Thursday, 13 August 2009
Obama and Google
Barack Obama posthumously awarded the assassinated Gay Rights activist Harvey Milk a very big gong. The US religious right must be foaming at the mouth, just like Big Pharma is.
I was wondering why Barack Obama would pick two major fights at once. Either he's a fool, or he's incredibly brave, or...he knows he's going to win.
Everybody knows what a bunch of loonies the right-wingers are. Sometimes they're so far out that parody would be impossible...
Big Pharma have let the attack dogs loose.
Obama's not a fool. He's been waiting for this fight for years. He's got some very tough guys around him who aren't afraid of taking the fight to the opponent, to let them flail their rabid arms around and look thoroughly stupid. One of their mouthpieces will probably suggest killing him.
The Bush years have provided him with a legal framework that allows the state to do what the hell they like as long as it's about 'Terrorism'. I think he's a decent guy who's turning nasty to get the bullies off his back and as soon as some nutcase says 'shoot him', then we'll find lots of them being outed as gays, adulterers, embezzlers, paedophiles and terrorists too. The Oklahoma City bombing and other cases of domestic terrorism will be in the news again. You get the picture.
I hope Obama knows how and when to stop a fight.
And then there's Google, They've got some vapourware, it seems. Ho hum.
I was wondering why Barack Obama would pick two major fights at once. Either he's a fool, or he's incredibly brave, or...he knows he's going to win.
Everybody knows what a bunch of loonies the right-wingers are. Sometimes they're so far out that parody would be impossible...
Big Pharma have let the attack dogs loose.
Obama's not a fool. He's been waiting for this fight for years. He's got some very tough guys around him who aren't afraid of taking the fight to the opponent, to let them flail their rabid arms around and look thoroughly stupid. One of their mouthpieces will probably suggest killing him.
The Bush years have provided him with a legal framework that allows the state to do what the hell they like as long as it's about 'Terrorism'. I think he's a decent guy who's turning nasty to get the bullies off his back and as soon as some nutcase says 'shoot him', then we'll find lots of them being outed as gays, adulterers, embezzlers, paedophiles and terrorists too. The Oklahoma City bombing and other cases of domestic terrorism will be in the news again. You get the picture.
I hope Obama knows how and when to stop a fight.
And then there's Google, They've got some vapourware, it seems. Ho hum.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
So how can I afford to take two months off?
I found this amazing website and forum:
Wild About Britain
"Wild About Britain is home to hundreds of thousands of pages about British wildlife, the Environment and the Great Outdoors; from birds, butterflies, fungi and trees to climate change, marine life, astronomy and the weather. We're also a huge online community with 30,000 members and more than 2.5 million unique visitors a year."
Good stuff!
If anyone's reading this, I suppose they're wondering how it is that I can afford to spend two months hitchhiking about without working. It's not too hard if you know how, and don't have any commitments. I have no commitments that can't handle a 10 week absence.
I've just moved as my old landlady wanted the house back - and I didn't want to stay there anyway, as she's a bit strange at times. People sometimes act selfishly when they own property (I call it The Propertarian Mindset), but she's a bit further out than that.
Anyway, I moved at the beginning of the month and knew very quickly that it wasn't going to work out, but I was in the middle of a (English to Danish) translation that was taking far longer than I'd expected. The good thing was that I'd just been paid handsomely for another translation I'd done a few weeks ago. Either I'd spend it on rent for somewhere I didn't want to live, or just go on the road for a bit.
I told the people who take care of things in this, my temporary abode, how things were and they didn't mind if I left in the middle of the month, which is what I'm doing.
Would you do a thing like that? It's funny but I don't consider it a hard thing to do: if you've got the gear and the mindset for it, and are reasonably fit, it's quite comfortable. The key is to take your time. Just forget about being busy or trying to achieve something and slow down a bit. Wisdom can be like a wild animal: if you charge around trying to find it, you'll scare it away and, more crucially, your eyes will miss the signs of its presence. If you just sit down and enjoy where you are, which is what happens to me when I'm hitchhiking, you'll find it easier to let go and tread lightly around your mind. Heavy thoughts have ruined more journeys then heavy rucsacks.
Wild About Britain
"Wild About Britain is home to hundreds of thousands of pages about British wildlife, the Environment and the Great Outdoors; from birds, butterflies, fungi and trees to climate change, marine life, astronomy and the weather. We're also a huge online community with 30,000 members and more than 2.5 million unique visitors a year."
