pootling

“But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked, again and again, but still did Internet Explorer 6 not load The Google. Perhaps The Google was broken, the people thought, but then The Yahoo too did not load. Nor did Hotmail. Nor USAToday.com. The land was thrown into panic. Internet Explorer 6 was minimized then maximized. The Compaq Presario was unplugged then plugged back in. The old mouse was brought out and plugged in beside the new mouse. Still, The Google did not load.”

Great letter from Popjustice that is, of course, partially about Lana Del Rey, but mostly about alternative music writers.

8-Bit games based on Greek myths. How many times will you try to get Sisyphus’s rock to the top of the hill?

On the currently rather quiet Five Chinese Crackers, the way in which Toby Young will defend David Starkey’s, but not Diane Abbot.

Ed Whitfield’s take on the ‘modernising’ of A Scandal in Bohemia and the changes to Irene Adler’s character in the Steven Moffat / Mark Gatiss rehash. I think it’s a fair point.

Font geek Glenn Fleishman on the new fonts available in iBooks.

Hitchens on the festive period.

“To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of “dissenting” bravery.”

“I’m a fan of Apple’s work because it’s great. I suspect my peers he would criticize would say the same thing. I’ve been a fan of Apple’s products for about 6 years now. Before that, I didn’t own one. You could even say that I hated Apple products back in the 1990s when I was going to midnight launches of Microsoft products. Why did that change? It’s not some spell or some bullshit marketing. It’s all the hard work and attention to detail Apple put into their products during the second Jobs reign. I wanted the best, Apple made the best.

If Apple’s products start slipping again, I’ll drop them again. The loyalty isn’t to some magical unicorn tear voodoo — it’s to the best products.”

Exactly.

Nick Cohen makes some valid points here about the utter vitriol that female journalists, across the political spectrum, receive compared to their male counterparts. I’m glad there’s been a run of late on people pointing out the many forms of sexism still massively prevalent both online, and in the media more generally.

On Damn You Autocorrect, their best 25 corrections from the first year. I don’t recommend reading this at work, partially because it’s a bit rude in a places, but mostly because it may well have you stifling laughs in a slightly embarrassing way.

Lovely interview with the veteran god of being utterly brilliant in every way, Alan Moore.

I think it’s fair to say that Tim Harford is not a huge fan of the government’s plans for mortgages.

Excellent post on the Kings of War blog on why the London riots didn’t have any longevity, and how effective police tactics were.

Excellent scoop from the Telegraph on the voice behind the British incarnation of Siri.