Cortina, outdoors

I was peering through Ford’s archive as it celebrates 100 years in Great Britain. This brought back a few memories: the Araldite glue campaign. Right next to it is an outdoor ad for the 1982 Cortina—Taunus 80 to those outside the Empah.    The Araldite ad showed how commonplace the Cortina had become. And back […]

Read More… from Cortina, outdoors



Internet Explorer 9 can’t even display Microsoft’s own page

After this issue with Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, I went to the McAfee forums to record it so others knew.    The McAfee volunteers and tech support guys have, in the last while, been fantastic. There’s one volunteer there, Peter, who’s always been right. So I would be foolish to ignore their advice.    You […]

Read More… from Internet Explorer 9 can’t even display Microsoft’s own page



LOL, Wag, flat white added to Oxford English Dictionary

A few new words and meanings—45,437 to be exact—have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, report the mainstream media.    LOL is one, which I have always taken to mean little old lady, and have almost always used it in that context.    Turns out that that was what the acronym originally stood for, […]

Read More… from LOL, Wag, flat white added to Oxford English Dictionary



The epic fail called IE9 has consequences for other programs

I was prepared to put up with the epic fail of IE9, since I hardly use the program. In the years I’ve had IE8, I’ve only opened it accidentally (e.g. when certain programs are removed, they load IE for the ‘Why did you remove it?’ customer screen).    But I forgot one thing: some programs […]

Read More… from The epic fail called IE9 has consequences for other programs



And now, Ben Heck makes an ‘Atari’ Xbox 360 ‘1977 edition’

A while back, I came across Benjamin J. Heckendorn (a.k.a. Ben Heck) and his Commodore 64 laptop. This is a quite a fascinating machine, considering the actual “portable” 64 Executive was a heavy beast that could kill if hurled at you. While Ben took the 64’s odd colour, keyboard and 64C’s motherboard, his is structured […]

Read More… from And now, Ben Heck makes an ‘Atari’ Xbox 360 ‘1977 edition’



Some positive news a month on from the Christchurch ’quake

Tomorrow, it will be one month since the Christchurch ’quake.    It’s tempting to argue scale—the Japanese earthquake and tsunami versus our own—but at the end of the day, people are people, and our nations have both been hurting. We have become united, through disasters that emphasized that we live in an emerging global community. […]

Read More… from Some positive news a month on from the Christchurch ’quake



Three out of three: Google’s Ads Preferences Manager does not work

I know you’re sick of reading three of these blog entries on three consecutive days but here’s what my Google Ads Preferences Manager has shown me today.    I’m sick of writing about it, but Google’s being so damned predictable.    First, the cookie is back, though it hasn’t picked up preferences yet this morning: […]

Read More… from Three out of three: Google’s Ads Preferences Manager does not work



A bad choice of word, but what does the gay community actually think?

While I was out, I had noticed on Twitter a news item about an octogenarian, working for American Airlines, who was sacked for his use of the word faggot.    I despise words like that, just as much as chink or nigger, but the question arises: should he have been sacked, losing some of his […]

Read More… from A bad choice of word, but what does the gay community actually think?



Google advertising doesn’t understand that opting out means opting out

Yesterday, I wrote about Google’s Ads Preferences Manager. I mentioned that I had opted out before, but had found myself having to repeat the exercise. I did, however, stop short at levelling blame at Google for another privacy gaffe, despite its behaviour with Web History, Buzz, Reader, Notes, etc., just in case I had fiddled […]

Read More… from Google advertising doesn’t understand that opting out means opting out



Check that your Google ad opt-out has been honoured

I have opted out of Google’s Doubleclick (and others’) advertising cookies many times. In theory, you only need to do it once, but I have been to Google’s opt-out page many times to find that the company has set another new cookie on my system.    I fiddle around with my cookies a lot, so […]

Read More… from Check that your Google ad opt-out has been honoured