Nearly four months blogging April 30, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Blogging , add a commentAccording to Technorati, 55% of bloggers are still posting after three months, so I'm in that dedicated half. Given that this is a proportion of blogs that are tracked by technorati, the actual number is probably a lot lower – people just signing up and posting once or twice seem fairly common.
Now I'm number 181,357 out of the 23.5 million they track, and slowly creeping up in the world. The number of hits doesn't seem to be increasing much though I'm pleased it didn't drop off completely over the last month when I've not been posting much. There are about 15 people picking this up through an RSS feed, which I can see on WordPress' new Feed Stats feature, so I'm still averaging around 55 reads a day.
WordPress goes from strength to strength, and you'll have noticed I've switched back to the Regulus format I had back in January. WordPress have made it possible to edit it more, and it's my favourite template. I think its nice and clear, and although the green one was attractive, some people found it hard to read.
I've also just discovered Flickr. Well, I knew it existed, of course, but I hadn't realised how friendly it is to blogging until WordPress started refusing to upload my pictures. I think I must have hit a limit with them, and Flickr allows 20Mb per month, which is more than enough for me. That's only 6 or 7 pictures at full resolution on my 5 MP camera, but dozens at any sensible screen resolution.
Most of my hits still come from search engines, though I know that whenever I comment on a popular blog, I'll get a few more. The story in TimesOnline which referenced my post about the Somers Town Coffee House, and my subsequent comment on that, brought in a lot of people. Good old british jet.com is still a popular one though.
And I've had 3454 hits since time began.
Squirrels Spring
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden,Trees , add a comment
And the squirrels were out too. This little fellow was leaping and playing in an old hollow tree.
Spring in Russell Square
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a comment
The leaves are green, the tulips are out, the people have emerged from hibernation. Spring is here at last!
Dissent lives
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a comment
Nice to see a little dissent on the walls at Euston Station. No doubt the graffiti scrubbers will have got to it by now. It says 'Deport Charles Clark Not Asylum Seekers!'
The Glorious 9th April 29, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : London,Miscellany , add a commentI'm just back from the Barbican, having seen the London Symphony Orchestra with the London Symphony Chorus conducted by Bernard Haitink in a fabulous performance of Beethoven's 9th. From the gentle delicacy of the third movement to the incredible energy as they belt out the last verses of the Ode to Joy in the finale, it was glorious.
Despite Stanley Kubrik's best efforts, Beethoven's 9th is one of my favourite pieces of music. The sheer optimism and vigour of it lifts and energises anyone who hears it, with the moment when the bass voice comes in with 'Freunde' filling the room startling the audience even though we've been waiting in anticipation.
There must have been two hundred people on the stage, with both the orchestra and the choir, which explains why it isn't performed very often. The conductor looked absolutely shattered at the end, almost reluctant to take the fourth bow. This is the second to last night of a concert series which has been running since March, working through Beethoven's entire symphonic repertoire. I'm only sorry that this is the only one I've seen.
The last performance is tomorrow evening.
Three little ministers, all in disgrace April 28, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , add a commentOh dear. What a week for sensational, point-missing stories.
So, life's not too rosy for old three shags, but really, the extramarital doings of Puncher Prescott don't bear thinking about at the best of times. It does make for fascinating gossip though, and is no doubt keeping the wonks of Westminster entertained (or those of us who aren't 'in the know' and to whom its all a startling revelation).
Then, much to the nation's shocked surprise, some released criminals have reoffended. Yes, of course foreign criminals should be deported, but isn't the real scandal here the number of people in our prisons, and the lack of facilities for the sad cases who would be better placed in a mental health institution or drug rehab unit? Surely that causes more misery, and more recidivism, than any number of foreign baddies. That makes me want to call for the Home Secretary's resignation.
