11/11/11.

Today is 11/11/11. Unless, of course, you are in the USA, where it's 11/11/11.

Sorry, but i just couldn't resist that. But, that is the whole point of this post.
Just why is there a difference in the way that those in the USA and, at least, us here in the UK write dates?

I have found this difference a source of confusion and even irritation, for a number of years now. Especially when travelling in the USA itself. The increasing influence of the Internet and it's U.S centric nature has only made this worse.

I think this anomaly really came to most peoples attention after, what is universally referred to as '9/11'. The terrorist attacks on America that took place on 11th September 2001.
When somebody in the UK sees that date written down, we automatically think of 9th November.
I totally understand why '9/11' is written as it is. After all the attacks took place is the USA and that date and the way it is written has now become seared to the memory of us all. But, this is an example of the potential confusion that can be caused.

For me, the way that dates are written down in the USA defies logic.
Why on earth would you put the month first and not the actual day? For me this is just confusing. As i'm sure it is for many non Americans.
Surely, the day should come first, because the day changes, well, daily. Whereas the month only changes every 28 to 31 days and as for the year...... well, i think you can guess the rest?

I have been wracking my brain for other similar examples of the way that important numbers are written down "wrongly". I can't think of any, but i did come up with time and the way that that is written down.

Time is also, usually, written in the "wrong" order. For example, we tend to put the hour first, then the minutes, then the seconds. Just look at a digital clock to see what i mean.
Although this goes against the reasoning that i suggested earlier, it does make sense and is logical. The sequence is just written in reverse order to the way that dates are written, in the UK that is. The number that changes the most is written last, instead of first.

Are you still with me?

For me at least, the time example just "proves" that the way that the USA write dates is illogical.
I'm not criticising the USA in any way, what they do is up to them, of course. I'm just asking the question.
So, can anyone explain to me why this is done and when it started?

One concern, for me anyway, is that the continued influence of the USA might mean that the U.S date system may start to creep into more general use. I'll admit that i would not be at all happy if that were to happen.

But, for today at least, we can all enjoy having a Universal date system.
And, it's an auspicious day all round, as it's also a binary day, Remembrance Day and Nigel Tufnell day (For all those Spinal Tap fans amongst you)

So, let's turn today up to 11 and enjoy it while we can.

Living On An Island - Part 2.

In the first part of this blog, i talked about the Pirate Day event that had recently taken place in Hastings.
The day was a huge success and those who dressed up actually broke the Guinness World Record for the number of pirates in one place at any one time. A wonderful achievement.

When talking about why the record was broken and so easily too, i said "Hastings has a unique character and punches well above it's weight, when it comes to arranging and publicly celebrating events of this kind"

So, why is this?
Well, i think the answer to this question is tied up with something that i overheard somebody saying during the Pirate Day event.

This person had, i believe, moved to Hastings, from the London area, fairly recently and was saying that he didn't think that the type of events that took place in Hastings would ever happen in London. For example, he said that he had never seen Morris Dancing until he came here.
Now, i realise that things like Morris Dancing, Carnivals and some of the other events that happen in Hastings are not unique to the town, of course they're not. Although, some most certainly are.
But, i do believe that the sheer number of these events and the way in which they are embraced by the local community,  in many ways is unique. And this, once again, is tied to what this person said.

He went on to say that he felt that Hastings was in some ways an island and with this comment i would have to agree.
Hastings is notorious for having pretty bad transport links with the rest of the country and especially London, which is only 60+ miles away. Both the rail and road links to the town are considered antiquated and slow. This has led to the town becoming and feeling somewhat isolated.

Another aspect to all of this is that Hastings, for some unknown reason, always seems to get a rather bad press and any news coverage generally concentrates on bad news, rather than anything good. Hastings, like any other similar sized town, has it's fair share of problems. But, no worse than anywhere else, as far as i can see.

So, apart from sometimes feeling that you are living on an island. There is almost a kind of seige mentality amongst the local population. This reminds me of a chant used by supporters of Millwall football club, "No one likes us, we don't care".
Maybe, this tends to generate a special kind of community spirit and possibly even attract a certain type of person to come and live here? And maybe this is the reason that pirates feel so at home here?

I am, of course, biased about Hastings, having lived here for 22 years now. But, i do truly feel that there is something a little special about the town and i know that i am not alone in feeling this way.
Maybe, it's about time that others started to recognise that as well?

I, for one, certainly like living on this particular island and in a weird way i'd quite like it to remain cut off from "civilisation".

