Do me a favour. Just count to three.

In the time it took you to do that someone died. Every three seconds. Someone. Ok, you don't know them and you don't see them die, but they did. The ironic thing is that it's from a lot of things which can be easily fixed. It won't cost you or me very much money to do it, and we can stop it happening now and in the future. We have a unique opportunity to fix it for tomorrow and for the future.

I'm sure that we have all been involved with this before. We've given some money and hoped we helped. But this is different, it's about telling people. Being visible and carrying on until it's done. Easy simple things like wearing a white armband, sending an email or maybe that little bit more.

We're trying to do our bit here with a white band on this site. Take some time and do your own bit, small or large. Ok it will take more than three seconds, but in that time you could help many more people than those who died.

Go on, make poverty history.

Posted by Mark at 6:12 PM | Permalink

Where has this month gone to ? Doesn't seem that long ago I was adding juke boxes here and staggering around Lebanese restaurants.

Today was a day in a suit, in meetings and trying to iron out issues with suppliers. April looks a full month already so I'm going to rest when I can. Catch you later.

Posted by Mark at 5:05 PM | Permalink

I seem to spend all my life on the phone at the moment. Today it was speaking to suppliers in America and to out Corporate arm trying to sort this project out and get it back on track. We're not doing badly but it seems everything takes an age to decide or to sort. I'm moving some staff around and getting new people onboard with me and hopefully soon it will start to fly.

Posted by Mark at 11:25 PM | Permalink

I gave up in the end. Too much sun and too much time alone in front of a computer. So, rather than both of those we went to the zoo and growled at the tigers.

Posted by Mark at 11:22 PM | Permalink

Well the latest copy of WebAPP fixed the problen, even though I did have to delete what I had there already.

I've got the site up and running, made the forums and the links. The gallery mod is installed to let people load pictures and show them off. I just need to sort the roles and security and set the categories for the topics and it's done. Well, until the colours are wrong or we need some new gadget on the site.

Posted by Mark at 11:49 AM | Permalink

Way too much chilli, the finest Easter cake you have ever seen and the traditional game of "it" around the dining room table can only mean one thing : it's Easter.

We all gathered at Amanda's for the traditional Easter party complete with the egg hunt. This year it seems they were all found on the day rather than being discovered at Christmas as the next set of seasonal decorations went up.

Posted by Mark at 10:25 PM | Permalink

Ok well I have the basics installed and some links and logos to load but I can’t sort the permissions to stop everyone who signs up to the site posting content. Argggghhhh. Then after reading the next release does this I loaded it and now get “Can’t open at /mnt/web_i/d01/s28/b0243de0/cgi-bin/user-lib/ads.pl line 5.”. Argghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Back to their support forums to see if anyone else has had this. Perhaps it will seem clearer tomorrow after a few glasses of wine with Martin.

Posted by Mark at 5:15 PM | Permalink

Off to Karen’s today to take eggs and catch up with them all. It seems the new “must have” for the youth of today is a website. So, with paper and pen Elizabeth and I sketched out a site.

Seems that the easiest thing to do wil be to use some kind of Content Management System but as this is all done on a budget a GPL system which doesn’t need a database is what we need. Looking around WebAPP seems to fit the bill and has a few nice plugins and mods as well. Should keep me busy for a while….

Posted by Mark at 10:03 PM | Permalink

One of the issues I have with photography on a day to day basis is finding a theme around which to take pictures. It’s easy enough if you have travelled to some exotic location but what do you do on a Saturday morning? For that reason I was really interested to find The Way We See It a website which, as it says, “aims to see how differently people view and perceive the same place through the lens”. Concentrating on small areas of London, such as an alleyway, it brings together photographers who have a very different view of the same place.

Maybe that’s something I’ll have to try ….

Posted by Mark at 6:45 PM | Permalink

Did you notice how high the sun was at 5pm today ? Every day is warmer and lighter for longer. Summer's around the corner.

