Sunday, 27 April 2008
New blog...
I've added a blog to showcase my photo's, the link is to the right. I didnt want to clutter this blog with them so created another...
Friday, 18 April 2008
On grandmothers...
My grandmother died on 19 Feb last year (2007)... She wasn't the kind of grandmother who had much to do with us. My father was her eldest son. She only started taking an interest in us after my father died, when it was 'revealed' that she was our grandmother (I knew from the age of eight though, an Uncle had told me one day, why I dont know)...
Then, a few years later, I got married and obviously invited her to the wedding. We had the wedding in the afternoon and a celebration at night... However, in between we had a small party for close family and friends. Only those invited knew about it, she wasn't invited (only because she'd not really been close family).
She found out about it when the Vicar published the details in the local rag... That was when she phoned my mother and played merry hell with her about it and asked why she'd not been invited. I cant remember what my mother said at the time (although it wasnt really anything to do with her as my wife and I had decided who was going), anyway this resulted in a falling out...
A few months later I saw her in the village and she just walked past me, blanking me totally... And I never saw her again, or had anything to do with her after that...
I figured it was her loss, I have three children that she could have seen and had a part in their lives, plus the children of my siblings. She fell out with us, as far as I am concerned it was up to her to come with the Olive branch, not me... But she didnt...
Then, while at an Aunt's funeral I was talking to my grandmothers sister as we were going into the service and found myself sat at the side of my grandmother... I was still talking to my great aunt before the service began when my grandmother asked who I was (because I kept referring to family members)... I told her... then the service began...
My youngest daughter had come with me to my Aunts funeral, she wanted to be there for my cousin (she's a friend of his) and as we were coming out of the service my grandmother asked if my daughter knew that she (grandmother) was her great-grandmother... I told her yes...
That was the last time I saw her...
For the last six years, I've been tracing my family history... and all the time I've been doing that I've wanted to go and see her but thought she wouldn't want to see me after, well, 24 years of not talking to her... That and the fact that she had a sister she never spoke to, and I went to see her to get the information I wanted...But still, there were questions that only she could have answered... and now I can't ask her...
And I've since found out that she's left some of her estate to myself and my two siblings... and when my Uncles and Aunt went to clear the house they found unopened presents that she'd obviously bought for us that she never had the chance to deliver...
She also used to talk about us a lot... So, why the flying foojar didn't she make that extra effort to reach out... All this time I thought she never wanted anything to do with us... and pride got in the way of everything...
I can't say that I miss her, I don't, she wasn't a big part of my life (apart from the fact I carry remnants of her DNA).. I do wish she'd made the effort to contact us... and conversely I wish I'd made that extra effort to go and see her and ask her the questions only she could have answered...
In the end, there were no winners... Everyone lost... My grandmother lost out on eight great-grandchildren, they lost out on knowing their great-grandmother... I lost out on getting answers to specific questions, she lost out on seeing me and my siblings...
Que Sera Sera...
Then, a few years later, I got married and obviously invited her to the wedding. We had the wedding in the afternoon and a celebration at night... However, in between we had a small party for close family and friends. Only those invited knew about it, she wasn't invited (only because she'd not really been close family).
She found out about it when the Vicar published the details in the local rag... That was when she phoned my mother and played merry hell with her about it and asked why she'd not been invited. I cant remember what my mother said at the time (although it wasnt really anything to do with her as my wife and I had decided who was going), anyway this resulted in a falling out...
A few months later I saw her in the village and she just walked past me, blanking me totally... And I never saw her again, or had anything to do with her after that...
I figured it was her loss, I have three children that she could have seen and had a part in their lives, plus the children of my siblings. She fell out with us, as far as I am concerned it was up to her to come with the Olive branch, not me... But she didnt...
Then, while at an Aunt's funeral I was talking to my grandmothers sister as we were going into the service and found myself sat at the side of my grandmother... I was still talking to my great aunt before the service began when my grandmother asked who I was (because I kept referring to family members)... I told her... then the service began...
My youngest daughter had come with me to my Aunts funeral, she wanted to be there for my cousin (she's a friend of his) and as we were coming out of the service my grandmother asked if my daughter knew that she (grandmother) was her great-grandmother... I told her yes...
