Get Your Quality Refrigerators Here!

Ahh, where would we be without sponsored links on search tools? I just carefully put together a Rollyo search tool with various sites that have info on political parties and issues that may be relevant to the forthcoming Federal election. Oh and the Australian Democrats too.
So I decided to test it out and see what kind of results I'd get. For the Australian Labor Party I got 'Shop & Save - Quality Refrigerators. Store Ratings. Consumer Reviews.' For the Liberals it gave me great shopping deals. These were of course the sponsored links, the real websites were much further down the page. Oddly enough the result for Australian Democrats was quite good. Plus I got much better results when I discovered that you need to select the individual Rollyo search in the second page to stop it searching the whole web which you can't do in the original search. It seems like an awkward way of doing it, but it seems to get there in the end. Plus it'll do you a great deal on a new fridge.

Mr Picassohead

I'm having trouble adding this to my blog as page element, so it will have to go on as a post instead. The image generator I've been using is 'Create Your Own Picasso.'

My Picasso extrodinaire can be found here: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=d449643&skin=original

If you would like to create your own Picasso you can go here: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html

Library Thing

I've just been on Library Thing making up my library catalogue. I got up to 200 books and then it told me I wasn't allowed to put any more on without giving them money. So I stopped. It's slightly worrying that I had no trouble coming up with 200 books I liked off the top of my head. To be honest I could have kept going, but it's probably better I didn't. (I was going to stop at 206, really!) Anyway, you can see the list here:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=titian_bee&shelf=list

Bloglines begone!

Well I came, I set up a bloglines account and then I left, never to return. At first I thought the idea could be interesting, but to be honest I like browsing different news sources and I think I like the idea that I can always happen upon something that I didn't know I'd be interested in. Getting your news filtered for you seems a bit too restrictive. Plus I'm something of a news junkie and even I feel that there is a point where I need to draw the line. I read The Age before work, The Australian at lunchtime, I have automatic breaking news updates delivered to my mobile throughout the day, the New York Times headlines waiting for me in my inbox when I get home. Then I'll usually check usually check The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and if there's anything particularly interesting going on up north, The Brisbane Times online at some point during the evening. There is a point where enough is enough and I think I passed it a while ago. Am I informed? Well I know a lot about Paris Hilton's jail time...

In Bloglines defence while searching for library related news I did come up with this article
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/NEWS0103/709300437/-1/rss which really is a great idea.

http://www.theage.com.au/

http://www.smh.com.au/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.abc.net.au/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Uh Oh.

This afternoon I turned on my computer and it died. Not in an 'I'm just being uncooperative for the moment and I'll be ok after this tantrum' kind of way. It was more of an 'Ooops....just wiped everything....you've got those system restore disks handy, right? kind of way. Those disks that sat untouched in a drawer for three years and then got packed up when I moved and could be just about anywhere. (I didn't throw them out did I? I couldn't have done. What if they got mixed up with other stuff and I just didn't notice?) When I eventually found the disks it wouldn't even give me the prompt to load them in so I restarted for what must have been the eighth time and suddenly it came back to life and for the moment is pretending nothing ever happened. All this has led me to the conclusion that backing EVERYTHING up will be an excellent way to spend this evening because there is nothing quite like that moment when you really empathise with the owner of a brand new iBrick.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/more-on-apples-latest-product-the-ibrick/#comments

dirty laneway part 2

dirty laneway part 2, originally uploaded by Tom Phillips.

So I've been playing around with Flickr and I started searching for Melbourne laneways and street art and there is some amazing stuff on there. This pic by Tom Phillips was my favourite but these ones by DeaAKAGossamer and PJ Dickie came in a close second.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25694380@N00/349880854/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25694380@N00/349881199/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gossamer_monster/150797922

Library Appreciation

This evening at the library I had three different people in the space of two hours come up and tell me how much they liked the library and the service we offered. One said she was moving and would miss us, another was impressed that a staff member took the effort to remember his name and the third told me we enriched her family's lives. So yeah, it was weird.

Ahoy Mateys!

In honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day I give you this:

http://www.piratequiz.com/

My pirate name is 'Mad Dog Kidd'. Just 'Mad Dog' for short obviously. If anyone in Library Land could refer to me that way in front of any customers who look like they might be going to be difficult about handing over their loot or returning valuable tomes in a timely fashion, I'd appreciate it.

And doesn't this just sound like me. 'Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!' Honestly I might just give up on my horoscope and start relying on my pirate fortunes.

For the record I did check if there was also a cowboy/cowgirl name generator, simply in the spirit of enquiry you understand, but no luck. If anyone else can find one please let me know, there might be some gold bullion in it for you.*

*Probably not though.