A Donkey on the Edge

Thank you enigmatic mermaid for pointing me at the aria database — perhaps not the net’s most useful resource, but fun, and v. cool :-) Try this text file for the aria that’s been eating me up most recently. Which reminds me, must go shopping for more…

Had a little chat with Eddie Traversa over at dhtmlnirvana.com this morning and we got to talking about how some nice dom manipulation can give you Flash-like effects without the plugin. Or, in other words, how many people even notice the dhtml cross fading on pumpernickle.net I think most folks either just experience it without noticing it or assume it’s a Flash effect…

Right about the same time, Andy sent me an email asking if the dom could be manipulated to render the “open” state of a select list. I said no, as the browser uses the os’s widget library to draw it but he could probably hack something in dhtml. So I got curious and have just spent the last hour playing with a formatted html definition list

Why in the world would you want to complicate a page like this when the plain vanilla select statement does the job? Answers on a post-card — still, it looks nice (and works well in Lynx, of course)…

Thank you Zeldman for pointing to this script by kryogenix.org:

aqTree2: explorer-style trees from unordered lists. What it is: Below is an unordered list, which will be converted by the included JavaScript library into an explorer-tree structure if you’ve got a browser capable of doing it…

This way I’ll have spent my whole day thinking about ways for DOM manipulation to use standard html constructs in funky new way :-)

Oh, and by the way, the earlier example isn’t real code, so don’t go telling me how it should be using the GetElementByID method ok?

Sorry reader, I’ve been playing and the result is that the lovely barebones template now includes a goofy background image.

I love the rule effect… I was thinking I might actually use this background as a site development aide — to assess column widths and so on…

Good opening editorial from NTK — I’m hoping for a grass-roots reaction. Might be time to finally figure out how to use gnuPG. I wonder how much it would slow things down if we encrypted (almost) every that left our machines?

First, a big hello to all new listeners. Since yesterday, every ISP with more than 10,000 subscribers has been obliged to provide an interception capability to the government, permitting Approved Types With Non-Judicial Warrants the chance to sniff all traffic from IP addresses.

OK guys, this isn’t that complicated. There’s a Macos X port on the go complete with binaries to download, and the chaps in charge are doing their best to make it understandable and usable for plebs like myself who wouldn’t know were to start. Also, If you’re a designer and want to make a difference, esp. by making the PGP apps look good enough to use, check this out (If you want to participate, email the man):

seems the last news post has excited interest in designing icons for Mac GPG, I’m pleased to say. So, the icon contest is back on, only not as formally as before.

It’s not a competition in the traditional sense, just some geeks desperately in need of a helping hand in the graphics department. Following on from yayhooray’s w3c icon project, let’s see what we can do for privacy :-)

Updates to follow if I can get my head round it :-)

Well, the bike leasing guy (Paul Preddy) has gone off to make some calculations re my lease… posting from his desktop (is that rude? one needs to use all the connectivity one can). So in a few weeks, the big yellow beast, becomes an even bigger black and yellow beast :-)

Yesterday I had a pint in Kilburn for ?1.20 and a pint in Kentish Town for ?1.45 — so how come I’ve been drinking in the West End?

Got some good news yesterday re work and taxes (more and less in that order).

Well, in just two weeks, our grotty hell-hole has become a beautiful designer bathroom — In fact, it’s so posh I keep thinking that a guy is going to hand me a towel and expect a tip every time I take a slash, it’s that posh. Oh, and a free pint if you can name the photographer on the wall.

None of the builders disappeared and so far nothing has gone too drastically wrong.

