Author: Alasdair

Routine reminder:

Posted on by Alasdair

If you surf the web using IE, you deserve everything you get.

Here’s the latest hack. I’m pretty sure that had I received the email, there’s a reasonable chance I’d have fallen for it, and I’m a well trained IT professional who is used to ignoring spam and invitations to get my computer fucked by a stranger. And, were my default browser not Firefox, I’d still have wound up with something on my machine, recording my credit card numbers and passwords.

Go now, and get Firefox – there is nothing IE does that it will not do, and probably better. And switch your email client to Thunderbird, too. If you are about to say something like “But they insist on it at work”, then a) ignore them, and install something safe, or b) print this out, and hand it to your head of IT.

This has been a public health warning. Thank you for listening. I will now be checking to see how many of you are looking at this page in IE. And then I will hurt you with hammers.



Site Meter

This should hurt more.

Posted on by Alasdair

But thanks to the magic of water and ibuprofen, I am more-or-less able to face the day.

Thanks to everyone who showed up last night. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Alternate Home…

Posted on by Alasdair

I’ve been aware for the last while that the number of non-web-related links on this site is creeping up, which is fine, except that I really want to keep this site for stuff I deal with in my professional capacity – web programming, and the art and science of communicating via the web, and the way that impacts our modern social culture, and design in general.

To which end, I have set up http://www.dead-air.org, which is where I’m going to start dumping the stuff about food and drink, politics, photography, on-line gaming, and any other random crap that interests me. (There’ll probably bit a little crossover in the gaming area, because I think it has something to say about the way humans use social technologies, but we’ll see how that shakes out over time.) So, if you find yourself wondering why I’m only talking about/linking to webdev/design stuff on this site from here on in, that’s why. Stop by the new place (WordPress powered, so available via RSS) is you want the other stuff as well.

And of course, both sites will be available through http://ala.sda.ir, my personal portal site.

This entry was originally published at my workblog.

Today’s New Toys

Posted on by Alasdair

It’s strange how rewarding I find adding bells and whistles to my http://ala.sda.ir domain. I need to go back and take another look at how the automatic calendar fetching is working at some point, because it’s not really very nicely formatted, and it seems to be ignoring weekends which is a bit fucking useless really.

But before I do that, I’m quite pleased with this one that I knocked up at lunch, a tool that will automatically fetch and post my weekly last.fm track charts whenever they publish a new set for me (which should be Sunday evenings some time, I think).

I do, incidentally, realise that things like the calendar, and the music charts are of no interest to anyone but me, but part of the point of the site is to serve as an second memory for me (since my built-in one is increasingly dying on its cognitive arse), as well as being an aggregator for my web presences.

In other news, I am delighted to discover a better del.icio.us plugin for firefox than the one they released themselves. It doesn’t have the handy toolbar buttons, but it does, crucially, allow you to manage multiple accounts, meaning I can finally stop polluting my workblog with non-tech/media links, and bung them into a linklog that is expressly about “shit Alasdair finds interesting”, which would also cover y’know, shit like current events, food and drink, photography, comics, gaming, and just general stuff.

Date for your diaries

Posted on by Alasdair

April 2nd, Jason Webley is playing South London Pacific. If you get there before 9, it will only cost you a fiver to get in, for an evening of cocktails and cabaret.

Jason, as you’ve all heard me say before, is really very very good. Sufficiently good in fact, that if you turn up before nine, and really seriously don’t enjoy your night out, I will refund your money personally, I am that sure you’ll enjoy it. No-one, no-one I know that has seen him has thought him anything less that bloody good fun, and over half the people I’ve dragged to see him have bought his albums.

London has historically not been good for Jason, gig wise – bad venues, tiny crowds, last minute cancellations, etc. I (and I’m sure, he) would really like to change that. He’s playing a reasonably central venue, and I would really like to try and fill the place.

Jason’s act is a klezma-punk cabaret. If you like Kurt Weil, The Dresden Dolls, Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello, or just bloody good, different, live acts then I’m sure he’ll blow you away.

And since I’m offering to refund your money if you don’t enjoy your night out, the very least you’ll get is a chance to drink cocktails in a tiki lounge. When was the last time you did that, eh?

So, if you’re in London, help me help a mate out and turn up on the 2nd of April. You’ll have fun. I promise.

Fisting Chickens in the House of the Lord.

Posted on by Alasdair

Or, “they do things different in the country”. I would write my weekend up in depth, but feel that the preceeding two sentences sum it up quite well.

I am back from rural parts. It was ace. Thanks and etc. to all. Photos to come when I’m not mostly asleep, including documentary evidence of this post’s title.

Edit: Evidence.

If you’re ever in need of a weekend away, I can wholeheartedly recommend The Shaven Nun Badger Crown. Bloody good food, cracking beer, roaring fires, and lovely staff.

Politics: Pay Attention

Posted on by Alasdair

I’m sure a good number of you know about this already, but give the discussions of “V for Vendetta” recently, this is perhaps an appropriate time to flag this one up, just in case anyone has missed it:

The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.

This is a bill that will, broadly, allow ministers to change the law without requiring the changes to be ratified by parliament. Students of history may remember that similar laws were passed in Germany in the 1930s. Now, it’s only fair to point out that this bill has a number of curbs in place, like for example, ensuring that any term of imprisonment resulting from crimes arising such change not exceed 2 years.

Shall we just look at that again?

Under this bill, it would be possible for a minister of the crown to criminalise almost anything they felt like, provided the sentence wasn’t greater than two years.

Is there anyone here not boggling at that?

And it can get worse, but I won’t ask you to take my word for it.

Just go and read one MP’s view of the subject.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to stop by WriteToThem.com and ask your MP to vote against this bill.

More design nonsense

Posted on by Alasdair

If anyone should happy to be feeling bored and creative, I could really do with tiny (20×20 pixels) icons to represent http://www.alasdair.biz and http://www.black-ink.org. And something in the same dimensions that says “Calendar”.

Usual beer and undying gratitude offered.