Here's a collection of feeds from the 'Maison itself, as well as a few of our friends' sites.
Back to the Maison de Stuff.
- - Multimedia Professional
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I invented the Internet...
Do you remember the first decent sized piece of software you ever wrote? I was sitting here thinking that very thought just now. I had dabbled a bit with some rather awful games - but those aside - the first piece of software I wrote of any real note was my A level project, back when I was 17, in 1994/1995. I recall at the time having a little difficulty explaining what exactly my project was. It was this program which let you create and playback these interactive multimedia presentations. You could create a number of pages, and in each page you could display a mixture of text, pictures and simple animations. You could also put on buttons which let you navigate between pages, in a freeform structure - each page had a name and the button would refer to that. 11 or more years later I find myself working on BML, the Japanese standard for interactive television. I have spent the day thinking about how to abstract a BML display. Basically it is a number of pages made up of text, pictures and simple animations, with buttons for navigation. So you can see my train of thought here - basically I have come full circle haven't I? Then it occurred to me that my project was in fact a form of hypertext. Lo and behold, I invented the web! Albeit after it had already been invented by some other guy at that time. Still though, it was before I had ever used the web .. - - A Poem
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Ever striving to bring variety to the 'Maison, I have decided to have a go at a spot of poetry...
The feeling of disappointment is palpable, strong, intense and vibrant, and yet, you have taken me, to such a place of blandness, of banality, and of tedium, such a vaccum of interest, a dearth of any sparkle or joy, that, overcome as I am, with how dull you are, I am not moved to elaborate, not inspired to expound, on the depth of your dreariness. No man should have to bear, the full brunt of your onslaught. If hell is nothingness, a void, bereft of hope, then in the canteen, they'll be serving you: oh retched beast of convenience foods, that which I discovered at Crewe station: cheese and tomato sandwich, with mayonnaise ... - - Previous Entries
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[Last modified: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:25:56 GMT]
The feed could not be read.- - North Wales
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[Friday 30th July - Monday 2nd August 2010]
A weekend in North Wales visiting Dad whilst Louise, Ian and Vera were also visiting.
Last modified: 02/08/2010 21:18:57.
Added: 02/08/2010 21:18:57.
Number: 333. - - East Midlands July 2010
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[Saturday 17th - Sunday 18th July 2010]
A weekend visiting Mum in the East Midlands.
Last modified: 02/08/2010 13:39:46.
Added: 02/08/2010 13:39:46.
Number: 332. - - London July 2010
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[July 2010]
A very foody sort of a month in London.
Last modified: 02/08/2010 13:37:51.
Added: 02/08/2010 13:37:51.
Number: 331. - - Cornwall June 2010
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[Saturday 19th - Saturday 26th June 2010]
Pictures from a week's holiday in Cornwall in June 2010, including a day on Dartmoor at the end.
Last modified: 27/06/2010 09:59:21.
Added: 27/06/2010 09:59:21.
Number: 330. - - London June 2010
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[June 2010]
Pictures from London in June 2010, including the London Open Garden Squares weekend.
Last modified: 13/06/2010 20:20:01.
Added: 13/06/2010 20:20:01.
Number: 329. - - Brighton
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[Saturday 5th June 2010]
A day out in Brighton with Chie and Gav, primarily so that I could buy some new shoes from the ever reliable Vegetarian Shoes. Once there we decided it might be rather nice to explore some of Brighton's rather fine old pubs.
Last modified: 06/06/2010 14:48:59.
Added: 06/06/2010 14:48:59.
Number: 328. - - Abergavenny May 2010
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[Saturday 29th - Monday 31st May 2010]
Visiting Vera and Robin in Abergavenny over the spring bank holiday weekend.
Last modified: 01/06/2010 23:13:53.
Added: 01/06/2010 23:13:53.
Number: 327. - - New York May 2010
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[Saturday 1st - Saturday 8th May 2010]
A week spent in New York on business.
Last modified: 15/05/2010 16:53:43.
