Don't do much evil

Turns out evil isn't as black and white as you might think. Google checked against a whole scale of evil before making their recent China decision.

So Much To Say

Beautiful two-page comic from Eleanor Davis.

Music Genome Project

Pandora is a neat site which creates a radio station based on music similar to stuff you tell it you like. (Thanks to Guy for the link!)

Spot the unusual cafe feature

It happens all the time: I am sitting down enjoying a cup of coffee, when I realise that I'm looking somewhat pasty and white, and that I must so something about this straight away. Finally, the answer, in a Peterborough cafe.

Balls

We went shopping earlier, and I was able to relive the scary experience I had at Tesco Bar Hill last week. At the time I was shopping for bits for the office, and so was going around the non-grocery aisles which I normally avoid. During my perambulations, I happened to spot a number of fitness balance balls. Now, since taking up pilates, my parents have been urging me to acquire one of these, so I was sufficiently tuned in to notice them all. But they were everywhere! I passed no less than 5 distinct varieties, not all together, but spread out throughout various sections of the store - Fitness, Seasonal, Pilates/yoga (in an entirely different area to Fitness). I even thought I spotted tie-dyed balance balls, which I dismissed as a Tesco-induced hallucination, or perhaps a mangled shelf labelling system. Tie-dyed yoga mat bags seemed much more likely (yes, these not only exist, but are all over the online yoga shops I've looked at).

However, I was mistaken. Today I finally gave in and decided to get a ball, and also the Pilates ring I've been hankering after since we started using them in class. In John Lewis, it is clear that Pilates has become extremely mainstream (how depressing! There I was, thinking that for once I was still somewhat ahead of the curve having moved on a little from yoga). Not only could I choose between several manufacturers of silver/grey balance balls, in kits in combination with pumps or DVDs or hand weights, there were also pink-and-orange paisley or tie-dyed pattern ones! So I wasn't imagining them at Tesco, amazingly. I came home with a transparent green ball (no pump, but it did come with a lovely matching green string bag for storage) and a ring. After an exhausting 15 minutes I managed to inflate the ball (this is clearly why they are sometimes sold as workout balls), but then after I'd put the foot pump away I decided it wasn't fully inflated enough for me to sit on it correctly, so I'll have to have another go at that later. It's never going back in its string bag, though, that much is clear.

Anniversary

Today is my Smart's first birthday! To celebrate this I am baking a cake (currently looking extremely flat in the oven, ho hum) which will hopefully be edible in time for my post-PhD party tonight. Our first guest has arrived, bearing Krispy Kremes, mmm, which will not survive until later I fear. Also, Happy Birthday to Ambo, who amazingly shares today with my car :)

My new friend

I feel rather like Bristow now. I'd offer him some biscuit crumbs, but I fear that if I open the window at all I will freeze to death.

Smart rumour #532

Only yesterday I was talking to someone who asked me whether Smart also made motorbikes, and now this!

Work

We're only lacking a fridge, and the half of the cupboard for which Ikea delivered the wrong parts. We have net access, and so can continue to use Skype for phone calls too.

The spelling mistake worth billions and other stories

Usually I don't get much further through the LRB than the ever-delightful personal ads (a particularly fine crop, this issue, I thought, although more transparent than some batches). There's a intriguing review of The Google Story there too at the moment. In the Guardian, Tim Dowling has an amusing article about the rise of the podcast; good to know my decision not to bother with podcasts, with the exception of certain Radio 4 programmes and a very few quality lectures, was the right one.

Bring some joy into your life...

with FlyGuy. Made me happy.

Productivity Hacking

The awesome dudes over at MySociety have set up a site to bug you randomly via email until you do stuff - HassleMe. Like a helpful but annoying friend, only less personal (there's no one to hit when you can't take it any more). When they add in support for hassle over IM, I might actually get things done!

Interior Decoration

The new CAPE building has the poorest communal area of any workplace I have ever seen. Not only is there an almost total absence of natural light, the box-like walls are matt white, enlivened only by a few orange and pink rectangles painted on. I appreciate there were probably budget constraints, but still, they would have been better off leaving it plain, or perhaps getting some art students in and giving them cheap paint. An improvement could be implemented by the unfortunate occupants themselves: retro game art using postits. If the pixelated designs were of photonic or electronic devices, they would even be appropriate to the building.

It must be Gender Issues Thursday

Mildly interesting article about Alison Richards, who is making waves at a male-dominated level of academia. Further down the chain, Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G) seem to be taking off. One can only hope that they do the right things, given the funding and press coverage they are getting. At a Women@CL talk about CC4G last year, concerns were raised about whether the girls were actually aware of the computer science behind the fun, pink activities, and the organisers weren't very reassuring on that score unfortunately. They also seemed quite happy to blow large amounts of cash on software, which seemed a poor choice, when they could have gone open source. This is reflected somewhat in the article - girls learning MS PowerPoint skills, eh? - not exactly computer science. I bet the "geeky, long-haired boys playing war games" (I quote) stereotypically associated with ICT won't be using PowerPoint when they hack around on computers, so whether CC4G is going to help these girls compete in the technology workplace of the future is debatable.

The Indy also has a piece about the history of cross-dressing, perhaps timed to coincide with the release of Breakfast on Pluto this weekend (recommended to me by a US-based friend). I was starting to feel I was hanging out at the Picturehouse a little too much, but I've since found that there are people who go there more often than me, even watching multiple films each week, perhaps due to not having a telly - good for them :-) So now I don't feel too predictable, despite planning to go again this weekend.

Back to an online debate about the genders of various flavours and incarnations of Mac...

Geek Week

Newsnight has been running a week about technology and Silicon Valley, and includes a broadcast by Paxman et al in Second Life in which MMORPGs and other online environments are discussed. It's worth watching if you aren't well up on these things. I'm not that online (yet), but it's interesting to see Newsnight covering these issues, especially in CES week, when a lot of technology reporting has been of variable quality (I've heard too many reporters saying how CES is showcasing nerdy products, when these are items which regular consumers will be buying this year).

Sunday roundup

Cuteness vs beauty in the NYT, both being irrelevant for
platonic friendships (in the Independent), and if that's all too much for you to cope with, find out which sorrow-drowning wines to buy at your local supermarket by picking 17+ rated ones at Superplonk.

Lowering the Tone

I'm hanging out with a dodgy crowd these days. People who actually, regularly, voluntarily eat fudge from the Kings Parade fudge shop. People who don't like cheese made from goats' milk. And people who go to Ukelele Orchestra gigs and rave about them, until I get worn down (doesn't take long) and end up filling my ipod a little more with covers of Ms Dynamite amongst others. I'm enjoying them though :-) Whoever said online forums were strange?

Resolution

I don't normally do this, but I'm planning to do some different things with my life this year. It always seems to be in vogue to resolve change one's life, to become a whole new person. That seems like both a lot of effort, and also somewhat alarming - what if one didn't like what one became? Instead, I'm aiming to be more like me this year. Being how I like to be and doing the things I like; not just taking the easy choices, but setting my personal priorities above others', and trying to keep to them.

All the best for 2006.