Now for the bill;-)

Someone else comes along… This person really needs to get out more;-)

I hadn’t heard this in ages. When I was a kid we used to try and learn all the words…

quite a tongue twister;-)

Yam! Bam! mon chat Splash
Gît sur mon lit a bouffé sa langue
En buvant tout mon whisky quant à moi
Peu dormi, vidé, brimé
J’ai dû dormir dans la gouttière
Où j’ai eu un flash
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
En quatre couleurs
 
Allez hop! un matin
Une louloute est venue chez-moi
Poupée de Cellophane
Cheveux chinois un sparadrap
Une gueule de bois a bu ma bière
Dans un grand verre en caoutchouc
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Comme un indien dans son igloo
 
Ça plane pour moi ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ça plane pour moi
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Ça plane pour moi
 
Allez hop! la nana quel panard!
Quelle vibration! de s’envoyer
Sur le paillasson
Limée, ruinée, vidée, comblée
You are the King of the divan!
Qu’elle me dit en passant
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
I am the King of the divan
 
Ça plane pour moi ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ça plane pour moi
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Ça plane pour moi
 
Allez hop! t’occupe t’inquiète touche pas ma planète
It’s not today
Quel le ciel me tombera sur la tête
Et que l’alcool me manquera
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Ça plane pour moi
 
Allez hop! ma nana s’est tirée
S’est barrée enfin c’est marre à tout casser
L’évier, le bar me laissant seul
Comme un grand connard
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Le pied dans le plat
 
Ça plane pour moi ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ça plane pour moi
Hou! Hou! Hou! Hou!
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi moi moi moi moi

For buying me the most stylish shaving mirror I’ve ever seen. Ok, so she did it to prevent me installing my grotty old one in our lovely new bathroom, but is it not the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen?

Kinda like the Imac of shaving mirrors…

When a registrar gives away your name to a fraudulent applicant and then refuses to do anything about it, it’s time to change registrars. I believe I put it like this in an earlier post…

Talk about a fucking meltdown — this is like santa coming ‘round on boxing day to take your presents away

Internic maintains a list of accredited registrars. Go there now. Find a new friend and transfer all your domains.

When i was a little boy of about seven or eight (I’m guessing) my father sat me down with his sample books and started teaching me letterforms. The one I remember most clearly was Poster Bodoni Italic. I loved the slanted shapes and learned to trace, then draw them freehand, eventually lettering lowercase forms between two lines to mark the x-height.

I now have my own collection of sample books, most of them from type shops now gone the way of the steam engine. Some day I’ll scan some pages and say some words about Fred, Ed, Eric and Adrian, but that wasn’t the point of this post.

I had forgotten about sewwrong. I regularly visit Mena Trott but only infrequently stop by sew wrong. It’s a sewing blog, with howtos, projects and pictures posted by a small community of seamstresses. I couldn’t sew on a button if my life depended on it but the sheer industriousness of the whole project fascinates me:-)

I might even test drive a thimble one of these days.

I’ve just had a few shitty connectivity days. First of all BT cut off my adsl line (yes, my payment was late, but I’m on a ‘business’ tariff and you don’t just cut off business users without a) a phone call b) an email) at 17:00 friday night. By the time I had figured out that the line was the problem, I called them and tried to settle my outstanding bill. Turns out they go home at 17:00 on Friday and are closed over the week-end (*fume*).

Anyway, I bollocked the tech support manager and they re-connected me, but then the network went down on wednesday in a thunder storm (we actually had a lightning strike blow some stuff up - v. rare in London) and I’ve just spent the last two days repairing and replacing bits and bobs.

But on the bright side, in the process, I figured I/05/as well get the router flashed so drove up to the Hertfordshire countryside just north of the M25 to the little shop that sold me the router. Now, while-you-wait didn’t mean quick, so I ended up spending a large part of the day parked at a little pub by a stream drinking warm beer and smoking a Hoyo de Monterey double corona (yumm) while reading the Guardian.

Richard Dawkins, an Oxford science don, suggested Mr Bush was just as much of a danger to world peace as Saddam Hussein, adding: “It would be a tragedy if Tony Blair were to be brought down through playing poodle to this unelected and deeply stupid little oil-spiv.”

