Catnip

Featured profile

catnip — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:21:47 +0000

Actually I think they’re displayed randomly, still quite cool to see though. Thanks to @ShivHarrison for spotting me and taking a screenshot.

Here’s a little game for you all: can you find my profile under Plinthers? I’ll give you a clue, I’m in week 5.

I have a place on the Fourth Plinth!

catnip — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:32:04 +0000

I’m chuffed that my name has been drawn for a place on The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square on 4th August from 6-7am. More info at oneandother.co.uk.

But what the blinking heck should I do with my hour? I’m not sure I really have one burning issue I want to support/promote, but there are many great things happening in Brum that I wouldn’t mind giving a helping hand to, including Rhubarb Radio, Birmingham Bloggers, BARG, Birmingham Hackspace, West by West Midlands, Social Media Surgeries, We Share Stuff…

So I’m thinking vaguely along the lines of promoting Brum and digital inclusion. I’m pretty sure I first heard about the event via Twitter (@brendadada if I remember correctly) and in fact I’ve not really noticed it covered by any other media, so I probably wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t for Twitter.

I’m thinking about live tweeting using a hashtag, say #catnipplinth or even a separate Twitter account. It’s a great way to share my experience with my Twitter friends. I could possibly rig up a laptop to display tweets at the bottom of the plinth (Jon would have to be on guard!), hopefully there would be enough battery to last an hour.

So, what do you clever people think? Is my idea too vague? Can you think a better way of doing it or any other ideas?

I need to let them know what I’m planning on doing when I accept the invitation, which I only have 2 more days left to do, so if you have any ideas, let me know asap.

Thanks :)

Update: I have now confirmed my place, but keep the ideas coming as nothing is set in stone!

Google Reader help please

catnip — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:09:50 +0000

Good grief, a ‘proper’ blog post, my first in about 6 months! What on earth could have driven me to this? Well, I need your help.

I have a simple question, which I’m sure has a simple answer, but I can’t for the life of my work it out. After a couple of pleas on Twitter to no avail, I thought I’d blog about it. My question is this:

How do I search for a starred item with a certain tag in Google Reader?

It seems I can search for one or the other using the All Items dropdown next to the search box, but how do I search for both? For example, starred items tagged ‘music’. There’s prob some simple syntax I’m not aware of, so if anyone can help me out here, I’ll be chuffed to bits.

Cheers m’dears :)

In pictures: Michael Bosanko's light graffiti | Art and design | guardian.co.uk

catnip — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:21:53 +0000

These pics of 'light graffiti' are gorgeous. Worth a click, I promise :) [link]

Ghost rooms that hang from the sides of buildings – Boing Boing

catnip — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:02:28 +0000

I love it when interior walls, and in particular decor and doors on upper floors, are exposed because of demolition. [link]

Inside Google Book Search: 1.5 million books in your pocket

catnip — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:07:40 +0000

Free ebooks for iPhone :) [link]

Cornify – Unicorns & Rainbows On-Demand

catnip — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:00:09 +0000

This is so genius (adds glittery unicorn pics to web pages that are too sad or sirius) that I'll even forgive the use of comic sans ;) [link]

Vote for Created in Birmingham to beat Daily Mail blogger!

catnip — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Please vote for Created in Birmingham to win the Best UK Blog award, we're currently in 2nd place behind a Daily Mail blogger :( [link]

Largehearted Boy: 2008 Year-End Online Music Lists

catnip — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:05:07 +0000

Mega list of all the end of year best music lists. If you *really* don't want to miss anything!

Ta, Chris Unitt [link]

Should I retire from the Twitter police?

catnip — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:42:48 +0000

A number of times on Twitter I have corrected someone’s grammar or warned them that announcing defriendings makes them *sound* self-important. In fact, my Twitter profile currently states “I am the Twitter show-off police, if you use it to show off, you’re likely to get a sarky comment from me :)”

I see this as a service, but how would I feel, perhaps it feels more like a personal attack? Would people rather I just muttered to myself instead? Should I retire from the “Twitter Police”? I’d love to hear what others think of this!