I Can't Stand The Rain and Security

The continuing snow rain of the last week has caused a leak in the front bedroom requiring professional curtain cleaning and me to ascend the ladder at some point to check out the situation. This will probably require someone who knows what they are doing to sort out the situation , though employing people to do things in areas where you don't normally go , you wonder whether they cause more damage than the fix. Oh I also managed to get BT to finally come and remove a ten year old unused telephone wire that had damaged my guttering after many ping pong phone calls between them and Virgin , everyone denying responsibility. I was about to just cut the thing myself but the Openreach guy who came out was prompt , efficient and courteous. This is how things should be.

The we have Google's annnoying security. I have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player with internet access which includes Picassa and Youtube applications. While trying to access my account it kept telling me by credentials were invalid. Then I get an email / warning from Google saying that an unauthorised attempt to access my account has been made. I clicked the stuff and it tells me I have to access the device in ten minutes to authorise . Well i'm sorry I'm off to work. Whikle I know we need security , you shouldn't suddely stop access that I've had for two years becaus you are changing your systems.

Four And A Half Books

I'm not a fast reader , but am a great advocate of books and reading . As well as paper we also have the option of ereaders such as Kindles and iPads and other tablets. For some reason I've been reading a lot of music related books. One was Bass Culture (When Reggae Was Great) by Lloyd Bradley which was heavy going because of the small type, but nevertheless a great read but an obvious candidate to read on a Kindle.

Next up was Shaun Ryder's "Twistin' My Melon" autobiography , which was much as you myight expect veering between entertaining and annoying. I never regarded him as a style icon so his continual harping on over his designer label clothes became very wearing , but I did eventually hit the final page . The fact that I completed it must mean it's not that bad a book.

Next up was Keith Richard's Life. I think it's remarkable , I was expecting it to be on a par with the Shawn Ryder book , but , it is is coherent , unrepetitive , informative , and has a lot of humour and honesty in there as well as loads of practical tips for guitarists and songwriters , as well a bits by friends and acquaitances of "Keef" . Als the truths behind many of his escapades that found their way into Rolling Stones urban legend , such as Mick , Marianne and the Mars Bar and the fall from the coconut tree. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

Currenty I'm reading Tony Benn: A Biography by Jad Adams . Tony Benn is one of the handful of politicians that I have ever had any respect for , and the book is so well written that it makes politics seem almost interesting , with goodies and baddies and comedic episodes. It's another 500 pages but a great read , and surprising because it is not something I would normally have picked up , but was given it in a Facebook promotion. A brilliant read which I hope to finish this week.

Finally I have to read A Little History Of The World by  , which is my chosen book for World Book Night 2013. This is the first one where I haven't actually read the book , but I intend to have in completed within the next three weeks. It seems similar in scope to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"  which is what attracted to the book. No doubt when I am finished I will post back here.

Bloat

I don't know about you , but it seems to me that a lot of software is written with the prime aim in mind of bringing you device to a halt. Anything that is to do with media , seems to want to grab all the system resources , fill your whole screen , try and sell you anything , while making it as difficult as possible to leave the applicattion.

Many years ago I used musicmatc which had a low footprint , was fast at ripping and burning and was perfect for managing my music. Then Yahoo bought it out and trashed it with malware making it unusable and forcing you to use their iTunes-a-like software , which didnt work either. I was then forced to use Winamp , which is the best of a bad bunch , a resource hungry annoying piece of software.

However even that pales in the face of the latest rubbish that iTunes have given to us. Just in case you didnt realise it was grabbing all your system resources , it fills your screen and thows all sorts of things at you that it thinks you may want. Then all the other bloatware it forces on you Bojour, Quicktime , iPod Helper (I don't have or want a f**king iPod as well as about 20 other programs that you have to unpick from your system. Oh and went you update you have a 43 page terms and conditions document , that no one can read or understand.

It seems to me that everyone thinks that Terms and Conditions need to emulate War and Peace. They dont , the need to be clkear and concise and should fit on a sheet of A4 in at least a 14pt font , with lots of white space so you can easily understand what you are taking on. I recently picked up a brochure from a mobile phone company and the Terms and Conditions took about 5 pages at the end of the catalogue in closely typed difficault to read font. I bet anyone over thirty would not be able to read it and anyone under thirty wouldnytt bother anyway.

