MySpace Sucks

I don't like MySpace for the following reasons:

• It's difficult to use, stuff just isn't laid out very well


• It's full of annoying adverts


• It's frequently broken or not working properly. It's just badly coded


• It's ugly, and customised profiles look even worse most of the time


• There isn't much functionality, for example; customising the appearance of your profile is essentially a hack, you have to use 3rd party tools to embed css in your description


• It's full of annoying teenagers anyway, and has little useful content

So why is it so popular? I admit, I have a profile, I guess the answer is that it was the first. It now has so much weight behind it that I guess it's here to stay.

Personally I preferred the old days of the internet where the world only heard your opinion if you were prepared to learn HTML. This automatic entry test screened out some of the muppets who now use MySpace.

Loose Change

I watched the Loose Change film on google video the other day. It puts forward an argument that the American government planned the destruction of the World Trade Center. In particular, the video shows evidence supporting claims that charges were set to bring down the buildings, and the Pentagon was hit by a military aircraft/weapon which was then covered up. These are of course outrageous claims, but after watching the video I too was swayed to believe that some sort of conspiracy may have existed. Many of these thoughts were put to rest after a bit more research. Thanks to sites such as 911Myths.com, I reaslised that the loose change film wasn't presenting all the facts. Draw your own conculsions, but I generally find the most simple explanation is the correct one.

More Pittsburgh

Tonight I took the incline (a train that runs at about 45 degrees) to the top of Mount Washington to get a good view over the city. You may notice amongst my collection of photos a tall sky-scraper made mostly of glass, with lots of sharp points at the top. It belongs to the local glass company and the design was inspired by the Houses of Parliment. They seem to have missed off the big clock.

Less than two weeks until I come home now, can't say how much I'm looking forward to a nice cup of tea (and seeing my Wife).

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All-Stars in Pittsburgh

It's All-Star week in Pittsburgh. Which means that the richest best baseball players in the world have come to town to play rounders, sign autographs and attract tourists. Clare and I escaped to 'Racoon Creek' for a peaceful hike, and looked around the Andy Warhol museum for some culture - innit.

By the way - the guys in the canoes are there to catch the odd ball that flies out of the ballpark and into the river. They can be seen paddling franticly towards such balls, and diving into the brown sludge to retrieve their prize.

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Niagara Falls

Clare has come to visit this week, so we watched the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Detroit Tigers (this was a baseball match) and took a road trip (long drive) up to Niagara Falls. We got back to Pittsburgh in time to celebrate America's independance from the UK - we're off to watch the fireworks right now.

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A Scanner Darkly

Philip K. Dick is one of my favourite authors, so I was pleased to see that another of his books is being turned into a film. From watching the trailer they seem to have stuck closely to the original too. There are some big names involved (Keanu, Harrelson and Wiona Ryder!) and it seems to be produced entirely in a comic strip style of animation. Interesting. I read the book last year, it's funny, depressing and crazy. All the character are paranoid drug (substance D) abusers, the lead character ends up spying on himself. Can't wait to see it!

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The Pitts

Well, I have arrived in Pittsburgh. I am right next door to a new conference centre, and just caught the end of a conference for people who like to dress (and behave) as animals. I saw dozens of people walking around with furry tails, and a few with little ears too. I didn't manage to photograph any, but I found a few photos on flickr.

The good things about the city are:

- The city centre is small, you can walk around the whole thing.
- There are plenty of sports to go and watch.
- There are a couple of museums.

The bad things about Pittsburgh are:

- I can't find any fresh fruit or healthy food.
- There's not much else to do other that what's listed above.
- I'm in the business district, and everywhere is shut in the evenings.

Oh well, I might try and get a car and travel. I took some photos around the area of my hotel:

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Farewell Orlando

Tomorrow I am flying up to Pittsburgh, where I will remain for the rest of my stay here in the States. So today we visited the home of CO2 emissions, Kennedy Space Center. We were fortunate enough to (just about) see a shuttle on the launch pad. Walking around the Saturn V rocket was amazing. It's quite daunting to think that when it's waiting on the pad ready to launch, 91% of it's weight is rocket fuel. I wouldn't want to be strapped to the top of it.

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Islands of Adventure

As a treat we visitied the Universal Studios 'Islands of Adventure' theme park today. There were loads of good rides, and I even got to meet my favourite superheros. The best rollercoaster was the Incredible Hulk. You start the ride by slowly being pulled up a slope which is completely enclosed in a tunnel, and then without warning you are shot up the slope at high speed and fired out, spun up-side down and then straight down a steep drop. You reach a top speed of 67 mph, and accelerate from 0-40 mph in 2 seconds. I was glad to get off.

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Photos of Orlando

Here are some pictures from around where I'm staying. I went for a walk to the local mall, and discovered that walking is not something America is designed for. I had to run across the interstate motorway, and wrestle and aligator (well I didn't actually see any 'gators but I did see an eagle).

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