I need some inconsistency

Magnolia's not working

2006-03-15T15:12:00.000Z

I don't know why but for some reason the social tagging and bookmarking website ma.gnolia.com is down. They've let their domain name expire?

William Orbit 'Spiral' Lyrics

2006-03-12T18:16:00.000Z

The idea is that if you're looking for lyrics of William Orbit + Sugababes and their song 'Spiral' then you'd head over to my new, or 'other' blog because that's where google is sending some people.

Oddly, it's not linking to the post itself, but to the homepage which is majorly annoying. I don't know what's up with that. Very strange.

Some people stop blogging

2005-08-09T22:31:00.000Z

I don't stop blogging, I just direct the reader to a newer, more beautiful site that's full of color and light and pretty things that XP's Internet Explorer just hates to high heaven. My long time blogging inspiration, Patricia over at thelast5pages.com is throwing in the towel. I think she's still going to 'maintain' her site, but the musings on the random thoughts of everyday life are going to stop, the mo-blog is going to wind down, and her site will drift in space, locked in its deliberate keep-out-google confines of 'nofollow' tags and 'crawler beware' signs.

If I ever take a bit of a pause in my blogging, it's never really worth writing about because I'm back to the fold within a week or so. I have too many interesting things I've read to tell everyone about, I have too many thoughts or ideas or inspirations in my mind to not want to put them out there.
I don't care if nobody reads what I have to say because most of the time there's nothing of consequence to it, but I like to think that by writing down what interests me, I'll have some sort of personal record, some sort of public diary of what has taken place in my life and some of the things I've seen.
It's like how I don't like to read library books because if I have to return the book, how will I remember that I've read it. I'm such a slower and occasional book-reader that when I finish something, it's really worth having read. I don't mind that fact that I'm a slow reader, but not having a book that I've actually taken the time to read seems like a cruel trick.

If I ever stop blogging, you know I'm just biding my time to find some greater, more colorfull and creative way to come back with a bang.

It's all about the focus

2005-03-06T00:39:00.000Z

As I continue to struggle with the main problem of my writing, namely what in particular to write about, what to really concentrate on, I will meander along the alleyways of the web and the news and the culture of today in an attempt to find some real focus. I have no idea what it's going to be, but there it is.

It's just that writing about only one subject seems so limiting, so shallow. I suppose it means you'd eventually become some sort of authority about it, simply through reading so much about it, but I really don't know if I have the attention span to maintain that kind of thing. Perhaps a group blog about a couple different topics where each person could blog to their own individual strengths. It's a thought....

All clear!

2005-02-08T01:12:00.000Z

I'm so completely over being sick - I bored myself better; I'd become so tired of being ill that I just had to be better. One scary thing, my mother asking me "you're not HIV+ are you" when she commented on how I'd had a flu-like thing four times in the last two years. I'm like... how whoreish does she think I am?! Scary mad.
Anyway, back on form, but not really posting here as much as I should because I'm still trying to sort out www.sortroom.net so that images actually display on IE 6 and so forth. If you can't see it - it's Microsoft's fault and I'm working to make images work by a hack for the site design so that there's a special version for IE.

The internet's a real pain to be honest; such a lot of bother...

Carl Cameron in the White House

2005-02-01T20:22:00.000Z

As revealed in Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's war on journalism, the wife of chief political correspondent for the Fox News Channel,Carl Cameron, actively campaigned for the President during November's presidential elections. When interviewing Bush during the campaign Bush asks after Cameron's family. The reply:
"[They're] very well, my wife has been hanging out with your sister."
Bush replies:
"She's a good soul, she's a really good soul."

In a website report dated October 1st for Fox News, Cameron notoriously fabricated quotes from Senator John Kerry including:

"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!" Kerry said Friday.

This work, and the other documented troubles with Cameron (link), don't show the objectivity one would normally expect of a national news channel. As a result I was astonished to hear, on an NPR program called On the Media (Jan 28 2005), that Cameron has just last Wednesday joined the White House Press Corps as the Channel's White House correspondent. Now we have a man who George Bush already knows on first name terms, whose wife has campaigned for Bush, spoonfeeding the President easy questions that will push his political agenda, as is discussed in the OTM piece which can also be watched on a PBS archive here in which Cameron corrects his use of private [social security] accounts to personal accounts. A small change but indicative of the attitudes of the reporter.

Result of an illness

2005-01-31T11:40:00.000Z

I've been sick in bed with the 'flu all weekend and it looks like I'll be here all of today too. I've been couging and spluttering and generally feeling sorry for myself. It's not a great look - whenever I go near a mirror I scare myself back into bed because my hair is just so crazed. It sticks out at odd angles and in weird patterns that make me wonder how exactly I cause them; how do I sleep in such odd ways?

I'm not too pleased about being sick, but there's nothing I can do except stay in bed and sweat it out. Anyway, the supposed changes that were coming, will be a little later since I haven't been able to work on them. So keep calm and wait. It'll be worth it when its done.

A certain stillness

2005-01-27T19:19:00.000Z

There's reduced activity on the home front; there's a stillness in the air that makes one wonder if a major assault is imminent. Change is coming and things will look different soon. Changes are coming.

wasting time

2005-01-26T09:54:00.000Z

I woke up two hours early today, long before my appointed hour, for a class that has now been cancelled for not apparent reason; perhaps the lecturer simply couldn't face it this morning. The worst thing about it, having to sit next to the wet drips who are the Biology students in this place - it's like talking to a defrosting fridge - slow, morose, cold and unaware.

Crushed worshippers

2005-01-26T09:36:00.000Z

In a tragic turn of events, a party of worshippers set fire to shops surrounding a Hindu temple 150 miles south of Bombay yesterday, after they heard news that relatives and loved ones had been earlier trampled to death.
The incident occurred after an earlier festival event went awry when participants slipped and fell on spilt coconut juice, a part of the ceremony, then were trampled to death by some of the 300,000 strong crowds pushing forwards to make their own religious offerings. When their relatives heard that the events had been fatal they set fire to nearby structures, resulting in a further stamped and the loss of over 250 lives.

"The fires were set along a packed, narrow walkway lined with tea stalls and shops leading up a hill to the temple. They set off what witnesses said was a stampede of screaming crowds fleeing in horror.

Though his leg was injured in the stampede, Yerunkar, a 45 year old pilgrim from Bombay, said he helped pull 15 people alive from a mound of bodies. "But I couldn't find my wife Nirmala. I kept shouting for her,'' he said, weeping uncontrollably.

His wife of 22 years was among the dead. Yerunkar fainted when he identified her body at the Wai hospital."

-The Malaysia Star

link

Hello? This is room service

2005-01-25T10:15:00.000Z

It was a courtesy call; I knocked on the door of a friend of mine, down the corridor in my dorm. It's just after 10 o'clock in the morning so I assumed it was safe to think that she'd either be awake and working or gone into University already.
Much to my surprise, a wail comes from behind the door, a plea for peace that astounded me with it breadth,

"Can you give me like... thirty minutes?"

Uninspiring choices

2005-01-25T02:14:00.000Z

It's being reported today that the forthcoming film adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code will star Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

Reuters is reporting that the director of A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard will also direct this movie. Whilst Howard is an interesting choice, bound to create the necessary tapestry of storylines that weave the tale to a conclusion, the heavy style of Tom Hanks and his recent over use in Hollywood productions, will offset the tone of the film.

Tautou's delicate style is the one redeeming feature - she's a wildcard in the mix that may save the production from being a standard laborious thriller. Her skill in leading the camera is perfect for a mystery of this nature and hopefully her abilities will make the film, but Tom Hanks still rankles. Though he may be an adept director, as shown in Band of Brothers, he should take a break from pressuring the public with high profile, low intelligence movies.

Have some fortitude!

2005-01-24T23:50:00.000Z

Just as Chrisafer was yesterday asking the US Democrats to have some sort of backbone, today the UK press is asking the 'New Labour' government to hold firm on their immigration stance. The Conservative party, in a desperate attempt to swing right-wing voters back towards their fold, have been calling for caps on the numbers of asylum seekers allowed into the country each year, and swift ("but fair") return to their home country, the country they'd been fleeing.