Posted by Mark at 9:10 PM | Permalink

One thing I can't decide about is what this should be. Weblog, photoblog, vlog all seem to get messed up here in what feels like an unhappy mix sometimes. I guess I'm stuck with a bunch of things I "do" and none of them I do well.

There's more awards on the horizon and this time for photoblogs. I'm really pleased to see Kathleen Connally's A Walk Through Durham Township mentioned in so many categories as well as Chromasia.

I don't know about you but this has to win photo of the year.

Go check them all out, and vote, at the Photobloggies 2005.

Posted by Mark at 8:02 PM | Permalink

We both needed a little pampering so tonight Amanda and I had a night out in London.

After a drink in Villiers Street we went to Grosvenor Square to the Millennium Hotel to eat at the restaurant of the TV chef Brian Turner. The bar and restaurant have been renovated in a sort of Art Deco style with mood lighting in the form of candles in the bar and frosted glass screens separating clusters of diners in the restaurant. Despite it being set in the centre of the embassy district of London with the American Canadian and Italian embassies close by there was nothing pretentious or fussy about the place.

After a glass of champagne in the bar watching the man himself entertaining tonight's clients we went to eat. The food was excellent and we both gave up on the set meals to enjoy pea soup and chicken pie and avocado blini and roasted monkfish.

Outside for a cab ride to the Adelphi Theatre to see Chicago. Art Deco seems to have been the theme of the evening. There's been a theatre on this site since the Sans Pereil was opened in 1806. However, in 1930 the place was rebuilt in the moderne style which we now know as Art Deco. Chicago's a great musical and in the cast tonight were Jill Halfpenny, latterly Kate Mitchell of Eastenders and recent winner of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and Michael French, Nick Jordan in the BBC series Holby City.

All in all a great evening.

Posted by Mark at 11:59 PM | Permalink

It must be Spring. Mid way through the afternoon Splosh turned up to check I was reading the right book, drinking the right tea and everything was in order with the laptop.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 PM | Permalink

Despite it being colder, with low grey clouds moving over the sky quickly, it's just warm enough to sit out, drink chai and read. For once the wireless seems to be working OK and I can write and catch up with the radio I missed in the week.

A little more sun would be good but this is a start.

Posted by Mark at 4:03 PM | Permalink

Today was such a nice day, warm and sunny, that we decided to go to the seaside to let Fhai have a day on her own to relax. Despite the mist rising off the water when we got there it was really warm. So hot in fact we had to all have ice cream.

We made it down the beach, picking up stones as we went, wandered around the old castle looking for pirates and then wandered back in the late afternoon sun.

Check out all the pictures here.

Posted by Mark at 11:47 PM | Permalink

I don't know how much you keep up with the news but there's one thing you should, perhaps, be concerned with and that's the recent appointment of Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank.

So, what's all the fuss ? Well, Wolfowitz is one of the main neocons in the Bush administration and the man behind the last Gulf War.

The main concern is that Wolfowitz will use the World Bank as a vehicle for the promotion of evangelical US-style democracy - backed by the big stick. The 184 member, American-led organisation is responsible for "global efforts to promote economic development and reduce poverty". Former World Bank chief economist, Joseph Stiglitz, said: "Choosing the right general in the war against poverty will not assure victory, but choosing the wrong one surely increases the chances of failure."

Indeed, German aid and development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul admitted: "The enthusiasm in old Europe is not exactly overwhelming." French president Jacques Chirac dutifully "took note" of the appointment, while Sweden's foreign minister told the BBC that she was "sceptical about the nomination".

I guess time will tell, but for now the chances of pursuing all the things Tony Blair wants to achieve seem less and less.

Keep up to date with the news on this at The World Bank President blog.

Posted by Mark at 8:11 PM | Permalink

Out tonight to setup wireless and a laptop. It's been a really nice day today and there's a real sense of Spring in the air. I've been sitting here with the window open and a warm breeze blowing in with the occasional bee drifting by. I'll need to fix my wireless so I can go back to talking to you all from the patio.

