Archives for May 2002

Metalinker on Daypop... (May 29, 2002) And now Metalinker has reached Daypop. Nice....

Behind the scenes of "The Edwardian Country House"... (May 29, 2002) How cool is this - the second footman from 'The Edwardian Country House' only has his own website. I mean good god. All the behind the scenes gossip and stuff. But no pictures, unfortunately, of the lovely hall-boy. I should...

Dave Winer linked to Metalinker... (May 28, 2002) And then the funniest thing happened. Dave Winer linked to Metalinker....

On The Edwardian Country House... (May 28, 2002) I can't be the only person who has been watching The Edwardian Country House religiously. And I can't be the only person for whom a great proportion of the attraction of the show has been Ken Skelton, the Hallboy. Tonight's...

Stop saying "but" - start saying "and"... (May 28, 2002) Most wonderful piece of positive management arse I've heard in a long time: "Stop saying 'but', and start saying 'and'". And that's a really dumb idea, surely? And moreover you may think it has some positive aspects and how on...

Conversations about metalinker... (May 28, 2002) Other people talking about metalinker: one, two, three, four, five, six. It's weirdly popular in Germany too. One of the best comments (and most useful potential features) comes from Webvoice: "This script automates the "other linkers" links I manually add...

Water found on Mars... (May 28, 2002) Water found on Mars So now it's more than possible that there was once or is still some kind of limited life on the planet, it's more than possible that human beings will visit the planet. It's more than possible...

I shall never move again... (May 28, 2002) Moving house is exhausting beyond measure. Won't someone remind me never to do it again. Last night after work I decamped back around to my old place to help clean with my flatmates. Eight o'clock came and went. As did...

Metalinker abroad... (May 27, 2002) There's another metalinker user over at lifeofsmallbeer.co.uk. And it's been linked over at Nick Denton's site who e-mailed me and suggested that perhaps Movable Type could integrate it into their next release, which is an interesting idea......

In which Tom moves house... (May 25, 2002) Today is big giant moving day. And so updates will necessarily be sporadic at best......

On the use of Metalinker... (May 25, 2002) And the first site (other than me) to start using metalinker is Bottle Rocket Science. Are you trying it out? If so, mail me!...

Introducing Metalinker... (May 24, 2002) Another Thinkblank conception (this time co-created by Cal and I) was thought of yesterday and launches in a very beta version today. It's called Metalinker (because now it's retro cool to use the prefix meta) and if you're reading this...

Online zeitgeisting... (May 23, 2002) I'm catching up a lot with the online zeitgeist today via Daypop and Blogdex, which - if I could still do scrolling marquees I would probably attach a tagline to: EAT THEM AS PART OF YOUR NUTRICIOUS BREAKFAST. Because of...

On The Sweet Suite... (May 22, 2002) Tonight I am going to The Sweet Suite for the second time. In case you're unfamiliar with this venue, it was assembled by a coterie of leading London homosexualists including the infamous Mr Big, Boy George and er... We were...

Space news of the day... (May 22, 2002) Space news of the day is that China are planning to mine minerals on the moon - which seems to me to be 1) a complete waste of money and 2) possibly the coolest thing that any country has done...

Entertaining facts about Telewest... (May 22, 2002) Entertaining facts about Telewest: So I'm moving out of my flat in just a couple of days and I'd like to get cable television in the place I am moving to. However I don't know the postcode of the new...

For b3ta: My Fat Lardy... (May 21, 2002) B3ta set the challenge. And I rose to it:...

Google toy of the morning... (May 21, 2002) Toy of the morning is labs.google.com, which is where the arch search engine appears to test out all kinds of natty little gizmos that it hasn't fully developed yet. My favourite toy is Google Sets - where you type in...

I may have a flat... (May 19, 2002) I may have a flat. This is tremendous news. It's a little place in Maida Vale for one person. It's got a little sitting room. It's got a little bathroom. It's got a little kitchen. It's got quite a big...

A cheer for the Rebels? (May 18, 2002) A cheer for the Rebels? A hiss for the Empire? Perhaps no more. Perhaps no longer....

Ten things to do at 1am... (May 18, 2002) Ten things you could do at 1am to stop you being bored (dedicated to James Cronin): Play the 100 greatest online games! Shave your head! Comfort nervous young gay webloggers! Check all your arguments for logical fallacies! Listen to mobsters!...

Will I get my tiny flat? (May 17, 2002) An endless amount of work awaits me in Marylebone, but I can't go in until I've heard about whether man and wife flat-stealers have declared their endless love for my little flat around the corner. If they've bailed then it's...

I may or may not have a flat... (May 17, 2002) So I decide to put an offer on a flat and everything seems to be fine, and then the woman rings up and says that she got it wrong and the place had an offer put on it yesterday afternoon...

On being nervous about my flat... (May 17, 2002) I'm up, showered and on the net by eight am. I was awake before seven. And I don't have to be at work before one. Why am I up? Because I'm nervous. Why am I nervous? Because I'm going to...

