In today’s Observer [via Hak]: On Tuesday the BBC launches the return of Doctor Who after an absence of nine years. The first episode of the new series, by Russell T Davies, writer of Queer as Folk and Doctor Who’s new creative director, will be screened at the end of this month… …this time the […]
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06Mar05 — 1
NO PENISES
Despite years of renting I have never encountered one of those “NO DOGS, NO BLACKS, NO IRISH” signs that used to pock the British landscape. Everyone who knows me will, however, have heard my Mrs Turpey story. They can skip everything up to the last paragraph. I was working for the university in Oxford in […]
Read More06Mar05 — 0
Hold The Front Page
I’ve just heard a radio ad for the annual national Comic Relief campaign. (For one day every year Brits get themselves sponsored to do silly things for charity.) The radio spot featured thanks and testimony from a previous beneficiary of the fund: Yousef, a gay asylum seeker who sought refuge in Britain because homosexuality is […]
Read More05Mar05 — 0
Catching
Scientific American writes about EpiSims, a program that simulates the spread of an infectious disease throughout a population, taking into account the social interactions of the people within it. [via Slashdot] This is a good time to point out that I conflated a couple of different issues when I rambled about the spread of HIV […]
Read More04Mar05 — 5
TD-ous
The Genome Campus library subscribes to several publications that I have to force myself only to skim read. If I don’t there’s a good chance I’ll throw them across its outer reading room and stamp on them and Joan the Head Librarian will have to report me to Security again. One, obviously, is The Independent, […]
Read More03Mar05 — 0
Anti-Striptease
If you have Flash installed in your browser, this is a pleasing diversion. [via The Motley Fool]
Read More02Mar05 — 2
Iran’s Nuclear Programme: The Truth
The BBC has a round-up of “experts’” views on “Iran’s nuclear crisis”. Helpfully, after the introduction to the piece, each comment is abstracted to a single line. One of the wise men questioned by Auntie—Sanam Vakil, of the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington—offers this new insight into the affair: “The Iranians need some really big […]
Read More01Mar05 — 3
The Price Of Imperialism
Under the headline “Asylum Falling Around The World”, The Beeb reports the United Nations reporting that: “The number of asylum seekers coming to the industrialised world fell by a fifth in 2004 to its lowest level in 16 years, according to the United Nations.” . . . “…the number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and […]
Read More01Mar05 — 0
Still Borked
I wrote too soon. The verification system for comments is choking on even the most basic HTML. When I get a chance I’ll try to fix it. This is getting bone-crushingly dull.
Read More01Mar05 — 1
Er, Commenting Fixed Now
There was a point at which even I couldn’t comment here, but, thanks to casualsavant’s perfect bug report—not just “it doesn’t work”, but details of the error message too, I think I have sorted out the problem she identified. Please, everyone else, email me if you are having any difficulties submitting your pearls to PooterGeek.
Read More01Mar05 — 1
Star Trek: The Next Imperialist Neocon Zionist Conspiracy
“TrekUnited” is an organisation that claims to be dedicated to stopping the cancellation of the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. It is holding rallies in New York, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, and London. Need I say any more?
Read More01Mar05 — 0
Machine Logic
What happens when inflation on goods goes negative and inflation on services stays positive? You get a free computer for signing up with a mobile phone network.
Read More28Feb05 — 1
“Doing The Patriotic Thing”
Yesterday I had lunch with a “fellow” Catholic whose grandfather used to hide fugitive members of the “old” IRA in his house in the Irish countryside. We discussed the disgust being expressed by republicans north and south of the border at the behaviour of the supposed descendants of his grandad’s lodgers. Cathal (not his real […]
Read More28Feb05 — 0
All This And Self-Mockery Too
As if anyone needed another reason to fancy Halle Berry, she turns out to have a GSOH as well: Halle Berry thanked the makers of Catwoman for “putting me in a God-awful movie” when she turned up to collect her worst actress Razzie award. The actress, whose surprise appearance got her a standing ovation from […]
Read More27Feb05 — 0
Decked Out
As Saddam’s half-brother is handed over by the nervous Syrians, it’s an appropriate moment to catch up with some old friends. For those of us whose outrage at the continued immunity of various collections of state-sponsored goons around the World has been curdling for years this is a heartwarming sight.
