Blog posts

New Statesman’s close connections to New Labour have put me off in the past. Aside from one fun party all they seemed to be giving me was ridiculous articles about how the anti-globalisation movement was like al-qaeda. So I gave up on them. But yesterday’s cover grabbed me and I had another read. Something would appear to be afoot when a magazine of this sort runs a cover story asking “can the church stop war?”. ...

As a physics undergrad I’ve heard a lot about nuclear processes and nuclear fuels. A few years back I was barraged with propaganda from BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.) about how they had the solution to the world’s fossil fuel crisis. I remain unconvinced. But having read a lot of that propaganda, and understanding that the arguments for nuclear power are strong ones, I’m somewhat bewildered as to why the term ‘crisis’ is being used in connection with North Korea. In 1994 North Korea’s government signed an agreement sponsored by the USA, Japan and South Korea, to halt its “graphite technology nuclear program” in return for two “light-water nuclear reactors” (information from this site). It has recently disclosed that it has terminated that agreement. And that has apparently precipitated a ‘crisis’. ...

Yes, I am online. Yes, it is Christmas Day. This leader in the Guardian warmed up my Christmas Eve, which was otherwise filled with Casablanca, the Life of Pi, some updates to britlinks (!) and a little more of some other work than might have been hoped. Now it’s just time for a few last minute e-mails and then off to await the morning.

Seems the helicopter game was a bit of a hit in certain quarters. I’m sure Steve will be looking for a rehab group shortly. Favourite web find of the week was John’s Switch Ad. For those not geeky enough to have watched Apple’s Switch Ads, it’s based on one of them but with a slightly more political text. Perhaps I shouldn’t have watched it quite so much, but the combination of ‘geek’ and ‘George Bush? He’s a monkey’ was too much for me. I think my favourite line has to be ‘Patriotism is the rohypnol of the American people’. A generalisation, perhaps, but still…. ...

Harv (known at steve’s blog as Evil Harv) sent me a link to this. I think he’s trying to tell me something. Hopefully it’s a reminder to blog, but it could be a little backhanded. I’ll blog properly (if such a thing exists) at some point this week, but for now suffice it to say that the end of term left me thinking I could finally get some work done. But then a certain game appeared on the horizon and scattered all work before it.

9 gigs. 4 films. 1 website. several assignments. too many meetings. James.

The plan is for a place in that right-hand bar which will show the ten most recent stories on any of a selection of sites. The situation is a place in that right-hand bar which shows links to the ten most recent entries on the delicatessen blog. One will become the other very soon. In other news, it has come to my attention that people have been taking issue with what I write here and not posting a comment about it. There’s a pretty easy way to rectify that. To clarify, Reading does indeed have two multiplexes and a campus ‘film theatre’. But exposure to that sort of cinema availability pushed my requirements for ‘decent cinema’ still higher. Perhaps I should admit right now that having a decent cinema really just meant having a cinema that shows the films I want to see, when I want to see them. Confession over, I’m going to look at cinema tickets online. ...

What exactly is wrong with trying to source an antidote to nerve gas?

As can be seen from the note at the top of this blog and the general lack of updates, time is in short supply. Partly as a result and partly because I like to get information out, this isn’t the only site whose design is taking place in public. Just try everydayapocalyptic.org for evidence. Other than that, blackalicious are foremost in my mind right now. I was more than a little surprised to see in the university newspaper that they were appearing in Reading. It’s rare that Reading gets a musical treat like that (other than at delicatessen of course) and that’s rather compounded by the lack of publicity. Despite that the venue was packed out. Pretty lousy sound (far too loud, far too muddy) was redeemed by buckets of charisma and some rather tasty tunes and beats. Sadly, this was the last date of the tour. Hopefully, they will be back. DJ Shadow and Blackalicious, both within a month. That’s quite a delight.

With thanks to Zeldman, I feel it time to point you towards googlism.com. Sad though it may be I’ve had a great while typing in various friends’ names (mine is just too identified with a certain industry) and seeing what pops out. I’ve found some gems. Do share yours.