Previous Posts

Subscribe

Basic feed (just the blog)

The Uberfeed (blog, pics & links)

Via e-mail:

Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail My latest pictures on Flickr

Becky's T-Blog

Friday, April 28, 2006

Calendars

I decided I don't like Upcoming as a shared calendar organiser, a great idea but too fiddly to use and too focused on events by location rather than events by "areas of interest".

But I am liking Google Calendar, so far. If you're using it, or thinking of using it, and you're the kind of person who likes to keep track of tranny events in the UK, you might like to click on this.

If you're the kind of person who arranges tranny events and stuff, let me know of any events you want adding. At some point I'll get round to writing something that ties into the API and does clever things.

Probably. :-)
Blogger Jessica  Probably, that means I'll think about it in the shower for a bit and then go and watch TV instead. 
Anonymous Siobhan Curran  Actually Jessica, I thought "Probably" meant that you'd be getting a phone call in the not to distant future, with references to "puppies" and "strangulation" 
Blogger Becky  Heheh, it's not what you know, it's who you know how to manipulate. ;-) 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Oh the power!

Look! I made someone do something!

Here.

It's very good too. :-)
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  Becky you are becoming so powerfull. Better stop you before you start commanding invasions. 
Blogger sim  Grrr, I have free will, but becky practices Fens, backwater voodoo. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Barbie in Derby

Kind of trips off the tongue doesn't it? Got a long weekend coming up, Jane and I are visiting friends on Friday night, and on Saturday we're off to Sophie's for her birthday BBQ bash. Some blogging may ensue, if not I'll see you on the other side!
Blogger Jane  A bit like Rumble in the Jungle but with Bakewell tarts and a nice cup of tea. 
Blogger Jessica  Looking forward to it, not seen you guys in about 5 months!! :-O I mean, I've seen my family more than you! Well my parents at least. 
Blogger steph_angel  "but with Bakewell tarts and a nice cup of tea..."

It's actually Bakewell puddings...especially if you're anywhere near Bakewell. Tarts!!! Boy you'd get linched!!!

Can't make Sophie's, which is a real shame 'cus like Jess I haven't seen you all in AGES... 
Blogger Joanna  ** /me wonders whether to make a tart joke anyway.. then decides against it..** 
Blogger MichaelTGO  <--decides not to make joke about linch-pin (pulling) getting lynched (hung) or anything Whatever to do with dolls (Barbie) 
Anonymous Sophie Green  You can use my laptop after we've eaten charcoal and I've fallen over drunk three times. There's also a prize for the most expensive birthday present :)

Sorry you can't make it Steph but there will be other bbqs soon, I'll let you know x 
Blogger Jessica  YOUR laptop? Looks like im getting that prize then, it had better be edible 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Scalpel... suction... spanner...

Overheard in the office:
“It’s hardly rocket surgery!”
I have this cartoon in my mind of a couple of surgeons working on a prostate missile. The kind of thing Plutos the Bubbleman knocks out. (Hint. Hint.) ;-)
Blogger VB-W  Measure with micrometer.
Mark with scribe.
Cut with axe. 
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  Then it should not be that complicated. 
Anonymous Lara  Click,

Now I know why My blog stats just got ransacked, should have know it's not brain science.

Hmm , I'll think about that one.

(Eaves dropping on conversations by the way?) 
Anonymous Tish  Hello Dear Becky! Thanks for coming by my blog and commenting on one of my more ridiculous and dare I say idiotic stories. I tell those kind of sagas while I stretch/torture patients, so you can see why many ask for a different therapist (ha ha)
I see we share two common blog 'pals' - Stegbeetle and Sim over at Pluto's the Bubbleman. Aren't they both just scrumptious?
But then, so are you.
We must chat one day/email as one of my life long ambitions is to visit Australia, or sleep with one. CRAP, that whole married vow thing. Oh well.
Take care 
Blogger Becky  Thanks Tish. :-)

I should point out that I'm not, actually, Australian. However did you get the idea I was? :-D 
Anonymous Tish  Well, CRAP as we say here. You will have to forgive me, I was educated in a small southern town where geography and seed spitting are emphasized the same.
PLUS there was an Aussie comment/visitor right before yours on my blog. CRAP.
Normally, it takes me at least three comments on someone's blog to show my ignorance. You are the WINNER. 
Anonymous Genette  I've been thinking of having a nose-cone job or maybe a whole face lift-off... 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

The Tinkerbell Syndrome

I watched a programme on BBC3 yesterday evening called "The Trouble with Gay Men". In it, Simon Fanshawe discussed what he saw as the problems with being gay in Britain today.

Programmes like this always interest me. The gay scene in the UK overlaps the tranny scene more than some trannies would like to accept, and the gay mentality overlaps the tranny mentality more than some trannies would like to admit.

Simon Fanshawe is gay, and he grew up fighting for the rights that gay men now almost take for granted. Today in Britain, gay men enjoy almost identical rights to straight people . Gay culture, Simon argues, should now "grow out" of it's adolescent penchant for sex and drugs and adopt a more adult and responsible attitude.

I'm not steeped in gay culture, but from what I've seen of it, and from parallels I can draw with the tranny culture, this isn't going to happen. Why? Because part of the appeal of being in these cultures is the ability it gives you to not to act your age or be responsible. A lot of trannies (myself included I admit) dress in clothes that aren't always appropriate to our ages. Because in some ways enjoying transvestism is as much about denying your adulthood as it is about denying your masculinity. That's why, I think, trannies sometimes describe it as a "release"; they are (temporarily) abdicating the responsibilities of their age as well as their gender.

If many gays are suffering from the Peter Pan syndrome, then many trannies are suffering from something similar. We're just not as keen on wearing green.

There'll always be the gay guys who want to settle down in steady monogamous relationships and be "grown up", but there'll always be gay men who just want to sleep around with as many guys as they can and do a lot of drugs. Equally there'll always be trannies who dress to their age and who's idea of a good night is watching EastEnders en-femme, and other trannies who dress up like teenagers (or younger) and frolic about like there's no tomorrow.

Simon used that horrible argument that gays who perpetuate the image of homosexual men as camp, carefree, vain sexual deviants are ruining it for the "good" sensible gays like him. This smells very much like the protests I sometimes hear from trannies who get their knickers in a twist about anyone or anything that doesn't present "a positive image of transgenderism". Whatever that is.

If you want to be seen as part of a culture, but you don't like the parts that don't fit your morals or standards, then you should work to make your part of the culture more visible, rather than deriding or denying what the others are doing. There's no point in me pretending, for example, that a lot of trannies aren't just hairy panty-wearing freaks. They are, God love 'em.

But then there's me too. I'm not. And neither are a lot of my friends. If you want to be part of a culture, you have to put up with the other people in it. It's their culture too.
Blogger Jessica  I think that a lot of men in straight relationships only really settle down and act grown up because the girl makes them! But if you get two men together there's no stopping them. Some would say promiscuity and immaturity is a very male thing, gay or straight, it just gets out of control with gay men though. I don't know how lesbians fit into this, most lesbians I've known for more than a year or two have ended up settling down with a BF, so no comment on that. 
Blogger April Angell  You are possibly right Jessica, as much as I hate generalisations. However there are always exceptions; sometimes I wonder if I live my life deliberately fighting assumptions, but I'm old enough to know my own path now.