Good stuff!
If anyone's reading this, I suppose they're wondering how it is that I can afford to spend two months hitchhiking about without working. It's not too hard if you know how, and don't have any commitments. I have no commitments that can't handle a 10 week absence.
I've just moved as my old landlady wanted the house back - and I didn't want to stay there anyway, as she's a bit strange at times. People sometimes act selfishly when they own property (I call it The Propertarian Mindset), but she's a bit further out than that.
Anyway, I moved at the beginning of the month and knew very quickly that it wasn't going to work out, but I was in the middle of a (English to Danish) translation that was taking far longer than I'd expected. The good thing was that I'd just been paid handsomely for another translation I'd done a few weeks ago. Either I'd spend it on rent for somewhere I didn't want to live, or just go on the road for a bit.
I told the people who take care of things in this, my temporary abode, how things were and they didn't mind if I left in the middle of the month, which is what I'm doing.
Would you do a thing like that? It's funny but I don't consider it a hard thing to do: if you've got the gear and the mindset for it, and are reasonably fit, it's quite comfortable. The key is to take your time. Just forget about being busy or trying to achieve something and slow down a bit. Wisdom can be like a wild animal: if you charge around trying to find it, you'll scare it away and, more crucially, your eyes will miss the signs of its presence. If you just sit down and enjoy where you are, which is what happens to me when I'm hitchhiking, you'll find it easier to let go and tread lightly around your mind. Heavy thoughts have ruined more journeys then heavy rucsacks.
I got 'moderated'...
I comment on articles on The Guardian's website now and then. They remove comments they deem unsuitable and that just happened to me. It looked like this:
====
====
Oh well.
====
Mandelson casts the Tories as the party of cuts
Is that a spelling mistake?
====
Oh well.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Tesco stuff again
Good old George Monbiot does it again:
"My town is menaced by a superstore. So why are we not free to fight it off? People know a Tesco will suck the marrow from us. Yet the decision is left in the hands of a remote and frightened council"
We've got our own Tesco planning hearing on Wednesday. Luckily the council's planning officr recommends a refusal: he says a supermarket of that size which also sells lots of non-food will be detrimental to both Glastonbury and Street. However, the council don't have to heed his advice. We're going to have to remind them that they're elected...
Monbiot points out that Tesco has the financial muscle to really hurt a council in court if they appeal. I hope that doesn't scare the councillors.
"My town is menaced by a superstore. So why are we not free to fight it off? People know a Tesco will suck the marrow from us. Yet the decision is left in the hands of a remote and frightened council"
We've got our own Tesco planning hearing on Wednesday. Luckily the council's planning officr recommends a refusal: he says a supermarket of that size which also sells lots of non-food will be detrimental to both Glastonbury and Street. However, the council don't have to heed his advice. We're going to have to remind them that they're elected...
Monbiot points out that Tesco has the financial muscle to really hurt a council in court if they appeal. I hope that doesn't scare the councillors.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Myspace
I got myself a myspace profile: myspace.com/barefootreporting.
I like the social side of teh intertubes but stuff like Facebook, Myspace etc are such a rich source of information for snoopers - be they governments, employers or anyone who hasn't got your best interests at heart - that I believe we should think long and hard about what we reveal on them. Facebook groups for activism are just plain stupid.
Facebook only works if you use your real name so it's a gift for anyone trying to protect the status quo in these 'interesting' times. We seem to be engaged in the type of constant warfare Orwell described in the book 1984. War (in the book) was necessary to keep the vast majority of people in poverty and ignorance. Governments like our own are now using war as one part of a strategy to keep us in fear of some great disaster (terrorist, social, economic, and possibly environmental): and that if we don't give them ever greater powers to snoop on 'dangerous individuals', then all our babies will eaten or somesuch. 'The Enemy Within'; it's ground-level fascism.
What government with a surveillance agenda like our own, or the US govt., could resist the lure of something like Facebook? That's too good a source of info, and guess what, it's free and people have already made it Facebook's property - to do with as they wish.
