Journal-like a blog, but better
Life, the universe and everything. Politics, geekery and adapting to life in Yorkshire. With occasional outbursts of intelligence.
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Interesting, not had time to read fully, linking for reference: The results suggest that women are not only aroused by a variety of types of sexual imagery but are more flexible than men in their sexual interests and preferences.
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Nice summary of the legal rights to copyright we have under UK and international law - in other words, don't let the Mail on Sunday rip you off without permission, and demand payment if they do.
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'As the rest of the world makes leaps and bounds in science, engineering and technology, we're perfecting a reality television.'
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Democratic pary my arse: the BNP's national election officer then goes on to say that any resulting election 'should be carried out in the most rapid manner possible with zero publicity allowed for the joke candidate.'
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Or, in other words, why having a dark background for your sites and documents cuts electric use. Lots. and it's easier on the eyes. My LJ layout: saving the planet ;-)
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Iains followd up on the landslide/wipeout link I posted: Could Labour fall to just five seats at the next election? It's unlikely, but not completely impossible. One of the preconditions is the invention of a competitor party in heartland seats
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I still dislike using IM, but the snobs are wrong: far from ruining teenagers' ability to communicate, IM lets teenagers show off what they can do with language
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For the science writers and reviewers out there, Nick Mamatas needs feature articles for his Clarkesworld magazine. He'll even pay you.
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Note to train drivers - if you're going to have a wank after making an announcement to the whole train, turn off the intercom first? (from Popbitch, natch)
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There are some rather good ones in this set, haven't figured out what to yoink yet but will definitely grab something
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Not a bad little tool, biased against the Govt but not horribly so, picks 14 issues of the last few years and you get to compare your opinion to the party voting record, includes stuff like the smoking ban and fox hunting, not all dry stuff
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These are brilliant
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Jarndyce is spot on with this one: The notion that sport and politics should never mix is a curious, and also deeply political, one. Sport, after all, is just the waging of international politics by other means
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I wrote this 18 months ago, but I've linked to it increasingly recently to explain points, so I'm bringing it to the top. The electoral system encourages broad church coalitions and two main parties. Every vote is thus, in some way, tactical.
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Charlie goes back over Fermi's classic 'if they exist, why aren't they here' paradox with a bunch of possible explanations.
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Follow up from Fermi - Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space - the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Da
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Very very cool. Link to part one of some production stills and mock ups of the CGI original design Cylons from the Razor TV movie. Part two, witht he gold cylon, is worth clicking through to.
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For those that wanted them from last time, Jen's now posted the whole article.
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Looking at various sources and I was reminded of this result - is it possible Labour's headed for a wipeout of these proportions unless they sort themselves out?
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to be produced by Sam Raimi. That slurping noise? That's a thousand brains melting at the idea. If you haven't read the book? Don't. Really, don't.
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Heh: staff and customers at a pub in Tunbridge Wells reported seeing a UFO with "red and green flashing lights" moving across the sky. When asked to describe the direction of movement their answer was "Gatwick".
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This are useful java bookmarklet-highlight some text, click the BM, get a pop up containing the text and the page URL, should work in any browser, nice way of emailing useful info or even just storing something.
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Ryan geeks out over YouTube embed code. More useful than it sounds: Iâ™ve yet to work out why Youtube [have] the video at 425×355px, when the resolution is only 320px wide, creating a blocky video as it is badly upscaled. here is the âœeasyâ way to e
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Actualy rahter amusing: If but one of thy uncouth, base number Stirs with unrest; then every mother's son Of you, I will put in the earth by this My very own long sword; Harken to'it.
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Heh! Iain responds to the comments and feedback you lot left on the last post I made linking to him. See, comments are good ;-) Hadn't considered the domain spoofing thing, but at the same time it's supposed to be for blog commenting...
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I still can't summon the energy and rage to assemble all the links for the Dorries attack - fortunately DK's done the job for me. If you only read one post on the odious lying disingenous anti-science zealot, this is a pretty good summary.
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El Reg shifted the feed BOFH was on (again) and I hadn't noticed. Been in this sort of meeting a few times, in such a discussion, backing up the MD or the tech, the tech wins. Every time. (
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reg_bofh is new syndication account BTW) -
Sparkle has a job interview, and could do with the help of People of Faith, so, y'know go help her (it's a good job): I need to do a short presentation (as if it were to the local Church Council) entitled Teenagers: Faith in a Materialistic Age.
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Picture. Rather amusing
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picture. Also funny
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Rosie Millard: worst parent ever to write an editorial?
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I think I even understand the science of this one; thanks pTerry! Could a superheavy element â“ heavier than anything previously found in nature or made in the lab â“ exist naturally in the rocks of Earth?
