Interesting Links for 13-07-2016
- Why Is America Dotted with Giant, Concrete Arrows?
Because you mail yourself at night
Interesting Links for 25-09-2013
- CivClicker
A graphicsless, button-based civilisation building game made by a friend. Horribly addictive.
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 06-11-2012
- Things Rich People Never Understand | Laura McInerney
- Iain Duncan Smith adviser being paid by thinktank lobbying his department | Politics | The Guardian
'a thinktank that he set up and which lobbies their department.'
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 09-09-2012
- Drinks are on the house! Landlord outwits pub licensing law by asking customers to buy beer mats - UK - News - Evening Standard
'Drinkers are flocking to a bar that doesn’t need a licence because it doesn’t charge its customers.' (Came up in a discussion about LARP games where you can buy alcohol with IC currency.)
- Grant Shapps altered school performance entry on Wikipedia | Politics | The Observer
'New Tory party chairman Grant Shapps deleted O-level entry and information about donors to his private office'
- Google blacklists websites run by family of Grant Shapps | Politics | The Guardian
'for breaching its rules on copyright infringement. A string of at least 19 sites run by the wife, sister or 75-year-old mother of Shapps have been banned from carrying Google's adverts and been relegated to the bottom of its search results.'
- The rise and fall of Grant Shapps' Twitter followers | Politics | The Guardian
'It appears that Shapps, at regular intervals, increases the number of people he follows by as many as 5,000 and if they do not follow him back, he unfollows them.'
Entry tags:
- 2012 presidential elections,
- admission of interest; i work for unlock,
- america,
- amusing,
- awesome,
- bias,
- coercion,
- communication,
- crime,
- dude...,
- geeky,
- image,
- interesting,
- internet,
- links,
- money,
- news,
- people suck,
- photography,
- photos,
- politics,
- post,
- posttofacebook,
- republicans,
- romney,
- sensationalism,
- surveilance,
- taxpayer's alliance,
- technology,
- the future,
- unlock democracy
Interesting Links for 30-08-2012
- 33 Perfectly Timed Photos | Bored Panda
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
- Barack Obama surprises internet with Ask Me Anything session on Reddit | Technology | guardian.co.uk
'For a little while Wednesday afternoon, the commander-in-chief commanded the internet's notoriously fickle attention'
- Coal Miners Forced To Attend Romney Event – Without Pay | Addicting Info
“Yes, we were in fact told that the Romney event was mandatory and would be without pay, that the hours spent there would need to be made up my non-salaried employees outside of regular working hours"
- Delving into the Taxpayers’ Alliance data on councillors’ basic allowances | Unlock Democracy
Cherry picking data for sensationalism, when there's not actually anything worth getting excited about..
- back of a spreadsheet; back of the net :: On the Petty Criminal of the Future
Rather wonderfully done narrative description of the effect of cheap GPS & suchlike on low level criminals.
Interesting Links for 30-07-2012
- Researchers find pop music is too loud and all sounds the same - msnbc.com Entertainment
Also, those kids should get off my lawn.
- Boris Johnson favoured for Tory leader as George Osborne tumbles - UK Politics - UK - The Independent
- Music Labels Won’t Share Pirate Bay Loot With Artists | TorrentFreak
'aside from prison sentences, they will have to pay damages to the entertainment industries, including €550,000 to several major music labels. The court awarded the damages to compensate artists and rightsholders for their losses. However, it now turns out that artists won’t see a penny of the money, as the labels have allocated it to IFPI to fund new anti-piracy campaigns.'
Entry tags:
- america,
- awesome,
- awwww,
- computer games,
- employment,
- exalted,
- fail,
- gaming,
- geeky,
- government,
- interesting,
- internet,
- links,
- london,
- love,
- marriage,
- olympics,
- politics,
- post,
- posttofacebook,
- republican,
- rpg,
- steam,
- ta,
- technology,
- uk,
- windows,
- windows 8
Interesting Links for 27-07-2012
- Impending Windows 8 'catastrophe' behind $3bn game maker’s shift to Linux - 27 Jul 2012 - Computing News
'Furthermore, Newell implied that Microsoft may be tempted to charge a monopoly rent or even close its platform to outsiders. Indeed, this is the only way that software will be downloadable to the Windows 8 RT version for ARM-based tablets.'
- Westminster city council launches free Wi-Fi network | Guardian Government Computing | Guardian Professional
And it'll actually stay on, and free, after the Olympics. Seems to be somewhat ad supported though, not sure.
