Yet Another

QotD: What I Love About Vox

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:03:42 -0700

In honor of Vox's launch tomorrow, what's your favorite feature or aspect of Vox?

In addition to the lovely big editor fonts, QoTD has had me writing more personal blog posts than anything else this year. It's fantastic inspiration on tap. All the design and photo/video sharing and social networking is very nice, but QoTD is the perfect example of how a really simple and technically trivial feature can make all the difference. I'd be fascinated to see what percentage of Vox blog posts are QoTD-derived; I'd guess that it's significant.

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QotD: Reflecting on September 11th

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:57:00 -0700

What are your personal memories of September 11th?

I was staying with my friends Gayle & Lev in Portland, Oregon. Another friend was in town, and she came over to spend the night. Lev woke us up, calmly telling us that terrorists had crashed planes into the World Trade Center. I was still trying to work out if this was some weird joke when I turned to my friend to see her in tears.

There was much mailing, and seeing the net and various mailing lists go nuts, and I posted a really long message to one of them. I watched the TV with the others in the house. I tried to work out what would happen next.

The following day I had been due to fly to San Francisco, and back to London a day or two after. Instead, Quinn (who was also around, and also had to get back to SF) and I hired a car and had a post-apocalyptic roadtrip southwards. I'm certain that I saw a passenger jet fly past us at one point.

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The Five Best Muppet Clips on YouTube

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 07:14:50 -0700

If you were about to spend the day browsing through YouTube for Muppets vids, good news! I've saved you the bother and done all the tedious grunt work to find the five best. Don't ask why. Yay!

Once In A Lifetime

Muppet Show - Phenomenon

The Muppet Show - Beaker

muppet show drums fight

Muppets Tonight - Monolith

Now, you may disagree over my choices, but only if you provide linked counter-arguments. Then, EVERYBODY wins! Yay!

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QotD: I Get Around

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:17:59 -0700

How many places have you lived in your life?

Hendon, Hendon, Jerusalem, Hendon, San Francisco, Hendon, Finchley, Palo Alto, Chalk Farm. With a bit of luck, in a month's time: San Francisco again.

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QotD: Middle Name

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 12:08:43 -0700

What's your middle name? Is there a story or history behind it?

This is a bit of a sore point at the moment, actually.

My birth certificate calls me Jeremy Grahame.
My Hebrew name is Yoram Boruch ben Avraham Zvi.

My mum says my English middle name is Benedict.
My dad disagrees.

My credit card calls me Yoram J B Grahame.
My driver's license calls me Yoram Jeremy Grahame.
My doctor's office calls me Jeremy Grahame.

My passport calls me Jeremy Grahame.
My son's birth certificate calls me Yoram Jeremy Grahame.
When I went to the Passport Office recently to get my son his first passport, this caused problems.

My wife is begging me to change my name by deed poll to Yoram Jeremy Grahame.
But my recently-approved US Visa calls me Jeremy Grahame. So it would cause problems with that.

I believe that under British law, a person's name is not a single canonical legally-defined thing. I read a mailing-list post on this topic in relation to the problems it would cause for the beleaguered ID Card proposals, and I've tried to find it ever since but haven't managed. (I'll post it here if/when I do.)

This post has turned out much duller than I thought it would.

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QotD: Best. Villain. Ever.

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:15:03 -0700

Who's your favorite movie villain?

Jeremy/Sebastian, the young upper-class landlord from Naked. I don't think I've enjoyed hating any movie villain quite as much as him.

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QotD: Bring Back the Snack (featuring the Annual Kosher Uncertainty Principle)

nobody@vox.com(Yoz) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:56:41 -0700

Are there any snacks, food or candy that are no longer made that you desperately miss?

Wall's Feast ice cream bars.

Huh? But I can go buy you one right now...

Yes, you can. But they're not kosher any more. Haven't been for several years.

When one lives in England as a Jew who keeps kosher, one becomes subservient to the ways and whims of - what is locally known as - the list. Growing up, there's only one bit of it that you're really concerned with, which is the bit about confectionery. (This has now been made available as a free 2.5MB PDF called "The Kosher Nosh Guide") You get used to stuff popping on and off the list seemingly at random as manufacturers tweak not only the ingredients but processes. (Kosher ingredients that share vessels with non-kosher are thereby rendered non-kosher) And you also get used to your friends in the playground having ceaseless arguments about which colour of Smartie is made from beetles' blood. (Answer: they currently all are.)

Feast is a victim of the former - gelatin was added and has tragically stayed. While I haven't purchased the list in a while (as my level of kashrut-observance has dipped somewhat over the years), I still stick to stuff that has "Suitable for Vegetarians" on it. So my new friends are Snickers and Maltesers ice cream bars, mmmm.

(Bloody hell, food giants really have no idea how to make decent referenceable websites, do they?)

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