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You've arrived at the homepage of Stephen Stewart. The archive is available here for those who want it. This site is happily hosted by Dreamhost. Click for more?

More!? OK then, but I can't help feeling that this will be a disappointment to you.
I work as a web designer in Belfast, and I live by the sea in a shoe. You can see me here, doing my livejournal pose as idoru called it. If you need to you can email me at carisenda -at- gmail -dot- com.

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Stephen Stewart
Donaghadee , County Down Northern Ireland

Recent Comments

links to other people's sites


Recommended Viewing

  • 300rating†
    Does exactly what it says on the (comic book) tin. Loved it.
  • Little Miss Sunshinerating†
    Very funny, disturbing (the beauty pageant) and completely messed up -- but in a good way.
  • Laputa: Castle in the Skyrating†
    Story great, characterization a little on the weak side -- though the big robots are cool.
  • Porco Rossorating†
    Stylish, funny, exciting.
  • Grave of the Firefliesrating†
    Very sad, which was a little unexpected since I didn't know much about it before watching it. Can be a little too slow in places though, otherwise it's very good.
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Windrating†
    The story can get a little dense at times what with the various factions, but still really enjoyable, inventive and engaging.
  • X-Men: The Last Standrating†
    Opportunity, talent, money - all blown. Over 3 films X-Men has hinted of something great that could have been, this last one says "No, sorry - not going to happen". Bah.

flickr.com

Official: IRA has bad taste in movies

This snippet is from the end of an Empire interview with Bruce Willis:

bruce willis panel, Emmpire

According to Empire magazine, the Northern Ireland bank job was based on the movie Bandits, at least the part where they take over the manger’s house beforehand. What is it with the IRA and bad movies?

Also in Empire this month, Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke. Hubba. Hubba.

0 CommentsFebruary 25, 2005

Etymology of "Foo"†
First on the standard list of metasyntactic variables used in syntax examples (bar, baz, qux, quux, corge, grault, garply, waldo, fred, plugh, xyzzy, thud).

Rails 0.10.0 Released with Routing†
Rails 1.0 is April-ish.

Ulster Grand Prix Pins

I found these in a drawer while looking for some batteries. I think I was at some of these meetings, it’s a little hard to remember though, I definately went to a few races with my dad and uncle at Kirkistown, Dundrod and the NW.

ulster grand prix pins

I met Joey Dunlop at the Ulster Grand Prix once, in the marquee thing after the race, or before, or during. Who am I kidding, I can’t even remember people I went to school with never mind things that happened before that.

0 CommentsFebruary 24, 2005

Mighty Goods - a site filled with exactly the right things†
Including $160 per roll wallpaper, just the thing for the music room, what?

iTunes Music Store RSS Generator†
See also the iTunes Music Store Link Maker

Why Your Camera Does Not Matter†

Skidoo!

Skidoo, the dude with the velvet coat and an eye for fnords, has released some tunes. Visit Skidoo Vibes here.

The web site was designed by Jonny Blair, who if you have a design problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire the Blair-Team.

10 CommentsFebruary 23, 2005

Jason Kottke Quits Job do Kottke.org Full Time†
All the best Jason. A brave decision, my hat is off.

How to destroy the Earth†

A Contribution to the Mathematical Theory of Big Game Hunting†
via Wesley (a long time ago), the Pizza Chef in Speranza's

What is the purpose of a cat as a pet?†

A quick question

Does anyone else notice that when you write with someone else’s pen your writing style begins to look like the pen owner’s handwriting?

1 CommentsFebruary 21, 2005

XMLHttpRequest Introduction†

Gallery of Computation†

5 Simple Steps to a Quieter PC†

Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids†
Includes How to Build your own Rail Gun.

The Game†

Valid XHTML Links in MovableType

If like me you have link entries, entries built using the MTEntryExcerpt field as an HREF field like so:

<a href=”<$MTEntryExcerpt$>”><$MTEntryTitle$></a>

Then remember to use the encode_xml tag attribute so any link you post will be converted to valid XML, comme ça:

<a href=”<$MTEntryExcerpt encode_xml=”1”$>”><$MTEntryTitle$></a>

Simple I know, but there it is. MT also has attributes for encoding to HTML, JavaScript and PHP as well as a general purpose sprintf-formatter.

0 CommentsFebruary 19, 2005

Designers Toolbox (Print and Online)†

Virtual Stan†

Very nice lighting tutorial†

Favourite place to be in Norn Iron

In the spirit of Fridays everywhere I would like to start a meme, a Northern Ireland meme.

