Up until relatively recently, I didn’t think I had a strong mental block (except whilst sitting in exam rooms). As can be inferred, it turns out I do.

For me, it is absolutely bizarre and foreign. Not being able to think about something (for whatever reason) is just so very odd. You start vaguely thinking about the subject and forming questions, but before they get anywhere it’s all gone. Nothing quite like it.

It irritates and interests me. Thinking about it clearly doesn’t help (and neither does not thinking about it). What can one do?

There is a hill.

To most people, I imagine it is exactly that; just another hill that they pass every day. I, however, am fascinated by it.

Every curve is perfectly rounded, flowing into the next as easily as it slid out of the last. Each concavity reveals itself as a product of angle, increasing shade once approaching, disappearing as one passes. The lines are beautifully bezier; elegant yet simple.

In summer, before the harvest, long wheat blows out a wonderfully dynamic representation of the underlying hill; billowing those curves as sails.

In winter, after the harvest, short grass grows back, shivering back and forth as the cold wind pushes against it. Resolute, it stands.

I’ve never stood on the hill. In truth, I see it for 20 seconds a day, at most, yet still I admire it. Nature is a remarkable thing.

For various reasons, I’ve outgrown nntprss as my default RSS client (not least because it is sadly lacking in features due to the lapse in releases). So, I recently switched to SharpReader.

I had my first realy “holy shit, that’s cool” moment with it a few minutes ago. When subscribing to Stuart Langridge’s feed for Kryogenix, I decided to look at a few of the recent posts. SortTable is one item I posted about recently (and is still in my RSS feed).

I was shocked to see, that in the item for his feed, the full text from my piece referring to his. SharpReader knew they were connected and did some implicit comment magic. Very nice.

Sorry for the geeky gush, but it took my by surprise, and I like that.

The rather belated end of week random links post. We’ll just call this a fortnightly special (with nothing special added) and leave it at that:

• PHP and REST – A good read for those planning on setting up the Atom API,
• Ze’s page – An interesting mix of random stuff. The games and toys are good; particularly “Simple Game”,
• Multiple IE instances – How to run multiple versions of IE. Very handy for web design,
• On Search: Internationalisation – Another part of the essential On Search series. This time dealing with the problems inherent in making search work in different languages,
• Bit Rot – Data always outlives hardware. So just what lengths will people go to to get information from old systems? Probably about this far,
• Misusing Irony – A personal pet hate: the misuse of the word “Ironic” (Via Derek),
• Advanced RPS – Want to get better at Rock, Papers, Scissors? The professional guide is available,
• IE 5.5 Band Pass and IE 5.0 Band Pass – After last months mid pass filter, Tantek brings two more filters to make applying styles to particular browsers easier. He never sleeps.

And that’s it for a few days.

It is always a bold move to remake a classic cult film. Some would say it is a pointless move; trying to beat something that is loved by a dedicated group of fans is certainly an unenviable task. It was with this in mind that I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

It is, in a word, laughable.

Maybe I’m overly desensitized to these things, but it wasn’t particularly scary or gruesome. It tried to be twisted, it tried to be sick, it failed on both accounts.

Not worth seeing. Find yourself a cheap copy of the original. It’s an order of magnitude better.