“unelected and deeply stupid little oil-spiv” I just let the words roll around for a while. Go Dawkins, go get ‘em boy. So when the router was ready to collect, I decided to take the shortcut across the stream (it was a proper ford, no problem for the trusty GS) which while fun, was also very wet, as I totally miscalculated the depth of the thing:-)

(snapshots from my in-tray)

Dear Friend,

As much as this hurts to do, I have to ask for help.

Let me explain !

Im the poorest excuse for a human being ever.Im unemployed, uneducated, and uninsurable.In addition you wont look at me for very long Im unattractive actully down right ugly.I try every day to get a job but at 48 with no skills and no personality all the doors shut.For 35 years I tried to drink myself away, and almost succeded,but even at like the rest of my wortless self I failed. now the Doctors say I have to start cheomtherapy for the liver but I have no insurance.Im not a bad person I dont drink anymore or do bad things. I have thought of things like chain letters and such but I know its wrong and I wont do bad things, but I need help could you please send some money!! anything !! It would help I dont know what else to do but ask.I cant promise anything in return I dont have anything nor does it look like i will .

At least its honest im not promising anything or lying !! Please reach into your heart! you will really be helping just one person. here is my name and adress.If you like,include your E-mail adress and I do promise to tell you how much money is sent

Thank You For Listnening

Chuck Mangold
P.O box 300671
Chicago IL, 60630-0671

Started watching tonight’s episode and just decided on the spur of the moment that this has to be the worst written show on tv.

So I turned off my tv, came over to the computer and sent this note instead.

was: “heresy”

24 the worst-written show on tv?

Poppycock!

24 is a brilliant, albeit extended, caper series. And you’ve seen it without the context of the previous 22 episodes. It’s like coming into Star Wars just before Han Solo rescues Luke from Darth just before he destroys the Death Star. I daresay you’d be less than impressed (and immersed) at that point too. “What’s going on?”, “That’s likely” and “You’ve got to be kidding” comments would also apply.

I’ll lend you my DVD box set after it arrives next week. 8)

Chris
—
Chris Carline
chris@carline.org
http://chris.carline.org/
GnuPG: 1024D/57B5CB20 | 5E85 207A 89D8 E097 0C0F FD4C 871A CE15 57B5 CB20

was “Re: heresy”

Hi Chris,

Mmmm… Ok, I should probably clarify;-)

I have watched 24 right from the start, never missing an episode (in fact last night’s was the first one I haven’t watched). At first I had high hopes - a talented cast with interesting newcomers, a complex conspiracy at the highest levels (because all the good ones are) exotic art direction and a novel narrative structure. My popcorn was ready.

Over time, none of the characters have deepened. Senator Palmer’s wife was Lady Macbeth from the get-go and continues to tow that line without surprises. Teri was always going to be an interesting part - a woman torn between the search for her own happiness, the responsibility of supporting her family and her destructive relationship with her desirable but dangerous husband. Imagine Isabel Huppert or Gina McKee playing the part, their performance would hurt and delight at the same time…

Of course this brings me back to my original point that the writing is poor. In the case of Leslie Hope (Teri Bauer) I really wonder if she could do much better (I understand she’s also a director - perhaps a better avenue for her talents?).

Without yacking on too much, I tried to enjoy the show on several levels. Nice looking Apple computers, the sexy Nina, lots of interesting hardware and some nasty Balkan bad boys should have made an experience at least as fun as playing a video game? Every time I thought I was getting into it, some absolutely ridiculous plot twist would yank my disbelief out of suspension.

