Finally. an end what has become the “RSS nightmare”:http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/1460.html. An “ESF feed”:http://www.aquarionics.com/article/name/esf is available for MT. Using the “MT-Epoch”:http://www.caomhin.org/geek/mt/mtepoch.php from “Kevin Golding”:http://www.caomhin.org/ this site now produces an ESF feed.
Check out the new button on the left hand side. At this rate, I’m going to run out of space on my sleeve.
“Cathy asked”:http://www.dellah.com/orient/2003/06/16/interview_meme.shtml#comment382
*1. What skill would you most like to master instantly?*
How come the more serious questions were easier to answer?
I think that the skill I am least good at is “talking to other people”. Not in a crippling non-social way that means I can’t function in society, but in a general, sitting round having a beer kind of way. I think I think slightly too slowly (or maybe I leap off into my own private world and not pay attention) to contribute to real time conversations. That’s why I like blogs, email and usenet so much. Even IRC and IM are just off real time for me to participate.
However, if your talking superpowers, then the ability to pause time so that I could get everything I need to do done during the day and sleep more would be on my wish list.
*2. What clever title would you give your autobiography?*
I can’t think of a clever one, so I’ll go for “It’s my way, or the Freeway”, Freeway being the dog on Heart to Heart and my nickname for a brief time at school.
*3. If you could get anyone to redesign your site for you (presumably good CSS skills necessary) who would it be?*
“Chris Casciano”:http://placenamehere.com/ of “Daily CSS Fun”:http://placenamehere.com/neuralustmirror/200202/fun.php fame does what I’d do if I had any talent. “My main page”:www.dellah.com is a pale mirror of his work.
*4. How do you think you’d get on if you were shipwrecked on a desert island?*
I’m fairly practical and if there was an available food and water supply, I think I’d survive. I was a scout, so know how to tie knots and stuff. I’d do brilliantly if the desert island happened to have a high-bandwidth internet connection, a computer and a generator. I think that would be my perfect location. Without, I suspect I’d turn as mad as Tom Hanks in “Cast Away”:http://us.imdb.com/Title?0162222.
*5. How do you make a perfect cup of tea?*
Seen as I’m currently reading “Salmon of Doubt”:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330323121/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-1978503-1397413 this is an easy one to answer. Just refer to page 67 of the paperback. Personally, I like a nice cup of PG with milk, but the theory is the same.
In my own little RSS world, I have an English Football League structure to my feeds. I have four divisions and the higher the division, the more attention I give the items in that feed. (There are categories under each division, but you don’t need to know about that now)
So, in the Premiership, I read every character of every entry because the people here always have interesting things to say. This division also gets refreshed twice as often as the other divisions (every four hours). If I find that a feed’s items sometimes are not so interesting, they may face relegation to the First Division.
In Division One, there is a lot of quality and I tend to read all the entries. When there is a short description instead of a full entry, I may not read the full entry if the description indicates that it might not interest me. If I find that every entry in a feed is interesting on a regular basis, it is likely this feed will be promoted to the Premiership. On the other hand, if there is a larger amount of uninteresting, or even worse, annoying entries, then you could slip into dangerous waters of Division Two.
In the second division, you will find it an uphill task to maintain my interest. By default, I check all subject lines and descriptions for interesting entries and only read those. This is the starting division of all entries and promotion beckons for the sleeping giants and previous non-league minnows. However, consistent poor results could find you in Division Three.
Worry for the poor RSS feed in Division Three. I scan the list of Subjects for things that might be interesting. If something stands out, I’ll check the description, or read it if it is a full feed (clearly I’m giving preferential treatment to full feeds here; they are more likely to be read). However, on busy days, I simply mark them as read without even reading the subjects. Eventually, I may well notice that a particular feed isn’t of a professional standard, and would be better off as Non League. Sadly, I don’t follow non-league feeds, so there isn’t much chance of re-entry.
