Thursday, August 28, 2003
Tron 2.0 and Worms 3D
To update a post from one third of a year ago, Tron 2.0 is released 19/09/03 (4 days before George's birthday folks, not that he's getting anything off deadmanskint this year (or, indeed, last)) and Worms 3D is released 14/11/03. I've marked them in my diary. No, really, I have. I think the phrase the youngfolk use is "stoked". George, can you connect your PC (or my laptop) to your projector? I think I have an idea for a party I could invite myself round too...
The Boring Institute
For reasons that need not be explained, today I typed in ""office boredom kills"" on google. I got a Googlewank in return - not a single site had decided that my fear was justified. Further apathetic wanderings brought me to a quack site called The Boring Institute...
‘Boredom is the major component in what we call world underload, an unhealthy state characterized by low job demand. When you experience underload, the result is usually anxiety, which can eventually lead to illness."
Dr. Smith characterized "boring jobs" as those which "lack meaningful content (when there isn’t enough work to do or the work is too easy), or they’re repetitive."
And here’s where the computer begins to assert its role. "Many highly paid technical machinists have similar problems, for computerization has sometimes reduced the work to mere monitoring. And relentless monitoring—in any occupation—inevitably leads to boredom.
The concept of boredom may, in fact, be rather new. Most of human history has been devoted to sheer survival under very difficult circumstances. People may have been bored, but their attention was devoted to whether there would be sufficient crops to avoid starvation.
The world today is a complex place at best. It is also a boring place, too inexplicable to bother with and, as a result, we have a population of young people more concerned with the latest film, the latest gossip about some celebrity, the latest fashion, whatever! In this way, boredom is induced and mitigated solely in terms of what external forces the media provides.
Which is all rather boring and obvious, but I figured I'd share with you the lifetime I'm having.
‘Boredom is the major component in what we call world underload, an unhealthy state characterized by low job demand. When you experience underload, the result is usually anxiety, which can eventually lead to illness."
Dr. Smith characterized "boring jobs" as those which "lack meaningful content (when there isn’t enough work to do or the work is too easy), or they’re repetitive."
And here’s where the computer begins to assert its role. "Many highly paid technical machinists have similar problems, for computerization has sometimes reduced the work to mere monitoring. And relentless monitoring—in any occupation—inevitably leads to boredom.
The concept of boredom may, in fact, be rather new. Most of human history has been devoted to sheer survival under very difficult circumstances. People may have been bored, but their attention was devoted to whether there would be sufficient crops to avoid starvation.
The world today is a complex place at best. It is also a boring place, too inexplicable to bother with and, as a result, we have a population of young people more concerned with the latest film, the latest gossip about some celebrity, the latest fashion, whatever! In this way, boredom is induced and mitigated solely in terms of what external forces the media provides.
Which is all rather boring and obvious, but I figured I'd share with you the lifetime I'm having.
Respect Manchester
Platt Fields in Manchester is the location for a free "stamp out discrimination" shindig called Respect this Saturday. It will feature the ever reliable Mr Scruff from 8-10pm on the DJ stage, Bazzoh's famous relative / mates Homelife and the schmooth vocal stylings of Josephine Oniyama.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
BBC - Ouch! - Features
Anna Rosevear has Attention Deficit Disorder. It has it's downsides...
It's not that I forget to have sex. It's more like sometimes I forget that I'm having sex while I'm having it. There was the time I suddenly remembered the article I was about to submit the next morning and murmured, "Maybe I should cut it." Nope, there was no possible recovery from that one. I don't think I ever saw that potential lover again.
...and it's upsides...
I'm glad I'm off meds because I am funnier, I am more spontaneous... In the end, meds are just a tool to help non-anal people survive in a disastrously anal world.
She's got a point with the upsides.
It's not that I forget to have sex. It's more like sometimes I forget that I'm having sex while I'm having it. There was the time I suddenly remembered the article I was about to submit the next morning and murmured, "Maybe I should cut it." Nope, there was no possible recovery from that one. I don't think I ever saw that potential lover again.
...and it's upsides...
I'm glad I'm off meds because I am funnier, I am more spontaneous... In the end, meds are just a tool to help non-anal people survive in a disastrously anal world.
She's got a point with the upsides.
Bazzoh - The Truth
(with due credit to Lee Carl)
Watching the Adult Channel...
A post that will be only funny to a few people for a few moments. VB in-jokes, you can't beat 'em. Who you calling nerds?
Monday, August 25, 2003
Friday, August 22, 2003
Thursday, August 21, 2003
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Fredric Brown
"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door..."
Fredric Brown (i ii) is something of a hero of mine. I recommend you all buy some of his stuff.
Fredric Brown (i ii) is something of a hero of mine. I recommend you all buy some of his stuff.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Oak Island
An AIM chat with that bloke Losowsky brings us to pirates (via Gwangi), and then an old memory I have of the story of Oak Island. It's a story that seems less mysterious the more you read it, but people's reactions to it over the centuries are fascinating in and of themselves.
____
edit: some better sites for and against.
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edit: some better sites for and against.
Enneagram
Conscious self | Overall self |
 |  |
I have no idea what any of that means, I'm just killing time.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
BBC - Britain's Best Sitcom - Your Vote
BBC2 are trying to fill a few more hours of air time with conjecture and fatuous reminiscences in order to find the nation's favourite sitcom. The brilliant series "How Do You Want Me?" is not on the list, but you're allowed to make one nomination for anything not on the list. If you all nominate it, I get to watch it again. So do it, or I'll whinge. My top ten (based on their list please note):
- Black Books
- Blackadder
- Bottom
- Father Ted
- Peter Kay's Phoenix nights
- Porridge
- Royle Family, The
- Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister
- Young Ones, The
- How Do You Want Me?
fartleberries
Viz's Profanisaurus is, of course, puerile and mindless. The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is completely different however. Since it's old, you can now pretend that your reading it is literary and historical investigation.
FARTLEBERRIES, hee hee hee.
______
stolen
FARTLEBERRIES, hee hee hee.
______
stolen
Monday, August 11, 2003
Antiques Roadshow UK: BritSpeak
Popisdead sent me this a game for our American cousins to try and match up Brit colloqualisms with US lingo. Easy from our point of view for the most part, but it's surprising how many differences there are. They don't know the term "full stop" apparently. And Bucks Fizz is Mimosa? Does that make it more fashionable?
The site is an advert for the PBS run of Antiques Roadshow (do good TV, like BBC2 but with less viewers. You'll know it from The Simpsons micky take). I wonder if they'll be getting David Dickinson over there too.
Hang on, we call a bedspread a counterpane? What the hell is a counterpane?
The site is an advert for the PBS run of Antiques Roadshow (do good TV, like BBC2 but with less viewers. You'll know it from The Simpsons micky take). I wonder if they'll be getting David Dickinson over there too.
Hang on, we call a bedspread a counterpane? What the hell is a counterpane?
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Diving Ibiza with Sea Horse Scuba Diving Centre
Just discovered the people who got me through my underwater terror and got me scuba diving have a web presence - Sea Horse Scuba Diving Centre.
Of course, with 30 degree heat in blighty, it's a good job I didn't go to Ibiza purely for the weather. Though I still say my view is just as good as the Sunset Strip's Poade.
Of course, with 30 degree heat in blighty, it's a good job I didn't go to Ibiza purely for the weather. Though I still say my view is just as good as the Sunset Strip's Poade.
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