The dylanharris.org works’ blog. Clock the checking in regulations here.
see nerd) log
closed
1 10 9
As part of this site‘s redesign, I‘ve created tannoy, my new blog. If you subscribe to this blog, please transfer your subscription. See, nerd) log is closed.
scan monster
31 7 9
My father, on the right, died in the early ‘60s, in his early ‘40s. He was an engineer who switched to management and did rather well.
Following WW2, he left the army to study engineering. In
anyone there
18 7 9
I write this blog confident no one reads it, pretty much. That’s not entirely true: Lilli once wanted to reply to a post.
But there’s no reason to subscribe; what do I say that’s worth a revisit?
old image
17 7 9
I’ve become unhappy with the photos here and on Wurm; there’s more posts than good photo content. So I’ve acquired a scanner to import my youthful output, a suitcase of slides and negatives.
interesting poetry
16 7 9
To me, an interesting poet is someone whose poetry creates effect. For example, when I first heard Sean Bonney recite packet switching poetry (to invent the wrong name), the jerky rhythm & the
hacked off with lulu
14 7 9
I’ve prepared a collection to set Wurm Press in motion. Having researched information online, we decided self-publishing using Lulu seemed the best option.
So I’ve spent quite some time preparing a
poetry, amateur, professional
13 7 9
A great advantage I have, when attending poetry conferences, is I am thoroughly amateur. Most around me will earn their living from literature. I, sitting at the bottom of the compost, have no
tesco
12 6 9
I know Tesco have the reputation of selling crap at high prices, on the grounds they do just that, but even they go over the top. They’ve just charged me €1.75 for a product that has €1 marked on
a season of small insanities
11 6 9
Some first collections were launched a while ago in Dublin. I don’t believe any should have been published; the poems were exercises, they were immature, the poets needed stewing for a decade to
brits elect racists
10 6 9
The core of BNP politics:
There are scary monsters under your bed;
When you look for them you can’t see them;
You can’t see black in the dark;
So those monsters must be black;
So throw blacks out
unforgivable
1 6 9
Music reviews too often ignore the wine to be drunk when listening. Having just returned from a tour of Scottish vineyards, I found myself asked to review Armin van Buuren and Jaren's EP
the gimp
31 5 9
I’ve had a deserved go at Microsoft’s Word in the past, and its open source imitators. Now it’s the turn of the Gimp, a paint program.
Let me start off my emphasising the positive. The Gimp is a
the irish taxman
15 5 9
Many years ago, the British taxman took three grand of redundancy money from me. They’d made a mistake, they took the money, they admitted they’d made a mistake. But it took them three years, yes,
busy busy buzz buzz
11 5 9
... moved across Dublin into a small (temporary?) flat ... kitties rehomed ... seen Star Trek reboot ... Wurm fest will happen (but not as we knew it) ... poetry collection en route ... and ...
the problem with recovery by export
14 4 9
Many countries plan to export out of recession. Unfortunately, this is a global recession. If most countries try to increase exports, and reduce imports, where do they export to? Countries not
the puritanical uk
12 4 9
The UK is not a relaxed society. I relaxed when I left, and after a while I realised it was because I wasn’t constantly being watched. I am not comfortable with the continuous surveillance, the
ego google boo
4 4 9
Type my name, unquoted, into Google. My site, my public face, is number one. It’s true for Yahoo and Live too. The algorithms are being nice today.
If I had a number one frequent name, I’d be
futurism
31 3 9
Italian futurism was a poetic movement closely associated with Italian nationalism and fascism, thriving from the early 1900s to the defeat of Italian fascism in 1944. It has been ignored in English
PN09
30 3 9
I was only able to attend a couple of performances at Poetry Now this year, due to my leaving bash and traditional side-effects.
But I am very very grateful for my introduction to some excellent
ruined reputation
29 3 9
I’ve always enjoyed different foods and drink, finding the good, condemning the bad, never quiet about it. This is personal taste, of course, different people like different things. I’m always
skiffy
22 3 9
I can’t decide whether contemporary skiffy (sci-fi, science fiction, whatever) is degrading, or whether I’ve got fussier.
I bought a batch of books (hoho) a few days ago, and have been struggling
time to punt the CV again
18 3 9
The C++ market (my software engineering niche) hasn’t declined as much as I’d been expecting. I’m getting occasional contacts from
more open office bugs
17 3 9
Whilst the semi-traditional St. Patrick’s day parade trundles half a mile down the road, I’m meeting more bugs in Open Office. How about this one: select quite a lot of text, hit delete, and it
the complement ‘pompous’
27 2 9
I’ve just been called pompous, again.
I was called pompous many times when younger, generally when talking, usually enthusiastically, about something that interested me, something about which I
dear eircom
23 2 9
I'm cancelling this account forthwith.