Something I read about Facebook made me think. Normally, if someone starts a project like that, and somebody who should have had a share gets screwed - for example someone who had the idea before you, and which you just ran off and developed - then it goes to a huge high-profile court case and the media have a field day. Have you noticed how the disputes around Facebook's origins and shareholdings have been solved oh-so discreetly? Could it be that some agency or other has been whispering in their ears and applying a bit of pressure? Of course we don't know, as it's all secret.
Btw: overheard the following odd utterance in a cafe: "I don't know if we've met. Are we friends yet?" Facebook ones, y'understand...
I like the social side of teh intertubes but stuff like Facebook, Myspace etc are such a rich source of information for snoopers - be they governments, employers or anyone who hasn't got your best interests at heart - that I believe we should think long and hard about what we reveal on them. Facebook groups for activism are just plain stupid.
Facebook only works if you use your real name so it's a gift for anyone trying to protect the status quo in these 'interesting' times. We seem to be engaged in the type of constant warfare Orwell described in the book 1984. War (in the book) was necessary to keep the vast majority of people in poverty and ignorance. Governments like our own are now using war as one part of a strategy to keep us in fear of some great disaster (terrorist, social, economic, and possibly environmental): and that if we don't give them ever greater powers to snoop on 'dangerous individuals', then all our babies will eaten or somesuch. 'The Enemy Within'; it's ground-level fascism.
What government with a surveillance agenda like our own, or the US govt., could resist the lure of something like Facebook? That's too good a source of info, and guess what, it's free and people have already made it Facebook's property - to do with as they wish.
Something I read about Facebook made me think. Normally, if someone starts a project like that, and somebody who should have had a share gets screwed - for example someone who had the idea before you, and which you just ran off and developed - then it goes to a huge high-profile court case and the media have a field day. Have you noticed how the disputes around Facebook's origins and shareholdings have been solved oh-so discreetly? Could it be that some agency or other has been whispering in their ears and applying a bit of pressure? Of course we don't know, as it's all secret.
Btw: overheard the following odd utterance in a cafe: "I don't know if we've met. Are we friends yet?" Facebook ones, y'understand...
Saturday, 8 August 2009
A bit more detail about my journey
Hitchhike around and collect stories. It's a very simple idea and can be done in many ways. I'm going to do it on an absolute shoestring, and when I travel I enjoy bushcraft-style camping right in the wilds. Here's some examples:
That was on Chesil Beach in 2007. Here's the rest of the pictures from that trip.
Last year I walked a tiny portion of the Southwest Coast Path from Exmouth to West Bexington.
Here's another seaside "Basha" shelter:
So that's the sort of place I'm going to sleep. What I love about using a 'basha' rather than a tent is the contact with the open air at all times. If you use a tent you might feel safer (and stay drier - or so you might think) but the fact is that if you tuck your tarp or basha into the right place - using the natural features - you'll be every bit as dry as with a tent.
So what about safety? Look at it this way. You can't really see out of a tent, and being inside it also means you hear less. A tent has also got a clear profile and size. That makes it harder to make it vanish in the landscape.
The basha is a different proposition. You've got clear vision around you (which also means you see the wildlife in the late evenings and early mornings) and I guarantee you that if someone comes towards you in the night, you'll become aware of them long before they know you're there.
Another advantage is space: both the space you need to pitch it and the living space you get for it. You can take advantage of natural features both to conceal your shelter and to fasten it. I really enjoy the little challenge towards the end of each day of finding a nice spot and you actually need a lot less space than a tent. You don't need to find somewhere flat either. Under a tarp you've got so much more space than in a tent too. Moving around under it is so much easier too: you don't always bump into the sides of the tent.
However, my advice is to avoid pitching in the dark (unless you can't help it). Places look very different during the day!
Cooking under a tarp/basha is a breeze. Cooking in a tent is a nightmare!
Tarps are much lighter than tents. Tarps are easier to camouflage. Tarps are simple and easy to repair. Tarps are flexible.
Mine is a British Army standard issue one. My advice is to buy a decent secondhand one from an Army Surplus store. I've yet to see a new 'real' one for sale. The big difference between the real ones and the copies is the materials, the quality of construction and and the coating. The army ones are silicon-impregnated and the fabric itself is tough as old boots and doesn't absorb water, so if it's wet for a few days, it doesn't mildew anywhere near as readily. All in all, if squaddies can't fuck it up then it has to be OK.
