Sheddies I have just emailed a bunch of you to remind you that Voting is open and to do the following.. 1) Make sure your shed details are up to date 2) Make sure it has got some images uploaded (to be able to get a valid vote) 3) If you have a twitter account, you can now add that to your shed page (just go to your shed page and click on Change your shed details/info 4) Tell your family and friends to vote! Unfortunately some of the emails bounced, so I will have to disable the shed from the competition until you contact me with an updated/new email address.. Related Posts May 18, 2009 — Our Shed judges are tweeting great May 18, 2009 — Just sheds: Artists Retreat - Chris Cyprus May 16, 2009 — Random Sheds : The Outside Inn & Green Halt May 15, 2009 —...

Just what was Andy Burnham playing at yesterday?I didn't get to see the live coverage from Hillsborough yesterday and still being without Broadband at home* was unable to do more than throw up a few Tweets from my phone as I watched the news coverage. First off I would say that most of the people present at Anfield would have had no problems with the Sports Minister a lifelong Evertonian...

Venezuela has become the first country to expel the Israeli Ambassador from its country in protest over Israel's invasion of Gaza.The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza," Hugo Chavez (above), the Venezuelan president, said in televised comments."The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the president of the United States."Let's hope more countries have the courage to follow...

Some of our readers may remember the phantom keystroker we featured on the site back in March, there is now a new version available, the Phantom Keystoker V2. Plug the Phantom Keystroker V2 into one of your friends or coworkers PC, and when they use it it will make random mouse movements and type garbage into whatever application they are using. The Phantom Keystroker V2 connects to yout PC or Mac via USB and is a great way to play a prank on your friends. It is available for $14.99 from Think Geek. This is a post from Geeky Gadgets, who bring you the latest news on the coolest gadgets. Fun - Gadgets - The Phantom Keystroker......

An obvious one for news so expected that we’re becoming desensitised to what’s...

Nero and TiVo have just announced they have teamed to create a new software and hardware product called the Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC. The product allows users to record TV programs on their PC with typical DVR ease as well as pause and rewind programs. Once TV programs are recorded, the shows can be exported to PSP, iPod or DVD automatically. The kit includes a TiVo PC remote, TV tuner card, and an IR blaster for a wireless connection between the satellite or cable box and the PC. Also included is a one-year subscription to TiVo service. The hardware is compatible with Windows XP or Vista. Retail price for the retail kit is $199 which comes with a year of TiVo service, a Hauppage USB ATSC tuner, an IR receiver, and a Nero-branded TiVo remote. A software only version retails for $99....

Check out this funky iPod dock from Sony, the S-Airplay. The S-Airplay docking station lets you use up to 10 wireless speakers throughout your home. Each of the speakers can be plugged into a power outlet and then the S-Airplay transmits your music to them. This funky looking iPod dock features a built in alarm clock, an Am/FM radio and can transmit up to 164 feet. The S-Airplay will go on sale in September for 0 which includes the docking station and two speakers, if you want to add more speakers they will cost 0 each. via Akihabara News a Sony S-Airplay iPod Dock Related posts Intempo’s New iPod Dock With DAB Built In (0) Funky iPod Shuffle Alternative - The Coby MP-C852 (0) Cool iPhone Apps - Mainlobby remote control for the home (7) Optimus Prime iPod dock (0) iPod...

"Cry Rape" - a BBC...

Source It's exam results time, from SATS and Scottish results now to the eventual GCSE and A-Level announcements that will be on their way soon. Currently everyone is very much caught up in the life of Gordon Brown or crime, but within the month you can guarantee that this generation of children will be opening their results (or receiving the exam results in a text message) while simultaneously either being called stupid or...well, stupid.If they don't achieve the high standards set socially based on last years results then there will be an outcry, indeed already the whole SATS system is being questioned. However if, as usual, students manage to outdo the previous years crop it won't be through their hard work but through the curriculum getting easier. In either case, I feel that we will...

Source It was suggested last week that one solution to the issue of music being shared illegally, among other such as making ISPs taking more responsibility for what activities their customers do, is to charge a levy or tax on internet use and let us do whatever the hell we like....

Source I've written on this subject before, and as such you may feel some element of repetition, however last night's program about the WI calling for safer spaces for prostitutes means now is the perfect time to talk again about the decriminalisation of the work and indeed how counter-productive the talk Harriet Harman gave at the beginning of the year is....

Source No doubt you've noticed by now but up there in the top right there's a little widget about how much money has been donated to Children in Need. What is it all about? Well basically I've set myself the challenge of cycling Bristol to Bodmin in two days, via Lyme Regis. Completely arbitrary but something I'm interested in doing. So I thought, after much prodding by those that looked confused at me when I said I was doing this, that I should actually try to raise cash on behalf of it too.You can check out the facebook event for it, and donate here online the whole thing will happen at the end of August. I'd be much obliged if you could donate something as the way Children in Need funds charities is truly rare in this country. For those that want to argue about why the BBC as a public...