- BBC News - Mitt Romney's vice-presidential contenders
- The Brilliant Booting Android Marriage Proposal
'Last month, Reddit user NoShftShck16 posted a seemingly random question to the /r/Android subreddit, asking if it was possible to slow down the boot time of a Galaxy Nexus. He explained that he had bought the smartphone and a ring, and he wanted to modify the bootloader to load a script at a rate slow enough for him to display his custom marriage proposal.'
- Graduates ‘urged to dumb down CVs’ « Express & Star
Graduates were apparently told that their qualifications actually deterred employers and advised to leave them off their CVs altogether to secure “survival jobs”.
- Exalted 3E: What We Know - Google Docs
A compilation of what has been said about Exalted Third Edition on the forums and elsewhere by those working on it.
Entry tags:
- cracked,
- dangerous,
- death,
- film,
- injury,
- interesting,
- links,
- movies,
- post,
- posttofacebook
Interesting Links for 11-07-2012
- 5 Great Movie Scenes Made Possible by Reckless Endangerment | Cracked.com
Next time you watch Inglourious Basterds; the giant swastika that crashes to the floor in the floor in the fire at the end? That was held up on thick steel cables that were meant to keep it up, but which instead melted in the heat of the barely under control blaze that happened when they filmed that scene.
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 26-06-2012
- The fanless heatsink: Silent, dust-immune, and almost ready for prime time | ExtremeTech
- Westward Ho! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I am deeply disappointed that I never visited the little village of "Westward Ho!" whilst I lived in Devon
- 109 Cats In Sweaters
Post kittens -> Get comments (58 and 60 are especially good)
Interesting Links for 22-06-2012
- 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity
People aren't always awful. Sometimes, they're maybe even just a little bit wonderful. Here are 21 pictures to remind you of that fact.
- Emmeline Pankhurst - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emmeline Pankhurst had ninja bodyguards. That is all. 'She tried to evade police harassment by wearing disguises and eventually the WSPU established a jujutsu-trained female bodyguard squad to physically protect her against the police.'
- BBC News - The evolution of those annoying online security tests
Am I the only one that doesn't find captchas to be particularly annoying? Sure, they take a moment to fill out, but they stop things being swamped in spam.
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 20-06-2012
- The murky world of interests peers don't think you need to see - UK Politics - UK - The Independent
'A senior Conservative peer has been acting as an adviser to a European lobbying firm for five years without declaring it to Parliament' (and other examples of interests not declared.
- The 7 Most Terrifying Mouths in Nature | Cracked.com
- Louise Mensch launches rival to Twitter | Media | guardian.co.uk
Better description: Louise Mensch launches a semi-eponymous discussion forum website, decides to call it a rival to twitter for some unknown reason.
- 'Wallace and Gromit' gadget cooks full breakfast automatically - Telegraph
'including an omelette, toast (with customisable spreads), coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice.'
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 30-05-2012
- Benefits claimant admits subsistence income scam
'AN unemployed man is scamming the taxpayer out of £67.50 a week, it has emerged.'
- Google facing new WiFi 'snooping' investigation - Telegraph
'its Street View cars secretly harvested emails, photographs and other personal data from WiFi networks.'
Entry tags:
- america,
- amsuing,
- amusing,
- communication,
- crime,
- death,
- death penalty,
- fail,
- geeky,
- guardian,
- interesting,
- law,
- links,
- phones,
- post,
- posttofacebook,
- semi-nsfw,
- sex,
- silly,
- star wars,
- technology,
- wtf
Interesting Links for 16-05-2012
- The curious case of the vulgar C-3PO trading card
'Perhaps it is a clandestine Jedi antenna that rises in the presence of nearby Force-sensitive individuals?'
- City Bans Texting While Walking: Good or Bad Idea?
'the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey, have started issuing $85 tickets to any pedestrians caught texting and walking'
- The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death | World news | The Guardian
Groundbreaking Columbia law school study sets out in shocking detail the flaws that led to Carlos DeLuna's execution in 1989
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 07-05-2012
- Is this the worst government statistic ever created?
Apparently local govement is wasting 20% of its budget! By which they actually mean, they could save 20% on their mobile phone bills. BUT I'M SURE THAT APPLIES TO EVERYTHING ELSE, YES!
- Finally, a Shark With a Laser | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
'Relax, Dr Evil. Your inspired request for “sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached” has finally been fulfilled in the real world.'
- Monte Cook leaves D&D; 5th edition design team.
