31/8/2006
Today you join me trying to figure out how significant a new development in google-land is. The bods over at the search engine have announced that you can now use their Google Books facility to freely download many out-of-copyright books in their entireties. This is obviously a Good Thing, but what I can't decide is whether it's a Big Good Thing. Is it, as perhaps google would like us to think, the single greatest leap forward for access to literature since the public library? Or is it merely the simplifying of a process that anyone could go through if they had the time and energy - I imagine many of these books may already exist in some form or another, somewhere in the great morass of the internet. It may just be that google has done what google are best known for doing - bringing such related internet content together.
Actually, I suspect that there could be elements of both interpretations here. Yes, google is only simplifying an already possible process, but if enough people hear about this simplicity it could be hugely significant. After all, I wouldn't be at all surprised if more people in the UK have access to a computer at home than have a library card or can remember where their nearest library is. And now, if only this facility was widely known, every one of those people could download, print and read in whatever way they like some of the greatest books on earth.
I'm beginning to sense slight panic from those who, like me, love both the concept of a library and the reality of holding a proper book in ones hand. But don't worry - this has a hell of a long way to go before it will replace the printed word. Given the amount of printing involved, it may still be cheaper, and it's certainly still easier, to go to a bookshop and buy ones own copy than it is to print the whole of "Great Expectations" from Google, and reading for long periods from a screen has a long way to go before it's as comfortable as reading from the page. Thus, even if everyone was able to use this, there'd still be a need for all these books in both libraries and bookshops.
Which really begs the question: what is Google books for, then? If people aren't going to read a whole book from a screen, and aren't going to print the whole thing out, why is their any great significance in their being able to download the book? And actually, my answer to that doesn't sound particularly satisfactory to me - it makes sense in my head, but I don't know whether it's really a good argument. To me, it comes down to the spirit of the thing. The bottom line is that now, for the first time, you're allowed to have your own copy of a large number of classics for free. It may be that as the technology develops this becomes a more practical proposition - whether because screens become more pleasant to read, or printing becomes more economical - but until then I think the mere fact that this opportunity has been given to us is significant enough.
Books are beautiful. They should be easily available to everyone. This is definately a step in that direction.
29/8/2006
It's always one of the glummest moments of the year: Greenbelt has just ended, so I wont feel that particularly indescribable joy for another 360 days. Yes, I've started counting already. It's made doubly hard to come to terms with this year by the beautiful people I met as I worked as a site steward for the first time, who I'll also be unlikely to see for that same length of time.
As for how the festival actually went it was (as you may have guessed from my disappointment at leaving) as wonderful as ever. I saw one speaker and three bands, which (while rather more than some of the most heavily involved workers) was quite a change from previous years, but it didn't matter. I suppose I'm never overwhelmed by the line-up (given how much difficulty I have keeping up with mainstream culture it's unsurprising I dont recognise many names from the Christian sub-culture), so it's always been more about the atmosphere; the people; the feeling of absolute acceptance and joint struggle.
My emphasis on that feeling may well mean that site stewarding has captured me forever: I was thinking earlier on of what sort of interests lead you to volunteer for a particular area. As a backstage steward you'd get to listen to the top bands. As a venue steward you probably hear a lot of the speakers. But it took me a while to realise exactly what it is that site stewards get, given that our duties mainly involve standing in the corners of distant fields looking at tickets and directing cars. I was being rather slow, really, to fail to realise what we get out of it - I'd been commenting all week that site stewards would probably be in the best position come hug-a-steward day, and it is, of course, that kind of uninhibited interaction that epitomises the feeling of greenbelt for me, and it's site stewards who can make the most of it.
I say that it's this opportunity to soak up the atmosphere which may have captured me in site stewarding, as I did have a master plan for the next few years: I would try out site stewarding this year, then perhaps next year work backstage, then the next I could try nights, and so on. I'd get the experience of lots of areas of the festival which might help make me more useful to the top greenbelt bods, and I'd get the chance to work out if one area or another suited me best. Now, tho, I don't suppose I'd do anything but be a site steward for quite a time (tho you've seen that the last plan changed rapidly, so I dont promise that this one will last any longer). And it's not just, as my earlier words seem to suggest, the work we do that's inspired this sudden loyalty, but of course the Beautiful Human Persons I worked with. Particular love and thanks to team Z, especially Nick and Claire, and to Ruth who brought me out of my loner shell first. On reflection, it seems silly to mention their names here as I've no reason to expect that any of them will pass by this among the untold billions of web pages in the world, but being my usual disorganised self I've got no contact details to tell them individually how big a difference they made, so I'll just address everyone and no-one, in the finest tradition of obscure websites.
