Archive for June, 2008
posted by Cptn
Advocate of nuclear power, Giles Chichester MEP, has been invited by the Industry Forum to give the keynote address at their Meeting on Climate Change at the Chemical Industries Association in London today.
Giles, who oft remarks on how nuclear is the environmentally cleanest and best positioned to be the energy of choice now, is a member of the EU Temporary Committee on Climate Change which was created to ‘formulate an integrated approach to climate change policies’. So you’d guess his comments echo those from European Parliament discussions.
He is also coordinator of the the European People’s Party (not THAT sort of People’s) and European Democrats (not THOSE sort of Democrats) group on the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee. He is also chairman of the European Energy Forum and the Conservative Delegation’s Energy spokesman in the Parliament. But from what we can gather, he aint no lover of green.
• Read Giles’ press release about his expenses scrape.
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June 30th, 2008
Friends, republicans, countrymen… lend me yer eyeballs. Phig Billy here, the PRSD’s resident gonzo cartoonist, eager to report back on his very first all-day comic book workshop last weekend. The event was supported/enabled by the Farringdon Society of Arts and took place at the village hall in Farringdon on Saturday June 21.
I was blown away by how fantastic the kids were… 10 students in all from as far afield as Newton Abbot, and they were all incredibly polite, enthusiastic, smart, and keen to try out the techniques I was trying to impart. And then at the end, FSA chair Janet Sawyer arrived with two very special guests: Nick Pegg and Barnaby Edwards, who (among other things) sit inside and drive daleks on Doctor Who. Obviously, they sent the kids nuts!
I am keen to expand on this foundation a develop a series of workshop for kids and adults of all ages. I have also been taking my workshops into schools in the Exeter area. I’m not a complete joker: I took my Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Bristol last year, and I’ve taught at both private and comprehensive primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, as well as schools in Japan.
For more information, you can contact me on phigbilly@gmail.com or check out the Phig Billy website.
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June 29th, 2008
posted by Cptn
A Humanist wedding on Slapton Sands
Friday’s a funeral and Saturday’s bride, as the song goes, and we have hot news from the humanists that non-religious weddings, baby-namings and funerals are becoming far more popular in Devon.
On Thursday in Birdwood House, Totnes, local celebrants Jonathan Taylor, Stephen Peckham and Ann Mitchell described their role across the county, and the rising demand for non-religious ceremonies, and the happy Humanists got in touch to tell us what it’s all about.
“Humanist funerals, for example, are much more than simply an alternative to the default option of hymns and prayers,” Jonathan told the PRSD.
“They aren’t about beliefs, Humanist or otherwise, they are about the person who everyone is missing, and wants to remember clearly before letting his or her body be taken for burial or cremation. Families always tell me that they felt cared for and that, above all, the tribute to the person who died really captured his or her essence. A good funeral is meant to be a healing experience, and that is what humanist funeral celebrants concentrate on above all.”
“It is natural to want to celebrate the most important events in life with a special ceremony, usually involving speech, poetry, music, song, feasting and dancing”, said Anne.
“People have always needed to mark the important times in their lives. Humanists like to celebrate too, but prefer to do so in non-religious ceremonies, where they will not find themselves saying things they do not believe.”
“The British Humanist Association has a network of highly trained celebrants who work with people to create meaningful and moving – but non-religious – namings, weddings, affirmations or funerals, or any other ceremony, that is appropriate to the individuals’ needs and wishes,” Stephen explained.
“Our celebrations are always created for the people involved, so each one is unique and personal, with great scope for variation. Celebrants always discuss your own ideas and questions with you from the outset.”
For more information, contact:
Jonathan Taylor (funerals) 01803 865380, jmtaylor55@yahoo.co.uk;
Stephen Peckham (funerals) 01626 354547 s.j.peckham@btinternet.com;
Ann Mitchell (funerals, weddings, affirmations, namings) 01404 46766 ann.bhaceremony@btinternet.com
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June 28th, 2008
The weekly technology column from those good people at Plymouth’s
Orange Crate
Being accustomed to our compact desktop computers and even smaller laptops (and even smaller pdas), it’s easy to forget how it all began. Forget Charles Babbage and his complex 19th century tinkerings for a second – as important as they were, we’re going to bypass them and move forward a few years to something (a little) more recognizable…
In March 1951 the United States Census Bureau received a 13 ton consignment from Messrs Eckert and Mauchly, and the modern age of computing was officially born. The brilliantly old-school-sci-fi sounding Univac 1 is widely considered to be the first ever digital computer, and the beginning of an industry that was to become one of the biggest in the world.
For over five years it was the best large-scale data processing computer, capable of storing and manipulating both programs and data in the same memory space – a system on which all following computers have founded their basic architecture. The entire structure took over 35.5 square metres of floor space, and initially cost $159,000. A total of 46 of these beasts were eventually delivered to various US institutions and businesses, and due to increasing popularity the price eventually rose to around $1,500,000. Not only were these the pinnacle in technology at the time, private ownership of one would have amply shown off any enterprise’s power and wealth.
