Jig Blog

Nick Clegg: "Call me Chas"

I've created a new political facebook group. The noble aim is to get a nick-name to stick for Nick Clegg. Apart from performing at a few SNP and Lib Dem party parties in the past, that's about as political as the Jiggers is going to get, to be honest...

Nick Clegg Needs A Nickname. I vote for "Chas".

BBC spending 08-09

My favourite radio station, BBC 6 Music is being threatened with closure. It costs 9 million pounds a year to run, and has had a growing audience since its inception, and "had an average weekly reach of 695,000 listeners in the final three months of last year". I agree with Richard Bacon's comments about 6 music that "6 Music is a beautiful example of the BBC at its best."

This chart shows spending of the BBC in 08-09. Click for bigger. From here

The obvious cuts the BBC should be making, in my opinion, are in talent. If times are hard, they should be investing in fresh presenters. Removing Ross, Robinson and Clarkson alone would keep 6 music afloat. I'm a fan of Top Gear, but I'd be happy watching reruns of the first 12 series on iplayer if they had to drop the presenters. Jonathan Ross is great on radio, but on TV he is cringe-worthy and doesn't deserve the slot (or the money) he gets.

6 music is a fantastic station, with a brilliant variety of witty, intelligent DJs who are passionate about the music they play. I've been a great fan of Adam & Joe, Jon Richardson, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq to name but a few. How many stations can land Bob Dylan to present a radio show?

It goes on every morning in my house, and often throughout the day too. Nothing else comes close to the quality of this station's output. The fact that they deliver it on such a small budget is incredible.

Support the petition here

How to know you're tweeting too much...

Twitter may be the reason some children originally to be named Nathaniel Obadiah mercifully ended up as Bob.

Brother, can you spare $3000 billion?

Look at this diagram. Do you understand it? Tell me what you think it means in the comments section.

via www.informationisbeautiful.net

Statistics are supposed to be able to speak for themselves. They don't, though, really. I mean, even when it is explained what a billion dollars is, what does the concept "a billion dollars" actually mean? Who really understands economics?

HOW MANY CD's IS THAT, EXACTLY?

My wife tends to work out the value of something in CDs. If you rate a CD at £10 (and right away, our figures are outdated), then a new top might cost the equivalent of 3 CDs. Get one, miss out on the other. It works when looking at comparable luxury items. But what about a meal out? How do you quantify the value of a nice evening with friends? 4CDs? It's a different kind of pleasure, with different anticipation and memory, which in themselves are types of pleasure. Already it's breaking down as a unit of measurement.

And what about getting new tyres for the car? 5CDs? This has to be measured against negative propositions...what would the cost be if I had a blow-out at 70mph? How much is hiring a hearse, these days...and how often do they change their tyres?

Comedian George Carlin has a curiously incisive understanding of the true nature of economics. In the end, it's all just "stuff". (NSFW)

Musician spotlight: Yvonne Lyon

I think Yvonne Lyon is one of the most exciting voices emerging from the Scottish singer-songwriter scene at the moment. She's gigging around the country just now, so do check her myspace page for her latest gigs near you.

She's doing her official (or is it unofficial?) album launch for her fourth album, "Ashes & Gold" on Saturday 8th August in City Halls. Gig details here.

Remember Yvonne, it's only official if an actual physical CD is actually physically launched. Not a lot of people know that.

 

www.facebook.com/ceilidhband

A few days ago, Facebook allowed people to create their own facebook address (e.g. for business cards etc...) Myspace made this an integral part of their business model, and it was always a bit annoying that I didn't really know how to link people to my facebook profile. Well, now I can. And as the profile pic suggests, I'm happy about that. (that's my wife, by the way. She's happy too.)

The Jiggers Ceilidh Band personal facebook profile address is now http://www.facebook.com/ceilidhband

What's yours?