Previously I’ve mentioned the plans to introduce Linux into the Libraries service. The pilot has now gone live.

If you want to see a copy of the presentation we made to the South Birmingham Linux Users Group last month then I’ve put it on the web, OpenDocument format for OpenOffice 2.0 (or other compatible application) users and Powerpoint for those still stuck with the Beast.

Is it just me, or did it get really cold around here all of a sudden?! Our car was completely iced this morning…!

As I first mentioned a couple of months ago, on Thursday evening we went to see Jamie Cullum playing at the NIA.

Now i’m not a psycho-crazy-oh-my-god-Jamie-I-want-to-have-your-babies fan (unlike the women that were sitting behind me), but on the whole I have to admit the concert was really good. He started off with his cover of Pharrell Williams’ “Frontin” before going on through a good selection of his repertoire (Old Devil Moon, I Could Have Danced All Night, 21st Century Kid, London Skies, Mind Trick, What A Difference A Day Makes, High & Dry, etc.)… all the while jumping around and putting an amazing amount of energy in to everything he did. All of this was accompanied by some very cool video-mixing, project on to three large screens aligned along the back of the age. The video was a combination of the music video for the song being played overlayed with live feeds from a couple of mini-cams being carried around the stage by crew members. All that, in conjunction with some good lighting and colour, provided an added bonus to JC’s brilliant singing.

Jamie was also very good at involving the audience in the whole thing. Instead of just having a one-way conversation and talking at us, he involved everyone and listened to the various quips and replies shouted back from the audience. Towards the very end of the concert he and his bassist, Geoff Gascoyne, even came down to the back of the floor level in the NIA to sing a couple of songs IN the audience!

So all in all it was a very good night! If you ever get the chance to see this guy in concert I’d highly recommend it!

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icCoventry is carrying a story about the setting up of a Lap Dancing Commission to monitor lap dancing clubs and their spread from Birmingham to Coventry. In recent years such clubs have proliferated in Birmingham, the Spearmint Rhino club on Hill St is the biggest such club in Europe, and there are a number of dance schools who run lap dancing calsses for aspiring professionals and amateurs, who want to give their partners a thrill, alike within the city. One such class was lambasted in the press some months ago for teaching lap and pole dancing to girls as young as 11, the class soon closed but classs for adults continue at the school.

In the article the host at The Rocket Club (on Broad Street) stated: “If you ask any of the women working here, they will say that they all enjoy their jobs and enjoy working here, and get on well with the customers.”

Through friends I’ve spoken to some of the women who work in these clubs. Whilst most do undoubtedly do enjoy their work (and the money it brings in), it seems like a bit of a stretch to say they “…get on well with the customers.“. On the whole the women view the customers as mugs, fools, and rather pathetic. The men will spend hundreds of pounds to see little more than they could see on many continental beaches or even some British beaches for free, with zero chance of getting any satisfaction. So, they go home with nothing to show for it but frustration and an empty wallet.

Changes to the licensing laws now mean that pubs can apply to continue serving drinks until midnight or 1am during the week (2am at weekends) instead of the current 11pm. Birmingham City Council have so far recieved 409 applications from pubs to do so. The police have expressed fears that this will not curb violence but just move it to later in the night.

Following a recent technology conference at the ICC, one attendee was moved to say, of Broad Street, when asked about conditions in the city:

…but semi-naked semi-comatose girls who can’t stand up as they spill out the pubs at closing time, whilst spilling what they had for dinner over themselves doesn’t do the place any favours…

Whilst another attendee likened the area to “Hell’s Kitchen”.

Tension between blacks and muslims in the Handsworth area of town appears to be increasing once again following the desecration of Muslim graves in a cemetery up that way. Hopefully this won’t lead to another round of riots… especially since this Saturday is Guy Fawkes night!

It turns out I made a mistake with the fireworks show in Pype Hayes… I thought it was tomorrow night, but it turns out it was TONIGHT! DOH! So I missed it, as I had to work a late-shift, but what little I saw from the kitchen window (which looks out in the general direction of Erdington / Pype Hayes) was quite cool!

Unfortunately what with Guy Fawkes and the holiday season just around the corner, it’s that time of year when just about every shop is flogging fireworks, meaning it’ll probably be quite noisy in the neighbourhood for the next few weeks.

This years Bonfire has kicked off in style…The night sky is alight with colours bursting here and there and everywhere. I stand by my window and watch the orchestra of flying rockets. Judging by the huge sounds and explosions I would say there is an increase of gun powder this year in everything.
I hope to attend a desi bonfire..maybe go along to an indian Diwali one…its a must everyone…For their rockets r next to nuclear proportions..when they go bang…the ground shakes and u look up to see if it has blasted a another hole in the Ozone layer by any chance….

Have a safe n njoyable Bonfire folks..

If I had a pound for every time I nearly got knocked over by a car speeding through a red light, well, I’d have a lot of money. It drives me crazy.

The ‘feature doughnut’ at Krispy Kreme right now is toffee apple. I can say with good authority: it is DELICIOUS. Yesterday I got a free doughnut then ran off. I am a poor student, so it’s allowed. And I did actually buy some today.

Oh! I know there’s loads of sales in the Bullring right now, but in Sports Soccer (or whatever it’s called, next to Ann Summers), they have got Converse trainers for around