What to say about this past week? Well, not a lot really. Work has been even crazier than usual. OK, so I do hate to be bored, but it’s reached a whole new level this past week and the stress levels have kinda plateaued somewhere in the foothills of the Himalayas. Beautiful scenery, but a long way down if I let go of the rope by accident. (There’s a potentially decent analogy in there somewhere if you care to look for it).

This means that when I get home I have little, if any, inclination to write on the blog. Added to that, my wrists are starting to make themselves noticed again. They are always niggling, but right now they are jumping up and down, screaming at me like a two year old having a temper tantrum, and the only way I can shut them up is by eating unhealthy amounts of Mars ice cream bars and watching Season Four of Angel. Not doing what I love to do, i.e., write out the stress and frustration.

It’s a hard life being me.

But on the plus side I have fucking fantastic new hair, the prospect of a crazy-fun day in London on Thursday, and possibly even some blog-stalker-fun in Southampton next weekend. Well, when someone says “I fucking fancy you” in public, the least you can do is agree to a coffee. Right?

So that’s what’s been happening with me in a fairly large and wordy nutshell. Let’s get on with the whole reason you’re still reading this blog shall we?

News from around the world
It turns out that half of Britons are e-mail addicts. I know that, at work, when email goes down pretty much everything grinds to a halt. Personally, I can go a few days without checking email, but after that I get antsy. I have vivid memories of being in New York and making a daily pilgrimage to an internet cafe because I just couldn’t be out of touch. I’m a bit better now but still, more than a week and I’m getting twitchy!

ID cards are to be the next UK ‘institution’, like the railways before them. So, vastly over priced, never working, and generally one mass headache for users then?

Is Facebook destined to be the great meta-app? The site that kills all other sites and becomes where you live your life?

Ever wondered what it would be like to be on a long-term space mission? Volunteer and you might have to wonder no more. Now I’ve just got to learn me some Russian, grow a few inches, and loose a few pounds. Easy!

Need to send large files? Use Pando. It has the Pogue Seal of Approval.

Bits and Bytes
I have issues about linking to Gizmodo and the majority of the time can’t see the point of even subscribing to them, but then they pull out a gem like this adorable Steampunk R2-D2 and I forgive them everything.

I realised the other night when Moose came into the living room and caught me guiltily watching the end of Time Team that I’m more than a little out of touch with Archaeology in general. Her words “But you HATE this programme!” were like a cold splash of water to my face. I do, I loathe Time Team and all it stands for, yet here I was sitting down, watching it, and nodding along to what Tony Robinson was saying. Dear gods, shoot me now. I might as well hang up my trowel in shame. So it’s time for drastic measures. Step one? Listen to some of the Wessex Archaeology Archaeocasts. Step two? Er, suggestions?

Shooting has started on the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Now, I’m not convinced as to how the aged Harrison Ford will pull this off, but to be sure… Just the sight of him lounging in that fedora and all was well with my world once more. (Yes, I’m a fan. Find me an Archaeologist who isn’t 😛 )

Here’s a couple of handy hints for next time you do a stirfry.

A guide on how to make ‘Usable web content’ came across my radar recently (I wish I could remember where I got the link so I could credit it!) I’ve had a quick look through and there are some salient points and others that set my hackles up – possibly because it’s in the ‘how to suck eggs’ school of information exchange. I think that might also be because I’m reading it on a Sunday morning when I’m feeling grumpy and my wrists (and now little fingers) are killing me, so I’m going to reserve judgement for when I’m feeling more open minded. If nothing else though, the constant referencing of Jakob Nielsen is getting on my nerves – he can’t be the ONLY person writing about this usability stuff, can he?

Want to do something different in the kitchen? Try painting your cupboards with blackboard paint. This just looks like SO MUCH FUN! Screw fridge magnets…

It’s time for a shameful confession. When I read books now (especially text books/journal articles) I find myself wishing for things you can only get with computers – searchable text (oh, to have had this during my thesis!), hyperlinking words, bibliographies that link to publication lists or the work in question, “rich texts” with cross-media connections (e.g., pictures or audio) – but I want all of this in my beloved book format. Reading/interacting with computers has a tendency to cause me real physical pain, plus I just love the feel of the printed word on the physical (paper) page. Yes, I agree I’m in a whole cake/eat it situation. So it’s good to know that the geeks of the world have got my back. (source the Penguin Blog).

