“Yes officer, I'm paperpete”

Yet another reason for someone who doesn’t already live there to get worried about the thought of visiting: America’s police can now demand that you give your name to an officer who asks for it, when you’re not even suspected of anything. It’s worth noting that the House was deeply divided on the vote, and that this is only the first stage. Both points are gratifying to some extent. But it still worries the bit of me which wants to go there sometime.

Also worth noting that my brother once drunkenly said “I haven’t had a cunt all night, Drinkstable” to a UK officer and got laughed at and told off.

My friends Giles and Mark sat in my kitchen last night and discussed an article in this month’s issue of the Observer’s monthly music mag, called The 100 Greatest British Albums. MetaFilter has blogged it (quite surprisingly, I have to say — I just didn’t think stuff I read would pass muster with MeFites — but they’re coming to a lot of the same conclusions (or similar) that Mark and Giles arrived at: far too much ‘———’ and far too little ‘———’. Whatever floats one’s boat, I suppose!

Also from MetaFilter: The State of the Commons (which are the range of intellectual, textual, natural, etc. resources that the American (or worldwide!!) public collectively owns, but which nasty companies try to attach rules to), How to cope with all those words you don’t quite know how to use or which you often mistake. And, if you want to go back to uni but don’t want to leave your job, or your comfy chair, just surf right along to MIT's Open CourseWare pages. It is fascinating, the range of stuff out there in cyberspace these days.

I’m a bit pissed off to hear that Hotmail blocks all email from GMail, even invitations, because I sent a couple of people GMail invitations and they won’t have got through. Grrr! But I guess I can console myself (har har) by playing a little textual Hamlet.