Month: January 2003

The people producing Science Shack this year keep asking me what single piece of advice I consider most important for them to bear in mind. It’s a terrific question, but I fear I’m letting them down by not having a suitably pithy insight to hand.

Nevertheless, it reminds me that one of my ambitions is to commit a genuinely original mistake. Many people want to construct, invent, or discover something new, but I’m forever finding things I’ve done that I thought were original, but were in fact done years ago. Frequently by John Tyndall. Far more impressive and perhaps more useful to others would be tracking down a truly innovative mistake.

Then, one could point proudly at said snafu, and proclaim ‘try not to do that.’ And in the end, the best we can manage is to make different mistakes compared to the last time. If we do that, we’ve learned, and progressed. To find a genuinely novel way of screwing up would be a quantum leap in goof technology.

Oh, how I love the BBC.

Journalist Ben Anderson tried to work out what the six countries in Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ have in common – and the only thing he noticed was that you can travel to each of them on just a tourist visa. So he did.

The result is a documentary, to be shown on BBC4, split across Friday and Saturday nights this week. Interview here, news story here. Some lovely observations in those stories; I hope the film is similarly surprising.

The firemen are on strike again. Fair enough, their pay is indeed crap. Interestingly, however, public support is far from solidly behind them, partly because their union leader appears to have a bizarre allergy to sitting down and discussing deals. So anyway, as I drive past the local station on my way home from work, the poor blighters are shivering outside.

Quick hint, lads: If you want the passing public’s support, it might be a good idea to hide the BMW, Mercedes, and Alfa Romeo behind the station. No, I’m really not kidding. Don’t they teach this stuff in Citizenship lessons these days?

I had a wonderfully polite email from a fellow Newton user today, looking for a helping hand transferring the thing from Compuserve to AOL. Fine, not a problem, should take a few minutes on the phone to sort out.

The email came from Classic FM. From Simon Bates.

Is that cool? I think that’s cool. That’s cool, right? Tell me it’s cool. Really, it has to be cool, surely?

If anyone reading this happens to be in supermarket stock control, this may save you some time: you’ll notice a distinct spike in sales of Pringles in Leeds. If you trace through your records, you’ll find it’s an annual phenomenon.

It’s a kids’ make&do TV thing. Richard and Rachel just walked into the office with what appears to be Morrison’s entire stock. It’s not enough; we’ll need more. We’re also worried that cardboard drums of Mini Chedders might have been a seasonal line, which would be catastrophic at this stage.

In related news: if you fancy any Pringles, let me know. Especially curry flavour. We don’t like the curry flavour ones.

A couple of noteworthy happenings of late:

My mum registered with a local doctor, a simple process. In her case, it involved six stitches to her eyebrow and substantial bruising. She’s fine, in a ‘you should see the other guy’ kind of way, but one has to suspect she got something slightly wrong somewhere. Perhaps stepping on the slithery paving slab was a mistake, do you think?

Meanwhile, my chum Vinay, inexplicably still in the US, is writing a report on sustainable development for the Danish government. Given that he’s a web developer and general geekboy, this is mildly surprising. At least, until one remembers that he could turn his mind to pretty much anything that (a.) interests him and (b.) continues to do so for long enough. This used to describe a rather small union on the great Venn diagram of life. However, of late it’s been inflating in a manner that’s somewhat alarming. Not to mention spikey and blue.

Oh, and now I’ve just noticed that the BBC’s Talking Movies uses the David Holmes-sourced title theme I was dead keen on for proto-project Envelope. Dang.

From the BBC, referring to bits of the net gumming up:

The malicious code exploits a vulnerability in database software from Microsoft, called the SQL Server, which was first identified in July 2002.

July 2002. Uh-huh. Funnily enough, the most-used piece of software on my WinXP box is… Windows Update. I’m not kidding. I’m averaging one new security fix or patch per boot. It’s simply dull.

Actually Zoe, I’m (technically) (still) writing a novel, and when I’m not at work I quite often go to the cinema on a Monday afternoon. Oh, and pensioners’ fish&chip deals are on Mondays because, traditionally, fish is rubbish on a Monday, there not having been a landing over the weekend.

Great column, by the way. I don’t miss Mil Millington at all.

Gee, that’s some puff piece. I bet Damien’s really pleased with:

Damien Wasylkiw is 25 and comes from Leeds. He has worked as a journalist for Swapitshop.com and was an unpaid presenter on student station SURE FM. He has a thirst for new and innovative music and loves making compilation tapes for his friends.

Oh, how we love those compilation tapes. [snigger]

But… I never worked on The Scoop, let alone as a Director. Weird.