Alasdair Watson

Makes CSS easier to work with.

"This app makes working with LESS a snap by turning it into a graphical interface." Allegedly, anyway. Might be useful if I go down the LESS route for future projects.

Handy set of version control scripts to handle simple SVN tasks.

I've just dropped this on my work PC, and need to drop it on my home PCs, and then I'll have some completely joined up note taking tools – iphone, laptop, desktops, and, indeed, once I've hammered a quick script together, automated versioned backups of same.

Bugger. Eating at ElBulli was pretty much the top spot on the "things to do before I die" list, and yeah, he's going to re-open, but it's still an experience I'm unlikely to ever get to have, in it's current form. I shall revise it to "Eat Ferran Adria's food", but it's still saddening.

Excellent article on the place for an iPad in the history of computing, and the generation shift that is occurring. For myself, I am having to keep reminding myself that I don't need one as a priority, that version 2.0 will be much better, and so on and so forth. I really do want a decent ebook/magazine reader…

I found today's XKCD near-heartbreaking on a number of levels. Why aren't we trying to get it home, for fuck's sake? I know it's not alive, but it's out there, and we're not even trying to go after it…

Well worth a look. I'm a little disturbed to discover that in over 100,000 people, my browser is unique. Not sure what I can do about that…

God, has it really been going that long? (Yes, I know, the print edition has been going longer.)

"what’s the next era that’ll capture people’s imaginations in that way, as a point of change, a shadow looming over what comes after, the image still burned in our culture’s retinas?"

Trying this out at work. Initial stuff seem positive.

This is very tempting. Certainly, if the DEB bill passes in it's present form, I'll be switching to this, or something very like it. (I tried TOR for basic web browsing, but it's sufficiently slow and fucked that I stopped again.)

Ever wondered what it would be like to perform surgery on yourself? No? Why not? Well, anyway: here's a description of what it's like to have to give yourself an appendectomy. In the Antarctic. With next to no help.

Clay Shirky opens up a serious can of worms, noting that women do not push themselves forward in the way men do. Part of me wants to say "well, *duh*". Shirky suggests that if women behaved in a more self-aggrandising manner, they'd get more equal treatment. I'm just not sure that I want to encourage any more people to behave like some of the self-promoting male pricks I've met.

Tom Coates identifies some of the problems with what Shirky is suggesting – the problem isn't just that women don't push themselves forward, but often that the wrong people do, and what we should be focusing on is ensuring that everyone correctly advertises their own level of experience and ability – that those that *do* self-promote heavily while they can be useful, can just as often be a total pain.

Danah Boyd's repose to Shirky and Coates is excellent reading.

Trafalgar Square at noon on Saturday. Anyone interested?

I urgently need to borrow five or more children, ages 8-11.

Just in case anyone reading this has been dropped on their head recently, here's a campaign aiming to raise awareness of the quackery of homeopathy masquerading of "complementary" medicine. Of particular relevance is the "what's the harm?" link, because that'' explain *why* we need to make sure people understand that this crap is a scam to part the gullible from their money, just like Reiki and other similar kinds of bullshit. I all for holistic treatments, and accepting the western medical science does not yet have all the answers, but I also believe it's vital to know where the lines between "we don't know why it works", "we're not sure if it works" and "we *know* it doesn't work" are drawn.

I am not 100% convinced by this, just because of the simple practicalities – I do not want to be fixing my fairly hefty lenses to something the size of a compact – I suspect the balance and weight will be fucked, and shooting will feel awkward. But I admin, I'd like to be able to have a play with one of these for a bit, particularly when Nikon and Canon get in the game.