"We Are Not Afraid" campaign spreads to Cowes

Isle of Wight Today - RECORD FIREWORKS CROWN BUMPER WEEK

Not specifically blogging about that news story, but I've just been away for a week racing a J/109 at Cowes Week (sorry, Skandia Cowes Week 2005 to give its full official title) and the presence of a "We Are Not Afraid" symbol on the side of the Class 0 yacht Nokia Enigma has me in two minds.

(photo is from the above story in the Isle of Wight County Press)

On the one hand I'd spent the previous 3 weeks working in London every day, and was looking forward to a week of racing, recreation and alcohol abuse where I could forget about any and all world issues, yet this is here forcing world politics to intrude on my time off.

On the other hand its heartening to see that not only can a huge international event like this (over 1000 boats raced in Cowes Week this year, with many of them carrying over 6 crew, some as many as double or triple that) carry on almost exactly as normal despite the happenings in London, but there are also people here proudly displaying the fact that they are getting on with everything and not letting "the terrorists win".

I'm not exactly a Londoner by the classic definition, but I do commute into and work in London every working day (and a few weekends) and I've continued to travel into London and work there every day since 7th July (apart from a week off for Cowes, obviously). Despite the terrorist's attempts to scare us all away I've fought through the crowds, been insulted by security guards, been under constant scrutiny from the Police (City Police, Met Police and British Transport Police), security guards and the general public, and been on constant lookout myself. Yet I still love this City and wouldn't want to work anywhere else.

Some people call it the "Blitz Spirit", some call it typical British pig-headedness and stiff-upper lip resolve - I don't what it's called really, but very, very few people are letting these attacks affect them any more than they absolutely have to, and everyone is back at work as normal and London is still the buzzing, vibrant, multi-cultural great place that it always has been.

This one's for Steve

From this year's Big Brother contestants:

Science: "These cups are filthy all the time."
Eugene: "I always drink tea and coffee normally out of a mug, but when I'm around my friends I drink it out of a glass. One of my friends, him and his family, they drink out of pint glasses, everything and including tea."

Buy my stuff!

You've got just under a week to net yourself either a new video card or an OEM version of DOOM 3:
Creative 3DBlaster Titanium 4200 (GeForce Ti 4200 64Mb)
DOOM 3 (PC Game) - Full official OEM version, new

Don't Mind Me

If any of you could click my Kings of Chaos recruiting link, I'd be very grateful.

Its a painless process, just click the link and then answer the simple "What number is in the box below?" question, and then I gain power!

Power! muhahhahaha!!1!!one!

With thanks to Monty Python

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad -
other things can make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble - give a whistle -
and this'll help things turn out for the best, and -

Always look on the bright side of life
always look on the bright side of life

If life seems jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten -
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps, don't be silly chumps -
just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing, and -

Always look on the bright side of life
always look on the bright side of life

Life is quite absurd, and death's the final word -
we must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin, give the audience a grin -
enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow, so -

Always look on the bright side of death
just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it -
life's a laugh and death's a joke - it's true.
You can see it's all a show, keep 'em laughing as you go -
just remember that the last laugh is on you, and -

Always look on the bright side of life
always look on the bright side of life...

Best Update Notes Ever!

Star Wars Galaxies
*** Mar 05, 2004 Test Center Update ***

• Misc: Gave Mon Mothma some clothes

Don't mess around with Jim!

And they say, "You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that ol' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."

Some great stuff for Londoners

A couple of great things to look at for Londoners (for those who live there, those just passing through and those like me who just work there).

From the LRB, Peter Campbell's : Why does it take so long to mend an escalator?

Also The Open Guide to London a new Wiki dedicated to London (and especially its bars and restaurants).

SWG Pets

Excerpt from chat log from Stratics chat with SWG developers Official SWGHoC Log - from SWG Stratics:

"(Csavin) with mounts coming in game, are there any plans to skew the game back to star wars and away from pokemon? CH's being so prevelant is starting to ruin the 'starwarsiness' of it all
(oodBnar) oohh..
(Q-3PO) Actually I hear George is going back and adding CG pets behind all the main characters in the special special edition of the original films... I'm kidding (don't kill me Ronda)
(oodBnar) We are actively working on vehicles.
(ronda_lucasarts) sigh @ Q3PO"

Extensions I have browsed

A follow up to a previous post on my favourite Mozilla (and other Gecko browser) extensions.

Just put Mozilla Firebird 0.7 on my laptop, and I've noticed that the style sheet switcher that I used to add in as an extension is now included by default. Excellent! Hopefully this will encourage a few more web sites to take advantage of alternative styles, and show us what they can do.

So now that I don't have to install that any more, what extensions should I use? Well I took a quick trip over to the Mozilla Firebird Extensions page to have a look around.

So what have I installed now?

• Well first had to be the Link Toolbar that restores (and enhances) the link toolbar found in the main Mozilla suite.
• Second, the Live HTTP Headers, a great tool for anyone who writes server side web applications, because they don't always work perfectly and this is just the best and easiest way to debug so many problems.
• I've been getting into RSS quite a bit lately, and until I get around to writing my own web-based RSS reader, then the RSS Reader Panel is simply the most convenient way to keep up with events.
• Text Links is great for extracting URLS from so many different places where people don't bother linking them, or mess it up (a couple of forums I visit and a couple of email newsletters I get).

And I think that's my lot for the moment, all installed and ready for action!