Everyone else is doing it: Blog

SLOTD 4th April 208

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:54:06 GMT

Silliness:

OK, so in the vein of the Garfield without garfield thing that Matt pointed me too, he's marmaduke explained.

Go and learn go, this is a neat set of interactive tutorials.

SLOTD 11th March 2008

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:05:22 GMT

Thought-provoking Silliness:

A comic, drawn by a war correspondent - half-funny, half-depressing - just like all the best comedy.

Interesting dissection of the arguments, as to why prostitution is illegal.

SLOTD 10th March 2008

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:24:25 GMT

Silliness:

Five second movies, the explanation as to why they're arranged as they are is probably funnier than some of the videos.

SLOTD 5th March 2008

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:54:47 GMT

Geekiness:

Microsoft have released the source to their singularity operating system. It's not windows, but it's nice to see how new ideas are being developed.

Recommended via the bad science blog, phun looks like an even awesomer souped up version of the physics illustrator powertoy.

SLOTD 3rd March 2008

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:41:11 GMT

Silliness:

Cuban human rights are improving, apparently. Which can only be a good thing.

SLOTD 27th February 2008

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:53:13 GMT

Happy Birthday Sis!

Thoughtfulness:

Here's the feed for an excellent blog by a London Ambulance driver. Thought provoking, and not a little disturbing. Makes you think twice before complaining about your tax burden anyway.

Silliness:

We've been away on Honeymoon, and have only just got back. Check my set on flickr for photos.

SLOTD 4th February 2008

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:23:26 GMT

Silliness:

A fascinating and brilliant and generally quite good selection of ye. anciente colour photos from the Library of Congress. On Flickr of all things, ah flickr, how I love thee.

SLOTD 1st February 2008

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:17:08 GMT

Silliness:

You just know that asking people to keep an eye on your wikipedia page isn't going to end well.

If anyone wants to create me a Wikipedia page that'd be awesome. (Somehow I think I'm "not notable" enough.)

This one wins points for actually featuring Matt Damon, singing the song "I'm f*cking Matt Damon."

Geekiness:

Also Rory linked to me, so I'm linking back, but not to the post he linked me from. That would be too obvious, and slightly lacking purpose, so I'll link to the post I want to instead. The beginning of my internet fame!

SLOTD 31st January 2007

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:56:37 GMT

Well, the machines at work don't support the new Live Writer, so I can't post properly from there. Instead I have to use the annoying web-based form.

Anyway.

Silliness:

Someone on reddit requested jokes, many many people responded. Not all of them are funny.

Two Months!?!

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:02:11 GMT

Hmm... I shall have to get around to updating more often (also witness the massive hiatus in diaryofaguardianangel.com.)

Ah well, the main reason for this post was that some Australians (http://qtrax.com/index.php) have probably just put me out of a job.

Still, it looks like an absolutely awesome service, so I'll be glad to use it at home. As I'm getting increasingly annoyed with Napster's shoddy performance and habit of constantly losing my downloaded music.

The great thing about wanting a new job anyway, is you don't mind these things quite so much.

SLOTD 28th November 2007

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:35:33 GMT

Silliness:

Won't someone please think of the bunnies?

SLOTD 26th November 2007

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:37:09 GMT

Silliness:

In the wake of the loss of 25 million people's personal data by government, it should appear that the ID card scheme is doomed. The government is insisting it'll be magically alright though... Bad science deals with some of the nonsense surrounding why. Money quote: "... The leak last week wasn’t because of unauthorised access, it couldn’t have been stopped with biometrics; it happened because of authorised access which was managed with a contemptible, cavalier incompetence. The damaging repercussions for 25 million people will not be ameliorated by biometrics..."

I've used John's Background Switcher for ages, and the latest version is awesome. Especially cool is the "snapshot scrapbook" feature, which liberally scatters some of my flickr images across the screen.

SLOTD 23rd November 2007

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:29:19 GMT

Silliness:

Seriously, I'm moving to Norway... Like, as soon as physically possible. Sorry to all my friends and family and all, but you can come and visit me.

My favourite joke of the day: (taken from reddit.) "A man is uptown at the bank when he realizes he left his accordion in his car and the car is unlocked. He rushes back to his car but it's too late...someone put another accordion in his car."

SLOTD 19th November 2007

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:34:47 GMT

Silliness:

So seriously, who would win in a fight between a penguin and a lemur?

So, IQ does vary depending on race; two things before everyone gets in a huff:

IQ is only a measure of a particular kind of intelligence, and may or may not be an accurate predictor of someone's ability to cope with the modern world.
Asians are smarter than any of us.

SLOTD 16th November 2007

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:44:04 GMT

Silliness:

I love this idea, imitating the Weasley's clock from Harry Potter, just one question, why no "mortal peril" time?

These are beyond cool, but sadly to get them in from the US would be a hassle... Any UK distributers want to start selling this stuff?