"It's not racist, as some people claim, to talk about controlling immigration - far from it. It is plain common sense - a vastly underrated quality in British politics today."

My question is this; why is it that I really don't care that the British are being their usual racist selves, why does it all seem so insignificant. When politics swings into action on a European scale, on a US scale - when decisions really affect thousands of people, I begin to care. Now, it's just so small. If I'm reading news from across the globe, the xenophobia of a guy who only won 15 million votes doesn't matter to me; my interest isn't raised. Should I care?

Howard calls for strict immigration cap
Migrant madness

Speaking of improvements

2005-01-24T23:45:00.000Z
This is yet another design. Forgive me the lack of style - I hand coded it and therefore, it's a bit raw. I'll do the graphics and prettiness over the next few days. I can't stand it looking quite so bare as it does at the moment. It all takes time. Time which I've spent today, but time which only produces limited results despite the hour. Not being a natural webdesigner, coding by hand (since Dreamweaver etc really doesn't work all that well with Blogger), takes me an extraordinarily long time.

By the end of the week, it'll look good.

Google makes me better

2005-01-24T23:34:00.000Z
In reading through goodle's zeitgeist today, I came across a page in which the company details how the google websearch improves people's efficiency through correcting our spelling. The example they gave was that of Britney Spears, the ever present pop-princess. She was Google's number one search query for 2004 and apparently, some people still don't know how to spell her name, for there are thousands of people who had to have their searches corrected by the Google bot. Of course some of this is simply mistyping the new madonna's name, but some people evidently had never seen her name written down, or on a screen or whilst watching tv. There were 332 combinations of errors in spelling her name - and these are just the spellings that occurred when more than one person typed in the query.

1096 britiney spears
   991 britaney spears
   991 britnay spears
   811 brithney spears
   811 brtiney spears
   664 birtney spears
   664 brintney spears
   664 briteney spears
   601 bitney spears

how to spell brytni spears

Galvanize this!

2005-01-23T23:17:00.000Z
The Chemical Brothers have released their next single on us, a huge dance track that is going to take over with its repetative beat and heavy bass. The video is crazy, shot with kids who look twelve years old, sneaking into a dance club with their faces painted like clowns. They run around the streets of the city and eventually infiltrate the club's impromptu freestyling competition on the dancefloor. It's crazy and busy and flashes by your eyes; perfect for the song, perfect for the sound.

link

Spoon me

2005-01-21T20:37:00.000Z
One of my most cherished friends from this place is leaving.
She's on her way home to another country, across oceans and miles of tundra, cold and heat, vast distances.

Perhaps I'll see her again, perhaps I won't. I hope we keep together. She's going to be married next year to a guy I haven't talked to her about; I know nothing about 'them' and don't know what it'll be like. I'm going to miss her a lot even though we never had a very deep or meaningful relationship.

Tonight, as a going away evening, we're going to get drunk and play Spoons in the bar. She's an expert at getting wasted and having a good time. I'm an expert in taking care of those who get wasted, whilst trying to not get drunk myself. Tonight, both of these activities will be a challenge.

Spoons; the language of silliness and childish play makes the most enjoyable evening wherever you are.

The Notebook: Russell Beattie

2005-01-18T22:27:00.000Z
I'm really liking the trademark and copyright, technology and comment site by Russel Beattie. Perhaps I've missed something over that last few years but I've never heard of him, and I think he's great!

I hope I don't find something horrible on his site in a few days time, making me regret thinking I like him! I'm sure he's a dude.

link

Also of note, I'm engrossed in a review of the iPod Shuffle, which I orderd a couple days ago, on iPodlounge.com. It's great - in depth and long but not overly pontificating; strangely unusual on the web!

link

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

2005-01-17T16:21:00.000Z
Today is time for a new look. Every so often - especially when I use another computer and find that a feature I thought was working isn't - I snap into a 'new design mood'. Today is that day - and so we have a grey and green look for the site. It's a new mood and a new look and hopefully it'll not crash, have an annoying sidebar halfway down the page or falter when used by IE. For some reason I've had to delete all modifications from my sidebars for IE to understand them - it really doesn't make sense - the Internet Browser from On High seems to be rather picky and even more choosy about what elements of a site it renders correctly. On the other hand, Firefox and Safari have no problems! I don't know; I despaired and so didn't bother trying to fix it for more than an hour - I got fed up.
Now it's a different style that I'll muck around with once my computer's back up and running. For the moment, suffer in a Blogger-induced standard template. It works and doesn't glitch when doing nothing but its basic job: presenting the page.

"Enjoy now! Run along, don't diddle daddle on the road there children. Run! And Y'all have a good time won't you. Have a real good time"

Disconnected Aspirations

2005-01-16T13:41:00.000Z
I have been, and will continue to be temporarily disconnected from the web for the moment. I'm in the midst of an Apple warranty-replacement operation since my Powerbook's power supply stopped working entirely a couple days ago, having been operating in fits and starts for a number of weeks. It gave up the ghost and so I'm now stuck with an empty battery and a lack of connection.
I've even resorted to buying a newspaper in hard copy to get some news; I was shocked by my own gaul!

Back soon, read BoingBoing or something instead - it seems like the 'fashionable' thing to do now, so, may as well stick with it since it now gets you credit on the blogging 'street'. I feel like the offspring of a bohemian family who've suddenly realised that what they've lived their whole life is, suddenly, intensely cool and desired by all. But in my situation I'm really just the friend of a bohemain offspring who gets a little cool rubbed off by association...
It's that mediocre level of cool that is so difficult to aspire to!

Comment posts

2005-01-11T13:02:00.000Z
I'm really sorry if you've commented on the site and not had a reply - there's some crazy stuff been going on with my email link that sends me commetns whenever they're posted. Normally I don't actually read my own site (since I kind of know what's on there already) and so I hadn't seen that people were commenting when I didn't know about it. Hopefully it won't continue; I've changed things around a bit.

Anyway, that's all really, so I've been going through the comments, reading.
So I know you're there if you were there! Thanks for the input everyone!

link

Today's pearl of wisdom

2005-01-11T01:50:00.000Z

My memory gets worse every time I try to use it.

Want to know about porno in... Italy?

2005-01-09T23:37:00.000Z
In researching my paper on the political systems in Europe I somehow stumbled across this site that documents the status of various sexual issues in various countries around the world. It's the most detailed and, to be honest, fascinating read.

"A recent public opinion survey (Buzzi 1998) shows that most young Italians have a more severe judgment about the clients than about the prostitutes. Prostitution, however, is seen above all as a problem of public order, and 64.7 percent of young people agree with the idea of reestablishing brothels. Moreover, the majority of young men do not exclude the possibility of going with prostitutes."

Sexology of Italy

The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality

Oscar

2005-01-08T19:01:00.000Z
I'm doing an essay on Democracy now, and whilst looking for inspiration I came across this quote by Oscar Wilde; a unique interpretation on Abraham Lincoln's famous line.

"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the poeple by the people for the people."

It didn't inspire... me but it gave me at least of moment of respite from the utter boredom of writing.

It's too early to talk

2005-01-08T05:29:00.000Z
I've just finished re-writing an essay for my Politics course. The title is:

To what extent are immigration and asylum policies the main reason for the growth in electoral support for extreme right parties?

I wrote a good draft of it about a month ago but had decided that the draft was simply too badly written to hand in. So I've gone through it all over again and rewritten the whole thing, with all the references re-jigged and everything sorted. I sat down again to work on it at 10 PM after looking at other work all day, and then I worked through the night.
I'm on the top floor of our house and the rain is buffeting the Victorian structure like it's trying to push the whole building over. I feel like a bubble of light amidst the darkness. Everyone else is asleep and I'm all alone typing away in the sodium-swathed brightness.

And just as I finished, as I completed the last section of tedious and longwinded formatting, a song came on over my headphones. Thomas Newman's theme to American Beauty with its calm stillness and tranquility caught my mood and now I'm sitting in the brightness, surrounded by wind and rain, listening to the sounds of beauty.

Happy New Year from Japan

2005-01-08T01:28:00.000Z
Over New Years, when we were all away skiing we got messages from our amazing friend M in Tokyo. She was calling to wish us Happy New Year and her voice remains one of the most contemplative, sad and yet friendly sounds I think I've ever heard.