Fast forward 25 years to another defining moment in IT history… Steve Wozniak, an employee of Hewlett-Packard, desperately wanted to build his own personal computer but was restricted by budgetary constraints. Eventually he and his associate Steve Jobs built a custom computer and decided to sell it under the name ‘Apple-1′ through their new company, Apple. We all know that they went on to become pioneers in computer technology (and still are today), but the ground-breaking attributes of the Apple-1 were that not only did it make use of a keyboard, it was also one of the first personal computers to be sold fully assembled and not as a kit.
The Apple-1 sold for $666.66 at the time, a one-third markup on the $500 Apple sold it to retailers for (and because Wozniak liked repeating digits, so the history books say).
Fast forward another 20 years and it becomes obvious how fast the IT world had changed. By 1995 companies such as Intel and Microsoft had enveloped large portions of the various industry quarters, making it extremely difficult for original, rival ideas to be successfully. One such example comes from the relative failure of Be Inc. A new company founded by the ex-manager of Apple’s French subsidiary, they developed a fairly advanced machine that didn’t run on one of the mainstream Windows or Mac OS systems. Aimed mainly at software developers, it was designed to be a primary alternative to the big boys of the time.
Sadly, due mainly to it’s lack of compatibility with anything else of the time, it was largely rejected and fewer than 2000 machines were manufactured over a brief two-year period. By 2001 Be Inc. had sold their intellectual rights and gone out of business. Long gone seemed the days where Bill Gates started an empire from his garage, or Wozniak and Jobs hand built their computers one by one and ended up as billionaires.
This is only an extremely small clipping from the history of computers, an area which is really a lot more interesting than you may think. With grand ideas, meteoric rises, and huge failures, there’s a hundred stories and sub-stories to be told. Perhaps the greatest thing is that the majority of these pioneers are still alive and well and plying their trade.
For more information, check out the Old Computers site. Even if you’re really not interested, the antiquated pictures might supply some cheap laughs!
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June 27th, 2008
Sarah Clarke of The Torbay Bookshop reviews the latest releases.
A five-part BBC2 series on Russia, with Jonathan Dimbleby as the presenter and the author of a meaty tie-in is a no-brainer as far as I am concerned. In Russia, A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People, the authors travels thousands of miles from Murmansk to Vladivostok, immerses himself in modern Russian culture and encounters many different characters along the way.
Russia, Jonathan Dimbleby, BBC, £25
• The Torbay Bookshop is one of the leading independent booksellers - visit it online.
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June 26th, 2008
posted by Cptn
Rudolf Laban is to dance what William Morris is to upholstery. And as part of its 70-year celebration of his shimmy across Dartington’s doorstep (and 50th anniversary of his death) the place is offering a limited number of bursaries to local people on its four-day Laban dance programme.
Apparently, “in keeping with Laban’s core principle that dance is for absolutely everyone, the course is suitable for people of all ages and abilities, including those with restricted movement. Non-residential places – which include entry, participation, refreshments and lunch – cost £200 for the five-days. Dartington is also able to offer a number of limited bursaries to local people, priced £70.”
But what of this Laban fellow? The Austro-Hungarian fled Nazi Germany in 1936, after a run in with the Government Propaganda Ministry and found himself popping along to Dartington in 1938. According to the Laban site, he then ‘worked in industry, introducing work study methods to increase production through humane means’. And in his latter years he ‘concentrated on movement as behaviour, studying the behavioural needs of industrial workers and psychiatric patients’.
The Dartingon programme, Laban: Then & Now, includes a participatory programme of workshops, lectures and debate, performance, exhibition and film, the course will run from Sunday July 6 to Thursday July 10 and has both residential and non-residential places available.
The blurb says: “Each morning and evening participatory activities take place, including movement classes, lecture demonstrations, evening performances and film screenings. Participants can choose to take part in either symposium events – including talks on Laban’s work and his time at Dartington – or creative dance workshops led by expert choreographers and leaders in dance, including Regina Miranda and Rosemary Lee.
You can find out more on the Dartington Laban site, or by by contacting Lara Lloyd on 01803 847078 or l.lloyd@dartington.org
And for more on Laban’s life and his legacy of dance visit the Laban site.
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June 26th, 2008
posted by Cptn
News has reached us, with a following wind, that our comrades up north, North Devon that is, have an incredibly thriving arts scene, thank you very much. ‘What about our Art Trek? Came the collective creative cry from the North Shore.
The Art Trek is part of the North Devon Festival and featured around 60 artists in 41 venues above the A30. And if you’re looking to head up in the world, there are still parts of the art trek still going. The art trek exhibition runs until July 5, in the Gallery Cafe of the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple. And the North Devon Hospice Artist Workshops Exhibition, at the Barnstaple library is on until June 28 (that’s Saturday).
Stay tooned for more news from the north, (on occasion), the world doesn’t stop at the 51st parallel, you know.
