Harry Potter deja vu?

"... so let's forget about them and follow instead the destiny of Harold Potter, gardener, and tax official, first victim of Creatures from another planet" - Monty Python's Flying Circus : just the words. Vol. 1. (London, Methuen :1989) p.84 [first broadcast: 30 Nov 1969]

And the question on everyone's lips now, apart from when will HP #7 be finished, is did J.K. Rowling watch this episode of MPFC, and steal the name of her famous character? Not that I'm suggesting that of course, because that would be slander, I'm just imaginging in a sort of journalistic way, that on reading the name Harold Potter occured in a MPFC sketch in 1969 people might start asking questions. Probably no relation of course, because this Harold Potter's distinction is to be turned into a Scotsman by the Creatures from another planet.

This amazing fact was found, not on the internet, but in one of those old-fashioned book things. I have a number of them lying about, but found this one in an Oxfam shop and bought it for a mere UKP 2.99, which is not bad considering it has the script for the Parrot Sketch in it, eh! The script is also online here

For the sake of completeness Uncle Dynamite - P. G. Wodehouse's 1948 novel, includes a character named Harold Potter.

Wikipedia updated.

Busy week

I've been busy all week redesigning, and then moving and setting up redirects for my FWBO People website [heads up webmasters - change your links please]. This is a directory of personal websites by people who have some kind of connection with the FWBO - and that's about as strict as my selection criteria are. It's a labour of love doing this kind of thing. It takes hours, and I already work full-time, but I learn a lot doing it. This time I learned about w3c validation of html and css, I learned about floating divs and a bit more about css. I've been thinking that html has come a long way since I first learned it. You can now create a website using html/css that would have required screeds of Javascript, and or other non-Google friendly tech. It's all very interesting, but I couldn't have done it without help from my geek friends - thanks guys if you read this, which I don't think you will.

I've also been adding dates to a third-party calendar app which I like. Calendarhub is nicely designed and with a little fiddling does what I need it to. And that is to create a "today in history" type application - actually my first implementation of it is on FWBO People - in the middle column and down a bit. It's javascript so Google doesn't see the links, but people will and that might make them come back to visit, eh! I'm going to use it on all my FWBO sites.

So all told I haven't had any time at all to think about writing for the Jayarava Rave which means I need to get out, get some light and air, and then head for Heffers Bookshop and their nice little cafe, and figure out what I'm going to write that is remotely related to Buddhism this week: websites, or the dental treatment I had this week, or what? It's a tough assignment. 1000 words by the end of the day, or I get hell from my editor (which is me, but I'm a tough editor!)

Check out FWBO People - I think it says more about our movement than most other sites, with the exception of fwbo.org and even that has an institutional feel. The sites I list have a raw quality that is not so much about presenting the FWBO in a good light, and more about what real FWBO people are actually interested in and doing.