. I didn't care that there were places where you could see the prop-shaft spinning like a 10000 rpm death-trap. I wasn't bothered by the break-back seats or the fact that at over 40mph the entire car shook uncontrollably. I didn't even care about these things when I considered if I was lucky to have survived the journey. I loved that car. I loved the way that you could drive through town in the world’s most unsuitable cruiser with the windows wide open to avoid monoxide poisoning and the stereo belting out a pitiful half-decibel from an awkwardly tuned radio. And as you cruised through the countryside with a hand on your bike precariously leaning off the roof and gazed across the mammoth bonnet and formerly ostentatious headlamps you could not help but feel happy. A simple happiness. A happiness at the wonder of novelty.



*If the journey isn't as good as the destination, then you're doing something wrong.

Lunch Time

... I like going to university here.

What i'm listening to...

The Libertines - Don't Look Back into the Sun
Quantic - Time is the Enemy
Stereophonics - Local Boy in the Photograph
The View - Wasted Little DJ's

Ode to my commuter bike.

Just a brief note to express feelings over my commuter bike. This is the bike you are least likely to see me ride, yet strangely, the bike I ride the most miles on. It is my work-horse bike, my faithful friend.

Now anyone who knows me will tell you that I like to keep things simple. Computers, cooking, cars, and - of course - bikes. The subway is certainly simple. No suspension, cable-vee brakes, and base-end SRAM SX4 7-speed transmission. I think of this bike as what late 20th century soviet bicycles should have been. I can imaging going into a bicycle shop in Moscow during the 60's.

Communist: "Hello, I would like a bicycle please."
State appointed transport official: "Certainly sir. In what size would you like your Subway?"

Everything about this bike is practical. It has v brakes to stay out of the way of your paniers. The suspension is in the seatpost for comfort rather than performance. The stem is hideously ugly, but high to keep you looking ahead. The paint is the most boring shade of grey imagineable to keep the pikeys at bay. And I love all this stuff! It weaves in and out of traffic like a cat and cruises along at about 18mph like a ... well, whatever cruises along at 18mph? The frame is a massive 22" which is perfect of a lankey-sod like me. And when you feel like being a hooligan, it is (believe it or not) massively good fun on a sunny day around the bridleways of rural Northamptonshire*.

This is what 95% of people want from a bike and just don't know it yet. Insted they insist on spending half the money on a bike ten times as often. I see it all the time at work. The environmentalist, accountant, and cyclist within me hates this. Why are people so mind-numbingly shallow about shiney paint and useless, cheap suspension?

As an aside, I now have just seven more shifts to work at Halfords before I can be free of it forever. In some ways, I will miss it. In most ways, I won't.

So here's to you, my commutable colleague, my city cruiser, my 22" sub! Long may you're tyres grace the earth, and may all your transmission faults be small ones!

* - If you havn't tried slick tyres for XC yet, give it a go. Its surprisngly good fun!

Calendar

Just a reminder - you can see what i'm up to at the moment using my google calander...

Disc

I have finally caved in and put a disc brake back on the little bike. I have to say that the benefit is enormous! I didn't realise how hard I had to pull on the lever to get any power from the vee brake before hand.

In addition, I have been hiding my bikes from the wardens doing room inspections.

In conclusion, no real riding going on at the moment unfortunately. Don't worry though - South Wales this weekend!

What i'm listening to:

Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor) - You Don't Know Me

Injury to insult.

The thing about mountain biking is that no matter how much you ride, there are always difficult things still to accheive. I went to Clarach with Nick and Dave SB today and it was no easier than previously. What had changed however was the frequency of walkers. I left my bag at the top of the hill - which is usually out of the way enough. However upon returning after a couple of runs, I found it was missing. After a few hours searching the hill for pikeys to attack and canceling my debit card the police station phoned me to tell me that it had been handed in.

On the one hand, it is nice to know that there are more public-spirited people out there than pikeys. But on the other, if they had just left well alone then it would have saved me considerable hassle. I suppose they did well and that its my own stupid fault, but it is a little vexing.