Anyway I want a simple suite of small footprint software that does the job , not takes over your machine.

Rant over

The Price Of A Van

I was just checking through my music that I had ripped to my network drive and was suprised to find that apparently I've never owned a Motorhead album (I know I've had a few compilations) , and also had ripped any David Bowie or Van Morrison barring a few recent aquisitions.

I noticed a few Van Morrison gaps in my collection such as Beautiful Vison , Poetic Champions Compose and St Dominic's Preview. Now Van Morrison is a major artist , and I was surprised to see that a lot of his music is no longer available on CD or , if it it is , it is ranging fromexpensive to exhorbitant (£200 for "One Night In San Francisco") . I had a similar problem with Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart , which I though I would pick up for a tenner for a Christmas present , but could not find it under a £35 at the time which came as a slight shock.

I thought I'd put them on a carousel so you can check them out for yourself. I'm just wondering if anything from these artists will appear on National Record Shop Day. It looks like in the digital streamimg , age that tangible media is being edged out and therefore actually becoming more valuable and a better investment.

You can still get you Robbie Williams and Take That complete back catalogues for untder a tenner from That's Entertainmant , but that's just the nature of the beast .....

Back on Twitter , and Storing All World Knowledge

It's been about a month since I ditched Twitter and Instagram. One of the reasons for doing so is no matter how good your picture or text is , it generally goes into a black hole. But twitter can be used for keeping an eye on events , and since taking the time ro watch a few TED talks , I have a reason to follow someone on twitter . I need to find a few people worth following because of what they do , so am slowly building things up. I posted one tweet , which I nicked from a place in York, so will see how things go.

I promise not to post pictures ogf my food or any video at all , but will share things worth sharing. My new id is @mikeydred96 if you want to follow me , and if you don't that's fine.

I'm looking forward to National Record Shop Day and World Book Night this year and have a couple of ideas mulling around for both events.

The video is another brilliant TED talk from Brewster Kahle on a building a digital library, sort of like Project Gutenberg . The Book-Mobiles are an amazing idea , great fun .Watch the video

TED is just Brilliant

Just started watcheing TED talks , which is essentially the spreading of good ideas. I know most people will be too busy watching soaps and reality / Lowest Commom Demonitor TV to take any notice of using TED to expand their mental horizons , but it is both educational and entertaining and long may it run. That's why I chose the Neil Young / Stephen Stills song. Well worth a visit you will find something that takes your interest and YOU WILL learn something

This is the mission statement lifted from their web site:

"TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference on the West Coast each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize."

Here is a typical TED talk:

Record Day In York

Quite a surprisingly successful day today in York with the discovery of three sort independent record shops. HMV is still lurching along and I  believe there is a That's Entertainment within the city environs. I'm also writing this on the iPad and the performance is completely atrocious. Keys don't act as they should so I may wait until I can get to a PC before I finish it properly.

Anyway these shops are not places to visit if you want the latest number one or X-Factor product.

Anyway got a laptop to finish this . The Attic is the smallest almost entirely vinyl , up two flights of stairs and run by the owner as a hobby. They have a facebook page here. The address is 1 Patrick Pool and it's next to a camera shop. Directions are here and it's worth a visit.

Next on the list is a sort of retro shop , with books, vinyl, 78s , comics and a number of record players. The ower is a really friendly hip-hop loving guy extremely knowledgeable about his stuff and  currently getting to know David Bowie's back catalogue.It's called The Inkwell and it's on Gillygate in York. Their web site is here. Well worth a visit if you are into anything retro. Oh abnd they serve tea and coffee. Oh and their very interesting blog is here.



Lastly , also on Gillygate is Rebound Records. A great selection of CDs and vinyl , well laid out and a welcoming chatty proprietor. Lots of jazz , Americana, 50s , 60s , folk and I picked up a Terry Reid retrospective and 5 CDs of music banned by the BBC. There is a facebook link here but I don't think they have a website.

Here's another guide to York's record shops worth following up if you are in York. Link here.

So York has small selection of excellent record shops still , which has really mead my day.