All of this is just preamble so I can say :-
Congratulation to “Rise”:http://www.erzsebel.com/rise/ and “Wherever You Are”:http://www.whereveryouare.org.uk/ on promotion to the Premiership.
“Aquarius asked”:http://www.dellah.com/orient/2003/06/16/interview_meme.shtml#comment378
1. Why will you vote for who you vote for (or no-one) in the next general election?
Difficult to answer. I’ve always voted Labour in the past, and expect I will in the next one too. These last local elections I’ve voted LibDem, partly for tactical reasons (Labour gets no votes on this ward) and because when the chap came round to talk to me he seemed a very nice chap (and promised me a swimming pool). As it was he lost by 4 votes, so no swimming pool.
2. If you had to distil your philosophy on life down into one paragraph, what would that paragraph be?
Always follow the path of least resistance.
3. How’s life going, generally?
Pretty good on balance. Children are leaving that “I’m a baby and will cry” stage and becoming lovely little people I can talk to. I bought a new computer for £20 yesterday (for my server; at last!). Sometimes, though, I feel I’m a lonely single geek trapped in the body of a happily married man with two children. Sometimes, I think, I want to be alone; I want angst and boredom and time to myself. Usually this happens when I put on a Morrissey CD.
4. Which question do you want people to not ask?
This one because if I answer it, I’m just asking for trouble.
5. What’s the future for Dellah?
Wish I knew. I change my mind almost daily at the moment. At the moment, I’m turning away from being a “link-farm” hence the loss of the “link o lists” (I think that idea has had its day) and have more content. Technical and non-technical. Technical wise I want to focus on three or four key areas, but I want to create as much as I report, something really good webloggers do.
Sadly, all I’ve done so far is talk about David Beckham, which is really the last thing I want to do.
The speed at which David Beckham left Old Trafford didn’t allow me time to reply to ??Aquarius?? stating that the Premiership is all about money:
bq. Can I suggest curling? Or Extreme Ironing? Or women’s football? If “it’s all about money” is any kind of negative motivator, football is not the game for you. In an age when footballers behave like rock stars (and rock stars don’t — when did someone last smash up a hotel?) and clubs float on the stock exchange, the stakeholders are driving the business and the fans lost the war, Premiership football is not the game if you don’t like money. Although I can see supporting your local club.
All true, however I am very two faced on this subject. I can dislike the fact that it is all down to money and yet passionately support the team with by far and away the most money.
Football’s like that. Moan about the shedload of money it costs to watch it on Sky, moan about having to pay through the teeth to go to the ground and see them “in the flesh”. Yet I do both. See, football has some sort of hold over me, a passion. Whilst I say that it would be nice if Charlton could win the title (my uncle is a Charlton fan), I secretly hope Man United win the next ten titles straight (and Arsenal get relegated). I know it would be bad, and money has made this possible. But then I know that for some reason, Manchester United have always been the biggest supported team every seasons since the 70’s (even when they were relegated) and had the best team at the right time to take advantage of Sky’s money.
But the Spanish fans are madder. I wonder if they will tolerate Victoria Beckham as much as we did?
I’ll always support the local team too. Luckily for 15 years, Manchester United was my local team. Next, I wasn’t so lucky because Aylesbury United were my local team and quite frankly I’d rather watch Arsenal (I say in no way because I had a trial for Aylesbury United and they turned me down). Then Reading. Due to the fact that I was very little when I lived near Old Trafford, I’ve now managed to see Reading live more than Manchester United. And they’ve just had an exciting season.
In a totally unexpected move, Beckham joins Real Madrid.
Actually, despite my sarcasm, I am somewhat surprised at the speed this happened.
United with money to burn, the price of everyone in the Premiership has just gone up £10 million (if ManU try to sign them). What about Kewell then, it would be nice to have an Aussie in the team, if only to erase the memory of Bosnich and to get gilmae off my case.