Tue, 14 Dec 2004
Where have you been?
Here:
You can create your own visited country map at this cute site.
Wed, 07 Jul 2004
They have Insurance for this?
Does anyone else think it's odd that one of the reasons that the Archdiocese of Oregon is filing for bankruptcy is that "Major insurers have abandoned [them] and are not paying what they should on claims.". What? They have pederasty insurance on priests? It never ceases to amaze me that these are the arseholes who presume to condemn my sexuality, despite their centuries of corruption, exploitation and powermongering. I'm sure there are some great priests, but I suspect that the majority of the Catholic hierarchy are going to be very surprised by their lot in the next life.
Thu, 25 Mar 2004
"unquestionably one of the great players of our time"
How much does this rock? It's a review of a concert that my dearly beloved's father gave on June 15th, 1961, which my super-cool London posse got from microfilm at the British Library Newspaper Library, in a heroic favour-doing of epic proportion. My friends are the best! (Go! Vix, go Si!)
Mon, 08 Dec 2003
Chick Tract with a difference
Ever seen a Chick tract? Here's one with a
slightly different take on the end of the world. Eat me!
(via bOing bOing).
Wed, 19 Nov 2003
Mmmm... turkey.
Fancy the delicious taste of traditional Thanksgiving turkey and gravy, but don't have the gnashers to cope with chewing your way through some tough old bird? Try This delightful concoction instead!
Thu, 23 Oct 2003
The Military-Industrial Complex
President Eisenhower's valedictory address - in which he famously, and evidently fruitlessly warns against the military-industrial complex - is transcribed here. Enjoy!
Behold, Diseased Pariah News!
My complete set of DPN arrived yesterday, and its humour just as dark as I expected. It's grimly entertaining reading, especially with the foreknowledge that the majority (if not all) of the contributors have since died of AIDS, not least of which is the most evident voice of the first issue, who died before the second hit the presses. I'll eventually post some extracts and maybe scans of some of the content - just because it's unabashedly funny as hell in a "I'm dying, and not ashamed of it" kind of way.
Tue, 14 Oct 2003
Diseased Pariah News, again.
Well, a complete (so far) set of DPN turned out to be a rather short
search away. My 11 issues should be on their way from San Francisco
bay already. Next stop would be to check the copyrights out, before
scan/ocr-ing them online. I would expect (perhaps naïvely,
probably rather grimly) that copyrights won't be a problem, since
the authors will all be dead.
For the curious, the bookstore that had the first issue also had the
other ten, which just goes to show the commercial benefits of keeping
personal interaction in mom-and-pop (or in this case, more likely
pop-and-pop) e-business stores.
Wed, 01 Oct 2003
Diseased Pariah News
I'm interested in finding these, and making them available online, if possible, for posterity. I've got hold of the first... if you run across issues 2-11, please let me know.
Tue, 30 Sep 2003
The Food of Love
I saw an inscription on the Paine Concert Hall at Harvard over the
weekend that I thought was apposite and enlightening. It turns out to be
from Longfellow's poem The
Singers, and it goes:
To charm, to strengthen and to teach.
These are the three great chords of might,
Mon, 22 Sep 2003
Stapp's Law
The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle.
Wed, 27 Aug 2003
Mailinator!
What a neat idea... a place for a real, temporary email address with no strings, no registration, no hassle, no security, no worries. Mailinator is here to save you from those pernicious scum that sell your email address when you register for a forum, or buy some crap for some loser friend who ain't got 'net. It works by accepting any mail at <whatever>@mailinator.com, stripping out any evil attachments or evil HTML, and only keeping mail for a few hours. So you sign up for something with a mailinator address, read the login code or whatever there, and forget about the consequences of giving an address to your average, unscrupulous webvermin. Other cute things are possible with mailinator... like a weird kind of ad hoc forum for discussion: pick an email address and share it to start a conversation. Very cool. Very cute. What technology should be all about.
Thu, 21 Aug 2003
Roll on Sisyphus
Well Bass Pro whujamaflip and Direct Response Decks were surprisingly helpful when I asked to be removed from their tree-murdering spam lists. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding (or mailbox).
Wed, 20 Aug 2003
Sisyphus was a sissy
Today, I started to try to halt the flood of junk mail that American
Express insists on sending me, despite the fact that I already
have a card, don't have a car, and really
have no interest in Country and Western concerts in Portland.
So far, so good... after a short wait on the Gold Card toll-free number,
the CS rep. has taken my request to be removed from their mailing and
calling lists with calm professionalism.
She just came back. It's going to take 10
weeks, but it's done. Watch this space, while (if I can be
bothered), I chart the progress of diminution from flood to trickle, and
maybe one blessed day dries up altogether, and I stop being responsible
for the death of an area of forest the size of Wales every year.
Now for the really hard one... I ordered a red dot gun sight for a
friend to mount on his telescope, for some arcane astronomical purpose.
Now I'm on the mailing list of some company that wants to sell me
countless instruments of death by arrow, death by bullet, death by
bigass knife, and much general mayhem. I'll start at the source, and
hope it gets down to the latest merchants of desctruction, "Direct
Response, Inc.".
Tue, 22 Jul 2003
Second Life?
Strongly reminiscent of the Snow Crash Metaverse, Second Life is a MMOG with a very different flavour to all the others. Apart from being technically rather cool, it's likely to appeal to a whole new audience, interested more in creative self-expression than FPS, NPC mob-bashing, PvP and all the other concerns of most MMORPGs. Ever wondered if you could realise your dream home in a virtual world? You can... in your Second Life. Give it a whirl for a 5-day free trial. Most groovy.
Mon, 21 Jul 2003
Praise Of The Day
Hmm. Here's a thought: Praise of the Day(TM). Simple idea, whenever you see something cool, neat, impressive, awe inspiring, or that you just like on the 'net, e-mail its originator and say so. I'm going to give it a go... see if I can come up with a random PotD email for a while. Obviously it will go on hiatus while I'm contemplating my navel silently for 10 days in a few weeks, but for now, here's Art by Justin, Justin Meisse's page of cool stuff... I was particularly impressed by the bottle.
Tue, 15 Jul 2003
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674 - 1834
This is a searchable online reference to the published proceedings of the Old Bailey... it's fascinating and fabulous! Find your wicked forebears here!
Mon, 14 Jul 2003
Weird and Wonderful Web
The answers to all your most pressing questions are on the web. Including such dastardly brainteasers as I need to open the skull of a rat, what do you recommend?. Enjoy.
Mon, 07 Jul 2003
Wed, 28 May 2003
Boing Boing
I've been a reader of boingboing for a while. There's usually something worth a look there. Enjoy.
