Moose Musings

This One Always Gets Me.

2012-02-01T21:05:00.000Z

Yesterday i was re-aquainted with a piece of music i hadn't heard for a few years. A piece of music that has an effect on me every time that i hear it. A piece of music that everyone should hear at least once and doesn't get the exposure that it fully deserves.

A local friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to a YouTube video of the track.
Here it is and i suggest that you watch it now before reading any further:

Powerful stuff isn't it?

As i said earlier, i feel that everyone should hear that piece of music at least once and once it all it usually takes to embed it into your head forever.

I can honestly say that, although i had no idea what the song was when i first heard it, it was something that i didn't forget.
The friend who posted it yesterday said that they can remember hearing it broadcast on Radio North Sea, an offshore radio station. They were listening on a small transistor radio at the time, under the bedclothes. Does that sound familar?
I'm pretty sure that i first heard that track under similar circumstances. Although my radio station would have been the famous/infamous Radio Caroline. This would have been in the mid 1970's.
I heard it a few times back then, via Radio Caroline, but i never did catch what the song was actually called, or who it was by. The only piece of information that i heard was the word "MoWest", which meant absolutely nothing to me at the time and in those pre Internet days, that's the way it stayed.
Despite this, it was a piece of music that i never forgot.

I can't remember exactly when i next heard it, but it was certainly many years later.
I had a feeling that it was on the BBC radio program, Desert Island Discs, or at least that's what i thought. I have since checked and according to their records, Tom Clay's track has never been chosen.
But, i distinctly recall hearing somebody mentioning the track and playing, at least a part of it, on the radio. I remember this because i was instantly transported back to the first time i ever heard it and all the reasons that made it such a memorable song were instantly there, once again.
The person talking about the song was also saying how much it had affected them too. So, i was not alone.

Thankfully, during that interview, i finally heard and wrote down the name of Tom Clay. And, luckily, the Internet was now with us and a quick search revealed details about the track and about Tom Clay himself.
Even then, the track proved rather elusive when it came to trying to purchase it and i still couldn't get my hands on a copy.

The mystery of the word "MoWest" was revealed though. MoWest was the record label that the song was released on, it was a subsidary of the great Motown label. It was released in 1971 and got to number 8 in the Billboard charts, selling over 1 million copies.

A few years later, i found the piece of paper with "Tom Clay - What The World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin and John" written on it. This time an Internet search found the track and i was finally able to download and listen to this elusive song that i had first heard all those years ago.
I can promise you that that first play of "What The World Needs Now" had the same effect on me as did all previous listens.

Tom Clay's masterpiece is one of those tracks that i have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to.
In fact i hardly ever play it, but then i don't really need to. I can remember it well enough without hearing it.
There have even been times when i've thoughtt of playing it, now that i have that luxury, but i've stopped myself from doing so. I think that is mainly because of the effect that the track always has on me.
As with yesterday, one listen can get me thinking. remembering and even blogging!

I can honestly say that i don't think there is any other piece of music i know, that has the same effect on me. That is not something that i've ever really thought about until now, but i certainly believe that to be true.

Maybe this is because of the era, the 1960's, that the song is all about? The 1960's were, after all, my formative years and the track mentions events, albeit on another continent, that i remember vivdly. Events that have stuck in my mind ever since
One of my first memories is of the assasination of President Kennedy in 1963, when i was 5 years old.

I know that there is more to it than that though. The effect on me also comes from the interviews that are heard during the song and the answers given by the small children to the questions they are asked.

Now the subject matter of what those innocent children were talking about is, unfortunately, still all too relevant in 2012. You can almost imagine similar interviews taking place right now.
I'd like to think that the answers given would be the same too.

Maybe we haven't come as far as we thought we had?

PS: That's two days running that i've written about music and certain songs reminding me of my past and the effect that those songs have had.
I can see a trend developing here.

If you want to find out more about Tom Clay, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clay

A Shared Listening Experience.

