Yearly Archives: 2006

A few odds and sods

Today’s post comprises a few odds and sods I wanted to blog about, but couldn’t quite work into a full post each.

Picture of The Queen on Flickr - click to see full size and notes It is time to say good bye to tSPFKAG, and say ‘hello’ to The Queen. Curly Durly took tSPFKAG back to the Homestead when she left this morning, leaving The Queen in his place. The Queen is so named, for from her all my other spider plants have been spawned. She is remarkably prolific – I had to cut upwards of 30 babies off her before she would fit properly on my windowsill! No, this is not being cruel – it was necessary. She is starting to get drained and needs to be taken back a bit so she can return even bigger and stronger.

I’m the top result in Google for something – “cussler sahara” (OK, top result on Google.co.uk, result 11 on Google.com, but still!). Just a shame that the review it links to is seemingly so contentious!

I have a new frog – Avril LaFrog. You can read all about her adventures over at The Adventures of Avril LaFrog: Frog Racer.

And if anyone can translate what I think is Arabic, please go to the my MyHeritage match with Hilary Duff on Flickr and translate the comment someone has very kindly left me!

clive cussler, sahara, google, racing frogs, hilary duff, myheritage

Sunday Roast: just pretend you’re a monkey

A shorter than usual Roast this week, because it’s just been one of those weeks, clearly.
The leftovers and lots of things for afters can be found links page.

Turns out, you have just a twentieth of a second to get people to like your website. Wow. Now I know that’s all the time I get, I’m surprised I get any readers of Bright Meadow at all!

Andy C has this timely reminder, and urges us all to take caution with BA online check-in.

Matt Cutts has a list of put-down-able books, that is books that won’t have you reading till three am in the morning when you have to get up at 6 am (Question: in this circumstance, is it better to grab those few remaining hours in shut-eye, or to just soldier on through and catch up the next night?). I’d challenge his position on Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle though. I’m re-reading it right now, and even on this the third run through, I find myself picking it up at 10 pm, and next looking at the clock and realising it is 1.30 am. What are your put-down-able books?

An article in the NYT put me on to CoffeeGeek, a wonderful site if (like me), you spend far too much time wondering about what makes the perfect cup of coffee. It’s odd, I barely drink the stuff, but after working on and off at Whittard for seven years, I keep coming back to places where I can learn more.

Gizmodo have a great gadget (when don’t they?) that uses solar energy to charge your mobile. It can also charge things like MP3 players and the like. Possibly not so good for rainy England where we see the sun once a month, but a great idea none the less.

Cut the Cord: USB Runs Free with Freescale. I want. I want so badly. So very, very badly.

This is possibly one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time – the slanket, which is a blanket, with sleeves. Genius! (Though you could save a fair bit of money I imagine by getting an old blanket of your own and putting some slits in it yourself. Still…)

Finally, someone who explains what the deal is with the php tags in WordPress in language I can understand!

And I can think of no better way to end this weeks Roast by imparting the wisdom that peeling bananas from the other end is easier
bbc, first impressions, andy c, matt cutts, neal stephenson, baroque cycle, coffee geek, gizmodo, solar energy, freescale, slanket, paul stamatiou, wordpress, k2, boing boing, bananas

It’s the simple things

It really is silly how the little things can make your day – taken out of context they can just seem so small, but seemingly insignificant occurrences are what make the world that teeny bit more bearable.

Like turning down the Big Issue salesman (no, this isn’t the good little thing, this bit made me feel bad), but giving him a smile anyway, and them him saying “you have a lovely smile – no, I’m not gonna ask you again, I just want you to know you do have a lovely smile”. Such a little thing, but made me walk round with a warm fuzzy feeling and a secret smile for the rest of the day. The cynic in me thinks it was a ruse to get me to buy a Big Issue after I’d already said no, but I don’t want to listen to the cynic this time.

A couple of days before that, I got a compliment about the skirt I was wearing – again, almost a throw away comment, but it stuck with me and made the day that little bit brighter.

It might be because I so rarely have to field compliments in day-to-day life that the ones I do get gain an importance out of all proportion to reality, but I think it is more universal than that.

