- Ubuntu on Windows
Microsoft are going to make a bash prompt easily available within Windows. Dogs are lying down with cats. These are the end times.
- The Lost London Tube Map
A map of places in London that have vanished in time. Pretty awesome.
Tag: tube
Bookmarks for March 11, 2016
- Lychee — Self-hosted photo-management
Might want to have a play with this, see if I can get it to join up with other tools, so I've actually got my own database of my photos.
- London to the letter: meet Edward Johnston, the font of all tube style
Good article, more importantly: that's an exhibition I really want to see.
- A 3-Hour Long Mixtape of Goth History
Exactly what it says on the tin, but an interesting, deep-cuts type offering.
Bookmarks for January 16, 2016
- The tube at a standstill: why TfL stopped people walking up the escalators | UK news | The Guardian
So it turns out that particularly during peak times, it would be better if escalators on the tube were standing-only and people *didn't* walk up the left hand side.
Bookmarks for October 16, 2015
- Did the tube strike improve London’s economy?
Interesting article, making the point that tube strikes have more of an effect on commuters than simply annoying people on the day, and that effect may not be entirely negative.
Bookmarks for January 31, 2014
- 15 Ways To Improve London’s Train Network | Londonist
I liked this. A dozen or so usability improvements to the map and sinage, and a few other idea that make a suprising amount of sense, like reopening York Road.
- The 2014 London "Coffee Stops' Map
Tube map, listing the best coffee to be had near each stop. I take issue with a few of their choices, and their definition of "near" is a bit, er, different (their choice for Wimbldon, for example, is a 15 min walk up a steep hill to a place that is often *very* busy, which is more than I would want to both with if I'm just in town and want a quick coffee) but still: handy nonetheless.
Bookmarks for April 18, 2012
- CMAP #2: How Books Are Made – Charlie's Diary
I have had a few conversations recently with people who have kvetched about having to pay the same price for an ebook as they do for the paperback, and I have wished that I was able to easily find this post to point them at. Short version: the cost of your paperback book is *not* a materials cost. Physical production, shipping and distribution account for around a quid of the price. The other six of seven quid is labour, and there's a lot more labour goes in that you might think, and most of it isn't the author's.
- Twitter’s “Innovator’s Patent Agreement” – Marco.org
No, it looks like other people have come to the same conclusions.
- Twitter Blog: Introducing the Innovator's Patent Agreement
This is quite a good idea, although one might quibble over what "only used defensively" means – it's possible that I'm misunderstanding the legalese, but it looks to me that any company who has filed a patent infringement suit for any reason in the last ten years (and who might be infringing, obviously) would be fair game. Which in turn means that this is meaningless, and will be just as innovation-stifling in practice as any current agreement. But I await being told that I've misunderstood.
- Paul Woods – Life on the Northern Line
This made me smile this morning.
Bookmarks for January 19, 2012
- TRNSPRTNATION | London
Beautiful. Want.
Bookmarks for September 22, 2009
- David Byrne’s Perfect City – WSJ.com
A quote by David Byrne from Matt's article that I thought I was worth saving in it's own right:
"A city can't be too small. Size guarantees anonymity—if you make an embarrassing mistake in a large city, and it's not on the cover of the Post, you can probably try again. The generous attitude towards failure that big cities afford is invaluable—it's how things get created. In a small town everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you might attempt." - The City Is A Battlesuit For Surviving The Future – Future metro – io9
Matt Jones on the future of cities, their place in sf, and well, a typically smart piece of joined up thinking. Just go and read it.
- YouTube – Outlaw commentary highlights
This is one of the funniest bits of DVD commentary I've heard in ages. I am genuinely unsure if this is a joke or not, but still, it's hysterical.
- The Ultimate Uncluttered Tube Map – Londonist
This is inspired. I recommend this map to all vistors to London. It really does contain 90% of everything tourists need, and for the other 10%, just ask a native. (Assuming you know any. If you don't, then how the hell are you reading this?)
Bookmarks for August 27, 2009
- Five Geek Social Fallacies
Let us play a fun game, in the name of encouraging clear thinking, and making us all better and more functional human beings. The above website is a list of five basic errors of thinking that geeks often make in regard of social situations. So: go, read, then cam back and tell me: which of these do *you* suffer from, and what can you do about it? I for example, suffer from a bit of #2, which tends to manifest itself as a bloody minded tendency to be a bit "this is who I am, and if you don't like me then kindly fuck off". And what I do about it is to periodically remind myself that I am not actually perfect, whatever I might think, and that it is possible to like flawed people.
- The secret names of London
Or something like that, anyway. I've probably linked this before, but I don't care, it's worth linking again, if only for the Lovecraftian horror of "Aleph and Tentacles".
- Why corporate IT should unchain our office computers.
I know I get more done if I am permitted to multi-task. Not all those tasks are work, but I do a lot of my best thinking as a background process. Plus it should be screamingly obvious that happier, more relaxed and most o fall better informed people are just plain more useful in a wider variety of contexts.