20 January 2012 (Friday) - Dinner Party

Admittedly I did get home late from work yesterday evening. But the work hadn’t been that arduous. So why did I keep nodding off in front of the telly? I wish I could stop doing that. There will be something good on the box, or I will be in the middle of an on-line game, or there will be some valid reason for why I should be paying attention, and all of a sudden I wake up to find it’s half an hour later, the telly program has finished, my laptop’s gone into automatic shut-down, and I’ve woken with a neck-ache. And having had a bit of kip it

somehow stuffs up my getting a proper kip at night. For all that I actually slept through last night, I woke tired, and fell asleep at lunch time. If I don’t nap during the previous evening I’m (usually) good for the next day.

To work – dull. Over a break I went over my presentation for tomorrow’s Stargazing Live event. The latest weather forecast gives it being a cloudy night. Or to be precise, a rainy evening giving way to a cloudy night. That would be a nuisance. Whilst (I have to admit) I am very much an armchair astronomer and have little interest in staring through telescopes, the whole “staring through telescopes” thing does rather feature highly in astronomical activities. Oh well – if it is cloudy I’ll just have a bigger audience for my talk.

Home again - and having got the table organised, people arrived. Having been round to friends for dinner before Christmas, tonight we reciprocated. Eight of us sat down for three courses. Even if I do say so myself, "er indoors ^TM" does boil up a decent bit of scoff. Two choices of soup, two choices of main course, various puds, home brew, red & white wine, port, Brazilian cocktails. And after we'd scoffed (probably scoffed too much) we had a game or two of "Dirty Minds". Long and thin and full of seamen? HMS Vanguard!!

19 January 2012 (Thursday) - Camping

A late start, so (apropos of nothing) I mucked out the fish tank. It needed doing. And then over brekkie I went through the accumulated post. Other than a bill for the next year’s hall bookings for the astro club there was very little of note. Which was probably for the best. And then I mucked out the fish tank again. Where does all the gunge come from?

In the past I've whinged about the demise of the kite festival at Teston. But I've not just whinged. I've sulked, hinted, smiled sweetly, and threatened to cry. And so, completely unconnected with any of my sulking, "er indoors ^TM" and The Bat have secured the use of a field in which we can stage "Not Teston Kite Festival". The field is not a million miles from Ashford, and "Not Teston Kite Festival" has been provisionally planned for the second weekend in June.

I'm not sure that the entrance to the field is wide enough to get a caravan into it, and the fishing isn't what it might be. Having said that, I'm sure that those with caravans could secure the use of a tent for the weekend; and there is fishing within five minutes of the field. Other facilities include a tap, a turdis and a poo pit, a pub two miles down the road, and a supermarket some five miles away.

It's not a replacement for the kite festival - it's not even going to be a kite festival; and it certainly isn't going to be open to the general public. It will be just a weekend in a field with like minded friends. But if any of my loyal readers would like to join us at "Not Teston Kite Festival", please drop me a line.

18 January 2012 (Wednesday) - Wikipedia

This morning as I started my car I noticed that the temperature was a full ten degrees warmer than it was yesterday. It was plus five rather than minus five, which makes quite a difference. And that would be thirty degrees warmer that that which some of my loyal readers are currently experiencing. (Waves in the general direction of the Great Lakes and gloats!)

Today the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, is shut down. They have done this in protest against the "Stop Online Piracy Act" - something which is possibly going to enter American law (and probably British law too eventually). Apparently the main thrust of the legislation is that it will put the burden to police user-contributed material on website owners.

On a personal basis I don't think that's unreasonable - I realise that I can't just blag someone else's efforts and blog it as my own. There would arguably be a grey area over some of the pictures I use for blog posts: clip art and stuff I find on-line I usually re-colour so's I've had (at least) some input into the creation of the picture. Very occasionally I might use a photo I find on-line. But if the photo comes with any copyright disclaimers, then I won't touch it.

And the same applies to any of the other websites I run. I am responsible for what I put on the Internet.

And therein lies the problem that Wikipedia faces. It's summed up in the sentence "I am responsible for what I put on the Internet". I don't allow anyone else publishing rights on any webspace that I use. Wikipedia does: by it's very nature absolutely anyone can publish absolutely anything on Wikipedia. And so, for all that the vast majority of Wikipedians contribute properly and sensibly, there is nothing stopping the rogue element publishing foolishly or maliciously. Or from blagging someone else's work (piracy).

At the moment I'm not sure who is responsible for any copyright infringements that appear on Wikipedia. But should the Stop Online Piracy Act become law, then those who own Wikipedia would become responsible for the (possibly) illegal acts of others. Wikipedia have got the hump - they claim that the Stop Online Piracy Act will "fatally damage the free and open Internet". Will it? I don't really know. I suspect the Stop Online Piracy Act was never drawn up with Wikipedia in mind.

One possible answer might be for Wikipedia to reconsider who it allows to edit their articles: after all I am one of the resident experts who contributed to the pages on "Upstairs Downstairs" and "The Treacle People". However for all that this idea might work in principle, in practice the licensing of thousands of Wikipedians would probably prove impractical.

