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Alan Palmer
Charlton, London, UK
Interests: reading, mostly science fiction books, and messing about with my computer, particularly creating and publishing Web pages.
Recent Activity
The files I'd hate to lose the most are my AVG Anti-Virus files.
Enter the AVG LiveKive Sweepstakes
Yesterday we launched AVG LiveKive - a new product that allows you to Sync, Backup and securely Share data wherever you are and from different devices. To celebrate this new product, we will be running a sweepstakes for users who are in the in the initial set of launch countries of the United ...
Well, it looks like Google has paid attention. They've moved the link back to the top-level menu. YAY!
Google messes about with Gmail top-level links
Google has removed the link to Google Reader from the main list of links at the top of its Gmail page; it's still available, but you have to click the 'More ▼’ link now and choose from the dropdown menu. A lot of RSS fans (including me) are upset about this, as shown in this TechCrunch article. ...
Google messes about with Gmail top-level links
Google has removed the link to Google Reader from the main list of links at the top of its Gmail page; it's still available, but you have to click the 'More ▼’ link now and choose from the dropdown menu.... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2011 at Alan's Blog
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Keeping the bad news quiet
We are to be charged £10 to visit the Old Greenwich Royal Observatory with effect from March, whereas entry has been free in the past. This doesn't seem to have been announced properly anywhere and local blogger Greenwich Gazette only... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2011 at Alan's Blog
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Internet shopping Carts
That great comics site The Oatmeal has a rant post giving most of my complaints about the usability of shopping carts - or as he describes it, How to make your shopping cart suck less. I agree with pretty much... Continue reading
Posted Jan 11, 2011 at Alan's Blog
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I first paid for v.1 of FD. When FD 3.0 went ad-supported I didn't bother to pay to remove them because they are so unobtrusive. I've been beta-testing the new release and have found I don't need some of the new features, particularly "My Stream". If the lite version isn't very crippled I might stick with that, but it's unlikely since I believe good software like this is worth supporting. I'll probably pay anyway when v.4.0 is released.
Coming Soon: FeedDemon 4.0 (Lite and Pro)
FeedDemon 4.0 has been in testing for several months now, and if all goes well the final release will be here soon. This is a major new version with some big additions, including a new "My Stream" feature which provides a great way to keep up with frequently-updating status feeds such as those...
I was a little surprised to come across the word "booty" used in a show on the Disney Channel. I hasten to add that the kids were watching it, not me, but I think it might have been "Hannah Montana", which is aimed chiefly at "tweens" (kids up to thirteen).
That would seem to indicate that the word has crossed over into mainstream use when describing the buttocks. I'd think that "booty call" and so on are still too strong for Disney, though.
Booty Pageant
When did booty cross the line from vulgarism to acceptable—even ubiquitous—marketing lingo? No doubt the 1997 Jamie Foxx vehicle Booty Call—which critic Roger Ebert called “the raunchiest sex comedy I can remember”—popularized what had previously been primarily street slang.* And the poster prov...
Some drivers' intelligence
I despair sometimes ... In central London I saw a large truck manoeuvring slowly to make a left turn into a narrow street, made narrower by cars parked on each side. A car was waiting at a nearby junction with... Continue reading
Posted Aug 3, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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I was amused by a reference a while back in the BBC TV comedy panel game "Have I got News for You" to the "One-legged Community".
One of the comedian-panellists, who happened to have a false leg, was asked by another if the one-legged community disliked Heather McCartney (this was shortly after the divorce from Sir Paul McCartney).
The X Community
The other day I noticed this tweet from renowned Twitter wit Bad Banana: “The apathy community”: genius. (And “But whatever” ices the cake.) Because maybe you’ve noticed, as I have, that this whole community thing has gotten out of hand. I’m not referring, of course, to the actual cracked-pa...
Pet Peeves 3a - mobile phones again
Just now I saw a woman struggling to pay a taxi driver, get out of the taxi with a bulky package - it looked like a painting or possibly its frame - and close the cab door, all the while... Continue reading
Posted Jul 22, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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CODA = Califormia's own daft acronym?
Names in the News: Coda
If you live in California, by the end of 2010 you may be able to buy the Coda sedan, the new all-electric car from Coda Automotive. The company is based in Santa Monica; the chassis, a modified Mitsubishi, is from China, as is its lithium-ion battery, although Coda is hoping to build a new bat...
That volcano again ...
Maybe not the best joke, but I liked it: Message from Europe to Iceland: "We said send us CASH, not ASH!" Continue reading
Posted Apr 19, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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Pet peeves 8
Two blog posts in one day! What is the world coming to? Will the server take the extra load? This peeve involves shop and restaurant signs placed with no regard to passers-by. Going to lunch today I found that a... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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Poor timing
I bet the politicians are annoyed. We had the country's first-ever televised debate last night between the leaders of the three main parties. However, the news on TV and in the papers is dominated this morning by the plume of... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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> I was surprised to see that two of my favorite Simpsonisms, embiggen and cromulent, didn't make the top ten.
I'm surprised as well. "Embiggen", in particular, has been seized upon by Language Log for its illustrations and diagrams: "Click to embiggen". There can be no higher praise of a word!
Friday Miscellany
"I kept thinking about how fun and clichéd and pervasive the periodic table framework has become, and I thought, 'Hey, there's no periodic table of periodic tables.' I Googled it and I was right. So I made one." Voilà: The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables. Mouse over each cell in the table for ...
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Mar 15, 2010
Doing my bit to fight Global Warming
Most days I walk past an office building. Its automatic door is on a corner where I turn left, and usually I inadvertently cause the door to open, which allows an amount of warm air to escape into the cold... Continue reading
Posted Mar 1, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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Hitler v. Ofsted
The aftermath of an Ofsted inspection on one school: (Hat-tip: Bob Hale) Continue reading
Posted Feb 8, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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The way it was
A BR video from 1963 showing how they coped with the snow: Continue reading
Posted Jan 9, 2010 at Alan's Blog
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Happy New Year!
Posted Dec 31, 2009 at Alan's Blog
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A Belated Merry Christmas
A rather late Merry Christmas wish to all! I hope you had a good one and thanks for reading. Have a great New Year. Sorry I am late, I intended to make this post a couple of days ago, but... Continue reading
Posted Dec 26, 2009 at Alan's Blog
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I don't use Office 2007, but from what I've heard, I don't think I'd like "the ribbon" either.
Pet peeves 7
This is another personal pet peeve, this time aimed at Microsoft, and in particular their Office applications. I suspect that many people will hold an opposite view. In my job (and sometimes at home) I often need to copy and paste sections of text or data between different documents or applicati...
Pet peeves 7
This is another personal pet peeve, this time aimed at Microsoft, and in particular their Office applications. I suspect that many people will hold an opposite view. In my job (and sometimes at home) I often need to copy and... Continue reading
Posted Dec 11, 2009 at Alan's Blog
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I'm probably scraping the bottom of the barrel with this post. Perhaps I'm not such a grumpy old man as I thought. There's a digital TV channel showing regular repeats of Grumpy Old Men and Grumpy Old Women at the moment. Perhaps I should watch a couple of programmes to nick some ideas gain some inspiration.
Pet Peeves 6
This peeve is aimed at those working in the same office block as me, although I suspect it's fairly common in all offices. To those who are using the lifts at the same time as me: don't press the "doors close" button! The doors close automatically. If no-one has called the lift from a particular...
Pet Peeves 6
This peeve is aimed at those working in the same office block as me, although I suspect it's fairly common in all offices. To those who are using the lifts at the same time as me: don't press the "doors... Continue reading
Posted Dec 10, 2009 at Alan's Blog
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