I am proud to announce the Annual #Lemmings SCO Acronym Contest.

The rules are simple - supply an acronym which will contextually fit the sentence:

Otherwise you are left with SCO

replacing the initials SCO with your choice of acronym.

I will be the final arbiter of what is the winning acronym, and people with a working knowledge of my warped sense of humour have a considerable head start.

The prize is nothing more than the respect and admiration of your fellow #lemmings, and perhaps a mystery gift mailed to you from the United Kindgom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The closing date for entries is midnight BST on 8th September 2004. Entries can be mailed to acronym@mikegtn.net or bandied about wildly on #lemmings on irc.freenode.net

Lemmings-3.1 the popular all-purpose XChat script is still available.

By my reckoning, Areopagitica - the Content (Mis)management System which sits behind this site - is one year old today.

I'd long wondered about writing something like this, and its actually been a rewarding process. The code could badly do with a clean-up - having grown by accumulation over a year there are all sorts of nasty hacks. Most importantly it does almost all that all the blogging engines and website gadget type things seem to, and its comfortable for me to use daily.

One thing it won't do, probably ever, is comments. I know I have often almost commented on a blog, but have mercifully just about stopped myself from going off on some ranting tangent. After all, all opinions are apparently valid opinions in this cosmopolitan internet world. In the current era of rampant content spam, and with a history of suffering in the flames, I'd say that the important people who might want to comment are smart enough to find my email address for themselves. A truly Darwinian comment system?

In any case, for better or worse, I've spent a year on this strange little project.

Today, one of our Appeal Panel members mentioned that old, but evergreen adage 'may you live in interesting times'. He was naturally, entirely accurate.

It has been, of course, a strange week. A confusing mixture of encouraging work progress and frustrating personal events. Last week ended with union meetings and this one is ending with the fall out. Generally, I think my fate is decided. I will of course press on and after a rocky patch, I've been convinced that it can't just be me, despite colleagues assertions to the contrary. Having my mental health questioned in a semi-public environment was of course, frustrating and a bit strange. I think insanity prevailed, as ever.

Later in the week, I was relieved to meet up with a friend I've missed like crazy these past few weeks. I explained my odd time very clumsily of course, and probably ended up making myself seem rather ridiculous, but I suppose everyone needs someone to talk to, confide in, bounce off and generally think is pretty amazing. This won't get read, I'm safe saying these things. I just hope I haven't managed to cause trouble, which was never my intention.

Tomorrow I was supposed to be up before the Magistrate for Council Tax evasion and associated costs. It is now, I understand cancelled. No-one has yet explained to me how I can accrue court costs without a court case happening. Like I said, a bewildering week.

Looking ahead, booked tickets for The Delgados in Bristol in early October. Heard a new track at this site (which I highly recommend). Interestingly poppy new direction. Can't wait to see them again!

A rather cloudy and overcast morning. Not the best for photography, but nevertheless set off for the station to see 60009 on the Torbay Express. Stopped at the station doors by revenue protection staff, who seemed slightly amazed and rather offended that the majority of people passing through had just come to see the steam locomotive. Largest crowd I've seen at Weston for some time.

Wandered with the departing crowds over to the supermarket, where another large crowd awaited its opening time. Chatted to an acquaintance for a while, and generally hung back whilst the desperate looking multitude rammed trolleys and bumped baskets in an attempt to be first to the checkouts.

Tidied and read for awhile, and did some further work on Areopagitica. Still no release for all those who keep asking, and frankly there is unlikely ever to be one as the more shamefully convoluted the code becomes, the less inclined I am for the outside world to see it. Also noted an announcement of GNOMEfiles.org. Dutifully listed a couple of current projects, and watched the usage stats for mikegtn.net take an uncharacteristic leap!

Back to the station for the return Torbay Express, which was running somewhat early. Bumped into some of the usual suspects. A dull, wet evening with no light. Couldn't get the camera - which is still very new to me - to work at all how I'd hoped, so no pictures worthy of keeping. Fiddling with the Olympus on the way back, accidentally figured out how to adjust for light and took some stunning pictures of the car park.