2012-01-31T16:38:00.001Z

I am currently reading the autobiography of Andy Kershaw, "No Off Switch". For those who might not know of him, Andy is a UK radio DJ, presenter and journalist.

Over the past few years i have have read several autobiographies of other radio DJ's and musicians, all of whom seem to have been born within a few years of myself. It was a golden age obviously.

Apart from all of these books taking me back to a long gone past, they all have something else in common.
They have all reminded me of the way in which i listened to music back in the 1970's. Especially the early and middle years of that decade.

Back then, a lot of my music listening was done in the company of other people, usually my close friends. Something very different from the way in which we tend to listen to music today.

Andy Kershaw talks of riding around in a friends car, which had a stereo cassette player and blasting out his friends favourite guitar player, Rory Gallagher and his album "Live In Europe". An old favourite of mine as well as it happens.
He then talks about being at his friends house, with others and listening to artists such as Pink Floyd and their "Meddle" album. It was in this way that Andy Kershaw was introduced to those artists.

My own experience is very similar, although a car didn't come into the equation until a few years later. And when it did it was an 8 track cartridge player, instead of a cassette. Anyone remember 8 track cartridge players?
What i can remember though is the album that my friend used to play, or that i asked to hear all the time on his cars cartridge player. It was Humble Pie's "Thunderbox". Funny how these things stick in your mind isn't it?

A good friend of mine back then had an older brother, with an extensive album collection and a few of us used to go back to their house after school. We would then trawl through that collection, seeing band names on the spines of the album sleeves that we'd only ever read about in music papers, pick out a few and play them.
In that way i was introduced to bands and albums that i may not have heard otherwise.

The one that sticks in my mind from that time is the Rolling Stones album "Goats Head Soup" and especially the track "Star Star". That was probably the first time that i ever heard the word "fuck" on a record and back then it was so shocking that we just couldn't resist multiple plays and sing-a-longs.

My next door neighbour at the time, who was the same age as me, always seemed to be getting new albums regularly. I can remember him compiling 'wanted' lists for his birthday and for Christmas. Consequently, i spent many hours at his house and many more listening through the dividing wall between our houses.
As before, there is one album that instantly comes to mind when i think of that time and one that i asked to hear just about every time i visited that house. It is Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure, both for the music and for the gatefold sleeve.

All of these examples remind me of the shared listening experiences that i had in my youth. But, the thing that sums it all up for me is when a group of my friends would get together to listen to music and the album of choice would be, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon".
For people of my age group that is, probably, the one album that many of us can remember listening to with our friends. I have heard that particular shared listening experience relayed on radio programs and many conversations.

I have spent many hours laying on the floor, in darkness, or in candlelight, listening to "Dark Side Of The Moon". I can remember that sometimes being a strangely, spooky experience too. When the album faded out we'd all voice our own interpretations as to what on earth the album was all about. Helped by nothing stronger than tea and cigarettes. More interesting stimulants came later.

Although music is a very personal thing, that shared listening experience made the music all the more powerful and memorable.

In these days of iPods, mp3's, iTunes and in-ear headphones that shared listening experience has gone, or is fading fast.
When was the last time, outside of a club or disco, that you listened to music in the company of friends? And when i say "listened to music", i mean without any other distractions and in a private place.
And for that matter, when was the last time that you listened to a complete album all the way through?

How times change.

Don't get me wrong i'm all for new technology. I love the fact that i can carry my entire music collection around with me, listen to any track at the touch of a button and do so in the privacy of my own headphones.
But, i wouldn't have missed those days of a shared listening experience for the world.

Those poor kids of today just don't know what they're missing do they?

Be Careful What You Wish For....

2012-01-29T18:36:00.000Z

....you might just get it.

Are you prepared for that and for the sacrifices you might have to make?

AudioBoo - Those Were The Days.

2012-01-28T19:43:00.000Z

Those Were The Days (mp3)

"The Fallacy Of Merely Existing"

2012-01-28T18:18:00.001Z

A video inspired, partly, by an expression i read in a book & one that jumped out at me.