To add injury to insult for the day I cut my leg open on flying slate going down consti giving me a nice claret-coloured leg. Combined with assorted other scratches, upon arrival at the police station I think the officer expected me to report a mugging rather than collect a lost bag.

What i'm listening to:

Craig Armstrong - Hanging
The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
The Magic Numbers - This Love
Modest Mouse - The View

Ode to the eee.

For those of you who are not in the know about the eee PC, it is a subnotebook manufactured by ASUS, I own one, and its officially awesome. I'm serious. Its so good, I find it difficult to begin.

Well for a start it is small. About the size of a book rather than a laptop and of about the same weight. Secondly, it is cheap. Mine cost me under £200 about a year ago. This is largely due to the free softwear including the very accessible Xandros Linux operating system. Thirdly, it has pretty much all the functionality of a full size PC. It is quick to stream youtube videos, and surf the internet. Plus with open office (which is a triumph of computer engineering in itself) it is easy to write essays, create presentations and manage spreadhseets. Fourthy, the battery life is excellent. I follow some simple guidelines on Li-ion batteries and even after a year of moderate use it still lasts for over 3 hours. Fifithly, the features are excellent. It comes with a 1.3 mega-pixel webcam as standard as well as an excellent microphone. In fact, I frquently use it for skype calls. Finally, the unit is very upgradeable. I have changed the OS to an nLitend version of Windows XP Professional, upgraded toe RAM from 512MB to 2024MB (which is too much - you only need 1000MB) and added a bluetooth dongle.

Only a few issues present themselves. Firstly, open office is at times slightly frustrating for the hardend Microsoft Office user and requires internet access to solve a few issues as I did not install any help files to save hard disc space. This brings me to my second point. Hard disc space is limited, but this is actually not a problem as I simplly use an 8GB SDHC card for file storage and my nLite installation of Windows XP has not only solved the problems of HD space, but removes the tedious and heavy elements of the operating system. Thirdly, the 7" screan can make viewing difficult and F11 becomes your friend for web browsers as well as several other full-screen/zoom application short-cuts. You really need an application such as MoveMe to get around some difficult window manouvers sometimes. I do feel that most people fould be happier with the 9" screen rather than the 7" that mine features. (But I like it as it preserves the battery life.) The other disadvantage is with the Linux OS. Whilst it is very useable and can be customised to a 'desktop' format, it dosn't feel intuitive to a hardend Windows user. I also had problems with the Linux bluetooth functionality so it had to go.

Dispite these minor issues though, it is an excellent macheine and I find it amazingly handy for commuting, campus, and conversations. I would recomend one to anyone who likes to have their PC with them wherever they go.

What i'm listening to:

Aberfeldy - Slow me Down
Air - Alpha Beta Gaga
Bach - Air
Strokes - Reptilia

... listening to.

I have recently downloaded spotify. This has opened me back up to music I had forgotten about.

What i'm listening to:

* The Strokes - Trying Your Luck
* Interpol - Evil
* Muse - Citizen Erased
* Blondie - Sunday Girl
* Aberfeldy - Friend Like You
* Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #2 (Laïka)
* Club 8 - Everlasting Love
* Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
* Craig Armstrong - Escape
* Daft Punk - Aerodynamic

........... etc ...

A home from home

The sea front in Aberystwyth must be one of the best places to live in the world. My study room is on the third floor of Alexandra halls overlooking Aberystwyth's North beach. When the sun comes out I can go and chill out on the sand outside, there are some fun trails all most literally on my doorstep, and there is always something to see from my window which I have taken to sitting in using a spread of pillows on my extended sill and staring for hours upon end. There is usually something to see from it too. The tide goes out and comes back with a reassuring predictability, and barbeque's from the shore give a beautiful smell on warm evenings. I even like looking out at the storms, but occasionally something new seems to spring up and please me too. For instance, on Friday morning I awoke early to finish an assignment and upon leaning out of my window for a breath of fresh air I spied a pair of dolphins in the bay piercing the waters surface with their distinctive profile. This evening as well I was procrastinating upon my sill and a light caught the upper part of my eye. Someone further down the beach had lit some fire-balloons and they were drifting steadily up the coast towards Borth with progressively increasing altitude.

