Monthly archive: October 2007

To cause a sharp, usually superficial, stinging pain.

Read more about smart at Answers.com

Discuss fully, especially to resolve a problem.

Read more about thrash out at Answers.com

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account last week:

• Leopard vs. Vista: feature chart showdown
  Vista is not doing too bad after all.
• ICO (Windows Icon) file format plugin for Photoshop
  Free plugin that gives Photoshop the ability to directly Open and Save Windows icon (.ICO) files.
• Best When Used By
  'a simple website that helps you keep track of your foods' expiration dates [...] Simply enter the name of the food and its "Use by" date, and we'll send you a reminder a few days before it's due to go bad. We'll also include links to relevant recipes'.
• Signstation
  Signstation – a web site devoted to those people who want to know more about British Sign language – BSL and Deaf people. Information about Deaf people and British Sign Language – BSL.
• Sign language for your cellphone
  'If you live in the UK, you now have an access to a dictionary of 5,000 words in British Sign Language (BSL) and their accompanying downloadable videos for your cellphones.'
• BritishSignLanguage.com
  This site uses moving pictures to show the basic signs for British Sign Language.
• Facebook | Birthday Exporter
  'This application exports your friends' birthdays directly to your Google Calendar. No need to worry about iCal or CSV files! Export all or only a subset of your friends to any one of your calendars — not just your default calendar.'
• make crystal clear ice! – The World's Biggest Show & Tell – life, home, diy
  How to make crystal cear ice without any special equipment. Essentially, double-boil filtered water to eliminate dissolved air and decompose minerals.
• bbc.co.uk/programmes
  Information on all current TV and radio programmes across the BBC. Microformat-structured (schedules can be saved easily into calendars). Use the A to Z, or search by genre or by format. In Beta as of 23 October 2007.
• Dumbledore pride T-shirts
  Two versions: 'I Always Knew', and 'Wizards Are Gay'.
• Microsoft Outlook categories | Outlook categories tutorial
  Article on how to use Microsoft Outlook categories to organize information.

A series of small ridges, usually milled on a surface, in order to provide a better surface for gripping or turning; also called milling.

Read more about knurling at Answers.com

To beat, as with the fists; pommel.

Read more about pummel at Answers.com

1. You can 'mute' conversations in Gmail so that they do not show in your inbox. Handy for stuff you want to keep for reference but do not need to read straight away.
2. Volcanoes on low-temperature astronomical objects can have criomagma in the form of slushy ice.
3. Apple seeds contain a cyanide compound which is released if the seeds are pulverised or chewed.
4. You can install Leopard on a PC.
5. Stoke-on-Trent has its own musical anthem. It is also planning to get a logo. Shouldn't that be called a coat of arms?
6. You can make crystal clear ice cubes by using water that has been boiled twice.
7. Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner I have been lusting over for a while does not fit under our living room couches. New couches it is then!

A clever turn of speech; a verbal conceit: 'quips and cranks'.

Read more about crank at Answers.com

Foolish nonsense (Chiefly British).

Read more about tosh at Answers.com

A cut of beef extending from the neck to the ribs and including the shoulder blade.

Read more about chuck at Answers.com

A construction of poles intertwined with twigs, reeds, or branches, used for walls, fences, and roofs. A fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat, characteristic of certain birds, such as chickens or turkeys, and some lizards.

Read more about wattle at Answers.com

Stupefied, excited, or muddled with alcoholic liquor.

Read more about crapulous at Answers.com

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account last week:

• At home with Jamie Oliver
  Jamie Oliver recipes, I tried the carbonara and it's not bad at all.
• William Hundley's 'Entoptic Phenomena'
  A photographer. A camera. A sheet. A friend (jumping). Genius.
• Windows Home Server in depth review
  Windows Home Server, Microsoft simplifies how your files and backups are stored. Additional features: remote access and media sharing. This review confirms it's an outstanding solution. Getting one as soon as it starts shipping.
• S-XL Cake Mold
  This silicone 11.8" Cake Mold 'pre-shapes' any cake into 15 separate pieces, in a variation of 'sizes'. From Small, to Extra Large.

A cluster of small iron balls formerly used as a cannon charge.

Read more about grapeshot at Answers.com

Ritual suicide by disembowelment formerly practiced by Japanese samurai. Also called hara-kiri.

