Messing around with the Google maps API to see how easy it is to use in the university website. Answer: Very. If a monkey like me can get into their blog in about, oooohh, all of twenty minutes then I imagine my resident java experts and wotnot will have no trouble at all.

Sick joke of the day: This popped into my head earlier. Actually, no, it's just too nasty.

Sensations: It's very hot in my office. Southfacing, no air conditioning. 5 metre high windows. Very sticky.

36 years wiser and writing some words, though not many mind, just to stop the blog from completely drying up...it's that time of year when a young man's thoughts turn to the holiday season, his sap begins to rise and he thinks of things other than the impending launch of a new website which he is pretty much single handedly responsible for. How an earth did that happen? Hornblower! Man the pumps!

Just watched Metallica on Live Earth, fucking excellent!

The dashboard (still in Swedish) tells me that its been weeks since I blogged. If you're actually reading this then it means that you cared enough to come and see if anything had changed, for which I thank you....I also worry that maybe you need to fill your life with some, perhaps rather more interesting things to do. Perhaps the sock draw needs to be organised, or that ant hill at the bottom of the garden needs attending to (you know, the one which glows that sickly yellow colour at night and which makes strange booming noises).

Loads happened at work today but because my colleagues are very switched web people I don't dare talk about lest I be discovered and summarily executed.

Its midsummer tomorrow which means dancing around the ringed tree and singing about frogs, I kid you not.

Ultravox New Europeans lyrics funny how wrong you can be, for bloody years (well, in fact since 1980) I thought old Midge sung "put up your chilling tendrils, his senses slip away" - which clearly makes little sense when in fact he sang "Full of future thoughts and thrills, his senses slip away", which makes a lot more sense. In a similar vein, I always thought titch sung, in Vienna "a man, and a duck, in a picture frame, so mystical and soulful", which as a bad poetry writing teenager I thought was, like, wow, really deep maaaan. I probably would have figured this one out a lot earlier had it not been for a picture in a student house which had, curiously, a man, a duck, and rather obviously, a picture frame. This was, for me, certain confirmation of my belief. Sadly, I was wrong. He actually sings "a man, in the dark, in a picture frame". Oh, and while we're on the subject he also did not sing "Please remember to mention me, in case you leave me behind" (on the track 'All stood still') but "in tapes you leave behind"...I think my version is rather better, actually.

Where would we be without t'internet, eh?

What can I say, probably too much. A stonking 10 day followed by a few glasses of wine and most of the first season, and some of the second, of Spaced makes me far too maudlin. So I'm going to go to bed, first removing my contact lens, prosthetic arms and trouser press.

lovely chubs.

The instrument panel for my blog has turned, annoyingly, over to using Swedish rather than Her Majesties English, which is fucking useful, isn't it. It was the same with my iPod, simply because the pc is running in Swedish it assumes that it should run in Swedish too...anyway, back to work tommorrow after two days of holiday grafted onto a weekend. Thursday was whitsun, you see, which made friday a 'clämdag'(i.e. a day falling between a public holiday and a weekend)and thus it became a holiday too.

I would blog more but a nice cup of tea calls.


Todays amusing link: Rate your students

Incident of the day: Upending a load of porridge powder on the floor. E immediately grabbed handfulls of it and proceeding to stuff them in his mouth, where the powder became a strange dough like substance which stuck to his face and mouth like glue. Lovely.

Two days of giving seminars, all well and good but it distracts me from my job which is a little annoying as the clock is ticking (i.e. whole new content for the website to deliver, and only 10 months left to it.). Maybe I shouldn't complain, 'Rome was built in a day', as they say.

And now I remember the useless bollocks which I want to share. Ipod conversations. Not talking to your ipod but rather the wierd conversations it has when you scroll down through song titles. All you have to do is create two personas, give each alternate song titles and then enjoy a strange, cryptic and, at times, affecting conversation. No cheating, you can't move, or omit songs. For example:

on the street corner...

Dude 1: Ain't my bitch
Dude 2: Ain't no right
Dude 1: Ain't that unusual?

the brief encounter...

