marramgrass

Diversity is a strength, apparently, so how’s this?

• There was a fire at the old courthouse on the Crumlin Road, yesterday. Zcott grabbed the photo of the day.
• The Guardian has opened up its data. Boy, do I have ideas for this.
• At FOWA Dublin last week, I spotted the guy beside me making notes with FreeMind. Davy Mac then pointed me towards XMind, which looks more powerful but maybe a little more involved to use. I will try them out and return anon with a comparison.
• The question came up of when the clocks go forward, so Google turned us up a handy list of holidays and so on.
• Is typing knackering your handwriting? For a guy who spends so much time with a pen in his hand, my scratchings are atrocious.
• I’ve been seeing this in all kinds of places, and if I had somewhere to hang posters, I’d see it there, too: Keep Calm and Carry On.
• Insight from a young man with Asperger Syndrome. Read it.
• And finally, a little something I made last week while I was sitting in a Dublin hotel room watching my wife study: all about me.

Enjoy.

A long, quite eclectic, list for today.

• Auditorium is a very calming timewaster, via Kottke.
• An examination of design trends in church websites, although not from the UK.
• BBC News asks Stephen Fry about Twitter. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should :)
• If you have tried Twitter and are looking for some folks to follow, Felicia Day has published a list of authors on Twitter, some of whom may interest you.
• Sticking with web technologies, Google has produced a video explaining Google Reader for RSS. I use Reader every single day.
• A last webby link, Gizmodo flags a poster showing all the country code top level domains. If only I had somewhere to hang it…
• PTO has a graphic illustration of why you should be careful which corners you cut.
• Lois Johnston, the fiancee of a friend, is showing off her work and taking clients.
• While I’m so far from my usual beat, if makeup is your thing then you could do worse than to check out the IBA-nominated dressjunkie.
• A handy reference to help when you have to present data.
• IrishStu has a very pretty page up listing his presences. ‘Tis gorgeous.
• In the past I’ve made oblique reference here to one of the more obscure of my many obsessions. Let’s say one of these in a nice woodgrain ebonite would be the very thing.

That’s all, folks.

A tasty selection for the first Linkdump of 2009.

• Have you ever wanted to make paper models of ships from Star Wars? Now you can, via Gizmodo.
• It’s 150 years this year since the clock at Westminster was started. The mechanical mechanism is accurate to a couple of seconds, and the Parliament website explains how it works.
• Picked up on Twitter, some good advice for surviving the zombie apocalypse.
• Dinger is beginning what I know will be an honest and thought-provoking series on Stories I wish weren’t in the Bible.
• Via Shawn Blanc, 1001 rules for my unborn son.
• I always like a bit of xkcd. Ouch. I laughed.

I had loads of stuff for this one, but I’ve narrowed it down and made sure to include a few (questionably) seasonal items. Enjoy.

• A visit to London made even cooler by how it was recorded. A video may just be a collection of stills run past very quickly, but to actually do it with stills is impressive. And frighteningly dedicated.
• Collaborating robots — but who’s idea was it to use the child in the demonstration?
• Jingle Bells arranged for 49 microwave ovens.
• A typographical snowman. Yes, he is just a single character of text. Try copying him and pasting him into different applications to see how different fonts render him.
• We’ve decided not to bring a real tree into the house this year, although we normally would. One of the nuisances of the real thing is getting in under it to keep it watered. A simple, elegant application of science will make it much easier next year.
• Finally, this little piece from John Scalzi is simply brilliant, but is rendered even more pointed and poignant when read alongside the coverage of life in an Amazon fulfillment centre.

A couple of days ill last week provided way more random browsing time than was necessary, which means another linkdump much sooner after the last one than is normal. Some of these are worth it, though.

• A violinist and a dj collaborate on YouTube. It’s pretty cool.
• It’s amazing what you can do with make-up and photography. Slightly scary, too.
• A brief history of the LED. Fascinating. MAKE tends to provide some great content.
• The Ronster offered to educate me in the ways of Alan Moore. That’ll be my next few comic-type purchases, then.
• Stocki on liturgical worship and the younger generation. An interesting perspective, a useful corrective when it’s so easy to emphasise personal preference, and a hint at deeper shifts, too.

