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Thoughts

25 April, 2008

Mynydd & dale

Planning my weekend last night, it occurred to me that my mental map of the Snowdonia National Park is fundamentally different to my perception of the English Lake District and Yorkshire Dales.


20 March, 2008

Show some respect

As you may have noticed, several things annoy me. ;)
A persistant source of irritation is the behavior of Brits in public – as Jeremy Paxman has noted, there's an attitude that public spaces belong to no-one, so each individual can do whatever he or she wants without consideration of others.


5 March, 2008

Prove necessity

There's a slight problem with this article and the accompanying comments bewailing the loss of Post Office branches in the current rationalisation programme, with 'the hearts being torn from local communities for the sake of commercial viability'.


28 February, 2008

Not for me, thanks

A thread at the independent Porcupine Tree Forum, on the topic of drugs at concerts, has been running since last August, but I've only just noticed (without intending to be judgmental) that of those members whose profiles state their ages, those writing in an authoritative manner (which isn't quite the same as being authoritative) about the 'mind-expansion' offered by drugs and asserting that drugs are an enhancement to concerts, are all under 20.


14 February, 2008

Cold strikes

I've always been interested in the perception of cold (I'm easily amused).


30 November, 2007

Mea culpa

At the risk of repeating myself, the concept of 'green sins' really, really annoys me.
Speak of recycling and food miles in rational terms, and we'll broadly agree.
Speak in terms of pseudo-religious ethics, and you can **** off.


8 November, 2007

Seeking approval

Is it a sign of insecurity to begin a blog entry with a question?

How about knocking before entering one's own office?

7 November, 2007

Who's it for?

In a (long) interview with Ridley Scott for the Guardian, Stephen Moss says:

Film can aspire to be art but, equally, art must show awareness of its audience.


31 October, 2007

Milking the farmers

In an article about alleged price-fixing of dairy products sold in supermarkets, the BBC quotes an average retail price of 56.3p for a litre of milk, of which only 18.08p goes to the originating farmer.  Less than a third – pretty disgusting, really.


17 October, 2007

Semantics of stripping

[Now there's a misleading title.]

It's generally considered a bit pretentious to say 'graphic novels' when referring to what others call 'comics', as if being overly defensive.  The medium has achieved widespread recognition within the last 15-20 years as 'acceptable' for adults – it's no longer considered only for children and disfunctional obsessives.  It doesn't need to style itself as literature, because it just is.


25 September, 2007

Web is web

Somehow it feels odd to be discussing admin issues with web professionals working in very different market sectors, and finding that those sectors are fundamentally irrelevant.  Whether one is selling electricity, cigarettes, degrees or missiles* , ultimately, widgets are widgets.


14 August, 2007

Sound and fury

Anyone else think it's more than a little pathetic that certain executives need thrones; the self-affirmation derived from fetishistic assemblages of leather, steel and pneumatics?
Presumably they have to have the right car, too, with the right house, the right spouse, the right suit, even the right pen.

****ing drones....  Sometimes I think I occupy a different world.


10 August, 2007

Connection restored

In recent months, I've been experiencing a mental block.  I could easily say that "q comprises x, y and z", but in the synonymous phrasing "q ___ of x, y and z" I couldn't think of the missing word.
It certainly isn't possible for anything to 'comprise of' anything; that's just grammatically wrong.


2 August, 2007

Trade descriptions

It's funny that, year after year, one passes vehicles marked 'Motorway Contractor', yet they never seem to be any further forward with that stated purpose – the distances between junctions don't seem to diminish at all.

29 June, 2007

Life's little luxuries

'Prosperity Denial'... describes an unfounded resistance to spending money on minor indulgences, even though one's personal wealth and prosperity allow for it.
A quote from a Psychology textbook?  No, it's from 'Local Choice', a monthly compendium of adverts padded by 'advertorials', distributed ("free!") to 50,000 Lancastrians to promote local commerce and make people spend, spend, spend.  Hard-sell junk mail, really.

16 June, 2007

Scared and compliant

From a comment at The Register:

There should be a new law/amendment on broadcasting, that any statement which is intended to generate fear, or is capable of generating fear within the population without credible evidence to back up the statement made within the same broadcast medium at the same time, is classified as a terrorist act.


