June 2005 Archives
June 30, 2005
The BBC Diet
I was at the St John's Church Fête in Walthamstow on Saturday, and picked up this gem of a book - the official BBC Diet: [Insert your own joke here about the main ingredients being redundancy, efficiency savings, bureaucracy, waste, fey leftist intellectualism, bias, impartiality, Only Fools And Horses repeats, or soggy limp sandwiches etc etc, depending on your own position along the political spectrum, or whether you are one of Ronnie Corbett's monologues mentioning the BBC canteen]...
Malta and Gozo - Day Five
Earlier this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. On the fifth day we were in Gozo, and had quite an exciting Secret Seven style adventure in our hostel, the Maria-Giovanna, to get the day going. There was a door to a small cupboard in the bathroom in our room, but closer inspection of the fire escape map suggested a mystery was afoot. Upon opening the door we...
June 28, 2005
Malta and Gozo - Day Four: 'Il Forno'
Earlier this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. On the fourth day there we made our way to Gozo, and had a great day out in Victoria (Rabat) and Dwejra. For the evening we headed back to Marsalforn where we were based, in the Maria-Giovanna Hostel, to find somewhere to eat. We at first headed to the Eastern end of the harbour, assessing each place as a...
June 27, 2005
BBC Cult Site -> Wormfood
I still remember my first serious appraisal with the person who hired me into the BBC - I'd been there three months. "Where do you see yourself being in the BBC?" they asked - "I want to run the Cult TV site" I said. So yet another ambition crashes and burns with the announcement last week that "as part of the restructuring of the BBC's online activities" the Cult TV site is to close. We'd like to thank all our...
The Hume Lobby Gathers Momentum
The race to be crowned In Our Time's Greatest Philosopher is hotting up, well in print at least, as Hume turns out to be the print lobbyist's philosopher of choice. Last week The Economist urged readers to back David Hume in an article called 'Proles and polls', after first examining some reasons why Marx might be winning: Rick Lewis, editor of Philosophy Now magazine, puts it down to name recognition. Eric Hobsbawm, a Marxist historian, thinks it stems from "his...
BBC Internal URL Filtering Beta
I was very excited the other day to get an email saying that along with up to 3,000 colleagues I had been chosen to pilot a new technology trial within the BBC. I was less excited when I found out that the technology being trialed was one that would block my internet access to sites that BBC policy deems unacceptable. The URLs cover the obvious stuff like most of the isms, hate crime, terrorist handbooks, pr0n and the like, and...
My Summer Burn 2005
Today I posted off my contribution to this year's Summer Burn - a project to get you to send a CD of your favourite summer music to two strangers who have also signed up. A chain letter but with tunes. I opted to pack a CD full of songs that remind me of summers past, without necessarily being strictly 'summer' music. Years ago I used to have cassette compilation I'd made called "This Is Summer", and then I made a...
June 24, 2005
Glastonbury Weather on the BBC.co.uk Homepage
If you are looking for a 5 day weather forecast for Glastonbury please follow this link - BBC Weather Please note this article is from June 24th 2005 We made another slight tweak to the BBC homepage today to reflect our coverage of Glastonbury. Currently if you haven't set your postcode cookie, the default weather and local information shown in the 'Where I Live' panel has changed from Central London, to Glastonbury, Somerset. It's just a shame the weather...
June 23, 2005
Points Of View Publishes Dalek Homepage Feedback
I wrote the other day about the audience feedback we had received to our Dalek special homepage. Today it was decided to publish some of the reaction on the BBC's Points of View message board. One of the hosts has posted a thread giving some of the details, response figures, and direct quotes from the audience at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/F2131439?thread=663624...
Wimbledon At The Other End Of The Telescope
So Tim lost today, and my fears about a last minute Timbo final special homepage request can lie dormant for another year. The BBC gets blamed for a lot of things, so I'm sure some people will cling to the suspicion that the fact the homepage immediately whipped out a Blue Peter-style "Here's one we prepared earlier" picture promo covering the news demonstrates we jinxed him. For my part I was just happy to see another external link - to...
10 Out Of 100 Sample UK Websites Fail To Work Properly With Firefox
I'm sure the printed press will follow suit, but The Register and BBC News, who both should know better, faithfully reproduced a press release line from SciVisum that: One in 10 UK websites fail to work properly on the open source Firefox web browser BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4115806.stm one in ten UK websites still fails to provide proper access to anyone not using Microsoft's default offering The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/22/firefox_access_limited/ The thing is that the sample size was 100. Now I...
Glastonbury Panel on the BBC.co.uk Homepage
If you are looking for a 5 day weather forecast for Glastonbury please follow this link - BBC Weather Today we introduced a new panel on the BBC homepage, to give up-to-date coverage of the Glastonbury festival, of which the BBC has masses of live coverage on TV, radio and online. It is an area of the page we've previously utilised to cover the Tsunami in Asia, Red Nose Day, and the General Election. This time around it is...
