Links for Saturday November 9th 2013

Your Tweets Can Predict When You’ll Get the Flu | Surprising Science
Interesting stuff on a practical application for aggregate twitter data. This is what they should be bloody monetising, *not* selling eyeballs to advertisers. (Well, except that I guess I'd kinda object to them saying "we'll only help with public health tracking if we're paid to…)
This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time | Harry Leslie Smith
A 91 year old war veteran on the fact the "remembrance" has become political theatre. I can't help but agree. For a few years now, it's been my policy to donate to the poppy appeal but not wear the poppy, because I don't like the political overtones it's been acquiring.

Links for Wednesday November 6th 2013

Paper Bits : You don’t fall in love like you fall in a hole….
I really don't have anything I can add to this link. I guess it's probably worth bearing in mind it was written in response to child's question, as It's somewhere between lovely and schmaltzy, depending on your view of things.

Someone please arrange for me to get one for Christmas. Or sooner.

Disenchanted Comic
"Welcome to Vermintown: a vast and vile city of a million inch-tall malcontents. Sprawling through an abandoned subway station deep beneath London, here myth has given way to sleaze, drugs, gangland violence and interracial hatred. Vermintown is where magic went to die." Mr Simon Spurrier's new free-to-air webcomic. Recommended.

Russell Brand on revolution: “We no longer have the luxury of tradition”
I'm not a big fan of Russell Brand, but I liked this piece, which is exceedingly quotable, but for my money, the key lines are: "The price of privilege is poverty. David Cameron said in his conference speech that profit is “not a dirty word”. Profit is the most profane word we have."

Cheaper to rent in Barcelona and commute to London…
Well, this is depressing. And horrifyingly plausible.

What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry | nudityandnerdery: See, what you need to…
This is a completely superb articulation of why the oft-heard cry of "but not all men are like that" in response to discussions of the shitty, awful things (some) men do is unhelpful at best, and ignorant and harmful at worst. I'm not judging anyone who has said it, because I know I have, when I was younger and stupider, and did not get the point this post is making. The linked post deserves to do the round in a big way, if only to help people be less stupid than I was.

Snowman – Checkmark – Reminders for iPhone
A better reminders app for my phone. Not buying this right now, hence the bookmark, because I want to remember to pick this up another time.

How to make an iBeacon out of a Raspberry Pi
Another thing to add to the list of things to do…

iKettle – buy at Firebox.com
A colleague sent this to me as joke about my gadget freak tendencies. Sadly, I completely and unironically think this looks ace, and will almost certainly get one as soon as practical.