And finally, the booing of the Health Minister. She was rather brave to turn up in front of the nurses conference after all the redundancies in 'the best year the NHS has ever had'. Yes, there is clearly something terribly wrong in the NHS which seems to be haemorhaging cash and unable to regain public respect. I do wonder at the wisdom of paying people more, and at the same time removing their autonomy and binding them up in a thicket of targets. It rather sounds like unconfident management to me, when you hire trained professionals and then micro-manage. But I've no experience of the NHS – being fortunately healthy and living in an area where it's almost impossible to see a GP if you work full time, I've had little choice but to opt out. Perhaps that is more of a scandal than the booing of Patricia Hewitt.
And in the meantime, people die in Iraq and the world keeps getting warmer.
Council elections – Green, Yellow or Red? April 24, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a commentMy postal ballot arrived the other day, and I need to work out who to vote for in the council elections. I don't know any of the candidates particularly, and find myself faced with a dilemma when I think about it from a party political point of view.
I'm naturally a Green voter, though I disagree with them on Europe, and would vote for them. However, the three candidates in our ward are so much 'paper' candidates that they do not even have entries on the Green Party website. Its all very well to drag in anyone you can find when you're a small party, but is a paragraph or two of biography really that much to ask? This is despite the Greens having won a respectable 10% of the vote here last time round.
I'd find it very hard to vote Tory, so that really leave the Lib Dems and Labour. Is this really a good time to give Tony Blair a black eye over Iraq, at the risk of losing some very capable councillors? The Labour candidates are all strong, local to this part of Camden and seem to have good records on local issues, except the question of management of council housing, given that it was a Labour led council which tried to persuade voters to accept changing to an Arms Length Management Organisation.
The Lib Dem candidates don't look much more inspiring than the Greens. Only one has a biography on the Camden Lib Dem website and the other two are not even listed there.
This is a very strong Labour ward, with 47% of the vote in 2002, so it's unlikely my vote will make much difference. So, I think I'll vote at least one Green to encourage them, and then chose between the Labour candidates and the one Lib Dem who has a biography.
Back Soon April 20, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a commentSorry its been a little quiet in here lately. Work's rather busy, and my parents are visiting, so I haven't much time to blog. I'll be back over the bank holiday weekend, promise!
In the meantime, why not go and visit some of the people on the list to the right?
Changing Broker causes stock to fall April 10, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Investing , add a commentRenewable Energy Holdings fell about 4.5p late last week, and I nearly sold as it briefly bounced through my 20% loss limit. I'm not sure why it fell so much, so quickly. The Guardian thinks its because of the company changing its broker last week, and elsewhere there was a suggestion that 'brokers do that to increase movement' which seems excessively cynical to me. If this it is due to the change in broker, that's certainly not a good reason to sell the stock unless there is something very wrong with the new broker. I'm glad I hung in there.
Shares are not pets April 7, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Investing , add a commentOn Thursday, my shares in Renewable Energy Holdings briefly dipped below the 20% loss limit I'd set for myself on these more volatile AIM shares, my mailbox was flooded with alerts and I had a moment of truth. I didn't sell them. By the time I'd had a look, tried to figure out what was going on and thought about it some more, they'd gone back up to about a 16% loss, which is where they sit now. Novera, which were very close to the wire, have crept up a fair bit in the last few days as well, for no reason that I can see.
Shares are not pets, and one must not be sentimental about them. But AIM shares are also notoriously volatile, and it is possible that if I had sold automatically on it hitting 20%, I could have lost out. Of course, if it hadn't bounced back and had continued its slide, I would now be very annoyed at myself. I am sure that if one of the FTSE250 ones had done this, I would have knocked it on the head immediately, but my nice little greenie shares – awww…don't know about that. This is ridiculous sentiment, but it is sentiment that has made me think about volatility, and the way these shares bounce around all over the place.
I am going to try this. I am setting alerts, but not loss limit orders, on all these volatile AIM shares at 20% loss. If they stay at that level for a week, I will sell. Watch me. I'm not sentimental. Really.
