Mardi Gras goes bust...

As had been widely expected Mardi Gras in London has gone into liquidation. Good job too. Below is the press release. The other good news is that there are plans afoot for there to be a free Pride festival next year! Hurray! (Hey, if Brighton can do it...) ”At the annual general meeting of the Mardi Gras shareholders on Thursday night a decision was made to commence proceedings to place the company into creditors voluntary liquidation. "The shareholders have formed a view, after careful analysis of current funds, that the company will be unable to pay debts as and when they fall due" said Chairman John Miskelly. The Mardi Gras team has produced a massive Pride festival in London for the last five years. The company also organised the annual Pride Parade through the streets of Central London. Mardi Gras was formed as a limited company in early 1999 in reaction to the financial collapse of the previous organisers a year earlier. The first three events were held in north London¹s Finsbury Park before moving to Hackney Marsh in 2002. Organisers had, meanwhile, been negotiating for the right to hold the festival in Hyde Park. This ambition was finally realised this year. However due to some of the worst weather conditions this summer the anticipated sale of on-the-day tickets did not happen leaving the company financially in the red. London is unique among Prides in that it does not attract grant or fund money. "We were, as shareholders, footing an increasingly unacceptable production deficit each year" said Miskelly. " The one year we did make a profit was far outweighed by the deficit years". Director Jason Pollock said that already discussions were taking place within the LGBT community as widely as possible and that plans are already in place to stage a major free Pride festival in Central London during summer 2004. These plans also safeguard the future of the Pride parade. More announcements will be made soon.”

I know there's something going on...
Abba star to make comeback - the blond one with the nice bum though not the other one that did that thing with Phil Collins.

Some links I like this week...
Fractal mesh

ASCII art collection

Play Poulaga challenge

Jason's comprehensive browser security tests

Extreme Dremel CD experiments

A Peltier beer cooler

Robot plays table soccer

These sculptures are the "pits"

Over 14,000 quotes and counting

The future of RC fun

Erasure - "Oh L'Amour" - Digital single...

"Erasure released a digital single on Friday 24th October. The first release of its kind by Mute, the single is an exclusive mix of Oh L'Amour by Mark Towns.

"Oh L'Amour (Mark Towns Mix) is available from Erasure's official website, erasureinfo.com and mute.com. The single will cost £1, payable by credit card, debit card, Paypal, Nochex, SMS (UK only) and phone.

"In addition to the track, a colour printable CD booklet and CD label artwork is available (in PDF format), allowing purchasers to burn the track onto CD and print their own packaging. The single can also be transferred onto an iPod/MP3 player, etc..."

Royal-Sex-Scandal-Male-Rape-Rumour-Mill...
I have it on good authority (OK, it was reported in that esteemed organ the Mail On Sunday last year) that George Smith (a royal servant) alleges that he knows of an anal rape of another royal servant by a top royal or servant in 1989. He then told Prince Charles directly, who did not tell the police.

But then other recent stories traceable to Mr Smith's office were "that the Queen should abdicate, that Prince Harry has been taking drugs, that the Earl and Countess of Wessex are being greedy, that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent should give up their flat in Kensington Palace and that Anne should stop sucking off dogs". And so on. Axe to grind maybe?

Personally I've always been 100% utterly convinced that the person who buggered that royal servant was Prince Edward Prince Philip Prince William Prince Harry one of the corgis the Queen Princess Anne's horse Prince Andrew Prince Charles.

Time will may tell

Goldfrapp...
Paul, Simon, Charlie, Kevin and I went to see Goldfrapp again last night at the newly gutted Hammersmith Apollo. Standing room only now in the stalls. The place was packed. Too packed really. And some people just don't know when to shut up when they're listening to a gig. But anyway. It was a long set (1h 45mins) that included both albums and both their famous cover versions (Physical and Yes Sir, I Can Boogie). A great performance by Alison Goldfrapp with the added bonus feature of a super-sexy stripper on Train and Yes Sir, I Can Boogie who really could make the tassels go in opposite directions at the same time. As ever Strict Machine finished the main set and what a disco stomper it was. Twenty minutes of encores followed, ending with the sublime Black Cherry.

After the show I was dead keen to hear what Kevin had to say. It was Mr Greening's first time and as with most Goldfrapp virgin's he'd thought he might only recognise a couple of the singles. And again like most newbies he had been surprised at how many songs he actually new - from telly adverts, BBC's Holiday programme, dramas - Goldfrapp's music gets used a lot.

As that was the 3rd or 4th time I've seen Goldfrapp this year I've probably had my fill for a while. Roll on the new material, say I.

