Why oh why must everybody have a blog?

The Flaming Lips

2006-11-10T00:45:00.000Z

Very very very good.
But I am sad because I wanted to take a spacegirl home with me.

The encore was inspired. Magnificent. And Wayne was smiling nearly as
much as the crowd.

equilibrium

2006-10-29T15:09:00.000Z

knocking back ibuprofen with pepsi - not quite what the health experts
and my mother meant when they suggested that I need "a balanced diet".

Whatever works though.

hello from eastern europe

2006-10-02T20:02:00.000Z

yes, hello from Eastern Europe. Somewhere.

Somewhere where the rich are isolated from the poor in 4* completely
over-the-top skiing on the doorstep luxury.

I wonder what this place was like ten or twenty years ago.

Today, the food and drink are plentiful and the cars Mercedes. What
brings thousands and thousands of workers to the UK . . .

bt suck

2006-09-17T14:43:00.000Z

Did you know that a postcode can change part way through a single building?

I didn't.

Made getting a phone line impossible. Grrr.

I caved in.

2006-09-09T15:23:00.000Z

I'm at work. Again.

At least driving a Transit van around was fun. I'd got my hugely
inconsiderate last-second lane changing habits up to speed just in
time to give it back to the hire people.

Got my eye on one of those super long wheelbase Mercedes efforts for
the next time - could do some real damage with one of them . . .

packing.

2006-09-08T18:55:00.000Z

Packing fucking sucks.
Question to readers: Can I get away with defying my soon-to-be phd
supervisor who is unreasonably expecting me to present some stuff that
I haven't written on monday morning?

I think I can take him...

boxes.

2006-09-06T20:41:00.000Z

I have my whole life to pack away. Tonight.

Taping the flattened cardboard boxes together is more fun.

Not getting me closer to emptying this room though.

Nor is going to the pub . . .

coffeetime

2006-09-06T10:40:00.000Z

academics would never get through the day without a strategic coffee
break. Two of them in fact.

While serving no obvious purpose the whole group would fall apart without it.

Today's random topic was the efficiency of trains versus cars and
proposals to eliminate the crazy prices of Virgin Trains - i.e. some
competition.

This somehow led onto the illusive idea of the paperless office -
something that we're a long long way from attaining. Something that
we're a long way from *wanting*.

E-books? No thanks.

Its been way overdue

2006-09-05T21:38:00.000Z

Its been way overdue but finally I'm moving to a decent apartment.
Right in the city center and all shiny.

I'm too old for student crap now.

The problem is that after a 51 weeks here I just can't imagine
managing to pack all this stuff back into a van.

It seems insurmountable - mostly that's because I just keep going and
watching television instead of boxing things up!

Similarly my thesis - it took me two hours to write the first
paragraph this afternoon I'm sure. I think I'll go crazy if I have to
carry on reading technical design reports...

On a point of information - I'm trying out email posting. Might make
it a little safer to blog from work.

Using the internet

2006-08-23T20:26:00.000Z

It was said to me the other day:

I only use 1/8th of what the internet is for.

Is the internet really *for* something? Its capable of an unimaginably large number of things and millions and millions of people use it for different things every second of every day; but its purpose?

I think that if you connect to the web and you communicate with someone then you've done all that you're expected to do with the service. All that we should ever be expected to do in fact.

Everything else is a bonus. Everything else is for free.

macbook pro

2006-08-04T22:54:00.000Z

I held one of these things in my hands the other day. I must have one.

MUHAHAHAHA

2006-07-30T18:32:00.000Z

YES! You son of a whore piece of software....

I have your factor four error. Now, I will kill you.

*continues quietly mumbling to self while frantically writing bash scripts...*

style

2006-07-24T22:19:00.000Z

if only I had the white linen suit and deck shoes to go with it...

hardware

2006-07-17T20:33:00.000Z

I have a small room. My window doesn't open very far and I'm at the top of the building.

Its cool outside now but sat at my desk with a computer blowing hot air out, a lamp on so I can see, two flat screens and a hifi in the corner - its nearing 29 degrees in here.

Arrrrrggg.

Heart - redux

2006-06-22T21:58:00.000Z

A Mike commented on my earlier post "Heart" - showing a picture of a lover's message painted on a roof top in London.

... for twenty years.

Why did you do what you did?
I still don't understand why.

- Mike

I'd like to thank Mike for stopping by. I can belive that whatever happened would eat away at all involved - I'm glad I was able to help let some of that out.

There are moments in life where we all sit and wonder why? We are, after all, human - and prone to doing undefendable things.

I call on my few readers - ask your questions. They eat away at us - leaving us only questioning ourselves because the real prompt has long since departed your life.

I still think about you. Why did you leave things where we couldn't go back?

hey!

2006-06-05T22:22:00.000Z

Youtube really is viral.

I just heard a Pixies BBC session from 1988 or so on the radio. It made me think of "Hey!".

god's next army

2006-06-05T20:01:00.000Z

I've just watched Channel 4's documentary "God's Next Army". Its backed with a website at channel4.com/believe.

I heard someone describe the previews as "biased and angering". This was a very carefully produced film that documented students preparing to attend and working at Patrick Henry College.

From wikipedia:

"Patrick Henry College, or PHC, is an unaccredited private Christian Protestant college that focuses on teaching classical liberal arts and government, located in Purcellville, Virginia. It is the first college in America founded specifically for Christian home-schooled students. It is well-known for its extreme conservatism and evangelical christian ethos, including creationism, pro-gun rights and anti-abortionism. It has also been criticised for a heavily pro-republican bias."

The film allowed the children to speak for themselves. What they said scared me. What they said made me pity them. These home-schooled children were actively kept away from the rest of society by their parents - for fear they might be contaminated. After all, what's worse than the crime on an idea?

One of the lecturers at the college even says "after spending so much time and care on my child should I just dump them on Princeton or Yale?".

I would argue that a person who truly believes in what is right can only benefit from meeting new ideas and people - to be allowed to think for ourselves is probably our greatest freedom - it must be protected. That these parents should take it away from their children is cruel. What else but cruelty could drive a child of eleven to begin crying and between wails protest the need to pray and change her sinful ways?

Very early on we heard an extremely telling phrase from an 18 year old boy while he worked at the local butcher's shop making sausages:

"God did work on the cross to save sinners like me"

This was from a boy who wakes up, does his school work, works at the butcher's, goes home to work, helps clean his father's church, and probably works some more. He really believes that he is a sinner, that he needs "saving".

I hate that idea. Hate it.

I strongly urge you to watch this documentary if you can and to be wary of these people. They are growing in number and in power, they believe in "one nation under God" - and, it would seem, they are willing to remove anything that doesn't quite fit in with their vision.

finished and yet it never ends

2006-06-03T21:54:00.000Z

I can't remember the last time I took a day off. I've been working weekends for a long long time. The stress of exams is over but I fear that they might have been the easy bit.

