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[May. 23rd, 2012|07:52 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Weird Things Podcast: Night of the Dragon | ] |
I have booked my convention and hotel tickets for this July where I will again fly off to Las Vegas for the The Amazing Meeting, TAM10. I am very happy with this situation of affairs and come this months payday, I will book my flight to and from that entertaining and implausible city.
Nick Clegg the Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister visited my stepmother's school recently and one of his staff decided to include portraits drawn by her class of 6 year old on the wall behind him while he gave his speech. It turns out that he enjoyed them so much that he's asked to take them to the Cabinet Office. My stepmother is very pleased, and the school will be hiring professional printers to make copies for the school to keep. |
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| Avengers!!! |
[Apr. 27th, 2012|11:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  jubilant | ] |
I've just come home from watching the Avengers, and it was in the words of Simon Pegg, amazeballs! Brilliant witty dialogue as one expects from Joss Whedon, characters fighting each other and the bad guys, all the second tier characters got very nice character beats, and for long time Marvel comic readers you have to stay until the end of the visual credits for a brilliant cameo of an epic villiain.
An amazing, brilliant film that I recommend everyone should see, even if they're not specifically comic book fans. A terrific action movie with a terrific ensemble cast. Bravo Joss Whedon!! |
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| Bread |
[Mar. 10th, 2012|04:00 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  enthralled | ] |
My Dad just made a ciabatta style loaf of bread and it is so very, very delicious. And it goes very well with olive oil.
Mmm, tasty. |
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| STOP ACTA |
[Mar. 10th, 2012|01:16 pm] |
ACTA is like like SOPA and PIPA in that it's trade agreement that has been made and arranged in secret by by governments and lobbyists while refusing access to rights bodies such as the EFF and will have wide ranging effects on how we use the internet, encouraging surveilance by ISPs, even more threats against websites that provide user generated content and many other egregious attacks on the liberties that we take for granted.
"Intellectual property must be protected, but it should not be placed above individuals' rights to privacy and data protection." Peter Hustinx, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), issued a report on ACTA, claiming that it could prove unworkable under current European Union data protection laws. |
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| Clay Shirky on SOPA/PIPA |
[Jan. 18th, 2012|08:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
Clay Shirky gives a brilliant talk on why SOPA/PIPA is a bad idea. If you're in the US please contact your senator or representative. I'm really pissed off that US media companies think they can destroy the internet simply so they don't have to come up with new business ideas and I don't even want to think about how badly they'll be abused when I think about the problems people have with abuses of the DMCA system when it comes to free speech.
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| Scientific philosophy and embarrassing habits |
[Jan. 14th, 2012|12:09 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
After working hard at work all day for my local council I had to live up to the stereotype and used any excuse to go over the road to the pub with my workmates, after a couple of pints of London Pride which I've really got into lately, I came home mucked about on the internet and saw on twitter that Robin Ince will be doing a programme about Bertrand Russell tomorrow night on BBC Radio 4.
After thanking him, for the info, I then proceeded to spend about 2 hours watching old archive videos of him on youtube. He's a fascinating guy and while already in his 80's during the 1950's he talks about many things that are still relevant to us all today. I did all this while enjoying a few bottles of beer bought from the local off-licence, and while going downstairs to re-supply myself I saw my sister had arrived home from work and was getting some lasagne from the oven to feed herself after being on her feet all day, after exchanging pleasantries and mutual anticipation to Sherlock this weekend, I turned off the lights when leaving the room. It's an incredibly childish sense of humour with which I burst into giggles after turning the lights back on and seeing her face but I can't help myself.
I also shut the door behind her when she's putting out the rubbish. I let her back in almost instantly but it never stops being hilarious. For me at least. |
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| Happy Christmas Eve |
[Dec. 24th, 2011|10:21 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
It's 10:20pm GMT as of writing so I still have nearly two more hours, I've had a good day. Bought and wrapped all my presents, watched an old Morcambe & Wise Christmas special, watched the Princess Bride, started watching Casablanca and am on my 3rd beer of the evening. Leffe as it happens, small bottles but at 6.6% you can't complain especially with the yummy taste.I'm not sure if any of you are interested, but as a huge fan of Tim Minchin's and a huge opponent of censorship when it comes to freedom of expression, I was incredibly pissed off when after appearing on Jonathan Ross' show and getting checked by all the “compliance people and producers and lawyers all checked my lyrics long before the cameras rolled" they sent the video to ITV's director of Television Peter Fincham who then demanded that he be cut from the show. What an arsehole.
Anyway, here's the video from his performance that Tim got before it was scrapped and I really do recommend you go through to youtube and read the statement Tim's written, it's very well said.
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| Holidays!!! |
[Dec. 21st, 2011|12:21 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
I am now on my christmas/winter/newtonmas (his birthday's the same as JC's) holidays.
So what have I been doing lately? Well, going to the various christmas parties at work, eating far more biscuits and sweets than I should because people bring them into work, and getting my friends at work addicted to Big Bang Theory and Leverage.
At home, I've got into Sons of Anarchy which is really quite interesting, watching and reading material by the late Christopher Hitchens who I came *this* close to meeting and trying to read more books instead of getting distracted by the near infinite shiny depths of the internet.
I have, however noticed that what I've been denying myself in chocolate, cakes, and other sugary goodness has been taken up by beer, specifically ale and that I now am far less likely to drink lager when going out to the pub or buying something at the off-licence.
Finally, if anyone who's even slightly interested in science on the TV hasn't already seen Brian Cox's A Night with the Stars lecture on Quantum Physics at the Royal Society, please do watch it on the BBCiPlayer or *ahem* elsewhere. It was highly enjoyable and I even understood most of it. |
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| Industrial Action and our cousins over the ocean |
[Nov. 29th, 2011|10:36 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
So you all know that I work for my local council and have done for years, barring any unpleasant surprises I hope to work for them for many more years as I enjoy providing a service to my local community and enjoy the friendly and collegial atmosphere I work in.
Unfortunately I've had a pay freeze while facing rising prices for everything for the last couple years, had fellow workers made redundant and when people leave to go to other jobs I'm told to do their work as well as mine. If I hadn't moved back in to my parent's house a few years ago I couldn't afford live in London and considering the ever increasing cost of travel, it's questionable as whether I could afford to commute either. And now they're going after my pension, the one thing left that's somewhat reliable in the public sector now I'm a young man and won't be eligible for a pension for a few decades yet, but this was the last straw and sadly we have to withhold our labour as a final protest against an unreasonable and irrational government. You should hear what Michael Gove called us.
But whenever I get miserable and depressed about the terrible laws and conditions in the UK, I can always look over the Atlantic Ocean and see what that ghastly collection of people called the US Senate are trying to do.
Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window
And a video from Democracy Now talking about it.
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