That was the last time I saw her...
For the last six years, I've been tracing my family history... and all the time I've been doing that I've wanted to go and see her but thought she wouldn't want to see me after, well, 24 years of not talking to her... That and the fact that she had a sister she never spoke to, and I went to see her to get the information I wanted...But still, there were questions that only she could have answered... and now I can't ask her...
And I've since found out that she's left some of her estate to myself and my two siblings... and when my Uncles and Aunt went to clear the house they found unopened presents that she'd obviously bought for us that she never had the chance to deliver...
She also used to talk about us a lot... So, why the flying foojar didn't she make that extra effort to reach out... All this time I thought she never wanted anything to do with us... and pride got in the way of everything...
I can't say that I miss her, I don't, she wasn't a big part of my life (apart from the fact I carry remnants of her DNA).. I do wish she'd made the effort to contact us... and conversely I wish I'd made that extra effort to go and see her and ask her the questions only she could have answered...
In the end, there were no winners... Everyone lost... My grandmother lost out on eight great-grandchildren, they lost out on knowing their great-grandmother... I lost out on getting answers to specific questions, she lost out on seeing me and my siblings...
Que Sera Sera...
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Time, Families, Etc...
I was talking about time flying etc, last night with my cousin (while we were having a drink!) and he was saying that his father is amazed by the fact that he spoke to someone who was born in the year 1864 (his great-grandmother) and he's also spoke to his own great-grandaughter in 2008... a distance of 144 years... Fascinating stuff really when you get your head round it, I myself, remember my great-grandmother (born 1892) and she was always an old woman. But, in reality she hadn't always been an old woman.
I think that we can only relate to our own experiences and how we grew up, finding it hard to comprehend (whilst still knowing) that our own parents were once children as were their parents.
I'm currently tracing my family tree and find it amazing how families branch off and go down different routes, and how it's entirely possible that my own great-grandchildren (if there are any!) might not even now each other... and yet their grandparents are brothers and sisters... or even conversely my own brother's and sister's great-grandchildren may not know each other...
Certainly food for thought.. well for me anyway...
I think that we can only relate to our own experiences and how we grew up, finding it hard to comprehend (whilst still knowing) that our own parents were once children as were their parents.
I'm currently tracing my family tree and find it amazing how families branch off and go down different routes, and how it's entirely possible that my own great-grandchildren (if there are any!) might not even now each other... and yet their grandparents are brothers and sisters... or even conversely my own brother's and sister's great-grandchildren may not know each other...
Certainly food for thought.. well for me anyway...
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Time Flies...
I've noticed that as I get older, the faster that time appears to go by... Is it really over a year since I last wrote on here? Well, obviously it is as the dates will testify... I was sat thinking back earlier this week and remember myself and my best friend at the time remarking to each other (we were about eight or nine years old) that in the year 2000 we'll both be 36 years old, and it seemed a long , long way off, but here we are and we're EIGHT years PAST it...
I have cousins that are now GRANDPARENTS... hell, even my YOUNGER brother is a grandparent now... It doesnt seem two minutes ago that we were all new parents!!! My own eldest is 24 this year... TWENTY flamin FOUR!!!! Yet, inside I still feel like I did when I was younger... Obviously physically I look different, wrinkles appearing, hair pigment disappearing (leaving me with "silver" streaks), hair receding.. but other than that I'm still me...
Anyway, I'm gonna have to keep going with this now I've remembered where it is...
I have cousins that are now GRANDPARENTS... hell, even my YOUNGER brother is a grandparent now... It doesnt seem two minutes ago that we were all new parents!!! My own eldest is 24 this year... TWENTY flamin FOUR!!!! Yet, inside I still feel like I did when I was younger... Obviously physically I look different, wrinkles appearing, hair pigment disappearing (leaving me with "silver" streaks), hair receding.. but other than that I'm still me...
Anyway, I'm gonna have to keep going with this now I've remembered where it is...
Sunday, 3 December 2006
Filesharing Part One...
This is a post that I posted on a filesharing forum back in June of 2005, I've just re-found it and thought I'd drop it in here, it is/was supposed to be the first of a series of articles I was going to post on filesharing. I may still continue the articles...