Am I on my own in wanting settle down in a steady relationship and do a lot of drugs? 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  Like in all cultures, there will always be the extremes. Be it in the straight, transgender, gay, or lesbian worlds.
I suppose "a positive image of transgenderism" is anything that does'nt negatively effect what has been accomplished by trannys so far. 
Blogger Rachel  Debbie, what has been accomplished for trannies so far? As far as I can see what has been accomplished has been by individuals for themselves, leaving aside TS related legislation. As Becky says, and she's quite right, we're a huge cross-section, and that in itself defies categorisation. So, what one trannie sees as a step forward another sees as going in the opposite direction. I think if society can recognise diversity for what it is and exercise some tolerance that's what I'd call going in the right direction - BTW, anyone got a map? ;) 
Blogger Michelle Faith  Well put, there is a wide spectrum of TG people, Some look downright normal and some look like a traffic accident so what. The ones who look like a traffic accident in a way make it way easier for those of us that are far more middle of the road.
I was getting off a train near my house the other day and there was a trannie there, black pattent leather thigh high stilletto boots, black and white striped tights, Gawdy make up, way out hair. I just turned to my wife and said" at least I don't dress like that" she just laughed.
The world is a big place just find out where you are happiest 
Blogger Freiya  I think the transgender culture is fairly unique in that there are so many different variations and degrees. Some of us are full time, some part time, some are ts, some tv, some with bits, some without, some inbetween, the list goes on and on and on but the important thing is that we all have a kind of running theme, we are all connected by the gender thread, for some people maybe its abit of cotton, for others its a rope, but it's there, joining us all, wheather you're a post op tg or a drag queen.
A step in the right direction would be to realise this i guess,..... as Becky says it's their culture too, and although you might not think it, to someone, you could be one of 'them' ;)

As for presenting a positive image of transgenderism, well isn't that exactly what we are doing right now within the blogosphere? 
Blogger Karol Cross  I go out with gay and lesbian friends on a regular basis. Some are promiscuous and do a lot of drugs, some aren't. To be honest I think the gay/drugs thing is a red herring, if you enjoy the club scene then you're going to be surrounded by people taking drugs, whether its a gay club or the straightest of mainstream clubs.

I've always thought of the trannie scene as being a generation (or two) behind the gay scene, and what I've learned from reading up on the history of gay rights has tended to confirm that view.

I greatly enjoyed Freiyas comments, although I would like to suggest that gender doesn’t tie us all together. For example, for many dressing is a fetish not a gender issue.

I originally assumed that I’d have something in common with other “T” folk besides the fact that we all wear womens clothes. But I've met lots of people who dress over the last 6 years and found that I have absolutely nothing in common with them whatsoever. Their motivations and goals are very different to mine. (And I'm not just referring to the hairy panty wearers). But as many have said thats cool, its a big world and theres room for everyone. And I’m sure as Freiya quite rightly pointed out, that they were probably as confused by me as I was by them!

Once I realised that the “T” scene could be thought of as disparate niche groups, it made a little more sense and it again seemed to map onto the gay scene as there are lots of niche groups within their culture too. And they seem to have got their act together over the last 37 years. Heck of a long time to wait though! ;o) 
Blogger Rachel  ...and then there's all the niche groups in the hetro, non-crossdressing world - let's face it a lot of them are mutually exclusive too... what is the globe coming to? ;) 
Blogger Misty  The media love to use the extremities of any minority as representitive of that minority, and the more (ahem) "normal" members of the group can get resentful of this extreme image being used to tar everyone with the same brush.
Shoving all aspects of the TG world in the public arena (i.e. the WWW) is possibly the best thing that could happen. Education is a wonderful thing. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Monday, April 24, 2006

Extreme to the Max!

A while back Joanna (inspired by extreme ironing) had the idea to set up a Flickr Group for pictures of cross-dressing in extreme environments, which she called (with her typical wit and imagination) Extreme Crossdressing.

Cue some rather lacklustre attempts to rise to the challenge by me, Karol and a few others. Then Siobhan decided to go trampolining in a wedding dress.

Then it went a bit quiet, and standards dropped. The last one I was really impressed with was this. (Woah dudette! Standing in a lake! EXTREME!)

And then Gillian comes along today and raises the bar.

Very very high.

Now, you see, your average tranny-in-the-street can't compete with that. That's just overkill. A normal person would give up and say she's "won" the competition. But not me, I decided to bring out the big guns.

I've had this picture in my collection for a few years now (rougly 14 billion) but I didn't think it was good enough quality to present. But Gillian needs bringing down a peg or two.

So behold, Becky cross-dresses in the most extreme environment ever, about five trillionths of a second after the big bang:

Becky standing next to a very very big explosion.

Yeah, I know, you don't need to tell me... I should have used a fill-in flash.

Look, I was in a hurry, okay? It was a one-take deal!
Blogger Joanna  Actually, I think the only outfit that could survive that would be one of Siobhans really really big dresses. 
Blogger Daisy  You're looking good for a little over 14 billion. 
Anonymous Natalie  Since you're that old, do you mind me asking what kind of face scrub you use? You're skin is awesome! 
Anonymous Tiffany  Becky: Straight from the stellar nursery to your home! 
Blogger Gillian  "Gillian needs bringing down a peg or two" - sniff!

but but but, surely the only entity around then was god, so I can infer

A. You are god
B. God is a tranny?

does the vatican know? 
Blogger Becky  "A. You are god"

No Gillian, I wouldn't dare make that assertation. Besides, who do you think was holding the camera?

"B. God is a tranny?"

Again no, but he did say he admired my work. I guess that would make him... 
Blogger Kath Adams  does the vatican know?

Haven't you seen what the Pope wears? 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Snake


Slight change of pace.

Jane and I went for a walk around King's Lynn's docks today, and I took some pictures that I'm particularly pleased with.

Labels:

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Audience

You see, it's all about audience. When I write to this blog, I'm writing almost subconsciously with an audience in mind. It affects the way I write, and what I write about. When I first started blogging my mental audience was, basically, my close friends. Then over time I started to modify that audience. I realised I'd got a sizeable non-UK readership, so I try when I remember not to use too many British colloquialisms. Meeting Jane had another effect, with her in the audience I'm less happy blogging about my personal feelings. Not because I don't want her to know them, just that I think she deserves to hear them first. Strangely, I've become more private now I have someone to share my private life with.

But, usually I write as if I'm talking to friends. My mental audience for my website is made up of:
  • people I know

  • people I don't know but are cool with the tranny thing

  • and people I don't know who aren't cool with the tranny thing, which is fine because I don't care what they think.

The other day I was told by my boss that he'd been told by his boss that my site had been discovered within my organisation. I wasn't in trouble, per-se, my boss just wanted to warn me off from blogging too explicitly about my workplace.

I'm very grateful for that warning, and it's forced me to re-think things a bit. For one thing it made me decide to tell a close work colleague about all this (the post from a couple of days ago). For another I realise now that I was being very blasé about what I blogged about.

It was inevitable that this site got found by one or more people within my organisation at some time. Back when I started this site, nearly 4 years ago, I was surprised if I got 3 hits from Google a day. Now I'm getting 3 Google hits a minute. One of them was eventually bound to be someone who knew me.

So now there's a new section of the audience that I have in my mind: people I know, but that might not cool with the tranny thing. I don't know how big that section is, depending on the gossip mill at my organisation it could be anything from 4 to 400 people. They might all be cool with it, I dunno. Hope they are.

I'm going to try to stop it affecting the way I blog and the things I blog about (apart from avoiding blogging about my organisation in explicit terms). At the moment, though, it's hard. Even this blog entry was difficult to put together.

I know, I'll do what public speakers do when intimidated by their audience...

I'm now imagining you all naked.
Anonymous Clair  Trust me... you really don't want to imagine me naked ;) 
Anonymous Tiffany  No! Only two people get to see me naked, and one is my mother! 
Blogger VB-W  In a way the private word was the a good way to make you see the light. Having looked at other blogs that are no longer existing, most went the same way. They blogged about their work and over time became more intimate and 'uncomplimentary'. Then one day they were called to the office of the big cheese and handed their P45.

From some of your writings I did notice a certain cynical/realistic attitude towards the NHS in general. It wasn't what you wrote, it was because it was public that caused the situation. But at least you saw the signs early.

The days of the work blog are numbered. In any workplace everyone talks about the management as though they are overpaid incompetent paper shufflers; which many are. It's a way of British life. But go public and harpies shall cast hellfire and brimstone upon you. 
Anonymous Becky T  There are a few people at my work who know about my website and dip into it from time to time. The organisation I work for has rather a lot of influence over certain things in life, so I have always tried to be very, very vague about my opinions in those areas and I have no particular desire to be pulled up for writing too explicitly or negatively. Kind of a bugger for wanting to blog at all really.