Source In the ever moving hilarity that is government competence with technology, there is even more to report about their ridiculous My Life, My ID site (which has now become an anti-ID propaganda ground). It seems the type of people that will be responsible for managing our most personal data simply cannot send an email correctly...Shfrom help@mylifemyid.orgreply-to help@mylifemyid.orgto LeeGriffin date Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 12:40 PMsubject Shmailed-by vsdiscuss.co.uk12:40 PMInsert message here....

Source So this is the second one this week, lucky me and lucky you! I'll keep this brief, here are some cool stories of the day...much better than the fare available on Tuesday!Political Betting - The death of the labour party? Surely not!Question That - Ian states the obvious with regards to the hypocrisy of the Labour party, and his suggestion for Tory campaign slogan is spot on.Lieral Burblings - Paul is right, Cameron has certainly managed to be the first politician to talk any common sense with regards to alcohol.Obsolete - On the subject of recent rulings on BAE, why should we be taking it as given that anything like this level of corruption is acceptable?ePolitix - Even the rats seem to be jumping ship now...Mars Hill - Cameron is in the middle of his PR holiday, bet he can't wait...

Source A week ago, or there abouts, it was announced that Doctors would be tested to ensure they could keep practising medicine. For one reason or another very few picked up on this story which surprises me given a) how long it's been in coming and what a progressive step it is and b) the precedent it sets for other aspects of life. Chiefly I'm talking about driving of course but with the assumption rightfully being on ability to do the job now rather than when you were in your early 20's it's a big door to leave open.But importantly it doesn't span the whole sector, with nurses/paramedics remaining able to degrade in standards of care, as will dentists. It seems that only half the job is done, in my eyes, if those providing the first response and surveillance to our health screw up then...

Source It has to be done, I'm a big Batman fan and to overlook the chance to review this film would be...well...I wouldn't feel right, so here it is, like it or not. If you don't want to read someone else's opinion I would recommend Millennium Elephant's account, though be warned, there are spoilers. But then, there will also be spoilers in my review, so if you haven't seen it then perhaps you should check out some Politalks stuff that will be coming back soon....

Source Hello! Welcome to the blog once more and I hope you're enjoying reading. Just below you're going to be able to click to continue reading and see the netcast as I've published over at Liberal Conspiracy, but first of all Ill be posting my alternative/extended list. I apologise for not putting up my Thursday one, but...well...the blogosphere was just a bit shit so there was nothing that stood out for me. Also, aside from another netcast on Thursday, you will see some articles in the next week (assuming I'm not too busy with work...phew!) about Max Mosley, our train system and annual checks for doctors.So, on to the extended list!Amnesty NI - Was King William III of Orange in the closet?The bleeding heart show - Neil gives his thoughts on the future of Labour (again).Obsolete - Yet...

Source We are being treated over at Liberal Conspiracy with extracts of speeched MPs are making to people like the Fabian society. Well, treated may be a little too much of an over-exaggeration given both of the speeches so far have been utter crap in their own ways.Just as the government has a moral duty to tackle poverty and exclusion, so it also has a duty to address obesity. But this is not a licence to hector and lecture people on how they should spend their lives - not least because that approach simply won’t work.As with David Lammy before him, and Camerons vacuous speech in Glasgow, Alan Johnson doesn't actually say anything. So, for his benefit should he or one of his aides be listening (fat chance...teehee), here is some advice for him....

Source I'm not as much of a critic of libel law as other bloggers, Unity in particular, however the one area that does annoy me is the necessity to lay down threats of legal action at the doors of people before they have been able to prove one way or another if what they've said is libelous.In this case Dave Walker, of several sites, has had to take down content spanning what appears to be several years to comply with a legal threat by Mark Brewer's company, a company which now owns a book chain called SPCK. More over there seems to be a little bit of shadiness going on as Unity uncovers, with the company in particular seeking bankruptcy protection in the US....

Source I said I'd write about it, so I will. I generally don't like this perception (and argument) that is utilised by all spectrums of political blogs, the idea that because democracy costs money we should keep a reign on it. Recess Monkey is one of the latest to do this, predictably in response to his parties quite shameful voting over expenses....

Source This is part 2 of a series, part 1 can be found here.Branching on from my last post in this series, I want to start discussing areas of governance and parliament that I feel that needs pressure applying to it to reform or change. In the future I will be bringing some more thoughts about things including electoral reform and consultation in a technological age. Right now, however, I want to talk about debate, legislation and the irrelevancy surrounding it.Let's make one thing clear to start off with, a debate that leads to no conclusion is worthless. In the blogosphere it is easily argued that debates go to informing others and forming your own opinions, and doing so costs us very little outside of a hosting fee. In parliament it's a different situation though, with too many debates...

