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October 12th, 2009
02:35 pm - Piers Morgan: Anti-Consumerist Subversive
Everyone's favourite former Daily Mirror editor and sycophant to the rich and famous, Piers Morgan, has revealed himself to be a more radical critic of modern capitalism than I'd previously thought.( Read more )
Current Location: N5
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June 17th, 2009
09:16 pm - Trends in London Hipster Cycling
I don't do a huge amount of cycling in London, and that which I do do is mostly out in the 'burbs and beyond. However, I do work in Islington and go through/visit the centre often, and here's my update on the latest trends in more-money-than-sense* London cyclery.
1. Fixed-wheel bikes are definitely in. Long a favourite of cycle couriers due to their mechanical efficiency and nuanced speed control (I once rode one in the late 80s, great in built-up areas, not so good for going down steep hills), they've now broken out into the mainstream. Although having said that, the couriers in Cardiff seemed to favour single-speed freewheels (to which I thought... "huh?)
2. Steel frames. A couple of years ago it was looking like it was going to be wall-to-wall aluminium-alloy frames in the world of £100+ bikes. Now it appears that steel is making a comeback.
3. The return of large flanges (no sniggering at the back!) Many years ago, you'd get the choice of having your wheel hubs in small or large flanges, but since the 90s it's been small flanges pretty much by default... until now.
4. White paint jobs.
So overall, there seem to be a bunch of Nathan Barley types pedalling around central London on bikes that look like they belong to a 1980s track racer with no sponsorship.
* A track bike (with a front brake) is about as cheap a non-cheap bike as you're going to get, but I doubt anyone's paying less than 350 quid for a new one. Earlier examples of this category include: a 1000+ quid mountain bike (including 1.95 inch tyres) for exclusively urban use; and the use of any titanium anywhere by anyone who wasn't a sponsored/professional rider.
Current Location: BR3
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March 16th, 2009
03:48 pm - OMG!
I've just been standing in a queue at the grocers next door to work: in front of me in the queue was... The Actor Kevin Eldon!!!!!!!!!!!! This beats almost walking into the Kinnocks by a long shot.
Current Location: N5
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February 22nd, 2009
10:29 pm - Philosophical Librarian Joke
Recursived (issuing book to member of academic staff): "And appropriately, Aristotle's Metaphysics is due back after Aristotle's Physics."
Current Location: BR3
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January 30th, 2009
02:00 pm - Keeping the Literary Classics Undead
Via Crooked Timber, it's:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!
Will the first line be something like:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in
possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife (who can kick zombie ass!)
Surely there must be other Literary Classics that can be improved upon with the addition of zombies (or some other form of the undead). I like the suggestion of "War and Peace and Zombies" from the CT post.
Current Location: N5
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November 20th, 2008
01:12 pm - Trivial observations (New Series, free binder with part one!)
1. Huzzah for the recession! [Provided it means fewer maniacally-driven vans on the roads: I was almost run over by two in quick succession on my walk down to the train station yesterday).
2. Boris may be a Tory, but at least he's as pro-bike as Livingstone was. I don't think I'm in the target demographic for his 6,000 bikes for hire plan, but I'm amused that one of the co-authors of the feasibility study (PDF) is the intriguingly-named German Dector-Vega.
3. We got one of those automated sales calls this morning at work, claiming to be able to reduce our debts (I must let the VC know, although the obvious answer is to, y'know, pay it off). Now, normally with sales calls one of the few factors stopping me from putting the phone straight down is that there's a Real Human Being With Real Feelings on the other end. I have no such compunction when it's computers speaking to me. File this with "Automated Railway Announcers Apologising For Late Trains".
Current Location: N5
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October 30th, 2008
02:36 pm - Sign of relief
Those of you who witnessed my acting skills at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) panzer_attack's stag weekend will be relieved to hear that I shall not be putting my name forward to be the successor to David Tennant in Doctor Who.
Current Location: N5
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October 28th, 2008
07:56 pm - Actor spotted
I think I passed Kevin Eldon on the way to work today. It was difficult to tell as he was wearing sunglasses (on a not-particularly-bright autumn's day).