On Barbelith: "Fortunate Son"... (May 17, 2002) Today on Barbelith, Fortunate Son: In 1999, James Hatfield's book, Fortunate Son was published and almost immediately taken off the shelves amid revelations that its author had once been imprisoned for attempting to hire a hit-man. The book, amongst other...

Careless writing costs blog-readers... (May 16, 2002) Thought of the day: Careless writing costs blog-readers. Is there such a thing as acceptable losses? Can you reclaim a site for your own idling agenda after it's gone so completely mainstream?...

Positive feelings about the new Star Wars film... (May 16, 2002) So I went to see Star Wars this afternoon with Cal and Nick and frankly we were very impressed. That's not to say we couldn't gripe - because god knows we could - the dialogue is as bad as it...

Star Wars. In an hour. Screw flathunting. (May 16, 2002) Guess who's going to see Star Wars! In an hour! On a weekday! Instead of looking for a flat!...

Fix my site! (May 14, 2002) Ok. Because I have an infinity of other things that I should be doing instead - including writing a presentation for a conference that's getting remarkably close and move and sort out my next job and pack everything and sort...

On Yahoo's anti-spam advice... (May 14, 2002) It's difficult to tell whether it's because they were recently accused of being pro-spam when they automatically defaulted all their web-mail users to the 'receive lots of crap' option, but Yahoo's anti-spam advice is not only very good, but is...

Do we need a weblog foundation? (May 14, 2002) The question of the day is do we need a weblog foundation? And it's being debated at this moment over at metafilter....

Some great articles from BBC News... (May 14, 2002) Every single day I get loads of spam. Loads. More than I think is strictly normal. Dozens of messages. Every day. And it's very frustrating. But what had never occurred to me today is how many messages I would be...

The ironies of my life... (May 14, 2002) Today I'm too wound-up by the ironies of my life to truly relax. Flat-hunting is truly the most nightmarish experience that a misanthropic intensely private brooding young genius should ever be forced to endure. The crises of faith about money,...

In Heaven... (May 14, 2002) I'm the Pixies' song, In Heaven: "You're mysterious, picky, and a bit aloof. Some people say you have a very cheery personality, but it's hard to say because you mask your emotions behind dark pretenses. You enjoy watching obscure movies...

Estimates of Income Tax... (May 14, 2002) If anyone knows a place online where you could type in your income and see roughly how much tax you should be paying (obviously this will be aimed primarily at people based in the UK) then mail me. I'm looking...

Whatever happened to Mark Olynciw... (May 14, 2002) Feature: Whatever happened to Mark Olynciw? Mark was the darling of the weblogging scene. The scamp redesigned hourly, wrote fast witty pithy gems of lunacy. He asked a lot of questions and pissed off less people than became his immediate...

Spiderman Meme Recycling... (May 13, 2002) Post Spiderman Meme Recycling: This cartoon demonstrates that all your sexualities are belong to us. Tobey Maguire is the new fetishised male. Geek culture finally got a bit of muscle behind it. And I declare myself to be the first...

On idiotic pets... (May 12, 2002) In a conversation with a friend about dealing with the little irritations that having to deal with other people can engender, the comment is made, "I think the trick is to be better than everyone else, and then treating them...

On being excited about Spiderman... (May 12, 2002) I'm so excited about Spiderman I might burst. And of course it doesn't hurt that Webb and Jones have both said vaguely positive things about it. What I might take umbrage at - if I were inclined - is the...

On things I did instead of the things that I should have been doing... (May 12, 2002) A brief list of things that I have been reading today and / or plan to read today after lunch with some very old friends in Primrose Hill and instead of doing what I should actually be doing, which is...

David Fincher to be directing MI-3? (May 12, 2002) Will David Fincher - godlike director of Fight Club and The Game, and mediocre director of Panic Room and Alien 3 really be directing Mission Impossible 3? Tell me it's not so!...

Clothing and the abyss... (May 11, 2002) While I should be organising a place to live, I spend the time instead throwing away huge amounts of crap that would be a tremendous hinderance should I ever find a place to live. Among the many things that have...

What proportion of your income should you spend on rent? (May 10, 2002) I've heard a lot of different angles on this one in the last few days, so now I'm opening it up to the floor. I once heard someone say that you should pay one-third of your income in rent. That's...

BTOpenworld sucks ass... (May 10, 2002) Grrr BTopenworld sucks: "We are currently investigating a problem with the BTopenworld mail servers, this is affecting the sending and receiving of E-Mail. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we...

Do styled form elements look less interacty? (May 10, 2002) I genuinely love the new BBCi search facility. I think the design is elegant - the large tabs are simple but really really obvious and functional, and the whole layout is easy on the eyes and clear. The only thing...

