Ciao!

Kirsten introduced me to Ciao! a few days ago, as she has been using the German variant for a while. It has proved highly addictive in a productive sort of way. The community site focuses on reviewing products of all descriptions — films, books, games, electronics, make-up, food, the works! — but uniquely it actually pays members for the reviews they submit, based on ratings by others. These don’t have to be journalistic masterpieces, but merely useful opinions on products that will help others make decisions. Since I already have several fully fleshed out film reviews right here, I figured it was worth a go. I soon found myself pumping out product reviews of the other things sitting on my desk too! The site brandishes the slogan “make your opinions pay” and although it’s not much, it’s still worthwhile, particularly to a student! It’s an interesting diversions and, for those like Andy W and Luke, a forum with a captive audience for the occasional rant. A slightly higher level of revenue can also be earned by filling in targeted surveys based on your interests, but this is strictly on an opt-in basis. Sign up and give it go!

The weekend was not particularly noteworthy aside from fixing Charlotte’s abomination of a computer. Luke swears the test machines he leaves unprotected intentionally to become corrupted by malware aren’t quite as hideously mangled as hers. With the installation discs mailed by her dad we resorted to wiping it and starting afresh although it graphics card is, in technical jargon, teh screwzorz. Still, I learned a fair bit more about locking down a machine to protect the user from both outsiders and, more importantly, themselves. The more security minded may be interested in the free Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer utility.

Globalist-wise a new Annual edition has just been released featuring contributions from six chapters (Yale, Cambridge, Peking, Jerusalem, Sydney and Toronto). Perhaps most interesting is actually the layout which serves the need for three different languages to cover all these regions. It is quite a feat and has been deftly handled. Meanwhile the name change is now official with the Global21 banner now appearing on the foundation website. Unfortunately this busy period has prevented the latest Cambridge issue from going online yet. I do know, however, that there will be special coverage on the UN handover shortly as I have just produced the banner for it…

I now find myself staring at a not-very-modern article plucked from the Modern Law Review. It leads me to wonder whether it is time to turn my hand to starting up another new publication. The Postmodern Law Review would feature articles in a style that — well, no one really knows what postmodernism actually is which makes it editorially complicated at best. Jean-Francois Lyotard suggested, “Postmodernism is incredulity towards metanarratives.” I rather preferred the astute description, “Weird for the sake of [being] weird.” from Moe Szyslak of The Simpsons (speaking of which, full trailer now available). Strangely it does actually have a legal context in the form of the theory of Judicial shamanism. Perhaps this publication is best left alone after all…