- What will the #NHSbill do? I don’t think you’re worried enough. Read this, maybe write to your MP. – bengoldacre – secondary blog
Just in case you're in the UK and have missed this, here's Ben Goldacre, on the bald facts of the NHS Bill, which are basically that it clearly signals the end of free healthcare in Britain. Any MP voting in favour of this bill is the kind of scum who wants their children (and yours) to receive less than they themselves have had. Write to your MP, and inform them that you will note vote for them again if they vote in favour of this bill, because voting for the kind of creature that would endorse this makes you one of them.
Category: Digitalia
Links for Thursday March 8th 2012
- Air quotes, "product"
Matt Webb on products – what a product is, and how they're changing. - Old Maps Online
A really, truly lovely bit of google maps work. pick an area out with google maps, see the old maps that were made of that area.
Links for Tuesday March 6th 2012
- Microjs: Fantastic Micro-Frameworks and Micro-Libraries for Fun and Profit!
This would be very handy for mobile apps. - Who Said It? Mitt Romney or Mr. Burns?
Just a little bit terrifying. - Calvin and Hobbes desktop wallpapers.
I usually use my own photos as a desktop background (I wouldn't take them if they didn't make me happy) but I think I may have to use a few of these, instead. - iPad Folio Cases by Fieldfolio
I have no idea why I might be contemplating a new iPad case. None.
Links for Monday March 5th 2012
- How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy – Magazine – The Atlantic
At last, science looks like it may have proven that which I have always known to be true: owning cats is bad for you, and yes, they really are controlling your brain.
Links for Saturday March 3rd 2012
- Start Developing iOS Apps Today: Introduction
Any once again, I mutter "I'll get round to it one of these days" to myself… (In case you're wondering, I've been largely away from the t'internet for a week, being either parked in front of the Xbox or out doing museums and galleries, and I'm catching up on what I've missed.) - In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop
I find the sort of future he's describing here quite pleasing, as he's essentially saying that the one aspect of modern life that cannot be reduced away is the idea of a social hub. The practical reality of the matter is that someone with an internet connect does not need to go to the shops, the office, or really anywhere, except places where they can be among other humans. - CERN | booktwo.org
Here's a nice, easy to understand, and very readable bit of writing about CERN, what they do there, and why it's important. - Olloclip vs iPro Lens review | The TechBlock
Been vaguely wondering about getting one of these. On the strength of this, it looks like the iPro is the one to get. - Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of US Authorities. » blog2.easydns.org – Happenings and observations
The US government have just demonstrated that they will sieze the internet based assets of foreign entities, even though no transaction related to those assets took place on US soil, and the crimes it thinks the company may have committed are not illegal in the places they may have committed them. This is (very) roughly like the US government marching into someone's home in London, and taking away their TV (that was purchased in London), on the grounds that it can be used to watch programs made in the US, because the owner, while living in London, drank alcohol at the age of 19. (I pick a trivial offence only because it's the first thing I can think of as an easy and everyday difference between US law and the law elsewhere.)To quote the article: "This is no longer a doom-and-gloom theory by some guy in a tin foil hat. It just happened."
- 15+ Google Chrome extensions for better privacy control
Every time I need to set up a new install of Chrome, I have to hunt this page out. I'm bookmarking it so as to save myself a little time next time. Some of you may find a lot of it useful, too.
Links for Monday February 27th 2012
- Infovore » A Year of Links
This is really quite tempting, particularly as Tom's been kind enough to make the source code so readily available. I've been doing this sort of thing pretty much as long as he has (in a slightly less interesting manner) and it might be fun to have a physical object sitting on the shelf to represent that.
Links for Friday February 24th 2012
- 1811 Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tounge
Some proper swearing in here.
Links for Wednesday February 22nd 2012
- LDA/Sieve – Dovecot Wiki
Might be a better option than Procmail. - ICO website traffic impact of cookie opt in | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
So this is kind of a big deal, it's relevant at work, and basically if you operate a web business in the EU and want to know how busy your website is, you're fucked. This graph will be useful in explaining to our clients just how fucked they are going to be when they come into compliance with this law.
Links for Tuesday February 21st 2012
- Future Perfect » The Handbag Paradox
"Bag mapping is a useful exercise to become acquainted with the norms of a society – what we do or don’t decide to carry being a reflection of our selves and the environment in which we live and work." I remain on the quest for the perfect bag, which is one exactly like the one I have now, but 3-4 inches longer and perhaps an inch wider and deeper.
Links for Monday February 20th 2012
- Reading A Book More Than Once Has Mental Health Benefits | The Mary Sue
According to this, I should be nigh unbelievably mentally health at the moment, having just spent a few weeks re-reading a stack of books. - Introducing Playfic – Waxy.org
One for the "when I've got some spare time" file. If it really is as easy to generate interactive fiction as the example here makes it look, then I might take a serious stab at it one of these days. - Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation | Pop Bioethics
So anyone that's spoken to me in the last couple of weeks knows I'm a bit obsessed with Mass Effect. This article does a really good job or articulating a lot of the reasons why. It does contain (generally broad picture) spoilers (with one or two specifics), so if you haven't played them, and think you might yet do so, you should avoid it until you have. But if you have played it, or aren't planning to, and are at all interested in SF, or in issues regarding representation of minorities in media, or in the potential of games as storytelling media, then I recommend reading this.