Now I'll be stuck infront of 19inches of LCD screen for many hours a day with a "yes or no" to funding hanging over me.

I think I need something to brighten my very dull office. Which is probably the reason i'm hugely attracted to the idea presented at Lifehacker - switch your office chair for an exercise ball. "You can bounce when you're happy!"

Happy would be nice.

one down

2006-05-28T12:53:00.000Z

one down. one to go.
For fun and interesting things you really should be looking elsewhere for the moment.
My suggestion - head across the Atlantic - see Danielley.

I really am neglecting this poor old blog

2006-05-07T11:23:00.000Z

anyways, I'm at work - with an invisible gun in my back held by my supervisor - it continues to scare me how many people are here at the weekend or at crazy hours.

We get paid poorly and put in extra hours . . .

I can hear the builders outside, but I know they're getting double-time.

I'm still getting the wrong answers.

friday sunshine

2006-04-21T17:09:00.000Z

A beer garden, my kingdom for a beer garden . . .

debt

2006-04-19T18:44:00.000Z

I knew that China had been funding the US economy by buying dollars but 265 billion?!?

That is completely ridiculous. The US's trade deficit has doubled between years ending Dec 2002 and Dec 2005.

The numbers for US debt are staggering. Thousands of billions of dollars.

How could Bush possibly win votes a second time?

Heart

2006-04-10T08:58:00.000Z

Super Size Me?

2006-04-06T22:55:00.000Z

I just sat and watched the last half of "Super Size Me" on channel4.

I was eating "Revels" chocolate and drinking a can of pepsi. I wasn't even hungry.

I don't eat well and I don't do enough exercise, or any at all at the moment. I weigh about 150 pounds. That's 70kg. I'm 5 foot 9 maybe.

A working day is fueled with breakfast cereal and then coke at some point in the morning - just(!) enough sugar to get me to lunch. If I have a big lunch I crash completely after thirty mins or so. If I have a small lunch I spend the whole afternoon eating. Chocolate most likely.

I often get headaches early in the day at the weekend - probably because I don't start the morning with coke.

I can not go two days without chocolate.

I am getting older.

I think I need fewer of these:

and more of this:

I didn't finish my pepsi or my chocolate.

The Boat Race 2006

2006-04-02T15:59:00.000Z

Cambridge were so soft. Complete bollocks.

weak.

What wasn't on the coverage is how scary Oxford's coach "Bowden" is. Very. That helps.
Also... good work on broadcasting Oxford cox's call to his crew "let's fucking take them down" or words to that effect :)

AWESOME!

In fact I was reminded of when my mate rowed for Isis a couple of years ago, and won. He said they'd gone out on the water "to destroy the tabs". That's what happened today. Oxford

destroyed

them.

From Channel4 News' "Snowmail":

Blue is the colour
=================================================
Oxford have won the boat race and it wasn't just their team colours that were dark blue.

They got off in fiery form, what with their cox swearing loudly on nationwide teatime TV about the supposedly inadequate manhood of their opponents.

As our chief sub, Felicity Spector (Somerville 1985-9) observed, what was wrong with a rousing hurrah of "Good luck chaps"? We'll have the flavour of the day, courtesy of a well placed bleep.

A shorter show tonight so don't be late. See you at 7.45pm

Samira

Oh April 1st...

2006-04-01T09:26:00.000Z

isn't it the best day of the year now? Google has moved on from GMail with "Google Romance" . . .

1. What is Google Romance?
Google Romance is a place where you can post all types of romantic information and, using our Soulmate Search™, see search results that could, in theory, include the love of your life. Then we'll send you both on a Contextual Date^TM, which we'll pay for while delivering to you relevant ads that we and our advertising partners think will help produce the dating results you're looking for.

2. That’s the exact same copy you used on the Google Romance landing page.
Ah, so you noticed that, huh? It’s true, this general question and answer probably don’t belong in an FAQ to begin with. Please don’t tell our boss.

3. What is Soulmate Search?
Here on the Google Romance team, we follow the philosophy "Don't be medieval," so we brought only the latest psychographic and search algorithms to bear on the problem of hooking up our users. First you fill out an extensive personal profile carefully designed by a team of both married and single Google engineers for the express purpose of gathering and analyzing romantic information. Then you fill out an equally obscure and elaborate profile describing various attributes of the person with whom you wish to spend the rest of your life and click ‘Search Romance.’ It’s that simple.

Happy New Year!

2006-03-20T20:00:00.000Z

Today is the start of the Iranian calendar - happy Norooz everybody :)

I think you guys know how to celebrate!

I hope all your fishes survive the night :)

Geologists Rock

2006-02-27T22:17:00.000Z

A monday you can walk away from is a good Monday. Works for landings too, I suppose.

Today's travel count: three buses, two taxis and two trains.

Cost: GBP6.45 more than it should have been - where did put that train ticket?

It wasn't all bad though, today's random chat with the minicabber was worth all the effort. Not sure how we got there but he was telling me that he thinks that an attack on Iran would end the world. That's not the random bit. He was quite convinced that many, many years ago (a million?) there was a world war.

A war so intense it wiped out all traces of its combatants. "What made him sure of this?" I hear you ask. Well, that's the easy bit - where else would all this technology we have come from?

Bear in mind that this was a 15 minute ride and you'd be impressed to hear that next on the list was government coverup of 1960s alien spacecraft crashes.

Makes sense. :)

Oh and if you're wondering about the post title - I was in the geology department this afternoon...

[subtle edit I hope...]

100th post unspectacular

2006-02-17T22:41:00.000Z

I feel like I shouldn't bother posting this to mark my 100th post. But still, it has to be said - this view from Vancouver's "KatKam" can't be real, must be painted on.

The other reason for wanting to delay this post is that the 101st post should show a new layout. Of some kind. If I get around to it. The dots are annoying me now. See you after a few hours staring at notepad or vi...

I find it completely objectionable

2006-02-05T00:12:00.000Z

I was checking BBC News and the main headline was that "Syrians torch Scandinavian embassies to protest against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad." I the scale and style of these protests completely objectionable. Its as bad as the Sikh community's reaction to a play written by a Sikh woman - they sent their men to barracade the theatre, throw rocks, and make the cast, crew and writer fearful for their own safety, until they got what they wanted and the play was cancelled.

Its crude. Its throwing weight about like a bully. Attacking symbols of government in response to acts by the press. Attacking the press for operating as they always should. Free to make errors of judgement and free to comment on anything.

