September 2008 Archives

I am happy to recommend The Box. It's an excellent resource if you don't have a PVR and either want a copy of a show you've just seen (I've downloaded all of the latest season of Doctor Who this way), or you've missed a show because you were playing video games (e.g. tonight's Match of the Day).

It's not your usual BitTorrent site because a) it only does UK TV shows (so if you're a license payer, you don't have to worry about copyright - this was originally free to air, so it's free to distribute), and b) all torrent files are keyed to your username, and if you leech more than you seed, you'll get the boot. As there's kudos to be gained from having a good upload/download ratio, that means that people keep seeding - so tonight's Match of the Day was downloading at 500 K/second at one point.

I'd say more, but as I said, MOTD has just downloaded, and I'm off to watch it. Even though an unwise visit to the BBC News website told me the result of the Arsenal game. If for some reason the site is limiting sign-ups, I've got a hatful of invites.

Sarah Palin was interviewed by Katie Couric the other day. The results are not pretty. A sceptic in a particularly adversarial mood would argue that her response doesn't pass the Turing test.

Her comments on Alaska being close to Russia are even worse ("I have foreign policy experience because, if I took a boat trip to a remote island in my State, I could see a foreign country"), even before you realise that she is actually remarkably insular for an Alaskan governor.

With this in mind, consider the possibility that John McCain is dying and Sarah Palin is his price for being President, even briefly, and that Sarah Palin is explicitly embracing the Bush-Cheney mould.

Scared yet? Good. If you're a US citizen, go vote for the good guy.