The Pencil Guy: Hourann's illogical blog

A random list for Sunday

  • Is Rupert Murdoch demanding all his papers give extra publicity to his new cash cow? Today’s STM features a big, gushing article about MySpace. Then again, the article regularly quotes Tama, so it’s not all bad …
    Update 12.50am: Dr T says “I think the piece was pretty balanced”. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but I sensed a subtext of “you should join MySpace NOW!” in the first few paragraphs ;-)
  • Weird Al Yankovic, LOL! If you haven’t already, go download his song. Now.
  • The local Slashdot Meetup last Thursday was heaps cool, ye local Linux nerds (and non-Linux nerds) should all come! What most amused me was that except for the two public servants, everyone there had job offers to pass on from their employers …
  • I guess I shouldn’t be surprised so little media attention has gone to Terrence Tao, the former Adelaide kid and now UCLA professor who won the Fields Medal. A few sources overseas are chattering about the Russian dude who turned it down, but that’s just because he so neatly fits the ‘eccentric maths professor’ stereotype.
  • And finally, if (like me) you had trouble accessing this blog yesterday, blame your ISP’s upstream providers. Something got ugly between Global Crossing, AsiaNetCom, AT&T, and their link at the Infomart in Dallas, making it impossible for Optus or iiNet customers (among others) to access anything co-hosted at The Planet all day. (Complex? of course not!)
    Thing is, The Planet are huge — so the fault caught this blog, Kitta, Ask A Ninja, and quite a few others. Most other providers (particularly MCI) were able to route around the problem, leaving Feedeye unaffected even though it lives in the same building.
  1. I think it has been clearly established that you are a cynic! That aside, while there was a congratulatory tone in parts, I guess with 100 million users that’s not entirely unfair! By balanced, though, I meant that it included issues about online predators and MySpace which isn’t exactly MySpace-cheerleading! (Of course, if one looks at the overall Sunday Times for that day, you have to decide whether the STM piece was an antidote for the ‘Internet Love Mum’s Sexy [MySpace] Pictures’ or not … *sigh*).

  2. Oh, I’d say that was reasonably cynical ;)

    Honestly, though, I didn’t aim to bang the drum for the site, but as the good Doctor says, 100 million members is nothing to sniff at!

  3. That Weird Al song is great… true Bono-style!

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