You need to restart your computer.
(You fool).

Well, since we all know that Macs never crash it must be some need that the user has. The user probably thinks he needs to carry on working on his computer, but in fact he needs to restart his computer. Apple says so.

The television stations in the UK constantly repeat programmes about cars and car chases in order to cheer us all up from worrying about climate change caused in part by cars and car chases. One of them is a budget job that recycles old police video tapes of bad drivers and fleeing criminals. Employ a former newsreader to shout over the top and you have a programme. A recent one contained the following declaration.

“THE DRIVER NEEDS TO BE CAUGHT”.

Surely the driver needs to get away? The police need to catch him. No? Hmmm.

Perhaps it is too easy to ascribe needs to others when really it is our own desires and competencies that are the issue. Anyway, Cathy Gilliat needs to make another record. That’s what we reckon.

We have just realised it is possible to turn off those obstructive and gimmicky “Snap” pop-ups that show useless previews of Web links. We have done so for this WordPress weblog.

Related links (without Snap pop-ups!):

• Unwanted “snap” links to my photos and graphics
• 3 Reasons Why Snap Preview is Ruining Your Blog
• Disable Snap Previews on web sites

We might have found this easier if there weren’t so many layers of menus in WordPress.com’s controls. It’s a lovely system, but the interface seems to have been arranged almost at random!

Well no wonder so many people are reluctant to try unusual music. For only £3 more than the cost of our CDs, you could buy a second-hand copy of Synthesizer Hits Featuring the Hits of Phil Collins.

We didn’t even know that such wonders existed.

Well, at least we brought you the news before Matrixsynth did. What a scoop.

NASA answers the question about climate change: Global change: How do we know?

Of course, many internet forums are still packed with Right Thinking Patriotic Consumers who will fight what they see as being an iniquitous UN plot to raise taxes… and no wiggly orange line will worry them, whatever it shows. But most of the rest of us should not feel too righteous either, as we shuffle about in the same old ways, awaiting reassurance and directions from above.

Hmm, that’s interesting: within a day of us mentioning Fail Dogs and the “Arrrggg!!” dog at Western Digital, the canine in question made it to the Fail Dogs site - with exactly the same deliberate error page call (so it’s not just coincidence).

Clearly the Earthrid weblog is a hugely influential weblogging force in the weblogosphere now. Yes, that would explain it.

Before Fail Dogs, before Lolcats, there was the Western Digital 404 error page.

Yes, we are too easily amused. And no, it wasn’t WD’s fault that we hit that page.

Our friends at netlabel Earth Monkey Productions have just released their 50th MP3 album. Entitled 50:50, it’s a compilation of tracks by 4th Alternative, Clutter, Cousin Silas and 12 other projects.

EMP has also branched out into releasing CDRs: their “Collector’s Series” of limited edition 3″ CDRs starts with releases by Clutter vs Susan Matthews and Good Noise Bad Noise. Both CDRs cost £3 plus postage, and are available direct from EMP.

Although we at Earthrid occupy ourselves producing some quite outlandish music, that doesn’t mean we are averse to a good bit of pop music now again. “Pop”. It’s a quaint old term but one which is still useful for summing up pithy prosody packaged and preserved within the parameters of polished, programmatic populism.

“Pop” is succinct.

‘I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me’.

MOV file via Antville

Believed to be in disguise.

Can you spot Kraftwerk hiding on this Web page (scroll down for photos)?

No, reading the photo caption, it was a case of mistaken identity… Here they are! Wrong again: they seem to have delegated work to the robots, so they are probably already on their way to the pub…