Harry Houdini

Conclusive proof of tepid fusion.

Well, my sturdy yeomen, today I have allowed myself a huge, self-satisfied grin. I haven’t managed to perform tepid fusion in a half-forgotten coffee cup. A cure for the common cold has somehow eluded me. There isn’t a small encampment of publishers on my front lawn. (Note 1) It is probably something that I shouldn’t crow about, but the reason behind my satisfaction is that I have at last managed to get this very blog registered with Technorati. Which is why there were those rather strange blog entries yesterday with links to Technorati.

Through the kaleidoscope heat haze that hangs over the information superhighway, I catch the million little murmurs of “Why?” This is a rather obvious question. Just because the question is obvious, doesn’t mean I can answer it. The best I can do is quote from the Technorati web site ”Technorati is the recognized authority on what's going on in the world of weblogs. We help people search for, surface, and organize bloggers and their daily posts.” In my defence, I would like to cite that this isn’t a personal ego massage, more a quest to overcome technology and prove that even old gits can master something new once in a while.

It struck me during the digging and delving, that there are issues around the various technologies in use. (Note 2) I have often felt that the UK Yahoo 360 bloggers got a little bit of a raw deal compared to the “.com” bloggers. There are features, such as.the “Highlight post” option that are just not available to us. Both sets of users have only a subset of HTML that they can use (although as Stu demonstrates, you can do a lot more than you think).

Rather than just go on perceptions, I decided to test the theory. I went off and started an account on Blogger. Strangely, I found that HTML tags that work in Yahoo do not work there. Still, as I write my blogs in Word first, I will be able to maintain both. I will keep you abreast of my discoveries.

Now, good yeomen, Ehrich Weiss and Harry Houdini both passed away on Halloween in 1926. A spooky co-incidence? Well, not so spooky as yesterday, when I got a notice from Yahoo to say that my chosen picture was deemed inappropriate. Thankfully the guardians of public morals quickly removed it lest it corrupt you. (Note 3)

Some of my more curious yeomen, who missed the picture will now be wondering what smut had briefly adorned my page. Well, I admit it was a man with bared torso restrained by numerous chains. In mitigation I point out that it was a sepia print taken over eighty years ago. Yes, it was the great Harry Houdini.

Oh, Ehrich Weiss? Yes, I should explain that interesting nugget. Although Harry Houdini claimed to have been born on the 6th April 1874 in Appleton, Wisconsin – he was actually born Ehrich Weiss on March 24 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. Just why he changed his birth date is beyond me.

From 14th June, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: Although there is a noticeable decrease in the numbers of small domesticated animals in the area and parents in the neighbourhood have taken to fitting their young children with earplugs. Click to return

NOTE 2: This is going to get confusing. As I will explain, I decided to compare technologies by setting up an account in Blogger. So if you are reading this in Blooger, you will have to bear with me, as my main blogging site is, for the moment at least, Yahoo 360. If you are reading this in Yahoo 360, just go back to the text and forget I ever said anything. Click to return

NOTE 3: If you saw that picture and find yourself corrupted, I am truly, truly sorry. I realise that only the most innocent and pure find their way to my blog, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Click to return