What if it wasn't a harmless lost parcel . . .?

So what would you do when the guy in front of you on the Underground train says " Whose parcel is that ?".

It's sitting abandoned on the window ledge, about 300 x 300 mm, tied with a ribbon. We are stopped in Bond Street station; a woman picks it up and gives it a good shake.
I ask "Is it yours ?"; she says "No." I peer out the carriage door, there's no staff on the deserted northbound Jubilee line platform. i step off, and punch the big green 'Emergency' button. A voice I cannot hear hisses metallically; I say where I am and what I've seen. I cannot hear what he or she is saying, but that is that. I get on the next train and get to work a few minutes late.

Horniman Museum is musical instruments and Ethnography . . .

I went there looking for Canadian Aboriginal Indian artefacts. I did find a whole bunch in glass cases, but I also found this very large walrus, donated in the 1880's.






















It's at http://www.horniman.ac.uk/
A good example of things they do is the sand painting. It was created by visiting Navajo persons in 1966, and as with all sand paintings, it didn't last long.
If you go to the link, you'll also see more about the THOUSANDS of musical nstruments from all over the world (Poland to Mongolia, not much on Canadian when I visited). You can touch some of them, and play them. It's open nearly every day, and it's FREE . . . London SE22, from London Bridge . . .

Dr Doom told us it was gonna happen, and guess what ??

Yep, I did wonder how the recession was going to unfold. No, he cannot say, but he has a few predictions. Read Emma Brockes' account of meeting Nouriel Roubini at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/24/nouriel-roubini-credit-crunch

Scarlet fever in the Guardian

Simon Hattenstone's hit the nail on the head here. Did you know there's 13 % carrot-tops in Scotland, but only 2 % overall in the rest of the world ? The erudite article is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/24/gingerism-ginger-prejudice

A new way of watching telly . . . STREAMING VIDEO

We're old-fashioned at our house. If there's a programme we want to watch on the goggle-box, we turn on the telly at the prescribed time, watch the show, then switch off.
An exception has always been made for EastEnders, a pretty popular soap, on in the early evenings; that gets video-recorded each time, and then deleted shortly afterwards.

We weren't able to watch a programme about Rick Stein (see photo) who's a popular West Country restauranteur, so we video'd it. The recording was AWFUL (full of 'snow' garbled sound, too too bad). I KNEW that I couldn't download BBC i-player to my MacBook, but I went to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00gmr6r/Rick_Steins_Memoirs_of_a_Seafood_Chef/

to find the show archived online. You are supposed to download the i-Player software to your PC, then download the programme you want, and watch it on you computer.

Clicking on the picture got me 'streaming video'. Yes, it took me a minute to realise what had happened. but the BBC has set up their webpage so that when you click on a show you want to look at, it checks what type of ADSL (Broadband) connection you are using (speed, contention ratio, technical stuff) and then STARTS TO SEND THE SHOW TO YOUR COMPUTER FRAME-BY-FRAME in real-time. How cool is that !

I had to add the auxillary CRT 550 mm. monitor, to make the film viewable by both of us, over an hour and a half. It worked REALLY WELL.; such a clear picture, clear sound just from the MacBook speakers, 10 out of 10.

I understand the ITV people have done exactly the same thing. Do we need a TV set anymore, then ?? Answers on an airwave, please . . . Does this mean that as we aren't receiving a telly picture on a telly set, we can dispense with paying the £130 annual license fee . . ???

Athiests everywhere . . .

As you can see, Araiane Sherine (the one who kicked off the campaign) is a normal comedy-writer, so who better to raise £ 140, 000 to publicize such an important idea . . .



I've been trying to find something 'fun' to blog for a week or two. This topic (atheist slogans on the sides of London buses) floated in the evening telly news, and lo and behold, there it was on page 15 of today's newspaper. She has written 500 words on WHY she wanted to run the idea past the rest of us.

Find her (faintly humourous but still dead-serious) take on 'lack of God' at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5488849.ece
It's a good antidote to the rest of the news

Little Black Gallery Chelsea - JUST OPENED . . .

WOW . . . This is one of the images at the new gallery in Clehsea. I read about it in the Guardian this morning
(Centre spread, EYEWITNESS - Most Wanted), and there is an informative link in the Independent at http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/a-life-brought-into-focus-a-new-gallery-celebrates-the-life-of-photographer-bob-carlos-clarke-1026125.html

It look fab, and seems to be just the place to visit on a grey afternoon, but only when my coursework is up-to-date . . .

Personal Identity Hijack

Franz Kafka wrote about this sort of thing.

It is very creepy to know that there's another person you've never met, who has all your identity documents, living a parallel life, doing all sorts of things you would never do.

Someone pretending to be me (complete with fraudulent passport and driving licence, so that he could open a bank account in my name) has just made £ 12,000 from a national government department. A bank where I've never had an account is where he keeps his money. When I rang that bank, they suggested I go immediately to the police, and report a crime.So I did.

Read about this sort of thing at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/28/ukcrime.scamsandfraud
and at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/08/identityfraud.immigration

I mentioned to the constable at the local nick that I was worried about how to clear my name (I hadn't taken the money, but someone using my identity has), and he couldn't tell me how I might explain to the Tax office, prospective employers, or indeed the courts, that it wasn't me who stole the money.

The Times covers this briefly in an article at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article1270214.ece

This raises the question "How can I prove that this person standing before you is really me, and not an impostor ?"
Unless my fingerprints are on a file somewhere (unlikely) then anyone who says they are me, can indeed act as me, until the real me comes along and challenges him.

It's not over yet. I am awaiting a call from the CID, who may take an interest in my case . . .

Did anything exciting happen to you this week ??

WOOLIES is on the way out. Some are bothereed more than others.

If you grew up buying your pocket-money Christmas presents for loved ones, Woolies holds a place close to your child-heart. And now's the time to shed a tear, as they are leaving rapidly. But, so are the rest of the retailers, if you read today's Guardian.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/20/woolworths-retail-high-street-christmas

Autumn EXHIBITION by Islington Art Society

Yes, I have put in four photos at the Art Society, and invite everyone to come and see.
Details are :-
Thurday 20 Nov '08 for the preview
18.00 h to 20.30 h.
The Gallery, Edwards Lane, Stoke Newington, London N16 0JS

Directions - Finsbury Park tube and National Rail, then a 106 bus along Lordship Park , alight at Lordship Road, then look at the thumbnail map I've attached,. the big red X is the gallery.

Highbury & islington tube and Overground, then a 73 bus up Albion Road. alight at Stoke Newington Church Street, turning left and you're almost at the gallery. see thumbnail map attached.