Ars Technica’s report on the latest beta of Internet Explorer 7 makes for an interesting read. It appears that the best that Microsoft can do is replicate features that have been available on other web browsers for years:

• Tabbed browsing (pretty much every browser except IE);
• Graphical representations of the content of open tabs (OmniWeb, Firefox with the Showcase or foXpose extensions);
• RSS feed support (OmniWeb, Firefox, Opera, Safari - just about everyone but IE, come to think of it);
• Tab Groups allowing you to open several pages at once (ditto);
• Better printing support (heh);
• An anti-phishing filter (particularly useful when your browser is the number one vector for malware on home PCs).

It’s a classic illustration of what happens when a convicted monopolist gets off lightly: Microsoft don’t need to actually make a better browser when they can rely on their operating system’s market share to keep them at 90% market share, so they don’t bother.

Remember, folks: IE Sucks.

(I apologise in advance that comments don’t work on that last entry, and that the page formatting is fairly screwed up. Note to self: figure out how to import those Movable Type weblog entries into WordPress, or at least remove the markup from the static pages so that people don’t waste their time trying to post comments. And fix the CSS so it matches the current theme.)

Apparently God really is a DJ. (NB: 5MB Quicktime movie.)

[Via GromBlog]

Threadbared offers some helpful advice:

Never EVER make fun of a man who is both wearing cableknit mittens and holding a shotgun.

Now that iPods and the like have moved well beyond geek gadgetry and even octagenarian senators can experience the benefits of being able to carry your music around with you, perhaps Tim Bray is right and the window of opportunity for the music industry to buy new laws to protect its business model is about to slam shut.

Danny O’Brien posted an account of a recent Senate hearing on the broadcast flag proposal:

[…]

The second revelation, dropped into the later discussion of the RIAA’s audio flag, was that Senator Stevens’ daughter bought him an iPod.

This is unhappy news for the RIAA. Once again, their representative was forced to burst into praises of MP3 players (a technology his organization attempted to sue out of existence in 1998).

And when Stevens asked whether with the audio flag in place he would be able to record from the radio and put the shows onto his iPod: that’s when the RIAA’s Mitch Bainwol really began to sweat.

With that simple question, the octogenarian Senator encapsulated arguments about place-shifting, interoperability, and fair use that would have taken whole federal dockets to explain a few years ago.

Even more damning was Senator Sununu’s follow-up question, in which he asked if, post-flag, the Senator might record three songs from the radio today, and listen to only one of them again tomorrow. Of course, under the RIAA’s proposed controls, you may not: this is “disaggregation” in their language. This flag, which was sold to Congress to impede piracy, appeared to be designed primarily to control and inconvenience law-abiding, ripping, mixing, modern-day Senators.

[…]

As the hearing showed, the holes in these flags are large, and its complex consequences are dawning on both houses.

And God help the broadcast flag-makers if someone buys Senator Stevens a video iPod.

I wonder if the Open Rights Group will be able to afford to buy every MEP an iPod once it’s cashed all those standing orders.

(Actually, that strategy probably wouldn’t work. The problem isn’t simply that legislators are unfamiliar with the technology, it’s that they’re expected to deal with so many different technological and scientific issues that on any topic that’s not obviously a priority for their electorate they generally have no choice but to rely on the advice of ‘expert’ advisors. Which means that one important aspect of the ORG’s job once it’s up and running must surely be to ensure that MPs understand that DRM does affect their voters, right here and right now.)

[Via Ongoing]

Prompted by news of the cancellation of The West Wing, the Guardian’s Organ Grinder asked readers to post their favourite moments from the show’s glory years. So many happy memories:

CJ: The more photo-friendly of the two turkeys gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s petting zoo; the other one gets eaten.

Bartlet: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.

And

[Charlie seeks and obtains the President’s permission to date his daughter]
Bartlet: Just remember these two things: she’s nineteen years old, and the 82nd Airborne works for me.

And

Bartlet: I was watching a television program before, with a kind of roving moderator who spoke to a seated panel of young women who were having some sort of problem with their boyfriends - apparently, because the boyfriends had all slept with the girlfriends’ mothers. And they brought the boyfriends out, and they fought, right there on television. Toby, tell me: these people don’t vote, do they?

And

Sam: There are lots of hungry people in the world, Mall, and none of them are hungry because we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber because we went to the moon.
Mallory: And we went to the moon. Do we really have to go to Mars?
Sam: Yes.
Mallory: Why?
Sam: Because it’s next. Because we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is on a timeline of explorations and this is What’s next.

