Steve Hooker's Radio: kids, war, blogs, gadgets: A Welsh man in the wrong country, going home

We stayed in again this New Year's Eve. This time with the kids kept awake.
We danced, and played pirates with Bradley. We were going to watch TV, I guess, but halfway through a pre booked Santa Clause 2 Telewest Cable stopped working. The telephones still worked, so did the internet, but no TV!

Never mind we had a great time, watching the fireworks at midnight from the upstairs windows - magical.

I think both me and Amanda were slightly pissed at the end (1am), and thankfully Esme lay in till 11:30am and Bradley till 12:30. When he awoke, he told me he had a "lovely sleep."
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Other title(s) for this story: New Years party with the dancing kids

I'm told to come to Auntie Alison's for a dinner. Amanda did the cooking, and Gail (Her other sister) and Simon, with Charlie and James and their dad Frank (Grandad Frank) all are there.
Here Frank and Gail.

The lovely, delicious Christmas Pudding made by Amanda, with copious booze added over the past weeks, set alight, though can't see the flames with the flash.
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Other title(s) for this story: Xmas dinner at the outlaws

It's a nightmare anyway, but with Esme pushing her pram in a zig-zag across the path of everybody walking towards her...
And not one of them had a smile on their face, far too busy in shopping mode, than to appreciate the push chair gag.
While Amanda took some stuff back to a shop, and we waited outside, Esme insisted on taking photos of her pushchair which came out all blurred, so I took this one.

Why do kids do exactly what you don't want them to do?
I asked if they could stand together so I could take a picture. Esme hid behind the shop front, and Bradley slithered on the floor.
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Other title(s) for this story: Sales shopping with Esme's push chair
Just had to stop on the top of the Brecon Beacons to take these pix. This was the first proper snow I've seen all year.

We pulled over at the Story Arms so the kids could watch the sledding. There were dozens of people there just to catch the first snow.
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Other title(s) for this story: Snowy Brecon Beacons on way home

This horse had a broken legs, and wasn't allowed out. They hung a ball up to occupy him, keep him from getting bored.
The horse bit me.
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Other title(s) for this story: A visit to the stables

It was only when I looked through the camera that I saw the coming storm, blowing south from the Beacons. Looks like snow I say. Five minutes later, and after only just arriving and to Esme and Bradley's chagrin we start walking back home. Amanda and I are fucking freezing! My checks are numb, ears about to drop off...
We make it home just in time, it does indeed begin to snow.
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Other title(s) for this story: A Boxing Day walk before the snow

We made quite a few boobs with the presents, this was one meant for Bradley, I figured that he would want dressing up stuff, because Esme has loads already, but he's not into it... She is. Looks like another swap.

Nanna still in her night clothes helps Bradley with his battery operated digger, which is a great success.
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Other title(s) for this story: Xmas day playing with presents

Esme spots that Bradley has more big presents than her, though the difference is marginal, it's quite important to her. I think it's a mark of how good she's been through out the year.

Most of the shots were much more blurred than this, and it make it looks as though Bradley's tearing through the unwrapping, as it is, he's the slowest most dainty unwrapper I've ever seen.

Because of his slowness, Esme's long finished her unwrapping, and this makes her angst over the number and size of presents more marked. She offers to help Bradley. Of course, he declines her kind offer.
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Other title(s) for this story: Xmas morning unwrapping presents

You can't beat a good escalator ride. This is in one of the new shops in Telford. Here we go up and I warn, "remember to jump off, watch the end!"
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Other title(s) for this story: Final Xmas shopping and escalator rides

I'm told to get out of the house and to take the kids with me. Amanda wants to pack the car for our trip to Nanna's in Wales.
Bradley passes a shop we don't usually go in, and spys some crisps. I say we don't go in there and he plays up, screaming and shouting, so I tell him he can go in by his self. Which he starts to do, stops, and shouts, top of his voice, "give me some money!"
Cold shivers run down my spine.
He buys packets of biscuits (on his own), and is eating them in the pic above.

Esme bought the pop, by herself. (She just reminded me about this, as she peers over my shoulder as I type.0
We go to the chippy, and have a sit down. Which brings much amusement to the staff. And to us.
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Other title(s) for this story: Chips for Christmas Eve lunch

We take a walk to the park, the little one. As soon as we arrive, Bradley announces that he needs to "wee-wee."
Where else can we do it? Next to a tree. And Esme protects, not that there's anybody else in the little park, far too cold for that.

But still they manage to run around, and I want to come home after only being there 20 minutes or so, they argue and argue that they should stay.

