Short one this week – didn’t get back from the Homestead till late, and then there was Lost to watch and… ah, I’m just a bad person. Enjoy 🙂

We had this self same conversation the other week at a BBQ – what super power would you have? (I also chose flight if you’re curious. Don’t know what that tells you about my personality. If I could have two super powers, I’d be telekinetic/telepathic. So I’m greedy 😉 )

For if you are feeling a bit bored and crafty: a paper model of the Wicked Wench, a pretty stunning model from the new Pirates ride at Disney.

I’m curious – do people follow the comments left here at Bright Meadow? I know I do, and frequently get into long conversations in the comments thread, but at the same time I know Moose doesn’t so much. For those of you that do follow the conversation, is the option to subscribe via RSS enough for you, or would you like the option to subscribe to comments via email? Personally the thought of my inbox filling up with comments I’d subscribed to leaves me cold, but that’s just me – if people want it, I will supply it.

Every now and then you come across an analogy that just works for you on some level. And so it was with Stowe’s idea of social feng shui. It is a great way of describing the sites and tools I enjoy using most – simple, everything with a purpose, and an elegant design.

A salutary reminder that people do read what you put online. Muppets.

Yes, I blubbed like a baby at the end of Series Two of Dr Who (it ended on Saturday). Like the pathetic wimp that I am. I do not want there to be a new assistant, but at the same time, the Dr without an assistant is like… chocolate without orange.

I don’t often link to movie reviews because, well, if you are curious about a film you’re all capable of finding them on your own 😛 But this one from the NYT about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is worth it if only for the following line “Mr. Bloom, as is his custom, leaps about, trying to overcome his incurable blandness, and is upstaged by special effects, musical cues, octopus tentacles and pieces of wood.”

This entry just made me laugh today when it popped up about five minutes after I’d been reading/participating in a few such debates of my own. 800 X 600 or not – which resolution should you design for?. And as a tech-user who still benefits from 800×600 designs, especially when on the laptop, 😛 at all of you lucky bastards with displays the size of my desk who insist I don’t exist as a user. I do, and when your design doesn’t work for me I get very pissed off and the chances are I won’t come back. *humph* rant over.

If you haven’t been following JB on his mission to visit 52 Fujis, why not? It’s funny. He’s on station number seven now.

*EDIT* Thanks everyone for letting me leave that up there with a typo on the first line for over 24 hours! 😛 See, I was testing y’all, and you failed. I still love you though.

I can’t believe that it is one of the hottest days of the year and I am stuck inside blogging. Damn not having a garden I can laze in. For those who are curious, it took near three hours to write this weeks offering, mainly because the PowerBook keeps getting hot enough to fry eggs on. God bless the inventor of the desk fan is all I can say! So you’d better enjoy it. I’m off to try and find a cool spot in the flat. Wish me luck!

Last week I talked about the Conservative’s plan to replace the Human Rights Act – seems I’m not the only one who thinks it is a bad idea.

I, like most other bloggers, am fighting the good fight against spam. A few weeks back I tried Bad Behavior on recommendation – it made no impact, if anything the amount of spam I had to wade through went up, so I’m back to working with just Akismet. Happily, there’s a new extension on the block that snuggles up cosily to Akismet. The “Worst Offenders” extension lists the most common offenders in your Akismet queue, batching them up so you can delete them in one fell swoop. It needs the latest version of Akismet, something I haven’t got around to installing yet, so I can’t tell you how well it works, but it seems like a good idea 🙂

The BBC has launched a new blog, The Editors, written by (you’ve guessed it) the editors of the BBC News team. They explain the rationale behind it a bit more here. Not saying it’s going to be something that stays in my regular reads, but on the first weeks showing, it’s thrown up some interesting pieces:

• Paul Brannan has a muse about whether the revisability of websites over time is a good idea. He has a point – people’s views do change and should past entries be edited to reflect this? I am firmly in the “no they shouldn’t” category. Publish a retraction/admendum certainly and link to this from the original article, but the original article should stay as is.
• Kevin Marsh clears up a few misconceptions about the term ‘editor’

I bring you (ok, Tara brings you, I’m just pointing you in their direction) the eleven rules of engagement for community building.