A bit of a ramble.

Keeping It Real.

2012-01-24T11:52:00.003Z

Maybe i'm just getting a little pedantic in my old age, or maybe i just get some kind of perverse pleasure out of it, i don't know? But, one of those things that bugs me these days are errors that i notice in tv programs and news reports.

The worst offenders, for me at least, are programs, or news reports, that feature the railway system in the UK.

I'd like a pound for every train that i've seen going backwards, but is actually shown as going forwards. For every train that is meant to be from one Train Operating Company, but is actually from another. And for every train that is stated, or suggested, as being in at a certain location, but is actually somewhere else.

Of course, having worked on the railway for very nearly 36 years has a considerable bearing on this. But, i'm sure that people from any walk of life can spot similar errors in areas that they are aquainted with?

I have a feeling that nobody can help themselves when they see a blatant error pop up on their tv screen? They immediately sit up in their chair and start shouting at the the tv. It is at this point that your wife either notices the same error, or points out that it doesn't really matter and that nobody actually cares.
But, i care and i think that it matters and that is good enough for me.

I can think of a couple of recent examples.

My local BBC news program did a piece about the temporary closure of a rail line, which includes work being carried out in Ore Tunnel, near Hastings. During the film they managed to show the wrong tunnel and the wrong type of train that would be affected. You might not think that this matters, but the train showed was electric and the line and trains to be affected are diesel. An electric train would not get very far on a non-electrified line now would it?
As you can imagine this provoked some debate and laughter amongst local railway colleagues online.

My other example, or examples, concern an otherwise very good BBC program called Great British Railway Journeys. Quite often during the program they show trains going in the wrong direction and shots that are obviously, to the trained and experienced eye, filmed and then played backwards.
As a general rule, trains in the UK drive on the left hand side by the way. So, as soon as i spot one on the right hand side of the tracks my eyes prick up.

As it happens, a few years ago i was actually involved in the filming of a specialist railway documentary. I helped the director facilitate his filming and also drove some of the trains that were filmed. The film was of a train drivers eye view of the railway lines between Brighton, Seaford and Ashford.
Although this was all filmed correctly, after all it was likely to be watched by many railway "anoraks". There was still some footage that was filmed to be used backwards in the finished product.
This was only footage filmed from within the train, looking out of the side window and to be honest there is no way you would be able to tell the difference anyway.
In this instance i totally understand why this was done. It certainly saved a lot of time and money and was not trying to deceive anyone. But it does show how just how frequently this kind of thing is done.

Whilst i fully understand that all of this doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things and that there are certainly far more important things to get worried and worked up about. I've always felt that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.
As far as tv programs go, i have often thought that these "errors" are generally down to lazy journalism, cost cutting and maybe even deception.
And it doesn't exactly fill you full of confidence in the program concerned does it?

After all, if you can't believe the footage, how can you believe the words?

And don't get me started on news reporters standing in outdoor locations when there is absolutely no need for it. For example:
- Reporters hanging on for dear life and desperately trying not to be blown away when reporting gale force winds. We all know it's windy, but we don't need to see a reporter struggling in the wind, or having their umbrella blown inside out, to realise that.
- Local tv news reporters doing an outdoor piece from, literally, right outside the door to the tv studio building.
News doesn't suddenly become more exciting, authoritative or relevant because it is "reported" from the outdoors.

Phew! That feels better.

PS: If you are interested in seeing, or finding out more about that railway documentary i mentioned and see me driving a train, follow this link: Video125
I might just give the DVD a view myself.

Adapt Or Die.

2012-01-21T20:20:00.000Z

Some suggestions for media companies & the entertainment industry and other related thoughts.

Not A Good Kodak Moment.

2012-01-19T10:33:00.002Z

Yesterday i posted a blog called "Blacked Out", all about the proposed SOPA & PIPA acts in the USA.

In that post i mentioned about how many older companies had been caught out by the digital revolution and how many of those companies had failed to react to the new way of doing things.