Added: 15/05/2010 16:53:43.
Number: 326. - - Zurich April 2010
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[Sunday 18th - Wednesday 21st April 2010]
Another train trip via Paris to Zurich.
Last modified: 25/04/2010 12:20:36.
Added: 25/04/2010 12:20:36.
Number: 325. - - London April 2010
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[April 2010]
Pictures from London as spring gets under way in earnest.
Last modified: 08/04/2010 21:03:00.
Added: 08/04/2010 21:03:00.
Number: 324. - - Norfolk
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[Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th March 2010]
A short weekend away in Norfolk (and a bit of Cambridgeshire) including a tour of the St. George's Distillery, an evening in historic Norwich, and a visit to the awe inspiring Ely Cathedral.
Last modified: 14/03/2010 22:30:06.
Added: 14/03/2010 22:30:06.
Number: 323. - - London March 2010
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[March 2010]
Another monthly set of random pictures from London.
Last modified: 14/03/2010 22:28:16.
Added: 14/03/2010 22:28:16.
Number: 322. - - South Wales
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[Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th February 2010]
A weekend in South Wales (with a foray into Herefordshire) visiting Vera and Robin.
Last modified: 06/03/2010 11:14:37.
Added: 06/03/2010 11:13:55.
Number: 321. - - North Wales
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[Friday 12th - Monday 15th February 2010]
A weekend spent in North Wales visiting Dad in February 2010.
Last modified: 06/03/2010 11:12:03.
Added: 06/03/2010 11:12:03.
Number: 320. - - London February 2010
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[February 2010]
London in February.
Last modified: 20/02/2010 09:47:04.
Added: 20/02/2010 09:45:07.
Number: 319.
[Last modified: Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:19:01 GMT]
- - John: Tom - the problem is porting the existing con...
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Tom - the problem is porting the existing content, and getting something that can work with flat files (i.e. doesn't require an SQL server at the backend) and will generally work on our servers. - - tom: Use something like drupal instead of greymatt...
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Use something like drupal instead of greymatter? - - Rob Lang: *to the tune of Football's Coming Home* He's ...
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*to the tune of Football's Coming Home* He's coming home, he's coming home, he's coming! John is coing home, he's coming home, he's coming home, he's coming! John is coming home! - - John: Yes Issam - working on digital TV in Japan at...
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Yes Issam - working on digital TV in Japan at the moment, but will be returning to the UK in January. - - Issam: Thanks and KoL Aam Wa Antom Bi Khair John... ...
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Thanks and KoL Aam Wa Antom Bi Khair John... i'm now in Oman in a lovely touristic city called Salalah. I'm still in an academic environment; are you still with Digital TVs :- )? - - Nigel: Interestingly one of my works networks has be...
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Interestingly one of my works networks has been up and down all week - currently down... Perhaps it's the sudden change of weather affecting all computers? - - Nigel: Morning all!! :) <br> I guess the GreyMatt...
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Morning all!! :)
I guess the GreyMatter package is too big to completely convert though... Not that I'm an expert in any shape or form... Perhaps as Vista is on the horizon someone could suggest a system that has a good prospect of longevity for the future etc? - - Lox: I offer my arm and very little programming sk...
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I offer my arm and very little programming skills.... Although I have the feeling that DSP has already made a program to do just that... - - John: I think the reason that the board/blogs are n...
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I think the reason that the board/blogs are not working so well is that our hosting company seems to have reduced the timeout for CGI applications - so most of the time the add message script (or the Greymatter scripts) cannot complete before the server kills them off now. This is making it all a bit unusable currently. For some reason it seems they don't impose the same kind of restrictions on ASP based scripts, so probably the only solution to this long term is to replace all the perl on the site with ASP. I guess it'll be down to me to do that then. - - Mad Mumsie: That, of course, should have been "seats"
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That, of course, should have been "seats"
[Last modified: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:22:32 GMT]
The feed could not be read.- - The Baron
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The Baron by ~plasticmice
A little something for Emily's Birthday. Which turned out somewhat creepier than I'd originally planned...
