Among the
chirpy emails regarding our immensely late newsletter, we got these:
"Received this at 08:51am Friday morning. Is this a record for late arrival of email? Have you thought of running the post office? Andrew Knight"
"More like an AM Newsletter. Raymond"
"Hello Eric and chums, Just to let you know I got yesterday’s newsletter at 08.58 this morning. This is not a complaint as such, merely a confirmation of your problem with which I have a deal of sympathy (my job title will give you a clue). For those ungrateful listeners who might complain about late arrival of the newsletter, I would suggest they use it rather like a set of Nostradamus predictions – you listen to the programme and then check the following day to see if the newsletter would have been right! Keep up the good work. Chris Charlton, IT Manager"
Hundreds of people emailed to say they got their newsletter between 0830 and 0930 this morning. It's kind of you to indulge us but we've decided there won't be one today, since, frankly, if it can't be made to work, I can't be arsed.
Sorry about the use of the word arse, there.
On the plus side, some of the responses to the veil story on the blog will feature on the show in the "letters" slot tonight. Stand by.
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Just arrived at 10:47 (hurrah?)
...what did I predict in the last two threads, it's from veils that Manveen is tralling for the letters section...
SB1....well, really CB1
(Could Be 1, i.e. no other comment showing yet).
What's this? Is Eddie submitting straplines himself?
"PM: If it can't be made to work, I can't be arsed."
I got the Newslater at 9:20 this morning.
Strapline - suggested modification:
Tomorrow's Today programme today
Yesterday's PM newsletter tomorrow.
:oD
;->
I wouldn't want to be in Chris Charlton's shoes
Eddie:
Don't overdo it today.
It's been a very, very busy week for you.
Chill out with Jose C and think nice thoughts.
FYI - re Newsletter
I had a look back through a few of them to see where the delays are.
In all of the cases that I looked at, the problem was a huge delay between 2 servers inside teh ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.
The strange thing is that I get a weekly item from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 7 and it goes through the same servers in almost no time.
Maybe the PM list has a lot more subscribers than others ... but, unless the software is running on an abacus, it is difficult to imagine that it can take 4 hours to expand the lists.
Below is the technical bits that your IT people will understand. Basically it shows that it took 8 hours to get between 2 machines.
My guess is that there was a problem overnight and someone fixed it in the morning. Find whoever fixed it and make it a proper permanent fix ... and ask them to tell the list owners what the problem is and the prognosis for getting it resolved.
It would be a shame to have the authors give up because the technology is letting them down.
Message trace follows:
Received: from lists1.mh.bbc.co.uk (lists1-mgt.mh.bbc.co.uk [192.168.232.83])
by lists2.mh.bbc.co.uk (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k9K7Fg5E007934
for ; Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:20:59 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mailgw2.mh.bbc.co.uk (mailgw2.mh.bbc.co.uk [132.185.144.142])
by lists1.mh.bbc.co.uk (8.12.10/8.12.9) with ESMTP id k9JFZBZq003441
for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:35:11 +0100 (BST)
-----------------------------------
No Newsletter eh... Sad. Well, some years ago one of the television newsreaders Martin what's-his-name, tried to end his News reports with a piece of good news. Why don't we do the same..?
This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in "The Atlanta Journal".
SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips. Cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Please call (404) 875-6*** and ask for Daisy. I'll be waiting.........
Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8- week -old black Labrador retriever.
P.S. Daisy now has a wonderful new home...
Chris Evan's (Radio Two 5 pm) newsletter works ok. Mine arrived a few moments ago - thanks Chris. See you on the ice.
Why don't you send your newsletter from a free mail account, like googlemail, or yahoo. I'm sure that'll work.
Come one, make an effort.
Yours, Wolf
OnTheLedge (4)
I'm very proud of my strapline being selected to grace the blog and will accept no modifications!
John W (2) - spot on! Thanks too for your comments on Newsletter at 49 earlier this morning. I was beginning to feel a bit lost in all this earnest blogging but have no intention of becoming Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells. Veils did get lots of response (good and bad) but I was feeling a bit manipulated since Veils was obviously deliberately posted - and drawn attention to in the programme - to get some comments from here they can actually read out.
