Net culture
I’m in two minds about the kids using Wikipedia as a reference. On the one hand, it’s known to be a generally accurate source of information, with studies showing it can rival the big commercial encyclopaedias such as Britannica. And I love the idea of the information in it being free, helping to spread knowledge ... [More]
I’m told some people are having trouble reading this web site. Some text goes under the right hand navigation. It seems to be a problem with Internet Explorer 6. Not sure why it’s happening more right now than usual. Until I get it fixed, those affected can try this workaround: Select all text (eg Ctrl-A) ... [More]
For his birthday, Andrew asked for a few bloggers to post something on a topic of his choosing. He asked me for: The time you had such a bad experience on public transport that you rang the minister or one of his minions, or similar. I had a think about this, and I don’t think ... [More]
The more observant amongst you may have noticed the Twitter Updates thingy on the right hand side of the web page. Yes, I’m dabbling in micro-blogging. I’m not totally convinced it’s worth the trouble, but having seen examples where it’s shown its uses, I thought I’d give it a go, particularly when I found the ... [More]
The results from the birthday extravanganza of comments, as at this morning (80 responses, in 84 comments)… Average age: 38.21 Median age: 36 Range: 18 to 65 Wow. Thanks to all who responded, and thanks for the birthday wishes! And a special happy birthday also to Paul, Shaun and Graeme, who it turns out also ... [More]
I write on various blogs regularly. (Okay, some aren’t really meant to be blogs, but use blogging software.) You bash out some text, hit Post and you’re done. Just try writing for a paper medium though. I’ve been putting together the latest PTUA newsletter, which gets posted out on (recycled) paper to members. 7 pages ... [More]
Wikipedia started a fundraising drive in December, and given the value I get out of it, I decided to contribute. Happily, I chose a day when all donations were being matched by some anonymous donor, which was a bonus. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks after Christmas, I got a Christmas card from ... [More]
Star “Sarcasmo” Foster has passed away, aged 33. (via Ren) I have to admit I didn’t regularly read her blog, but it’s always sad to hear a peer (of sorts; however distant) is no more, especially at such a young age. PS. Andy’s pulled together a list of posts on this sad event. Tue 31 ... [More]
Before there was this blog on danielbowen.com, it was on toxiccustard.com. And before it was a blog at all, it was an email list. And actually the email list still exists, sending out the weekly extract of this blog, as well as the Guide to Australia (when I get around to updating it) and News ... [More]
“Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them.” — Aaron Sorkin (creator of the West Wing) I don’t know if the people who leave comments here necessarily disagree with me, but they do seem to be pretty smart. Over the past week I’ve learnt of ... [More]
Daniel wears Glo-Weave shirts. He shops at Safeway. He loves Weetbix for breakfast, and always includes Leggo tomato paste in his spag bol. A while back I decided to play around with Google ads on a few pages: Here, here and on Geekrant.org. To my utter surprise, it’s now earning US$5-9 per month. Which is ... [More]
A little project originally I started about two years ago — to move my entire online diary (which goes back to 1994) into WordPress — has finally been completed. I’ll spare you the boredom of the details of trying to write programs to convert the old handwritten HTML into something I could import, and instead ... [More]