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Thursday, August 22, 2002
Blogging as a (male) ego trip A friend of mine (female) asked me the other day if publishing a weblog was something of a male activity, nothing but an ego trip. Well, of course I had to think about that. I concluded that it was not: there's not much of a boost to be had from writing notes solely for Mrs Trellis, is there? There are two components to the activity. firstly, there are the joys and frustrations of getting to grips with the intricacies of HTML, XML or whatever, designing your own site. Secondly, there's the problem of what to write about. Having finished the first, one can trawl other sites, the standard news media, or even one's own prejudices to help produce something of interest. It helps us to be better informed, to improve our writing skills, and to make contact with others, however tenuous. Most ego trip activities tend to involve less effort. The rewards of blogging are, except in exceptional circumstances, eg InstaPundit, very poor. As for the Guardian's competition, with its prize of £1000 (that's about 1500 US dollars or Euros), that wouldn't keep me in batteries for my electric swizzle stick for more than a month. Wednesday, August 14, 2002
'Stable' URLs, ha ha Every time I make a post, I test the link. Even when the blog is published, I test it from time to time. Frequently, I find that a link that has worked one day will not work the next. In case no-one else has coined the term, may I suggest 'Flakey URL'? One expects links to degrade with time but not within a day. Commiserations to victims of flakey URLs and the pox on their perpetrators. Monday, August 12, 2002
Holiday (vacation) and pollution There is an exciting story (The Black Cloud) by the late astronomer Fred Hoyle. The Black Cloud, of exra-terrestrial origin, was animate and intelligent. The news today reports a horrible brown cloud of pollution hovering over parts of Asia. Many people are very concerned about it. Have they tried talking to it, yet? The Lady and I are about to go away for a few days to unwind in the Sussex countryside. As members of the ant-car lobby, we shall naturally be going on our beautiful horses. (Have you ever thought how long it takes to pack a horse?) We'll be back in a few days. I shall be trying to blog from time to time. May the blogwidth (© Josh) be with you. Sunday, August 11, 2002
A notable academic achievement On Friday August 9th, the BBC 'Today' programme broadcast an interview with one of a group of scientists who had demonstrated a new example of birds using tools. We all know about the Galapagos woodpecker finches, don't we? They are renowned as tool users. The New Caledonian crows take tool use to new heights (in captivity at least). They actually fashion tools. Junius (August 9th) has a piece on this with a link to the (subscription) article in Science. Most interestingly, there is a video clip of a crow in action. Magic. I am very pleased that some Oxford academics are doing something useful like watching crows make hooks. Friday, August 09, 2002
Stewart. Stewart was a gentleman. There are increasingly few of his kind around. We did not disagree often but, when we did, we simply agreed to disagree. However, we agreed on many more things – the indispensability of good art, the importance of literature, the necessity for good company and the restorative value of good wine, for example. My last two meetings with him were joyful: drinks in my garden and dinner at a local restaurant. When people die unexpectedly, it is fortunate if one’s last memories of the departed are pleasant. Too often, people are prised from us after a 'difficult occasion.’ The funeral was at a Russian Orthodox Church. The order of service was unfamiliar to me: it was held ‘in the round’ and the choir sang beautifully and almost incessantly. The priest, (who, with his long, flowing white beard, could have stepped straight from a painting of the beneficent and benevolent God), led the choir and the congregation outside as the coffin was borne off in the hearse. I have seldom been so moved. To Stewart’s family, and those closer to him than I was, I send my deep condolences. If your experiences of him were anything like mine, you were fortunate indeed. Stewart died in Kiev, a place he loved so much. We can be confident that, while he was away from us, he was happy. At Easter this year Stewart, in a typically spontaneous gesture, sent me a very detailed reproduction of an icon (he had several, beautiful originals) with the message ‘Christ is risen’. I shall treasure it and remember him often. If everyone were as kind, gentle, thoughtful, and generous as Stewart, it would be a better World. Wednesday, August 07, 2002