I think almost anyone who writes a blog thinks about who might be reading it. My friends read mine (when they remember), so it would be less than clever to badmouth anyone, and even being vague to the point of saying "a friend" or using an initial is unwise if they're likely to know what sort of things you were doing. 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  3*60*24 = 4320 Google-Visitors a day plus a really bunch of Links and Bookmarkt. Thats hard against my maybe 250-300 readers a day

pheew. thats the Time i think again about blogging in english.... The germanspeaking World is definitely too short ;-)

hmmm but i think i have to work on my english... and i would lost my german readers. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Torchwood!

Is it the new Bad Wolf? :)

(Thought I'd get in first with that bit of Doctor-Who-Related obscurity.) :-D
Blogger Becky  Ah... I see.... :-)

Shouldn't blog before the end of the episode.

Excellent stuff! Last week was Tennant's "difficult second album". Magnificent return to form! 
Blogger Freiya  it was rather good wasn't it? and next week! i am very very excited about the robot dogs return! 
Blogger Miss K  I watched it with Siobhan last night but neither of us can remember anything except a huge telescope (calm down) and the monks from a hitherto unseen BBC 1 ident.

Of course, we were very, *very* drunk 
Anonymous vikki_cduk  torchwood? - its all pointers to the new (late night) series with John Barrowman... really looking forward to next weeks... K9!!!! 
Anonymous vikki_cduk  oops forgot to say - really enjoy this blog (always makes me smile!) 
Blogger Becky  LOL, yes Miss K, the similarity to the BBC ident(s) was noted. Deliberate?

Vikki, welcome aboard. Yeah I guessed it was related to the Barrowman series, at the time I blogged they'd just slipped in the Torchwood mention, and I wondered if it was going to be like "Bad Wolf" in the last series, a little thread running through the season.

Coincidentally, Bad Wolf was alluded to later on. :-) 
Anonymous Beki  Torchwood has also been mentioned in the books. I think they're finally linking the mythos with the tv series. which is odd, as they're both produced by the BBC! 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Er... hi...

So, I think I have at least one new reader tonight. Someone who's known Simon for quite a few years but only just today found out about "all this".

Hi, thanks for taking it so well, but I knew you would, really. You're the most open-minded Daily Mail reader I know. ;-)

Take a look around. Have a good laugh... I'm not worried about being laughed at because basically, it is funny. If I found out something like this, I'd laugh too. :-)

I'm kind of hoping you're laughing between periods of jaw-dropping amazement!

Oh, and if you have any questions, just ask!
Anonymous Ken  Hi Si.. erm... Becky :-) Life’s full of surprises and I really didn’t see this one coming at all. Nice website, you make a better woman than I could have possibly imagined! 
Blogger Becky  Phew. :-) 
Anonymous Mr Y  Oh my God!
Thats the most shocking thing I've heard so far.

Kens a Daily Mail reader! 
Anonymous Anonymous  Only since the split from Barbie. 
Blogger Jane  I know Mr Y and I thought he was a nice guy too. Now I'm scared and shocked.

.... How could Ken read the "Daily Mail" 
Blogger Michelle Faith  Becky, wow! you do know an awful lot of cool straight people, must be something in the water over there, or just planetary alignment or something. 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  I'm beginning to believe Beckys reach is world wide. This lady is in awe and a smidgen envy. 
Blogger Julie Budd  Becky.. how did Ken find out ?
What was your reaction ? He sounds super cool about it.

Julie
x 
Blogger Stegbeetle  Yes, there's lots of "cool straight people" in Lynn, isn't there? *cough* 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The pursuit of cool

When I started up this blog, I made one pledge to myself:

Do no harm.

Then I realised that doctors had taken first dibs on that pledge, so I came up with another one:

Be original.

Which fitted me better, and had the added advantage of leaving me open to do as much harm as I jolly well liked.

But of course I didn't really actually go so far as to think up a pledge and write it down. It was just there in the back of my mind, what I thought made a good blog and what didn't. Over the time I've imposed on myself a few rough-and-ready rules such as:
  • It's not a how-to-write-a-blog site: Don't blog about blogging(oops)

  • It's not a link aggregator: Don't just post links to other people's work

  • It's just not a place for posting personality quiz results: "I'm the Franco-Prussian War! Find out which German War of Unification you are by clicking here!"

  • It's not a diary. I don't want to write about what happened every hour of every day of my life, and I'm pretty sure most people don't want to read it.

  • It's not pretty and it's not clever: I'm not a programmer, so the code will be functional rather than whizz-bang, and I'm not a designer, so it's never gonna be a Thing of Beauty.
I am, sometimes, handy with words and I think I can craft something funny when the muse comes to me. So that is what I decided to do, play to my strengths.

Hopefully it works. Rather than falling between the two stools of "aesthetically pleasing" and "technically clever", I made a third stool. A stool for putting the stuff I do on. It's my stool and I like it a lot, thank you.

You see, I realised a some time ago that I'm not cool.

Being a transvestite isn't cool, it might be interesting, sometimes exciting, and it's edging towards socially acceptable. But it's not "cool". If it was then more cool people would do it (or, at least, own up to doing it), but to a fairly great extent they don't.

Neither is having a blog (popular or not) cool. It stopped being even remotely cool sometime around the time Boris Johnson got one.

Being funny isn't cool. Comedians aren't cool. A lot of them became comedians because they weren't cool. Uncoolness is almost a prerequisite.

Being good at programming isn't cool. Even if you write AJAX code on a Mac made out of lemon-scented Buckminsterfullerine. Sorry, it just isn't.

So, the pursuit of coolness through dressing up in ladies clothes, and blogging about it in a funny way with the occasional bit of hamster-related programming thrown in for good measure... is basically pointless.

Coolness is elusive, and it is nice to achieve, but it comes to you, you can't go to it.

What's the point of this post? I don't know. It almost certainly falls foul of at least one of my rules.

It's just something I wanted to say.

Labels:

Anonymous Sylvia  Thats one of the most intellegient things Ive heard all day. I totally agree. 
Anonymous Fairly-Odd  Blogging is everything. Blogging is nothing. For me, it's a sideways way to communicate with others.

Oh, and there's no denying your coolness. So stop trying. 
Blogger steph_angel  I'm interested to find out if Boris Johnson checks his referer stats. We could be in for some rather interesting blog commnents if he does!!! 
Blogger Jessica  You just ruled out all my blogging methods. That's why my blog is so much more popular than yours! ha 
Blogger Jane  Coolness involves too much staring at yourself in the mirror, ironing your hair straight, dangerous on the ears that btw, wearing black and pretenting to like Sonic Youth.

Far better to be interesting it lasts longer and is more fun.

BTW I think I've worked out how Boris pulls all those birds 
Anonymous Tricia  I'm a tranny, and I'm reading your blog. How uncool is that? 
Anonymous Tiffany  I happen to think you're pretty cool. And I think I've got a pretty good handle on cool.

...or I'm just really messed-up and think I know cool. I wish I could figure it out. Um. 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  Bex, you are very cool. Your coolness has a life of its own.
I do believe you have set the benchmark for all things cool.
But, look out, I'm going to try to creep up on you. 
Blogger Becky  Heheh, believe it or not, that blog posting wasn't intended as a way to get you to all say I'm cool. But it's nice all the same. 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  which german war i am? I don't know. maybe the war 2006 when our glorious National football team beats yours with 5:0 in the final :-) 
Blogger Kat  Cool... One man's cool is another man's lame.

Some people think Pete Doherty is cool. Whereas I think he's a bit of a tw@. Some people think putting your collar up on your polo shirt is cool. I think it's banal.

C'est la vie. 
Anonymous Anonymous  'Transvestite' and 'cool' really aren't mutually exclusive... trust me ;) 
Blogger Lizz  It's a post about blogging!!!

Still, very cool indeed. Course, if you do not like the idea of being cool, perhaps nifty works? 
Anonymous Natalie  I just have to agree with Kat on the topic of popped collars. 
Blogger Julie Budd  Getting off your polo horse with your collar up is pretty cool. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

The World According to SurfControl

I am no longer Adult!

According to SurfControl's test-a-site:
www.beckysweb.co.uk is in our list
and categorized as Entertainment
In other words: if you're stuck behind a SurfControl content filter at work that blocks "adult" stuff, you can now visit my site!

