samedi 22 novembre 2003

XRay. Creativity. In Style. (OS X Panther) Rainer's not only decidedly got past that developer's block. With XRay, v. 1.0.8, he's done so with class! Fighting off the Xcode gremlins (Solipsism Gradient) (b'rolled). Giving us a "batch mode" change option, to boot. If you're not already hooked, your Panther might well need XRay. Nice one, Mr. B. Again! 11:06:56 PM  link   your views? [] Jelly Report 1 - Blogosphere Wrap 6 Still battling the blues. Wildcat again trying to persuade me to write novel! Me refusing. Wildcat, however, unaware until now that I have already penned two (obviously hasn't ever read "sketch" page somebody wrote about me, where only one of these got a mention. I now recall that it was 'Womb of Fire'. "To lose one novel is carelessness, to lo--" "Yes! I know.") Twice asked this morning whether I've given up smoking. Also notice over lunch that I haven't even thought about a fag until the second coffee arrived. "That's because you're relaxed," Jean-Paul says. "Have you already taken some of the royal jelly?" "Two tiny spoonfuls this morning, while still fasting, as prescribed. Two last night. I couldn't wait." "Well then!" J-P notes, before accompanying me back to fetch his own fix. "Aah!" he observes. "Now that's the real thing!" I also explain over our pizzas that I had very vivid nightmares this morning. "What about?" "The sums of all my fears! Plus a bit about the Wildcat." "Did I not tell you that you should not take gelée royale before going to bed, in the evening?!" "You didn't tell me it tasted really revolting either." "I didn't think I needed to. After all, you were brought up on English cooking. The multi-processor is beginning to work. It's hardly surprising that your unconscious put in overtime! Let me count the days... Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It's probably on Tuesday that you'll find yourself suddenly cruising. Your brain will be wondering what happened to it." "Oh, that's just great. It's on Tuesday I've got my next rendez-vous with the psychosomatic shrink." "So much the better!" cuts in François, his first words for a while. zzz Random pickings from a catch up on the Net news, mainly via Netnewswire RSS feeds (all of these I planned to say a bit about, but probably it's best just to bung them up): "Language is a virus." A famous phrase. In the wake of my Robinson book review: 'Sliced Bardo'. A very good memorial to William S. Burroughs, compiled by Levi Asher (1997) of 'Literary Kicks'. (I'll add LitKicks to the roll, but Blogrolling is currently down again); "Note to Self: Never -- Ever -- Piss Drezner Off (or Lileks, for That Matter)" (via Priorities and Frivolities). Salam Pax stirs it up, no end. No end in sight at all... Note to self: there's nothing quite like angry Americans; Real-life potty 999 calls. The Avon & Somerset Constabulary have put some of the barmiest "emergency" calls they have to put up with on to their website; Frederic Latour's Panther weblog. An enterprising and accessible chap in Montréal launches the first bilingual 'blog I've seen on and about Mac OS X 10.3; "Autistic savants are born with miswired neurons - and extraordinary gifts. The breakthrough science behind our new understanding of the brain." Another splendid piece of Wired reporting: 'The Key to Genius' by contributing editor Steve Silberman; It's a good idea to have an online Safari tech bookshelf at O'Reilly. It's even better once you know how to do 'Effective Searching in Safari' (by Allen Noren); 'Concentration en vue dans le cable français' (NetEconomie, Fr. only, technical) says a lot about what's been happening behind my recent ISP glitches. I have François (Demeyer.net) to thank for this one; Mandolux is a very neat place to go for more computer desktop pix. Attention: quality and class; "(2003-11-21) -- Insiders at the Democrat National Committee (DNC) have reportedly urged Michael Jackson, the composer, choreographer and international statesman, to consider a White House bid." Scrappleface (blogrolled) in savage shape (see also 'London Freed from Tyranny, Bush Statue Toppled'); "Two years after the United States dispatched the Taliban and set Afghanistan on a path toward freedom and democracy, that country risks reverting to a 'failed state'." In 'The Other War', MotherJones inconveniently writes about things many would prefer to forget (via J.D. Lasica, b'rolled, along with his own 'How not to get fired because of your blog'. I'm gonna need that soon); Sunday is Doctor Who's 40th Birthday (an obsessive Spatula at Morons.org); "Tonight I discovered that I’m currently the number one hit in Google for 'hoppy toad' and the number two hit for 'happy dance.' Great juxtaposition!" Liz at mamamusings gets self-reflexive. Are you listening, Wildcat?...; 'Inspired by the terrorist attacks in Istanbul'. At Vacuity, Michelle (b'rolled) gets "focused on other stuff than my own world" ad writes a particularly moving piece; in 'Buying Used Underwear' the J-Walk Blog (b'rolled) offers us Shock-Horror. The Wildcat will next week get the Galeries Lafayette catalogue, plus the other things she had me search Paris for today tonight. We cannot, darling, afford all those pages in Vogue. Yet. Even for you! 10:07:49 PM  link   your views? [] The French comic touch Why write 1,000 words more when one picture says it all? Paris in winter: mood portrait - The variation on a theme by ©Bicol Fru is from 'Minimal' inside 'Fluide Glaciale'. I'm happy to see that one of the Kid's staples, awaiting her arrival, devotes a little of its December issue to variations on another theme: the official fear pack campaign. One I liked was "Rire donne les pieds plats et provoque des fuites urinaires". If you can't understand, run it through Babelfish. Or "Se suicider peut provoquer des graves troubles des fonctions vitales". By request, a baker's half-dozen sites relating to that high French art form, the cartoon strip: Bande Dessinée (major portal) La BD & Angoulême International Festival BD Paradisio (includes good link page) Bande dessinée.info Univers BD des Bulles Bizarres Alkemya (la 9ème art). That should save somebody 10 minutes' googling. (In Maëster's Emmanuelle cartoon, the excited editor is, yes, Serge July of 'Libé' (a Foreign Affairs ministry interview in English... of the system, by the system, for the system. Minus cigar.) "Smoking kills!" "'specially if you burn first..." 7:38:59 PM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.