Author Archives: Jon

Where Are You?

OK, so I haven’t been writing quite as much as I used to. There are two reasons for that and, as I don’t have anything else to write right now, I’ll bore you with those excuses.

Firstly, I have been very busy at work. In fact, so busy I have been neglecting my diet & gym routines which is awful and means that, like The Tin Man, I am getting a gut for summer which is more than I want. This is, naturally, your fault as you are my gym buddy so, c’mon, start motivating me.

Secondly, I have been on holiday. Two weeks in Vancouver was lovely. There are picture somewhere which should be updated here eventually but that’s a daunting prospect and – let’s face it – it’s unlikely to happen. And so, we are here.

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

On this day…

2004: Throughly Modern Millie

On this day…

2004: Throughly Modern Millie

Danny Baker Shuts Up His Tree House

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So, I get back from my vacation and try to settle into my regular routine. Firstly, it’s disrupted by a strike by BBC journalists although I was amused that somebody quipped you could hardly tell and thus proving they’re over-staffed anyway.

I digress. What I came back to was the news that Danny Baker won a Sony Radio Award and promptly went on to quit his breakfast show:

The ebullient presenter is taking what the station described as “an extended summer holiday” after three years on the show, during which he will work on a film script for channel Five.

He told listeners: “We will reform and come back in another shape one day. People thought we were crying wolf … we were just crying. We’ve been saying it for a while now. We’ve been doing it for three years. We’re packing up the tree house at the end of the month.”

[The Independent]

Now that’s going to mess up my morning routine something rotten – there’s nobody else on air anything like Danny Baker. It’s not just the fact that he is the only speech-driven presenter that’s not news-based it’s because he is bloody entertaining. Ahhh. I think a paragraph from another article in The Independent says it all,

Such confidence that radio requires unique skills will always make Sony award-winning breakfast presenters highly sought after. But they have to be carefully looked after when they arrive. Getting up in the middle of the night to sound fresh at the microphone can become gruelling for even the most dynamic broadcasters. BBC London’s breakfast ace, Danny Baker, proved it with his response to Sony Awards triumph. Named DJ of the year, beating O’Connell, Baker announced his departure from the airwaves within the day. He is going to write a film script for Five. Radio executives searching the market for proven breakfast talent are hoping it flops

[The Independent]

On this day…

2004: Palme d’Or
2003: Amusing Connections in News
2003: Here We Go Again
2003: An identity crisis

On this day…

2004: Palme d’Or
2003: Amusing Connections in News
2003: Here We Go Again
2003: An identity crisis

Vote 2005

Well I’ve been to the polling booth and registered my vote in the general election and I suspect an interesting night ahead. Like all elections I will be glued to the television coverage and flick between channels but this year I have started on Sky News. The team at Sky have 16 mini-screens on the interactive service and one of them is a live shot of the Sky News production gallery. Already we have heard the director (or somebody) refer to one of the senior sky journalists who was calling on a mobile ‘phone as ‘that f***ing *** ******’ – or something almost that. I think I might watch this for most of the night. I think it is quite brave of them.

On this day…

2004: It’s May

On this day…

2004: It’s May

With No Access

Now this should turn into a rant about British Telecom as we have been without internet access at work all day. Given most of what I do is done by email this has been a most frustrating day. In the meantime, if you know any cool tools that manipulate tasks inside of Microsoft’s Outlook 2000 then I would love to hear from you.

On this day…

2004: Same-Sex Couples Aren’t So Lucky
2004: Mirror Mirror in Florida

On this day…

2004: Same-Sex Couples Aren’t So Lucky
2004: Mirror Mirror in Florida

Deception Point

Like many readers I came to Dan Brown’s Deception Point via ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’. Sadly, it doesn’t carry the same intrigue as those books yet that shouldn’t put a reader off. Perhaps it’s the mysteries of religious orders – or Dan Brown’s fascinating details – that made his other novels so intriguing whereas such intricate detail is lacking in this novel. Instead, Deception Point tackles the science of alien fossils in the Arctic and the search for the truth about life in outer space. When such adventures are mixed with the skulduggery of an American election campaign, American intelligence services and a twist towards the end, Dan Brown has weaved a thriller full of interest, suspense and a little bit of humour. It’s not as great as the aforementioned books but it is an easy-read enjoyable thriller. If that’s what you’re looking for on a long flight this book will keep you reading all night and they’ll be carrying you off as it’s got that obvious, yet gripping, plot line of a captivating thriller. In the end, I couldn’t put it down.

