One Man's Notes

Who's that (MySpace) Girl?

Martha MySpace
Martha MySpace

Martha Jones, the new companion being introduced in the third series of Doctor Who that starts on Saturday is on MySpace.

It's not clear at this point if it's a fan effort or a BBC promotional decision. If it's the latter, that's a very interesting move for them.


Analysing 300

Great review and analysis of the film 300.

300 is racist.

Anyone who is not Spartan, pure-blooded and pure-shaped Spartan, is lesser or evil. Xerxes’ emissaries are black, his soldiers are Asian and African and Persian and God knows what else. He employs the monsters of Africa against the plucky band of Spartans, and all are inferior, barbarous, cowardly. They hide behind numbers, they hide behind masks, they hide behind sorcery and arrows and treachery and anything else they can think of, while the true Spartan men are unashamed of their faces, their bodies, their pure god-derived blood. And yet…

300 is not racist.

The Spartans treat all who come before them the same, regardless of color. The worst contempt is reserved for the Ephors, men of Spartan blood and ancestry, bloodless and pale. At the end of the film, there is a message of unity, of joining the greater whole regardless of one’s origin or blood. And yet…

Things of which I am ashamed #1

Exalted: Savant and Sorcerer (Exalted) (Exalted)
Exalted: Savant and Sorcerer (Exalted) (Exalted)
Adam Tinworth
Some of you may know that I had something of a secondary career writing gaming books for a while.

MainMor's post about the, uh, less than artistic nature of RPG illustration at times reminded me of the cover I was most profoundly ashamed to have my words behind.

Because, really, what the heck is there good to say about this?

Vox Hunt: Have This, Will Travel

Show us something you cannot leave home without.
Submitted by Quornflour.

My Keys
My Keys
Sorry to be so prosaic, but really, if I left home without those, I'd be in a world of trouble.

Leaving home for the day is great. But getting home is even greater. Having spent much of the last week and a half on the road, it was so nice to pull up outside the flat and get inside, knowing that I had a whole two nights at home ahead of me. Yes, two. Luxury.

And just to make things better, Lorna had actually cooked me dinner. Yes, Lorna, cooking. Amazing.

David Manners Done Good

One of our bloggers is getting quite a lot of attention in the techie blogosphere with this post:

What are the ten best decisions ever made in the semiconductor industry's history? This is the stuff of which long evenings are made, but here, for what it's worth, is one list compiled after a long evening.

  1. Bell Labs' decision to sell licenses for transistor manufacturing technology
  2. Akio Morita's decision to buy a transistor manufacturing license from Bell Labs.
  3. William Shockley's decision to hire Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore
  4. Fairchild's decision to make ICs.
  5. The decision to invest $3m in founding Intel
  6. Intel's decision to make silicon gate MOS memory.
  7. Taiwan's purchase of CMOS technology from RCA in 1976.
  8. Chips and Technology's decision to clone IBM PC chip-sets.
  9. The decisions by Altera and Xilinx to found the fabless semiconductor industry business model.
  10. Philips' decision to co-found TSMC with the Taiwan government and kick-start the foundry industry.

What Sort Of a Nerd am I?

Nicked from Beth:

What Be Your Nerd Type?
Your Result: Literature Nerd
 

Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works.

It's okay. I understand.

Gamer/Computer Nerd
 
Drama Nerd
 
Social Nerd
 
Artistic Nerd
 
Science/Math Nerd
 
Anime Nerd
 
Musician
 
What Be Your Nerd Type?
Quizzes for MySpace



Upgrading My Day

Oh, yeah, nearly forgot, BA gave me an impromptu upgrade to business class on a very quiet flight out this evening.

I feel well pleased with today. It almost makes up for the taxi driver diddling me out of €10, the swine.

Report from Our Man in Dublin

So, I'm in my Dublin hotel, and it's rather nice:

26032007237260320072382603200723926032007241

But the very best bit is this:
26032007240
26032007240

Yup, an in-room iPod dock/speaker system. Class.

The only downside so far is that the in-room (free) broadband is wired-only. So, no blogging from the comfy bed. Ah, well. You can't have it all.


Today

Jet lag is kicking my arse.

And now I have to fly to Ireland.

That is all.

