random stuff

[red devil]

For those of you who, like me, like a stroll down music memory lane... http://www.rockarchive.com/

[El Pibe]

Brilliant, The Luton Town Riots of 1919, in your face Gove.

A man was hit so hard by a fireman's jet that he was hurled through a music shop window. The crowd that went in to rescue him emerged with three pianos. These were dragged into the roadway and used as accompaniments. The crowd sang 'Keep the Home Fires Burning' before the biggest bonfire that Luton had ever seen. The burning down of the Town Hall provided the perfect culmination to what had started as a very wet day.

[El Pibe]

A lovely pencil drawn stab at what the london area looked like in the saxon era.

click the above link for a big ol hi-res version

doubtless John K will take great umbrage that the east dulwich valley has been incorrectly rendered....

[El Pibe]

I loved this quote from China matters

"in 2013 the United States cautiously harvested some geopolitical gains of the pivot [to asia], especially Myanmar, but struggled to keep Japan in the ?UK poodle? rank of useful ally, and keep it from veering off into the ?Israel of the Pacific? class of perpetual security headache and exploiter of US power."

[david_carnell]

Frozen Finnish Forests

[El Pibe]

Expect Kasparov's exile soon if this is anything to go by

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/07/putin-s-sochi-and-hitler-s-berlin-the-love-affair-between-dictators-and-the-olympic-games.html

Do not mistake the epic graft in Sochi as unusual or incidental. Corruption is the overriding principle of Putin?s 14 years in power and looting the Russian treasury and the Russian people is itself the goal. For all the foolish attempts to interpret Putin?s geopolitical strategy and personal ideology, the common denominator is always whether or not an action helps him maintain the cash flow that in turn enables him and his clique to stay in power.

[El Pibe]

A slightly disturbing insight into our future, or just a socially awkward girl too clever for her own good.

Either way I admire her pluck, for the glowing table idea alone she rocks* http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/11/4187906/ok-cupid-giving-your-love-life-to-google-glass-and-the-hive-mind

she once created a table with a surface made of dimmable lights. Sitting at the table you could nudge a foot pedal left or right depending on whether you were loving or hating the conversation. The table combined your vote with the votes of your seated companions, glowing brighter or dimmer depending on the aggregate mood. If the rating fell too low, the table would flash a distress signal, summoning nearby people to step in and save the day. It's a technical solution to a social problem. McCarthy knows it's probably flawed.

*to be uttered with a rising inflection, damn i should have added 'click now', or 'you decide' shouldn't I, I'm obviously not very good at this.

[El Pibe]

Weirdly interesting and worrisome.

Poor Ukraine, as if it doesn't have enough problems

Chernobyl woods not rotting, http://gizmodo.com/the-woods-around-chernobyl-arent-decaying-1545452250

[Ted Max]

What would happen if you overlaid the OS Town Plan 1893-6 of London onto Google Maps of today?

This.

http://mapsengine.google.com/gallery/mapviewer?id=zs2aHyi7W8Ek.kggHTef2F49I&hl=en

[El Pibe]

Is this about Donald rumsfeld, homeopathy, the paranormal or Madelaine investigations.

You decide.

[the-e-dealer]

Ah thats what its about - those 4 !

[El Pibe]

weird, water simultaneously freezing and boiling

 

[Salsaboy]

Is it done under pressure or a vacuum?

[El Pibe]

that was done in a vaccuum i think

[El Pibe]

not quite east dulwichy enough for the events section, but i rather like the sound of this river effra walk

http://londonist.com/2014/05/the-buried-river-effra-the-musical.php

https://www.facebook.com/events/1401020103510874/?ref=22

[El Pibe]

excellent background to the Ukraine http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117692/fascism-returns-ukraine

Doubtless to be dismissed by the fringe as neo-imperialist propoganda, but luckily we have the free russian medoia to balance such brainwashing....

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

El Pibe, I love you!!!

Anyone else noticed that the Ukraine and the Crimea seem to have lost their definite articles in most news reports?

[david_carnell]

The use of the article relates to the time before independence in 1991, when Ukraine was a republic of the Soviet Union known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since then, it should be merely Ukraine.

Interestingly, neither Ukrainian nor Russian have definitive articles.

There are many other country names that are habitually, yet incorrectly, referred to with "the", such as Congo, Gambia, Yemen, Lebanon, Sudan, Netherlands, Philippines and Bahamas.

Only two countries, The Bahamas and The Gambia, should officially be referred to with the article.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Party pooper. Bet you call them Old Kent Road and Edgware Road too!

[david_carnell]

Definitive for OKR.

No definitive for Edgware.

Personal preference and all that.

Looking at the waffle I spouted earlier, now I'm wondering about "the" UK, USA and UAE.

[El Pibe]

I've a feeling The Netherlands is more complicated than you suggest.

Having lived there a while the dutch refer to the country as Nederland but the county (or whatever they call them) as het Nederlands.

And of course it just means the low countries, which is our catch all term, and officially it's The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which would naturally be shortened to The Netherlands.

Plus we never say Netherland.

So not convinced really.

I can just sense HMB champing at the bit to get involved in this conversation next time i buttonhole him.....

[maxxi]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Definitive for OKR.

> No definitive for Edgware.

>

> Personal preference and all that.

>

> Looking at the waffle I spouted earlier, now I'm

> wondering about "the" UK, USA and UAE.

Not to mention La France...

On a properly random note... http://www.wimp.com/viewtime/

[Help-Ma-Boab]

*makes enquiries to confirm if Donegal is a safe place to holiday this year*

El Pibe Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've a feeling The Netherlands is more complicated

> than you suggest.

> Having lived there a while the dutch refer to the

> country as Nederland but the county (or whatever

> they call them) as het Nederlands.

> And of course it just means the low countries,

> which is our catch all term, and officially it's

> The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which would

> naturally be shortened to The Netherlands.

> Plus we never say Netherland.

>

> So not convinced really.

>

> I can just sense HMB champing at the bit to get

> involved in this conversation next time i

> buttonhole him.....

[El Pibe]

Heh :)

Don't worry, a looooong way away!! Your buttonhole will remain unnmolested, said the actress..etc..

[El Pibe]

kids books[/url]]

I tried reading fairy tales off an iPhone, but that didn't work. For starters, it's impossible to hold an iPhone in the same hectare as a toddler without prompting an instant, bitter struggle for possession that makes the battle for Ukraine look dignified.