So, my Blog Minions, here is your task for the coming days/weeks/months/years:
Make a point of saying something nice to someone at least once week. *1* Compliment a shop girl on her earrings. Don’t just walk past the Big Issue seller with your head turned away – smile and say ‘sorry, but no thank you’ to his face. Give up your seat on the bus/tube to someone who looks like they need it. Thank the chap at the supermarket checkout with a genuine smile. It’s remarkably easy, but I guarantee it will make their day a little better, and might even make you feel a bit happier as well.

🙂

Endnotes:
*1*For this task, it helps if they are someone you don’t know, or don’t know that well. I would hope you are in the habit of saying nice things to those you love on a more than weekly basis without my prompting.Back

Welcome New Blog Minions

Please put your hands together and welcome two new Blog Minions to the fold.

Joe (the Surly One) has earned his badge for sending me a new Redrick cartoon in my Christmas card (no, I’m not being slow on bestowing Minion honours, rather the card got caught up by Royal Mail and only arrived today). For those of you who know Joe/Redrick from of-old, the Surly Elven Ranger tm will need no introduction. If you don’t know him, well, Redrick is an Elf, who is known for being a bit grumpy on occasion. I have always loved Joe’s artwork, which might go some way to explaining why I have some of it emblazoned on my back, and this latest just goes to confirm my jealousy of his talent.
The Surly Elf Does Archaeology
The cartoon is on Flickr, so click to see bigger, and comment.

The River Queen gets honoured for finding the following news story today and passing it on to me over IM:
A parrot owner was alerted to his girlfriend’s infidelity when his talkative pet let the cat out of the bag by squawking “I love you Gary”.
Perhaps I should include Parrots in my list of evil animals?

Both of you get a Minion Badge to display proudly on your own website (if you have one), and are now listed as Blog Minions.

My army is growing. Mwhahahahaaa…!!!!

How to Code Accessible Links–Part One: The Basics

It gives me great pleasure to announce a mini-series of posts all about accessibility, hyperlinks, and images written by yours truly, and to be found posted over at Successful-Blog.

Please go and read it, and join in the great discussions you will find there. Liz and the rest of the community always make you feel welcome, which might go someway toward explaining why I made one comment and ended up writing three articles!

How to Code Accessible Links–Part One: The Basics, by Cas of Brightmeadow, at Successful-Blog

Come on! You know you want to be a successful blogger!

(In case you were wondering, that link was as accessible as I could make it. To find out how, well, go read the article 😉 )

Stowe Boyd – your wish is my command

(I was going to ‘Roast the following, but it’s a long time till next Sunday, and the link is possibly a bit too serious and grown-up for that anyway).

Finding someone whose voice makes sense to you, is a rare thing in this brave new world where everyone and their pet monkey thinks they can craft a sentence, despite glaring evidence to the contrary.

So, when one of the Few *1* asks for your help, well, the least you can do is give the guy a link: – Stowe Boyd’s new blog, /Message .

Go here if you want intelligent rants (yes, that is possible), about all things social/computing/collaboration/society, and let’s not forget, my favourite “Web 2.0” *2* I’m not saying my link’s going to get him much more traffic, nor do I think my assistance is really required, but I’m working on the principle of every little helps here. The chap gave me valid things to think about in the Demon Thesis, so not to link seems churlish.

Endnotes:
*1*If you can get that literary reference, there’s a cookie in it for you. Back
*2*That’s a Research Rant that will be coming in a few days or so. Back

Stowe Boyd

Celebration time!

I just noticed that BrightMeadow.co.uk went live officially a month ago today. In just that month there have been nearly 50 new posts, with 82 comments, and exciting collaborations are just around the corner.

My favourites / most memorable things have to be:

What have been your favourites?

When you consider that brightmeadow.blogspot.com only had 175 posts in near a year, it’s clear that I’ve been having a ball – I just hope all you readers have as well. Thank you, all my readers (both lurkers and minions). Here’s to many more months (years) of happy posting and commenting.

:clap_tb: :thumbup_tb: :clap_tb:

Spread the word – Bright Meadow is here to stay!
🙂