Finally I must apologise for my last post here - it bores even me, so what effect is has on people who don't even like cricket I shudder to think. I make no apologies to anyone bored by this post - I hope Greenbelt will always be as big a part of me as it feels right now (tho I also hope I wont always feel so detatched from it as I do right after the festival).
21/8/2006
Here's something you don't see very often - cricket is the top headline on BBC news :-D Unfortunately, it's hardly for the best of reasons - I'll try to explain in layman's terms, tho I should make it clear that some of these details are not concrete fact, but simply what seems to be the likely case.
1) Pakistan are accused of cheating England are batting, Pakistan are fielding. After inspecting the ball, umpire Darrell Hair decides that it couldn't have reached it's present condition unless a player had unfairly tampered with it (the England players would have had little opportunity and absolutely no reason to do so - it would therefore have been a Pakistani player who was responsible). It currently seems unlikely that any player was seen in the act of cheating. Hair awards 5 penalty runs to England and changes the ball. Pakistan stay on the field, and seem to have accepted the situation.
2) Tea taken it's a little early, but bad light means that the tea interval is taken.
3) A Pakistani protest The umpires go back onto the field after tea, and protocol dictates that they'd be followed first by the Pakistani fielding team, then by the England batsmen. The Pakistani players don't follow. After a few minutes the umpires seem to decide that no-one else is going to join them, and begin to make their way off the field. At about the same time, we see the Pakistan team emerge from their dressing room, as tho they were about to go out. We've since been told that their plan was to make a protest by delaying the resumption, then to come out and play. Once the umpires begin to leave the field, the Pakistan players return to their dressing room.
(Rule update - if the umpires think a side is refusing to play, they should find out what's going on, then if the side continues to refuse to play they should award the game to the other side)
4) Ultimatum (None of this section is actually known fact). The umpires talk to the players from both sides, and (hopefully) let Pakistan know that if they continue to refuse to come onto the field it will be considered a refusal to play in accordance with the rules.
5) Match awarded to England The umpires go back onto the field, closely followed by the England players. Again, the Pakistan team are conspicuously absent. We hear Darrell Hair ask the England batsmen if they're ready to play, and (unsurprisingly) they say yes. The umpires remove the bails, which is usually done at the end of a day or at the end of a match. We can assume that at this point the umpires have awarded the game to England.
6) The return of the Pakistan team After about twenty minutes/half an hour of watching people on mobile phones, presumably deep in negotiation, we see the Pakistan team return to the field. (As I said earlier, they'd usually only come on after the umpires). No-one follows them out. The England team are probably waiting for the umpires, and it appears that the umpires, having decided to award the game to England, dont see that there's still a game for them to come out for, so aren't budging. The Pakistan team wander off again.
After this lot has happened, we first hear that play has been abandoned for the day (it's too dark now for a resumption, anyway). Then, hours later, it's announced the match has, indeed, been awarded to England. If the sequence of events above, including all my assumptions, is correct, then the umpires have operated exactly as they're supposed to according to the rules, so it's not surprising that the higher authorities don't ask them to back down and allow play to continue.
A further problem is that Darrell Hair has a lot of history - he's been involved in most of the controversies in cricket recently, including accusing Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Murralitheran of bowling in an illegal way, and asking the TV umpire to consider a run out appeal against Pakistani captain Inzamam Ul-Haq, when many observers felt that he'd had been taking evasive action when the ball was thrown towards him (according to the rules batsmen can't be run out if they're taking evasive action). So now Pakistan have refused to play in any cricket match for which Hair is an umpire. In none of these cases has Hair opperated outside the rules - it's always down to the umpire's judgement to decide such things, (and in the case of Murralitharan he's not the only one to have expressed at least some doubt as to whether his technique complies with the rules). However, if nothing else he's been tactless, and perhaps a little over-zealous - almost as tho he sees himself as the scourge of all the evil in modern cricket that no-one else will deal with ;-)
It's all terribly complicated...
17/8/2006 - Part 2
A couple of weeks back I pointed you in the direction of the video to Sigur Rós' "Hoppipolla". Now it seems that Less Than Jake have responded, by producing what is in many ways a mirror image of that first video, to accompany their latest single "The Rest Of My Life". Again it's a great song, tho rather different in genre to Sigur Rós...
I don't know whether it's worth considering whether one is copying the other - there are only so many ideas around, and breaking out of the role that is expected from a particular age group is often a very powerful one. And as I say, their styles of music are so different, it wouldn't surprise me if the members of Less Than Jake don't even know the first video exists - they're certainly unlikely to list Sigur Rós as one of their greatest musical influences... Nonetheless, it seems a quite a strange coincindence that they should appear quite so close together in time.
