Lindsay Marshall's Weblog

Bifurcated Rivets

27 January 2000

Big domain names : BRICKFUNDRAISINGANDDONORRECOGNITIONIDEAS.COM and BIRTHDAY-PARTY-PARTIES-PLANNING-DECORATIONS-IDEAS-GIFTS-FAVORS.COM

Bank of Ideas looks a nice idea, but notice that it says "kids from around the world" and then has a link to "what your repesentative can do". A bright idea might be to be less US-centric!

I really need to get that redesign shaken out. After all everyone else is doing it. Though I suppose if I wait long enough it will look retro and by default chic.

Why do you have to a US citizen to be on Millionaire in the US? What difference does it make?

Flutterby takes me to this story about a gay couple on Millionaire. I quote : "it was the first time in memory that two men -- a contestant and his companion in the audience -- embraced before television cameras". I assume the person who wrote this doesn't have sport on their TV.

I had a play with Mozilla M13 and it is starting to look almost usable. If the font handling worked under Linux I would almost be tempted to use it as for everyday work, there is a lot of Tiny Text....

"Engines for Education" - looks interesting, though I haven;t had time to look at it in detail yet.

25 January 2000

Haiku headlines - probably a weblog chestnut but I don't remember seeing it before.

Is it just me or is the web really rather dull at the moment - loads of really stupid e-commerce sites and not a lot else. Maybe I am just feeling jaded and uninspired. What do I mean maybe?

Songplayer looks interesting, but of course it is Windows only so is no use to me at all.

GMTPlus9 pointed me at this great real Audio of Sophie Tucker singing the Reuben Rag.

The Virtual Memorial Garden just hit 5000 entries. Even after 5000 entries I am still astonished at how many people cannot read simple instructions and type their e-mail address correctly.

21 January 2000

This morning a I got back a painting that belonged to my grandmother from a picture restorer. The painting was a picture of the Birks of Aberfeldy, but my grandmother had stuck a head she had painted over the top, using the original as a background. She always said that the picture was done by her father, and I wanted to check it out os I had someone take the head off. Sadly she had used some horrible modern glue to stick the head on and the picture underneath was wrecked, and the signature didn;t seem to be a name that would have been her father. Anyway, i treasure the receipt for the work which is billed as "L. Marshall, for removal of head".

I really must update my reading list sometime soon - I've read a load of stuff recently. Currently I am reading and enjoying Erik Davis's Techgnosis

- highly recommended.

20 January 2000

Anomie - "is an ambient noise guitar/techno/ethereal female vocal band based in San Francisco, California".

I don't get the Transmeta hype at all. The machines sound nice and low power which is cool (ho ho) but there is nothing earth shattering about the emulator stuff as far as I can see - sounds a bit like a new technology Burroughs B1700 (lovely machine).

19 January 2000

I have to disagree with Scribble who (sounds weird - which?) suggests that KISS is no longer applicable because we need "intelligent" software to help us search for what we want. (What we need is intelligent people making web pages , but that is another issue altogether) Because there is a school of thought that intelligence is a product of complex systems there is this feeling that complex is good, but in fact most complex systems are made up of very simple components. It is the simplicity of the components that is the win not the complexity because their simplicity means that they are very robust and can be used in ways that had not been considered before without breaking. Or something like that anyway.

Also via robotwisdom is the Scritchy and Scratchy show which has some absolutely fantastic music - sounds like an evening round at my house when I've been allowed to get a big pile of albums and play single tracks off them (doesn't happen very often though).

Real Audio of Scott Joplin's piano roll of the Maple leaf Rag. I remember reading that this roll was considerably doctored by the company as the version that Joplin played was not what they wanted, going so far as to add notes that would not be humanly playable by one person. Certainly it sounds too fast and it doesn't stick to the music very accurately - both things for which I get the impression Joplin would have been a stickler. (sort of via RobotWisdom)

The ever wonderful Misterpants pointed to this page which is very funny even if you have never lived in Japan.

There seems to be an opinion floating around at the moment that sans serif typefaces are better for browsing. Sorry, chaps, but I strongly disagree - I find them incredibly tiring on the eyes and hard to read.

I got mail from itinfosource this morning inviting me to be one of their 2000. It feels like spam I must admit and the points scheme looks weird - the idea seems sound though. Anyone know anything about it?

There is a (ugh) McDonalds advert running at the moment where the line "some" means hamburgers and cheeseburgers appears in small print across the bottom.

There was a house on fire two streets over from me this morning. Lots of fire engines.

18 January 2000

Did you leave your special swordstick in that bar in downtown Balaton? Try the Internet lost and found.

"The online guide to drinking" - Barmeister. Lift glass to mouth, open mouth, tip contents into mouth. swallow....

I really enjoyed the BBC's adaptation of Gormenghast which started last night. I have always found the books to be utterly unreadable, but it is just the sort of thing that the BBC do very well - the sets and costumes are wonderful. John Sessions was fantastic as Prunesqualor. I'm sure it will appear in other countries very soon so don't miss it.

Wow, entries on consecutive days. I was sent a working URL for the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Thanks John. It's a good site, except for the "Point top 5% of the Web" image that they are still sporting!!

17 January 2000

I wonder if I could get a large publisher's advance for writing a book where I travel round all the little museums in America? I don't think its been done or I would have read it!

Just to drop in the obligatory Japanese item (which I haven't done for some time now, sorry) - the Morikami museum and Japanese gardens in florida sounds nice.

But I did find the World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame. Why do people feel the need to use the word "National" or "World" in the titles of their little museums? Do they think it makes them sound bigger and better than they are perhaps? It just makes them sound dubious to my ear.

I tried links to the National Bottle Museum, the National Knife Museum and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Centre. All dead.

I did find an old favourite - the Museum of Bad Art. They have even had some of the work stolen!!

I read about the Strong Museum of Fascination in Rochester, NY, but I cannot find a web page for it, nor other than oblique references.

13 January 2000

Goodbye is sometimes a very good thing! "Library porn" indeed. I wish. (via Ghost Sites)

10 January 2000

5 January 2000

Repeat after me : twenty hundred, twenty hundred, twenty hundred, twenty hundred. See, it's not so bad is it? Now just get on and use it!

I saw Muppets from Space over Xmas - it was not very good at all. (I liked Muppet Treasure Island a lot)

Why do our American friends insist on talking about "New Years"? I assume that this is intended to be written "New Year's", but even so, why? It is called New Year - an event that starts on one day and finishes on another - no need for a plural or a possesive. New Year's Day is not what it is about, that's just another name for 1st Jan.

Y2Kmistakes is a great resource to have around - I hope they keep it there for a long time. (Thanks Brig)

Some very strange ideas at the Summum site. In particular this page (which some may find offensive - you have been warned!)

4 January 2000

Just passing through today, but I do want to tell you about breastpals - a good cause, but I'm not sure about the taste. The huge image containing text is not a very good idea either. I wonder if I should do something similar for testicular cancer?

1 January 2000

Happy new year to my reader. Only 365 days until the 21st Century. Start preparing your millennium party now!