the irregular photo of the day

can you tell me how to get…?, originally uploaded by trixiebedlam.

tallinn

As regular readers will know, I travel to Tallinn (Estonia), several times a year for a week or two.

This year it looks like I’ll be going for the whole summer. I fly out in June, with no return flight booked. The kids are going into Nursery, and I’ll be doing some private English tutoring. If I can make enough to tick over, then I’ll probably be staying until at least the back-end of the year.

I’ll post the occasional piece here, but I expect I’ll be doing most of my blogging over at Rational Geekery - Tallinn is Europe’s tech haven, after all. I’m not sure how this will affect my daily blog review, but if my diary permits, I’d like to continue. Although I’ll probably take a “holiday” while I settle in at the apartment and try and get some work.

Also, If anyone needs a freelance tech correspondent in the Baltics - drop me a line.

i have a dodgy dongle

More me(!) over at Rational Geekery: -

Anyway, upon excitedly unwrapping my dongle I found that even though the instructions were idiot-proof and all the software was auto-installed from the device itself, I couldn’t connect from my iBook.

I tried several things, including downloading and installing different drivers and playing with the settings. Yet nothing, I repeat NOTHING, would bloody work. As usual, when technology fails me (or I fail it), I may have used a fair bit of blue language and banged the desk a couple of times. We all have our faults, get over it.

defending the indefensible

Northern Rock proved that “irresponsible” lending is dangerous game for banks to play. If a bank has too many debtors who are over-extended, then it leaves itself wide open to punishment if suddenly the economic climate cools. In America, where mortgages are traded between banks and investors like coffee beans, bad debts have created a financial crisis on a gargantuan scale, with the entire US economy peering over the precipice of a long and painful recession. It’s now very easy for all and sundry to point at the banks and crow that their chickens have finally come home to roost. Everyone, it seems, is desperate to see the first banker throw himself 34-floors to his splatterriffic death.

But is this fair, and is this a progressive position to take?

We live in a capitalist society. There are few mainstream Western politicians who still promote a truly socialist economic model. We are now, is seems, locked into market economics. So surely now our aim as progressives, is to make the system as open and as equal as possible? And this is just what the banks, with their reckless lending, have done. I know, shocking, but please stay with me…

Lenders have empowered people to buy into a growing economy. We have seen astonishing growth over the last decade, and house prices have rocketed. What could be more progressive than enabling every hard-working person to enjoy the good-times? Why should people without ready access to capital be denied the opportunity to invest?

The reality is, as banks tighten their belts, young families and professional singles will be forced to rent their homes. They’ll be paying rent to landlords, rather than investing in a property. Large scale property investors will get richer, while their tenants will be cut out of the housing market for the foreseeable future.

Also, I’m not convinced we’ll see a considerable fall in prices. There are plenty of investors willing to pick up empty properties, especially when they know more and more people are looking to rent. And as the economic outlook grows more precarious, home owners will sit tight to see how the situation plays out, so reducing the number of houses on the market and stabilising prices. There are too many factors, including a national shortage of homes, that suggest a collapse in prices is unlikely. So if the predicted dramatic fall in prices doesn’t materialise, and banks are unwilling to take risks, what chance do wannabe homeowners have?

Easy access to capital is the greatest liberator in a capitalist society, and what our so-called reckless banking system has actually done, is enabled people to get onto the housing market and enjoy the growing equity in their properties. Why should it just be the rich who benefit from an economic boom? As progressives we should celebrate cheap capital, and prey that our banks don’t become so “responsible” that they deny hope to so many aspirational families.

it’s just water

Rachel writes it up.

postman pat

It’s just dawned on me that the hateful bastards in charge at Postman Pat PLC, have changed the the bloody theme tune. No longer is it “Postman Pat and his black and white cat”,no, it’s been replaced by a forgettable generic effort that washes over you like elevator muzak (hence why i just realised it had changed). It’s awful.

But why change it? By all means bring back Pat - one of TV’s more genteel and honourable characters, but why change one of its classic tunes and replace it with god-awful aural tedium?

Mind you, the new theme is more suitable than this intro (seriously, NSFW).

this blog is boring. fact

It seems I’m a bore.

Gus of 1820 has decided that this blog is a yawnfest and will be removed from his blogroll. I can’t say I blame him.

I just don’t seem to have the energy and vigour for political blogging that I once had. I spend most of my day getting stressed out that I can’t get a minute to myself to write, and when I do finally get the baby to bed, I’m knackered. Now Mrs. tyger has returned to working after her maternity, this working from home just isn’t going very well. Looking after two very-young kids is a full-time responsibility and I think I’d be better going back into industry and putting the kids into childcare again. At least then I’d be getting out of the house, rather than being a sulky house-bound grinch. I simply don’t have the time to “work”.

Mrs. tyger is also clearly fed-up listening to me whinge. As am I.

Also, politically, I’m not sure what I think anymore. Labour have consistently proved their incompetence and slyness. Anyone who thinks that working for the Labour Party is something of value is mistaken. The Tories, Liberals, and Labour are all fighting for the same political oxygen in the centre of British Politics. There is no ideology left in our political life, and therefore no difference between the “managers” who govern us (I would be much happier if they could actually manage, but alas…). So let’s drop the pretence that they’re different, and elect proven managers instead of partisan incompetents who couldn’t organise a cutlery draw.

My personal story wasn’t always like this, there was a time when I believed that government could be a force for good - indeed in some Northern European countries it still proves to be. So let’s be straight: the British body politic is poisoned. It’s cancerous. It’s terminal.

So thanks for the previous link-love, Gus, but yeah, I think another blogger deserves my spot. I’ll make a decision regarding continuing this blog over the next week or so.

