I’ve just had to encourage my cat to go out into the cold cold outside. He seemed less than enamoured of this idea but I do it for his own good. You see I was about to use his fiercest enemy, the hoover. Now if you’ve seen a photo of Linus you’ll know that he startles easily; in fact millions of years of feline evolution have given him a panicked look or flight mechanism which he uses to good effect. »
I’ve just got back from Heathrow after going down there to see the England rugby team arrive home with the William Webb Ellis Trophy, the World Cup. It was very special. Those words seem somehow not enough and yet too much, too cliched. The one thing I’ll remember most, a forrest of arms reaching up, half with digital cameras, the other half with cameraphones. Flashes going off everywhere as the coach drove slowly past and in the front flashing golden the cup itself. »
Writing dialogue is hard. People today don’t speak like they used to, if they ever did. For an author with any pretension to realism to set their book in the present is a bold move. Because people, especially at home and from what I know also socially don’t talk like they do in books. I’m at home currently and much of my conversation is witty (possibly ironic) asides to the person sitting next to me watching TV not long and involved desconstructions of verb usage. »
One of my favourite books is called Infinite Jest, it’s written by the very talented David Foster Wallace. Other people like it too it gets critical theory readers written about it, essays and more. So this comparison of the Infinite Jest first draft to the final book version (in fact the paperback which is actually pretty revised from the hardcover) is just amazing. I love looking behind the scenes at how art is constructed mostly it helps me learn things. »
You may’ve spotted that I’ve not been around very much this week. This is because I’ve been helping out at a childrens youth week thingy for primary school age people. To clarify I’ve been a team (10 or so) leader for 6 and 7 year olds. Now 6 and 7 year olds rock so hard, there’s just something deep in my brain that means I get on with them pretty much straight off the bat so it’s been lots of running about and terribly, terribly exhausting. »
Robert has a very astute observation about Rugby. He said that he likes it because of the pressure that can build up over a period of minutes. Since it’s a game of territory and possession as much as anything else sides can build up an irresistible muscular rhythm. Cricket too can be a game of pressure. I’ll always remember the last hour or so of play in an England vs. South Africa test a couple of years ago. »
And as if by magic the internet returned. Our cable has been down for a few days now and I was off selling the good fight at LUDE where we won the award for Best Linux Software. Which was fun. I really enjoyed myself in the .org village, just me a laptop and a sign saying ‘OpenOffice.org’, people came up and we just chatted, it was great. That’s the sort of thing that makes following 15 mailing lists worthwhile when harassed sysadmins come up to you and say things like: “We’ve got 100 computers in our school using OOo but one of our teachers wants to buy MS Office because Pivot Tables are a national curicculum requirement” and you can just say: “We have pivot tables but not under that name, we call them DataPilot, here, let’s take a look at calc…” and you know, just know that when he walks away you’ve made a difference. »
X2: The Cereal is all that is promised by the claims of a ‘mutant taste explosion’ on the back and more. So much more. Pick some up if you can find it and perk up your breakfast. There’s just something deeply satisfying about a movie tie in cereal. »
Guten Tag. Sorry, that’s used up my feeble German language skills. It’s always fun to be linked to in other languages it makes you feel all interwebnetty and loosely joined so a hearty welcome to those coming from MacGuardians (a rather impressive number of you in fact). I do indeed talk about OS X a fair ammount although it’s a mere facet of what I’m interested in. Fun OS X things that have caught my eye today: »
i got a desmond. Yay me. Update: For those unfamiliar with KCL slang a Desmond is a Desmond Tutu (he went to king;s dontchaknow) or 2:2. I’m just glad it’s all over. »