http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065
The tech industry is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the BBC Microcomputer.
30 years of the BBC Microcomputer
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Opensource edible landscapes: The Todmorden story
http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2011/11/27/opensource-edible-landscapes-the-todmorden-story/
If you’re particularly into bad news, there are many places that will indulge your particular interest today. This is not one of them. Here, I want to spend a little time on things that give me hope for humanity, things that have an uplifting effect on me; things that remind me that I have much to be thankful for, things that make my heart sing with joy. Like Todmorden. Todmorden is a old Domesday-Book-mentioned market town that is in both Lancashire as well as Yorkshire (depending on which side of the Calder you’re standing), with about 15,000 people and almost as many ways to pronounce its name (though the locals apparently just call it Tod). I’ve never been there. But I will. Soon. This post will tell you why. Sometime in 2009, I’d seen coverage of something happening in Todmorden that intrigued me. Locals there had apparently agreed to work together to try and become self-sufficient from the perspective of food. Their initial focus was on fruit and [...]
If you’re particularly into bad news, there are many places that will indulge your particular interest today. This is not one of them. Here, I want to spend a little time on things that give me hope for humanity, things that have an uplifting effect on me; things that remind me that I have much to be thankful for, things that make my heart sing with joy. Like Todmorden. Todmorden is a old Domesday-Book-mentioned market town that is in both Lancashire as well as Yorkshire (depending on which side of the Calder you’re standing), with about 15,000 people and almost as many ways to pronounce its name (though the locals apparently just call it Tod). I’ve never been there. But I will. Soon. This post will tell you why. Sometime in 2009, I’d seen coverage of something happening in Todmorden that intrigued me. Locals there had apparently agreed to work together to try and become self-sufficient from the perspective of food. Their initial focus was on fruit and [...] Related Posts:
The Compass
I frequently get questions about the compass residing on the wrist band of my watch.
The real answer is that I use it when bushwalking – I also have a “proper” one for things that need more accuracy, but this works and is always handy. More recently, I figured I might as well have some fun with it. So now my answer (to adults) is “I’m an atheist, so this is my moral compass.”
People also wonder why I wear my watch on my right wrist, even though I’m right-handed (for writing). I actually throw left-handed and tend to catch with my right hand – but that’s a sideline. Here’s the truth: the origin of the choice-of-wrist is decades old, and was part of an experiment that stuck. You’ve probably seen or read detective stories, where the brilliant deduction is made that because a victim or suspect wears the watch on the right wrist, and “therefore they must’ve been left handed”? Being young and already inquisitive, I thought I’d just test that and of course it’s complete nonsense. But I kinda got used to wearing the watch on the right wrist, and it’s a neat reminder that while Occam’s Razor is a good guide, drawing far reaching conclusions on seemingly obvious little things can easily (and thus quite often) yield invalid results! Related Posts:
Kids of Today vs 1980s Technology
An interesting experiment! Unfortunately since I moved continents I don’t have any of that old gear any more… but the concept is great and I apply it for more things.
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX80, quickly followed by the awesome Acorn BBC/B (Acorn completely missing from oldcomputers.net!)
I learnt programming slightly before, on a DEC PDP-8 (in VT78 with two 8″ floppy drives and a line printer) at a local club.
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Dennis Ritchie vs Steve Jobs
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Arjen’s Chilli Chocolate Shortbread
Ingredients
- 250g baking butter (variety with salt and cream), softened
- 2/3 cup icing sugar
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 cup gluten free flour (contains tapioca as well as rice flour), this will create a nicer texture compared to the usual plain rice flour!
- 1 tbsp cacao
- 1 tsp chilli powder
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together until the texture of the mixture resembles breadcrumbs – food-processor or hand-held electric mixer work best.
- Form dough by pressing together.
- Roll a decent chunk of the dough out on board dusted lightly with flour (approx 5mm thick, but more will work fine too although it may affect baking time).
- Cut out shapes, transfer to baking tray(s) also lightly dusted with flour. Works best if you grab the off-cuts from the outside rather than from the side of the shapes.
- Recycle off-cuts (via step 2) until all dough used.
- Bake at 160′C for about 30 minutes. Cookies should be dry and firm but not gone dark.
- Cool on wire rack.
- Keep in a metal cookie tin to keep fresh – although I’m quite sure they won’t last very long
Notes
- Quantity: number of cookies of course depends entirely on shape, size and thickness.
- Vegan: use vegetable based butter (such as Nuttelex) – you may need to add a pinch of salt.
- Gluten-free: substitute the regular flour with same amount of gluten free flour.
- Recipe neatly in line with Arjen & Stewart’s essential food groups
- Best not nibble the dough, uncooked tapioca (cassava) contains toxins. It’s fairly dry anyway, so quite unlike cake mix it won’t really stick to the processing equipment. Just bake and enjoy!
This recipe is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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Phoebe Card Solitaire
I showed Phoebe card solitaire on her laptop last night. She asks “can we play it with real cards?” so I got her a deck, showed her how to lay it out, and off she goes. I like that… from computer to the real world, often preferred.
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The Girl Who Made the UN Listen
Five highly valuable minutes – take it all in.
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Coal Seam Gas: By The Numbers – ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/coal-seam-gas-by-the-numbers/
Coal seam gas has emerged as a major industry in Australia in little more than a decade.
The scale and speed of its growth has been nothing short of astonishing: billions of dollars have poured into regional areas; new jobs have been created; state and national coffers have swelled; export contracts have been signed and sealed; massive liquefied natural gas facilities have been approved for construction at regional ports.
Farmers fear they are losing control of their land. Miners and some politicians say coal seam gas offers a much greener energy choice. Environmentalists and other politicians have cast doubt on those claims.
The ABC’s data journalism project has pulled together information from dozens of sources to provide an insight into the promise and the dangers inherent in the coal seam gas rush.
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Anki – friendly, intelligent flashcards
From a lightning talk by Paul Fenwick @ OSDC 2011 Canberra. Awesome tool and available for most platforms including mobiles. You can create your own cards and there are heaps of libraries. You can use it to learn new things, or to efficiently not forget stuff.