It's a bank holiday weekend, so that traditionally means that it is pretty much guaranteed to rain and be at least ten degrees cooler than it was last weekend. Inspired by deKay's posting of Advanced Lawnmower Simulator as his game of the week, I dodged the showers after work and unleashed hell (aka the flymo) on the lawn (aka the jungle) and it now looks half way respectable. Or at least green. Or something.
In politics news, we had a leaflet through the door from the English Democrats (or 'I can't believe it's not the BNP') with the usual frothing at the mouth about all of those wily foreigners coming over here and taking all the jobs. The delicious irony is that the candidate turns out to have spent most of his life working for the oil industry in West Africa and France. That makes him a ... gasp! ... economic migrant! Oh noes! He should deport himself immediately.
In other politics news, I am currently listening to the Guardian Tech Weekly election podcast and the Lib Dem spokesman is called Lord Razzle - one can only hope that he will be made minister in charge of cheap porn ... :-)
Anyhoo, I hereby declare this bank holiday weekend ... open!
Friday, April 30, 2010
- 19:21 4 of 5 stars to Under the Dome by Stephen King bit.ly/daUMmv #
- 20:42 Crikey - that colour changing background is a bit distracting! #
- 20:59 Tough on banks, tough on the causes of banks! #
- 21:03 Who's for a drinking game? A shot every time somebody mentions Obama! #
- 21:07 Yay! Sheffield again! Two shots! #
- 21:19 Tough on hospital cleaners, tough on the causes of hospital cleaners! #
- 21:23 What council housing is that, Dave? #
- 21:28 Yes or no Dave! #
- 21:28 Fight! Fight! #
- 21:35 Let's have another housing boom, because the last one worked so well ... #
- 21:47 Where do they candidates stand on hitting children with lead weights and shouting 'Die! Die! Die!'? #
- 21:51 I bet that kid that got brained with the lead weight doesn't remember his teacher ... :-) #
- 21:53 2 and half billion each? #
- 21:55 Where's my massage suite and contemplation room? #
- 22:00 Mum! Gordon's scaring me! #
- 22:02 The debate's just finished in time for @charltonbrooker on C4 - hurrah! #
- 07:41 Check this video out -- Tim Minchin - Pope Song youtu.be/fHRDfut2Vx0 #
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Red Tide
What I would like, just for once, is for a politician to stand up and say that immigration is a good thing.
We've had thousands of years of people coming to this country, bringing fresh ideas and enriching our culture (and occasionally raping and pillaging, but you take the rough with the smooth). If somebody has the gumption to travel halfway round the world and then knuckle down to working then fair play to them. I am proud to live in a country that is regarded as being free and fair, and it makes me sick to think that we are deporting people back to barbarous regimes where their lives are in danger in order to meet some mythical quota of 'acceptable' immigration.
I am angry with Gordon Brown though. He should have been honest yesterday, rather than glad handing the Rochdale pensioner and then letting his true feelings slip later. Somebody once said that a gaffe is when a politician accidentally says something true, but this is a monumental blunder and an open goal for the Murdoch press.
For years the mainstream parties have followed the tabloid line by using coded rhetoric about 'hard working families' who are 'worried' by 'mass immigration' and 'opening the floodgates', and Brown has followed suit to grub a few extra votes. In doing so, he has given himself a huge hostage to fortune, that he could so easily have avoided.
Thinking back to 1997, I remember the sense of optimism that the sleaze, incompetence and arrogance of the Thatcher and Major years was at last on the way out and that things would get better. Since then, we have had futile and bloody wars, petty corruption, economic meltdown and the biggest erosion of civil liberties that I can ever remember. Brown has nosedived the Labour Party into the ground and Cameron is a slick frontman for the usual suspects who have been biding their time for the last thirteen years.
Can Clegg make a difference? I sincerely hope so ...
We've had thousands of years of people coming to this country, bringing fresh ideas and enriching our culture (and occasionally raping and pillaging, but you take the rough with the smooth). If somebody has the gumption to travel halfway round the world and then knuckle down to working then fair play to them. I am proud to live in a country that is regarded as being free and fair, and it makes me sick to think that we are deporting people back to barbarous regimes where their lives are in danger in order to meet some mythical quota of 'acceptable' immigration.
I am angry with Gordon Brown though. He should have been honest yesterday, rather than glad handing the Rochdale pensioner and then letting his true feelings slip later. Somebody once said that a gaffe is when a politician accidentally says something true, but this is a monumental blunder and an open goal for the Murdoch press.
For years the mainstream parties have followed the tabloid line by using coded rhetoric about 'hard working families' who are 'worried' by 'mass immigration' and 'opening the floodgates', and Brown has followed suit to grub a few extra votes. In doing so, he has given himself a huge hostage to fortune, that he could so easily have avoided.
Thinking back to 1997, I remember the sense of optimism that the sleaze, incompetence and arrogance of the Thatcher and Major years was at last on the way out and that things would get better. Since then, we have had futile and bloody wars, petty corruption, economic meltdown and the biggest erosion of civil liberties that I can ever remember. Brown has nosedived the Labour Party into the ground and Cameron is a slick frontman for the usual suspects who have been biding their time for the last thirteen years.
Can Clegg make a difference? I sincerely hope so ...
Under The Dome - Stephen King
Under the Dome by Stephen KingMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the sleepy Maine town of Chester's Mill, folk are simply getting on with their lives on a typical late Fall day. One person is making his way out of town - Dale 'Barbie' Barbara, Iraq veteran and lately short order cook at the local diner until he got on the wrong side of a gang of good ol' boys. Unfortunately for him the gang included the son of the town's second selectman, car dealer and de facto head honcho 'Big Jim' Rennie - exactly the sort of fellow that you don't want as an enemy. Barbie is nearly at the town line when quietly and without fuss the town is cut off, surrounded by an invisible dome that will allow nothing to pass.
The immediate consequences include a crashed plane, and several car accidents as vehicles hit the barrier and come to grief. The longer term effects are far more serious, as Big Jim sees his chance to seize control of the town. He establishes his own private police force and sets about settling scores and making sure that none of his dirty little secrets will come to light - and there are plenty of secrets to be hidden in Chester's Mill.
No one writes about life in small town America with the same eye for detail and authenticity as Stephen King. He deftly weaves this story with a large cast of characters, and plots the brutally swift collapse of civilised behaviour in the isolated town. There are allusions to the events of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, as well as the Stanford prison experiment, and when things go bad, they go bad very quickly in ways that are all too believable. The environmental consequences are charted too, as resources start to run out and pollution chokes the air.
Definitely one of King's better books of recent years, as well as one of the longest, and the audiobook is superbly narrated.
View all my reviews >>
- 20:51 Ban this sick filth etc twitpic.com/1j64xd #
- 15:13 #ebz The Bazaar's conveniently located for Hell, and Hell's envoys keep stalls and warehouses here. Wh... fallenlondon.com/c/62969 #
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Hot, blue and righteous
It was hot and muggy in the office today, even with the windows open. The air conditioning system still hasn't quite cottoned on to the state of the weather yet. It's like the situation with the radiators which are always guaranteed to come on full blast on the first of October, regardless of the ambient temperature.
There was a bit of a fresh breeze outside though when I went out for a walk at lunchtime, making it two days in a row. I don't know if I'll make a habit of using the Runkeeper record, but it was interesting to see where I ended up yesterday. I do get slightly irritated by the automated Foursquare posts that some people generate on Twitter that give a public account of where they are at any given moment, but at least with Runkeeper it is under my control.
Two items of games news.
I downloaded the demo of Blur on xbox the other day, which to my mild disappointment is not a Britpop sim but is instead an utterly crack-a-lack ding-dong racing game that is something like a cross between Project Gotham Racing and Mario Kart. It takes various real world cars like the Focus and the Sirocco, gives them a selection of colourful power ups of various flavours and then sets them loose on some ludicrously frenetic multi-player races. Good fun in short bursts on Live, but I don't know if I'd be that fussed about getting the game just to play the single player mode. Being hit with a lightning bolt or an earthquake just as you are about to cross the finishing line is bad enough when it's your friend doing it, but just plain nasty when it's the computer.