How could I not link to a story about fluffy penguins in a zoo? Especially when the penguins in question are called Piglet and George.

In a staggering win for common sense, it has been proven that the feeling of being watched makes people act more honestly. I’m paranoid enough that I always think someone’s watching me so act honestly, but this little trick would be great for those who weren’t dragged up as well as I was. Wonder if it makes a difference what sort of eyes are used? Male/female? Human/cat? Adult/child?

Firda little tale about how a famous photographer’s work was judged to be not very good made me think (as it made her) about reputation. How do people get to be considered ‘worthy’ in the first place? Endless are the tales of people toiling away in obscurity till just one person decides they are the best thing since bread came sliced. Take Van Gogh – infamous for never getting a break in life, now he’s judged as one of the greatest painters ever. Where along the line did that happen? Who was the first to go “Hang on, this chap’s really rather good”? Perhaps more importantly, what was so special about this person that made everyone listen to them? Everyone says that good work always get recognised eventually, and maybe it does, but it definitely helps if you’ve got a name. Or a name decides to take you under their wing.

Fox has officially announced Wolverine the movie. Excuse me whilst I take a moment to give a large “Woo Hoo!!!” of excitement. Yes, I am a fan. I can’t help it – Hugh Jackman makes my knees go all wibbly. Tall, dark, and ever so slightly brooding… Just as I like ’em 😉

I love Liverpool for many reasons, not just because their museums are wonderfully forward looking. I mean, how many museums do you know of that have even heard of Flickr, let alone leveraged it into an exhibition? I’m laying money on the Scouse One having something to do with this. If only he would answer his frelling email, I’d find out!

Blog layout is one of the more contentious subjects in certain circles at the moment. Do you support two or three column layouts? Perhaps you are daring and have a one column layout (*gasp*). Should you have an ‘about’ page? What needs to go in your sidebar? Liquid, fluid, or static? Lots of colour, or lots of whitespace? What exactly constitutes ‘good layout’ and design none agree on, but all can point to it when they see it. Edrei’s been brave and had a stab at what constitutes a good layout. On the whole I would have to agree with him – focus on the content, think carefully about whether you really need all that crap in your sidebar (if you just can’t live without it, have you thought of shunting it onto a sub-page?), and never be afraid to tinker.

Apparently, there are eight ways to kill someone by using an iPod Nano. My favourites are 5 and 7.

I bring you this not because anything the ‘Hoff does interests me in any way, but because the headline was just supreme: Hasselhoff in chandelier accident. I won’t spoil your fun by telling you anything more than that.

I’m not going to get into a debate about whether films should be made about 9/11 – you should be able to make movies about anything, but that doesn’t mean I will want to watch them. I sincerely doubt whether I will ever go to see ‘United 93’, or Oliver Stone’s up and coming ‘World Trade Centre’, but that is for personal reasons. My problem with this is Nicholas Cage’s comments. When talking about how the upcoming movie is not meant to entertain, Mr Cage says:

“I see it as storytelling which depicts history… This is what happened… Generation after generation goes by, they’ll have ‘United 93’, ‘World Trade Centre’, to recall that history”

For one it is a film – a dramatization, not a documentary. So they have tried to be factual, but… Oh, go badger Moose in the comments for the debate on this one. She says it so much better than I ever could (well, she has spent the past semester teaching a course on the subject, so I hope she can!)

I couldn’t give a flying monkey’s how desert ants measure distance. I’m just boggled that scientists stuck stilts on ants’ legs!

Lastly, I’ve been indulging in a little archive-browsing this week, and I came across this gem, which set me thinking – do you think I would look good as a blonde?