Posted by Mark at 4:48 PM | Permalink

If you're on a conference call always check that if you put the call on hold you don't have a phone which plays music to the people you left on the call. This only causes them either to shout through your musical contribution to the call or to guess amongst themselves what piece of mutilated Bach you are broadcasting...

Posted by Mark at 9:52 PM | Permalink

No, we didn’t win but the results are in over at The Bloggies 2005.

So, here’s a summary :

• Best Meme went to Flickr the photo sharing site.
• Best article or essay about blogging went to Tony Pierce on How to Blog
• Well deserved Middle Eastern winner is Where is Raed?
• Best British blog Plasticbag.org
• Best photography blog Daily Dose of Imagery
• Best gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgendered community blog How to Learn Swedish in 1000 Difficult Lessons
• Best overall blog of the year Boing Boing

There’s loads more deserving winners at the Bloggies site so make sure that you head over there to see how this should be done properly.

On a personal note I’m so happy that Sam Javanrouh at Daily Dose of Imagery has won. He’s one of only a few blogs that I check every day when I startup Firefox. His photography is stunning and inspiring and he has a great ability to capture everyday scenes in an interesting way.

I’m also so pleased that Francis Strand won for How to Learn Swedish in 1000 Lessons. His writing is honest, amusing and skillfully done. Of course I’m a little biased by the fact he writes about Stockholm but I’m sure once you have heard his voice over at Broken English you’ll forgive me.

Congratulations to all !

Posted by Mark at 7:58 PM | Permalink

Sometimes in life it's a matter of not letting go, but of acceptance. There's nothing else you can do to affect an issue, to make a difference or show that you care. For all the time you spend, for all the things you have said. In the end the journey ends in a dead end and you need to accept that things have come to an end. You no longer mean what you did, have the friendship or closeness that you once enjoyed.

I guess that's life. Things flex and move and change. We struggle to control and influence but in the end it happens.

Go gently.

Posted by Mark at 6:29 PM | Permalink

Today has been a day spent around the house sorting all kinds of chores from sweeping the front path, re-doing the hanging basket at the front, reviewing my CV (just what have I done in the last year?) and going to the cinema.

I went to see Constantine which was a reasonable film in a kind of Matrix style. Interesting ideas about good and evil.

A little while ago I was talking about Vlogs, video weblogs. For a great example of one check this entry at The Voiz.

Posted by Mark at 7:23 PM | Permalink

After working late last night to get support and to get this demo running I spent this morning re-writing it on the basis of Linux systems rather than NT. After a trip to the shops to get lunch, newspaper and this month's Esquire with The Ipcress File as a giveaway I came back, ate and then fell asleep to the film only to be woken up by Fhai who came to look at some translation work for one of Amanda's friends.

This turned out to be a land certificate so I was sitting there half awake, half asleep trying to learn a little of Thai land laws.

Back online and the demo works up to the point where I magically power on the servers. They don't spring into life. Broken again.

I'm off to Martin's with a bottle or two of red. See you later...

Posted by Mark at 6:58 PM | Permalink

It is one year on from the blasts in Madrid which killed 191 people.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Spain Falls Silent to Honor Train Victims

“I will never forget the image of what happened here,” said the 42-year-old worker, who identified himself only as Paco. “I still remember the smell of gunpowder. Finding pieces of bodies on the platform. The image of a boy’s head on a bench.” Another man tossed red and white carnations and roses onto the railroad tracks.

The victims are remembered online here.

Posted by Mark at 11:21 PM | Permalink

After a lot of hassles and writing a script to demo this new product I managed to break it within 5 minutes. Really doesn't bode well for producing a slick demo for clients to see.

To top it off the work Amanda asked me to look at producing an online calender system for one of her clients is turning into a nightmare as well. I found a reasonable product but there's at least two bugs in it. Off to Sourceforge to see if someone can fix them ....

Posted by Mark at 8:45 PM | Permalink

Well it took me until mid afternoon and a handful of painkillers but I finally felt better today.

Off to read for a while..

Posted by Mark at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Curled up on Martin's sofa watching the football with the kid's asleep upstairs after a meal of rice and soup.

