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It's mildly interesting that 27 names in the first list (over a quarter) are recognisable names, and not misspellings of recognisable names or creative permutations of name elements. This compares with about 10 in the second list - which drops to 2 or 3 if you exclude the hyphenated names, the list of which could presumably be extended more or less indefinitely.
Commented Jan 27, 2009 on Tumbleweed blogs (firstname challenge again) at Whimsley
Tumbleweed blogs (firstname challenge again)
So some bloke called Graham emails me about my competition and he says, like, why don't you do it yourself then? And here's a list of names: http://bel-epa.com/area51/library/names.txt. So I says, OK then. I will. And I write myself a little python like this: import httplib import re import sys ...
I'm an outsider.
Yeah, right. With your debate with whatsisfaceTim O'Reilly and your Technorati rank of um33... (I don't know, is that low? high? do you count up or down?)
Me, I'm such an outsider I don't even update my blog as often as you do! And I'll tell you what else - when I do write something on my blog, it's usually not very interesting! Out-outside that!
Commented Jan 27, 2009 on The Outsider Manoeuvre at Whimsley
The Outsider Manoeuvre
Writers and actors are notorious for seeing themselves as outsiders. "Why did you become an actor?" they are asked. "Well, I was always a bit of an outsider..." This morning, take director Terence Davies: "I felt like an outsider because I was from a large working-class family. And I spoke with...
"If something is referenced in client-side code then as far as I'm concerned that's released to the public. If you disagree, that's your call I guess. Whether it was *licensed* to the public is a different matter but I made it very clear that it wasn't licensed."
To sum up, your defence is that you did nothing at all: you didn't release the feed and you didn't tell anyone it was licensed. Nothing you did changed the status quo in any way. That post might just as well not have been written, for all the effect it had on anyone. What are we talking about again?
Trouble is, you have done something (certainly lots of people seem to think you have) and it has had real effects on people (again, lots of people seem to think they've been affected). Either Kim Plowright et al are wrong on this one, or you are.
I'm with Ian - there's something very *juvenile* about this (it reminds me of ill-thought-out stunts I pulled myself when I was but a lad). To me, what the comment I quoted really means is
"Yeah, those people may not like it, but they're just wrong - and maybe this will make them realise that! I mean really I'm helping them!"
Good luck with that attitude - you'll need it.
Commented Jul 28, 2006 on If Web 2.0 has an asshole, Ben Metcalfe is it at Technovia
If Web 2.0 has an asshole, Ben Metcalfe is it
The BBC's Backstage project has taken a little flak of late for the slow way that it's been releasing open feeds for BBC data, which - given that the project is barely a year old - is somewhat harsh. But one “enterprising” former employee, Ben Metcalfe, decided to take things into his own hands...
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