SLOTD 15th November 2007

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:03:48 GMT

Silliness:

For anyone wondering why all those american writers are on strike, this sums up the argument quite nicely... Well, half the argument, as the other half is about DVD sales. In brief, internet content is worthless so writers don't get paid, but somehow it's justified suing for $1,000,000,000 over lost internet revenue (or something like that.)

Also, this surfer dude, proposed this theory of everything and scientists think it's cool. (NB, surfer dude is a scientist too)

SLOTD 14th November 2007

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:33:06 GMT

Silliness:

This is the best correction to an article ever, I don't even want to see the original article.

Copied wholesale from reddit, it should be noted that the irony is probably deliberate, but certainly eye-catching: "One-third of British adults so stupid when it comes to geography that they think Mount Everest is in Europe instead of Africa"

SLOTD 8th November 2007

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:24:10 GMT

Silliness:

Norwegians are all going to hell! And I want to go with them, if hell is Norway, then Christians are clearly idiots... (likely explanation is that hell and Norway have nothing in common, one - and I'll leave it to you to decide which - clearly being non-existant.)

Also, it was my birthday yesterday... yay me!

SLOTD 6th November 2007

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:32:13 GMT

Silliness:

Interesting solution to encourage users to scroll down once in a while.

Darwin, on losing his faith.

SLOTD 5th November 2007

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:32:06 GMT

Silliness:

Colourization, a groovy technique to automatically add colour to your black and white images (or movies).

SLOTD 30th October 2007

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:42:13 GMT

Silliness:

Fascinating video about how you could evolve a watch, if only watches reproduced. The guy who made it has a bit of a bee in his bonnet, clearly.

SLOTD 29th October 2007

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:10:59 GMT

Silliness:

Maps + Wikipedia Edits = this thing. Where in the world do the most pedantic / bored people live? Now you know.

SLOTD 25th October 2007

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:37:28 GMT

Silliness:

A list of surprisingly useful websites, since when is the fact things are useful surprising?

This animation collection is mental.

Geekiness:

I would love it if my apps told me this when they crashed.

SLOTD 25th October 2007

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:38:03 GMT

Silliness:

Microsoft's map service just keeps getting better; this time they've combined the 3D version with the bird's eye view photos such that the photos overlay the 3D scene perfectly... It's pretty cool.

SLOTD 22nd October 2007

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:40:32 GMT

Silliness:

Supremely silly, this video of the British army testing LSD on soldiers to see what the affects were.

Not good if you want to run an effective combat unit apparantly:

SLOTD 18th October 2007

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:45:38 GMT

Geekiness:

Especially for Ellie, here's an online list-creating website from MS. It's better than that sounds though. (You can subscribe to other people's lists for example, and get updated when their list changes.)

SLOTD 17th October 2007

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:14:07 GMT

Silliness:

Ingenious prank.

Geekiness:

Pro-linux Journalist misses the point, not that they fixed 1000 security vulnerabilities, but that they had 1000 vulnerabilities to fix.

Ellie's Link:

Swearing at work is good for stress... Jesus! What fucking moron did this study?

Science Museum Day (SLOTD 16th October 2007)

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:50:15 GMT

Yes yes yes yes yes! Yes! Yes! YES!!!! Of course there should be a big-ass extension of the science musem... Why are you even asking? In fact why do they have to compete for the paltry £50million it'll cost to build. Just give them £50million right now!

In fact, give them £100million, I don't care if you have to tax me an extra £10 this year to pay for it.

In fact, give them £100 million every single year, and let's have science museums in every single damn city in the country. (And make Bristol's bigger, and more grown-up.)

In fact, (last time) I declare this Science Museum Day for Great Britain! Mark it on the calendar! Observe the 16th of October as a day to remember all the cool interactive exhibits which got you interested in science and, dammit, visit a science museum today and give them money! Even if they don't ask for any! Just find some official and press some paper notes into their hands telling them to find something cool to spend it on. I'm sure there's an enigma machine or two on eBay they could get.

Science is celebrated rarely enough in a world saturated with it, we need more science museums!

Honestly, Michelangelo was a genius and all that, but Richard Feynman has had infinitely more impact on your life. Let's get some recognition here dammit!

SLOTD 15th October 2007

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:29:55 GMT

Silliness:

Do you have adultitis? Be warned! This is an epidemic, and it will only get worse before it gets better.

SLOTD 5th October 2007

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:30:31 GMT

Silliness:

I love the Sony advert people, although I bought a Samsung.

I like this article, favourite quote: I thought the big draw for Apple hardware was that “It Just Works.” By breaking it, you must know you’re giving up the “Just Works” factor, so what’s left? Rounded corners?

SLOTD 4th October 2007

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:33:12 GMT

Silliness:

Zero Punctuation have decided to go straight for the, "I'm contrary and don't care" demographic with this review of Halo3.

You'd be astonished what people can manage when working together.