Well, that's fine - serious comment is important - but I was missing the fun and couldn't find my friends. I like to keep up with you all even though when you're being very techy I'm afraid I get a bit lost.
That's enough self-pity for now. I loved Piper's frog at 8.
Eddie, do you have to read out something from veils? It's getting a tad old hat now.
Ah, RobbieDo, your original is wonderful, but you have to admit that the modification is true! :)
Perhaps the IT dept needs a refresher course.
I'm told there are very good colleges in Nigeria where mass mailing is their speciality
After all, life itself is modified...
Sorry.
John W (2) and Sarah (12)
I agree -- but Manween would have had a job with comments from the other blogs.
Can you imagine Eddie trying to get some of the other posts read out (with that voice) for Example
:-At 03:56 AM on 20 Oct 2006, Lady Penelope wrote: O Appy . . . have you been quiet all day because you were busy Conjuring With That Thort??
NB I have got up VERY early to catch Eric's first frog. And where is he? Not here, for sure . . .
:-))
Did anybody see the item recently on the main ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ news site (I think) about the British and humour? From the point of view of a French woman? I commented about something like this way, way back and made the suggestion that perhaps Monty Python weren't really the innovators they were cracked up to be - they simply tapped into the PM audience zeitgeist.
What kind of fool am I? Got too hot in the sun so I´ve just read thru all the Missed Blogs. EEEK!
Anyway, my PBP-C is in the post - that is, if post boxes are reelly supposed to be yellow here? Off to buy a beer and go back to the sun....
TD doesn´t have an S.O. Whisht - so I couldn't google him if I tried!!
Now I´m going to be really behind with the html stuff, as I couldn´t go thru the masterclass line by line. Still, it´s Friday today, let´s celebrate.
See you all again soon froglets. Be good in my absence.
Eddie,
Don't worry too much about the newsletter.
Someday, we'll all look back on this, laugh nevously and immediately change the subject.
Sara, (and John W) please don't be alarmed. I'm sorry you felt manipulated. That was not the intention. We just thought some bloggers would like the chance to respond to the story, and debate with others in a way that simply emailing the programme doesn't offer. The debate has produced an interesting blog, and, as a sideline, some stuff for "PM Letters" tonight.
Believe it or not, the "bosses" do not interfere in the blog, and I would tell you if they did! I've had no instructions to do anything - I just happen to like, and I think YOU like - a healthy mix of the important and the silly. I have no big schemes for the blog other than to do what we've been doing...trying things out, failing, trying other things. It may interweave with the programme more - or it may diverge. I love it because it's like a living breathing thing...and is impossible to predict.
Dear Eddie,
"I just happen to like, and I think YOU like - a healthy mix of the important and the silly. "
"I love it because it's like a living breathing thing...and is impossible to predict."
Just like you, in fact!
Don't ever change ..... the blog, or you!
Right, Sorry for the delay, folks, but the queue at the sweetshop was horrendous.. So:
Walnut Whips on the table in the corner
Curly Wurlys in the Jar on the side
Humbugs in the jar on top of the TV
Dark chocolate on the side table
White chocloate next to the telephone
Kitkats in the fridge
Shortbread in the kitchen, and
Chocolate Hobnobs hidden away where only I (and maybe Appy if she was watching) know about...
Enjoy, everyone!
I see that BH has its newsletter working.
There's a mention in it about the pronunciation of "gnu". I heard this somewhere the other night with the "g" sounded and thought, "that's not right, it should be "nu".
Then I realised that if you say gnu as nu, nobody knows what you're talking about.
So the only thing to do,
Is say "gnu pronouced nu".
Did any froggers happen to catch 'Front Row' on Wednesday evening when Mark Lawson did a special about Lord Reith.
In it there was an old clip of an interview with Reith from the late 60's by some chap called Malcolm Muggeridge, bit like an 'Eddie' but more upper crust and not Scottish. One thing in the short interview at the beginning of the programme that Lord Reith said really surprised me. He said that Radio and television was a
'Potential social menace of the first magnitude' .. Wonder what on earth he would have thought of the blog :-(
Fearless, I'll have to share your hobnobs because you didn't get my Twirl! :(
Eddie, I was going to post my wholehearted agreement with Sara (14) but OK, I'll trust you, for now... I challenge you to read out the entry to which Johnnie (16) refers - and its predecessor - or some other such nonsense to get the real flavour of the blog across to uninitiated listeners. Then I'll know you are in earnest.
Hello Valery! (18) Hope you're having a wonderful time! :)
Thank you, Eddie, for your reply. I'm sorry I was so suspicious and I'm glad you like the fun too. This blog is a bit like an amoeba and I look forward to seeing which pseudopodia will emerge next!
That said, I'm still very fed up with veils. But of course it's not really about veils, is it (or else I'm a nun!)
Nearly three o'clock. Time to get your skates on.
Re 23: once gave a brilliant explanation as to why travel narrows the mind. Wish I could remember it, to confound all those who think the opposite.
P.S. How long is this site's memory? I only posted to yesterday's blog a few minutes ago...
It appears it's another slow-posting day :(
FF, there was already humbug on the telly. That's why I listen to the radio (!!!!)
Bah!
Humbugs.
I'm sorry, Appy! I was at the sweetshop by the time your frog appeared:( Of course you can share the hobnobs! I have to go out in 30 minutes or so (trip to dermatologiy department re psoriasis treatment) so I'll make sure to stop off for some Twirls on the way back :)
Thank you Dear Fearless (27), hope everything's fine at the hospital. The hobnobs are delicious btw.
It would truly be a wonderful thing to hear SeaGreen-as- Appy, wouldn't it? All breathey and yearning - and that's a deliberate spelling, in case Valery's watching, because 'breathy' isn't what I mean at all :-)
Veils or hoodies? Both have been a source of comment by politicos. Veils are allowed in shopping centres, I think. Someone said something about hugging a hoody!
Bah! Bah!
Woolnut Whip.
:-)
Not sure if the pun was intended but I've been giggling ever since.
'veils'
'old hat'
Hee hee, I'm off again.....!
Lady P, good to see/read/hear from you again. Hmmm, are you thinking Ruth Archer here?
FF, what were you doing in a sweatshop? (31) And who were you hobnobbing with? I think we should be told.
Hey, Frances! it was a sweEtshop, honest" Have you had your walnut whip yet? It's on the table in the corner :-)
As for hobnobbing, I think it's best if I not answer that! It would be a little too revealing :p
Did you leave me any hobnobs, Appy? I've got the munchies and can't be bothered to cook a full dinner....
FrancesO (37) - I sort of was, acksherly. I heard her drooling over Soppy Sam at lunchtime and it quite put me off what I was doing. Not that I'm suggesting that either Appy or SeaGreen drool, you understand . . .
Unless over Twirls.
"Breathey and yearning" Lady P.? Well it did make me laugh, and I thought you were referring to my designs on Eddie. I was more than slightly disturbed with the assication with Ruth Archer though - I know it was all David's fault but she is irritating me senseless lately. Anyway, Eddie's relegated tonight - I've been to my favourite restaurant and been kissed by my favourite waiter... "sigh"...
Fearless, I most certainly did leave you some hobnobs - they're in the kichen by the hob, under a teatowel. I hope you're going to have something more substantial than biscuits though? How'd you get on at your appointment? BTW, I responsed to your pics earlier this afternoon, but it doesn't seem to have shown up (I didn't say anything offensive, honest!), so I've just added another. Not straightforward is it, this frog? Just imagine how popular it would be if everything ran smoothly...
Appy, wouldn't the things under the teatowel near the hob be hobKnobs> The things you turn the gas/electricity on with? Bit too crunchy for me.
Night, night all!
Har de har - No, next to the hob! Who would keep their knobs under a teatowel? - That's just silly.
Fearless Fred,
I am afraid my puppy found the chocolate hobnobs.
re the Archers: if things go on as they are Ruth may be leaving the programme altogether! (Sorry, altogether with Sam).
That's okay, Rosalind. Sara left me some chocloate instead...
Appy(41) The appointment went okay, thanks :) I've been through the regimen before. It's just a bind to have to go up there 3 times a week, just to stand in a light chanber for a minute or two, wearing only a sock. It does help, so I guess I shouldn't complain. At least there's something that gets rid of it for a while anyway...
Appy (43) - some people might do well to keep their knobs under tea towels
(Sam in The Archers, perhaps? Certainly Brian)
Um Frances? you may want to re-phrase that last comment of yours!
FF, I refer you to Appy's 43. Sam, being a cowman, should take all precautions to avoid cowlike substances from coming into contact with the food preparation area. As for Brian, his wife is very houseproud and wouldn't like him to accidentlally smudge her kitchen gadgets.
Frances (47) - LOL!
Fearless (46), Glad it went OK, and hope you don't get too fed up with the toing and froing. Er, when you say "wearing only a sock" - do you mean what I think you mean? I have quite an image! Thank you for that thought for the weekend!
Appy(50) Sory for giving you that image! How can I put this without getting modded?.. I'm not wearing the sock on either of my feet...
That's what I thought - don't be sorry - interesting image!... :)
Well, I didn't want to put you off your morning muesli, that's all!!
For no good reason at all I have again begun to wonder about a phrase which tends to be used in "gangsta" films. It seems to bear no relation to the plot, there are no domestic servants in the action who could have done anything to warrant their being subjected to a violent attack. The expression is Sock my cook. Can anyone shed any light on this puzzle?
Oh dear me Rufus!
BTW, I see you've stopped putting your full surname lately. I do hope that I wasn't the cause - I liked it.
Fearless,
There's a Red Hot Chilli Peppers album cover you may know - I forget which one - that spoofs the Abbey Road cover with the band on a zebra crossing but "dressed" in a similar manner. I can't stop thinking about that now either. Which Chilli Pepper most resembles you, do you think?...
Hmmm, I'll have to investigate, Appy, as I'm not really up on the RHCPs I'm afraid. Give me a couple of hours, and I'll let you know!
p.s. Say what you like about the NHS, but the nurse in charge of the phototherapy treatment centre is a star. She remembered me from 5 years ago when I last went, and also gave me a temporary parking permit to cover the two months that I'll be going up there. Considering that parking ther (even for 5 minutes) costs £3, that's a big thing over the time I'll be going there :)
As you can guess, there was an earlier post before my PS this morning, but it hasn't appeared :( Lissa, can you shake the frog to see if that dislodges it? Ta!
My experience of the NHS under this government has been vast and almost completely positive, even through some deaths. But you'd never believe it if you read the Mail and its ilk.
Sorry - nearly went off on a rant there!
Morning, Appy :-) Don't worry about the near-rant. I get like that sometimes too.
btw: Ilk? Isn't that a large deer-like animal with antlers that they hunt in certain parts of the USA?
Yeah - didn't you know the Daily Mail has an ilk farm? They're being bred to sniff out assylum seekers and use their antlers to scoop up said persons and throw them across the Channel...
Ah! That makes so much sense (worryingly!)
If ever I start on the Daily Mail, I usually find it very difficult to fend off the rant. I can feel it now - it's not the sort of rant that results in articulate arguments, it's more a kind of suppressed rage that the paper can be allowed to exist. And do you know what? It's not the political views and bias, as such. I don't have such strong political convictions that I can so easily dismiss those with alternative ones. But when you look through it, every article seems to be straining to convince you how absolutely awful everything is. I can't help thinking that this is verging on 'evil'.
