Well, here I am again with more time off work. Not a four day weekend this time but a nine day! An entire week off work to catch up with some of those projects that have been festering thanks to a lack of time. So, plenty of website work and listening to podcasts (at the same time, of course!). No lazing around for me!

I had hoped to finish up my new look personal website on Monday morning but that didn’t happen. I realised that the list of CDs/DVDs/Books on the old site were less than up to date and I spent a good part of Monday adding all the new rubbish I’ve bought in the last few months. I really must keep that list up to date in the future. At least from now on each listing gives the last time it was modified. What’s the point of the lists? It’s not so burglars (hamburglars or otherwise) can get an easy listing of my goodies (in fact looking at the lists they will probably be put off!) but mainly so I can carry a copy with me on my Zaurus so I know if I already own something whilst down town!

The primary idea behind reworking my site is to use it as a testbed for CSS experimentations. Later in the week I hope to take another look at the Staggering Stories site and reengineer that for CSS layout (rather than the table based layout we’ve got right now). My only fear is making the site look even worse than it does now! Graphic design is an art I don’t have… You’d be surprised just how hard it is to make a web page look professional. Another thing I’d like to see is my own website being at the top of the Google listings for ‘Adam Purcell’. As of right now I am at the top – in fact I have the top three hits right now but those are for Staggering Stories pages and the Bytemark forum. That’s good but they should be in positions two to four with www.adampurcell.co.uk at the top!

Onto podcasts. While doing all this work I need something to listen to. That’s either been Radio 4’s excellent Listen Again service or one of my favourite podcasts (in no particular order):

• Skepticality – as mentioned in a previous blog entry this is a light hearted look at science, pseudoscience and the paranormal. In a sceptical way!
• Star Wars Galaxies with Yivvits and Mr Bubble – I might not be playing SWG at the moment but these two chaps are always entertaining! It tends to be more general Star Wars nonsense than the name suggests and they never take it too seriously.
• Doctor Who: Podshock – Yes, a Doctor Who podcast. Usually hosted by two Americans and one Brit (crucially – how can a Who podcast be entirely American?!) with occasional input from Canadians, Australians and more. Good stuff but does tend to run quite long!
• The Babylon Podcast – Yes, a Babylon 5 podcast. Particularly notable for having Jeffrey Willerth on the team, who worked behind the scenes on the production staff of the TV series and also played Kosh (though not the voice!) Thanks to Jeff’s contacts they’ve had many major guests on the show including Bruce Boxleitner, Walter Koenig, Jason Carter, Pat Tallman, etc., etc. Then there’s Summer Brooks’ sexy voice..!
• Slice of SciFi – Another podcast from the people behind the The Babylon Podcast. This one also appears on a real radio station each week (which somewhat constrains the format). A general Sci Fi podcast, mainly about TV and film, with an American slant but they are also big fans of the new Doctor Who, so they’re not too US centric!
• Point of Inquiry – Another sceptial podcast sharing many themes with Skepticality but done much more seriously. Due to their associations with academia they’ve have some great guests but it can feel a little overly academic with it.
• Escape Pod – A wonderful podcast that provides great SF short stories, one a podcast. The chap behind it, Steve Eley, even commissions and pays for original stories (similar to Asimov’s or Analog magazines).
• The Signal – A Firefly/Serenity podcast. The lack of real news in Firefly is probably hurting this a bit but it is still a good listen.
• The Galaxy Report – Another Star Wars Galaxies podcast, this one very much concentrating on the game rather than Star Wars in general, so my interest wains rather when I’m not in SWG (as now).
• SciFiDig – Another general Sci Fi podcast, talking mainly about TV and film. It’s a one man show but works well. Has been concentrating a little too much on comic books for my tastes recently.
• The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas – Despite the odd name this is a podcast looking back at old SF/Fantasy films, books and TV series, doing an indepth review of one each episode.
• LUGRadio – Last but certainly not least is this superb Linux related podcast from four chaps in Wolverhampton. Never too serious and always entertaining. A model podcast for my tastes but, sadly, on a summer break at the moment so there’s no new episodes for me to listen to right now.

I think I’ve missed one or two off there but that’s a pretty good list of what I’m listening to as I work. They all get my recommendation but they may not work for you. If any sound interesting give an episode or two a try. Just imagine, radio on your time, talking about things that interest you. Aren’t podcasts great?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2006 at 11:19 and is filed under computing, staggering stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.