notes.husk.org
April 2010
On Font Popularity
I remember when FF Meta was on everything. Then… it wasn’t. Popularity can be a terrible thing.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.”
—Captain Eric Moody on British Airways Flight 9, the best example of why grounding flights when there’s volcanic ash about is a good idea. (via iamdanw)
Free The Election Debates
This year’s UK general election sees the first televised debates between the leaders, bringing politics firmly up to date with the US. In 1960.
However, I think it’s worth asking about the step beyond that. Of the three debates, I can be pretty sure two of them - on ITV and BBC - will end up on their respective catch-up video services. However, I’d like all of them to be on all three broadcaster’s sites, and also on other video sites (the obvious choice being YouTube).
After all, these are really public service broadcasting. If the broadcasters don’t put the shows online, the public will, clip by clip (probably as part of a Cassetteboy remix). They should be preserved, not only as reference points during the campaign, but into the life of the government the victors will establish. There are also overseas voters to consider. How about it?
(Even if this plea falls on deaf ears, I’m pleased to note that Radio 4 has an extended The World Tonight covering each of the debates, if only because it’s pretty easy to get MP3s out of radio programmes.)
“If I’d waited for some miracle I’d still be up there.”
—Jim Lovell, mission commander, quoted in a piece on BBC News: Apollo 13: Nasa’s finest hour?
“Here’s a thing I’d like to see. I’d like a standardised logo/button for mobile web applications that means ‘this web page will work offline on your phone’. I’m thinking of things like Pie Guy, that use HTML local storage and offline caching and so forth, so they can be added to your home screen and used just like a ‘real’ app.”
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Tom Insam: Offline web apps. Not a bad idea, that.