For instance, “that’s impossible” cut to Denis Hopper staring into cctv camera (*shudder*) - two minutes later he opens his mouth “ahah! I yam zee evill mann” unbeleivebly cheesy accent! Nobody listened to Sean Conery who pointed out that he never did accents - he’s far more effective as himself. A case in point with Denis Hopper, who could forget the chilling “Suave, man. You’re so fuckin’ suave.”? In fact, comparing Frank Booth and Victor Drazen (is that how you spell it) really points out the different tension levels - I’d be happy for a six-year-old to watch 24, but Blue Velvet? I think I’d make it over 21 only:-)

Ok, so now I am yacking… just a couple more questions: Who were the gunmen that killed Jack’s boss in the hotel car park working for? I’m going to watch the last episode where I hope this will be explained. How bad could the conspiracy be? We’ve already implicated senior democratic party personnel… Ok, so running for president in the US is a dangerous, high stakes game - I think we knew that, but why involve some minor central European bad guy when the meaty stuff is right there at home in Washington?

I’m hoping Nina is the mole and that Jamie didn’t kill herself but was ‘helped along’ by her. Guess I’ll have to watch the last episode after all;-)

was: “Re:24”

On Mon,/08/12, 2002 at 01:30:20PM, dug falby wrote:

> I have watched 24 right from the start, never missing
> an episode (in fact last night’s was the first one I
> haven’t watched). At first I had high hopes - a talented
> cast with interesting newcomers, a complex conspiracy
> at the highest levels (because all the good ones are)
> exotic art direction and a novel narrative structure.
> My popcorn was ready.

OK 8) Shame on me for jumping to conclusions based on a single weblog entry!

> Over time, none of the characters have deepened.
> Senator Palmer’s wife was Lady Macbeth from the
> get-go and continues to tow that line without surprises.
> Teri was always going to be an interesting part - a
> woman torn between the search for her own happiness,
> the responsibility of supporting her family and her
> destructive relationship with her desirable but dangerous
> husband. Imagine Isabel Huppert or Gina McKee playing the
> part, their performance would hurt and delight at the
> same time…
>
> Of course this brings me back to my original point that
> the writing is poor. In the case of Leslie Hope (Teri
> Bauer) I really wonder if she could do much better
> (I understand she’s also a director - perhaps a
> better avenue for her talents?).

To be honest, I mostly agree with you… But for me, it’s always been a high-octane thriller rather than something deep and meaningful. Eye candy, brain-switched off entertainment. Yes, a lot more could have been done with it, and it’s possibly a shame that it wasn’t, but that doesn’t really diminish that much from what it actually is…

> Without yacking on too much, I tried to enjoy the show
> on several levels. Nice looking Apple computers, the sexy
> Nina, lots of interesting hardware and some nasty Balkan
> bad boys should have made an experience at least as fun
> as playing a video game? Every time I thought I was
> getting into it, some absolutely ridiculous plot twist
> would yank my disbelief out of suspension.

But the preposterousness of the series is part of the fun… Some of it I agree goes a bit too far (that whole memory-loss thing for one) but on the whole it knows what it is and sticks with it.

I imagine that much of the inconsistancy was more due to the fact that the original series only had nine episodes commissioned (I forget the exact number, but it was up to the point where Bauer rescued his family)… Not an excuse, I know, but something that might be fixed in the next series.

> For instance, “that’s impossible” cut to Denis Hopper
> staring into cctv camera (*shudder*) - two minutes later
> he opens his mouth “ahah! I yam zee evill mann” unbeleivebly
> cheesy accent! Nobody listened to Sean Conery who pointed
> out that he never did accents - he’s far more
> effective as himself. A case in point with Denis
> Hopper, who could forget the chilling “Suave, man.
> You’re so fuckin’ suave.”? In fact, comparing Frank
> Booth and Victor Drazen (is that how you spell it)
> really points out the different tension levels
> - I’d be happy for a six-year-old to watch 24,
> but Blue Velvet? I think I’d make it over 21 only:-)

Yep, I’d agree with you on that. 8)