*current mood: nihilistic*

economic banditry

John Band has an interesting post here.

He claims that, despite the almost-constant media doom-mongering, the sky is not falling in on the UK’s economy. He makes a few valid points about like-for-like sales against the actual takings on the high street: -

It’s partly due to misleading reporting, of course. Hands up who read this morning’s paper and came away with the take-out that UK retail sales fell when comparing March 2008 to March 2007? Wrong: they rose by 1.1%. The fall was in ‘like-for-like’ sales - i.e. new shops are opening faster than people are increasing their spending. That’s not great news if you’re a retailer, for sure - but it also for sure doesn’t mean that sales are falling…

These points are valid. Also, UK economic watchers have always concentrated too hard on high street performance - we’re a nation of shopkeepers after all, rather than on more indicative economic measures. People seem to think if M&S sells fewer pairs of panties, the country is going to the dogs.

Anyway, a somewhat related post over at LC has prompted an interesting thread between John, myself, and a few others in the comments. Take a look.

obama ad

over at rational geekery

I have two posts over at my tech blog: -

A Blockbuster of a mistake:

Blockbuster wants to take on the might of Apple, Microsoft, netflicks and the cable companies, who stream (and download) content directly to their customers’ homes. And it plans to do this by buying an outdated electronics retailer. Hmmm.

The Mac upgrade conundrum:

I’m not going to replace any new Mac for several cycles, so my best return on my investment, would be to wait until the platform makes a significant jump (trusting I can be confident of the new technology’s stability).

plagiarism

Is anyone actually surprised that at least one Lonely Planet guide hasn’t actually visited the places he’s written about? Have you ever followed a Lonely Planet guide? I picked up one for Russia, and found it completely unhelpful, as most of the tips on culture turned out to be well-worn clichés and had little in common with reality. Utter tosh.

Anyway, It seems that one of LP’s writers, one Thomas Kohnstamm, has admitted to plagiarising travel websites and brochures to complete his commissions. Plagiarising is of course becoming increasingly popular, with students being caught handing in Copy and Pasted work as their own. Indeed, I have discovered a new start-up site that has ripped-off whole chunks of text from other sites.

The people behind the site don’t seem to understand the awesome power of the google. I suppose some people would ask what’s the problem? Well, it all depends on whether you portray yourself as a serious venture. Serious content providers don’t rip-off material. It’s all well and good having fancy business cards and pretending to be a big player, when you evidently lack any creative talent. You just look like amateur wannabes. Never mind, not my concern.

thomas hawk

An awesome photo and a beautiful story. By Thomas Hawk.

Seriously. Check it out.

politics home

I had a quick look at much-hyped Politics Home site, the brainchild of Stephan Shakespeare and Tim Montgomerie.

You’ll remember Shakespeare and Montgomerie from failed internet TV channel 18DoughtyStreet.

The “concept” of the site, apparently, is to become the ‘Bloomberg for Politics’. And I suppose the two sites do look similar (indeed one could argue that PH has ripped off Bloomberg). Another ex-18DoughtyStreet hack, Iain Dale has proclaimed its Bloomberg-mimicry a success: “It’s certainly that and then some.” However, as Dale suggests, the site is devoid of original content and relies on feed aggregation to populate its front page.

Bloomberg, for the record, has its own writers.

Two things…

Number One. We need another politics feed aggregator like we need Doughty Street’s acrylic plants back in our lives. Aren’t there enough twatting sites sucking content from other people? I wonder, if Stephan Shakespeare can actually get a return on PolHome (18DS haemorrhaged cash), will he share revenue with the people actually providing the guts to his site, or will it be another parasite feeding off the the RSS-teat of other content providers?

Number Two. Who needs a Bloomberg for politics? Business requires up to the minute information. Minutes lost can translate directly into lost revenues. Politics is an industry of wanky news items about MP’s tawdry sex lives and a never-ending conveyor belt of financial scandals. Politicos like to think they’re champions of the universe with ultra-busy lives, but in truth it wouldn’t matter a jot if most of them just fell off the planet.

It’s not case of whether one can build a Bloomberg for Politics, but whether one should?

Also, it’s a bit of a wreck. Yeah, it’s only a BETA, but it looks like a MySpace page built by a couple of Labradors. C’mon, where’s the class?

more on the chinese olympic hoo-har

Further to my post yesterday, Mr Eugenides has posted an “all bases covered” rant on the pro-Tibet protests.

Here’s the money-quote: -

Generally speaking, and with some exceptions, I am not in favour of sporting boycotts, at least not in isolation. It seems particularly harsh, for one thing, to pick on sportsmen and expect them to salve the conscience of a nation when businessmen line their pockets unmolested by such high-minded considerations. No-one, I notice, is proposing that we stop buying Chinese widgets, or boycott the Jade Inn on the high street, so why should it fall to kayakers and three-day-eventers to wrap themselves in the flag of Amnesty International?

So, whatever else all this may be, it’s not easy. Easy to know who’s in the right, where our sympathies should lie (at least for most of us - of which more in a moment), but harder to know exactly what to do that has any prospect of actually changing anything. Talk is cheap, and there’s a lot of it about.

[...]

Having made that wretched decision, we are now being made to look like impotent fools by the Communist leadership. Is it to much to hope that someone elected to speak on our behalf calls a spade a spade, and goes beyond tepid diplomatic boilerplate to tell the regime in Beijing what we truly think of them, not just in relation to Tibet but the civil liberties of their own people? What are they going to do, stop manufacturing Star Wars toys for Christmas? I hardly fucking think so.

Vitaliya

07/04/2008, originally uploaded by tygerland.net.

Taken with a Nokia N95 8GB. BTW. She’s *happy*, not angry.