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It’s hasn’t really sunk in yet, but then I arrived after dark and didn’t really see much so I could be anywhere really. I did get a quick look at the new Selfridges building in the Bull Ring from the bus and it didn’t look as big as I was expecting, though still quite impressive. Tomorrow I’ll be going into the city centre job hunting so it’ll probably hit me then.

I’m back living in Birmingham after three+ years away. And it’s mine, in that I’m paying rest for half of it, the first time I’ve paid rent since February. This chapter of the big adventure is finally over and the next one begins. And it’s all very exciting.

Overheard the midwife visiting this morning. Aparently there’s a current trend for firemen to be new fathers because, according to her, of the strike last winter. So if the country wants to increase the birth rate, what with all these old people not dying and requiring pensions and stuff, all it has to do is reduce working hours.

Jason Kottke has come up with one of the weirdest ideas that at first glance seems completely fucked but on reflection…

As the next step in the utilization of the Web in his campaign, Howard Dean should open up a b3ta-like forum for people who want to create digital media (photos, movies, music, Flash animations, etc.) related to Dean and the election.

The idea itself is sound but the image of a US presidential campaign overflowing with kitten, polar bears and animates gifs… Actually, maybe that would be a good thing.

I was going to LinkFarm this one but it’s just too good. Artists buys 61 used Tickle Me Elmo dolls off eBay. Artists decapitates each doll and mounts heads on plaques. Artist then skins dolls and makes coat from pelt. After the obligatory exhibition artist then sells everything on eBay again. Photos here, eBay auctions here, link gratefully found on Boing Boing.

This question just popped into my mind. Essentially, does an RSS feed of something negate copyright?

Take for example the Tapestry RSS feeds of major syndicated newspaper strips. Newspapers pay a resonable fee for the right to publish these strips in their publication becuase they know they bring in regular readers (along with other ‘minor’ features such as crosswords, cookery pages, horoscopes, etc.). These papers don’t often put the same strips on their online editions because they don’t want to lose paying readers (for example, the Guardian recently started charging for their online crossword).

More relavently, the websites for these strips are chock full of advertising. The RSS feeds from Tapestry are not. They just have the strip, a link to the site and nothing else. So reading the strip on an RSS aggregator (such as Bloglines) removes this income.

All fine and simple. However, what if I were to include the feed for, say, Peanuts on this site? Would I be breaking the law? Sure, the work is copyrighted but it’s being made available, in full and with no extra bits, via RSS.

Is this a bad thing?

I have and it made me very happy indeed. So happy I had to clamp my hand over my mouth and leave the room to bang (quietly) on the wall.

You could sell tickets for this kind of thing…

Yes, baby Isobel is home, finally, and it’s all very odd. For example dinner was disrupted as she needed feeding just as Jeff and I had cooked the food. And then it was nappy time. And then more feeding. Food back in the oven. And then there’s these strange noises that sound a bit like a cat only quieter and with occasional gurgles. No raging screams though. Yet.

According to this article in the Observer, Guardian Media Group have joined forces with Satan (and others) to lobby to government to dismantle most of the useful bits of BBCi. I read the Guardian not just because I agree with a lot of the politics but because it’s one of the few national newspapers that is not owned by a ruthless megalomaniac intent on world domination. And they have good cartoons. This move is worrying. I’d have hoped GMG would realise the benefit of a publicly funded body providing the framework for a richer internet rather than being crippled into an online version of the Radio Times. BBC TV has been reduced to turgid crap (I had the misfortune to watch the 6.00pm BBC1 news with my jaw on the floor last week) and it’s outposts such as BBCi that actually justify the licence fee.

Fact is I don’t really use BBCi that much other than to check breaking news if I hear something has happened but I do like to stream radio shows on demand and if that got removed then I’d be quite upset.