> Ok, so now I am yacking… just a couple more questions:
> Who were the gunmen that killed Jack’s boss in the hotel
> car park working for? I’m going to watch the last episode
> where I hope this will be explained. How bad could the
> conspiracy be? We’ve already implicated senior
> democratic party personnel… Ok, so running for president
> in the US is a dangerous, high stakes game - I think we
> knew that, but why involve some minor central European
> bad guy when the meaty stuff is right there at home
> in Washington?
>
> I’m hoping Nina is the mole and that Jamie didn’t kill
> herself but was ‘helped along’ by her. Guess I’ll have
> to watch the last episode after all;-)

If only you’d watched to the end of the episode… ;)

Chris

—
Chris Carline

chris@carline.org
http://chris.carline.org/
GnuPG: 1024D/57B5CB20 | 5E85 207A 89D8 E097 0C0F FD4C 871A CE15 57B5 CB20

>
> (snip)
>
> But the preposterousness of the series is part of
> the fun… Some of it I agree goes a bit too far
> (that whole memory-loss thing for one) but on
> the whole it knows what it is and sticks with it.
>

To be fair, I am sort of missing the point. It’s just that every time I start getting into it (enjoying the ‘fun’) I keep getting snapped out of it… This/05/be a disability on my part;-)

>> I’m hoping Nina is the mole and that Jamie
>> didn’t kill herself but was ‘helped along’
>> by her. Guess I’ll have to watch the last
>> episode after all;-)
>
> If only you’d watched to the
> end of the episode… ;)
>

AAAAAAARRRRGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

darn darn darn. You’re messing with my head right;-)

Best,
Dug

……………………………..

dug falby

creative director
pumpernickle.net
http://www.pumpernickle.net

That Google is now configurable. It allows you to store useful preferences such as language. Google now reports my results in “Ewmew Fudd”.

Now let’s see what those linguabloggers make of this…

This fucking idiot has grabbed large chunks of the Pumpernickle site (including the basic XHTML template) both code and design and has ‘pre’ dated the stuff and claims it as his own. It’s unbelievable, he’s so bold, he’s even left my style calls and comments in the (renamed) stylesheets!

I don’t know wether to laugh or cry grrrr

Compare:
my file

and:
his file

He has now taken down his js file. However, I thought I’d post a copy of his file for posterity.

I’m gonna lynch the little fucker:-(((

Well, it had to happen — Verisign has handed over one of my domains to some nasty little cybersquatter:-( I’m trying to go on holiday (since yesterday) and shit just wont stop hitting the fan…

Just re-read this blog page… Yes I am going to get out more, yes I will up my hypericum levels and yes I’ll consider anger counselling from Ren and Stimpy;-)

Am now in countryside on hols.

Billy has chimed in to the 24 debate;-) The offshoot of this email correspondence is that I’m kicking myself for not having sat through the penultimate episode. I guess I’ll just have to pay attention when the “previously, on 24” starts…

And another thing — digital clock countdown to 24:00:00 (midnight) so why is the time displayed in am/pm format for the “these events happen between” mmm?

An open letter to Ian Robson, the guy who put his name to my work. He has apologised and wishes to make amends. Here is his note and my reply.

>Dug,
>
>”This fucking idiot has grabbed large chunks of the Pumpernickle site
>(including the basic XHTML template)”
>
>i was only mucking about with it and god knows how you found it, i don’t
>think it’s linked to. i was experimenting with the xhtml.
>
>the last thing i would want to do is cause offense so i’ve removed the site.
>
>please/05/i retrospectively ask permission to use it from you, if you are
>the original creator, in the future??
>
>fond regards
>
>ian
>

Ian,

Thanks for getting in touch. I just want to make a few basic principles absolutely clear if that’s ok with you.

1 - The net is an open, free and public space. My websites are in the public domain so you should feel free to use all or parts of them any way you please as often as you like.

2 - At its best, the net is a collaborative space. This means if we all give a little, it benefits all of us a lot. The open source movement is a good example of this as is the web standards movement. In the case of standards, this means making that extra effort to get your page right so that the web as a whole is improved.

