Steve Woods

Generic carbon-based humanoid life form.

  • Reading for boys

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Social Media

    Looking back over the best part of 5 decades, it’s hard to remember what I read as a boy. Of course, there were the regular weekly reads courtesy of The Beano and The Dandy and their host of colourful characters, plus other comics, but when it comes down to actual books, the memory gets a bit hazy.

    However, I do remember that Robert Louis Stevenson‘s canon came in for lots of reading and I remember paying regular visits to the local lending library in Market Drayton where we lived, as well as burrowing under the bedclothes with a torch and book after lights out.

    I also recall both my sister Hilary and I used to tease our younger brother Andrew unmercifully about his love of Enid Blyton when we believed there was better ‘quality’ literature available for children. Maybe we should have been more generous: at least he was reading something.

    image of boy reading
    Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    All of which brings me to the point of this post. Via Twitter contacts in Shropshire I’ve been made aware of The Boy Reader Blog written by Matthew Swain of Shrewsbury.

    The Boy Reader Blog’s byline is: “A blog written by a 10 year old boy Matthew to try and encourage more boys to read.” Apparently, boys are less inclined to read than are girls and Matthew, who loves reading, has bravely decided to stick his head above the parapet in the hope of giving his male contemporaries a bit of encouragement and providing them with an example.

    Or to put the paragraph above in Matthew’s own words from his first post:

    Hi I’m Matthew I’m 10 and I LOVE READING. I have decided to write a blog about reading from a boys point of view. My aim is to get boys to cut down on the video games and read a little bit more. To be honest I never used to like reading myself, the Biff and Chip books at school were boring, but the 2009 world book day is where it all began with a short Beast Quest book by Adam Blade which my mum bought for something different to read at bedtime. Mum or dad always read me a story at bedtime but I liked the look of this book and decided to try and read it myself. Ever since then I’ve never wanted to stop reading (and still don’t) I’ve noticed that a lot of other boys prefer video games than reading and that is why I have started this blog to try and help them on the reading journey.

    Matthew also makes regular suggestions and recommendations for reading, such as the Book of the Week for 7th October.

    I’d like to wish Matthew every success with his efforts to get his peers reading, not to mention keeping up a regular supply of posts! 🙂

  • Bristol City Council – heritage vandals

    Steve WoodsBristol

    Take a look at the picture below, taken in Bristol on Monday 8th October. Fairly unremarkable isn’t it? What’s the most interesting thing about it? The digger perhaps?

    No, the most interesting aspect of the picture is what isn’t there. However, before we come to that, a bit of history and context is required.

    Lower Castle Street, Bristol
    Lower Castle Street, Bristol showing the old alignment (cobbled) and the new alignment (asphalt)

    As the caption states, the image shows Lower Castle Street in central Bristol. The cobbled surface near the foot of the picture shows the street’s old alignment hard by the moat and outer defensive walls of the now demolished Bristol Castle; the modern asphalt surface beyond is the modern alignment of Lower Castle Street designed to accommodate modern motorised traffic. The old cobbled bit of what was Lower Castle Street has been incorporated into Castle Park, which occupies the site of Bristol Castle and what was Bristol’s main shopping area until the Luftwaffe razed it during the Blitz in the Second World War.

    Bristol City Council has recently commissioned some works in the corner of the park occupied by the old alignment of Lower Castle Street, as the picture shows. New flowerbeds or grassed areas (it is not yet obvious what they’ll be) have been laid out and the cobbles relaid. So far, so good.

    However, before Bristol City Council sent in its contractors to do the works, the old cobbled bit of Lower Castle Street held what some would regard a significant element of the city’s transport heritage: one of the last set of tram rails visible in any road surface in the city and, as can be seen from the picture, these have now vanished; this leaves just one place in the city where tram rails can still be seen set into the road surface – Bristol Temple Meads station, where the tracks are part of the former tram terminus between the ramp and the old station.

    Perhaps the City Council thinks that ‘heritage’ is something that belongs in a museum. It doesn’t: it’s part of everyday life in a city like Bristol which has existed since Saxon times; and some parts of the city are even older than that. By its vandalism the City Council has shown it is not a fit and proper curator of the city’s history and heritage.

    There’s yet one more place in central Bristol where a tram rail – a single one – can still be seen; it’s in the churchyard of St Mary Redcliffe. During the Second World War a bomb exploded in a nearby street, throwing a rail from the tramway over the houses and into the churchyard, where it remains to this day.

    (I am indebted to Pete Insole for information re Temple Meads.)

  • Language and open source

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Linux, Open Source, Tech

    I’m intrigued by the way we advocates of free and open source software (FOSS) are viewed and described by the world outside our circle. Frequently, the terms are very loaded, e.g. ‘zealot’.

    A report today in The Register Channel on Scottish NHS IT procurement and a decision to waste millions on Microsoft Windows 7 is no exception. Mark Taylor, CEO of Sirius, a major UK open source supplier, is quoted and referred to as a ‘firebrand’.