I'll leave you with a list of links to just some of the events and festivals that happen in Hastings every year. Some are, i believe, unique to Hastings. And some of them i am very happy to be associated with myself.
There are several more that happen in the local and surrounding area too.
I'm sure you'll agree, that for a town of approx 80,000 people, it sure has a lot of things going on and certainly punches above it's weight:

Pirate Day
Old Town Carnival Week
Hastings Half Marathon
Hastings Music Festival
Beatles Day
Hastings Rock radio
Jack in the Green
Hastings Beer and Music Festival
St Leonards Festival
Beach Concert
Hastings Seafood and Wine Festival
Hastings Week
Hastings Bonfire Night

Pirate Day - Hastings 2010

Just a flavour of the world record breaking 2010 Pirate Day, in Hastings. Where 6,166 pirates gathered in one place & smashed the previous record.

Links for more info:
http://oldtowncarnivalweek.co.uk/even...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Section...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzOZPD...

Music courtesy of:
http://incompetech.com/

Living On An Island - Part 1.

Today i attended Pirate Day in Hastings, my home town. This is a part of the week long Old Town Carnival Week celebrations.

The main part of this years Pirate Day, which only started in 2009, was an attempt on the official world record for the amount of pirates ever to be gathered in one place. The record had recently been broken by the good people of a town in South Carolina. Although not verified, it was thought that the new record stood at approx 2.300 pirates.

Now, that's a lot of pirates and i'll admit i wasn't sure that the record would be broken and i know that i was not alone in feeling that.
But, as i walked into town, i could see more and more people, both adults and children, dressed as pirates. By the way, there are strict criteria as to how you should be dressed to qualify as a bona fide pirate.

By the time i got into the main part of the old town of Hastings, it was apparent that pirates were descending on the town in great numbers. And some in pretty elaborate costumes too, as you can see.

Well, the people of Hastings did not disappoint and the final total, which is adjudicated by Guinness World Records, was an amazing 6,166 pirates! Beating the old world record by nearly 4,000.
Shiver me timbers and Yo Ho Ho, what a wonderful achievement.

As the lady from Guinness World Records said. Mass participation events, like this one, are notoriously hard to arrange. She also pointed out that Hastings is not that big a town for this kind of record attempt. So, to break the record in such a fashion, is a tribute to both the organisers and the people of Hastings.
I'd like to congratulate them both as well.

But, this record breaking achievement doesn't really come as a surprise to those who live here, despite what i may have said earlier.
Hastings has a unique character and punches well above it's weight, when it comes to arranging and publicly celebrating events of this kind.

And that is what i will talk about in Part 2 of this blog post.

(As you can see, even the fishing boats get into the Pirate Day spirit)

Life In A Day - Annus Horrilbilis.

This is my sumbimisson to the YouTube - Life In A Day film project. http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday

Will i be a movie star? Somehow, i doubt it.

A beach vlog.

PS: My Mother arrived home safely, unscathed, after having had an enjoyable holiday.

Life In A Day

Do you want to be in a movie to be shown at the 2011 Sundance Festival?
If so, read this:
YouTube blog: http://youtubeukblog.blogspot.com/201...

The World According To Rich:
http://worldaccordingtorich.blogspot.... &
http://www.youtube.com/worldaccording...

Fooled Again?

As i'm sure you're already aware. Yesterday was April Fools Day.
In fact the reason you remember it is, maybe, because you got caught out by one of the many pranks pulled by people? And if you were caught out, maybe you were a little annoyed about this?

I did actually get caught out myself, by a friend of mine as it happens. This didn't annoy me. Maybe because of the nature of the prank. But, it may well have done so if i had got caught out by somebody else.

I have to confess that i'm not a big fan of April Fools Day. What i dislike about it, is that you have to go around all day being very sceptical about everything you read, hear, or listen to. You just can't trust anything.
I know that some people quite enjoy trying to spot the fake stories in the many forms of media throughout the day. And i know that this only happens for one day every year. But, for me at least, it's a source of great irritation.

