Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2006

  • Searching Spaces

    One of the apparent limitations of Windows Live Spaces is the difficulty of tracking down topics that I’ve written about in my blog. You know the sort of thing: I remember writing about the BBC’s series of The Apprentice, but I can’t for the life of me remember when… Using Google or Windows Live Search returns millions of results, so how to narrow it down?
     
    Well, of course, it turns out that it’s relatively straightforward, if you know how.
     
    Google does have a blog search, and using the Advanced settings, it’s possible to narrow down the search to just my blog entries. That screen will build the search query for you using Google’s query syntax. So, the Advanced settings screen builds the query: "apprentice" blogurl:gcoupe.spaces.live.com.
     
    Windows Live Search has a similar capability, in fact their Advanced settings screen has more options to tune the search than Google does. Once again, using the Advanced Settings screen will build the query:  apprentice site:gcoupe.spaces.live.com. You’ll notice that Microsoft’s query syntax is not the same as Google. Standards, doncha just love them? Rob has more about the Microsoft query syntax over at The Space Craft.
     
    One interesting thing about searching for the word "apprentice" in my blog: Windows Live Search finds all three instances; Google only finds two…

  • A Portrait of Pervasive Pachyderm Dysfunction

    Charles Siebert authors a fascinating article in the New York Times about the evidence that elephant society is breaking down. The parallels with our own are uncomfortable.
     
    (hat tip to Apophenia for the link)

  • Say My Name…

    Coboró visits Ypres, and pens a typically powerful piece about both the futility of war, and its insidious way of breeding future conflicts. Read it.

  • Torchwood: Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down?

    Well, there’s a spectrum of reactions to Torchwood. Ranging from Nicholas’ positive review to Justin’s burial. While I think that Justin was unnecessarily harsh, I can see what he means. I watched the two opening episodes with a feeling that I wanted it to succeed, rather than being bowled over by it. Oh well, episode 3 tonight, we’ll see whether it starts to get its pterodactyl claws into me or not.

  • Religion Explained

    PZ Myers over at Pharyngula has posted this link to Lewis Black explaining judaeo-christianity. Dunno who this bloke Lewis Black is, but he hits the nail on the head a number of times for me…

  • The Blind Watchmaker

    And sticking with the theme of 1980s TV, here’s a link that will lead you to a TV special from that time starring a younger Richard Dawkins, talking about the Blind Watchmaker… Terrific stuff!
     
    And I can’t help but note that this programme was made by the BBC’s Horizon team. That was then, when programme makers were not afraid to have experts, such as Dawkins, address the camera directly to put across complex ideas without the need for flashy graphics, bizarre camera angles and loud music. Today’s Horizon, by comparison, seems to embody the very worst of bad ideas from generations of meeja-studies graduates. Damn them all to hell.

  • Max Headroom

    Thanks to Alun, over at Archaeoastronomy, I’ve just seen the backstory to the 1980s TV character known as Max Headroom. The pilot episode actually holds up pretty well, even today.

  • Plus Ça Change…

    Tim Adams has an interesting article in today’s Observer about Second Life – the online virtual world where a million people have gone to escape from their real lives – and ended up doing exactly the same things as people do in the real world. Wetware or software – it’s all the same, it seems to me. The attraction of Second Life continues to baffle me. 

  • Lipstick on the Pig

    Steven Poole, over at Unspeak, draws our attention to some of the wilder shores of Dubya’s rhetoric. As if we needed to be reminded that there is a buffoon in the White House.

  • The Power Of Divs

    Stewart Lee has a good video exploring the inanity of religion-driven prejudice. What’s wrong with blasphemy? Absolutely nothing, Stewart. But where’s the rest of your polemic? I’d like to see it…
     
    Update: oh, here are the various parts, chopped up to fit on YouTube. Well done, Mr. Lee. what you said was worth saying.

  • I’m Not A Victim

    While this is something that’s playing out in America’s backyard, and hence something that I probably shouldn’t comment on directly… still, I thought this response from Michael J. Fox to the vomit known as Rush Limbaugh was worth noting.

  • Whose Brain Is Missing?

    While it doesn’t come as a complete surprise to me that Cheney doesn’t believe that waterboarding is not torture, and is a technique that is a "no-brainer" to use, I still have to draw a breath at the fact that people such as he hold power in the current administration of the US. How are the mighty fallen…

  • Before And After…

    Last month, I mentioned that work had begun on the new kitchen. While there are still a few finishing touches to be done, the bulk of the work is over, and we have a new working kitchen that both of us are very pleased with.
     
    Before:
     
    060331-2306-41 
     
    After (with the new, raised ceiling!):
     
    061026-1411-23 
     
    061026-1412-01 
     
    061026-1413-17 
     

  • Time Lapse Art Revisited

    You may recall I blogged about the strangely haunting video of Noah Kalina – the man who has been taking a picture of himself every day, and then making the series into a video.
     
    It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before the idea was spoofed. Here’s Ben takes a photo of himself every day. It raises a smile or two.

  • Comet Swan

    There’s a new comet in the night skies. Comet Swan. I’m hoping for a clear night in order to try and glimpse it. It looks as though it will be passing between the constellations of Boötes and Hercules at the moment.

  • Toto…

    …I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore… Thus quoth Dorothy on finding herself in the land of Oz. But, here we are in Kansas, at the University of Kansas, no less, and – unlikely as it may seem – able to watch a video of Richard Dawkins talking about his book: The God Delusion. Wonderful stuff.
     
    Other videos from Kansas University’s Hall Center for the Humanities are here.

  • Mars In Stereo

    To commemorate the fact that NASA’a Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been traipsing about the Martian landscape for 1000 days, Nasa has released a photographic panorama of the landscape in stereo anaglyph format. Dig out your red/blue spectacles to see the image in glorious 3D. Luckily I still had a pair tucked away in The Illustrated Harlan Ellison – long since out of print…
     
    (hat tip to the Bad Astronomer for the link)

  • Homomonument In Madurodam

    Madurodam is a Dutch institution. It’s a recreation, in miniature, of architecture and landscapes found in The Netherlands. Scale models of famous buildings and landmarks can be found there.
     
    Yesterday, there was the ceremonial unveiling of the latest landmark to be added: a scaled-down reproduction of Amsterdam’s Homomonument. The unveiling was done by the Dutch Rapper, Lange Frans, Job Cohen, Amsterdam’s Mayor, Maurits van der Donk, the "Mayor" of Madurodam, and Frank van Dalen, the chair of the Dutch gay organisation, the COC.
     
    Good to see that that landmark has become a landmark in Madurodam. But what few visitors will probably realise is that a few hundred metres away from outside the entrance to Madurodam is The Hague’s own Homomonument…
    img060215-55 

  • Moses Comes To Visit…

    The latest episode in the unfolding story of Jesus and Mo.

  • Only As Old As You Feel

    Andy Sennitt has a nice article about the fact that media advertisers in The Netherlands seem to think that life ends at 50. I don’t think that it’s just here in the Netherlands; advertisers (it’s those damned marketing people again!) seem to spend a disproportionate amount of their budget chasing the yoof market. While shallow youth may be more easily swayed, they probably don’t have the disposable income that us oldies have…