Yearly Archives: 2005

It was a dark and stormy night

Posted on November 25, 2005 by acb

When I finally left the London Library, clutching the second volume of Selma Lagerlöf’s Troll och Människor. Now, perhaps, the world is ready for my favourite of all the stories. The first installment is over on the troll blog right … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | Comments Off on It was a dark and stormy night

The running dogs of capitalism exposed

Posted on November 22, 2005 by acb

One of the minor consequences of the present catastroophe is that it lets us lose the Cold War in retrospect. I mean that for generations it has been an article of faith among liberals, conservatives, decent socialists, and everyone who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | 1 Comment

A wormseye

Posted on November 21, 2005 by acb

This is offered in the spirit of the playground pusher: try it, little girl, you might like it. The Worm’s eye View column is normally available only to Wrap subscribers. On the other hand, there is a promotion on at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 3 Comments

David Austin 1935-2005

Posted on November 21, 2005 by acb

Funny people aren’t always nice, and they don’t often feel the need, in person, to make you feel the world is a better place than you’d supposed. David Austin did that. I don’t know whether his cartoons or his company … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Slashdotted

Posted on November 20, 2005 by acb

And it’s not even my bandwidth but the Guardian’s. I read Slashdot with the comment threshold at four, which cuts out most of the crap, but even there you find someone complaining that there was no mention of Richard Stallman. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 3 Comments

An experiment in generosity

Posted on November 19, 2005 by acb

Magnatune” lets customers choose, within limits, how much they want to pay for music. But everyone knows that half goes to the artist. This seems to me good business and good psychology — surely people will pay more when they … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Science without worms | 2 Comments

A Jack Vance Restaurant

Posted on November 19, 2005 by acb

I was introduced yesterday to the most absurd and delightful Chinese patisserie in Soho, possibly in Europe. The exterior walls are sheets of blue glass; even the urinals seem made from slabs of blue perspex, with a stepped slate trough … Continue reading →

Posted in Travel notes | 1 Comment

Gmail is not a word processor

Posted on November 18, 2005 by acb

I was bewildered by Vic Keegan’s article on gmail as a word processor; I should have been illuminated. It shows how many journalists still use a computer as a typewriter with fancy formatting. He wants a fast and lightweight program … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 12 Comments

Another patent story I missed

Posted on November 17, 2005 by acb

OK – I only found it after the deadline. But some idiot in the US Patent Office has approved one for “a flying saucer which depends on antigravity.” In a way, that’s almost more shocking than patents on hyperlinks.

Posted in nördig | 4 Comments

That Sony rootkit

Posted on November 17, 2005 by acb

I have a big piece on IP going into Saturday’s Guardian. I’m not very happy about it, because I think it misses an important point about Sony’s rootkit, one of the most egregious examples of corporates taking ownership of things … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in nördig | 2 Comments