Ministry of Propaganda - 11/Apr/2004: "Sunday reading"

[Previous entry: "Bank Holiday update"] [Home] [Next entry: "Still here"]

Sunday reading

Today was a mostly grey day (apart from late morning, when I went jogging and managed to catch a little bit of sun), a good day for some reading. Here are a few things I found interesting today, it's a variety of links, I hope you find something interesting for you as well:

If you need IT help, only ask one person instead of copying multiple people for a quick response. Kind of makes sense to me: If a lot of busy people are copied on a mail asking for help most of them will think, "don't have time now, someone else will take care of it or I'll do it later".
Celtic reach Scottish Cup final. Unfortunately with injury worries about Chris Sutton. Related an interesting report about Celtic's youth program. If they produce a few more players like David Marshall and John Kennedy Celtic's future looks bright.
Interesting read about crisis and emergency plans/preparation and how to tackle panic in a crisis.
Remember the famous "Labour isn't working" ad? I wasn't in the UK then, but I know the ad nevertheless. It looks like now the Tory advertising isn't working and they have run out of ideas. And they claim to be a party with new ideas?
Gary "Walkers Crisp" Lineker is the ideal father. And Marge from The Simpsons is his wife. Says a poll, must be true.
Is it possible to escape the Beckham affair at the moment? I couldn't. And I don't think they brought this on to themselves, I even have my doubts that most if anything of it really took place. Anyway, a few interesting related articles: Ron Ferguson writes about Kicking our icons when they’re down in The Herald, thoughts about how society builds up idols to knock them down (also one of the funniest puns I've read for a while: "...and golden bollocks himself, Ally McCoist – the poor Scot's David Beckham"). The Sunday Herald has an interesting review of the Beckham brand and how it might (or might not) be tarnished by the affair. Also a few thoughts how Victoria Beckham made him into what he is today instead of just another footballer, something she hardly ever receives any credit for.
The Observer writes about viral advertising on the web without enraging "Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells". Unless you're from Tunbridge Wells you can see the ad here.

I also finished reading Christopher Brookmyre's "Be my enemy" this morning. It was a good read, but probably one of his weaker books, in particular in the Jack Parlabane series. Parlabane is invited to attend a promotional run for an exclusive executive team building event. Soon after strange events begin and the first dead bodies appear. A few interesting conspiracy theories are woven in as well as a few good puns. But that's about it. A good read, but not outstanding. Say, 3 out of 5 points.

While I'm on the topic of recent reads, a week or so ago I finished Kevin D Mitnick - The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security. An interesting and quite scary read about social engineering and possibilities to protect against it. The only problem I had with it that I felt it to be repetitive in a way. Most of the examples were very similar, making me think didn't I just read that? I think a few more varied examples and a bit of research/ examples from non-US countries would have been beneficial. Nevertheless I would recommend it to everyone interested in the topic of security and social engineering. OK, 4 out of 5 seems about right.

End of entry

Entry trivia

When writing this entry the weather was: Cloudy, dry so far though
When writing this entry I was listening to: The Housemartins - Now That's What I Call Quite Good
I'm currently reading/have just finished reading this book/publication: Christopher Brookmyre's - Be my enemy
I recently visited this website/-page: dekaf - deutsch kalifornische freundschaft
The last drink I had was/is: Tea (Earl Grey)

Dodgy picture of the moment:

I might have had this before, but it just fits so nicely to today's topic...

End of entry trivia

Spread the word:

Do you like this weblog? Do you think others might be interested in it? Then please tell a friend! Thank you.

Send me feedback about this entry:

The form below will send me an e-mail. To discuss in public, please use my discussion forum.