notes.husk.org

british technology postage stamp by maraid on Flickr.

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:34:05 +0100

british technology postage stamp by maraid on Flickr.

"Suppose that someone – not me – were to opine that the Queen and Margaret Thatcher are national..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:46:00 +0000

“Suppose that someone – not me – were to opine that the Queen and Margaret Thatcher are national treasures only in the sense that they are ancient, expensive and will soon be buried. I don’t want to live in a country where such a sentiment is an occasion for national hysteria.”

- Laurie Penny for the New Statesman: The left has no monopoly on political correctness. Just try being rude about Margaret Thatcher.

"Netflix’s data indicated that the same subscribers who loved the original [House of Cards] also..."

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:10:59 +0000

“Netflix’s data indicated that the same subscribers who loved the original [House of Cards] also gobbled down movies starring Kevin Spacey or directed by David Fincher. Therefore, concluded Netflix executives, a remake of the BBC drama with Spacey and Fincher attached was a no-brainer.”

- igowen: “How Netflix is turning viewers into puppets, an overly alarmist title (and conclusion) for an otherwise interesting article.”

He’s right, it is overly alarmist. One of the interesting things about the Netflix House of Cards from my point of view (ie someone who saw the originals back in the ’90s on BBC) is that it’s actually that rare beast: a decent US remake of a British show.

It could just be that that’s because the US is slightly less terrifyingly bad at translating material now, but the failure of Life On Mars just a few years ago suggests that’s not universally the case. I suspect it’s actually got a lot to do with the approach Netflix are taking to drama: pick good people, take their hands off, and let them get it made. If those good people are picked partly due to “viewers who liked x also liked y and z so remake x with y and z”, then at least it means that there may be some actual connection.

(As an aside, I wonder if Spacey’s work with the Old Vic in London meant that he perhaps took more from the original (assuming he watched it) than most other American actors would?)

UK origin-producted food and drink

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:32:37 +0000

frankie-roberto posted this list of items that, under EU law, cannot be described with these names if they’re not from the relevant area:

Kentish ale

Kentish strong ale

Rutland bitter

Cornish Pasty

Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire

Bonchester

Buxton Blue

Dorset Blue

Dovedale

Exmoor Blue

Single Gloucester

Staffordshire Cheese

Blue Stilton

White Stilton

Swaledale cheese

Swaledale ewes’ cheese

Teviotdale cheese

West Country Farmhouse Cheddar

Gloucestershire cider

Gloucestershire perry

Herefordshire cider

Herefordshire perry

Worcestershire cider

Worcestershire perry

Cornish Clotted Cream

Arbroath Smokie

Whitstable Oysters

Scottish farmed salmon

Traditional Grimsby Smoked Fish

Cornish Sardines

Lough Neagh Eels

Isle of Man Queenies

Isle of Man Manx Loaghtan Lamb

Orkney beef

Orkney lamb

Scotch beef

Scotch lamb

Shetland lamb

Welsh beef

Welsh lamb

Jersey Royal Potatoes

Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb

New Season Comber Potatoes / Comber Earlies

Armagh Bramley Apples

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

Traditional Cumberland Sausage

Newmarket Sausage

An eclectic list!

Previously.

Pylon construction diagram, from Makeshift’s Pylons of...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:32:34 +0000

Pylon construction diagram, from Makeshift’s Pylons of Great Britain manifesto/booklet.

The Royal Mint’s London Underground £2 coin gift set: On...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:04:00 +0000

The Royal Mint’s London Underground £2 coin gift set:

On 10 January 1863 the world’s first underground railway opened in London. An engineering triumph, the 150^thanniversary is being marked with not one but two new UK £2 coins for 2013.

The ‘Roundel’ £2 coin is inspired by the 1938 poster by Man Ray and depicts the world-famous London Underground logo, while the ‘Train’ £2 coin shows a Tube train hurtling out of a tunnel. Presented in a specially designed pack based on the iconic Tube map, no other memorabilia captures the spirit of London so well.

"I am told that in Beijing two weeks ago a British delegation was there to discuss the rule of law..."

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:55:12 +0000

“I am told that in Beijing two weeks ago a British delegation was there to discuss the rule of law and some of the senior Chinese officials said ‘oh then will you please tell us why Britain is flouting the judgement of the Strasbourg court’. If that has reached Beijing then it stains our fine international reputation of the rule of law.”

- Lord Lester ‘of Herne Hill QC, who sits the Ministry of Justice’s Commission which is drawing up a new British Bill of Rights’, quoted in the Telegraph: Prisoners to get the vote regardless, Government human rights adviser says.

"The issue has sparked intense rows within the coalition. David Cameron has said the thought of..."

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:51:00 +0000

“The issue has sparked intense rows within the coalition. David Cameron has said the thought of prisoners voting makes him “physically ill” while Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, has warned Britain must comply with the court’s ruling after various appeals failed.”

- Patrick Hennessy in the Telegraph: Voting ban for prisoners “to stay” as ministers get tough with European court, whose 2004 ruling said that the UK’s blanket ban on voting for current convicted prisoners was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Google UK’s autocomplete suggestions for “is it legal”, logged...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:06:06 +0000

Google UK’s autocomplete suggestions for “is it legal”, logged in with my work account, from an IP located in California. (Previously. See also.)

"You can’t be forcing a 1960s curriculum and exam structure on schools. These children are..."

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:07:59 +0000

“You can’t be forcing a 1960s curriculum and exam structure on schools. These children are going to be going out into the world of the 2020s and 2030s. It is going to be very different from Michael Gove’s dream of what it should be.”

- Louise Robinson, president of the Girls’ School Association, quoted in an interview with the Independent, under the headline Gove’s obsession with bygone era will fail pupils, says schools’ chief.

‘Pleading for an emphasis on developing skills needed for the future, she added: “The Star Trek society is already here. We need to look at the way the world of the future is going. At present the way we run our schools is based on the 19th century.”’