Also, has anyone else noticed that there doesn't seem to be enough time lately? - - Not Dead... Yet
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Click for bigger!
Just thought I'd update and let you know that I'm not dead. Although it felt like it for a while, and I might have even hoped for it a few times. But, no. I've just been a bit ill. Trapped in my bed, in fact. Except for the countless times I had to do the puking dash!
What's up with that? I hadn't eaten anything in days and yet my body still insisted that I drag myself to the bathroom and expel... what, exactly? Daemons? It certainly felt like it. Tearing their way up from my empty belly to claw and scuttle loose via my now extremely hoarse throat. Makes about as much sense as anything has lately.
As much sense as the dreams I've had! I've been searching my bed for bees, woken up coughing as I've been drowned or not been able to move at all as I've had my fingers, hands and arms broken by a thing sitting in my room. All in crystal-clear, total immersion reality. Then I'd feel too weak and painful to do anything but hope to fall back to sleep. Awesome!
Still, mustn't grumble. At least now I can sit up! And do walking every now and again! Although the stairs are still a bit tricky.
Oh, and I still get that feeling every time I'm ill for a long while that I'll wake up one morning and the whole world will have gone all 28 Days Later. Know what I mean? Although I probably won't have my winky out... - - Leaky Pen Brush
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When I'm drawing I like to use a really fine point. Some of my pens have been hacked away to almost nothing, but they give the most fantastic line quality. Unfortunately, the scratch of a nib on paper isn't something that comes across into the digital world. We can, however, strive to achieve those lines we've come to know and love.
The brush I made tonight comes pretty close to matching one of my favourite inking pens, and was made by a complete fluke of trial and error and button mashing. It works beautifully with Photoshop and an Intuos4 with a flex nib; not so well with an Intuos2. You can try it yourself if you want: Download. Just like the actual pen, the harder you press down on the surface, the more the it leaks. Only, this one doesn't burn through hundred of cartridges... or leak in my pocket. - - Just What Grandpa Wants!
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Click for bigger!
Sadly, I don't have any living grandparents to test the theory, but I'm almost one hundred percent certain that, if they were still alive, the very last thing they'd want for Christmas this year is Brain Training. For reals!
I dug out my DSi again last night and was 'awesomed' to find that we [Europe] finally got a version of Flipnote! I spent ages making totally grown-up and non-obscene cell animations; for my own amusement. Also, one critical update later and I noticed that I could upload photos directly to FaceFook... and this happened. Which we should probably never speak of again.
Okay, I'm going back to poke some pixels. So many things to do and so little time. Have you people seen the latest Wacom 'Dreams' do-dat over at DeviantArt? I think I'll start work on that later. I've already spent my life savings on an Intuos4 [best thing ever!], but the other prizes are pretty amazing, and make it well worth a shot. That's if I ever get this piece finished. Anyways, If you don't see me for a while then send help. Or cake. - - Thanks?
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Remember that birthday party I was invited to? Well, Lily, the birthday girl, sent me a thank you note for her Play-Doh, and on the back she'd drawn a picture of what at first I thought was some sort of pig monster, but actually turned out to be a very flattering portrait of me! So flattering, in fact, that I felt the need to flesh it out, and share it with the world.
Beautiful, isn't it? I particularly like my eyes! And... snout. - - PieRat EyeLand
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Pierat Eyeland by ~plasticmice on deviantART - - Walkers & Nutella
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Click for bigger!
I'm a dirty boy, and I'm going to food Hell. But is it really my fault that Walkers Ready Salted taste so good when they're dipped in Nutella? Reminds me of the days when you could still buy chocolate pretzels in the UK, a delight you can naturally still purchase in the US. *cough* Christmas *cough*
Not only does she want to rob me of my salty, chocolaty goodness, but the UK also wants to deny me my mail. Despite the postal strikes I did receive a copy of the letter sent from my neurologist to the headache clinic. One of the drugs he has suggested is Methysergide. I've been reading some very good feedback on it, but the whole 'molecular match to LSD' thing makes me giggle somewhat. I think I'm already pretty messed up as things stand, and throwing hallucinogens in the mix is surely just asking for tin foil underpants.
