The Reverend Spooner would have been proud of this excellent example.
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Tag Clouds
Tags are metadata keywords that are applied to things. And a Tag Cloud is a collection of tags, often with the most frequenty-used tags being highlighted in some fashion. For example, here’s the tag cloud for my library, and the tag cloud for my photographs.Tag clouds can be used to show aspects about the things being tagged that might not at first be apparent. For example, here’s a particularly interesting use of a tag cloud that varies over time. The collection that has been tagged is a collection of speeches made by US Presidents, dating from 1776 to the present day. By moving the slider to alter the date, you can see which are the key words (the Tags) used in a speech made at the time.Leave a comment
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Don’t Panic
The Guardian today carries a nice selection of extracts from emails sent by students on their gap year to their doting parents. The extracts, far from having the intended effect of calming their parents’ worries, probably had precisely the opposite effect. Sample:Dear Mummy and Daddy, how are you? This may come as a shock but I am thinking of eloping with one of my students to Assam coz he is from the Naga tribe, and I want to be a Naga girl and go hunting monkeys with bows and arrows and fishing with spears like they do, and then come back and do tribal dancing all night, coz it’s so much fun, and all the tribal people here are so great and brave and strong. Obviously the political situation in Assam isn’t ideal, but I’ll be OK. Love you lots. Only an idea at the moment. X, MeI have obviously led a sheltered life, since I don’t recall being in any situation remotely like some of the ones described here. And not having children ourselves means that we have missed out on the opportunity to experience parental panic. However, my brother, who is in his seventies, is currently travelling through South America, and sends me cheerful emails with news such as "survived an active volcano and a strikers’ blockade, burning tyres and all!", so I think I’m beginning to get the hang of how it must feel.Leave a comment
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Fungi Serendipity
Now that we live in the countryside; this year, for the first time, I’ve had the opportunity to observe the life of fungi. During the past couple of months, my daily walk in the woods with the dog usually reveals a few new specimens each time.
So when I saw this article by Carl Zimmer on Stinkhorns, I stopped and read it. And a link in the comments on the article led me to the Cornell Mushroom Blog.3 responses to “Fungi Serendipity”
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I’ve always been a fungi fan myself, but that article on the stinkhorns was amazing. These fungi types are like some weird lifeforms from a science fiction film – forcing insects to climb to the top of stalks and so on. Fascinating.
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oh, and, if these are your own photographs Geoff, they are really excellent. Have yu ever thought of sending them anywhere?
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Gelert, yep, they’re my photographs. It’s just a hobby of mine. All my photos are under a Creative Commons license that makes them available to others to use for non-commercial purposes. They’re all up on Flickr here.
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Office Roundtable
Last month, I mentioned new telepresence products from Cisco and Microsoft. Here’s some more information on the Microsoft product, Office Roundtable.First up is an interview with Ross Cutler of Microsoft Research talking about some of the innovations that have been done with the video camera device. Via that link, you can also download the 360 degree panoramic video of the interview, and see it as an Office Roundtable device would present it. Interesting stuff.And by way of light relief, here’s a take on how the product might be used.Leave a comment
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Berners-Lee and Sturgeon’s Revelation
Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World-Wide Web, is worried about the fact that the web will become a place where "untruths start to spread more than truths".Hello? This is human nature that we are talking about. Sturgeon’s Revelation is equally valid for the Web as for any other area of human endeavour. And for blogging, even more so…Update: Tim Berners-Lee reminds us all that journalists who quote out of context are not exactly rare either…Leave a comment
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Bang!
So, I mentioned the book that a seemingly unlikely trio have collaborated on. I’ve now got a copy, and it’s not bad at all. Suitable for a wide age range of people who are interested in science. There’s even a web page with a new riff by Brian May on it to publicise the book. Brings back memories of Queen!Leave a comment
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The Gender Genie
Do you write like a man or a woman? Try pasting in an example of your writing at The Gender Genie, and see if the genie gets it right. It did it my case, but then, it only has two options to choose from…(hat tip to Rachel for the the link)Leave a comment
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Hop-tu-Naa
When I was growing up on the Isle of Man, we children always celebrated Hop-tu-Naa on the 31st October. I’ve always assumed that it was simply a Manx version of Halloween. There are a lot of similarities – although the Manx custom of carving turnips into lanterns I’ve always thought to be far superior to the pumpkin (it takes more effort, so the sense of achievement is greater). But it turns out that the two festivals are unconnected. You’re never too old to learn something new…Leave a comment
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RIP Nigel Kneale
So, Nigel Kneale has died. Although born in Barrow-in-Furness, he came from a Manx family (Kneale is a common Manx name), and grew up on the Isle of Man.I was too young to be allowed to watch his masterpiece, Quatermass and the Pit, when it was shown on TV, but I did see the Hammer film version years later.Update: Mark Gatiss has a particularly nice tribute to Kneale in today’s Guardian.Leave a comment
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Domestic Science
Yet another cookery series started on BBC TV last night. This one is a bit different from the usual run of the mill, though. It is Heston Blumenthal demonstrating his method of cooking. Last night he did bangers and mash, and treacle tart with ice cream. At least, those were the names of the two courses he did, but his methods were so impractical for ordinary mortals that we haven’t a hope in hell of being able to serve them up in our own humble homes. I mean, liquid nitrogen and dry ice? They are not items that I can buy from my local village shop, Heston…Sam Wollaston, TV critic of the Guardian, gives a flavour of what the show was like. Mind you, I have to agree with Wollaston, it’s worth it just to watch Blumenthal perform his alchemy in the kitchen (and please tell me that that perfect kitchen, with its pastel tones and not a utensil out of place, was just a studio set). But I despair of ever being able to attempt any of his recipes.2 responses to “Domestic Science”
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Yes, the liquid nitrogen was laughable, how many ASDAs stock it anyway? Even the dry ice would probably send most of us to the Tesco freezer section, but I found him easy on the eyes and easier to watch than most chefs.
