Posts

  • 1st
    • The DVR of my life is recording Countdown → In 1993 I bought an Amiga CD32. In fact, I was 10 at the time, so I had it bought for me. Wasn’t I a lucky boy? Well, yes I was. It was a lot of fun, but it was the beginning of the end for the gamer in me. It took another 7 years [...]
    • Wii’s anti-HD revolution → The last post was a sort of excuse to explain why I phoned Toys R Us before Christmas to ask if they had any Nintendo Wii’s in stock. They said they were getting some in tomorrow (the 16th of December), so I went down there at 8am. There was a queue of 200 people who [...]
  • 5th
    • Racism and nationalism are the same thing → What is nationalism? Its definition is inextricably linked to the definition of nation: “a large aggregate of people united by common descent, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory” (OED). It is important to distinguish nation from state. They are not the same thing, even though we speak of the nation state, which [...]
  • 13th
    • Pop rips off the demoscene → Timbaland rips off an old demoscene tune in Nelly Furtado’s Do It. This is a prime piece of scumbaggery, but I find it illuminating how easily the words “steal” and “theft” roll off the keyboards of the commentariat. The original author does have a genuine feeling of loss; is this the same feeling that ultimately justifies [...]
  • 18th
    • Droogs → Commence fearing crystal meth… now: The “euphoric” sex and dance culture drug crystal meth will become a class A drug to avert widespread use in the UK. I predict widespread use will increase, crystal meth-related crime will increase, enforcement costs will rise, street price will increase, dealer profit will increase, manufacturing volume will go up, and addicts [...]
  • 19th
    • DHS and Fedex → This package had been opened by the US Department of Homeland Security, and emptied of drugs, bombs, migrant workers and 0-day warez. It was also crumpled up and filthy as hell. Strangely enough, the package was sent from Brazil to England. Not the United States. Perhaps it went via Miami; just goes to show how [...]
  • 25th
    • Google groups is out of beta → The new version of Google Groups absolutely stinks. The advert pane is now huge and obnoxious and irremovable, the quoting is completely wrong, and it’s riddled with bugs, including some really basic and ancient bugs from the early days of the web, such as a link within one frame opening the frameset page, resulting in [...]
  • 26th
    • The prison cockup → John Reid tells judges only to jail the most dangerous and persistent offenders. Compassion for perpetrators of victimless crimes? High-minded progressive attitude to punishment? The start of a glorious era of rehabilitation? No, it’s just that the jails are full.
  • 30th
    • Kaczynski’s Kabin → Old news: Unabomber’s cabin spared from demolition: I find something amusing in how they seized his entire shack as evidence and locked it in a warehouse. Industrial society finally absorbed it (great picture). (See also).