Read more about seppuku at Answers.com

1. The iPhone (and many other high-end phones) have a water damage sensor: a small white disc inside the headphone jack that gets coloured when in contact with water. [via garoo]
2. The Sound of Music is based on a true story (with alterations and omissions).
3. TV Genius (the TV listings and reminders website I use regularly) has launched a TV Genius Facebook application. You tell it what you are interested in and TV Genius builds your personal listings schedule on Facebook too. And so all my data tightens up even more.
4. Peer to peer positioning is a faux-GPS hack that determines your location using GPS data linked to telecom towers.
5. The design of the HMS Camden Lock (the main ship in Hyperdrive) was inspired by the Telecom Tower.
6. When you import your bookmarks from Firefox into Delicious, they are automatically tagged with 'imported' and with the folder name they are in.
7. The Englishman in New York in Sting's Englishman in New York is Quentin Crisp.

A fit of anger or annoyance; a pique: 'stormed off in a huff'.

Read more about huff at Answers.com

To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm. To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner. To brag or make loud, empty threats.

Read more about bluster at Answers.com

A thicket or grove of small trees or shrubs, especially one maintained by periodic cutting or pruning to encourage suckering, as in the cultivation of cinnamon trees for their bark.

Read more about coppice at Answers.com

A checking or restraining element.

Read more about kibosh at Answers.com

Having a disproportionately large number of administrators.

Read more about top-heavy at Answers.com

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account last week:

• 6 Things Star Wars Teaches Us About Our Money
  'as crazy as it sounds, the entire Star Wars series itself offers some fantastic suggestions to get us on the right path towards success.'
• Outlook + Twitter = OutTwit
  'If you are an Outlook user, you probably have it open all the time. Now you can update your Twitter status and follow your friends without having to open any other applications. OutTwit seamlessly integrates Twitter into Outlook.'
• Barbie's Fashion Fever fosters bad credit
  Barbie Fashion Fever Boutique features a credit card reader. The fake plastic obviously never gets rejected or hits a credit limit. Not very educational, but since when were you meant to learn anything about real life playing with Barbie?
• Ce Matin Un Lapin
  New location (old bookmark had stopped working) for this lo-fi fantastic Flash movie starring Laetitia Casta, music by Chantal Goya. As old as The Internets, but it still rocks!
• Cleret squeeges
  A bit pricy, but I'd rather have one of these in my shower than the heavy-duty tool from Selfridges hardware section.

Outside the bounds of morality, good behavior or judgment; unacceptable.

Read more about beyond the pale at Answers.com

When I heard Barclays was releasing a three-in-one Credit, Oyster (London transport) and OneTouch (cashless purchases under ten pounds by waving the card on a reader) OnePulse Barclaycard, I was the first in line to get it.

The accompanying leaflet showed the logos of some of the retailers that will be accepting OneTouch payments soon: Books etc., Coffee Republic, Yo! Sushi, Krispy Kreme, Thresher and Eat.

I decided to give it a go on Friday morning, as I was in Paddington station going to Cardiff for work and was as usual too early.

I went to Krispy Kreme, asked if they were equipped for OneTouch payments, was met with a quizzical stare. I left. My blood sugar was safe.

I was glad to see Yo! Sushi was still closed (raw fish in the early A.M.? Gaaah).

I got a coffee and a bottle of water at Eat, went to pay, asked for OneTouch. Yes? No? I showed my card, enquired about the reader, explained how I wanted to pay.

The kind, serviceable, customer-focussed till operator tilted her head, arched her eyebrows and rebutted 'You wanna do wha'?'

The queue was building up behind me. I fished for some coins. I wondered when the future would catch up with me.

I took Tickle's Original Inkblot Test online, to check if the lovely warm results you get are there to make you want to buy the full report.

Guess what? I'm a lovely, lovely person, and I can find out more lovely lovely things about myself if I cough up 8 pound 95 pence. This is what I got:

Your Unconscious Mind Is Most Driven by Peace.

You have a deeply-rooted desire to make peace in the world. Whether through subtle interactions with loved ones, or through getting involved in social causes, it is important to you to be able to influence the world in a positive way. You have a deep respect for humankind.

You care about the future of the world, even beyond your own involvement in it, and you inspire others to feel the same way. Your innate drive toward peace guides you in daily life towards decisions that are respectful toward yourself and others. Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are…

[via garoo]

A sewer or drain crossing under a road or embankment.