Well, today Eastman Kodak have gone and proved exactly what i was talking about. Apparently Eastman Kodak have filed for "bankruptcy protection" in the USA. Whilst this is not the end of the company, at least not yet, it is a bad day for a company that has been at the forefront of photography since they were formed 133 years ago.

There can't be many of us who have not owned a Kodak product of some kind during our lives. I can remember the first cameras that i owned and i'm pretty sure that they were all Kodak models.

So, what has gone wrong?
Well, Eastman Kodak have just failed to adapt to the digital age and have, consequently, been left behind. Yes, they've tried to keep up, in fact they were amongst the originators of digital photography. But, they have obviously failed to see where the digital revolution was headed and probably didn't think it would ever supercede the old analogue days.
How wrong they and many others have been.

All this just goes to show how far down some companies have their heads in the sand. The digital revolution is not going to go away, it is here to stay. The digital genie is well and truly out of the bottle and can never be put back into it, no matter how much those old companies wish it were otherwise.

As i said in yesterdays blog post, complaining about the new kids on the block and trying to legislate against them and their ways will not solve the problem. Older companies need to adapt and innovate, or face the inevitable consequences.

It is sad to see a company as well known, well liked and iconic as Kodak to be in such dire straits. Especially a company and a brand that has been a part of so many of our lives. But, ultimately the problem is all of their own making.

I doubt that Eastman Kodak are in any way alone in this and i'm sure we'll see more fall by the wayside in the months and years to come.

So, the lesson today is adapt, innovate, or die.

AudioBoo - LOL Funny?

2012-01-19T09:44:00.000Z

LOL Funny? (mp3)

Here are links to the books i mentioned in this Boo:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Sad-True-Love-Story/dp/1847082491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326966001&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/McCarthys-Bar-Journey-Discovery-Ireland/dp/0340766050/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326966067&sr=1-1

Blacked Out.

2012-01-18T12:17:00.001Z

For those who may not already be aware, Wikipedia is not working normally today. Well, at least not here in the UK. Apparently, it can still be accessed via a mobile phone, but.....

The reason for this is that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has “blacked out” the site for a full 24 hours in protest at the potential passing of the SOPA and PIPA laws in the USA. SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA for Protect Intellectual Property Act by the way.

In the USA over recent months there has been a move to bring these laws into effect. Now, i cannot pretend to know everything about these proposed laws. After all, this is all happening in the USA, but it is scary stuff all the same.

Many people probably feel that because a law comes into effect in the USA that it will have little, or no, effect on them elsewhere in the world. They are much mistaken, as these laws have the potential to change the nature of the Internet as we now know it. After all, the internet is a worldwide system and no respecter of international boundaries.

Many countries have, at the very least, tried to bring in anti-piracy laws over recent years.

Now, i do understand why media companies, music, tv and movie makers are worried about online piracy. After all, they feel that internet piracy is costing them a lot of money in potential earnings. And i can see why they may feel that something needs to be done about it.

My problem though is the way that this is usually done and seems to be happening here as well. The proposed law(s) always seem to follow the “sledgehammer to crack a nut” solution and never seem to be fully thought through, or are they?

These proposed laws are always supported and promoted by those big media, tv, music, movie companies and organisations that i mentioned earlier. They feel that they are the “victims” of piracy on the internet, but what they always propose seems to be a complete change in the way that the internet works. It becomes almost a control issue and that is where i start to get worried.

As i said earlier, i do understand the problems faced by those media etc companies. But, are those problems at least partly of their own making?

In the past those companies have had total control over their products. They have set the price we have had to pay and have had no real competition. They have made huge amounts of money and there has been nothing that anyone else could do about it.

Now the internet has come along and changed everything forever and those same companies don’t like it one little bit. One reason is that they have all been caught totally unprepared for what has followed. They have either failed to see the huge potential that the internet offered them, or they have just been too stuck in their ways to do anything about it. Just look at the music industry as an example.