Putting aside the objection to a depiction of Muhammad on simply idol worshipping grounds there is a clear dicotomy. The general population and leaders in Islamic communities have been, rightly, calling for the West to distinguish between the Islam of millions people and the slightly loopy Bin Laden-esque suicide bombing justifying preaching. Cartoons joking that The Prophet is up in heaven turning jihadists away because they've run out of virgins, or with Muhammed turbaned with a bomb... is clearly aimed at the minority of crazies.

Those who really do walk into a crowded restaurant with explosives strabbed to their back and press the detonator while thinking of heaven and being completely convinced that their actions have been justified by the word of God.

The Western media attacking them is a blunt instrument, perhaps we need assistance from those who know the difference. Extremism doesn't gain strength in a vacuum. There are men who've heard the beginnings of these crazy outlooks and turned away, probably some of them were there protesting. If they could put all that energy and rage into eliminating the extremists things would be better for all of us.

I fear I've rambled.

advice on films and things

2006-02-01T23:16:00.000Z

A return to my old style of blog post, link heavy and on random topics. Well, I guess they're all random. . .

I had planned to go see "Munich" tonight, sadly everybody else in manchester who has Orange phones had the same idea. By the time I got to the front of the queue the film had been on for 15 minutes.

Watching the minutes tick by wasn't the most painful thing though. The real rub was coming to the realisation that the only other movie starting at a useful time was "Underworld: Evolution".

The first movie had some charm, they clearly had some fun with a limited budget and came with a reasonable style, plus, I hadn't paid to see it. The sequel though is really, really terrible. Not even the gorgeous Beckinsdale can save it - and belive me, she has power, I've watched "Serendipity" at least three times I think.

Its about seventeen times as visceral and violent as the first one for very little justification. The possibly interesting bits are glossed over in favour of decapitations.

AND it completely rips off Terminator 2 at the end. You know - the Linda Hamilton monologue,

The future, always so clear to me, has become like a black highway at night. We were in uncharted territory now...

So now you know... anyways, I'll leave you with a couple of links. Over at "skitz" I was catching up and spotted one little gem about meetings, something we can all identify with. The boys anyway. And via BoingBoing I saw this as a response to Bush's "state of the union address".

kung hai fat choi + xin nian kuai le

2006-01-28T23:07:00.000Z

happy new year to everybody who runs by the Chinese zodiac.
Its my birth sign again this year, I wonder what that means. :S

Don't work too hard :)

we scientists have a rough time...

2006-01-20T23:42:00.000Z

first we get blown up in Lost and now this:

From the BBC News:

Around 70% of the 11-15 year olds questioned said they did not picture
scientists as "normal young and attractive men and women"...

They found around 80% of pupils thought scientists did "very important
work" and 70% thought they worked "creatively and imaginatively". Only 40%
said they agreed that scientists did "boring and repetitive work".

Over three quarters of the respondents thought scientists were "really
brainy people".

Among those who said they would not like to be scientists, reasons
included: "Because you would constantly be depressed and tired and not
have time for family", and "because they all wear big glasses and white
coats and I am female".

Was white not her colour or something? I'm pretty sure that women are allowed to be scientists now. Last time I checked anyway.

battle of wills

2006-01-09T18:56:00.000Z

Who will blink first? I'm back at uni and the usual game has started - how high can we pile the bin before somebody bothers to empty it.

My high ground position is obviously that "I did it last time" and that it if somebody is going to be silly enough to put wet horrible stuff at the top of the bin rather than empty it, its them that can deal with it.

My kitchen rubbish is, of course, non-messy and always in the bottom of the bag. Honest.

Changing Oxford Admissions?

2005-12-15T08:32:00.000Z

Applicants to Oxford might in future apply to the university rather than to individual colleges, it is proposed.

A working party on selection and admissions recommends a single body to handle all undergraduate applications.

From BBC News.

That would totally suck. Applying to Oriel is a very different proposition to applying to Wadham. Plus, I don't this measure is necessary, people often get interviewed by more than one college and are in oxford for two days - much longer than Cambridge.

Admissions seems to be one of the few things that the colleges work together over - making sure that the best candidates do find a place somewhere in the university.

I don't like change :)

Waste

2005-12-12T23:18:00.000Z

The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has denied clemency to former Crips gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

Williams has spent more than a decade trying to stop young black men from filling American prisons. Using his experience to turn people away from a wasted life in gangs and in crime and in violence.

The "greatest democracy in the world", the worlds superpower, is going to flex its judicial muscles and in true enlightened fashion execute Williams in less than 9 hours.

I won't sleep better knowing "justice has been served."

It was a great loss.

2005-12-08T23:22:00.000Z

25 years ago today, John Lennon was shot dead as he returned to his apartment in New York.

His death was a great loss to us all. His killer, Mark Chapman, smiled and looked into Lennon's eyes, asking for an autograph, then waited for his return. And shot him in the back.

Chapman remains in prison. I hope he lives a long life in obscurity, reminded everyday of his inferiority. He believes God has forgiven him. I hope not.

good news everybody!

2005-12-06T00:12:00.000Z

I heard from her. A brief note to say she had an exam.

But more info to follow on friday.

I was slightly aprehensive about opening the email but I'm smiling now.

ok - two posts in one evening

2005-12-01T23:10:00.000Z

shocking I know, but true. I sent the email.

Its been so long since the idea came into my head that I'd forgotten all those classy thoughts I'was going to put into it. I think I came off like an idiot.

On the other hand, I don't think it would have been a good idea to write a long involved letter... didn't get me anywhere last time.

no fog today

2005-12-01T21:56:00.000Z

no fog today but snow instead. I guess a change in the weather is apt - I've been sleeping well.

I haven't sent the email yet - I know what I'm going to say. I still don't expect to hear back from her but I've promised JaG and I can't let her down.

I have to believe that 14 months is a long time. I fear there's little else to tell right now [in fact I wrote this on monday morning] - I'll have to keep you waiting.

One thing that just occured to me is that I'll be sending her the email at a really busy time for her, so that won't help matters. But I guess if she was going to reply it was going to take some effort and thought whatever the time. We'll see.

Ghosts

2005-11-21T20:31:00.000Z

I went to bed in the worst possible way. I went to bed thinking. You know what I mean - I was trying to switch off but my brain just kept ticking over.

I was thinking about emails I need to send, blog posts I could write, many productive things for the day time when I'm infront of a keyboard - they might have even paused my compulsive Amazon buying.

I'd be annoyed that I couldn't sleep but for the fact that I actually came to a conclusion. I loved somebody. It was hard but true.

It has probably been more than a year since we've spoken. But when she popped into my head I realized that I wanted to know how she was, if everything was ok. We did not part well at all, but it would seem that I still care for her.