He Thinks Therefore Michael Gove Is Not Voting Marx
Yesterday there were yet more column inches about the In Our Time Greatest Philosopher vote. Michael Gove in The Times wrote an entertaining piece called "I think therefore I am not voting Marx No 1". There aren't many places where Marxism still wins you elections. North Korea and Zimbabwe keep the flame of revolution alive, but they are not particularly good at doing the same for their citizens. Kim Jong Il and Robert Mugabe certainly know how to target uncommitted...
Malta and Gozo - Day Four
Earlier this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. On day four we started our 'holiday within a holiday', as we headed off to to get the ferry to Gozo. We had booked to stay overnight at the Maria-Giovanna Hostel. The owners there were lovely, and even offered to drive from Marsalforn to Mgarr to meet us from the ferry. In the end we opted to hire a...
June 22, 2005
Now In Our Time shows the BBC is "ignorant as well as biased"
The In Our Time Greatest Philosopher vote gained more press coverage on Monday, with an article in Peter Oborne's column for the Evening Standard entitled "Marx is so overrated": Long-term students of the BBC will not have been surprised to learn that Karl Marx looks set to be voted the world's greatest philosopher by Radio Four listeners. The decision shows the BBC is ignorant as well as biased. Marx was not a philosopher, he was a journalist with a deep...
June 21, 2005
Every Tim Henman Silver Lining Has A Cloud (For Me Anyway)
The last time I saw Tim Henman on the TV screens in the BBC this evening he was 2 sets to 1 down, and 5-5 in the fourth set. I felt pretty relieved. Imagine my shock and horror when checking the news on my phone on the way home to find that he had pulled an astonishing comeback out of the bag, and was in the second round. I know a lot of people get very excited at the prospect...
Malta and Gozo - Day Three
Earlier this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. The third day was quite overcast, and we headed out by bus to the "picturesque fishing village"TM of Marsaxlokk. Our bus journey there was, shall we say, "interesting". We got the 427 which seemed to be the shorter route, but the bus then appeared to take the longer route of the 627. We also seemingly got lost in the...
June 20, 2005
Audience Reaction To The BBC's Doctor Who Themed Homepage
One thing I was looking forward to at work this morning was getting hold of the audience reaction to Saturday's special Doctor Who themed homepage. One of the first emails I got when I arrived in the office was simply entitled 'Oh Dear'. It turned out not to be about the technical problems we had experienced with the page on Saturday, but about the sheer volume of feedback we had received - the number of emails was in an astonishing...
Beethoven vs The Crazy Frog
Interesting numbers coming out of the BBC's Beethoven download trial, with around 600,000 downloads of the symphonies that were made available as mp3 files. That shows an incredible pent-up demand for quality free classical music downloads from the BBC, especially when you consider that according to the RAJAR figures Radio 3's weekly reach is around 2 million adults. We've shown our support for the Download and Podcast trial by adding a link to it in the homepage's Radio box -...
Malta and Gozo - Day Two
Early this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. On our second day we travelled into central Malta to visit the walled city of Mdina. The views from the hilltop ramparts are spectacular, and on a fine day you can apparently see as far as Mount Etna in Sicily to the North. The previous day Benedict XVI had been confirmed as the new Pope. We noticed that most...
Last Call For Summer Burn 2005
Today is the last day to register if you want to take part in the 2005 Summer Burn - a chainmail letter, but with added tunes. The idea is to burn a CD of your favourite summer music, and send it to two people whose addresses you are given. In turn two people send their summer music to you. There is also a Flickr group to upload any sleeve artwork to. Sign up at FunJunkie, and you might end up...
June 19, 2005
Thought Thieves = Thoughtcrime
MSN in the UK have launched a short film competition, closing on the 1st July, entitled 'Thought Thieves' One comment from athome on the story at Beta News was: They're now aiming to catch kids younger & brainwash them into adopting capitalist principles ... In effect, they're attempting to brainwash them against equality & charity. That money & wealth are what matters, the needy are the evil, the rich are the righteous. The competition is open to anyone 14 or...
Malta and Gozo - Day One
Earlier this year I spent a week in Malta and Gozo with my wife and a couple of our best friends. We flew Air Malta, and this was the first airline where any of the staff have specifically said to me that it was forbidden to use my MiniDisc player, and that I had to switch it off. iPod's were OK though, so at least my new purchase will keep me entertained if I use them again. It made me...
