My new blog is here

I missed this when it came out, but Microsoft has released XML Notepad 2007 for Windows. Personally, I prefer oXygen which is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and for integration in to Eclipse. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

One of the sad things about Le Web 3 was that we should have had a lot more danah boyd. I'd highly recommend that you watch this talk where boyd is talking to students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She talks about the construction of teenagers and young people and a lot of the bits and pieces that she talked about at Le Web, but for 1h 11m instead of about ten minutes. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Five Things About Me Permanent link to this item in the archive.

I don't usually do memes, but since both Kosso and Amyloo have asked, let's see what I can do. (I actually wrote this yesterday only for my system to crash - yes, Macs never crash - and I lost the data).

1. I am an art school dropout. As one person puts it, "it's like kindergarden all over again" (juliemalady). Only, being a miserable bastard, that's not the sort of experience I wanted to spend large chunks of my future income on (thank you, student loans). So I dropped out. I booked myself a train ticket on the Monday, stopped attending class and on Friday, packed up, got a taxi to the station and went home.

This was perhaps the best decision I have ever made - my life has got significantly better since leaving art school. The college I was at was a trumped-up "post-1992" University In Name Only in the Midlands. It cost me all of about £4k to do so, but, hey, better that than living life with an art degree on my CV.

2. I'm an unashamed Americaphile. I've visited twice now and enjoyed it enormously. I'm a future American in waiting. If you are from the State Department and reading this, please drop me an email - I really want a Green Card, I really don't want to live in Britain for much longer - this place is driving me completely crazy. (Note: My love for America has nothing to do with that ridiculous arse known as the President - my love for America has more to do with Thomas Jefferson and the First Amendment than it does for any president in the last 50 years or so...)

3. I love jazz, soul, funk and gospel music. I despise almost all the indie crap that is touted as the "NEXT BEST THING" by the blasted NME. Seriously, pick up a copy of the NME from 5 years ago. How many of the NEXT BEST THING indie bands still exist? Don't worry though, it'll still be in the hidden recesses of some hipsters iPod snuggled up in the pocket of his "pre-worn" jeans.

4. I've been to confession once in my life. I have only prayed properly once in my life - but I spent a lot of time pretending to pray in order to satisfy teachers - repeating words that have no meaning to me. Gee whiz, and now I'm an atheist. Who would have thunk it, eh? When I was in the Scouts, I recited the phrase "I promise to do my best, To do my duty to my God, To the Queen and my Country". Let's see how I've ranked. I'm an atheist republican who wants to get a Green Card. I'd say I've done my duty - but I'm not sure that my duty extends to God, Queen or Country. I dislike the latter two, and think the former doesn't exist. I have done my duty to intellectual honesty though.

5. I speak no languages except English (okay, I speak some programming languages, but they don't count - when I get lost in Paris or Copenhagen, no amount of JavaScript, C++ or Perl will help). I am quite ashamed of the fact. I'd really like to be able to speak, read and write French and/or German. The former primarily so I can tell the world how shit Le Web 3 was in both English and French, and the latter so I can read Nietzsche in the original. I am also a subscriber to some extent to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic determinism. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

I must say I also agree with Alex Barnett's fifth fact.

Who shall I tag? Suw Charman, Mike Kowalchik, Adam Tinworth, Ivan Pope and Rachel Clarke.

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Last modified: Sunday, August 26, 2007 at 11:12 AM.

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