Bruised knees...
So what do you think this advert is for?

A casual google search will tell you. Hee, hee.

Rescue me...
I just got stuck in the lift on the way to work. It was an exposed glass elevator that looks straight down through the centre of our building. The lift was happy enough to whisk me up to the sixth floor at some speed but once there the doors refused to open. Well, they did open a little bit. About an inch and then they made a grinding noise and stopped. I was stuck. I was left hanging to the side of the building like a quivering limpet. I had to call security by using the yellow alarm button. And ten nervous minutes later I was free. Nightmare.

The scariest moments of all time...
Last night Channel 4 finished off their 100 scariest moments show. I've listed the top twenty (in alphabetical order) below. What would you say is your top five from this list. Viewers of Channel 4 reckoned they were these. You can see all the 100 moments listed here.

28 Days Later (2002) - Fleeing from the zombies.
Alien (1979) - Alien bursting out of John Hurt's stomach.
An American Werewolf In London (1981) - The transformation into a wolf.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) - First appearance of horror icon Freddy Krueger.
Don't Look Now (1973) - Donald Sutherland thinks he has found his daughter.
Friday The 13th (1980) - The killer bursts out of a lake at the film's finale.
Halloween (1978) - Killer Michael's face appears behind Jamie Lee Curtis in a house full of bodies.
Hellraiser (1987) - First appearance of Pinhead.
Jaws (1975) - Severed head pops out of boat.
Psycho (1960) - The shower scene.
Ring (1998) - Sadako crawls through the television.
Se7en (1995) - Discovery of the emaciated man.
The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Heather Donahue in tears in the woods.
The Evil Dead (1981) - General mayhem in Sam Raimi's classic gore-fest.
The Exorcist (1973) - Possessed girl's head spins and she projectile vomits.
The Omen (1976) - The Oscar-winning eerie music score.
The Shining (1980) - Jack Nicholson chops through the door and shouts 'Here's Johnny'.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Leatherface's reign of terror.
The Thing (1982) - A man's chest splits open as he is being given defibrillation and the medic's arms are bitten off.
The X-Files (1993) - Episode called Squeeze featuring the scary character Tooms.

Lads who lunch...
This being my 2nd Friday off I've decided to be semi-domestic and semi-social. The Telewest man came this morning to swap my new cable box for an old one - the Macrovision protection was turned on for all channels which meant I couldn't record Eastenders or whatever on my Macrovision aware DVD recorder.

Then after checking my work messages (none that needed my urgent attention) I went up to see Roger in Crouch End for elevenses and a then spot of lunch.

I could get used to this easy life.

Some links I like this week...

How to jump-start a car.

Museum of Hoaxes.

The wooden periodic table.

Help find the cure to Multiple Sclerosis, HIV and other diseases.

Images of Earth from Mars.

Play gridlock online.

Computer Talk Shop - power Users Web site and mailing list.

Buy a Minuteman missile launcher.

Install an Xbox running Linux in your car.

Do me a favour...
"Can I ask you a favour? You sure you don't mind? Really? That's great. Thanks."

I like doing favours for people. And in my line of business/interests i.e. computing, phones, gadgets, electrical, electronic, games et al I get asked quite a few. It's nice to able to help people out. I enjoy it. To show how something is done or simply just do it for them. It shows a kindness and caring about someone. You're happy to help because you know it'll be appreciated. Well, that's the theory.

In my ideal world all work would be done as favours. Bartering and favours. Like for like with pleases and thank-yous aplenty. But sadly the world is not like that. Or so I've been reminded rather rudely just recently.

A couple of months ago a friend asked me if I would go and see them. Scrub that, they called me on the telephone and started off with that usual question people ask when they are going to ask for a favour, "How are you?" Followed by a slight pause while they wait for the usual reply of, "I'm fine, thanks" before then launching into, "Can I ask you a favour?" Of course what they really meant was, "Do me a favour."

"My PC can't connect to the Internet would you come over and make it work?", they said. It was barely a question to be honest. More of a statement really. Anyway, I was delighted to help. After all, they're a friend and I like doing favours.

So the next day I went round to this friend's flat and did what I could. I needed to return subsequently because in fact the PC was more or less in pieces and needed rebuilding from scratch. So for the next few days I bought over a modem, power adapters, cables, installed all manner of hardware and software and finally got the PC up and running on the Internet. They did say 'thank you' at that point I might add. But looking back I had 'taken ownership' of all subsequent problems.

