Monthly Archives: January 2008

Scraps at the end of a long silly day

Posted on January 30, 2008 by acb

These quiz things seem popular on the internet, so here is a one question personality test, without any typing, to try: what is the word you see here? Damian Thompson has now admitted his story was nonsense, but what I … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 7 Comments

Kornbluth and Eugenics

Posted on January 30, 2008 by acb

Looking around for links with which to embellish my last piece, I discovered that almost all of the references on the net to the great Cyril Kornbluth story The Marching Morons stressed its eugenicist — actually dysgenicist — character, something … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Comments Off on Kornbluth and Eugenics

Another approach to sanity on the net

Posted on January 30, 2008 by acb

I was told the other day about an interesting feature of some of the most widely used blog comment software in the newspaper business, Pluck Site Life, which is used by the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and others. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in nördig | 6 Comments

Damian Thompson: wtf f?

Posted on January 29, 2008 by acb

There is a completely insane story up on his blog at the moment about a supposed riot in which “Muslims” shut down one of the public hospitals in Sydney rather than allow an autopsy to be performed on a young … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 3 Comments

Surveillance: wtf?

Posted on January 29, 2008 by acb

The Telegraph reports today that there are more than a thousand phone-tapping applications made (and granted) every day in Britain. The paper is particularly worked up because it is not just the intelligence services and the police but local councils … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in British politics | 3 Comments

Nice Mac things

Posted on January 28, 2008 by acb

I had to help a friend buy a macbook the other day. My well-informed advice was pretty simple: “You don’t need that or that or even that. Buy the cheapest one in the shop, and, by the way, have you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in nördig | 7 Comments

Colour management on Windows

Posted on January 28, 2008 by acb

About fourteen months after I realised there was a problem, I have finally reached a system which allows the faithful reproduction of colours when printing digital photographs on windows. I’m not saying this is the only one. But it works, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Pictures | Comments Off on Colour management on Windows

The final failure of Thatcherism

Posted on January 18, 2008 by acb

A really excellent piece by Andrew Leonard in his Salon blog. Key quote: The root of Wall Street’s woes leads back directly to their own strategic missteps, greed, speculation-run-amok, and lack of appropriate supervision. The brightest minds in finance had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in USA | 1 Comment

I hate IBM/Lenovo, almost everyone this morning

Posted on January 18, 2008 by acb

Over at the Guardian there is a vigorous discussion of the new Apple Airmac, on which someone mentions that the IBM competitor, the Thinkpad X61, is on sale in the states for $1349 right now. Well, I love the X … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in nördig | 4 Comments

uncelebrity gossip

Posted on January 16, 2008 by acb

So to a party to celebrate Granta’s 100th issue. I arrive late, having started at the wrong tube station and walked from Queensway to the Portobello Road in pouring rain. On the stairs up to the auditorium is Martin Amis, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 2 Comments