These days, every media outlet, including advertisers, feels the need to try and fool their customres. Even supposedly respectable broadcasters and newspapers get in on the act and also go to some pretty extreme lenghts to try and make their efforts appear plausible.
Why on earth is this and when did it start?
According to Wikipedia, the first recorded example of a prank of this kind, was in Chaucers "Canterbury Tales", way back in the 13th century! Even i didn't expect the "tradition" to go back quite that far back.
Having said that, it isn't really until the 20th century that the April Fools pramk takes off, especially in the media.
I vivdly remember, back in my school days, having to be very careful on April 1st. But, i don't think the media really got into all of this until a little later.
There was a famous example (here in the UK) of a well respected national news programme fooling pretty much the whole nation, when they did a feature about the "spaghetti harvest" in Italy. That was back in 1957. But, that was very much the exception, rather than the rule. Nowadays everybody is at it. One of the reasons that the 1957 example worked so well, was that it was totally unexpected.
Now, we all have to be on the look out for all those prank stories, or adverts.

So, why do i find all of this an irritation?
Well, for one thing, i don't like feeling that i have to be suspicious of everybody & everything. Even if it is for one day.
Also, i am an avid consumer of news. Both on tv, radio & in the (news)papers.  I dislike having to go through the process of weighing up every news item to try & decide if it's true, or not.
This can often lead to you dismissing a "real" news story as a fake. If you wanted to take this argument ot it's limit. You could argue that any fake story could actually be dangerous. Yes, i know that would never be the intention. But, it is possible. Just look at the panic caused by Orson Welles radio version of "War of the worlds" to see what could potentially happen.
I know we all think that we're more sensible than that these days. But, a similar example happened in Eastern Europe recently, when it was falsely reported that Russian tanks had invaded the country of Georgia.
What is fun for some, could end up being deadly serious for others.

Or, maybe i'm just being foolish?

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

Written as part of the online blogging action day.
Visit www.blogactionday.org for more details.

One of the aspects of climate change that affects us all, even those who don't believe that climate change is real, is the issue of power & the future generating of power.
We all use power, in one form or another & we are using more all the time. Even though we are switching to low energy light bulbs, or turning down that heating thermostat a nottch, or two. The consumption of power, across the world, is growing. This situation will only get worse as the countries of the so called Third World become more prosperous. Just look at China, which is currently still opening a new coal fired power station every week!

Whilst this may make you feel that whatever we do in the West is futile, it isn't. If you make the effort to fit those low enerfy light bulbs, or turn down the heating, you will actually save yourself some money. What better incentive is there than that?

Having said that, we do need to find new ways of producing our power & for a number of reasons.
- Our commitments to reduce CO2 emmisions in future years.
- The fact that, for a lot of us, our reserves of oil & gas are running out.
- To prevent us being held to ransom by other countries, whose resources we want.
- Our current power stations are nearing the end of their natural lives.
And i'm sure you can think of your own.

So, where will all this power come from? There are obviously a number of options.

- We can expand & replace our nuclear power stations.
This, as we know, has never been a very popular way of generating power. I lived through both the Three Mile Island & Chernobyl incidents & was always very wary of nuclear power. Now, i'm not so sure. The technology has come a long way & those incidents might have actually done us some good & taught us some very valuable lessons.
Although i'm still a little sceptical, i'm coming round to the nuclear power option.

- We can build new coal burning power stations.
We keep being promised a new method of burning coal & one that is more environmentally friendly. I admit, i'm very sceptical about this option.

- Then there are the renewable energy sources. Which are surely the best way to go, if possible.
So far, in the UK at least, nearly all our resources for renewable energy have been poured into wind turbines. Whilst this is a good option, there are problems with wind power, in my opinion.
Although i like the look of the turbines, so many others find them unsightly. especially if they are living next to them? By their very nature they have to be built in prominent places, to catch the wind, which only increases this problem.
They also need the wind to blow...

Other renewable options are often talked about, like wave power etc. But, the one option which is so often overlooked is solar power. Why is this?
I am constantly amazed that solar power is hardly given the time of day when it comes to discussing our future options. Is their some kind of bias against it? And if so, why?
After all, unlike wind power, we don't need the sun to shine to generate power. Daylight will do.
I know that solar power is used more widely in other countries. but, even there, i don't think it's used as much as it could be. I'm happy to be corrected by the way.
What i'd like to see, as a start, is for the UK Government to ensure that all new houses are built with at least an element of solar power generation within them. This would drive down the cost of the technology & maybe even start up a thriving new business in the process & we could certainly do with that at the moment!
Then we can start on older properties. They could also give tax breaks to businesses to introduce solar power into their company buildings.

Yes, i know that some parts of the country/world have less daylight hours than others. But, here is where a mixture of technolgies can be used.

This is not a problem that is going to go away either. But, it is something that the UK Government has shied away from in recent years. Something needs to be done & it needs to be done now.

So, to paraphrase an old anti-nuclear slogan.
Solar power, yes please.