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If you’re a pigeon, avoid Kingston Upon Thames until the pigeon cull is over. If you’re a human, don’t miss the comments on this Surrey Comet story about the pigeon cull, they’re internet gold. More…

Can everybody please stop sending me Thresher Discount vouchers? Ok thanks for thinking of me, I very much appreciate that bit; but it seems everyone I know is intent on passing me this little “under the counter number” and hasn’t twigged that they’re just part of a huge viral advertising campaign. More…

I’m doing a lot of work with SVG at the moment, and something that would be very useful to understand is exactly which parts of a diagram are taking the longest to process and render. More…

I just got called by another TPS-ignoring baby-eating evil telemarketing sales company - it must be my lucky month.

Picking up the phone and answering to find musak playing I thought I might be in for the deal of a lifetime, or maybe an offer that was too good to refuse, so I grabbed a pen and paper just in case. More…

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen complete mindless determination in the face of utterly overwhelming odds, but Satellite Direct have shown a lack of comprehension that is quite staggering in their recent marketing campaign. Today, they have raised the bar of ineptitude. More…

The Nintendo Wii has now enjoyed it’s first week of sales and stories are floating around the net that the wireless controller (mentioned previously) has been finding itself airborne due to players getting sweaty hands. Videos of the problem are already surfacing. More…

I just got another call from Satellite Direct UK telling me that my Sky warranty needs renewing. Oddly enough, nothing has changed since their last call. We are still registered with the TPS so it’s unlawful for them to phone us and we still don’t have a Sky box, so it’s definitely not out of it’s warranty period, which they again suggested. Satellite Direct UK you are not morons: stop ignoring the TPS.

Update: Looks like we’re not the only recipients of their unwanted sales calls: Longrider (also called twice) points out a host of others.

Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.

Update 2008/03/10: Satellite Direct UK are investigated by BBC Watchdog (it’s available on iPlayer for 1 week after broadcast).

Update 2008/07/05: The director of Satellite Direct UK appears to have been charged with fraud and money laundering.

I count myself lucky that I discovered Xara’s drawing tools many years ago.

When Xara Studio was released it caused real consternation among the businesses that were producing vector art packages because it was years ahead of the competition in both features and (most importantly) speed. The main competition (Corel) was so worried, that it licensed the product and released it alongside it’s flagship “Corel DRAW!” product.

It beats me how they’re going to keep paying the bills though… More…

When re-reading the International Declaration of Human Rights the other day, I found myself mulling Article 1 repeatedly: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Shortly after, I found myself thinking the unthinkable. I found myself thinking Republican thoughts. More…