:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 ::

iSchmap

The Schmap tourist guides have now been released for the iPhone and iPod touch. My photos in these versions are at:

Royal Academy of Arts, London
Chinatown, Liverpool
La Villa Cultural Center, Madrid
La Villa Cultural Center, Madrid
Eureka, Bath

If you are using a desktop computer, these links will show you exactly how the photos are displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guides.

Labels: Flickr, Maps, Photography, Travel

:: Dan 23.7.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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...wasn't as bad as I expected.

Labels: Travel

:: Dan 8.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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A couple of years ago I was in the back of a London cab, just off the Eurostar from Brussles, and was surprised to find a TV screen playing a travel video about Paris. Presumably to distract from viewing London whilst there. Having seen the capital before, I watched the video, which showed a man wearing a suit made out of in-line skates rolling around the city in a surprising accomplished and impressive manner. Despite searching for the video later I never found out any more about it until now, when Grom writes:

Another person to add to the certified nutter list. Jean Yves Blondeau looks like one of the Wheelers from Return to Oz (if you've ever had the mis/fortune to see that movie) as he wears his custom-made suit consisting of lots of inline skate wheels and then launching himself down Swiss roads. Make sure you also see parts 1 & 3 for more details about the suit and to see him attempt to go faster than a motorbike in the dark.

It reminds me of this joke:
Q: What's the hardest part of in-line skating?
A: Telling your parents you're gay.

Labels: Humour, Skate, Travel, Video

:: Dan 2.2.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Morning. I am offline at the moment. My PC died last Friday (power surge wrote off the power supply and mother-board and due to age rendered processor and RAM useless) so only have internet access in work, which I obviously try to minimise. Webmail is blocked. Should anyone really want to contact me for some reason, I can still pick up Flickr and Murdockspace messages, but not Facebook. I bought a new PC from yoyotech last night. Thanks to Spoksey for specing that up for me. Normal service will resume soon.

News

From Sunday's Independent:
"At present, Britain does not routinely fingerprint airline passengers (see page 3 for the US attitude). But starting two months from tomorrow, several million travellers each year will have their fingerprints, and photograph, taken twice before being allowed aboard a domestic flight."
The referenced article about the US attitude is here.
I mailed this to a security consultant friend to find out how it came about. Apparently it's down to commercial reasons, so every one gets to access one set of shops. Wooo.

Rambert Dance Company's ‘Britney Breakdown’
(I did some acoustic work for Rambert a couple of years ago. Lovely people.)
"Rambert Dance Company's ever-popular Season of New Choreography is an exciting opportunity to see brand new work created by some of Rambert's versatile dancers. The company has a track record of nurturing young choreographers. One of these is Hubert Essakow, who has commissioned a new work from Richard Thomas for Adey to sing live with the dancers. You won't be surprised to know that she gets to sing the word "arse" quite a bit."
(You may remember Richard Thomas from sitting behind the piano on TMWRNJ and as the person who provided the music for and co-wrote Jerry Springer the Opera with Stewart Lee.)

Spotted

Filthy, muck-strewn white van on the M5 on whose back door a mischievous passing finger had scrolled, "Cleaned by the NHS."

Busses

Chatting to "That'll be the Day: The Musical: The Fleece woman" on the bus stop yesterday morning. Tells me about her job then asks what I do. I say I work for an engineering practice in the centre. "Is that an admin role?" she asks. What!? Look at me. Glasses. Beard. Carrying laptop bag. I'm an engineer you cheeky cow.

I sat on the bus today, reading The God Delusion, next to someone reading the Bible. Book II of Psalms to be precise. What a wonderfully secular society we live in.

Labels: Art, Literature, News, Personal, Secuirty, Spotted, Travel

:: Dan 31.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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A recent technical discussion in the office was sidetracked by discussions about the age of parts of the UK motorway network. Google to the rescue, we found ukmotorwayarchive.org, "the online encyclopaedia of UK motorway heritage."

Not only did it answer all of our questions, it even presented an animated time history of network (very slow loading).

Meanwhile, over at Chris's British Road Directory we find the intriguing C-road hunt and the brilliantly annotated work in progress that is the Motorway drive simulator. I recommend the simulation of the M5 Northbound from Exminster in particular, where the petrol is only 85p/ltr and where the first "Tiredness kills Take a break" sign is annotated "Ten miles between junctions here - it's a long way to Bristol and most people are going all the way. Please don't drift off!"

Stupidly geeky as it is, it is still strangely fascinating. I've often wondered if such a map existed as I've been driving, but until now never bothered to look it up. Much as we like to take the piss out of the boring old gits in Civils in the office the engineers' fascination with such systems cannot be denied. In Microserfs Douglas Copland has the computer programmers pouring over 1970s freeway design manuals, quoting aloud from them to each other. There he touched an important part of the engineers psyche that transcends discipline.

Labels: Computing, Engineering, Literature, Maps, Travel

:: Dan 23.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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liverpool
Originally uploaded by gusset.


I've popped up on Schmapp again. This time in Liverpool. My shot of Chinatown, above, has been included. Odd, as I was never happy with it, I couldn't find a chance to get that arch without cars in front of it. My complete Liverpool set is here. Schmapplet below. Seems to be working now, and the Bath one has sorted itself out too. Fingers crossed.

Labels: Flickr, Maps, Travel

:: Dan 8.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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The latest edition of the Schmap Guide to Madrid now includes a couple of my photos from my trip there in March. Here's the wigget:



If you can't find them, it's these two of Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid.

Labels: Flickr, Madrid, Maps, Spain, Travel

:: Dan 28.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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There is a hierarchy of airline stewardship. They start off working for the budget airlines as bubbly, orange-clad, orange-skinned, bright young things. They progress through the ranks until they reach British Airways. By then the men are grey haired and astute looking, giving the impression that the pilot trying out a different job for the day. The women have a permagrin etched into their faces, the impression of any emotion other than shear joy is only visible through the eyes or audible in tone of voice. "You want half tomato juice half apple juice?" one repeats back to the guy in front of me, smiling like kindergarten teacher whilst betrayed by a faltering voice and the eyes of toddler watching a magic act. "I've never heard of anyone ask for that before," she feigns interestedly despite being quiet obviously horrified.

As we alight they stand at the front guessing whether they should address their gratitude for your choice of airline to you in German or English. I get English, Mrs P gets German. I later find out that this was because I smiled at them.

A glass sided escalator takes us to the gate, the 34degC heat outside has been magnified to a near deadly slow-cooking temperature inside. As we stand there being dragged onward at an agonisingly slow pace I fell like a pizza in an automated oven. Longpig and pineapple pizza anyone?

We survive the slow roasting, emerging gasping for air. The open walkway we are deposited onto is immediately above the smoking area (is there a no-smoking area?) of one of the restaurants. Huge lungfuls off second hand smoke are drawn in and quickly spluttered back out. Welcome to Germany.

Edit: Photo set here.

Labels: Germany, Humour, Travel

:: Dan 24.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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