In my musings on the subject of what I should start researching for tomorrow's post I started to think about my own list of saved links. Bookmarks to the regular web user are a way of getting back to stuff quickly. I have a number of selections of bookmarks and one such section is the Thanet tool bar folder which is located just above my Stumble Upon bar (those yet to explore said SU do not know what they are missing so find out now).

This is the list of things I have bookmarked for tool bar easy access in my Thanet folder at the moment. Of course there are also my feed based "live bookmarks" (a firefox thing) and the bigger bulk of "other" bookmarks. But just for amusment purposes here is a "link dump" of my current collection for Thanet.

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» Continue Reading: What is Matt bookmarking in Thanet?

I attempted to view the Thanet blog list today and discovered that there was a spam site where the listing should be. The site is running domainless on IP 74.54.78.34 which is connected to a domain "websitewelcome.com". The whois data on this domain is hidden by a proxy service.

The domain name (which is where the problem seems to be) has been registered until next year (07-Dec-2008 according to dns stuff) but some change was made on the 28th of December this year. This suggests to me that someone has hijacked the domain (I hope not) or his website's ISP has big issues.

I hope things get sorted out soon.

Update: It seems that the domain websitewelcome.com is part of the private reseller system for hostgator.com. It might be that a small scale host has folded and taken our list with them. I have a server with available space if it will help.

Update 2: Not gone just moving hosts.

Not so long ago I took my wife to Cosmo for lunch. It is not the first time that we had been there having been introduced to the place by friends during the summer of 2007. What will appeal to many might be the eat as much as you like buffet but there is more to Cosmo than simply filling your face.

When we arrived (after filing needless paperwork with the council for an unnecessarily review so that pointless paperwork can be done resulting in no change) it was moderately busy but did not, in anyway, feel crowded. Even after the school party arrived there was never a moment when there was a feeling of the restaurant being anywhere near "over full" as can happen. This is as much a compliment to the layout planing and atmosphere as to the staff.

I am a fussy eater and a creature of habit. If an eater offends me I shall never return but impress me and I will make an effort to come back. This visit to Cosmo I made a specific effort to pay close attention to the dishes, the service and those parts that are often overlooked.

Cosmo is located next to what was once the Dreamland Cinema along Margate seafront. It's a chilly walk this time of year past the remnant of what might have been. However, it is well worth it once you get inside.

This is my review of that visit.

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» Continue Reading: Cosmo Chinese Restaurant

One of the biggest worries for me when eating in a new place for the first time is that I have no idea what the kitchen is like. Almost everyone has heard at least one shocking story of kitchens you would not feed an animal in and the almost statutory bad chief story. So before you eat out how can you be sure of what it will be like.

The short answer, of course, is that you can not be sure. But that should not stop you from doing what you can to find out what you can. Thanet sadly does not have much by the way of good food review. There is some but when it comes to searching the web you can often come up dry.

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» Continue Reading: How good is their food?

Readers will recall that a little while ago I mentioned that Christmas was a time of debts (Beating Debt at Christmas, 15th December 2007) and it could cost you significantly if predatory lenders get their claws into you. For the poorer person of Thanet it's not just the lenders to worry about. The Council's collection on rent debts has become ever more insistent and tenants that get into trouble over Christmas could be on the street by new year.

In conversation with a councilor I shall not name it came to light that many councilors have been spending increasing amounts of time trying to advise constituents that have been getting into financial trouble. It seems that "the credit crunch" has already hit for many people in Thanet and a crisis is quietly brewing. This is backed up by the increased aggression with which the Council Tax and Rent Collection departments have been seeking their money where fairness is forgotten in favour of "the letter of the law".

On the subject of personal money management you may find this great page worth a read (even if it was written by an American) Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards.

However is a disaster brewing and if so what can be done about it?

According to the BBC while I was working happily away sitting at the dinning table with my Toshiba Notebook not so far away Thor Chemicals was having a smolderingly bad time. (link).

