On my way back from lunch near Clissold Park yesterday, I spotted this awesome shop front entirely made from old computer main boards, glistening and shimmering in the low autumn sun.

I couldn’t tell you if this was an environmentally sound way to make use of electrical waste, but it is surely displaying the fascinating beauty that the physical reality of computers hold, albeit normally hidden from view and at best covered in a layer of dust.

Close up of the shop front, they almost look like functional art

I’d love to see a few lonely LEDs glowing on them at night. “There’s still juice in the batteries, you CMOS options are not lost yet…”

This Poster that is currently used to advertise Jack Daniel’s Old. No7 really winds me up.

I’m sorry about the picture quality, my ageing pre-smartphone mobile only has a low quality camera built in.

Here is what they have to say:

THE INVITE SAID BRING A FRIEND

It may not be what your hosts were expecting, but it will be a welcome guest nonetheless. After all, Jack Daniel’s in enjoyed in more than a few social circles because of it’s remarkably smooth character – the result of steadfast loyalty to its original 1866 recipe. Indeed, based on those qualities alone, you could hardly do better in choosing a friend.

Your friends at Jack Daniel’s remind you to drink responsibly.

So the invite to a social gathering said to bring a friend, and JD’s marketing agency believe that a bottle of bourbon makes for a suitable substitute. No, actually they say that a common ingredient for mixing drinks is a better choice than human company, because of it’s ‘remarkably smooth character’. Well folks, I don’t know how anyone who is swayed to believe that booze makes better company than a friend can possibly still drink responsibly, as such an individual would do well to instead confide their troubles to experienced councillor than a bottle.

On closer inspection still, I pose the question what sort of a euphemism “a few social circles” is for party crowds with a devotion to quantity, not quality of intoxication liquor, who by and large strive to do everything but enjoy the beverage responsibly.  I certainly have never heard of a “Lagavulin and Coke” or a “Scapa and 7Up”.

So as a host, I too, would raise an eyebrow if someone offered a cheap booze is lieu of a friend, and tried to justify it by exclaiming that what scratches that throat with 40% ethanol, is redeemed through its smooth character.

Today’s statistics on WordPress exclaims that there are 60,734,473 blogs using wordpress. This is one of them.

The statics go further to exclaim that “Over 303 million people view more than 2.5 billion pages each month.” and that “WordPress.com users produce about 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments on an average day. “WordPress.com users produce about 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments on an average day. ”

These are the stats for the WP hosted blogs, there are no stats available for all the WP run, self-hoststed blogs out there. But let’s make a crude assumption. Let’s assume that this statistic is roughly the same for most “one person” personal blogs of which there are millions more, each one being eaqual to one person. Even if as a statistical exercise we can not extrapolate to the majority of blogs on the web, it still means that for each of the 303*10^6 viewers to WP hosted blogs there are  8.25 page visits per month or  0.27 per day. It means, that for each WP hosted blogs, one in 151.84 blogs receive one comment per day, or around comments 2 per year.

In the four years that I ran coffeemoon, I have collected eight comments that have been written by humans, not spambots. Actual visitors that read a blog entry and left a comment. One of which was someone correctioning me on punctuations. Eight comments, four years, that makes two per year – I’m bang on target. But what this means is that for the hundrets of hours of work that have gone into this blog, I probably accumulated 15 mins of meaningful interaction with the the “outside world”. Maybe twice that, it doesn’t really matter. The time I spend in front of this computer, that I spend going to take photographs that help to decorate blog entries with pictures, reading about blogging tips, styling tips, time spent researching and learning plug-ins, coding styling tips, and debugging css stylesheets is time I spend alone, in front of this computer, rather than with friends. No doubt I am not the onle person out there doing this, there is a good indication that at least 60,734,473 other people are spending just as much time on their blogs as I do on mine. 60,734,473 people who’s blogs are a labour of love, an attempt to create something meaningful. For 0.27 visits per day, and 2 comments per year.

And this is just the statiistics for the WP hosted blogs, not for the entire bloggosphere, where a few shining beacons get all the attention. Boingboing.net no doubt does not have these worries. But for me, one of seven million people in my city it is. Because for me, this is a tangible statistic on lonliness. The more time I spend on this blog, the less human contact I get. The harder I try, the less I succeed.

Back when I started coffeemoon, I was enthusiastic, thought that running a blog would be fun, sharing what excites me, being part of that vibrant on-line community who fully embrace what this increadible technology has to offer to us. Sure there would be a lot of spam, and the odd troll, but it would be worth it. Worth it, because I would connect with a few people from around the world who might leave a comment or who have the same interests and passions, a kindred spirit who might share what they have to offer with me in return. But four years later, and hundreds of hours invested in this blog, I know better.

The statistical plug-in I run tells me all that I need to know.

Average time spent on the site 0-30 seconds. Statistically, you will not get this far in the post before moving on. Most popular post I ever created: The home made knife block I made for my brother. Courtesy a good SEO techiques a popular item with google images.

So for me, I should learn from my conclusions, and heed my own advice. Spend less time on-line, whether here on coffeemoon, reading some-one else’s blog (and thus ruining their statistics)or dating sites, and more with real people. After all that is the advice I read on all the sites that talk about loneliness in london, such as the happiness project.

