• Nice weekend fete at Argenteuil with pony rides and candyfloss #
• Top 15 bestsellers this hour on Amazon.com are *all* Michael Jackson or the Jackson 5. #
• The best analysis of the news of Michael Jackson’s death that I’ve seen so far: http://bit.ly/17Kgc8 #
• Too high to get over (yeh yeh) too low to get under (yeh yeh) you’re stuck in the middle (yeh yeh) and the pain is thunder. RIP Michael. #
• Wallabies “high as a kite” on opium are hopping around in circles, trampling the crops in Tasmania. Really. http://bit.ly/Kdf4o #
• Lots of tweeting re Outlook 2010 rendering. Maybe HTML email should die anyway. Images + beautiful paragraph spacing and rich text enough? #
• Thinking about looking further afield for a house, maybe there’s better value & quality of life to be had further from Paris. #

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Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack last night (European time), and could not be resuscitated. Wacko Jacko he may have been, but it’s the end of an era. Love or hate him or his music, he’s the biggest selling album artist of all time. His music, his pop videos and his dancing have influenced pop forever, just like the Beatles and Elvis before him. His collaborations with Paul McCartney (Say Say Say, The Girl is Mine) are among my favourites.

I had a copy of Thriller on vinyl, and I’ll always remember the day I was at Auntie Val’s and we put on the first side. The needle dropped on the record and “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” started up… I must have been about 8 years old at the time. There goes another part of my childhood.

[update] There are a few articles around now that are covering the story of Michael’s life and death with a bit more depth; notably the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman with “This is not a Diana Moment” and an excellent article over at Urban Semiotic, “The Veneration of Michael Jackson begins“. As for the cause of death (direct or indirect) news is emerging that he may have been addicted to Demerol or Morphine.

Image credit: stylespion

• Argenteuil is totally messed up. Concert causing big traffic snarlup. #
• Will be in concert at the OPA 22nd July. Keep your evening free if you can make it that night, love to see you there. http://bit.ly/SZPsi #
• Is China a scapegoat? They emit a lot of CO2, but for export - mostly consumer products for the “west” http://bit.ly/ASklv #
• Parisian region tax declaration time again. At least you can do it online. Here, you pay as you earn and then pay again later. #
• Totally stuck, engine stopped, just 500m from work. Wonderful start to the week. #

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• Saw a nice house this morning. Price is a bit steep for our budget, but we haven’t started negotiating yet. #
• Friday morning is “Super Justiciers” before walking Nathan to school. #
• Finally some sunshine in Paris in June. Just in time for a brighter trip home. #
• Wordpress 2.8 is out, daren’t upgrade immediately but features look cool. Especially if it improves performance like it says it can. #
• Current weather looks more like January than June. Good for keeping myself motivated at work, but depressing once the day is finished. #
• Tube strikes in France are common, but the upcoming one in London could cause England to play in an empty Wembley! http://bit.ly/jWapY #
• Still tweaking WordPress Twitter Tools. Useful plugin, but lacking a feature that I’m hacking into it - getting dates in the weekly digests. #

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• Nathan got new books (Dr Seuss mainly) from me and a bubble blowing gun from a friend. Told me he hates the books, loves the bubbles. Great. #
• Spent yesterday discovering the fascinating world of the SNCF. Oh, and if you want to reserve a cheap train before 11th June contact me. #
• Hoping my son has attained the peak of his tantrums. No breakfast, almost late for school. Happy mornings. #
• Still househunting. There’s always something which isn’t quite right. Hard to decide. No rush… #

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Now you can really take the kitchen sink with you. This amazing folding kitchen sink is from Sea to Summit, a camping and outdoor equipment supplier. It comes in 5, 10 and 20 litre sizes and can hold hot water and detergent. Full marks to Sea to Summit for the segue between a sink and “small size makes a great dog bowl!”

It’s actually easier to pack than most other things you might take when travelling. Perhaps the good old English expression “taking everything but the kitchen sink” could be endangered. Just like the expressions “I’ll lend you the CD” or “I’ll call you when I get home”.

• Just gone dual screen (dual head) and already loving it. Two screens is way better than one. http://bit.ly/i9QxY #
• Barbapapa on TV with Nathan to start the day. #
• Tired. Good job it’s a three day weekend, just tomorrow to survive. #
• Smart phones are fun but since we mostly use them for everything bar talking, they rarely have power left for talk when we need to. #
• @alexisbonte Bad Facebook ads are mainly due to no buy-in from heavyweight advertisers. Rarely seen major corporate media plans. in reply to alexisbonte #
• 28°C, 80°F… feels hotter in the office with no aircon. Productivity taking a dive. #
• Enjoying timeago. “About 10 hours ago” is so much nicer than “02:19 AM, May 25 2009″. #

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• Saw a good house yesterday, but it’s got 3 floors and needs a lot of redecoration. Househunting is a pain. #
• Thursday public holiday, Friday at work. A day analogous to purgatory, limbo… #
• Looking at houses. Many estate agents not able to listen to client desires. Waste your time with visits to places you’ll never buy. #

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