Ninja Giant Robot or Pirate Giant Robot? (May 10, 2002) Matt Jones isn't ninja or pirate (he maintains). He claims to be a a giant killer robot. When pushed, he was unprepared to say whether or not he was a ninja giant killer robot or a pirate giant killer robot....

How to find a flat in London? (May 10, 2002) So how the fuck do you find a flat in London that isn't stupidly expensive. I mean seriously. How the fuck? I'm sorry to resort to swearing but I'm already sick of this process and it already feels like it's...

Cool things about Apple products... (May 10, 2002) Two things I love about my Apple products. 1) I can wake my computer from sleep and after a few hours I can ask, I wonder how long it's been since I rebooted my baby... And I can check by...

Getting depressed about London flats... (May 9, 2002) It's at times like this when you really wish you had a digital camera. I went to see a flat today in Mornington Crescent with a friend of mine, and was so horrified and depressed by what I saw that...

If I ring again, will they call the police? (May 9, 2002) How come I keep seeing adverts for flats suitable for single women and none that are suitable for single men? And even when they're not specified as such, how come I keep getting told when I ring up the landlords,...

My hairdresser lies to me... (May 9, 2002) The lady at the hairdressers yesterday said that the receeding temples look was really hot at the moment and that all the young guys were having their heads shaved in that pattern. But I think she might have been humouring...

An e-mail I sent to Channel 4... (May 8, 2002) An e-mail I sent to Channel 4: Dear Channel 4,I watched "The Truth about Gay Animals" and frankly I was appalled. I'm a gay man in my late twenties and I was actually looking forward to the program, but it...

Ninja or Pirate? (May 8, 2002) The debate continues... Which is the side to be on? Is it Ninja or Pirate?...

Plastic bags and history's landfill... (May 8, 2002) What happens when the Plastic Bag is finally consigned to history's landfill. Will the world's antipathy have been rained down on it so hard that the name itself will live through history in infamy? In which case - excellent -...

EU logos and flags... (May 8, 2002) I don't know what's more terrifying frankly - that the European Union are considering an eye-bleeding new logo to represent themselves with, or that the logo resembles almost exactly an eye-bleeding site I've just built for the BBC's intranet... [also...

What will be in OSX? (May 8, 2002) So what will be in the next release of OSX? A build-in chat app for one (although I'm not sure that's strictly useful any more), SMS-messaging via Bluetooth phones, a map interface to Sherlock, AI-based spam filtering in the Mail...

Bank "Holiday" Weekend... (May 6, 2002) Bank "Holiday" Weekend: Saturday: Work in the office (4 hours), Movie (Panic Room), Drink (2 Mojitos), Meal (New World) Sunday: Work in the office (4 hours), TV (West Wing, Strictly Ballroom, Empire Records), Sleep at 2.45am Monday: Work in the...

Rolling Stone's 50 uncoolest records... (May 5, 2002) Rolling Stone's 50 uncoolest records that you should buy immediately: I am deeply ashamed that I don't own any of them... I used to own Listen without Prejudice, but I gave it away to my best friend's sister when I...

Mr Webb is off the Emerging Tech... (May 4, 2002) So, Mr Webb is off to San Francisco for the Emerging Tech Thing- and I'm putting out an appeal on his behalf - will someone look after him for us? He's too valuable to the UK New Media elite to...

Models of Distributed Community... (May 4, 2002) If I wrote and edited technology stories for a living, I too would make every effort to flog my own weblog. Self-promotion in a tech-culture must be a lot about zeitgeist-surfing. As it is, I nearly have a career path...

Why is Kottke a good weblogger? (May 4, 2002) Why is Kottke a good weblogger? We've all read The Tipping Point by now. He makes messages 'sticky' (I wonder how many other people could have thrown five hundred people at plasticbag.org in a day) - 'permalink nipples' is as...

On my permalink nipples... (May 3, 2002) Permalink nipples? Oh that's great. Just great. "Click on my permalink nipples, baby..." - "Move your hand over my permalink nipples..." - or perhaps the most disturbing, "Move your mouse over my permalink nipples..."...

80% of their campaign promises... (May 3, 2002) An interesting piece of research from the BBC suggests that New Labour have fulfilled 80% of their campaign promises since they came into power. Now, I think we've all felt disillusioned with the Labour party at some point during the...

Too much fluff and not enough bum... (May 3, 2002) Review: Too much fluff and not enough bum? I'll show you.......

People post crap, when you're a blogger... (May 2, 2002) People post crap, when you're a blogger All sites look crappy, when you're A-list Chicks' sites are boring, they are all flowery Streets stay outside - where I never go... When you blog.......

How to ask someone out on a date... (May 2, 2002) Advice that other people may find amusing, but which today is really sticking in my head: How to ask someone out on a date....

In the middle of a brain-fart... (May 2, 2002) So for some reason, after a tiring but basically successful day, I became totally and utterly consumed by self-doubt and a desire to hack myself into ribbons mentally, and so I did it and then I felt awful and crap...