nuff said.

Lucky Soul at the Monarch were awesome tonight. A nice mix of old stuff and new stuff off the forthcoming album, the old stuff was great but so was the new stuff. I think the new album is going to be a corker :-D

I came across an article titled "Why do people keep buying CDs?" today. I also downloaded Sofia Talvik's 2009 free Christmas single today and noted to my pleasant surprise that her web-site is now offering downloads in uncompressed codecs (flac and apple lossless).

The reason I still buy CD's is that compressed formats (e.g. MP3's) achieve their small size by cutting out part of the original, sure they use clever algorithms to try and make sure you don't notice but when using anything approaching a half decent hifi system quite often one can notice which is why I still buy CD's (which I then rip as flac files). So a big thumbs up to Sofia Talvik for offering uncompressed formats, lets just hope more artist and record labels follow her lead.

After updating my Gopher site yesterday I've now and gone and updated my old happy.freeshell.org web-site. I think there is definitely less content on the site now (but what was on it was very out of date).

I'm not sure what came over me but I spent last night tidying up my little bit of Gopherpace. There is no new content but it is looking a lot neater.

If you want to view my Gopher site follow the links below...

For those of you with a browser that supports gopher (e.g. FireFox with the OverbiteFF Extension you can view my Gopher site at

Link for Gopher aware browsers

The rest of you can use the Floodgap Web to Gopher proxy

Link for non-Gopher aware browsers

NB: If you want to know a little more about Gopher Ars Technica recently ran an article looking at Gopher.

Car no work any more, me think me need to be purchasing new clutch :(

I've recently switched to using irssi for connecting to irc and based on my so far limited use it appears to be very nice.

I have decided it is time for a retro clean bright look on the PC, so...







As ever I am using Debian and Openbox.

Yes, it's that time again - i.e. I am bored and it has been a while since the last one... enjoy :)

From the BBC - "The father of a toddler who drowned in a holiday park's pond must repay £40,000 in compensation and costs."

It goes on to report that "The Court of Appeal quashed the order saying accidents could happen to children without anyone being at fault".

While the parents have my sympathy on the sad loss of their child I cannot help but think that in these increasingly litigious times this ruling is as the Daily Mail might put it 'a victory for common sense'. I know this may come as a shock to those in the legal professions but sometimes an accident is just that with no malice, no intent and no fault.

I'm guessing this was on Thursday, fortunately I was in the red camp...

It is nice to find a service that allows links to Gopher sites so I thought I would share...

I've recently be having a play with the on-line bookmarking service provided by only2clicks.com and much to my surprise it allows gopher links. So you can see what I'm talking about I've made my FOSS and Maps folder public at www.only2clicks.com/pages/frood - if you visit you will notice a working link to the Floodgap Gopher server (not the http proxy) and SDF Gopher server in the FOSS folder (do not try clicking the gopher links unless you are using a browser that supports the gopher protocol such as FireFox with the Overbite add-on).

It does not automatically import an image for gopher links but it does have a facility to upload your own images.

I've been having a little play with Wolfram Alpha. It is not a Google killer nor do I think it is meant to be, I can see it becoming a useful research tool.

Here are some examples (for you to click) of what Wolfram Alpha can do...

London weather
2πr²
Exchange rate between th UK £ and the US $
Spencer Perceval
Marple

Currently:

Your BMI result is:

24.94

You are in the healthy weight range.

From my late teens early 20's when I was working full time, at Uni full time and out clubing at least 4 nights a week and slept on tube trains:

Your BMI result is:

15.80

Your weight is in the range that is classified as underweight

www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/your_weight/bmiimperial_index.shtml

This is just a quick plug for the aTunes music player which I have of recent become quite enamored with.

"aTunes is a full-featured audio player and manager, developed in Java programming language, so it can be executed on different platforms: Windows, Linux and Unix-like systems, ...

Currently plays mp3, ogg, wma, wav, flac, mp4 and radio streaming, allowing users to easily edit tags, organize music and rip Audio CDs."

It's time for another peek at my current computer desktop...




Debian Lenny with openbox, conky, firestarter, volumetray.py & parcellite.


..and before any one asks the wallpaper is from Deviantart.

Last Monday my Internet connection stopped working so I phoned up the support people and after they done what they do they decided it would require an engineer to come out and fix it. The soonest they could get an engineer to me was Friday. Come Friday the engineer arrives and proceeded to make a phone call and then informs me it's now working.

The Nissan Primera (2001 on a Y plate) has been sold (and I pity the new owner because after 200,000 miles it's pretty knackered) and I am now the new owner of a dark blue 2004 (on a 54 plate) Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi. After the Primera the Mondeo is like driving a go-kart, it has had one careful previous owner... the Army!

"Details of user e-mails and net phone calls will be stored by internet service providers (ISPs) from Monday under an EU directive."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/technology/7985339.stm

I've just installed Spotify.





I've held off installing Spotify before now as there is no native Linux version but I have succumbed to peer pressure and given it a whirl and I am pleased to report that the MS Windows version of Spotify appears to run flawlessly on Linux using Wine and so far I'm impressed - lots and lots of music plus built in scrobbling support for Last.FM :D