But I now have no reason to complain about the Australian Tax Office. I just completed (yes, very late) my UK tax return for 2004/2005. ARGH!!!! I think the Marquis de Sade couldn't design a more convoluted, confusing form.
Wow, these flat pack bowls, plates and cups look great. I think I want them.
Wired are doing their cheerleading again. This time, we're assured, it's a boom and not a bubble. Of course, last time Wired told us we were in for 25 years of prosperity, freedom and a better environment for the whole world.
Still, the last bubble was a lot of fun, even if it means my CV is littered with companies that no longer exist. Must be time to dust off my plans for Bubble Goo and make bank.
The last two days, I've received emails through two addresses registered over the years with The Guardian. These were addresses used to register for competitions, forums etc. I never gave permission to be spammed with "GuardianUnlimited Today". That's rather sad as they used to be The Good Guys.
Fortunately, the addresses they were spamming are (or were, as you'll see) Sneakemail addresses. Sneakemail allows you to createdisposable email addresses for just these kinds of things. When they start spamming you, you know the source and how conned you into supplying the email address. What's more, once it starts getting spammed you can delete it. Lovely!
Went down to the Thames this morning to see the whale. There were thousands of people down there lining bridges and climbing trees. Doesn't look so hopeful now for the whale, unfortunately.
Now would be a good time to point out that endangered whales are being killed by the Japanese for sale as meat. Greenpeace and the much more aggressive Sea Shepherds are campaigning against this barbarism. They could use your support.
I'm not opposed to whaling as a traditional practise. If you've traditionally hunted whales, I think you should be free to hunt whales in the traditional manner. By "traditional manner" I'm talking tiny tiny boats and hand-held harpoons. Trying to disguise slaughter as "research", however, and using incredbly efficient modern methods, is just not on.
I was about to recommend Konica Minolta for anyone buying a digitial camera, but now I guess I won't bother. Reason for the recommendation was their repair division. The lens got stuck so I posted it off and got it back, no charge, in two weeks. It's what we should expect for warranty repairs, but not often what we get.
Getting into that bad time of year here in London. Haven't seen the sun in weeks, and not much prospect of seeing it. Well, at least we'll be skiing in a couple of weeks, and that's something to look forward to.
Just got a 419 spam with a new twist:
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:42:53 +0700 From: "Mr. Mark Kewell" <mark_kewell@walla.com> To: Cc: Subject: Hello Friend. Hello Friend, I am Mr. Mark Kewell a personal treasurer to Late Mr. Kerry Packer the Richest man in Australia and owner of the many companies. His business empire, built around Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL), includes television, magazines, Internet-related enterprises, Melbourne's Crown Casino and the Burswood Casino in Perth, beef cattle properties, petrochemicals, property investment, resources and engineering. [ ... ]
Today we bought three DVDs with free newspapers attached. I love these newspaper wars! Daily Express went straight in the recycling, but we'll enjoy the Cary Grant film.
I finally found a decent online calendar site that synchronizes using SyncML. That means my new phone can synchronize with it over-the-air. Fantastic stuff!