Christ this is beautiful.
A House Full of Women
Dad's penis would like it noted that it seems his family has taken again to leaving balled-up urine-soaked toilet paper stuck to the upper front surface of the toilet bowl, where said penis, being pendulous and dignified, mushes it's unsuspecting face when its owner sits on the toilet in the dark.
This is an unfavorable state of affairs.
Dad's penis would like it further noted that its owner NEVER leaves the seat up, and is thus in considerable lavatory credit, and therefore deserves empathy and respect.
So flush please. Or make sure the tissue goes into the bottom of the bowl.
We thank you.
Update:
Meridianum Ensemble
I saw this lot at St Michael’s Church in Chagford at the weekend, while a storm raged outside (and while a tree fell across my route home…) They were absolutely brilliant, and when Katy sang on one of Steve’s pieces (Wendigo) I nearly exploded.
Facebook hates you
Important Facebook-is-Evil news neatly summarised at BoingBoing.
Summary of key issues from the Six4Three files
1. White Lists
Facebook have clearly entered into whitelisting agreements with certain companies, which meant that after the platform changes in 2014/15 they maintained full access to friends data. It is not clear that there was any user consent for this, nor how Facebook decided which companies should be whitelisted or not.
2. Value of friends data
It is clear that increasing revenues from major app developers was one of the key drivers behind the Platform 3.0 changes at Facebook. The idea of linking access to friends data to the financial value of the developers relationship with Facebook is a recurring feature of the documents.
3. Reciprocity
Data reciprocity between Facebook and app developers was a central feature in the discussions about the launch of Platform 3.0.
4. Android
Facebook knew that the changes to its policies on the Android mobile phone system, which enabled the Facebook app to collect a record of calls and texts sent by the user would be controversial. To mitigate any bad PR, Facebook planned to make it as hard of possible for users to know that this was one of th e underlying features of the upgrade of their app.
5. Onavo
Facebook used Onavo to conduct global surveys of the usage of mobile apps by customers, and apparently without their knowledge. They used this data to assess not just how many people had download ed apps, but how often they used them. This knowledge helped them to decide which companies to acquire, and which to treat as a threat.
6. Targeting competitor Apps
The files show evidence of Facebook taking aggressive positions against apps, with the consequence that denying them access to data led to the failure of that business.
Sprydon BigShot*
I got hold of a Stein Tekichu (not-a-bigshot) and was finally able to get up the biggest redwood in Ashclyst. After an hour of trying (!) I isolated a limb 22m up (my doubled rope didn’t reach the floor when I clipped in), and then I climbed, I reckon, another 8 or 10 metres to the top.
From which you can see the sea.
Thanks to Mike Gozna for the gear.
Furtive Five | TUSC Open Mic | December 2018
As much as I forgot large bits, I think this went ok!
George Soros' World Economic Forum Remarks
The New York Times reports that Facebook investigated George Soros because of this speech made at the World Economic Forum in January 2018.
I am mirroring it here as a small act of future-proofing.
"A Paradigm Shaft"
Although you might want to skip a few introductory paragraphs of this interesting Wired article with Jaron Lanier, it’s worth reading for his take on social media and it’s cornering of the entire internet.
He describes how the internet got to where it is today, but also talks very positively about where it could go and how it could achieve it in order to escape this sneaky and manipulative state of affairs.
Cute. Astronomical Unit Recipe.
Autumn Sun | Danes Wood
Words born when I was
There’s something oddly comforting about finding out which words were first coined when you were born. These are some of mine. Crystal Meth?! Flesh-pressing?! Fuzzy logic!
The Merriam-Webster Time Travel Tool can tell you yours.
Acoustic Quartet Thunderstruck
Featuring Botox-Jacob-Collier and Spooky-Drug-Free-Keith-Allen.
Salmonpool view
Being a parent
Clare Seal's Jabberwocky
I’m eighteen months late realising that this is on YouTube, having only seen it til now at its theatrical release.
It’s wonderful and it is an honour to link to it!
Matt Jenkins, of course, starring.
Core Hill Beech
A day with no work coming in meant a short-notice trip out to Core Hill near Sidmouth. The trees here are glorious; ancient and weirdly shaped.
Today's beach find
Probably two days old.
Microsoft
I think Microsoft is really hitting it out of the park with hardware these days. The Surface Book 2 is the best bit of gear I’ve ever owned, the Surface Go is an amazing hybrid and indicates a really promising future I think for actually useful stowaway laptop/tablets, and this thing here is just wonderful looking!
Vegetarian menu
Forgettable lasagne.
Forgettable curry.
Forgettable fingers.
Oh Vegetable...
4.48 Psychosis
l finally got to see Deafinitely Theatre's production of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis.
It's brilliant and I loved it. The extraordinary staging and the use of BSL, mime, visual vernacular and speech combined to make the most affecting and arresting theatre I've ever seen .
Just see it. It's amazing !