Skip to main content

Links

  1. The Best (and Worst) of Django

    A presentation covering a few things to do or avoid. Bookmarking it mainly for the settings bit at the end, something I should do better, like this.

  2. Pinboard/Fandom OTP - Renaming tags

    A way to rename any/all of your tags on Pinboard using Python. (via @pinboard)

  3. James Meek · It’s already happened: The NHS Goes Private · LRB 22 September 2011

    Long, good, interesting, righteous-anger-inducing article about the ongoing privatisation of the NHS, and how the service compares to other options. I am struggling not to swear.

  4. Infovore » A quick guide to Inspector Spacetime

    A lovely account of an amazing runaway myth created by fans out of a single throwaway joke in an episode of ‘Community’.

  5. A Story of GameLayers, Inc.

    Justin Hall’s lengthy account of starting, running and then closing his startup GameLayers. A good read. (via @jah)

  6. The Army Rumour Service

    Next in my occasional series titled “I love good forums dedicated to particular careers.” This one’s about the British army. (via Soldier Systems)

  7. BBC Dimensions: How Many Really?

    Lovely thing from BERG that “compares the number of people involved in key historical events or situations to the people you know through Facebook or Twitter.” Very good.

  8. LR-iTunes – Lightroom to iTunes plug-in - John Beardsworth

    A handy, free Adobe Lightroom plugin that makes it simple to export albums of photos to a folder that iTunes can then sync with your iPhone/iPad.

  9. Association of Professional Futurists - V-Gathering Futures Festival

    A bit tempted by paying to watch the sessions from this. (via @wendyinfutures)

  10. Organize anything, together. | Trello

    Really, really nicely done web app for managing tasks, lists, projects, teams, collaboration.

  11. The Floodwaters Rise

    Jason Scott has been busy importing loads of old computer magazines into Internet Archive. Great stuff (and a great job!).

  12. [Noisebridge-discuss] update on the shrine!

    Brilliant email from Danny O’Brien about the San Francisco hacker space Noisebridge’s problems with a lama using one of their rooms for meditation.

  13. Our Universities: How Bad? How Good? by Peter Brooks | The New York Review of Books

    I’m not sure why I keep finding these articles about universities so interesting. Maybe because it’s so hard to pin down what they’re *for*, never mind how to achieve that.

  14. The Mad Men Account by Daniel Mendelsohn | The New York Review of Books

    “…even as it invites us to be shocked by what it’s showing us, it keeps eroticizing what it’s showing us too.” Yes, all this. I’ve never understood why the show’s supposed to be great.

  15. James Lasdun · Diary: Police procedurals · LRB 8 September 2011

    Really interesting account by a curious writer of using a (US) police department’s Firearms Training Simulator. (Subscribers only)

  16. Custom Fit Jeans by Sam & Leona — Kickstarter

    Project to make custom-fit jeans for only $60 a pair. I am very sceptical that the material and manufacture can be much good, computerised cutting or not. (via Charles Stross)

  17. The Wrong Trousers - Charlie’s Diary

    Charles Stross on his M&S trousers and Scottevest many-pocketed fleece, plus many comments. (via @GreatDismal)

  18. The New Pants Revue | Beyond The Beyond

    Bruce Sterling comparing old and new 5.11 Tactial Pants. I love this SF-writer/fashion crossover point. I tried some of these on recently and they seemed oddly baggy. Maybe I’m too used to jeans. (via @GreatDismal)

  19. Views Differ on Shape of Earth, Climate Edition

    How few Americans have any idea what percentage of scientists think climate change is real. Depressing, and why the BBC (and others) shouldn’t try to be “balanced” about the issue. (via Daring Fireball)

  20. BBC News - A Point of View: The revolution of capitalism

    John Gray on how capitalism is destroying the bourgeoisie, and how Marx was right about the evils of capitalism, but wrong about communism being the solution. (via Stellar)

  21. Teach our kids to code - e-petitions

    Not sure if it’s just me, but isn’t it only tech people who refer to “computer programming” as “coding”? I can imagine many people, those who matter, having no idea what this petition wants. “Coding? Is that about secret codes? Codebreaking?”

  22. My speech to the IAAC | Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent

    Ben’s speech to the UK’s Information Assurance Advisory Council on how the world has and is changing, how two generations see it differently, and what it means for security.

  23. Matthew Diffee

    I liked the drawing in a ‘New Yorker’ cartoon of this chap’s, Googled him, and lots of his other cartoons are funny too. Nice.

  24. Laptop bags > laptop backpacks > STM Bags

    Some nice laptop-friendly, pocket-laden backpacks, for future reference. (via Haddock)

  25. Opinion - Image - NYTimes.com

    Graphs and charts showing how inequality and household debt in the USA have risen since 1980, especially compared to the more equitable period from 1945-80 (even though productivity was still rising then too). (via Daring Fireball)

  26. Crossword blog | Crosswords | guardian.co.uk

    I don’t play crosswords (yet) but I’m really enjoying Alan Connor’s crossword blog. Fascinating and funny.

  27. Wild things: 16 films featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls | Film | Inventory | The A.V. Club

    I’m one of those sensitive boys who has to remind himself when watching these films that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl does not exist. Only in the movies. (via John August)

  28. The Technium: The Futurist’s Dilemma

    “Any believable prediction will be wrong. Any correct prediction will be unbelievable. … the sweet spot that science fiction authors aim for” is the point on the cusp of “plausibility and fantasy”.

  29. Three different definitions of retirement and the resulting confusion Early Retirement Extreme: — when more time > more money

    I’m not sure how accurate or generalisable this is, but I like the suggested generational distinctions between what “retirement” means.

  30. Scott Chacon on the Interwebs - GitHub Flow

    How GitHub manage their own git workflow. Sounds good to me. (via Tom Taylor)