    According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, firebrand‘s first recorded use was in the 13th century, when it was originally “a piece of burning wood“. Its meaning was extended to over subsequent centuries to include “one that creates unrest or strife“.

    Synonyms for firebrand are: demagogue, exciter, agitator, fomenter, incendiary, inciter, instigator, kindler, provocateur, rabble-rouser.

    I’ve met and spoken to Mark on a number occasions and the last thing one can describe him as is a firebrand or any of its above synonyms. Admittedly, he has a business to run, but he’s also concerned that the UK spending on ICT amounts to an eye-watering £20 billion per year. That’s three times more than is spent on the army. Most of that £20 billion is spent on proprietary software and its suppliers, in the course of which vast amounts of taxpayers’ money are exported to MS’ coffers in Redmond, USA.

    Both Mark and I feel that FOSS would be a better alternative and there’d then be more money for the NHS to spend on patient care – a far better use of resources. If that makes us ‘firebrands’, then we’ll wear the label with pride.

  • Linux Kernel 3.7 Will Support All ARM Platforms

    Steve WoodsLinux, Tech

    Tux - the Linux kernel mascot
    Tux – the Linux kernel mascot
    It was recently announced that when it is released in some 6 months’ time, the forthcoming Linux 3.7 kernel will incorporate support for multiple ARM System on Chips (SoCs) platforms, Softpedia reports.

    Having all ARM platforms supported by a single kernel package is a good news for everyone from end users to hardware manufacturers who base their kit on ARM chips and the Android operating system.

    “This is a pretty significant branch. It’s the introduction of the first multiplatform support on ARM”, said kernel developer Olof Johansson on the Linux kernel Git commit page. “And with this (and the later branch) merged, it is now possible to build one kernel that contains support for highbank, vexpress, mvebu, socfpga, and picoxcell”.

    When Linux kernel 3.7 is released (the latest Linux kernel release at the time of writing is 3.6. Ed.), it will initially provide support the following ARM platforms: VExpress, Highbank, SoC FPGA, Picoxcell and Mvebu, although support for more ARM platforms will be added to subsequent kernel releases.

    Hat tip: Roy Schestowitz

  • 2012 LibreOffice Conference will be in Berlin

    Steve WoodsOpen Source

    LibreOffice logoOctober looks like being a busy month for the people at LibreOffice, the cross-platform, open source office suite.

    To begin with, there was the announcement of the release of LibreOffice 3.6.2; this will be followed by the annual LibreOffice Conference, which is a yearly gathering for the worldwide LibreOffice Community and interested developers, marketers, adopters, end-users and supporters.

    Following a public poll, this year’s conference will be held in Berlin from 17th – 19th October, where the venue will be the Conference Centre of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

    The conference programme reflects the broad engagement and diversity of the community and will include talks and workshops from various areas of the project.

    For updated information, you can subscribe to the conference mailing list, but if you’re thinking of attending registration ends on Monday, 8th October.

    Prior to the conference itself, Community Meetings will be held on Tuesday, 16th October 2012 at the same venue.

  • Bristol Mayor – employment special

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    If you’re a Bristol resident, it cannot have escaped your notice – unless you’ve been on a drink and drugs bender for the last 6 months – that the city is due to go the polls in November to choose its first elected mayor, following an underwhelming referendum result in May 2012.

    My home has been mercifully spared too much attention to date by party animals, canvassers and leaflet drops. In fact, I only recently received my first leaflet, as it happens from Labour mayoral candidate Marvin Rees.

    Marvin Rees
    Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    As usual, the leaflet contains the conventional promises about how wonderful life would be if only the reader could be persuaded to vote for the candidate concerned, including the following about local employment:

    We are living in tough times. I will work to get jobs and growth in Bristol.

    That’s a very laudable and important aim to have for someone seeking election to a major public office in the city on a salary that will probably be in the region of £1,000 a week.

    However, Marvin’s commitment to “work to get jobs” in Bristol is shot totally out of the water by the very end of his leaflet.

    Yes, Marvin’s leaflet is printed in the far-flung Bristol suburb of Forest Farm, Cardiff, providing employment in CF14 in these “tough times”.

    Is it really difficult to get printing done in Bristol? Not really: a quick Google using the words Bristol, UK and “leaflet printing” returns over 2,300 results in a fraction of a second.

    However, Marvin is not alone in supporting employment anywhere but Bristol. The city council, of which Marvin will be in charge if elected, has form here too, as in spending £73,000 with a Manchester firm for logos.

    Update 6/10/12: Yesterday I received a joint leaflet featuring Marvin for mayor and John Savage for the elected Police & Crime Commissioner. This one was printed in an outlying district of Bristol, i.e. Laindon in Essex.

  • Social media induces municipal schizophrenia in Clevedon

    Steve WoodsPolitics, Social Media, Tech

    Clevedon on the Somerset Coast is not noted as a place of controversy. Indeed, the last earth-shattering event in Clevedon was perhaps when its Victorian pier collapsed one October night in 1970 during stress testing.

    However, in August 2012 the town made the national and international headlines when Clevedon Town Council, in an act of bureaucratic perspicacity, banned councillors from tweeting during council meetings.