Will Wikipedia survive the legislation? I expect so. After all, it's not Wikipedia that the legislation is supposed to be targeting. And is anyone going to prosecute Wikipedia for any alleged breaches of copyright? I suspect that over the next few weeks a button will appear on every page of Wikipedia allowing people to report supposed infringements of the Stop Online Piracy Act, and an army of Wikipedians will spend their time painstakingly rewording the article generating the complaints. After all, armies of Wikipedians have painstakingly reworded every contribution I've ever made to Wikipedia for no apparent reason. The Stop Online Piracy Act might just give them something to do...

17 January 2012 (Tuesday) - The Musgrove Fox

For all that I wasn't impressed with last night's Stargazing Live, half a dozen people have joined the astro club's Facebook page overnight. And the morning's post had a cheque for a hundred quid for the astro club to go towards the weekend's planned event. So I suppose some good has come of the show. (Grumble, Grumble...)

I saw some of this evening's show. I think I know what I consider to be wrong with it. It's too basic. Bearing on mind it's on BBC2 I'd expect it to be just a little more high-brow.

At the weekend I mentioned that I'd been painting. I posted a photo of what I'd done and it's had encouraging reviews. Ten people have clicked the "like" option, and there are quite a few positive comments. I must paint something else and post it on that website.

Meanwhile on not such a good note my grand-dog can't be allowed in his garden on his own - at the weekend a fox was seen walking about that garden; bold as brass. And shortly after that the remains of a seagull was littering that garden. Bearing in mind that Fudge isn't much bigger than a seagull, I for one am worried about the pup. Apparently the fox spent a whole day sprawled out on the shed roof. It would seem to be fearless. Urban foxes often are. I have suggested that "The Musgrove Fox" have its own Facebook page, but those with more immediate access to the fox wouldn’t seem to be especially bothered about producing one. Given some more photos of the beast, I might do one later.

I was half expecting a visit from the "Folkestone Massive" this evening, but I came home to an empty house. Which was a disappointment. Mind you we had quite a few other friends round for the Tuesday evening bash. Rather than watching "Bleach" we carried on with "Being Human": I like the show - a shame I dozed through large parts of it....

16 January 2012 (Monday) - Stargazing Live

I could have gone to bed slightly earlier than I did last night, but Monty Python and the Holy Grail was on the Sky Arts channel (!). I have seen that film so many times - it was actually the second film we watched on the VHS recorder/player we hired back in 1985. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen it, but once more couldn't hurt.

And so.... the weekend's gone again. For all that Saturday's films were a tad iffy and that yesterday was rather quiet, the weekend that's just gone wasn't a bad one really.

I liked getting my paints out yesterday: I must do it again. I really would like to find some bigger canvases: if any of my loyal readers know where I can pick up a canvas which is 18 x 24 inches (and cheap!), please let me know. And, whilst I'm asking, if any of my loyal readers know of a supplier of Bob Ross art supplies please let me know as well. My local art shop has stopped supplying the stuff. I *can* order the stuff on-line, but that would necessitate a trip to the post office to pick up the delivery. And getting to Ashford's collection office is a pain in the bum these days.

And if any of my loyal readers would like a "Badger Original" please let me know. And if anyone would like to pass on the word about "Badger Original Landscapes", please feel free. The trouble with painting is that you end up with paintings. Obvious, I know, but I need to shift the existing paintings to clear space for any new ones.

Today was painful - whilst swimming on Saturday I managed to fall over and land on my bum. My chuff still hurts. Also whilst swimming I managed to do something to my left knee which is still sore.

I also have done something to my gob: I think I yawned too hard on Saturday evening, and I've strained something. The bit where the jaw meets the rest of my head feels swollen and my gob doesn't close properly. I expect it will all get better eventually.

This evening saw the launch of the BBC's "Stargazing Live": for all that our astro club ran a very successful event in conjunction with the program last year I didn't watch it at the time. Perhaps I should have. So this year I did. Or that is I watched tonight's program. Or that is I tried to watch tonight's program. After twenty minutes I was rather conscious that for all of the spectacular pictures and amazed noises from the presenters, nothing had actually happened. The interview with Gene Cernan was interesting enough I suppose. But from my perspective, the show was streets behind any meeting of the astro club.

However, it would be, wouldn't it? It was all rather "wow!! space !!! science!!!" The program was clearly made for the general/mass interest. Will I watch the rest of the week's programs? Having fallen asleep after three quarters of an hour, probably not...

15 January 2012 (Sunday) - Doing Little

A bit of a lie-in, but I'd leapt into action before 10am. A quick shave, then I had a go at yesterday's washing up and had some brekkie. Whilst scoffing we turned the telly on and watched "Man vs Food". In today's episode our hero was faced with a pie the size of a dustbin lid, and had an hour in which to devour it. Which he eventually did.

But once that was over I couldn't find a single program worth watching on the telly. So we cleared some more space from the Sky-Plus box by watching some of the stuff that we'd recorded during the week. Now that "Charlie's Angels" has been cancelled I seem to have decided that I like the show.

It would have been good to have done something with the day. But we had no real need to go shopping, and for all that it was a bright day, it was a cold day so going out was a bit of a non-starter. With very little else to do, I got my paints out and got artistic. Today I tried something different. The painting (pictured above) was based on something that I saw on the Bob Ross show last week. I started off by painting the background trees in acrylic and letting them dry before adding the foreground bushes, river and trees. The finished painting is 10 inches by 16 inches and I've managed to sell it for a tenner.

However there's no denying that Badger Original Landscapes hasn't been the money-spinner I was hoping it would turn out to be.

And then, just to be contradictory, we went out. "er indoors ^TM" had found a bargain from someone who was moving house. A real bargain *if* we could pick it up within the hour. So we popped up to Kennington, collected the bargain, and came home via Lidls (it was Sunday after all). Lidls had quite a bit of art stuff for sale, but nothing from the Bob Ross range (I was sorry to see). Mind you, I wouldn't expect to see Bob Ross stuff in Lidls.

The Great Unwashed wound me up in Lidls. Am I the only member of the human race who actually looks where he's walking? People were blindly blundering about the shop; bouncing off of each other's trollies, the shelves, the freezers. Trying to navigate between their random wanderings was nigh on impossible.

Back home: it's become something of a tradition to switch on the Sky Atlantic channel on a Sunday afternoon and watch back-to-back episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. And that's what I did. And after tea with "er indoors ^TM" gone bowling I carried on watching Star Trek, and through the wonders of lap-top computers I did some job hunting. I applied for half a dozen repping jobs. Something might come from the applications - one lives in hope...

14 January 2012 (Saturday) - Doing Lots

Yesterday I mentioned about a rumoured explosion in Folkestone. I have since been told that the so-called explosion was actually a solitary firework. Rather a loud firework, but after all was said and done, it was a false alarm. Mind you one has to take rumours from Folkestone seriously -- that place has earthquakes when no-one is expecting them.

I was up relatively early this morning to sort through the astronomy club's account: one of our number has been lecturing to various W,I, branches, and they have been very generous in making donations to the club. Added to that there was the money taken at the last meeting to tot up too. I spend half a frustrated hour trying to account for a missing five pounds. And then the doorbell rang - the astro club's quartermaster had come for some cheques for more astro club purchases. He'd run from his house to mine (about two miles), and was then going to run on to the chairman's house for another signature (about three miles) before running home (another four miles). He must love it.

And then some brekkie. But before I ate I had the weekly weigh-in. I've lost another pound. The rate of weight loss has slowed down - where I was losing four pounds a week, I'm now down to a pound a week. That's either a lot better for me, or a sign that during the week I found a tin of Quality Street left over from Christmas.

We then popped to town: I had astro club money and cheques to pay into the bank. There was uproar in the bank. They had a new system. Rather than queueing up you took a ticket and waited to be called. Personally I liked the idea - you got a ticket depending on what service you wanted - business account, mortgage, personal account, and then you'd get to see the right person. But the Great Unwashed weren't happy. They would all rather have queued, and were very vociferous about the matter.

After waiting for a total of nine minutes I got served, and got out. It was about as long as queueing would have taken, but I couldn't face telling the shrieking harridans that. Finding the fruit and veg stall again not where it usually was we then had a quick look for cheap canvases. I was particularly looking of a 14 x 18 inch one. I eventually found one in Wilkos. But it was part of a set of three for four quid. And bearing in mind I didn't want the other two with it, I gave it all a miss. I'm getting mean in my old age.

And then home. As we walked home, so my piss boiled. I watched some chap finish with his cigarette and he just threw the butt on the floor. he didn't even stub it out. And I saw it bounce along with the other cigarette butts. I've never really noticed it before, but on every step of the walk home there was at least one discarded fag end. Hundreds, if not thousands on the way home. No other litter whatsoever. I really couldn't understand it: why do people not see finished cigarette ends as litter?

Within ten minutes of getting home, "My Boy ^TM" arrived and drove us all to Tenterden. Today was nephew's birthday, and the family gathered at Tenterden swimming pool for a swim. Fifteen (or so) of us spent a really good couple of hours swimming, splashing and sliding about. We had a great time, but somehow or other I managed to knack my left knee and I fell and hurt my bum too.

All too soon it was time to go, and we came home via Swallow Aquatics (since we were in the area). I couldn't believe the price of the tropical fish: over three pounds for a guppy (!) I shall have to check out other fish shops, but at those prices I shall probably be closing down the tropical fish tank when the current shoal of fish croak.

And so home via Tesco. With littlun fast asleep in the car, I volunteered to wait in the car whilst everyone else got supplies. And I used the opportunity to have a snooze myself. On getting home I watched a couple of episodes of "The Joy of Painting" before scoffing tea. And then we all went round to Chris's house for the now traditional Saturday night film night.

Tonight was a bit of a disappointment. We started off with the latest "Transformers" film. It had pretensions of being an adventure film, but (to my mind) there is a lot more to the concept of an "adventure film" than two and a half hours of things exploding. The second film, "Captain America" might have been good: I don't know - I slept through it. I'd probably overdone it at the swimming pool earlier...