Dude 1: Do anything you want to
Dude 2: Do I know you?

the truth hurts...

Dude 1: Has my fire really gone out?
Dude 2: Hate to say I told you so

the uncharitable...

Dude 1: Help the aged
Dude 2: Help yourself

the wierd...

Dude 1: I'm a chump
Dude 2: I'm a man
Dude 1: I'm amazed
Dude 2: I'm leaving now

the come on..

Dude 1: I'm partial to your abracadabra
Dude 2: I'm the only gay eskimo

the point scoring...

Dude 1: I don't like drugs
Dude 2: I don't play piano

and the saddest breakup...

Dude 1: I just called to say I love you
Dude 2: I just don't know what to do with myself
Dude 1: I just want to have something to do
Dude 2: I know it's over
Dude 1: I like you

and the odd...

Dude 1: I wanna be adored
Dude 2: I wanna be sedated

and the sex scene...

Dude 1: It's right in front of you
Dude 2: It's true that we love one another
Dude 1: It's up to you
Dude 2: It ain't gonna work
Dude 1: It can't come quickly enough
Dude 2: It feels good
Dude 1: It must be love

and the forgetful...

Dude 1: Where's Captain Kirk
Dude 2: Where's me jumper
Dude 1: Where is my mind?

and the put down...

Dude 1: You look so fine
Dude 2: You need hands

And to think I could have used the last five minutes to meaningfully improve my life. Suck. ('sigh', in Swedish)

A capital place for panic attacks | Review | The Observer

A capital place for panic attacks Review The Observer: "Red-eyed, rage-fuelled monsters; flesh-ripping special effects; murderous military interventions; helicopter-powered mass decapitations "...can't wait!!

YouTube - Danger 50,000 Volts: Zombies-Staring Nick Frost(Hot Fuzz)

YouTube - Danger 50,000 Volts: Zombies-Staring Nick Frost(Hot Fuzz)...must check this out when I have time, just about to settle down and watch 'Black Dahlia', against my better judgement.

Word of the day: bicekorv (Swedish), the English translation being, literally, 'poo sausage'. As in, "who left this poo sausage on the bathroom floor?"

UN scientists warn time is running out to tackle global warming | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment

UN scientists warn time is running out to tackle global warming Climate change Guardian Unlimited Environment: "unrestrained greenhouse gas emissions could drive global temperatures up as much as 6C by 2100, triggering a surge in ocean levels, destruction of vast numbers of species, economic devastation in tropical zones and mass human migrations."

lovely.

Howtopedia - simple technologies, simply shared

sweet and simple: Howtopedia - simple technologies, simply shared

World Without Oil :: Document Your Life In The New Reality

Kinda interesting, an alternate reality game trying to create real world action (read as, knit your own yoghurt version of second life)...World Without Oil :: Document Your Life In The New Reality

Argh, what to say...it was Valborg over the weekend (the end of winter celebrations) which meant a good pagan burn up on the beach with lashings of sausages, lovely. As it's Sweden, a sing song was essential..stuff about good riddance to winter, a welcome to the summer and where's the sausages, or something. Speaking of sausages, it's sausage club tomorrow morning at work. Which is always nice.

Reading: Charles Stross, Jennifer Morgue.
Trying to avoid: Spending much money this month as I want to be able to buy a '360 at the end of the month with clear consience. 'Daddy, I'm hungry'. 'Quiet son, I'm playing Oblivion'.
Pleased with: Coming 6th in the 10K I did over the weekend (47 minutes and change), the starting line was about 50 people so that was a reasonably respectable position and time - particularly as my training began two weeks ago and consisted of precisely two runs outside...and I wonder why I had a blister the size of Britain on my foot. And I can never remember that Second Skin, the spray on bandage, used to hurt as much as it did when I treated my aforementioned injury with Spray on Acid, which is probably what it actually said on the can. Next race in about a months time, another 10K, the aim is to get 45 minutes. We'll see.

YouTube - Will It Blend? - Marbles

The latest addition to this wonderful collection is an ipod - it's basically reduced to dust, as most ot the things are in this nutty testament to the power of blenders. YouTube - Will It Blend? - Marbles. Just been running on the beach, then tried a body hack I learnt from Wired magazine - reducing the temperature of my blood by plunging my hands into cold water immediately after I stopped training. On the basis of an n of one, with no control groups of any kind, it actually seemed to have some kind of effect - I stopped sweating quicker and I think my pulse came down faster. cool.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Theres only a few films that I cannot watch again, for all the right reasons. Donnie Darko (2001) is among their number, as is Brazil, K-Pax, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest and possibly the Seventh Seal (which my father suggested I watch as a 15 year old, I mark that evening as the official end of my childhood). These films are obviously not bad, its just that - for example with Donnie Darko, K-Pax or OFOTCN I cannot get through them without blubbing horribly and having to spend the next day basically moping (as they like to say on the continant). The last few minutes of Donnie Darko will stick with me forever and I don't really want to go back to them again. Yes, the film would be just as affecting but I don't want to spoil that connection that the combination of acting, direction and writing managed to make on that perfect evening when I watched it. You don't have to me much of an armchair pyschologist to spot the obvious themes running through these movies. However, I have no desire to see, for example, Water World, The Postman or Dances with Wolves again simply because they all have Kevin Kostner in them.

Speaking of Indians and stuff, I find it a bit wierd that E came home from daycare the other day brandishing the bow he'd made as part of the Red Indian theme they had had that day. Sure daycare is important for equiping him with social skills and such, but do they really have to arm him as well? Next he'll be stripping AK-47s blindfolded.

About to Listen to: Steaming Wolf Penis.

And finally, Swedish authorities objected to a couple (in Sweden) trying to call their baby Metallica. Which is a shame. I mean, c'mon, they could have been trying for Lawn Mower Death or King Crimson.

Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace -

More social networking wimsy..Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace -

The top audiobooks on Podioboks.com

I seem to be so busy these days (partly because I have entered the world of proper, grownup work) that I barely have time to shit, never mind sit around and actually read (other than the 10 minute commute to work, and the 6 minute commute to never never land) so this may provide somewhat of a solution.....The top audiobooks on Podioboks.com...now I can listen to 3rd rate authors when I'm in the gym, wrestling with the children or stalking the locals. Groovy.

One of the nice things about my work is that part of it means keeping an eye of things cool in the internet world....it intrigues me that most of my customers will not even consider using our website to find out about the quality of the education we offer, or what other students have said, but will instead turn to social networking sites instead. The Trust Barometer supports this notion, with the comment '"Person like yourself or peer" is seen as the most credible spokeperson about a company...'. I also like the fact that they refer to Europe as the skeptical continent (a little shaky geographical, but I know what they mean) with trust in business registered at 'dismally low levels'.

Did you know: Many legitimate findings from the IPCC scientists were frozen out of the IPCC report, according to the New Scientist, because the peer review process was so rigorous that research deemed controversial, not fully quantified or not yet incorporated into climate models was excluded. Such research findings include the physical collapse of the greenland icesheet, a shut down of the gulf stream and the release of green house gases from melting permafrost. One of the interesting things about the IPCC report preparation was the time spent arguing over whether it was 'extremely likely' or just 'likely' that humans were to blame for global warming, unusally the Brits wanted the go the 'extreme' route but the chinese and saudi's wanted it to be 'likely'. The eventual compromise was, wait for it, 'very likely'.

Reading: Just got my hands to two Charles Stross books - one scifi the other concerning his Cthulhuloid special agent. Excellent.

Watching: Casino Royale (7.5 out of 10), and about to watch the The Devil's Backbone, in preparation for watching Pan's Labyrinth.

Hurting: My feet, as I'm halfway through the preparation for a 10k race next weekend. That's right, my training period is a carefully thoughout and well planned (not) two weeks.

Websurdity » Blog Archive » Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job?

Websurdity » Blog Archive » Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job?: "Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job?".....most excellent satire.

And yes, my act is slowly getting back together. Things I did recently: ran some, ate some carrot cake, narrowly avoiding going down the road of burn out at work (by realising that I could not do everything by, like, next tuesday).