techno.blog("Dion")

I have been bugging my british friends for ages about The Daily Show, my favourite on TV.

Today I saw a commercial on Channel 4, saying that The Daily show is now on More 4.

So, those brits who have it, watch More 4 for Jon Stewart at his best.

After reading Flight attendants outraged over Jodie Foster film I have to say something.

I have been mad for years that the mad evil genius in Hollywood movies has always been a british guy.

The personification of this is Alan Rickman.

So, all brits out there… we need to ban any thriller where the english guy is portrayed as an evil one.

Hugh Grant Movies Only!

BBC America loves to show Are you being served and Benny Hill, but misses the classics.

It has been great to see them put BlackAdder on the airwaves, but next I want to see Only Fools and Horses.

What made me think of this? I got sent a snippet from a classic episode

I love The Office. Ricky Gervais has his new sitcom, Extras booting up tonite on BBC 2.

He has some teasers:

• here
• here
• here

Now I need to work out how to watch it in the states. I am sure some kind soul may be it up on bittorrent? Not that I would use that…

When I learned about the tradgedy in London, after I felt for the friends and family touched, I worried about any backlash. I worried about the BNP smelling opportunity.

I have said before that I was impressed with Tony Blair’s speach, and how he acknowledged the need to solve the problems at their root causes (e.g. fixing poverty) as we can’t kill our “enemies” as fast as we are creating them right now.

One of my worries comes from the comparison of the IRA a few decades ago. Throughout the IRA bombings, I think the people really understood that the IRA terrorists were not indicative of the Irish people. Why did we think that? Chances are a lot of us had a lot of contact with an irishman. They were married into our families. They were friends on the rugby field and at work. We were all integrated.

The problem we have now, is that IN GENERAL the muslim community isn’t as integrated. You always fear what you don’t know. So, this is why I worried that people would be hearing “islamic terrorists” and putting 2 + 2 together to make 5 (all muslims == belive in the cause).

We need to all get talking. I was so glad to see a church and a mosque get their congregations to meet up north. Once we meet and understand eachother we will realise that we are all just humans, who want the best for our families and lives.

When the IRA was in action, you didn’t hear people calling it them “christian fundamentalist terrorists” did you?

As soon as I landed in NYC this morning, I started to hear about the London attacks. I was quickly able to call and email friends and family there, and luckily noone was harmed.

There were a couple of close calls:

• My cousin changed trains at Aldgate station 20 mins before the bomb went off there
• A friend was on the train behind the train that got hit in the king cross explosion. he was stuck in the tunnel for over 2 hours and had to be rescued from the other side. He said at the time he had no clue what had happened and thought it was a faulty line. The only reson he wasn’t on the other train was because Becky held him up a few minutes in the morning before he left. … to do some washing up! Thank god for a nagging wife ;)

Unfortunately, many of others loved ones were lost and injured in this disgraceful, cowardly act.

I was impressed that Tony Blair came right out, and mentioned that this isn’t about Muslims, as these kinds of events could start a civil war in London if people took things the wrong way. We can’t let a few nutters destroy things.

My heart goes out to anyone who was affected today, including the bombers themselves who are willing to kill for a bad cause.

I was on a conference call to the UK today, and everyone was laughing at the instructions.

[insert stuck up english womans voice]: “Please enter your authorization code and then hit the square key”

What the hell is the square key? Everyone worked out that she meant the pound sign. I know that I never called that sign the ‘pound’ sign, as it is of course reserved for our currency. I used to call it the ‘hash’ mark (not what they call it in Holland ;).

I don’t think I EVER heard a brit call it the square key!

Also, the conf call system was one that asks for your name, so it can play the part of the masters of service and claim:

“Dion has entered the conference”

One of the guys hit buttons, and indeed that worked just fine:

“BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP has entered the conference”

A lot of people have comments on the Chip and Pin system that has spread from France to other countries (including England).

There is a huge criminal element revolving around phone card PIN theft. Bad Guys are very good at reading the location of your fingers and knowing your PIN number from it.

I think there is a simple way to get around that. Of course, we could use finger prints / retina tests / etc, but how about a simple solution “for now”.

Why not have the keypad be a touch screen, with technology that makes it impossible for someone to read off of the screen unless you are directly in front of it (which we have). Then, to stop people from reading your fingers, just place the numbers randomly on the pad. Don’t have:

123
456
789
0

but randomly create:

297
841
065
3

There is one problem with this. It makes it harder for the user, as they will have to really look at what they are doing. But, maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. It will make people watch what they are doing.

Bruce Schneieir recently talked about British Pub Hours and Crime.

He has some really good points about the seperation of local power compared to central power.

It has always frustrated me that many areas of the US have very early closing hours, and that if you are in that town at closing time, all hell breaks lose. I think I would rather open up the hours so the rabble would spread out!

I enjoy T.V. shows from the US and the UK (among other places). What really blows my mind is how the utter tripe manages to make it across the ocean.

I know that 95% of T.V. is awful, so the odds are that some of it will mistakenly be moved over. Soap Operas in the US and painful, fake, and the long pauses really get me. Soap Operas in the UK are so depressing that you want to kill yourself.

However, there are some shows which really need to be seen all over. A show called Only Fools and Horses is a CLASSIC comedy from the UK. Why not show that instead of Benny Hill, Are you being served, or Monty Python (not that I don’t like Python.. just not every second).

The latest travestry which has me writing all of this, is a show on Comedy Central.

DISTRACTION: A Game Show

It is very bizarre. It comes from the UK, and it even looks like the host is the same.

How is it bizarre? Picture the techniques in which you have to ring the buzzer and get answers:

1. As a contestant you have to pee in a tin. When you STOP the buzzer goes off
2. As a contestant you have your hands tied behind you, and have to charge over to a large naked person who has the answers stuck to their body. You have to get them off with your teeth.

Why are we getting this? Why are we turning into Japan? :)