Monday 28 February 2005
Haves and Have Nots
If I was being vaguely big-headed, I would say that I perform a reasonable public service for friends and relatives, acting as an unpaid unofficial IT support helpdesk, providing dubious untested advice and often causing more problems than I solve. Of course, then there are friends who act in that role for me, except that they more often than not get the right answer first time. John Naughton in the business section of the Observer identifies a new digital divide; those who have access to free IT support like that described above, and those who don't. And he's right in saying that it is a considerable business opportunity.
Mate, it'll be a cold day in hell before I know more about I.T. than you do! It's all bluff, see...
Oh crap - does this mean you've worked out that the only reason I'm going out with you is that you always fix my mum's PC? x
Thursday 17 February 2005
Wheeeeeee!
*bouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebounce*
*bouncebouncebouncebouncebounce*
Stephen Fry as the book! Alan Rickman as Marvin! Bill Bailey as the whale! It doesn't get better than this!
(Thanks Nick)
Do you want me to start queuing for tickets? ;) xx
Thursday 10 February 2005
Phishing for a phix
Much hand-wringing, wailing and gnashing of teeth at the revelation of a security flaw in Mozilla, Firefox et. al.
Actually, it's a security flaw enabled by the dappy gits who introduced the concept of International characters in domain names.
Which in effect means that you could click on a link that appears in your address bar as "paypal.com" but which in fact is linking you to www.xn--pypal-4ve.com.
The good news is that according to Netcraft you can fix this by turning off international character support ...
... in Firefox and Mozilla by setting 'network.enableIDN' to false in the browser's configuration (enter about:config in the address bar to access the configuration functions)
Fixes are on their way. This isn't a problem in Internet Explorer unless you install the plugin which enables you to use international character support.
Tuesday 8 February 2005
Disengage Blackberry, Re-engage Brain
Sometimes I hate politics.
Then, there are days like today.
Tuesday 8 February 2005
New Labour Lost in Showbiz
Tucked away on the Guardian's "Monkey" page (subscription required, no permalinks - come on chaps, sort it out!) is compelling evidence that Tony and the Labour party have totally lost it. Leaving aside the complete absence of verbs, the new Labour slogan, it would appear, is a direct lift from a 1996 episode of The Simpsons.
 | Clinton: My fellow Americans, we must move forward not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom! |
 | I rest my case. |
Tuesday 8 February 2005
Biting the hands that feeds you
The Guardian reports today that the Tories are to sue the Times.
The decision to sue, personally approved by Michael Howard and Guy Black, his director of communications, reflects concern among leading Conservatives that the Times, once the paper of the Tory establishment, is becoming a cheerleader for Tony Blair.
Well, that'll help get them back on side, then!
Not complaining; just sayin'.
Monday 7 February 2005
You did what with the who now?
Can somebody please explain this story to me?
Actually I'm more tickled by a story below that, which informs us that a kid named James "Bubba" Taylor avoided being seriously injured by a bullet thanks to being, and I quote, "CHUNKY"! I can't believe that people still nickname their kids 'Bubba'... x
Well first, it takes place in Florida. Second, it takes place in Florida. Third, it takes place in... you get it now?
Any chance of Blair impersonating a free-world leader?
(cymbal)
Friday 4 February 2005
Another Remake
Following a trend that doesn't look as if it will ever end, Now even Bond films are being remade.
Admittedly, Casino Royale was never 'officially' a Bond film; and from utter disaster came an absolute classic. In my opinion. Which counts for nothing. But it'll be a shame to have one actor playing Bond all the way through, and actors actually appearing in the same scenes together (rather than being edited together later, as in the case of Peter Sellers and Orson Welles.) Worse, it may have an understandable plot! Although it is a Bond film, so it'll still be ridiculous.
But I LOVE James Bond! And, believe it or not, I've even read some of the books...including "Casino Royale". I'm as yet undecided over which actor I'd like to see taking over the 007 mantle from the sublime Mr Brosnan, but as long as it's not that bleedin' Colin Farrell I don't mind. x
PS: Bond films have ridiculous plots? Never!
Friday 4 February 2005
Libre le téléchargement
Trust the French. A delegation of Musicians and Politicians has delivered a petition to the Government asking that lawsuits against illegal downloaders stop. Apparently, they say, they all do it anyway.
Wednesday 2 February 2005
America?
One of the best bits of this movie was this music, which carries various parental advisories.
Hi Dan. Glad you seem to be writing again but not sure about this purple.....
Tuesday 1 February 2005
I'm lovin' it ... just a little bit more.
I'm sure some people love McDonalds food. But would they sleep with it? Andrew Teman thinks that this appears to be the ... er ... thrust of a new campaign in the US.
Yet another reason why I don't eat anything from McDonald's...blech! x
Tuesday 1 February 2005
ME or EU
A mildly humourous discussion (once you've got past the usual Microvangelists vs. Linuxlovers spats) on the Guardian Online Blog about potential names for the EU Version of Windows. (Microsoft's original attempt, overturned for obvious reasons, was "Windows XP Reduced Media Edition".)
My favourite from the list so far is "Shorthorn".
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.dustbinman.com/nav-commenters.gif)