If I recall correctly (and who knows with my sieve-like memory, there were another round of lawsuits against filesharers at the time I posted originally... The only thing I've changed is I've removed the name of the forum...
So...we've had the big decision and it seems that everyone is jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon again, nothing new there, but how will it affect us? Will it even affect filesharing as it is at the moment?
Most of what I see on News sites concerns programs like Kazaa, and Grokster...not much about the 'community' that we have here*1. Ok, so we break the law occassionally, what is the difference between me downloading an album and some corporation employing an accountant to find tax loopholes? None, both are morally wrong yet they accuse us of stealing without looking at themselves.
The *AA's continually harp on about our actions 'stifling creativity' but I've been introduced to so many new bands that I would never have had the opportunity to hear if I listened to the mainstream crap that is pumped out on every radio station. Let's look at the RIAA...who do they represent? The artist? Of course not. They represent the Record Companies, you know, the ones who write the contracts for the artists.
There are enough articles out there that show how the record companies treat their artistes, of course it's easy for Sheryl Crow and Don Henley *2 to say what they do because they are at the top of the tree, not at the bottom.
It is my opinion thart it is not, and never has been, about copyright infringement, it's about money. Everything boils down to the bottom line for these people. Once it may have been about the music, but now...
Should artistes be paid for their creativity? Of course they should, it's the hangers-on that shouldn't be...why does a CD have to cost so much? Because of 'overheads' they say. Well, I say, cut the 'overheads'. If something is not cost-effective, get rid. Isn't that a basic economic proposition?
Lets look at a breakdown of a CD cost *3
($15.99 CD)
$0.17 Musicians’ unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists’ royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead
We can see that there are a lot of overheads at both the label and retailer end, and there is a profit already added on for both the label and retailer ($1.70 and $0.80 respectivley). Something needs to be done about it. Gone are the days of the customer (I refuse to use the word consumer (I consume nothing) as I am a customer) just paying blindly for his goods.
And why can't I make a copy to give to my friends? Hell, I've bought the product, it now belongs to me and surely I have the right to do with my own property what I want? Apparently not...
Why? Because someone thinks that I am causing a loss to someone else. They can't 'prove' that I am, but they keep on spouting it and everyone in the media just keeps on regurgitating the crap that these organisations spurt out...what was it Goebbels said? Oh yeah, that was it - "A lie told often enough becomes the truth".
*1 I mean of course the whole BitTorrent comunity not just this forum :D
*2 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=887177
*3 http://www.almightyretail.com/
If I recall correctly (and who knows with my sieve-like memory, there were another round of lawsuits against filesharers at the time I posted originally... The only thing I've changed is I've removed the name of the forum...
So...we've had the big decision and it seems that everyone is jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon again, nothing new there, but how will it affect us? Will it even affect filesharing as it is at the moment?
Most of what I see on News sites concerns programs like Kazaa, and Grokster...not much about the 'community' that we have here*1. Ok, so we break the law occassionally, what is the difference between me downloading an album and some corporation employing an accountant to find tax loopholes? None, both are morally wrong yet they accuse us of stealing without looking at themselves.
The *AA's continually harp on about our actions 'stifling creativity' but I've been introduced to so many new bands that I would never have had the opportunity to hear if I listened to the mainstream crap that is pumped out on every radio station. Let's look at the RIAA...who do they represent? The artist? Of course not. They represent the Record Companies, you know, the ones who write the contracts for the artists.
There are enough articles out there that show how the record companies treat their artistes, of course it's easy for Sheryl Crow and Don Henley *2 to say what they do because they are at the top of the tree, not at the bottom.
It is my opinion thart it is not, and never has been, about copyright infringement, it's about money. Everything boils down to the bottom line for these people. Once it may have been about the music, but now...
Should artistes be paid for their creativity? Of course they should, it's the hangers-on that shouldn't be...why does a CD have to cost so much? Because of 'overheads' they say. Well, I say, cut the 'overheads'. If something is not cost-effective, get rid. Isn't that a basic economic proposition?
