Category Archives: Miscellany

Miscellany

Welcome, fellow iTunes haters!

My traffic spiked like a demon on a drug trip when I posted about iTunes the other day (yes, that is what happens to demons when they go on drug trips). So welcome! If you need to know more about my adventures, leave a question in the c-c-c-c-omments.

I will post more substantially this weekend: it has been a busy (and fairly stressful!) week but things seem to be coming together and I have that Friday feeling, so things are looking up.

I am sad I missed International Talk like a Pirate day this year, though. Aaaaaaarrrrr.

Miscellany, Observational

Cycling off the night before

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Man, cycled for about an hour and a half today. Which was cool – just surprising as my ‘winging’ it policy completely failed to stand up as I got lost in West London on my way to Portobello. Still, in the end I made it and enjoyed the scenic route. And I managed to fix Arvind’s wifi (well, mostly) which was geekily satisfying.

How I was able to cycle for an hour and a half given the lack of sleep (was out till the small hours at a v. fun birthday party on Sat…) is really beyond me, though.

Oh, at said party Lou inferred that I say ‘man’ too much. Which is probably a fair criticism. And Pob told me off for starting a sentence with ‘so…’. Apparently doing this makes me not only American, but a Microsoft Employee. I’ll resist in future ;).

Miscellany

I hate Edgeware road

…at least, the circle line bit of it. Sometimes you win and the train doesn’t stop at the station indefinitely on its way (East or West) but mostly – you lose. Tonight, I lost.

Victory will be mine.

Internet, Miscellany, Technology

The Moodatron ® 1000™

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A miracle of modern invention, the Moodatron ® 1000™ is a bluetooth-enabled mood-broadcasting presence enabled device, capable of detecting your current state of mind and providing that information directly to your favourite instant messaging application or even Livejournal! An online community site, www.mood.ron can even aggregate your mood, plot it by time of day and compare it to other people with similar moods to you! Find your fellow mooded friends, and date them!

On the move? The Moodatron ® 1000™ is compatible with your bluetooth enabled mobile phone!

Invented by geniuses with white coats and electrodes, the Moodatron ® 1000â„¢ has been decribed by fuzzy dolts around the world as “the greatest invention since ‘what I’m listening to’ plugins” and “a must have for all people with no need for personal space!”

The Moodatron ® 1000™ will hit the streets shortly after the first order has been placed. The R.R.P. is £20m. It is not Mac compatible.

Feeling pissed off? Tell the world: get the Moodatron ® 1000™ today.

(so that’s my crazy web 2.0-ified purposeless invention; inspiration struck after about a week of thinking of amusing things to do with the presence information options in Google Talk and MSN Messenger. No, no, I’m not a complete geek. Why would you say that? Shut up, or I’ll shoot you with this phantom zone gun!)

Culture, Miscellany, Observational

Ladbroke’s

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A new Ladbroke’s has opened near me, and a couple of people have already moved into permanent seating positions. I don’t know what it is about betting shops that they need to generate such depressing environments for themselves; the windows have all been blocked (in what was quite an attractive, well lit storefront) and white mountingboard seals every wall. It looks like it must feel like being on the inside of a coffin.

Matt seemed to think that they shut out external sources of light so betters in residence wouldn’t notice the passage of time in the outside world, which seems rational enough in that respect… but if these guys are watching races/football matches, etc, they’ll know exactly what time it is…

Ah, ’tis a wonderful and variegated world we live in. The best I can hope for is that the Ladbroke’s faces the same end that the three preceding coffee shops that inhabited that space did: lack of custom.

Miscellany, Observational

London is awesome

I’ve felt this for years, but last night, after a few drinks, on a friend’s balcony overlooking the entirety of London — well, it was breathtaking. I wish I’d had my camera, or that my phone camera could cope with low-light conditions. Even the Wheel looked awesome.

So if I’ve left you a message saying something about the wheel, or the view… that was the inspiration. Share and enjoy, that’s my motto…

Culture, Miscellany

The Visa Diaries

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I’m not big on shopping myself, but if you are… check out the Visa Diaries. Kate Howe is examining how your shopping reflects your personality, in some sense — as she tells “tales of life and love” through Visa receipts ;).

Me? I hate shopping. Buy everything online that I can. Not sure what that says about me :P

Miscellany

England vs Portugal

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The referee was a crook, Sven was a fool, Stevie G and Frank L should have taken better penalties, and it was all rather upsetting.

Of course, I may not know what I’m talking about (except for the ‘upsetting’ part) but the long and the short of it is: England’s out.

Enjoyed the match though – shouted head off with a few others around the big screen, and simultaneously read Guardian’s commentary to check how well I was doing at understanding what was going on. The Graun’s coverage was pretty good…

(And I see that Becks has quit as Captain – what will become of the England team under its new stewardship? Who knows?)

I do think I’m going to subscribe to an RSS feed that’ll keep me updated on Spurs progress through the next premiership season, as quite enjoyed the bits of football I’ve watched this World Cup and might be interesting to follow the team I supposedly support… (Of course, Tottenhamhotspur.com doesn’t have any RSS feeds that I can find… grrr).