Memoirs of a Roadie

Pictured Life

Posted on 24th December 2008

Earlier this month there was a rather confusing and worrying blanket "Moral Majority" ban of a page on Wikipedia. The page in question has now been unblocked and the actual image that started it all has also been unblocked, with the Internet Watch Foundation that instigating the block now backing down in the face of overwhelming resistance to their actions.

The image in question is from the original front cover of the 1976 album release "Virgin Killer" by The Scorpions. At the time of its release in 1976, it courted controvesy and although widely available to all in numerous retail outlets across the world, some outlets did insist on selling it only over the counter in a sealed paper bag, and only a few refused to stock it at all. Following feedback from the retail outlets, the band reissued the album with a cover featuring a group shot of the band. However, the original album cover is still widely available in second record stores and on eBay. Following remastered reissues and boxset packages, the CD is once again available with the original artwork. It has also appeared in many books over the years, often cited amongst a list of worst album covers, some of which can found in public libraries.

I don't know the retail figures, but I can imagine that several thousand heavy metal fans in the UK alone have a copy of the original album, or a reissued remastered CD featuring the image in their collections.

So the decision to ban the image ONLY on wikipedia now (some 32 years after the original image was widely available) seems absolutely idiotic. At first the main page regarding the album was blocked, and appartently it is the first time the IWF has banned a complete work of text. Wikipedia volunteer David Gerard and Sarah Robertson from the IWF were interviewed on BBC Radio 4 as I was driving into work on the day the block was instigated and it was very evident that the woman representing the IWF was rather ignorant of the situation, trying to focus on the fact that they had shown it to the police who had said it was "potentially illegal". Blaming the police, who are NOT judge and jury regarding obscene material is rather irresponsible at best, and only serves to highlight their lack of process in ensuring that if an image is considered illegal, a botched attempt at banning is the best of their abilities.

Wikipedia themselves issued a statement that reads "Due to censorship by the UK self-regulatory agency the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), most UK residents can no longer edit the volunteer-written encyclopedia, nor can they access an article in it describing a 32-year-old album by German rock group the Scorpions." In addition Wikimedia Foundation's General Counsel, Mike Godwin, is also quoted as saying "We have no reason to believe the article, or the image contained in the article, has been held to be illegal in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world."

So although the image was deemed "potentially illegal" by the UK police the IWF spoke to, for the past 32 years no country has ever passed a judgement and condemed the image as illegal. It might be inappropriate, but not illegal.

And so to a bigger question. Why Wikipedia? In fact why ONLY Wikipedia? The image was wide spread across the internet, in places such as Google's image cache, on various retail sites, including Amazon, The Scorpions own website and countless others. Could it be that Wikipedia is unlikely to be in a position to sue them for blocking their site? I can well imagine that Amazon and any other major retailer would have drafted in lawyers within seconds and be issuing writs for comercial damages. Not something the IWF would be equipped to deal with, particularly since they are an independent self-appointed body, without official government backing.

Following on from that last point, the perhaps more important question is if this body is self-appointed, without government backing, who is reviewing the practices of the Internet Watch Foundation? While in many instances they may well be protecting us from illegal images, without proper regulation and governance, instances like the blocking of Wikipedia will happen again.

The scary thing in all of this is that possessing the album has never been considered illegal, and indeed would have been very difficult to prosecute now 32 years later, but the IWF seem to believe that that doesn't matter and effectively attempted to criminalise a potentially significant portion of the UK population. Should they have that power? In my opinion no, as it should be the police and the courts who govern what is actually illegal.

Because of the fact that most ISPs in the UK currently sign up to the IWF block lists, this incident was felt instantly across the UK for anyone contributing to Wikipedia. Having now blown such a big hole in their metaphorical foot, I suspect the IWF may well be a little more careful about what they block and maybe, just maybe, they might even provide better justification for blocking images and pages in the future. However, it still worries me that they can potentially criminalise a publicly available image by dubious means and make criminals out of the population, without having any jurisdiction to do so. It's not big brother we have to worry about any more it's the nanny state. Tipper Gore still has a lot to answer for.

That's Not My Name

Posted on 23rd December 2008

Since Dan was born I've always called him DanDan. Just recently he asked Nicole, "Why does Daddy still call me DanDan?" Apparently now that he's all done grown up, he's not too happy with being called DanDan any more. So for from now it'll be Dan or Daniel :)

Into The Lungs Of Hell

Posted on 22nd December 2008

The past month or so has mostly been filled with illness of one sort or another. I'm currently still suffering with a lingering dose of catarrh, which is annoying the hell out of me, as the mucus keeps sliding down my windpipe and then I'm coughing it all up again. Nasty. A couple of weeks ago I was wiped out by the virus that seems to be spreading like wildfire across the UK. Most people seem to have come down with something in the past month at least.

Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of this catarrh before Christmas. It's been really annoying of late as my Dad has been in hospital to have his kidney removed, and either the kids, Nicole or myself have been too ill to risk visiting him while he's recouperating. Thankfully he got the all clear at the end of last week, so he just needs to take it easy and recover from the surgery and he should be back on his feet again soon. The kids have sent pictures and cards to help him get well, but it isn't quite the same as being able to see him in person.

All being well, we should make it over after Christmas.

World In Motion

Posted on 3rd November 2008

What an end to the 2008 season of Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton needed to finish in 5th place or above and he did just that, but only just! Had Timo Glock been able to finish the race with the pace he was setting in the last few laps, it could all have been a different story. I did think it was a shame that Lewis wasn't able to compete with the front runners as he has throughout most of the season, and seeing as there had been some rain on the track, I was expecting to see Lewis relishing the wet and making his way towards the leaders.

My biggest sympathies go to David Coulthard. His last race before retirement and taken out by the Williams of Nico Rosberg on the first corner. He must feel gutted. He is currently the 5th highest career points scorer in Formula 1, and as a consequence is also the highest scoring racer without ever winning the Championship. The Red Bull team had done a relivery job on his car, espcially for the occasion. I'm sure he'll be featuring in some form of commentating capacity in the future, and with ITV bowing out of the contract 2 years early and returning the coverage for the 2009 season to the BBC, maybe he'll be commission to sit in the commentary booth :) Speaking of coverage returning to the BBC, I'm rather pleased at that turn of events. It will now mean that we'll be able to watch the WHOLE race without annoying adverts being shown every 15-20 minutes, which often meant missing out on some exciting moment as it happened. Plus the coverage is to extend to Radio and online, so hopefully it'll mean I can at least hear the race if I'm not in front of a TV.

But well done to Lewis Hamilton, a thoroughly deserved Championship win. Now the youngest ever Champion and only the second rookie to win the Championship in only his second season (hopefully he fairs better than Jacques Villeneuve did in subsequent seasons). But it could so easily have been a convincing win in the Chinese GP. With the farcial penalties that have been handed out this season, or not for certain people, it hasn't been a particularly pleasant season. I'm just hoping that several rules are clarified and more consistent judgements from the stewards are made for the 2009 season.

One thing that has puzzled me a bit having watched the celebrations on the podium at the weekend. Although the race winners are celebrated in style, with trophies, champagne and interviews in the press room, what about the new world champion if they don't finish on the podium? Is there a separate presentation evening? And for that matter is there a special trophy? I'm sure it's happened in previous years, where the champion has simply had to finish in the points and has not gained a podium place, so what happens? All the papers in the UK are raving about the Championship win, and rightly so, but it does seem a bit odd that no award presentation is made at the end of the season. At least not a public one. In fact I think it's the only Championship sport that I've ever seen where the Champion is not awarded anything at the end of the season for being Champion!

In The Court Of The Crimson King

Posted on 31st October 2008

This week is half term, so the plan was to visit a few places locally. On Monday DanDan and I had been left to our own devices, so we headed off to see more castles. This time we ventured into Wales, or at least just across the border. Unfortunately it seems I wasn't checking the settings correctly on the camera, and some of the photos came out a little too over exposed. I was quite impressed with Raglan Castle, aside from being a very reasonable entrance fee, the castle although not huge, is full of hidey holes and cellars to explore. The keep, like many we've visited recently, still has most of it's stairs up to the tower intact, and you are allowed up to look at the view.

Following the visit to Raglan Castle our plan was to visit Symonds Yat Rock then onto Goodrich Castle. Unfortunately we were too late getting to Goodrich Castle so we'll have to leave that for another time. Just a short way back over the border back into England, near Ross-on-Wye, is Symonds Yat. Now there are two Symonds Yat villages, which confused DanDan and I while we tried to find Symonds Yat Rock. We first visited Symonds Yat West, which resides in Herefordshire on the eastern bank of the River Wye. Then upon realising our mistake, we turned around and headed for Symonds Yat East in Gloucestershire, finally finding Symonds Yat Rock. The view across each side of the peak is impressive, though the eastern side is mostly of interest for ornithologists, due to the Peregrine Falcons that have returned to the area. It's a shame you can't quite see the original hill fort any more, although driving out of the car park you do follow between two of the mounds and trenches.