Jay’s been on a bit of a roll lately, especially with these latest photographs.

And lastly, the Movie of the Week
Interview. I’m not sure why this is appealing to me, other than it’s about time Steve Buscemi got a proper role, but it is appealing to me.

And with that I am off to revise for my last exam. In three months time when I’m starting to ponder about doing another evening class, please remind me how much time this one took? Then bash me over the head with a blunt instrument till I see sense. Thank you.

Before we go any further, can I just say – bless random Facebook comments.

Now I’ve got that out the way, what else is there to say? The opening of the Roast has turned into a brief update on my life lately but, well, I’ve got nothing I want to share right now. Yes, even us bloggers have things we like to keep private.

Related to this is that I’ve also been thinking a lot about how “online Cas” differs from “offline Claire Louise”. There is a difference, I know there’s a difference, but the problem is, unless you know me in both environments, it is hard to explain that is exactly. Neko got closest to it when we were talking about this a while back: she said that online I was “Espresso Cas” – all the best bits of Claire filtered and compressed into an intense, caffeine rich Italian drink… Yeah, I think that analogy got away from us a little bit, but I hope you get what she meant. Cas is Claire without all the crippling neuroses and the self esteem that’s low enough for an amoeba to walk over.

Why am I taking up valuable Roasting time with this ill-concieved rambling? Quite simply, it’s been on my mind a bit lately. Several things have happened lately that indicate I’m very soon (as in within the next two weeks) going to have to face the fact that “Cas” and “Claire Louise” are one and the same and that I might actually not be bad at this whole blogging thing.

Which frankly scares the shit out of me. Come on! I’m a blogger, an observer. I commentate, I don’t participate! There’s a reason I write about all these fun things going on elsewhere and don’t actually go to them – I’m a big cowardy, cowardy custard and, what’s more, I’m proud of it. But unfortunately I’m surrounded by people who are determined for me to “succeed” so I have no choice but to crawl out of my lovely cave and actually face the fear.

Damn them.

Privacy International has just announced that Google is hostile to privacy. Ouch. Which brings me to something I wanted to save for a piece I’m writing at the moment on whether you need sign-ins or not on wikis – I bring your attention, if I may, to paragraph four of this article:

Don’t get me wrong. I am a bit concerned about the amount of data Google has on me, but my choice is clear…I can avoid them. Yahoo!, too. They own the social part of me and for that, I get a history of my social interaction.

Couldn’t have put it better my self.

I want to live in Denmark.

Apparently, white people wear sagging pants, too. Can I also point out that, yes, “If you expose your private parts, you’ll get a fine” is a suitable law. But isn’t the whole point of underwear to stop people from seeing your private parts? Silly Americans.

If Dave Winer says it, it must be true, right? In which case I’m not a blogger because I can’t remember the last time I wrote 200 words about anything. So what am I?

Come on people, we’re British, rain is what we’re GOOD at!

I always knew the Cornish were tricky bastards. Well, the Scots and Welsh are already heading that way, so why not the Cornish? And why do I suddenly feel I’m in a Gwyneth Jones novel?

And… That’s it this week. A Roast made up (almost) entirely of news items. Well, these things happen. I’m now off to hover Meadow Towers and to possibly do some revision for my exam on Tuesday. I know I should be doing more work, but frankly the Eight Metaphysical Poets are boring the pants off me and I never was any good at working on things that bore me.

Toodles 🙂

I’m not sure why, but the Sunday Roast has become almost a repository for all my research links lately. I think it’s time I resurrected my del.icio.us account! (Or tried Magnolia again – so pretty). For now though I’m just going to throw those weird social computing/archaeology/wiki/you-WHAT-now?! links that have caught my research eye into the mix with the rest. I will try and flag them up so those of you on the lookout for fun over brain stretching can give them a wide birth, but they are worth a read even if you’re not feeding your research beast like me.

And mine isn’t even an official research beast! Damn Neko and her suggestion that I just do some reading on the side…

Anyway, this is a “Monday Meal” for reasons already enumerated (and check out the comments on that post, btw, for a great tangent into English literature versus language). If you’re curious, the exam went ok(ish). I had to write a letter to my brother about being a governess. Well, I like writing, I have a brother, and I’ve read Jane Eyre a time or ten, so that bit went fine! The analysing of what I’d done was a bit ropier, but then it always is. I got quite attached to my little governess. She had a back story and everything in my head so I could write a convincing letter.