3 - Our ability to generate original thought, whether it be a line of code, a photograph or an 800 page novel is a big part of what makes us human. The moral right to be identified as the author of one’s work is an important, universal human right.

So what does this mean?

In a nutshell, take my code, make it better, and then send it back to me. If you want to use my design components, go ahead, just don’t put your name to them until you’ve put enough of yourself into it to make them yours.

Finally, if you don’t want to credit me, that’s fine too. Just don’t credit yourself instead.

All the best,
Dug

Right—watched 23 last night and have just finished watching 24. I just have to say I still think it’s rubbish. …don’t let them connect you to Germany oh so Nina is working for some shadowy organisation in Germany? Didn’t Victor Drazen order Nina to be shot? If Bauer hadn’t put the bulletproof jacket on her she’d be dead? Why can’t the writers just take the time to construct (mastermind?) a proper conspiracy where even the darkest events can be understood with enough digging. If the X-Files can hold it together why no 24 (or should I say 12pm)? Or the Manchurian Candidate, or…

Mike comments:

>heyup Dug,
>
>just read your posting re 24 … IIRC, the
>shooting of Nina was a result of a 3rd party
>contractor (chappie who fscked up in the first 11
>or so hours), rather than Drazen directly. I
>could be wrong of course, it’s all got to be a bit
>of blur now …
>
>cheers
>
>Mike ~~~~ Just when you thought I’d finished …
>
>…http://www.mikespace.net
>

Robbie Bushe is a life-long friend of Billy and one of the most amazing artists I’ve had the pleasure to know. Of course, he makes his own websites and his navigation is as rich, complex and textured as his work in oils;-)

In the interest of instant gratification, here is a direct link to his new Cyprus paintings (thank you Billy for pointing these out).

I recently started listening to WFMU again thanks to the miracle of adsl. Can somebody tell me what it is about Alan Watts that make his lectures so impossible to switch off? I know nothing of Buddhism and am not normally drawn to Eastern Mysticism but this guy delivers his wisdom in a particularly funny way. In fact, large parts of the recordings are him chuckling…

Right, am off (in Nicki’s shiny new car) to Thorpeness for part II of our family summer hols:-)

I was going to say I’m now back at work and describe hols etc etc but i just found the following in my inbox from Jed, my father and I thought it kind of did the job:-)

…summer’s rollin’ on in Devon and we have the kids out every day playing Croquet (“Croquet is O.Quet!”). The miracle is that each day has been more sunny than the last…Full Moon reflecting off the warm calm silver sea and the remains of the fire for the Bar-B-Q on the still warm pebbles. These last few days have been like the remembered summers of my long gone boyhood. Of course I know that Memory lies, but humans have the great skill of forgetting the bad bits (whole summers of rain!). If we didn’t have this skill of forgetting no Mothers would ever bear children…

Just thought I’d better tell Dean that there is an unmissable film on Canal Jaune at 22h45 (quarter to eleven) \t It’s Claude Lelouche’s unmissable Un homme qui me plaît which showcases the talents of Farah Fawcett and JP Belmondo.

And just to flog a dead horse, the music is by Francis Lai (he of Un homme et une femme’s shabadabadap, shabadabadap, nos cœurs qui battent etc etc)

I know you’ll want to know the story so…

Françoise, actrice, se rend à Hollywood pour un tournage. Là, elle rencontre Henri, un compositeur de musiques de films d’origine française mais naturalisé italien. Un soir d’ennui, elle devient…

So let me get this right, Belmondo is playing Lai and so that makes Fawcett Anouk Aimée?

mmm…

I recently bought Nicki a new car. Or more precisely, some faceless financial institution is letting me keep a car that Nicki uses as long as I promise to give them money every month for the rest of my life;-)

I’ve never owned a car before, I’ve been a motorcycle person my whole life. I’ve heard so much about that new car smell and about the experience of taking the plunge and buying one of the beasts and expected to take part in this emotional journey populated by Ivy league looking boys with brill-creamed hair and white teeth. I expected shaggy dogs to bark at fire engines and lots of friends with big white smiles to cheer me on as I got the sponge and bucket out on the first weekend to give the thing a clean.

