armb

Those who enjoyed http://xkcd.com/695/ might also like http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.arts.sf.fandom/msg/5bea86a444e5506a

The timer on our gas oven appears to be confused, so I've been reading the user manual.
It says "The two shelves provided with the oven can be used in any of the five positions (counted from the top)". I tried counting from the bottom, and there are five positions in that direction too, and they all seem as usable as when counted from the top....

Via la_marquise_de_:
"Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross", with Christopher Lee singing the part of Charlemagne
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/05/christopher-lee-symphonic-metal-album

I haven't actually heard "if we have global warming, why's it so cold?" recently.
But just in case - it's colder than usual here, but warmer than usual in the Arctic:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/why-the-us-and-much-of-europe-are-shivering-in-the-cold.ars

[EDIT: but there are people using the argument, and misrepresenting climate scientists as backing them up:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/11/climate-change-global-warming-mojib-latif
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jan/06/cold-snap-climate-sceptics

"Here's what Martyn Brown says in today's Express:

As one of the worst winters in 100 years grips the country, climate experts are still trying to claim the world is growing warmer.

There's a clue as to where he might have gone wrong in that sentence: "country" has a slightly different meaning to "world". Buried at the bottom of the same article is the admission that " ... other areas including Alaska, Canada and the Mediterranean were warmer than usual."

]

3D printing - now in colour:
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/fullcolor

Security policy cartoon, via Bruce Schneier
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/tom-toles#id=/comics/uclickcomics/20100107/cx_tt_uc/tt20100107

I forgot to record the first part of the special until half way through. No-one was upset at missing it. I did try iPlayer on the Wii again, and this time it worked, at least as far as letting us list the episode as available, but we didn't bother actually watching the missed bit.
We did watch the second part. Meh.
I was going to ask if "Rassilon" was explained, but IO9 suggests not (and also puts this regeneration in perspective).

So:
[ ] Rassilon is just a Time Lord name. He's no more the Rassilon than Arthur Wellesley was a reincarnated King Arthur, just because they share a name.
[ ] Dalton's character isn't actually called Rassilon, the Doctor was calling him that to point out his hubris (that was my favorite idea, but this suggests not - maybe I should watch the Confidential episode).
[ ] Rassilon, founder of the Time Lords, has reappeared as Dalton's character
[ ] Dalton's character, foiled in his current plans, escapes to go back in time and found the Time Lords.
[ ] Something else I explain in comments.

My existing boiler appears to be not inefficient enough to qualify for the scrappage scheme. I suppose that's good news in a way.
(My Ka would qualify for the car scheme, but I don't want to buy a new car.)

My Landisk has failed. A multimeter showed no output from the power supply - trying a different power supply, its web server interface worked, but showed no disk present. I haven't tried taking the disk out and trying it in a PC, but I'm not optimistic.
It's not a disaster, because everything on it was only a copy of stuff elsewhere - but now some of the stuff has no other copies.
I'd been thinking about getting a better NAS anyway, one that I can install other software on beyond the builtin FTP/SMB server, possibly a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo (and yes, I realise that RAID isn't a replacement for proper backups).
Any suggestions/recommendations?

or other seasonal festivity/holiday of your choice.
Existence of supernatural wish granting being(s) not guaranteed.
Seasonality may be subject to geographical restrictions.

[EDIT: See bugshaw's fantastic Dalek Nativity]

"Abantu bazaalibwa nga balina eddembe n'obuyinza ebyenkanankana, batondebwa nga balina amagezi era nga basobola okwawula ekirungi n'ekibi bwebatyo, buli omu agwana okuyisa munne nga muganda we."

There are so many peoples and languages represented in the list of available translations of the world's most translated document. This is Luganda, "most widely spoken second language next to English" in Uganda - a Ugandan MP is currently defending their Anti-Homosexuality Bill by saying it's all right, the death penalty is only for aggravated offenses.

Meme via muninnhuginn. (Though I still don't really like memes that even implicitly suggest that if you don't choose to copy them, it could be because you disapprove of e.g. human rights.)

Alice's phone is being unreliable, so I could use that as an excuse to pass my phone to her and buy myself a shiny new one (along with my PDA's previously mentioned flaky sync socket).

