fscked.co.uk

Some American schools teach creationism. Brits put Darwin on a...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:32:47 +0000

Some American schools teach creationism. Brits put Darwin on a coin. In your face, colonials! (Taken with instagram)

Daisy. #dog #lurcher (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:46:25 +0000

Daisy. #dog #lurcher (Taken with instagram)

Whedeontastic

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:14:14 +0000

Last night, Danielle and I watched Angel season 5 episode 22, Not Fade Away — the show’s finale. And thus we concluded our seven (I think) month mission to watch the entirety of Buffy and Angel from the beginning.

It holds up really, really well, if you were wondering.

This means in 2011, with a little bit of overspill, we got through all of The Wire, The Sopranos, Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, and Breaking Bad (and maybe more that I’ve forgotten right now). That’s some pretty good watchin’ right there. I much prefer this sort of targeted viewing to endless reality TV or channel hopping.

Next up is The West Wing, although we might take a little detour first and watch Firefly for the third or fourth time. Because Joss Whedon, that’s why.

Look at how cute my wife is. And look at how happy she makes...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:25:42 +0000

Look at how cute my wife is. And look at how happy she makes me!

Happy birthday, Danielle. I love you more than I can explain.

Windows Phone 7 "spiffs"

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:22:34 +0000

Windows Phone 7 "spiffs":

bananacasts:

Word has it the Kinect is going to be expanded as a Windows interface. If Microsoft are smart, they will expand the Xbox and Kinect brands into the rest of their business. They should explode Xbox Live into a service across Windows PCs, Xbox, and their phones.

Noteworthy that Xbox Live has already come to Windows as Games for Windows Live, which is pretty much feature complete in terms of messaging, matchmaking, achievement tracking, seeing when people are online, etc. It’s failed to set the world on fire, however, and most people (and most publishers) seem to prefer Steam’s social features to GfWL. Support for GfWL seems to be dwindling in new titles.

Apparently, even my mnemonics are unbearably British. (Taken...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:00:12 +0000

Apparently, even my mnemonics are unbearably British. (Taken with Instagram at Romano’s Macaroni Grill)

What am I doing? Oh, nothing much. Just sitting in my...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:30:55 +0000

What am I doing? Oh, nothing much. Just sitting in my sister-in-law’s lounge using an iOS app to program my DVR back in the UK. Did I mention that I’m 4,000 miles away from home? Pretty cool, I guess. You?

I flew this shirt 4,000 miles so I could wear it to...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:09:22 +0000

I flew this shirt 4,000 miles so I could wear it to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. (Taken with Instagram at Museum of Science and Industry)

MacBook Air: yes or no?

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:08:04 +0000

Cannot decide if I should pick up a MacBook Air while I’m here in the US or not. Here’s my wondering aloud. Feel free to offer advice.

What I have now: an ageing MacBook Pro (mid ‘08); which is mostly tethered to a 26” Samsung monitor on my desk. One of the two GPUs is busted and the battery is shot. I rarely use it off the desk, although I might if it wasn’t so hot, heavy, and had such poor battery life.

Why upgrade: apart from the brokenness, I find my old laptop a bit slow now, particularly for Aperture (I have about 175 GB of RAW format photos and I spend quite a lot of time post-processing pictures).

Why a MacBook Air: because it’s the darling of the tech world, obviously. It’s light with great battery life and “good-enough” performance (it’s about 2x faster than my existing MBP). If I’m honest, I suspect nothing I do regularly except Aperture work will give the MBA much of a problem.

Why not a MacBook Air: even the top-dog 13”/256 GB model isn’t anywhere near as fast as a 3.1 GHz iMac, which is the other option I am considering. It doesn’t have enough hard drive room for my photos and other stuff (my existing 500 GB disk is full). I could move most of my RAWs to an external disk, but the Air’s lack of eSATA, FireWire or even gigabit Ethernet become a problem — and there’s still no affordable Thunderbolt accessories to address this. Also, if I got an iMac, I’d effectively be getting a 27” monitor for “free”. (I can’t really afford both a MBA and a Thunderbolt Display. Perhaps saving for one is the right answer though.)

Why get one from the US: it’s about $400/£260 cheaper, which is less than even a refurb UK model. Not that refurb MBAs seem to show up much. However, they have a slightly different key layout — the Return key is a different shape. This might drive me mad, although it seemed alright when I used one at the Apple store earlier. I could buy two US-layout desktop keyboards, so at least I’d always be using the same keyboards on all my computers.

So… What do I do?

Update: I’d be fitting an aftermarket SSD to the iMac (one much faster than the Air’s). And I own an iPad and carry it everywhere, and expect to purchase an iPad 3 next year.

Via the greatest abstract for a journal article ever at 22...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:02:05 +0000

Via the greatest abstract for a journal article ever at 22 words.com.

That’s almost exactly what it means.

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:46:26 +0000

That’s almost exactly what it means.

And you’ve just lost The Game.

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:51:55 +0000

And you’ve just lost The Game.

"I’m really enjoying Downton Abbey, although there are some implausible plot lines. You can..."

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:18:17 +0000

“I’m really enjoying Downton Abbey, although there are some implausible plot lines. You can tell it’s made by ITV and not the BBC.”

