A few weeks ago I signed up to Orange’s “free” broadband service and I wish I could tell you if its any good but they did not manage to get me the kit yet. The major players in “free” (if you have their other services) broadband are Sky and Orange. As someone with Sky in his former flat I was tempted to try Sky’s but Orange won out because of my time using them. I shall no doubt report on my experience with free broadband. So far colour me unimpressed with Orange’s (nee Wannado’s) service. I will be interested to see how these deals from the other carriers work for other people. In theory its great to have one provider for all your phone and broadband. Of course I have to admit being spoiled as I was on Bulldog broadband, who have since pulled out of the market, and their uber-fast service. And if Orange is rubbish; I can always switch to Sky broadband.

Still the free broadband trend is a good one. The more people on broadband the better it is for those who offer goods and services online.

You almost might feel sorry for Gordon if what Simon Heffer describes comes to pass…

I shall try not to be amused – though I fear I shan’t succeed – if he turns into the 21st century’s equivalent of Lord Curzon, the towering figure who spent years expecting to become PM, but who was supplanted, at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, by someone hardly anyone had ever heard of.

I did say almost. I would rather enjoy watching a good ole’ fashion bloody leadership contest early next year. After all the Tories had their turn(s) and the Lib-Dems too. Its only fair after all!

There is a site reviewing mystery fiction called The Mystery Site. Its has lots of mystery reviews of shows that appear on places like PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre most of which are sourced to either the BBC or ITV in the UK. If you are going to get yourself involved in one the normal long-winded mysteries that are produced by the ITV or the BBC its nice to see if its good or bad. Let’s face it; some of the stuff coming out of the BBC of late ain’t exactly top drawer stuff. I rather have penchant for mysteries me and enjoyed at recent ITV3 weekend of mysteries.

Snoopy has found that a certain Islamic cleric has taken exception to the Pope’s size. He seems to try to insult his size as much as possible in a speech. Make sure to keep up with all the bizarreness in the Elder’s world on the excellent site.

Well Kim and I finally did it. We produced our contribution to the PayPerPost advert challenge. Kim wrote, directed and sang the theme-song of the piece while I merely starred in it and edited both the video & the song. We used several locations here in my parent’s house to evoke the different modes of the video. We used a rather nice Pentax digital camera to record the clips. We have done a 60 second version as well. I do rather hope people like it and the money will head into the wedding expenses pool. I thought it was a great way of learning iMovie and helping PPP with a bit of blog advertising.

Dissident Frogman that is…the man who has been the blog-world’s great kept secret has finally gotten recognition having his visual skills show up on not one but two book covers. He has written an interesting piece on the two publications. Head over and read about them then maybe you could order one of them too.

College students these days are under seige from the PC left; especially males of the non-ethnic kind. Well this lot are trying provide a place for blokes at college to blow off steam and watch a few non-PC videos. They are called CampusRights.net and are anything but PC. They are looking for politcally edgy videos for their site; ones that cut the crap and say what is supposed to be said. Kind of like what I did when I addressed the ASI TNG group a few weeks ago. This is part of my 10 minute speech that raised a few eyebrows and got people talking afterwards.

I wish there were sites like this around when I was at Colby in the middle of raging PCism; much of which was directed at me. The trend of colleges and universities in the US believing that young American men’s consitutional rights have to end at the front gate must be stopped and reversed. The left-wing shiboleths must be stormed and overcome. No one, not even Professors, are above the law of the land.

I’m pulling the trigger on this fine blog, probably today or tomorrow. (For those not sure what I’m talking about, I addressed it in this post.)

I’ve got a few things to catch up on and my birthday is coming up so I don’t think I’ll be able to get started on the new blog before all that.

If I’m not back by this time next week, though, notify the Ski Patrol. I’ll be the guy stuck in a snowbank, waving his feet.

the blog québécois

From a page of amateur inventions. This looks to be the most useful of the bunch — frankly, most of the others are either obvious or unfathomable.

the blog québécois

This time Pandora’s box is a good thing, well if you like music that is. Its basically a method to find out what other bands you would like based on what you like right now. I heard about it when it was just started out and was amused by the band choices that came up when I stuck in stuff like Voivod and Enuff Znuff. Pandora is a good resource for those who are just getting into one genre or other in music. Its a clever concept and certainly worth checking out.

Its called who is full of crap where you can tell everyone who you think is full of it for a given day. Go over and check it out.

Now there is 100 word theme of the day; which I will be participating in once I get a bit more settled.

The guys at a PayPerPost certainly get around don’t they? Their latest bit of Guerilla Marketing was storming the Today Show in PPP gear. Now I didn’t see it because I don’t do mornings but its good to see them getting the word out. Now here at Dodge towers we are busy working on the final script for our PPP advert but go check out the latest in their increasingly interesting ways to get the word out on PPP. They are hinting at a big announcement next week as well. Oh yeah and if you sign up to PPP be sure to tell them I sent you please?