No one was hurt although six fire trucks were in attendance and I can only imaging how snarled up conditions are going to be. It's a good distance from the Westwood Cross Roundabout but I can only imagine what things will be like should traffic back up that far. Today is possibly not the best day to do your Christmas shopping.

"Police say there is no danger but are warning people living between College Road and the Westwood Industrial Estate to stay in doors as a precaution."
Crews douse chemical factory fire, BBC News 24, 19 December 2007, 11:58

I'm no expert in these matters but that sounds a little contradictory to me. Then again in our law suit culture we seem to be adopting perhaps this is the standard disclaimer line the police have to give? Any one know if this is the case?

Update 12:24

Unless anything has changed in the last half hour the road is closed.

"A254 Kentoundabout junction and the Farley Road junction in Broadstairs - Margate Road closed both ways between the Pearce Sign's R, because of a building fire at Chemicals Factory.

Live travel news: Kent's roads, BBC Kent, 19th December 2007, 11:55 (am)

After reading about the threats to what little culture we have been able to hold on to in Thanet in the form of badly funded and under performing museums I decided to do a little homework. The short story is that things don't look especially bright at the moment (links for the full story at the end).

I have lived in Thanet 31 years and spent a great deal of my youth interested in the maritime Museum (which I actually only visted 3 times due to it often being shut) and Ramsgate's once fantastic library where I learned to love books. I did not even know that Thanet had any more to offer. I remember once when I was about 12 or so thinking that it was a bit poor that there were not more interesting places to go in the area.

Thinking about it I could have probably named the shell grotto but it was not until sometime after I had finished my A levels that I even knew where it was and only then because I needed to ride a bus past it. The big problem is that I simply did not know where to look. These things are a well kept secret, let me tell you.

So 31 years later when the dull afternoons are filled with shopping trips, in-laws, business meetings and children too young to enjoy it all I discover I could have been learning more after all.

Why did no one tell me?

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» Continue Reading: Why did no one tell me Thanet has a museum or six?

Live in Thanet is a social networking site for people that live in Thanet. Make friends, contacts and associates. Good for business and for play. Below is a slide show of recent photo's added to the site.


Find more photos like this on Live in Thanet

Blog Clue (blogclue.com) is a cross between a wiki and a search engine. Much like the more famous examples you can use it's URL structure to point tags at. Tags (in case you have been living under a rock) are a way of marking blog posts (and other things).

To qualify for the tag micro format the link URL must be the same text as the linked text from the last slash to the end. Lots of sites have suitable structures media wiki installations like the wikipedia are one such example. Blog Clue is another.

The page for Thanet was, until today, lacking a reasonable write up. Even after my modest attempts I am sure there is more that can be said. Therefore I am going to make it a minor mission of mine to encourage my fellow Thanet bloggers to make the listing the best that there is.

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» Continue Reading: Blog Clue on Thanet

The world of the arts is something that Thanet is deeply lacking. For all the talk of "revamping" the libraries (by moving council services into them) and the black hole that is the Turner Centre we are a deeply deprived area. Were it not for a few souls working hard to bring things finer than say, a pint of cheap larger to the masses, we in Thanet would be totally bereft.

One such group is the voluntary organisation known as Thanet Film Society. Thanet Film Society have since 1994 been bringing independent and foreign film to Thanet and screening them in real cinemas too (Such as The Windsor where things started). This flavour that is not the spoon fed mainstream of "blockbusters" and template driven formalised stories could as easily disappear tomorrow as stay with us forever.

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» Continue Reading: Media in Thanet

Introduction by a Thanet business blogger

My Name is Matt and I am a small business owner from Thanet. I have been blogging for a long time but have done little to address the unique needs and issues of doing business in an economically deprived district. In this blog I will be focusing on successful blogging in Thanet.

The possible meanings or marks of success are as many and varied as the people you might ask. For this reason I will define success as having a large readership or an active community as the base line of success for a blog. Success in business is clearer: creating and sustaining viable economic activity - something not so easy to do within Thanet.

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» Continue Reading: The Thanet Star