Eclectica

The Mysterious Mr. Zedzed: The Wickedest Man in the World [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:30:43 PST

8 creepy mystery ingredients in fast food [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:11:16 PST

Airport scanner abuse - who would have thought it?

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:38:33 PST

From an article in Wired. "TSA agents in Dallas singled out female passengers to undergo screening in a body scanner, according to complaints filed by several women who said they felt the screeners intentionally targeted them to view their bodies. One woman who flew out of Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport several months ago said a female agent sent her through a body scanner three

Cutting data overload with RSS feed filtering

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:06:00 PST

I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds and this creates a data overload problem. There are feeds I do not want to stop watching, but contain many items I am not interested in reading. I can skip over them but I would prefer not to see them at all. The answer is a feed reader with filters. A good filtering system can hide unwanted items. Unfortunately, only one online feed reader provides filters.

EU Official Who Resigned Over ACTA Details Why ACTA Is Dangerous [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:34:17 PST

NHS not safe in Tory hands

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:28:19 PST

I assume David Cameron would like to win the next election and keep on being Prime Minister. It was going to be a big ask because our perilous financial state means there will be very little money to hand out in electoral bribes. Still, it was doable. Most people realise our present state is a present from Gordon Brown and don't seem to blame the Tories. The Labour Party was very helpful. They

Restoring the Nile Clumps

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:19:45 PST

To commemorate Nelson's victory In August 1798 a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson inflicted a crushing defeat on a French fleet moored in Aboukir Bay, Egypt. The French lost fourteen ships and had 1700 seamen killed. The Battle of the Nile cut Napoleons Egyptian expedition off from France, and removed the threat to Britain’s position in India. It was one of the British Navy’s

High Speed Water Drop Collisions - a set on Flickr [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:19:13 PST

You know?

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:26:05 PST

People who constantly say 'you know' when they are trying to describe something are number 14 on my list of things that really annoy me. What they are saying when they say 'you know' is - I am too lazy to actually compose a coherent sentence and I want you to do the work for me. I am too stupid, ignorant, inarticulate or poorly educated to say clearly and concisely what I mean. I have a

Tower of Halibar

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:53:52 PST

The Tower of Halibar [or Hallbar] is a 16th century fortified tower, near to Carluke in South West Scotland. In 1535 there was an Act of Parliament which required everybody who owned a plot of land to the value of £100, or more, to construct a fortified tower to protect against Border Raiders. This Act may have brought about the construction of the Tower of Halibar. The tower was occupied

Crocodile tears over Syrian casualties

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:31:49 PST

American and British indignation over civilian casualties in Syria seem hypocritical when one considers the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan killed by American and British forces. I don't remember Hillary Clinton or William Hague saying anything about those deaths. Nor have they seemed very concerned about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The indignation

In search of a decent cup of coffee

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:30:30 PST

This post is about my search for the perfect cup of coffee. Or, to be realistic, my search for a decent cup of coffee. It has been a long road, but I think I am reaching its end The British have no taste for quality beverages. For example, we drink a lot of tea, but it is poor quality tea. We add milk and sugar to disguise the quality of the tea leaf. For a long time the British only drank

Truk Lagoon

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:28:28 PST

The world's two best wreck diving sites are Scapa Flow in Orkney and Truk [Chuuk] Lagoon in the Pacific. Scapa Flow At the end of the First World War ships of the German High Seas fleet was scuttled at Scapa. Most of the ships were salvaged between the wars but three battleships [Kron Prinz Willhelm, Konig and Markgraf] remain, as well as a number of cruisers. There are also a lot of other

Choosing the right way

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:07:19 PST

I have a framed copy of this print [The Broad and Narrow Way] on my study wall. On the left is the broad way. Enter through the wide welcoming arch and at first you have fun. Then it all turns wrong and you finish in the fires of hell. Just shows you what happens when you have fun. If you find the narrow gateway on the right and live a miserable, sanctimonious life then eventually you will

iBooks Author

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:51:19 PST

After reading this I de installed my copy of iBook Author. Why does Apple think they can get away with this crap?