The music industry needed the invention of the mp3 and the advent of Napster before they, belatedly, saw the writing on the wall. They have been desperately trying to play catch up ever since.

You would have thought that those other media providers would have learned a lesson from the music industry, but they have also been caught out in the same way.

As with all rich and powerful organisations, they hate it when that power is taken away from them. So, what do those organisations do? They run to the government of the time, cry foul and ask for laws to be passed to enable them to regain that lost control.

This is what seems to have happened in the USA and other countries. The companies and organisations employ, all too influential, lobbying groups to campaign on their behalf. These lobbying groups then target politicians, elected officials and other influential figures to state and sell their case. Unfortunately, the scaremongering tactics used by the lobbying groups all too often have the desired effect and draconian laws are proposed and sometimes passed.

(In the UK recently we have had the activities of these lobbying groups called into question. There have been calls for their actions and influence to be investigated and quite rightly so. But, maybe that is a topic for another day?)

The trouble with all of these SOPA and PIPA type laws is that they effectively amount to censorship. They are designed to control what we see and have access to.

This will always be denied by those who propose these laws. They will say that that is not their intention and that all they want to do is stop online piracy and protect their business. But, the actual effect will be to restrict what we see and do on the internet.

In my opinion, the internet is one of the last bastions of true freedom that we have left and it deserves fighting for and protecting, in its current form. Nobody should be allowed to censor, or control it and certainly not a government.

Do we really want to be subject to the kind of internet censorship that happens in other countries? The great firewall of China anyone?

This is why Wikipedia and others have “blacked out” today. They are showing you a potential vision of the future of the internet and they have my full support.

Is that what you really want? Somehow, i very much doubt it.

You have been warned.

No Road Movie.

2012-01-16T19:31:00.000Z

I went out for a walk today.

Here's a link to the book that i mentioned:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Norman-Invasion-Discovery-Hastings/dp/0954480...
The eBook looks far cheaper!

AudioBoo - Roundabout Standoff.

2012-01-14T14:02:00.002Z

Roundabout Standoff. (mp3)

Think Like A Fish.

2012-01-09T14:12:00.000Z

Seeing things from both sides.

AudioBoo - Inappropriate Fireworks.

2012-01-05T10:52:00.000Z

Inappropriate Fireworks. (mp3)

A trend i've noticed creeping in over recent years.

AudioBoo - What Next On AudioBoo?

2012-01-02T20:40:00.000Z

What Next On Audioboo? (mp3)

See previous blog post (I Published A Book) for details about how to get my eBook.

I Published A Book!

2012-01-02T14:46:00.000Z

I have just published an eBook on Amazon & it is available for Kindle users.

It can be bought on all Amazon sites, including:
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moose-Musings-ebook/dp/B006RXBRTC/
USA: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006RXBRTC

Otherwise, just search for "Moose Musings", the name of the book.

Looking Forward.

2011-12-31T15:41:00.001Z

Yesterday i wrote a post all about looking back over the past year. It's something that is done increasingly often these days.

But, another thing that happens around this time is that people also start to look forward to, or at least, towards the coming New Year. Once again, the media are the main culprits and the newspapers, tv and radio are full of "expert" opinion on what is going to happen next year.

Like me, i'm sure you've seen, heard, or read at least some of these pieces over the past few days.

But, one aspect that is often overlooked about those predictions that were made the previous year is,
Did they come true?
Were they correct?
Were they in fact wildly inaccurate?

Now, don't forget that some of these predictions concern monetary matters and even recommendations as to where to spend, or invest your money! Of course, they all come with a small print warning, as they should.
But, my point is that these predictions, from these so called experts, can often be very influential.

It can be very easy to be drawn in by these "experts", who you presume have a great deal of knowledge about their subject. But, as we can see in many places these days, experts are not always quite what they seem.

In this blog i have often talked about social media and these days many people tout themselves as being social media experts. But, are they?
You can find examples of this all over the Internet and especially in places like Twitter. I'm followed by many of them myself, for some strange reason.
So, if you are in any doubt, ask questions and "let the buyer beware."