Just a pity we weren’t getting points for originality 😉

News Stuff

Anyone who has had the stupidity to ask “how is it going at work Cas?” lately has already been on the receiving end of my IT rant. Let it just be said that I’m not surprised at the findings of this report.

Skoda have been running an awesome advert lately for the Skoda Fabia where they create the car out of cake… BBC News has a great breakdown of it.

What happens when a mother joins Facebook (thank the lord I’m safe from THAT horror – it was bad enough when my brother commented on Bright Meadow!)

Now I’m a tech-savvy kinda gal. I know enough tricks to get XP to sit up and beg. I can code a semi-decent website out of the ether. I’ve even been known to wrangle the odd bit of Python into a half useable wiki. But show me a VCR and I just can’t get it. No matter how many times she shows me, Moose still always ends up programming it. Digital cameras used to be the same, but I’ve got my head around them now. Not much gets past me in the digital world (at least once I’ve had half an hour to sit down with it and break it in peace and quiet) so I’m in two minds about this NYT piece. So they stress that there are ways to make gadgets ‘women friendly’ other than making them pink but… why do gadgets HAVE to be women friendly? Surely if you make a gadget easy to use it appeals to BOTH genders equally?

For those of you who need two platforms, the new release of Parallels is sounding even better.

Not to be outdone by the Germans who are content with pushing people down the autobahn whilst safe inside a car (google some combination of Smart Car and Autobahn for the story), the Americans have to push a man in a wheelchair.

There’s been a Cabinet Office report that calls for the opening up of public data. Yay and all that jazz, though bad choice of post codes as an example. Post codes are NOT public data. They are proprietary property of Royal Mail and boy do they make you pay for them!

From around the Web

I think it was Rich on Facebook who clued me into this one – the London Book Project is a great idea for spreading good literature by leaving copies of books on the Tube and seeing who picks them up. It’s enough to make me want to go to London to see if I get a book! It reminds me of the backpacking hostels I’ve stayed in over the years that had bookshelves filled with books previous backpackers had left behind. The books were there for you to read whilst you were in the hostel or to take away with you on your travels if you so wished, but the unstated understanding always was that if you had a book you’d finished, you left it at a hostel for someone else to enjoy. You passed it on. A great philosophy 🙂

It turns out, Farenheit 451 is not about censorship after all, but about how television is killing books. OK, so Ray Bradbury is the author so we should listen to what he says, but is it also up to us the reader to bring our own meanings to books? Isn’t that why Shakespeare has survived so long, because we keep bringing new interpretations to the text?

But yeah, I found that interesting.

Got a large wall you want covering in a huge poster, but can’t print bigger than A4? Worry not! The Rasterbator is here! (And try typing THAT one ten times fast whilst drunk 😉 )

A brilliant video explaining RSS in plain english (via Nils)

I think I’ve asked for these before, but nothing happened, so I’m asking again: can I have these Tetris fridge magnets please?

Doing some background reading on Wikipedia, I came across a few interesting pages (and can I take this opportunity again to state how much I *loathe* MediaWiki and all it’s demon spawn?):
Wikipedia: Statistics
Active Wikipeidans

Photosynth has crossed my radar a few times lately – the first time in a room of some very excited Archaeologists, bless their little cotton socks, it was like Christmas had come early – and now they are collaborating with the BBC. If you haven’t heard of Photosynth, it’s a tool to create three dimensional representations from flat photographs and… OK, so that doesn’t sound very sexy, but TRUST ME, it will get your geek on.

What are YOU doing in December? (I might be pretending I’m still an Archaeologist 😉 )

Movie Goodness!

I Am Legend – I read the book a month or so back. Short, but full of spine tingling terror, and I suspect on future readings it will be even better/worse. This could make a bloody good movie, though I’m dreading a ‘Hollywood’ ending.

And that’s me done for this week. I’m off to bask in the nostalgic goodness that is the original series of Battlestar Galactica (oh that hair!) and to quietly wig out at my email inbox once again. Yes, the time has come for Cas to possibly accept if you talk long enough, people will listen, but… I’m a blogger! We observe and comment! We don’t do!

OK, so this isn’t the Sunday Roast, but I figured I’d at least let give you an explanation this time as to why you’re not getting what you’re all starting to rely on.

I have an exam tomorrow that I have to do some frantic last minute revision for. Yes, I could have done revision and/or written the Roast during the day, but, well, I woke up late and then went into town for coffee.