Initially, Esme didn't want to go into the push chair, afraid that someone from school may see her perhaps? She said, "I'm not a baby anymore," when I asked her to hop in, and she walked all the way to the shops.
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Other title(s) for this story: The little park, Brad wees, discovers ice
I suppose there's a load of things to do on the way home from school. For the past few days, it's been that we shouldn't walk Bradley's secret way, we should go the other way around the bingo hall.
For one reason, I think, that she can walk across the wall, balancing.
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Other title(s) for this story: Last day of school for Esme
At first Esme's away in the distance, but on hearing Bradley's chortling she looks up, smiles, and runs over.
Esme can climb into the swing on her own. Mind, she could do that, probably a year ago.
Two kicks up Daddy's arse and it's the other's turn.
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Other title(s) for this story: On the swings in the Little Park
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Other title(s) for this story: Bradley makes a cake

Esme's constantly writing letters, it seems, even when she's a fairy. Today, she wanted to get changed, just so she could write letters.
Fairies to die for. She's looking in the mirror at her wings. Dunno why. But wonderful pose, on top of our blue, sea shells toilet seat.

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Other title(s) for this story: Esme the fairy queen
When the bus stops, he jumps up and down, 'I did it, I did it!'
Of course, everybody on the bus sees him, and the driver (with a big grin on his face) stops, exactly by his hand. As we walk up the bus, everybody seems to be smiling.
Good to have such an effect.
(Amanda bought the hat, just to annoy me, and Grandad in Wales, I doubt if he'll be allowed to wear it when we go down there for Xmas.)
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Other title(s) for this story: Bradley says 'Stop bus!'

After this, I read how to correct red eye properly.
The huge ball pool was as deep as Bradley's waist. I'd have loved this stuff when I was their age.

Strange distortion. She's swinging, and moving quite fast, I guess when I took this.
Francis is Alex's younger sister. And Most of the time I didn't see either Esme not Francis as they played together nealry tthroughout the whole party.

They even get on so well, other people comment on it.

Harriot, Alex's sister. And Esme's and Bradley's other cousin.

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Other title(s) for this story: Alex's birthday

A deserted Sunday. I take them out on their respective locomotion devices. Bradley's a tough geezer. He peddles all the way on his little trike. Esme speeds too fast on her scooter - much to fast for my liking.

But we have to stop to look at Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Well, who could pass this shop window without looking at Rudolf?
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Other title(s) for this story: A scooter and trike ride to Dawley

Very bad light for the camera, this was the only shot that's usable. Esme is the blurry figure mid, front left. I managed to get some on video, but the battery gave out just seconds into her performance.
She'd been practicing the mouse dance, and was by far the most accomplished of the assembled mice.

Some of the other kids. One by one those on the stage rose to give some part of the narrative. Something about a lost kitten, I think.

The lights came on and Mr. Sanderson, the head teacher gave a thank you to us, the actors, teachers, and everybody he could think of.
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Other title(s) for this story: Esme's school play

I'll have to question Amanda about this trip, she took them, I didn't go, so I've no idea what goes on in these pix.
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Other title(s) for this story: Xmas at Wonderland

Much anticipated - the School Fair! We arrive, very keyed up. And cold. Esme's like a little girl possessed. We must arrive early!
Inside, it's very, very crowded
And Esme sees all her teachers.
I soon realise the reason she desperately wanted to come. She's been making Xmas Crackers all day at school, and if she didn't get there in time, some one else may buy hers. Obviously, it's a scam by the school to ensure they want to come, and get there on time.

She's happier then Jack McHappy, winner of last year's MR Happy contest. There's sweets and chocolate inside her cracker. She even gives one to Bradley.
And he doesn't forget to test to see if he's the real Santa. The real Santa says, 'ho, ho, ho' when he laughs. So, Bradley has a prepared joke, especially for the occasion...
"Why does, beedy beed?" Asks Brad.
"I don't know, why does beedy beed," says Santa.
"Because beedy beedy beed," says Bradley, covering up his increasingly contagious laugh with his hand.
"Ho ho ho! That's the best joke I've heard all night," Says Santa.
Bradley turns to me and exclaims, "It is Santa!"
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Other title(s) for this story: Esme's school fair