I was struck by the sound, and so now I glorify it by making it available to everyone:

link

Susan Sontag passes by

2005-01-06T13:41:00.000Z

"Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a 'cowardly' attack on 'civilisation' or 'liberty' or 'humanity or 'the free world' but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?"

Susan Sontag died in New York City of cancer, on December 28 2004. She was 71.

Doodles

2005-01-05T15:14:00.000Z
I try and sit down to do some work and the thoughts just run out of my head. This feels like the worst part of taking an exam but I'm not even taking an exam. I took a load of work down to the South when I was with my Grandparents in the vain hope that something would get done but that came to nothing. I even took work with me skiing but I was so exhausted each day that there was no hope of focusing afterwards.
Now, in the predictable gulley that is the post New Years lull I'm stuck trying to work but finding I'm failing at it. I love working but somehow at the moment I can't. And I have to finish polishing one essay and write two others by Monday.

And move cities somewhere in the meantime.

No chance of doing a good job, simply no chance.

Death comes too close

2005-01-04T13:29:00.000Z
I wasn't close to the pain of the anguish and suffering in South East Asia, I haven't been affected by loss recently and I've only known one person who's died in my life. But people lose their loved ones, those close to them and I can still relate. Whole communities have been washed away and there is no way of really comprehending it - they're simply gone and what was there is now merely rubble leaving people in need. I was reading some poetry by Walt Whitman today, and came across this which I think clearly expresses a feeling, a feeling of contemplation:

"What do you think has become of the young and old men?
What do you think has become of the women and children?

They are alive and well somewhere;
The smallest sprouts show there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceased the moment life appeared.

All goes onward and outward. . . .and nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."

-Walt Whitman

from the work "Leaves of Grass", sometimes called "A child said What is the grass?" and othertimes called "Song of Myself".

link

Settling in

2005-01-02T16:42:00.000Z
I went skiing for a week, and now I'm back from skiing and everything looks the same.

At only one other time in my life have I had to use my calves so much... and he knows who he is. At one point on Saturday afternoon I had to just ski halfway down the mountain and sit on a bench for an hour or so, in the middle of the day, because I was too exhausted to keep going at it. Consolation prize - it seems I can still ski after an eight year hiatus and now my legs are back on the road to being toned again - here's to week long workouts!

Christmas morning

2004-12-25T10:45:00.000Z
It's 10:20 on Christmas morning and everyone's emergimg after a late night last night. My mother walked into where I was sleeping to greet me but, having woken up earlier to put out stockings, I was exhausted.
My state of awareness is only notable because I was reeling from the horrific and bloody nightmare I was waking up from.

And the nightmare was so clear and real that for a moment, my fake smile, my fake happiness was the best I could muster. And this on Christmas morning.

--
Sent from my Treo

They so yearn to be gay.

2004-12-23T23:47:00.000Z
I have been and will be in Bath for the past few days and the next few days. In case you don't know, Bath is a little city in the Ssouth of England, about an hour and a half by train from Central London. It's the playtoy of the quietly wealthy from the Greater London region. Think of the Hamptons but a city. And tall thin houses made of sandstone. The man behind the name, Manolo Blahnik, lives here. It's that kind of place; the boys all have trust funds and the girls all have rhinoplastys.

Since all the well-to-do boys and girls of the town have more money than they know what's good for them, they were out in force today, whilst I wandered about from shop to shop, meandering home from the hospital. What eye candy. The boys in GAP prescribed v-neck layering with chunky scarves, and the girls in uber low cut jeans and gilets. It was a television commercial shoot but without the campy director or the go-go girls making a mess in the distance.

The one thought that struck me was, with they waxed eyebrow, cropped hair, modelled wardrobe and textbook girlfriend, all these boys want now is to be gay. It's the ultimate status symbol of the times - though they'd have a bit of trrouble explaining it to mommy, it'd fit in with their continual grooming and the pretty boy look. Because they are pretty, don't get me wrong, but switching teams, batting 'for the other side' would really make them complete, would circle the square and would make their whole existance finally make some sense!

IE; Screw you.

2004-12-23T02:14:00.000Z
So I decide not to leave this mind-dump of mine alone for a few days, I decide to update and keep with it. I wish I hadn't - now I know of a problem I was unaware of before, a problem I didn't want to know about.

All day today I've been fixing my grandfather's computer, and in my boredom I decided to look at what the blog appears like for everyone else. Egads! Not nice - my whole sidebar which looks beautiful and 'together' in my Safari browser, looks great on my 21" at home and looks fine everywhere else I've ever look at the site, looks terrible here. It's all squished down the bottom of the page. I'll have to look at the code when I get home.

I'll be there for all of eight hours before heading off to France so I don't have a huge amount of hope for any improvement.

I can only say sorry to you if it's looked this bad all the time! Sorry.

Governor battles

2004-12-23T02:04:00.000Z
They're still fighting to have a human in office to lead Washington state.

The Governor battle has taken an ever-more dramatic turn after the lead in the vote re-count has swapped party sides and has gone to the Democrats, with a miniscule ten vote lead. Whilst the 'final' result from this round of recounts will certainly not be accepted outright, this remains an important development if only for the psychological boost it will provide for the Democrats.

from the NY Times:      "After a bitter and protracted recount fight in the Washington state governor’s race, elections officials announced today that the Democratic candidate, Christine O. Gregoire, was now leading her Republican opponent by a miniscule margin of only 10 votes, a stunning reversal of the Nov. 2 election results.
The days events were a serious blow to Dino Rossi, 45, a real estate executive and former state senator, who had been certified the winner of the Nov. 2 vote, after eking out a margin of 261 votes out of almost 3 million cast. He later won a machine recount by only 42 votes. "

link

Male Bonding

2004-12-23T01:58:00.000Z
I'm at my cousins house, in the lead up to Christmas, and for the first time ever really, we're hanging out. We're doing the 'male bonding' thing that so many straight guys seem to accomplish without feeling self-conscious, without self analysis. I in turn, can't do it without analyzing the situation, but that doesn't forgo my enjoyment of it.

We're just kicking around whilst my cousins, who like to be cool whilst I relish in being decidedly uncool, smoke cigarettes from their window ledge and yet allow most of the smoke straight back inside. We listen to bad music from our laptops and lounge around in front of the space heater that blows a stream of hot air across the room, just like the hot air I'm blowing...

I'm having a whale of a time!

Marshmallow man

2004-12-21T14:36:00.000Z
Trying on all the assorted skiing stuff that I've managed to collect over the last couple days, I being to realise that my appearance is taking on the impression of a blimp. I'm going to have to slim down on the bulk - I'm skiing, not rolling down a scree slope without any protection.

Plus, my sisters were commenting the other day, saying how with my 'tiny ass' I'l have to gain weight for the trip - otherwise I'll come out in bruising from falling down all the time. I refrained from the "honey, there's nothing this ass hasn't taken" comment because, well there's a lot this ass hasn't taken; if that's not going to far.

See the line, watch the line, just go right over the line. Yes, that was too far. Look, that's the line way behind you, far in the distance only barely visible on the horizon.

Off to Avon

2004-12-21T14:24:00.000Z
My Grandmother went into hospital again last Wednesday, and since it's the runup to Christmas and I have time to spare before jetting off to the Alps for a week of skiing, I'm going down to help out. It doesn't sound so good when you say it like that - that one is going to help before holidaying.

But she's in hospital with Bronchitis and at her age that's really not good. So I'm going to go and hang out with my Grandfather and attempt to occupy his time. We'll obsess about his windows XP machine that has post it notes stuck all around the edge of the screen telling him passwords and links and instructions. We'll lay a carpet from their home in Worcester 20 years ago and we'll move furniture around in an attempt to make sure I can't move my back at all for skiing during the following week.

It'll be amusing.

And of course, there'll be Christmas.

Hmmm, unsettling.

2004-12-21T01:02:00.000Z
I don't expect many people to read about the randomness that interests me, the news and reviews that I find intriguing, and as a result, few do. To my great dismay, whilst going trough my out of date posts that my RSS reader collects, I find that I was mentioned on a massive site. Not by URL, but by name. Not by URL because that would be weird and would drive traffic away from the original site, and since it's commercial that's bad. Although I did laugh, quite literally, out loud when I saw the post because I knew it had to be me that he read it from, and yet the lack of the "a href" code made sense. I understood the psychology and it cracked me up.

