Could not resist this photo

I whipped my camera out of my bag in Manchester earlier this week-too late to capture the pigeons swooping down but hopefully capturing the moment.

London in colour in 1927

Claude Friese-Greene shot this film in 1927, with a process developed by his father called Biocolour.



via Comment Central

Hot but not that hot

A little off topic but I make no apologies for re blogging this this piece from Nigeness

The warm weather (all right, hot - it certainly feels pretty hot on the Tube) is causing the usual heatwave hysteria, whipped up by the media as if there'd never been such weather before, whereas of course we've always been prone to the odd heatwave in this country - and that's the worst we have to cope with. In India just now the temperatures are in the 40s (according to the Continental system), whereas we have barely reached 30 degrees. Think of all those suffering such heat without benefit of air-conditioned ooffices or homes - and think of those sons (and daughters) of temperate Britain in far-flung torrid zones before air-conditioning was heard of. Think, indeed, of Rudyard Kipling, whose sparse autobiogarphy Something Of Myself, written when he was in great pain and knew he was dying, gives such a vivid picture of his seven years in Lahore, where he arrived at the age of 17 to work for the Civil & Millitary Gazette - seven years that formed him as a writer and as a man, and the memory of which is the beating heart of the book. Here he is recalling the hot - the really hot - season:
“In those months - mid April to mid-October - one took up one’s bed and
walked about with it from room to room, seeking for less heated air; or
slept on the flat roof with the waterman to throw half skinfuls of water on
one’s parched carcass ... often the night got into my head and I would
wander till dawn in all manner of odd places - liquor shops, gambling and
opium-dens, wayside entertainments such as puppet shows, native dances or in and about narrow gullies under the Mosque of Wazir Khan for the sheer sake of looking ... one would come home just as the light broke in a hired carriage which stank of hookah-fumes, jasmine flowers, and sandalwood.”
In the offices of the Gazette, sans air conditioning and clad always in three-piece suit and tie (like my own grandfather, never seen in anything less), Kipling toiled away ("..there is, or was, a tablet in my old Lahore office asserting that here I ‘worked.’ And Allah knows that is true also"), sustained in those barely tolerable conditions by endless chota pegs, a weak mix of a little whisky in a lot of soda. This was Churchill's all-day tipple too - the drink that won the war. Cheers!

The Orange Jelly gets it

The Telegraph is featuring the high speed photography of Alan Sailor featuring the moment a pellet fired from an air rifle hits an object.

There are seventeen pictures in all.This is my favourite as an orange jelly gets it



Ht-Technical Fault

A trippy X Box

I usually steer clear of any mention of computer games,X Boxes etc etc but my eye caught this one as Microsoft launch the rock band Beatles

Some reflections on being online and offline

I do worry sometimes whether I spend far too much time online.

I have always been a bit of an information and news junkie.Before the internet came along I would readily devour the newspapers and listen to the news mostly via the radio.

The advent first of the internet and now the technology to keep up instantaneously with information has meant that it is extremely easy to keep oneself wired 24/7 so to speak.

Since I began my journalism degree three years ago,began blogging and more recently got addicted to twitter,it has been increasingly more difficult to draw myself away from being constantly plugged in.

Last week I was away in Cyprus for the week.I took a decision not to take my blackberry,to rarely switch my mobile phone on and to try not to pick up the news.

The first two I kept to,apart from three twitter updates,the latter was I am afraid broken with sojourns to Sky news and buying the Guardian on a couple of occasions.

But I kept to the online policy and after withdrawal pangs in the first 24 hours,I didn't miss it.

On my return it didn't last too long but then I came across this piece from Rob Horning who spent a week on a road trip in Idaho including Yellowstone National Park

I had expected it to be restorative to be out in nature for a while, unplugged, but instead it seemed to throw me into a kind of existential confusion. I had expected that the time away would allow to forget about online sharing and all that, but instead it brought out how much it had been lurking int he background, shaping my social self and the ways I’ve come to stabilize it and even recognize its existence

That all sounded a little bit familiar and he goes on

as I was out hiking, I would think of this dormant blog and wonder how I’ll ever manage to catch up, a nagging thought that filled me with vague, unshakable uneasiness. Being adrift in the natural world had come to feel very unnatural; the serenity seemed like a taunt. This seems to me the inverse of the interconnected feeling I take for granted in the time I spend online, and I understood for the first time why people would do something as inane as Twitter their hikes from their iPhones or something. I tried to feed this anxiety by taking lots of pictures with the idea of sharing them later, but this only aggravated the feeling. I couldn’t possibly take enough pictures. Eventually I had to try the opposite tack and take no pictures at all.