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Easy on the eyes? Well, true, he has something appealing about him. It’s a strange mixture of nerd and bruiser, I think. And I do wonder whether I’d actually like his food. Perhaps one day I’ll get a chance to taste it. But I’m reminded about the judgement of a friend of mine (whose judgement I trust) about a similar chef/restaurant. That’s the excreable El Bulli. Pretentiousness taken to an extreme level (take a look at their truly abominable Flash web site as a clue). Frankly, they should have stuck to minigolf. The world would have been a better place.
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Torchwood Again
OK, so I’ve now seen episode 3 of Torchwood. And I’m still not sure whether I like it. The scene at the shooting range, in particular, I found hard to take. I mean, what the F… was going on there? Satan corrupting Innocence, aka Jack putting the moves on Gwen? I dunno, but it left a somewhat nasty taste. Literally a whiff of cordite. To be honest, apart from the Gwen character, the Torchwood team seem to have totally lost their moral compass, and she seems as though she will go through the series having temptation spread liberally before her.It’s strange, Doctor Who had a mixture of innocence and world-weariness that worked very well. Torchwood gives off a stench of moral decay. I hope I’m wrong, and that the better parts of humanity will win through in the end.More views from Actually Existing…One response to “Torchwood Again”
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[…] see that Torchwood is returning to our haunted fishtanks next month. While I’ve been pretty disparaging about the series in the past, I have to say that I thought that it redeemed itself with the […]
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Rabbit
It’s an animated film by Run Wrake. It illustrates the importance of karma. It is bizarre. It is worth watching. It is for Chris and Ed.Leave a comment
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The Power of Art
BBC TV is broadcasting a series called The Power of Art at the moment. It’s been written, and is fronted by, the historian Simon Schama. There have been two episodes so far, the first on Caravaggio and the second on Bernini. I have found both to be riveting. Not because of the tiresome dramatised reconstructions, but because of the power of Schama’s words. I get quite irritated at watching hammy actors acting out something that Schama has just said; it’s a trend in today’s historical doumentaries that should have been drowned at birth. The series is at its best either with Schama speaking direct to camera, or showing the art, with Schama’s voiceover giving his view of the work.The series has had mixed reviews from the critics, and Schama replies in typical fashion with Bugger the Brickbats… Quite right, too. I’ll be there watching Schama deliver the rest of the series. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing his Rothko, since I’ve never thought much of that artist. I’m intrigued as to whether Schama can persuade me otherwise.Leave a comment
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The God Conundrum
Sean Carroll takes on Terry Eagleton’s review of Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and holes it below the waterline. An excellent article that shows up Eagleton’s hand-waving for the nonsense it it.Leave a comment
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Searching Spaces
One of the apparent limitations of Windows Live Spaces is the difficulty of tracking down topics that I’ve written about in my blog. You know the sort of thing: I remember writing about the BBC’s series of The Apprentice, but I can’t for the life of me remember when… Using Google or Windows Live Search returns millions of results, so how to narrow it down?Well, of course, it turns out that it’s relatively straightforward, if you know how.Google does have a blog search, and using the Advanced settings, it’s possible to narrow down the search to just my blog entries. That screen will build the search query for you using Google’s query syntax. So, the Advanced settings screen builds the query: "apprentice" blogurl:gcoupe.spaces.live.com.Windows Live Search has a similar capability, in fact their Advanced settings screen has more options to tune the search than Google does. Once again, using the Advanced Settings screen will build the query: apprentice site:gcoupe.spaces.live.com. You’ll notice that Microsoft’s query syntax is not the same as Google. Standards, doncha just love them? Rob has more about the Microsoft query syntax over at The Space Craft.One interesting thing about searching for the word "apprentice" in my blog: Windows Live Search finds all three instances; Google only finds two…2 responses to “Searching Spaces”
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Note Google’s advanced search options (http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/help/operators.html), which include the site: keywork. Apparently the blogurl: keyword is unique to their blog search itself, which I suspect is based off of their RSS reader engine rather than the proper search engine – interesting to see if they integrate the two.
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Thanks, Mike. But interestingly, I then used the site: operator to construct my search query apprentice site:gcoupe.spaces.live.com. This turns out to be the same search string that I used with Windows Live Search. And this time, Google returns no results at all… Dunno what’s going on, but it proves that you shouldn’t trust technology…
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A Portrait of Pervasive Pachyderm Dysfunction
Charles Siebert authors a fascinating article in the New York Times about the evidence that elephant society is breaking down. The parallels with our own are uncomfortable.(hat tip to Apophenia for the link)Leave a comment
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Say My Name…
Coboró visits Ypres, and pens a typically powerful piece about both the futility of war, and its insidious way of breeding future conflicts. Read it.Leave a comment
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Torchwood: Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down?
Well, there’s a spectrum of reactions to Torchwood. Ranging from Nicholas’ positive review to Justin’s burial. While I think that Justin was unnecessarily harsh, I can see what he means. I watched the two opening episodes with a feeling that I wanted it to succeed, rather than being bowled over by it. Oh well, episode 3 tonight, we’ll see whether it starts to get its pterodactyl claws into me or not.One response to “Torchwood: Thumbs-up or Thumbs-down?”
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Funny enough, I saw this while in Holland. I watched the first episode and the early bits of the second. I had much the same reaction – it seemed to me that if it lives long enough to settle down a bit, it’ll actually be quite good. If.
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