Nice end to a long, long day.

Posted by Mark at 11:46 PM | Permalink

We seem to have finally got over the snow here. Not that I was out, I spent all day glued to the phone for one meeting after another.

I'd perservering with the "Just Do It" approach to this new job and so far it seems to have worked. It's so not the way I work, every day is a little like skating across ice and not knowing how thick it is.

Posted by Mark at 9:44 PM | Permalink

A cold bright day today so I drove into London to visit Speaker's Corner. It's not something I've ever done before and it was certainly entertaining. Slightly disappointing was the number of people attempting to convert people to God but some of the arguments were interesting, some totally unfounded.

Here's a selection of those who spoke today :

Posted by Mark at 8:46 PM | Permalink

The death of Nicola Calipari, the international operations chief of Italy’s military intelligence service, is all the more cruel as it happened moments after he secured the release of Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for the far-left daily Il Manifesto. Even more cruel is that fact that he was killed by allies in “the war on terror”, by soldiers at an American checkpoint. It’s one of the more bizarre friendly fire episodes and surely the most tragic.

Maybe this sums it up :

The Independent|News

Gabriele Polo, editor of Il Manifesto, the independent Communist daily for which Ms Sgrena worked, fought back tears as he said: “An Italian agent has been killed by an American bullet ­ A tragic demonstration … that everything that’s happening in Iraq is senseless and mad.

Nicola Calipari was a hero. Once for negotiating the release and then again for saving the life of his charge.

Posted by Mark at 3:43 PM | Permalink

Well I tried to be organised and order Amanda's presents from Amazon but the delivery would have almost been her next birthday so I went to Argos instead and got it a whole lot cheaper.

Tonight was a nice quiet evening in with her and some friends and yet another bottle of champagne, whcih seems to have been the drink of the week. It was unusual not to have bought her an antique but a practical present. Even though when I picked up the idea it was strongly suggested that she wanted one which looked "modern" so the chrome version seems to have filled the bill. Now I can't wait to get an invite back to try out her new slow cooker...

Posted by Mark at 11:25 PM | Permalink

Out tonight with Amanda socialising and consuming too much champage, both on it's own and as cocktails.

Neither of us had tried Fakhreldine in Picadilly before but late on a Wednesday it was busy but accommodating as we were an hour late from drinks across town in Victoria. The best seats are by the window, overlooking Green Park. Late at night you can just make out the lights on the other side of the park. I'd imagine by day, either in Spring or Autumn, the view is stunning. Perhaps a place to try for a lunch one day, the Royal Academy is just along Picadilly and I'm planning go there soon to see the exhibition of Turkish arts.

Posted by Mark at 11:55 PM | Permalink

An odd, quiet day today which is kind of what I expected really. I heard from a few people, saw some less than I'd have liked, saw some not at all and, for the most part, sat here and worked alone.

Years ago I can remember sitting at the kitchen table in my parent's house watching the TV as a new era of aviation made a leap forward. The maiden flight of Concord was exciting as my Father worked on the project, my Uncle was over from Australia and I got an airfix model of the plane and a postcard of Concord, which my Uncle signed. Though the model disappeared years ago, separated from it's clear plastic base which made it appear to fly, I still have the card and all the letters he wrote to me from places he went to whilst working for Lloyd's Shipping. I think I have him to thank for an interest in exploring new places and writing about them.

You can learn all about that day here on the BBC website which has the film of the flight. It must have really been a hot summer that year as the grass is all brown.

It seems fitting then than another aviation milestone is being broken with Steve Fossett attempting to travel around the globe in a plane non-stop. Watch the latest on the flight here.

Another year older....

Posted by Mark at 8:05 PM | Permalink

If you've spoken to me you'll know I have a wide taste in music. Whilst I don't go out of my way to force it onto people I do like to share. So, tucked away at the bottom of the sidebar is a small jukebox which you can launch as a popup to play a little music as you read...

Posted by Mark at 8:50 PM | Permalink