November / 2005 / MacDara Conroy

Class of 2005, by markhamnolan

Guess which one I am? #link

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Peter Lindberg on stimulating diversions

I often find myself spinning off on tangents, my thoughts seeded by others' thoughts and ideas. Always thinking, always evaulating and interpreting and striving to understand. #link

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dictionary.com/prestidigitation

Def: 'Sleight of hand.' You learn something new every day. #link

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The Onion A.V. Club interviews George Carlin and John Carpenter

I'm posting these together, because they look a lot alike. Don't they? Hmm. Maybe it's just me. #link

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No more compulsory Irish for the Leaving Cert?

There shouldn't be any compulsory maths, either. If they expect us -- as they do -- to choose subjects for the senior cycle based on what we'd like to do when we leave school, then surely we should have the choice to drop maths if we so desire. I would have in a heartbeat. #link

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Design Engaged book list

I shouldn't really post this. I have enough books to read as it is [c/o del.icio.us/thoughtwax]. #link

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Pitchfork presents The Worst Album Covers of All Time

And only one modern rap album cover? They could have filled the list with them. #link

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Barbelith discusses record label loyalty

I expected greater participation, but howandever. Good stuff here. #link

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Barry Frost on SuperGlu

I owe Barry a link since I pretty must stole his homepage design for my new look. #link

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Irish Times goes off on one... about blogs

The irony of a newspaper that's virtually invisible to the web behind its paywall having the gall to criticise the blogosphere hasn't been lost on me. And honestly, does anyone check the dictionary anymore? The correct spelling is 'weblog'. That's one word, people. Can't you stick to your own house style? [Gavin's Blog has thankfully reproduced the article so we don't have to pay to be insulted] #link

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The Great Ask MetaFilter Transatlantic Duvet/Topsheet War

I can't understand why you'd use a sheet with a duvet. It's completely unnecessary, and just makes more work for yourself in the morning [c/o A Whole Lotta Nothing]. #link

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"An almanac of Complete World Knowledge compiled with instructive annotation and arranged in useful order by me, John Hodgman, a professional writer, in The Areas Of My Expertise"

I've subsequently seen the man on The Daily Show, and it makes me want his book even more. #link

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Short Guardian profile on Paul Auster

Probably best not to read this if you don't know the ending of The Music of Chance. Which I didn't until I read this. Thanks a lot. #link

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Hong Kong walk signal

Dublin traffic light signals are similar, but the sound patterns for green and red are more distinct. #link

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Family Guy or The Simpsons?

My opinion? Nothing beats The Simpsons from Season 3 up to about Season 10, specifically that Superbowl episode. From then on, it's Family Guy all the way. #link

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Why do we disagree?

#link

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Eddie Guerrero, 1967-2005

I'm keeping track of the news over at The Irish Whip. Eddie was one of those people you don't really appreciate until they're no longer with us. A sad time for wrestling, indeed. #link

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Tad, 1991, by keaggy

Thanks to Andre for the find. Nice one. #link

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I've only just noticed Anarchaia's link to this blog, ten days after the fact

Sorry about that Christian, I don't check Technorati very often. Thanks for the mention! #link

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There's an annoying article in today's Observer about online music criticism and something called 'Blog-ish'

I wish journalists wouldn't try to pass judgement about topics they're completely unfamiliar with. The Pitchfork criticism might be valid, I'll give that much, but 'Blog-ish'? What is this person on about? And is there are shortage of subeditors at the Observer right now? Because frankly, it shows. #link

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Perry Bible Fellowship archive

Not familiar? Oh boy, you don't know what you're missing. (Read The Guardian's feature on the strip for some background.) #link

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Flat Light, by Tim Gasperak

Just beautiful photographs. I'd love to get prints of these. #link

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London Topological

Exploring London's clandestine underworld -- which is something Dublin is sadly missing, at least on this scale. #link

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On the Israeli press' guilt-driven coverage of Palestine: "The main problem with the coverage of this conflict is that all the media, Israeli, Palestinian and international, keep looking for someone to blame. If this goes on we will kill and be killed forever."

Short and to the point, but much food for thought here. #link

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Play Risk using Google Maps

I've never played Risk... Didn't have much of a childhood, did I? [c/o MetaFilter] #link

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Structure of George Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations

It's like Lego for writers. Or something. #link

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MG Redesign Blog

Is it just me, or are American newspaper designs a tad too 'showy'? #link

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iPod audiobook/podcast tip: In iTunes, do a Get Info, go to the Options tab, and check "Remember playback position" and "Skip when shuffling".

Ah! Finally I can save place on my iPod while listening to 3-hour-plus downloads! That's my in-flight entertainment sorted. #link

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XHTML: Differences between Strict & Transitional

I've got so many elements to change to make my code strict, I don't think it's worth my while. But I'm filing this here anyway, for future reference. #link

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MetaFilter tackles that old chestnut, the corruption of Christian values

Sit back with a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the show... #link

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Mike Davidson announces Newsvine

Seems like it'll be some sort of weblog/del.icio.us/news website hybrid. I'd like to see more. #link

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The Nine Most-Wanted Time Capsules

Makes me wonder how badly future humans will understand us as we are today. #link

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Hobo Signs & Symbols

Oh, what romantic notions... #link

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Semantics in the Wild

Interesting article on informal semantic metadata in web code, as opposed to just semantic usage of HTML tags, which is something I've tried to implement here. Just my little contribution to the Semantic Web. [c/o SimpleBits] #link

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The end of One Big Text File

I don't know. I see what he's doing there, but I'm happy sticking with my Big Text File for now. The key, I think, is to not use it for archival, but only the stuff you intend to work with. Anything else can go in a folder as a separate file, just like you'd do if it was hard copy. #link

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Camino v1.0.1 Release Notes

Camino was my browser of choice before I upgraded to Panther and got hooked on Safari. I'm very tempted to switch back. #link

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Macintosh Web Browsers, Past and Present

So many! Who woulda thunk it? #link

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myspace.com/room204

Instrumental post-rock from France. A friend of mine is helping promote their short Irish tour next week; if you like early Don Caballero, like I do, they'll be right up your street. #link

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"My wife gets nervous when I swear at the radio, so I'll say it here: there is no /zh/ sound in Mandarin Chinese!"

I'll be sure to remember that. #link

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Moreno Glacier, Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina, 2005, by the mighty jimbo

Just set up posting from Flickr. Need to liven this place up a bit. #link

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Concert Zones

Tim O Thompson proposes a new solution to concert disturbances:
> Perhaps you could have concert zones. You could have the singing/drumming/air guitar zone, the text messaging zone, the marijuana smoking zone, the unlimited talking zone (somewhere in the back third), the sweaty zone, the drunks zone, the tall guy zone and the dancing with myself zone.
May I also suggest: a zone where they give you noise-cancelling headphones connected directly to the soundboard. That would be great.

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