17/8/2006
....And relax...
My worst fears have not, this time been realised, and I've got my predicted grades in all 5 subjects (A in each case - you're allowed to hate me if you like). But this just brings me one step closer to the next round, and there's still plenty of things I should've done over the holidays which I might get round to at some point. Erm...
It's impressive, isn't it - I can turn a post about getting 5 A grades in my AS exams into a depressed grumble... sorry.
16/8/2006
Back from the dreaded Family Holiday (just listen to those capital letters...), which essentially involved lots of English tourists, being confined with my family for a week (including having to share a bed with my brother), and being driven on tight mountain roads in an unfamiliar car by my dad, whose driving is maniacal enough normally...
On the upside, I did get the opportunity to do some good solid reading, including re-reading (for the first time in far too long) Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, and even having a look at some theology (Richard Holloway's "Doubts and Loves, tho I haven't finished it yet). The latter seemed like quite a neccessary idea - if I'm planning to apply to read theology at uni, I'm going to need some sort of knowledge far more than simply an interest... The former was as poignant and affecting as I remembered it to be, perhaps even more so, and is putting up a good fight to join Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising sequence as works that I'll allow myself to read once a year as a treat. And, also like Cooper's great work, has now got an album inseperably linked to it - for a long time I've been unable to properly read The Dark Is Rising without listening to Travis's "The Invisible Band" at the same time, or indeed properly listen to the album without the books, and the same now applies to His Dark Materials and Athlete's "Tourist". The two just compliment each other so perfectly, but I dont suppose I could adequately explain why.
Having got back to my own bed (Huzzah!), I was also pretty jouyous to discover some post from the Greenbelt stewarding head people - I've volunteerd to help out for the first time this year, and I'm really pretty excited about the whole thing, and getting what look like my final instructions before the festival brings it within touching distance. By the looks of things they're still pretty keen to recruit any last-minute volunteers (especially, it seems, as venue managers, and site and venue stewards), so if there is anyone who reads this who was planning to come to GB and would like a free ticket, free food, and has some time to spare for the festival (and isn't already signed up to do other things of course...), do please consider volunteering. There's all sorts of opportunities on their now - even standing around outside places that are being cleaned... sounds like quite a good deal ;-)
The current great axe hanging above my head is the threat of AS level results, which're released tomorrow (I'm waiting for my sentence with respect to chemistry, computing, history, maths & further maths). I hope I'll manage to remain slightly less nervous than I was when I went to get my GCSEs - when asked for my exam number that time I gave my computer login instead, leading to a fruitless search for a 5-digit number when all the exam codes are 4 numbers long. I've never dared try to find out what would have happened if they'd just ignored the first zero and given me 0182's results - I'm too terrfied to find out who's candidate number that actually is... I think I'll write my actual number on the back of my hand this time. Probably in permanent marker.
3/8/2006
A thud update: I've played my three 2nd round matches now, and managed to beat both Dwarves are Small (who'd beat me by a large margin in the first round) and SANEAlex (who I last played quite a while ago, but he did beat me thoroughly then). I was beaten by Palm, who I guess is looking like he'll be the eventual winner now, but despite this I think I'm going to have the second highest point score this round (which is quite good, since I had the lowest first round score of anyone who got into the second round). I'll stop wittering about this now ;-)
Had a bit of a technological breakdown yesterday, running into today, as well. The power supply for the rather unreliable but very hard-working little box that serves as our broadband modem and wireless router packed up. No power means no modem/router. No router means no network. No modem means no internet access (to be honest internet connection sharing is the main reason for the network, so this was the biggest threat). So, being a well-trained, intelligent and resourceful geek, I sprang into action at once: off to the garage where we've still got the two single-computer broadband modems that tiscali gave us when we made the grave error of signing up with them. Search the dustier shelves for the tiscali installation CD. Within a few minutes there's internet access to one computer, at least. Overnight we have the rare spectacle of eating together, and most of us not ending up in front of a computer. This, of course, is a situation which cannot be permitted to last: not only does it lead to innevitable arguments over who has the computer, but it also seems to lead to social interaction in the family.... urgh.... Fortunately, today it was off to Maplins to get a replacement power supply (rather pricey as they only stock ones which have 8 different voltage settings and 14 different plugs), and normality is restored swiftly and without any great trials or tribulations. I'm getting good at keeping this family's tech working. So good I don't get paid... hang on a minute...