All thanks to some aggressive campaigning by me.

Well, I filled in a form online.

But I did it aggressively.

Would be nice if someone could independently confirm this. If you're on my site and you couldn't get here before, comment! :-)
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  Great.

how can i find out, if I'm adult? 
Blogger Jessica  I'm not even in their list, how rubbish am I? 
Blogger Becky  Zoe: go to surfcontrol.com and click on the "Test a Site" link.

Jessica: aw, I think you're adult even if no-one else does! ;-) 
Blogger Jane  What Test a site link? Couldn't see it on the surf control home page at all, well not on my version I'm not an user of it.

Anyways I've known you're not adult for ages and ages ;-) 
Blogger Brian  Works for me! Now I can read you at work.

I mean, I could read you at work, but obviously I'm far too busy working....right? 
Blogger Joanna  Ack.. both me and the Angels sites are flagged as Adult.. 
Blogger Jane  found the button Becky, don't panic.

Oh... you weren't 
Blogger Karol Cross  Its not a trick is it?

Using the old "aha, now we've got your web address we can block you!" strategy? 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  okay, they don't know my sites :-) 
Anonymous Anonymous  Sweet, I'm totally not in their directory, but I wonder if I could campaign to get myself labeled as "Adult," even though I'm not in any sense of the word. :P


Oh, and maybe I missed the memo, but whatever happened to the Top 309045 Tranny Movies of All Time? 
Anonymous Tiffany  Oh, that was me. :\ Oops? 
Anonymous Alli' Cat'  Becky, they've definitely unblocked you. I'd resorted to using the Google proxy ('till the crafty buggers blocked that too) but am now getting the full 'Becky blog experience' from the comfort of my own office - Yaay!!!
Am currently busy catching up: Dual-boot... - Excellent (and very 'entertaining'). Happy Blogday (belated). Three times... - Congratulations, well deserved. Pornographr - Probably a bad thing, but I wouldn't like to be appointed judge and jury ('One mans meat...' and all that). Protea... - Mock them. Mock them hard!!
Oh, and I have nothing to say about Easter - Doh! 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Friday, April 14, 2006

It's the Easter weekend...

...and I have absolutely nothing to write about. So I won't. :-)
Blogger Jessica  you wrote about that 
Blogger Kris  Yeah, but let's face it - that was just a Writer'sBlockGuildPost. (That's Germerman for, "I cannee be arresed.") 
Blogger Joanna  Happy Eggday 
Blogger Mr McGuinness  Your posting was completely pointless and I therefore refuse to comment....................ah! 
Anonymous Sylvia  Oops I commented. Oh well, happy Easter all. 
Blogger Julie Budd  The writing's on the wall. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

A Salute to Protea Publishing

I freely admit it, I'm obsessed with Protea Publishing, the vanity publishing guys responsible for unleashing Off the Hook into the world. Every couple of days or so I'm drawn back to the site to peruse their sample covers and look deeper into the other services they provide.

If you're looking for a good thriller, might I recommend:

Dustjacket of Unfinished Business by Charles M. Kemp

All the elements of a good yarn: guns, flowers and seedy-looking shops! Let's read the blurb!

Internet dating can be fun but for Harry, Sheila and Teresa it's anything but, as they encounter heart breaking and dangerous times involved in romantic affairs. Harry an ordinary worker has a romantic affair with a Senator's daughter (Sheila) and ends up being hated by a powerful and infuential mother who want to get even with him for harm that she thought he caused her daughter. During Sheila's school days there was very little peace for her parents because they got phone calls from people with threats of kidnapping Sheila for ransom, to raping her in the high school hallway. Her parents worried that one day something harmful would really happen to Sheila. So they put Sheila in a private school with tight security. During her High school years she never had a chance to choose her own friends, they were chosen for her. The friends that were chose for her were children of other politicians who lived near her. Harry's parents were very different than Sheila's parents. His father was a construction worker and his mother was a bank teller who often argued about money. The x girlfriend (Teresa) faces pain and sorrow when she leaves Harry and falls in love with Arthur who turns out to be a bomb who plays females for money. Teresa's heart turns to sorrow when she visits a woman of statue and finds out that she also was one of arthur's victims. A fast pace novel full of adventure, drama, excitement and thrill from start to finish.

"A fast pace novel"? You're telling me. I'm worn out and confused from just reading the dust jacket! Particularly exciting is the guy who turns out to be a bomb! I would have never have seen that one coming. Shame they gave it away on the back cover, really.

I haven't got a copy of the book, but I imagine that chapter would read something like this.
"Oh Arthur, we have to stop meeting outside these darkened shopfronts," said Teresa, idly scraping dried rose petals off her pistol.

"But you know we have to darling," said Arthur. "At least until your new life insurance policy clears. Tick."

"What was that?"

"What was what? Tick."

"You just ticked!"

"No I didn't!" Arthur replied defensively. "You must be hearing things... Tick."

"Arthur, why are you ticking?"

Teresa never heard the answer, as at that moment a pickup schreeched round the corner and began barrelling down the sidewalk towards them. At the wheel was the distinctive smooth and armless silhouette of the Venus De Milo. Teresa shrieked.

The Woman of Statue was back.
Sorry.

I could milk this website goldmine (way to mix metaphors, Bex) for months. I probably will milk it for months, but for now I'm going to finish with a quick look at it's other major highlight: the portrait painting service.

Send them (actually I'm starting to think that Protea might be just one guy) a Polaroid of a loved one and they'll painstakingly reproduce it as a "proper" oil painting.

Recently they must have had a special on for boss-eyed soldiers...

A particularly ugly looking soldier.

...and...



for example.

I'm sure that they don't really look like that. Well, I hope they don't look like that. Maybe that's what happens to you after a tour of duty in America's forces. They're probably handsome, upstanding war heroes.

One thing for certain, they almost certainly don't deserve me making this when I realised whilst editing the pics that switching between the two quickly was kinda funny.
Blogger Joanna  So do you reckon if you sent them So You Want to be a Transvestite? They would get it published? I reckon it would fit into their portfolio very well... 
Blogger Becky  What, you're suggesting I wouldn't get a PROPER publisher for it!? How dhare you! ;-) 
Blogger Kris  A friend of mine got given one of those vanity publishing novels once. Presumably by a vain, unpublishable person. I flicked through it years ago and I swear, every single line read like this:

"I'm going in there!" said Jack, haughtily.
"But you can't!" exclaimed Alice fearfully.
"Let him!" said Ralph cockily, "He'll only get himself killed!" 
Blogger hannaviolane  Ah no wonder the US military has such a reputation for 'friendly fire' incidents!....its all become clear now 
Blogger Billy  Your example chapter is brilliant. "The Woman of Statue" indeed! :) 
Blogger corin  I think this whole thing is false [tick]. No-one would ever build a human bomb that could be heard ticking [tick]. By the way, if I appraoch you just remember that I am perfectly safe to be around [tick]. In no way am I dangerous [tick]. Honest [tick]. 
Anonymous Tiffany  ...what bothers me most are the grammatical errors. But we know this is not a very good publisher. Um. 
Blogger Julie Budd  Ahh...so they weren't really boss-eyed.
We want the next chapter! 
Blogger Sweet William Tokyo  Becky,
I just have to thank you for the genuine belly laugh you just gave me. I just spent an hour looking at your blog. Started with "Off the Hook" and then built to a sweet climax with the man-bomb and the "woman of statue." Was already funny in the blurb, but your continuation was too much. I am still chuckling. By the way, I'm an American, "sort of black" (mixed-race) dude living in Tokyo - and I actually talk like Mr. Miller at times. This was some funny-ass shit. Thank you! Word. William 
Blogger SunFlowerBreeze  I came across your site quite by accident and was shocked and appalled by you comments on the soldiers pictures.
First of reguardless of what these men look like they are putting their lives on the line to serve their country and deserve more respect then what you are giving them.
I guess in your perfect little fantasy world everyone would look like a model.But guess what this is the real world.And not everyone looks like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine.
You yourself said you did not know if these pictures were real or not, so why would you even say something like that? How would you feel as that person coming across this web site or better yet a family member of one of those brave soldiers who just may have come home in a box.Did you ever think maybe that is why the portraits may have been painted?
Many people in this country have lost love ones in the service and they would be very hurt and outraged also to see someone like you trying to get a little chuckle at the expense of a soldier.
Because reguardless of how anyone feels about this war the men and women fighting it deserve all our support and respect.They don't want to be over there any more then we want them to be over there.
When Uncle Sam is looking for a soldier he sure doesn't care what he looks like and neither does the enemy,the bullets or the bombs.Model looks or "homely" they will all die the same if the bullet or bomb finds its mark. 
Anonymous GrayShine  AHAHAHAHA, Sunflower... lol'd so hard. 
Anonymous American Soldier  Make fun of us, but you all are welcome that you don't speak German as a first language right now. You have the luxury and freedom to make your sad little shallow criticism because of normal men and women that put their lives on the line so that you have that freedom. So laugh away, we will protect you from wearing a bhurka- OH YEAH, you guys across the pond are letting your societies cave to terrorist, radical elements because you lack the backbone to do the right thing anyway. You are truly sad, pathetic people, but I will continue to put my life on the line so that you don't become the slaves you deserve to be. 
Anonymous Soldiers' Angel Beth  Ah yes the truly pathetic, prissy, wimpy, Europeans. Where you can never tell who the men and the women are. Make fun as you will of those that saved your asses time and time again. But because of our American Blood being spilled (go to Normandy and see if you can stand there at those graves and still run your mouth) YOU are able to live and speak freely. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I visit our wounded, they are brave determined young men, your comments make me sick. I would love for you to have to face these men on the battlefield or in a hospital and say the same things. YOU are what is wrong with this world. What you should say and what I expect you to say after reading this is. THANK YOU SOLDIER. 
Anonymous Anonymous  I think all u pro-soldier people r dumb ass numb nut fu*kers. of course they don't wanna b there. and as for WWII u americans r an insignificant petty race almost on par with the french. u think ur big with ur money, army, weapons & stolen land but u get ur asses kicked every time unless the english come & save u. ur all like headless chickens in battle - all red neck & dumb... hey there Cletus boy!

just do us a favour & stay on your side of the pond huh? stole enough land to annihilate urselves x leave the rest of the world to progress.

U go Becky... 
Anonymous sarah p  typcial cheese eating surrender monkey, mocking, moaning and misunderstanding

meaning of mixed metaphoares of art and photography, celebrating the heros of amerika, who we should all salute...

I dont know what its cumming too in the UK if you make mokery of these wonderful pictures - infact you should put on some cammieflage sometime girly and get


dirty in some ditch dodging stray rounds - but I guess youd

enjoy that? instead take time reading these pointless longwinded comments and keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!??????? (vie komma ich am bestem zum krankhaus bitte?) 
Anonymous The artist  The two soldier pictures above are my art work and are copywritten images my permission was not given for them to be posted on this site remove them or I will seek the removal of your site 
Anonymous Anonymous  Boy, they are ugly. I used to be a soldier but luckily not an American one, we were allowed to keep our senses of humour. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Mew

I did away with Blogger's comment authentication a while back, and since then I can count on the fingers of one Twix packet the number of spam attacks I've had. Before I turned it on, I was getting quite a few. My theory is that enough people implemented authentication to act as a kind of herd immunity, making it non-viable for the spammers to continue.

Fingers crossed, but if the spammers do come back I'm gonna look to implementing kitten-based authentication, cos who could object to a little game of spot-the-kitty before commenting? :-)

One of the main problems of Blogger's system is that it's not accessible to the blind, which I suppose is true of this system too. That's easily remedied though, just make them mew!
Blogger Debbie Huggins  Too bad they could'nt be hamsters.
But otherwise it would be fun to use. 
Blogger Becky  Well, in a perfect world, obviously Debbie. ;-) 
Anonymous Fairly-Odd  I'm guessing that maybe Blogger is doing a little more on the backend to stop blatant comment-bot attacks. I have actually seen an increase lately in attempted comment spam. The captcha always saves me, but I have other evil methods in place should that fail... ;-) 
Blogger Karol Cross  Surely heres another ideal opportunity to use all that Flickr api stuff (ala your world famous Hamster Sudoku) and pull off what ever pix you want to authenticate with? 
Blogger Becky  That's a great idea Karol! :-)

"Flickrcaptcha"

Unfortunately because you commented about it on MY website I own the intellectual property for the idea. Read your small print. ;-)

What's going to be particularly galling for you is that I'm too lazy to write it. :D 
Anonymous Tiffany  OMG USE THE KITTENS YEY.


....um, sorry...I just happen to love kittens. 
Anonymous Stephanie Rowe  google are finally doing something about accessible captcha immages.
well, their looking for someone to check over their products to see if they are accessible. so hopefully... in a while, their'll be talking captcha immages on blogger.
sorry bex, you won't have to use your mewing kitties. lol. sweet idea though. 
Blogger Karol Cross  Dam! There go my royalties! :o(

But surely there are enough kittens on the net already, we need more hamsters! 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

This is dumb

Web 2.0 Validator supposedly tells you how "Web 2.0" your site is, based on a number of criteria. Nice one.

I tried Flickr. It scored 4 out of 41. Oh dear Flickr, you're not very Web 2.0 are you?

So then I tried my site. I scored 6 out of 41.

So it's official: Becky's Web is 50% more "Web 2.0" than Flickr. Yay me!
Blogger VB-W  One of the criteria is 'Mentions Dave Legg'

Who the hell is Dave Legg and why is he so relevant to the Web 2.0ishness of a site? 
Anonymous Mrs Y  Who is Ruby and what is The long tail?
PS Just got told not to taunt it as I put its own web address in! 
Blogger Jane  Sorry love but I'm 1 more web 2.0 than you are, I am so w00t or is it Leet or err something... 
Blogger Selina  Incredibly I scored 9 - and I cant even spell CSS 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  10 :-)

Why should i use a bloglien Blogroll? I use my own blogroll. Idiotic 
Anonymous Anonymous  The more web2 your site is, the worse it is. It's true. 
Anonymous Anonymous  Um, did anyone read this?

http://web2.0validator.com/thefullstory/

It's full of clues. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Monday, April 10, 2006

Pornographr

I went to log into Flickr at work today and was told by our automated net-police that I'd been blocked from visiting a restricted site.

A quick check of the back-end confirmed it. Our web filtering software, SurfControl receives a daily update to it's "internet threat database" of dodgy websites. Today it has decided that Flickr is categorised as "adult/sexually explicit".

For me, this is a worrying sign. Worrying because the Surfcontrol people are right, Flickr is an easy place to get pornographic pictures.

Perhaps because of the rather, er, "specialist" appeal of some of my photos, I get "befriended" by Flickr users whose photo streams are nothing but porn. A lot of it copyrighted material they've pinched off other sites. I've often thought "wow, if I wanted to surf porn at work, Flickr would be a great way to do it." If I've realised it, you can bet a lot of the quick-hand-shandy-in-my-cubicle brigade had realised it too, hence Surfcontrol's decision to stick Flickr on the Naughty list.

A lot of corporate sites use SurfControl, so a lot of innocent people are gonna find their Flickr access curtailed today.

I think Flickr might have some hard decisions to make. Much like Wikipedia, they're now starting to find that the free-and-easy attitudes they adopted when they were a little cult site no longer work now they're a hugely popular Yahoo-backed one. I don't want to see censorship on Flickr, and I really don't know where the lines should be drawn. I do think Flickr have dropped the ball when it comes to copyrighted and adult material.

Behind the cheery, family-friendly public facade of Flickr, a seedy culture of Adult picture-sharing is forming. I think something should be done about it, I'm just not sure what.
Blogger Joanna  Interesting that its been banned, but not a suprise. Unfortunately its gone from a great place to share your own photos, to a place to share any porn you have on your hard-drive.

Or for people to post pretty graphic images. There are some posted to one of the TG groups which are really awful from someone I had already blocked and reported.

There is a fine line between erotic and porn. I am as much of a fan of standard shots of models in their undies or swimwear as the next man.