Tim has discovered this curious blog who calls himself and his blog A Neo-Jacobin and is a libertarian Londoner. Needless to say he will get a blog-roll link. His piece on state-funding of political parties warrants a link by itself.

Singingfool.com is a great place to collate all those videos you like all over the internet. With lots of customisable features you can set up your own video channel. Be your own VJ and lets face it, not exactly harder to be better than the nitwits on MTV these days. Its got features that are good for unsigned bands as well. Even better the interface involves drag and drop to make it as easy as possible. They have a good server so the video load fast to maximise your time online. Head over and check out Singingfool.com today.

In the guise of Marty I have a new column up with my take on the Iron Maiden CD. And Marty is back reviewing Mac games this one is called Pile & Pop.

They look appetizing, but it’s a fair bet that they exceed your minimum daily requirements for toothpicks and glue.

Regardless, eat up, or there’ll be

no dessert for you.

the blog québécois

New Culture Forum reports that Deutsche Oper has censorted an operatic classic Idomeneo, so as not to offend Muslims. I agree with this take on it.

…Peter Ramsauer, head of the conservative Christian Social Union parliamentary faction, said: ‘It is an act of pure cowardice. We are opening ourselves up to cultural blackmail.’

What the hell are they thinking?

On occasion I have needed to cash a check quickly without the hassle of having it take 5 days to clear (or more likely in the wrong currency) so I have used check cashing services. It interests me to see that you can now do such things online. You can get an instant payday loan online.

This man has a suggestion about a few questions that should be asked. From today’s letter’s over at the Telegraph.

SIR – It is interesting to note in Philip Johnston’s article (Comment, September 25), regarding the building of the largest mosque in Europe in London, that there is also a proposal for the Kingsway International Christian Centre to be demolished to make way for a new Olympic stadium.

Before building of the proposed mosque is allowed to commence, it would be interesting to ascertain whether planning permission for a Roman Catholic or Anglican cathedral or a Jewish synagogue of a similar size would be granted in any Islamic country.

Frank Carlino, Reigate, Surrey

Well put sir. I wonder if anyone in power will actually listen to your concerns as you have not threatened to blow anyone up in your letter?

The Standard is hosting a poll on the matter of the new Mosque. No is leading by a comfortable margin.

No not another book about the so-called legend called Elvis but a new Self Help Book that will help you get to a place you want to be through self-empowerment.

I hesitate to call this “martial arts” unless it’s in the category of best comic performance. The “William Tell” routine made me laugh harder than the last three Hollywood comedies put together.

Warning: Blood-chilling battle cries, usually followed by the sickening thump of flab on the wrestling mat.

the blog québécois

There are lots of people who are making an attempt at paying off their debt and there are lots of ways to do it. Why not check out WereinDebt to see if they can help get you out of your dept problems as well. Give it a go and see if they can help.

Striking paintings (most in watercolor, some acrylics) by Carol Carter. This one (the title of the post) can be yours for the low, low price of $3,300 (US).

And if I had a spare $3,300 (US) I’d definitely consider buying it. I love the depth and luminance of watercolors.

the blog québécois

Interesting screensaver concept that is not only good for saving your plasma TV screen but is educational as well. Ambient Art plasma tv screensaver works like your computer screensaver but allows you to view various impressionist paintings while it protects your screen. Of course if you prefer one you can just have that one as your screensaver; oh yes and there is commentary as well. A rather interesting concept in screensavers…beats those damn toasters that is for sure.

Did you participate in the survey all those months ago? Well the first of several pieces in reaction to the results has been published over at the Wargamer. Head over and check it out; makes for some interesting reading.

Do you have an ever changing life that means that getting the normal minimum business cards done is a waste of money? As a consultant I need several different cards for the different types of thing I do, much like one needs different CVs for different type of jobs searches. The prospect of free business cards that are well done is always quite appealing to me. I think considering all the things I am doing right now; I would need at least three different versions. There are times when the URL to your rock band is not necessarily the best thing to have on your card. Eyes do roll. So go check out the free business cards.

Well an apostate to Islam who is trying to get into Canada via asylum begs to differ that Islam is any such thing. The piece is well worth a read especially for those who like to think of Pakistan as in any way civilised. In fact the country’s religious laws are downright medieval in scope.

Via: Perry

You be the judge.

Well Maine is part of New England but I have to admit surprise that there are post-collegiate Rugby teams in Maine. In fact there are three teams and they play teams from all over New England. They are called Leviathan which could not be more appropriate for Maine (think Hobbes). I wonder who they will all support come next Rugby World Cup?

This venture capital blog has me thinking about venture capital and how to get it. I have been a part of a few start-ups, one of which is going to go live very soon. I have also looked into setting up a few IT start-ups myself and probably will launch one in the next few years. My last bright idea looked promising until some other bastage got there first! Needless to say when it comes to get capital, at whatever stage, any advice is very welcome indeed. Venture Capital blog is a good source for all sorts of info for those looking for capital.