Then, putting the lights and decorations on. I let then rip first, sticking them all on the bottom, where they can reach I guess.
No Bradley, that's not supposed to go on the tree. Or, are you showing the fish the tree?
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Other title(s) for this story: Putting up the Xmas tree
I guess it's more about knowing or getting to know individual journalists. Which is one of my tasks for next year.
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Other title(s) for this story: How to Get Your Products Featured in the Mainstream Press
"The secrets of blog-to-book success."
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Other title(s) for this story: How To Get A Book Deal With Your Blog
"New government procurement guidelines to make government a more 'intelligent customer'"
Don't make me laugh.
"We want the UK to be a key knowledge hub in the global economy: a country with a reputation not only for outstanding scientific and technological discovery, but also for turning that knowledge into new and exciting products and services," said Science and innovation minister Lord Sainsbury, who has been leading a review of innovation policy.
Blogs connect innovative people, forces them into thinking before they write, and allows rapid peer collaboration and correction.
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Other title(s) for this story: National strategy for technology nets £150million
It is going to be a more serious health problem than smoking.
If you are obese at 18, you are twice as likely to be dead at 50 than
if you are at desirable weight. We are going to see significant numbers
of people dying before their parents.
We are up against a food
industry that is far bigger than the tobacco lobby ever was.
Very worrying. I see
pictures on the net of ordinary Americans enjoying a night out, and
they are nearly always very fat, very fat. And now Esme's going to
school, the number of very fat kids is astonishing. Even at the
swimming pool, it's shocking.
When I was a kid there
was only one fat kid in the class, sure he was teased. In Esme's class
there's 3 or 4 really fat kids, mainly boys. (¾ are boys anyway.)
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Other title(s) for this story: UK: More than 1 in 5 are obese
"Presentations are as much about slides as poetry is about handwriting."
Lovely
overview and advice for creating a presentation, and getting up there
and doing it. I'll be making several presentations and pitches next
year, and this really is going to be a big help.
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Other title(s) for this story: The Problem With Presentations
"Microsoft's soon-to-be-released [Q2 2004] service pack for Windows XP will come with a major security-centric overhaul to the company's flagship Internet Explorer browser, including a new add-on management and crash detection tool and several modifications to the browser's default security settings."
Mainly security, no PNG nor better CSS2, sadly.
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Other title(s) for this story: IE Overhaul Part of Windows XP SP2
1506 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Saddam was turning into Santa
Be suspicious of sites that claim to mass-submit your URL to many
dozens or hundreds of search engines. There are less than 10 major
search engines that you should care about being listed in.
I'd take that a bit further... There really is only one. Google. Alright, two. Yahoo.
Not a bad article, though nothing new (I've been reading such for
years). It's the new content and links to your site that are really
important, once you've mastered meta tags, good titles and a wide
breadth of content.
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Other title(s) for this story: E-Commerce News: 10 Ways To Increase Your Search Engine Ranking
"The Nokia Content Syndication Program (NCSP) offers direct links to Nokia documents, toolkits, videos, images, etc., all through standard XML and JavaScript interfaces."
Phwoar!
A tonne of channels to pick from. Glad to see so many very large names
coming into the syndication fold. (No RSS2.0 feeds though.)
I'll have to decide which ones to pick: thinking of XHTML, Symbian and MMS initially.
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Other title(s) for this story: Nokia Content Syndication Program
""UserLand has advanced products and deep customer base. We will continue to support that base and intensify our focus on the enterprise. In the near term, we expect to be enhancing Manila with improved authentication and single sign-in support, making it even easier to deploy secure weblog based solutions," said Scott Young, chief executive officer of UserLand Software. "These are features that our academic and government customers have also requested." "
New management team. (Go for it chaps.) Going
after the corporate customer sounds quite sensible. The blogging public
market has moved on, looking not for features but crowds, while the
corporate has no real software to blog in an intranet environment
except Traction or "Manila" which can be combined with "Radio".
On a related note I found an article, Blogging software for intranet applications. Though it doesn't mention Manila, which is odd, since it's the oldest of its type, and fulfills all of the criteria, it does outline the requirements of an intranet blogging system.
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Other title(s) for this story: UserLand Announces New Management Team
"Access to online services
through a digital network includes both narrowband and broadband
services as well as digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV. It
also includes the new generation of mobile phones that work with 3G
technology and can access a pared-down version of certain internet
sites."
Nice idea. Of course, I'd want to go further, giving people a way to
write on the web - to be producers as well as consumers. Get all of the UK blogging. Now that would be a competitive advantage for UK plc.
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Other title(s) for this story: UK Gov. wants internet access for all by 2008
