Monthly Archives: November 2003

the yellow hole

One of the small and simple innovations that will sweep the world, like putting wheels on suitcases, is to make the inside of laptop bags some kind of fierce bright colour so that all the otherwise identical black gadgets that … Continue reading Continue reading

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OOo thoughts

I have been using OpenOffice for the last two years as my primary word processor, even for the sort of short articles for which Word 97 is probably better. I wrote the whole worm book in it without any disasters … Continue reading Continue reading

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Glass half-full or haaaargh?

Should I feel safer because of this?The study of the medical histories of 6,643 men in 24 towns over a 10-year period and found that only 2.8% died from coronary heart disease, instead of the 4.3% predicted using methods recommended … Continue reading Continue reading

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Natural merit

The women, he said, simply knocked on the door of his hotel room, entered and engaged in sex with him. He said he did not know if they were prostitutes because they never asked for money and he did not … Continue reading Continue reading

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political action

I don’t often like web sites that are flashy in any sense of th e word; and this one has music on it, which would normally put it completely beyond the pale. But it is actually a stunning piece of … Continue reading Continue reading

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spamming today

Two new tactics in the war against humanity conducted by spammers. the first is to use a security hole in MT to send spam onwards from our accounts. The second is to use messages whose text is random nonsense. There … Continue reading Continue reading

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wide-eyed provincial

To London for the weekend. Best to treat these things as holidays to a foreign country, especially when you factor in the cost of restaurant meals. I could have flown to Rome and back for less than the cost of … Continue reading Continue reading

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wonder drug

It was Joan’s funeral yesterday, and an old friend came down from Scotland for the wake. The three of us were all wearing ties simultaneously and in the same room probably for the first time since 1970, when I left … Continue reading Continue reading

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black hawk down

I stole the headline from the Guardian’s leader but wouldn’t you, too? There is only one thing left unsaid about the fall of Conrad Black, and that is the monstrous, unfathomable greed that lies behind it. Here is a man … Continue reading Continue reading

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hard-boiled

In Boston, I suppose I ought buy Robert B Parker’s thrillers, but it’s been decades since he tipped from pastiche into self-parody. I’ve always thought that the reason America is full of serial killers is that they kill women on … Continue reading Continue reading

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