Edited to put the van the right way up, damn, I thought I’d spun it on the phone, but obviously not.
Neil Hopcroft
A digital misfit
all the time at sunny beach
As is typical technology mocks in suspicious ways, playing me the mad capsule markets just as the heavens opened upon my arrival in worthing.
An ideal day for sitting in the restaurant of a grand seafront hotel watching the elements doing battle with whatever they can find.
No such thing here, though.
Linkblast
FAO aperrott…Loose Moose
who is about tomorrow for a trip to the seaside?
(no poll for this because i can’t remember the syntax to post from email)
Theres something quite wrong about outsourcing your grieving
ETA: A response from Surrey Grave Care…which makes me feel like I was being a bit negative above
Linkblast
Book review: Cyberselfish by Paulina Gorsook
“A critical romp through the terribly libertarian world of high tech”
I don’t know what happened to Paulina, but she seems to have suffered somehow at the hands of a someone she thinks represents all techno-libertarians.
This book describes the views of a small subset of people who have managed to get the wrong end of the stick about libertarianism, and expanded that view to cover pretty much anyone who works in the hightech industries. It describes some shocking examples of social irresponsibility and inability to comprehend that there is a need for social structure provided by government. It also glosses over the fact that most people in the IT sector are just normal people, the ones you get to hear about are the oddballs, the extremists.
There is also, throughout the book, a bitter diatribe about the management of Wired magazine, and how they project their sexist and selfish worldview on those around them, and the industry as a whole. This seems to be related to Paulina having fallen out with the management.
It does raise some interesting points, about the disconnect some of us (high tech workers) feel from society, but it seems to make a point of misunderstanding the implications of that disconnect as being a symptom of either sexism or selfishness, or both.
All in all, not a very positive book.
Who should read this: nobody
(no poll for this one, I’m not going to waste your time by lending it to you)
Note: it would be useful to ask someone to help you at this stage.
…in the assembly of your three tier in-tray unit for A4 paper. This phrase is now no longer useful if it is applied in these kinds of situations.
It sucks to be me
After working yesterday I met up with beermat and company to go see AvenueQ. This is an odd show, a musical, but about people like me. Well, more about what would happen if the Muppets grew up and had to find a job in the real world but its written to feel like its about people like me.
The cast is made of around six or seven people, and there are more puppets, allowing an interesting divorcing of characters from people, though the voices stay consistently with one of the players even when the puppet is being controlled by another.
The show follows the story of a recent English graduate in his first days of ‘real life’, renting an apartment on Avenue Q, one of the cheapest bits of town, and his integration into life there. Theres a little use of animations (on TV screens around the theatre) alongside the real life action happening on the stage, theres still a long way to go before such media is integrated into the writing of shows, right now it seems like a bit of an afterthought, not necessary for the show.
All in all a worthwhile show, some catchy music and well acted.