h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, yesterday seemed to go quite well. I didn't get a whole section done, but mostly because looking at my code from a while back (almost four months) I've realised I'm not coding the site in sections, but rather chunks. Making one feature at a time, and putting it into all the right places on the site.
So what's left:
Userpage: latest beer ratings (can be done now)
Userpage: latest pub ratings (pub system isn't build yet)
Userpage: latest conversations (forum system isn't built yet)
Userpage: detailed palates page (can be done)
Userpage: detailed matches (can be done)
Userpage: beer rating history (can be done)
Userpage: pub rating history (pub system isn't built yet)
Userpage: conversation history (forum system isn't built yet)
Userpage: registration

Brewery Page: comment system (not built yet)
Brewery Page: add brewery stuff (can be done)
Brewery Page: edit brewery details (can be done)
Brewery Page: gallery page (system not built yet, can be done though)

Beers Page: beer menu not built (can be done)
Beers Page: add beer stuff (can be done)
Beere Page: edit beer stuff (can be done)
Beers Page: link added to other beers from brewery (can be done)
Beers Page: beer rating stuff (can be done)

Pubs: whole system needs building

Festivals: whole system needs building

News: whole system needs building

About/Help: whole system needs building

It seems that there's quite a bit left to build, and in a way there is, but the way I'm coding it means that a lot of stuff gets reused a heck of a lot, so it hopefully shouldn't take that long.


Right, techy stuff over and normal service will resume...

What's the point of speed bumps?

I know the arguement, they slow drivers down. But they don't. I was walking along a street near here recently which has quite large speed bumps, most likely because it has two schools on it, and a school playing field at one end. The cars weren't bothering to slow down though. You see, the problem with them is that they don't go to the edge of the kerb, but rather leave a nice smooth rounded gap end. So drivers just swerve around them, right hand wheels over the top, left hand wheels totally avoiding them. So not only are these drivers, who are usually the fastest, still driving fast, but now we've got them swerving at speeds too. Would it really cost that much more to put the speed bump all the way across the road? I reckon that they're not there to slow traffic at all, but to create jobs. Which leads me to the second sort of driver that ignores them, the sort that isn't going that fast, but around the 30 mark rather than slowing down to 20. I know the speeds as there was a traffic policeman there gunning them, and I asked him. I was stood chatting to the guy who works the crossing as well. I need to get a job. But these drivers, while not speeding and not slowing down, where going straight over the top of the bumps and were grinding the bottom of their cars on the bumps. So I reckon they're there to create work. The more bumps, the more exhausts get damaged and fall off, the more Kwik Fits we need. So that's jobs for builders, it's jobs for kids out of school with no qualifications, and it's urban regeneration because they seem to pop up in old town centre factories that have closed down and been abandoned for a few years.

So there you have it, speed bumps aren't there to slow people down and save lives, they're part of a conspiracy by the owners of Kwik Fit to make money.

I'd love to see them try to deny that!

Slightly more serious note here...

Readers of theregister.co.uk might have seen an article recently about a chap who was a fan of the Tube. The London Underground, not the dodgy late night show that used to be on telly. This guy runs a site that had a Tube map on it with silly names for the station. All the names were anagrams of the real station names. This is harmless fun, I can't see how it's not. But, the lawyers (argh, shoot them all!) for transport for london (I refuse to give them capitals until they grow up) decided that they didn't like his use of the "roundel" the tube logo, or the maps. If this guy was taking the mick you could understand, but this guy is a fan. He holds the world record for visiting every tube station on the map, after the bombings over here he did it again to raise money for the victims. But did they cut him some slack, no of course they didn't. He was told to remove the map and other images. Which he did while seeking legal advice. Now they over zealous lawyers have told him to remove links to sites that were mirroring the map! They've been quoted as saying...

"Transport for London holds the copyright for both the world famous Underground roundel and Tube map. We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to protect the Underground's heritage and will take the appropriate measures to protect its use."

So that's okay then, they strongly believe they have a responsibility to protect the Underground's heritage. So using the map in a harmless fun way that has educational purposes is not at all on. But being able to buy a g-string with the logo plastered on it from a dodgy booth at one of their stations helps protect the heritage? Sorry, they're talking complete B*LL*CKS!

So far, no court of law in the world has found it illegal to link to other sites, regardless of the content of those sites. One is responsible for the content one publishes, not other peoples'.

If the goal is to stop remove certain content from the web, the only solution is to track down every site that includes that content and wage however many law suits are needed to make them remove it. This is exactly what companies DON'T want to do. They realize that they can't afford to do it, so they try to short circuit popular linking spots.

In this one case, I would encourage the fellow to call their bluff. It won't cost much money to get that part of the suit thrown out of court.

I wonder if they've asked the tate modern to remove 'Great Bear' by Simon Patterson from it's collection then - http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=21700

It really is ridiculous. The internet used to be somewhere where you could say what you wanted, within reason of course. It used to be that you were only subject to the laws in the country where the servers were hosted. Now it seems that the multi-national companies have hired multi-national lawyers to serve these multi-national law suits.
In some cases I can see why they'd be piffed. But in others I still retain confusion. How, for instance, can an american law firm send an attorny/lawyer over to the uk to serve a subpeona on a 15 year old kid for piracy? Surely the correct procedure would be to inform the country's police of the crime and let them deal with it? The kid committed a crime, if caught the kid should be punished. But how can one country's legal system just walk into another country and start throwing these things about? I personally don't think anyone knows what they can or can't do about content on the 'net and are just trying their luck with things.
This could turn into a rant, and I'm not really in a ranting mood today, I'm in a coding mood and have been so far this morning, all two hours of it I've been awake that it