On Tuesday morning we had glorious sunshine, so the plan to go to Dudley Castle & Zoo seemed quite a good idea at the time. By the time we got there it was a little overcast and a bit drizzly, but we figured it would blow over. Having paid quite a substantial amount of money for want amounts to an out-of-season visit, the rain started to get a little heavier. As it was lunchtime we headed for food first, but afterwards it was still raining. We attempted to do some indoor activities, as much as we could, but the rain wasn't giving up. After a few hours of perseverance we admitted defeat and decided to walk back down to exit and the car. At this point the rain turned into snow! Had we known how the weather was going to turn, I doubt we'd have gone for a day out. The castle and the zoo themselves do look like they would be a good day out during better weather, but many of the animals were inside and trying to take photos in the rain is not the brightest of ideas when you have a decent camera. I was considering not include photos here, due to the drops of rain and snow on the lens, but then it was all part of a memorable day out :)

Enjoy the photos.

• Raglan Castle
• Symonds Yat
• Dudley Castle & Zoo

Hungry Like The Wolf

Posted on 31st October 2008

For some time now, someone in Messagelabs has been driving to work in their business van. I'm guessing that the van normally only gets used during the evenings and at weekends for local deliveries around Cheltenham and Gloucester. As such during the day it saves buying a car just to commute to work :)

Now driving to work in a van is not that unusual, and the first time I saw the van it just amused me to see that it was a Indian Takeaway van.

However, it was only after I suddenly noticed all the modifications that have been made to the van, that moved me to take some photographs of it. It also gives Poppadoms a bit of advertising, which is essentially what they meant to do with the changes. I have never used the takeaway themselves, so can't endorse the food ... yet, but I'm willing to give them a try if they want to deliver to South Birmingham ;)

What I first spotted was the "No curries kept in this vehicle overnight" sticker on the back of the van, then the contradictory "Curry on board" sign. It was only later I noticed that the model of the van too had been doctored to "Suzuki Curry 1.3". Is that the average grading of the curries on board at any one time? ;)

I known, I know, but sometimes it's just the simple things that amuse me.

Hanging On The Telephone

Posted on 22nd October 2008

In light of the recent announcement about a device to help avoid silent callers and cold callers to households, it's interesting to note that there is another way to get your own back.

This video was sent to me via Facebook and I haven't laughed to the point of tears in a very long time. Thankfully I wasn't drinking or eating at the time. Watch "The Greatest Prank Call Ever" and you too will be crying with laughter. If I was as quick witted I might give this a try on UK cold callers ... even though we've been signed up for TPS for the last couple of years! Enjoy :)

Dancin' in the Ruins

Posted on 21st October 2008

A few weeks back, I took DanDan to visit Ludlow Castle. Unusually for the weather we've been having, it was a fantastic sunny day. On the trip over there were a few view points that we really should have stopped at, as the view looking West as we came over the hills, was much better than those looking East. However, it was easier to stop and look East. At one point where we stopped, the area allows for sheep to run free, as cattle grids either side of the hilltop stop them straying too far. One decided to investigate DanDan further :)

When we finally arrived in Ludlow, we headed towards Castle Square, hoping to find a nearby car park. Our luck was in, as an on street parking spot was free right outside the castle entrance. It also turned out to be market day, but being a Sunday was more or the car-boot kind of market day, than a regular one. As we were here to see the castle, we didn't spend too much time in the town itself. Hopefully we'll get the chance to do that another time, as there looks to be some great buildings around the network of streets.

Ludlow Castle itself is an old medieval castle, that has gone through a few transformations and was once a Royal Castle. Not quite as grand as Windsor Castle maybe, but I can imagine the place was a sight to behold in its day. Much of the stone work has seen better days, but there is enough standing for you to get a good idea of what the castle must have looked like. You explore up the towers and down into the cubby holes, and discover some fantastic views.

I haven't looked at DanDan's photos yet, but he did seem to have a lot of fun with the camera. After we'd been up the first tower, that stands outside of the main fortress, DanDan handed me the camera. He then proceeded to run round the entire outer wall and buildings. I shgould have filmed him, as there were a few other visitors completely bemused by his mad dash! Once inside the main fortress, I took lots of photo opportunities. With the light being so bright outside, those shots have unsurprisingly come out the best. The more darkened pictures I struggled with. It was a shame as some of the hidden rooms tell some interesting stories.

Seeing as it was just DanDan and I, we're hoping to go back again with Nicole and Ethne at some point, so hopefully by then I'll have got the hang of photographing in subdued light. Will also take more time to take photos of other parts of the town. If you're ever stuck for somewhere to go for the day, Ludlow comes highly recommended.

• Ludlow Castle - 21st Sept 2008

A Means To An End

Posted on 15th October 2008

Recently I was pointed at a blog post, entitled "8 Unix Tricks You Didn't Know". Although 7 I did know, there were 2 entries that I felt I could extend. I sent the author of the blog a mail, so hopefully he may add them (I don't have a Moveable Type, Live Journal or Vox account ... I know, I'm so unhip! ... so cannot add a comment). In the meantime, I thought I'd add them here, and include a couple of extra tips that I use regularly.