So maybe some time to reflect on this online,sharing,social media society that we inhabit.

Taking a break

Well today was the end of University at just after 12.30 time out was called on the Public Administration exam.

So apart from handing in my portfolio and my project that is it

Nearly three years on after my life changing career change now comes the next stage.

But first a week out.I and this blog will be taking a break in the sunshine of Cyprus.

Hopefully will be back blogging on the 26th May.

An internet addiction

I confess that I spent time on the internet and worry that I should be finding something more useful.

Then I realise that I haven't got as much of a problem as this fellow spotted by Andrew Sullivan

Over the course of several months beginning October 2008 to April 2009 I've spent some of my spare time between commercial projects searching Google Maps hoping to discover land formations or buildings resembling letter forms. These are the results of my findings limited within the state of Victoria, Australia.

Hillsborough-a tragedy that changed football

As Andy Burnham found out at Anfield this afternoon,there is still much hurt and grief over the events that took place at Hillsborough twenty years ago today.

I remember it well,listening to the events unfolding on what must have been Radio 2 whilst in the car.

I can't remember where I was going and what I was doing but the tragedy of the afternoon was to change football for ever.

I had fallen out of love with the game prior to those events.Attending football games had become akin to entering a war zone,the fun had simply gone.Society was changing and football hadn't kept up.

The Taylor report which followed the tragedy brought in the all seater stadium,the end of fences and barriers.It made the game or at least attending it more enjoyable.

Success on the field in Italia 90,the creation of the premier league and increased money coming into the game saw its rejuvenation.It has never looked back.

Yet those deaths of 96 people on that sunny afternoon were a high price to pay for change.

It has been a travesty that even today nobody has yet been brought to account.The action of chief Inspector Duckenfield who froze and gave the order to open the gates.

Supporters being pushed back in the stand by police who misunderstood what was happening.

Missing video tape and evidence that some of the dying were still alive 45 minutes after the incident.

The fact that South Yorkshire police still defend their actions to this day

Arise Robert Plant CBE

Great news that Robert Plant has finally be recognised in the New Year's honours list.

Here he is singing Black Country women live in Rio 1994

Man is banned from selling his soul on ebay

The strange case of a man who Ebay banned from selling his soul.

Metro reports that

Dante Knoxx, 24, offered the "used" item for a starting bid of £25,000.50 or a buy it now price of £700,000 on the internet auction site eBay
But eBay pulled the listing today with about two hours to go and no bids because it breached one of the firm's policies.

Mr Knoxx was quoted as saying that

"You cannot sell anything that is not physical," That includes ghosts, souls and spirits which is funny.
"I have been refunded but I had 200 people watching it, I'm really disappointed by that. "I had lots of emails asking if I was serious and religious groups telling me I couldn't do that, others wanted to talk about my soul.

Some Friday entertainment

TV NEWS ANCHORS FAIL TO CONTAIN THEIR LAUGHTER AS A FASHION MODEL FALLS OVER




Ht-PM Blog

Sky after Sunset over Litton Derbyshire

Just a couple of pictures from the weekend away

What a week

Last year,the same week I was away and the Northern Rock crisis started.This time,the world's financial system teeters on the brink of collapse.By the end of the week,the United States government is effectively in control of the country's financial assets and Gordon Brown has created a new super bank.(At least we should now see the end of those awful Halifax adverts).

Now we have the Labour party conference starting,just a couple of miles down the road from where I am sitting typing this.

Anyway for those interested,I had a good break,starting with a couple of days in Scotland's book town (Wigtown) before staying at a friends cottage in the isolated village of Barr which is around eight miles from Girvan in Ayrshire.The sun was conspicuous by its absence apart, form one evening.

I arrived in a rain storm and left in a rainstorm.

University restarts this week.I have taken the magazine route and am greatly looking forward to learning the skills in producing a magazine.I'm not,I have to say,looking forwards to Shorthand.2 hours a day every day for the duration of this and the next semester.

I am picking up a new computer on Tuesday.My old machine,packed up entirely a couple of weeks ago and am using an even older version which cannot handle many of the changes on the net that have occurred since 2001 when it was bought.

The other thing when you are away is ploughing through emails and Rss feeds whic quickly start to mount up.

This is some of the stuff that I have picked up so far and will be of interest if you haven't already read it.

Charities as journalists: distorting international reporting?