Much more fun than revision and, if I’m being truly honest here, much more fun than writing the Roast!

I shan’t keep you hanging in there too long though. You have my word that when I get home from the exam tomorrow I shall knuckle on down and write you that Roast. And now, I am off to do what I should have been doing for the last few weeks, which is revise English Language like crazy. To think, I paid and volunteered for this torture!

It seems that a few of you are a little narked that I didn’t Roast anything last Sunday. My explanation is that I got taken away for the day to paddle on the beach and look at some old cars. I had a lovely time playing with my SLR, wasting rolls of film, getting hypothermia, and not blogging for the day.

Whilst I did neglect y’all shamelessly, on the plus side, you get a bumper Roast to make up for it this week 😀

Things in the News:

Forgive me if I’m a little behind the curve on this one, but Keele university is joining the crowd of those cracking down on Facebook. Perhaps because I can’t access Facebook at work (SurfControl considers it “dating” *rolleyes*) I’m not all together surprised. I will ask what are “legitimate ways to express dissatisfaction”? There are plenty of times when you just need to vent steam without lodging a formal complaint. Hell, the number of times we sat in the courtyard and spouted off about our lecturers at Uni! How does Facebook differ? (I know the answer: permanency, I’m just posing a hypothetical).

On a related note, I read something this past week about the differing natures of web control between East and West. Something along the lines of the difference between restricting personal opinions, who-can-say-what-and-where, copyrighted data etc, but I’ll be damned if I can find it. Sadly Google still can’t read my brain to find me what I want when my query is so ill defined.

*edit*

Oh, web serendipity, how I love thee! Found it. Read, think about, discuss at your leisure 🙂

Privacy on the Net is a big thing for a lot of people. Personally I’m making peace with the whole thing – yes, people could gather one hell of a lot about me online, but why the frell would they actually want to!? – but whether such a pragmatic approach is wise is another matter. Until the day I decide to take up the fight for myself, at least the EU is stepping up.

In keeping with my Facebook exploration, is it possible to be too old for networking?

One smart chap in the States has invented a way of tracking graffiti. And here was me thinking it could be done with some pins in a map.

There’s been a teeny bit of broo-ha-ha this week over Google’s new Street View and the identifiable pictures of people that are cropping up. Privacy concerns and all that. Go else where for reasoned debate on this subject – I’m linking to this NYT story for the sole reason of the quote they use in the second paragraph:

“If the government was doing this, people would be outraged”

I’m sorry honey, but what makes you think the government AREN’T doing this? Who do you think owns/controls the satellites that Google gets its images FROM?

Web-Bits:

Liverpool museum a while back launched an exhibition partly using Flickr pictures to build an idea of how Liverpool was/is. Now Tate Britain is joining in on the act and you can still take part.

This has GOT to be breaking the law, or at least a few health & safety guidelines.

You know it’s been a bad week at work when your minions are emailing you things for the roast – We Has Tribbles and Also Troubles (thanks illyna – *hugs* sweetie 🙂 )

You know Wikipedia has hit the mainstream when government websites are linking to it (click on the links to the Gunning Fog and Flesch-Kincaid tests). Where do I start to say what is wrong with this? It’s a government website linking to information that anyone can edit and alter. Yes, wisdom of the group etc. You can argue that the information is self correcting. Any gross errors will be found and corrected. But Wikipedia has no authority other than that we grant it. It is wonderful to get background on an idea, but it is not the final answer, or at least it never should be and to point to it from a government page that is meant itself to be a resource? It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Wikipedia and the web.

Feel free to argue with me on this point of course – it’s why I love the field. We’re making the rules up as we go along. (And thanks to Moose for finding it in the first place and pointing it out to me).

My Head Hurts.

Is the web for you about information or relationships? I suggest you also read the comments on Liz’s excellent post.

Which in turn brings me to something Neko said to me a few weeks back as we basked in the sun (I paraphrase):

They’re not exactly comments on your blog, are they? I mean, often it’s a whole new conversation. That’s what I like about it and what I think it’s all about – getting people talking.