And

Leo: [on the phone with the New York Times] 17 across. Yes, 17 across is wrong… You’re spelling his name wrong… What’s my name? My name doesn’t matter. I am just an ordinary citizen who relies on the Times crossword for stimulation. And I’m telling you that I met the man twice. And I recommended a pre-emptive missile strike against his air force, so I think I know how…
C.J.: Leo.
Leo: They hang up on me every time.
C.J: That’s almost hard to believe

And

Bartlet: In the future, if you’re wondering, “Crime. Boy, I don’t know” is when I decided to kick your ass.

And finally, my all-time favourite:

Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jacobs: 18:22.
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.

And those are just the quotable bits. Throw in intelligent, thoughtful plots and some of the best ensemble acting you ever saw and you’ve got one hell of a show. Reading those again makes me want to order the box sets of the first four seasons right this minute.

[For many, many more quotes from the show, go to WikiQuote or the IMDB.]

[Via feeling listless]

It wasn’t us.

Regular readers will remember a succession of posts last year about Hollywood movie trailers re-edited to alter the film’s genre. Here’s another fine example: Sleepless in Seattle recast as a thriller. [NB: link is to 20MB Quicktime video.]

[Via The All-New, All-Different Howling Curmudgeons]

Milholland, you bastard!

I know that link won’t mean anything to anyone who doesn’t read Something Positive. Take it from me, that was a real kick in the guts.

To understand the context, read this, then this, this and this. Then start here and work through the last few days’ comics.

Just don’t blame me if you feel the need to start right back at the beginning afterwards.

I think I’ve finally found a reason to buy a Freeview box:

The BBC plans to mark the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ this Easter with an hour-long live procession through the streets of Manchester featuring pop stars from The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and featuring songs by The Smiths and New Order.

In the programme, called Manchester Passion, a character representing Jesus will sing the legendary Joy Division anthem Love Will Tear Us Apart before dueting his arch-betrayer Judas on the New Order hit Blue Monday, according to senior church sources involved in the production.

Mary Magdelene, the penitent whore of the New Testament, is also getting in on the act: she is being lined up to sing the Buzzcocks hit Ever Fallen in Love (with Someone You Shouldn’t have) accompanied by a string band.

Former Happy Monday and Celebrity Big Brother winner Bez will play a disciple.

The climax of the event sees Jesus sing the Smiths classic song Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now as he is being flayed by Roman soldiers. He will then come face-to-face with his Roman prosecutor Pontius Pilate with the two of them singing a duet of the Oasis hit Wonderwall […]

[Via meish.org]

Esher, home of the parakeet.

[…]

It all began 40 years ago when, amid the psychedelic haze of Carnaby Street, a stoned Jimi Hendrix released the Adam and Eve of British parakeets. At least, that’s what some locals say. Others claim that a piece of undercarriage fell from a plane, demolishing an aviary and freeing its caged inhabitants. Nonsense, say still more: everyone knows it kicked off when a long-suffering angry London housewife set free her husband’s squawking flock.

Actually all these stories could be true. Since the first London parakeet sighting in 1855, birds have been regularly escaping from private collections. As a species with a natural habitat extending into the Himalayan foothills, they adapted easily. Some time around the late 60s, the feral parakeet population reached critical mass and had its own summer of love. Breeding had begun. Now, in the summer, Esher alone roosts almost 7,000, and with a 30% growth rate, by the end of the decade parakeets will outnumber many native bird species.

[…]

Plan59’s Gallery of Demonic Tots: images of kids from 1950s advertising campaigns.

This one is particularly scary, I think.

[Via Memepool]

The Ten Greatest Sledges of All Time:

NUMBER THREE
Fred Trueman bowling. The batsman edges and the ball goes to first slip, and right between Raman Subba Row’s legs. Fred doesn’t say a word. At the end of the over, Row ambles past Trueman and apologises sheepishly. “I should’ve kept my legs together, Fred.” “So should your mother!” he replied.

[Via web-goddess]

A survey for the BBC’s Horizon pop-science documentary series has found that the British are apparently considerably less level-headed than I’d thought:

Over 2000 participants took part in the survey, and were asked what best described their view of the origin and development of life:

• 22% chose creationism
• 17% opted for intelligent design
• 48% selected evolution theory
• and the rest did not know.

[…]

When given a choice of three descriptions for the development of life on Earth, people were asked which one or ones they would like to see taught in science lessons in British schools:

• 44% said creationism should be included
• 41% intelligent design
• 69% wanted evolution as part of the science curriculum.

If it’s an accurate account of the beliefs of the British populace, that’s deeply depressing. The first set of responses is no particular problem: I think 39% of the respondents are wrong, but that’s their business. The notion that more than four in ten of the populace want creationism and/or intelligent design taught in science lessons is much more problematic.

Jayne Nelson relates a story of a very English encounter on the London Underground.

[Via feeling listless]