Alan Wake, a psychological thriller due out in the middle of May, now has a series of prequel webisodes to set the scene. The game is heavily influenced by Stephen King, featuring an amnesiac writer as the eponymous protagonist, with a generous helping of Twin Peaks in its Pacific North West woodland setting and cast of eccentric town folk to boot. Needless to say, I have the game on pre-order already, and these videos are well worth a gander.
There was a bit of a fresh breeze outside though when I went out for a walk at lunchtime, making it two days in a row. I don't know if I'll make a habit of using the Runkeeper record, but it was interesting to see where I ended up yesterday. I do get slightly irritated by the automated Foursquare posts that some people generate on Twitter that give a public account of where they are at any given moment, but at least with Runkeeper it is under my control.
Two items of games news.
I downloaded the demo of Blur on xbox the other day, which to my mild disappointment is not a Britpop sim but is instead an utterly crack-a-lack ding-dong racing game that is something like a cross between Project Gotham Racing and Mario Kart. It takes various real world cars like the Focus and the Sirocco, gives them a selection of colourful power ups of various flavours and then sets them loose on some ludicrously frenetic multi-player races. Good fun in short bursts on Live, but I don't know if I'd be that fussed about getting the game just to play the single player mode. Being hit with a lightning bolt or an earthquake just as you are about to cross the finishing line is bad enough when it's your friend doing it, but just plain nasty when it's the computer.
Alan Wake, a psychological thriller due out in the middle of May, now has a series of prequel webisodes to set the scene. The game is heavily influenced by Stephen King, featuring an amnesiac writer as the eponymous protagonist, with a generous helping of Twin Peaks in its Pacific North West woodland setting and cast of eccentric town folk to boot. Needless to say, I have the game on pre-order already, and these videos are well worth a gander.
- 19:20 It's Haikusday! bit.ly/a2LlyH #haiku #
- 13:55 #ebz The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat! Comes for the child who acts like a brat! fallenlondon.com/c/62013 #
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Haikusday
Psephologists fret
Re consequences of a
Hung Parliament
Poll figures in flux
Playing games of 'What If?' with
Imaginary votes
Overcast but warm
Lunchtime walk by the canal
Followed by iced drink
Rusted behemoth
Serves towers of glass and chrome
Ancient and modern
Tricksy bit of code
To merge elements into
An RTF file
Spare room door ajar
Frank decides on new routine
Snoozes there instead
Re consequences of a
Hung Parliament
Poll figures in flux
Playing games of 'What If?' with
Imaginary votes
Overcast but warm
Lunchtime walk by the canal
Followed by iced drink
Rusted behemoth
Serves towers of glass and chrome
Ancient and modern
Tricksy bit of code
To merge elements into
An RTF file
Spare room door ajar
Frank decides on new routine
Snoozes there instead
Monday, April 26, 2010
Creation
Our TV reception has been a bit rubbish recently, at least on ITV and Channel 4, so I did a bit of digging to see what might be wrong. Apparently there has been work going on on the Emley Moor transmitter for a couple of weeks but we've only just noticed which shows how little we watch those channels.
In fact, there are only a handful of things that I make an effort to watch - Doctor Who obviously, and Ashes to Ashes (although that is more for the back story and the 80s music, rather than the lacklustre plots), a handful of comedy shows, and occasional science documentaries on BBC4 and that's about it.
After forgetting to set the recording for Doctor Who, we ended up watching it via iPlayer on the Wii. Apart from a slight bit of pixellation in places it was perfectly watchable and even better, it didn't have the ridiculous animated Graham Norton trailer plastered over the final scene. The BBC schedulers really do seem to treat the programmes as an annoying interruption to their trails, promos and whizzy on-screen graphics.
In games news, I picked up Dizzy Pad as a freebie Friday deal last week and I'm enjoying it. It's a simple one button game of jumping your froglet from one spinning lily pad to the next without dropping in the water, but impeccably presented with charming music and some nice graphical touches such as ripples on the surface of the water when you land. Perfect for a spot of casual gaming.
In OU news, I've submished my TMA 04s for both M150 and T175, so hurrah for that. Just the ECAs to do now for the end of May, and I need to start thinking about my next course. Hmmmm.
In fact, there are only a handful of things that I make an effort to watch - Doctor Who obviously, and Ashes to Ashes (although that is more for the back story and the 80s music, rather than the lacklustre plots), a handful of comedy shows, and occasional science documentaries on BBC4 and that's about it.
After forgetting to set the recording for Doctor Who, we ended up watching it via iPlayer on the Wii. Apart from a slight bit of pixellation in places it was perfectly watchable and even better, it didn't have the ridiculous animated Graham Norton trailer plastered over the final scene. The BBC schedulers really do seem to treat the programmes as an annoying interruption to their trails, promos and whizzy on-screen graphics.
In games news, I picked up Dizzy Pad as a freebie Friday deal last week and I'm enjoying it. It's a simple one button game of jumping your froglet from one spinning lily pad to the next without dropping in the water, but impeccably presented with charming music and some nice graphical touches such as ripples on the surface of the water when you land. Perfect for a spot of casual gaming.
In OU news, I've submished my TMA 04s for both M150 and T175, so hurrah for that. Just the ECAs to do now for the end of May, and I need to start thinking about my next course. Hmmmm.
- 20:59 Pope 'could cancel UK visit' over 'offensive' Foreign Office memo - RESULT! bit.ly/9XVuTa #
- 13:33 #ebz They say it's a series of confidential negotiations between the Masters and a devil of some note.... fallenlondon.com/c/60487 #
Sunday, April 25, 2010
- 20:06 Snack time! twitpic.com/1i4o0f #
- 08:14 Hang on - why are we worrying about upsetting the pope? I don't recall him ever worrying about upsetting us. #
- 11:22 It's time for Sunday Links! dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2010/04/sunday-links_25.html #
- 13:17 Cheese and bean wrap for lunch - think I may just have overdone the jalapeños and chilli sauce ... :-) #
- 18:29 T175 TMA done and dusted - time to play Animal Crossing now! #
East of the Sun
I was slightly cross when I listened to the news this morning.
Apparently the Foreign Office has issued an apology to the Pope after a memo with suggestions for his visit was made public, including such ideas as Benedict condoms, visiting an AIDS ward and the blessing of a gay marriage. Apparently we have to not offend the Pope's sensibilities, even if they are bigoted and medieval.
I disagree.
If the Pope wants to espouse his views then he should face the consequences of his policies. No condoms? Tell that to people with HIV and women with unwanted pregnancies. Homosexuality is wrong? Tell that to a couple making a lifetime commitment to each other. The reputation of the Church is paramount? Tell that to the children who have been raped by priests.
Every ugly pronouncement that the Pope has made, every weaselly memo and snide condemnation should be thrown back in his face, and he should swallow every single one of them.
Oh, and while we're at it, they can install one of those wind machines underneath every podium to blow the Pope's skirts up in a Marilyn Monroe stylee every time he says something offensive. That should lend the occasion the correct air of gravitas.
In other news, I finished off my T175 TMA with an analysis of the ID card legislation and associated technology and jolly interesting it was too. Did you know that the scheme is still part of Labour's manifesto along with the claim that it will be 'self financing' - in other words, we are all going to be paying for it. Gee thanks.
Apparently the Foreign Office has issued an apology to the Pope after a memo with suggestions for his visit was made public, including such ideas as Benedict condoms, visiting an AIDS ward and the blessing of a gay marriage. Apparently we have to not offend the Pope's sensibilities, even if they are bigoted and medieval.
I disagree.
If the Pope wants to espouse his views then he should face the consequences of his policies. No condoms? Tell that to people with HIV and women with unwanted pregnancies. Homosexuality is wrong? Tell that to a couple making a lifetime commitment to each other. The reputation of the Church is paramount? Tell that to the children who have been raped by priests.
Every ugly pronouncement that the Pope has made, every weaselly memo and snide condemnation should be thrown back in his face, and he should swallow every single one of them.