Flickr have been far too slow in enforcing their rules on copyrighted images and pron. Add to that the flood of Yahoo members who have a willy fixation and its only a matter of time before things went downhill.

The problem comes when someone within flickr has to decide whether to become "family friendly" and if they do will they regard images of blokes dressed as girls as being something they want to allow? 
Blogger Becky  You're right Jo, when you start talking about what kind of images count at "adult" and what don't, we're on shaky ground. We shouldn't be, but we are. Which is why I deliberately avoided talking about what I think should be done.

It's a tricky nut to crack, I just think that Flickr (or Yahoo) could be handling it better than they are. 
Blogger Jane  Flickr have a set of guidelines they should start implimenting them which include no graphic nudity on show in public.

There are photos of nudes on flickr which are most definately not porn.

As for your photos being "specialist" they are not porn. That some of the trouser fumbling brigade might get arrosed by looking at them is somewhere actually I don't want to go, but your tranny pictures are not pornographic. That pornographers seem to think that anyone in a tranny group or just random strangers what to see their pictures is deeply offensive.

It is a worry though that Flickr may get very victorian in response especially as Yahoo consider groups such as the Angels as being "adult" 
Blogger Joanna  especially as Yahoo consider groups such as the Angels as being "adult"

Ahh, that's actually my fault. I designated the Angels an adult gp when I set it up, and it won't let me change it.

That some of the trouser fumbling brigade might get aroused by looking at them is somewhere actually I don't want to go

Me neither.... (shudder) 
Blogger Palace Fan thats a NEW Dad  Not the same as it was before Yahoo came along. I think Jane posted about that.

We use surfcontrol at work as well will be interesting to see if I am ok or not ALSO as I have a flickr preview window on my blog I wonder if that gets "red handed"

There are ways round it though. Try searching free proxy browsing and selecting one to browse from work :-0 
Anonymous Tiffany  In response to the person right above me, I'd consider Nethider. We used it all the time in high school to get around the blocked things. 
Anonymous Natalie  Ah, Nethider. Those were the days. I mean really, we did all kinds of stuff on the web we weren't "supposed to". 
Blogger Miss K  Jabe said: Flickr have a set of guidelines they should start implimenting them which include no graphic nudity on show in public.

It's true. flickr has some very explicit terms of use as well as an easy to understand condensed version in the form of their recently published community guidelines.

These are absolutely enforceable in the cases that you mention (copyrighted images, porn appearing in public streams), BUT it would be absoutely impossible for the staff of flickr to moderate every single image in every single stream.

The amount of moderation staff they'd have to employ to achieve this would make it instantly a prohibitively expensive service to use (as well as a culturally stifling and police-state like place)

Therefore it's vital that the community actively help them moderate the site. If you see a photostream of user that violates the guidelines, don't just complain about it to your friends, use the Abuse Reporter to notify the admins.

In my experience, action is taken, and taken rapidly.

This kind of positive action by the community is the only way for sites like flickr to remain safe, friendly environments. 
Anonymous Moojik  Hi,

I borrowed your information to have a small write up a bit on this issue with surfcontrol with a few quote from yours, if you don't mind.

Interesting article I should say and nice blog, Becky.

Cheers. 
Blogger Becky  Moojik, no problem, quote away!

K, thanks for the link, I went looking for something like that a few days ago and couldn't find it on the Flickr site, obviously wasn't looking hard enough! :-)

I still wonder if that even with the best efforts of the community, Flickr will still be inexorably swamped with pron, but we shall see. 
Blogger VB-W  The trouble with these policing systems is that they are so inconsistent. At my college they have WebSense which blocks sites like Flicr and Ebay. On some PC's Ebay lists as 'internet auctions' and others is blocked as 'porn'.

The national lottery site is blocked as 'internet gambling' so you can't check your lottery numbers. But if you go on the unrestricted BBC news site you can check lottery numbers there. Some Yahoo games pages are blocked as gambling.

But the most crazy one concerns the word 'zip'. Zip files are not allowed to be downloaded. But if you go to a site to buy a jacket with a zip fastener, it's blocked due to the word 'zip'. 
Blogger tidyteatowel  We have Websense where I work too - it has blocked Flickr for ages as "personal storage". Then again it was also blocking our own website for a bit as "Government Agency" (I work in the public sector). 
Blogger Jane  Tidyteatowel - that's mad! I work in the public sector and it hasn't blocked Flickr my department hasn't blocked its own website yet some would say this is a shame 
Blogger Cyclone  I have been having problems accessing Flickr from pretty standard cyber cafes of late... is this progress? or a reflection on the overwhelming about of boring unoriginal stuff being posted on flickr 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Three times an Angel

UK Angels Gold Award 2006Yay! For the third year running, my site has won the UK Angels Award for Best Personal Website (UK)!

That's really cool, I hardly ever schmooze my wares on the Angels' forums these days, so to know that my stuff is still known and appreciated by the Angels girls is extra nice.

Looking forward to getting the shiny new gold GIF to stick on my virtual mantlepiece. :-) (Edit: it arrived! If you look carefully it's been placed unobtrusively to the left of this entry.)

Props to Joanna who blagged silver in my category, probably rightfully picking up a few extra votes for all the work she does keeping the Angels sites running too.

Big up also to Kath who netted silver in the international category (the Angels is very UK-centric, so the international category is kinda like Best Foreign Film at the Oscars). In my mind the gold winner, Dani's T-Room, whilst very good, isn't really a personal site, and so Kath Wuz Robbed. But never mind, eh?

Another person getting a silver is Zoe for her great Transgender-Blogs resource, which is really starting to grow. Well done, hon.

Hey, I just thought, if you win a trophy three times in a row, isn't there some kind of rule where you get to keep it? ;-)

Labels:

Blogger VB-W  If you win the World Cup three times you get to keep it.

If you win a national trophy like the FA Cup you have to give it back after one year.

Unless you manage to make an exact copy and give that back. 
Blogger Misty  Nice one! Well deserved. 
Blogger Joanna  And very well deserved Babes.

Kim has just sent me the new 2006 awards logos, so will send those out tomorrow.

And I need to write to Kath and Zoe, but probably they'll hear first via this blog, so that saves me some work... ;) 
Blogger Freiya  yay! well done :) 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  totally awesome work you've done with your site. that is why i come back all the time. 
Blogger Michelle Faith  congrats forsure, your blog is like a T-hub 
Blogger Karol Cross  Well done hon!
Just goes to show what great taste the Angels have! 
Blogger jadis  congrats, bex!

ps. saw this, thought of you:
http://toothpastefordinner.com/031706/culture-clash.gif 
Blogger Connie Cox  Well done Becky.
This is such a fun site. All it needs is a straightjacket :-) 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  Wow, I'm really speechless. I dont knowed that i'm transgender Blos is nominated for that price. Most prices in the internet are scrap, this is a price that i love, cause i think ukangels is a really great site, this price is from powerblogging UK and it sems that UK has a very powerful Trannycomunity...

Thank you for voting Transgender-Blogs.

so in the next year, you need a new category (personal sites with different language)for my Blog or do i have to post in english next... I don't know, but i think that's not a good Idea ;-) 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Saturday, April 08, 2006

It lives!

One of the cool things about blogging is the way that previous blog entries sometimes seem to take on a life of their own; coming back to life long after they've disappeared into the archives.

Take for instance this post from early March, in which I introduced you to the joys of "Off the Hook", a dictionary of African-American street slang, in Japanese.

I'd more-or-less forgotten about it, until new comments started appearing a couple of days ago. It turns out it was picked up by Japundit, a rather fabulous blog about Japanese culture. It then got bounced around a couple of other Japanophile blogs.

There are some fascinating comments on the original blog entry now, I especially enjoyed this rather lengthy one explaining the apparent Japanese fascination for Black American culture. It's really nice when you can learn something from your own blog!

