barcapats blog

Portishead live in Spain... Primaverasound 2008

Blimey. Just got an email saying that Portishead will be playing live at Primaverasound 2008.

Awesome, I've never seen them live. Also must mean the new album could finally be on its way to release, after a long, long wait.

Primaverasound 2008 is on 29th to 31st May.

URL -http://www.primaverasound.com/?idioma=en

Hair's one for you... With a Groove Armada and El Raval angle

Found out today that I share the same barbers/hair salon as Andy Cato out of Groove Armada.

Apparently, he was in there just before the New Year, saying he had to go off to Bondiai Beach and do a gig. Its a hard life for some!

Its the Anthony Llobet place in El Raval.

Ice Bar, Barcelona

Just saw this on the tv.
An ice bar, where everything inside is made of ice and the room is at -8C.

Costs 15 Euros for 45 minutes inside it, with a free cocktail drink, plus they supply the warm clothes you'll need, unless you're a Geordie of course, where you'll just wear your t-shirt.

Located in the Olympic Port. So on a sunny day, you could walk along the beach in your beachwear, have a sunbathe then go to the Ice Bar, -8C. Then back to the beach!

Website is at - http://www.icebcn.com

Finally... got one of those scam emails... and here it is

I was beginning to feel left out as I hadn't received one of these dodgy scam email for years, but finally, I got one today. For a laugh, I've pasted it below.
They nearly had my money, I can tell you.... NOT!


WINAS  CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES.
102 RUE DU JEAN PAUL  ABIDJAN,
REPUBLIC OF COTE DIVOIRE.
EMAIL:winas_chambers@yahoo.it
DATE: 09-01-2008
Dear  Friend,
I am aware that a discussion of this magnitude should not have come through email considering your status, but I seek   your consent, please note that, the only reason why I send this letter to you is because you have the same  last name and Nationality with my late client, please pay a little attention as you read through.
I am Wina Moses a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to one of  our clients, a  national of your country, who owned a construction company here in Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire). Here in after shall be referred to as my client. my client, his wife and their only daughter were involved  in the ill fated Kenya Airways crash  in the coasts of Abidjan in January 2000 in which all passengers on board died,Since then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, to locate any member of his family, I decided to track his last name over the Internet, hence I contacted you. I am contacting you to act as his Next of kin to claim  the sum of 11.5million united states dollars  he deposited in a trunk box with   UNITED GLOBAL TRUST SECURITY COMPANY CI as FAMILY ARTS and VALUABLES,

This money  my client  deposited in a Trunk Box with UNITED GLOBAL TRUST SECURITY COMPANY CI as FAMILY ARTS and VALUABLES, this he did for security reason during the civil crises in  my  country, a civil war was imminent. It was also agreed   that the  Security Company (UNITED GLOBAL TRUST SECURITY COMPANY CI)  shall deliver the Trunk Box  to the Next of Kin/Beneficiary in his/her given address.
Since all the known Next of Kin the Wife and Daughter are dead. I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name and   nationality, so that you can contact the security company as the next of kin and ask them the formalities  of retreiving  the  box .

All legal documents to back up your claim as the deceased Next of Kin will  be provided by me since I am his personal attorney,all I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.

I guarantee you that this  transaction will be executed under a legitimate  arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Upon your acceptance to carry on this task, more information will be made known to you, and the said fund will be shared in the ratio of 60/40 %

Thereafter I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. Please you are advised to keep as a "top-secret" as I am still  in service. I will fly down to your country or any place we shall agreed on for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further investment will be discussed if there is any reason for that.

Upon your acceptance to this proposal kindly get back to me through my personal email address and also furnish me with the requested information below.

YOU’RE NAME.........................

YOUR HOME ADDRESSES............

HOME TELEPHONE.....................

PRIVATE TELEPHONE.......................

FAX.............................

I look forward to receiving your urgent reply.

 Best Regards

Wina Moses,Esq.

Catalan lessons week

So this week I'm doing a week of Catalan lessons, 1000-1330 each day, at C2 school.

Day 1 was today, we went over some very basic things. Main thing was how to say your name and introduce yourself and ask someone else their name.

So a quick guide, you have two choices, same as in Spanish:

Sóc el Patrick    (como "soy Patrick" en español or "I am Patrick" in English)
or
Em dic Patrick   (como "me llamo Patrick" en español or "I am called Patrick" in English)

Whilst taking notes during the lesson I realised I was writing down two translations for every word, first Spanish, then English, seems to be either easier or more natural that way.

So far so good, fins dema.

Nifty photo site found... www.interfacelift.com

All from interfacelift.com

Viewing your Apple Mac from a PC - via the internet.

Got this working today, will be very handy for a couple of projects I'm working on. For example, accessing Mac only software and docs from my PC laptop, whether I'm at home, out and about or in a different country.

