Helmintholog

whaddya mean, 5?

Posted on November 11, 2002 by acb

There are 242 of them! Even Edouard Geulincx, famous for erm philosophy, is there.

Posted in Blather | 1 Comment

Well I’ll be blown!

Posted on November 10, 2002 by acb

This comes from a review in the Telegraph of Barry Humphries’ latest memoirs:

Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Literature | Comments Off

one person

Posted on November 9, 2002 by acb

in the entire world is unfailingly funny about computers.

Posted in Software | Comments Off

A perfectly wonderful essay by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, about the mid-term elections. It shows that quality of practical, tough-minded optimism which is probably the one thing I love most about America.

Posted in War | Comments Off

whodathunkit

Posted on November 5, 2002 by acb

— the 419 scams actually make money — $100m a year, according to Slate. No wonder the offers just keep coming.

But in a world where a young man fresh out of jail can win

Posted in Blather | 1 Comment

Another hero round the bend

Posted on November 4, 2002 by acb

Validimir Bukovsky is a man of unimpeachable heroism, great energy, and a hobnailed liver, as I know to my cost after a long night drinking with him on a ferry somewhere near Tallinn. So why is he turning into Bufton Tuftonski?

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Poor old Biggles

Posted on November 4, 2002 by acb

It must have been terrible for Iain Duncan Smith to read his own obituary in the Sunday Telegraph but this morning’s Times is even worse. When Rees-Mogg writes to prove you must survive, you know you’re as dead as the gold standard.

Posted in Blather | 1 Comment

It can get worse

Posted on November 3, 2002 by acb

Really: just when I am maddened to a frenzy by vile, stupid and aggressively user-hostile bits of pseudo-Linux like PuTTY, I found a new, smooth firewall, endorsed by the Register. What a change. This turned out to be vile, stupid, and aggressively user-friendly. I reinstalled it six times before discovering, buried deep in the marketing material, the following sentence:“We do not guarantee that Outpost Firewall will run on Microsoft ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) gateway (computer connecting two networks and transmitting packages from one network to another) running Windows2000 Service Pack 2 or Windows XP.” Like anyone would ever want to do that.