Place of Stuff

Now that you’ve read the title, the text should be of no surprise to you.  Yesterday I gave blood again, this

National Blood Service

was my twentieth donation and it took me less than an hour.  I’m too much of a scaredy cat to donate bone marrow and I’m not nearly clever enough to be a doctor, so this is what I do to do my bit.
Continue reading ‘Give Blood Regularly’ »

Another short post!  I have begun looking for a new job.  Nothing against my current employer, I just need a change after almost 10 years.  My search is UK, US, Australia and New Zealand.

My CV is up to date and neat and tidy and my hair is combed.  Not really wanting to quit my job without a safety net really.  Now I just need someone to offer me an interview……

Anyway, wish me luck.

None of these things is worth a full post on it’s own. So here are some random thoughts:

• Recycling - until the council forced us to seperate our rubbish out I had thought that a collection every two weeks wasn’t enough. Now I realise that 75% of our rubbish is paper/cardboard so two weeks seems about right.

Continue reading ‘A Few Random Jottings’ »

FAO: Mr Chodsley, CTO

Dear Mr Chodsley,

I am writing to you, as my section head, to tender my resignation and to give you the reasons I am doing so in the hope that you will be able to use my comments to further improve the companies image and policies. Having worked here for 10 years in a variety of capacities, I feel that I am well placed to give my insights on the workings of the company.
Continue reading ‘Re: The Recent Outrages’ »

Feel free to emphasise any of the words in the title.

No, this isn’t another “Seinfeld post“, at least, I hope that’s not how it comes out. Firstly, an apology: I do not consider myself qualified to write about blogging, beyond putting down my own experiences. If you are interested in the mechanics, there are far better sites out there who can talk knowledgeably about SEO and link farming (or pharming) and the best ways to get your blog seen by readers, some of them are on my Links page and others are not. Seriously. I think my all time highest view count was 200 and my most searched terms are “lesbians” and “donkey sex”. So please, get your blogging advice elsewhere.

OK, caveat over with. Anyone who may read this site will realise, ever so quickly, that it is totally random. It really is a place for me to just drop whatever is in my head onto the page. I have never hidden this and, in fact, take a sort of perverse pride in it. It also accounts for the fact that updates are only semi regular and ideas I say I’ll come back to I never do. But, recent posts on Untwisted Vortex made me think a little more about what I write about and about what others write. In particular, this post. And, by the way, if it looks as though I’m providing a load of links to one site then don’t worry - that site has a lot of good ideas and I read it every day, so it’s only natural that it will be on my mind.
Continue reading ‘What Do You Blog About (And Why?)’ »

Back in February, I discussed a book called Flat Earth News.  If you still haven’t read this book, please do so.  You will find yourself nodding your head and agreeing with so much of it; the book is all the more powerful because it is written by a journalist about journalism.  The snowball started by Nick Davies has now grown, The Churner Prize is the latest result of the book.  On the FAQ page, there is a video of an interview/discussion with Davies.

So what is The Churner Prize (apart from being a pun on “The Turner Prize”)? Well, the Why? Page has a go at answering the question.  Basically, a huge chunk of news out there isn’t news, it’s simply press releases from companies or rehashes of older stories put out simply because the story is relevant to a new program or documentary.  Sadly, few people recognise these rehashes because we are all used to the news being packaged and delivered to us and we accept that it is both news and new without question.

In Flat Earth News, Davies highlights a news story which appears in UK papers every time the World Cup is nearing.  It tells us that an average member of the public is planning to take out an insurance policy to cover the emotional trauma he will feel if England loses.  (For anyone reading along, in the hard back copy this is on page 49).  The book says:
Continue reading ‘The Churner Prize’ »