SOPA & PIPA - follow the money

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:35:23 PST

From an article on the BBC website "How do the companies go about influencing Congress? In part, by spending heaps of cash lobbying the US Congress for legislation to enact laws that would punish repeat copyright offenders and bar US-based internet service providers, payment processors and advertisers from doing business with alleged infringers. Television, film and recording industry

And death shall have no dominion

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:57:47 PST

And death shall have no dominion. Dead men naked they shall be one With the man in the wind and the west moon; When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Though they go mad they shall be sane, Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion. And death shall

Map of Walks and Via Ferrata in the Dolomites

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:58:09 PST

An illustrated and annotated map of some high level walks and via ferrata in the Dolomites. Link CommunityWalk Map - Walks and Via Ferrata in the Dolomites

Five nights in Provence

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:07:14 PST

The main airport for Provence is Marseille Provence, about 28km west of Marseilles. There is a good bus service from the airport to Saint-Charles, the main railway station in Marseilles. You can buy train tickets either by waiting in a long queue, or from multi language ticketing machines. These work well but you need a credit card. I started by catching a train to Montpellier. This used to be a

Saying it with animals

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:52:28 PST

I posted about Deacon McDonalds Dog some time ago. Recently I found another example of someone using a stone animal to insult an opponent. The Riga Cats A Latvian businessman was insulted when he was refused membership of a Guild. Unfortunately for the Guild he owned the building across from the Guild's headquarters. The businessman had two cat sculptures created and set them up on the roof of

From Raubwirtschaft to Kleptocracy

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:34:31 PST

I am currently reading Michela Wrong’s ‘In The Footsteps of Mr Kurtz’. This excellent book is about Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime in the Congo. Wrong describes this as being a kleptocracy, which means a government by thieves. I looked up the full definition in Wikipedia which gives a number of examples of such states; including Indonesia under Suharto, Peru under Alberto Fujimori, the Federal

Every day starts with a difficult decision

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:32:18 PST

Water of Leith Walkway

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:37:38 PST

The walkway starts next to Balerno High School [ Balerno is a village on the south-west outskirts of Edinburgh] and runs 12.25 miles [19.6 kilometres] through Edinburgh to Leith. The path runs downhill, but the incline is so slight that it is barely perceptible. Approximately half a mile of the route is on roads, for the remainder the path alongside the Water of Leith, and away from traffic.

The Voice of the Sluggard

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:32:04 PST

Feeling a little sluggish after the festive season? There is a song for you if the condition persists. The Sluggard 'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain, "You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again." As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed, Turns his sides and his shoulders and his heavy head. "A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;" Thus he wastes half his

New Year Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:36:19 PST

Identify this walled town. A well known British author lived in this town for many years. Please identify the author and the town.

Teach Yersen Scots - Dreich

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:00:09 PST

Your word for today is Dreich [dreek]. This word is used to describe Scottish weather which is dull, grey and depressing. There is a lot of this kind of weather in Scotland. Usually rain is involved, but not honest, Christian rain, which looks as if it might just end in a few hours, but continuous drizzle that looks as if it could last for days, and usually does. I first moved to Pollack

Deteriorata

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:32:00 PST

For those of you old enough to remember the original. Avoid quiet and placid persons, unless you are in need of sleep. Rotate your tires. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself and heed well their advice, though they be turkeys. Know what to kiss, and when. Consider that two wrongs don’t make a right, but three do. Whenever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted that in the face of

Electronic Brains

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 07:43:13 PST

In 2002 the BBC produced four 15 minute radio programmes about the early days of computing. These are still available in the BBC archive. The first programme is on the LEO computer, the second on Remington Rand and UNIVAC, the third on the first Russian computer, and the final one on the MONIAC hydraulic computer. You can stream the programmes but you cannot download them as mp4 files and

A peace to end peace

noreply@blogger.com (-) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:46:51 PST

A peace to end peace,” commented Sir Alfred Milner, that powerhouse of the British war cabinet, as he surveyed the disastrous terms of the WW1 Versailles treaty. I was reminded of Milner's observation when I heard this piece of news. The BBC reports that "An Iraqi judicial committee has issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia Arab country's Sunni Arab Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashemi.

Google Scholar Opens Up Its Citations [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:44:31 PST

Why the rich should pay taxes [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:21:34 PDT

Who owns our green and pleasant land? [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 06:05:04 PDT

Computer-Generated journalism [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:58:14 PDT

Google's "real name policy", why you are the product [del.icio.us]

m8dtx — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:55:13 PDT

Google's search by drawing feature [del.icio.us]

m8dtx