Wednesday, February 26, 2003

This is the coolest web toy we've seen in a while. 12:03:41 AM

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

We are back again, after more technical difficulties in the kitchen at gulker.com. And before that with the slapper worm. 11:42:08 PM

Sunday, February 16, 2003

I wonder how many of the million or so well-meaning but morally confused people who marched in the "no war" rally in London on Saturday had read this letter published in the Guardian the day before? 11:59:27 PM

My prayers have been answered. I was flipping through the 150 or so channels we now have on our digital cable and discovered a new one called ASPN. It's really ESPN by another name. Hurrah! How long I've waited to get ESPN over here. Tonight there's a live NHL game, followed by last night's UCLA/UA game (the first time college hoops have been on TV in the UK). Pinch me, I must be dreaming. If we get ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball and NFL too, I will probably need to be tranquilized! 11:12:43 PM

Well, after trying every trick in the book, I just couldn't fix the permissions problems in OS X, so I had to bite the bullet and do a clean reinstall. It was expecting to have to devote at least an entire day to doing this, but it was much, much easier than I thought it would be. Incredibly pain-free, in fact. And best of all, everything seems to be working again! 11:10:05 PM

Monday, February 10, 2003

Dave Barry: Sure it costs well over a $100,000 to go to Harvard. But look at the results. 11:31:41 PM

My sources tell me the Guardian is developing it's own publishing system with the help of some software developers who formerly worked at Quark. Seems like a very shrewd move if they can pull it off. When you think of all the Quark users who are getting tired of waiting for an OS X version, and are having to stick with OS 9, there's got to be a big market for such a product. Just wonder why Apple doesn't develop publishing software themselves? Guess they lost the plot when they lost Chris Gulker. 11:21:36 PM

BBC Online is looking for a few good pictures. 11:11:22 PM

My bad weekend (computingwise) was nothing compared with Doc Searls'. Ouch! 5:26:51 PM

I've been having all kinds of problems with Mac OS X (permissions issues, mostly) after somehow managing to move a very important folder somewhere it didn't belong. Spent all day and most of last night trying to pick up the pieces. Mostly OK again but still a few annoying little indications that all is not entirely as it should be (eg, each time I launch iTunes it asks me to accept the license terms). The lesson here is Unix is a very powerful operating system, but also an incredibly easy one to screw up big time! 2:46:10 PM

Saturday, February 8, 2003

Speaking of stadiums. All that remains of Wembley, England's erstwhile national stadium, where in 1966 England won their one and only World Cup, are its two towers. And they are in the process of being knocked down. Watch it happen on a live webcam. There's been many a sentimental tear shed here for Wembley. But in my opinion it was probably the worst sporting venue I'd ever been to. Terrible sight lines, even the closest seats were miles from the pitch, absolutely disgusting food at premium prices, and getting there was always an adventure. Imagine travelling for half an hour from central London on a crowded Tube train packed with the always charming England supporters who had been drinking all day and were badly in need of a toilet. Then imagine a hundred of them lined up along the walls outside Wembley Central station, relieving themselves. Wembley, you shall not be missed. 12:46:20 AM

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

Comiskey Park is no more. Henceforth it will be called US Cellular Field. I find this very depressing news. Doesn't history or tradition mean anything in America any more? (Or did it ever?) Must everything have a price tag on it? I guess only in America could they talk about using the cash to "renovate" a ballpark that opened all of 12 years ago and underwent a major refit just last year. Somehow I can't imagine this happening in the South Bronx, in Boston or even on the north side of town. Even Rupert Murdoch resisted the temptation to rebrand Dodger Stadium something like News International Field. The White Sox can pocket their $62 million and US Cellular can nail up all the signs around the park they want. But it's still going to be Comiskey to me. And it always will. 11:25:52 PM

Tuesday, February 4, 2003

Chris Gulker was on assignment for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner when Columbia made it's first landing at Edwards Air Force Base. 11:26:16 PM

Monday, February 3, 2003

We are back after being off the Net since Friday, thanks to a bungled changeover of my DSL setup by BT. A very long story, with many calls to a variety of tech support types, the wrong kind of hardware (eg, a USB DSL modem which only runs under Mac OS 9) being sent out/purchased, etc. But at least we're back. Did we miss anything while we were away? 3:06:34 PM