"Traditional image maps, though, don’t work well with text-only browsers, and they aren’t as efficient or versatile as many newer techniques."
Handy. And just in time. I need to
do an image map, and was wondering what to do with it.
1500 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: CSS image maps
From the World Summit on the Digital Divide: we know about the language, cost and sexual divides (mostly English, cost of computers education and mainly men) but hadn't thought about this point:
"There is a commercial divide. E-commerce is linking some countries and companies ever more closely together. But others run the risk of further marginalization. Some experts describe the digital divide as one of the biggest non-tariff barriers to world trade."
This
is quite serious, not just for the foundry down the road, but also
between countries. For sure the UK ties to the US are strengthened, but
without other counties it makes the internet a poorer place in
competition and in depth of character. I wish more could speak English,
and more were able to blog.
And: At the meeting's conclusion, some said one of its greatest achievements was that government leaders from a broad spectrum of countries had unanimously embraced the Internet as a key to their political progress, economic growth and social development.
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Other title(s) for this story: Bridging the many digital divides
|
"According to DEBKAfile analysts, these seven anomalies point to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner." I don't believe this, but still, worth thinking about, not that it matters. |
1498 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a Captive
Amazing that Iran is deeper into blogging than UK. When will Tony Blair say the word 'blog'?
Iranian bloggers challenge the President in the Summit: It all started from a post on the Geneva Summit's blog, DailySummit, asking Iranians to report on the Net censorship. Then, they asked them to post their questions for the Iranian President, who was going to have a press conference. Then reporters asked the questions from the president: Is the there a blacklist for Iranian websites? Do you read Persian weblogs? How hard is it to connect to the Net in Iran? Later they asked tougher questions from the Minister of Telecommunications: Why don't they public the blacklist? Why Sina Motallebi, the blogger, was arrested? Isn't the summit about how technology benefits democracy and human rights? Blogs can definitely be a big part of the answer. [MetaFilter]
1497 At: 11:27:09 AM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Iranian Blogs challenge President
| ![]() "Sauropods - the largest and heaviest dinosaurs that ever existed - floated in water" Also from the BBC: Maybe dinosaurs weren't burnt alive by meteor. And from last year, maybe they were freezing before the meteor arrived. |
1496 At: 11:03:31 AM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Gigantic dinos 'floated in water'
"Aerial and marine surveys in 2003 recorded at least 11 mother and
calf pairings, suggesting the area was indeed being used to rear whale
calves."Along with the rest of humanity, I love blue whales. More pix here.
1495 At: 10:51:46 AM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Whale nursery discovered in Chile
When Tim Berners-Lee
invented the web he anticipated that we'd all want to write as well as
read. The first web browser could edit web pages as well as display them.
I didn't know that. I used Mosaic then Netscape 1, designing my first
site to work with both browsers. But I don't remember Mosaic being two
way.
1494 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Weaving the web
"Blogging and IM are just an extension of what corporations fear from employees using email - if they get sued, look what they've left behind." It's true, as we've noted before, that companies who have successfully stayed out of trouble have very strict policies about what's written. "
Making
it tough for companies to release the power of freedom. This is FUD in
all it's gory detail. Staying out of trouble is one thing, and they're
only talking about very big companies, but when it come to the smaller
companies, who can move faster, have more determination, and freedom to
think — they can reap the rewards of new technology, rather than
fearing it.
1493 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Poke the eye out of camera phones
"The next Hamas suicide bomber can kill without strapping a bomb belt to his body. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reveal the new type of explosive going into use after the collapse of the Cairo ceasefire talks as being much smaller and lighter while packing a much larger bang. It is compressed enough to be carried in a small bag or hidden in the killer’s clothes. A vest can be soaked in its liquefied form. Improved detonators and timers enable the bomber to start the countdown before he reaches target. By the time he is searched at the entrance to a mall or bus station, the bomb is on timer."
1492 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: DEBKAfile: new type of explosive for suicide bombers
"The average user is "looking at 121 pages, going back six times and
spending an hour and seven minutes every month looking at adult-related
material.""
I wonder if I should bring back sexblogs?
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Other title(s) for this story: Sex sells, especially to Web surfers
| A campaign in California. Lot's of good comments in the post. |
1490 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Part of a large HP campaign
Very useful list of ideas for blogging. There's probably a million other reasons to add to this list.
1489 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Top 20 Definitions of Blogging
"I became aware that my spectacles were not sitting quite correctly on my nose. Using my hand I moved them slightly, thereby making them feel more comfortable. This adjustment completed I continued with my activities."
Nothing else to say.
1488 At: 6:57:56 PM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: The dullest blog in the world
| "Governments and companies should keep investing in IT if they want their economies to flourish, the WEF said."