- Sir Mervyn King tells George Osborne: you must act now to tame the City - UK Politics - UK - The Independent
'demanded that the Government speed up its reform of Britain's financial sector'
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 05-05-2012
- The Maelstrom Event Name Predictor
A predictor/random generator of the name of the next Maelstrom LARP event. (for the unititated, there's a tendency towards certain styles of names; Appropriation, Liberation, Retaliation, Reverence, Declaration, Apotheosis, etc)
- The Pirate Bay’s traffic increases by 12 million following UK ban | PC Gamer
'This probably isn’t what the British Phonographic Industry hoped to achieve.'
- Gizmodo - 'THEY FINALLY MADE A REAL LIGHTSABER!'
Not that you can actually fight with it without risking life'n'limb, or even turn it on without protective eyewear.
- Valve Steam, Source clients heading to Linux | bit-gamer.net
'confirmed that it is working hard on porting its Source game engine and Steam digital distribution service to Linux.' Not that suprised. More customers? Yes please, says Valve.
Entry tags:
- america,
- anonymous,
- awesome,
- bias,
- bigotry,
- censorship,
- comment,
- compters,
- computers,
- cults,
- culture,
- drm,
- drugs,
- fail,
- freedom,
- hacking,
- interesting,
- internet,
- io9,
- law,
- life,
- links,
- media,
- news,
- people suck,
- piracy,
- police,
- pos,
- post,
- posttofacebook,
- prison,
- protest,
- religion,
- scientology,
- security,
- sexism,
- technology,
- via andrew ducker,
- warren ellis,
- weird,
- what the everliving fuck,
- windows,
- wtf
Interesting Links for 04-05-2012
- Warren Ellis » GUEST INFORMANT: Anonymous
- The Alpha Parent: Sexism and the Early Learning Centre
- Holy crap, these bees will DRINK TEARS FROM YOUR EYES
'Closing the eye did not necessarily dislodge bees but some continued to suck at the slit.' (Warning, contains images of bees drinking from open human eyes)
- DEA apologizes to student left in cell | UTSanDiego.com
'engineering student accidentally left in a holding cell without food or water for five days'
- Microsoft drops DVD support from Windows 8 | bit-tech.net
'Windows Media Centre will be a paid-for add-on - and mandatory if users want DVD playback support.' (Well, mandatory as in you'll need it *or* some other specific playback program.)
- It's Time to Give Digital Rights Management the Boot | PCWorld
'Today is the Free Software Foundation's Day Against DRM'
- Linux Format censored over 'Learn to Hack' feature | bit-tech.net
'A controversial hacking how-to in the last issue of Future's Linux Format has led to the magazine being pulled from the shelves of US bookselling giant Barnes & Noble.'
- Learn to Hack | TuxRadar Linux
Essential disclaimer: Hacking is bad/illegal Mmmmmkay? If it's not your computer and you're doing bad stuff, anyway. 'There are two rules of computer security: one – don’t buy a computer; and two – if you have to buy a computer, don’t turn it on. If you break these rules then you’ll be opening yourself up to potential problems. No system is 100% safe from hackers, but by following a few simple steps you can make yours much harder for intruders to attack.'
Interesting Links for 02-05-2012
- Cute cat theory of digital activism - Wikipedia
The tools people use to look at cute cats help activists, and shutting them down shuts down the cute cats, which annoys non-activists.
- iprl.wz.cz
A 12-15 foot high clock of wooden planks, updated by workmen each minute (probably not actually live). - FAQ - The Flat Earth Wiki
'Q: "Why do you believe the Earth is flat?" A: It looks that way up close. … Q: "Why do the all the world Governments say the Earth is round?" A: It's a conspiracy'
Entry tags:
- crime,
- culture,
- drugs,
- interesting,
- islam,
- journalism,
- law,
- links,
- london,
- media,
- murdoch,
- netherlands,
- news,
- notw,
- politics,
- post,
- posttofacebook,
- religion,
- terrorism,
- uk,
- westminster
Interesting Links for 27-04-2012
- Will Rupert Murdoch's reputation survive Leveson's verdict? | Media | guardian.co.uk
'Man who made millions out of paying people to ask difficult questions finally faced questioners he could not cope with'
- TCR Seige: Man Arrested After Tottenham Court Road Stand Off
They think it's all over. Is it, now?
- George Galloway slams rumours he has converted to Islam | Metro.co.uk
- Netherlands set to ban tourists from cannabis cafes under new ruling | Metro.co.uk
'Government officials plan to introduce a 'weed pass' for its citizens which they will need to enter city cafes.'