From my friends' experience, the main barrier to wider adoption of desktop Linux is that it can't play MP3 files out of the box (due to software patents). So I was interested in the FSF's Play Ogg website. This does a good job of explaining the issue. Please will the …

Here's Bill's plant. It reminds him of cobblestones.

I read MacLeod's The Star Fraction over a year ago now. I enjoyed it, and Newton's Wake is even better. Apparently the guy used to be a computer programmer, then turned his hand to sci-fi. I've toyed with writing a book, but with software I just [have]{style="font-style: italic …

We were discussing racism, and my dad recommended The Chamber. I'd heard people talk about John Grisham, and I must admit I'd avoided him. However, the Chamber was very well written. Good plot, and Grisham really does capture the mood of the prison in the American south (I say that …

A colleague talked of the:

unpaid digital sharecropping edifice of Wikipedia

This has a nice rhetorical ring to it, but is wrong because it's an analogy between physical goods and information. Property and information obey completely different rules, so you can't reason by analogy between them.

If someone makes a …

The thing is that they ask you for these things separately, but then don't publish them as part of the listing! Anyway, I've put in the size in the text, and it does say Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

Hi Tony,

From my limited understanding of the subject, size and location are the two most important things when it comes to allotments. I think including these in your add might just tip the balance. Good luck.

Bill

Yes, I've had times when I've tried to buy tickets at the machine in my local station and it's been out of order. When you try and buy the ticket on the train or at your destination this information is treated with disbelief. "This can't be the case - we're notified …

I really enjoy Ian McEwan's writing. He's reflective and introspective through his characters, without indulging in navel gazing. You get the feeling that a huge amount of effort goes into his books.

In Amsterdam, the two protagonists focus on their own work to the detriment of other parts of their …

Remember I was going on about turning my back garden into an allotment? Well now the Landshare scheme has got going and I've posted a listing. Let me know if there are any spelling mistakes, or changes I should make...