Minimal

Credit where credit’s due

There are a lot of things that disturb me about the current government in the UK, but it has to be said that there are plenty of things they’ve got right, too. Gordon Brown (texture like sun) has done wonders to stabilise the economy and encourage financial prudence. The national minimum wage was a long overdue measure for countless thousands (millions?) on poverty wages. And, my current favourite, the hypochondriac’s helpline, NHS Direct is a simple yet effective measure.

Whereas normally I would have to wait the best part of a week to get reassurance about my bust toe from my family doctor, all it took was a quick surf onto the website. All I had to do was answer yes/no questions in a basic expert system and presto! We have the verdict. And not once did I have to take up precious resources to get the help. Marvellous. :)

Open sores

I love free, open source software. Many a time, it has been my saviour, sparing me from hours, days, even weeks of toil. I just wish there were more of an active UI-fixated open source community. So often, you find tools like the excellent Bugzilla that do everything you need—but with a really grotty user interface. If only I had a little more time on my hands... :/

Lingering doubts

It’s soul-searching time once more as I realise my content’s beginning to bore even me. Alistapart.com offers a morale-boosting remedy.

Willkommen zurück, pet

Well, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is back and I’m smiling. I’ve no idea what kind of critical reviews it’ll get, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s good to see all of the actors back in their definitive roles. Their characters’ exploits since we last left them in 1986 might not be entirely believable, but the essence of the characters themselves is very much unchanged. Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement (the show’s writers) got it spot on when they said it was “just like slipping on an old pair of shoes.” Great stuff. They even managed to get in a number of crowd-pleasing jibes at Sunderland and Middlesbrough. ;)

Oooh, more goodies!

Maybe I was wrong about that site being dead. Some of the body text is clearly more up to date than the dates on the pages. And I thought I was slack! Anyway, here's another subsite of research.microsoft.com that's potentially even more interesting: research.microsoft.com/adapt, machine learning and AI. In fact, I think I've stumbled on a goldmine. :)

The future of HCI?

Tonight, I stumbled across an interesting subsite of microsoft.com: research.microsoft.com/ui. Although not the most information-heavy of sites, its talk of “3D UI, novel human-computer interaction, and information visualizations” piqued my interest somewhat. Had I stumbled upon something the giant corporation preferred to keep to themselves? Had I failed to spot a typo in the URL and actually been directed to a spoof site?

Well, it was neither of those. Looking at the bottom of their page on the Task Gallery project—a 3D replacement for the desktop metaphor—it became clear I had stumbled upon nothing more than the dead remains of some interesting blue-sky projects. Despite claims on the page of users preferring it to the classic desktop, the page had not been updated in over 2 years. Oh well, at least they gave it a shot.

Visit Northumbria?

I see from adverts on the telly that the Northumbria tourist board is cranking things up a notch. Being the selfish sod that I am, I always have mixed feelings when we urge the tourist crowd to descend upon Britain’s best-kept secret.

I admit I’ve not travelled as widely as I would like in the UK, but from what I’ve seen I’d say the golden sands that stretch all the way along the Northumberland coast must be some of the finest in the country. That coupled with the area’s abundance of historical sites (castles, cathedrals, the roman wall) and the vibrancy of Newcastle’s recent quayside and city centre redevelopments must surely make it a great place to visit? Now if only we could get the weather right. :)

Ouch!

Forget Beckham, can someone please lay hands on my foot? Typical, isn’t it? First game of football in over 6 years and I go and bugger my toe. As injuries go, it’s pretty tame, but I guess you’ve got to suffer for your art. ;)

No surprises

British newspapers are the least trusted in Europe. That’s not exactly surprising, is it? Our tabloid press changes its stance more often than I change my underwear, with The Scum being one of the worst offenders. Sadly, it’s also Britain’s most popular national daily. :(

Gerrin!!!

Europe, here we come. :)

Restoring normality

The blogspot archives are back. Now for the original malross.co.uk archives. The permalist is also making its way back, as I can’t live without it. Shame its current implementation is rather crap for browsers less than about 800 pixels wide. Must use CSS and absolute positioning, methinks.

By the way, I realise that all of this talk of site design and implementation must be exceedingly boring for you, but it’s consuming all of my web time at the moment. Would you rather I just said nothing instead? Actually, don’t answer that... ;)

Welcome home

Welcome to the new home for minimal. It may just be the bare bones here at the moment with many links not so much dead as unborn, but that will change. If nothing else, the whole no-carpets-down thing should force me into a bit of decorating. Archives from previous incarnations will eventually appear here, as will the permalist, but until then you can still find it all at minimal.blogspot.com. I suppose I’d better put a leaving note on that site now.