The
UK really should pull it's socks up. Having seen what Government
organisations do with money, spending far too much on completely the
wrong solution, while the right solutions are far cheaper... |
|
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Other title(s) for this story: US on top in tech competitiveness
"An average fertility of 1.85 children per woman would result in a population of just 2.3 billion, whereas an average of 2.35 would yield 36.4 billion [by 2300.]"
1486 Also posted to: News
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Other title(s) for this story: UN warns of population surge, worst case up to 134 trillion
"Should US troop resources be divided between safeguarding the transition and fighting off guerrillas? Or should they stick to field combat plain and simple?"
Should they hide behind tanks or get out on the street protecting Iraqis from criminal gangs?
Afganis said about the Taliban, 'at least they brought order.' This is surely what Iraqis will need. Then, maybe they'll come over to the US's side and help against the insurgents.
1485 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Top Bush Team Divided over Next Iraq Moves
Survey 20 years ago found 32% of voters thought public spending should be increased - now figure is 63%
And left and right are moving closer on the welfare state. Interesting how people are now seeing, 'you get what you pay for.' For example: Every patient to have electronic health records by 2010
1484 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Support for higher taxes doubles
In different shapes and forms, we now have Apple, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Napster, Pepsi, Coke and maybe even Wal-Mart hawking songs online. All of these companies are rushing to enter a business with atom thin margins at best and business sinking losses at worst. In almost every case, the motive is to link to a larger sale be it pricey iPods or placing a brand in the consumer's face for other, profit-making goods.
1483 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Coke does music DRM in Europe
So what would I do if I was the editor of a major press title ?
- put all my content and articles in a permalink, blogging form in addition to print
- make it available in RSS, at least short transcripts
- give authors (journalists) credit under their name
- integrate advertising in feeds
- get my cost structure as low as possible and redistribute earnings to the authors according to the audience they get from what they write.
I'll have more to say on this in the morning, [past midnight here]
but the business model won't work. They're too dinosaur to pull it off.
Ads in RSS feeds would make me puke, and for Radio, I'd make a tool to
delete them. Unless they're good like GoogeAds.
I'd get the advertisers to blog.
1482 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Blogging will have the same effects to journalism as Napster & P2P to the music industry
Perfect! My arse. Much of the professional journalism I read these days, isn't well or thoroughly researched, and with their penchant for being easily swayed by advertising purchases, fancy PR releases, or nice lunches, I tend never to think of them as being authoritative anymore. I need consensus or fact checking of my own in a search of google with the word blog in the string. Collective thought, as smart as the smartest person in the network - which can be quite big on the net.
OK for sure some journalists look deep, hard into their stories, and they get good reps, but far too many ordinary joes are out there, under the guise of a seemingly respectable title. It's a big world with many titles on the net, many covering the same stories.
But even these lesser journalists can find redemption in blogging, if they open comments, and 'grow' their knowledge, and the article. Changing or modifying or adapting the article live, as their knowledge grows. If only they too used the power of the network as a collective, collaborative effort to 'perfection.'
This is much different then high quality newspapers where a complete hierarchy of editors slows down the publishing process, but also secures a perfect quality all over the paper.
There are millions of blogs out there now, when I need an opinion or help, there's usually something written in a blog or discussion group that I found in Google.
On-line journalists, these days, only bring me the TV headlines in more detail. (I gave up my printed newspaper over four years ago.) They have correspondents all over the world, these, we'll always need, but on the net, I also want to read the thoughts of the ordinary citizen, to check the facts, to add colour, perspective, 'the other side of the story.'
These things are far more important to me now I have been educated about the distortions of the media, the gagging and spinning, mis-direction, and the black art of misinformation.
Never trust that what you read in a newspaper. Or a blog. Check it yourself using millions of brains.
1481 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Lunches and lies in newspapers
342 Radio Stations were found in United Kingdom.
Not all are internet stations, but still... Dead handy engine for finding worldwide internet radio stations.
1480 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Radio-Locator
We tested the best of the bunch. In addition, we looked at one application for those who prefer to host their own.
Doesn't look as though they've researched this well at all. But I guess, to cover each tool in a few paragraphs, you're bound to leave a lot out. From my point of view they've totally misjudged weblogger or rather "Manila". They said it was for groups? 99% Of my Villa bloggers are single editors.
1479 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: PC Mag: review of Blog Tools
"...The WMD have been hidden at secret locations by the Fedayeen and are still in Iraq. "Only when Saddam is caught will people talk about these weapons," he said."
Such a big country, and only a very small number of people would need to know their exact location. These are the weapons that scare the shit out of me. Imagine what they could do in the middle of London.
