Recently in "Real World" Category

I'm starting to empathise with Greg Dean's UPS woes (Real Life Comics 29th July 08 -1 August 08).

So my Xbox has RRoD'ed and is meant to get shipped off to somewhere in Germany for fixing. Off I go to UPS' web site to request a pick up which I make for after 9am and before 12, so as I'm not having to take a whole day off work.

Their system turns round and says you'll have to say 1pm in order to get it collected, fair enough, 9 - 1 ok. And so I arrange a 1/2 day off work...

This morning, I'm up at 9am, box all packed and by the door, and start passing the time of day. It should be mentioned that in the flat I currently have NO (real) food (another story about discovering all the eggs had gone off :-( ), but I figure it should be ok, cos I'll be out by lunch time and grab some food.....

Roll on 12:45...still no sign....

13:15...OK best phone work and say I'll need the whole day off (which fortunately I still have enough holidays to cover!)

13:40...OK now it's just taking the piss, Phone UPS, give them my collection request number and say "yes I was expecting it to be collected by 1pm" LIKE I ASKED AND WAS CONFIRMED!!!....and get told (I quote) "You'd expect it to be like that, but it'll be some time during the business day..."

WTF!?!?!?! So why have a "Latest collection time" you freaking eejits!!!

I officially left school 10 years ago now...as evidenced by the the recent invite (via snail mail) to the first school reunion to include my year.

So as this gets re-published on Facebook, I'm curious as to how many of my former classmates will be dragging themselves along...

After my posting about my expectations of America's response to the disaster and on the day that America actually asked other countries for help I've discovered that my friends share the same sentiment (its always nice to have a suspicion confirmed when that happens). It is a sad day when (to a certain extent) the world's only super power (well China counts I guess but suffers from China vs. the World) is not able to help itself.

The forecast for tomorrow morning in Glasgow is round about 14ºC...That's at 7am. Its expected to be 20ºC by the afternoon. This is SCOTLAND FER CHRISSAKES!?! Where's the rain and gloom? Its almost getting to the point where its too hot to sleep at night! Hence why I'm posting this at 02:16.

Well it seems that most of Scotland is gearing up for the G8 summit at the start of the July. A lot of people I know are planning to go and protest (or at least see what the whole thing is about), and one of them is actually going to have a wind turbine on display there (check out Renewable Devices).

As a public service broadcast, I've got some got some information from Scotrail about what they'll be doing to shift the large number of people expected and how their services will be affected...

So Saturday was quite a nice day, so me & some of my friends went for a wander, that culminated in a spontaneous picnic in the Botanic Gardens.

I guess that British Summer Time is now over

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Had a link to this article forwarded on to me, about one of the projects that I am actually writing! That's my work!

Its strange, but as Sammiches mentioned today, the current US Presidential election could well be one of the most pivotal events this century. It seems that unlike previous years, there are whole blocks of countries that have vested interest in who wins or loses.

Anyway should be interesting....one way or another

as circumventing a copy protection device? ;-)

This looks like a really interesting project, that is being set up by JD Lasica and Marc Canter, which aims to open up repositories of Public Domain and Creative Commons materials as well as setting up a huge repository of Public Domain & CC licensed materials.

It kinda ties up to the couple of blogs that I've been trying to setup promoting the idea of grass roots journalism (Damnit!Someones Got It Already and Glasgow Theatre Underground).

If this project and the BBC Creative Archive could be combined I think that there is gonna be a great resource for, well, everyone.

I must remember to try to make one of these meetings if I'm ever in Islamabad, being the BareNaked Ladies fan that I am....errr maybe not...:-)

Some news from the West End of Glasgow which I was quite shocked to hear, but it appears that there is a chance that Tchai Ovna (which is a really cool and charismatic tea shop) may end up going the way of other notables like Insomnia (the old 24hour opening one, not the restricted opening one we have now). According to an article buried in The List (Jul-Aug edition) Glasgow city council has granted planning permission for a block of flats, to be put up next to/in Tchai's garden (which used to be wasteland and not strictly part of Tchai Ovna).

Just what we need more luxury flats in Glasgow's West End, where you'll pay in excess of £100,000 for a nice 2 bed flat, and at the expense of one of the most charismatic places and venues in the whole of Glasgow.

Tchai Ovna (http://www.tchaiovna.com/) was started by Martin Fell and his brother 4 years ago, whilst they were students at Glasgow Uni and since then has become focal point of community, playing host to gigs and poetry readings. And no one would ever be derided for spending some time (or even foregoing a whole night on the piss) in this haven of non-alcoholic beverage.

My experience of Tchai was back when a friend of mine used to run an acoustic open mike night (well a little warning was appreciated), and comprised of about 8 of us trooping down to hear another friend play. We sat about and drank tea...lots of tea.

It was just a flat warming party for a friend of myself and Sammiches (d!SGIA contributors) which has resulted in a rather strange bit of text from Sammiches (posted for posterity on d!SGIA). The important bit for me isn't that, but the fact that I got a taxi home with 2 complete strangers who happened to live in the same part of Glasgow as I do.

It was one of those altruistic/friendly/selfless actions (on their part I hasten to add). A simple "where are you heading?". it is things like that, which help to restore my belief in the genuine humanity that we all share (or should share)...The willingness to reach out to another human being and help them, or at the very least try to connect to them. The end of the ride even included a friendly "we'll pay, no I'll pay, well take this, no, yes, well ok then" exchange over the fare!

Of course I would add that, like Sammiches, I'm rather blurred after the party.

According to El Reg the next generation of biometric passports will require your photograph of you to be not smiling. This is further backed up by the guidelines on the UK Passport Office website:

• Applicants must submit two identical photographs, which have been taken in the last six months.
  
• The photos should be printed on normal photographic paper and should be 45 mm x 35 mm in size.
• The photo should show a close up of the applicant’s head and shoulders so that their face covers 70-80% of the photograph.
  
• It should be taken against a white, cream or light grey plain
  background so that the applicant’s features are clearly distinguishable
  against the background.
  
• The photo must be of the applicant on their own, with no
  other people visible. It must show their full face, looking straight at
  the camera, with a neutral expression, with their mouth closed.
  
• Photographs must be printed at 1200 dots per inch resolution or better if they are digital or scanned photos.
  

You know when things are starting to enter the general public consciousness when they appear in the Metro (for any one who doesn't know, The Metro is an free, ad supported newspaper that distributed on public transport in various cities around the UK). I digress slightly, I was pleased to see in todays(2004-08-04) "The THINK Tank" section that Tank 1:Words was "What is copyleft?", with the answer as "The opposite of Copyright, where an author grants widespread reproduction of his work (with some conditions) rather than monopolising it."