Speaking of. If you wanted to go to The Crown tonight, Scabz, then I guess it can be arranged. I've been up all night painting though and, like a dick, I forgot to take my medications until 6am so I might not wake until... How about you call the land line and get someone to poke me with a stick? That might work out easier? - - And Hearts
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And Hearts by ~plasticmice on deviantART
My mummy bought me a dressing gown made from... actually, I don't know what it's made of, but it feels like teddy bears. It's definitely the coziest thing I've ever worn in my entire life! I want to wear it forever. - - Anchored by Lindsey Olivares
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n__n - - Drugs Glorious Drugs!
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Click for bigger!
I don't like exposing myself. I certainly don't like telling people that I'm weak. However, I put my pride aside today when I saw my neurologist. I laid things on the line and pointed out that I don't like feeling the way I do when my brain goes into meltdown. He listened and he asked what he could do. Turning the question back on him, I said I wasn't sure, what can you do?
Turns out he can send me to a secret experimental bunker deep underneath the deserts of Milton Keynes where they'll pump me full of Gamma Rays, thus turning me into an angry, green giant with a penchant for smashing cars and saving the world. I fuck you not! Well, it'll be something similar. Six months of intensive drug treatment, six months of detox. Try it and see sort of situation.
In fact, that's where we left it. He's referring me to a headache clinic where they have access to new and experimental techniques. My letter is already in the post... - - I has a stinky cold!
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Click for bigger!
If this image makes any sort of sense to you, then you should probably be locked in a small, padded room. Failing that, have a Happy Birthday instead! n__n - - The Doodles I Do
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Click for bigger!
When I was a child, the idea of living in a lighthouse always fascinated me. - - Flamethrowers & Grappling Hooks
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Cool beans! An excuse to go toy shopping n__n - - Holes
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Click it bigger! But don't leave fingerprints!
I think I lost a day. It was a Wednesday. I think my neurologist and I need to have a few words on the 16th. - - The Vimeo Void
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Warning! This video contains flashing... everything!
Yup, it's true. Sometimes I like waste those ever precious free hours of my life slumped infront of the screen staring at the pretty moving lights. Honestly, Vimeo is dangerous. One click too far and before you know it you've lost your entire evening. - - Hopelessly Devoted
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I purloined this from Paul; we can work out payment later. It's hard to believe that the game's being played by a human being, especially when it gets to the first stage of the warp zone [2.18]. The jumps are so intuitive; preemptive even. How many hours of mushroom jumping does it take to reach that level of interplay?
Also:
Mario World by *Orioto on deviantART - - Ye Potato of Doome
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Toucheth If Ye Dare!
The common potato. Because sometimes an artist really can't be arsed to draw all those pointy teeth and dragon scales. - - Bloody Fascinating
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Can't Stop Watching It... - - Bugs, Germs, Bookcases & Such
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Now Wash Your Hands!
Making the most of this temporary low, some chipper little germ has found a weak spot in my immune system, has moved in and is currently humping my throat raw. You've got to admire the opportunists. Right?
Despite feeling rougher than a badger's posterior, I might take a trip to IKEA later. I fancy getting my hands on a Limited Edition Billy. Totally looks like something I'd make! Although I'm not sure that I wouldn't get sick of looking at it after a week. I might just pop along for the birthday cake.
Current Song - - Chloe
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Unfortunately, it was Chloe. It seems that she was hit by a car on Thursday night. The man who found her said that she seemed to have died from the shock of it, rather than any obvious injury.