Read More27Feb05 — 2
Watching The Clock
As the countdown to redundancy continues I envy this creature more and more. If I could retire now, though, it would be the perfect leaving gift for a quasi-civil servant like me.
Read More27Feb05 — 2
Punk Slam Dunked
Effra, the first commenter on this story at Harry’s Place says most of the things I’ve felt about punk for the past twenty-plus years. She does so as she compares that musical movement of late seventies to this Web movement of the mid-noughties. She’s right about punk, but her assessment of ‘Blogging is about as […]
Read More27Feb05 — 0
Is There No End To The Boredom?
I’ve added months of old posts. (See the Archive section over there –>.) I couldn’t even be bothered to go on a nostalgia trip and read any of the content, so sick am I of the sight of a computer monitor. There’s still a big gap between April 2002 and March 2003, but who cares? Laugh […]
Read More25Feb05 — 1
How Many Times?
“The decor looks like an asylum! Where’s my ‘Blogroll link? I want the pretty finger back! I can tell you how to fix that comment spam!” For the next week or so the only complaints I want to hear from you rabble are if your legitimate comments are being bounced, otherwise please stop griping about […]
Read More24Feb05 — 1
You Will Be Assimilated
This evening I tuned into a new radio station called Chill. Apparently the music I make belongs to the chill-out sub-genre. And apparently this accidental “movement” is now big enough to be a genre in itself. I am accidentally fashionable—or rather I am accidentally a few years behind the curve, because it’s mainstream now. The […]
Read More23Feb05 — 3
Oversensitive
It could be that there is a real Harry Thompson with the misfortune to share the same IP address as Benji, so I’ve re-instated his comments—see over there –>. Maybe I’m becoming cynical in my old age, but it’s possible to go too far the other way. Hot Wheels Helena asked me today, “Why has […]
Read More22Feb05 — 4
Shaddap, Already!
Look, peeps, this is temporary. I’ve upgraded out of necessity, not for aesthetic reasons. As I tried to explain a couple of days ago, you’ll get your favourite features back once I have some time to spend on this site—and I’ve figured out how the new WordPress themes architecture works. Until then, please stop whining. […]
Read More22Feb05 — 4
Rabbits On The Perimeter Fence
Reading a ‘Blog on the Web is like watching a swan on the water: you have no idea of the furious activity that’s going on under the surface. Within hours of my upgrading this thing, 57 varieties of annoying spamming scum and devious abusive snotbag converged on pootergeek.com probing and testing for weaknesses. Every five […]
Read More21Feb05 — 5
Thatch And Poot: The Truth
In the 80s my hair was bigger than hers—and here she is giving me a certificate saying so: [click image to enlarge]
Read More21Feb05 — 1
Hidden Depths
Jimmy Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, sponsors the naming of a big, black underwater vessel full of seamen after her husband. Yes, I’ve been reading spam all weekend.
Read More20Feb05 — 8
I’ve Got The Decorators In
The design looks pretty strange to me too. I’m working on it. I’d really had enough of comment spam linking to “granny she-male cock” and the like appearing in my moderation system while I put off upgrading to WordPress 1.5. Now I’ve finally, er, crossed over there’ll be lots of other weird stuff going on […]
Read More19Feb05 — 9
It’s Academic Now
I also often disagree violently with the politics of the Anonymous Economist (AE) especially when it comes to Iraq. Yesterday, as we are wont to do, we had a vigorous online debate about British higher education. This is not surprising since we both currently have a professional interest in the subject. At the end of […]
Read More19Feb05 — 0
Coren-ation
Much as I disagree with his politics, I have to concede that Jeremy Hardy was on superb form on The News Quiz this week. He even managed to justify the existence of Alan Coren. The latter seems to have taken up the role of Hardy’s straight man, setting up gags for the Second Funniest Man […]
Read More18Feb05 — 0
Via Slashdot
Those Americans, eh?: “The UK is known for many things, great food, a wonderful climate and beautiful women. However, according to a story on The Guardian, a new study puts the UK ahead in one more category: it leads the world in TV piracy, accounting for 38.4% of the world’s TV downloads, with Australia coming […]
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