Writing
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Slender gains
A bit from a review of a book by Katherine Boo, about how the poor complain about their neighbours more than they do about the rich.
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Midcult
Some bits about “midcult”, Dwight Macdonald’s term for middlebrow culture.
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Storing private files on Amazon S3 with Django and giving authorised users temporary access
How to do what that long title says, using signed URLs and all that stuff.
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Doing something
Programming scratches the same itch that building Lego used to when I was a kid.
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Buy this!
Wondering why Amazon doesn’t have a single international page per item.
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Manufactured normalcy
On people who are disappointed by the present, saying it’s not futuristic enough, and who can’t imagine a future.
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Failure quotes
Two quotes about failure, from Samuel Beckett and Stephen Spender.
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Face.com closes its API after Facebook purchase
Face.com announce they’re closing their API only three weeks after saying how they’ll keep supporting their developers.
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Placards for everyday life
Placards aren’t just for demonstrations, but should be carried more frequently.
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“Blog” vs “blogpost”
Complaining to the ‘Guardian’ about misuse.
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A Bauhaus for today
I wonder what a Bauhaus-equivalent in the 21st century would be like, and whether it’s possible.
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The value of our historical Instagram products
Looking at the potential value of all the Instagram photos we’ve taken, with regard to Karl Marx, John Lanchester and Matt Webb.
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Doors with no handles
“…the Volkspolizei would come through the doors, drag the Gruftis and Autonomen into the East, rough them up and throw them back out.”
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1960s videos of London
Some great videos of London in the 1960s.
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Zing!
Two good quotes about politicians from Stewart Lee and Simon Hoggart.
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Password protecting a Django site
Adding simple htaccess-style password protection to a Django website.
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Comments switched off
I’ve switched comments off on this blog, because of the number of spam comments.
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Dreams Of Your Life
I worked on a project with Hide&Seek, a website themed around the film ‘Dreams Of A Life’.
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The Guardian’s iPad edition
My thoughts on using the ‘Guardian’s iPad edition for a couple of months. It’s good.
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Protecting the City
David Cameron protecting the City of London — not the UK — in Europe.
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Work/life balance
Wondering whether your company providing non-work services helps or hinders work-life balance.
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FRSTEE the Snowman
RIG have just launched the customised Christmas decoration.
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‘Rip It Up And Start Again’ playlist
I made a 14 hour Spotify playlist of the music from Simon Reynolds’ book.
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One dimensional news
Looking back at my Today’s Guardian site, after using it for a while. And identifying a problem all digital news design seems to have.
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Asymmetry
The asymmetry of how we judge others, at an individual level and as one country to another.