But I have one question for you: If you are already lonely, if you use your phone only to call your bank because there’s no-one but work contacts in your phone-book, if you already spend your free days on trips going out doing what you enjoy, such as photography and learning to play and instrument, if you already do your own art projects, have hobbies and past-times, if you already spend every waking moment being active and doing things, how do you actually get to meet more people and spend time with them?

A thick cover of duckweed floats on Regent’s Canal this summer. It forms such a thick carpet that even the occasional passing barge can only temporarily clear the surface in its wake, before the green carpet once more looks as undisturbed as if had been laying there for months.

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The weed slows down the water and traps all sorts of objects, mainly plastic bottles carelessly tossed aside by passers by. But this carpet of life clings onto them, not allowing the rubbish to be swept away out of sight, as if nature wanted to remind us that once rubbish has been tossed and forgotten it has not actually vanished, and this duckweed holds it in place for everyone to see.

At night however, when calm falls over the canal and is only interrupted by the occasional drunken mumblings of people staggering home this duckweed plays part in a beautiful play of light and shadow that is so faint, the casual passer by does not have time to adapt their eyes to take notice before the scene is passed. The tree lined canal, and the street lights that illuminate them cast fantasies of shadows, shapes, reflections and glitters of light in sulky sodium tones of light and darkness.

Discipline of the week: Cycling

The Majority of London

Where do I start?  Boris bikes, cycle super slipways, crowded roads.  If you ever cycled to work around London you’d know for yourself that there are 7 million of us. And somehow we’re all squeezing through the same tight roads. But what if you need to leave your beloved velo somewhere?

We all own two locks. My bike is electronically tagged. I didn’t wash mine, on purpose. The lights are detachable as a matter of course. Quick release fasteners replaced with nuts and bolts and the fancy paintwork covered up with shabby bits of inner tube  so it’s less shiny and attractive than next bike. You need to keep you head down, not be noticed or prepared to be your bike dealership’s best friend. Hopefully they’ll steal the one next to you.  Not that I wish anyone’s bike to be stolen, good gracious, no. But we all know that a bike will be stolen from this rack today, that much is certain.

MDR (medium dynamic range) image of Lloyds Underwriting Room in the City of London. Iconic Building, streaming evening sun light, Nodal Ninja.

Why I didn’t get arrested putting down a tripod in the City beats me – London cops are known for harassing and intimidating photographers.
But hey ho, job done!

The Woodbine Pub, originally uploaded by Wolfgang Haak.

Let me introduce to you: The Woodbine. My local pub is cool enough to warrant an entry on the blog. It’s open late, there’s no carpet, the decoration is fun and eclectic, the crowd is pleasant and good looking, the bar staff attentive, the music genre is mostly classic rock, it’s open late, got sofa’s and armchairs. If it had a fireplace it would be the best pub in London. I’ll be back plenty of times.

See the rest of the set over at flickr.

One of my favourite travel web-sites is the fabulous Atlas Obscura. If it didn’t exist, one would have to invent it. Although I doubt I would be able of such great feat myself.

To make a long story short, it’s simply a fantastic sight to visit, for everyone interested in Landscape design, sculptures, overgrown gardens, romanticism, esoterica or whatever morbid fantasies may draw you there. Even a cold and cloudy Easter Saturday made a worth while trip. Entry is £7 for an hour-long guided tour. The guides are volunteers and the money goes towards funding restoration, which the place is in dire need of.

As the lady the lead my group noted:

We don’t receive any government money so it’s more of a case of managed neglect.

Below you marvel at my snaps, there’s more info at the Atlas Obscura Website

and the Highgate Cemetery Website here.

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Cycling Highways? Boris you should learn how to walk before you can cycle. London’s streets are in a state of disrepair that won’t go away by merely talking about “excellence”, “militant about cycling”and  “world class” alone. Get the shovel out and keep the drivel to yourself.

Somehow I don’t think this kind of damage is going away by glueing down some coloured resin bonded gravel. It’s going take a fair bit of more work than that to turn London into a cycle friendly city. You can probably guess that I’m writing this because I’m angry somehow. And you’re absolutely right. A couple of weeks ago I was nearly thrown off my bike when I hit a severe pothole that broke my front rim in the instant of impact. My anger over the almost £100 I spend on a new front rim, tire and tube isn’t eased when these dirt tracks that London’s Mayor Boris Johnson wants to turn into “cycle highways” rattle the fillings out of my teeth.  At times you can not avoid going over these crevices because of the traffic situation. Neither does appear safe to slow down when there’s a hoard of cyclists following close behind – so you’re left with no option but to brave it through these assault courses.

If I hear Boris drivel on about Cycling Highways, and this is the state of roads we have to deal with, I can only conclude that delusion must a way of life for Boris.
View London Potholes – Cycling Danger in a larger map

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What can I add to that.  It’s early morning, I’m on my way to work. Waiting as most people with “plugs” in my ears, drinking a fresh coffee under the sterile lights deep underground on the cavernous platform, when I noticed that us passengers are not the only ones occupying the seats. There is someone on the empty seats, too.

On every one of them. I keep my head down, and hope I let “them” not know that I discovered “them”, maybe they’ll leave me in peace too. Scary stuff so early in the morning.

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