Oh, and while we're at it, they can install one of those wind machines underneath every podium to blow the Pope's skirts up in a Marilyn Monroe stylee every time he says something offensive. That should lend the occasion the correct air of gravitas.
In other news, I finished off my T175 TMA with an analysis of the ID card legislation and associated technology and jolly interesting it was too. Did you know that the scheme is still part of Labour's manifesto along with the claim that it will be 'self financing' - in other words, we are all going to be paying for it. Gee thanks.
Sunday Links
- Baby Wolverines Are Not So Fierce - ZooBorns
- Randi on TED Legendary skeptic in a searing smackdown of woo
- Food for The Eagle Adam Savage's speech to Harvard Humanism Society
- Trick or Treatment If you were thinking of visiting a bogus spine wizard, then perhaps you need to read this chapter from Simon Singh's book first
- Memento A silent tale from comics maestro Bryan Talbot
- When it Will Be Silent An apocalyptic SF short film
- Ten Things You Don’t Know About Comets Bad Astronomy
- More from Eyjafjallajokull The Big Picture
- A brief history of the swingometer
- Why Content Is a Public Good An excellent blogpost explaining the economics of content on the internet by Milena Popova. Essential reading.
- Top 10 Nuclear Explosions Boom!
- Plotting the orbits of Cassini
- MOON8 Dark Side of the Moon given the chiptune treatment
- Akihabara An HTML5 toolbox for creating browser games
- Doom 2D Surprisingly faithful 2D platform game take on Doom
- HATETRIS You know when you think that a Tetris game is purposely giving you the most awkward pieces? Well, this one really is ...
Saturday, April 24, 2010
- 23:22 #ebz The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat! Sits on your chest when you're sleeping flat! fallenlondon.com/c/58357 #
- 10:50 Ezsqueeze me - is dis da queue for second breffasts? #caturday twitpic.com/1i08ws #
Crystalline Green
Warm weather, with the cats basking outside for most of the day rather than sleeping on the bed as they are normally wont to do. The woods are greening over once more and the bluebells are finally starting to appear, somewhat later than usual.
Quite a productive day, with half of my T175 TMA typed up in a presentable state and notes done for the remainder, so that shouldn't take me too long to sort out tomorrow. I do enjoy working in my study with the window open and a breeze blowing.
Last night's film was 'Faintheart' which I added to my Lovefilm list on Simon Singh's recommendation. Low budget British romantic comedies are usually a genre that fills me with more horror than the entire oeuvre of Sam Raimi, but this was a goody. Richard is a bit of a loser, he works in a DIY store stacking shelves, his son is embarrassed to be seen with him, his wife has left him, his best friend is a Star Trek geek who still lives with his mum and they both spend their weekends dressing up as Vikings as part of the 'Bloody Broadswords'. Can he rescue his marriage, earn the respect of his son and face up to his responsibilities as an adult? Well, what do you think ... This film should appeal to anyone who has ever been involved in re-enacting to any degree, or has found the worlds of fantasy preferable to the real one. Not a great movie, but it made me smile and brought a lump to my throat once or twice, and that's good enough for a Friday night in my book.
A quick recommendation as well for Coverville Episode 666 which has a suitably diabolical theme, and is worth downloading if only for the utterly awesome cover of 'Sympathy For The Devil' by the Slovenian industrialist group Laibach. Aces.
Quite a productive day, with half of my T175 TMA typed up in a presentable state and notes done for the remainder, so that shouldn't take me too long to sort out tomorrow. I do enjoy working in my study with the window open and a breeze blowing.
Last night's film was 'Faintheart' which I added to my Lovefilm list on Simon Singh's recommendation. Low budget British romantic comedies are usually a genre that fills me with more horror than the entire oeuvre of Sam Raimi, but this was a goody. Richard is a bit of a loser, he works in a DIY store stacking shelves, his son is embarrassed to be seen with him, his wife has left him, his best friend is a Star Trek geek who still lives with his mum and they both spend their weekends dressing up as Vikings as part of the 'Bloody Broadswords'. Can he rescue his marriage, earn the respect of his son and face up to his responsibilities as an adult? Well, what do you think ... This film should appeal to anyone who has ever been involved in re-enacting to any degree, or has found the worlds of fantasy preferable to the real one. Not a great movie, but it made me smile and brought a lump to my throat once or twice, and that's good enough for a Friday night in my book.
A quick recommendation as well for Coverville Episode 666 which has a suitably diabolical theme, and is worth downloading if only for the utterly awesome cover of 'Sympathy For The Devil' by the Slovenian industrialist group Laibach. Aces.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Baroque Bordello
A slightly chilly start to the day, but the temperature started picking up in the afternoon which dried the washing on the line quite satisfactorily and was just about perfect for the five o'clock walk with the dog too. The weather forecast is promising sunny and warm tomorrow too, so hurrah for that.
I finished off my M150 TMA this evening and I'm quite pleased with, particularly my analysis of the policing of the G20 protests. That just leaves the T175 to type up tomorrow and then I can get started on the two end of course assessments. Phew.
I had a bit of butter-fingers moment when I finished work tonight though. I picked up coffee cups to take downstairs, with my TMA printout and iphone in my other hand, when the phone slipped, bounced off the sofa bed and onto the floor. Fortunately the case worked admirably and no damage was done, but it did lead to one or two words of choice invective, to say the least.
Time for a glass of wine and a plate of chilli olives whilst listening to a 'Vote Now!' show from the other night.
I finished off my M150 TMA this evening and I'm quite pleased with, particularly my analysis of the policing of the G20 protests. That just leaves the T175 to type up tomorrow and then I can get started on the two end of course assessments. Phew.
I had a bit of butter-fingers moment when I finished work tonight though. I picked up coffee cups to take downstairs, with my TMA printout and iphone in my other hand, when the phone slipped, bounced off the sofa bed and onto the floor. Fortunately the case worked admirably and no damage was done, but it did lead to one or two words of choice invective, to say the least.
Time for a glass of wine and a plate of chilli olives whilst listening to a 'Vote Now!' show from the other night.
- 19:35 Watching @ProfBrianCox 's lecture online - inspirational stuff! twitpic.com/1hkdla #
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Big Science
It almost goes without saying that today was yet another lovely day, weather wise. The garden is definitely starting to green up now, and the bushes are in desperate of a bit of hack and slash to bring them to heel. Maybe this weekend, we shall see. TMAs to complete and submish first though.
More tabloid hysteria about the rise of the Lib Dems and it is all starting to get a bit desperate now, with the supreme irony being the Daily Mail (the paper that still says 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts!') using the words 'Clegg' and 'Nazi' in the same headline. Iain Dale, bless his little Tory socks, has pointed out that personal attacks against Nick Clegg are a huge tactical error that is certain to backfire. It really is a case of if you strike Nick Clegg down, he will return more powerful than you can possibly imagine. If you need any further evidence just go and have a look on Twitter for all of the things that are #nickcleggsfault ...
In contrast, we have just watched Brian Cox give a public lecture at Manchester University via the web and it was inspirational stuff. From particle physics at CERN to the big bang to the pale, blue dot of Earth as seen from the Voyager space probe 4 billion miles away, he made it abundantly clear exactly why it is worth investing in science and education, especially when times are tight financially. For a couple of billion extra in the budget we could be world leaders in science, with benefits for everyone in terms of knowledge, understanding and serendipitous discoveries. This really should be an election issue to pin the candidates down on.
More tabloid hysteria about the rise of the Lib Dems and it is all starting to get a bit desperate now, with the supreme irony being the Daily Mail (the paper that still says 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts!') using the words 'Clegg' and 'Nazi' in the same headline. Iain Dale, bless his little Tory socks, has pointed out that personal attacks against Nick Clegg are a huge tactical error that is certain to backfire. It really is a case of if you strike Nick Clegg down, he will return more powerful than you can possibly imagine. If you need any further evidence just go and have a look on Twitter for all of the things that are #nickcleggsfault ...
