[ from the another-update dept. ]
2004
So another year is upon us as we move towards self annihilation or the improvement of mankind perhaps. I think we know which is likely.
New Year’s Eve
I went to Nottingham for New Year’s Eve and then travelled accross to Birmingham before midnight for some time with Hannah and Joe. On New Year’s Day itself I was in Birmingham and went to the Bullring – where I started the year with a visit to Borders and Starbucks. Yes I know this is not necessarily something to shout about — indeed they had no Gingerbread Latte for sale 
.
On New Year’s Eve, I went to the Bell Inn in Nottingham with tom and jok, where I tried one of the fine beers on sale. I am not really much of a drinker by any means but I enjoyed the company. A short while previously I had been in Cambridge and hopefully I will catch up with many more friends around the country over the coming months. I plan to be in Oxford as usual, Nottingham, Birmingham and
Manchester during the next 6 to 8 weeks. Also I am going to be at FOSDEM, CEBIT and hopefully the Bournemouth UKUUG conference.
See some of you there then.
Random Trivia
This year I hope to do more reading, music and learn more about the world in which I live while exploring bits of it some more. I have been reading some more non-fiction books and have various plans to read humour books such as “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”. I also want to touch upon mathematics and religion as part of some kind of enlightenment process. You can love or leave Amazon but their recommendations are generally pretty cool. I have been feeding it more information to provide interesting book recommendations. You can always go to my wishlist and buy me something if you want…
Pure Ranting
Twenty years on from Orwell’s 1984 and perhaps we are getting closer to the world which he imagined. A world in which we have daily reminders that terrorists and evildoers are everywhere and ready to strike at any time. A world in which the Commander In Thief is a man who I would not trust to open a tin of baked beans — let alone run America. Yes I have been reading more Michael Moore and again find his words truly inspiring. Whether you take him with a pinch of salt or believe everything he writes in “Dude, Where’s My Country?”, one has to admit that Moore uncovers a lot of dirty laundry connecting the many evils in our modern day world. 60% of 300 million Americans today cannot locate the UK on a map.
So we are making progress then. Pop Idol and cheese like it abound, while real journalism is becomming more confined worldwide. Take a look at Fox News for a disturbing view of the world in which we live today — I spent several hours watching bits of news earlier and was shocked at the general dumbed-down nature of the major television network Americans use as a point of world reference, in which presenters cannot complete a sentence without someone interrupting them or some silly animation informing us of the current orange terror status.
One thing I am not is Anti American. I do not agree with the actions of extremists and in fact correspond with a number of intelligent people from the States on a regular basis. But in a country where 80 million people are illiterate, some really dumb decisions take place on a daily basis without due care and consideration and which both really piss off the rest of the world and hold us in awe. How can one man spew so much shite as George W. Bush on a regular basis? This is an election year but I am not optimistic about that.
Jon.