Lets look at a breakdown of a CD cost *3
($15.99 CD)
$0.17 Musicians’ unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists’ royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead
We can see that there are a lot of overheads at both the label and retailer end, and there is a profit already added on for both the label and retailer ($1.70 and $0.80 respectivley). Something needs to be done about it. Gone are the days of the customer (I refuse to use the word consumer (I consume nothing) as I am a customer) just paying blindly for his goods.
And why can't I make a copy to give to my friends? Hell, I've bought the product, it now belongs to me and surely I have the right to do with my own property what I want? Apparently not...
Why? Because someone thinks that I am causing a loss to someone else. They can't 'prove' that I am, but they keep on spouting it and everyone in the media just keeps on regurgitating the crap that these organisations spurt out...what was it Goebbels said? Oh yeah, that was it - "A lie told often enough becomes the truth".
*1 I mean of course the whole BitTorrent comunity not just this forum :D
*2 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=887177
*3 http://www.almightyretail.com/
Wednesday, 16 August 2006
Shot at Dawn - UPDATE
Today it appears that the Defence Secretary Des Browne is seeking a mass pardon for all those who were shot during World War One for military offences.
*1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4796579.stm
Mr Browne said: "Although this is a historical matter, I am conscious of how the families of these men feel today. They have had to endure a stigma for decades.
"That makes this a moral issue too, and having reviewed it, I believe it is appropriate to seek a statutory pardon."*1
*1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4796579.stm
Monday, 10 April 2006
Photo's
OK, this is not like my previous posts. I made an agreement that my next post wouldn't be too interesting.
Thought I'd drop a few photo's in of myself...
Ok, here we are in good ole 1964...note the lack of hair :( Took a while for my hair to grow...
A bit of a jump now to when I was round 6 or 7 years old... the strange thing is that I know that it's me but he looks like someone completely different to who I am... I find it hard to explain the feeling, maybe it's something to do with age... Perhaps it's because I no longer look like that...
I used to hate having curly hair and tried as much as I could to flatten it... It never worked :( I must be somewhere around 10 on this photo, it's evidently one taken at school (the inclusion of my sister and brother gives it away)
And then we move into being a teenager (about 14 in this pic)... See what I mean about the hair? Bloody horrible thing, always luggy in a morning...
Aaaah, the first one that I can date definitively, taken in 1983. 18 when this was taken... I gave up the fags ten years later... :) But I still wear hats of some description... :) And what is that under my nose?
Let's have a closer look at the "caterpillar" under my nose... What was I thinking?
Bit of a big jump now, into my late 30's... Taken when I'd be about 38, you can see that I bear no resemblance whatsoever to the pictures of me when I was younger. But at least my hair is straight now (well, what bit I have left) 
Talking about hair, from having none, to having curly hair we are back to "square one"... :D
And thence to the most recent photograph of me... Taken at Ladybower Reservoir in March of this year...
I'm not sure if this quick journey through my 41 years is interesting, I find it is. It maps who I am and who I was.
Thought I'd drop a few photo's in of myself...
Ok, here we are in good ole 1964...note the lack of hair :( Took a while for my hair to grow...
A bit of a jump now to when I was round 6 or 7 years old... the strange thing is that I know that it's me but he looks like someone completely different to who I am... I find it hard to explain the feeling, maybe it's something to do with age... Perhaps it's because I no longer look like that...
I used to hate having curly hair and tried as much as I could to flatten it... It never worked :( I must be somewhere around 10 on this photo, it's evidently one taken at school (the inclusion of my sister and brother gives it away)
And then we move into being a teenager (about 14 in this pic)... See what I mean about the hair? Bloody horrible thing, always luggy in a morning...
Aaaah, the first one that I can date definitively, taken in 1983. 18 when this was taken... I gave up the fags ten years later... :) But I still wear hats of some description... :) And what is that under my nose?
Let's have a closer look at the "caterpillar" under my nose... What was I thinking?
Bit of a big jump now, into my late 30's... Taken when I'd be about 38, you can see that I bear no resemblance whatsoever to the pictures of me when I was younger. But at least my hair is straight now (well, what bit I have left) Talking about hair, from having none, to having curly hair we are back to "square one"... :DAnd thence to the most recent photograph of me... Taken at Ladybower Reservoir in March of this year...I'm not sure if this quick journey through my 41 years is interesting, I find it is. It maps who I am and who I was.
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