Has anyone else noticed an increase in the number of people using Firefox/Mozilla in their stats recently? I realise that there is a huge Spread Firefox campaign currently going on and the number of bloggers/internet interested people account for some of the increase.

But there has been a spike in my stats this week because of the return of a UK television series – those searching for the lady in question are from the general internet population, yet over the past few weeks I’ve seen the browser share for Internet Explorer drop from 86+% to 75%:

If you’re still wondering whether to make the jump, here’s an idea – you can download the Firefox browser and install it (it’s easier than sneezing, honest) then run it alonside Internet Explorer for a while. Take time to see which you prefer. I’m betting you’ll be switching permanently to Firefox before the week is up.

Busy as busy can be so a few links and then it’s back to the grindstone.

To rip or not to rip [via chocolate and vodka]

From the inbox – I love getting surprise emails with good links, this one’s from Jeff. Gloovie allows you to upload your digital photos and they make a cartoon with one of the heads in it. I’ll investigate it properly later but I think some fun could be had with this one. [Update: looks like some of the animations are “free for a limited time” so might be an idea to get in there quickly if you’re interested.]

Multilingual weblog glossary [via blue witch]

Numbered tabs for firefox

Here’s a good idea – BlogBites displays snippets of (English language) blogs with links to go read the remaining post. Kind of similar to WebNymph but a smaller and different set of sources.

“With friends like these…” silly car prank
(more…)

Son to father:“Dad, cialis 40mg is a Ferrari a red car with a small horse?”

Father:“That’s right, approved but why do you ask?”

Son: “I think there’s one trying to pass us on the right…”

[Via non blogging Jane. Again]

Every once in a while you come across great ideas and the first thing yoiu say is “Now why didn’t someone think of that before?” How about wallpaper by numbers [via Melissa]. Genius.

I’m vaguely uncomfortable with this, Frank Sinatra sings “Strangers on my flight”. It’s very cleverly done – am I over-reacting?

More blogspotting
Mothers with attitude
La petite anglaise
JenORama
Private dick (might be best to start at the beginning, that’s what I’m about to do)

There aren’t many films I watch time and time again, mainly because I’ve reached the age at which I can wait until the next time it’s on television, but there are a few I couldn’t part with.

Truly Madly Deeply
Hobson’s Choice
Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain
Romuald et Juliette (I can’t actually find my copy of this but if I could I would watch it again)
Les Ripoux (ditto, except that I know that I taped over my father’s copy of this about 15 years ago)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T.
Erin Brockovich
The Accidental Tourist
Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources
The Long Kiss Goodnight

Martyn’s choice would include:
Lord of the Rings x 3
The Shawshank Redemption
Zulu (he’s read so much about the battle that he can put up with the inaccuracies and unfairness to the memory of Private Henry Hook)
The Shootist
True Grit
“and most westerns really…” (Zzzzzzz)

Now, there’s space for just three more dvd cases in the cupboard – what would you choose?

Want to see an interesting timeline showing the careers of Bush and Kerry? 1943-1988 and 1988 to the present [via Mr Crunchy]. It is very biased toward Kerry so if you want to check facts, this web could I point you to the excellent factcheck.org?

Branille on political t-shirts. My cherry for Kerry. Heh.
(more…)

Whenever I think about the writing process I must admit it’s the research I find more interesting than the actual writing. Which is just as well since I don’t have a creative writing bone in my body so I enjoyed reading Toni‘s description of a research trip to the local police station. Brilliant.

Eliane‘s book, Het Bed van Tim, is available online – hooray! Wish I knew a Dutch speaking child of suitable age. Unless… a non reading two year old would just enjoy the pictures, right?

Fi on chicklit: “a great chick-lit novel is like drinking a big tall glass of cold lemonade; it refreshes you and satisfies you and makes you smile. A bad one? Tepid and flat and disappointing.”

There’s nothing specifically about books here, it just made me giggle. A lot. But no trampoline farts were involved. Oh no sirree.

The Joy of Tech‘s “If pets could blog”:

I’ve not come across Hold the front page before today but I think I’ll be going back. For the writings of woolly liberal extraordinaire, Mr Barry Beelzebub, “The Devil’s Advocate” :

Women have to understand that they can’t have it all. They can be equals in the workplace, earning the same money and the same promotions as men, but only if they give up the maternal side of their life.

And that means not spending nine months of every year on maternity leave; not dragging the new-born, whining brat around the office so setting off the hormones of every other female within 100 yards; not staying at home unexpectedly just because little Justin has a sniffle; not asking to work a maximum of 13-and-a-half hours a week at various times of the night and day just to fit in with the available childcare; and not nipping off home early to go to parents’ evening. Twice a week.

p.s. Welcome to where?

I’ve been having a chat with A.L.I.C.E.
(more…)