Just so you know, thanks Joel.

MOMA digi

2004-12-20T01:30:00.000Z
Frank Kolodziej, a big shot in Yahoo, has a website that documents a load of the photos he takes seemingly just 'around'. There's nothing else on the site, but because the images are large and detailed, it's an engrossing viewing. Head on down, the link below is deep into the site - to some images from the MoMA in NYC, but it's all good.

link

All That for Nothing

2004-12-19T15:38:00.000Z
In a piece for The Stranger, Nate Lippens reveals, with numerous hard-hitting, terrifying and poignant comments, how the with the demise of the AIDS awareness of the 80's, the spread of HIV is being truly allowed by older generations' reluctance to get involved, to get in the way and to get hurt.

With the pain of losing friends to the virus still clear, it's easier to step back and be silently disapproving, but this doesn't help those on the receiving end of the dangerous diseases, the unsafe practices and the 'you're positive' diagnosis. Now is the time to stand up once more and be loud, be offensive but be heard.

"Over the last half decade my exasperation with gay culture made me finally turn away. My friendships had become based more in common interests and cocksucking didn't rank high on that list. But as friends and acquaintances started testing positive again I realized that my post-gay stance was postmortem.

Maybe it was like the mob: You try to get out but they pull you back in. I realized that telling people that unsafe sex is careless and stupid isn't being moralistic; it's being realistic."

link

Man of the Year?

2004-12-19T14:05:00.000Z

The Drudge Report
has a headline today, just as is shown above, accompanying a photograph of George Bush, declaring him "Man of the Year". I wouldn't care if such a rabidly right wing, pretending-to-be-objective, source such as Matt Drudge declared his love for GW Bush as long as he didn't do it with a photo that shows Bush next to Churchill and Roosevelt. These two men were genuine leaders - they united their countries through times of extreme fear, grief and uncertainty, pulling them through the consequences of a world war that cost the lives of over 60 Million men. Bush has thrown his country into uncertainty through unjustified spending, currency devaluation, job losses and a foreign policy that alienates the rest of the Western world as well as involves invading two unstable countries.
To place Bush next to Roosevelt and Churchill is an insult to the achievements and leadership qualities of those men, men who united rather than divided and men who thought rather than merely reacted. Action is no good if unfocused and unjustified; don't pretend that Bush is either of these things.

UPDATE: Now it seems they've changed it to 'Time Man of the Year' - as though Drudge doesn't wholeheartedly agree. Sneaky. Of course it's only Time magazine that thinks he's great.... yeah.

Chatty Chatty Bang Bang

2004-12-19T13:28:00.000Z

J: Is that your phone or mine?

P: What?

J: The beeping - is that your phone or mine?

P: Must be yours - I can't hear anything.

J: Well if it cuts out, I'll call you back alright.

-------------

P: J? J? Ok, so your phone's gone. I'm talking to no-one.

Animated Sunset

2004-12-19T03:00:00.000Z

Animated Sunset
Originally uploaded by Pandarine.
Now view a sunset in some place across the world, who knows where, on a golf course I don't know under a sky I'll never see. But see the sunset in motion and watch as the clouds change, crawlling across the sky.

It's beautiful.

Place the states

2004-12-19T02:45:00.000Z
Can you accurately place the US states on the map?
This site makes you drag and drop an outline of each state into the correct place. I averaged 82% correct and and my average number of miles that I placed the states away from where they were supposed to be was 58 miles. Not all that bad I don't think. Could be better though!

link

Now where exactly is Nebraska?

Dioxin problems

2004-12-19T01:39:00.000Z
I did some reading into what exactly dioxins are, the chemical that Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with. I didn't know anything about Agent Orange, herbicide clearance, or Dow Chemical until I read this; it's worth the time.

"Dioxins are some of the most toxic chemicals known to science. Dioxin is a general term that describes a group of hundreds of chemicals that are highly persistent in the environment. The most toxic compound is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD. The toxicity of other dioxins and chemicals like PCBs that act like dioxin are measured in relation to TCDD. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional by-product of many industrial processes involving chlorine such as waste incineration, chemical and pesticide manufacturing and pulp and paper bleaching. Dioxin was the primary toxic component of Agent Orange, was found at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY and was the basis for evacuations at Times Beach, MO [as detailed below] and Seveso, Italy."
- Environmental Justice Network

"Disposal of the dioxin contaminated materials was a huge problem to the company. They initially send the still bottoms to Louisiana for incineration, which is still be best way to destroy dioxin, but it was expensive. It then contracted its chemical supplier, Independent Petrochemical Corporation, for disposal. Independent then subcontracted Russell Bliss to haul the waste away. Later, during the Times Beach investigations, it was revealed that NEPACCO knew of the dioxins in the waste but some how this information was not passed on to Independent or to Bliss. The investigation also found that the contaminated clay and water had also mysteriously found their way into the local environment.

The contaminated clay was the easiest to trace. Most of them were buried on location in the plant itself. Some were disposed in a dump that was later transformed into a park and the rest was sold to unsuspecting farmers to spread on the ground under the assumption that it would prevent hoof root in cattle. Some of these contaminated clays were subsequently washed into the nearby Spring River in a flood in 1982. This however was not the first time that dioxin had entered the local food chain."
- Brandeis University, MA

The Times beach Investigation - Brandeis University, MA
Times Beach - Wikipedia
Dioxin Information links

Finding a vein on the train

2004-12-19T01:35:00.000Z

Finding a vein on the train
Originally uploaded by BombDog.
Not my photo, not my subject, not my work. However, it's still an amazing story, an amazing shot and beautifully done. Through the flickr beta photo software I've come across a wealth of new images, of stunning shots and real talents. This photographer is one of them and the photograph, showing two drug users whilst they attempt to find a vein on a busy commuter train, oblivious to those around them.

Chet

2004-12-19T01:03:00.001Z
NPR's announcer has just mentioned the stroke suffered by former Chillean General and leader Augusto Pinochet. However, they pronounced it PinoCHET as in Chet Baker. I can't believe how ~~dumb~~ odd some people are... Eurgh.

2004-12-19T01:03:00.000Z
NPR's announcer has just mentioned the stroke suffered by former Chillean General and leader Augusto Pinochet. However, they pronounced it PinoCHET as in Chet Baker. I can't believe how ~~dumb~~ odd some people are... Eurgh.

Time zone trouble

2004-12-18T13:32:00.000Z
My brain thinks it's 6:30 AM, whilst my watch says it's 12:30PM, my mind is on a time zone of a continent I'm not even near.
I feel like I need some artificial enhancement to bring my brain back to GMT and closer to the three parties I'm supposed to be participating in this afternoon.

I took two pills to knock me out last night, in a vain attempt to get to sleep. And whilst I listened to NPR, being sent via my wireless connection two floors away, via the internet, via a Seattle Public Radio station I thought:

WTF?!?

Gotta love the name: Ana Matronic

2004-12-17T03:38:00.000Z
I LOVE the Scissor Sisters, and want to do Jake Shears like he's never been done before.

"...one time I passed out on the cold, bare floor in front of the British Airways counter at Heathrow for three hours. Another time, we were on a plane after a show in Germany. The turbulence was terrible and we were bouncing and dipping all over the damn place. Ana was just sitting in her chair repeating the word 'bathtub' over and over again to herself. She says she read somewhere that you're more likely to die in the bath than on an aeroplane."

OMM article: How we stormed 2004 by Jake Shears
..:: Scissor Sisters ::..

If you want to go have drinks with him in January - you can bid on it for roughly 16 hours: be quick!
Drinks with Jake Shears

Swim Team Jocks

2004-12-17T02:59:00.000Z
At Mercer Island High School, just across the water from Seattle, it's no big deal that the water polo team poses for an annual nearly-nude calendar. In fact, they celebrate the fact and use the money raised by the fantasy-laced product to support their team. All I can say, this is my kind of calendar.