Tesco are about to do the iPhone as PAYG for less than Play charge for an unlocked 3G, and with 3GS also available from Tesco.

But the principle of an Android phone still appeals, e.g. Geeksphone One, HTC Tattoo.
And there are lots of rumours of assorted future Android stuff.

Or a boring less shiny Windows Mobile Zinc II would be rather cheaper.

(Edit: But T-Mobile Pulse now less than that:
http://forums.reghardware.co.uk/forum/1/2009/12/02/koy_2009_android/ )

In particular uk.*

[ ] Dead, but hasn't realised yet
[ ] Dying
[ ] Just smells funny
[ ] What-net?

http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2009/11/30/open-vote-networ/
"... the Chancellor is seeking re-election in the Galactic Senate. Some delegates don't want to vote for him, but worry about his revenge. How to arrange an election such that the voter's privacy will be best protected?

The environment is extremely adverse. Surveillance is everywhere. Anything you say will be recorded and traceable to you. All communication is essentially public. In addition, you have no one to trust but yourself.

It may seem mind-boggling that this problem is solvable in the first place. With cryptography, anything is possible."

(Solving the problem of persuading the average voter that this really works might be trickier. One of the major advantages of a simple paper ballot election is that it doesn't require any special knowledge to see if it's working more or less as designed.)


(And on a completely different note, "Surprised kitten is surprised", just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.)

"This": http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/11/imbeciles.html

Ending felt a bit like the writers were trying to have their cake and eat it. I'm suspicious that it's a lead up to "actually, he can bring the rest of Time Lords back after all, he just needed to realise that". I must get around to writing up my theory about the Doctor and altering history - I don't think this totally destroys it.

In other news , Michael Moorcock to write Doctor Who - http://io9.com/5404048/moorcock-to-write-doctor-who

I've been thinking about getting a new phone, because the sync connector on my PDA has become dodgy.
I think xkcd may have just made up my mind for me: http://xkcd.com/662/

Later edit:
(In terms of platform, I wasn't likely to get new top end models like the Droid.)

Current plan is still to use older non-smart phone, and PDA that still syncs so long as you wiggle the USB lead about a bit, because when it finally fails there will be more options.
( Read more... )

We have working radiators. All over the first floor[1]. They get hot. I'm not going to be killed for putting the family through a third Christmas with no heating upstairs. Hurrah.

There's room for a lot of improvement, and I need to fix a couple of small drips, but still - working radiators in the bedroom.

Coming soon much later, plans for adding solar heating. We had calls from http://www.britannicpower.com/ recently. I'm reasonably impressed by their kit (thermal store with multiple heat exchanger coils), much less so by their salesmen. Better than the last lot (whose name I forget) though. The existing use of a thermal store and requirement that the (remaining) underfloor heating be a separate circuit is what rules out most simple solutions. But I'm currently thinking maybe one of the existing stores could be converted to a preheat store.

Also, a newer more efficient boiler. MicroCHP would be fun.
http://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Products/Technology-And-Initiatives/WhisperGen.htm

But better controls, and not running the pump off a timeswitch on the landing with a flex across the floor into the airing cupboard is probably the first thing (after fixing the drips).

[1] Except the one in the guest bathroom. Picky. Between the wall of the airing cupboard and the pipes to the radiator in the hall not being insulated yet, the bathroom is fairly warm anyway.

Is "The Nutt Sack Affair" the finest name ever for a political embarrassment?

And why do I have a sudden urge to look for Man From UNCLE slash about their fight against thrush THRUSH? (I don't really. But I bet it exists.)

(P.S. I wouldn't much mind politicians saying "other considerations result in our following a different policy from the one our science advisors recommend". But they should be honest that that is what they are doing, and the advisors should be free to say that their advice was different.)

Tom Tomorrow sums up Obama's Nobel prize - it was actually won by the idea of Obama:
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/10/13/tomo/index.html

Meanwhile, why are the Conservatives so far ahead in UK opinion polls? Does anyone really think they would have kept us out of recession by putting stricter controls on the banking industry? Kept us out of Iraq? I'm starting to think they might be a slight improvement on civil rights and privacy issues, but I wouldn't bet on it.