In contrast, we have just watched Brian Cox give a public lecture at Manchester University via the web and it was inspirational stuff. From particle physics at CERN to the big bang to the pale, blue dot of Earth as seen from the Voyager space probe 4 billion miles away, he made it abundantly clear exactly why it is worth investing in science and education, especially when times are tight financially. For a couple of billion extra in the budget we could be world leaders in science, with benefits for everyone in terms of knowledge, understanding and serendipitous discoveries. This really should be an election issue to pin the candidates down on.
- 06:55 #ebz They say it's the mathematics of Hell. They say it's the geography of Time. They say it was inven... fallenlondon.com/c/56949 #
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Blue in Green
Another beautifully clear day, with a crisp touch in the air first thing and the promise of Spring warmth to come. It looks set fair for the weekend too, which will be nice. The contrails are starting to creep back into the sky, but we can't have everything.
It's too early to say whether this will be the first Twitter election. The buzz around the Lib Dem's recent poll results has been encouraging, and I hope it will have nudged some people to register and vote who might not otherwise have bothered. Two more debates to go and it will be interesting to see if the momentum continues after those.
We haven't seen any major Twitter storms yet, apart from a minor skirmish yesterday when a rather nasty ad hom attack on Dr Evan Harris by the catholic commentator Christina Odone in the Telegraph got picked up and fisked in fairly short order. I don't suppose that a set of comments on the internet version of the story will have made any difference to the legion of Colonel Bufton Tuftons who would have already read this piece over their morning cornflakes, but it might give the editorial team and Odone herself pause for thought before they next reach for their poison pens.
I was having a nosey on the task manager on my work laptop to see why it was chugging when I noticed that the various bits of the anti-virus software were using 120Mb between them - more than twice as much as the next biggest process, the bloated Outlook. Good grief, no wonder it's slow when it has got to chunk things like that around in its 2GB of ram. What on earth is it loading up in order to run? The mind boggles.
It's too early to say whether this will be the first Twitter election. The buzz around the Lib Dem's recent poll results has been encouraging, and I hope it will have nudged some people to register and vote who might not otherwise have bothered. Two more debates to go and it will be interesting to see if the momentum continues after those.
We haven't seen any major Twitter storms yet, apart from a minor skirmish yesterday when a rather nasty ad hom attack on Dr Evan Harris by the catholic commentator Christina Odone in the Telegraph got picked up and fisked in fairly short order. I don't suppose that a set of comments on the internet version of the story will have made any difference to the legion of Colonel Bufton Tuftons who would have already read this piece over their morning cornflakes, but it might give the editorial team and Odone herself pause for thought before they next reach for their poison pens.
I was having a nosey on the task manager on my work laptop to see why it was chugging when I noticed that the various bits of the anti-virus software were using 120Mb between them - more than twice as much as the next biggest process, the bloated Outlook. Good grief, no wonder it's slow when it has got to chunk things like that around in its 2GB of ram. What on earth is it loading up in order to run? The mind boggles.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
- 07:03 #ebz The Square of Lofty Words is always worth a visit. Go and throw some bread to the philosophers. T... fallenlondon.com/c/55570 #
Haikusday
Clear blue skies, unmarked
Carbon footprint reduced by
Surtr's fiery wrath
Finite resources
Can't support infinite growth
Economic truth
Echoes of the past
Take the fight to the fascists
Barnsley loves music
End of course in sight
Two more submissions and then
Final assessment
If you see someone
Drowning at sea, this is not
A helpful response
To her great surprise
Odone incurs the ire
Of the nerd army
I think Sheffield needs
A cross city monorail
Transport Tycoon dreams
Carbon footprint reduced by
Surtr's fiery wrath
Finite resources
Can't support infinite growth
Economic truth
Echoes of the past
Take the fight to the fascists
Barnsley loves music
End of course in sight
Two more submissions and then
Final assessment
If you see someone
Drowning at sea, this is not
A helpful response
To her great surprise
Odone incurs the ire
Of the nerd army
I think Sheffield needs
A cross city monorail
Transport Tycoon dreams
Monday, April 19, 2010
Dance on a Volcano
From being warm enough to go out in a t-shirt at the weekend to four degrees and raining this morning, hmmm. I wonder if it's something to do with the volcano - perhaps we should be chucking in the odd virgin or two to see if that helps at all? Somebody book Anne Widdicombe a one way boat trip to Iceland, asap ... :-)
On the plus side, the shutdown of the air space must have had an effect on carbon emissions - it did shock me (although I suppose it shouldn't have) to learn that we import flowers from Kenya via air freight. How can that possibly be sensible use of scare resources? I suspect that it is only viable because of the ludicrous tax free status of aviation fuel. It really is time to call a halt to the age of cheap air travel, but nobody apart from the greens is ready to grasp that particular nettle and deprive Joe Voter of his ten quid EasyJet flights half way round the world so he can sit in the sun for a fortnight and drink the same lager that he can get in his local pub.
In election news, it must be a sign that the Lib Dems have got the big two parties rattled by the amount of vitriol that is now being directed at Nick Clegg, particularly from the Murdoch press. I can't see why the Tories are still holding out against electoral reform when they are fighting a ten point disadvantage against Labour before they can even start thinking about a parliamentary majority. We've had governments with honking great majorities, able to shove through any legislation they like, for the last thirty years and I suspect that has caused much of the current disconnection that people feel from the political process. What's the point in voting when the government always gets in?
In contrast, a dose of coalition politics where debates in the house actually matter and have a chance of shaping policies might get people involved again. It was interesting to see the involvement of people on Twitter and Facebook in the Digital Economy debate. Kicking sand in the faces of the nerd army may yet turn out to be Mandelson's biggest mistake ...
On the plus side, the shutdown of the air space must have had an effect on carbon emissions - it did shock me (although I suppose it shouldn't have) to learn that we import flowers from Kenya via air freight. How can that possibly be sensible use of scare resources? I suspect that it is only viable because of the ludicrous tax free status of aviation fuel. It really is time to call a halt to the age of cheap air travel, but nobody apart from the greens is ready to grasp that particular nettle and deprive Joe Voter of his ten quid EasyJet flights half way round the world so he can sit in the sun for a fortnight and drink the same lager that he can get in his local pub.
In election news, it must be a sign that the Lib Dems have got the big two parties rattled by the amount of vitriol that is now being directed at Nick Clegg, particularly from the Murdoch press. I can't see why the Tories are still holding out against electoral reform when they are fighting a ten point disadvantage against Labour before they can even start thinking about a parliamentary majority. We've had governments with honking great majorities, able to shove through any legislation they like, for the last thirty years and I suspect that has caused much of the current disconnection that people feel from the political process. What's the point in voting when the government always gets in?
In contrast, a dose of coalition politics where debates in the house actually matter and have a chance of shaping policies might get people involved again. It was interesting to see the involvement of people on Twitter and Facebook in the Digital Economy debate. Kicking sand in the faces of the nerd army may yet turn out to be Mandelson's biggest mistake ...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
- 20:40 I want a WWII dalek now! #
- 16:22 #ebz What do Fallen Londoners do on the Feast of the Exceptional Rose? Fallen Londoners are truly sent... fallenlondon.com/c/54307 #
Tales of the Future
Another quiet day today, with yesterday's sunshine being replaced by some gloomy, gray clouds.
A pair of science fictional treats on the telly last night, starting with Doctor Who fighting the Daleks in war torn London. It really does help to switch off all higher critical facilities and enjoy it for what it is - pure, crowd pleasing tosh. I'm not entirely convinced by the new Daleks yet, but the WWII Ironsides were excellent - I would love a model of one of these, even more so if it could deliver cups of tea on demand. I also liked the hat tip towards Asimov's positronic brains and I suspect that there will be rather a lot of fan fiction written about Bracewell's final half hour ...
