Archives for June 2002
On the Faculty of the Invisible College... (June 30, 2002) Anyone interested in the kind of people who hang around on Barbelith should investigate Barbeblogs immediately... There's a lot of good stuff out there......
Why aren't we all superheroes? (June 30, 2002) Inspired by a recent viewing of Unbreakable and a really frustrating e-mail exchange in which intention and meaning passed like ships in the night comes a complaining rant from the pen of your author: "I thought this bright new future...
On getting broadband... (June 30, 2002) Stage One: Yesterday I rang up BTOpenworld - who are cross with me because I use the internet improperly. My plan? Get broadband ADSL. Then no one shouts at me any more. Plus I get to do big downloady things....
In which Rosemary Clooney dies... (June 30, 2002) After I went to Los Angeles for the first time, Kerry - my West Coast correspondent - sent me a tape of songs to listen to. It was a really odd selection of tunes - but most of them I'm...
America - one godless nation... (June 30, 2002) Over at Slate at the moment is a fascinating article about The Pledge of Allegiance: In fact, the founders opposed the institutionalization of religion. They kept the Constitution free of references to God. The document mentions religion only to guarantee...
Hairytongue.com (June 30, 2002) This morning's gentle hang-over has been eased by a lie-in and an ice-cold coke. But more serious hangover sufferers this morning should consider the cures at hairytongue.com - particular favourites include placing ice-packs on your nipples, listen to pounding music...
Parties are cool! (June 30, 2002) Just been to a big gay party. Am drunk. Nice people were there. Was taken by particularly nice person. A couple of people hit on me and everyone else was thinking about it, I reckon. Am golden god. Am also...
Without the aid of Kung-Tunes (June 28, 2002) Without the aid of Kung-Tunes you would not have known that...
Warchalking is so over... (June 28, 2002) I can't believe my life has come to this - bragging about knowing Matt Jones to my own goddam cult. I feel all mucky and corrupt. Ah - and I see the backlash has begun. Soon all the world will...
BTOpenworld suck ass (June 28, 2002) So I got an e-mail from my ISP today - and boy are they stroppy with me. Apparently on some recent weekends, I've been connected to the internet for twelve hours in a day. Apparently I have to learn how...
You're shit in bed (June 27, 2002) Sometime in the last few weeks, someone did a search on this site for you're shit in bed, which I would like to say narrows it down a bit, but can't....
Playing games with communities... (June 27, 2002) There's a huge and fascinating article by Derek Powazek over on DesignForCommunity.com at the moment that I really want to respond to, but feel that I probably shouldn't until 1) Cal and I have finished Barbelith and 2) I've had...
Burning Man (June 27, 2002) So I've got my thirtieth birthday in less than a month and I was planning to go to San Francisco with Davo about now, but I ran out of money at exactly the wrong time, so that didn't happen. But...
The Filth are back (June 27, 2002) Grant Morrison's new project, The Filth looks like it's kicking into gear much faster than most of his work. The new previews over at PopCultureShock reveal that it's a book about the people that 'wipe the arse of the world'....
Jon Pertwee Aerobics (June 27, 2002) I've tried many forms of exercise in my short, sexy life - but my favourite by far is Jon Pertwee Aerobics. Simply download the 'throwing shapes' screensaver from bbc.co.uk/doctorwho, install as appropriate, and then mimic the movements of the Dancing...
On resolve on the face of unlikely allies... (June 27, 2002) In a motion that was originally inspired by the tact-free B3ta Hate-figure challenge but has since turned into something else entirely, I've been wandering around looking at period anti-Hitler propaganda. There's one image that particularly stunned me - Russia, the...
Damn you BBC firewall! (June 27, 2002) I decided on Jason's advice to install Kung Tunes - a little app that allows you to upload a file to your server while you are listening to iTunes, so you can tell the world what you're listening to at...
Warchalking III... (June 26, 2002) It's all the web can talk about today, and rightly so: Yahoo News on Warchalking....