The deal is this, post a photo of a place your favourite place to be in this part of the Emerald Isle, it can be anywhere but the county you live in (or lived in, since if I exclude Stray Toaster I exclude a third of my active audience).

castlerock

My favourite place to be is Castlerock Beach in the summer, it holds almost magical qualities for me, on a clear day you can see Islay and the Paps of Jura, but the sunset over Inishowen beats all.

2 CommentsFebruary 18, 2005

Rails Application walk throughs†

I found photos of yer woman off the TV on Flickr†
I also see her sister at the leisure centre sometimes. I have become a minor local celebrity stalker. These are dark days my friend, dark days.

Forza vs. GT4 - the ultimate driving sims head to head†

Typographica - Favorite Fonts of 2004†

grave apostrophe acute

` is a grave or grave accent, it’s used as a diacritic to guide pronouciation of the vowel it sits on, it’s also used to break the pronouciation of words like loved into love`ed for poetic reasons mostly, my belov`ed (or perhaps to sound like you are from Dorset).

’ is prime, an apostrophe, the superscript sign used to indicate that a letter has been omitt’d or, in grammer to show the possesive in a noun or pronoun (the cat’s meow). Plurals too use the ’ in cases of lowercase letters (p’s & q’s), but not symbols, numbers or capitalized letters.

´ is the acute accent and to be found above a vowel, used to indicate pronouciation.

0 CommentsFebruary 17, 2005

The Official Sin City Movie Site†
Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy.

The problem with abstinence only sex education†

Three float period - slimy banking practices†
"...the [credit card] company takes in money all weekend, doesn't give credit to its customers for that money until Monday, and pays out nothing at all during that period..."

Apparently it is self portrait wednesday

In the time honoured tradition of not doing much original on a weblog but echoing someone else’s idea:

self portrait

Dooce, is there a better weblog?

0 CommentsFebruary 16, 2005

Beta versions of Internet Explorer 7 will be available this summer†

Latest Sin City Cast Photos†

Watchmen - The official movie website goes live†

Loving The Rituals

Loving the rituals that keep men close,
Nature created means for friends apart:

pen, paper, ink, the alphabet,
signs for the distant and disconsolate heart.

Palladas (4th century AD)
translated by Tony Harrison

0 CommentsFebruary 15, 2005

Roses Are Red

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
All my base
Are belong to you.

4 CommentsFebruary 14, 2005

Photos of Madrid skyscraper burning and disintegrating†

Thierry Henry is all class†

Fifteens

Fifteens appear to be a Northern Ireland thing, the rest of the world should be educated. To wit:

15 McVities Digestive Bisuits
15 Marshmallows
15 Red Glaze Cherries
1 small tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 good handful of desiccated coconut

  1. Crush the biscuits into a large bowl, add mallow and cherries, mix.
  2. Now pour the condensed milk into the mix, stir it up until it gets into a sticky lump.
  3. Tip it all out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and mould it into a log shape, roll the whole log thing in the coconut.
  4. Wrap the beast up and refridgerate for a day, when it’s set you slice it up as you see fit (monster slices for the men, teeny-weeny arty slices for the women).
  5. Eat.


11 CommentsFebruary 13, 2005

Beautiful kaleidoscope and mandala art on Flickr†
This one is my favourite

Lauren Bowden

For those of you coming here searching for “Lauren Bowden” I have two things to say, 1) Thank-you, until those search queries started appearing I had no idea she even existed and 2) Here you go:

lauren bowden

For those of you coming here looking for pictures of ‘Foxy Harmony’, you’ll find company for your bad taste here.


If you need a webhost I recommend DREAMHOST

8 CommentsFebruary 11, 2005

The BBC's Obituary for Arthur Miller, who died today aged 89†
Also the Wikipedia entry for Arthur Miller

Video of Dooce on ABC News about getting fired (3 years ago)†
And the here is the article on ABC News website

Golf GTI Advert - Singing in the Rain†
And Kottke's post on the same including a brief interview with the dancer.

Blogs vs. Mags by Steven Heller in AIGA Journal of Design†

Answers.com word definition lookup

Google recently changed the search definition link from dictionary.com to answers.com (it’s the little link on the top right marked ‘definition’), this has turned out ot be a good thing because answers gives you much more of an answer.
If you use the Firefox Dictionary Search Extension you can easily add this to your contect menu, just click on options and add this into the URL field:

http://www.answers.com/$

(For the Text field add somethign like: Answers.com Search for “$”)
If you also want a Wikipedia Search you add:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=$ in the next available URL field.