June 18, 2005
Daleks Invade The BBC Homepage
Just after midnight the BBC homepage launched the biggest promo it has ever had - biggest in size on the screen, in page weight, and in the amount of time taken to get it sorted and produced. The Daleks are invading... The team have also put in place some routes to gather feedback about the page. It is the biggest shift in the layout of the BBC's homepage since May last year, and we have less than 24 hours to...
June 17, 2005
BBC Voices In White City
On Thursday I was popping into the Tesco on the BBC's Media Village estate, when I spotted a group of people fly-posting furiously on the hoardings opposite. I snatched a photo, not sure whether I was witnessing an act of guerilla art or just a lot of the same illegal advert going up. Turns out the former was the case - as this was in fact the arrival of the "BBC Voices In White City" project. According to an email...
Cardiff Singer of the World Audience Vote
BBC Wales have opened their tri-media vote to determine the audience favourite in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. The vote closes on Sunday, and the announcement of the winner forms part of the final of the competition, which takes place on Sunday evening. The audience prize isn't the main part of the contest, which is decided by jury, but the winner of the vote which is being conducted on SMS, phone and online, gets a £2,500...
Glastonbury Links on the BBC Homepage
If you are looking for a 5 day weather forecast for Glastonbury please follow this link - BBC Weather Today the BBC homepage was running a promotion for the acres of coverage the television and radio networks will be devoting to Glastonbury next weekend, which included a link to the official Glastonbury site. An external link on the homepage is very rare, but it shows how far we've moved forward with our high profile external linking that, had there...
June 16, 2005
BBC News - Now With Doctor Who Spoiler Protection
I was delighted to see BBC News covering the wonderful announcement that Doctor Who has already been recommisioned for a second Christmas Special and a third series. Not just because of the news, but because the article offered 'spoiler protection' The BBC has commissioned a third series of Doctor Who in addition to the second series already planned. The announcement comes days before the current series - a huge ratings success for BBC One - reaches its end. With Christmas...
Blue Thooth Headset
Spotted in a shop window at Holborn today - presumably these headsets are designed for people with lithsps?...
Evening Standard Reconsiders Gipsy Camp Pun?
Both the Evening Standard and the Standard Lite contained a feature today by fashion editor Laura Craik about skirts. Not being a fashionista the thing that caught my eye was the difference in the editorial treatment. The later edition has clearly benefitted from a re-write, but what was most noticeable was the alternative headlines. The Evening Standard went for a quite sober: Girls will wear swirls this summer The gipsy skirt is the surprise smash hit of the season -...
Speedway in Cardiff, and White City
At the weekend I journeyed to Cardiff with my dad and brother-in-law to see the British Grand Prix of the Speedway Individual World Championship, which was being held at the Millennium Stadium. I can honestly say I don't think I have ever been to anything so loud in my life, and that includes seeing Swans back in the 80's when sheer volume seemed their only motivation. With the roof closed the sound of the bikes echoed around the stadium, accompanied...
June 10, 2005
Bad Wolf Invades BBC Search
In the build up to tomorrow's Doctor Who episode, BBC Search has suddenly acquired a Bad Wolf TV logo on the results pages. Not only that, but suddenly the Bad Wolf site is being returned as a result for un-Doctor Who related queries, like 'weakest link' and 'big brother'. What can it all mean ;-)...
If You Want To Outvote Marx....
Now I'm always very careful, even when I have got access to the results, not to let on how one of the BBC's online polls is going. Melvyn Bragg, on the other hand, delights in pointing out in this weeks In Our Time newsletter: (If you want to outvote Marx click here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/greatest_philosopher.shtml) Best wishes Melvyn Bragg Well, he might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment......
"We Have A Technical"...
...as Gary Numan used to 'sing'. currybetdotnet has been down most of this week. I've rather unexpectedly had to move servers, and not just move servers but move from *nix/Apache/Perl to Windows/PHP/Perl/mySQL. Still, the steepest learning curves are the most satisfying I'm assured. Like many people who work in IT I am aware of the 'concept' of a vigorous back-up regime, but somewhat alien to the execution of it. Hence I now have some broken fragments of the old site...
Ransom Note For A Dalek
This really put a smile on my face today - Wookey Hole has received a ransom note and the severed limb from a Dalek stolen earlier this week. We are holding the Dalek captive and in isolation. For the safety of the human race we have disarmed and removed its destructive mechanism. We demand further instructions from the Doctor. Guardians of the Planet Earth. Well, I guess the people behind the theft need to see some kind of doctor anyway....
In Our Time Greatest Philosophers Vote in The Guardian
Earlier this week there was some press coverage for the In Our Time Greatest Philospher Vote in The Guardian, featuring an interview with Melvyn Bragg by Oliver Burkeman, containing this paragraph: There is an element of ridiculousness to this initiative, and Bragg knows it. "I'm not terribly interested in the beauty-contest notion, even as applied to philosophy," he says. "Philosophers leapt on it, but I was a bit stand-to-one-side on it. As long as it doesn't interfere with the programme."...