The second half of the evening's viewing was District 9 in which a huge alien ship appeared in the sky over Johannesburg twenty years previously, leaving a cargo of dispossessed aliens who now live in a squalid shanty town, foraging in the rubbish heaps. I did start to wonder if it was just a very heavy handed metaphor for apartheid, but it didn't take long before it veered off in some very interesting directions. The director Neill Blomkamp was slated to direct the Halo movie at one point before it got stuck in development hell, and it is easy to see the influences not just from Halo, but also Half Life, Bioshock and Mechwarrior as well. Well worth a watch, I would say.
Talking of games, some notable freebies on the app store this weekend - the retro Cobra Command, the minimalist Auditorium and the compulsive rogue-like Sword of Fargoal. All worth a look, at the very least.
A pair of science fictional treats on the telly last night, starting with Doctor Who fighting the Daleks in war torn London. It really does help to switch off all higher critical facilities and enjoy it for what it is - pure, crowd pleasing tosh. I'm not entirely convinced by the new Daleks yet, but the WWII Ironsides were excellent - I would love a model of one of these, even more so if it could deliver cups of tea on demand. I also liked the hat tip towards Asimov's positronic brains and I suspect that there will be rather a lot of fan fiction written about Bracewell's final half hour ...
The second half of the evening's viewing was District 9 in which a huge alien ship appeared in the sky over Johannesburg twenty years previously, leaving a cargo of dispossessed aliens who now live in a squalid shanty town, foraging in the rubbish heaps. I did start to wonder if it was just a very heavy handed metaphor for apartheid, but it didn't take long before it veered off in some very interesting directions. The director Neill Blomkamp was slated to direct the Halo movie at one point before it got stuck in development hell, and it is easy to see the influences not just from Halo, but also Half Life, Bioshock and Mechwarrior as well. Well worth a watch, I would say.
Talking of games, some notable freebies on the app store this weekend - the retro Cobra Command, the minimalist Auditorium and the compulsive rogue-like Sword of Fargoal. All worth a look, at the very least.
Sunday Links
- Rare Pygmy Loris Twins Born at Moody Gardens ZooBorns. My, what big eyes you have ...
- Time Traveler Caught in Museum Photo? Dude - where's my time machine?
- Skeptic Trumps Top trumps with top skeptics, updated
- My digital pledges Tom Watson's pledges for a digital Britain. You might like to ask your local candidates if they agree with these.
- Mad Cap'n Tom on May 6, X marks the spot.
- Christ, It Works for Everything It's not just New Yorker cartoons - every comic strip ever from Garfield to Batman can be captioned with the punchine 'Christ, what an asshole!'
- Kleptomaniac Octopus
- When A Bad Movie Has One Incredibly Great Scene
- People in the shower Some excellent photographs, and just about safe for work too
- Horrifying stationery Ewww!
- Ask Four Questions Bill Drummond, 25 journalists, 4 questions each, nuff said
- Homemade centrifuge solves pressing questions of our time Such as 'Would a lava lamp work on Jupiter?'
- Vatican City Help the Pope hide the priests and avoid the protesters.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Take the A Train
To misquote the old Klingon saying, today is a good day for working with the patio doors open and a deliciously cool breeze blowing through the house.
I've submished my T175 CMA, and polished off the last question on my M150 TMA writing a report on the use of CCTV by police and video cameras by protesters during the G20 demonstrations in London last year. It really did raise some interesting (and worrying) issues about the omnipresent and ubiquitous use of surveillance technology and how it can be countered to a certain extent by 'sousveillance' where people can record the actions of the police and bring them to account.
On matters political, I fed the latest poll results (Con 31, Lib Dem 29, Lab 27) into the BBC swingometer tool which predicted that Labour would still end up with the greatest number of seats (279) and almost three times the Lib Dems total of 104. It just goes to show how broken the first past the post system is at the moment, and perhaps the best that we can hope for is that the Conservatives will finally recognise the case for electoral reform.
In games news, I found a scenario for Transport Tycoon that maps the North of England from South Yorkshire up to Teeside and I've been having fun sorting out the buses and trains around Sheffield and Ecclesfield in the 1950s before building up a highly profitable airline business in the 80s with a fleet of the game's equivalent of Concord shuttling between Doncaster and Darlington. It's rather relaxing watching your little trains (and boats and planes) pootling around the map. It works perfectly on Linux and is ideal for transport wonks and repressed train spotters like me.
I've submished my T175 CMA, and polished off the last question on my M150 TMA writing a report on the use of CCTV by police and video cameras by protesters during the G20 demonstrations in London last year. It really did raise some interesting (and worrying) issues about the omnipresent and ubiquitous use of surveillance technology and how it can be countered to a certain extent by 'sousveillance' where people can record the actions of the police and bring them to account.
On matters political, I fed the latest poll results (Con 31, Lib Dem 29, Lab 27) into the BBC swingometer tool which predicted that Labour would still end up with the greatest number of seats (279) and almost three times the Lib Dems total of 104. It just goes to show how broken the first past the post system is at the moment, and perhaps the best that we can hope for is that the Conservatives will finally recognise the case for electoral reform.
In games news, I found a scenario for Transport Tycoon that maps the North of England from South Yorkshire up to Teeside and I've been having fun sorting out the buses and trains around Sheffield and Ecclesfield in the 1950s before building up a highly profitable airline business in the 80s with a fleet of the game's equivalent of Concord shuttling between Doncaster and Darlington. It's rather relaxing watching your little trains (and boats and planes) pootling around the map. It works perfectly on Linux and is ideal for transport wonks and repressed train spotters like me.
- 20:44 #ebz In December, enterprising urchins sell bags of snow in Big King Square, even as the stuff lies in... fallenlondon.com/c/53227 #
- 08:37 I iz king uv urban jungle - hear mi roarz! #caturday twitpic.com/1g7f3z #
Friday, April 16, 2010
Fighting in Built Up Areas
You may be wondering why I am sporting a rather natty mustache in the above picture.
To be succinct, today is the birthday of the legendary Charlie Chaplin who, amongst other things, was notable for popularizing the toothbrush mustache. Until Adolf Hitler rose to power, he was probably the most well known wearer of said tache but after 1945 it all went a bit downhill for this humble bit of face furniture.
So, I am wearing the tache both in honour of a comic genius and also to make fascists look like the simple minded, playground bullies that they are. The three leaders on the television debate last night may not have impressed you with their well rehearsed soundbites and spin, but that doesn't excuse you from making a choice in a little under three weeks time. Go out and cast your ballot for anyone but the BNP. Send them a message that their brand of politics is not welcome here.
Thank you.
- 12:13 Today is Charlie Chaplin Day. If you dare wear a toothbrush moustache for democracy &remind others to vote to defeat BNP #charliechaplinday #
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Asleep in the Desert
Another Newcastle and back day, and this week I didn't manage to get away until after a quarter past four. Not good. Tired now and somewhat lacking in blogging mojo, and I really want to go an eat some food and watch as much of the leaders debate as I can take before chucking something through the telly.
Podcast Thursday
- The Appalling Mr Dali A highly entertaining look at the life of Salvador Dali by the late Malcolm McClaren - there are plenty of interesting other programmes at the link too.
- The Vote Now Show The Now Show team are doing special election shows every night. Perfect listening if you are already fed up with the political spin flooding the airwaves 24/7
- Adam Buxton's Big Mixtape Adam out of Adam and Joe is doing a show on his own, with each programme being a themed mix tape of music picked out by him and a weekly guest. The podcast manages to sneak in thirty second snippets of the songs played to get around the usual rules on not including music in BBC podcasts
- Guardian Tech Weekly This week's podcast features a debate on the Digital Economy Act and I also got a tweet read out - hurrah!
- 18:54 #ebz Residents have been known to say 'since the Fall', to mean, not the Biblical Fall, but the Descen... fallenlondon.com/c/51871 #
- 19:22 Cat vs ipad youtu.be/Q9NP-AeKX40 How come the cat gets an iPad and we have to wait until May? #
- 09:48 Chuffed to have had a tweet read out on the Guardian Tech Weekly podcast. Essential listening this week on #debill #
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Stuck in the Middle With You
Another nice day, even though I woke up early from some *very* strange dreams. To give you a flavour, the least weird was a very vivid dream of going for lunch with Clara Benn, Phil Jupitus and Phill Wilding at a Jimi Hendrix themed Mexican restaurant followed by a motor race where the participants had to crawl on their bellies to get in the cars. As I said, weird.
