Category Archives: Messaged from the Outhouse

Software Freedom Day 2008. Not so much in the UK, though.

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Yes, it’s that time of the year again, when the great and geeky unwashed masses around the world again get under the shower, have a shave, put on a colourful t-shirt and show the rest of the world the benefits of free and open software. I did my bit in 2006 when I tried to persuade the inhabitants of a small town in New Zealand to convert (at least they’re now all using firefox) but since I am back in the UK these Kiwis will not have the benefit of me looking like an orange sausage again (they give you tight orange t-shirts to wear).

So this year I thought I help out one of the UK’s team. With me living in the south – east, London comes to mind, but there doesn’t seem to be much demand for FOSS in the capital.

The one entry in the London section states:

  • “Meet outside school or train station at around 1300.
  • Go into Kingston town centre, make some noise and hand out many Ubuntu cds, flyers, balloons etc
  • Unfortunately no speakers were able to speak, so no talks and straight into the social.
  • End and begin a social evening in nearby public house, restaurant etc. “

Now, call me a notorious moaner, but is that all London has to offer? No install fest, no radio interviews, newspaper articles, tables on highstreets full of glittering compies?

Sad. Very sad.

P.S. And for those of you wondering why I’m not doing anything this year, I have not even been able to contact my local LUG. Apparently it’s extinct.

Putin and Medvedev. Having a great time…

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You have to hand it to the Russians, but they have just pulled the most stunning and clever coup in foreign politics since Marget Thatcher banged her handbag on the table in Maastricht and demanded her money back.

Just six months ago a small unimportant backwater of Eastern Europe declared itself independent to free themselves from a perceived aggressor (Serbia) and celebrate their ethnic uniqueness and all the Russians did was grumble a bit. That of course was Kosovo, and the western world was supposed to be on the side of the good guys, so we continued our military presence with peacekeepers to protect the needy little Kosovar nation and recognised their nationhood diplomatically.

Fast forward 6 months, and now Russia has recognised two tiny nations in a small, unimportant backwater of Eastern Europe to help them free themselves from the perceived aggressor (Georgia) and celebrate their ethnic uniqueness. Just like Nato, it sent peacekeepers, bombed the aggressor, told the daft president of Georgia off for forcing its hand and is now sitting pretty in tactically beneficial spots in the countryside.

Funny how the President of Georgia, the irrepressible Mr Saakashvili was a ‘friend’ of the U.S. and how Milosevic was a friend of Russia. How things repeat themselves.

Putin and Medvedev must be laughing themselves silly. When the EU and Nato sounded all honest and concerned about Kosovo they probably just sat back, grinning and thought how they could do a Kosovo with some of their statelets across the border. And who can blame them?

Now of course we are having the undignified spectacle of the British foreign minister David Miliband (who?) ‘rallying’ the other nations within the ex Soviet sphere of influence to form a coalition against Russian aggression. I have no idea what this is supposed to achieve. The Russians control Europe’s access to their large fossile energy reserves and I am pretty sure that Europe’s consumer would prefer not to freeze this winter.

Maybe instead of jumping around Eastern Europe and antagonise Russia more, he should invest his energy into getting his and the other European countries ready for the day the Russians turn off the gas (or fossile fuels run out). Germany has shown that it is possible to increase the share of renewable energy available to 14 percent within a decade, so maybe instead of prancing around the Ukraine he could have a think about the energy needs of his own country.

Blogging and Commuting

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I have now been a blogger for some time. In the past I managed about three to four posts per week, as my working hours were pretty much nine to five, with a commute home that would literally take 4 minutes to home. That would give me plenty of time to contemplate the pressing issues of the day. Or just a zip around teh intarwebs to find something blogworthy.

Since I have joined the ca 6 million daily commuters travelling into London every morning and leaving the moloch in the evening, blogging has become more difficult. This has two main reasons:

1: Time constraints. I now get up at 06:15 and return from work ca 19:30. This has reduced the time that was available for myself by 4 hours: two in the morning, two in the evening. As I have to stand in the train, blogging during the commute is not really feasible, and blogging on the bike is probably quite dangerous and certainly not legal. It would also be immensely antisocial and certainly not very nice if I would use the remaining hours prior to bedtime to blog my heart out and in turn ignore my wonderful partner,  who really deserves every minute of my waking hours.

2. Knackeredness.  After thirteen hours away from home, the sofa becomes a very tempting place to plant my bottom on. There is also The Guardian to read, Radio4 to listen to and the odd (but fortunately rare) TV-show to watch. And of course chat to my darling partner, so the Macbook and the various other digital household items have become much less a focus in my life.

I ask my regular readership: How do YOU battle post commuting fatigue and keep your shiny blog updated and your readership happy? Do you ignore your significant other? Blog at work? had a divorce?

Let me know. And the others.

Dahon Speed D7

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Behold, my mighty new folding bike.

As I have recently moved to South East England and restarted to work in London, I decided to finally do something for my ever expanding waistline and save some serious money.

A win-win situation? You bet!

So, how was I able to accomplish this amazing feat? I bought a Dahon Speed D7 folding bike. Before making the acquisition, I checked out the numerous cycling forums (of which there are literally thousands), compared prices (from 100 pounds to 2000 pounds) and models (and if you think that nerds could be easily drawn into fisticuffs discussing Windows, OpenBSD and Linux then you should see the level of passion that users of Bromptons, Dahons and Birdies can get themselves into). Have a look at the folding society’s homepage, and you know what I mean.

With other words, it’s not easy being a first time folding bike buyer.

After pondering the issue for 2 months I decided on the Dahon Speed D7. The bike offered the best mixture of price, compactness, weight, quality and accessories. I will not bore you with any meaningless technical specifications that I don’t understand either, but the most interesting bits are:

  • Weight 11.7kg
  • Folded size 33 x 64 x 81 cm
  • 7 Gears

According to the manufacturer it’s the most popular folding bike in the world according to their sales numbers, and who am I to doubt them. So, how is the ride? Well, it’s exhilarating. I haven’t had as much fun going to work since living next to a penguin colony in New Zealand. Due to its tiny wheels (tire size is a meagre 20″ x 1.5″) its very, very easy to manoeuvre, thanks to its seven gears it hums along at a decent speed. With me having to cycle to the train and cycle from the destination station to work, I manage a daily round trip of 13 km. According to my calculations this will set me back 2000 calories a week, which should result in a weightloss of 1 kg in a month. That’s not bad at all, and it’s incredible fun.

And, because I don’t have to take the tube for the last 5 km, I save a cool 6 pounds every day, meaning the bike has already paid for itself after 2 1/2 months.

So, thumbs up for the Dahon Speed D7. If enough of us would ride these babies, London would be a more pleasant, cleaner and healthier place.