Monthly Archives: October 2005

Happy dance

Posted on October 21, 2005 by acb

_Granta_ is going to take my piece about Sorsele (where the photo above was taken). It wasn’t at all what I set out to write there. But it’s not at all bad. I will make another smug little post when … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 3 Comments

With enough eyeballs, all bugs are invisible

Posted on October 21, 2005 by acb

An interesting test case for open source boosterism is provided by the release of OpenOffice.org 2.0 this week. I have been using this product since long before it was usable, out of a mixture of perversity, stinginess, and vague anti-Microsoft … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in OOo | Comments Off on With enough eyeballs, all bugs are invisible

Convention and welfare

Posted on October 20, 2005 by acb

I have been working on a long piece about the ideas of “Herbert Gintis”:http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gintis/ for the _Guardian,_ and there are some bits left over after I rolled it al out and cut it to fit the tin. The broader message … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in British politics | Comments Off on Convention and welfare

The Carey problem

Posted on October 15, 2005 by acb

I promised myself that I wouldn’t write any more about George Carey once he retired. But the bugger won’t _stay_ retired. He continues to regard himself as the man in charge of the Anglican Communion and to [“dispense advice”:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/12/nchur12.xml] and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 5 Comments

A cautionary tale

Posted on October 12, 2005 by acb

Three names to avoid – “Internet Buyer Direct,(Internet Buyer Direct sucks)”:http://www.studentcomputers.co.uk/ “Student computers,(Student Computers uk sucks)”:http://www.internetbuyerdirect.com/ “Communication4. (Communication4 sucks)”:http://www.internetbuyerdirect.com/ They all seem to be the same -firm- man, operating from somewhere[1] in the West Country. They sell refurbished notebooks and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Net stories | 3 Comments

Asylum seekers spread it with every breath

Posted on October 11, 2005 by acb

Just when you think the _Mail_ can’t possibly surpass its discovery of the threat posed to life by “dihydrogen monoxide,”:http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/001495.html it comes up with a headline like this. And the deadly gas in question … …is… [” carbon dioxide!”:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=365038&in_page_id=1774&in_a_source=] Now … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on Asylum seekers spread it with every breath

High class busking

Posted on October 10, 2005 by acb

This is glorious. John M Ford has started selling his “poems and parodies”:http://www.cafepress.com/speceng printed on T shirts. I love the idea of poetry being sold on T shirts rather than in paperbacks which cost almost as much and will be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Comments Off on High class busking

You’ll all laugh

Posted on October 9, 2005 by acb

But my ignorance of vegetables is unbounded. A friend gave my wife a chili bush of some sort, which was planted in the garden. It has small white star-shaped flowers, and bears these fruits: They are surprisingly hot. But does … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 8 Comments

Once in a while

Posted on October 9, 2005 by acb

You get shown the light in “The Orlando Sentinel”:http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/orl-obscene08_105oct08,0,4482964.story if you look at it right. Chris Wilson, the man who ran the “NTFU”:http://www.thewormbook.com/helmintholog/archives/001577.html#1694 board, has been busted by the local police on obscenity charges. This probably doesn’t affect the running … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | Comments Off on Once in a while

A great Gledhill story

Posted on October 8, 2005 by acb

bq. The way Erickson hoisted the host over his head and held it aloft for a minute or more made a vivid contrast to the perfunctory elevation that the senior priests favored. Tears rolled down his cheeks during the ceremony. … Continue reading →

Posted in God | Comments Off on A great Gledhill story