Of course, monetary matters are not the only topics covered. I've seen many predictions concerning which movies will be the blockbusters and which new bands will make the big time in 2012.
Often these are self fulfilling prophecies, as far as i'm concerned. After all, the more publicity something gets the more chance there is of it becoming a success.
If you are put onto a list of the bands to watch in 2012, you're already halfway there.

Politics are, of course, always part of these discussions and i can't help but wonder what predictions were made, by the experts, for 2011?
I have a feeling that things turned out rather differently from what was predicted.

At this time last year, a young Tunisian man by the name of Mohammed Bouazizi, was laying in a hospital bed near Tunis. He subsequently died, on 4th January, from the injuries sustained when he set himself alight on 17th December 2010.
His story is now very familiar to people right across the world. But, i doubt that when those experts considered their predictions for 2011 the name of Mohammed Bouazizi even crossed their minds. And, in their defence, i can understand why.

In many ways, Mohammed Bouazizi could be considered the man of the year for 2011 and quite rightly so. The influence that his tragically early death has had was something that nobody could have predicted.
The so called "Arab Spring" that followed his death, has led to the end of the rule of dictators in his native Tunisia, in Egypt and also in Libya. The effects are still being felt in Syria and Yemen right now.
It could also be argued that the effects of the Arab Spring have helped lead to the recent demonstrations in Russia and even to the Occupy Wall Street protests that have taken place across the world during 2011.

Political events are notorious for moving very slowly. But, as we have seen this year, it is not a good idea to rely on that.

So, predictions can be dangerous things and for many reasons.
Beware of always believing what you read, or hear from the mouths of the so called "experts".

After all, Nostradamus has often been proved wrong and how many times, over the past few years, have we been told that the world was about to end. Even down to what day and time it was going to happen.
In fact, those who believe what the Mayan calendar supposedly tells them, say that the world will end, once again, on 21st December 2012.
So, don't buy next years Christmas cards just yet!

Thankfully, we're all still here at the moment and i fully expect that we will be for some time yet.
In fact, that is my prediction.

Caveat Emptor.

Looking Back.

2011-12-30T22:08:00.001Z

I guess it's inevitable that at the end of a year people start to look back on what has gone before? But, there are some aspects of this "tradition" that have really started to grate with me.

One of these aspects is all of those tv "best of 2011" programs that appear over the festive period. Whilst i accept that some of them are ok, the vast majority are excruciating. The main reason is not always the actual content of the program itself either, but more to do with the presenting style.

Do these programs and the presenters really expect us to believe that what we are seeing is done live? If not, then why do they persist in acting as if they were?
All this talk of Christmas presents, supposed spontaneity and false jollity really doesn't cut it i'm afraid.

I saw a particularly bad example earlier this evening. Well, i didn't see the whole program, as i just couldn't bear to watch it all.

On the BBC there is a daily, weekday program called "The One Show". I happen to watch this show, or at least parts of it, most evenings. But, the "best of" show they had on tonight showed up the worst examples of what i am talking about here.

There were buckets full of false jollity, fake presents and scripted chat. And all as they counted down the shows Top 20 moments of 2011. Of course, none of these shows are complete without the obligatory celebrity guests, either "live", or filmed are they?
All the boxes were ticked and consequently, i switched off.

The best examples of this kind of show, where all they do is basically string a load of old clips together, are the ones where there are no actual presenter(s). The main reason, for me anyway, being that whenever there is a presenter, there always seems to be the need for that person to make some kind of joke when introducing that next clip.

Personally, i blame Dennis Norden.
For those who don't know who he is, he used to present a program called "It'll Be Alright On The Night', way back when. This program was essentially a string of clips of tv presenters, actors etc making mistakes when filming and then swearing.
Sounds hilarious doesn't it?