1478 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Revealed: the Iraqi colonel who told MI6 that Saddam could launch WMD within 45 minutes
The Saudi Connection: The CIA's Illicit Transactions Group isn't listed in any phone book. There are no entries for it on any news database or Internet site...
There's ten pages in this report, haven't the time to read it all now, but it looks well worth the read this evening.
1477 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: How billions in oil money spawned a global terror network
"Gordon Brown has given an upbeat assessment of the economy in a preview of this week's pre-Budget report."
I dig that the global economy is growing (though CeBit is very small this year because of "economic downturn in Europe"), and that we've been growing for some time, so I see his point, but I worry that an al-Qaeda attack could change that in the blink of an eye. Also, a house price recession is surely just around the corner, and with record breaking consumer debt and increasing, albeit slowly, interest rates...
I ain't confident Gordon, not confident at all.
1476 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Economy 'set for strong growth'
After seven years Jennicam is ending. Probably because of PayPal stopping her account due to 'nudity.' Which is strange, as that was the whole reason why she was once getting millions of viewers every week. I guess the profits have nose dived over that time, there's been many, many more copyists who are far more lewd (and younger), and seven years of living in a fish bowl — well, anyone would get fed up of that. [Via MetaFilter]
While I'm at it, and also via MetaFilter, LesbianPhoneCall.com delivers you a phone call from a genuine lesbian!
Choose from:
- Bull Dyke (Militant Lesbian)
- Regular Lesbian
- Lesbian-on-the-fence
- Transgender lesbian
- Catholic Lesbian
- Lesbian Film Critic
- Stoner Lesbian
1475 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Final Days in the Life At Jennicam
"...Blogs with a dozen readers are often successful on their authors' terms."
True. I did like their research the other day, and I believe that many bloggers blog not just for traffic, but also for themselves. I blog about my kids, certainly not for traffic, but for posterity. I blog about business, so I've got a reference when I need something, and blog about politics and war to vent some steam.
1474 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Nanoaudiences for blogs
1473 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
SmartyPants is a free web publishing plug-in for Movable Type, Blosxom,
and BBEdit that easily translates plain ASCII punctuation characters
into “smart” typographic punctuation HTML entities.
SmartyPants can perform the following transformations:
- Straight quotes ( " and ' ) into “curly” quote HTML entities
-
Backticks-style quotes (
``like this'') into “curly” quote HTML entities -
Dashes (“
--” and “---”) into en- and em-dash entities -
Three consecutive dots (“
...”) into an ellipsis entity
I was thinking of writing an equivalent for Radio, but even though I'm a trained typographer, I think it's too much of a problem when quoting from sites that use smart punc, I'll skip it.
1472 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: SmartyPants
An al Qaeda video, which appeared this week on an al Qaeda-affiliated Web site, shows the September 11, 2001, attack on New York's World Trade Center as filmed from an angle sources in Washington said they had not seen before.
Also more chatter in 'the channels.' Let's be careful out there, people.
1471 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: Al Qaeda tape likely used to rally, recruit
"A search for the mind's "funny bone" has shed new light on the mysteries of merriment, revealing that the reason humour is addictive is that it activates "reward centres" in the brain"
1470 Also posted to: News
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Other title(s) for this story: www.smh.com.au - Cartoons act like cocaine
"Most Little Seen, Quickly Abandoned
Survey of 3,634 blogs on
eight leading blog-hosting services to develop a model of blog
populations. Based on this research, Perseus estimates that 4.12
million blogs have been created on these services: Blog-City, BlogSpot,
Diaryland, LiveJournal, Pitas, TypePad, Weblogger and Xanga.
- 92.4% of blogs created by people under the age of 30.
- Females are slightly more likely than males to create blogs, accounting for 56.0% of hosted blogs.
- the number of hosted blogs created to exceed five million by the end of 2003 and to exceed ten million by the end of 2004.
- Those who abandoned blogs tended to write posts that were only 58% as long as the posts of those who still maintained blogs, which simply indicates that those who enjoy writing stick with blogs longer."
1469 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: The Blogging Iceberg
"Applying the Three-Click Rule leads to a number of design suggestions, such as putting global navigation on every page and making a navigation hierarchy shallow and wide. While these suggestions seem a natural extension of the Three-Click Rule, they assume the rule is worth following."
Very good article. I've always believed that there are no sites on the internet, all pages.
If you enter a site via a search engine, and have the time, you'll look
deeper than three clicks if the page you landed on is close enough to
your search criteria. If it ain't you're outta there to the next of the
search result. If you enter via a link on someone else's site, you'll
look for three clicks, possibly more if the navigation is good and
informative enough.
In short, most people navigate via search engines. Build your site
for these, not testers entering your site via the front page. And, make
sure your navigation is detailed, categories/sections well
differentiated.
1468 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Testing the Three-Click Rule
SME workers 'barred from unions'
British labour laws unfairly prevent six million small business employees from joining trade unions, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has claimed.
Chechnya suicide bomb on Russian commuter train
