the brownhaze: the dsutbin of the internet

blog

since 18/9/2003

Sunday, December 23, 2007

some grey bloke

Embedded Video

Blogged with Flock

Labels: video

Flock

I have been having a look at Flock. Its a browser based on Firefox with a bunch of addons designed to make it easier to keep up to date with your social networking, bogging and other web 2.0 systems.

For instance, to write this passage, I have just pressed the "write" button on the too bar, a window has popped up, much like when you type an e-mail. When I press the publish button, I will select a few options and it will be posted, very easy.

The other systems that I have tried on this are Face Book, flickr, the photo sharing site and You Tube, same thing, only for video. when you have logged the browsers in to these pages you get a side bar which yopu can switch between the systems that you use. It is pretty handy for face book, you get a list of all of your friends in the left hand column which updates automatically, so if someone changes their status, they appear at the top of the list. It has special options for seeing the media that your friends are sharing and has options for messaging and poking them with one click.

Blogged with Flock

Labels: geek

Saturday, December 22, 2007

test blog from flock

test blog from flock

Blogged with Flock

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

for B3Ta

They Said

Labels: b3ta, I made this

Friday, December 07, 2007

American by birth, Irish by blood.

Let me start this by saying that I cant stand trolling, and that was not my intention at all by joining this Facebook group. With that said….

There is a Facebook group for people of Irish decent in the USA called “American by birth, Irish by blood”. You can imagine the kind for syrupy, stereotypical, patronising, “there always after my lucky charms” type rubbish these ever-so-slightly-of-Irish-decent Americans post in it.

My reason for joining this group was to challenge the idea held by a lot of these people that they are, in fact, not Irish. One guy I spoke to was fiercely proud of his Irish heritage and the “Irish tattoos” that he has. I asked what his nears Irish relations where. Two great grandparents. That makes him what… one thirty-second Irish or something. Its laughable.

Anyway. An actual Irish guy started a discussion thread titled “All of youse… FUCK OFF”. This is what he wrote:

First post:

American by birth...hold it right there, that means you ARE fucking AMERICAN. NOT Irish. I'm Irish...the likes of you who think that drinking a few guinnesses on St Patricks day, having a few red hairs watching Gangs of new york and tatooing a 4 leaf clover on your arse makes you irish, ARE AMERICANS. What the fuck do any of you know about the Celtic Tiger economy, about the REALITY of the situation in Northern Ireland, the recent Irish elections...nothing, thats what.

I don't care where your ancestors emigrated from, don't patronise us with your fucking ideas that Ireland is a land of leprechauns who rely on your moral support to free Northern Ireland from the redcoats or whatever the fuck it is you (wrongly) think is happening back in the country you stopped having anything to do with 12 fucking generations ago.

Rant over!

Second post:

actually no, theres more!

look at all the fucking patronising shite in this group, tin whistles 'town wanker' limerick writer, leprechaun, it's all there.

if its ok for youse to stereotype, why don't you obese, ignorant, christian fundamentalist, right-wing bush-voting gun nut loud arrogant cunts just fuck right off and find someone else to patronise.

Brilliant.

I would now like to give you a rundown on some of my fave quotes from this group, in no particular order:

my friends look at me cause i take pride in my Irish heritage cause im 50% Irish. My friends make fun of me for it cause i listen to irish music, talk with an irish accent(when im really drunk) and want to get two more irish tattoos
all i can say is im glad imirish, and i would hate to be any other type (ie french or italian.) I think the UK region has the best and most proud people and culture in the world.
hey i got an idea, y don't we all just put this behind us and go have a pint of the best god dam beer in the world, GUINNESS !!!!!!
definitely. henever I bring up my heritage people just roll their eyes at me and say "your American! get over it" It kinda makes me ... pissed..
Top of the morning to ya mates! ^_^ Today is a green ole' day! I have to get going so Cheerio :D
nobody believes i'm Irish because I have brown hair... i mean come on!

this next one was in response to a post “Fuck Italy”. Bare in mind the guy responding to it is American:

Why Fuck Italy they are our friend. We are all a European alliance and we shouldn't hate anybody.

I really should find myself a new hobby that doesn’t involve arguing with strangers about very unimportant stuff.

Labels: real world, soap box

Letter to the Post

This is a response to Michael Batstone’s letter (Friday) regarding cycling and cycle paths.
Agreed, cyclists should use cycle paths wherever possible. It really annoys me when there is a cycle path next to a pavement, yet cyclists are still on the pavement almost running me over.
That said, when was the last time you actually cycled in Reading? Once of the big problem with cycle paths is that motorists park their cars on them, making the useless because you can’t simply nip in and out of busy roads without getting yourself killed. Particularly, the stretch of cycle path on the Basingstoke Rd, near the corner of Elgar Rd, there is always someone parked there while they pop in to get a paper, or worse, council vehicles. So, forgive me if I do not use this stretch of cycle path, I prefer not crashing in to stationary vehicles if I can possible avoid it.
To address your question “what gives them the right to ignore every road sign they come across?”, obviously nothing. But there are a few things you should bare in mind. As a cyclist you are very vulnerable and exposed on the roads. Roads and road signs are not designed with the cyclist in mind. There are times where, for your own safety, you have to ignore these signs or behave in a way that would be impossible in a car.
From my perspective, the big problem on roads are the arrogant motorists who do not provide adequate space on the road for the cyclist. I am regularly cut up, overtaken while entering roundabouts and victim to many other forms of unsafe driving that make me amazed that I haven’t gone gray yet.
Like it or not, cyclists have as much right to be on the road as motorists do. While I am on the road, I treat my self as a small, slow car. I would like motorists to do the same.

Labels: letters to the editor, soap box

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Welcome Seren, the #2 official brown haze dog.

This is Seren. She is a rescue dog from the Dogs Trust that we picked up on Friday of last week. She is settling in nicely with her new house mate Griff. Unfortunately she has not yet been spayed and was still in season when we picked her up, so her and Griff were getting down and dirty for the first few days. It appears to have largely warn off now.

She is between 1 and 2 years old. Not much is known about her because she was a stray picked up in Wales (just like Griff). She looks like she has some whippet in her and has the colouring of a German Sheppard.

We called her Seren becuase its a Welsh name (again like Griff). Apparenlty it means star.

Labels: my life, real world