0 CommentsFebruary 10, 2005

The Fire of Driftwood

We sat within the farm-house old,
Whose windows, looking o’er the bay,
Gave to the sea-breeze damp and cold,
An easy entrance, night and day.

Not far away we saw the port,
The strange, old-fashioned, silent town,
The lighthouse, the dismantled fort,
The wooden houses, quaint and brown.

We sat and talked until the night,
Descending, filled the little room;
Our faces faded from the sight,
Our voices only broke the gloom.

We spake of many a vanished scene,
Of what we once had thought and said,
Of what had been, and might have been,
And who was changed, and who was dead;

And all that fills the hearts of friends,
When first they feel, with secret pain,
Their lives thenceforth have separate ends,
And never can be one again;

The first slight swerving of the heart,
That words are powerless to express,
And leave it still unsaid in part,
Or say it in too great excess.

The very tones in which we spake
Had something strange, I could but mark;
The leaves of memory seemed to make
A mournful rustling in the dark.

Oft died the words upon our lips,
As suddenly, from out the fire
Built of the wreck of stranded ships,
The flames would leap and then expire.

And, as their splendor flashed and failed,
We thought of wrecks upon the main,
Of ships dismasted, that were hailed
And sent no answer back again.

The windows, rattling in their frames,
The ocean, roaring up the beach,
The gusty blast, the bickering flames,
All mingled vaguely in our speech;

Until they made themselves a part
Of fancies floating through the brain,
The long-lost ventures of the heart,
That send no answers back again.

O flames that glowed! O hearts that yearned!
They were indeed too much akin,
The drift-wood fire without that burned,
The thoughts that burned and glowed within.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1 CommentsFebruary 10, 2005

Flickr Graph is an application that explores the social relationships inside Flickr†
And here's my Flickr graph

Recent Posts Ticker

If you want to do something like the BBC News ‘latest news’ ticker, here’s one way how:
1) Use this piece of JavaScript from Professional JavaScript (2nd Edition).

2) Use Arithmetic, a Movable Type plugin by Theodore Chen, to build the array in the above JavaScript. Comme ça:


var theItemCount = 5; // don’t forget to set this the same value as lastn in MTEntries
<MTSetVar2 name=”foo” value=”-1”>
<MTEntries lastn=”5” category=”main”>
<MTAddVar name=”foo” value=”1”>
theSummaries[<MTGetVar2 name=”foo”>] = “<$MTEntryTitle encode_js=”1”$>”;
theSiteLinks[<MTGetVar2 name=”foo”>] = “<$MTEntryPermalink$>”;
</MTEntries>

Here it is tickering the last 5 entries on this weblog, and here’s the template itself. If you wanted to include entries from more than one weblog on the system you’d use something like the MultiBlog plugin.

2 CommentsFebruary 9, 2005

MTImageInfo Plugin†
MTImageInfo plugin reads this EXIF data from images on your server and allows you to display it next to the images in your MT weblog.

Arithmetic†
"Arithmetic" is a Movable Type plugin that provides simple arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

Remove Unruly Applications and Uninstall Entries (Win XP)†

The rise of lighttpd as the alternative web server†

Intelligent Design

The New York Times has a op-ed piece on Intelligent Design from Michael J. Behe, a professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University. A couple of quotes if you can’t be assed reading it:

“…the theory of intelligent design is not a religiously based idea… Intelligent design proponents do question whether random mutation and natural selection completely explain the deep structure of life. But they do not doubt that evolution occurred.”

And:

“The strong appearance of design allows a disarmingly simple argument: if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, then, absent compelling evidence to the contrary, we have warrant to conclude it’s a duck. Design should not be overlooked simply because it’s so obvious”

For me symmetry, from the proportions of a flower to the proportions of our own bodies, has always been a stumbling block in accepting true randomness as a source of the world today.

I found another article by Prof. Behe on the Kansas Board of Education’s decision to abolish the requirement for teaching evolution, ‘Teach Evolution and Ask Hard Questions’. I couldn’t agree more.

1 CommentsFebruary 9, 2005

Organic HTML†
I have no idea what this is actually doing, but it appears to grows some very ugly plants from a url

Magical Trevor is back†
And he's 10 times as slick as the last time!

Sony Pays Gawker $25,000 a month for Gadget Blog

Sony are reportedly paying LifeHacker, a Gawker Media weblog, $25000 a month to be the exclusive sponsor.