At least we are reasonably up to date at work, with the software release being mostly completed with most of the day still to go. I did have a temporary brain freeze, wondering why my web app wasn't working when I had it pointed at a non-existent copy of the default style sheet. Doh. Up to Newcastle to install it tomorrow.
We finally got around to watching the Jonathan Creek episode that was on over Easter, and rather disappointing it was too with the plot being so far fetched that it made no sense whatsoever. Looks like it has had its day, unfortunately.
At least we are reasonably up to date at work, with the software release being mostly completed with most of the day still to go. I did have a temporary brain freeze, wondering why my web app wasn't working when I had it pointed at a non-existent copy of the default style sheet. Doh. Up to Newcastle to install it tomorrow.
We finally got around to watching the Jonathan Creek episode that was on over Easter, and rather disappointing it was too with the plot being so far fetched that it made no sense whatsoever. Looks like it has had its day, unfortunately.
- 18:35 I just conquered "Gordy" in geoDefense! bit.ly/X5FNx #
- 20:41 My UK General Election quiz results at whoshouldyouvotefor.com: GRN+87 LIB+50 wsyvf.com/uk/BOiRPRMwidOTd4En2 #ukelection #
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Haikusday
A double booking
The back room is commandeered
¡Cuba si, Skep no!
In the beer garden
The skeptic cabal conspire
Reason and magic
A touch of late frost
Melted by the spring sunshine
Another fine day
Cherry blossom falls
Cascading like soft spring rain
Animal Crossing
Cat versus spider
Natural caution vies with
Curiosity
Leaflets through the door
Full of meaningless spin and
Broken promises
The back room is commandeered
¡Cuba si, Skep no!
In the beer garden
The skeptic cabal conspire
Reason and magic
A touch of late frost
Melted by the spring sunshine
Another fine day
Cherry blossom falls
Cascading like soft spring rain
Animal Crossing
Cat versus spider
Natural caution vies with
Curiosity
Leaflets through the door
Full of meaningless spin and
Broken promises
Monday, April 12, 2010
Misty Mountain Hop
A cold and misty start to the day, with the bleak prospect of a full, five day working week ahead. At least the roads are still free of kiddly winks being transported to school in their horribly be-weaponed four by fours, making for a relatively stress free commute.
Work is pressurised again. We have authorisation to recruit another new bod, but that's not going to help with the large chunks of work that we have promised to be completed and tested by the end of April. It also doesn't help that the network is running with the smooth efficiency of a pig in treacle.
We were eating tea last night when I noticed Doris the cat playing with something in the hallway. I initially thought it was a bit of black cotton or a cable tie or something, but on closer inspection it turned out that she was tormenting a perfectly hee-yuge spider. It was easily the size of a 50 pence piece and it was looking very sorry for itself when I rescued it and put it outside. Makes a change from mice, rats and birds, I suppose.
Well, it seems to have brightened up considerably since this morning and it's Skeptics in the Pub tonight so hurrah!
Work is pressurised again. We have authorisation to recruit another new bod, but that's not going to help with the large chunks of work that we have promised to be completed and tested by the end of April. It also doesn't help that the network is running with the smooth efficiency of a pig in treacle.
We were eating tea last night when I noticed Doris the cat playing with something in the hallway. I initially thought it was a bit of black cotton or a cable tie or something, but on closer inspection it turned out that she was tormenting a perfectly hee-yuge spider. It was easily the size of a 50 pence piece and it was looking very sorry for itself when I rescued it and put it outside. Makes a change from mice, rats and birds, I suppose.
Well, it seems to have brightened up considerably since this morning and it's Skeptics in the Pub tonight so hurrah!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
- 20:50 My goodness! #doctorwho was fizzing with ideas tonight! Aces! #
Take Me Back To Tulsa
Not quite as warm today, but perfectly pleasant all the same, and fine weather for dropping number one daughter back at her flat with an unfeasibly large amount of pasta and cup-a-soup to keep her in food for the next term.
Episode two of the new Who last night was a good one, with some unexpected twists and turns although a slightly over laboured ending that was veering dangerously into mawkishness let it down a little. We followed that with a film called Triangle that we had been advised to watch without knowing anything about it. I will pass on that advice to you now ...
In games news, I put in a reasonable amount of time on Pocket Legends yesterday, reaching the giddy heights of level 12 and learning some nifty lightning and firestorm spells. It's not got a huge amount of depth, but the experience of playing a seamless multiplayer game on the iPhone is a good one. I doubt if I'll get to the stage of wanting to buy the extra campaigns for it, but I think that I'll certainly be going back to this one on a regular basis.
Episode two of the new Who last night was a good one, with some unexpected twists and turns although a slightly over laboured ending that was veering dangerously into mawkishness let it down a little. We followed that with a film called Triangle that we had been advised to watch without knowing anything about it. I will pass on that advice to you now ...
In games news, I put in a reasonable amount of time on Pocket Legends yesterday, reaching the giddy heights of level 12 and learning some nifty lightning and firestorm spells. It's not got a huge amount of depth, but the experience of playing a seamless multiplayer game on the iPhone is a good one. I doubt if I'll get to the stage of wanting to buy the extra campaigns for it, but I think that I'll certainly be going back to this one on a regular basis.
The League of Rubbish Superheroes
Just in time for the election, please welcome Twitter Abuse Candidate!
Sunday Links
- Sand Cat Kittens in Cincinnati - ZooBorns
- Five Minutes With: AC Grayling Philosopher and thoroughly decent chap
- Tweet Dreams Ever wondered when your Twitter buddies go to sleep? By analysing tweeting time this handy (and slightly creepy) site will let you know their usual bedtime and when they get up.
- The Coolest Thing You'll See Today New York City, Infected By Old-School Videogames
- Thinking of deleting your Facebook account?
- Dalek Egg - a set on Flickr
- History repeating itself This isn't the first time we've been bogged down in a messy war in Afghanistan
- Lets say you're the first human ever to make alien contact.. Handy advice to remember
- David Fokos Excellent photography
- OpenTTD An open source version of the classic Transport Tycoon game - excellent fun!
- Daily Mail Cancer Quiz Do you know which things the Daily Mail says either cause cancer or cure it (or both)?
- Welcome to hell
Saturday, April 10, 2010
- 11:36 The Princess and the pea, revisited #caturday twitpic.com/1ej8u1 #
The Quarryhouse Project
Hidden away in a forgotten corner Beeley Wood, near an old quarry, lies an old, derelict building.
In a fascinating exercise in modern industrial archaeology, Emma Harnett and Christopher Johns have reclaimed the space as an art project. Through a variety of artistic media including models, poetry, found objects and a series of paintings in various scales up to life size they look at the history of the building and the uses to which it has been put.
It seems that the building was originally a garage connected to the quarry, and then later perhaps a private business for servicing cars. Fascinating remnants are left including rusted signs and cryptic notes chalked on the wall. The place was abandoned at some point in the late 70s or early 80s, and became a haunt of local youth who no doubt drank cider and smoked the odd illicit fag or two, adding layers of graffiti to the walls from the poignant 'Angela' to the very height of punk aesthetic with the single word 'BOLLOCKS' scrawled outside.
In clearing the site, the artists found various objects which they have displayed to try to tell the story of the place. A fragment of an old cassette recorder, a rusted spare tyre from a long abandoned car and a milk bottle overgrown with moss forming an impromptu vivarium.
