Ooh, hang on!

Well, you can TELL it’s that time of week, can’t you?

Possibly …

I mean, for starter’s, the Gazette’s out, complete with another story about Brentwood Council’s expenses, which look … well … not good …

And, as you can imagine, I’ve fired off an email; which happily mean’s I can mention Ubuntu, as well …

Here …

Dear Editor …

Oh, dear …

Once again, we have complaints — from accredited auditors, this time — about Brentwood Council’s bookkeeping. I’m somehow not surprised.

I know that, for myself, I’ve fond it very hard to not be cynical about politicians of any party, of any level; but recent Gazette coverage only adds, quite rightly, I think, to this feeling. Even though most of the councillors I’ve met are — individually — nice people, who are concerned for their constituents, they do seem to be collectively capable of spending a lot of untraceable money.

It also seems to be not limited to councillors, either. Going by the Gazette’s own coverage, it seems the whole council is … not corrupt, per se, but certainly seems to have issues.

Can I give you an example, at this point?

I wrote, earlier this year, to every Brentwood councillor, to see if they would be encouraging Brentwood Council’s IT department to use open source software.

My key point was the cost of a very usable open-source operating system — Ubuntu being a very good, very usable and free, example — is negligible, compared to the cost of a commercial one; £79, for the latest version of Windows. Spread across several hundred machines – which Rhiannon Evans points out ‘have not been changed since the 1980s’, that’s a great potential saving.

To be frank, I was fobbed off with a very minimal listing of the few — very specialised — pieces of software used by the council.

Which, to me, implies that the Council is using software that’s costing you and me, money.

Apparently untraceable money, at that.

Good points, I hope!

I hope … !

Actually, now I’ve mentioned it, I know that Ubuntu 9.10 — Karmic Koala — is out, today.

Tim, bless, has had a quick look, and tells me it looks like the update will be something of an overnight job!

Which means there’s a lot going on, under the hood; the actual .iso file has about another ten minutes …

As soon as I know more …

I’ll let you know!

Something else I know is that I got a rather flattering interesting looking email, this morning; from Claire Jones, the Production Co-ordinator from Presentable TV; the people who make “Only Connect”, with Victoria Coren, for BBC4.

Now, I’ll confess, I’ve never seen it; but I was able to double that it’s genuine, by phoning Claire and then — at her suggestion — checking out the relevant part of the BBC’s iPlayer site.

Wow!

I’m helping recruit contestants for them!

Now, while I’ve not seen the show, it does look rather interesting.

And I’m blowed if I know what the first set of connections is!

Here’s what she emailed me …

Paul

Apologies for the slightly random email but I came across your blog and was hoping you could spread the word that we’re looking for contestants for our BBC4 quiz Only Connect. It’s a pretty tough quiz but I’m sure you know some great teams through your pub quizzing work, so feel free to pass the following information on. I’ve also attached a poster that you should feel free to distribute at will.

Victoria Coren presents the third series of the popular BBC Four quiz show ONLY CONNECT where, as in life itself, knowledge will only take you so far: patience and lateral thinking are also vital. It’s all about making connections between things which may appear, at first glance, not to be connected at all.

We’re looking for teams of three players who share a common passion, ability or profession, to pool their combined wits to solve fiendish conundrums and vexing puzzles.

Only Connect: the quiz where general knowledge meets lateral thinking.

To request an application email contestants@presentable.co.uk

including a telephone number.

All entries must be received by no later than *midnight on Tuesday

10th November 2009*, so get your application in as soon as possible.

Auditions will be held in regional centres throughout the UK.

All applicants must be aged 18+ and U.K. residents.

Previous unsuccessful applicants are certainly welcome to apply.

Many thanks

Claire

**Claire Jones**

**Production Co-ordinator**

**Presentable | 46 Cardiff Road | Llandaff | Cardiff CF5 2DT**

**Tel: +44 (0) 2920 575729**

**clairej@presentable.co.uk** ** |

****www.presentable.co.uk ******

**Why not check out Only Connect's Fan Page on Facebook?

http://tinyurl.com/OnlyConnect**

Now, I hope you’ll forgive me; I’m going to get forwarding that … !!