On the subject of Previous Posts that Will Not Die, back in January I had a good old-fashioned rant about Sky's customer service (which got resolved by the way - I sent them a snotty letter and they gave me nearly 3 months of free viewing). It seems to have become a min-forum for airing Sky grievances, about once a month someone adds a comment. Even an anonymous Sky employee!
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  It´s alive, run, run for your lives 
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  Now into serious mode, Im impressed, Wow you made a impresion in japanesse blog culture. 
Anonymous Stephanie Rowe  that's quite an achievement, becky.
I wonder if someday my blog will start something in the average blind comunity. which, naturally, I am a part of. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Friday, April 07, 2006

12 Months Later

So yes, the T*Blog is a year old today. I thought you might like a bit of an insight into the creative process behind the creation of an icon such as this. Luckily, I try to save all the scraps of paper, restaurant napkins, police holding cell walls etc that I scribble on. Hopefully these will keep me in my dotage.

So here's something from the day I decided on the name and design of the blog. Hope you find it enlightening!

Genius at Wrok
Anonymous Sylvia  I love seeing how ideas where formed. YOu have done a good job with this site. Keep up the good work. 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  Happy Blogversary, Becky
I am in the presence of greatness. So that's how you did it. I don't think I could ever compare.
Keep Blogging away. Thank You for everything. 
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  cheese, 3 pair of socks, pasta, eggs , wine
is that the recipe for some kind of Brittish delicatessen??? 
Anonymous Dana  Wow, I wish my specs at work were that detailed! 
Anonymous Fairly-Odd  I'm still amazed at people who plan things out... on paper even.

Keeping at it for a year is quite an accomplishment, no matter what all the old farts say. :) 
Blogger Connie Cox  Who won at the noughts and crosses? lol
Happy Blogiversary 
Blogger Becky  Woah, did some people think that was a real bit of paper and I'd actually planned something? Perhaps I should have used this as my April Fools gag. :-) 
Blogger Freiya  ooh! happy blogoversary! your pretend blog names made me smile 'Transpotting' was funny but 'tranny madly deeply' , now that is comic genius! 
Anonymous Anonymous  I like the Esher sketch! 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Thursday, April 06, 2006

It was...

Early 2005. The tranny blogosphere was very much like Britain in the mid-70s. Drab, bland and depressing, with only the occasional crazed punk to brighten things up...

but then...
Blogger Jane  Oh a game, is it we've got to finish this statement? Here's my go

"...it got a whole lot worse."

Is there a prize for the winner? :-) 
Blogger Siobhan Curran  Ooh. Happy birthday.

(Young pup) 
Blogger Becky  Not really today... I didn't post to this blog until the 7th. And not really a birthday, more an anniversary! And not so young, my first dated webpage was way back in September '02. ;-) 
Blogger Miss K  Happy pending blogversary from an old punk! 
Anonymous Valerie S  So, happy blog anniversary today! 
Blogger Joanna  Happy Bloggiversary!!

And not so young, my first dated webpage was way back in September '02

Don't kick all that off again! 
Blogger Michelle Faith  happy blogiversary forsure 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

How to dual-boot your gender

Most boys who have been provided with the standard BoyOS, assume they can’t use software and peripherals designed for girl platforms. However, with a little effort it is possible to dual-boot in both BoyOS and GirlOS mode, and this guide is designed to help you achieve this.

What you will need
BoyOS 2.x (New Man edition or later)
A Boy platform with several kilomonths of unused free time.
Lots and lots of money.

Step 1: Partitioning
Firstly you will need to partition your life.

To dual-boot your gender you will need to create 2 partitions, once for BoyOS and one for GirlOS. Most users who initially decide to dual-boot prefer to make the GirlOS secret to avoid potential conflicts. In the second partition you will keep all of the software and peripherals related to GirlOS.

You may decide to purchase extra storage for your GirlOS software. Locked suitcases hidden in the attic serve well for this purpose.

Initially this GirlOS partition will be quite small, although you will find it grows over time. With some systems it can grow to be much larger than the BoyOS partition.

Step 2: Purchasing Software
Now that you have an empty GirlOS partition, you will need to fill it with some initial software. Most Boy platforms don’t have any GirlOS software pre-installed, so you will need to purchase it online or from high-street vendors.

It is worth noting that most high-street stores do not support GirlOS software running on a Boy platform. You may find it easier to pretend to be buying the software for a friend or relative who uses the Girl platform. Many people these days prefer to avoid high-street shopping and use online software providers.

For people used to BoyOS, purchasing software suitable for GirlOS can be a potential minefield. Firstly, it is important to purchase software suitable for the age of the platform on which it should be run, many dual-booters fall into the trap of purchasing software designed for much newer systems.

Secondly, Girl OS uses a completely different sizing nomenclature to BoyOS, which can cause problems. Although conversion tables are available, it’s often a case of “trial and error” to find GirlOS software that fits on your Boy platform.

Other potential sources of GirlOS software are abandonware, which is available from locations such as bags destined for charity shops. Also, if  you share a house with someone running on the Girl platform you might be tempted to investigate shareware, but be very careful when doing this.


Step 3: Installing Software
Once you have bought the necessary GirlOS software, you will need to install it. Note that initially the Boy platform will not be prepared to accept software designed for GirlOS, and will need to be formatted. Specialist suppliers such as Gillette, Wilkinson and Veet can provide you with the tools to do this.

Once the platform has been formatted correctly you are ready to install GirlOS software! The best advice here is to take it slow, and be prepared to make mistakes. You may find that some of the software you have purchased is completely unsuitable for your platform, or that when installed just not function in the way you’d expect a GirlOS system to work. Do not be afraid to throw away software that you just can’t get to run on your platform.

However, once you have managed to successfully dual-boot your gender, you’ll feel a great sense of achievement! You’ll probably want to post  pictures online of your platform running GirlOS to show off to people. They’re sure to be impressed, and if you’re really lucky they won’t even realise that underneath you’re running on a Boy platform!

Advanced Techniques
Some people find they are so satisfied with GirlOS that they decide to lose BoyOS altogether. This requires quite drastic firmware modifications that are beyond the scope of this guide.

Labels:

Blogger Siobhan Curran  *applause!* 
Anonymous Fairly-Odd  What a wonderful how-to you have put together! Even the newest n00b should be up and running in no time. However, I don't see any mention of the bootloader - this seems to be giving me the most trouble lately. I try and try to get into BoyOS, but GirlOS keeps booting up. What gives?? 
Blogger Jane  Kath I think you'll find that this is because GirlOS is a faster, more efficient running system. ;-) 
Blogger Joanna  Fantastic :-) 
Blogger Michelle Faith  You really are one in a million...my girl OS does tend to take over from time to time, but then again so does my wife.
Is there any connection? 
Blogger Connie Cox  That is superb!! 
Blogger Kath Adams  just brilliant!

Does it also suggest we're a bit geeky to understand it though?

Geeky Girlies... it's got a ring to it! 
Blogger April Angell  some handy hints there Becky, but I'll think I'll stick with my Lipstick Linux OS... 
Anonymous stephanie row  absolute brilliance.
what made it even more funnier for me, was that I read that with my screen reader set to use a middle aged brittish male voice, with abbc English accent
. I can't think of anyone who sounds like this old chap.
google for cepstral lawrence and you should get a demo page. 
Anonymous lara t  So cool,
Only one question to the writer of the installation guide.

My GirlOS keeps crashing, re-confuguring, crashing , re-configuring as if it can't make up its mind.
I think this is possibly a hardware problem,
Somewhere in the bios. what do you think ? 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  That explains all the conflicts in my OS. I will now format, partition, and install correctly.
Thank you Becky for saving me for many more years of conflict in my OS. 
Anonymous Natalie  I've heard about removable drives made of silicon that only interface with a GirlOS. What do you think about that? 
Anonymous Anonymous  Ultimately the best way to overcome the inevitable glitches associated with platform incompatability is to overhaul the main hardware architechture. 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  Great work Becky!!!

The only Problem ist, that i need a new formatted Platform every time i change from BoyOS to GirlOS.

...and all softwareplugins like "shoes 1.2" or "dresses 2.1" are very expensive. I don't want to tell about "nylons 0.5" which is so buggy that you need a new plugin all few times you use it. 
Blogger Zoe Bergstroem  hmmm if i think about it, i think that GirlOS is not an real platform.

I think it's a bad Adware, maybe a virus, too. Installed throug a perfidious routine by any shoe-sellers.

