I spent the weekend in Birmingham and was amazed. I’d seen the coverage of the opening of the new Bull Ring but wasn’t expecting it to have had quite such an impact. Walking into the new shopping centre felt like walking into a bee hive; there were so many people there that the place was literally (I don’t use the word lightly) buzzing. Whether the buzz lasts we’ll have to wait and see, but so far, so good.
Month: September 2003
Did the tourist thing this
Did the tourist thing this afternoon…
Everything’s gone a bit crazy
Everything’s gone a bit crazy in California as a court has decided that the recall election for Governor should be delayed because the automatic ballot counting machines in nine counties aren’t up to the job. It was pretty funny watching TV yesterday because none of the candidates were expecting this latest twist and the first most learned of it was from journalists during press conferences. Quite a few of the usually smoother than smooth Californian politicians were caught off guard and didn’t know quite what to say.
More on the story from the San Francisco Chronicle here.
I’m in Silicon Valley this
I’m in Silicon Valley this weekend for a conference being held at Stanford University. Haven’t seen much so far, but have to admit it’s not quite how I expected. Palo Alto is actually very pretty and incredibly green and lush rather than solely being made up of anonymous sheds. My perceptions are probably being helped along by the weather being stunning at the moment — 30 degrees C and clear blue skies. My most Bay Area experience so far has been seeing my first Segway in action. Strange.
Pat Kane draws attention to
Pat Kane draws attention to the latest IBM advertising campaign in his weekly email. Big Blue is going open in a big way with it’s 90 second explanation of open source that includes Professor Henry Gates and Muhammad Ali. The ad features a little boy (named Linux) who absorbs the collective wisdom of all these great people. You can watch the clip here.
Went to see the wonderful
Went to see the wonderful Belleville Rendez-vous last night. The closest I can get to describing it is to invite you to imagine what happens when you take a healthy dose of surrealism and mix it in with a cocktail of Wallace and Gromit style character observation and League of Gentlemen darkest, darkest comedy. Take a look here.