Life's strange. It set up the circumstances for her to become lost, my brother to find her, decide to take her in... and now this. Still, although we didn't get to spend many years with her she certainly was a quirky creature. I guess those memories will be ours forever. - - It Makes You Happy
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Went to the Art Organisation last night. It was a bit quiet when we first got there, plus the wine was quite harsh, so we went here instead and drank some tequila; quite a lot of tequila as it happens.
We did eventually make it back to the Org and, admittedly, the music was better by then, although other things were a touch... blurry. I did become the proud, new owner of a vivid yellow T-Shirt though. Shirts which were printed right in front of us by the artists. Top stuff! Although now I'm having pangs to make my own screens. It'll be like my college days again, where everything had print on it! - - Impassable Turdle!
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You Wanna Super Size That?
A few years back, whilst celebrating Angela's birthday, it was noted that I tend to have some interesting tales to tell. Admittedly, at the time, I was talking about the sex submarine but that's... a whole other story. This little snippet comes from tonight's super healthy meal of pizza and Pepsi. As is the way of these things, it sparked a memory from my past.
When I was fourteen, and those pizza loving Ninja Turtles were storming the box office, it seemed like people in the UK couldn't get enough Domino's. As it turned out, there was one little boy for whom this wasn't the case. When I went into hospital I met a boy whose mummy had fed him nothing but pizza and cola, for a very long time.
Remember what happens when you mix flour and water? Well, if you eat enough of it, over a long enough period of time then, the chances are, you'll find yourself with an impacted bowel. The boy I met had such a bad case of fecal impaction that the surgeons had been forced to remove half of his bowel and fair sized section of his damaged intestine.
For the whole time I was on that hospital ward he cried because he was being forced to eat a milky, gruel-like stuff, which he'd probably be eating for the rest of his life. I think to my fourteen year old mind that was the saddest part of the whole thing.
It took me a long time after that to be able to eat pizza again; although I still can't stomach anything deep crust. It's just the thoughts of it sitting there... in my tubes. Waiting. Plotting.
As for the Ninja Turtles, I can only assume that they must have some kind of special ability for dealing with a pizza only diet? Maybe Master Splinter is trained in the ancient art of the colonic? The mind, it boggles. It really does. - - Lousy!
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Bigger?
I got an email this afternoon from a good friend of mine who's in a spot of bother. He's gone and gotten himself a good dose of the crabs. A case of public lice. A crotch full of crusty critters! Funnily enough he thought I'd be the one to turn to for some sage advice.
What then, dear reader, did I have to say to Mr. Itch when he asked 'what he should do about it all'? I said this: I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to draw a picture of it and post it on the internet.
I received a text message twenty minutes ago calling me an asshole :D - - The Darkness
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Bigger?
I got my hands on a copy of The Darkness a few days ago and, naturally enough, I've been playing the hell out of it ever since. It didn't take long to finish and the story wasn't the greatest, but I have to say that the background game details were absolutely cracking! I spent hours walking around staring at the graffiti, which it turns out was designed by Swedish graffiti artists as the actual New York graffiti is subject to copyright issues... 0__o
My favourite elements, however, were the Darklings; little surprise there. Doing their best to cause as much havoc as possible, these cute little goblin-like daemons not only kill it and hump it but they'll piss on the corpse afterwards. Oh, and you get to dress them up too! It's just like the Barbie!
Anywees, I'm off to look at the lovely concept artwork, which you can unlock in-game by playing some of the side missions. - - I need an off switch
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MOAR?!!
Ever get the feeling that there's so much you could be doing, so much you should be doing, and the pressure you put upon yourself to be doing it is so vast that it hurts, that all you actually end up doing is weeping piteously in a corner?
Ever get the feeling that if you could just change that one thing about yourself, make yourself just a fraction more like everyone else, that it'd all be okay?
Ever get the feeling that you've pushed yourself so far, worked yourself so hard and spread yourself so thin that you're no longer sure it's even you that you see looking back at you in the mirror?
Ever get the feeling that the world's slowly sinking within you and every breath you take, every word you type, is a fruitless, dying action?
[Last modified: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:06:14 GMT]
The feed could not be read.