Read more about culvert at Answers.com

1. There is no goalkeeper in rugby union. I noticed it thirty minutes into last week's France vs. New Zealand, did not dare ask any of the friends I was watching the match with, but silently Wikipedia'd it on my mobile.
2. In East Germany after the war there were so few men that they had to introduce double women pairs at the national ice skating championships.
3. English, Scottish and Welsh law does not have any concept of "flag desecration". It is however illegal to write on money (the penalty is set to level 1 of the standard scale, i.e. 200 pounds), possibly to do with defacing the Queen's image?
4. If you share your Outlook 2003 calendar, you can tick a box at the lower right corner of an appointment view to mark it as private. What you labelled 'Lunch hour at H&M trying on impossibly tight jeans pretending to be Liza at Studio 54' will mercifully be seen by others as 'Private appointment'.
5. Blocking out lunch in your work Outlook calendar, setting it to 'Private appointment' and marking it as 'Out of office' does not stop your colleagues to send you meeting requests overriding it anyway.
6. Stichelton is Stilton cheese make with raw milk. Only Stilton made with pasteurised milk can be called Stilton.
7. Lily Allen has a third nipple.

not skillful in physical movement especially with the hands

Read more about ham-fisted at Answers.com

This time I was looking for a tutorial to find out how to allow in-cell editing in Outlook.

So I found out that the seventh most popular search starting with "how to" is about the lyrics to "How to Save a Life", and number nine is "how to save a life" which I guess is more about the song than actually finding out on Google what to do when someone is about to die (me? I'd probably call 999).

It could be that The Fray are very popular.

Or that Isaac Slade mumbles when he sings.

But I'm afraid it's because it was heavily used to promote the third series of Grey's Anatomy.

The drift of a ship or an aircraft to leeward of the course being steered. A margin of freedom or variation, as of activity, time, or expenditure; latitude.

Read more about leeway at Answers.com

I've had Yahoo! Mail account for as long as I can remember, and I've always been very happy with it.

I've also had a Gmail account since the time they were still only in invitation-only beta. I forward all my other mail to it so it acts as a searchable permanent reference. I also set it up with filters and labels and use it to email stuff to myself (reminders, notes, todos…) so that everything is filed away automatically.

Until recently, I never used it to email anyone, but scarily over the past month I've been using the Gmail web interface so much that some days I don't even run Outlook. So, if I've forgotten your birthday or if you were expecting me for dinner last night, I'm sorry, but Google ate my Outlook.

Unfortunately, I am still incapable to take the plunge, give up on Outlook and trust the web with all my mail. Perhaps listing the pros and cons on 'paper' will help me make up my mind.

Reasons why I like Yahoo! Mail:

• intuitive, Outlook-like drag-and-drop web mail interface
• Yahoo! sends emails to my phone every five minutes, and lets me compose emails offline and send them when connected
• it has been my main address for a very long time
• I like lots of stuff Yahoo! is developing (Fire Eagle, for instance)
• unlimited storage!

Reasons why I do not like Yahoo! Mail:

• only fifteen filters allowed, more if you pay
• having to switch to their standard interface every time you want to access mail options
• I do not understand their spam filter: last week it blocked two genuine personal messages, and even killed a message from Yahoo! itself updating me on the process of moving the photos I have at Yahoo! Photos (which is closing) over to Flickr. However, it happily let through to me a filthy message from a lady of dubious moral qualities wanting me to order from her the leading remedy against erectile malfunctions. Go figure.

Reasons why I like Gmail:

• it pushes email to emoze, no need to keep the home computer switched on during the day
• it has a Java mobile application
• it uses labels
• search is impressive (that's what they do best, after all)
• it has an impressive list of shortcuts
• it can be infinitely customised with Greasemonkey scripts (I highly recommend BetterGmail)
• the look and feel of the UI can be changed (I use the Super Clean skin)
• infinite email addresses (you just add '+something' after your username)
• it lends itself very well to GTD (I use GTDInbox, a Firefox extension)

Reasons why I do not like Gmail:

• the never-ending rumours of Google reading your mail
• the built-in email client on the old K700 phone I am using at the moment does not work with Gmail.
• I do not want to switch my main email address

Perhaps Yahoo! Mail has exactly the same features as Gmail, but they are not as evident or talked about, and today it's all about how much people talk about you.

Yahoo! Mail vs Gmail: the jury is still out.