""It's boys in Speedos, what's the big deal?" the MIHS receptionist said, before handing this reporter off to the athletic department. Ann Meisner, the Athletics and Facilities Coordinator, chuckled at the idea that the water polo calendar was controversial. "It's a pretty fun calendar, and those teenage girls really like it," she says."

link

The Post-Christmas bash has started

2004-12-17T02:01:00.000Z
Shopping today, buying little gifts and chocolates; stocking fillers and tat.

The item of note: SALE signs.
16th December, nine days from Christmas and we've already started the sales.
Business must be terrible or someone's going nuts in their company headquarters.

Dirty sex talk

2004-12-17T01:19:00.000Z
I talked with a guy online yesterday that I 'met' from Gaydar, the gay chat/dating service online on which every member of the out gay population of the UK has a profile, and I felt dirty. I'm such a prude, but I didn't like talking to someone I know nothing about other than a false, pretentious piece of fluff propaganda that he writes up to seduce people.
So I said I had to go, and then blocked his MSN profile.

Unexpected release

2004-12-16T01:48:00.000Z

-------------------------------------------------------------
Tampax have decided to replace the string on their
tampon with tinsel... just for the Christmas period.
-------------------------------------------------------------

awful jokes via Popbitch

16thandmission.com

2004-12-15T20:38:00.000Z

A map/urban environment exploration site from San Francsisco that aims to interlink images and scenes from the city with live data such as bus arrivals has created a surreal and yet strangely engrossing Flash site. Check it out.

"This project is an investigation into the interplay of data, interactivity and narrative in an urban environment. It takes as its focus the corner of 16th and Mission Streets in San Francisco.

Live data from the NextBus system, which tracks realtime bus schedules in San Francisco and other cities, is read into this interface every thirty seconds. The size of the orange and green arrows indicates how long it will be before the next bus arrives at the two stations visible on the map. When new data is received, the arrows change size, and a deep tone is heard."

link

New favorite?

2004-12-15T16:21:00.000Z
I must point out my new tie in the favorite-site-of-all-time awards. Up there with boingboing for crazy whacked out posts comes treehugger, a site that attempts to be the metafilter for alternative and ecological news and technologies. Check out the tram line covered in grass, the crazy looking lights and the t-shirt made out of fermented Corn husks.

treehugger.com

Preschool chef

2004-12-15T01:04:00.000Z
I made a tarte today. I'm not quite sure how it's going to turn out. After I finished it I realised I should have, perhaps, arranged the apple in some way, rather than just throwing it together. I'm sure it'll taste fine, it just looks rather random...
I'm liking the caramelisation of the apple though, I made an infusion of apple sauce, sugar, ground clove and mace in order to create a sort of base for the apple and raisin to mix with. With the heat of the oven, the tops of the apple have caramelised yet haven't burnt because the moisture from the base keeps from drying out.

Perfect!

On a related note, since I've been home from school in Leeds I haven't had any random indulgent food to eat like that which I buy when living with... myself. This is why I lose weight whilst at home. So today, to rectify this awful situation, I accompanied my younger sister and whilst on our random tour of stores, I picked up a load of brownies from a bakery. Now anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a brownie fiend. I could easily finish them all by daybreak, but I'm going to control myself and 'only' eat one a day. I have to keep my health up!
Silly how happy the fact that I have comfort food on hand again makes me. Yummmmmm.

Flying across Millau

2004-12-14T23:56:00.000Z

Today (Tuesday 14 December) was the inauguration of the highest bridge in the world. The 390 million euro project will be operated as a toll road for (a minimum) 75 years by construction giant Eiffage. The bridge will act as a new route to the south of France and Spain from Northern regions and is expected to carry 10,000 vehicles daily though will peak at 25,000 trucks and holidaymakers daily during the summer tourist season. Foster has said that driving across the bridge should feel like "flying a car".
The Tarn region is highlighted in the map, left. Jaques Chirac was the host of the ceremony for the 885ft high bridge in the Tarn Valley of France's Midi Pyrénées region. The bridge, designed by British Architect Norman Foster consists of a four lane, 1.6 mile (2.4km), viaduct over the Tarn Valley. At 343 metres, the tallest of the seven pylon-topped pillars is higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris which wallows 20 metres below. As the birthplace of the painter Toulouse-Lautrec, the Tarn valley makes it clear where the artist may have come across inspiration.

Chauvinist Pig Says 'Go gays'

2004-12-13T22:24:00.000Z

"The next quirk they came across was health insurance. As it so happened, the birth mother's health insurance coverage was not as robust as the her partner's insurance. You know how that goes, better job and all that, right? Well the baby's medical coverage could not be claimed against this better policy for obvious reasons -- she wasn't legally the child's parent. So this ended up costing them a lot of money out of pocket for medical expenses, and there were even some areas where the child didn't get the same level of care as she could have if she had been covered under the better insurance policy. Again, it seemed unfair not only to the parents financially, but to the baby in regards to her health care.

All these issues because same sex marriages are currently illegal. Okay. So let me think for a minute, that if they were legal, how would they effect my life. Would I have to pay more taxes? No. Would married gay people get a special check out line at the supermarket to get through line faster than me? No. Do they get their own special lane to avoid traffic jams? No. Do they get cheaper car insurance? No. Free car? No. Free socks? No.

So my question would be... what the fuck do I care if gay people want to be married?"

ehowa.com link

Noun or Verb

2004-12-12T21:16:00.001Z
Whilst going back in time, (and my RSS reader's history) I come across the story of Bill Gate's spam problems. He gets four Million spam emails a day, and since I thought that interesting the first time I read it, I was still interested in reading about it from another news source, to get a different perspective. This leads me to a slashdot post about the issue, and in the middle of the conversation thread comes a comment on the usage of the work leverage.

I love that people on the net are so random that they feel that it makes sense to lecture one another on the word - sum up: try the word 'use' instead... I really liked the comment, as I've never knowingly used the word to date and now I can, and do it right! It's strange how excited that makes me.

"If you're going to be picky about language, I feel obliged to point out that "leverage" is a noun, not a verb. "Leverage" is the action of a lever. It's a naming word, not a doing word. Compare with "use" and "usage". To avoid mistakes, every time you are tempted to use the word "leverage" (sales presentations, TPS reports, pillow talk etc), substitute the word "use" instead. It should become obvious which are the cases when "leverage" is the correct choice."

link

They sure know how to pick 'em

2004-12-12T03:34:00.000Z

""If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them," wrote Bob Jones III, president of the eponymous South Carolina university, to President Bush after the election. "Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil.""

My University really has a knack at choosing wholly inappropriate colleges for students to exchange with in the US. Coming from one of the most liberal places in the UK, going to the University of South Carolina, or the Catholic University of America (as Pol Sci students do in DC) is not perhaps the most obvious placing. I can't believe just how out of left-field these choices are; there seems to be no basis for why we'd choose them other than a singular lack of research.
I just hope I can pick somewhere for myself - if even the Times doesn't like your college, there's something going wrong.

SCU
NYTimes article

Gay story book characters are a threat

2004-12-11T20:55:00.000Z
Simone points me to this link about the Alabama State Representative who is introducing a bill, with George Bush's blessing, that outlaws the use of state funds for purchasing books that 'promote homosexuality'. So there's not going to be a copy of Tony Kushner's Angels in America coming to your public library soon if Gerald Allen gets his way.

"Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush."

Bush is interested in Allen's opinions because Allen is an elected Republican representative in the Alabama state legislature. He is Bush's base. Last week, Bush's base introduced a bill that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality". Allen does not want taxpayers' money to support "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle". That's why Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker have got to go."

The Guardian story

The Library Journal is equally blistering, quoting:
Showing a tenuous understanding of the Constitution, an Alabama legislator has proposed a bill that would block the use of public funds...

[Books would] have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed. "I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he told the Birmingham News

If you like what he has to say, if you don't like what he has to say, either way; here's his own website where he provides contact information:

Representative Gerald Allen

In the meantime, this story has also got a lot of local news coverage from within Alabama and outside, much of it against Allen's position. Thankfully even the normally rabid Fox news has come out with a not too favorable stance on the matter. Below are some links, which are worth a read - they're enlightening. Links go straight to the story.

Google news search: "Gerald Allen"

Andalusia Star News

Agape Press

Colorado State Collegian

New Standard News

The Empty Closet

Library Journal

'SlAmMinN' the shit.