It's can't detected through any anti-virus or adware-detect software and you can't really deinstall it at your platform.

Anywhere must be a routine wich automaticly reinstalls GirlOS a few days/month/years laster. 
Blogger Becky  LOL, Zoe you think too much! ;-) 
Blogger Pandora Caitiff  A bit late, but...Remember to be incredibly careful when inserting Plug-and-Play devices designed for GirlOS ports! 
Anonymous Anonymous  Why not try running software suitable for GirlOS directly on BoyOS?

Admittedly this does come with its own issues: a) running GirlOS software directly on BoyOS is more obvious than running GirlOS software on a GirlOS partition and b) finding suitable GirlOS software that will run concurrently with BoyOS software seemlessly can be tricky - get it wrong, and although it will run, the resulting UI can look kludgey.

I guess to some the achievement is getting dual booting working, though to others the achievement is being able to install both types of software concurrently without having to dual boot. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Four words that will strike terror into anyone wanting to do anything over the next two weeks.

The kids are off.

(At least, they are around my way.)
Blogger Stegbeetle  Aaaaargh! 
Blogger Jane  They are here too.

It's bliss the buses are running on time because Mater and Pater aren't clogging up the roads taking Henrettia and Tarquin to school in the Land Rover. 
Blogger steph_angel  Or...'Four words that mean I won't be doing any teaching for the next two weeks'...YAY :) 
Anonymous Sylvia  Well I'm glad the kids already had thier time off here. Though summer is approaching very fast. Better get doing things before it's too late. 
Blogger hannaviolane  ahhh does'nt stop me becky, im always scaring the local brats...sorry i mean little angels! and like you steph, it means im off work and not attempting to teach the buggers for 2 weeks and a day!!! bliss:) 
Blogger Joanna  Yay... two weeks off work.... ;) 
Blogger Palace Fan thats a NEW Dad  My journey to work is quicker. Usually 45 mins and now 30 mins !

Although last night they all seemed to be allowed out late and sat right outside my house. Dont know why because I live on quite a main road and there is a park opposite they could all sit in drinking thunderbirds or whatever they drink now. 
Anonymous Tiffany  I wish I was off. That was....three weeks ago. Four weeks left, though! D: 
Blogger Freiya  i sort of prefere it when they're off as it means my train to work isn't filled with them and all their shouty youthful ways, which makes me sound really 'square' ( is that what the kids say nowadays ;) ) i know, but its early, and i don't like early combined with high volumes of squealing and struggling to get a seat.....god, i sound old..... 
Blogger Siobhan Curran  Yay ... three weeks off work :-P 
Blogger Joanna  Yay ... three weeks off work

Bloody lecturers.... 
Anonymous Sadie  This means the Westcountry is about to be invaded - *hides* 
Blogger Julie Budd  They might be off the roads and some trains but they come in droves to visit the sights of london on MY train so I get the full stereo effect of 50 kids all talking at the same time very loudly ( I blame Brian Blessed )and I sometines- yuughkkk - have to sit next to one of them.

But one day they will be paying my pension. He he he. 
Blogger Clarissa  They aren't off around here yet to judge by the evidence of the school uniforms I see on my way to the station. Must be next week then unless I've already missed it. 
Blogger Joanna  Southend Schools break up this Friday 
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  Why be afraid of Kids, when they are such funny little people, with their creepy little hands, and their annoying questions, and their yelling, all that jumping, running around crazy tripping plants, messing with the dogs, throwing balls at windows. Be happy they are off. 
Blogger Becky  Woah, if the successfulness of a blog entry is measured in the ratio of comments to size of original post, this blog entry is probably my best ever! :-D 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Monday, April 03, 2006

Albedo

...was the word I was trying to think of whist sat watching a boring presentation this morning (once I’d exhausted the diversionary potential of picking tell-tell bits of gold varnish off my fingernails).

The projector had been set up a bit low, so that the green Windows XP “Start” button was emblazoned across the seated presenter’s completely bald and exceptionally shiny pate.

I wish the word had come to me during the presentation. It would have been nice to congratulate him afterwards for having “a very good albedo”.
Blogger tidyteatowel  Albedo eh?

This might have helped:

http://www.env.leeds.ac.uk/envi2150/oldnotes/lecture4/lecture4.html

Or possibly not really. 
Blogger Siobhan Curran  My God - those diagrams. How hideously aliased 
Blogger Selina  "a very good albedo"? You mean he had proof he was somewhere else? :-) 
Blogger VB-W  Or did he have white hair and pink eyes? 
Blogger Lizz  He was shiny?

Um... Dare I ask... Are you sure you meant albedo? 
Blogger Becky  Yes, he was shiny! He had a high level of shine, hence his ability to display OHP graphics on his cranium. :-)

It's the right word! :-)

Selina, I thought you were a bit of an astronomer, you should know better! ;-) 
Blogger Joanna  I always felt that the best OHP screens were pale, but not shiny. Too shiny and you get glare, and a reflection off the projector.

Guess he could be pale but not shiny. Was his name Matt??.... 
Anonymous Stephanie Rowe  who cares if it's albedo or not, that was just hilarious! lmao 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Sunday, April 02, 2006

The X stands for Mission

Jane and I went to Trans-Mission last night, which was nice. The great thing about TX is I can almost guarantee bumping into at least a couple of good friends. Last night was no exception. Connie and partner Tracy, Clarissa, and Joanna were all there, to name but a few! It was nice to catch up properly, particularly with Connie and Tracy, who I've not really had a chance to have a proper chinwag with before... babes, I'm sorry we dragged you both to the diner afterwards when it turned out you weren't hungry! But you were great company. :-)

Vicky and Jasmine put on a top night, as per usual and to be expected when TX is getting near it's 50th outing. They had a few problems with the new owners of the venue not providing enough bar staff, but those kinds of things are pretty much beyond control, and I know that after Jasmine has had some choice words with the manager they'll be up to scratch next month!

Wow, what a remarkably utilitarian blog entry this is! I suppose I should go the whole hog and mention that the resurfacing works on the M11 made for a very slow journey back, and that it rained heavily, and we didn't get back till 5...

but that would be boring, so I'll end with the only decent pic I have of me from last night.

Becky pre TX

Labels:

Blogger Debbie Huggins  As usual, Becky you are impeccable.
Love the outfit. 
Anonymous Stacey  What about our traditional micro-chat? What no mention?? LOL!! 
Blogger jessica_sweet_tv  A really lovely pic. 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Not on my watch!

I might have mentioned recently that the King's Lynn town centre has undergone a bit of a facelift over the last year? We now have a TK Maxx, and (shock horror) a Cafe Nero!

It turns out the fun doesn't end there, though!

I was wandering through the town centre last night and saw this in the window of one of the yet-to-be opened boutiques.

Coming Soon... Transformation

A quick chat with the avuncular security guard standing nearby confirmed my worst fears. "It's one of them shops for perverts what dress up like ladies."

In my home town!

I know we're the Tranny Capital of the Fens, but please anything but this! I'm planning a series of pickets, starting today. Please email me if you'd like to attend.
Blogger April Angell  I heard they were expanding, but I thought the next move was that they were going to buy wikipedia?

maybe thats next year. 
Blogger Stegbeetle  Nice try :) 
Blogger steph_angel  Mmmmmm... ;-) 
Blogger Debbie Huggins  I would sign up for picket duty, but I live so far away. Plus, I'd picket only til the store opened. Then I'd cross and go shopping. Sorry, a girls got her priorities. 
Blogger none  Wow...I always wondered if I was a pervert and now that some security guard in King's Lynn has said so it must be true! :-p 
Anonymous Tiffany  I love how the sign just says "The Mall."

That's pretty....nonspecific. 
Blogger Freiya  You can't outfox a fox ;) ...or so i've been told anyhow...... 
Blogger Kath Adams  Did you know you had too much time on your hands?

Very good effort ma'm! 
Anonymous Kaye Wilkinson  Kaye says "let it open - then torch it. (Rip-off merchants !). Kings Lynn... this is a local town for local people... Tranformation, you're not welcome here ! 

Post a CommentPermalink     Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts