Sunshine 18 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury.add a comment
One of the ways to get me really excited is to tell me that Copeland are releasing a new album. I honestly think Copeland are ridiculously underrated; they’re one of the few groups who can actually deliver a sonic landscape that you can explore at will. My sanity has been saved on more than one occasion by popping on some Copeland and just having a lie down! 
(more…)
Greed is good? 6 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Travelogue.1 comment so far
Shock horror…..never saw it coming….etc…etc….
At some point, Mr. Fuld and people like him are going to realise that it’s not everyone else’s fault that there are people who think Communism is a fundamentally good idea…
Sometimes you just have to chuckle 6 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Hopeless Romanticism, Mormonism so-called.1 comment so far
Signed up for the new Familysearch not so long ago. Seems like it might work, although I have yet to try it in anger.
I soon noticed this however…
Not-so-subliminal message? Heartless computer literalism? Unadvertised secret Familysearch feature?
YOU decide!!
Copyright stifles creativity by making it blinkin’ impossible to know when you’re infringing 20 September, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury, The Age of Spin, Travelogue.2 comments
Last night (well, tonight – I haven’t got to bed yet!) was the first rehearsal for this year’s Christmas Concert for our Stake Choir. While there I heard about an extremely bizarre anecdote. Last year, we performed ‘O Holy Night’. The version we have music for only as the first 2 verses for some reason. During rehearsals the director decided that after the second chorus, we’d repeat the first to finish. So that’s what we did in the concerts. After one of them, a former director of the choir (incidentally the previous Stake President) was approached by a gentleman who asked who had given us permission to change the song. The man (who is supposedly in the music business) then claimed that by repeating the chorus we had rearranged the piece and thus infringed copyright. The sum result of this conversation is that the choir director now refuses to do the same this year in order to not cause trouble.
All of which I find quite incredible. My question is: whose copyright is being infringed and how? (more…)
Must….control….urge……to destroy!! 8 February, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury, Travelogue.3 comments
One of my dad’s childhood friends, along with her husband, has come to visit from Dubai and is staying at my house for the next few days. They’ve been here a total of 3 hours, and I already want to kill the husband.
Dad’s been rabbitting on about how he plays guitar so we’ll enjoy playing together. I knew full well that’ll never happen. We’d play very different styles and not really appreciate each other’s (it turns out he’s into country/rockabilly – no surprises, but that’s fine, it’s his life). But then he started lecturing me on note theory and double-stopping (this is after being told that I learned classical instruments as a child and therefore actually know something about music). I put up with that though, for the sake of international relations. The icing on the cake though was the following exchange:
Him: So play me a full song.
My dad: <Chuckles> He doesn’t know any! [I'm not entirely sure what that was for, but anyway]
Me: <frantically thinking of something to play> erm…erm…okay
The first thing that popped into my head was Stone by Unbelievable Truth, cause it’s nice and simple, but I realise it’s not the most attention-grabbing song ever. That does not excuse what happens next however. I’ve barely started (about 10-15 seconds in), when all of a sudden he asks my dad about the how the heating is controlled, and then they both get up and examine the thermostat!
THE THERMOSTAT!!!
They don’t even want to alter it or anything. Just to explain how it works….
I knew there was a reason I didn’t like performing….
A new Vista, Part 3 8 January, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Geekish Tendencies.2 comments
To be honest, I started this post so long ago, I needed to check what I told you before.
I finally fixed 99.999999% of all graphical/other crashes/hangs/general instabilities. The remaining trace problems I put down to the fact that I now overclock my machine and I have a minor (as in crash to desktop or random unexplained event) every once in….actually, I can’t remember when the last one was. It’s pretty much fixed. I’ve even been able to reinstate stuff like the Catalyst Control Panel (so I can overclock). The key change that solved everything was… (more…)
How to know when your bank is lying to you 7 January, 2008
Posted by fraggle in The Age of Spin.1 comment so far
Found this amusing little snippet today. As funny as it is that Clarkson got exactly what he asked for, he at least had the decency to a) put his money (quite literally) where his mouth was in the first place, which is more than you’ll see any government minister doing, and b) admit he was wrong. (more…)
Conference Report, continued 3 September, 2007
Posted by fraggle in Hopeless Romanticism, Mormonism so-called, Travelogue.add a comment
Continued from here.
After lunch was Ultimate Frisbee, which was great, even if we were a rubbish team! Only other downside was one save which resulted in my glasses giving me a graze on my forehead. It looked worse than it was, but that was the problem, I definitely don’t look good in a scar! :-s (more…)
Conference Report (no, not *that* kind) 28 August, 2007
Posted by fraggle in Mormonism so-called, Travelogue.3 comments
A new vista, part 2 20 August, 2007
Posted by fraggle in Geekish Tendencies, Travelogue.1 comment so far
So after the joys of setting up the network card, the next problem was (and for all I know still is) random crashes. All I know about them so far is that it’s related to the graphics card an ATI Radeon 2600XT. Every now and then, usually while playing certain games (STALKER and X3 being the worst culprits) but sometimes while web browsing, the mouse will lock up and shortly thereafter the dreaded BSoD will inform me that Microsoft’s much vaunted separation of the display driver from the kernel hasn’t changed much really.
For some reason though one time that wasn’t enough. It needed to teach me a lesson for my impertinence. (more…)
