…is the waiting room of an orthodentist. And having a laptop handy, and waiting for someone to finish having their impressions taken – or whatever it is that orthodentists do the first time you visit them – it seems like the logical way to pass the time. It’s another first, too – the first time I’ve ever seen a dentist-in-the-round – it’s a huge room, maybe 150ft square, with a raised circular brick plinth in the middle, walled round with screens and the kind of glass bricks I associate with public conveniences. Behind which all the dentistry takes place – although it looks more like an upmarket hair salon than a medical establishment. I’d have taken a picture, but there are blood-curdling exhortations that all mobile phones must be switched off at all times. A lingering fear of strict women in white coats means that I’m obeying them to the letter.
Archive for 7 July 2003
Not something I find myself doing often (and I’m not about to make a habit of it, mind you) is agreeing with a Daily Telegraph leader column. In this case, however, we see eye-to-eye – identity cards are a bad idea, and none of the specious arguments that have been put forward in their favour come anywhere close to convincing me.
In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if in fact David Blunkett is rather more right-wing than Michael Howard – he certainly seems to spend a disproportionate amount of time cheerfully whittling away at privacy in the name of “security”. And seeing him stand on a podium alongside John Ashcroft a few months ago was worrying – given that he appears to be using the US as something of a role model.
I’m not generally a fan of online games – the learning curve always seems to be too steep to make the payoff worthwhile, at least to my hair-trigger attention span. This on the other hand is genuinely different – you use your mouse to bounce off platforms in a 3D wireframe world, accompanied by tinkly new age music. The theory is that it’s relaxing and induces a state of tranquility – I can’t vouch for that, but it’s an excellent timewaster…
So, according to Oliver James I’m lonely, narcissistic and in need of contact with others. Probably, although I don’t see what it is about blogs that gets the professional pundits so worked up. There seems to be three distinct schools of thought – the Grauniad with its “change the world as we know it approach”; the Times and the “ho, ho, ho, look at all those ever-so-slightly amusing little people” position and the remainder with the “but it’s terrible, what about the effect on journalistic quality?” attitude. What about the quality? Since when was the Daily Mail a guarantee of high journalistic standards, let alone any of the other “shit, need to fill a half-page, get Raj Persaud on the phone”-style organs?
The web is what the web has always been – 99.9% completely obscure of which at least 50% is total crap, and the remaining 0.1% completely dependent on your outlook and political persuasion – probably comprising Amazon and the news organisation of your choice. Weblogs aren’t any different to homepages were five years ago – mainly crap, some indifferent and a handful downright insightfully brilliant. Which one this falls into is a matter of preference, natch.
