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January 25, 2004

Blog Roundup

Well last week we ended up with four instead of five and I promised that this week I would try for an extra one. As it turned out, that wasn't a difficult promise because one of the random choices this week was Melodrama (no link) which was already been covered on the main blog. That gives five more to cover...

Tiger: Raggin; & Rantin' is the inspiration behind USURP and in this article he demonstrates the concept of personal responsibility. Despite have a corker of a headache he still finished a full workload and took the time to blog so that he readers wouldn't panic. There is an interesting comment on the power of the net and Tiger has managed to put his finger right on the money - one of the things about the net is that it means we can broaden out horizons and hipefully that will make us more grateful for what we have. On the lighter side there is a pointer to this lawyer joke (which I had not heard previously*) and a story about a really really stupid car thief.

Second cab off the rank is Dusting My Brain, one of my regular reads and frequent comment leaver. I am sort of glad that Cindy (or is that "Ciiiiiiiiin Deeeeeeeeee" - how can I go to a Swans game now) made it into this weeks review because there were a few really good posts just begging for a followup. The first was the story about Damn You DamU Damnation University (in Hell, Michigan). You can get such great IT degrees as a Master of Negative Digital Vibrations (Hi Mum!), and a PhD in Apple Loyalty. I also enjoyed this story about being a bird target. I can remember an Uncle who used to take friends to the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary. He had this cool tee-shirt with a big sign on the front: "I fed the birds at Currumbin" and fake bird droppings all over the back. Then the next post was a lot more sobering (update - moved to here). All I can say is that I appreciate the writing that Cindy does and if she thinks it is not her best stuff then boy have we all got something to look forward to reading. Back a few posts and there is this gem which is wonderfully circular given that I sent it to The Gray Monk in the first place. Returning to the bird story I recall a poem from childhood:

Little birdie flying high,
Dropped a message from the sky,
As I wiped it from my eye,
I thanked the Lord that cows don't fly.

On the Third Hand has a funny (but serious) item on firing the voters. I usually vote early (it is compulsory to vote in Australia) which means I get "polled" after I vote. Invariably I try to mislead the pollsters because I figure that makes the outcome more interesting. If everyone misleads them the predictions will be mildly more amusing. This was the first blog that I saw with a mention of the latest Microslosh inspired obscenity. There are some excellent posts (one, two) on the Axis of Evil (not about Microslosh) and a funny post on the latest US invasion.

I notice that Ghost of a flea appears in Paul Janés' blogroll but it is not one that I read often. There is an interesting post about banned ads (personal the fact that an ad was from PETA would automatically make it suspect as far as I am concerned - they may have an important message but the childish antics and exaggerated claims prevent them from getting a hearing). I also like the comment about the age of the internet (old enough to record the kids but young enough to hide our own sins). Finally there is a item about misusing Japanese characters when tattooing. I have seen similar (but less extreme) cases with tee shirts with either wildly inappropriate or completely inaccurate Chinese characters. One woman was wearing a tight-fitting shirt that had the character for 'milk' on it.

When Paul (All AgitProp) and his employer parted ways, I was expecting a complete avalanche of posts. In fact the opposite has occurred but the quality is just as good as ever. Lately he has been doing lots of trouble shooting include a recaltriant fax machine and a dodgy video card. Sounds like a consulting job - solving problems and training users. A few more weeks of that and Paul will be eager for a return to normal work :-). In between support calls there was still time for a quick slap of Micky Jackson, Mel Gibson and Beniffer.

(* I have an great-uncle who writes joke books and so I get to hear a lot of jokes.)