Essays & Opinion
Confessions to a Cruel Internet
Dear friend, I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation. That was a line from a movie, You’ve Got Mail. Apologies; one should always recite […]
interaction
Essays & Opinion
The Digital Crossfire
There was a time when communications were mostly harmless. Sure, people might be badgered by nuisance calls, but that was the limit. Not so any more. Now, the global communications industry is the carrier of […]
Essays & Opinion
Scrawl Wars in a Virtual Land
Two and a half years ago, I started Halfthoughts by drawing on a metaphor. I compared blogging to cave art. In both cases, a person feels an incontestable urge to create a representation of the […]
comedy
21st Century Etiquette
Time was that if you wanted a manual for manners, you simply turned to a guide from Debrett’s. With the rise of interweb and netiquette, life is no longer so simple, though Debrett’s still try […]
comedy
The New Properties of New Property
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lefty, and he does not know it. Or maybe Arnie is one of those righty freedom fighters that end up so far off to the right they end up going full […]
comedy
The 140 Rubaiyat: Poems for Twitter
The ruba’i is a poetic form of olden times, Lines 1, 2 & 4 must rhyme, Popular in Persia in the 11th Century, Most famously by Omar Khayyam. Choosing to twitter or to tweet, Is […]
Essays & Opinion
How to Make Enemies and Annoy People
I should be happy. Yesterday, my other blog, the boring one about what I do for a living, set a new record for visitors and hits. But I am not happy. Why? Because the recipe […]
art
Where Does Art Start?
If you are like me, you get mildly annoyed when people wander through a museum and feel the need to run their hands all over some ancient sculpture. Chances are they will be ignoring a […]
Essays & Opinion
What is Your Status?
Why did so many people get worked up when there was a mandatory “is” included in Facebook status updates? It is a strange thing to get upset about. One hundred thousand people joined the group […]
Essays & Opinion
Selling Bits of Music
The music industry really is turning completely bonkers. First, Radiohead sell an entire album for whatever people fancy paying, from UK£0.00 to UK£99.99 (US$200). Then it turned out that fifteen people actually paid UK£99.99 to […]