Posts

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Seasoned bloggers knows people are rarely moved to comment on a blog post. Especially, one hit wonders sent from Google, who were simply looking for ‘Train times between Clapham and Norbiton’ and instead see some commuter rant aimed at South West Trains.

However, microblogging has taught us that people are slightly more likely to grudgingly acknowledge an amusing one-liner with a ‘Like’ or a ‘Fave’. Clicking a button is quick and easy - even for lazy people.

Google Music - available by 2017

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a invitation to Google Music. The service is only available in the US but, by a lucky chance of fate, I just happened to be connected to my corporate VPN so I was successful and an invitation duly arrived in my Inbox.

Initially, the Google Music Manager software didn’t support Linux. Nor was the Ogg Vorbis audio format supported so I didn’t pursue it any further as both of these were show stoppers for me. I don’t intend re-ripping my entire music collection to MP3 format.

Welcome to the brave new world

Well - I lasted about 4 hours without a blog.

This latest incarnation is powered by Hyde.

This means I can write my posts in Markdown, generate and test the site locally and then upload using ‘rsync’.

humour on BBC breakfast

BBC Breakfast ran a story this morning about the sale of woodlands. The gentlemen responsible for selling woodlands was quite a comedian. He started his act with:

‘In these difficult economic times, people are looking to invest in woodlands to hedge their bets…’

and then, referring to the potential investment opportunity and without a glimmer of a smile, he delivered the immaculate line

‘In a few years time, once the wood has matured, people will see that you can get income from trees’.

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farewell Paul Scholes

One of my favourite United players - for his sublime skills on the pitch and the modest, understated way he conducted himself off it. Thanks for all the memories, Paul.

Rob Daley RIP

The ticket allocations for the London 2012 Olympics haven’t been announced yet so I don’t know whether I’ll be watching Tom Daley competing in the 10m platform diving semi final on 9th August.

If I do, I’ll be sparing a thought and probably shedding a quiet tear for Tom Daley’s dad, Rob, who lost his 5 year battle against a brain tumour yesterday.

Last year, I enjoyed a BBC documentary about Tom Daley where his Dad interrupted a formal press conference to give his son a big hug, thoroughly embarrassing him in the process. You could just sense the immense sense of love and pride Rob Daley had in his son.

the joy of Markdown

For many years, I have flitted between a plethora of different blogging platforms mainly out of curiosity, boredom, frustration or occasionally sheer bloody mindedness.

I have lost draft posts in WordPress, Tumblr, Posterous and Habari due to network glitches, browser crashes, my own stupidity and a broken AutoSave plugin.

One night in a lonely hotel room, the realisation suddenly dawned on me that my frustration with all of these blogging platforms was that I spent a lot of time in the post editor and none of the post editors did what I wanted.

C grade student

Chatting with a good friend over dinner last night, he recounted how his son ambushed him late one Sunday night with some economics homework that he’d somehow manage to overlook and which simply had to be submitted the following morning.

Annoyed, and after dispensing a severe bollocking, he reluctantly sat down and gave his son some lengthy help with the complex and thorny topic of

‘How does monetary policy affect the economy ?’

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exciting times

These are indeed exciting times in the Brightside household:

• Norma Jeane will be taking part in the 125th Lawn Tennis Championships to be held at Wimbledon between 20 June and 3 July. Her precise role isn’t known yet but may include ‘Waiting On (Silver Service)’ - fawning over loud, overbearing sales people out on a corporate jolly, ‘Bar staff’ (serving jugs of Pimms to middle aged Daily Mail readers) or tantalisingly, ‘Courtesy car driver’ (ferrying a morose Andy Murray around). This represents a rapid promotion from her initial placement two years ago, where she started out on ‘Litter collection surrounding courts 10 and 11’ before being promoted to ‘Housekeeping duties’ or, as she so eloquently put it - ‘Cleaning the bogs’.
• Norma will be visiting Holloway prison in April. She claims this is part of her District Nursing course but I have my doubts. She seems to be watching a lot of those legal dramas recently and taking copious notes.
• Norman Junior III is recuperating from fracturing his right arm for the second time. Note to self - any activity containing the word ‘roller’ that takes place on a concrete road is potentially hazardous. He is soldiering on quite well and only needs assistance with his socks. He has subsequently changed his XBox nickname to ‘OneArmedBandit’ and is experimenting using his toes to manipulate the controller.
• I had a brush with West Midlands traffic police last week in Solihull after daring to consult a old fashioned map while driving. After 15 minutes of being patronised by a fascist pig and being forced to beg and scrape on bended knee, I managed to escape with a verbal warning instead of the threatened ‘6 point penalty for careless driving’. However, I am still puzzling over the ‘correct’ answer to the copper’s deep, probing question: ‘Sir, please could you tell me why were you travelling at 25 miles per hour in a 30 zone ?’

why Arsenal lost the Carling Cup

When I heard that Arsenal were busy making plans for their injured and oh so inspirational captain, Cesc Fabregas, to hoist the trophy aloft and end 6 barren years without a sniff of a trophy, I had a horrible feeling it might end that way.

Can you imagine the suspended United captain, a grey suited Roy Keane, doing that back in 1999 ? Can you even imagine Ferguson even contemplating that option for just a second ? No. Neither can I.