I'm writing this by hand on a train - I'd almost forgotten my last thoughts before sleep by the time breakfast came around this morning, so I haven't yet sent her the email I was half writing in bed - I'm writing to my blog instead, simply to try and recover those thoughts I think.

As I look out the window its so misty that all I can see are ghosts, the world is totally washed out, obscured. I don't expect to get a reply from her, I don't expect I've crossed her thoughts at all, we'll see.

I'm in another city, with another life but ghosts of my past are haunting me.

Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past. Ghosts and more ghosts. Ghosts trying to find their place among the living.

from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.

It takes brave people . . .

2005-11-20T22:32:00.000Z

it takes brave people to laugh at the President of The United States. But that's what the assembled press did when Georgey boy failed to make as swift an exit as he'd planned from a Chinese press conference.

untitled

2005-11-10T21:13:00.000Z

I don't know what to write about. There have been things running through my head recently. I've been asked to give a lot of advice, some of it has been complete rubbish, some of it has been quite competent.

I'm calling on my experience, and making it up as I go along. Not used to it.

But I guess that's life.

Anyways, in case you don't get it; the photo, its an outlook. You know, on life. On the infinity of the sky above. Grounded though - there's always something higher up...

bah humbug, completely rubbish post. Must do better.

Why is it a dream come true is also a nightmare?

2005-10-22T19:32:00.000Z

Its finally happening. The complete Buffy boxset. Why did have to come out now? I need to eat, I need to work.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

but

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES :)

Oh yes Oh yes :)

2005-10-16T22:34:00.000Z

such a great show. Such a very great gig. The Tunstall is magic :)

and on a side note why is that the rubbish raisin "Revels" are the ones left at the bottom of the bag? When I don't look as I pick them out?

And since that last post was so short . . .

2005-10-13T19:56:00.000Z

I'll post another photo... this is the view from my office this evening.

I'm still hooked.

2005-10-13T19:50:00.000Z

This little snippet made me laugh out loud:

Punk girl: Fight bureaucracy!
Suit: You're not the boss of me.

A post that does little

2005-10-10T07:41:00.000Z

red sky in the morning...

Little, excepts proves that I can get up this early. And that I've updated the sidebar. How long was that woeful error up there? I shudder to think...

Its hard to miss but...

2005-10-09T14:48:00.000Z

did anybody else notice that the front cover of the Guardian magazine yesterday (saturday) was almost entirely devoted to Charlotte Church's right breast?

Sadly I can't find the acual shot used on the cover.

2005-10-09T00:56:00.000Z

I didn't think I was going out last night. In fact, I said as much. It turned out I ended up out anyway. I just realised that I manged not to spend any money either.

Sadly that's not because some girl was buying me drinks. I was just on the water.

but as you can see it was a little bit busy.

And an important thing to note: the girl on the left making the very attractive yawning action was actually the prettiest girl in the place. She was very very nice looking. Bad timing I guess.

eek - its 10pm on a saturday night

2005-10-01T20:58:00.000Z

as it says in the sidebar... I've deleted a few dead links. And I'll aim to put some new ones in. Once I've worked out what I'm actually reading these days. Probably just news.bbc.co.uk really.

On a site note, I'm a bad bad person. And if this blog was differently themed you'd be reading a sordid tale of woe and dispicably out of character behaviour.

But its not. I wonder, do I have readers anymore?

I want an office

2005-09-30T10:52:00.000Z

my desk at the moment has neither chair nor computer...

I have an office now. I love having an office; after six months, I still get a little burst of delight when I walk in there. I love being able to close the door when I'm calling people, so I can concentrate on just what they are saying. Often I forget to open the door after the call. A few minutes later, I snap to attention and pull the door ajar again, because I can't hear the buzz of what's going on outside, and somehow that drives me a little crazy. I don't feel like I'm missing anything; I feel like I'm missing.

I feel like when you're sitting in the forest clearing, and it's been very peaceful and quiet, but your good sense tells you it's time to turn around and go back, because it's a long way home, and it's getting dark, and you have some friends who are wondering where you are.

from Danny O'Brien's Oblomovka

Americans continue to amaze me

2005-09-30T08:12:00.000Z

From "Overheard in New York" again:

Guy #1: How was it?
Guy #2: It was cool. Paris was fun, except for a few days we spent at museums...We went one day to this place...The Love or something...I guess it was all right. There were definitely a lot of people there...Julie was freaking out about this one painting, though.
Guy #1: What painting?
Guy #2: The Mona Lisa.
Guy #1: ...huh. Don't think I know it...I'm not really an art person though.
Guy #2: Yeah, I didn't know it either. It's by Michelangelo I think. But I didn't really get it...it's really small.

--Union Square station

How can the lowest common denominator be below "The Da Vinci Code"?

His Self-esteem Just Turned Fragile and Perishable

2005-09-29T16:03:00.000Z

its all JAG's fault... I'm hooked already...

From "Over Heard in New York":

Man #1: You go on ahead. You were here before me.
Man #2: Hey! She wasn't here before me!
Man #1: You see that area over there? It's for all the people who want your opinion. Go ahead, lady.

--Post Office, Prince Street

I really should get some work done. :S

its been a long week.

2005-09-25T12:36:00.000Z

I'm not used to this student life...

temptation and debt

2005-09-24T00:16:00.000Z

I really want one of these things. Even though I know I already have a 20GB one and that I barely use that. And that I have a "walkman" phone. That I don't use the functionality on.

I still want one...

I have a dream...

2005-09-13T22:40:00.000Z

and in that dream I update my blog. I've had a few posts on my mind. Beslan. Sept 11th. That I'm moving in two days. That things never change.

But I'm rubbish as I've said from the beginning. So whether I'll write them I don't know. Its all Canada's fault. Probably

Kottke might be right

2005-08-27T15:42:00.000Z

Ok... so blog-star Jason Kottke has abandoned Technorati.

The "kottke.org" smart list in my newsreader picks up stuff that Technorati never seems to get, and that's only pulling results from the ~200 blogs I read, most of which are not what you'd call obscure. What good is keeping track of 14 million blogs if you're missing 200 well-known ones? (And trackbacks perform even better...this post got 159 trackbacks but only 93 sites linking to it on Technorati.)

Over the past few months, I've been comparing the results from PubSub to those of Technorati and PS is kicking ass.

He's probably right but I won't be getting rid of the links. I think the tagging thing is a nice idea and does generate some traffic for me - even when I've been neglecting my long standing readers (sorry :$) by not bothering to update.

One thing I don't agree on is his mention of "trackback". Yes it does work really well - directly telling you when and where your own post has been referenced, but its not universally adopted and it is quite an involved process. In fact, its all a bit too complicated to explain, and Blogger doesn't support it. Although I think Haloscan has that ability.

hmmmm

2005-08-18T11:13:00.000Z

its not even really sunny outside anymore and still I fail to update.

