Musings

The Day I Met Rufus Sewell
Last edited on: 02/01/2011 - 22:47

Well, when I say I met Rufus Sewell, I really mean stood next to Rufus Sewell. Actually, when I say stood next to, I actually mean I was stood in the same BBC lobby. The year was 1998, and I was a freelancer employed by the BBC at their Radio One offices, then in Clipstone Street W1. I was returning back to the office carrying a copious deli sandwich, full-fat soda, packet of crisps and slice of chocolate crunch. Over the intervening years my diet has improved and my weight returned to 'normal'.

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Launch of Small Communities Adverts Software
Last edited on: 14/11/2010 - 09:21

My latest software release is a system for small communities to manage and administer small ads. At present, using a CMS product such as Drupal it is relatively easy to develop a Craig's List or Gumtree clone. Whilst a system like this would be very useful for a site requiring national coverage, it does not serve a small community particularly well. The problem is the way the Gumtrees of this World work - they have numerous categories of advertisement which is no good when they may be only one advert per category.

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The Curious Case of PC World Laptop Repairs
Last edited on: 06/07/2010 - 07:37

I bought a new laptop from PC World in March 2009. It was an Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400 2.16GHz with 3GB RAM and a 17" screen, badged as an "Advent" product (i.e. PC World's own-brand). It became my Linux development machine and was used fron 8am to midnight, seven days a week. Fourteen months later (i.e. just out of warranty), in May 2010, it packed up - the machine's power light would illuminate but not actually power up.

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The BadZilla Free Diet: Lose 20lbs in 3 Months Without Counting a Single Calorie
Last edited on: 24/05/2010 - 10:33

Chances are at some time in your life you have been on a diet. Chances are the diet failed. It probably failed for a number of reasons: Boredom, effort to prepare special meals, effort to read through dry text books on the subject, or maybe even severe hunger.

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Launch of CompareDisk Price Comparison Website
Last edited on: 23/05/2010 - 08:41

A few weeks ago I launched my own price comparison website, http://www.comparedisk.co.uk - a site dedicated to returning the keenest price for all your DVD, Blu-ray, gaming, book and music requirements. The site checks the price against the best offering from many household name merchants, including Amazon, Abebooks, LoveFilm, MovieMail, SendIt, Zavvi, Foyles etc.

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Sky Sports 3D Review: Chelsea v Wigan 2010-09-05
Last edited on: 10/05/2010 - 11:02

The venue for my first foray into the wonderful world of 3D broadcasting was The Rising Sun on Tottenham Court Road, London. The pub itself is a traditional Victorian corner house with wooden floors and high desk tables and seats in a long galley. Like many boozers these days the sale of food is foregrounded, and on the occasion I visited, a few punters were tucking into nachos and dips.

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Upselling: The Customer Perspective
Last edited on: 01/02/2010 - 13:02

The chances are sometime in your life you have been subjected to the sales technique of upselling. Upselling from the retailer's perspective is providing the opportunity for the buyer to purchase related items they may not have considered otherwise, thus maximising sales. Upselling from the customer perspective is a pushy inducement to spend additional money when there is no desire to do so.

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Vote For Your Favourite "The Wire" Season
Last edited on: 01/02/2010 - 13:04

The broadcasting of the long-running, hard-hitting Baltimore narcotics and homicide police, politics and gangs HBO drama had finished before I finally watched my first episode. In fact, the entire five seasons had been rerun back-to-back before it occurred to me I may be missing out on something special. I have never been interested in the tyranny of tuning in to watch a show at a particular time of week, and I have always shunned policiers.

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Movie Reviews and the "it's Good" / "it's Crap" Binary
Last edited on: 14/05/2010 - 22:50

We've all done it. You file out of the movie theatre and your partner turns to you and asks, "Well, what did you think of that?". There's a 99% confidence interval that the response will be either "It was good" or "It was crap". It seems that all moviegoers flip-flop between giving a one-word good or crap verdict before a more considered reply is proffered walking back to the car.

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The Regettable Rise and Rise of Franchise Coffee Shops
Last edited on: 01/02/2010 - 13:08

The phenomenon of the coffee franchise didn't really hit me at first. Living in London there always has been a selection of traditional Italian coffee houses dotted all over the West End. Most of these coffee shops, and note how I avoid using the dreadful 90s phrase coffee boutiques, served the most delicious cappuccino and espresso, and there were always a myriad of temptations behind the glass counters should the diet be starting the following day.

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