- Danielle. My American readers might not realise this, but snootily holding the BBC up as being just plain better than other channels is not just an important step on her path to becoming British — but to becoming a British, middle class liberal. I just need to get her reading the Guardian now.

amusingplanet: The Sweden Solar System is the world’s...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:00:06 +0000

amusingplanet:

The Sweden Solar System is the world’s largest model of our planetary system, built at a scale of 1:20 million and stretches the entire length of the country. The Sun is represented by the Globe arena in Stockholm, the largest spherical building in the world. The planets are placed and sized according to scale with the inner planets being in Stockholm and Jupiter at the International airport Arlanda. The outer planets follow in the same direction with Saturn in Uppsala and Pluto in Delsbo, 300 km from the Globe. The model ends at the Termination shock, 950 km from the Sun.

Incredible stuff.

iOS gaming versus console gaming

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:15:00 +0000

tj replied to your post: Xbox 360 first-run game install procedures are getting out of hand

This is why my only gaming devices are iOS devices.

Meh. There’s nothing on iOS to compare to Skyrim or Forza 4 or Minecraft, and those are just the three games I’ve played this afternoon. Yeah, there’s a few racing games — but none look as good as Forza, none support 16-person multiplayer, and none support proper controllers (not even a pad, and certainly not my preferred force feedback steering wheel). The iOS version of Minecraft is watered-down junk. And none of these games will play on my 40” TV screen connected to my 5.1 surround sound system, unless you count the laggy Airplay, which I do not.

I continue to agree with John Carmack that so far mobile device gaming is “a diversion rather than a destination”.

Xbox 360 first-run game install procedures are getting out of hand

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:48:00 +0000

I just bought Forza Motorsport 4, an eagerly-awaited title from a Microsoft-owned dev team (i.e. we can assume that this game follows Microsoft’s best practices). Here’s what I had to do to get the game running. These steps are optional, but will result in a degraded experience if you don’t do them.

Find the special “I bought this game new, not pre-owned, so give me free stuff” codes in the box (one is for tracks, one for cars).
On the Xbox’s dashboard UI, hit Guide | left | Redeem Code.
Enter the 25-character code into the Xbox using the on-screen QWERTY keyboard, hunting and pecking using the controller (this is easier if you take the time to plug a USB keyboard in or have the (rare) chatpad accessory).
Repeat this process for the second code.
Wait for the 550 MB downloads to finish.
Insert the first of the game’s two DVDs.
In the Xbox Dashboard, go to the Disc Info page.
Select “Install game” and choose your Xbox’s hard drive.
Wait about 10-15 minutes for that to finish.
Now select “Load game”.
When prompted, say “yes” to the “there is an update available for this game, download now?” question.
Wait 30-60 seconds for that to happen.
Watch the unskippable intro video narrated by Britain’s top oaf.
Play a demo lap. You’re in the game! It’s exciting!
No, wait, there’s more. After the demo lap, quit out to the main menu.
Select “Install Disc 2” (on the far right) and when prompted insert the game’s second DVD.
Wait about five minutes for the game to install extra data of a mysterious (but presumably game-enhancing) nature to your console’s hard drive.
When prompted, put the first DVD back in.
Play your new game!

Remind me again about how console gaming is simpler than PC gaming?

A series of mysterious and beautiful sculptures, painstakingly...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:58:00 +0000

A series of mysterious and beautiful sculptures, painstakingly constructed from hardback books, have been appearing all over the Edinburgh literary community — at libraries and bookshops and the like.

The tag on this one reads:

To @edincityoflit ‘A gift’ LOST (albeit in a good book) This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas… “No infant has the power of deciding… by what circumstances (they) shall be surrounded.” Robert Owen

It is made from a copy of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.

There’s pictures of the rest at thisiscentralstation.com. You absolutely must click that link — these are incredible, and for them to have been anonymously donated like this is just lovely. The feathers on the Wren’s Wing and the T. Rex bursting from the pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World are my favourites.

Apropos of nothing, here is a picture of Boba Fett riding a My...

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:00:05 +0000

Apropos of nothing, here is a picture of Boba Fett riding a My Little ~~Pony~~ Warhorse. (via blastr.com)

"7:00 a.m. I wake up, and just as I have done every morning since puberty, I choose to be gay today...."

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:00:05 +0000

“

7:00 a.m. I wake up, and just as I have done every morning since puberty, I choose to be gay today. This will come as a great relief to my gay, homosexual, male lover who lies beside me. Because being gay is a choice, our relationship is a gamble day to day. Even though we have both chosen to remain gay and to be together every day for the past 16 years, we never take anything for granted. One of us just might throw in the towel one day and give up the lifestyle.

7:30 a.m. I take a gay shower and let the gay water rinse off my gay body.

”

- Domenick Scudera details a gay day in his gay lifestyle. Click through for the rest of this awesome essay. (via @lexfri and @dmoren.)

Adventures in recruiter cold-emailing

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:00:05 +0000

Recruiter: Apologies if this is slightly off the mark, but I am currently looking for a Front Arena Developer (see spec below) for my client in London.
Me: I'm 140 miles outside London and I've never even heard of Front Arena, let alone know how to use it. So yes. You're "slightly off the mark".