Coming up for air? (June 26, 2002) So I had a bit of a difficult evening last night, and so when I work up on my sofa at two-thirty in the morning, I pretty much figured that I'd be a bit the worse for wear this morning....
Song of the day... (June 26, 2002) Subterranean Song Archive: Song of the day today is Things have Changed, by Bob Dylan. The lyrics are inordinately morbid, but there's something about the presentation that appeals to me - it's kind of jaunty. Which is nice....
Warchalking II (June 26, 2002) News: Warchalking hits the Daypop #1 spot....
Metalinker reminder... (June 26, 2002) For those of you still wondering why I haven't got metalinker running on plasticbag.org, it's because of a bug in Mac IE5 that causes the browser to quit if a window is closed that contained a metalinker-enabled site. Since I...
Essential Blogging... (June 25, 2002) I'm not the first person to have noticed that there's a kind of irony about the cover of Essential Blogging being covered in cats. But I can't remember who the other person was. Meanwhile thanks to emptybottle.org for the kind...
Upside Porn... (June 25, 2002) The web's a weird place. No one's going to deny that, I'm sure. But normally you can count on UpsideClown to provide classy and intelligent (if often incomprehensible) writing. But not today... Oh no... Today it's Football Slash Shower Fanfic...
I'm going deeper underground (June 25, 2002) I really don't know whether I should be linking to this, but part of me feels that hidden things should be brought to the surface after a while when they no longer have the capacity to hurt anyone, rather than...
Dream Diary... (June 25, 2002) So the other day I was talking to Matt Webb while having some kind of minor panic attack after seeing someone wearing a suit at UpMyStreet.com. That wouldn't normally worry me, except since I was about to sign a contract...
On Warchalking... (June 25, 2002) Finally a good idea from Matt Jones - possibly inspired by the recent Doc Searls / Ben Hammersley meet - warchalking. Bluntly put, a set a simple symbols that you can draw as graffiti wherever you find a wireless network...
Consumer Products... (June 24, 2002) The temptation to find my mojo in consumer products is almost overwhelming, but I maintain that I will not have my whelm bastions occupied by soliders of Digital Ixusdom. No Sir......
Buffy sings for me (June 24, 2002) I must have watched the Buffy musical episode a hundred times. It's funny, it's well paced. There's a lot there to enjoy. I even downloaded the songs and stuck them on my iPod. Which was nice. Now I can wander...
On Cherry Coke... (June 23, 2002) My startling relevation of the day is that if you cut two cherries in half and place them with some ice at the bottom of a glass and pour Coke over the top, then you get a drink that's remarkably...
Mobile phones embedded in teeth, (June 23, 2002) Mobile phones embedded in teeth, with tiny speakers transmitting the noise up the jaw-bone into the ear? It's not a particularly new idea, but it's quite an attractive one - and there's a model of what one might look like...
Thanks to Haddock for pointing (June 23, 2002) Thanks to Haddock for pointing me in the direction of this one. Surely someone had to have been aware that there was something vaguely entertaining about calling an association of Plastic Surgeons "baps.co.uk"?...
Not caring about football is (June 21, 2002) Not caring about football is a mixed blessing. England go out of the World Cup and of course it's still disappointing because so many people you know do care about it, and you want them to be happy. So you...
Via Obscure Store: Man who (June 21, 2002) Via Obscure Store: Man who had bottomite sex with Llama gets three years in prison: "A weeping Brandon R. Eldred pleaded with a judge for leniency, saying he should be sentenced lightly for his crimes because he was remorseful, had...
So Davo has arrived in (June 20, 2002) So Davo has arrived in Sparkyland and is now being looked after. Davo will be much missed. He was in London for a few days - just passing through you understand - and we all went out for a huge...
One month from my thirtieth (June 20, 2002) One month from my thirtieth birthday and finally the preparations begin......
[INSERT] Massive post lost by (June 20, 2002) [INSERT] Massive post lost by Blogger Pro about the costs of running a community. [/INSERT]...
