Pete (Thed)'s Column

Migration to tailcast.com

Hi all, We are currently designing a new (and we hope) better integrated website for writers, artists and musicians. In preparation for it being launched later this summer we would like to move all of the writers members currently on authearth.com to tailcast.com. This has the advantage that we will have an integrated community and an integrated monthly magazine for the whole arts community we have. We have created a new tab for writers on tailcast.com. Apologies for any hassle and confusion… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on April 13, 2008 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

Princess Diana - fresh judicial review ordered

In a shock news item in the UK today an association of TV and newspaper companies have decided to jointly fund a judicial review of the findings of various inquests into Princess Diana's death. Commenting on Authearth a spokesperson for the new group (provisionally named the "RNIFW" Media Fund) said: "We are astonished that despite there being no real evidence proving that there was not foul play an extremely costly and wasteful process looks like it will be closed. We have a duty to our sh… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on April 1, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Monthly Haiku off

The winner gets a book from the competitions page. Starts Monday 17th March. A maximum of 2 entries per person per day. Format: Everyone can enter competition and Thed will advise at the end of each day who is in the competition for the next day. Competition continues until there are just 2 members against each other. Rules: Must conform to 5,7,5 syllables format and must be based on or somehow reference or relate to the chosen theme of the day. Monday's theme is Easter. Please tell Thed if… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on March 14, 2008 at 8:11pm — 2 Comments

Should we incorporate Islamic law into the British legal system?

In a great news item in the UK today (Archbishop in Sharia law dispute) there has been uproar that the Archbishop of Cante

… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on February 23, 2008 at 12:30pm — 7 Comments

earthed ? beta newsletter/magazine

Hi all, We have been busy trying to create the first edition of earthed ? a new newsletter/magazine which showcases the best from the site each month in a more traditional format which you can view online or download to read on the train, tube, beach, pub or anywhere else there is light (if you have a torch the possibilities become endless). Each month we will be looking for interviews with members and, soon we hope, published authors. If you know anyone in the publishing industry who can help… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on February 22, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Literature & Writing Prize Competitions

A message to all members of Authearth - a firm place to move the Earth Hello again :) It has been a while since the last all member message - we wanted to ensure that some of the problems on the site were sorted before emailing you. Robert Burns said: “O wad some Power the giftie gie us. To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us. An foolish notion...” Robert Burns (To a Louse) We couldn't agree more and after chatting to various people it was obvious the si… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on February 12, 2008 at 9:38pm — No Comments

Is the literary world about to go mobile?

(Alternative title: or are those Tamagotchi loving Japanese just crazy?)

There has been an explosion in the number of Japanese people who have composed their novels on the m… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on January 23, 2008 at 9:09am — No Comments

US Presidential Elections - Is Obama a Hero?

Copyright Tim Sale, Heroes

Anyone who has watched the fanastic US series "Heroes" will know what I mean by asking whether Obama is a hero.

Like most Europeans the prolonged and complicated cavalcade which is the US primaries and presidential elections is either highly amusing, scary or just p… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on January 9, 2008 at 7:36pm — 4 Comments

Arabic translation of Western literature

The Arabic language and dialects are spoken by over 200 million people in the world and yet it is only this year that Abu Dhabi has started a translation project to bring some of the greatest Western books of the last 500 years to its speaking peoples. The first books due for publication are Umberto Eco's The Sign,The Halo Effec… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on December 16, 2007 at 10:04pm — 1 Comment

I feel like Frankenstein

Creating a website or community site is a bit like creating a monster.

You assemble the various elements and lay them on the table: (look and feel, name, domain address, tag line, some audio and visual interest and a few gadgets and gimmicks).

You then try to arrange them in various ways to give "it" life. However,… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on December 5, 2007 at 1:30am — No Comments

New Features

Namaste,

I have made some changes to the site look and feel and also I am working on additional functionality. New features below:

1. Competitions: I have added a new competition page. On it you will see a list of books and audiobooks. In an effort to stimulate some user driven content I have decided bribery may work where cajoling failed. The best book review, member poem and user submitted audio each month will each get to choose from the list (I will update it each month). F… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on November 26, 2007 at 11:30am — No Comments

Where next? podcasting of course

Hello all,

In an effort to make the site as interesting as possible I am trying to come up with ways of providing content in different formats and in ways that enable you to share the content that you like (so I can focus on building tools to enable more of your content). If any of you would like to create your own podcasts that would be fantastic. It could be an interview with an author, publisher, poet or editor that you know. Alternatively it could be a recording of your book club's… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on November 19, 2007 at 6:32pm — No Comments

Site Update

Authearth Update:

If you check out the site there are a number of changes I hope you will like:

1. New quote of the week from Churchill. Who better?

2. I have also added a famous Churchill speech to the audio archive "We will Never Surrender" (to be said in your best Churchillian wavering wobbling loud voice)

3. Word Map. Quite like this new way of looking at words and similar words graphically. This will go in the Education section once it is built.

… Continue

Added by Pete (Thed) on November 13, 2007 at 11:30am — No Comments

Pete (Thed)'s Column (13)