The latest 200 Words is now available, with California-based writer, Susannah Breslin.

One of the things I brought back with me from the USA was a small supply of Kraft Cheesey Pasta (it’s known as Kraft Dinner in the States).

I’m a bit of a Cheesey Pasta nut; I’ve been eating it by the boxload for years much to the dismay of my wife and family.

However, in the USA, they have more varieties than the plain old cheese option that we have here in the UK.

A few years ago, my cousin in Boca Raton, Florida sent me four boxes of Kraft Dinner as a surprise birthday present, knowing how much I loved the stuff, and I savoured every last bit of macaroni.

On this particular trip, I brought back four varieties: White Cheese, Three Cheese, Thick and Creamy, and The Cheesiest (the original).

However, I have to admit that I’m a bit disappointed this time around.

Something seems to have changed.

The cheese sauce mix is a little more granulated than I remember, and it tastes a bit less savoury. The pasta also looks somewhat pale.

Despite this, I’ve still got two boxes left; White Cheese and Thick and Creamy – so I’ll reserve my complete judgement until I’ve polished off all four boxes.

But so far, it’s UK 1-0 USA when it comes to Kraft Dinners.

The brilliant Pete Milligan has scripted a forthcoming issue of X-Statix, one of the many Marvel X-Men comic-book titles, that involves the late Princess Diana appearing as a mutant.

As expected, the Daily Mail here in the UK jumped on the bandwagon and expressed their outrage at the story – like the idiots they are – failing to realise just how much of a marketing gimmick the ploy was.

Found on Sore Eyes.

The Copydesk has been quiet over the past few days, mainly because of some problems with Blogger’s new publication system.

Hopefully, things are back to normal now, although we’re still trying to figure out what the problem is with other team members posting items.

The Copydesk will get back to you…

I’ve thus far managed to resist posting anything here on The Copydesk as I’ve spent the the last two weeks travelling around Florida with my family.

It’s not that I’ve been unable to gain access to a net-enabled computer (they’re everywhere these days, you know) – I mainly just couldn’t be bothered.

I’ve been enjoying myself too much, you see.

However, I thought I’d give you a glimpse of the place I’ve been staying in over the past few nights: the Belleview Biltmore hotel in Belleaire, Florida.

It’s exactly like the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

Our room is halfway down a corridor lined with around 150 other doors.

I keep half expecting to bump into two young twin girls exiting the elevator, followed by a tidal wave of blood….

…all work and no play make Martin a dull boy…

…all work and no play make Martin a dull boy…

…all work and no play make Martin a dull boy…

…all work and no play make Martin a dull boy…

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been going through the process of mediation with Nominet UK, the organisation responsible for the administration of domain names in the UK.

The reason for this was a claim by me via Nominet of an abusive registration of the domain name www.conaghan.co.uk by a company called Registration Transfers Limited, based in Dunstable.

RTL are currently asking for £5,000 (£5,875 including VAT) for the domain name.

However, the average price of a .co.uk domain is about £10 for two years and there is no significant commercial value in the conaghan.co.uk domain (other than my own particular desire to obtain it).

However, the owner of RTL, a chap called Ian Clayton, has absolutely no legal connection with the Conaghan name and has registered the domain for no other reason than to excessively profit from the sale of it.

Unfortunately, because of the way that Nominet operates, in order to move the process on to the decision stage, I have to pay £750.

The decision stage looks at the available information and determines whether an abusive registration has been made, then attributes the domain ownership accordingly.

I obviously understand that procedures have to be put in place to prevent frivolous claims, but I’m disappointed that the process doesn’t allow for arbitration in circumstances where the claimant’s expenses would exceed the amount ordinarily required to simply register a domain.

As things stand, I won’t be proceeding with the claim.

For now.

Maybe it’s because I’m a parent now, but I found it difficult to read the story of charming little two-year-old Mateo, who wandered into East Bakersfield in California, having evidently been abandoned.

His plight has captivated the people of Bakersfield, but I simply cannot imagine any circumstances that could lead to such a tragedy.

Add this to the horrible details of a one-year-old boy in Utah found at 3am crawling down the street clad only in a soiled nappy, with scrapes, blood and dirt on his hands, knees and face from crawling on the road.

According to ADSLGuide.org.uk, my home town exchange has reached the required trigger level of 400 registrations in order to be ADSL-enabled.

The exchange will now have a final check carried out by BT on the registration data.

If all of the registrations appear to be valid, in the next two to three weeks BT will publish a ‘Ready For Service’ date, which indicates when the first users will be able to connect on the exchange.

I recently enquired to BT as to whether the pre-registration I made in June 2000 (which was a “free connection when your exchange is enabled” offer) is still valid.

They replied with a cut/copy/paste response blabbing on about how popular ADSL is and the criteria for an exchange being upgraded – which wasn’t what I asked for.

I replied to this effect, and whilst they acknowledged my second email, they have yet to respond to my original query.

I’m anticipating more delaying tactics by BT on both the upgrading of the exchange, and my “free connection offer” query.

I would not be in the least bit surprised if they have lost my pre-registration.