Current Location: N5
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June 24th, 2008
03:12 pm - Staaaaaaaandaaaaard!
Spotted this headline board for todays London Evening Standard:
"John Leslie Rape Quiz"
Makes a change from sudoku or the crossword I suppose.
Current Location: N5
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June 8th, 2008
10:04 pm - Power up
We've just had our electricity restored after 12hrs of a power cut, all due to a fire at a substation apparently. Naturally the restoration happened just after we'd got the candles out... Hopefully the rioters/zombies/vampires will have called off their rampage now.
Current Location: BR3
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May 20th, 2008
01:27 pm - Quote of the day
Senior Library Assistant: " The missing books list has gone missing!"
Current Location: N5
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May 3rd, 2008
12:13 am - Tradition maintained? Tickety-boo!
Oh, poo! Not only do I have a Tory MP and a Tory London Assembly constituency member, I also now have Boris "Bloody" Johnson for my Mayor. This continues a great family tradition of being left of centre in areas represented by the Tories. I hope all you non-London people appreciate me "taking one for the team" in cocking up the Tories' chances at the next election.
Current Location: BR3
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May 1st, 2008
04:02 pm - Tradition maintained? Tick!
Well, that's my democratic duty over and done with (at least this time I get to put four crosses on three different ballot forms, woooh!). Plus, it maintains my record of only ever having voted outside of the county I grew up in. In the Official booklet about the London elections that we got sent, there's a double-page spread for each mayoral candidate. The British Nationalist Party's bit has a few "ordinary people" (white, naturally) saying why they're going to vote for the BNP candidate. The last one is "Samantha", a student, who announces that she's Irish*, and that she's in favour of the BNP because it's going to stop immigrants ruining London. Irony? What's that then?
* Of course, 20-30 years ago someone like "Samantha" would be pretty high up the BNP's hit-list of Really Bad People Who Hate Our Way Of Life.
Current Location: N5
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April 28th, 2008
06:31 pm - Who Could Have Known?
Given the previous example of the 1901 UK Census being laid low by genealogists, you'd have thought that the creators of the online archive of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey (1674-1913) would have anticipated a very high demand for their service. Alas, no: "Due to high demand, the site is currently running slowly and some services may be temporarily unavailable. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused."
Current Location: BR3
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April 25th, 2008
01:59 pm - Forget the Terminator
The Ultimate Machine. The perspex makes it look a little like ORAC to me.
Current Location: N5
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March 6th, 2008
February 5th, 2008
01:45 pm - The Maxims of Marple
For Christmas, I bought Miss Barnes the Miss Marple DVD boxset which we've been working our way through ever since. That's the Joan Hickson TV version, not Margaret Rutherford, Angela Langsbury or Geraldine McEwan. Consequently, I've learnt some important lessons: ( Read more... )
Current Location: N5
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November 30th, 2007
12:40 pm - The All-New All-Singing All-Dancing Linkorama
Text-heavy this time round, so you children of the post-literate age might not like it (in other words: no Youtube for you).
1. Guarded optimism on Making Light about the forthcoming Watchmen film. Read the comments for plenty of discussion about Starship Troopers and Lord of the Rings. Personally, as with the latter film(s), I can see them quite easily replicating the look/feel of the original but messing up the plot/dialogue. I was wrong about the LotR musical though, it's still going!
2. Dsquared tackles the thorny subject of the right-wing American bumper sticker.
3. A little closer to home, jaxvor watches the crappy BBC TV version of Robin Hood so you don't have to. That Keith Allen, I saw him in a pub once, you know...
Current Location: N5
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08:55 am - Illogical, captain.
On my walk to the train station every morning I pass a small apartment building that's in the process of construction. The hoardings outside now tell me that it's "70% sold!", however the same hoardings tell me that it's comprised of "only 8 flats".
Current Location: N5
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November 23rd, 2007
01:56 pm - Simple answers to simple questions
A website that our retailers could make fruitful use of...
Current Location: N5
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