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On BBC Search Results…

When the BBC rebranded themselves as BBCi, they also relaunched their search facility on bbc.co.uk. They made it look something like this:

At the time I wasn’t very impressed by this arrangement and made myself fairly unpopular by mocking up a couple of cheap and easy alternatives:

That’s all…

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Hofstadter’s Law…

Via Interconnected.org: Hofstadter’s Law: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”

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Jason redesigns the Obscure Store…

So Jason yet again tries to show the rest of us up by producing a totally practical, well-fashioned and elegant new design for Romenesko’s Obscure Store and Reading Room. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s beautifully simple. He’s truly dispicable and he must be stopped.

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Mark’s rules for writing badly…

I’ve been ploughing through some of Mark’s old weblog stuff hidden away on The Wayback Machine. I miss gems like this:

“Top 10 Ways to Write Good
10. Avoid alliteration. Always.
9. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
8. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
7. Don’t use commas, that aren’t necessary.
6. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
5. Don’t abbrev.
4. Its important to use apostrophe’s right.
3. Who needs rhetorical questions?
2. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
1. Stamp out, abolish, eliminate and avoid unnecessary redundancy.”

“William Shakespeare’s middle name was Colin! Ok, that’s a lie. But that’s the point! What a great idea… Lie of the Day! Every day, a new lie!”

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Meeting my first iPod…

I’m fascinated by the way that the Guardian Online’s editorial team’s weblog only writes about Apple products. Speaking of which, I’ve just seen my first iPod in the flesh, and while it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it may actually be better. It’s smaller than I thought it would be, more fun, slightly weirder looking though. Lust is mine.

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Buy Nothing Day and illicit shopping…

So today is “Buy Nothing Day” – the third such event that I’ve been weblogging during. This year it has quite a stunning ‘uncommercial’ associated with it: Buy Nothing Day. I’m definitely pro-Buy Nothing Day – I’ve been a supporter of No Logo-style politics (to a large extent) for a substantial period of time now. Interestingly though it didn’t stop me last year, when I reported that the purchasing of a DVD player on such a day simply increased the terrible thrill of purchasing – that addictive high was all the more satisfying because it was illicit.

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Secret Santa tops Blogdex…

And Secret Santa is now #1 on Blogdex. Very exciting. Join up, you bastards!

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Those kittens and their staring lunacy…

Those damn kittens with their evil, evil minds and staring lunacy – creeping up on me in the night and blowing hot breath on the back of my neck, making me sweat and making my eyes dart around in their skull cage. I hate them all… Kill Kill Kill.

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Secret Santa reaches Metafilter…

Secret Santa makes Metafilter.

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Send me one new song…

Send me an MP3: I’m feeling old and staid and kind of dull. Fancy sending me an MP3 so I can try out some new music? Limited time only – only for a short time, as I’m not always on a good connection. Please send your suggestions to tom.coates@btinternet.com. Only one per e-mail (and one per punter) please! [Thanks to Darren for the idea.]