There were three women and a man in the group responsible for the blast. Two of the women jumped off the train just before the explosion. One of them [a woman] was injured and will not likely survive. The man died. He was carrying a grenade attached to his legs. The organisers of this crime wanted him to die.
Lancet calls for tobacco ban to save thousands of lives
The tobacco lobby said it revealed the "true voice of the rabid anti-smoking zealot."
In an editorial headlined "How do you sleep at night, Mr Blair?", The Lancet says a ban on smoking in public would be a start but that it is "missing the point." The availability and acceptability of smoking is far more significant. A ban on tobacco would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
1467 Also posted to: news
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Other title(s) for this story: Daily news items
| This is a neat idea, I've tried it out for a few days now. Looks good, though I'm not into comics much, I'd prefer it if Steve Bell were there too. |
|
1466 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Tapestry - Your Favourite Comics by RSS
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Here's my birthdate cover :-) |
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And Amanda's. |
1465 Also posted to: sexblogs
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Other title(s) for this story: Every Playboy cover!
"What are weblogs? How are they different from ordinary home pages? Should I write a weblog? How do I get started? In this workshop, we will introduce weblogs and attempt to answer these questions. We'll present a simple definition, survey a variety of popular weblogs and weblog writing styles, help you set up your own MIT weblog at http://weblogs.mit.edu/ and write your first post, and demonstrate how a news aggregator works."
A free weblog for every MIT student. Damn the US is running away with this.
1464 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: MIT: Getting Started with Weblogs
Non smoking in China More than a quarter of China's 1.2 billion population are smokers.
Among adult men, where the rate is about 65%, it is almost a social necessity. Offering a cigarette is a common part of any greeting between males.
I've been non smoking for 167 days 13 hours 29 minutes and still eating much to compensate the cravings.
US man has IT company logo tattooed on head For the next five years a 22-year-old man from Illinois will roam the States with a five-inch CI Host tattoo on the back of his head, handing out business cards and flyers.
e-Minister will make every public library a Wi-Fi hotspot Libraries are particularly well-placed to engage hard-to-reach groups and to help address social exclusion.
Asda to replace sweets with fruit at checkouts Initially, single portions of fruit and other healthier snacks will be placed only at three in 20 checkouts.
Disappointed! I thought for a second that Asda was thinking further than profits. Anyway, if they did do this in a big way they could carry the impression that they are the healthy alternative - that's got to be a bigger boost to profits.
Scientists' big find Colymbosathon ecplecticos - Greek for "amazing swimmer with a large penis" - is the latest find from an "undisclosed" location from the Silurian period.
2nd autopsy on Cincinnati man planned Jones would have been more likely to survive the struggle [with cops] had he not had an enlarged heart, been obese and had cocaine, PCP and methanol in his blood.
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Michael Jackson Aging This is how he would have looked now, if it wasn't for his surgery. |
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Lindsay's Highest quality books, new and old, for experimenters, inventors, tinkerers, mad scientists, and a very few normal people. |
1463 Also posted to: news
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Other title(s) for this story: Daily news items
1462 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Esme has fun coming home from school
1461 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Swording gooses
"Every month or so, Google makes changes to try to stop the cheating. This is called the Google Dance. And occasionally it carries out a fairly major overhaul. The latest happened in November and is known as the Florida Update. It's this which has caused the anger and bewilderment among web users."
I've noticed that there's far, far fewer pages returned when I search for "Steve Hooker" It used to return over 24,000 now it's just 7,400.
I think they're doing it for advert money, rather than to stop
people cheating. After all they're the biggest and best but don't
actually earn much out of searching. [Related:] How to profit from google ads
1460 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Google changes anger web businesses
"Instead of the usual "bring bring", its customers will be able to select hits from the likes of Kylie or Busted."
Costs a pound to sign up and £1.50 each tune. All this sounds quite expensive to me. But, I've never ever bought a ring tone, so I guess this isn't for me.
1459 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Ringing tunes come to UK mobiles
1458 At: 11:36:58 AM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Six New Species of Prehistoric Mammals Discovered in Africa
"The RIAA said it planned to file another 41 lawsuits this week and would warn another 90 users that they may be sued"
1457 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Record industry bullies more people
From the makers of Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
I'd forgotten that there were so many warblogs.
1456 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: The 2003 Warblogger Awards
![]() | "As powerful and useful as they are, floats can make for tricky
layout tools. Chances are that you may have seen something like the
situation shown in Figure 1, which is accomplished with just two div
elements, each with a floated image inside it." Dead useful this will be for me in a week or so. I've been trying to figure out how to add news items without the containing table, but all my efforts have resulted in over hanging images, just like their figure 1 (left). |
1455 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Containing Floats