Thought I'd share it here, as it was so easy to do, once I'd figured out what I had to do. Found most of the info needed via a Google search, forums at itidiots.com and forums at macosxhints.com. At first, was put off when found loads of techy advice talking about ports etc but ignored these and it all seems to work ok.

Simple Instructions on Setting It Up

on your PC

1) download the TightVNC software from tightvnc.com

2) install the software

3) run TightVNC Viewer application

on your MAC (OS X)

4) go to System Preferences, select Sharing
 
5) Under Services, click Apple Remote Desktop, put a tick in the On column next to it. Also, click Show status in menu bar option.
 
6) Make a note of the IP address thats shown underneath, something like "Others can access your computer using the address 123.123.123.123"
 
7) Make sure you click "Access privileges" in the same screen, to setup password access etc. To do this, find the option titled "VNC viewers may control screen with password" and then enter a password to use for access to the Remote Desktop. When the viewer is used on the PC or whatever remote system, this password will have to be entered for access.

8) Other options on this screen include "Open and Quit Applications", "Change Settings", "Observe"

Now you're ready to test....

on PC

9) in TightVNC Viewer application, type in the address you found in step 6. This should be entered in the field "VNC Server". Check the Options button, in case there's anything specific you need to setup as an option.

10) Press Connect button, enter the password entered in step 7. Thats it...

You should now be able to access your Mac's applications, files etc, as if you were sitting at your Mac.
Worked first time for me, but some people may have complicated firewall settings, router settings etc. so do a Google if that happens.

Tips

To end the connection, press the disconnect button in the Connection toolbar at the top of the screen.
Note: If you entered in full screen mode, use Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F to exit full screen mode, then you can disconnect.

Graphics suggestion - if your Mac and PC run at different resolutions (e.g. laptop screen PC connecting to a large screen Mac) then set the Display option "Scale by" to auto, on the "Connection" options screen in the TightVNC Viewer application.

Switching Remote Desktop Control off - Within System Preferences, Sharing, Services, you can also Stop/Switch off Remote Desktop Control.

 

Unusual energy sources

Was flicking through the Spanish tv the other night and the old 1931 version of Frankenstein was on. The bit where the monster is re-animated from the energy from the lightning storm made me think - I wonder if anyone is looking into using lightning as a power source.
The current oil prices - hovering around $100 - are so high that its now feasible for people to consider other, unusual energy sources - including lightning.

There's a good article at Business Weeks's website on "Energy from Unusual Sources".

These sources include:

• self-generated tornadoes (!)
• Sony's biobattery
• the Aquaboy
  
• liquid natural gas from landfill sites
• giant kites
• lightning power
  
• algae

Also they have a slideshow with more info and photos of some of the sources mentioned.

Noticed today too that Google, via their google.org site, have launched a campaign to make "Renewable energy cheaper than coal". Seems a good time to be an energy researcher/specialist.

Amazon Kindle et al

I remember at the start of last year seeing Sony making a big fuss about their PRS/Reader Digital Book, and I wondered what on earth they were doing.

Now Amazon have released their own digital book technology, called Kindle. Apparently, they've already sold out, but at $399 I imagine they didn't have that big a stock to sell.

This whole market puzzles me completely and a quck look at the BBC website shows there are even more competing technologies - see this page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7107118.stm

All the offerings are expensive - Kindle at $399, Sonys offering at $299.99 and the Cybook at $350/$450 - and fairly ugly. So they´re all more expensive than an iPod Touch or iPod classic etc. Whoops! Know what I'd rather have!

Amazon are featuring their Kindle device all over their homepage and its only rated 2.5 out of 5 stars by their own customer´s reviews - over 660 of them at time of writing.

All this adds to the comedy for me.

First off, the prices of these things are way too high - why buy one when you can buy a new paperback book for a fiver? Or, even better, find one in a second-hand bookshop for 2 quid or even less.

Also, in most cases the devices have been slated for their DRM and the costs of actually getting content on them.

 

I think the only way these things will ever work is if they follow the lead of the console market, but go even further - actually give the things away, maybe if you stump up a minimum purchase amount for books at Amazon or something like that.

Anyway, real books rule. 

 

"¿Por qué no te callas?", continued...

The on-going controversy since King Juan Carlos told Chavez to shut up at a recent conference has now generated a rush of people getting on the bandwagon.

First up, were the mobile ringtone makers, who have apparently already made over 2million Euros.

Next, Oliver Urdaneta has written a song based on this, and has had over 1.5 million views on YouTube. Incredible.
The song sounds a bit amateurish to say the least, but he's only doing it for a laugh, I suppose.

The YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9X8DYOA5DE and it should show up below.

Por que no te callas (cancion)