Now for some reason I’ve always struggled to participate in a certain type of mythology. I want that happy summer afternoon with whitewall tyres and choc-malts but instead I just feel like shit about it.

mmm…

Anyway, I am now safe in the knowledge that my wife and child are tooling around town in a comfortable world of airbags and tension regulated seat-belts, and you know, even though this takes us one step further up the great cliché ladder of life, knowing the girls are heavily armed makes me feel pretty good…

Just got a note from verisign telling me the pumpernickle domain was about to expire. This is interesting because I’ve now started the long slow painful migration away from the servants of Beelzebub and towards the light of an internic recommended registrar.

As of a few days ago, the whois db updated and pumpernickle.net is no longer with Verisign (woohoo!). Which of course doesn’t answer the question of why they’re still warning me about expiry dates.

And for those who missed the earlier post — I’m leaving verisign and you can too. Go here to find a list of internic accredited registrars and make your move today:-)

Hadn’t checked my search engine referrals in a while. It’s always interesting to see what’s on peoples’ minds. In order of popularity:

breast feeding pics
crazy donkey
deborah lizard
evil donkey
breast feeding in public pics

I’m almost tempted to try that last one myself (the search, not the breastfeeding)

Nick and I took Clem to The Osteopathic Centre for Children this afternoon. There’s nothing wrong with her, it’s just that as she was ventouse (French for suction-cup—sez it all) delivered, the word on the street says you should get her skull looked at.

She was treated by a couple of really good people and I think she quite enjoyed it… The whole operation is fantastic — old Dianna arranged for the Centre (which is a charity) to get this building and they’ve converted the entire house (that’;s an entire house on Harley Street) into a wonderful child-friendly space. The receptionist sits in a tree house, the walls are all different colours and the treatment rooms are huge open spaces with tables made out of giant slabs of oak.

The whole experience made me want to be the one getting treatment:-)

Apparently, this is a whimsical personal/tech blog (guardian blog guide)

mmm… whimsical:-)

Just had a latte at Costa’s on West End Lane. I can’t believe I used to drink Starbucks coffee. I’d tried it the world over and no matter how many italian-ish words I used, no matter how I attempted to explain how the foam or lack of foam was supposed to be, the number of shots (catches breath) no matter how much milk, sugar, hot water, juju beads—whatever—I added or subtracted from that liquid they call coffee it was always shit.

More fool me for trying over and over again?what was that Chinese proverb about a man falling over a log?

Those bloggers out there who list west hampstead as your tube station you know who you are try this simple test. Get a single expresso from Starbucks and a single expresso from Costa, sit down in Costa (the more comfortable shop) and try them side by side. It should be blindingly obvious which one is burnt and which one isn’t…

I noticed this link on Jon’s site.

Thank you thank you thank you :-)

Permalinks have been enabled on this blog. You know what to do.

well, next step on the long and rocky road to university admissions: teething. Of course Clementine is only 13 weeks old (her birthday was yesterday) so by rights shouldn’t be teething yet. It’s just that she’s started chewing more actively and (more distressing, this) has started drooling like Bavarian blood hound.

So we’re off to buy a chewy toy on Finchley road.

On a completely different note, I wonder what percentage of UK bloggers are Guardian readers (I can see the headlines now Boris Johnson secret blogging Guardian reader). So that’ll give me something to think about, chewy toy, Boris Johnson, chewy toy, Boris Johnson…

But seriously, have all the participants in the Guardian’s Big Blog Push come from bloggers reading their regular paper or have they simply followed links from other blogs?