I'll admit that when that program first aired, all those years ago, it was original and funny. But, as with all these shows, the joke soon started to wear a little thin.
For me, the main reason was that Dennis Norden used to try to be funny between the clips, when all you wanted is for the next selection of clips to start.

This "tradition" continues right up to the present day with such hosts as Bruce Forsyth and those on the "best of" shows. And, would you believe it, "It'll Be Alright On the Night" has been resurrected once again with a new host? Just to rub it in a bit!

Of course, these "best of" shows are easy to make and are also cheap programming for the respective tv stations. After all, all that is required is a producer to select the clips, an editor to put them all together and hey presto, you've got a show.
Then you just get the shows presenters to stay behind one day and record the links between the clips and read the script from an autocue. And don't forget to decorate the studio with some token Christmas decorations, to set the scene.
You don't even need a real audience, although some shows do go to this trouble.

So, i'm not expected them to go away anytime soon.

But, could we just leave out the "jokes" next time around please?

So, How Was It For You?

2011-12-27T13:12:00.000Z

Reflections on a family Christmas.

Billions.

2011-12-23T15:18:00.000Z

I was listening to the radio this morning and happened to hear the song "Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper. A track that was released in 1973 and a song i vivdly remember from my school days.

Apart from transporting me back to those days, as music so often does. It also struck me that back then a billion was a huge and pretty much unimaginable number.

I have no doubt that when i first heard that song, i probably didn't know exactly what a billion actually was and had to look it up. I can even remember discussions as to what a billion really was. Was it a thousand million, or a million million?
Even a million was a pretty big number to a fresh faced 15 year old, so a billion was mind boggling!

Fast forward 38 years and a billion is a number that is so well known now that just about everybody could tell you what it means. We all seemed to settle on a thousand million as the definition of a billion by the way.
I realise that inflation means that a billion dollars is worth nowhere near as much as it was back in those heady days of 1973, but even so....

Since the banking crash of 2008, we have all grown used to hearing the word billions being bandied about, day after day, by the media and economic commentators. And not just a billion either, but hundreds of billions. So much so, that the word billion just doesn't have the same impact that it once did. Even a few years ago.
We have become numbed to just how much money these people are actually talking about. Which is a rather scary thought in its own way.

These days though, those same commentators now regularly talk about trillions. That's a thousand billion to you and me. Now, that is a huge number. But, how much longer will it be before we have to start thinking about a thousand trillion?
How many noughts is that? It makes my mind boggle just thinking about it.

And talking about noughts. I wonder when we will need to start writing down the number 1 followed by one hundred noughts? That's called a Googol (sic) by the way.

Now, where have i heard that word before?

Solar Power, Yes Please.

2011-12-22T22:32:00.000Z

Over two years ago, on 15th October 2009 to be precise, i wrote a blog post all about climate change (Blog Action day 2009: Climate Change).
In that post i mentioned my feelings about solar power and the fact that here in the UK it seems to be the forgotten option when it comes to renewable power.

This topic has, once again, raised its head again over recent days.
Yesterday the High Court, here in the UK, ruled as unlawful a decision by the UK Government to change and reduce the subsidies on solar power. These are subsidies that are paid to the small consumer, typically a householder, to encourage solar power generation.

Meanwhile, two Parliamentary committees have also criticised the UK Government over the same issue.

Many commentators think that the Governments decision could sound the death knell for the production of solar panels in the UK, with the loss of many much needed jobs.
Apparently the reason behind the decision is that the installation of solar panels has proved far more popular than anyone predicted. Thereby, costing the Government more money in subsidies.

Whilst i do understand the Governments predicament, especially, in these testing economic times. Surely, we should be encouraging the use of solar power generation, not trying to put people off?
The fact that solar panels on private dwellings have been so popular shows that the general public want to install them. So, why not help them continue to fit them?

I have argued, to anyone who will listen, that we should be concentrating far more on solar power than on wind power to produce the nations renewable energy in the future.
The Government have pumped billions of pounds into wind turbines. Wind turbines that only work when there is a wind and, as we have seen recently, don't actually work that well when there is "too much wind".
Then there is the issue that, in many peoples opinion, wind turbines are a blot on the landscape. I actually quite like them myself, but do totally understand the objections. Solar panels, on the other hand, disturb nobody, make no noise and don't present a hazard to birds either.

