Not Another Blog _#

When I first got this domain it was either going to be yetanotherblog.com, or notanotherblog.com. Both were available. Turns out the latter is now taken - that was quick!

I'm not sure this was the better choice now - argh! :-|

Memory Checking _#

I've been having problems with my Linux computer today crashing repeatedly - the one that handles email, web, backups, etc. It's done it before so I poked around the Internet for a memory checking program, finding Memtest 86 to be highly recommended.

In the 35 minutes it took to check the computer the program found around 1200 errors, mostly at the same few addresses. Could be the cause, no?

I also ran the program on my main computer and to my extreme delight, found no errors :-D

Then I ran it on my laptop. My five year old laptop. It has had problems for a while now. Windows ME, 2000 and XP; various Linuxes and FreeBSD refuse to install. I've only ever gotten 98 on there and even then it crashes ad nauseum.

It had 102,560 errors.

So now I'm searching the web looking for good RAM suppliers :-)

Movie Review: Wrong Turn _#

As clichéed horror movies go Wrong Turn is fairly middle of the road.

The plot is simple. The lead character is travelling cross country and takes a shortcut to avoid traffic. After an accident he winds up stranded in the woods along with a group of five friends who are also stuck. Terror is sure to ensue as a group of blood-thirsty inbred mutants chase them down...

The storyline is fairly shallow and the movie is only slightly recovered by a few gruesome and high tension moments. To be honest it's not really even that scary. Eliza Dushku from Buffy fame is cast well as the strong and resiliant Jessie and Desmond Harrington also gives a good performance, although I suspect the movie will take a low profile in their portfolios.

Sven on the Net _#

Google UK lists me as Sven #8! I'm even above Sven Goran Eriksson :-)

Update: I've dropped down to around 20th. Damn Swedes.

Just... odd _#

K, this is one of the more bizarre front-pagers on BBC News lately... the Internet is being used to create crowds. Organisers post a date and time online and people just... well they just go there. It works quite well apparantly.

Nice Word _#

Something to add to your vocab: hircine:

Thanks to Woodge for pointing me to this - a great inspiration for blog ideas and general madness. Let's face it, he's definitely imitable.

Lazy Git _#

Doubt I'll be able to keep the momentum for this running for long, but here goes :-)

New thing I learnt this week: Don't put Lithium batteries anywhere near your mouth. It bloody stings.

If you're wondering I tend to bite on things when I'm concentrating. Normally pens, pencils and paper clips. This time I grabbed a battery.

Blogging MPs _#

Have you noticed the various politicians starting blogs? I think it's brilliant; a great way to connect with your electorate. I've started keeping a list of politicians across the world that run blogs, whenever I see them entered on Blogwise or mentioned elsewhere. If your local politician has a blog not listed here, please tell me. If they don't have a blog maybe you should suggest it to them (and let us know that you have)?:

Wesley Clark. US presidential candidate, 2004 (Dem).
Tom Watson, UK MP for West Bromwich East (Lab).
Richard Allan, UK MP for Sheffield Hallam (Lib Dem).
Lance Brown, US presidential candidate, 2008.

Remote posting _#

As I write this, I am in a student accommodation in Birmingham University, on a 9,600 bps connection over a mobile phone :-) Why? Because I can.
More tomorrow!

Things Happen _#

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Birmingham for two days, for a radio conference. I'll be contactable by mobile & email if anybody really wants to talk to me!

Actually being elsewhere might give me a chance to think about the future of things like this blog, Blogwise, etc. I really have some great ideas and features for Blogwise which, until now, I've always been frustrated about how basic and unrevealing it is! I don't, however, have the time to implement anything new under my current 'schedule' so I'll need to decide where my priorities lie!

More soon, I'm sure...

Exhausted _#

I think I might cry. The following graph is a live update of how many blogs are waiting to be submitted on Blogwise:

Of course... if you're reading this from the archives that'll have gone back down to zero or it'll be off the scale :-|

An employee at About.com emailed me the other day asking if I'd add their new blog-style articles to Blogwise. I can't refuse really - they fit the bill for entry, but it represents another 450 blogs on the site!

Actually I've had a difficult time considering whether I should accept or not. An injection of 450 blogs means that around 1 in 13 blogs are from About.com - that scares me. My conclusive decision was pased on my belief that companies with valuable, article-style resources should definitely be encouraged to use this format. We'll see how it goes.

PHP 5 _#

For those of you interested PHP 5 is out (in early beta form). The Zend engine has been completely rewritten and now supports quite a few of the more advanced class/object behaviours common to, say, Java.