cue evil empire music

Tim O'Reilly posts something about Web 2.0 just as some attack lawyers are C&D'ing a half-day free conference for the use of the term "Web 2.0". Predictably, a bunch of people jump on the comments page to tell us all how they're never buying another O'Reilly book, burning the ones they have, etc. The C&D is deplorable, but I think blaming Tim for it personally is a bit much, and I'm curious to see if he does comment, and what becomes of the C&D. There are interesting points such as the fact that the claimed service mark is still in the application stage, the application's jurisdiction (apparently) does not apply, the instigators are CMP rather than O'Reilly, etc. but it all boils down to the usual legal knee-jerking in the face of what I'd consider reasonable use.

I am amused

John Allison uses Irish: Scary-Go-Round strip for 26-05-2006. I like his definition of a céilídh: a disco with all threat of sex removed. There'll be dancin' at the crossroads in Tackleford!

colloquial names for roads

Apparently the multi-million-euro motorway that almost encircles Dublin is the "Around The Wicklow Mountains" road...

found non-sequitor

More stuff turned up while sorting through old junk: a post, whether from email, Usenet, or the BBS-a-like we used in college I don't know (nor does Google), but the opening and closing lines have been stuck in my head for ever. Reproduced exactly here as I found it, complete with formatting and typos.( 78-column weirdness follows )