Just as a newspaper aside, the beeb used to and the Sky news site still does put up the newspaper front pages each day. I don't take a daily paper so usually have a quick look each day - bit like catching the last minute of Newsnight. At the moment, I just about have this form of OCD under control but I used to download the images - I know, I know... This is, however, quite illuminating because when you have a few weeks' worth, you can view them all, alongside each other. I knew I shouldn't have done, but I've just had a quick look - here are a selection of DM headlines from last year: "Police fury at 'soft' judges", "Illegal immigrants are given 48 hours to vanish", "Lives at risk in GP crisis", "Now the teacher is sacked", "Taxed for improving your home", "Murder at McDonalds", "The feral gangs who rule our streets", "Shame of our care homes", "Beaten up on video phone", "Lives at risk in 999 calls 'cover-up'", "Schoolgirl baby boom", "The doctor won't see you now!" - I could go on.
I wonder if readers of the Daily Mail would understand how they're manipulated by seeing such a thing, or if they say, "There you are - proof!"
It's the same with me and the DM, to be honest. It does make me wonder who would choose to be "scare-mongered" at daily... It all reminds me of the scene in Yes Prime Minister where Jim Hacker is expalining to Sir Humphrey & Bernard about who reads what paper:
Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.
Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.
Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?
Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits
Fearless - hilarious!
Ah yes, Fearless, I remember that one well. You and JH are both boys after my own heart where the DM is concerned: no need for me to add anything. How depressed its poor readers must be.
But depressed and dangerous, me thinks. Did you hear today's "A Good Read" - priceless. I don't dismiss other people's faith, but the DM is like a rag for those who have a faith in... I don't know what.
I didn't hear "A Good Read" - is it worth a listen again? I love the format and have found some lovely books following its features, but I'm a bit put off by Sue McGregor.
I did, however, follow your link and have a good look at - well - you! I love the "Who are you ?" page. Your research is way over my head - although the buying clothes analagy helped a lot. Can't tell whether you're wearing an earring in the pic, but, given recent info, I suspect not.
I actually know some quite nice (although admittedly, tending towards the superficial in many ways) people who will openly admit that they read the Daily Mail. This worries me more then the the 'dangerous' types - the creeping influence over seemingly 'ordinary' sorts, y'know?...
Crikey, Drinks, that was quick. I've been meaning to link in my own web pages for a while - since mentioning that they included a "poem" - but needed to do some updating. Didn't expect anybody to notice this link so fast!
This week's "A Good Read" was enjoyable in the usual way, but more so because Susan Blackmore chose a book called "The End of Faith". So after a jolly discussion about Napoleon, she set about describing how Sam Harris presented his thesis that "faith" was in itself an utterly bad thing, allowing people to behave irrationally. It was presented with some gusto - and by somebody who clearly agreed. Asked for his opinion, Simon Thurley's first words were something like "I'm a practicing Christian and so I found it quite hard going." I'm not doing it justice - but one bit of the ensuing exchange was laugh out loud funny.
I'm impressed that you should follow-up some of the books. I don't think I ever have from that programme. Like much of R4, I engage wholeheartedly whilst listening, yet often treat the whole experience as ephemeral. I should probably add that the details of the above description would have been completely lost to me - unless I'd dropped by the "AGR" website!
No earring in that pic. I get a lot of grief for that photo - esp. off one of my nieces - but when I got it off a very basic digi-cam, I knew that, combined with "This face you got" it would be perfect for some new web pages. The "Who are you?" used to be the first page, but the research died - one of the reasons for still being a PhD student. One of my colleagues is looking at possibilities to do something with it at the moment, whilst I try to concentrate on what I'm meant to be doing!
What do they say? "Hate the sin, not the sinner"? Perhaps we should have a policy of "hug a DM reader" - it really is "corrosive" though! Incidentally, you seem to have been quiet today. Maybe when I have a quick look at the current posts, I'll be proved wrong!
Oh I think I probably will listen to that then. Sounds right up my street.
One of the first books I remember picking up following hearing about it on AGR was Helene Hanff's '84 Charing Cross Road', short, charming and moving. It's the variety of recommendations that makes it for me. I must admit I haven't read much for pleasure the last few weeks - apart from 'Vogue'...
I'd not heard of Carl Sandburg before but I liked the poem and followed your link. I love that I learn from this frog - the most unexpected little things. A big like Radio 4 itself really.