Observations

Google Narrative Nothing in particular Observations Photos Ponderings Rants Reviews Technology The Rare Good Thing

Let’s Face it…

Michael 13 November 2009 2 Comments

I was going to be nice to Google today. Really, I was – I started out thinking “Wow, for the first time ever, I will have to write a weblog…

Comics Groupthink Nothing in particular Observations Pageoftheday Pretty Pictures Rants

London Olympics 2012

Michael 27 August 2008 No Comments

There’s no point me harping on about this, you know full well my assumption is that it will be a disaster best avoided. That said, I am prepared to let…

Narrative News Nothing in particular Observations The Rare Good Thing

She wont let you fly, but she might let you sing.

Michael 17 August 2008 1 Comment

For once, the British Government has impressed me. It’s not much but it’s so rare I thought it worth a mention. Their new training site is called “Train to Gain”…

Food Observations Ponderings Quotes Rants

I can has vegan beefburger?

Michael 17 July 2008 1 Comment

I read the most amazing article today about McDonalds admitting it was adding milk and wheat to their french fries. (Can we call them chips now please? This is an…

Groupthink Masturbation Narrative Observations Ponderings Rants Security

Please turn out the lights…

Michael 18 June 2008 1 Comment

I used to consider myself something of a nationalist. Not in the jack-booted send home all the blacks and “The Empire could do no wrong” sense, but certainly in the…

Books Groupthink Observations Ponderings Rants Technology

Mr Twit never went really hungry…

Michael 10 June 2008 No Comments

“Mr Twit never went really hungry. By sticking out his tongue and curling is sideways to explore the hairy jungle around his mouth, he was always able to find a…

April 7^th 2025: The WordPress theme from 2010 that I insist on using is apparently riddled with performance issues and incompatible with everything. I have switched to a theme from 2012 that seems more stable and doesn't set off all the alert panels. It also works on mobile browsers though I had to add an "about" page.

April 3^rd 2025: I tried to write one post per decade, but failed. One every 12 years seems okay, and it's a follow-on post to the last one. Also the site isn't mobile friendly yet. Since I am not mobile friendly, this is never going to be a priority.

October 2024: My old Wordpress MU finally broke too much to maintain it. I moved my sites off onto individual instances so now this thing stands alone, and I have broken all the very legacy pretty themes and fonts.

April 2010: I have moved this from its old home so we'll see what happens now.

October 2009: I am trying to be a little more regular with posting. Wish me luck!

April 2008: I have been a little bitter and cynical the last couple of months. If you want lighter more amusing stuff then maybe you should skip the top few postings.

When Safety Forgot about Scammers
For a while, I’ve been thinking about how the online dating moderation space shifted from focusing primarily on tackling masses of spam, much of which was scam-related, to prioritizing individual safety. In theory, that should’ve been a good thing – but in reality, something important got lost along the way. I feel somewhat responsible for… Read more: When Safety Forgot about Scammers
Down the rabbit hole of Trudeau’s gun ban in Canada
I’ve been meaning to write something about Trudeau’s gun ban in Canada for about 2 years now, mostly as a follow-up to my 2013 post about the British bans. I kept putting it off. Partly because the subject is annoying, and partly because I knew I’d end up rewriting it a hundred times anyway. I… Read more: Down the rabbit hole of Trudeau’s gun ban in Canada
Everything is good in moderation; except moderation…
I thought it was about time to write an article on how I was recently fired from my job with one of the Internet's leading moderation companies. It's been a couple of months now, so I am confident that I can write this in a non-reactionary way since I am trying to be informational rather than adversarial; I am not even going to mention their name and I am confident that very few people will actually know for sure which company I am referring to. I am not worried about libel; I am well covered by the new UK whistle-blower laws - But pending the result of a couple of potential criminal investigations against the company I think I will keep names out if for now.
We’re the Sweeney, son, and we haven’t had any dinner…
In the last few months, I have read an awful lot of articles and watched far too many YouTube videos about gun ownership and the British gun ban. I didn’t set out to do this at all; it’s just that I sometimes read articles about guns and they link to other things – And somehow… Read more: We’re the Sweeney, son, and we haven’t had any dinner…
Windows 8 and all that.
The first time I was upset about an operating-system upgrade was in 1984. PRIMOS had a minor version upgrade to 19.2 and whilst I had retrospectively complained about the change from 18 to 19, that didn’t actually affect me. This change from 19.0 to 19.2 was a disaster because things I had written and hacks… Read more: Windows 8 and all that.

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