No Whitby write-up yet, but here are some images (I don't know names for these people):

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I looked at what new release-critical bugs Debian has, to see someone being helpful (boring bug report) and consequently getting pelted with toys thrown from a pram.

*sigh*

Having seen the discussion about the open-groping-project, I think it shouldn't happen at anime conventions. Wouldn't have a problem with that sort of thing being used for a private except to participants singles-bar event though.

On a different thread, I'm surprised that there aren't anime cosplay fetish nights - the link is to the current top entry on Google for that search, and is SFW. Thanks to devalmont for that thought.

Maybe I should shut up, but I'm currently wandering through "friendsfriends" and occasionally commenting on discussion in blogs of people that I don't know. Not sure what the right etiquette is.

Also putting bugs in Debian's bug database, should probably fix some.

I'm having a clearout of stuff - all of this is free if you collect (or arrange to pick it up at Church Of Madness).

Mountain bike (unused for a couple of years, lacks reflectors and mudguards) - too much hassle to move it all the way back to my parents' house.

Private Eye / Onion annuals

Autostereogram books

Jiffy bags (from buying stuff on niceboots, kept for reuse)

Well-worn Doc Martens (size 9, 8 hole) - if anyone is feeling crafty and wants to have a pair for one-off decoration.


(The locks don't come with the bike).

Wednesday in Reading again.

My mother visited yesterday, and having completed a car of stuff many of my house-Tetris blocks have disappeared.

Besancon cathedral's clock may interest my steampunk friends.

I'm considering a train journey from Carcassonne to the Black Forest, Besancon is one the possible places to stop on the route.

Distract simon_pingu from playing New Alternative/Goth/Industrial by offering him second-hand furniture when making requests.

The first date will be Friday 11th January at the Bang Bar, Basingstoke. (Erm, all of five days time...)

Resident DJ's Simon Penguin and Dr.Dave
9-2am
Admission £5 (£4 if you repost the real adverts, have NUS etc)

R.O.A.R. No trainers, no tracksuits, no large items of furniture.

For more details contact Dr Dave or simon_pingu.

Here's what I'll be offering him:

I've been having a clear-out of my old stuff at my folk's house.

There's an old (and huge) PC that I bought at auction, mostly because it was a cheap way to get a 5.25" floppy drive.
I played around with it a bit, and left it at home when I went to Uni.

My aunt mistook it for a storage heater, so it became known as The Radiator, and was in my dad's eyes the biggest bit of junk that he wanted to throw out.

It's a 386 with 8MB of memory and (IIRC) a 600MB 5.25" hard-disk, formatted for Netware; along with a second hard-disk that was broken (the PC wouldn't reach the POST with it connected).

If anyone wants retro computing stuff, it's about to go to the tip, as I'm needing to clear out the space.

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I'm staying with my folks in Letchworth for a few days; I'm looking for things to do in the evening.
Today was just resting and a pub lunch (the former but not the latter were needed after Christmas).

On Thursday night, I really needed to clear my mind of stressors.
And XKCD's latest posting did it wonderfully.

Two photos of Whitby that don't have goths in.

A foxhole under the grave of Rev. Miles Jackson and his wife Agnes.
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And the rocks at low tide
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After getting the lurgy at Whitby the last couple of times, I meant to go down to London about a month before, and get hit with it before Whitby. And then I forgot, until I was queuing up outside the Covenant gig at the Electric Ballroom.

Thinking that a plan had come together without planning I was happy. Not being ill afterwards, I forgot about it until today. Today I have the lurgy, and tomorrow is the train journey to Whitby.

Somewhere between video games, work and housemates, my social life stopped for about a month. Next month will be the opposite:
Oct 7th Covenant (Electric Ballroom)
Oct 13th Drop Zone
Oct 20th [:SITD:] (Slimes)
Oct 26th WGW

The Thames (in Reading) is nice to walk along at night.

I'm going through a phase of video-game addiction; playing through the games in Debian. Hex-A-Hop had me caught for a while.

I've got two new housemates, so the house is sorted until the end of February.

This should amuse half the folks on my friends list. I've heard of banks asking for one of these, but my new bank account has asked for all three. (There's a barcode on it, which is why the account number isn't needed).

Please do not write anything elso on the form other than in the boxes, and do not write anything that may identify your name or account number.

Password (A to Z or numbers Zero to Nine): [boxes]
Your mother's surname at birth: [boxes]
Your first school: [boxes]
The name of the town or country where you were born: [boxes]

PLEASE KEEP THIS INFORMATION CONFIDENTIAL

Finally the Whitby writeup. venta can now mock me, because it the time it's taken to write this up, she's been up to Whitby again and danced around with swords.

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Out in the foyer, spotted a couple of the Banshee Aircrew performing Sisters of Mercy songs in the style of a hoedown.

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The Crüxshadows are probably good, and the stageshow looked fun. But the soundsystem was peaking so much that I started to wonder if it was a deliberate effect.

Sometime in the foyer, sexy_sophia (who had full medusa-dreads in) said she wanted a photo of her with the Crüxshadows' singer (who also has a serious hairstyle). The cameras' batteries were flat, and someone suggested a getting a sheet of paper and doing a brassrubbing instead.

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I held my camera in the air for a group photo, and was accused (not by the lady herself) of angling it to capture someone's ample cleavage. This wasn't true - had I intended to take such a picture I would have asked nicely for a better view. Having seen the photo however, the lady had thought I was up to nefarious purposes, and graciously obliged.
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Late to Laughtons (there around 22:30), arrived as the skipping was going.

I had a glow-in-UV fan, which worked best when used to blow air up skirts, kilts or tshirts. Seeing me do this to Angus, Giolla commented "That's evil and wrong. When's my turn?"

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Finally saw Timemorph's exhibition, meeting him there. Some of the photos have gone very well, a few seem to have either very little depth or not to converge. ??? (I think she's called Toxic Candy) seems best, her hair is shown wonderfully.

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Reading Borough Council are trying to spend part of the rail improvement budget on building roads. They're going to add a lot more rail capacity, but the cost has risen to £515m. They don't say how much it was before, but a quick search puts it at £68m.

For multiplying the cost by 7, the rail junctions are going to be improved like this. Nice, but then the press release goes on:

One of the main benefits of that approach for Reading is the inclusion of a replacement for Cow Lane Bridges in that revised scheme ... at the main project's expense.

Missed the direct train to work this morning, and had to go the long way via Basingstoke.

The train stopped outside Basingstoke and we had a 20 minute wait while Basingstoke was moved to The North. Just after we arrived, the Transpennine Express pulled up on the next platform.