A bug-bear of mine is football stadia that are too big for football. I’m thinking of “olympic” size stadia used in far-east, European and other world-cup tournaments (or god forbid Ozzie rules games) that have running tracks and semi-circular ends and the like, just too much space between the crowd and the game. Those that do [...]
Entries from August 2009
Maradonna is Right
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August 31, 2009 at 5:04am
by Psybertron
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For Elbonia Read Vegas
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August 31, 2009 at 3:44am
by Psybertron
I have to say organizations participating in global conferences worked this out long ago. The best place to hold them is the place with cheap accomodation & catering, and plenty of travel connections – resort locations out of season typically. That said, the worst place on the planet has to be Las Vegas ? Oddly, [...]
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Dylan on SatNav
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August 25, 2009 at 2:46pm
by Psybertron
Noticed this somewhere earlier, but here from The Grauniad. (How many roads must a man walk down ? 42 surely.)
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The Missing People of Europe
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August 25, 2009 at 2:39pm
by Psybertron
Fascinating 1881 map of Europe showing the distribution of Jews before pogroms and the Nazis. Wow. The very interesting Ptak’s Science Books blog, via Ray Girvan at Segal Books.
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Laugh and then Think
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August 25, 2009 at 2:04pm
by Psybertron
Improbable Research – The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Research that makes you LAUGH and then THINK Hat tip to “Lingvisme“. Pinker and Chalmers in there.
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Comic Relief
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August 24, 2009 at 2:27am
by Psybertron
Best (and worst) jokes from the Edinburgh fringe.
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Categories, Categories
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August 23, 2009 at 10:20am
by Psybertron
This Dilbert made me chuckle, earlier this week. Thanks to Dave Weinberger for reminding me of the taxonomic joke. Relevant to the day job – some classes / categories have more value than others. Miscellaneous / 99 / other categories and context specific groupings (classes of class) have value only in the context of their [...]
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More Response to Google
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August 23, 2009 at 4:49am
by Psybertron
This time to compete with their on-line library aspirations – The Open Book Alliance from Amazon, Microsoft, Yahhoo and The Internet Archive. Healthy stuff.
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Printed Displays / Re-Usable Paper
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August 23, 2009 at 4:29am
by Psybertron
Been following these developments over the years – this post just to capture a latest news link – remaining problems are all engineering.
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Matt Cutts on Google Rankings
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August 19, 2009 at 2:46pm
by Psybertron
Great summary of mainly non-techie content tips on Google search optimisation tips from WordCamp09.
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Continuing Closure
3
August 16, 2009 at 7:57am
by Psybertron
For now, just some significant quotes and paraphrases (from Closure). THE PROBLEM The contemporary predicament. The circle of self-reference in which thought has been increasingly enmeshed – typified by rhetorical self-denials and the use of inverted commas …Â a predicament so insistent and destructive that it is not sustainable at all. … signs of its destructive [...]
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Vinland
2
August 16, 2009 at 6:05am
by Psybertron
Thanks to Rivets for the link, but coincidentally one of the largest sections in Diamond’s “Collapse” (two posts ago) is about Norse colonization of the north Atlantic – including Vinland outposts from Iceland and Greenland. Too far from home to sustain a viable Norse community without some serious attempt at integration with the natives and their [...]
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Closure
1
August 16, 2009 at 4:26am
by Psybertron
“Closure – A Story of Everything” by Hilary Lawson is something I first blogged mention of back in 2003. I was prompted to obtain and read it just recently by David Morey. First my usual caveat – it’s clear from the first page that it “fits my agenda” so I am inevitably frustrated looking for “so [...]
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Topical Sustainability
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August 13, 2009 at 5:21am
by Psybertron
Just happen to be reading Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” – only a couple of chapters beyond the intros – Montana and Polynesia so far. Noticed this news item about sustainability of irrigation in NW India. Good read, Diamond’s book, but quite a straightforward message, I think. Natural or man-made, sustainable success or failure is always a two-way causal [...]
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Downside of Social Media
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August 13, 2009 at 2:16am
by Psybertron
Dumb and dummer ?
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What Makes a Community ?
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August 9, 2009 at 4:51am
by Psybertron
Interesting post from Matt Mullenweg on his WordPress development blog, and what makes blog (or other social networking software) interaction into a community, rather than just “noise”. Respect. Reminded me of the Friends of Wisdom rules I drafted … Rule #1 RESPECT – Understand & Question before Disagree & Criticize. Critical debate is essential to [...]
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Bad Science Reporting
4
August 7, 2009 at 1:30am
by Psybertron
This is the kind of reporting that winds me up – I’m sure there is probably some good science behind it, but this isn’t it. OK, so we see the birds (rooks – crows are pretty intelligent) raising the water level to reach their morsel of food by displacing the water with stones, selecting the [...]
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Americans have not got there yet.
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August 2, 2009 at 10:22am
by Psybertron
BBC Washington Correspondent Justin Webb is returning from the US to the UK after 7 years. We know exactly what he means. The hypocrisy is part of the possibility. And yet for all the ugliness, the deadening tawdriness of much of the American landscape and the tinny feebleness of many of its politicians – for [...]
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Pirsig Makes it to Oxford
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August 2, 2009 at 6:39am
by Psybertron
Saturday October 24th “Art and the Metaphysics of Quality” at the Oxford University Dept for Continuing Education. Good luck to Ant and Dave and Patrick. Wonder if I can be there ?