Click for enlargement
| I just found this in my archives. Lest we forget, eh? Take a close look at those people. Wondering what happened to them? |
"Like Triple Point, an increasing number of corporations are using RSS feeds as a way to distribute information internally and externally."
Cheap as chips. And as email become more and more useless, a great method of tuning into the hum of an organisation.
1453 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Triple Point Relies on Rss
"On average, employees get 20 spam e-mails per day."
Via the BBC, they seem to be saying that about 2 emails a day
are porno pictures. I guess that would be the same here. And they talk
about staff leaving their email addresses all over the place.
Once the
spammer's have you, there isn't much that can be done, other than Bayesian Filters
but these take time to learn good stuff from bad, only a few days, but
in a large org, it'll be down to the server admins to sort out. Easy
for some spam, but hard for the cleverer spammer. And after all it's an
arms race, you could never fully rid yourself of spam and still keep
the false positives to zero. Once your address has been gobbled up,
it's time to get another, and to use the already exposed address for
pasting into website log in fields, and the other for using in the
reply addresses for legitimate emails.
Careful management of the Bayesian Filters
and rules in outlook routing emailing into different folders as well as
the two addresses trick above is the method I'm using to stop the spam.
It doesn't take long, does it?
1452 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Sexual spam could spark lawsuits
![]() And while I was at gizmodo I found this... | "Watch the tube (no pesky packet fees), grab screen shots and
capture live video from broadcast programs, access TV guides via
browser, and use it as a remote to control your karaoke machine." I wonder what the BBC will do about the licence fees when these phones come out in the UK? {via gizmodo) |
1451 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: NEC's V601N: Japan's First TV Cell Phone
![]() | "Radical Simplicity by Jim Merkel is a personal story followed by a
detailed prescription. Merkel was a military engineer with a major
defense contractor, but couldn't reconcile his job and lifetyle with
his personal convictions. So he quit his job and systematically
transformed his life to free himself and his family from the
possessions that owned him, and the seductive tyranny of wage slavery." I love this 'How to save the world' site. Always has hard to live with articles. |
1450 Also posted to: warBlog
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Other title(s) for this story: How to Save the World
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Squeak, squeak, says Bradley as he dashes through the rain to the Telford Shopping Centre. Bob the Builder umbrella flapping in the wind. |
1449 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Brad with umbrella in rain
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1448 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Fay's bump, Sam and Sophie
1447 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: A long, long, short visit to Toys R Us
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![]() But it is a lot of dancing, Esme. |
![]() Yes, very good twirling. |
![]() And sweet skipping too. |
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![]() Wonderful marching, Kitten. |
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![]() Good poise too. |
![]() Esme took the picture, I'm knackered and watching all this dancing is making me more tired. |
![]() Meanwhile Bradley stage left adds to the melee by blowing bubbles and making a sticky, slippery mess. |
![]() And then wants me to help him read (upside down, of course.) |
![]() He's looking at the map of Wonderland, the pay-to-get-in attraction at the bottom of Telford Town Park. Something about spending his birthday there, and some other trips that I think Amanda took him on. |
1446 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: On the bus to Telford and Esme dancing
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"Daddy...?" |
1445 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Esme studies pictures of Bradley being born
![]() | "Eats,Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation " Guardian: The title derives from one of the book's numerous jokes: A panda goes into a bar, orders a sandwich, fires a gun and heads for the door. A shaken barman asks why. 'Look it up,' says the panda, throwing him a badly punctuated wildlife manual. The barman turns to the relevant page: 'Panda: Bear-like mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.' |
1444 At: 10:41:45 AM . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Amazon.co.uk: Books: Eats,Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
"Pirated versions of Microsoft's next generation computer operating system are on sale in Malaysia, more than a year before the official release date."
Pre alpha Longhorn, from October's developer conference.
1443 Also posted to: cyberSaps
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Other title(s) for this story: Asian pirates in Microsoft 'coup'
Just managed to put them into bed. Bradley sleeps on the bottom bunk,
Es on top. We'd gone throught the traditional and customary arguments
and sleeping positions. I'm laying next to Brad, he wants me to put my
arm around for the usual cuddle, "sure I say, and do you know why?" He
replies, "because you love me."
Esme moans from above, "doh, I don't get a cuddle no more." "Sorry I
say, can't reach," and I try to get my arm stretched up, but only
manage my hand over her bed. She grasps it, play acting, "oh thank you
Daddy," and squeezes my hand and gives it a big kiss.
Bradley scoffs, "what she do? Kiss you hand, does she want to marry you!"
Where did he get the kiss and marriage thing from? I didn't even know he knew the word.
1442 Also posted to: personal
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Other title(s) for this story: Kids say funny things

















































































































