Things I am interested in…

These are my links for September 26th:

• Robert Reich’s website –
• Big Ideas –
• Nine Months of WoW UI Modding –
• WUU – WoW UI Updater –
• http://www.techcrunch.com/ –

Outrageous Fortune

These are my links for September 17th:

• Auckland Traffic Website -
• Yahoo! Widgets – 1,000s of Widgets for your Mac or Windows Desktop -
• Workers Online : Issue No. 356, 21 December 2006 -

Beef – it’s what’s for dinner!

Today I found the website of the US Cattlemen’s Beef Board and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. How did I achieve this remarkable feat?!

The story began when I was listening to a podcast from the BBC – Digital Planet – while riding the inter hospital shuttle bus. One of the stories was about a classical music website, where one can listen to various types of classical music and decide what one likes. Once I arrived back at work I checked this website out, and eventually came across Aaron Copland. I have been interested in his work for years, but only recognise the most famous – Fanfare for the Common Man. Desirous of learning more, I did what I usually do in circumstances where I’m looking for more information about something quickly, and happen to be sitting in front of a computer – I went to Wikipedia…

General enquiry about Copland, led to specific investigation of one of his ballets (Rodeo, 1942). The most famous piece of music from Rodeo is the “Hoe-Down”. I wondered if I had ever heard this piece before (actually, I though I must have, but just didn’t know it was called Hoe-Down), so I scanned down the Wikipedia entry about this, and there it was!

“Hoe-Down”, the ballet’s final section, was prominently used by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for television commercials in the US.

Instant connection…

There are a million strange and serendipitous web-surfing stories in the naked city… this has been one of them!

I’ve just come across an amusing website after being notified by BoingBoing…The Stephen Fry Talking Clock (a la Jeeves).