Media Guardian carried a story about Telford FM today:
The authority today ruled that the Midland News Association, the owner of the Shropshire Star and several other papers in the area, would not be allowed to buy Telford FM on public interest grounds
Media Guardian
Sadly, no time to comment.
Also today, no time to comment on G2’s look at being gay in Britain today:
[I]s the mainstreaming of homosexuality only successful when done with a knowing wink? There’s a vast gulf between the cute campery of the likes of Brian Dowling and an actively sexual gay man
[Source]
Still, Tom does a much better job.
I don’t often re-read books that I have read before but for some reason I decided to re-read Dan Savage’s story of the adoption he undertook with his boyfriend, Terry. The second time round it’s just as great at the first time I read it.
I enjoy Dan Savage’s writing and ‘The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided To Go Get Pregnant‘ did not disappoint.
It’s the true story of Dan and his boyfriend’s quest to adopt a baby. In Portland they are able to take part in an Open Adoption where the birth mother selects the parents for her child. This book covers the decision making process, the initial seminars, the selection and the birth in detail with a warmth and humour that make it an engaging tale. Dan takes a look at his life and his relationship to explain the process that got them to the point of adoption.
As gay adopters there is a different view of the process but I think it will be relevant to anybody considering adoption; the worries and the pitfalls are mainly the same. While Dan’s style is humorous and engaging it does not detract from the seriousness of the process and the depth of care all involved show for the baby.
A thoroughly warm and entertaining read that is also informative and insightful.
2005: Flickr Christmas: Jamie Enjoys Herself
2005: Civil Partnership: Locally In Wandsworth
2005: Tribute To Atlantic 252
2002: Invisible Maps
December: I should be thinking a little bit about Christmas and trying to remember to send a card to those people who I always forget. Instead – for some reason – I am worrying about the increasing amount of spam to email accounts that I don’t even use. Demon is my ISP and has been forever. Some of my email addresses are spammed a great deal – I imagine as a result of using Usenet without hiding emails (hey, this was 1994). Demon don’t allow me to block mails to a specific address at the server end – it’s all client-side. So, I download it to remove it – or at least I download the mail headers. They do bounce emails after 30 days and I am going to have to resort to that with one of the mail addresses (the one that put all this in my head as I waited for the 700 headers to download this morning). They, however, have to hold all that mail for 30 days. I don’t want it and nor to they, so please Mr Demon deny email to specific addresses – I am thinking of your greater good here. [Related Link: Demon and Spam]
2005: Civil Partnership: George Michael To Wed
2005: Flickr Christmas: Advent Is Here
2002: Christmas Comes But Once A Year
2002: Link and Think
Apparently, Top of the Pops is getting another make-over tonight, this time master-minded by Andy Peters:
Long-running chart show Top of the Pops is relaunching on Friday in a bid to bring it up-to-date and boost its dwindling audience [BBC: Longer Top of the Pops goes live]
Now, like many in the UK I have a great affection for this programme but, I realised as I was reading the story, that I haven’t seen it for a very long time. Yet I watched Cat on CD:UK only last Saturday. I think Andy Peter’s problem with that show is about the timing not the content. Think about all of us thirty-somethings who’d watch it on a Saturday morning.
2006: Our Masks
2005: All Change At Capital
2005: Civil Partnership: Update From Scotland
2004: Oh the fun I’m having…
2004: Gary Lucy’s Birthday
2003: Linguistic Sensitivity
Anybody working in any kind of technology arena will, no doubt, be a little interested in this from snopes.com:
One such recent example included the manufacturer’s labelling of equipment where the words “Master/Slave” appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.
Of course one should be culturally sensitive but some words have always had multiple meanings as language has evolved. I love this fact about language that something you say today could mean something totally different tomorrow.
2006: Our Masks
2005: All Change At Capital
2005: Civil Partnership: Update From Scotland
2004: Oh the fun I’m having…
2004: Gary Lucy’s Birthday
2003: Pop TV
It may be Thanksgiving Day for some of my colleagues but some of us are still working. I am, however, lucky enough to be in Oslo. I flew in last night (hence all the reading of Attitude in the hotel). It was dark when I arrived but there was an unmistakable hint of snow on the ground at the airport. Considering all the trips I make to this part of the world, I have been a little disappointed that I have never seen a great deal of snow here. I was particularly saddened that there was no snow in Helsinki recently. Alas, by the time I made the centre of Oslo there was nothing to be seen.
2005: Civil Partnership: Westminster City Council Survey
2004: I Found Some Of Your Life
2003: Happy Thanksgiving
I’ve worked for American companies for a few years and never really grasped what the thanksgiving holiday was all about (apart from some very obvious things). This year I actually started to look it up:
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated between the Pilgrims and the Indians in 1621. That first feast was a three day affair. Life for the early settlers was difficult. The fall harvest was time for celebration. It was also a time of prayer, thanking God for a good crop. The Pilgrims and the Indians created a huge feast including a wide variety of animals and fowl, as well as fruits and vegetables from the fall harvest. This early celebration was the start of today’s holiday celebration. Like then, we celebrate with a huge feast. [Source: holidayinsights.com]
I would like to wish anybody passing by Listen to Musak a very happy holiday.
Of course there is always an alternative view.
2005: Civil Partnership: Westminster City Council Survey
2004: I Found Some Of Your Life
2003: Snow is Oslo?
Attitude Magazine has voted Coronation Street’s Todd Grimshaw as ‘Queer of the Year’ – which is interesting considering he’s a fictional character. At last Coronation Street has acknowledged gay people’s part in a society – although I don’t consider it a breakthrough in making the programme ‘representative’ or ‘real’. I believe that there was a great deal of publicity about this kiss which really concerned a pretty small element of the storylines in the programme (admittedly, I only watched for the few weeks around this kiss). If stories that Todd’s boyfriend is being cast are true, then it might get more interesting. Of course, the real crunch is what the regular viewers think. Perhaps I’ll get an idea when I see my gran over Christmas.
Attitude also voted The Hours as ‘Film of the Year’ which I am not sure about, and ‘Event of the Year’ was the scraping of Section 28 – which, of course, is a great step forward. The magazine has also chosen ‘Sexiest Man of the Year’ and, let’s just say, that one of the top choices is a previous Man of the Moment. The other, I imagine, will be very soon! Oh, if you’re thinking of heading to the newsagent, it’s the December issue I’ve been reading.
2005: Civil Partnership: Elton To Marry
2004: Thanksgiving 2004
2004: Does Remote Storage Work
iTunes Music Store is Time’s coolest invention of 2003 and I think this is a good thing – although I am finding it difficult to explain why. I’ve noted before that I really wanted record companies to embrace online music delivery and Steve Jobs and Apple have given them a way with mainstream credibility. Interestingly, I noted, that Jobs claimed not to be making too much from the service and it’s really all about selling iPods. I’m certainly wishing that there was a serious rival to the iPod. I’ve had several digital music players and none of them are still in production and, thus, support, upgrades and developments are limited. It’s also kept Apple well and truly in the consumer computing/electronics arena and that can not be a bad thing.
While on the subject of music, I have to note here that – at least on first listen – The Beautiful South’s new album, Gaze, is very good indeed.
2005: Boxes Everywhere
2005: Civil Partnership: What’s It All About?
2004: links for 2004-11-25
2004: Celebrity T-Shirt Auction
2002: Stuck On Me