Graham

Graham

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ASCAP spreading lies.	[Jun. 26th, 2010\|12:30 pm]
Why are ASCAP, and similar organisations, allowed to spread such blatant lies (Slashdot)? According to this story, ASCAP are claiming that EFF, Creative Commons etc want to use ASCAP members copyright works for free. This is totally wrong. What Creating Commons etc are doing is nothing to do with ASCAP members works, it is a way for artists, composers etc (who are not ASCAP members) to define the rights to their own works. ASCAP are basically saying that artists should not be allowed to either give away their own original works or allow others to freely share, perform them or create derivative works (such remixes).
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UK General Election 2010	[May. 7th, 2010\|04:50 pm]
It is bad enough that people had to queue in the wind and rain for more than one hour in order to cast their vote. But then to be denied their democratic right because of the shambolic way that some councils organised the election meant that the polling stations closed before they had a chance to vote is just scandalous. The news media indicate that some polling stations had long queues for most the day. So when it became obvious that people who had arrived in what should have been plenty of time would not be able to cast their vote before the polls closed, either the time allowed should have been extended and all those queuing be allowed to vote or more resources should have been applied so as to speed up the process and handle the backlog. Similarly. especially as it was known that this would be a closely fought contest, it is a disgrace that some returning officers took so long to count the votes and declare a result, Then there was the case reported of a polling station running out of voting forms more than once. Surely each polling station should be supplied with sufficient voting forms for every person eligible to vote at that polling station and perhaps even some extras to cater for spoilt papers etc. I think that all the returning officers responsible for these incidents should be censured and not allowed to serve as returning officers in future elections. Luckily, I was able to vote soon after the polling stations opened so did not suffer any of these problems.
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Great Music	[Apr. 27th, 2010\|03:19 pm]
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Gender differences in toilet provision	[Jul. 10th, 2009\|04:59 pm]
This is not the usual rant about "potty parity" but rather the differences in the actual facilities. Most public toilet facilities could at best be described as purely functional and not designed with aesthetics in mind. But there are exceptions such as the famous themed mens rooms at the Madonna Inn. From what I have seen and read on the web, the whole ambience of the rooms and the urinals in particular are very impressive. Even McDonalds have some impressive urinals, like one on the Champs Élysées in Paris where the urinal is a long mirrored wall. I strongly suspect that even in these places with fancy and themed mens rooms, that the Ladies room just has plain cubicles containing 'ordinary' non-descript toilet bowls. So as they are providing themed and fancy places for us men to urinate, is it fair to only provide plain, non-themed facilities for the women to use? In these modern 'green' times where conservation of natural resources is high on the agenda, it is becoming more and more common to find waterless urinals in male toilets. Yet in most cases, in the adjacent Ladies room our female companions have to urinate into 'standard' toilets and use more water when flushing that did the original urinals which were replaced by the waterless ones. There are exceptions, such as some places in Scandinavia where urine separating toilets are becoming more widely installed, and places like the Bronx zoo where they have foam flush toilets. Even low flush toilets use considerably more water than is necessary to just flush urine. The old adage of 'if it is yellow, let it mellow, If it is brown, flush it down' is maybe OK in a domestic environment but would be totally unacceptable in a public or semi-public facility. For men, the waterless urinal is a solution, but another solution is needed to decrease the amount of water used when women urinate in public toilets.
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Eurostar toilets	[Jul. 8th, 2009\|06:11 pm]
What are people's opinions of the toilets on the Eurostar London to Paris/Brussels trains? The first time I used one, it was rather strange peeing into a dry bowl and watching it flow into the drain rather than remaining in the bowl. The drain looked more like a continental bath/sink plug hole than a toilet drain. As a man I could see this happening, but it must seem a strange for women who sit and do their business then stand and turn round to flush and see an empty bowl.
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Old vs New style Sanisettes	[Jun. 20th, 2009\|09:18 am]
Following on from yesterdays post. I wonder why they changed the design of the toilet in the Sanisette automatic public loos. I think that the 'old' style are much more pleasant to use, especially if you need to sit down. I do not like having to sit on public toilets, but luckily this does not happen very often as I normally just use the urinal. But, I have no hesitation in sitting on an old style Sanisette. On past visits to London, before most of them were removed, I used to actively seek one out, rather than use a 'conventional' public toilet, if I needed to do more than just pee. The toilet may be an unconventional shape - rectangular with the inside of the bowl being shaped rather like a rugby ball mould, but it has a built in seat and is, in my opinion, comfortable to sit on. The 'new' style looks like a conventional toilet, but has no seat. There is just the flat surface of the top of the bowl to sit on, which in my experience (though I only tried it once just to see what it was like), is not very comfortable. Also, although it looks like there is a drain outlet at the lower rear it is, like the old style, a closed bowl which is tipped into the back of the 'cubicle' to be emptied and cleaned. So, overall, I liked the old style better and wonder why they replaced it with, what is in my opinion, an inferior design.
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Where have all the Public Toilets gone?	[Jun. 19th, 2009\|05:06 pm]
What has happened to the provision of public toilets nowadays? When I was growing up in a provincial city, I do not think that anywhere was more than about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the nearest public toilets. For example, from where I lived in a residential area, there were three sets of public toilets and a urinal within 10 minutes walk, and five more public toilets within 20 minutes walk from my house. All but one of these was open 24 hours. They may not have been the highest quality facilities, but they were all relatively clean and available if you needed them. Now I live in a small town, which has just one set of public toilets in the main shopping area and these are only open 8am to 6pm - but they do have an attendant. When these were first opened, there was also an out of hours toilet, with 'vandal proof' stainless steel fittings. But this did not last long before it was permanently locked. The big cities seem just as bad. In past decades it was not uncommon to have street urinals which were available 24 hours a day. These, of course, only being designed for males. Then about 30 years ago, modern automatic 24 hours toilet cubicles (such as the Sanisette by the French company J C Decaux) which cater for both males and females. Now in many places, these have been removed and in some places replaced urinals which are only available in the hours of darkness. Is this deliberate sexual discrimination? Or did the authorities decide that not enough females need to urinate outside shopping/business hours to justify the extra expense of providing toilets rather than urinals? Do (especially young) women leaving pubs and clubs (which is where the urinals tend to be situated) not need somewhere to urinate just as much as their male companions.
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(no subject)

[Aug. 29th, 2005|03:49 pm]

[

mood

lazy

]

Bank holiday again, but typically not feeling too good. I should be getting on with cleaning and tidying the house, but I just do not feel like it at the moment. Hope I feel better for work tomorrow,

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Absent friends

[Jan. 18th, 2004|09:46 am]

[	mood	\|	sad	]
[	music	\|	Wilson Phillips - Goodbye, Carmen	]

I am a little sad because I still have not heard from Mabel. I am starting to have doubts that she might never contact me. I miss her very much as we became such good friends, and I will be very sad if we cannot keep in touch. At least I have other friends at the chat site, and I hope that we can also keep in touch when they leave it.

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(no subject)

[Jan. 15th, 2004|06:11 pm]

[	mood	\|	happy	]
[	music	\|	Mylène Farmer - Sans contrefacon [J.C.A. remix]	]

Had a very wonderful online chat this morning before going to work. It was the best one I have had since the final one with Mabel before she left the chat site. The day at work was not so good, but I am feeling happy again now.

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