Every week there are new stories cropping up somewhere on the planet of copyright holders clamping down in some way how people can use their work, or in most cases can't use their work. News organisations are among them. I've noticed something odd here. Well, I say "odd", it's just the usual hypocrisy at work.

On 5Live this morning, there was a debate about whether a tweet by Labour MP Diane Abbott is racist or not. Some people have spotted the real issue behind this comment, while others seem to have focussed on the surface meaning. Before we begin, let's look at her words "White people love playing "divide & rule" We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism".

It's been a while since I listened to any music in a prolonged session, but today I've found myself with a background of ABBA for a while and loving it. ABBA were HUGE in the mid to late 70's which was a few years before my time as a music listener although my sister caught the ABBA bug. I only really found them after they'd split. They were remarkable on several fronts.

Responses elsewhere have led me to wonder what people think of me, and how I express myself. Sometimes we don't notice what we're doing until someone points it out to us. It's in this vein that I've decided to do the unusual; ask people directly. I would like constructive criticism anyone has of me. I am not interested in a flame war, or getting into arguments about "I don't do....." etc. This is about me working out how I can or should modify my behaviour.

I am not going to reply to comments on this post, merely publish them.

I've read it many times; starting is the hardest part. It seems to be the story of my life. I'm not talking about a short one-off something with the best of intentions to see it through, I'm talking about starting something and continuing it long enough that it gathers momentum in your mind that it does gradually take shape. In short I need to get my ass into gear, this post is a kinda explanation and a kick up the arse that I need to give myself.

I often use Tesco's self service tills when there as the queues are generally smaller. Perhaps the reason they're smaller is that the Microsoft kiosk systems that run them are badly implemented with obvious flaws in workflow. They've had an upgrade and went even further downhill. Well done Microsoft; only you can be relied on to fuck up consistently and get away with it.

Times they are a changing, for Identica this seems very apt. They've seen a lot of users move to Google+ because the posting style suits them better. They've upgraded the UI to include new features and a new look but the combined effect hasn't been good. It's been downright frustrating for many of us.

I'm growing increasingly impressed with Xubuntu but setting the default web browser is a nightmare. In theory, you simply choose your preferred web browser in the settings and it should be enough. Some applications just ignore this and open in whatever was set before them by the distro makers. There is a reason, and a solution.

Every other day you see a story from some legacy industry about how the modern world is decimating their cushy income model, about how they've failed to react and adapt to what their customers have been demanding, and how the government should step in with some laws in some area to protect their income stream. Why adapt when you can lobby government so you don't have to?

Every now and again I stumble upon something special that I wasn't expecting. This is one of those occasions. I was looking for an easy to maintain way of displaying cool wallpapers that I find. I could do a similar thing in Drupal with views but I just can't get close on the "simple to maintain" part.

I've just seen the first two episodes of season four of the Clone Wars cartoon, and a few glaring points in it made me wonder if George Lucas had outsourced the writing to imbeciles. George is not a great writer at the best of times, but he is better than this. I like the Clone Wars cartoons after they grew on me, but this is just sloppy.

A while back on Identi.ca a throwaway comment between myself and Kevie led to a project called Unseen Studio. To save explaining twice, I'll simply point to the site. Unseen Studio is also the temporary home to a separate started by myself and Cobra2, a Free Culture Torrent Tracker project, the HPR episode explaining that concept is here. Feel free to join us.