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Jen has a poll and some scans on the new film. Which I'm going to go see. Even if I go alone. It's not Bond, but it's still cool.
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Annoyingly addictive, the telescopes game especially
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Flash thing. Fun
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Justin linked to this earlier, and it's as true today as it was then.
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A reason to go to MySpace regularly? This are not good. Actually, it is good, it's damn good, Milk and Cheese are back online. This are very very good.
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Horrifying story from Liz about the Auschwitz block 24 brothel and the hidden history of the aryanised jews forced into it
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DonaldS: imagine that if we were to hand the supply-chain for curtains, or orange squash, or embossed stationery, over to criminal gangs, trouble would follow. I'm no fan of state regulation - but I'm finding it difficult to think of a market more suited to regulation
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Ah.. innit sweet? Horribly dated, but taking itself far too seriously for ten years ago, let alone now.
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Jon shares a cool Livejournal coding trick: only works for logged in LJ users but rather cool
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Mad Nad says: 'I have rights and I am going to find out what they are and, make sure every other MP knows what they are too.' Most of them already do Nad, even I know you can't film in most of the Palace without permission. This incompetent is running the campaign?
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Why I rarely buy the IndyTab anymore: The final para begins: "So the trial of lower-case lesbian vs upper-case Lesbian is going ahead. Now, a lesbian on-line magazine called The Register has put forward a solution..."
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Hari is one of those people that I either agree with strongly or disagree with vehemently. This analysis of WHY people voted BNP is better than many I've read, and accentuates the futility of the No Platform posturing.
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Nielsen is awesome, again, and proves why formatting matters: On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.
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Mostly agree with this one to: Active voice is best for most Web content, but using passive voice can let you front-load important keywords in headings - This enhances scannability and effectiveness.
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Started reading Alertbox before I learnt the basics of HTML, it's definitely helped in my approach, especially for blogging - I break the rules more often than I follow them, but when I really want people to read you'll notice
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Zoe's spot on here - if a newspaper copies your entries wholesale and reprints them then they need your permission and they ought to pay. Exerpts for critique are fine, but substantive content isn't
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Some good observations on blogging - there's a reason I always write in my name, gives me control: In a Google-Indexed Universe where the lines between online and offline lives are blurred, you don't have to fill in all of the blanks.
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I grew up on Marvel comics, from the stuff I bought in the store at Butlins aged 5 through to the Transformers when I was 10 to the X Men when I fell for Psylocke. But comics take loads of money. They're doing The Avengers. Properly. Woo Hoo!
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We saw this before Iron Man and, well, we loved it. I await the actual release as Smith really can act if made to, and he can definitely do comedy. I even laughed at the bit with the whale. Um, sorry bout that.
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Site campaigning on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, going through parliament, because it has widespread implications for ordinary Britons. Next due on May 12th, more to follow when I've time, and a big reason to dislike Mad Nad
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What it's like being part of a gay couple, even in supposedly liberal, civilised areas, still. From Debi, comes with a challenge I doubt I could manage at all: Spend an entire week pretending that you're not a couple.
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So many times during the campaign I meant to write up an analysis of Hennessy's Bloody Stupid Voting System, never did. Here's the main problem with it over AV, which he thinks we're too stupid for.
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The Labour spin team are blaming last weeks results on the mistake of the 10p tax thing. I think it went much deeper than that and that was merely the proverbial straw. Bob agrees, not sure everything he says here is right, but interesting reading
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I had planned to write a post on why Ken lost and similar, I've linked to a few things pointing out the futility of some of the anti-Boris campaigning and reactions, but Obsolete has done the rest for me, so have a link.
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Mark reviews That Game. I have no interest in it, but I like his reviews, so for those of you that like or want to know more about That Game, go read.
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I know nothing about this other than what's presented, but will be upgrading my sites ASAP, heads up for those using it elsewhere and worth a check, also check your Facebook comments for dodgy links, etc.
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Jeremy wrote this aimed specifically at authors, but I think it applies to everyone. I need to update all my sites, especially the taktix domain, and XHTML is the way to go these days.
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Cory with an interesting alternative payment system for his free eBooks. He's giving away Little Brother free, but if you want to pay him, why not donate a copy to a library? (waiting for the paperback as always)
About
This is my personal general interest journal where I write about or link to whatever I've fond that amused, intrigued or enraged me at the time. I'm a committed liberal, equalist and atheist, but I really like it when people can demonstrate I'm wrong, and have close friends with whom I completely disagree on some if not all of those points.
There probably ought to be a Creative Commons licence in here somewhere but in the meantime consider this permission to quote me (link) & link to what I write.
If you decide to keep reading, please do say hello, let me know where you found me from, etc. I promise not to bite (well, unless you want me to...)
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matgb- Mat Bowles
- Mat Bowles