general – Page 5

Don't be evil?

google logo

“Don’t be evil” used to be Google’s mantra, but clearly they don’t mean it, if indeed they ever did. Which I doubt.

Those of you with Google accounts will no doubt have got an e-mail by now (or you soon will have) entitled “Changes to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. It’s all couched in nice friendly language, but what it means is that basically, as far as Google are concerned, you have no privacy.

“Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

As an example of how this pans out, you could read an e-mail in Gmail, then see a relevant ad pop up on, say, YouTube. The Reg explains it better than I can, but I find the whole thing really quite unpleasant, and a huge potential cause of difficulty on shared computers. I can remember when Google first launched, and how wonderful we all thought it. I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that everything on the net should be free – a service like Google’s search engine costs a fortune to run – but I was happy to display the ads in my browser. But now they’re like the Tesco of the internet – they want it all, and they’re not having it, not from me.

A couple of weeks ago, I changed my default search engine to Bing. It’s pretty good, and on the rare occasions it lets me down, I go over to Google. The nice thing about Bing is it shows me what I ask for, rather than what it thinks I would like to see to reinforce previous searches (unlike Google), which is why I switched to it. I discovered yesterday that their map service is at least the equal of Google’s. I have signed my accounts out of Google search, YouTube and Google+ (which I never used anyway, as I didn’t like what they were doing with it). I don’t use Picasa. I read my Gmail in Mailplane, a standalone OSX client which runs a standalone version of Webkit. Today I shall be seeing if I can find an alternative for Google Docs, which we use quite a lot here for collaboration. So, as far as possible, I’m opting out of their “unified service”.

I hope lots and lots more folk do something like this, to see if they can persuade the chaps at Mountain View that what they are trying to do is wrong. Google don’t own us, even if they’d like to.

2012 already? How did that happen?

Another month (almost) without a post! What an exciting life I lead …

Christmas was quiet, just as we like it. Although we don’t go overboard at all, we were left with a mountain of food, which we are slowly working through (details on Reactive Cooking). We went for a walk at Easington on Boxing Day, somewhere – astonishingly – we hadn’t been before. Nice beach, but the wind howled as it usually does on the East coast! We had a lovely New Year’s Eve, cooking dinner for friends, and then going round to another friends to see in 2012.

Then we went down to Norfolk to spend 24 hours with my daughter and her son, which was entirely splendid, and we built a Lego crane. I knitted him a Ron Weasley sweater – my first knitting in about 30 years! – and it only just fit; he is a Long boy. So I’m remaking it, but I ran out of wool, and Boyes didn’t have any more. Another (huge) ball arrived yesterday, so I can proceed.

We don’t buy Christmas presents for each other, instead we buy things for the house. This year it got a “Keep Calm and Drink Wine” sign, which is on the wall in the dining room; we feel it an excellent mantra. Also, an electric blanket (warmz! fab!), and a Truecall call screening device. We are plagued with spamming telephone calls here, and this has stopped them dead in their tracks. Highly recommended.

And now it’s January again. This time of year is a bit depressing, but we are off to the Peak District at the end of the month for a Morris dancing thing – there’s about ten of us going, so it should be fun.

Happy (belated) New Year, all!

absent without leave

Have I really not written anything since 17th November? I have been proper poorly, with a viral wossname that lasted about four weeks, and still has me coughing a bit even now. A dose of penicillin didn’t touch it, and in its wake it left two cancelled dentist appointments, one blood test (and the second cancelled by the surgery because the bloodsucker was ill), one Bill Bailey gig in Sheffield (sob), and half of Celtarabia up the road at Pave – had to come home. Still, on the mend now, finally. The latter are absolutely wonderful – if they come anywhere near you, go see them!

Not much else to relate, really. Went Morrising at Bridlington yesterday, but the weather was vile, and my bad knee is playing up in the cold, so I only did one dance. Then we were rained off. Bought the black boots in the same range as the red boots of fabulosity, as I seem to wear nothing else, and they are great for Morris dancing.

Mustrum went missing for ten days, and we thought he was gone for good, but he came home, praise $deityofchoice, thinner and clingy.

And that’s it, really. Very busy with work, Rackaback taking over social life :), looking forward to a good break over Christmas, then a works Morris outing to Derbyshire for a mass dance weekend in January.

oops

Had a haircut this morning while Pete tinkered with my melodeon’s sticky buttons (she’s now named Aliss), then wandered down into Hull with Pete – wanted to return some stuff, see if Marks had any nice pasta bowls, etc.

Marks didn’t, Peacocks wouldn’t exchange as it was over 30 days (where did October go, please) and gave me a gift card, but I had a look in Schuh … They had some amazingly nice red boots, and Pete decided I should have them. So I did. Then we went and had coffee and a baguette in the Ferens Gallery cafe, mooched about some more vaguely looking for pasta bowls (our wonderful thick, deep ones are starting to crack round the edges, sob), bought some hair dye (for me), some lighters, some long matches, some compost bin liners, some mince pies and a tub of cream.

Now a cup of tea, a quick and easy supper, and Strictly. Tomorrow promises chores in exchange for a roast chickie!.

Oh yes – here they are.

Edited to add link to Boots of Fabulosity.

Folk night

Rackaback continues to take over my life 🙂 This week, Pippa persuaded some of us to attend the FirstMondayOfTheMonth folk night at the Black Boy, an ancient pub in the old city in Hull. We had a good attendance from the side: Lynn and Lars (the latter seen above with his accordion), Debbie and her husband Eric (not a dancer, but general supporter) who kindly drove us there, Jamie, Pippa and Pete – who while not (yet) a dancer (but don’t think I’m not trying to persuade him), does most of the social stuff, and plays guitar on music nights.

It was huge fun, although I don’t believe I’ll ever be able to play the melodeon like that. Or possibly at all. Still, I vamped along where possible on my D whistle, wishing once again I had a low D. Pete complained bitterly that he didn’t have anything to bang; Pippa lent him an egg (green plastic with bits in for percussiveness), and he had a bash at Debbie’s bodhran, but he’ll need to take something next time – you need to join in to enjoy it properly., It really was a cracking night, and will be part of our diary every month now, I’m sure.

On the way home, two rather inebriated ladies appeared by the car just as we were about to pull off, and one actually opened the back door. It appeared she didn’t know how to roll her own spliff (!), and required assistance. We declined, and drove off into the night.

Weekend just gone was quiet, as we were both not very well. Indeed, Pete had retired hurt during my birthday music night last Thursday, and I picked it up the lurgy the next day. We cooked a lot for the freezer, I potted up some plants and bulbs, made bread, watched Toy Story (how come we never saw it before? – lovely) and generally slumped.

weekend 29/30 October 2010

Didn’t go anywhere. Didn’t set foot outside the door (although Pete did bicycle over to Aldl to get one of the spiffy Christmas puds with the orange slices on, but they didn’t have any. Boo).

Did some knitting, some melodeon practice, sold the dining chairs on eBay, made a crackingly good lentil and aubergine bake, watched Strictly, didn’t watch X-Factor (trying really hard to wean myself off it, it’s particularly rubbish this year), watched Catch Me If You Can, which was remarkably enjoyable, did some ironing (!). Bit lazy really.

This week includes another trip to the wilds of W Yorks, to see Bill Bailey in Sheffield on Friday, with a side order of Ikea for new dining chairs, and possibly dropping Betsy* back in Cleckheaton if we cannot fix her ourselves.

Health wise, not feeling very well – cycled over to the dentist yesterday and felt a bit wobbly after about a mile (4m round trip). As the day progressed started feeling worse, and then coughing and tight chest – not another bloody cold, I hope. No further decay at dentist, but have to have full periodontal clean and scale, which I hate. Ho hum.

*Her nice new rucksack bag arrived this week – it bears the legend “Stagg”, which to me looked just like Slagg. So she might just turn out to be Glenda …

to the west!

On Saturday, we set off bright and early, at the crack of about 11 a.m. (after a cooked breakfast), to the wilds of West Yorkshire. We started at Cleckheaton, the home of the Music Room, who could look at Betsy’s sticky keys. And indeed they did, and didn’t charge me a penny!* I was well chuffed, and promised them a packet of chocolate hobnobs when I next returned. I also got a chance to look at some [cough] rather more expensive melodea, and Pete had a strum on a 12 string guitar priced at a bargain £1700 or so. We left it there.

From there we progressed to Hebden Bridge, somewhere we’d never visited. It’s a bit like the Bradford-upon-Avon of Yorkshire, I think – lots of very expensive and quite twee shops, but a pretty little place. I bought a grey cardigan and a purple skirt in a charity shop, some organic firelighters from an organic shop, Pete bought me a pretty necklace for a tenner, and I got a beautiful skein of recycled sari silk – I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but it was just so pretty, so it has become the start of my yarn stash.

Next up – Ikea. We consumed our usual meatballs, and Pete had a sulkette as they are now serving mashed spud rather than boiled. Then we looked at dining chairs (ours are just too big and bulky, so are going on eBay), managed to miss the curtain area altogether so didn’t get a curtain rail for the bathroom, bought 12 cheap wineglasses, a couple of xmassy things to send to Clare for Harry, and two new baby rats for the rats’ nest (some bamboo twigs containing a variety of Ikea pluth rats). Then back to Hull, to see Karine Polwart at Fruit.

