:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Saturday, February 28, 2004 ::

Channel 4 has started trailing the new series of Black Books (with some strangely slap stick looking trailers). Season 3 starts on March 11th.

:: Dan 28.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Bill Hicks' death. If you haven't heard any of this great and massively influential comedian's material then listen to some of the hours of streams available on the official Bill Hicks site. Predictably, this is under massive load at the moment so probably best to bookmark it and go back in a few days. In the mean time you can listen to Bill Bailey talking about Hicks' influence and performances here.

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Another gig! You will also be able to see Gusset straining themselves in the company of Frog Pocket (Planet Mu/Mouthmoth/Benbecula), Chevron (Planet Mu^*) and The Impossible Flower at Mr Wolf's Noodle Bar, 33 St Stephens, Bristol, on Thursday March 11th.

* I took that picture. Those filthy thieving Mu whores stole it and then have the cheek to complain about it!

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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SSI: Server Side Includes: in brief and in more detail

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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P J Harvey has just confirmed a show at The Zenith in Paris on June 23rd. Very close to Glastonbury time so the rumours are starting to fly about UK festival experiences. There are also rumours of a new album later this year. Keep an eye on the official site and the message boards for updates and potential lies.

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Forget accurate time-keeping, we are now moving into an era of fluidtime. It's explained nicely in this article and there are some links at the bottom to the official site and some O'Reilly tools and a presentation.

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Following the Word: Write letterz n shit, yo post a couple of days ago, GussetBLOG can now bring you the email horror that is MC Spammer and if you need some time away from you desk, why not try Duck Off.

:: Dan 27.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Whip removed from Tory MP over race joke. This seems a lame punishment considering Ann Winterton seems to have graduated from the Duke of Edinburgh School of Diplomacy. Three years ago Iain Duncan Smith dismissed Ms Winterton from her shadow agriculture post after she told a joke about an Englishman throwing a Pakistani out of a train that ended with the line: "They are 10 a penny in my country."
Labour MP Peter Bradley commented, "Michael Howard does not need to go to Burnley to take on racists - he should stay at Westminster to fight racists in his own ranks. Ms Winterton is now a serial offender. One racist joke might be crass, two is bigotry. If the Tories want to reproject their party as a caring party, they should consider whether they really want someone like her representing their party."
It took some searching to actually find out what the "joke" was, turns out is was the horrendous shark related one I lowered myself to posting here a couple of weeks ago (umm, in the interest of reporting the social-political climate following the tragic incident).
Ms Winterton has refused to apologise or take back her comments but I am not so high and mighty and apologise now for any offence I may have caused and regret making the comment in the first place. There, I said it. I'm not proud.

The first ceremony for immigrants granted British citizenship is to be held on today. (nice diagram)
Here are the Home Office's notes to editors. Grammatical errors have been preserved for humour value. Number four seems to be the source of the accusations that this is just a publicity stunt.
1. The Home Office announced the date of the first citizenship ceremony and its plans for pilot classes of English and citizenship on 2 February 2004 (Home Office PN 048/2004).
2. The Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group was set up to advise the Government on the best way of implementing the provisions of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 which requires prospective citizens to demonstrate knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic and of life in the United Kingdom.
3. The citizens will stand to swear or affirm the oath of allegiance to the Queen followed by the new pledge to uphold democratic values before processing onto the stage to meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Mr Blunkett and Mr Lemmon. The Deputy Lieutenant Sir Neil Thorne will also be present.
4. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will present each new citizen with a certificate and a commemorative medal from the Borough of Brent before giving a welcoming speech. The citizens and audience will then invited to join in the singing of the national anthem by children from the Brent Youth Choir. The new citizens then joined dignitaries for a drinks reception.
5. The oath is - I, [name], [swear by Almighty God] [do solemnly and truly declare and affirm] that, on becoming a British citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors according to law.
6. The pledge is - I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values. I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen.
I like the fact you get the choice of either swearing by Almighty God or solemnly and truly declaring. Shame about all of the Royal waffle. Shouldn’t allegiance to a nice cup of tea be an alternative?

What the World Thinks of God. Ironically 71% of Americans questioned said they we’re willing to die for their God. Perhaps this is something they should stop and think about.
The UK is among most secular nations. Only 67% of Britons believe in God or a higher power and only 21% regularly attended a religious service. Are we even a Christian country still? How long before we have to take the step of declaring ourselves either a mixed faith or an atheist nation? This is one step in that direction: UK school kids to be taught atheism in religious classes. Nice.

Other stuff:

Microsoft's Tokyo offices raided

BBC Oscar quiz. I scored 9 out of 12 which isn't bad considering there were two audio questions I couldn't actually listen to.

:: Dan 26.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Via Proxxy:
Miscrosoft Word: Write letterz n shit, yo

:: Dan 25.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Ethereal at the Royal Festival Hall, Saturday 6 March 2004, 11am – 7pm: Workshops, Lectures and Free Live Electronic Performances as part of ETHER 2004. Including Lektrolab's beginners' DJ workshops, Native Instruments Present Reaktor and Traktor, and a series of lectures:

• ROMAN BELAVKIN (SOLAR X): Balancing Possibilities & Productivity


• JOHN EACOTT: Designing Instruments and Composition in SuperCollider


• PAUL B DAVIS: Circuit-Bending for Audio


• MATTHEW PATRICK OLDEN: The Jungulator


• D-FUSE: Electronic Music and Visuals

:: Dan 25.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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This is the manual for a Manley Tube Amp. Nothing exciting there, until you get to the "More Silly Vacuum Tube Questions" section (page 12):
FAQ #16i.i After the vacuum leaks out, where does it go? Is there some way to
collect it and put it in another tube, to make it last longer?
You have to suck really hard.
FAQ #16j. No really, how do I know a tube is broken?
Usually a tube whose glass has been broken or cracked usually will have a white powdery like substance inside it where all that silvery stuff used to be. No, it is not cocaine and we didn't put it there..

:: Dan 25.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Tories suggest scraping of licence fee. Hmm, Beeb should be run more like C4 according to ex-BSkyB and Channel 5 executive.

Disney hall glare 'heats homes': "Glare from Walt Disney's stainless steel concert hall in Los Angeles is heating nearby homes by at least 8°C, neighbours have complained"

Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique
All the lyrics, all the samples.
Thanks to pidgin

Via LinkMachineGo:

1. Columbo Quotes
Part of the absolutely fantastic Ultimate Columbo Site

2. The 10 Worst Album Covers (Scary!)

3. The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less
Claims to be "the inspiration for the book A Briefer History of Time and led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project" (The Pseudo-Translations are fantastic, but no SMS version?)
But was it also the inspiration for this or this?

:: Dan 24.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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Excessive public mourning has become a "religion for the lonely crowd that no longer subscribes to orthodox churches". Sounds fair enough to me. Reading between the lines though the proposed solution here is that more people should go to church. Personally, I think it would be better to give them a slap and tell them to "get over it".

:: Dan 23.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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I visited the FIELD florescent tubes under a pylon thing yesterday. It looks really impressive. It doesn't glow as brightly as the photos make out, probably needed a really long exposure to show it like that. Unfortunately it was far to dark for me to take any photos. I might pop by again on my way home from work tonight, try and catch it at dusk.

Reviews added:
Ascoltare - Visceral Vendor (Tripel Records)

Speedy J/Literon - Collabs 200 (novamute)

:: Dan 23.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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I want to go Zorbing!
You can do it here.

:: Dan 22.2.04 [Arc]    ::
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