• Rejoice this day! – My sentiments exactly!
• Lost labels for your DHARMA Initiative needs – This is great. I think I’m going to have to re-label everything in the cupboard at home!
• It must have been a slow news day at ZDNet – These arguments against iPhone development come up all the time on places like StackOverflow. This is a great explanation of why they mostly make no sense.

• Life after Humph – “The show is such a fixture, such a massive part of the radio landscape, I think British radio would be the poorer without it so they made a great decision.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. Welcome back I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue
• Iran election: state moves to end ‘Facebook revolution’ – At best this is very suspicious. And changes are we’re not talking about a best case scenario here. Let’s hope that those in power see sense.
• I stole your images, put them back or I will call a lawyer? – When people steal my images I’m never sure whether I should be flattered or offended. If I ever get an email like this I’ll know which way to think…

• 2.8 Release Jazzes Themes and Widgets – I just upgraded ZX81 to the latest version of WordPress. Let me know if you see anything that’s not working properly!
• Chinese troops out in force for 20th anniversary of ‘nothing happening’ – “Many people who were in the area in 1989 were expected to observe the anniversary by staying at home and doing nothing special, much as they did 20 years ago.”
• Behind the Scenes: Tank Man of Tiananmen – “Few images are more recognizable or more evocative. Known simply as ’tank man,’ it is one of the most famous photographs in recent history.”


I was confused by these signs. Surely “Ej upp” is a greeting? And if so, why is it in red with a “no entry” icon?

At the risk of detracting from what it supposed to be humour, some northern English dialect is actually descended from Scandinavia. Though whenever I see most of these comparison charts I don’t recognise half the words!

• New Zealand Launches Hookup Airways – Not sure whether this is a good idea or a bit creepy. An intercontinental flight is a long time to spend cooped up with a bad date!
• Scientists put psychic’s paranormal claims to the test – If you can prove a paranormal claim under controlled conditions you can win $1mm. The prize has gone unclaimed since the 1960’s.
• A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages – “Bjarne Stroustrup bolts everything he’s ever heard of onto C to create C++. The resulting language is so complex that programs must be sent to the future to be compiled by the Skynet artificial intelligence.” Despite the title I’d say it’s mostly correct, and funny if you’re geeky enough to understand the references!

• Birds show off their dance moves – Funny video, fascinating science, bad music…
• Intelligent Design Sort – It would seem that intelligent design has “uses” outside explaining the diversity of nature. It works for Computer Science too. Who’d have thought it?
• Scrap ID cards now, say Cabinet rebels – Maybe there is some benefit in the dire state of the economy…

• American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse – Who doesn’t love a good mystery?
• The Holy Faceble: Genesis:1-2 – The more I learn about Facebook, the less I want to join. Same with this god stuff.
• Rejected. – “It’s just frustrating when the problems crop up, because compared to nearly everything else about the whole setup, the problems seem so arbitrary, avoidable, and developer-hostile. For instance, this problem wouldn’t be nearly as frustrating if approval, even for minor updates to established apps, took less than 7-14 days.” Not that I’m bitter than a minor update to Yummy recently got rejected or anything…

• Three Cheers for Afghan Women – it’s a little depressing to think that, as the article notes, this is actually progress.
• Audio slideshow: Sir Clement Freud – I only really know Clement Freud for his contribution to Just A Minute. I remember that I wasn’t sure what to make of him when I first heard his lists and slow, deliberate delivery, but that changed pretty quickly. It won’t be the same without him.
• Laptop Hunters: Homeless Frank – If you’ve not seen Microsoft’s new adverts this probably won’t make much sense. If you have, you’ll realise that Frank’s analysis of the PCs is more nuanced that the supposedly “real” people in the original videos.

• The Numbers Post (aka Brutal Honesty) – “I hope that this article might serve as a counter-point to the articles that seem to go around the web about devs making hundreds of thousands of dollars off an iPhone app. Everyone within the dev community understands that the odds of that happening are very slim, yet those are the stories that people like to hear.”
• Why we’ve reached the end of the camera megapixel race – I had many reasons for upgrading from my 300D, but the 6MP sensor wasn’t one of them.
• Bring bad design to justice – Do your part…

• Ryanair’s New Emergency Instructions Could Be Real One Day – Funny. Though we probably shouldn’t give them ideas.
• Liberal Democrats – Freedom Bill 2009 – I didn’t hear about this first time around, but it sounds like a good idea. As one of the commenters noted, even if it doesn’t go anywhere it might make the Government justify why these laws are needed when there are perfectly good, less draconian one already in place.
• Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss – “People who do things badly … are usually supremely confident of their abilities — more confident, in fact, than people who do things well.” I can’t actually remember how I stumbled across this link any more, but it makes fascinating reading. Does kind of make you a little paranoid, though.
• 10 Geeky Tricks for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning – I should probably read this more closely when I’m properly awake. I’m getting worse and worse at getting up in the morning…