• I really wanted to post another xkcd comic, but it’s too soon since the last one :-) Also, this one is huge. Go and read it, though — there’s something strangely beautiful about it.
• A site with various fascinating bits of information design.
• I’m very much looking forward to next year’s Watchmen movie (although I know others who aren’t). These posters caused me a gleeful giggle.
• This is one that I don’t quite understand. Surely Glitter’s conviction doesn’t change his past music? And while the argument is made that the schools don’t want to contribute to his royalty income, I’m not happy with the notion that any convict, when released, should be denied the opportunity to ply their honest trade, especially in this case where it’s fair payment for well-past work.
• Finally, a video that’s been doing the rounds lately. Cutting :-)

Loads of stuff this time round.

• Since we’re in November, thoughtful posts on Scrabo Power and Slugger pondering the wearing of the poppy.
• William Crawley offers some sensible perspective on all this Brand-Ross craziness.
• Gizmodo are still talking about Lego. It’s great.
• The BBC examines the Hippocratic Oath.
• How we will read books in the future.
• When Virtual Methodist suggested this to me, to say it “frightened the life out of” me doesn’t even come close. I’m thinking about it, but I suspect I truly haven’t the nerve. Dare I also mention practicalities?
• Rands proposes the FriendDA, although the document itself appears to be down just now. Nice idea.
• I had actually started to code up something a little like TypeTester for my own use, but it’s a much more comprehensive implementation, and it’s there already, so I downed tools quite happily.
• Some reflection in the Independent on the ridiculously overdone Religion vs. Science question.
• How good are your eyes?, via Kottke, I think. A very informative little game.
• And finally, a hilarious yet worthwhile leaked email to Sunday Express editorial staff.

• A blog I stumbled across on Church Audio & Sound. If you’re ever caught driving the desk, you should definitely subscribe.
• I wanted to post the video Vincent Laforet shot with the new Canon EOS 5D Mk II still camera, but I can’t. Keep an eye on that page in case it comes back. The video wasn’t the most artistically astounding ever shot, but it showed just what the camera is capable of. (By the by, how can Canon not be able to afford the bandwidth?)
• Film is not dead! Kodak announces a new colour neg film. Looks like they’re shooting for C-41 Velvia. I doubt I’ll find a use for the new Ektar, but I’ll shoot a couple of rolls for fun — and it gladdens the heart to hear it’s coming.
• Russell Howard mocks the papers. Very nice.
• Visible light networking. Sounds weird. If it runs without visible flicker it might be pretty cool. Ubiquity, here we come!
• The financial crisis explained using a child’s card game. Makes sense, actually. (Via Kottke.)
• John Gruber publishes his thoughts on the iPhone 3G. While the 3G is an excellent phone, it seems I’m not alone in preferring the design of the first one.

Right. I’ll go now and finish eating my lunch.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these.

• Sunday football in East Belfast, with commentary from Scrabo Power and Virtual Methodist.
• What will the next generation of broadband cost?
• Brazen City. In and of Belfast. I’ll be keeping an eye to see how this develops.
• Small-talk with a web designer. Can’t remember where I found this. Sorry.
• All 120 Crayon colours. From the always-interesting COLOURlovers.
• Guilloches. Fascinating and beautiful. I think I came across it via Kottke. I need to keep better track of the hat-tips.
• Kingdom Values and Windows Vista.
• Glenn continues to reflect on the spirituality of illness.

• NT Wright on The Colbert Report. I don’t know how this happened, but it’s cool.
• Princess Bride redux.
• Keep religion out of welfare provision. I was emailed this at work. So ill-informed it’s astonishing — I alternated between anger and laughter as I read it.
• The truth about working from home. No comment ;-)
• ‘Practise’ or ‘practice’? I learned something new. Now I need to remember it.