2004-12-11T15:39:00.000Z
I may be snobbish, I may be rude, but right now I'm really not caring.
A few days ago MSN Spaces was launched and I posted a little review, blurb about it at the time (link) and I wasn't overly impressed.

Today I thought I'd catch up and see what some of the people who've signed up to the idea have done with their spaces. Most users haven't posted much, haven't gone deep into the possibilities. However, I think the direction some of the users have gone shows how this service is going ot be used. It's not going to be a serious laternative to MT, Livejournal, Blogger or EE, but will be an off-the-cuff place to post thoughts about the latest IM conversation and today's purchase at the mall.
Of course I've been guilty of thses things in my weaker moments here, but I try and keep myself in check. I'm not confident anyone on 'Spaces' will edit themselves in the same way.

Hobbies:
" ~ Kayaking ~ Going round daniels! :P ~ FIT boyz ;) e.g Daniel♥ ~ ♪ "Baby all i want is you!!! ♪ ~ Cutie in da house Safe! ~ Enjoy boys n everything that comes wit dem ;)♥ ~ U have 2 be in it 2 win it! ~"What goes up must come down"♥"

~ Im da 1 in da white in ma piccy. ~ I have Brown/Blonde hair Brown eyes i kayak and do weights 4 my training as well as circuits. ~ ♥Im a Cutie!! always n 4eva! ♥ ~ 100% Hyper b"tch! ~ SURFING RULES! ~ Aloha ~ Megzy ma bessie!

DREAMERHOODSUP - photos of him looking 'tuff'
♥AℓωαysSurfiиgßαßℓiиα♥ - learn how not to spell - great example above.
Kriminal House - great for illegal software keys
Ashley's Space - nothing here!

It's a sorry collection, but then that's what it was supposed to be. MSN Spaces won't go far, won't be anything and even if it's 'user numbers' far outweigh those of the competition anyone with a substantive thought to add to the public discourse will soon see that their time is better spent with a service that has a professional feel that doesn't retain copyright on your ideas.

Cook a Cow?

2004-12-11T15:10:00.000Z

My mother bought a meat thermometer the other week, and whilst stumbling around the house today I just noticed the graphic on it. In a slightly gory way, the device tells 'the chef' what temperature is best for cow, sheep, lamb and pig. I've never stuck a whole cow in my oven before, but the idea crossed my mind when reading the dial. Imagine serving that on a platter...

Grinding into the wall

2004-12-10T04:18:00.000Z
I was supposedly dancing like I was on Ecstasy tonight, not that I've actually ever been on Ecstasy. The whole of my dorm (well, about 50 people) went out to a club tonight en mass. We had a crazy time, and as the token gay boy I took full advantage and danced with all the hot girls in the place. I supposedly grinded one girl into a wall for about five minutes - she however, fully participated, so the whole thing was rather justified.

I was busy doing other people's work until twenty minutes before we were due to leave so I had to get drunk VERY fucking quickly. Luckily, Vodka is very good at doing this and I took full advantage - lets just say I had at least two glasses full of vodka before going out, skipping most of the mixer.

I'm completely FCUCKED now - but then most people are too. Every line I type I have to retype about five times because my fingers slur over the keys.

I cut a load of one finger off earlier whilst cooking a friend of mine lunch, so the bandaging doesn't help my typing anyway.

So yeah, good night despite the weird homo boy who kept on trying to dance with me. He was ugly and he was trying to get me whilst in a straight club. I'm thinking, 'COME ON, you can do better than that!' but he just keeps going. So I ignore him and dance with some other hot girl, and then another hot guy... Choices choices.
Consolation prize - I got to feel up the hot gay boy who I just 'happened' to sit next to on our highly eventful bus-ride home. Buses can be great, especially when they're slow and you're sitting next to a fox.

Vodka's great.

Every time.

Stupid Dogs!

2004-12-08T03:20:00.000Z
Caught this snippet in the Guardian today...
"Airport officers face discipline

France's interior minister, Dominique de Villepin, vowed to punish bomb squad officers who planted explosives in a airline passenger's luggage to test sniffer dogs and lost the 150g bar, still missing after three days. Reuters, Paris "

Slightly alarming perhaps. And the dogs I was talking about are the canines, not the French, if for some reason anyone got the wrong idea...

Shoot.

2004-12-07T03:28:00.000Z

On Saturday night one of my best friends accompanied me to an underground parking garage at one of this city's many Universities for the last session of recording for an R&B music video.

The 'artist' was a guy called something like Warm Ice 2K, but that's just a guess. We couldn't remember his stage name - it's too much hassle when it's as idiotic a name as that - his real name was Ryan. As a cool bar/background club filler tune it was great, but nothing too stand out. The song was a kind of production heavy, synthetic beats concoction that record companies come up with for their stars to include on albums as filler tracks. It was nice in an inoffensive, inattentive, who-really-cares kind of way. But nothing special.

We had a laugh though, standing around in the background 'grooving' alone after being asked to 'have a good time' when the camera was on us. I presumed that we didn't need to have a good time when the camera wasn't on us, so during our off moments we sulked and wailed into our hankies with self-pitying dispair.

Alice and I ate Jaffa cakes, giggled at ourselves and marvelled at the lunatic styling of the pumped-up The Fast and the Furious style cars that were the backdrop for the video. I had to laugh though when we noticed how the mixing deck that had been set up on one wall of the set was in fact a complete fake and they had to play the track (for dancing and miming purposes) from the insanely-huge speakers installled in one car's rear. The car bounced with the vibrations.

Note the flames coming from the exhaust of the car here. And the guy doing his camera work didn't even notice...
Toasty!

College Photographer of the Year

2004-12-06T13:51:00.000Z

"Sexual Tension"

Untitled

Spears bends over and rests on his knees, exhausted after finally finishing a sex scene, while Hall pulls down her skirt and walks away.

The 59th College Photographer of the Year awards have been announced following judging at University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri. Whilst Rick Gershon of the University of North Texas won overall Gold, there are some amazing images in all categories of the competition. Check it out, stunning array of images ranging from LA porn industry to Bangladesh rain-storms to Kentucky poverty. The links at the top of the linked page direct you to those photographers placed below Gershon's Gold award.

CPoY.org

link

In other news...

2004-12-05T18:30:00.000Z
We must protect world cabbage prices, a critical issue because of the 'mountains' of stockpile cabbage(!):

"It is proven that the previous measures of government controlling all market behaviours, from production, sales to consumption, result in low effectiveness. Farmers, together with other economic players, have suffered a lot under such a system.

From this perspective, the price of cabbage, the same as other commodities, should be decided by the yield and the farmers should take the market risks. The government's interference in pricing might lead to a waste of resources.

Then, how to deal with the mountains of cabbage stockpiled at farms?"

link

'The Environment: too expensive'

2004-12-05T18:17:00.000Z

"Western governors gathered last week to plan with the Bush administration and Congress how to change the Endangered Species Act, the 31-year-old law they say has cost developers, loggers and ranchers too much money and hassle for the few animals brought back from the brink of extinction.

"We have to recognize that, A, we can't protect everything, and B, we have to carefully examine whether we should try to protect everything, and at what cost," Manson said last year."

What point is there in preserving the wildlife of the world when we can build roads and houses over vast swathes of hour heritage, for that is what the environment is, our heritage. When we go down the path of considering it more benificial to create a new logging path than to preserve the continued existence of a unique species population, or think that we would prefer to have more factories than wildlife we lose our collective history. We can't allow further cuts into the country, raping the wildlife for short-term, purely economic gain.
Don't support it, and if you live in the US, contact your congressman to make your views known.

Seattle/LA Times article
US Congress

Margaret's Rates

2004-12-04T11:11:00.000Z
Margaret Cho is in London at the moment and coincidentally I'm in London next weekend too, but I won't be going. She's outageous and hilarious but she's also highly priced. When the tickets start at £27, there's not a lot I can do but laugh from afar. She's funny but I can't do that.

I hate being a student sometimes; I need a high paying, time low, resumé wothy job so I can do all the crazy overpriced events going on. I'm really bummed out by this - I'm a big fan of hers but just can't stretch to that. I don't think that complaining about a ticket that is in effect $50 is outrageous. It's not that those tickets are really expensive, but they're the cheapest ones in the house. I hope she sells out, at least that way there's a chance she'll be back, and hopefully next time at a bit of a discount.

