emchi.co.uk

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet around here at the moment.  Not much going on, but I’m very stressed at the moment.  To the point where I’ve got dermatitis on both hands, a buggered neck and I’m clenching my teeth when I sleep.  It’s not a good time at Chez Emchi.

The puppy is still Pupzilla.  Although we’re now allowed to take the monkey out for a walk.  Or she takes us out for a walk.  Not quite worked it out yet.  Anyway she keeps doing reasonably cute things.  Like this morning she trotted out to the bathroom dragging her lead behind her, then sat down, picked up the handle and started wagging her tail at me.  I think she knows what walkies is. 

On her first real walk, we’ve found the following out:

• She doesn’t like diesil engines
• She doesn’t like manhole covers that rock (freaks her out big time)
• She doesn’t like old men (she went nuts when one tried to pet her, yelping for ages… tad embarassing)
• She loves grass, she likes lying in it and rolling around in it and would happily spend all day in it.

Oh, she snores… which is really funny.  She also finishes her food, puts her front paws on the sofa cushion and burps in R’s face… without fail.  Oh and Wednesday was the first time she did a stinky fart… which cleared the room.  When it was safe to come back we sat down and cried with laughter… the things you remember eh?

In other news the water softner decided to play up and then the dishwasher went out on strike in sympathy.  I had to laugh.  Both appear to be fixed now.  Water softner had not been working since we moved in it would seem.  A bit of fiddling and hey presto, all is well in water land.

There was a Royal wedding yesterday.  That does not bother me, good for happiness to happen.  No, what bothers me is the news reporting that the wedding dress designer was a London one, when I know this not to be true.  For Sassi Holford is a Taunton designer.  I know, I stood on many occasions staring at the latest dress hanging in her shop window. 

The shop, near the bridge in town, opposite the entrance to Goodlands Gardens, is a small place.  I cannot remember what it was before.  Every week the dress would change and I would steal a glance at the latest design.  Often walking out of my way just to look.  Like a child marvelling at the latest toy in the shop window.  It was of forbidden hopes and dreams.  Imagining myself in the latest design.  I could not see the person who I would be marrying, or maybe I could, but these thoughts were wrong, just whimsical fancy. 

So to hear something that you know to be a lie, it surfaces the forbidden and long forgotten dreams.  Now I know, these things are things that happen to other people, yet it still does not stop me dreaming of the dress.  It’s magical properties making you the only person on the planet that matters, for a few short hours anyway. 

Blogging is an interesting subject matter, and one that is topic du jour.  More to the point, the use of blog content to sell newspapers.  At the moment it seems to be the Daily Snail (Mail) who either steal content or defame people who have blogs.  So, NML, who has been defamed by those idiots over at the Daily Snail, has put out the word, that she wants to set the record straight, and so she should.  Shame on reporters who make things up, just to try and sell papers.  Papers that are worth nothing more than floor covering for puppies.  Anyway, below is the post that Natalie has published.  You can get to Natalie’s site by clicking on the link under the post.

I will admit this does feel a little like the bit in Hackers (yeah I know) where the word goes out to “Hack the Planet!”.  Blogs are a right for all those who have them.  Freedom of speech reigns in countries that permit it.  So we should all stand together united.

“Thursday, May 08, 2008

Watching the girl next door dance her way up the garden path while she was watching her shadow.  I’m sure she would have been utterly embarrassed if she’d seen me watching, so I withdrew from the window.

In other news, R is committing mass murder of the wasps that keep coming into the conservatory.

The Times seems to be having a run on Crime Authors this week.  They’re serialising Patricia Cornwell’s new book every day this week (of course the advert on the radio had to be played just as I got to work and not as I was passing a news agents… typical).  So I’ve had a quick read of the interview with Cornwell, which was insightful, if not a little chilling (she really is as cold as I thought she might be).  I will read the book, even though I think that Cornwell has gone down hill since her main protagonist was forced out of her job, making me think that her books had lost the passion that had made them so good to begin with.

Anyway, there is a list of the Top 50 crime authors.  I’m incredibly disappointed.  Only about four people in there who I think should be there, and a whole load of others are missing.  Where is Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Robert Crais, and Lee Child (just to name four who should be there).  Seriously, how can you have Dennis LeHanne, when he hasn’t written a decent book in years!  You put the likes of Harlan Coben (who’s latest book is as good as ever), without any of these modern writers.  Shame on you!

If you want to take a look at the list and get annoyed as much as I have, please click on the link below:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article3773630.ece

As a foot note, what’s particularly interesting is that both Mark Billingham and John Connolly were invited speakers at this year’s Times Oxford Literary Festival… the key thing here being, they’re both celebrated crime authors, and it was a Times event.  Some what hypocritical I feel, but such is life.

UPDATE: Just realised that my install of MT has had a bit of a flip out and for some reason had published this entry, twice with no heading and no footnote.  I have no idea why, it’s a bit stupid really.  Anyway, I’ve deleted the two erronous entries.  So the person who’s just read the post by clicking on the link sent to them in an email… it’s nothing personal, it’s just a mess to have the same entry posted three times. 

We have jackdaws nesting in our chimney.  I worked that out this morning when the cheeky little buggers were hopping around outside in the garden.  They have to go.  Noisey is not the word, waking me up early in the mornings as my head is nearest the chimney breast they use as a home.  Grrrrr…..

