Category: Life
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Radiohead Ate My PC
Unless you’ve just emerged from a coma (in which case you have probably have better things to do than read this ‘blog) you’ll no doubt be aware that Radiohead‘s latest album In Rainbows was released last Wednesday (10th October 2007). In typically contrary style, Radiohead have eschewed the traditional release approach, and have made the new album available as a (effectively) free download. This is not a new tactic – Dead Heart Bloom did the same thing with both of their first two albums. What made Radiohead unique is that they left the price up to the individual purchaser – “It’s… Read more
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Black Boys on Mopeds
I’m in Manchester (England, not North Carolina) for the week, facilitating a Knowledge Management workshop. For those not in the know, Knowledge Management basically involves defining and implementing a strategy for capturing an organization’s knowledge (which may be on LANs, paper, individual PCs, or in people’s brains), organizing this so that the information can easily be found, and sticking it all somewhere that everyone who needs it has access to it. I guess it’s not much of an issue in a small company, but when you’ve got several hundred people who are globally distributed (principally Manchester, Bangkok, and Guatemala) who… Read more
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America: Zero Tolerance
Americans must have zero tolerance for pain. Last week I had one of my remaining two wisdom teeth extracted (the final one being so calcified over with bone that to remove it would mean cutting a hole in my jaw, which I didn’t fancy). I scheduled my appointment for 8:00am to minimize the interruption to my workday, and drove there straight from the office (where I’d already fitted in 2 or 3 hours of work). The first red flag went up when the receptionist asked me who had come with me to “take me home, afterwards” as I’d be in… Read more
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Whatever happened to BeerScene?
I know it’s hard to believe from the truly amateur feel of this blogsite, but this isn’t my first foray into Web development. In fact, this is the fourth or fifth website I’ve put together. My first (and most widely-read) website was BeerScene. I still get asked about this every so often, so for historical record, here’s the full story. Back in the day (some 15 years ago), I was involved in the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in England. This is a consumer organization that promotes ‘real’ beer – i.e. not the mass-produced, over-chilled, artifically-carbonated beer that dominates the industry. … Read more