I'm struggling to get my music and my poetry heard out there, and you're now deliberately blocking general access to the most effective distribution channels.
another boring bossman battle
21 2 9
I’ve finally gone back to finish Half Life 2 Episode 2.
The first time I played it through, I got stuck at the big battle. It was so boring, I gave up. It was more and more of the same but slightly
bye bye flight simulator
7 2 9
Microsoft have got rid of their Flight Simulator developers. This is tantamount to announcing the end of the product. All that’s left is the last few months of marketing and selling. They can’t
french classes
6 2 9
I’ve been attending various languages classes, to improve my Foreign. Since autumn, I’ve been consolidating my French in a conversation class.
It turns out I can thoroughly prattle in French. Don’t
making software annoying
5 2 9
Here are some common features, with examples, to add to software to make it annoying.
Get something subtly wrong. Windows Explorer screws up file sorting. Here is Windows Explorer’s alphabetical
a political was
4 2 9
I’ve been snatched into facebook by some old friends, and I have to admit I’m very glad about it.
I used to be very active in the British Liberal party, particularly the Young Liberals. There’s a
A foreigner observes Dublin
1 2 9
These are some observations that stick in my mind about Dublin. They don’t make a whole.
Driving standards here can be very poor. Every week, newspapers report more slaughter of the innocents. The
collection reprise
8 1 9
Half the argument of my previous blog entry on a possible collection or seven concerned why I should keep the poetry free to sell the book. Today’s BBC In Business episode, “Buy none, get one free”,
coffee machine
4 1 9
Do my kitties come when I call them? No. Do my kitties come when I open a window? No. Do my kitties come when I make myself a cup of coffee? Yes! They don’t even like the stuff!
I use a clattering
an interesting realisation
3 1 9
An interesting realisation: a lot of the poetry of mine that I don’t like is because it captures an emotion that I don’t like, whether it's immature, or embarrassing, or shameful, or whatever. That
state of the canard address
31 12 8
Domestic press releases happen. This year, I got my revenge in first.
State of the Canard Address
- an annual press release from -
Dylan Harris
(ok, so there's no canard, but you get the drift)
I
collection?
27 12 8
I’ve decided, finally, to look at my poetry to see if I can throw a collection together, one that might interest a publisher.
There are complications, such as that this site will stay up, and the
Westvleteren
25 12 8
My Christmas treat has been in my fridge since February, complements of my last job. My boss presented me with three bottles of Westvleteren, often acknowledged as the best beer in the world. I'm
busy busy busy
13 12 8
I’ve a poetry recital coming up on Wednesday 17th at Wurm im Apfel. I have to prepare my set, including, for the first time, some seen, heard) poetry videocasts.
Domestic Incidental
10 11 8
My kitties came back from the vet slightly lighter on Tuesday. Were they human, they’d be candidates for the original Sistine Chapel choir, should schoolboy myths be true.
After the first evening,
Dress Codes
9 11 8
I went along to the Dublin munch last night, and it was thoroughly sociable if a wee bit underattended.
My only potential problem is that it’s deeply connected with a club event, and that club
Next
8 11 8
I’ve not found a place to belong. Ireland's as flawed as the UK for me; at least blighty has London's hurricane, all of an artform isn’t much the same.
I wanted France, when I was spotty. I think
Insecure Social
8 11 8
I need to develop some social life here, I think, to gain me a little bit of an anchor, to reduce the alien loneliness I feel towards this alien city. I’m going along to language classes, but whilst
Other companies I won’t use again
4 11 8
There are some other companies I will never use again.
MFI* are just incompetent. That they still survive, presuming they do, has to be because there aren’t enough IKEA stores around. I once
Companies I won’t use again: PC World
4 11 8
PC World, the near-monopoly UK computing superstore, have a policy of deliberately insulting customers who use certain banks. I use the Co-op in the UK. If I try and use my Co-op debit card at PC
Companies I won’t use again: Vodafone
4 11 8
I had a contract with Vodafone in the UK many years ago. I’d been paying it to standard terms, e.g. within 28 days of the bill being issued. I’d almost cancelled it, because I couldn’t afford it,
Europe: a chapbook
3 11 8
As part of my reading at Wurm im Apfel on December 17th, I’ve a chapbook coming out. I hope to offer copies for sale here. All the poems are on my site; I dislike artificial scarcity.
But there’s
Why are Word Processors crap?
2 11 8
Every few months, I get deeply annoyed with those software products that call themselves Word Processors. Not one of the damn things processes words. It’s so f***ing annoying. They just don’t seem
Wurm im Apfel
18 10 8
Myself and my fellow fenland refugee are organising small readings here in gloried Dublin. Actually, I’m hardly doing anything, but will bark in the shadow for cake.
We’ve chosen the name for
more french
16 10 8
I went along to some evening classes in French over summer, and found by the end of the four months I’d lost confidence in my ability to use what I was learning. That’s no good; a language is there