As an advocate of public participation in the journalism I welcome the increased use of news communication methods by international non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam, Christian Aid or MSF. But it raises all kinds of ethical and editorial issues for both the media and the charities

Internet is fostering disinformation, says web's creator

The internet risks becoming a platform for cults, rumour and disinformation, according to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with creating the web

Blogs no match for ad-supported investigative journalism

THE most valuable role of journalism in a democracy is to peek behind closed doors, to keep a watchful eye on the workings of politics and power.
By definition this is a job for private enterprise because governments cannot reliably scrutinise themselves. Journalism that reveals information that some people do not want you to know is time-consuming and costly to sustain. Therefore it can be supported only by a profitable business.

Quality journalism: the need only grows

WHAT is quality journalism? Quality journalism is when I tell you the truth as I believe it to be. Non-quality journalism is when I tell you what I think you want to hear. Of course, there's more to it than that. A bigot can tell you the truth as he or she believes it to be but their view is still an ignorant one. So a further consideration is the depth and range of information upon which the view is based.

Britain's quality newspapers are still cheap, despite the price rises

Since September 1993 Britain has enjoyed the cheapest quality newspapers in the world. It was then that Rupert Murdoch cut the price of The Times from 45p to 30p. He later dropped it to 20p. His rivals were dumbstruck. The Independent initially raised its cover price in response before realising that this was not a particularly bright idea. The Daily Telegraph tried to stay aloof, but was eventually forced to follow The Times's lead.

Is it an unprecedented volte-face, or is 'The Guardian' just giving the Tories a fair press? Whatever, Labour is incensed

What makes a great picture?

When I first began making photographs, I began using color and slide film. Working with film was always a challenge, but one could expose the film or chrome differently to achieve a desired affect. I have always been fascinated by the way a camera can record color.

Blogging: Change the world with the web

Is there any limit to what can be achieved by a teenager with a blog? Matt Locke introduces an experiment

A global revolution

The director of BBC Global News on the challenge of transforming the archaic World Service and loss-making BBC World into a united news force.

Ofcom decides on PSB future: BBC and C4 ahead of the pack

Ed Richards of Ofcom presents his three refined options for public service broadcasting tonight but it’s pretty clear which one he favours.
He has now dismissed the idea that the BBC should be the only PSB. In effect this was the market forces option as it would have exposed the BBC as the only publicly subsidised organisation.

Why newspapers matter: Isthmus news editor Bill Lueders' speech to Madison Downtown Rotary

And finally check out Paul Bradshaw's excellent series on the Basic Principles of Online journalism

Taking a break

Recharging my batteries before the start of next term at Uclan.

Will be travelling to South West Scotland calling in at the book town of Wigtown and after staying in Barr where there is no mobile phone access.

Where were you when Kennedy died

I haven't been personally chosen by Iain Dale but I thought that I would play the game that is running around the blogosphere as to where you were on five momentous occasions in history.

Princess Diana’s death, 31 August 1997

I had been out,cannot remember where but came in and switched the telly onto Sky News seeing the initial reports that she had been in an accident.I stayed up and watched the story develop as it became clear that this was serious.Finally with tiredness getting the better of me,i retired to bed with the Radio on and I remember waking to the first announcement,I think it was on Radio 5 that she had died.

Margaret Thatcher’s resignation, 22 November 1991

At work.I had an office at the top of the building which was an old house.One of my colleagues ran around all the offices shouting into each person that Mrs Thatcher had resigned.

Attack on the twin towers, Tuesday 11 September 2001

Again at work.This time in a large open plan office,it was a computer company whose name will not be mentioned.Someone from the next office had been watching the coverage of the first plane and said there had been an accident at the WTC.I tried to access the internet but by this time it had slowed to a trickle and it was impossible to load.Then the news of the second plane and I rushed to watch the coverage now aware that this was a terrorist attack.What I remember most was how dis interested the other people in my office were.One actually said that I have got more important things to do than watch this.It turned out that he was doing his monthly reconciliation of a balance sheet account which took him most of every month to do.I think that was the start of my disillusionment with the world of finance.

England’s World Cup Semi Final v Germany, 4 July 1990

I watched this at my parents house.Can't remember why I was there but I do remember being phoned up during the penalty shoot by someone with no interest in football who was trying to organise the cricket team for the weekend.And when Gazza missed that chance in extra time the cat fell off the chair

President Kennedy’s Assassination, 22 November 1963

I still had one month to go before I came into the world.

Tall ships-Liverpool

Paid a visit to the Tall ships docked at the Mersey yesterday.Here are some photos from a very windy Liverpool

How not to be a reporter

And see why he is no longer the boss


http://view.break.com/467869 - Watch more free videos

Ht Danny Finklestein

Taking a break

For the next week and a half will be travelling through the Scottish Highlands