I love living here! Despite the fact that my room is cramped for my many bicycles and work paraphernalia, I like the space too. The clutter forms a cosiness. I frequently think of the room it as a hidden storage cupboard that I secretly inhabit.

All this is wonderful and I will be sorry when I have to leave in a few weeks for a 1970's plastic block in the town. Were it not for my impending eviction and the lack of my closest friends from home, I am sure that I would never leave.

Easter Holidays

... they are allmost over. But its been a good one.

* Sold the caravan.
* Bottle kicking at hallaton.
* Market Harborough to Northampton in under 57 minutes by bicycle.
* Plenty of beer.
* ... and a nice ride round Lyveden New Build way today.

Not to make my way back to stupid reality!

The Melt

The snow has gone and the seasons are on the turn. There is a wiff of summer in the air. Its not quite there. Just hinting that its round the corner. I can't wait!

It's February. Time for my hair cut.

Well, the snow has finally hit Aber, but because its actually never that cold here in comparison with most of the country, there is now no evidence whatsoever. So tomorrow its time to head for the hills and play.

Today however, I went for a hair cut. Now i'm pretty sure that I have not had haircut in at least 12 months, and probabbly more like 18. So my barnett was looking a little ragged. Most of the time, my hair status is controlled by my mum and my girlfriend. However, these two agents differ in their opinions somewhat as mum likes my hair short, where as Liz likes it long. And as Liz is the girlfried, she gets power of veto over my mother. Most of the time, this dosn't bother me. I never see my hair. However, when it gets to a state where I struggle to put my helmet on or my vision becomes furry upon leaving the shower, the I knwo its getting a bit out of hand. So I had a hair cut.

The only problem is that the barber I went to has some sort of filter on his ears. No matter what you say to him all he hears is "short back and sides". No, infact it's "very short back and sides". So 20 minutes later and I was £8 and 8lbs lighter. So if you see me in the next day or so, be prepared for a shock.

The Sentence

Never in my life have I felt less fulfilled as I do now. I have so little and yet so much. The world is full of curious creatures. We go through our lives on this planet without one over-riding objective. Without a single goal. Instead, the 6.5 billion people on earth must content themselves by making the best of things. We all clamour to gain the most for prosperity in order to make ourselves more physically, intellectually and emotionally comfortable. Much like a terminally ill patient being intravenously fed painkillers. Mostly in the west we are pumped full of the opiates of commerce. Some seek solace in family, religion, drugs. But ultimately we are all looking out for number one. Even friends are there simply to make each other more 'at home' with our their own tedious human personalities. The world is like a sort of prison. The walls are our mental limitations and the guards are social intolerance. But at least the term of incarceration is fixed. At least the sentence is only ... life.

The source of filth.

I have remembered why I don't ever buy new clothes. Yesterday I was cold so I put on my new hoodie. Within 15 minutes I had managed to get cooking oil, curry, bicycle grease and beer down it (in that order). I can have the capacity of a 2-year old at times.

In other news...

... i thought this looked nice. :)

Wounded.

Sometimes I find bruises, cuts and graises that I can't remember getting. Yesterday I came off my bike infront of a car trying to manual behind the prom and got literally blown off from a gust of wind from the sea front. Picked myself up, appologised to the driver, checked my bike and went up the hill to campus.

Later whilst having a shower and notice stinging from my elbow, and then a pain from my hip and knee. Why don't I notice these things when they happen? This one wasn't too bad, but the most concerning times are when you get massive cuts that have obviously been bleeding quite badly (my shins usually), but I can't remember how they came about?

I'm sure this never used to happen. Maybe i've crashed too much and now just don't notice that much anymore?

Confused? ... me too.

What i'm listening to:

Belle and Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around .... (live)