Droid Mail

Just for Anthony:

R2-UPS
R2-UPS

It was right outside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue.

Back

Good flight back. Shame that the time difference means that I've lost the whole day travelling.

Back
Back

Apple Store, 5th Avenue

Because I can't get enough of Apple product or beautiful glass-based urban design.

Apple Store 5th Avenue
Apple Store 5th Avenue


Keeping Busy

Last night: dinner with Six Apart folks

The Blue Water Grill, Union SquareDinner with Six ApartDessert of Doom

Today: Blogher
Blogher Business
Blogher Business

Keeping myself out of trouble…

I've Heard of Roach Motels but…

This is on the same street as my hotel:

New York's special services
New York's special services

Just for Karl…

Shop on 25th Street
Shop on 25th Street

Presentation: Done

David Jacobs talks
David Jacobs talks
I survived.

I got up in front of a audience of maybe 60 or 70 people, talked about what we're doing with blogging in RBI for half an hour, and survived. Anil didn't leap from his chair and wrestle me to the ground. Chris even said something nice about my presentation, but then, I'm a client, so…

Nearly lost my voice as a result, mind, but I got there.

I'm now able to relax, enjoy the rest of my time here in New York, and get all excited about the new features coming to Movable Type.

*phew*

The City That Never Sleeps

20032007218
20032007218
So, I'm safely here in New York and, after a 22 hour day yesterday, I'm feeling pretty good. 8 hours sleep and a good breakfast has me on a level footing again.

Other than cutting my lip while shaving yesterday morning (you do stupid things at 5am), leaving me looking like I'd been in a fight, the journey to New York was pretty uneventful. The trains were fine, Heathrow was fine, the aircraft was very comfortable and the BA service excellent. It went a little pear-shaped when I hit the US, though, with the taxi driver delivering me to the wrong hotel, necessitating a second cab ride downtown to the right hotel.

I stayed up as late as I possibly could, working on my presentation, and hit the sack around 11pm US. I still woke up at around 5.30 am, but I'm within spitting distance of being on US time, which is great.

Right, off to our US office.

Mark's Active Saturday

Just lazing around at my brother's place.

Mark's Active Saturday
Mark's Active Saturday

Balmy Sutton Days

Balmy Sutton Days
Balmy Sutton Days


Today, I finally took an hour out of the office. Not because I wanted to, mind, just because I needed to.

And my, the weather's still mild isn't it? People were wondering about in t-shirts and dresses, rather than the rather more wrapped up look you'd expect for mid-March. Of course, Sutton still has more than its fair share of be-tracksuited chavs (who all seemed to be travelling in family packs today), but generally it was a pleasant wee walk.

Next week  is likely to be a lot less balmy. I'm in New York, attending a Six Apart event, visiting our New York office and attending a conference, amongst other things. And Antony has been IMing me from the Big Apple to report that it's freezing cold. I shall be packing a coat. And gloves.

And maybe even a scarf…

That video again...

Testing the new (but in beta) embed functionality in Vox:

[vimeo www.vimeo.com/154598 w=400&h=300]
Wii Work Hard Here on Vimeo

Another Busy Afternoon in Business Development

Anthony, Andrew and Piers cracking on with the serious stuff:

Wii Movie



Vox Hunt: It Takes Two

Audio: Share a great duet.

kylie & kermit!
Especially for you, my Vox readers. An Aussie. And a frog.

Coffee update

Had coffee. Even the video below hasn't dented my improved mood:

Travel Weekly does Wham! for Comic Relief



Office Departure Time: 18:55

Today, it's 25 minutes later than my self-imposed deadline.

I will get better at this, oh yes.

Vox Hunt: This Gets Me Cooking

Book: Show us one of your favorite cookbooks.


Chinese Cookery
Chinese Cookery
Ken Hom
This is, without doubt, my favourite and most-used cookbook. I have a very battered and abused copy of this that was given to me by my parents when I went to university 18 years ago, and which I lived out of through the leaner times as a student.

I'm very fond of Chinese food. It's healthy, quick and can be very cheap if you buy carefully.

I don't eat nearly as much of it as I used to, as Lorna isn't nearly as much of a fan of the cuisine as I am. But when I do cook it, I always turn to Ken Hom.