Great, as we have seen with some interesting US based mapping technologies recently opening up state-collected geographical data is in everyones interest. After all we paid for it to be done in the first place and so it should be available to all.

Sign this petition:

Petition - Public Geo Data:

Well the sun has finally decided to make an showing in London to warm up the capital, and very nice it was too. Spent a nice day walking down The Thames and along Southbank taking in the views, the beach or what you can call a beach though I am sure the reclaim the beach parties are in aid of something and generally enjoying the weather before it takes a turn back to the norm.

As I have just started readingLondon: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd I felt like I had a little more knowledge on how London has been in times gone by, it certainly is a good read if you want to get to know more about the capital, and if you have a passing interest I recommend it.

After Southbank we ended up in Borough Market heaving as always with busy people looking for something rather good to eat. We ended up getting a nice Sea Bass, vegetables and flowers. I have never been disappointed with the food there yet, unfortuntely so perhaps for the waistline but the surrounding Pubs and Coffee bars are also worth a visit on their own merit and we ended up having a much needed Bitter in the Market Porter, founded in 1620 it still serves up some interesting ales and beers. One thing that would approve Stoney Street and the ajoining streets would be to get rid of the cars, and of course restrict access to the street for the market place traffic so we could get some much needed Benches and chairs out for a sunny day.

Rounded off the day by visiting Tas for a spot to eat, which has actually killed my appetite for the Steak and Guiness pie I was going to bake tonight.

Just I made the plunge and finally upgraded some elements of the home cinema by the inclusion of firstly a Pioneer 575A DVD player which also plays back DVD-A, SACD, DVD-R/RW, CDR, Divx, jpg and MP3 files! It has progressive scan on component video outs and it plays very nicely to.

Next up was the screen so I choose after many hours reading the forums over at AVForums a Panasonic PWD6. I am still waiting for the stand to arrive but so far I am very impressed with the performance of the screen particularly when driven from the component outputs of the 575A with progressive scan enabled. Buying a screen like this isn’t a light proposition so if you are contemplating it then please head over the AVForums.

Well yesterday was my Birthday and amoung other things we went to see shhh… at the V&A yesterday, and it was really quite good. Its an exploritive of music composed by various musicians with varying degrees of success. Of the highlights was Roots Manuva and a long time favourite of mine, Cornelius. Just walking around looking at the exhibits with music gave quite a different feel to the whole museum and I really recommend that even if you didn’t get to see this, take an iPod around and try and make your own soundtrack - the results are outstanding and sometimes felt like I was involved within a movie