As the weeks and months have gone by I've been 'asked' again by this person to do many more favours for them on their PC. Each time I've gone to their home to fix other bits of software that have 'broken', reinstall hardware that has stopped working and generally acted as online support guru. The thank-yous have dried up though. And it was becoming obvious to me that my friend never actually used this PC themselves - it was other people that were the main users/abusers - friends of friends, if you like - and it was they who were asking (via my friend) to get me round there and fix the problems they had created.

This week my friend was away travelling. Yet, earlier this week I got a call at 11pm from one of these friends of friends asking me to go round and attend to some new problem on their PC. Being asked a favour by a friend is one thing but when friends of friends call you directly it's madness. And at 11pm too! I was livid. By yesterday I'd calmed down a bit and agreed to go and take a look. I must be crazy. I went round there. A full 5 hours later I was finished. I'd had to pick off all the spyware, viruses and other rubbish that these people had installed to get the PC back to some reasonable working order. No doubt they'll be mucking it all up again. And those calls will start coming. Again.

Do you think I'm being taken advantage of? If so, what do you think I can do about it? This friend is rather temperamental and I don't know how they'll react.

Gest sues Minnelli...
Liza Minnelli is being sued for nearly £7 million by her estranged husband David Gest amid claims that she beat him so badly he now has brain damage.

FAQ: British Summer Time (BST)...
This weekend the clocks go back 1 hour from BST to GMT. So here I give you everything you ever wanted to know about BST but were afraid to ask.

When will British Summer Time (BST) be in force in 2003?
Sunday 30th March 2003 1am GMT until Sunday 26th October 2003 1am GMT

When was British Summer Time (BST) introduced?
British Summer Time was introduced in the UK in 1916.

When was the UK on permanent Summer Time?
British Summer Time was permanently in force during the Second World War from February 1940 until October 1945 and again from February 1968 until October 1971.

Double summer time was in force from 1941-1947 except for 1946.

What are the date rules for British Summer time (BST)?
The rule for 1981-1994 defined the start of Summer Time as the last Sunday in March and the end as the day following the fourth Saturday in October. The time of change was altered to 1 am (GMT).

When do the clocks in Europe change to Summer Time?
In 1996 all clocks in Europe were changed the same date for the first time.

From 1998 BST was kept from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October. This has been adopted as a directive from the European Parliament and was effective from 1998-2001 inclusive.

In 2002 an order was made to link UK summer time (BST) to Europe permanently. This means that the clocks will change over the Easter weekend which historically has not been the case.

British Summer Time Dates (BST) 1950 - 2006
1950 Sun 16/04/1950 02:00 Sun 29/10/1950 02:00
1951 Sun 15/04/1951 02:00 Sun 21/10/1951 02:00
1952 Sun 20/04/1952 02:00 Sun 26/10/1952 02:00
1953 Sun 19/04/1953 02:00 Sun 04/10/1953 02:00
1954 Sun 11/04/1954 02:00 Sun 03/10/1954 02:00
1955 Sun 17/04/1955 02:00 Sun 02/10/1955 02:00
1956 Sun 22/04/1956 02:00 Sun 07/10/1956 02:00
1957 Sun 14/04/1957 02:00 Sun 06/10/1957 02:00
1958 Sun 20/04/1958 02:00 Sun 05/10/1958 02:00
1959 Sun 12/04/1959 02:00 Sun 04/10/1959 02:00
1960 Tue 19/04/1960 02:00 Sun 02/10/1960 02:00
1961 Sun 26/03/1961 02:00 Sun 29/10/1961 02:00
1962 Sun 25/03/1962 02:00 Sun 28/10/1962 02:00
1963 Sun 31/03/1963 02:00 Sun 27/10/1963 02:00
1964 Sun 22/03/1964 02:00 Sun 25/10/1964 02:00
1965 Sun 21/03/1965 02:00 Sun 24/10/1965 02:00
1966 Sun 20/03/1966 02:00 Sun 23/10/1966 02:00
1967 Sun 19/03/1967 02:00 Sun 29/10/1967 02:00
1968 Sun 18/02/1968 01:00 Tue 31/12/1968 00:00 BST all-year
1969 Wed 01/01/1969 00:00 Wed 31/12/1969 00:00
1970 Thu 01/01/1970 00:00 Thu 31/12/1970 00:00
1971 Fri 01/01/1971 00:00 Sun 31/10/1971 02:00 BST all-year ends
1972 Sun 19/03/1972 02:00 Sun 29/10/1972 02:00
1973 Sun 18/03/1973 02:00 Sun 28/10/1973 02:00
1974 Sun 17/03/1974 02:00 Sun 27/10/1974 02:00
1975 Sun 16/03/1975 02:00 Sun 26/10/1975 02:00
1976 Sun 21/03/1976 02:00 Sun 24/10/1976 02:00
1977 Sun 20/03/1977 02:00 Sun 23/10/1977 02:00
1978 Sun 19/03/1978 02:00 Sun 29/10/1978 02:00
1979 Sun 18/03/1979 02:00 Sun 28/10/1979 02:00
1980 Sun 16/03/1980 02:00 Sun 26/10/1980 02:00
1981 Sun 29/03/1981 01:00 Sun 25/10/1981 01:00 Moves in line with EU
1982 Sun 28/03/1982 01:00 Sun 24/10/1982 01:00
1983 Sun 27/03/1983 01:00 Sun 23/10/1983 01:00
1984 Sun 25/03/1984 01:00 Sun 28/10/1984 01:00
1985 Sun 31/03/1985 01:00 Sun 27/10/1985 01:00
1986 Sun 30/03/1986 01:00 Sun 26/10/1986 01:00
1987 Sun 29/03/1987 01:00 Sun 25/10/1987 01:00
1988 Sun 27/03/1988 01:00 Sun 23/10/1988 01:00
1989 Sun 26/03/1989 01:00 Sun 29/10/1989 01:00
1990 Sun 25/03/1990 01:00 Sun 28/10/1990 01:00
1991 Sun 31/03/1991 01:00 Sun 27/10/1991 01:00
1992 Sun 29/03/1992 01:00 Sun 25/10/1992 01:00
1993 Sun 28/03/1993 01:00 Sun 24/10/1993 01:00
1994 Sun 27/03/1994 01:00 Sun 23/10/1994 01:00
1995 Sun 26/03/1995 01:00 Sun 22/10/1995 01:00
1996 Sun 31/03/1996 01:00 Sun 27/10/1996 01:00
1997 Sun 30/03/1997 01:00 Sun 26/10/1997 01:00
1998 Sun 29/03/1998 01:00 Sun 25/10/1998 01:00
1999 Sun 28/03/1999 01:00 Sun 31/10/1999 01:00
2000 Sun 26/03/2000 01:00 Sun 29/10/2000 01:00
2001 Sun 25/03/2001 01:00 Sun 28/10/2001 01:00
2002 Sun 31/03/2002 01:00 Sun 27/10/2002 01:00
2003 Sun 30/03/2003 01:00 Sun 26/10/2003 01:00
2004 Sun 28/03/2004 01:00 Sun 31/10/2004 01:00
2005 Sun 27/03/2005 01:00 Sun 30/10/2005 01:00
2006 Sun 26/03/2006 01:00 Sun 29/10/2006 01:00

XDA II
Just spoke to O2 - the official release date for the fantastic new XDA II is now going to be 1st November.

And in unrelated news (now look, I said it's unrelated and unrelated it is! All right!) my current XDA broke down over the weekend and needs replacing. It broke down, I tell ya! It did. And needs replacing. It does. By a new one. A new XDA. A brand new XDA.

And we always knew our head office was full of it...
Below is an e-mail that arrived yesterday as a follow up to an urgent announcement that they were going to be applying Microsoft's latest security patches to all our servers. I sincerely hope the last part was only a typo.


From: IT Support
Sent: 20 October 2003 15:21
To: All Domain Users; *International Support
Cc: *Corporate E-Mail Group
Subject: RE: Urgent: W2K and E2K Required Security Patch To Be Applied Immediately

All servers had been patched successfully. Users will have experienced the fail over time between clusters.

Sorry for any incontinence...

Best regards,

IT Support
MCSA, MCSE & MCDBA
Corporate E-Mail Group

A threw for the carch......
The Prue & True (aka Kath and Kim) Pronounciation Guide.
[Thanks to Rich]

Minipops Quiz...
David sent me a minipops quiz yesterday and it is fantastic. See how many you can get. Many more minipops at http://www.flipflopflyin.com/minipops/index.html

Absolutely Fabulous...
Shock! Horror! Friday's Ab Fab was very funny. A real return to form. We laughed out loud. A lot. Since then we can't mention Justin Timberlake without referring to him with a thumb stuck up his arse (you'll get the gag if/when you see/saw it).

Absolutely Fabulous (new season)...
Ab Fab starts again tonight. Rumour has it that this series is way better than the last which couldn't be very hard. The last series was pants.

**beware plot spoilers below**

Tonight's episode is called Cleanin'. Edina and Patsy taste the fruits of freedom whilst Saffy is in Iraq on a humanitarian mission. However Edina's house, career and personal hygiene have gone to pot and her client list has dwindled to Emma Bunton and Queen Noor. Saffy's imminent return forces them all to learn how to plug in the hoover.