the resurrection of Google Reader

Google have recently added some ‘social’ features to Google Reader which enables much improved sharing of people’s Shared Items. The features have re-energised my use of Reader as these were features I have wanted for a long time.

August 21, 2009

forbidden fruits

Friday ‘Can I touch them ?’ ‘No. Not yet.’ ‘Look - it’s been four months now. When can I touch them ?’ ‘Not yet. I’ve already told you, I’m not ready’. Sunday ‘Please can I touch them ?’ ‘No - not yet. Just a couple more days. But you can help me, if you like.’ ‘Oh what is it now ? The footy’s on in a minute.’ ‘Listen. Forget about the god-damned football for just one minute....

August 20, 2009

why Rugby Union is a complete joke

I like most sports but I hate rugby union with a passion for the following reasons: At (Grammar) school, I was forced to play rugby because it was somehow viewed as ‘character building’. On a cold, wet autumn day, a sports master took one look at me and grunted ‘You. Second row’. I then proceeded to grab the crotch of the boy in front of me while a boy behind me grabbed my crotch....

August 18, 2009

evolution

17 August 2005 - Started life on Blogger. 12 October 2005 - Moved to self-hosted Blogger 13 November 2005 - Moved to hosted WordPress.com. 30 September 2006 - Purchased domain name and moved to self-hosted WordPress.org 01 July 2007 - Adsense appears. 29 August 2007 - One of many crises of confidence where I nearly shut down the blog and deleted all content. 19 January 2008 - Adsense disappears. 15 February 2008 - Moved from WordPress to Habari....

August 17, 2009

full circle

This humble blog is four years old today so tonight I will be taking ‘Blog in isolation’ and some of its closest friends to LazerQuest (Mega Death Match Party Edition with Pizza and gallons of Coca Cola to ensure the kids are well and truly revved up). Everyone loves meaningful statistics so here is a pretty chart of posts by month (for all you management types): Curiously, since I returned from my holiday, I seem to have rediscovered a little of my zest for blogging....

August 17, 2009

holiday highlights

Memories of the annual summer vacation are now fading, the digital photos have been rationalised and printed, the video footage remains on the camcorder (thankfully) and the entries for ‘Holiday Highlights’ have now been received and short-listed. Norma - ‘So many memories. Catching up with friends and family, the climate, the lifestyle, The awesome scenery of the Bungle Bungles, the idyll that is Hamilton Island, sailing to Freemantle, cuddling a Koala, the endless miles of white sand and blue sky at Cable Beach....

August 13, 2009

PubSubHubbub - faster than the speed of sound

There’s been a lot of chatter recently about Feedburner’s support for the PubSubHubbub protocol. Apparently, it means that blog posts show up much quicker in FriendFeed, Google Reader and other services. I must admit I was fairly sceptical as my posts still take a couple of hours to appear. However, I was wrong (again). Look at this recent example. The post showed up a full three and a half hours on Google Reader before I published it....

August 12, 2009

couple of HD channels for Virgin Media

Recently noticed a couple of additional HD channels now available on Virgin Media. C4 - not that much of a bonus. ESPN - will broadcast all the football matches previously screened by Setanta - in High Definition - at no extra cost. Superb. Slightly irritating that Virgin Media can send me a fun packed newsletter (via email) but don’t have a blog or sensible way of communicating this useful information to me....

August 12, 2009

great balls of fire

Mum and Dad Having cool time on Crete (geddit ?) with Bazzer, Nobby, TenBob, SickNote and the three ‘S’s. Sun = wicked. Sea = wicked. Sex = wicked (geddit ?). Loadsa Brits out here. Able to get The Sun delivered. Happy hour - all day long (nudge, nudge). Last night, I asked a bird if she fancied a ride on my very own ‘banana boat’. She slapped me (just like being back at home :-) then she poured sambuca all over me balls....

August 10, 2009

what you see is what you get

This is a quick test to check that Habari is no longer adding additional paragraph tags and random line breaks for people consuming this blog in a feed reader. Both of you. Many thanks to arthus (possible pseudonym alert) aka Morgante Pell (additional pseudonym alert) for creating the plugin that made this possible and the death of autop().

August 7, 2009