I hadn't been entirely sure what to expect as I hiked up through the woods on a sunny spring day, but I have to say that I was impressed, intrigued by the history and strangely moved by the sense of times past.
 |
| From Quarry House |
In a fascinating exercise in modern industrial archaeology, Emma Harnett and Christopher Johns have reclaimed the space as an art project. Through a variety of artistic media including models, poetry, found objects and a series of paintings in various scales up to life size they look at the history of the building and the uses to which it has been put.
 |
| From Quarry House |
It seems that the building was originally a garage connected to the quarry, and then later perhaps a private business for servicing cars. Fascinating remnants are left including rusted signs and cryptic notes chalked on the wall. The place was abandoned at some point in the late 70s or early 80s, and became a haunt of local youth who no doubt drank cider and smoked the odd illicit fag or two, adding layers of graffiti to the walls from the poignant 'Angela' to the very height of punk aesthetic with the single word 'BOLLOCKS' scrawled outside.
 |
| From Quarry House |
In clearing the site, the artists found various objects which they have displayed to try to tell the story of the place. A fragment of an old cassette recorder, a rusted spare tyre from a long abandoned car and a milk bottle overgrown with moss forming an impromptu vivarium.
 |
| From Quarry House |
I hadn't been entirely sure what to expect as I hiked up through the woods on a sunny spring day, but I have to say that I was impressed, intrigued by the history and strangely moved by the sense of times past.
 |
| From Quarry House |
Friday, April 09, 2010
Deep Water
Another pleasant day outside, not exactly sunny but reasonably warm and still nonetheless. A work at home day too, making a grand total of two days in the office this week - hurrah!
Being at home was not without it's vexations though. We noticed that a loose connection to one of the taps in the bathroom had been dripping and was starting to come through into the kitchen below. I'm sure that the tap working loose and clod-hopping number one daughter being back from uni for the holidays is a complete coincidence ... We'll need a trip to B&Q or similar for a replacement connector at some point.
A couple of nifty things to mention. I downloaded the Wolfram Alpha app the other day when they cut the price from 40 quid to a more reasonable £1.19. It's not only an excellent scientific and graphing calculator, it's a really cool resource for lots of subject areas and potentially a lot more useful for looking up facts and figures than wikipedia.
In the freebie but with in-app extras category is Pocket Legends for iPad/iPhone which is a MMORPG that actually does what it says on the tin. It's a breeze to set up a new character and start teaming up with people to hack through the various dungeons on offer. There looks to be a fair amount of free content, with additional stuff available to buy when you want it. Worth a punt, I would say.
Being at home was not without it's vexations though. We noticed that a loose connection to one of the taps in the bathroom had been dripping and was starting to come through into the kitchen below. I'm sure that the tap working loose and clod-hopping number one daughter being back from uni for the holidays is a complete coincidence ... We'll need a trip to B&Q or similar for a replacement connector at some point.
A couple of nifty things to mention. I downloaded the Wolfram Alpha app the other day when they cut the price from 40 quid to a more reasonable £1.19. It's not only an excellent scientific and graphing calculator, it's a really cool resource for lots of subject areas and potentially a lot more useful for looking up facts and figures than wikipedia.
In the freebie but with in-app extras category is Pocket Legends for iPad/iPhone which is a MMORPG that actually does what it says on the tin. It's a breeze to set up a new character and start teaming up with people to hack through the various dungeons on offer. There looks to be a fair amount of free content, with additional stuff available to buy when you want it. Worth a punt, I would say.
- 19:31 In the light of #debill excelllent TED talk from Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity on.ted.com/8FUm #
Thursday, April 08, 2010
- 07:36 So if a teenager is caught on the bus without a ticket, you take away the family car? #debill #
Mushmouth Shouting
A glorious sunny day today, with just a hint of a cooling breeze, easily warm enough to go out for a walk with el doggo without needing a coat when I got in from work.
So, the digital economy bill passed its second reading, and despite all of the promises of review and scrutiny there doesn't seem to be any political will to stop it being steamrollered into law. I chanced to see Feargal Sharkey on the news this morning, who seems to have been transformed into the worst sort of oleaginous politico since his days in the Undertones. Of course he was all in favour of the bill and said that the provisions "didn't change anything" because he can currently take illegal filesharers to court. That's all well and good, but mounting a court case requires proof before a conviction is made and then a punishment issued that is proportionate to the offense.
This bill requires merely an allegation and puts the burden of proof on the defendant to show that they weren't filesharing. Do you know who was on your wifi at three in the morning, or whether your teenager has had filesharing software set up on his PC without knowing what it does? From our house I can see at least one completely unsecured network, and others with just basic WEP encryption turned on. This is a bad law, in every sense.
In other news, we had the house to ourselves last night and celebrated by having pie and chips with mushy peas and gravy from the chippy down the road. Naughty, but oh, so nice ...
So, the digital economy bill passed its second reading, and despite all of the promises of review and scrutiny there doesn't seem to be any political will to stop it being steamrollered into law. I chanced to see Feargal Sharkey on the news this morning, who seems to have been transformed into the worst sort of oleaginous politico since his days in the Undertones. Of course he was all in favour of the bill and said that the provisions "didn't change anything" because he can currently take illegal filesharers to court. That's all well and good, but mounting a court case requires proof before a conviction is made and then a punishment issued that is proportionate to the offense.
This bill requires merely an allegation and puts the burden of proof on the defendant to show that they weren't filesharing. Do you know who was on your wifi at three in the morning, or whether your teenager has had filesharing software set up on his PC without knowing what it does? From our house I can see at least one completely unsecured network, and others with just basic WEP encryption turned on. This is a bad law, in every sense.
In other news, we had the house to ourselves last night and celebrated by having pie and chips with mushy peas and gravy from the chippy down the road. Naughty, but oh, so nice ...
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Emerald Lies
A bit gray and miserable this morning, but at least the roads were clear and I was at my desk for twenty past eight. Not bad going, I reckon.
After my rather depressed rant-ette about politics yesterday, I dug up a site called Electoral Calculus that I've had in my bookmarks folder since 2005. After a bit of digging, I found that our constituency is a new one, cobbled together out of bits of Barnsley, Hillsborough and Brightside seemingly to share out the Labour voters and keep Sheffield red. The notional voting figures look to give Labour a safe seat with the Lib Dems and Tories splitting the anti-Labour vote pretty much down the middle. However, there is an outside chance that sufficient people might turn out for the Lib Dems and some of the Tory vote might be siphoned off by an English Democrat to make it an interesting race.
In an addendum to the digital economy bill debate, I emailed our MP to outline the problems with the bill as proposed and got back a rather condescending email where she ignored the points that I made and said that she was in favour of it passing, with some waffle about Channel 4 getting more money to invest in film. I think that this is an important issue to buttonhole any canvasser that comes to the door about, and you can start by pointing out that the Labour party should have its internet cut off for using a copyright protected image in their 'Ashes to Ashes' poster.
More evidence that Christians are mean spirited, cruel and spiteful comes in this story where rather than let a teenager bring her girlfriend to the school prom the parents in collusion with the school organised a secret prom to which the girl and a handful of other 'undesirables' were not invited. Hey - it's what Jesus would have done, right?
After my rather depressed rant-ette about politics yesterday, I dug up a site called Electoral Calculus that I've had in my bookmarks folder since 2005. After a bit of digging, I found that our constituency is a new one, cobbled together out of bits of Barnsley, Hillsborough and Brightside seemingly to share out the Labour voters and keep Sheffield red. The notional voting figures look to give Labour a safe seat with the Lib Dems and Tories splitting the anti-Labour vote pretty much down the middle. However, there is an outside chance that sufficient people might turn out for the Lib Dems and some of the Tory vote might be siphoned off by an English Democrat to make it an interesting race.
In an addendum to the digital economy bill debate, I emailed our MP to outline the problems with the bill as proposed and got back a rather condescending email where she ignored the points that I made and said that she was in favour of it passing, with some waffle about Channel 4 getting more money to invest in film. I think that this is an important issue to buttonhole any canvasser that comes to the door about, and you can start by pointing out that the Labour party should have its internet cut off for using a copyright protected image in their 'Ashes to Ashes' poster.
More evidence that Christians are mean spirited, cruel and spiteful comes in this story where rather than let a teenager bring her girlfriend to the school prom the parents in collusion with the school organised a secret prom to which the girl and a handful of other 'undesirables' were not invited. Hey - it's what Jesus would have done, right?
