Citizensheep. "Michael Grimes lives in Birmingham (UK). This is his blog about anything that he fancies."

I really like Audioboo, but have struggled to understand why. Yesterday it finally dawned on me that it allows me to satisfy the need to perform without requiring an audience to perform to. I’ve always wanted to read The King’s Breakfast out loud to someone. I tried it with my nieces the other week, but [...]

Well, the pilot digital engagement discussions are over. Should we do more? I only organised three and still haven’t managed to blog about two of them yet. Still, they were good: Simon Whitehouse talked about ‘Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey‘ and Ordnance Survey OpenData, I looked at the Hansard Society’s recent report [...]

On the train this morning I had with me my laptop, iPhone, Flip video camera and Zoom audio recorder. But my brain wanted pen and paper: why? It wasn’t that I couldn’t use what I had, but that in order to get my thoughts out of my head relatively intact my brain needed another conduit. The thing [...]

At primary school we were told a moral story that seemed to me so ridiculous that I still remember it almost thirty years later. I couldn’t believe that anyone could be quite so stupid and quite so demanding as the story’s protagonist. Last night I was talking to Paula Tew about how shifting demands placed [...]

We’re seeing a lot of it lately, in the run-up to a General Election: one party does something bad, the other party jumps on it; then it happens again, but the other way round. But does this bickering do them any good? I for one am put off voting at all, let alone for the [...]

I didn’t make resolutions this New Year because I knew I’d not keep to them, then feel bad about it and give up. One that I didn’t make was to blog more; as I didn’t make it I can’t feel bad about it, so I’m not giving up: I’m starting it now. My lack of [...]

When I went to the doctor a few years ago complaining of tinnitus I was told there was nothing he could do, so I didn’t bother him with it again. In fact there’s no point complaining to anyone: as no-one else can hear it they can’t possibly empathise. So I’ve attempted to re-create mine as [...]

Dogs Dog’s breakfast Dog’s dinner Dog’s life Dog days Dog tired Dog-gone Dog’s b@ll@**s Doggy style Cats Cat’s whiskers There must be more than that for cats. Help me redress the balance.

What happens when paid-for news content online becomes sustainable and influential, but a significant chunk of people who are currently engaged and informed get news from other sources? (This is a very under-developed thought; I’m only putting it here because it’s too long for Twitter.) I never buy the Financial Times, but I used to [...]

Yesterday my iPhone stumbled upon a wireless network with a very vulgar name. It made me think: if someone found that offensive, could the owner be charged with public indecency? It’s a curious (albeit pretty boring) question: because the network owner would, I suspect, presume that their wifi name is confined to the privacy of [...]