Firstly, for entry 6, an addition to the '+' syntax, you can also write something like 'vi +' (without any number after the '+'). vi then will open the file and immediately start on the last line of the file. This is extremely handy when editing a large file that you wish to edit from the end.

Secondly, for entry 8, while the method described works when you only editing one file, and in fact will work with any control character (change Ctrl-M to Ctrl-I and it will remove tabs), but if you have several it can be a bit labourious. An alternative is to install the 'sysutils' package and use 'dos2unix' command line program. I use this all the time to ensure that any file that could potentially have been edited in a Windows environment is sanitised for Linux.

So those were the ones that were already listed, but there another couple of tips that I use, that I am occasionally surprised to discover that others don't. So I thought I share them here. These two are specifically aimed at monitoring:

'tail -f filename'

'tail' lists the last few lines of a file (you can specify how many or use the default of 10). By adding the '-f' option the tail will continue to display lines from the file, that are freshly written by other applications. This is especially useful when watching output files, such as log files.

'watch "command"'

I only came across 'watch' in the last year or so, and now use it all the time. It takes a command line argument and repeats the command every 2 seconds. Instead of repeatedly typing the command you want (or Up-Arrow/Return if you use your command line history), 'watch' will do that for you. A common one I use is 'watch "ls -altr | tail"', particularly in my apache web logs folder, so I can see which websites are being looked at most recently, and more importantly, quickly spot when something has been written to an error.log file.

Speaking of the history file, you might not be aware of the Ctrl-R history search feature in bash. On the command line enter Ctrl-R and then type a sequence of characters. bash will then attempt to auto-complete the command you have previously used. I particularly use this when trying to remember what the IP address is of the server I waht to SSH to.

So these are just a few of mine. I'm sure there are plenty of others that other people use too. It's reminded me that I really ought to add Linux Server Hacks and Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two to my Christmas wishlist :)

Castles and Dreams

Posted on 29th September 2008

Discovering local history can be quite fun at times. I've lived in and around Birmingham for the past 12 years, and there is certainly a lot history I've discovered already. However, there has been one part I never knew existed until recently. While planning the trip to Ludlow Castle and Richards Castle last weekend with DanDan, I came across a page listing Weoley Castle. Now Weoley Castle is an area of South Birmingham, that is slightly North of where I live now, and slightly south of where I used to live when I first moved to Birmingham. I've driven through the area many times between Northfield and Harborne, but never knew that the remains of the castle ruins still existed. Although to be fair it isn't a castle in the grand sense, but a fortified manor house. Not that that should deter you from visiting it.

So on Saturday, DanDan and I took a drive over to the Weoley Castle Ruins. Having read the web page, we were prepared to only see the ruins from the viewing area. But seeing as it's a bit of local history I wasn't too bothered about that. As it turned out, our arrival at the site couldn't have been better timed. We'd just started taking pictures, when a woman walked passed the other side of fence, in medieval attire befitting of the lady of the house. She and the guy walking with her, walked up on to the ruins, where she posed for a photo. As they walked back, the woman paused and told us that if we wanted to come back later at either 2pm or 3pm, there would be a storytelling and we would be allowed into the ruins to have a look round. Not wanting to miss a golden opportunity, DanDan and I headed home for lunch and picked up Nicole and Ethne.

We arrived in time for the 3pm event, and walked with about 40 others up into the ruins by the last surviving apple tree, of those that had originally stood there. Then the show began. The woman we had seen earlier announced herself as Joan de Botetourt, lady of the castle. Over the course of about half an hour or more, she took us around the rooms of the castle, telling us about each room, the history of the castle and the de Botetourt family history. All completely in character. The show and storytelling were fantastic and I was so glad we had happened to come and visit the ruins in the morning. The storyteller turned out to be Anna O'Brien of Annamation, one of a troupe who frequently do this kind of storytelling, particularly at the Barber Institute by Birmingham University, where they re-enact paintings.

I took the opportunity to take LOTS of photos, and it was a wonderful day to take them too. I spoke with one of the organisers, who had come over to ask if I was a professional photographer or did it as a hobby. Reassuring her I was most definbitely an amateur, she told me about their plans for the site. Unfortunately they had been turned down to open a visitors centre, but they now have plans to open a school room. Although some local schools do take advantage of the opportunities to have the children taken around the ruins, not too many do, and occasionally rain means tours get cancelled. A dedicated school room means more schools can plan visits regardless of the weather, and much more planned activities.

It was a brilliant afternoon, and I'm so glad that Birmingham Museums And Galleries put on these sorts of events every so often. If you ever spot the chance to go and tour the ruins, especially if Annamation are doing the storytelling, then go. You will be thoroughly entertained.

• Weoley Castle - A Fortifed Manor House in Birmingham.