In other news, it’s really not helpful that my new doctor is eye candy… how are you supposed to discuss personal matters with someone who is young and fit?  I think it’s the first time I’ve ever blushed in a doctors surgery!

Having spotted a news item today, I was somewhat shocked to find out that I’m fluent in a language I didn’t know.  Nerdic.

Nerdic, apparently, is the language of Nerds (yeah, you’d never have guessed that would you now).  It means the person is fluent in all things technological.  Like Wi-Max (yes I know what that is), Dongle (they say it’s a new word but Dongles have been around for years) and 3G.  Well stone me, everything on the list I read I knew about.  Eeeks.  Now speculation on whether or not I can include “Fluent in Nerdic” on my CV.  What say you readers?

More about this item can be found in the following locations:
http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/14022/15046/nerdic-geek-speak-fastest-growing-language.phtml
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/parlezvous+nerdic/2030047

For those of you who don’t know, I’m very anti global warming and carbon footprint.  Why?  Well it’s the latest thing for the government to get taxes out of us and force us to do things for the wrong reasons.   If you’re going to use less energy, it should be because it saves you money and most things are a finite resource.  If you’re going to recycle, it’s because we produce too much waste and we’ll run out of natural resources.  How do they know that the planet’s heating up is anything to do with us?  Hell cows produce more carbon monoxide than we do, so lets kill all the cows eh?

There was a news item on The Register that talked about a blogger bullying the BBC into changing a news report because it was a little unfavourable towards Global Warming.  I don’t know where this person’s blog is so I’m unable to link to it, but I would if I could, mainly because I’m sure she wouldn’t take a comment I’d have to make about using your own blog to bully people into changing what they’re reporting too kindly.

So what also amuses me is this article http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289 on how there are no reported sun spots at the moment.  The last reported time like this resulted in a mini-ice age.  They’re not saying this is going to happen but it’s worth considering that Global Warming is yet another tax on everyone.

Something else worth considering is that whilst a large chunk of ice fell off in one part of the world, another part is reporting 400km2 of extra ice this year.  So then, where exactly is this global warming they speak about?  I think the earth is just going through one of it’s many cycles, of which the last one we didn’t have government policy makers shaking their fingers at the population saying we should be ensuring our flock of cows doesn’t poo too much.

I’m keeping an open mind, I’m doing what I need to do because it saves me money and recycling is the right thing to do to ensure there are future supplies of finite resources.  Oh and I’m not going to change my car any time soon, it has a catalytic converter, it produces less Co2 Emissions than a car made ten years before.  Sod the government and the cow they rode in on.  

As some of you may know I work with web technologies.  At the moment specifically I’m looking at a massive intranet re-development.  So part of what I do, is to look at usability and accessibility.  Most of the sites I’ve looked at have had to try and comply with WAI standards.  So one of the biggest websites that I always follow for changes is BBC.  They seem to be one of the few organisations that spends a lot of time and effort (read money) in developing websites that are of a really high standard.  They take the time to combine current trends with accessibility.

So I was reasonably surprised to be presented with a new BBC home page a few weeks ago, being a div, I haven’t really had a chance to look at the site until today.  It would appear at the moment it’s only the home page that has undergone a massive update, but even so you have to look at it for it’s revolutionary approach to delivering content.

When I say revolutionary, I mean look for the navigation.  Breaking with a massive norm, the main navigation is at the bottom of the page, below the fold.  To do something like this, and not have people shouting “you can’t do that” is quite an achievement.  I suspect not many people have noticed though, because what you’re presented with is an eye catching diversion from the norm.

At first glance the page does appear a bit cluttered, but if you stop for a moment and click your way around it’s very well thought out.  Whilst they have taken the time to include bright promo panels, they don’t flash and move around distracting you from the content.  OK so they don’t have to have advertising on the site, but you have to ask why so many companies need to cram in as much junk as possible.  There is no need for it, a well thought out advertising policy, that’s controlled by the site owners and not by the advertising agencies that buy the space is important.  Anyway, I feel that even if BBC had to have advertising content on the site, they would approach the problem with good thought and the users of the site in mind.

The customisation abilities of the page on their own are quite impressive.  You can control you location in individual components or select a page wide change to your location.  So if you want to keep an eye on the weather in one part of the country, but the news in another, it lets you do that.  Quite clever.

As for the seemless changes to the colour when you click on the bottom tabs of the promo box on the right of the screen, completely effortless. Smooth transition without juddering effects.  It’s a really well presented page.  I hear on the grapevine that the news and sports pages are due for release next week, I’m looking forward to seeing what changes they have made here, as it’s always been one of my favourite websites.  Let’s hope they’ve moved into the middle of the page and lost the big chunk of whitespace down the right of the screen.

Now for website nightmares… go check out the Sky Showbiz news website.  What they were thinking? I have no idea, but with lack of decent navigation, page weighting, structure or sense of direction, it’s a wonder anyone uses the site any more.  With all the money they have, and all the design agencies in London, they end up with something that’s akin to Heathrow Terminal 5, i.e. a complete disaster.

Arthur C Clarke has died.  Bit of a sad one, not only one of the greatest writers of our time, but also one of the most famous people to come from Taunton.  His memory will live on at Richard Huish College (which was a grammar school when he went there), it’s now a sixth form college.  The library was named after him.

Anyway, for those of you wanting to read more there’s a good news item on BBC news http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7304004.stm