I'm not a closet weekend warrior or anything but I do like being inconspicuous. The camouflage pattern is really good and military stuff is tough, although a bit heavier. I've got army goretex waterproofs as well for these reasons - as well as them being dirt cheap. You can get a jacket & trousers for about 70 quid. Look out for the better jackets and trousers: the jacket has pockets on the front, and the trousers have zippers on the legs, which are also double on the front from above the knee to the hem.
I'll write some more about gear later.
Ray Jardine is an amazing bloke who's taken the simple approach to the limit...
That was on Chesil Beach in 2007. Here's the rest of the pictures from that trip.
Last year I walked a tiny portion of the Southwest Coast Path from Exmouth to West Bexington.
Here's another seaside "Basha" shelter:
So that's the sort of place I'm going to sleep. What I love about using a 'basha' rather than a tent is the contact with the open air at all times. If you use a tent you might feel safer (and stay drier - or so you might think) but the fact is that if you tuck your tarp or basha into the right place - using the natural features - you'll be every bit as dry as with a tent.
So what about safety? Look at it this way. You can't really see out of a tent, and being inside it also means you hear less. A tent has also got a clear profile and size. That makes it harder to make it vanish in the landscape.
The basha is a different proposition. You've got clear vision around you (which also means you see the wildlife in the late evenings and early mornings) and I guarantee you that if someone comes towards you in the night, you'll become aware of them long before they know you're there.
Another advantage is space: both the space you need to pitch it and the living space you get for it. You can take advantage of natural features both to conceal your shelter and to fasten it. I really enjoy the little challenge towards the end of each day of finding a nice spot and you actually need a lot less space than a tent. You don't need to find somewhere flat either. Under a tarp you've got so much more space than in a tent too. Moving around under it is so much easier too: you don't always bump into the sides of the tent.
However, my advice is to avoid pitching in the dark (unless you can't help it). Places look very different during the day!
Cooking under a tarp/basha is a breeze. Cooking in a tent is a nightmare!
Tarps are much lighter than tents. Tarps are easier to camouflage. Tarps are simple and easy to repair. Tarps are flexible.
Mine is a British Army standard issue one. My advice is to buy a decent secondhand one from an Army Surplus store. I've yet to see a new 'real' one for sale. The big difference between the real ones and the copies is the materials, the quality of construction and and the coating. The army ones are silicon-impregnated and the fabric itself is tough as old boots and doesn't absorb water, so if it's wet for a few days, it doesn't mildew anywhere near as readily. All in all, if squaddies can't fuck it up then it has to be OK.
I'm not a closet weekend warrior or anything but I do like being inconspicuous. The camouflage pattern is really good and military stuff is tough, although a bit heavier. I've got army goretex waterproofs as well for these reasons - as well as them being dirt cheap. You can get a jacket & trousers for about 70 quid. Look out for the better jackets and trousers: the jacket has pockets on the front, and the trousers have zippers on the legs, which are also double on the front from above the knee to the hem.
I'll write some more about gear later.
Ray Jardine is an amazing bloke who's taken the simple approach to the limit...
Plans for the next few months
I don't know if anyone's reading this, but here you go.
I'm going to spend the next few months travelling, beginning in Ireland. I'll be doing some barefoot reporting, of course.
What i plan to do is to hitchhike around and collect people's stories. I'll film them and then put them online here for you to experience too.
What stories will they be? I have no idea. I'm guessing that Irish people still know how to tell a story or two...
I'm going to spend the next few months travelling, beginning in Ireland. I'll be doing some barefoot reporting, of course.
What i plan to do is to hitchhike around and collect people's stories. I'll film them and then put them online here for you to experience too.
What stories will they be? I have no idea. I'm guessing that Irish people still know how to tell a story or two...
Friday, 7 August 2009
Folk Against Fascism
I'm a bit of a (not that good) folkie: not the finger-in-yer-ear type though, even though I do sing some traditional songs.
Turns out those racist bar-stewards the BritishNazi National Party have been using folk music to raise money and give their poisonous message a nicer feel, and many folkies are unhappy about that. I'd be livid if they ever used anything I wrote in that way. (I wouldn't mind them slagging me off though! It's fun to hear criticism from people who just don't get it.)
So Folk against Fascism was born. Good one!
This bloke can tell you more.
Turns out those racist bar-stewards the British
So Folk against Fascism was born. Good one!
This bloke can tell you more.
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