all the world's a stage

Calm down dear, it's only Javascript!

As you'll discover, if you didn't know already, Wikipedia is staging a 24 hour blackout which began 0500 UTC today.

So much has been made of the Wikipedia blackout... but what if you really need to use it? In case you don't know how to get Wikipedia back because you didn't follow the link to "Learn more" then basically you should know that it's not the end of the world if you urgently need access to Wikipedia today. The pages are all still there, they just appear with an overlay on top of them thanks to Javascript.

So fear not, because Wikipedia have made it very simple to get the normal site back because the SOPA blackout works by Javascript so you can get Wikipedia back by disabling Javascript or adding this line to AdBlock:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:BannerLoader&banner=blackout*

Most if not all of the sites participating in the blackout are probably doing it with Javascript (e.g. I know that the http://sopastrike.com/ blackout is), so disabling it will also bring back those sites.

I think this has been a great idea. It's like the Internet's equivalent of peaceful protest versus the more hands on hacktivism of Anonymous (akin those who protest by smashing windows and burning cars, etc.). Having said that, I'm half expecting to hear about various cyber attacks in the next few days against organisations supporting SOPA/PIPA. Whether that's a good or bad thing is for another post/debate.

(via Adam Savage on Twitter)

Preventing people from taking photographs in public spaces is ridiculous.

I imagine the "Terrorism Act" is cited quite often (but not necessarily any specific part) by private security as a reason why photography wouldn't be allowed, even in public spaces. But it's a stupid reason. It's one step removed from insisting that passersby should cover their avert their gazes and cover their eyes as they walk by these places. Terrorists wouldn't go to the trouble of doing reconnaissance with photography. All they'd need is a pen and a pad of paper and good memory would be a bonus. It would be less conspicuous. And if that was all they needed, then hell, the view from Google Maps might even be sufficient.

Definitely more of a hands-on learner than a book-learner. With my new found practical understanding of apertures and shutter speeds in photography, the theory of producing light-trail photographs now makes perfect sense. Last night before bed, I put theory into practice. This is what I got:

A nice little exercise involving wide apertures and long shutter speeds. Also, used lens hood to reduce excess light or lens flare and finally found a use for that polarizing filter :p

The first of these photos was with my phone but the rest were all taken in full Manual mode. I'm getting the hang of it now, so no more "Intelligent Auto" unless it's some kind of emergency and I don't have the time to adjust settings.

Was dealing with some stuff back home anyway and the weather was nice so I thought it was a good opportunity to practise photography. Here's a collection of very random shots, taken in Greenwich (including Greenwich Park, The Painted Hall and Chapel at Old Royal Naval College).

This was also my first time on the DLR too. Automatic trains are rather cool.

There's a little something in here for fans of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Last night I got back to doing something which, regretfullly, I've not done in ages. Something somehow always got in the way. Maybe I've managed to get into the right mindset again.

I'm reading for pleasure again. If I get into the routine of reading a bit every night for a bit before bed then I can keep this up.

Maybe it's the effect of living in the suburbs (it's so quiet!).

"This isn't hell. It's the 'burbs. Close enough."
Spike, in Angel s5e17: Underneath

I enjoy vampire fiction in general but none of that Twilight glittering vampires nonsense please! A while ago I set myself the challenge of reading, in order, all 10 of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. It's difficult because if I stop for long enough in the middle of a book I must start that book all over again. Starting with book 2, The Vampire Lestat, this time. The first I've read once entirely and a few times partially. Besides, I like the second book more than the first anyway.

Speaking of which, there've been two film portrayals of Lestat de Lioncourt (that I know of), Tom Cruise in Interview of the Vampire and Stuart Townsend in Queen of the Damned. I liked Townsend's portrayal more but there's rumoured (for about two years now) to be a third: this time by Robert Downey Jr of Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes fame. I'm really looking forward to it because from what I've seen of the actor, I think he could pull it off. 

It's summer and it's warm.

Sometimes it gets too warm and I have to leave the windows open to let in the cool night air. Unfortunately, it also means letting in other things.

So we have three special guests joining us tonight. A crane-fly, a little moth and finally a huge moth. That big moth was probably the largest moth I've ever seen. I think it must have had around a 10cm wingspan. When it got into my room and flew around, I thought at first that it was a small blackbird or other small bird.

Images are not to scale. They've been cropped to provide a better view. I estimate that the small moth has a wingspan roughly the width of two pennies

Rather appropriate for today :p

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world
serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feed
it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, Ladder
start to clatter with fear fight down height. Wire
in a fire, representing seven games, a government
for hire and a combat site. Left of west and coming in
a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck. Team
by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.
Look at that low playing! Fine, then. Uh oh,
overflow, population, common food, but it'll do. Save
yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs,
listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and
the revered and the right, right. You vitriolic,
patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty
psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign
towers. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself
churn. Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood
letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no
fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear! A tournament,
tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions,
offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I dreamt of knives, continental
drift divide. Mountains sit in a line, Leonard
Bernstein. Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester
Bangs. Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You
symbiotic, patriotic, slam book neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel
fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone)

Source: The Complete R.E.M. Lyrics Archive - http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_EndOfTheWorld.html

M.E Awareness Week (MEAW) runs from the 8th to the 14th May. Spread the word.

My thoughts are with those with M.E - in particular those whose M.E. even more severe than mine.

My M.E would be classed as mild on good days, moderate on bad days. All I can say is that I'm so glad it isn't worse. Some symptoms are almost constant while others may occur a little less frequently but as it is I have to deal with nearly all those symptoms listed in the video to some degree. Perhaps the only exceptions are earache, spasms and my condition isn't bad enough that I have to be housebound or bedbound.

It's exam season... so I have rather more important things on my mind. After exams, other things need seeing to. Going to make a note of the various things I'm going to miss which I'll look up at some point in the future when things are calmer.

Definitely can't:

21st April: Bitter Ruin at St. Pancras Station (for The Station Sessions: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheStationSessions)
14th May: Levellers at O2 Academy Brixton
21st May: The Last Republic at O2 Academy Islington

Probably won't:

29th/30th/31st May: Belle and Sebastian at The Roundhouse
2nd June: Moby at The Roundhouse
19th June: 3 Doors Down at The Roundhouse
15th July: They Might Be Giants at KOKO

Currently not... but maybe, just maybe:

11th June: Jonathan Coulton at Union Chapel, Islington
25th/26th June: Ludovico Einaudi at Barbican Centre
22nd July: Voltaire at The Purple Turtle (London)
23rd Sep: Bitter Ruin at Spice of Life
11th Oct: Josh Groban at HMV Hammersmith Apollo
1st Nov: Ryuichi Sakamoto at South Bank Centre

That's such a great expression there. Fans of Bones will require no introduction to the brilliant Jack Hodgins (played by T.J. Thyne). ;)