Meme time! Daniel posted about this and it got me thinking, so here’re my answers:

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:
   2691 Songs -> (11.44GB, inluding about a 1/4 of that being from one of the other guys here on our shared drive)
2. The last CD you bought was:
   Seriously cannot remeber the last CD I bought. I used to buy at least one a week, but I seem to have other expences these days
3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
   The Fly - U2. Funny, I’d just cracked out the U2 today myself.
4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
   • One - U2. Although my feelings about all of Zooropa are about the same as Daniel’s
   • Frente - Ordinary Angels. I love this song - even though you own your own comet
   • Crowded House - Fall at your feet & all of the Together Alone album.
   • Jars of Clay - Worlds Apart.
   • The Cure - just in general.
5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?:
   Whoever wants to, the three people that read this I guess.

Nick Bradbury has released FeedDemon 1.5, with 15 billion new features and bug fixes (If you’ve been keeping up with the bleeding edge beta versions, it’s not quite so much of a jump though).

Also Nick has offered us a glimpse into his development environment, which is great. It’s easy as a developer to get stuck into thinking that the language and procedures you use are The Way^™, but there’s usually more than one way to do it

As some of you know, I used Delphi to create all of my shareware programs (HomeSite, TopStyle and FeedDemon), and I’ve been very happy with it (although I will admit that I’m toying with C# as well). One of the main reasons I use Delphi is because it creates fast executables that don’t require runtime DLLs. Before I created HomeSite I was a client-server developer working in Visual Basic, and VB’s runtime DLLs were a constant source of problems. I had enough trouble trying to support people in the same building who had DLL-related problems - I can’t imagine trying to deal with these same problems with shareware, where your application is used all over the world on countless different computer configurations.

Nick, I know your pain! DLL Hell is the bane of every Windows programmer. If I knew then what I know now I really don’t think I would have ever developed in VB6. .NET is another story however.

As Joel already mentioned, I’ve been toying with Wordpress, and I’ve decided to take the plunge and switch.

One of the main reasons (other than peer pressure) is the ridiculously huge amount of trackback spam I’ve been getting lately. Word is that wordpress handles this much better, so I’m going to give it a go. If all else fails I can always just switch back!

As is plainly obvious, as of yet I haven’t done much with the template design. I’ve only just started on the template design, this is on my todo list, along with a couple of other things:

1. Finish setting up .htaccess redirects from MT permalinks to the new Wordpress links (If any old links don’t work, please let me know)
2. Do up a nice template design
3. Implement the document revisions system (The stylesheet is already in place I just need to put the stylesheet switcher into the template. If you’re using Firefox you can see the revisions by selecting ‘View -> Page Style -> Show all revisions’)

We’ll see how it goes.

• Trillian has released beta version 3.1. Yay for cross-client IM.

• Space Quest 0: Replicated. How it’s taken me this long to find this gem I have no idea.

  If, like me, you’re a nerd gamer from waaaay back, this is gold. Pure gold. Using the original AGI engine, this is a fan-built prequel to the series. It’s got a very well-built storyline and the graphics are exactly like the original in all their 16 colour glory. Without giving too much of the story away, theythis game explains where the salesmen army of SQ1 came from. You even get to go back to Monolith Burgers.
  

• TPG’s 1.5 MB Unlimited ADSL plan. 1.5MB - $50/month shaped to 64k after 15gig. Joy.

• Halo 2 Limited Edition. Thankyou Daniel!!!
  

I would like to take a moment to recognise Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel.

AN Australian airman has become the nation’s first military casualty in Iraq, killed while serving with Britain’s Royal Air Force.

Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, a 35-year-old father of three from Melbourne, died when a British C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed or was shot down north of Baghdad overnight (AEDT), killing 10 troops, an Australian Defence Department spokesperson said.

Flt Lt Pardoel leaves behind a wife and three kids, who’s photos we are already seeing plastered all over the papers and TV. He was working for the RAF, as he held dual Australian-UK citizenship.

While nothing can lessen the grief for his family, they should know that he died for a reason. That he should die during the elections should highlight the importance of the cause. Kids, your father did not die for oil or Halliburton profits. He died trying to make sure these elections could happen, so that the Iraqi people could be free. Something like this.

If I see one anti-war protestor, commentator or journalist try and use Flt Lt Pardoel’s death as emotional leverage for their ’cause’ there will be hell to pay. To exasperate this family’s grief by lessening the value of his sacrifice for cheap politics would be unforgivable.

(Note: This, obviously, doesn’t include Pardoel’s family. They can grieve anyway they want, and I’ll be equally angered by any supporters of the war who criticize Margaret Pardoel for her statements.)