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Why Guy Fawkes night is dreaded by many in inner-city areas of Britain

Admin | Tuesday 7 November 2006

Guy Fawkes Night, Manchester

Download: Windows Media (wmv) |
Quicktime/iPod (mov)

In Britain, 5th November is Bonfire Night. When it’s traditional to let off fireworks and burn a dummy of Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605.

However, for many people in inner-city areas, this has become a time of year that they dread. This video is a glimpse into why.

Click through to the web page for full information and links. Flash video version also available there.

A true story for Halloween

Admin | Tuesday 31 October 2006

A couple of weeks ago I made a final visit to the house where I grew up. My dad had decided to sell and I had to pick up a few remaining bits and pieces. Though I was actually born in hospital, I spent my years from zero to 20 living in that 1950’s semi-detached. … A true story for Halloween

Noah’s Arc

Admin | Saturday 28 October 2006

My American friend Bill told me about Noah’s Arc, a series that is on the Logo network over there. It’s about four black gay friends. We’d watched a couple of episodes and clips on the Logo website, but Bill doesn’t have the channel and I doubted the series would ever get a showing over here. … Noah’s Arc

AA batteries that recharge by USB

Admin | Friday 22 September 2006

Here’s a great idea. The top of the rechargeable AA battery flips to reveal a USB plug. You just plug the battery into a spare USB port on your PC and it charges up. Nothing else needed. I love rechargeable batteries. If you take care of them, they can last for years. I have four … AA batteries that recharge by USB

An inconvenient truth: Gay Manchester was better 20 years ago

Admin | Thursday 21 September 2006

I get tired of newspaper articles that make out that the gay ‘scene’ in Manchester used to be so seedy and bad years ago, but now it is so wonderful. It just isn’t true. Take this article from 2003 which appeared in The Manchester Evening News — a newspaper that can be relied on to … An inconvenient truth: Gay Manchester was better 20 years ago

Birdlife

Admin | Wednesday 23 August 2006

One of the things you notice when you come from Manchester city centre to a small village out in the country is the birdlife. Sure we have magpies, pigeons, starlings and even parrots where I live in Manchester. But here there is just so much more variety and so many of them: swifts, swallows, thrushes, … Birdlife

30 minutes of sunset in 30 seconds (video)

Admin | Tuesday 15 August 2006

Download the Quicktime version here (or click through to the blog page for the Flash version).

I’m up at the house near the England/Scotland border. The back overlooks fields, hills and crags and has always been a prime location for some spectacular sunsets. I recorded 30 minutes of one tonight and then reduced this footage down to the 30-second-long time-lapse movie that you see here.

If you want the technical how-to-do-it…

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