EDNA MODE

2004-12-03T08:59:00.000Z

"The Incredibles may be super, but Edna makes them look fabulous"

Edna mode visual character guide:
link

MSN Spaces

2004-12-03T01:06:00.000Z

MSN have launched their own Blogging alternative into the field today. As a working 'beta' - that catch-all term that's supposed to make us forgive inadequate software design and mistakes in usability - the site links to MSN Messenger, Hotmail and all the other MSN 'channels'.
"MSN yesterday introduced a beta version of MSN Spaces, a new web logging service. It also released a beta version of MSN Messenger 7.0 and updates to MSN Hotmail. These services will be integrated, the company says.

MSN Spaces offers three levels of control over who may access their Space. It allows users to display their pictures in a slideshow, and share their music playlists. Visitors may sample or purchase tracks on the playlist."
- The Register

I assume that the only reason why a person would choose an MSN blog account would be the ease with which Microsoft will integrate it within their existing infrastructure. Those blogs that are most successful will be viewed by friends because they're publicised through a vast Messenger network, alerting all to the opportunity to read shallow insights into their friend's lives. To add insult to injury it's also incredibly slow...
My general instinct would be that no completely serious blog would use their system - it's too tied to the MSN brand. They want to own your blog, they want to be the real star of the show, rather than your hard work. Once you use a system like blogger or MT, one can't look at the MSN offering and think that it's a professional alternative. It's market is one of teens who want to tell their friends about the latest CD and about their new piercing.

I need some inconsistency - MSN

Cho Ho Ho

2004-12-02T01:00:00.000Z
Margaret Cho is playing London!!

London!!

Wonderful, if only I could get to SEE her in London. Anyway, apart from that, she's interviewed on Woman's Hour this week; the normally cuddly show hosted by Jenni Murray seems twee and simply boring when someone as charasmatic as Margaret comes on. The interview's worth hearing though:
link

Meanwhile the Guardian, the liberal's paper of choice (and hence, mine!) says:
"Cho will restore your faith in the part of America that embraces difference, because she speaks for outsiders of every hue."

link

Tears

2004-12-01T16:23:00.000Z
I connected my computer to my phone, linked them together for the first time since September.
I connected them and the moment that I pressed the button to sync, my photos from my summer, from my summer thoughts and experiences came FLOODING back. Pictures that I thought I'd lost forever when my phone wiped itself a few weeks ago, I now have back. One morning I awoke at around five AM to find that my alarm was going off and that my phone had formatted itself on its own somehow. I didn't know whether my laptop had backed up the photos and so I assumed it hadn't, I simply resigned myself to having lost them. I had a lot of emotional energy tied up with the thoughts and images that I'd saved on that phone and so to lose them was really quite hard.
Now though, they're back and I can look at them with a clear head and an impartial eye. I can think back and, not just going 'ahhh' for what I think I saw, now I can remember events in full. One thing I always think when I look at those photos, I look so unashamedly happy, so happy.

And when they came back I just sat there and cried at my desk - I didn't expect to get them back. I'd given up all hope and now I have them and now... well, I'm not happier that I'm less alone.

Bad Start

2004-12-01T11:08:00.000Z
Before I even begin, I should say that always hate Wednesdays; they're exhausting and stressfull. I woke this morning to find that today is going to be a model Wednesday for all the usual reasons.

I'm late, I have a sore throat, my eyes ache, and my dreams are still with me. It seems that my sleeping thoughts had me driving a load of people's cars, managing to crash them, though I survived and had to deal with lying about how the cars get totalled.

Now I have to go and meet someone and explain how things aren't working between us.

Eugh.
Great start, just a great start.

Getting serious

2004-12-01T02:28:00.000Z
I'm thinking of packing it in, of using a cliche, of turning over a new... page?

I've found a domain name that I want, have thought out a design for the site that I want to build, but now just have to work out what it'll use (ie Expression Engine or Movable Type).

There's one other clincher - subject. I really can't think what I want to write about now. I think there are plenty things to say, plenty topics I could focus on, but I don't know whether I'd be able to focus on just one idea, on just one subject.

I want a community site, a collective blog but I don't want it to be simply reposting other people's news, other site's stories. It's like journalism but the amateur kind, and yet without being amateur.

Tough cookie.

If anyone has a comment on this, email me.

Bleached..

2004-11-30T02:38:00.000Z
There's this guy.

I've never really had a real conversation with him, but he's hot, in that timid 'I don't know what I'm trying to say' kind of way. But he's hot.

And I want to have a real conversation with him, despite the fact that I've never done so; it's the goal that's important. Tonight I went to a straight club, with straight people, drinking (sometimes) straight drinks. He was there too, although I normally see him at the gay club, with gay people, drinking (always) gay drinks. We're gay, that's what we do.

Anyway, I'm not overwhelmed, I'm not overtaken, I'm not overcome, but I'm not in there, being obvious, being devious, being clear. It's seduction the way I'd want it to be done - the way that it's subtle, there all the time but not annoying, available but not desperate. I want to have fun but I want him to have fun seeing me have fun. I want to be watched but not persued. I want to have my cake and eat it.

"I want to have a laugh, but I want him to laugh with me."

That's all.
That's all!

I think this is fun...

2004-11-29T01:37:00.000Z
You input one desire and then click on the almost-random other suggestions that pop up in order to add more.
Once I'm more on the way to creating a list for myself, I'll share it. Until that time, visit:
link

Being home for Thanksgiving

2004-11-28T16:13:00.000Z
I'm home this weekend for a meet-and-greet with my family. I love them to bits, they're great, but thank god that I don't have to live with them any more. They're fun but they drive me insane with their habits, their styles of living and their middle-class clutter.

Everything is just too much around them.

It's great to see them in short two-day chunks.

....I'm dreading Christmas.

Pacific sleeper shark

2004-11-26T11:44:00.000Z
After reading a Wired News article about deep-sea diving, I was intrigued by the Pacific Sleeper Shark. I've never heard of it before and it sounds kind of nifty. Supposedly one of the great ocean predators:

"Very little is known of sleeper shark life history. Age and size at maturity are unknown. They are thought to be ovovivparous (produce eggs that hatch within the females body), but gestation time and litter size has not been determined. Despite its sluggish and inoffensive reputation, they are voracious and versatile predators. The stomach contents of one 12 foot (3.7m) female weighed 300 pounds (136kg) and consisted of mostly rex and Dover soles. Another sleeper shark stomach contained 3 hair seals. Their diet also includes flatfish; halibut, soles, salmon, and rockfish. Other prey includes octopus & squids, crabs, and carrion (Hart 1973). In the picture below is a chunk of harbor seal skin and attached tissue recovered from the stomach of a Pacific sleeper shark."

Conservation Institute
Arctic Science Journeys
Google link

Do you remember the controversy

2004-11-25T11:51:00.000Z
There was a lot of flak hitting the news late April about a Seatle Times photo that was published showing a plane load of US military coffins in the hold - the whole sombre collection draped with the American flag? It was a moving image, and a sorry tale to see the young infantrymen coming home in that way.
What struck me as strange when I looked over the story today is how the author of the piece (link) was Hal Bernton. Coincidence? The name sounds like one I've heard before in relation to military matters.
Stupid thought, but I thought it and thought I'd share it.

After the party

2004-11-25T11:10:00.000Z
But still news all the same, I think this is really important at the moment. The Register carries a story detailing how the US FCC has decided that individual states don't have jurisdiction over whether to tax VoIP services. It's going to be up to the FCC and Michael Powell whether US users have to pay tax on their calls. I don't know if this will have an impact on international users who use the software, but I'm sure Skype will tell us if there's a problem!

link

Love the mind games

2004-11-25T10:59:00.000Z
I love how worked up we all get about one another. Once we meet someone we like, we think is hot, comes across as intelligent, we act as though unable to touch them with a barge-pole. We're conservative, scared and apprehensive. I love how the mind games work - Scott's going through what I was going through two weeks ago, but he actually writes it online!

Out in the open, ready for all to see.
It's the 'Do I contact him or don't I? Does that come across as desperate or just interested? Can I call without him hating me for chasing so much?" I hate doing this stuff, but it's kind of fun to watch from way afar.

