To clap, or not to clap -- that is the question

Time to show our appreciation for classical music, by Alex Ross: guardian

Reading matters

Want to read this article? Then enter your password, by Charlie Brooker: guardian

Reading mattters

If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache? By Alex Renton: guardian

Reading matters

Pretty crime: French gangster movies, by Joe Queenan: guardian

Reading matters

Same study, different results . . . take your pick:

Prostate cancer screening could cut deaths by 20% (18 March 2009): Guardian

Prostate Test Found to Save Few Lives (19 March 2009): NYT

Reading matters

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, by Avi Shlaim: guardian

This brutality will never break our will to be free, by Khalid Mish'al: guardian

Elsewhere . . . Al Jazeera English: Live Video Stream

Reading matters

The phenomenon of the Christmas bestseller, by Stuart Jeffries: Guardian

Weather report

Under the weather, again.


Still, Blair is going, so that's an improvement.



What else? The Guardian on-line revamps its front page. Now, the front page is cluttered, unfocused, all over the place.

In short: a dog's dinner.

The irony is that a week or so ago, the Guardian won best newspaper in the Webby Awards (for its previous layout).

Hong Kong: Earthquake -- on-line is mostly off-line

Websites hosted in Hong Kong are working, as is to be expected. Those include Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Observatory and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Also up and running is "do no evil" google.

And -- as you can see -- yours truly, Mister Bijou, whose blog is hosted by google on one of its (who-knows-where?) server farms.

But google is currently not much good for anything, except to look at. It is unscientific, I know, but Mister Bijou research shows that ninety-nine percent of all links are currently inaccessible via google search and google news.

Direct links? You want some examples? Well, the BBC website is very, very slow. The Guardian front page comes up, eventually. But click on anything on the Guardian's front page and nothing returns. New York Times? Forget it!

Is anyone out there in the outside world able to access Hong Kong websites? For instance, Hong Kong Observatory.

Ah, well, the international bankers, stock traders, accountants, manufacturers, money makers and other wallahs based in Hong Kong are now severely disabled and screaming to high heaven. Which means it should not take too long for data transmissions and normal service "to be resumed as soon as possible" . . . money talks.