From the first night in our new garden. Sheltering under a brolly. Unsubtle direction from moi.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Blog changes
Every now and then everyone (okay, not everyone, but most people) who has a blog realises they haven't updated it for about two months (four in my case) and they should really do something about it. Well I have.
You may have noticed in the last couple of weeks that more photos have appeared (courtesy of Flickr and their marvellous badges), and also that updates have started coming in via Twitter.
Twitter's a social networking tool that lets you tell people What You Are Doing via the web, and from your mobile by SMS. It also sends you text message updates from your friends as soon as they post them (by whatever method), which means you don't have to be in front of the screen to find out how people are and what they're up to.
Matthew argued that this would be vastly annoying. I told him to test it.
Personally I found the idea that I could *choose* to keep people up-to-date with my movements from wherever I am in the world - with or without a PC or laptop in front of me - really compelling. And of course friends can choose whether or not to subscribe to my witterings. Sweet.
So I've added an RSS feed from Twitter into the top of this blog too, and now I have three ways of making changes to my Schmodt blog page: new photos in Flickr (I tag them 'blog' and they appear on my page), new updates to Twitter (from my mobile, mostly, which is so handy - no German pun intended), and straight, simple updates like this one.
By the way, if anyone knows a way to go from running the RSS feed *as is* in this page to actually importing it properly into the blog - so that when people click on the links they remain on my blogspot pages - I'd be grateful to know. Just an idea I'm working on which, as usual, I have no idea how to implement...
c.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Vote Barack
This is the first video I've put on my blog. So kind of an experiment. Anyway, if any Americans are reading this, please, I ask you - I beg of you - vote for this guy. Hi Barack.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Three dunces
Dunce 1. No surprise: Bush. Iran clearly looks like too much of a tricky option to George W., so he's picking on smaller fry instead:
The United States has launched air strikes against Islamists in southern Somalia, confirming the country's status as a new frontline in Washington's war on terror. An AC130 warplane strafed the village of Hayo near the Kenyan border late yesterday afternoon leaving "many dead", according to the Somali government. Ras Kamboni, on the country's southernmost tip, was also said to have been hit.
Guardian
Dunce 2. I shouldn't be surprised by this one either, but Tony Blair what are you wibbling on about, seriously?
Mr Blair rejected the need to set a personal example on greenhouse gases by taking breaks closer to home, insisting science was the key to tackling the problem. "I think that what we need to do is to look at how you make air travel more energy efficient, how you develop the new fuels that will allow us to burn less energy and emit less," he said.
Sky News
Dunce 3. Again, no surprise, just another small emptiness inside
England conceded a record 221-5 before losing the Twenty20 international to Australia by a margin of 77 runs.
BBC
"Don't spoon it. Don't spoon it. Don't spoon it. Doh!"
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The United States has launched air strikes against Islamists in southern Somalia, confirming the country's status as a new frontline in Washington's war on terror. An AC130 warplane strafed the village of Hayo near the Kenyan border late yesterday afternoon leaving "many dead", according to the Somali government. Ras Kamboni, on the country's southernmost tip, was also said to have been hit.
Guardian
Dunce 2. I shouldn't be surprised by this one either, but Tony Blair what are you wibbling on about, seriously?
Mr Blair rejected the need to set a personal example on greenhouse gases by taking breaks closer to home, insisting science was the key to tackling the problem. "I think that what we need to do is to look at how you make air travel more energy efficient, how you develop the new fuels that will allow us to burn less energy and emit less," he said.
Sky News
Dunce 3. Again, no surprise, just another small emptiness inside
England conceded a record 221-5 before losing the Twenty20 international to Australia by a margin of 77 runs.
BBC
"Don't spoon it. Don't spoon it. Don't spoon it. Doh!"
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Monday, January 08, 2007
Gas-like odor permeates parts of Manhattan, New Jersey
Read this story on Newsday:
NEW YORK -- A mysterious gas-like odor covered a large swath of Manhattan and parts of New Jersey on Monday, causing brief building evacuations and mass transit disruptions and leaving people around the area wondering what they were smelling.
You know what's happening here? Watch Ghostbusters 2, my friend. Dan Ayckroyd predicted all of this back in 1992. I think. Or perhaps 93.
Either way, New York is for it unless we can get the ghostbusters back.
Technorati Tags: gas, odour, manhattan, New Jersey
Original story: here
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NEW YORK -- A mysterious gas-like odor covered a large swath of Manhattan and parts of New Jersey on Monday, causing brief building evacuations and mass transit disruptions and leaving people around the area wondering what they were smelling.