About half way home, I started feeling really quite poorly, with nasty stomach cramps, and spent a fair bit of the gig in the loos. Still worth it – lovely set, beautiful vocals from her, her brother and Inge Thomson, who plays the accordion like nobody else I’ve ever heard. Didn’t sleep well either, so was a bit droopy on Sunday. I think it might be down to a change in medication – was on Glucophage, then a couple of months ago the pharmacist gave me something else, and now back on Glucophage, so could just be an adjustment.

So I cooked Sunday lunch (roast pork), potted up the baskets, window boxes and tubs with the cyclamen and pansies I bought last weekend, photographed the dining chairs for eBay (and see this morning that I’ll have to do that again, cos they’re rubbish pictures), and watched Duplicity, which really wasn’t very good at all.

And now it’s Monday again. Keeps coming round, and the clocks go back next weekend. Pah.

*And now they’re bloody sticking again. Unamused, as I shall have to do the 140 mile round trip again, and probably again after that.

Betsy (or possibly not)

Here is my melodeon, which has come to me on such a slim chain of events that clearly we are meant to be together. She is a D/G instrument of indeterminate age and history, and one sticky button, but I shall be researching her (and finding out how to unstick her).

I want to be able to play with the Morris band, and I’ve started on the whistle, but I wanted something with a bit more oomph. I was going to have a bash at learning the concertina – a friend kindly lent me an English one, but it simply didn’t suit my hands, and I must return it to her. I’ve been keeping an eye out for an Anglo, but nothing decent at an affordable price has appeared on eBay, and really I wanted a melodeon, but similar applied.

I mentioned this at Morris practice on Tuesday, and Joe said that there was a melodeon in Cash Converters in Selby; he’d had a look at it, it played well, and it was £135. *Ting*. We arranged that I would speak to Pete to see if I could have it (of course I could :), and Joe went back to have a look on Wednesday morning. Still there, and so he bought it, and I did a bank transfer immediately. Pete and I went to fetch her yesterday, and now I just have to learn to play her. Aargh – it is like nothing else I have ever played. My brain may explode. Still, I managed to get a scale out her last night, and she’ll come round, I’m sure.

Currently she is known as Betsy, but this may not stick – we’ll see. But she is definitely a gurl. I have ordered her a gig bag this morning, and have also ordered up the one melodeon tutor located in the entire Hull Library system. Watch this space. And buy earplugs.

weekend 15/16 october 2011

October? How the hell did it get to be October?!

The weather forecast for Saturday was lovely, so we decided to believe it, and headed up to Bridlington. I love Brid – it’s a nice little town with a lovely beach, both north and south. There’s a new park and ride, so we pulled in there, to find they charge £3.50 per vehicle – quite refreshing after Bristol, who charge per person, which is just the maddest thing if you’re trying to discourage traffic. During the summer, this entitles you to a ride on the Road Train, which I’ve never been on, but as it ends in September that’ll have to wait till next year. But we caught the bus, which deposited us by the harbour.

We had a mooch round the town – I popped (or nipped) into the local SpecSavers and got my new photochromic glasses adjusted for fit, Pete bought a pair of shoes [faint]. We can’t actually remember, either of us, when this last happened, as he simply doesn’t understand shoes. I resisted several nice pairs, because I am wanting a concertina. Yes, I know. We had lunch in a little cafe, I bought some knitting wool on the market, and some enamel cookware in the wondrous Boyes, then we walked back the mile and a half to the car park along South Beach, which was entirely lovely in the sun.

We stopped off at the fish shop in Skirlaugh, and bought two coral frags – our ration for the month. Pete was out with mates in the evening, so I had a reality TV fest with Strictly and X-Factor.

On Sunday I woke up at 9.30 – unheard of for me – not feeling very well at all, with a sore throat and a real muzzy head. I made breakfast (in the Remoska – worked beautifully!), then laboured over a beef casserole, and that really finished me for the day. Poor Pete was working – urgent job for a client – but having had to wake me a few times, he eventually sent me to bed at 8, and I slept right through till about 7.30 the next morning. Still feeling a bit groo, but on the mend now.

we shall have warmz

And yet more wood. We bought a trailer load from someone via Gumtree during the summer for £100, and it’s mostly that which is in the log store to the right of the photo. He had a stack more to sell then, but we had nowhere to keep it; I gave him a ring a couple of weeks ago and he still had the rest, so we went over to see him yesterday and arranged to buy it from him. He brought a trailer load round, and there is still about half a trailer load to come, which he is prepared to store for us for now, and that lot cost us £150.

We had a handy gap between log store and bike shed, so we put a pallet on the ground, and stacked the new lot on that. Pete constructed a couple of stay bars across the gap, and we chopped most of it before it was stacked, then hurled a tarpaulin over it. So now we have loads and loads of wood to keep us warm, most of it ready seasoned, all of it paid for, and so the weather ghods can just bring it on this winter. If it gets really, really cold, we’ll just set up camp in the living room with laptops.

Now, of course, it’ll probably be the mildest winter on record for centuries, but the wood will keep 🙂