I'm going to blame myspace. Its pretty evil really.

Nice sometimes though :)

Cripes!

2005-08-02T10:35:00.000Z

A new blog every second according to Technorati (via BBC News).

That's an awful lot of crazy people!

But what's more amazing is that the story made it to the news.bbc.co.uk "headlines" ticker thingy!

The times they are a changin' ...

Everybody with a blog?

2005-07-29T20:52:00.000Z

Back in the beginning I was managing one post a day. Oh how times have changed. Anyways...

A month ago (and yes I apologise - that's almost a millennia in internet time) the Los Angeles Times ran an experiment. It was an extension of the blog world's push for private comment and analysis or "op/ed".

They gifted people the opportunity to add their say to a story in a far more public way than the average blog. It all went rapidly wrong. People can't be trusted and, most frustratingly, I'm reminded of an old saying "empty vessels make the most noise".

John O'Farrell at The Guardian quickly responded with far more wit that I could muster, even with a month to think about it:

Following last week's "wikitorial" experiment by the Los Angeles Times allowing readers to rewrite its editorials on the net, this week's comment piece has been communally created by readers in an exciting online search for impartial and well-judged analysis

So Bush and Blair, your oil turns to blood for you, the Satan god-heads let Armenia earthquake be your warning (Leviticus 11,3) you will reap on the day of your bloodness judgment and twin towers (Zion money?) for Aids you have created with your so-called "scientists", your blood-dollars will be paid you in hell.

Article continues
Sorry, can we start this wiki-column again, this time without the nutter. And try to make sure the piece is pertinent and well-judged, with no axes to grind and no personal agendas.

Come to the Kohi Noor Tandoori in Twyford. Try our chicken patia and pilau rice. "My favourite curry house!" says TV's Carol Vorderman.

But here's the vaguely intelligent comment. Adding a wiki to a respected newspaper is just crazy, it just gives loonys attention. Its also completely unecessary. The combination of a blog (full of racist idiocy or whatever) plus Technorati is enough power to make a "live" comment.

Anybody who is interested can do a search for the article address or a particular unique tag or something and see what you've posted - and see it next to the rest of the world's comment. Technorati will even order things by "authority". Why give people the backing of an LATimes address?

There probably are other slightly more complicated methods like, for example, "TrackBack" but at the moment they're too involved to be useful.

Moon Landing

2005-07-20T12:00:00.000Z

In honour of the first moon landing in 1969 Google has added NASA photos to the Maps interface. Google Moon-Maps.

Zoom-in on the Apollo 11 landing site. :)

Potter

2005-07-16T15:53:00.000Z

I don't care about JK Rowling's latest childrens book. I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books - I had no idea they existed until the first film came out and suddenly the whole world was going nuts over wizards and stuff. Did anybody else survive the 90s without being sucked in?

Anyways, as the end of the embargo approached speculation on the plot rose; not least at The Guardian. They called upon readers to come up with the most dramatic scene, the death of Dumbledore. The twist was to write in the style of some other author.

It must be a consequence of my painful GCSE English Literature course, but my favourite was the Geoffrey Chaucer (Canterbury Tales) interpretation:

The Poppynge of the Clogges

At Hogwarte's, schoole of wizardrye,

Unfoldeth drede folle tragedie!

Yonge Ron Weasleye, and classmayt Pottyr:

Fallen preye to 'tvylerottyr,

Who, throughoute Harry's sadde lyfe,

Hath been the source of muche stryfe;

Hys parente's lyves, rendyred shorte,

By naughtie manne: Voldemorte!

Pottyr and freynd, in't towyr trapp'd,

At mercie of thyss eevil ratte!

What woe! What payn! Unluckiness!

[continues]

Top stuff. There's something about Middle English that adds to the arcane magical theme. Other highlights include in the style of "The Sun".

My Word . . .

2005-07-12T15:30:00.000Z

My word . . . there are a lot of freckles on display today. And yes, I do plan to write a proper post at some point. I'm just being lazy. And its sunny.

And so it begins.

2005-07-09T14:28:00.000Z

The reprisals have started.

On my way into town this morning I spotted a police car parked up on the other side of the road. Then I saw there was a area tapped off. It couldn't be I thought to myself.

In the little row of shops, a cobbler, a mechanic, property barely more than terraced houses, there is a mosque. Its nothing extravagant at all - it doesn't advertise its presence, I'd driven past it for years and not noticed it at all. The windows just have an Arabic arch thing going on and have been painted green.

In the past I've seen small amounts of grafiti on the front, no more than any wall sees in a city. Today I couldn't really believe it - at least I didn't want to.

The front door and porch had been torched. On the way back the door was open with police going in and out - it looked like the whole ground floor had gone up. Petrol poured through the letter box I guess.

I'd thought that small minded people had got this crap out of their system in 2001. Lumping together extremists with ordinary people simply because they have the same religious texts is just crazy. You know it. I know it.

I think the thugs that torched the mosque know it really. "They're all suicide bombers" Kilroy-Silk type logic is just a cover - the thugs just don't like people that are less white than they are.

a clearing picture of London

2005-07-07T17:04:00.000Z

The information is clearing up now. Four explosive devices. The internet and technorati in particular joined the mobile networks in straining under the pressure of millions of people clamering for information. Reports from the Guardian suggest that more than 1300 posts had been indexed by Technorati by 1015am all referencing the explosions. That's a serious response.

Reuters.co.uk fell over in the morning. But news.bbc.co.uk and The Guardian kept their servers running, updating whenever they had new information.

The wikinews article was top stuff too.

The reaction to this crisis from emergency services and from everybody else has been amazing. Everybody has made efforts to pass on the vital information as fast and as widely as possible.

Had this information not been available this could have been much more difficult in London, on the roads, on the switchboards and in the stations.

buses and trains 2

2005-07-07T11:56:00.000Z

Charles Clarke has spoken in The Commons (1pm) - confirming four explosions. Three on tube trains and the bus. Edgware Road explosion at the station. The other two were on trains between stations - hence the casualities / smoke etc at groups of stations.

A recue operation is on going in a tunnel outside of King's Cross station.

Investigations ongoing in South Kensington and Marleybone. What that means is unclear.

Eyewitess report from staff at the BMA (outside the Bus incident) suggest a terrible scene - a great deal of work by paramedics must be going on out of sight and underground.

buses and trains

2005-07-07T09:33:00.000Z

fuck.

Reports of more than one blast on the Tube. At least one double decker bus has been blown up - removing the top deck in the explosion.

Fuck.

UPDATE 12.23:

It has been confirmed that there have been at least six explosions. There are unconfirmed reports of explosions on a bus in South Kensington and elsewhere.