In a continuation of the whole "internet for video" theme: berkeley put a stack of lectures up on youtube.

SLOTD 3rd October 2007

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:32:33 GMT

Silliness:

Software is hard, everyone agrees...

Geekiness:

Yes, yes, I know the silly link is pretty geeky, but this is really geeky. Some interesting articles regarding highly-scalable architectures.

SLOTD 2nd October 2007

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:37:37 GMT

Silliness:

Cuban publicity-opportunity exploited to maximum.

Ellie's Link:

Interesting way of using captcha to help preserve old books.

SLOTD 1st October 2007

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:30:04 GMT

Silliness:

Here's an interesting talk, on a topic that is both far-reaching and relevant for the modern world.

God decides to clarify the whole "don't kill people" rule. It should now read "thou shalt not kill, ever, at all, seriously, no-one, not even really annoying people."

Oh man, I so want this job now. I'm really good at graphics tightening.

Geekiness:

A collection of interesting links from Raymond Chen.

Teh Awesomeness for sharing files with friends and parents. MS are bringing office onto the internet, and it sounds cool.

SLOTD 28th September 2007

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:27:05 GMT

Silliness:

Can I live here please? Just, could you move the whole place a bit closer to Europe. (Anyone with suitably fiscally responsible European countries I could move to, please suggest in the comments.)

Thought provoking stuff, if you've got a daughter, or a teenage girlfriend.

SLOTD 27th September 2007

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:36:22 GMT

Silliness:

Possibly the most inspired idea I've seen this year so far. Drawers, under the stairs. God knows I need these, right now.

Geekiness:

I'm a terrible programmer, and so's this guy.

Ellie's Link: (Surprisingly)

So today, Ellie found this, "in defence of games" and sent it to me... Like I need ammo in this particular familial argument. (Thanks dear, but I still think I need only point out that using both the laptop and the TV at the SAME TIME, is hardly being sociable.)

Note:

Yes, I've been watching Zero punctuation again, which causes me to think in parentheses and be a bit snarky about everything... Watch it yourselves so we can have an argument.

SLOTD 26th September 2007

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:29:53 GMT

Silliness:

This is how PR should be done, take note everyone, how to make Iran look like a nice, harmless, pleasant country.

SLOTD 25th September 2007

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:42:57 GMT

Silliness:

A couple of interesting videos, one is inspiring, the other is geeky.

SLOTD 13th September 2007

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:44:06 GMT

Silliness:

I'm getting to really like Zero Punctuation.

On the theme of video games, if you ever through you were quite good at Tetris, then forget it.

SLOTD 11th September 2007

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:31:19 GMT

Silliness:

This is quite depressing actually, a list of people who died young by age, the 27 section is a bit scary (not least because I'm 27 in November).

Ellie's Link:

Couple lives for 20 years in various Travelodge hotels.

SLOTD 7th September 2007

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:01:40 GMT

Silliness:

A funny man, says some funny stuff, about some funny things.

Ellie's Link:

Possibly the stupidest burglar in the history of theft. (Oddly the article makes little mention of what was stolen.)

SLOTD 3rd September 2007

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:55:07 GMT

Silliness:

Now this would be a cool tool for the Tablet, let's hope some of these features find there way into OneNote.

Just how artistic can you be in Office? Check out the art of office, and be amazed.

SLOTD 31st August 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:41:03 GMT

Silliness:

Useful rules for getting along with people (ah, but it's a dreaded "top 10" type list.)

The hollow car is insane, shame it doesn't drive either.

Geekiness:

One of the weirdest conversions you'll see in a long time. It's amazing what Google can do.

SLOTD 30th August 2007

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:48:26 GMT

Silliness:

Clowns disrupt neo-nazi rally.

How not to hack someone's computer.

Survival of the fittest, candy style.

This is wrong on so many levels, the longer you survive the fewer clothes the girl wears.

SLOTD 28th August 2007

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:49:16 GMT

Silliness

James Randi discussing homeopathy, dowsing and the idiomotor effect at Google.

SLOTD 22nd August 2007

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:04:43 GMT

Silliness:

Philosophy, animated.

SLOTD 21st August 2007

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:42:27 GMT

Silliness:

The true horror of inflatable blimps.

Simply the most original proposal I have ever seen, dammit!

SLOTD 20th August 2007

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:39:17 GMT

Silliness:

Interesting historical titbit here; when "he" became the default pronoun for unknown gender situations.

Advice on writing a book, you can do it.

Pimpin' Myself out

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:06:30 GMT

I've started up a fictional character blog (see link in sidebar somewhere, also here: www.diaryofaguardianangel.com) as an exercise in getting practice in writing.

I thought all two of the people who regularly read my blog (hi guys!) may like to check it out.

SLOTD 11th August 2007

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:27:39 GMT

Silliness:

Best story this year, mainly because no explanation or editorial is offered: Giant Lego man washes up on Dutch beach.