"This Charlie boy is freaking me out. I just can't work out if he fancies me. I thought I'd do a bit of fishing this morning by sending him a email calling him gorgeous (he has addressed me as Sexy and fit in two previous emails) and asking how his weekend was whilst letting him know about my weekend."

Gdayscott

Whoops - direct plagarism

2004-11-25T10:26:00.000Z

"Observant readers of the Newsblog might remember that we promised you live coverage of prime minister's question time. Unfortunately, PMQs is not happening today. The mistake was ours, not the prime minister's. Sorry about that...."

Just made me laugh.

If you don't know anything about Britain, this isn't funny. So there.
link

AAAAhhhhhh

2004-11-25T10:11:00.000Z

"Jake Gyllenhaal reportedly says of his love scene with Heath Ledger in the upcoming gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain. "And then I grab him, and I slam him up against the wall, and I kiss him. And we were doing take after take after take." Even though I know this item is probably the work of a crafty PR person, it's the kind of information that will inspire me to spend at least a full week's worth of real contemplative quality time by myself."

link

Insurgents? or just Enemies?

2004-11-25T01:37:00.000Z
When do the wounded stop being insurgents and become citizens?
Insurgents have to be from outside the country - people aren't insurgents of their own country. So whilst the American media claims that all the fighters in Iraq have mysteriously materialised from Afghanistan or Iran, all the Iraqis who disliked the US invasion prior to their 'success' have apparently disappeared.
The international press doesn't call the opposition fighters 'insurgents', so why is this a US led move? What's been pushing the American media to discuss the war with these terms? Is it follow the leader reporting, where consumers are so familiar with the Fox-News version of the English language that the press don't want to use correct language and confuse the readers?
OR, are they being told to use the language? It's unlikely, but pressure on editors, endless repetition by official voices and interview language slowly has an effect.

"U.S. Marines tend to a wounded insurgent"

SF Chronicle link

Dissatisfied with news?

2004-11-25T01:22:00.000Z
I haven't had a lot to say lately, I just feel like there's not a lot that I can add to the discourse.
Other than that it's scary that China has massive control over the US currency (link)

Oh, and Colin Farrell is bouffant!
Other than THAT.

Now I don't have anything to say.

I could talk about san francisco, getting over guys, bitch fighting and Tony Blair's style, but I won't right now.

Denial of Service

2004-11-23T10:30:00.000Z
"Sorry I can’t, my super-dozy friend Helen hasn’t done any of her work and I’m going to save her like Super Gay man!"

dying here

2004-11-22T15:33:00.000Z
So I'm writing a letter, on a computer because I managed to leave all my stationary at home, and what happens - curse me for trying - my wrist gives out on me. Suddenly (well, after I eventually noticed it) my wrist feels like I've got several needles stickout of of it, and whenever I bend it down I feel like someone's got a pair of pliars pinched around my blood vessels.
Nice!
So of course my first reactin is... write about it! Typing just makes wrist pain so much better doesn't it>? That's what I've heard.

私はある矛盾を必要とします

2004-11-22T01:50:00.000Z
This site, but in Japanese.
How fun!
I understand none of it which makes me feel incredibly stupid. Then again whoever it was that was reading my site from japan had used a translator to get it in Japanese, so i don't feel too bad - it means they're almost as ignorant as me!
Celebrate collective stupidity - it's something to be cherished in the hyped up, over intelligent world that we live in.
Right?
Anyway, Japanese. Try it out:
link

Smile for the camera

2004-11-22T01:41:00.000Z
Smile, when your thoughts turn snide and you don't have a good word to say. Smile when you know it's dead but carry on all the same just to keep up appearances - to avoid disappointment. Smile when you're about to run but then consider your social standing and skip instead! Smile when you've had enough and want to practice your frown.

Smile when you're pissed off and annoyed, not because of what they say but because you know it was all a waste of time.

good news!

2004-11-20T10:51:00.000Z
Trials of a new, and most importantly cheap, antibiotic in Zambia have found that when given to AIDS children aged 1-14 over a 19 month period the mortality rate for this eight hundred song sample group halved when compared with those children on a placebo.
The trails were so successful that they halted them prematurely in an attempt to get the drug accepted around the world as quickly as possible. Millions of lives could be saved with little cost.

link

My new best friend

2004-11-19T03:19:00.000Z
I found a new bosom buddy - an unlikely hero - my new pal Lexis Nexis. There to all who have several hundred a year spare, free to all college students the world over who have nothing to spare.
I thank all the lawyers of this world for subscribing for ludicrous fees just so that I can get it, without the fees. Cheers

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/

Plucked from the air

2004-11-18T02:46:00.000Z
Sometimes you just get messages that come from no-where, are received at random and are entirely unsolicited. Long-lost friends get into contact because some odd memory was sparked by a event in their day, or they read something that made them think of you. Today I got one of those and it made me think, made me laugh for some strange reason. I think it's because there is nothing else you can really do - all you can do is laugh because what other reaction can there be; you don't know the person anymore really, you're not familiar which is of course why you're out of touch.

So I laughed to myself for a moment, and then moved on.

One big happy gay family

2004-11-17T23:56:00.000Z
Homos and other 'other' lifestyle couples can now register 'civil partnerships' in the UK following the passing of a civil partnerships bill in the UK's upper house, the House of Lords.
I thank everyone for their restraint in not referring to this event as a 'fabulous' result. Well done everybody.

The historic step forward will see lesbian and gay couples have access to the rights and responsibilities on offer to heterosexual couples who wish to hold a civil wedding.

The vote of support comes despite fears that the bill would be blocked by peers just a day before the end of this parliamentary session.

link

Simone says save the wolves

2004-11-17T13:27:00.000Z

"I just learned that Alaska is expanding its aerial wolf shoots and will allow 900 wolves to be slaughtered by trophy hunters and to keep elk populations "healthy". OUTRAGEOUS!

Please sign the petition to the governor of Alaska:
Defenders of Wildlife

"The "reasoning" behind Alaska's reinstated aerial wolf kill program, according to the governor and his board of game, is that McGrath residents (population 470) are going hungry - the area's wolves, supposedly, are gobbling up moose before townspeople have had a chance to kill and eat them themselves. Aside from the ethical considerations concerning this viewpoint, that humans, as a "superior" species must put their own convenience and needs before that of animals in their area - animals that existed in that area long before man and, according to the laws of nature, kill and eat only to survive - let's look closely at the other facts. Let's even pretend for a moment there is nothing wrong with this human-centric outlook. Is the current aerial wolf "control" program merely about eliminating 45 or so McGrath area wolves? What's all the fuss really about?"
- Kerkwood Wolf.com link

IMAGE from portland indymedia
Simone

Save the wolves - read some of the links and find out for yourself. The issue is whether we value our diversity in nature or whether humans should force themselves upon their surrounding habitat no matter how inhospitable it may be. If we can't even create our own food in an area, should we even be there? Whatever your respons, aerial hunting is morally corrupt and an abomination to be halted.

CNN 5th Nov
Environment News Service
What it looks like

The best kind of text-message

2004-11-17T13:20:00.000Z

"Sweet dreams gorgeous. x x"

They're the best because that's the kind you can't ask for - you only get them on impulse. And impulse is always best.

they grew hemp!

2004-11-17T13:08:00.000Z

"A couple of years ago I became aware that ordinary people have been using currency to spread ideas.

I had received a few I GREW HEMP bills, but was awhile before it dawned on me that people were actually using cash as a communication channel.

Some bills advertise political opinions. Others share highly personal messages, I suppose many of which are in-jokes. And some are probably just artistic creations.

But why did these people select legal tender to convey their messages?"

link

Bad feeling...

2004-11-17T08:30:00.000Z
So i just got home at five minutes before eight oclock in the morning to walk down my corridor in my hall and gasp at how loud someone's music is playing.  I couldn't work out why it would be so loud. I turn down my hallway to find that it's actually coming from behind MY door and is from MY room. AArgh! It's SO loud i'm worried it's damaging my radio, it's rattling my door and was shaking the floor of the room above me - turns out it's woken up just about everyone on my side of the building. It woke a girl two floors away from me - she looked pissed. Oops!