Slugger O’Toole is probably the only such site in this part of the world to try and be comercially successful, I have no handle on how that’s working out but I can think of a few reasons why it might not be. The subject matter, conflict in Northern Ireland, doesn’t really have any commercial aspect (unless you happen to be a paramilitary) and the quality of the discussion is hardly worth paying for or paying to be associated with. I’m happy to be proved wrong though.
If Slugger moved up the food chain and became the Gawker Media of Irish Politics it might be more successful, becoming a content wrangler for Politicians, political writers and so on, and publishing in a more controlled environment online rather than aggregating what’s already out there for people to mindlessly play out there own personal bigotrys discuss, there might be more financial reward.

Gawker Media isn’t doing anything that technically difficult, they’re just doing the important part, content, well and injecting a bit of passion and originality into their work and it appears to be paying off.

(LifeHacker news via Anil Dash and the MT mailing list.)

2 CommentsFebruary 5, 2005

A list of Northern Ireland ex-pat weblogs

Another list. Those weblog types who were born in Northern Ireland but have since fled the oppression and barbarity.

1 CommentsFebruary 5, 2005

The 6 Nations begins today!†
My prediction is Ireland. Or France. France if they play, Ireland otherwise. Wales? Hmm...

A list of Northern Ireland weblogs

I would like to compile a list of people who have weblogs, or home-pages-which-they-update-regularly, in Northern Ireland. The criteria for this list is a) that you must live in Northern Ireland, no ex-pats for this list, sorry, and b) it must be a personal site, in the style of a traditional weblog.

The reason for this list is Island Dave and myself are recategorising the Irish industries on Blogshares (resolving them down to 2 instead of 3), and it was easier to start with the the Northern Ireland Industry and work back from there.

I will start this list a few sites which are new to me:

And now the one’s I already knew of (this list was compiled by Stray Toaster):

And here I’ll add those you suggest to me in the comments, ones I find later, the one’s I have missed:

(For reference compare this list with one from July 2002.)

3 CommentsFebruary 4, 2005

Obituary: Max Schmeling†
This is a great story

One reason why I'd never want to live in New York, or any big city, for long†

Someone drove their car into the sea in Donaghadee today†
Chatter on the sea front was that the person had been last seen reading Slugger O'Troll

Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene 3

Stray Toaster and Journalesque are still at it. My role here is to see no more innocent blood is shed, but as neither of them are innocent…

This letter doth make good the friar’s words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death:
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor ‘pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.—
Where be these enemies?—Capulet,—Montague,—
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen:—all are punish’d.

7 CommentsFebruary 4, 2005

Man asks girlfriend to marry him on Question Time†

mod_security rule generator†

An introduction to mod_security†

Publishing photos of the Eiffel Tower taken at night without permission is no longer legal†
Oh deary me.

Caution! Weblog merging from the right

I've merged the other weblog I was maintaining into this one, it didn't make sense to run two. When I get the archives sorted out you'll be able to easily find older posts and such. Sorry it's a bit slip-shod, I promise to improve. :)

Incidently you merge one weblog into another by exporting the defunct weblog, and importing it into the surviving weblog. It's very easy and well documented in the MT docs.

The archive naming convention on the two weblogs is different otherwise it would have been pretty easy to redirect from there to here using mod_rewrite. As it is I'll have to find another solution.

0 CommentsFebruary 3, 2005

Gmail Invites

Gmail must be ramping up it's rollout as I seem to have been allocated 50 invites, so if anyone wants an invite feel free to leave a comment or email me although I think most people I know already have gmail.

0 CommentsFebruary 3, 2005

Flip The Switch - The Chemical Brothers Remix Album†
The album is free to download, but they request that you donate to the nominated charities. Cool.

Sir Samuel Kelly

53 years ago yesterday the Princess Victoria went down off the coast near Donaghadee with a loss of 133 lives, only 44 men survived and no women or children. All the ship's officers including the Captain, James Ferguson, also perished. It was the worst 20th century peacetime disaster in British waters.

The Donaghadee lifeboat (along with the Portpatrick and Cloughy lifeboats) went out into the raging seas of the great storm and under coxswain Hugh Nelson the crew of the Sir Samuel Kelly rescued 33 of the 44 survivors in seas with waves reported to be 50 to 60 feet high.

Today the Sir Samuel Kelly sits at Copeland's Marina in Donaghadee behind an inpromtu builders fence, but there are moves afoot to see her properly displayed in the town according to the BBC.

Your Place & Mine have a good site on the Sir Samuel Kelly which is kept up to date with recent developments. All in all it looks good for the old lifeboat with a spot put aside on Shore Street beside the Cenotaph, from there she'll have the harbour directly behind to the east and the Copeland Islands to the west.

0 CommentsFebruary 1, 2005


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