Eyewitness reports are difficult to interpret. Lots of people (esp at Liverpool Street) report being walked past the carriages that had been damaged by explosion to get to the platforms.

Other reports seem to track with the "powersurge" thing - lights flickering before explosions at platforms.

Certainly people have been killed - BBC footage of the Royal London hospital showed an ambulance crew desperately working on a burned man - it seemed like they'd broken his ribs trying to keep his heart beating. Terrible.

Tony Blair has made a statement confirming that he will be returning to London shortly and that the G8 conference will continue. He believed that it had been a terroist incident.

London cell networks seem to have fallen over - or at least have reached maximum capacity - so I'd stick to txt messages but call only if absolutely necessary.

Latest 12.29 - now confirming seven explosions - including Moorgate tube (I think).

Comment on BBC News site suggests that there had been a security alert at Bank station before the Aldgate incident.

London 2012

2005-07-06T15:13:00.000Z

Ok, so London has won the competition to stage the 2012 Olympics. That's seven years away. Soon be here. And yet . . . I'll be nearing thirty. Bollocks.

I'm going to have to start training for Beijing, I'll be too old for London.

My hopes have been dashed.

a quick comic

2005-07-05T22:04:00.000Z

The whole strip is funny. You can find it here.

Live 8

2005-07-02T16:06:00.000Z

Is it just me that thinks that Kofi Annan looked a little scared when the Live 8 organisers thrust him on stage in London with no microphone?

changing the character of the courts

2005-07-01T18:12:00.000Z

[from DailyKos]:

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said today she is retiring.

O'Connor, 75, said she expects to leave before the start of the court's next term in October, or whenever the Senate confirms her successor. There was no immediate word from the White House on who might be nominated to replace O'Connor.

It's been 11 years since the last opening on the court, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history. O'Connor's decision gives Bush his first opportunity to appoint a justice.

``This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor. It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms.

I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure.''

The White House has refused to comment on any possible nominees, or whether Bush would name a woman to succeed O'Connor. Her departure leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only other woman among the current justices.

This pretty scary, it'll change things for years. So for Americans, I'm following instructions:

Whatever happens with the Supreme Court nomination battle that is about to ensue, it's going to happen fast. Here are some things you can do right now:

* If you have a cell phone, sign up for People at the American Way's Mass Immediate Response site. This way, you'll be able to receive text message action items instantly as events break. (If you signed up during the nuclear option fight, you'll need to re-sign up.)

* Also sign up with the Save the Court, another PFAW website devoted specifically to this issue.

* Recruit friends and family members to the cause.

* Write to the President, telling him he should choose a consensus candidate to replace O'Connor.

* Contact your Senators to tell them the same thing.

If you have any other action items, please post them in the comments below, with links.

Update [2005-7-1 11:33:32 by DavidNYC]: If you have a blog, please post these action items on your site. If you don't, e-mail them to your like-minded buddies and relatives.

Climate Change Reading

2005-06-30T12:19:00.000Z

The Guardian has published a thirty+ page section on Climate Change today. I think its entitled "Heat".

Mental Note: go buy newspaper go buy newspaper go buy newspaper

UPDATE: I've failed to get hold of a copy. Neither the local newsagent nor the supermarket had one. Maybe there are a few more people scared by climate change than Tony realises.

In the Guardian's absence, the top story seemed to be this. The race relations act might be called upon to deal with a Big Brother contestant. Nice to know the British people aren't letting Endemol down.

Upgrade

2005-06-29T10:56:00.000Z

I've just found out that as part of BT's line upgrade plan I'm getting a free upgrade to 2Mb soon. And with no usage caps. I do love Demon.

Crazy Commentary

2005-06-27T18:59:00.000Z

I'm watching the BBC coverage of the Federa - Ferrero match at Wimbledon. When refering to Federa's near unbeatable play one of the commentators just said "he's so intimidating when he's playing in this swash-buckling style."

What exactly is "swash"? And how does it "buckle"?

KT Tunstall

2005-06-25T20:24:00.000Z

The BBC's Glastonbury coverage has resulted in me going on a small spending spree. I'm now totally hooked on this lovely lady.

Her arty name is KT Tunstall - Kate wasn't edgy enough or something :)

If you head over to a part of the cavenous BBC website that I didn't know existed you'll find videos of a couple of interviews and three live performances. Just her and a guitar. She's great and I can't wait to see her live in Manchester in October.

Her official site can of course be found here. And you can purchase the album from all good record stores and Amazon.

Now if the BBC would just put her full performance up on BBC3's coverage I'll be happy.

UPDATE: and now they have, a full half hour set. KT was looking very pretty in pink and having a great time. Brilliant use of loopy-pedal-thingy, cello and trumpet - especially on "Stoppin' The Love" - go on, watch the older BBC session if you didn't catch the Glasto one!

I'm happy.

Finally!

2005-06-24T19:24:00.000Z

Finally, Blogger will let you upload images properly. No more of the rubbish Hello/Picasa stuff or messing around with Flickr. Huzzah!

Although I should say that Flickr is great, just not ideal when writing a quick post - its far too involved. Although it usually works unlike Blogger's thing which seems to have broken already!

Been away for a while

2005-06-23T18:03:00.000Z

I've been away for a while, during my absence I've mastered the art of "punting" and cemented my Englishness by getting sunburnt completely unnecessarily. EDIT (apparently its possible to punt one-handed, it would seem I'm far from an expert. But I didn't get wet. )

On a more current note - Tim Henman has been knocked out of Wimbledon on day four. Excellent.

Keeping with the tennis theme who'll second me in the position that Daniela Hantuchova should get far more attention than Maria Sharapova?

Dr. Who Finale

2005-06-18T18:53:00.000Z

I'll generally watch anything sci-fi. Even the really dodgy cable shows. I drew the line at "FireFly", but now I'm even breaking that resolution.

With that in mind I've suprised myself by completely failing to watch Dr. Who in its new and shiny BBC incarnation. I watched the first couple of episodes but then just gave up. Until I caved in again and ended up watching the last couple of episodes.

The finish to the series was proper sci-fi with a cool "Phoenix from XMen" type moment.

I think I'll be making an effort to catch the repeats. And if I had kids I'd definitely be looking forward to sitting down and watching the next series with all the kids hiding behind the sofa.

To Oxford people

2005-06-16T11:38:00.000Z

hope 8th week is going well. Why are you in front of a computer and not on a punt?
Poor poor formerly Virgin Student. Assuming it was real.

UPDATE: it wasn't real. A confession of sorts can be found here.

circulation

2005-06-15T16:22:00.000Z

The internet is terribly predictable sometimes. My previous post on "Sin City" was tagged with "Jessica Alba" and has become by far the most popular post I've written. It gets clickthroughs from the tag page all the time.