I accept that the sun doesn't always shine here in the UK. But, ordinary daylight can still be used to generate solar energy, albeit not as much as on a sunny summers day.

So, for me, there is no issue here. Solar power should be encouraged.
The energy companies and the Government should be looking at ways of generating electricity through solar power and private householders should be encouraged to fit solar panels to their houses. This would then provide cheap natural power to the nation and help protect UK jobs as well.

But, putting on my cynical hat, i can see other reasons why wind power is usually put above solar power.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no plan by the big energy companies to use solar energy as a source of power generation. They all seem to be stuck with this fascination with huge wind turbine farms, both on land and at sea.
I do realise that for them to do this they would have to go down the route that other countries have taken and have solar panel "farms". I have seen this kind of thing in Spain. It takes land to do this and maybe that is the argument against it?

But, maybe another other reason is that wind turbines can't really be fitted to houses very easily?
Planning permission can be a real problem in this area. It can be with solar panels too, but they are nowhere near as visible, or ugly. Wind turbines, after all, are like an extension to a house, or building. Therefore requiring planning permission. Whereas, solar panels are fitted onto the house.

So, if you can't easily fit wind turbines to your house, but solar panels are easy to fit. Why would the energy companies want to encourage you to fit solar panels to your own house, helping you to generate your own electricity and therefore, reducing your need for the energy company in the first place?

If we were all able to afford and fit solar panels to our houses and buildings, we wouldn't need the energy companies at all would we? Or, at least, only for emergency power as a kind of back up.

Of course, the energy companies were created when the UK Government sold off and privatised the energy systems back in the 1980's. Which leads me to wonder, if we still had a Government owned energy system, would we still have this problem with renewable energy systems now?

I'd like to think that if we still had the old system we'd all be encouraged to fit solar panels and save ourselves some money. This way would also encourage householders to conserve energy. Because, if you're generating electricity yourself, you're bound to take more interest in how you use that energy.

This would, in turn, reduce the CO2 emissions of the UK, helping us meet our Kyoto and other targets.
It would also reduce our reliance on energy imported from abroad. Whether that be coal, gas from Russia and even electricity from France. We could not then be held to ransom by other countires and subject to their own price increases.
Surely, that can only be a good thing?

I suspect though, that this will not happen due to the power that the energy companies seem to have over the Government in the UK. They seem to be able to do whatever they want, with very little, or ineffectual Government interference.
All the time the status quo is maintained, the public will keep seeing their own energy bills rise far above the rate of inflation. As they have been doing over recent years.
The price of energy is now a major chunk of household expenditure. Something that never really used to be the case.

In my opinion, it doesn't need to be this way. Solar power needs and deserves to be encouraged and the ordinary householder needs to be given the means, at a sensible cost, to generate their own electricity.
But, what we need is a strong UK Government and some forward thinking to help provide the conditions for this to happen.

Power needs to be returned to the people.

eBooks, Kindle And Me.

2011-12-14T14:38:00.000Z

I have been meaning to talk about this topic for a while now & was reminded to do so by a tv program i watched last night.
If you get the chance, it is well worth viewing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01871m9/Imagine_Winter_2011_Books_The_L...

The Christmas Number 1.

2011-12-10T17:27:00.000Z

Frankly my dear, i don't give a damn!

Snap!

2011-12-07T19:17:00.000Z

A trip to London with ex work colleagues & all to take some photos.

Check out my Flickr account to see whati took on the day & have taken in the past: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28547473@N07/

AudioBoo - You'll Always Find Me Drumming In The Kitchen At Parties.

2011-12-05T20:06:00.000Z

You"ll Always Find Me Drumming In The Kitchen At Parties. (mp3)

I've been meaning to teel this story for ages now.