To say I could have kissed her then and there is an understatement. She gets it. I made the decision early on to always respond to comments here on Bright Meadow – as well as just being polite, it means I’m not just talking to the dog. I keep forgetting that this isn’t, actually, the norm. I’ve commented on more than a few blogs lately where my comment was just ignored: one case in particular springs to mind because it was the first time I’d dared to comment on this blog. I’m a reluctant commenter at the best of times and to be ignored so totally, not just by the blog owner but by the other commenters… Well, it crystalised two things for me: 1) I won’t be commenting there again and 2) how lucky I am here at Bright Meadow. Y’all seem to get it as well. *hugs* to the lot of you, and now go spread the word.

Movies to (possibly) see:

The Kingdom – my personal distaste of violence and war aside, this looks like it could be worth a watch. Or it could be one huge diatribe why America is great, how the entire Middle East is one terrorist breeding ground, and how the good old USA needs to go stomping over the place armed with rocket launchers. Or am I just being cynical?

Fido – zombies as slaves…

Rise: Blood Hunter – nothing like a good vampire flick to make a girl excited.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets – so the first movie was more than a little pants, but Nic Cage… The first two thirds of the trail are boring as hell, what with all the exposition and the golden writing, but it’s worth it for the few seconds of live action you get. Funny.

And that’s me finished for the day. To look at this post you wouldn’t think it’s taken me near four hours to write, but it has, so you’d better bloody enjoy it! 😉

So I’m writing this roast instead of doing revision (don’t tell my parents!). I did have oodles of things bookmarked to share with you this week, but somehow when I re-read them all, most of them just didn’t seem worth it. In fact, the only piece of news that still even mildly amuses me is the Illinois baby who got a gun permit. To be fair, I’m not sure why I feel it isn’t a good roast unless there’s something from the BBC or NYT in there, but it might be something to do with wanting to make a good impression. I do read serious stuff online, honestly!

But who am I trying to kid? I’m really just as a frivolous an air-head as the next ditzy brunette. So here’s some other stuff from around the web this week that WASN’T in the news:

(forgive me if my intros/explanations are lacking something this week. My brain is a bit busy trying to remember the finer points of English grammar, styles of rhetoric and why Don John was such an evil bastard in Much Ado to locate my usual zing).

Oh, and not for nothing – I’m noticing a slight trend in my reading back towards the more serious/thought provoking and away from the frivolous. I blame Neko and her “just do research in your own time, who needs a PHd” idea. I doubt this trend will last long though, so don’t worry your pretty little heads too much. Just look on it as an opportunity to expand your horizons along with me 😉

Trust is an Externality – a musing I would probably lightly maim someone to be able to write. Ooodles of thought provoking ideas.

I’m starting to have a few feelings coalescing into baby ideas around the idea of the online/offline divide and how invested people can get in mediated social spaces. I’m not sure how much these idea-germs are original and how much derivative, but I do have the inkling there’s something to be said in there somewhere. To that end, I’m starting to collect evidence and this Wired article on virtual rape, while unsavoury, provokes some interesting questions.

I love it when science fiction meets up with reality. Wired have a great piece of neuroplasticity and training the brain to ‘see’ with other senses.

I didn’t realise that typeface was such a contentious issue till I got embroiled with the design department at work and we went head-to-head over fonts and the like (Arial size 12, by the way, is NOT the answer to all problems!). I’m only just starting to appreciate the finer of points of, say, Info over Garamond or kerning, anti-aliasing, point sizes and serifs, but shoot me if I ever get this obsessed!

I bring you the Kitty Keyboard Cover, because it’s important that you deny your feline friend the fun of ruining your work.

Luckily y’all who comment here at Bright Meadow are lovely people who know how to place nicely with others and I’ve only had two or three really nasty comments. But not everywhere is as friendly as this little blog, and trolling is a genuine problem out there – here are some tips on how to deal with them.

For all you LOLCAT lovers out there.

Something doesn’t taste quite right to me about this timeline of the past, present and future of the Web. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m getting that feeling which is my inner research spidy-sense tingling. And it’s not just the glorious use of the Flickr colours on that graph.

Tyme’s article on online communications and crossing boundaries links in nicely to something of danah’s I was listening to on the bus with regard the lack of visual clues online. There’s a whole other ramble I won’t go into now because 1) it will bore you and 2) I’ve not written it yet. Let me get this A Level out the way, then let me have my two week holiday, and I promise I’ll get writing again.

I really have no use for this theme but it did make me have a giggle of glee when I discovered it thanks to Anne’s computer setup.

For all you anthropologists out there, through the power of Flickr, I can bring you the secret life of Gummy Bears.

