Sidewiki

Remember this idea I posted about, way back when, about a comment system that lets you post comments on any web page?

I actually forgot I had that idea so long ago. It's been percolating around since then, and I still hadn't found any inherent flaws in it. Recently, I ran it by a couple of coworkers at lunch, and they both thought it was a good idea.

So, finally, after two and a half years, I set a plan to at least work up a prototype over Christmas. Then, just the other day, I ran across a little company who had the same idea. For all practical purposes it's EXACTLY the same idea. It's been getting some buzz.

I've recently come to the conclusion that laziness is my defining personality trait, and here we have a classic example. I can't be too angry, to have come up with the same idea as the mighty Google, but of course it's a little disappointing. I'm mostly just happy that someone built it - someone with clout and technical competence - because the other reason I was excited about the idea was that it was something that I want to actually use.

Radio shows

When I was a kid, my mom and dad (hi, mom and dad) used to take us on long car trips every year, down to Florida. I think it was on one of these trips that my dad brought along cassettes of some old radio shows. I don't remember where he got them; maybe they were just rebroadcast some decades after the fact, and he taped them off the radio? At any rate, there were two in particular that I remember, quite distinctly in fact. I thought of them again the other day, and decided to see if I could find them. And I did. See what you think of The Thing On The Fourble Board and Three Skeleton Key (starring Vincent Price). Lots more episodes here and here.

Xmas in Oz

Xmas shopping in Bourke Street mall:





The crowd on the left is queuing for the window display, which is as close to pageantry as Melbourne gets:





A few cheesy animated displays. Don't mean to be a Scrooge, but it's more conveyor belts than the over-the-top animatronics you'd expect in America.