I’ve been testing out Movable Type today. I really like it. I actually prefer the design to Wordpress - which most people like, but I find a total pain in the arse for a number of reasons. But there are various reasons why I can’t use either MT or Wordpress for the project I’m planning. I shall have to keep on looking. I think I may have found an option, but it’ll have to wait.
The security restrictions have been relaxed at airports. Hand luggage is now allowed, but there’s still no liquids. Laptops must be removed from hand luggage for scanning.
Imagine if you could control this with Front Row.
Is there any good reason why a flight from Paris to Boston via London should cost £382 while the same flight direct from London to Boston costs £524?
Deus ex polytechnica
In today’s post, there was some advertising bumpf (technical term) addressed to my dear mum from the so-called university that ruined a large chunk of 2003 and 2004 for me, and also took a big old chuk of my cash as part of the privilege. Just for a sort of Groucho Marx kind of trip, I thought I’d send them a funny if slightly pointless e-mail in response. It is as I sent it, except it has the last sentence (which mostly consists of my address) removed. I also thought I’d cut out the name of the addressee of the e-mail.
My parents received a copy of the Family Newsletter today, despite the fact that I dropped out from my excruciatingly rubbish course back in 2004. I have emailed at least four different people within the university on the following dates to inform them that I have left: the 12th of July 2004, the 14th of July 2004, the 11th of October 2004, the 18th of January 2005, the 27th of January 2005, the 14th of February 2005 and the 12th of October 2005. Evidently, the message has not quite sunk in.
Has the fact that I have not attended the uninformative and pedestrian lectures offered by the department any time in the last two years not indicated my absence to the University? Or perhaps the fact that I have not submitted any essays or sat for any exams? Perhaps I have not sufficiently left - I am there in spirit but not in body? Or I am there in the form of a zombie wandering aimlessly around the campus? If this is the case, perhaps you could find a lecture in media studies, semiotic analysis of Posh and Becks or something equally useful and my disembodied spirit, I am fairly sure, will be most happy to lead it.
Failing that, can you please ensure that both me and my parents are removed from any further mailings?
Yours cordially,
Tom Morris
What university is this? Well, it isn’t a university. It’s a post-1992 university, which means it’s really a polytechnic that’s been briefly shoved under the shower and, as one person on the Internet puts it, “give degrees like confetti”. When I was there, it had the highest drop out rate in the country (1 in 2 people who started a course would not finish). Since leaving, they have also lowered their pass mark to 26% for some students.
Kent and Rogers Cadenhead both think that Steve Gillmor’s gone off the rails. My opinion? I like Steve - I think he’s one of the more interesting characters out there. I’ve laughed more listening to the Gillmor Gang than I have at a lot of professional comedians. But his writing has become self-referential and dense. He’s great to listen to, but I haven’t got the patience to read him anymore. Sorry mate, you’ve lost my attention.
