Monthly Archives: September 2010

IT

Bloglines…

When I first started using a RSS Reader I used Bloglines.

It served me well for a number of years; then they started having service outages. That drove me mad so I changed to Google. In fact, I think that I used Google reader seriously before Gmail.

However, this appeared in my Google Reader today…

Bloglines to Be Discontinued

Apparently, this is because everyone wants their news via Twitter and Facebook.

Really?

Personally, Facebook is nowhere close to replacing my use of Google Reader. For me, Bloglines died because when I look at the screenshot. Nothing has changed since I logged off years ago.

UPDATE: My account still exists! 13,400 outstanding items to read!

Uncategorized

1983…

In 1983 I was 12.

Return of the Jedi was all that I wanted, a massive film completely set in another world. The anticipation was massive; when I saw it I couldn’t believe the details of the worlds they’d produced.

However, I only saw it once. There was something unsatisfying about the whole thing.

Maybe this is why…

Did ‘Star Wars’ become a toy story? Producer Gary Kurtz looks back [Updated] | Hero Complex – Los Angeles Times.

IT

Office software…

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I wonder how many people would recognize this as an office software setup…

“Right now in Chromium I have the following tabs opened: I listen to music in Grooveshark (yes I work with music right now Kevin Rudolf “Let it Rock”), I blog in Tumblr, I have Seesmic desktop to see what’s happening in Twitter and Facebook simultaneously, I use Postbox for my email (I love Postbox), Netvibes to find out what is happening in the world (outside of Twitter and Facebook), Gmail is open as well for Gmail back up, calendar. My searches don’t happen at Google.com anymore, they go straight from my browser bar to Google (Firefox must add this feature immediately!). Skype is also running.”

Fancy computers and Microsoft don’t matter anymore (at least at work).

Uncategorized

That would make it simpler…

I don’t know how they could make it any more complex! The English system of exams is so odd and out dated that in Harry Potter the names were changed but not the structure; it didn’t stand out in a work of witches and wizards!

However, the minister shows up to prove that I lack imagination…

“The “English bac” would not replace GCSEs, but would be a certificate to reward pupils who pass at least five of the exams, at grade C or above, including English, maths, one science, one foreign language and one humanity.”

Michael Gove wants baccalaureate qualification for England | Politics | The Guardian

So it adds nothing but adds another title to the existing structure!

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God…

“But there is more to wisdom than science. It cannot tell us why we are here or how we should live. Science masquerading as religion is as unseemly as religion masquerading as science.”

Chief rabbi challenges Stephen Hawking in row over origins of universe | Science | guardian.co.uk

Am I reading this right.

He’s effectively saying that the concept of god is unimportant. What is important is to have religion.

Wow!

Architecture

Poundbury: Architectural shame with a worthy aim…

“However, there is no hiding from the value of the idea that we should care about space as a whole rather than a series of individual units to live in. Public squares, local shops and communities that look out for each other are all worthy aims, it just appears that in this case it hasn’t worked (the feeling of emptiness wasn’t just from it’s partial completion but from something much deeper inside me). I can’t pretend to know the answers but then I wouldn’t expect anyone to think that I would.”

Poundbury: Architectural shame with a worthy aim | ArchDaily

Here is a radical idea; the brick work and the false old world looks don’t matter. It’s the shape and the society that lives in the building that matter.

My guess is that the streets are empty because people don’t work there or shop there. Every morning they get in their cars and drive to an office elsewhere and stop off at Tesco on the way home. Hence the “town” is dead.

Strange thing is that it looks like Disneyland did about ten years ago. A half built copy of something that never really existed.