Stolen from The Cloud Genie: There’s a joke that I’ve always been partial to: a software engineering type rubs a lamp and a genie appears. The genie says that he’ll grant the engineer $1 billion, but only if they can spend $100 million in a single month with three rules. “You can’t gift it away.… Continue reading Brewster’s US$100 million
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In memoriam
Jon Hicks, being a graphic designer and a Mac enthusiast, chose to memorialise his father in a very particular way: Growing up I was subconsciously inspired by the different aspects of design that he introduced to me, from mid-century vinyl record covers to architecture and signage. In particular, his distinctive architect’s handwriting was very evocative… Continue reading In memoriam
Control
David Allen Green wondered How Neil Gaiman kept control of the Sandman characters: The character ‘Death’ has not become a member of the Justice League, and “Destruction’ has not been brought out of retirement to battle with Darkseid and Dr Manhattan. […] Neil Gaiman explained that, basically, “I’ve always been aware that [Warner Brothers studio,… Continue reading Control
Dammit, Apple!
Still no iPad version— Jon (@jonnyb098) June 8, 2021 Dammit, Apple. When we all hoped that the idea behind iPadOS was that it’d permit differentiation between the platforms, this was not what we had in mind. Yes, it’s an incredibly trivial, even frivolous, feature and yes, other platforms have had similar visual effects for years… Continue reading Dammit, Apple!
A magical collaboration circus
Food for thought from Ed Zitron’s Where’s Your Ed At: [In…] my tiny little walnut brain I am imagining that we’re about to see, as vaccinations climb and people return to normal, a culture war between those that believe workers should be in the office and those who believe that there should be a “hybrid… Continue reading A magical collaboration circus
The Good Place
Good to see the Nebula Awards getting this one so thoroughly right: THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready”, Michael Schur, NBC (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal) Strange to think that the series finale aired several weeks before the first lockdown. We’ve had plenty of excellent science fiction this… Continue reading The Good Place
Gotcha!
Nothing more to be said. Boom. Gotcha. pic.twitter.com/JCw4ugS3oT— John O’Connell (@jdpoc) June 4, 2021 [RT by @charliestross]
Shamelessness
Once upon a time this scam would have resulted in ministerial resignations/sackings: Eight years ago the government had a plan so good it couldn’t tell you about it. It wanted to scrape everyone in England’s entire GP records and put them on one central database, where they would be anonymised – well, sort of! –… Continue reading Shamelessness
Chernobyl
Upon reflection, deciding to start my day before it was time for work by finishing my watch of HBO/Sky TV’s Chernobyl might have been a mistake. There’s lots to praise about the miniseries itself – a very well acted piece which didn’t skimp on showing just how drastic the consequences of the accident were for… Continue reading Chernobyl
In an emergency
Rosecrans Baldwin, remembering his experience of volunteering at the drive-through COVID testing centre at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles: To live in Los Angeles is to exist in a selfish place full of self-helping people: the cliché persists partly because it’s true. But the Southland is also so vast, so diverse, it repels single stories.… Continue reading In an emergency