Picture of the North Devon Art Trek at Beggars Roost by Dave Green.
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June 25th, 2008
Greetings people’s republicans. Phig Billy hereby apologises for the delay writing this up, but I had an extremely eventful weekend including the rip-roaring success of my first all-day comic book workshop. (You know, for kids.) More on that later, but first…
On Friday I was invited to attend the launch night of the first xNorthcult exhibition “The Unknown” in the newly revamped lobby and bar of the Northcott Theatre. Due no doubt to the incomprehensible presence of a small letter “x” in the event’s title, I was expecting some kind of snobbish, super contemporary display of inaccessible installations. Instead, I was confronted with an intriguing range of often surprisingly edgy and genuinely compelling works by a variety of local artists. (My attorney now informs me that the x stands for Exeter and is a Northcott-wide branding thing… apologies Northcult.)
The theme for this event, “The Unknown” didn’t really ring true to be honest, but that’s not important. But yeah, some of the works were surprisingly edgy! I found Rob Portus of Blue Tungsten Photography’s pictures to be bleak but witty and thought-provoking, especially his images of old tyres and electrical appliances falling out of the sky. Rob deserves extra kudos for co-organising the event.
Lawson E. Rudge’s paintings present a series of surreal and spine-tingling images, painted with an incredible vibrancy and energy which belie his 72 years. He displays a healthy obsession with stiletto heels and spooky cyclops-hares, and also spooky cylcops-hares wearing stiletto heels…
I had great fun chatting about mythology and the uses of roadkill with Shane Hahn, one third of the Dartmoor-based artists’ collective Darcane Arts, whose twisted sculptures were terrifying but exquisitely detailed and beautifully made.
Less visceral but equally intriguing were the massive abstract paintings of Lee Godfrey, and the dream-like compositions of Adam Bunce. Musical accompaniment was provided by guitar-maker and musician Andy Manson and his three-piece band. Andy played for us his mermaid guitar [see pic], the craftsmanship of which is simply breath-taking.
The event was organised jointly by Laura Robinson, another third of Darcane Arts and wearer on the night of a most spectacular dress, and Rob Portus, mentioned above, whose photos were included in the exhibition. Rob was also responsible for designing how the artworks were displayed and this was massively successful, particularly upstairs. I did feel that downstairs became a bit of a dead area and I’m sure the artworks down there were consequently neglected, but this is a very minor quibble. I bumped into my former Latin master (wot, me posh?) who really put his finger on it when he said that the installation of the artworks looked so good that it seemed crazy the Northcott had never done anything like this before.
And why hasn’t the Northcott done anything like this before? From chatting to various people, I got the impression that a criticism levelled at the theatre and a reason given for why funding was almost cut [until it won its reprieve earlier in the year] is that traditionally activities at the Northcott have not appealed to people of sufficiently diverse ages. It was specifically to redress this criticism, Laura told me, that the Northcult was conceived. This is reflected in the choice of artists and peripheral Northcult events: in addition to the hob-nobbing launch night on Friday (there were city officials with impressive sparkly medallions), the following day the theatre was hosting children’s workshops during the day and some new-fangled young people’s music (including Laura’s own band) in the evening.
Certainly there’s nothing like staring into the jaws of oblivion for giving you a new perspective on life. Funding crisis well and truly behind it, armed with a new chief executive, refurbished interior, and a gang of exciting new collaborators dubbed the Northcult, the Northcott is clearly aspiring to new heights. Certainly I found the launch party last Friday to be a success and I would whole-heartedly encourage people to drop in and support this free exhibition which is on until the August 29.
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June 24th, 2008
posted by Cptn
If yesterday’s cycling fun in Exeter is to make more a lasting impression (saddle soreness notwithstanding), then it might be advisable for all those peddle pushers to freewheel it to the Exeter Beyond the Car talk by Peter Lipman, organised by Low Carbon Exeter, which takes place at the Music Room, Exeter Central Library, on Wednesday July 2 at 7pm.
“Peter Lipman,” says the press release, “works on practical projects dealing with sustainable transport at Sustrans and is also chair of trustees of the Centre for Sustainable Energy and the Transition Network.”
And if the 350 people who attended the Cycle Sunday event at Exeter’s Flowerpot playing fields is anything to go on, there should be support for at least one non-motorised form of transport.
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June 23rd, 2008
We got notification from Equality South West that on Wednesday, June 24 Harriet Harman, Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, is expected to make an announcement on the Single Equality Bill.
Those people of the equality told the PRSD: “You will recall Equality South West has made submissions to the consultation stage of the Bill, which we hope will tighten up and simplify existing equalities legislation.
“We have also expressed our hopes the Bill will see the introduction of mandatory pay audits to tackle the gender pay gap, legislation to extend the statutory duty on public bodies to include age, religion or belief and sexual orientation, and that companies that discriminate against employees will be penalised in the same way as would a company which flouts health and safety laws.”
Watch and find out.
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June 22nd, 2008
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