A vitally important task, unjustly ignored I read today, that Michael Santelia, a failed blogger from Campobasso, Italy has failed to get his achievement into the Guinness Book of Records. Apparently, he typed the whole Latin Bible backwards. What I have to ask is why he didn't use an anagram generator, and apply it to the whole work. The chances are that almost any of the results would have made more sense. Here's the site, Michael. Better luck next time. The power of anagrametry I came across this anagram generator, a few days ago. Anagrams can tell us such a lot about the names - and probably the people - they rearrange. I didn’t expect much (in any way) of ‘George W. Bush’ but, guess what, he is actually ‘US Hebrew Gog’. Still, we knew that already, didn’t we folks? According to this site (Google search ‘Gog’ and ‘Ezekiel’, first hit), Ezekiel 39 ‘...points out the weapons of Gog would be used for fuel by Israel for seven years’. Not long now, then. Further, a glance at verse 11 also tells us "...I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel...” The Bible’s extraordinary prescience told us that Dubya would be arming Israel but is he really to be offered a tomb near the late, very much lamented Robert Maxwell? Blogancestry Having been so carefully nurtured by Poet and Peasant, I thought that I would register with Blogtree (first seen on Quantum Tea and Pop-up Toaster) and confirm my lineage. My Blogfather is, of course, this BlogComp, of which more anon. Is it all right, I wonder, for blogchildren to register their blogparents? What about Blogbastardy? Even more seriously, how would Sigmund Freud (or should that be ‘Fraud’?) have described the affliction of BlogOedipy (the manifestation of the BlogOedipus Complex). What should be its treatment? There must be very many partnerships where Oedipus was powerfully at work. There’ll be lots of ‘BlogFather-fixation’ too, I shouldn’t wonder. Where’s the BlogShrink, somebody? Monday, August 05, 2002
A present for Her Maj. There is currently an exhibition in London of gifts given to the Queen. I read, a few days ago, that a daily newspaper was asking that readers should let them know what gifts they personally would give to the Queen. My nomination would be tickets to a lecture on taxes, redistribution, and the hereditary principle. I am put in mind of a cartoon I saw once, based on one of Phil’s famous utterances: ‘Our children have all done pretty well’; he says. I would rather have been asked what I would give them to eat. How about spaghetti, a very messy sauce, and chopsticks? Friday, August 02, 2002
The British Army, accounting standards and the wily Blair According to lots of reports, including that in The Guardian, 1st August, (sorry, I haven't got this links business worked out yet) the British army is in a real mess. There is a nostrum among management accountants, when faced with a set of accounts that are really dire and that cannot be put in a favourable light, that says 'OK, let's load in all the other problem areas and make the figures even worse'. Accepting that things are going to look bad this year, they argue that dumping other debts that they're keeping quiet about into the results will clear the decks for the future. What's the betting that the report on the British army is a similar ploy? Most commentators are complaining that, with the prospect of a new war against Iraq, we are woefully unprepared. These commentators have got it arse-about-face. The argument should be 'Oh goodness, we've just recently discovered that we couldn't possibly help you with your war, Dubya old fruit. Sorry and all that but the wheels have just fallen off our fighting machine. Still, you can go ahead without us, can't you?' Can you imagine a report as serious as this one being quite so well publicised, at such a critical time, were it not of great political use? Blair must be chortling all the way to and from St Albion's: it isn't often you're able to please the hawks and doves with one statement, is it? Just wait for the hand wringing, folks. Thursday, August 01, 2002
Car names A local TV station was road testing a car and awarded it marks for the worst name going. It was the Toyota Superb. Given a free choice, I might have gone for the Volkswagen Bora.(Yes Wolfsburg, we all want to have boring cars.) How about the Vauxhall (GM) Nova? Spanish speakers who like sitting in, rather than driving, their cars should appreciate that one. Best of all is the Toyota (again?) MR2. This sounds like 'Toyota Merde' in French. Ford Shit or a Chrysler Crap, anyone? (0) comments (0) comments I'm sorry, I haven't a clue Hm...don't know what to do now. I'll ask Mrs Trellis, my one guaranteed reader, and then do some posting. Making History Well, this is a very historic moment. Does anyone remember the scene in A Very British Coup where Harry Perkins dictates his resignation speech to his press secretary? (No, I thought not.) The speech is posted to an autocue but, of course, Harry's speech has very little to do with what's in front of him. The same for me, really: some of my musings won't have much to do with (your) reality. But if you think of this as just a long-distance test blog, your blood pressure won't suffer. Warchalking and Coco Chanel There I was, with The Lady, walking the walk and talking the listen when I pointed out this chalk mark with two Cs, back-to-back. 'I can't see any Chanel', she said. Who said women can't make jokes? A plea from a word lover I was pleased (I think) to see that, with Alan Duncan's emergence from the cupboard, the Conservative Party is unlikely to make a serious issue of lifestyles. Now that there are established academic courses in Queer Studies, please may the rest of us have our delightful word 'gay' back again? |