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Breathe Deeply

The current climate of economic turmoil and massive change through out the world can get you a bit on edge. To say the least. This can then work its way into a paralysis that can manifest itself in many ways. You decide not to buy that new laptop. Or game. Or apply for that new job. Or buy that new house. Who could blame you? Go onto any news channel right now and feel the come down. We are living in strange and uncertain times. The best, most sensible approach seems to be "Do Nothing" and wait and see what happens. That's what I love about the little flow chart at the top. Created by the always entertaining and inspiring David Armano, he's written a great post about risk and how there are no safe routes any more. Everything carries risk and really it is all about how you learn from it. For me at the moment it is all really very apt as I think about my next steps in life. Thanks David for giving me some real meaty food for thought. What are you feelings in this crazy day and age? Are you stepping back or stepping up? Are plans on hold are full steam ahead?

The week of Shiny

What a week for geek. New Xbox experience launched which adds all sorts of sweet to the front end of the Xbox (that's my Xbox Avatar up there, he looks *just* like me), new themes added into Gmail so you can change the look and feel and the iPhone releases the next upgrade to their software, version 2.2, with all sorts of stuff. The nice part? They all boost the user experience and are given away. Constant improvement. Extra shiny. Free. Also Rock Band 2 vs. Lips. What to get first!??!????

Great Happiness

Charlie Brooker
Thank your lord! Charlie Brooker, the most insightful man on TV, is back on BBC Four with his TV review show, Screenwipe. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with in the next six weeks esp. afetr the whole Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand thing. I wonder if he'll have been asked to pull his punches. If I had my way I have this show shown at 7pm on BBC One as part of the public education process on Television. Here's some of Charlie's best bits...

This is not just electricity...

We just did a microsite for Scottish and Southern Energy for a partnership that they have with Mark and Spencers called M&S Energy. It's designed for those who are looking to get green energy into their homes. The energy is supplied or offset by the amazing power of hydro energy. It is a phase one on the project and we're looking at other info and functionality to add into the website over the next three months. Thanks to the great team at SSE for working with us on this wee site.

Finger Painting

Been doing all the thinking recently and I found that my ridiculously wonderful iPhone has been helping me relax. I've never been a great artist in the traditional drawing sense. Straight lines I have trouble with. I did buy Colors on the iPhone and have found myself chucking colours onto the screen on the train home. It's not art, it is grown up finger painting but I do find it helpful in wiping my cluttered mind. I feel like I'm one of those elephants that are used in social experiments to see if they can create art. Instead of a trunk I have big fat fingers. Of course I could be reading a book but where's the fun in that?

World gone mad?

This is the homepage of the BBC News website as I sit here. In a world of earthquakes, economic ruin and the unspeakable horrors that man inflicts on his fellow man two of the top three news stories on the BBC are entertainment led. Now don't get me wrong, Brand and Ross did step over a line. They are fantastic entertainers and I am going to miss my Jonathan Ross podcast this week but is this really the most important story in the UK right now? Really? Or is it something that the Daily Mail readers can all agree is an outrage and vent their anger on? After all when the initial radio show was broadcast it only received two complaints. Two! Now, thanks to the moral contagion that the press has released we have over 24,000 complaints? And also the news that David Tennent has left Doctor Who. I'm sad to see him go, I geek out on Doctor Who. But the third most important story in the country? Reallllly? I know, I'm putting too many question marks in here. Is this trivia being pushed higher in our agendas because we've had such doom and gloom in the recent past? Have we reached the breaking point of bad news that we want to dive into some non-news that distracts from matter that we know will hugely affect us but yet we have no way of controlling? Anyway. There was an earthquake in Pakistan today. Hundreds died. That has to matter more than celebrities behaving badly and actors wanting a new job. It just has to.

The Book Club of One

Reading. I enjoy it. But I've not really been into it recently. And by recently I mean for around a year. I read every day of course but mainly blogs, gaining snippits of interesting stuff from some wonderful people all over the world. However, and this may be my age showing, while find it interesting I don't find it as satisfying as actually going through the process and pleasure of reading a book. The problem I have current with reading books is the whole attention thing. I have difficulty holding attaention. That's not the book that I happen to be reading's fault. It's my inability to concentrate on one thing at one time without something popping into my head. Sometimes that means that the book's inspired me to check something. Othertimes it is about more mundane things nagging me to do something. Whatever it is it has meant that I've not been reading and enjoying it and finishing books. This has to change. My plan? To write about one book a month. Here. Not that I imagine that anyone is going to be hugely moved by my thoughts on a random book but it is more for my own discipline than anything else. The first book I'm going to write about (I certainly wouldn't be as presumptious to say review) will be the book above, "Here Comes Everybody " by the exoticly name Clay Shirky. It's a book about us, about social networks. It is a subject that I'm very much enjoying right now. I hope to be telling you how much I enjoy this later.

The more things change...

Life is full of challenges. Especially now that the sky is falling all over the world. We've not even begun to work out what the current turmoil will mean for for the wider ecomony in the months ahead. I've been reading a lot on the momentous events and would recommend reading Paul Mason, the Newsnight ecomonics correspondent on the BBC. I find it interesting to gain additional insight to his Newsnight analysis. Another great bit of reporting is from the New York Times. The key word that stuck out for me was contagion. Paul Mason raised a great point. Namely:

Society is being posed point blank with the question: what sustains a high-consumption society if not wages or debt?

It really has got me thinking. How will we cope, a generation that has been consuming, been told that it is ok, more than ok. As Paul wisely points out, he'll answer the question in ten years time. I am a massive consumer. Debt and me have been good friends. I'm ganting for a new MacBook. But I know I can't afford it. Even worse I know that I can't risk it which is a strange feeling. All the false logic that I've fed myself over the years on how I can justify my iPhone/PSP/Wii/etc has been stripped away by the contagian thats spreading. And this could just be the beginning. Will life ever be the same again?

Inspiration

Trying to get out my non blogging funk and one step towards that is a new theme. This one I kind of like. Kind of. Having a look at a few so let me know if you like/dislike any. Huuuurrrrrrrrmmmmmmm

No. No more!

If it's not bad enough David Beckham is stealing people's Sharpies he decides to punt fish fingers. Did someone say, "slippery slope"?