7 June, 2007

Stamp on it

According to a proposal by Peter Hain, a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, reported by the Guardian, "stamp duty could be switched from home buyers to sellers to help young people get on the housing ladder".
That might be a short-term vote winner, but it displays entirely the wrong attitude.


5 June, 2007

Quiet pride

Gentle, undemanding viewing, perhaps, but I can't help agreeing with the Guardian that David Dimbleby's new TV series 'How We Built Britain' is a valid "celebration of Britishness" – far more so than the laboured and grossly misguided efforts of ministers to manufacture celebration in the form of a national day.


31 May, 2007

The thrill of the chase

In 1996, Steven Wilson expressed his negative reaction to the pervasiveness of the internet in Porcupine Tree's 'Every Home Is Wired'.  More recently, particularly with the release of the 'Fear of a Blank Planet' album, he's been similarly critical of the instant gratification afforded by mp3 players.


10 May, 2007

Evidence-based government

"I did what I thought was right."

Personal moral conviction is no way to run a country.  **** off, Blair.

7 May, 2007

Wearing one's heart on one's...

Passing the Lancaster Canal at the weekend, I was reminded that a major class of names chosen for modern narrowboats seems to be 'Sanctuary', 'Mon Repose', 'My Life' and other variants on 'I-live-for-the-weekend'.  Is there a disproportionate link between owning a recreational narrowboat and being dissatisfied with ~71% (i.e. five-sevenths of a week) of one's daily existence?


1 May, 2007

Not exactly me

It looks as if I'll be attending a conference in July, on the theme of 'Next Steps for the Web Management Community'.  Apparently, there'll be "a number of plenary talks which will explore the concept of community".


20 March, 2007

Don't disable

The iconic red Routemaster London buses are still running after fifty years, though they've been withdrawn from service on all but a couple of 'heritage' routes in Central London, mainly for tourists.  As the BBC reports, certain people would like them to be banned outright, as they're incompatible with accessibility legislation.


25 February, 2007

Don't be a developer

A couple of (relatively) local news items have revealed a public tendency to jump to negative conclusions.


26 January, 2007

Spreading the holy word too far

Hang on; organic farming is about not using artificial fertilisers, fungicides, pesticides and feed additives in growing non-GW produce, isn't it?  Some may consider that links into an overall ethical stance, but it's not a defining characteristic of the basic designation 'organic'.


13 December, 2006

Stocking fellas

Lingerie retailer Marks & Spencer has hired male assistants for fifty of its branches, specifically to advise male customers on their seasonal gift purchases.  It sounds like a good idea, but do you want my advice?


29 November, 2006

Scotland first, then us

Welsh nationalism is about establishing a separate sovereign country, entirely independent of England yet within the European Union and Commonwealth.  I'd better stress that it has nothing to do with 'British nationalism', which is about ethnic purity and right-wing nastiness.


18 November, 2006

..., bought the T-shirt. Er, why?

It's a bit difficult to promote individualism.  One can't exactly gather 10,000 people in Manchester's Albert Square for a rally to oppose collective action, and placards saying "Ignore slogans!" wouldn't quite work.


24 October, 2006

Amoral

The Guardian reports that a 'tougher ethical code' is to be 'imposed on doctors'.  Apparently, "misbehaviour at home could mean loss of licence".

What's meant by 'misbehaviour'?  Whose definition is to be used?


13 October, 2006

More greetings than you could ever want

When buying a birthday card, do you ever feel an urge to be random, and choose a 'get well soon', 'welcome to your new home' or 'congratulations on your pregnancy' card instead?

I get that a lot....

10 October, 2006

Tempus frangit

At 'This is Broken' [16/04/08:  Site dead, so link removed] , the sink layout involving two separate taps, hot and cold, has been cited as an anomalous example of poor design, as if a combined mixer tap is the standard (with the implication that it always has been) and the alternative is an aberration.


8 October, 2006

Formal relativity

I was reminded last night that I always spoke of my maternal grandmother as 'my grandmother' or, to my mother, as 'your mother'.  I don't recall how I addressed her directly; I'm not sure used any name or title.  I wasn't brought-up to use 'Grandma', and 'Nana' struck me as childish even when I was a child; I'd ceased using it by the age of eleven.