So I’m sorry to read this. My respect for the Guardian has been reduced a notch. Sigh…

(link via MetaFilter)

Back in the old days, like before the web was all that, you know, 1997 or thereabouts, BugPowder was not a website but a mail order service for small press and mini comics from all over the world. One of the non-UK cartoonists I was really pleased to be selling was Canadian (I think, or was he a Yank?) Robin Bougie who along with a select gang of tooners published their comics under the banner “Minds Eye Comics Presents”. What made them special was the range. One comic I remember was called Vincent starring a toy panda and other random soft toys Bougie and his girlfriend had picked up at thrift stores - all very cute and nice. Then on the other hand he’d do some of the most explicit depraved sex-stuff while keeping a definite sense of humour going.

Whatever, I was delighted to stumble across his name at the top of the hundred worst porn movie titles page (I said delighted, not surprised) and while that link didn’t I went a googling. And there he was, still drawing and, it seems, still publishing zines.

Oh happy day…

The stats service I use gives me the last 20 referers to this site and then the last 20 search engine searches. Currently these two listings are identical give or take two or three. Now, back in the day I didn’t mind getting this kind of traffic but it’s getting kinda silly when 85% of my readership is coming from Google. It also renders totally void the seemingly impressive increase in visitors this site has had over the last few months. Am I getting more popular? Or is Google just indexing me like a rabid dog? I suspect the latter so I’m running a wee experiment. During the next month Google will NOT be indexing this site thanks to the robots.txt file I’ve uploaded (more info here). By the start of October all my pages should be off the Google site and by November I should have a good idea of how many actual readers this site has.

In the meanwhile, howabout a listing of non-search engine referals? That’d be, like, useful.

I must say I’ve been deeply impressed with Fraser Blogjam’s J-Blogjam sidebarblog dedicated to weird-assed Japanese 2-Channel flash animation. I first came across this hybrid of ascii and flash last November and since then Blogjam has been on the case, so much so that it all now seems perfectly normal. Well, normal in a really fucked up kinda way.

Anyway, J-Blogjam today informs that there’s currently a festival of sorts going on called Super Flash, should you fancy a wee primer in navigating Japanese web sites for fun and profit.

Yesterday, after a week of waiting and false starts, I finally got some work out of the temp agency. The lack of work was really a blessing as I’ve been able to play dogsbody for Lucy and Jeff about the house but it did also feel good to be off earning again. Only the shift was from ten to six. That’s 10pm to 6 am. Night shift joy awaited. Luckily I had some advance warning so, after visiting Isobel and Lucy at the hospital with new step-grandma April in the afternoon, I caught a couple of hours kip before setting out.
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Which does sound rather painful but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Popism, a blog that quite pleasently surprised me to the level where I’m rather distressed to see how infrequently it’s updated, has a nice wee collection of interesting radio shows available online. Since the permalinks ain’t working I’ll take the liberty of cutnpasting in full:

Since getting broadband, we’ve been marvelling at the wonders of online radio: why suffer Sara Cox in the mornings when you can enjoy avante-garde sound installations with your cornflakes (thank you Resonance)? Protein stream a range of leftfield shows from the likes of Nag Nag Nag as well as the charmingly named Mullet Disco. Until its untimely demise just over a year ago, Ammocity provided superb broadcasts from dozens of the best DJs and clubs. Let’s hope they live up to that with their relaunch. Ninja Tune’s Solid Steel shows have been banished from BBC London but survive online, including archive shows. Warp Records host a variety of out-there electronica broadcasts, including an excellent Chris Morris mix. Totally Radio host programmes from Artrocker and Careless Talk Costs Lives.

Quality service there. I’m currently listening to a long recording of someone seemingly sandpapering something on Resonance and life has become that fraction more worth living for as a result.

Update: Just had a mail from Richard who runs Popism informing a similar blog No Rock and Roll Fun which is updated every minute by the looks of it and is very readable indeed, even if you’re not 100% familiar with some of the popular beat combos under analysis. Music blogs, hmm… Not something I’ve paid too much attention to before…

So I went to the hospital today to meet my niece for the first time and boy is it a kick-ass experience. Here’s some photos taken, rapidly bashed up to Fotopic.

Aww.