You know what's happening here? Watch Ghostbusters 2, my friend. Dan Ayckroyd predicted all of this back in 1992. I think. Or perhaps 93.
Either way, New York is for it unless we can get the ghostbusters back.
Technorati Tags: gas, odour, manhattan, New Jersey
Original story: here
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Thursday, December 01, 2005
Christmas is so, like, still four weeks away
...However I now have a shopping basket full of presents on Amazon already. I'm not going to say what's going to whom, but I thought you might like to know it includes:
- A map of Doncaster
- A book about shepherds (honestly)
- Bob the Builder
If this was a list for me, rather than from me, it would be soooo different.
Hang on, maybe I'll put one together on Froogle...
- A map of Doncaster
- A book about shepherds (honestly)
- Bob the Builder
If this was a list for me, rather than from me, it would be soooo different.
Hang on, maybe I'll put one together on Froogle...
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
What millionaires drink
Millionaires drink booze. But not just any booze, oh no. They drink Champagne, Burgundy (white and red) and Hamilton Russell. They quaff only the most expensive Australian wines.
This was proved by us last weekend at our platinum-plated, starry-eyed, gold-fingered Millionaires' Supper, where we quaffed all these beauties (click pic for a bigger look) and then retired outside, well-refreshed, to check the pre-Bonfire Night firework activity across Highbury.
I say "our" - I mean my lottery syndicate: there's five of us, and we've won three times in the past few months. Never won more than £44 in a single draw, but still, our small total made for a good haul on the fine wine front.
Highlight of the evening was the meat though. Oh! The meat. We got a Chateaubriand from the Highbury organic butcher. It was red all the way through, and to call it perfect would be woefully inadequate. Thank you, TJ.
On a side note, we had a discussion in the newsroom at my work the other day about whether the verb 'to booze' was really suitable to describe what posh people do with fine wines etc at swanky occasions. The consensus was, if you've got a drink in your hand, you're boozing, so there.
This is particularly poignant at the moment, since the Ministry of Stopping You Having Fun is currently considering banning all booze on trains. No doubt there will be exceptions for passengers in first class though, proving as suspected that where posh people think they are above common-sounding verbs like "to booze"... the Government agrees with them.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Magdalen drinks, doesn't it?
What exactly is happening here? Is it important? Does it demand attention, or even deserve it slightly?
The answer to all these questions could either be 'no' (although that wouldn't make brilliant sense for the first question), or it could be blowing in the wind, as the song says.
Me, I'm honestly unaffected by considerations like these. These are Magdalen people. Good people. People who want to go to a swanky West-End bar in the evenings and just bloody drink.
Let's not knock them for that, eh? Let's not be too critical or ask too many questions. Roll out the barrel, instead; pour yourself a large gin and watch. It's worth it: they're entertaining when a couple of sheets to the wind, if you follow me.
Click on the pic to see Jon Stanley, Will Brown, Claire van den Ring, and many more...
The answer to all these questions could either be 'no' (although that wouldn't make brilliant sense for the first question), or it could be blowing in the wind, as the song says.
Me, I'm honestly unaffected by considerations like these. These are Magdalen people. Good people. People who want to go to a swanky West-End bar in the evenings and just bloody drink.
Let's not knock them for that, eh? Let's not be too critical or ask too many questions. Roll out the barrel, instead; pour yourself a large gin and watch. It's worth it: they're entertaining when a couple of sheets to the wind, if you follow me.
Click on the pic to see Jon Stanley, Will Brown, Claire van den Ring, and many more...
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Team Ashurst
On Sunday Julia and her work colleagues ran in aid of a children's cancer charity - the Terry Fox Run, I think - in Hyde Park, central London.
Her mum and I had a leisurely breakfast and strolled down to meet her after the run. Then we took a gentle tour of some of London's more famous landmarks, without really committing too much of our precious time and energy to any of them, before going home for a dinner of slowly stewed lamb shanks (bloody marvellous) and botched German hash brown-style potato cakes.
Julia's mum is with us until Wednesday. I swear we will get the potato cakes (called 'Reibekuchen') right before then, but Julia has bought a bag of frozen hash browns in case. Not the same though...
Her mum and I had a leisurely breakfast and strolled down to meet her after the run. Then we took a gentle tour of some of London's more famous landmarks, without really committing too much of our precious time and energy to any of them, before going home for a dinner of slowly stewed lamb shanks (bloody marvellous) and botched German hash brown-style potato cakes.
Julia's mum is with us until Wednesday. I swear we will get the potato cakes (called 'Reibekuchen') right before then, but Julia has bought a bag of frozen hash browns in case. Not the same though...
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