- 20:52 Is Miss Dahl's cookery technique limited to ripping things up and putting them on a plate? #
- 18:23 I choose not to recognise the UK's Digital Economy Bill #whatdebill #debill whatdebill.org #
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
- 18:50 I just conquered "Skippy's Revenge" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
Learning to fly
Well, they're off.
I have to say, that for the first time ever in a general election race that I can remember, I feel utterly disconnected from the political process.
The Labour party under Gordon Brown has become increasingly authoritarian and arrogant, and has made a complete hash of the economy. Remember all the statements about how healthy the UK economy was, and how well placed it was to weather the global recession? Now it turns out that we have done more badly than just about every other country in Europe. On top of that, we've got things like ID cards and the Digital Economy Bill that are chipping away at civil liberties with no returns for the average person that I can see.
On the other side, I have no confidence in Cameron's Conservatives to do anything positive to sort things out. It's all spin, with no real difference in policies, apart from a couple of billion in cuts and taxes here and there that isn't going to have any real effect overall.
I'd like to think that the Lib Dems might make a breakthrough, but I doubt it somehow. I just get a nasty feeling that this election will turn out to have a low turnout with voter apathy meaning that we end up with a hung parliament.
I don't know - I guess I'll just have to watch the debates and read the manifestos, make a choice (even if it is the lesser of several evils) and then hold whoever gets elected to account.
In other news, I appear to be involved in a great Transatlantic chicken-flying-game-off-of-Wii-Fit battle with Nancy and Helly. Here is photographic proof of my best score so far:
I have to say, that for the first time ever in a general election race that I can remember, I feel utterly disconnected from the political process.
The Labour party under Gordon Brown has become increasingly authoritarian and arrogant, and has made a complete hash of the economy. Remember all the statements about how healthy the UK economy was, and how well placed it was to weather the global recession? Now it turns out that we have done more badly than just about every other country in Europe. On top of that, we've got things like ID cards and the Digital Economy Bill that are chipping away at civil liberties with no returns for the average person that I can see.
On the other side, I have no confidence in Cameron's Conservatives to do anything positive to sort things out. It's all spin, with no real difference in policies, apart from a couple of billion in cuts and taxes here and there that isn't going to have any real effect overall.
I'd like to think that the Lib Dems might make a breakthrough, but I doubt it somehow. I just get a nasty feeling that this election will turn out to have a low turnout with voter apathy meaning that we end up with a hung parliament.
I don't know - I guess I'll just have to watch the debates and read the manifestos, make a choice (even if it is the lesser of several evils) and then hold whoever gets elected to account.
In other news, I appear to be involved in a great Transatlantic chicken-flying-game-off-of-Wii-Fit battle with Nancy and Helly. Here is photographic proof of my best score so far:
Monday, April 05, 2010
Way down in the hole
A typical British bank holiday - a spot of rain followed by some blustery winds and a bit of sunshine. Can't complain too much, I suppose, particularly as I've booked tomorrow off as a holiday as well.
I've managed to complete three out of four questions on my M150 TMA now, including one about the cryptography module that I mentioned the other day. I've had fun this afternoon playing with Vigenère ciphers and explaining the weaknesses of the Caesar cipher to attack by frequency analysis. Aces.
Less ace was the job that I have to do every couple of months of shoveling the undigested residue out of the dog loo. I can exclusively report that shit off a shovel really does fly like, er, shit off a shovel. At least the wind was blowing so the smell wasn't too overpowering.
Last night we decided to show due reverence to the story of Jesus' resurrection by watching 'Zombieland' which was excellent fun and provided lots of handy hints for surviving a zombie apocalypse. It's really just total wish fulfillment for people who are secretly looking forward to said apocalypse so that they can have fun killing zombies in a variety of inventive ways. Recommended, but gory though, so probably not one to watch while you are eating.
I've managed to complete three out of four questions on my M150 TMA now, including one about the cryptography module that I mentioned the other day. I've had fun this afternoon playing with Vigenère ciphers and explaining the weaknesses of the Caesar cipher to attack by frequency analysis. Aces.
Less ace was the job that I have to do every couple of months of shoveling the undigested residue out of the dog loo. I can exclusively report that shit off a shovel really does fly like, er, shit off a shovel. At least the wind was blowing so the smell wasn't too overpowering.
Last night we decided to show due reverence to the story of Jesus' resurrection by watching 'Zombieland' which was excellent fun and provided lots of handy hints for surviving a zombie apocalypse. It's really just total wish fulfillment for people who are secretly looking forward to said apocalypse so that they can have fun killing zombies in a variety of inventive ways. Recommended, but gory though, so probably not one to watch while you are eating.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
- 21:03 Best. Doctor. EVAR! #doctorwho I'll bet there's a lot of kids hiding behind the sofa and not looking out of the corner of their eye tonight #
- 08:02 Happy chocolate zombie jesus day everyone! #
- 17:15 5 of 5 stars to The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel ... by Philip Pullman bit.ly/a9VRqX #
Chocolate and Flowers
Another lazy day in the sunshine, with a couple of breezy walks to loosen the old cobwebs.
I've started using Wii Fit again, since getting the Wii Fit Plus disc recently, and I'm rather enjoying it. I'm taking things slowly to try and build up my fitness levels again, so I've been using a mix of routines for twenty minutes and then playing the chicken flying game where you have to flap your arms to fly between a series of landing zones. Great fun and surprisingly tiring too. At least it makes up for the bit of nommy Green and Blacks chocolate that I've indulged in today.
I must say that I really enjoyed Doctor Who last night. I wasn't sure about the comedy schtick at the start of the episode, but it soon livened up and rattled along at a fair old pace. Funny, scary and thoughtful, with jokes on lots of different levels for all ages. The idea of seeing monsters out the corner of your eye is one that will have had a fair few kiddlywinks scurrying behind the sofa, I'm sure. Matt Smith channels the boggle eyed alien-ness of Tom Baker with aplomb, and I really liked the nod to the previous incarnations too. Aces.
I've started using Wii Fit again, since getting the Wii Fit Plus disc recently, and I'm rather enjoying it. I'm taking things slowly to try and build up my fitness levels again, so I've been using a mix of routines for twenty minutes and then playing the chicken flying game where you have to flap your arms to fly between a series of landing zones. Great fun and surprisingly tiring too. At least it makes up for the bit of nommy Green and Blacks chocolate that I've indulged in today.
I must say that I really enjoyed Doctor Who last night. I wasn't sure about the comedy schtick at the start of the episode, but it soon livened up and rattled along at a fair old pace. Funny, scary and thoughtful, with jokes on lots of different levels for all ages. The idea of seeing monsters out the corner of your eye is one that will have had a fair few kiddlywinks scurrying behind the sofa, I'm sure. Matt Smith channels the boggle eyed alien-ness of Tom Baker with aplomb, and I really liked the nod to the previous incarnations too. Aces.
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip PullmanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It is a well known myth.
A baby, born in a stable who will grow up to be a wise teacher who inspires people to acts of kindness and generosity before suffering a cruel death. What is less well known is this baby has a twin who would spend his life in his brother's shadow, observing and recording his words for posterity. The question is, will the reports be accurate or will they be edited in the service of a greater truth?
This is an extraordinarily powerful and effective book. The conceit is to split the character of Jesus Christ into two - Jesus the earthy man concerned with the life of people in the here and now, and Christ whose eyes are on the future and how history will perceive events. Familiar stories from the new testament are given new life and resonance, in ways that affirm the human spirit.
This is not a blasphemous book, in the strictest meaning of the word. Rather, it is a stinging broadside against a religion which takes a myth and twists it in ways that are used to subjugate and control, whilst accruing power and wealth for its own purposes. It is difficult to find anything to argue with in Pullman's thesis, and the only people who will be shocked by it are the bishops and popes who sit on gilded thrones, dismissing any criticism as 'petty gossip'.
I read the 'enhanced edition' version available from iTunes, which combines the audiobook with an e-book and other features. This is an excellent way to appreciate this book if you have an iPhone or iPod touch.
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