Not that I can blame people for looking - she's absolutely gorgeous. Stunning.

Further evidence can be found here.

A good excuse

2005-06-11T13:30:00.000Z

Following up on my previous post questioning why we blog, gives me a good excuse to link to "Hit The JaG Spot". A million years ago in blog time (last sunday real time) the very lovely JaG was forced to question herself: "To Blog or Not to Blog?"

The contents of a previous post had come back to bite her in real life:

It felt like I was being punished for choosing to be outspoken and for choosing to let someone close read my blog. Yes this is the internet and no one is forcing me to put stuff on it, but still, using my own words as if they are absolute truths and throwing them back into my face feels so unfair.

I'm reminded of Mission: Impossible. "I can't tell you what a comfort anonymity is in my line of work. Its like a warm blanket"

If I had:

2005-06-10T13:51:00.000Z

If I had a great deal of money right now and the opportunity, what do you think I would buy?

Nope. Wrong.

I'd buy an unblockable shower.

I'm fed up of my shower turning into a foot-spa.

Now you know.

A habit forming

2005-06-05T15:53:00.000Z

I can see there's a habit forming... the classic eBay addiction maybe. Why did I reenable my PayPal account? I know it will only end in tears.

Just as long as I stay away from the commemorative plates.

UPDATE: Its worse than I thought, I even managed to order stuff I didn't want. If I'm going to waste money on Ebay I might as well read the bloody information before bidding. Bollocks.

Sin City

2005-06-04T01:13:00.000Z

I've just had a nice evening, chocolate and cookie cheesecake followed by seeing "Sin City" (IMDB).

It was very good, although its difficult to say I enjoyed it. Definitely earned its 18 certificate. Pretty gruesome stuff at times. But very impressive, if you like the look of the trailers and are prepared for the violence you'll like it. The comic book, noir style is carried off extremely well. With special care taken on everybody's eyes. Bruce Willis' eyes in his first scene carry the whole scene.

I'd say that Sin City owes a great deal to Quentin Tarantino. I don't think this movie would have been possible in this form without Kill Bill and without Reservoir Dogs. Do you remember the controvesy surrounding that undercover cop's ear?

Sin City moves beyond that. I'm shocked that there haven't been crys of "Won't somebody please think of the children", but then times are achanging.

and I nearly forgot... Jessica Alba; fit. Just beautiful, even playing a stripper.

UPDATE(15th June): search engine clickthroughs please jump ahead to here for Jessica lovelyness.

Another Friday.

2005-06-03T11:28:00.000Z

Another Friday and things have changed somewhat since the last one. For starters, there's exciting news that my blog is the top link for searches on the word Kazagstan. I never thought I'd have the top rank on anything.

In fact I should say that I've had another phantom international call. I managed to answer this one and they just hung up, all very odd. I spent ages searching web for international and local city codes and I'm now pretty convinced that call came from Russia rather than Kazagstan. I'm still no closer to working out who the hell could be calling me!

But a vastly more dramatic change is Carter's exit from ER [link]. After eleven years its difficult to know what they're going to do without him. Clues can be taken from this past season though, there were fewer classic Carter episodes than in previous years and thenhe ends up just slipping away at the end of the season. His final shift echoes Mark Green's last shift (which is fitting in a, student becomes the teacher type way) but Mark was given half a season to leave and it was sad. Really sad.

So Carter is gone and it won't be the same, but it just didn't hurt enough, even Corday's exit matched it. At least Lewis should get more lines now.

This post has ended up all ER ER ER ER. Sorry if you're not interested!

raison d'être

2005-05-29T14:47:00.000Z

A post by ChickyBabe questioning her raison d'être has prompted me to get back to what I must have been thinking about when I started this blog. I think maybe there are a couple of big posts knocking around in the back of my head that should arrive eventually.

There are a lot of blogs about. Technorati is indexing 10 million, 90percent from the last two years. MSN Spaces has 10 million by itself and that's just this year. That's an awful lot of information. Its probably enough writing to say, reach the moon if you print it all out and pile all the A4 paper up. Maybe not, but you get the idea. Nobody can keep up with that much info, its borg-collective type stuff.

And this is where one of the other posts that's in the back of my head would fit in, but I'll save it for another time because it would be going too far off topic.

You can only keep up with a few sources. Some of them might have a huge circulation like BoingBoing and give you twenty entries to read in a day, while others might be sporadically updated personal journals detailing where to get good pasta in Louisiana.

So this is my question, not "why do I write" but "why do I read"?

I started off with a few well known names, and a few "Best of" lists and then a few blogrolls later and I'm checking what feels like hundreds of pages each day. But those are resonably rewarding, simply because its self-selecting - "I read you because of some shared interest. You read them because of some other shared interest." and soon you've got a cluster of links all in one theme.

Its a third class of links within my reading list that I'm most worried about. They've crept up on me and I'm worried that its these that are most likely to become overwhelming. Its not because they're throwing a massive amount of information at me, its because this third class is the only one in which I feel I owe the authors.

Yep, I'm looking at you, the readers. Don't get uncomfortable, its ok! I wanted readers but I've gone about it in the wrong way. It should be just a question of content but its become a question of content and comment.

I can't be only one that does it, craving feedback. And then cultivating that feedback by visiting my own visitors' sites. And then I'm hooked. Feeling obligated to keep checking back and repaying the favour of a comment with more feedback. Its all very friendly on the surface but could it just be the blogging equivalent of meeting that vague aquaintence on the street and exchanging a hollow "Hey, how are you. Good? Yeah me too, fine. Alright, nice to see you, call soon."

I think the knock-on effect is a change in motivation for writing. Writing for the audience instead of whatever the reason used to be. That's something that I don't want to happen.

Friday again

2005-05-27T12:32:00.000Z

Its twenty-odd degrees here today and my hayfever has gone wild, its driving me crazy. I even sneezed twice while at the bloody counter buying medicine. Bah Humbug!

Its thirty degrees in London apparently. 30! It must be horrible on the tube. In the summer conditions get so bad they break EU rules on the transport of livestock...

Liverpool Victory Parade

2005-05-26T19:42:00.000Z

There are half a million people on the streets of Liverpool this evening as the Liverpool team does its victory tour. It looks mad:

BBC coverage here. Reports now that the bus won't make it to the centre of town until 10.30pm. That looks optimistic to be honest. Its probably impossible to get a beer in town!

The End.

2005-05-25T16:26:00.000Z

That's it. I'm giving up on the British public. There's no hope for them. Read this and weep with me.