I think anyone who’s read more than a page of Bright Meadow will have some inkling that I’m interested in this whole emerging online thing and how people are using the new mediums to do old things – the 6 Million People Flickr group is leveraging the online community beautifully to try and create a new form of the traditional memorial.

If only you could favourite whole sets on Flickr – Brighton graffiti

And because I always like to end with something that will stay with you – You Are A Pirate!

Here would be where I normally write something witty and funny and describe my week in a pithy manner. Um, sorry folks, no can do. Things happened, I know they did, just they aren’t very interesting. But I will say this: the RLO has upped his Facebook stalking and is now besmirching my reputation across the ‘net by denying that I can make quilts. I so can you disbelieving… Oh, I can’t think of something rude enough to say, so I’m just going to content myself with sticking my tongue out at you and holding back favours at work. Hell hath no fury like besmirched Project Support 😛 😉

And now that I have quite gleefully said more than I should on the blog, it’s on with the show.

A new school being built in Peterborough is to have no playground. And where precisely do they expect the kids to go on their breaks? And to get the fresh air and exercise that everyone is pretty much convinced actually HELPS children learn?

A web-based TV channel for deaf viewers has launched.

Everyone’s favourite astronomer, Patrick Moore has blammed silly TV on women. And then called for separate channels. It’s all because we’ve gone PC and made women commanders, apparently… Nope, I just don’t have the words for this one.

As someone who’s known she’s allergic to artificial colours and flavourings for a LONG time, this warning is hardly news to me. Ah, E102, E124, E110, E122, E104 and E129, my arch-nemesisis. Your days are numbered.

From a country that still has no seat-belt laws (and what is with that insanity btw?!) talk of banning texting whilst driving is a big thing. Who cares if it’s a “challenge for law enforcement”, it’s the right thing! (Mobile phones & driving is a big hobby-horse for me. Don’t get me started!)

Jay has just the thing for a soggy Sunday afternoon – Toblerone Fudge (and come back to the comments Jay, we miss you!)

I love it when I find new blogs and as we all know how much I like to share, here’s the latest gem I’ve discovered: Anne Helmond’s blog and the post that snaffled me.

Ever wondered why there are no unicorns in heaven?

We’re always quick to broadcast bad customer experiences on the internet, but we rarely trumpet good service. Well, I want to share the good experience I had with Dolphin Music. The Brother Dearest wanted some guitar pedal thingy for his birthday and provided a link to what he wanted on the Dolphin website. Now normally I would have then gone to see if I could find it cheaper elsewhere or on a site I knew and trusted (e.g., Amazon) but as I wouldn’t know a decent sustain pedal if it got up and introduced itself, I decided to go with the one that I had the link for. At least I knew I would be getting the right one! So I added it to my basket, payed for it, and waited. This was on a Sunday midday-ish. I shortly got the email saying “thank you for your order” and an hour later I got an email from Dolphin telling me that my order of 1x sustain pedal had been dispatched. They then proceeded to provided me with the name of the courier, the tracking number, and links to the various ways I could track my order. I was told to expect my purchase within about 48 hours but that the courier could tell me more. Sure enough, I got home from work on Tuesday to find one sustain pedal had arrived in the post. I expect I would have got it on Monday if it hadn’t been a bank holiday…

So far so average, though the extra tracking information was nice. What made me go “oooh!” was an email I got on Friday that said

“Thank you for your recent order with Dolphin Music. Your order was shipped on *DATE* and you should have received it by now. If you haven’t then please call us on *FREEPHONE NUMBER* and we’ll see what’s happened”

It then went on to clearly state their returns policy in case they’d delivered the wrong thing and just generally be nice and unexpectedly helpful. The kind of service you expect from a small family firm that genuinely cares about it’s customers, not a faceless internet organisation. Bravo Dolphin Music I say, bravo!

(And just checking the website again, I thought they looked familiar – they have a shop in Liverpool that was a favourite ‘lurk and lust’ venue for both my brother and myself)

Pretty art and the thinkspace gallery.

My Flickr Score is 1790. What’s yours?

What do you get when you cross art, literature, and modern printing techniques? 41 Places of course.

And that’s it. I’m off to work on more of The Never Ending Quilt that I promised the Crazy Canalman two years ago (eek) and then provide coffee and towels to Brother Dearest, the Crazy Canalman and S who’ve been out on a boat in the English Channel all weekend. My family are just certifiable.