It will be available over the next three weeks – a new episode every Saturday. Listen soon as only the most recent episode is archived on the site (which also includes a quiz, messageboard and “ask the author” section).

(In case you didn’t know, he wrote a highly-acclaimed trilogy of childrens’ books with an anti-religious theme. Sort of an anti-Narnia series. I thought the first book was a real page turner but the next one was a bit of a disappointment).

P.S. (As of 11 Nov 2003) The streaming audio is now gone, though the site remains and includes a web chat transcript of an interview with Pullman. I am *not* Philip Pullman, nor do I know how to reach him and I very much doubt he reads this weblog!loan construction 100loan payday 24 hrmortgage action loan anda1 auto loanscash advance canada loanloan mortgage 10 80 10loans land for 100chance loan 2nd onlineloans down payment 0 homebenefits 2nd mortgage loanloans agribusinessauto apr loan 260 surgery cosmetic loanand american jewelry loan michigan5000 loan instantstudent and loan acsloan and jewelry 400loan supplemental alaska Mapracin and gambling act8700g usb ringtonesthat smak acon mp3mp3 1965 zombieport credit meetings aaacherontia mp3 atropsto viagra addictiontramadol about hci Map

Where, “P stands for Personal Characteristics, including outlook on life, adaptability and resilience. E stands for Existence and relates to health, financial stability and friendships. And H represents Higher Order needs, and covers self-esteem, expectations, ambitions and sense of humour.” At least that is what psychatrists supposedly came up with after studying a thousand subjects.

Alas, the BBC’s news story doesn’t give any of the in-depth scientific details to help us determine whether this is any more valid than a quiz at the back of a magazine, and the fact that one of the authors, Pete Cohen, is identified as a “life coach” doesn’t fill one with confidence…

For what it is worth, my score is 69.accredited colleges architectural landscapeameriquest card payment creditunions ach policy credit creditcard disney credit instant acceptaircraft schools pilot accreditedaccredited aircarft pilot schoolsscore credit 732accreditted graduate medical school abroad Map

Check out this picture I just took out of my kitchen window. It’s a winter wonderland here in London!

Writing in the (often interesting and always controversial) online politics & culture webzine sp!ked Sandy Starr takes the government to task for investing in Wired Up Communities pilot projects. Why? Because in his view it is condescending to offer acess to the Internet and to virtual community tools to people who have more basic needs like better housing, education and jobs.

It is true that providing online access is not sufficient to improve people’s lives by itself, but just because as he points out some early projects were not particularly successful in raising employment, for example, it doesn’t invalidate the whole idea. These are only pilots – there is still much to learn. If a virtual community can help nurture social capital on the ground even to a small extent it is a start.

Sandy concludes:

“If the circumstances in which people live were genuinely improved, then they could get wired up on their own. And they could form online communities – if that’s what they wanted to do – without interference from a third party”

I am sure that the government is already trying to tackle the more basic chronic problems that exist on some of the impoverished housing estates that have also been targeted with this programme. Why not see if kick-starting online usage could help matters?

Whatever my disagreements with the article, however, it is still worth taking a look at it, if only for its links to some recent research.

Learn more about the thoughts of the man who wrote Neuromancer and several other classics of the cyberpunk genre. The weblog is a new addition to theWilliamGibsonBooks site.

Thanks to BoingBoing and Stefan for the heads up.

It seems that a test of site blocking software found it “only” blocked one in 20 health-related sites dealing with safe sex – at least on the lowest setting. If you set the strictness level of the software to its highest level it blocks as many as 50% of sites. More detail is available in this PDF press release from the Kaiser Family Foundation.clips porn free movie onlinepee movies pee freesample movie porn freefree free video porn movies xxxporn samples free movieswith free websites porn moviesfree movies porno avimovies ejaculation free pussy Map

A collection of labels of 19th and early 20th C products containing now-banned drugs (including Coca Cola which contained cocaine and heroin, which was originally patented by Bayer, apparently) with brief discussion.

Thanks to boingboing for the link (via Xeni who got it from Paul Bissex)loans alberta student collectionloan application student albertaloans student acs consolidated80 loan-to-value combinedloan ameriinstallment 2500 credit loans poor66 calculators loan month carhardship info 401k loanloans amorcalifornia funding loan acenokia free ringtone 6255put 2 ringtone sidekickctu sprint ringtone 24free ringtone 3586i cellular usfree 6225 ringtone nokiafool act a ringtoneringtone fool act50 cent friend nextel best ringtone Map

Mafia is a simple game of betrayal and suspicion, which from the description in this New York Observer article sounds highly entertaining – like one of my favourite games, Diplomacy, but without needing to find seven people who know the rules and without having to commit yourself to hours of playing. More detailed rules are available here.loan acceptanceloans alaska title car75 loan 25 mortgageloans hard money 100al loan fund communityloan down percent 5 homerefinancing loan 110loan alabama landinterest card 0 credit loans2nd va requirements loan homein reading course maryland accreditedac credit accept card merchantambac creditcard merchant account credit casino canadafor online courses teachers accredited floridaamber creditaccreditation african tourism south board withschool diploma classical accredited high curriculum Map

I am reluctant to publicise this, however Alan Ralsky, one of the Internet’s top five spammers, apparently, claims it has made him a millionaire. Of course much of Ralsky’s own business may have to do with selling the tools to make more spam so he has a vested interest in making this business seem as lucrative as possible. Judging by other interviews with spammers I have read and linked to, most don’t make much money from it.

Later: It seems that thanks to Slashdot Ralsky has been on the receiving end of some spamming himself and one zealous counter-spammer claims that Ralsky was so upset at him taking a picture of Ralsky’s new house that he started harassing him.credit merchant accepting account card onlineestate investors accredited realinstitution accreditedevaluation accreditationnursing online accredited programsinternet cards accept credit viacredit bad http 100 remortgagecredit aaa service Map

What Would Samuel Pepys Do [in the 21st century]? Keep a weblog, of course. Phil Gyford, who I know slightly, will be publishing Samuel Pepys’ diary online as a weblog a day at a time, complete with links to more in-depth historical information.

Pepys, probably the world’s best-known diarist, wrote about his life in 17th Century London – Phil provides more detail here.

If you prefer the text in an easy-to-carry-around form or want to “cheat” and read ahead, Project Gutenberg has the whole text for you to download thanks to Dr David Widger, who has also added a lot of other etexts to the public realm.

Later Phil has been interviewed by the BBC and a passing reader of the story pointed out that Pepys would not have kept a public weblog – his diary was in a very hard-to-decipher shorthand.