February 2012
12 posts
Feb 29th
3,088 notes
5 tags
Feb 24th
1 note
5 tags
“We live in fear of a massacre”
–  Marie Colvin’s final report from Homs for The Sunday Times, before being killed by an artillery shell this morning.
Feb 22nd
1 note
3 tags
“WHAT I might have said to my son’s friend is that it is incontrovertible that...”
–  Hanif Kureishi op-ed in the NYT. 
Feb 20th
3 tags
ListenWays to make a living online that don’t...
Feb 16th
3 tags
Feb 15th
1 note
3 tags
WatchWatch
why not.
Feb 9th
4 tags
“We ridicule countries that operate cults of personality – North Korea,...”
– - Assad & the Cult of Personality, via Huffington Post
Feb 6th
1 note
4 tags
Feb 4th
5 notes
2 tags
Feb 2nd
2 notes
3 tags
Feb 2nd
4 tags
Feb 1st
January 2012
24 posts
4 tags
Jan 31st
6 tags
“When it comes to the debt crisis,” says Eco, “and I’m speaking...”
–  - good recent interview with Umberto Eco as part of the Guardian’s Europa series.
Jan 31st
3 tags
WatchWatch
I’ve mentioned The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore before. The app still looks brilliant; I still don’t have an iPad. But this is not an app, it’s a short animation, nominated for this year’s Oscars. If I were able to, I’d vote for it. Magnificent.
Jan 30th
4 tags
Jan 25th
3 notes
6 tags
ListenThe first in the terrific second series of...
Jan 25th
2 notes
3 tags
SOPA, or why I got over time travel
  In his ruling in the case against UPC in October 2010, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said internet piracy was “devastating” the recording companies’ business in Ireland. Not only did it “undermine their business” but it was also “ruining the ability of creative people in Ireland to earn a living”. The retail sector was also affected by this “wholesale theft”. Solutions are available to the...
Jan 24th
3 tags
Jan 24th
6 tags
Jan 23rd
4 tags
Jan 19th
4 tags
WatchWatch
- This is all I have to say about SOPA. Borrowed from @cshirky.
Jan 18th
3 tags
“The Inquisition, with its stipulation that torture and interrogation not...”
–  from a fascinating, if uncheery, read in this month’s Atlantic.
Jan 16th
5 tags
Jan 12th
1 note
2 tags
Jan 12th
5 notes
4 tags
“The important tests of whether or not a regulation is fit for a purpose are...”
–  Cory Doctorow and the future of ‘general-purpose computing’.
Jan 11th
3 tags
Jan 10th
70 notes
3 tags
WatchWatch
- I really enjoyed this conversation when I was writing my thesis. It’s not half long though, begob.
Jan 9th
4 tags
“But once you understand that taxes and money largely begin with war it becomes...”
–  via an interview with David Graeber at Naked Capitalism.
Jan 8th
4 notes
2 tags
“It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t...”
–  taken from a fascinating blog post written by a doctor in the USA.
Jan 6th
4 tags
Jan 6th
5 tags
WatchWatch
Oliver Jeffers’s talk at OFFSET, an Irish design conference/festival. It’s usually quite industry specific, but for whatever reason (cash money), a lot of designers are interested in childrens books; perhaps because of the visual storytelling opportunities (and cash money), and the explosion in popularity of the form over the last decade or so. It’s expensive - clearly putting...
Jan 6th
6 notes
4 tags
China Mieville & BLDGBLOG
Two of my favourite things collided some months ago when BLDGBLOG interviewed China Mieville. Both should probably need no introduction, but just in case: Geoff Manaugh writes the former, a blog about architectures real and imagined and the ways they affect world & society. This is something I attempted to do in a much more haphazard way in the thesis I wrote last year. So it’s...
Jan 5th
7 notes
3 tags
Jan 5th
5 tags
Changes
I have to finish a draft by next week and I’m very far away from it right now. There’s also a ton of stuff that needs to be done around the house and on top of all that, real, paying work. Not forgetting, I need to try and see if I can take this master’s degree any further.   Worst of all, the pie consumption level around here has reached crisis point, and unless I exercise...
Jan 4th
4 notes
2 tags
Jan 3rd
December 2011
7 posts
5 tags
Dec 22nd
10 notes
2 tags
Dec 21st
3 notes
1 tag
Dec 21st
1 tag
WatchWatch
Dec 19th
1 note
3 tags
WatchWatch
Dec 16th
3 notes
4 tags
Dec 15th
Dec 1st
1,154 notes
November 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Nov 28th
8 tags
Nov 14th
3 notes
5 tags
Stewart Lee, Ricky Gervais & comic bravery
Ricky Gervais is generally a hilarious fellow, whether he’s essaying a very socially inept middle manager, a less socially inept jobbing actor or a socially incautious stand-up comedian/award presenter for hire. He’s very clever, a talented writer and massively successful by any standard. Derek Noakes and the ‘mong’ business is unlikely to end any of that, nor am I...
Nov 12th
5 notes
October 2011
6 posts
4 tags
“5. There may not be a reason to share your cake. It is, after all, yours. You...”
– A Series of Quite Wise Thoughts Regarding Current Unfortunate Events  (link is to a mirror installed by the resourceful Mr. Gaiman, whoever he is). 
Oct 17th
2 tags
Oct 15th
481 notes
2 tags
Oct 14th
1 tag
Oct 8th
2 notes