On this day…

2005: Same Again?
2003: Airport Cafe
2003: Cough Cough

On this day…

2005: Same Again?
2003: Airport Cafe
2003: Cough Cough

Same Again?

Strangely I always seem to be travelling to similar places at the same time of year. This time two years ago I was sat in an airport heading to Oslo, tonight I am heading home from Helsinki. I never get fed up of airports.

On this day…

2005: Deception Point
2003: Airport Cafe
2003: Cough Cough

On this day…

2005: Deception Point
2003: Airport Cafe
2003: Cough Cough

Somewhere, Someday, Somebody, Somehow

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By the wonders of modern man I am writing these words on board a plane – BA794 to Helsinki for all you plane spotters – using a pen and a page in my work diary (the pen is PaperMate and the page is for the 4th April and, yes, I know it’s not 4th). I will, I imagine, be transcribing it later this evening in a hotel in Helsinki.

Amusingly, here at 37,00 feet on an Airbus A320, I have an array of digital equipment sat under the seat in front of me. A laptop: too big to open and anyway the battery is nearly dead as I used it with a wifi hotspot in the terminal. My ‘phone/PDA: it really doesn’t look good opening a ‘phone on a plane as there’s a tendency for other passengers to think you’re switching it on. Besides, the built-in keyboard is useless for this kind of lengthy writing. I also have my MP3 player and a camera but neither of them are much use for writing on. So I sit, with a trusty old pen, scribbling something I will later type. I assume, if you’re reading this, that I have actually typed it up.

I also have a small jungle of cables with me. Chargers and connectors to allow all the various devices to communicate. In fact, I think they are taking a disproportionate amount of luggage space. Everything has to be charged: the ‘phone, the mp3 and the camera. Nothing seems to work on a trusty pair of AAs anymore. I am not sure why this is but it’s as frustrating as hell.

So, I have to ask myself why I bother with all this gadgetry? Is any of it going to make my life any easier? Sadly, I don’t think it will and – to be honest – it’s not much fun anymore. I just want items that make travelling easier and I don’t have the money for a private jet. Has anybody solved this conundrum?

I do have a love of this kind of technology: I know that I am one of the people who believe it has the power to liberate but, frankly, right now all the competing vendors are not getting it correct and I am not sure why. Somewhere, someday, somebody will get it right. I only hope that I have a hand in it – somehow.

On this day…

2006: Spy Versus Spy
2003: The Boys of Summer
2003: Good Friday

On this day…

2006: Spy Versus Spy
2003: The Boys of Summer
2003: Good Friday

Podcasting For Things I Want To Listen To

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Fantastic news at last. The BBC is giving podcasts a wider trial. This could be cool – although I am sad that they’re not doing The Archers. At last, I will be able to listen to some decent radio in the gym. Oh, and if you have the mp3 of the first of this year’s Reith Lectures, I would be very grateful.

On this day…

2006: Congestion

On this day…

2006: Congestion

Where Was I?

sunny osloI’ve just come back from a couple of days in Oslo. The meeting was good and I spent the afternoon on the waterfront, drinking beer, and proofing some new documentation. Good way to spend a Friday!

On this day…

2004: I Had Visions Of A Robotic Dog
2004: Bloglines Top Links

On this day…

2004: I Had Visions Of A Robotic Dog
2004: Bloglines Top Links

Jack: Straight From The Gut

Jack Welch was Chairman and CEO of General Electric for twenty years and this is a book about his time from joining to leaving the company that became his life. Apparently Jack was seen as the ‘toughest boss in America’ and I suspect the book is trying to soften the historical edges a little. What comes across clearly is a commitment to a company and a desire to grow it. Many businesses could do better with a firmer management and a realistic look at the way things are done. Jack Welch doesn’t seem to be the kind of CEO to run scared of the change no matter how painful that be. Throughout the book he stresses the importance that good people be allowed to excel and that poor performers are probably better elsewhere. It seems a ruthless approach but it appears to have worked for GE and, I think Jack would argue, it worked better for the people involved. Don’t expect a management handbook as ‘Straight From The Gut’ is too human (and full of golf stories) to be seen as a Director’s guide but it is an extremely readable insight into big business. If you don’t like his approach I believe there are interesting lessons about the capabilities of people and what they can bring to business for anybody regardless of the size of company or position you hold within it.

On this day…

2006: New Doctor New Earth
2003: What We Shouldn’t Be Talking About

On this day…

2006: New Doctor New Earth
2003: What We Shouldn’t Be Talking About