27 September, 2006

Best days

Our next intake of first year students arrive this weekend; depending on the Colleges to which they've been assigned, arrival day will be Saturday or Sunday.  If I was a Fresher (horrible thought...), I'd definitely prefer the Sunday arrival: one day less.


21 September, 2006

Buying in

I think I've almost escaped the herd mentality, but not quite.


29 August, 2006

I knew I was going to say that

Tangentially mentioning déjà vu in the previous entry reminds me that I used to experience it (specifically déjà vécu, the commonest variety) fairly frequently in childhood and in my teens, but much less so in my twenties and into my thirties.


26 August, 2006

Scratching the planetary surface

It's a little startling to discover that people one knows and likes in one context can be nutters in another.


22 August, 2006

Casually comfortable

It's funny how financial circumstances evolve.


21 August, 2006

Hooray For Fish

'Sometimes I Like To Curl Up In A Ball', 'The Runaway Dinner', 'Dear Zoo: Lift the Flaps'.


13 August, 2006

Elitism is nothing to be ashamed of

I'm not an elitist myself, of course – some of my best friends only have one degree.

Imagine that.

11 August, 2006

Words matter too

Since you ask: no, Tina, not always.

4 August, 2006

My own business stays mine

I've just remembered something that was probably a formative event, and one reason I'm so open and trusting (yeah, right).


28 July, 2006

My favourite things

I'm slightly uneasy about 'favourites' lists, as the urge to categorise, rank & list is a stereotypically male, obsessive tendency from which I try to distance myself.  I feel the process restricts and diminishes the subjects of such lists, not to mention the cataloguers.


20 July, 2006

Wedding thought with feeling

I have the opportunity to attend a wedding reception at the end of next week.  My gut feeling, which I've decided to follow, is to not go, but I'm having trouble rationalising that, even to myself.


3 July, 2006

As seen on TV

Is that really still a selling point?  I could imagine that in the 1950s and 60s 'As Seen On TV' implied a certain glamour, even credibility (though I'm not sure of the rational basis for the latter) but I'd have thought the novelty would have worn off by 2006 and potential customers would be more self-motivated.


20 June, 2006

Why grumpy, not happy, when sleepy?

Why do I become irritable when I'm especially tired, rather than, say, overly sentimental or tolerant?  What is it about sleep deprivation that inspires impatience?


13 June, 2006

Tough times ahead?

When a colleague goes on maternity leave, what does one write in the leaving card?


8 June, 2006

Portion control

Writing about how he lost 23 kg in body weight last year, Jeremy Zawodny mentioned reforming his eating habits so that he ate until no longer hungry, rather than until full.


5 June, 2006

Earth-shattering paradox

Why is that one would hire building contractors to construct an extension?  Shouldn't they be building expanders?

Just an idle thought whilst waiting in traffic.

22 May, 2006

Best sellers

As I've said before, I don't believe in buying locally merely for the sake of supporting local retailers.  If corner shops and independent bookshops are out-competed by supermarkets and national chains, too bad; they represent obsolete market sectors which should be allowed to die if they're unwilling or unable to offer something unique.


19 May, 2006

Random queries no. 54

One of a series of genuine search engine enquiries which successfully brought visitors to the Ministry.  Can I help?

recycling - is it a good solution


14 May, 2006

Who is it for?

A bypass is a higher-capacity road diverting through-traffic out of local road networks (which tend to date from an era when two carts and a stagecoach constituted heavy traffic), hence allowing longer-distance travellers to avoid becoming delayed by traffic lights, tractors in narrow lanes, etc.


11 May, 2006

Doesn't frighten the horses

A. was wondering:

Why is women’s underwear, even the day-to-day stuff, seen as naughty and provocative, while men’s is just another item of clothing?
I'm not entirely sure that's true.


8 May, 2006

Channeling

Sorry to get all wide-eyed and hippie-ish, but isn't it remarkable that we're so blasé about radio and TV broadcasts?
Every second of every day, pictures and sounds are passing through our bodies (well, their broadcast waveforms, anyway).  In those terms, it's mind-blowing; two hundred years ago it would have seemed like a bizarre fantasy, yet we accept it as entirely routine*.

Modern life does make sense.  Just don't think about it.


28 April, 2006

Just thinking

Imagine we lived in a different galaxy.