Sunshine and Caffeine.
It is a beautiful day today.
I just spent two hours down at my favourite cafe, imbibing large amounts of exquisite caffeine while doing uni readings and research in the sun. In shorts and a t-shirt.
My senses are piqued.
My heart is pumping caffeine throughout my system. I’m more aware, can feel the slightest breeze, colours are brighter.
Feeling great.
Thank god for coffee. Thank god for sunshine.
Thank god for good days.
Rowan Atkinson: Greatest Drummer of All Time
Definitive proof that Rowan Atkinson is the greatest drummer of all time.
Phil Collins, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr - all amateurs. They needed to be able to see the drumkit!
Rowan Atkinson is the man.
Google Reader vs Bloglines Beta, Revisited.
So I mentioned how I switched to Bloglines Beta when Google Reader again broke for Opera.
Things are again working perfectly - in fact, Google Reader has become a fully fledged application, no longer a Google Labs baby. Which means it should be stable. No more (hopefully) random stoppages for Opera users. As long as Opera remains an ‘unsupported’ browser who knows how long that’ll last…
Still, with all systems go, I now have to choose which site to use.
Both have basically the same features, nicely Web 2.0, you scroll though new articles and they’re automatically marked as read. They both autodetect feeds on websites.
So what makes them different?
Bloglines looks nicer. I know its superficial, but hey. If you’re going to be reading something on the net, it may as well look nice at the same time, right? Bloglines also gets bonus points for (so far) not discriminating against my browser.
Google appears to be slightly faster - especially at loading ‘new’ feeds. I follow a few small blogs which don’t have anyone already subscibed to them on Bloglines. Unless Bloglines has already cached the feed, it takes a few hours for it to load. Slightly annoying. Google loads it instantly (as would be expected of either).
The feature I like best about Bloglines, perhaps its defining feature, is the Start Page. Google has a similar page, where it lists recent updates. Bloglines goes a step further, allowing you to select which feeds you want profiled on your start page so that you’re always aware of updates to your favourite sites, they’re not buried beneath feeds such as the ‘Daily Show Videos.’ If you subscribe to a lot of feeds, but have a few core sites you want to keep on top of, this feature will save you much time.
But this is small in comparison to Google’s two other strong points. Firstly, in-built Google Search. A relatively new addition, and responsible for breaking Opera’s compatibility, Google Reader Search allows you to pinpoint old posts from any of your feeds, searching the entire post (that which the reader receives anyway, so the summary in some cases), and you can even narrow it down to starred posts, specific folders, or blogs.
You can also tag individual posts according to your own specifications, you don’t have to rely on the tags to author chose. So if you wanted you could tag everything you found interesting as ‘interesting’ (how original) and it will be automatically categorised for you - much like labels in gmail.
Being a stats-whore, I also really like the ‘Trends’ page showing you which blogs you read the most, which ones update the mosts, which ones you share the most, star the most, all in very nice graphs.
Basically-
Bloglines - Looks, Start Page functionality.
Google Reader - Speed, search, tags, stats.
Bloglines is still in beta though, and more features are still on their way.
So which one should I use? I still don’t know. Probably Google. Despite the bad blood and unappealing design. For now.
New Zealand invades France…
…defaces local landmark.
Seriously though, this marketing campaign by NZ Tourism is one hell of a way to get noticed.
It’s an inflatable marquis, which is going to be used to hold ‘Government Functions’ during the Rugby World Cup. Some evenings the government representatives will be getting pissed elsewhere, so interested parties can hire it for a private function for 5000 euros. Somehow, the mayor of Paris gave Helen and the Tourism folks permission to put it up on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower! Rugby fans do odd things some times…
Where shall we have the office party this year? Inside a giant inflatable rugby ball of course!
Murphy!
Mum sent me a mysterious text message a couple of months ago.
“Keep the 31st October free… I’ve gotten us all an early Christmas present.”
Huh? That’s ten days after my birthday. Why isn’t it my birthday present?
Logical thinking aside, I quickly did a google search for the date. Presented with far too many options, I had a look on Ticketek instead.
What or who could be coming that may have grabbed their interest?
I suddenly remembered an earlier conversation, in which we were talking about all the different acts and concerts coming. I told here that I’d bought tickets to see Chekov’s The Seagull, with Sir Ian McKellen acting in it. Jealous, she began browsing Ticketek. And mentioned the Crowded House reunion concert.
Surely not.
I checked the dates.
They matched.
I sent back a reply… “Everywhere you go… you always take the weather with you.”
I was right. So amazingly stoked.
Until tonight.
When I checked my exam timetable.
I have a total of one exams this trimestre.
One. And something like three or four possible weeks for it to fall.
Where does it fall? I guess due to Murphy’s Law it can’t really fall anywhere else.
My 17th and 18th Century French Literature Exam is at 9.30 in the morning on the 1st of November.
The next day. In the morning.
Let’s ignore the fact that I’ll be quite tired for it, and I’m probably going to get a lower mark for it because I was rocking out to some Crowded House the night before.
I’m more concerned that the concert I’ve been looking forward to for months now may be dimished in some way because I’ll be stressing about my exam in the morning.
Unimpressed.
(I’m going to try and grease up to the lecturer and see if I can do it a day early… would be very helpful. Maybe they’ll take pity. Thing is, if it was The Seagull I was going to the night before, I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t hesitate. A concert? Not so likely.)
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Adey Ben, 2 months without a post is terrible. Get moving!!!!!
yojoe What about Missile Pops?
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Ben A singular beer won’t quite cut it. But you’re on the right track…
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