Stage one: The astonishingly cool (June 20, 2002) Stage one: The astonishingly cool UKBloggers Tube Map (which I maintain is unfinished). Stage two: The Ikea Game (which I maintain is unfeasibly cool). Stage three: Profit? We all love Cal. Particularly me. I think I love him most of...
Exciting kind-of semantic web news (June 20, 2002) Exciting kind-of semantic web news of the day comes from Sifry's Alerts [via boingboing.net], who have found a way through SOAP to add related Google articles to the end of any Movable Type weblog post. Find out more....
Update on the stand.org.uk campaign (June 19, 2002) Update on the stand.org.uk campaign to stop firemen rifling through your phone logs... they've only gone and given in already!...
It's quite difficult for me (June 19, 2002) It's quite difficult for me to know whether or not I'm allowed to link to this page. I guess I should probably ask permission first. But I've sent them the actual text that I'd like to write about them. So...
The first version of the (June 19, 2002) The first version of the presentation I gave yesterday is now online. Titled "Building new communities - Learning from Weblogs", it's about "How weblogs straddle personal and social spaces and the potential implications for developing new communities". You can download...
Best and most fun news (June 19, 2002) Best and most fun news of the day is that friend and colleague James Cronin, one of the people responsible for faxyourmp.com was on television last night, being eighteen different types of government-ass-kicking-cool. You can watch him rule the world...
Ok so the day of (June 18, 2002) Ok so the day of the conference finally arrives and it is in many ways as close to a laxative as you can get without going to a pharmacy. The paper is essentially finished - so now my only concerns...
I hate the fact that (June 17, 2002) I hate the fact that I get so obsessively picky about stuff that I'm presenting to people that I can still be chopping it around twenty-four hours before I'm suppose to present it. I hate that this might mean that...
You see one of the (June 16, 2002) You see one of the wonderful things about Google is that it has a good block of intelligent people constructing small systems within itself that stop hierarchies getting encrusted with process and allow everyone to come up with nice clean...
Currently fascinating threads on Barbelith: (June 16, 2002) Currently fascinating threads on Barbelith: • A solar system resembles ours • Subordinating science to ideology • Documentary on US war crimes • The Tipping Point...
Toy of the day: A (June 16, 2002) Toy of the day: A terrifying glimpse into how you can construct my terrible visage out of the faces of otherwise attractive and good-looking young men....
If you want to support (June 13, 2002) If you want to support the stand.org.uk campaign against the infringement of your rights below and would like to have the text of it on your site, but are perhaps too lazy to actually reformat it all, then you should...
Crucial XCOM-spin-off related topical news (June 13, 2002) Crucial XCOM-spin-off related topical news item from Stand.org.uk: Post Office To Steam Open Your History File [from stand.org.uk] One of the more extreme powers the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) handed out two years ago let government agencies obtain...
More mentions of XCOM and (June 13, 2002) More mentions of XCOM and plasticbag.org: bobzilla, theregister.co.uk....
You know what's depressing? If (June 12, 2002) You know what's depressing? If Apple made loos, I'd probably buy one....
XCOM was mentioned on Wired (June 12, 2002) XCOM was mentioned on Wired today. Oh hang on - noone gives a stuff about XCOM any more. That was days ago. What they care about is that I was mentioned in the same article. Because I'm way more important....
Two days of solid traffic (June 12, 2002) Two days of solid traffic and nothing to say for myself. My lovely audience are getting a pretty raw deal, if you ask me. I should be punished for my inaction. But I haven't been strictly inactive. I've spent one...
Question: It contains some of (June 10, 2002) Question: It contains some of the best daily linkage in Blogdom and has been going for years and yet linkmachinego still suffers from a dearth of people commenting on the links that are posted. Why? I don't get it. It's...
I'm completely exhausted but have (June 9, 2002) I'm completely exhausted but have done the absolute utmost I can to write up my experiences today at XCOM and TakeItOutside. I've written so much. And still there is more. You may have to deal with a partial piece of...
XCOM2002 and TAKING IT OUTSIDE (June 9, 2002) An attempt to write a huge piece on my experiences of XCOM and TAKING IT OUTSIDE, at which I sat on three panels and left very very tired.