Lazy post for today

2005-05-24T19:41:00.000Z

I've spent the day away from the computer. Pretty shocking these days. And I'm not really in the mood for a big comment on stuff, so instead today's post will be another small clear out of my del.icio.us links. :)

First up is a song analysis from Love is a C***. Not what I was expecting - I should really try to pay more attention to pop music. In fact, it reminds me of "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, who asks, "which came first? The pop music or the sadness?" Anyways that post marks the beginning of their "LIAC-Radio"!

Next up is a Guardian story about the future of Channel 4.

Stephen Brook
Tuesday May 24, 2005

Channel 4 has to break away from television to become an "entertainment brand" active in everything from mobile phones to computer games, its chairman said.

I can't quite see why really. I like Channel 4 as it is.

And to finish, a link to repository of history's "Top 100 Speeches". Which is nice because you get to here Kennedy's inaugural Address and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" amongst a whole load of others.

Heart Stopping

2005-05-22T15:49:00.000Z

I went shopping yesterday, as you do on a Saturday afternoon. I was looking for a pair of cufflinks. Boy did I pick the wrong shop.

"We have these available." Hmmm, too fancy, I want something simpler, nothing fussy. "Well, we have these. They're in white-gold." Mmmmm... they're great. And um, how much would they be? "Let me just check. I'm just looking for the engraving... Ah! yes, they're nine hundred and ninety pounds."

I didn't even blink. But I'm quite sure that my iris must have done something, along with my heart stopping. GBP990 ! Right, ok, so, um, ok, I'd like to keep looking actually, you're the first shop I've been in. erm... thanks very much... bye.

Answers?

2005-05-20T19:44:00.000Z

As promised I have been thinking about why I have a blog. It turns out they're pretty simple:

I know I should be doing something useful

I don't want to do anything useful

Blogging takes up a big chunk of time without accomplishing anything

Which brings me round towards this:

Honda's genius advertising campaign "Hate something, change something", which was devised by a very tall man with very long grey hair - just in case you wanted to know...

Apart from having an infectious tune that you can't get out of your head, its a cool message.

I know there's something wrong. Why don't I change it?

Crazy

2005-05-20T19:14:00.000Z

I was just checking my visitor logs. Somebody clicked through from the Technorati tag page for WalMart. They went directly to my Tesco post from the other day.

Their IP address was listed as "wal-mart.com". Scary stuff, that's the lawyers trawling the internet for bad words said about The Firm.

Monbiot -v- Ebell

2005-05-19T16:50:00.000Z

Myron Ebell and George Monbiot intervied on BBC Radio4's "Today" programme. ~~You can listen to it here. That link will probably break after today - I'll try and update it when I find a permanent link.~~ [UPDATE: the permalink to the RealPlayer file should be here.]

Ebell works for a "think-tank" which has been funded millions of dollars by Exxon and I don't think Monbiot likes him very much.

Monbiot: "I challenge Myron now, here in front of four million people, to a bet. I bet five-thousand pounds of my own money. That the Global Average Temperature over the next decade will be higher than the Global Average Temperature over the last ten years. The bet to fall due on May 19th 2015. So come on, put your money where your mouth is."

Ebell: "I have four children to put through college, I can't afford to take risks"

Now that's environmental debate!

The two of them are speaking in a debate at the Oxford Union Society this evening (link). They're going to battle over the motion "This House believes that alarmism has replaced science in the global warming debate".

I'm gutted that I'm not in Oxford this year and I can't make it. I'm really going to have to sort out my term card...

Why?

2005-05-18T23:51:00.000Z

I just went to see "Kingdom of Heaven". It was terrible. Orlando Bloom just can't carry the big motivational speech.

Not even close. :(

Also, Herge has reminded me that I still haven't answered the question in my blog title. I guess I should really do that at some point. Or at least try.

Maybe "why must everybody have a blog" is probably a bit big to tackle now. So, for the moment I'll just deal with "why must I have a blog?"

Hmmmm.... I'll get back to you...

Phantom Caller

2005-05-17T17:41:00.000Z

I just missed a call on my mobile. That's always annoying, especially as I was this close, but the really annoying thing is that the number seems to be an international one.

A call from Kazagstan in fact! I've got no idea who that could be and I'm really gutted I didn't get there in time. I'm not calling central asia to find out it was a wrong number!

Very bizzare though.

Tesco

2005-05-17T15:05:00.000Z

Another nice article from George Monbiot.

Today's comment is on the increasing power the supermarkets, Tesco in particular, hold over the publishing industry and journalists.

In the US, Wal-Mart (which owns Asda in the UK) has told Cosmopolitan to remove cover billings about abortion.(10) It has delisted the lad mags Maxim, FHM and Stuff, and banned an album by Sheryl Crow, which criticised Wal-Mart for selling guns.(11) Its policies, the evangelical group Focus on the Family exults, have hit publishers “like a brick in the head.”(12) Now AOL Time Warner, according to the New York Post, is “consulting very closely with Wal-Mart to help figure out the type of magazine the giant retailer would like to see on its racks.”(13)

In the UK, Tesco is alleged to be doing something similar. “According to senior publishing industry sources,” the Observer reports, “Tesco has asked to see copies of covers prior to publication and asked for late changes on at least one occasion.”(14) And this is before the OFT changes the rules.

This is just crazy. A journalist expects editorial control, accepts that the "big boss" might put an oar in with an eye to keeping the advertisers happy. The main thing has always been to increase circulation by writing articles that appeal to the readers.

The threat that Tesco poses to sales figures is changing that completely. Increase circulation by writing what Tesco wants to see? That's crazy and definitely not in the public's best interest.

Clearly Tesco and WalMart don't need to make any more money and we certainly don't need to buy our newspapers and magazines from them.

Visit Spam?

2005-05-16T21:33:00.000Z

Its happened twice now I think. My hit-counter jumps up a load and when I go to check it with SiteMeter, there's a big spike, and loads of closely timed visits all claiming to be from different blogs that don't link to mine.

Is this some kind of viral marketing ploy? Visit spam? Maybe its a SiteMeter feature? Designed to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside because people seem to be reading your site?

Does anybody else use SiteMeter? Is it something I should have known about?

Lazy

2005-05-15T17:41:00.000Z

I had it all in my head. I was going to write a tremendously insightful, thought provoking piece referencing Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and 1940s German behaviour towards their Jewish neighbours.

All prompted by the convergence of tv scheduling and Lisa's visit to UBC to meet some Holocaust survivors.

But now I'm not. I decided it wasn't going to be very original and probably a little too adversarial. So count yourselves lucky! :)

I'm sure I'll come up with something interesting to write about soon. If not, there was something I wanted to say about yesterday's breakfast. Ohhhh yes.

So in place of a long post from me, I urge you all to head over to Finding Yonder, and read Maddy's beautiful, sad and astounding story, start here maybe.