June 9, 2005
Open Weekend at the London Transport Museum Depot in Acton Town
At the weekend I spent a couple of very happy hours (albeit in almost exclusively middle-aged male nerdy company) visiting the London Transport Museum Depot at Acton Town, which was having one of their twice yearly open weekends. It is a place where all the exhibits that cannot be displayed in Covent Garden are stored, including restored rolling stock and buses, and some are on display. Of the trains the two that most interested me were a Metropolitan...
Harry Kewell Sues Gary Lineker
You might have seen that in a court case this week Harry Kewell is suing Gary Lineker over comments Lineker wrote in a newspaper column - which Kewell claims caused him to have "suffered substantial injury to his personal and professional reputation" It set me wondering, if, in a completely unrelated way, say a player had been purchased for a considerable sum of money by a club, and then turned out to be a shadow of their former self on...
Bad Wolf Bites BBC Search
Following episode 11, 'Boom Town', more Bad Wolf related bits'n'pieces have started littering the web. Mickey's Who Is Doctor Who? site notes that: WOLVES OF EVIL? Curious. That nuclear power station is called Blaidd Drwg. Which translates as "Evil or Bad Wolf". Now, something really weird happens if you type bad wolf into a search engine. The link goes through to the BBC's own web search which has as its first result a link to badwolf.org.uk Of course, the whole...
currybetdotnet Intermission
Whilst you are waiting for currybetdotnet to come back online, why not help yourself to some free 'call waiting' music by downloading some Beethoven from the BBC?...
June 3, 2005
RSS Icons on the BBC.co.uk Homepage
Today the BBC.co.uk homepage gained new RSS icons underneath the News and Sport headlines, linking through to the relevant feeds. I'm really pleased, because last summer when I was given my current remit for the homepage, adding links to the BBC's RSS feeds was on my mental check-list of things to do. It has taken nearly a year. That isn't because people were fighting against it, but rather that it has never been a top priority, nor did the time...
Bad Wolf on the Web
Bad Wolf is the latest site to join the plethora of Doctor Who web site off-shoots - (Who Is Doctor Who?, U.N.I.T. and Geocomtex) - looking at the numerous references to Bad Wolf littered through the series (and also in the 9th Doctor books as well). A comment on my post about the Geocomtex site tipped me off to a little easter egg on the site: The morse code say 'Bad Wolf' whose web site is at http://www.badwolf.org.uk/index.html If you...
June 2, 2005
The BBC's Anti-Blog Agenda?
An interesting post over at Rottweiler Puppy (easily one of the best blog taglines ever: "Take Small Bites, Often") about the linking policy of Weblog Watch on the BBC News site, which had picked up on a post from A Big Stick And A Small Carrot. Wouldn't you know it? The BBC have discovered blogs. Well, alright, they discovered them a while ago, but since last April they've been trying to sell us on the idea that they're frightening beasts....
BBC.co.uk Message Board Area At Last
Over the last couple of weeks a couple of new topic area's have been added to the BBC's Points Of View message board. First to arrive was Points Askew, the pun-tastic off-topic area which allows the community to talk about things outside the BBC-sphere without antagonising some of the regulars who had formed an impromptu on-topic police force. This week a special Doctor Who area, and a place to discuss bbc.co.uk were added. The Doctor Who space is a temporary...
You Can Collect More Gamecards Tomorrow
This made me laugh in the pub last night. There is a new promotion on where you get a card and can win DVD players and Personal Stereos etc. On the back of the card comes a responsible drinking message: Enjoy Yourself And Drink Responsibly You Can Collect More Gamecards Tomorrow! Yep, that's right, the promoters don't want you to get too hammered tonight in your pursuit of their incentives to drink, but they responsibly want to make sure you...
June 1, 2005
In Our Time Greatest Philosopher Vote
Yesterday the Guardian published a scathing attack by John Harris on a project that some of my team are involved in - to produce a vote for the In Our Time programme to determine the 'Greatest Philosopher'. Harris starts his article with an attack on the perceived populism of Greg Dyke. Whilst it is generally held to be true that you don't see the television programmes a Director General has influenced until a couple of years into their term of...
Ticker Data
A couple of the prototypes that have already emerged via the backstage.bbc.co.uk initiative have involved the use of 'tickers' (Nigel Crawley's Ajax RSS News Reader and mini-newsreaders at BBC 'Aorta') - and have made me think about some of the disadvantages of delivering information in a ticker format. Don't get me wrong, I think both of these are great prototypes, and I have to hold my hand up as a 'ticker' creator myself. Whilst I worked on search at the...