Source As if we ever needed any more proof that mass database "secure" personal information systems are potentially ridiculous at stopping any willing criminal from avoiding it, and thus only being effective at controlling, guiding and recording perfectly law abiding people, news reaches us that flaws with the Oyster card will be published. The system has been cracked and it means that countries all over the world now need to re-evaluate how much stock they put in these systems. But is it right to publish how to work around the system?...

Headline writing is something written about ad nauseam, especial in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) circles. But as I was reading my way through a few SEO articles, one headline stood out, for all the wrong reasons… When SEO hits the headlines! There I am, doing the electronic equivalent of leafing through the various unboring pages of the web, when I come across a headline from a SEO blog that made me smile. I’ll spare their blushes and instead use a faux headline to demonstrate my point. “What’s the real benefit of Ingredient X?” For those familiar with SEO principles, the power in this headline lines in the keywords and the order of those keywords, or in this case, the key phrase: “Ingredient X”, which could be substituted for anything else you can...

Source Here is a round up of some of the more obvious news of the last few days. Right now I'm actually likely to be in a hot air balloon for a work social, so if they feel a bit old then sorry...it's likely I'm just a bit high (*groans*?)First up... Testing students narrows learning. Ofsted has been saying for years that strict curriculum's lead to schools teaching to test. Anyone that's gone through our educational system in the last decade or so knows this is the case as teachers work through a curriculum book to get us to learn what is most likely to be in the exam with only the few going so far as to actually inspire and help us become learning individuals....

Source Hat tip to UK Liberty over his highlighting of the case of a rejected appeal by a suspected terrorist to be allowed to study AS level human biology and chemistry. It seems as though our government is finally getting around to closing the abhorrent loop hole in our education system that allows young adults the ability to become terrorists.Expect these subjects to be strictly off curriculum by 2010 along with P.E (encourages too much physical contact, something proven to be important in all knife crime), English (teaches you to say things that might offend another person) and Electronics/Computer science (for the obvious connections to easy routes to terrorism)....

Source I'm seeing a surprising number (and by surprising I mean more than one, and more than just devout Labour supporters) of people supporting what are absolutely obscene benefit reform proposals, proposals we have just about zero chance of stopping unfortunately. Take, for example, supposedly Liberal Anders Hanson who thinks that no harm can come of it...But regardless of your circumstances, I think everyone can do some form of voluntary community service whilst being unemployed. It keeps you in the habit of getting up and going to work (even if it is only once or twice a week that you do it) and it helps put something back in whilst you receive your benefit. This shouldn’t be seen as a punishment as the Government seem to be making it. It should simply be a way of...

Source Three weeks ago the Department for children, schools and families somewhat oxymoronically beat their chest over this last year's statistics on school exclusions. The reason I bring it up now? It turns out the government (as well as every other party) are unable to add 1+1 and make 2.The report on child drinking shows without a doubt that truancy adds to the chance of a child starting down the path of "binge drinking". It's been reported in the past that delinquency increases with exclusion from schools. So is it any surprise when over 10% of our children are removed from school at least one week a year in any given year that some of them find the time to discover alcohol and/or drugs in that time of social exclusions....

Source This is part 1 of a series, part 2 can be found here.Don't get me wrong, but right now I'm wondering what it is that the liberal left is exactly trying to do with its resources, limited as they may be. I wouldn't necessarily call myself distinctly left but I do feel very liberal...and it's been evident for long enough now that liberties are not on the agenda. Whether through an authoritarian and totalitarian edging Labour government, or a Conservative party that has never shown any proof of anything other than basic liberalism, we have no prominent banner to crowd under and no apparent leadership to direct us.Whether this is a particularly leftist trait or not is another argument for another day but I was always very hopeful, and still am, that Liberal Conspiracy could become a...

Source Not a pun on Gordon Brown's affliction, but instead the current state of politics which means that political parties simply cannot afford to be different to each other. From Cameron fearing the new Lib Dem tax policy so being forced to admit that his "tax cut" agenda isn't set in stone at all, to Brown aping the Tory policies on forced labour for benefits, and all of this after the Lib Dems craftily stole the main points of Labours transport policy.Of course while I think the Lib Dem policy is hypocritical garbage, and the news of Cameron willing to raise taxes is like saying the sky is blue, the Labour party never fail to surprise me in how far they're willing to go to become the nasty party, and to completely abandon the kind of liberal thinking that changed the face of this...

Last weekend was Marlow Regatta weekend, which is generally a time to steer well clear of Marlow. However, on the Sunday morning they have dragon boat racing, so we headed over to the river, armed with champagne and pastries to take a look. Verity enjoyed it greatly, cheering on all the red boats, which were apparently all called Puff. Pascal came too and has one of those fancy cameras that take a good picture even when the subject matter is traditionally nonphotogenic......