Chocolate and Vodka

I've started packing up the things that I don't use on a daily basis. Books, some of the linen I don't need right this second, clothes it's too cold to wear. I've half-filled one suitcase (it's waiting for the bed linen and pillows that are either in the wash or which I am using right […]

Was the headline that I chose not to run with in today's Open Rights Group press release, despite the fact that's pretty much how I felt about it.
If you're a regular reader of either my or Neil's blog, you will of course already know that Neil's our Patron, but it's nice to finally fess up […]

The second Open Rights Group, featuring ubergeek Cory Doctorow, is set for the evening of Tuesday 7 Feb 2006.
Don't let Hollywood hijack your rights
Cory Doctorow
American entertainment companies say they're fighting piracy, but they're going at it by punishing the innocent to get at the guilty. A pan-European digital television restrictions proposal will turn the studios […]

I just read this in my aggregator, and from the opening syllables realised I could steal it. Almost verbatim. Including the disclaimer at the top.
Then I got to the bottom and realised I was supposed to. Possibly apart from the disclaimer at the top.
I'm doing this for Heather Tom and for anyone who ever reads […]

Walking towards Bank station just now, my train of thought was somewhat derailed by two fire engines hurtling round the corner. Then an ambulance. A HEMS car (Tom can explain what that is.) Then the police, in cars and on bikes. More sirens.
By this time I'm at Bank and the entrance is closed. More police. […]

The Open Rights Group pledge finally matured on Christmas day, and now we're proud to announce that the supporters' database is up and running and you can officially now give us cash! We've had a surge of donations since the email went out to pledge signatories, so please do join the stampede and let us […]

him: Did you eat?
me: not yet. just walked in the door
him: You go nosh then - don't want you fainting
me: nah, i'm good. i've been nibbling all afternoon
him: Your life rhythm been perturbed?
me: i usually nibble. i'm a grazer. like a gazelle
him: You have the legs for it. But do you stot?
me: no, but I […]

Last time I saw one of my friends on TV, it all turned out to be a wee fib. This time round… the evidence is incontrovertible. And on Flickr.
Someone must have video, surely?
But wow! Our own Tom on telly. Whatever next? (*cough*me?*cough*)

So I moved up to London last year, at the end of September, into a two bedroom flat with someone I met earlier in the year. Then, sadly, at the beginning of December the boiler spewed it's guts, and I've been living with T'Other ever since. I've offered to pay bills and such, but that […]

When I first started reading blogs, I only read a few. A handful. Then I found through those few blogs a whole host of others. More and more and more. Wonderful, intelligent, amusing, interesting… A world of fascination.
Then I got work.
Now I hardly have time to read all the blogs that are in my reader. […]

Good to hear that a spammer has been successfully sued here in the UK, via the small claims court. Ben Laurie is going to write a 'How To', and then we can all join in the fun. The sums of money involved are small, with the spammer paying only £270 in damages to Nigel Roberts […]

Thanks to everyone who, before Christmas, sent me the news that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's new movie, Hot Fuzz, has been greenlighted by Working Title.
The movie, which will star Pegg and Shaun cohort/real-life best mate, Nick Frost as two mismatched cops who team up in a West Country backwater, has been mooted for […]

New Year is always a bit of a weird time, as the expectation of a great party usually gives way to the reality of staying in, in front of the computer, and wondering why it was I couldn't get my act together yet again. But this year my New Year's Eve was just about as […]