OK, the Open API stuff for Multimap: it can't be handled by Blogger! I posted it in and the Editor calmly deleted most of it.

Here's the code, HTML: - stripped out completely.

 
 




and god knows how much of that will appear in the final piece.  But what follows below (nothing!) is what Blogger's editor left...


  

Multimap: gets stranger and stranger...

When Microsoft bought Multimap, several of us pulled long faces and went into our Grumpy Old Men routine. But I have to admit, I'm baffled by what's been going on - or, more accurately, going off.

For example, the maps. I know I used Multimap to navigate a journey to East Sussex six months ago, and it was incredibly detailed. Yesterday, I tried again; the map has changed. It's about six years old - houses which were on the old map in blade-of-grass detail - gone! - just a vague blur which shows a building site (maybe).

Or the red circle. Six months ago, you could move it. So, if you wanted to send some directions, you could find the approximate area with a search (find, say Manor House Tube) and then focus in on the lake south of there. Then move the focus circle. bingo! - a URL for exactly the spot. Well, either I dreamed it, or it's been hidden, or taken away. Gone.

And what about the "I can't find this address" feedback button? I know it used to be there! Today, looking for a really well known landmark (the Welsh Harp lake at the London end of the M1 motorway) the only place it could find is a farm called Welsh Hook in Dyfed. And no feedback form at all.

Let's see what this "open API" thing is, and find out more...

Another embedded chat window?

here we go:



join in, assign yourself a name...

Can we do mibbit chat here?

Wordpress wouldn't swallow it.

here is the code, embedded:

How to pronounce magic words...

A hollow voice says "Plugh".

If you're a fan of the famous computer game, "Adventure," in which you can spend hours exploring a cave full of treasure and peril while haunted by sepulchral voices, the above will sound familiar and perhaps take you back a few years.

If not, you can find out more at the links below.

Plugh is a magic word used in several text adventure games, including:

• Adventure (the original)
  
• Radio Shack's Haunted House (for the TRS-80)
  
• Pyramid 2000 (another TRS-80 game that was basically a clone of Adventure but took place amongst the pyramids of Egypt)
  
• Raaka-Tu (yet another TRS-80 adventure game)
  
• Bedlam (and even yet another TRS-80 adventure game - also available on the TRS-80 Color Computer)
  

Somehow, however, plugh never quite retained the fame it deserved. Instead, it fell into the shadows of another more famous magic word: xyzzy.

 

Oh, and the origin of "plugh" is tackled. Some claim it means "plughole" truncated to five characters (why?) but the webmaster adds: "I never really did know how to pronounce the word, plugh, so if you happen to know, please tell me!"

He adds:

Someone recently posted an old usenet article written by Don Woods as follows:

From: Don Woods

Date: 1997/02/27

Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction

Subject: Re: XYZZY

 

Alas, Crowther was responsible for XYZZY and PLUGH. I

think I remember him saying that he'd generated them at

random, but I don't remember how (or even if) he pronounced

them.

 

For my part, I say "zizzy" and "ploog". I'm actually rather

emphatic about the latter, since it's supposed to be said in a

hollow voice. I've heard some people pronounce it "plug", "pluh",

or even "pluff", and when I imagine the hollow voice trying to say

those I keep thinking the poor voice is going to break down

laughing... (A hollow laugh, naturally. :-)

 

On the other hand, PLOVER was my addition, and since it's

keyed to the name of the bird ("an emerald the size of a

plover's egg!") it ought to be pronounced like the bird. But --

aha! -- being ignorant on the topic, I always thought the bird's

name was pronounced ploh-ver. It wasn't until I saw the

discussion here that I thought to look up the word, and found

that both pluh-ver and ploh-ver are accepted, but pluh-ver is

apparently preferred. Oh well. But if you pronounce it pluh-ver,

don't blame me if the magic doesn't work!

 

-- Don.

 

The web site creator adds: "Many years ago, my cousin and I were so into these games (especially Adventure) that we wrote a game language and several adventures that used this language."

You can play these games on-line at:

http://www.skyrush.com/explore/

 

Related links:

• The Colossal Cave Adventure Page
  
• Plugh's Home Page
  
• XYZZY
  
• RetroComputing TRS-80
  

Testing Word for HTML creation

Till today, despite my occasional deep sighs over ScribeFire, I used it in preference to other "quick-blog" systems like Google Notes or Microsoft Live! - but today, I've resolved to overcome my deep suspicions of another way - Word itself.

Word has been urging me to do this, by offering me "new blog post" every time I open a new file. So, instead of ignoring it, I resolved to try it out.

Day One

All I need to do today, is create a short blog entry (this is it!) and link to another web site. So I've picked The Guardian's story about " too much bling " as my link.

 

Too much bling costs suspected drug dealer £650,000 in assets

• Guardian, Wednesday February 6 2008
  
• Martin Wainwright
  

A suspected drugs trafficker who claimed that an ice cream van and other small businesses had earned him three homes and a fleet of luxury cars has become one of the biggest victims of criminal assets recovery law. A painstaking audit of Andrew Pickering's accounts by police in Middlesbrough and the Asset Recoveries Agency convinced a judge that the property, along with (...)

(...) fillip for the force's newly launched tip-off operation, Too Much Bling? Give Us A Ring. Neighbours are being encouraged to use anonymous (...)

<img src="http://is0215.www.is.121d8.com/pics/b.gif" align="left" />

 

I've cut that from the Guardian's own web site. We'll see if it works. And finally, let's include a link to a picture from the same site:

 

http://is0215.www.is.121d8.com/pics/b.gif

I am SO tired of Scribefire!

Three months ago, I made a not about Adobe on VeRO page for UK.

Since then, every time I try to blog something I find the Vero stuff at the top. So I'm posting it, in the hope it will bloody vanish at last!

Bet it doesn't... here is the note:


eBay UK: Help: VeRO Programme: VeRO Participants

List of VeRO participants' About Me Pages

The list below with examples of About Me pages have been prepared by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights owners that report through the VeRO Programme. We hope the information provided will assist you in trading safely on eBay. We encourage you to directly contact the rights owners if you have any further questions regarding their products or policies.

* ACD Systems Ltd.
* Adobe
* Adobe Systems UK Ltd.
* Ahead Software

What VeRO is:
eBay UK: Help: VeRO Programme

eBay has created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Programme so rights owners can report listings that infringe their rights. Any person or company who holds intellectual property rights (such as a copyright, trademark or patent) which may be infringed by listings or items sold on eBay is encouraged to participate in the VeRO Programme.