Finally a solution to the (June 9, 2002) Finally a solution to the ever present problem of Earwax. Or at least someone has found the gene responsible for it. Which is great because I've been on-and-off deaf for the last several weeks, to the extent that I'm waiting...
Blogger get legitimately grumpy with (June 9, 2002) Blogger get legitimately grumpy with a weblog for circumventing terms of service....
So I went to see (June 9, 2002) So I went to see Spider-Man this evening with Cal and Jones. Thoughts: The upside-down kiss is incredibly sexy, I've got to get me a Tobey Maguire, it's great that they've managed to be so faithful to the original plot,...
E-mail survey: I'm presenting a (June 7, 2002) E-mail survey: I'm presenting a paper on weblogs in a couple of weeks at a conference and I need you guys to do me a favour. I need people to send me a few basic details about their weblogging experience...
On making South Park characters out of my friends... (June 6, 2002) Some people I know: Mr Webb, who has a website. Phil also has a site. Mo - unsurprisingly - has a site too. Oh gosh, Jones has a site. That was a surprise. I think James has a site as...
I've no idea whether this (June 6, 2002) I've no idea whether this is true or not - I guess people in the UK will see this evening: Day 13, 12:50 If the housemates ever get a task based on their knowledge of geography, they would be advised...
I'm thuper thanks for asthking, (June 5, 2002) I'm thuper thanks for asthking, all things conthidered I couldn't be better I must thay. I'm a thouth park character as well. I made a little model of mythelf too. I look tho thweet....
There's a new version of (June 5, 2002) There's a new version of Metalinker available now that that solves some of the problems with IE on the Mac....
Cuter than Queens, more fluffy (June 4, 2002) Cuter than Queens, more fluffy than jubilees, more endearing than a football match against Sweden - it'll take the torch from hotornot.com and run with it: Rate My Kitten!...
What a bloody bizarre evening's (June 3, 2002) What a bloody bizarre evening's television: The BBC | USA Today | CNN. I only wish I had pictures......
God Save The Queen... (June 3, 2002) I couldn't stop myself. God knows I tried. I spent ages tarting this up more, but in the end I cut all the fluff out of it and kept it to the basics - an image of a modern queen,...
It's a Right-Rockin' Royal Jubilee! (June 3, 2002) Ricky Martin's going disco-crazy, Brian May's gone guitar-axe-psycho, there are bemused royals all over the place and an S Club member who ate all the pies. There's humour from Lenny Henry, an audience of 200 million people and later in...
Each man kills the thing he loves... (June 3, 2002) Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword! Some...
Evil advertising whores... (June 3, 2002) Link dump: Evil advertising whores....
On overwhelming film experiences... (June 3, 2002) Anyone vaguely interested in superhero trash will be delighted to know that X-men 2 sounds like it's going to be one hell of a ride. And speaking of over-whelming movie experiences, I've just seen the Spider-Man trailer on TV for...
In which Sweden whip England's ass... (June 2, 2002) Now look - I don't know a hell of a lot about football. And frankly I don't care that much about football either. So this whole 'World Cup' thing is flying rather over my head. But when I woke up...
On the Breeders' concert... (June 2, 2002) I wasn't the only person I know at the Breeders concert last night. Chris was there too. Let's search the web for some reviews and let's search blogdom for more weblogging Breeders fans: Reviews: Village Voice: "The Breeders finally released...
Going to see the Breeders... (June 2, 2002) In which Tom goes to see The Breeders: I don't go to concerts very often. When I was a teenager I was too lame, when I was in my early twenties I wanted to do it all the time but...
On the return of Mo Morgan... (June 1, 2002) Gestures of defiance let down by an inability to carry-through number three hundred and twenty in an ongoing series: MoMorgan.com is back....
Billy Bragg on Top of the Pops... (June 1, 2002) Was I the only person in the world who saw Billy Bragg on Top of the Pops last night using long words and singing about modern art and anti-monarchism? The lyrics were full of phrases like 'abstract notions' and the...
