Monday, August 30, 2004


A lovely sunset in Paisley Posted by Hello

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Joshua Kinberg who was using a wireless connected "dot-matrix-chalk-streetpainter" on the back of his bike was arrested.

While taping an interview with MSNBC's Ron Reagan in Manhattan Saturday afternoon, police approached and charged him with defacing property. After showing the cops how the system worked they seemed convinced that there was no defacement. After the police radioed in, they confiscated the bike and handcuffed Joshua. When he asked what he was being charged with, the officer could not supply an answer.

Again as with the Critical Mass arrests, the higher-up decision-makers are telling the cops on the street to deal harshly with the ordinary protesters.

Torrent of the arrest is here.
An amazing stat and one that is very revealing about Bush's America.

The median US household income has not changed for the past two years. "
Real median US household income remained unchanged at $43,318 between 2002 and 2003, reported the US Census Bureau".

So these folks have had to deal with inflation, increasing healthcare costs and two bucks for a gallon of gas, while the average american family has had no increase in household income.

If they put this guy back in for another four years, then as the Scottish say "hell slappeth it into them"

The NYC cops decided to shut down the New York Critical Mass August ride.

I understand it on one level. The cops and the city have decided to show these people and any potential protesters that they will not take any form of dissent in the city.

But I also do not understand why the cops did this. Cops usually help out on the monthly rides by directing traffic. This was not an unexpected event. It is as regular as the daily post, it happens the last Friday of every month (in every major city).

The numbers were larger this time and the cops instead of being helpful decided to pen in the riders and then arrested 250 of them.

I think this heralds the state of things to come as the RNC invades NYC.

Time for some regime change.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Dave Kearns has taken a shot at Novell and Linux at the same time for the failure of Novell's Linux Technical Resource Kit to be sent out. He makes a fair point in that Novell's slow delivery of these kits does not make for good marketing. It would be a legitimate criticism, if it wasn't a bit late.

I guess Mr. Kearns being a windows advocate is slightly slower in finding things out. I received my kit a couple weeks ago and most of the folks I know who requested one have got theirs. These are people outside of the US and therefore subject to longer shipping times. So, unless the US Postal Service has completely stopped, I would assume that most folks have received their kits. Novell has also re-opened offer and are allowing people to sign up for the kits.
Found a great book on one of my first loves, bicycle mechanics. This book is born out of the dirty grease and muck that bicycle mechanics live in daily. He discusses the basics like Wheel Wopping, how to repair carbon fiber with Epoxy and DuctTape, overhauls and a lots more.

This handbook contrasts nicely with How To Keep Your Volkwagen Alive in that it has a distinct new millenium edge. How to Rock and Roll is born from a history of urban cyclists and bike messengers getting even rather than John Muir's idealism and freewheeling attitude.

On the subject of bicycle mechanics, it looks like mquin has a great frame on his hands. Nothing like a bike project to make a guy feel good.
Well, I am back at home after a couple days of travelling. I had two sets of of meetings in Edinburgh and a ScotLUG night in Glasgow. The sister-in-law dropped by and I only saw her for ten minutes (in-between coming in and going to bed).

The first neeting was the working group on Agenda for Change and how we need to get job evaluations in place to deal with it. I hate job evaluation and I think it is one of the more evil things that an organisation can do to its employees. You are not a person, you are your job (evil, huh)

Next it was the ScotLUG Night at Strathclyde University. We had Stephen Murdoch talking about several things , several of which are raised on his site. Good talk and well presented. It was quite good time in the pub afterwards. Got together with loads of other folks like mquin and Neiland met up with folks I have not seen for a while.

Finally, I had a Network Services Meeting in Edinburgh to get together with the other network guys. I presented a tutorial on imanager on Novell boxes and gave an update on the projects that I have been working on. What was impressive was David Lindsay's ability to complete his PureIP project in a pretty limited time span. It is not easy to get legacy systems sorted out and this was a good example to of how to do that.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Went to Tai Chi classes tonight at Paisley Grammar School. The teacher (Linda Graham) was brilliant and we covered the first moves.

Liz found these classes through the Tai Chi Finder which also has several other classes listed for ther UK. Good Resource.
Well, I had a run-in with a car today at the Strathclyde Police Station Roundabout on Paisley Road West. It is a tough roundabout for cyclists and the last thing I needed was some idiot in a car not willing to let me get into the right hand lane.

When I did slide in behind this twit, they change lanes and turn left. I made sure that they learned some new words as they did this.

Monday, August 23, 2004

So, I am back at work today.

Loads of stuff to catch up on at work. Holidays do not mean less work - it just compresses until I return.

