Month: March 2007

Simple is as simple does

I’m going to start this with something controversial, I do hope the following statement doesn’t shock you, so please take a moment to prepare yourself.

OK? All set? Maybe a few deep breaths first.

OK, here it is.

My new PC is fast, shiny and does lots and lots and lots of things.

Phew, that was something, wasn’t it! WOW! Everyone still with me? I realise that must have been a bit of a jolt. OK, some more deep breaths, calm calm.

[What IS all this nonsense? Get on with it! Ed]

OK, I wanna take about how my use of technology is getting simpler. Coming from a self-confessed gadget-freak, that statement wouldn’t even have been contemplated a few years ago, let alone typed, checked, edited and published!

Of course, technically speaking, it’s the software that helps me do all those lots and lots and lots of things. Over the years, and with much experimentation, I’ve slowly found good workable solutions for all my ‘tech’ needs. So much so that, increasingly, or rather DEcreasingly, I no longer spend much time searching for new applications that will help me do new ‘stuff’ on my PC preferring to, you know, actually getting things done.

I realise it’s not much of a revelation to most, if any, but it marks a change in my mindset and I thought I’d mark such a momentous occasion (for my mind is like an giant oil tanker, it takes several miles to slow down, let alone turn in another direction) by delving a little deeper. Yeah yeah, I know…

This ‘new’ way of viewing my PC means I no longer need to fight around the technological barriers I used to place in my own way. I used to download and experiment with a lot of software, trying different types of graphics apps, different email apps, browsers, 3rd party add-ons and so on and on and on.

But no longer! I’ve slimmed down (my PC), gone lean and mean and I’ve slowly begun to realise that, subconsciously, this is something that I’ve already started doing with my other ‘gadgets’.
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March 25, 2007

Feeling bookish

My new job is taking a lot of my time, and as it’s kick started my dormant professionalism, it’s also sapping my book reading time as well. Coupled with that I do seem to be on a non-fiction bent of late, I’m part way through “Make it Stick” and have just ordered some books with titles that include the words “simplicity”, “Nurnberg funnel” and “minimalism”. I blame Malcolm Gladwell.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a teetering stack of unread books at home but they are mostly novels and I’m just not in the mood to start them.

So, whilst Louise is just discovering Dan Brown and is disappearing off to bed at 9pm so she can fit in a couple of hours of reading, I’m stuck staring at my stack (I said STACK!) and wondering what to read next. In short (but let’s face it, when have us bloggers ever bothered with ‘short’), has anyone got any book recommendations?

And yes, I know that recommending books and music for people is always tricky, but the archives can help you there. Mind you I’m currently try to suss out what the next “blink” or “tipping point” book is, and from my limited research there doesn’t seem to be another “must read” book doing the blog rounds at the moment, but feel free to prove me wrong.

DOH. What an idiot.

I’m forgetting that THE book of the moment is Shaggy Blog Stories! My copy arrived yesterday, so that’s first in the list, but after that…

March 23, 2007

Conceited

There was a fairly massive “UK blog event” last week, which culminated in the publishing of a book called Shaggy Blog Stories (you HAVE ordered your copy, haven’t you?). It was a remarkable undertaking and everyone involved should be, and has been, rightly applauded. Plaudits well earned if you ask me.

Of course, as with anything and everything, there has been a little bit of a backlash which mike has handled with his usual aplomb (I do wish he’d stop making things looks so damn easy). I guess some people always presume the worst in these situations and I think that reflects more on them than they care to realise.

Now, I should point out that I’m not in the book. Nor was I involved in the creation process. Hell, I didn’t even offer a contribution. And I’m not for a minute suggesting that I wasn’t given the opportunity to be involved, and I’m quite sure that had I offered, mike would have found some use of my ‘talents’. This post is most certainly not a “toys out of pram” moan, nor a dig against anyone who was involved.

However the simple fact is that I wasn’t, for a variety of reasons that I’ll mention in a minute, involved with this project at all. On any front.

This irks.

And I’m not sure why.
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March 21, 2007

Notes from a frazzled blogger

Alec Salmond, for it was the self-same leader of the SNP who was visiting our offices yesterday, is a man of varying sizes. I know this to be true because whilst I feel he looks taller and thinner in the flesh than he appears on-screen (the place where politicians live), a colleague thought he looked shorter and fatter. Who’d be a politician, eh?

~

Budget day today. The only thing that will really have any impact on me will be the now standard rise in diesel prices. If the gap between petrol and diesel rises any further then there will be no point in owning a diesel car, the advantage of increased “miles per gallon” (kilometres per litre) will be wiped out.

I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing though, maybe I should be more concerned with the emissions side of things. Yes I’m sure I should.

Which brings me to something I was pondering as I idled alongside a big flashy sports car yesterday, namely, would I buy one?

A scenario: A lottery win or large inheritance falls in your lap. You can afford anything you desire and more. Would you still buy a luxury sports car?

If so, should you also buy several hundred acres of land and plant a sustainable forest to balance your ‘carbon footprint’? Where is the ethical line?

~

And finally it’s the Spring Equinox today. Spring is poised to be sprung.

Or is it? Given the obvious effects of global warming (like many, I was scraping ice off my car this morning), shouldn’t we move the seasons accordingly. It sure as hell FEELS like it’s still winter!

March 21, 2007

Edinburgh Blogmeet

OK people, let’s meet!

The first blogmeet of the year will be in Edinburgh, on the 19th May, and the venue will be confirmed closer to the date.

I think the Jolly Judge may be getting a little small for our needs, but of course that depends largely on how many people turn up. As a double bonus, I’ll happily arrange a meeting point for those travelling through from Glasgow.

So if you can make it, please leave a comment so I’ve got a rough ideas of numbers.

For those of you who haven’t been to a blogmeet, here’s some brief notes from the previous few:
May 2005 – Edinburgh
October 2005 – Glasgow
February 2006 – Edinburgh
October 2006 – Glasgow

And finally some popular blogmeet myths dispelled.

March 20, 2007

Neologism

Busy busy busy, so I’ll “borrow” this from a recent ISTC newsletter.

The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

  1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
  2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
  3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
  4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
  5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
  6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
  7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
  8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
  9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
  10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
  11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
  12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
  13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
  14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
  15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
  16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

The Washington Post’s Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

  1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
  2. Foreploy (v.): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
  3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
  4. Giraffiti (n.): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
  5. Sarchasm (n.): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
  6. Inoculatte (v.): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
  7. Hipatitis (n.): Terminal coolness.
  8. Osteopornosis (n.): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
  9. Karmageddon (n.): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.
  10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
  11. Glibido (v.): All talk and no action.
  12. Dopeler effect (n.): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
  13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
  14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
  15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

Well, they made me laugh. And yes, you may have heard these before.

March 20, 2007