The dullest blog in the world

Whilst surfing the internet I happened upon a page which had a number of links on it. I clicked on one and was taken to another page. This had several links on it too, so I clicked on one and continued my surfing.

posted 11:16 AM #

Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal

Pos side blog
posted 10:23 AM #

Nestlé u-turn

Nestlé u-turn on Ethiopia debt - Guardian

Nestlé, the world's largest coffee company, was forced into a humiliating u-turn last night, after public outrage forced it to drop its $6m claim against the famine stricken Ethiopian government.

This sounds good but still leaves questions hanging in the air. First, what about all the other private companies with claims against Ethiopia. Second, is it really a victory? Nestlé's situation shows why so few private companies are prepared to invest in the Third World. They risk getting nationalised and when they open a factory, they get done for paying sweat-shop wages (that tend to be much better that local ones).
posted 10:59 AM #

Leave my desk alone. It works

In praise of clutter - The Economist

The sub-headings speak for themselves: "Clutterphobia", "The tyranny of the tidy", "A beautiful mind" and "Filers versus pilers".
posted 10:37 AM #

J'accuse Jacques

Derrida, Derrida, Etc. - National Review

If Derrida is a fraud, and he most definitely is, how has he managed to hoodwink so many highly credentialed academics, especially those trained in literary criticism, art history, film studies, psychology, sociology, linguistics, and (lately) legal theory?

You might as well add my English Lit professors at Edinburgh University to that list.
posted 10:34 AM #

The phoney famine?

Southern Africa famine threat is 'exaggerated' - Times

Brenda Cuppa, the head of the United States-based charity Care International, said that although there was severe hardship in Zambia, “the situation may have been dramatised to get a response”.

Guy Scott, a former Zambian Agriculture Minister who oversaw the importation of almost one million tonnes of maize during the last food shortages in 1992, said: “It looks to me as if the international donor community wanted to see a disaster without being critical enough.”

During a three-day tour of the Zambian province worst affected by drought, The Times found no sign of starvation.

How can it be so difficult to tell whether a famine is going on or not. This article aside, journalists are often taken to these trouble spots by charities - charities who have an interest in overstating the problem.
posted 8:44 PM #

I found my wife and maid a-washing

Pepys’ Diary

After that Sheply, Harrison and myself, we went towards Westminster on foot, and at the Golden Lion, near Charing Cross, we went in and drank a pint of wine, and so parted, and thence home, where I found my wife and maid a-washing. I staid up till the bell-man came by with his bell just under my window as I was writing of this very line, and cried, “Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning.” I then went to bed, and left my wife and the maid a-washing still.

posted 1:23 PM #

The Mirror Project

The Mirror Project is a growing community of like-minded individuals who have photographed themselves in all manner of reflective surfaces.
posted 7:22 AM #

LOMO - joining the lomo nation

Maybe I should keep a side blog just of lomo sites.
posted 7:15 AM #

kd blogs zim has spotted a hole in moveable type.


posted 7:02 AM #

Pos side blog

Fantastic4Edinburgh
posted 8:41 AM #

Death penalty system "broken"

Yahoo! News - Bush Urged to Follow Illinois Lead on Death Penalty

Activists around the world on Sunday applauded the move by the governor of Illinois to spare death row prisoners from execution and urged President Bush to follow his lead by abolishing the death penalty.

It always amazes me that the US has the death penalty. It's like a horrific scar on the face of a loved one.
posted 6:22 AM #

What Tina did next

"Tina, darling, the red suede gloves with fox fur trim sound divine. But they weren't from me" - The Times

IT'S SATISFYING to be back in New York after a week toasting on a beach in tiny Harbour Island in the Bahamas. Holidays are validated only if one returns to rain...

Last summer I was a guest on a media mogul's boat trip on the Mediterranean. Instead of the NY Times service, he has the luxury of a bespoke cull of all the newspapers and websites, prepared by his office and satellite-faxed to the high seas.

I suppose it's her sheer shamelessness that makes her such a good read.
posted 9:51 AM #

OJR article: Gear for the Multimedia Newsroom - OJR

Fujitsu S6110 LifeBook S Series Notebook

Specs: 11.5" x 9.3" x 1.3"; 4.5 pounds with DVD drive; built-in wireless networking

Price: $1,750

Overview: "This is a beautifully outfitted notebook," Northrup says, "with a 13-inch screen, full-size keyboard and a DVD/CD-RW drive, all wrapped into a package that's about 4 pounds and only an inch tall."

posted 8:08 AM #

Double trouble

Ethiopian drought cuts coffee crop - BBC

Drought could see Ethiopian coffee production could fall by 30%, undermining the country's main cash crop on which almost 15 million people depend.

"In coffee producing areas in western, southwestern and eastern parts of the country, the coffee harvest is estimated to have declined by 30% in 2002/03 due to drought," the US Famine Early Warning System Network (Fewsnet) said.
posted 2:12 PM #

Ethiopians urged to help hungry - BBC

The head of Ethiopia's Orthodox Church has called on Ethiopians to help those hit by drought.

In a Christmas message, Patriarch Paulos said it was the duty of Christians to help those in dire need.
posted 2:10 PM #

More Bob's boots

"Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty good stuff" - Salon

For well over half his career, Dylan's art has been better served by the bootleggers than by his own label -- or, indeed, by Dylan himself. Underground releases must also get a good share of credit for sustaining interest in Dylan as a continuing creative force.

Absolutely. The article lists some key bootlegs to track down.
posted 9:54 AM #

Worth a side blog

David Galbraith's weblog
posted 11:26 AM #

The weblog of Samuel Pepys

Pepys’ Diary

"When the idea of making a website out of Samuel Pepys' diary first occurred to me it seemed so obvious that I was worried someone would beat me to it," said creator Phil Gyford.

posted 10:24 AM #

Bob's boots

They Buy all the Albums, but Trade Concert Bootlegs - New York Times

Lots of links to bootleg sites.
posted 9:30 AM #

Strummer: A class act

Strummer was class act in last interview
- Times Online

JOE STRUMMER gave a robust defence of his public school background in the final interview before his death. The Clash frontman, who died last month from a heart attack, aged 50, reflected on his career in an interview for Uncut magazine.

Mr Strummer said that fellow punks had accused him of hypocrisy because of his middle-class background: “I’m afraid I talked it up a bit much. My father was in the Diplomatic Service, but he was a self-made orphan. He got himself a scholarship to Lucknow College. When I did my first interview and said my father was a diplomat, I was over-egging it.

“I did it because I was dead proud of what my father had done and I knew that he’d love to be described that way. He got paid nothing his whole life and all we had was a four-room pebbledash bungalow. The reason I went to public school (City of London Freemen’s School, Surrey) was because it was a perk of the job.”

posted 9:20 AM #