Cycled in today and met a Geordie lad who works near Strathclyde Police Station, it was good to have a cycling partner on the way into work.

Purchasing loads of stuff from Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative. So far, I have lost my helmet, bent a rear gear and need to sort out my brakes.

I have also been looking into cycling holidays in Scotland and have found loads of trips quite close. In addition, there are detailed trips on EBC written by real cyclists.

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Novell Myth No. 1 -

There has been some discussion that until Novell bought Suse and Ximian, they were relying on their current customers to support it by using its standard file and print products.

There is some truth in that the take-up of Novell was not as great as Microsoft products and so Novell was relying on its original bank of customers to generate income.

However, this myth falls down when you start to look at the Novell products that Novell is offering its customers. Novell has moved on from just ofering standard file and print products. Remote access (iFolder), centralised administration (ZenWorks Suite), groupware (GroupWise) and Network Directory (eDirectory) are products that form the basis for Novell's place in Corporate IT.
Good trip to Greenock yesterday.

It was 36 miles in total with a couple breaks thrown in (see photo of Pullman Tavern).

Fantastic weather and really good riding.

Brilliant pub that is right on the cycle path. The Pullman Tavern in Kilmacolm. Posted by Hello

More Clyde photos Posted by Hello

View of the Clyde on the way to Greenock  Posted by Hello

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Does anyone else find this article very scary. If you lie to people longer and loud enough - the lie becomes the truth.

Figure it out people, nobody in the White House thinks that there are WMD's in Iraq. They now justify it as regime change - which is illegal and more scary
To take a break from bowling and cycling photos, I was going to blog about Novell for a bit (although I may have photos from the Greenock cycle run soon).

As I talk to peers in the networking community, it has become obvious that there are some major myths about Novell.

These myths should be addressed, especially as the Novell networking community changes radically in the coming months.

So over the next couple blog entries I am going to investigate these myths and see what I can find out.
So Liz and I cycled to Lochwinnoch and the Castle Semple Loch Centre. The cycle trip down was brilliant and the weather was very good. We got some lunch at the Centre and paid rough 7 quid for a couple drink and two pre-packaged sandwiches (not cheap and not very nice).

Liz injured herself on the way back and then did it to herself again as we stopped to take a break. Despite that we were able to see loads fo old railway architecture, some nice bridges and some waterfalls (which photos did not turn out).

So here are the photos of our trip to Castle Semple Loch.

Some of the very ugly monuments on the cycle path  Posted by Hello

Liz phones her lawyer to find out who is liable (Sustrans, Bicycle Manufacturer, the Calverley Family etc) Posted by Hello

I go to find unripe blackberrys Posted by Hello

Almost home (taken in Edlerslie) Posted by Hello

Liz not feeling too good (post-accident) Posted by Hello

Liz showing off her hurt ankle Posted by Hello

At the Castle Semple Centre (who charge a lot for sandwiches - bring your own) Posted by Hello

Liz looking at the Temple near Castle Temple Loch Posted by Hello

More Liz cycling Posted by Hello

Some of the nice bridges along the path Posted by Hello

An old tin mine (look for mound near the tree) Posted by Hello

Liz pedaling hard (prior to accident) Posted by Hello

More platforms Posted by Hello
The cycle path from Paisley to Lochwinnoch used to be the Glasgow and South Western Railway that ran from Glasgow to Ayr. There is an great deal of Railway stuff along the route (like platforms and bridges).

These platforms at Kilbarchan are remnant railway architectural structures along the path.

I was going to include webpages that showed pictures of the old Railway stations but the pages were too ugly and I did not want to associated with them (black backgrounds and rainbow flickering lettering).

The old railway platform at Kilbarchan Posted by Hello

Monday, August 16, 2004

Well, I have the week off and I plan on doing some major cycling this week. Two routes are beckoning.

Route 7 which runs off to Ayr.

Later in the week I will be cycling Route 75 to Greenock.

Two routes that could be a a good day trip.

I will bring back photos.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Went to play at the Balloted triples today at Woodland Bowling Club in Linwood.

Great day which started with light rain and ended with blazing sun and an exciting final match.

So here are the photos.

John and Gary playing the last bowls of the day  Posted by Hello

Georgie Stephenson and Sam Hunter enjoying the final Posted by Hello

The very important guys behind the bar (Scotty and pal) Posted by Hello

Gus and I enjoying the final Posted by Hello

Bill Fleming out for the day Posted by Hello

Ann delivers a killer bowl (she is a brilliant bowler) Posted by Hello

John Hillan - Happy in the Scottish Sunshine Posted by Hello