    The main person affected by the ban is Councillor Jane Geldart.

    Since Clevedon Town Council enacted its ban, legislation has come into effect under which local councils are expected to provide reasonable facilities for members of the public to report the proceedings of council meetings as they happen. Indeed, the legislation was devised to “make it easier for new social media reporting of council executive meetings, thereby opening proceedings up to internet bloggers, tweeting and hyper-local news forums”.

    Tomorrow, 3rd October, Clevedon Town Council has its next meeting and the Bristol Democracy Project is urging people to turn up to help tweet about Clevedon Town Council.

    However, while members of the public will be able to report freely during the proceedings, Cllr. Jane Geldart has told me she will still be silenced, as per the following conversation on Twitter:

    @JaneGeldart I just read that Clevedon Town Council will allow live tweeting by public. Does ban on councillors tweeting still apply?

    @wood5y It does sadly. Despite new legislation they (Town Council) are hiding behind an Act from 1960 …….

    Given that MPs and peers regularly tweet the proceedings of Parliament and council meetings everywhere else in the country are covered by webcasts, local bloggers and Twitter, one must wonder what motives Clevedon Town Council has for its schizophrenic attitude.

  • Italy’s Umbria region adopts LibreOffice

    Steve WoodsOpen Source, Tech

    Location map for Umbria
    Location map for Umbria. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
    It’s not just self-employed wordsmiths such as myself that are moving away from overpriced proprietary office suites towards free and open source alternatives: cash-strapped public sector organisations are doing so too.

    EU open source news website Joinup reports that the Administration the Italian region of Umbria has started a project to migrate an initial group of 5,000 users to LibreOffice. Osvaldo Gervasi, president of Umbria’s Open Source Competence Centre – CCOS – states that getting rid of IT vendor lock-in is one of the main motives for the migration.

    As part of the move, the region will also be adopting LibreOffice’s default Open Document Format as an open document standard.

    The legal basis for the migration is a 2006 regional law promoting the use of free and open source software by the public sector in Umbria.

    According to the Libre Umbria blog, the project involves the Provinces of Perugia and Terni, Local Health Unit no. 2 and the Region of Umbria, and is being co-ordinated by the Consortium of Umbrian Authorities (Consorzio SIR Umbria) and CCOS Umbria.

    The story is also covered by La Stampa (in Italian).

  • Sexist cereal

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Oddities

    There are naturally products directed by their use at the different sexes. However, products today are driven more by marketing than matters of gender.

    Tesco, the supermarket that ate Britain, has now come up with a new money-making wheeze: sexist cereal.

    sexist muesli
    Gender-specific cereal. How low can marketing go?

    Does Tesco’s male muesli have the ability to detect chromosomes to prevent its accidental ingestion by women? I think we should be told.

    Hat tip: Madam J-Mo

  • Sir Humphrey’s newly banned words

    Steve WoodsLanguage

    The British Government has just updated its style guide for content written on the .gov.uk domain. It covers all aspects of writing material, including tone of voice, use of plain English, avoidance of Americanisms and the like.

    However, my eye was inevitably drawn to the proscribed bits and the style differences for Inside Government, i.e. when government department talks to government department, and in particular its section 4.1.3, entitled “Words to avoid”.

    For the benefit of passing mandarins and interested citizens, these are reproduced below, along with comment, both Sir Humphrey’s (in round brackets) and mine [in square brackets with the text in italics]:

    • agenda (unless it is for a meeting)
    • advancing
    • collaborate (use ‘working with’)
    • combating
    • countering
    • deliver (pizzas, post and services are delivered – not abstract concepts like ‘improvements’ or ‘priorities’) [I must part ways with Sir Humphrey here; services are provided, not delivered]
    • dialogue (we speak to people)
    • disincentivise [bravo!]
    • drive out (unless it is cattle)
    • empower [about time]
    • facilitate (instead, say something concrete about how you are helping)
    • focusing
    • foster (unless it is children)
    • impact (as a verb) [hallelujah!]
    • initiate
    • key (unless it unlocks something. A subject/thing isn’t ‘key’ – it’s probably ‘important’)
    • land (as a verb. Only use if you are talking about aircraft)
    • leverage (unless in the financial sense)
    • liaise [a very useful word for something non-commital, but a common spelling trap for the unwary 🙂 ]
    • overarching
    • promote (unless you are talking about an ad campaign or something)
    • robust [sometimes tough love is required]
    • slimming down (weight loss is slimming down. Everything else is probably removing x amount of paperwork, etc.)
    • streamline
    • strengthening (unless it is strengthening bridges or other structures)
    • tackling (unless it is rugby, football, some other sport)
    • transforming (what are you actually doing to change it)
    • utilise

    The banning of these words is justified as follows:

    We lose trust from our users if we write government ‘buzzwords’ and jargon. Often, these words are too general and vague and can lead to misinterpretation or empty, meaningless text. We need to be concrete, use plain English and be very clear about what we are doing.

    Will this result in more comprehensible communication from government? Only time will tell.

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