Questions on my interests (again)
OK, more answers to the interests meme. two_brains asked me:Old Harry's game
the checkbox tyranny resistance
thursday next
And then the_vin proposed:Devon, Germany, Single transferable vote
So here we go:
Old Harry's Game
Anyone paying attention to my journal for more than a few weeks will have seen me mention this at least once. oldharrysgame is a radio4comedy written by Andy Hamilton, who also wrote Drop the Dead Donkey, Revolting PEople, Trevor's World of Sport and other things. He's also a regular on The News Quiz, QI and other panel game shows. ginasketch is a massive fan, and has almost completed an animated trailer for the show as part of her final year project for her animation degree, it was talking on various Radio 4 communities that we met (and her bringing snapesbabe to a News Quiz recording was how I met Jennie). So, yeah. Incredibly funny show in which the main character is Satan and he's got to deal with all the idiots that end up in hell. They've recently recorded a new series (and I managed to get to 4 of the 6 recordings) and there are regular repeats on Radio 4 and Radio 7. Listen to them. Be amused by them. Buy the audio recordings. Make Andy happy so we get more shows.
The checkbox tyranny resistance
Um, yeah. This is part of my "the owners of LJ suck" obsession, and it's a meme a bit like the 'falsify statistics' one. I wrote about it last year, but the short version is that in a misguided attempt to improve the 'edit interests' UI, they gave us some suggestions to add (now removed), in nice handy little checkboxes. These included many of the most popular interests, like reading, computers, etc, but also included 'emo' and a few other laughably stupid ones. So a meme was suggested in which we all remove the pointlessly popular ones and add in the checkbox tyranny resistance. The daftest thing about it was that the meme was started by brad, the founder of Livejournal...
Thursday Next
thursdaynext is the main character in Jasper Fforde's Bookworld series. Fforde attended a MicroCon in Exeter that I attended, and struck me as a decent bloke, plus a few people there were obviously fans. I picked up book #4 in a departure lounge (spot the common theme here?) and loved it. I've now bought all his books published thus far, and can strongly recommend all the Thursday books, especially if oyu're into books generally, as much of the humour requires a knowledge of literature, The Eyre Affair being based, partially, inside the manuscript for Jane Eyre. It was a Fforde book I bought myself for my birthday last year, and the next Thursday book is due out in July, so a reread of them may be in order soon. Incredibly funny author, very surreal, with a nice way of parodying human behaviour in an interesting manner. An author to ty if you've not read already, and if you don't believe me, ask pickwick, who named her LJ after Thursday's pet dodo...
Devon
What can I say? I was born there, my parents were born there, my grandparents were born there, I've spent most of my life there. I'm 32 years old. I live for 9 months in Manchester, 6 months in Salisbury, and now 3 months in London; the rest of my life has been in various parts of the place. It can be deathly dull, but it's home, and I'll be back at some point. Also, given that LJ only allows paid users to directory search, it's worth putting where you live in as interests if you want people to find you.
Germany
My first overseas holiday organised by myself, the reason I first applied for a full passport. Some of the best beer in the world, very friendly (and funny) people, some great events and a huge pile of history. I'm a history buff (I still think of becoming a history teacher on occasions), and one of my biggest areas of interest is the Thirty Years War. So my favourite place to go on holiday remains Muenster, not just because Arne lives there (it was a tournament he organised that prompted the first visit), but also because that's where they signed the peace treaty. I've been to Berlin, Koeln, Frankfurt and a few other places, and I've always been impressed and enjoyed the stay. I was also emplyed by a Muenchen based company for 5 years, and got on ery well with the staff. At one point, I seriously considered emigrating, even bought some 'learn the language' tapes. Never actually listened to them though...
Single Transferable Vote
Ah yeah. I'm a politics geek and an electoral systems geek. I'm also a democrat, and believe in giving voters as many valid choices as possible. I've written about this extensively elsewhere, but in my opinion, the STV system as used in Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Australia and now Scottish local elections is the best and most democratic method for electing representatives - an opinion I share with, amongst others, the Electoral Reform Society and nhw who says: this is the Best Electoral System in the World. Voters get to rank the candidates in order of increasing dislike, and then votes are transferred until the right number of candidates have been chosen
I have yet to see an argument against STV that I couldn't knock down or respond with a similar argument against all voting systems, and I remain committed to campaigning for its implementation for the House of Commons.
Well, Doctor Who is now at 70% complete on the download, in the meantime, anyone else want to ask me about my interests, or want me to ask about theirs?
the checkbox tyranny resistance
thursday next
And then the_vin proposed:Devon, Germany, Single transferable vote
So here we go:
Old Harry's Game
Anyone paying attention to my journal for more than a few weeks will have seen me mention this at least once. oldharrysgame is a radio4comedy written by Andy Hamilton, who also wrote Drop the Dead Donkey, Revolting PEople, Trevor's World of Sport and other things. He's also a regular on The News Quiz, QI and other panel game shows. ginasketch is a massive fan, and has almost completed an animated trailer for the show as part of her final year project for her animation degree, it was talking on various Radio 4 communities that we met (and her bringing snapesbabe to a News Quiz recording was how I met Jennie). So, yeah. Incredibly funny show in which the main character is Satan and he's got to deal with all the idiots that end up in hell. They've recently recorded a new series (and I managed to get to 4 of the 6 recordings) and there are regular repeats on Radio 4 and Radio 7. Listen to them. Be amused by them. Buy the audio recordings. Make Andy happy so we get more shows.
The checkbox tyranny resistance
Um, yeah. This is part of my "the owners of LJ suck" obsession, and it's a meme a bit like the 'falsify statistics' one. I wrote about it last year, but the short version is that in a misguided attempt to improve the 'edit interests' UI, they gave us some suggestions to add (now removed), in nice handy little checkboxes. These included many of the most popular interests, like reading, computers, etc, but also included 'emo' and a few other laughably stupid ones. So a meme was suggested in which we all remove the pointlessly popular ones and add in the checkbox tyranny resistance. The daftest thing about it was that the meme was started by brad, the founder of Livejournal...
Thursday Next
thursdaynext is the main character in Jasper Fforde's Bookworld series. Fforde attended a MicroCon in Exeter that I attended, and struck me as a decent bloke, plus a few people there were obviously fans. I picked up book #4 in a departure lounge (spot the common theme here?) and loved it. I've now bought all his books published thus far, and can strongly recommend all the Thursday books, especially if oyu're into books generally, as much of the humour requires a knowledge of literature, The Eyre Affair being based, partially, inside the manuscript for Jane Eyre. It was a Fforde book I bought myself for my birthday last year, and the next Thursday book is due out in July, so a reread of them may be in order soon. Incredibly funny author, very surreal, with a nice way of parodying human behaviour in an interesting manner. An author to ty if you've not read already, and if you don't believe me, ask pickwick, who named her LJ after Thursday's pet dodo...
Devon
What can I say? I was born there, my parents were born there, my grandparents were born there, I've spent most of my life there. I'm 32 years old. I live for 9 months in Manchester, 6 months in Salisbury, and now 3 months in London; the rest of my life has been in various parts of the place. It can be deathly dull, but it's home, and I'll be back at some point. Also, given that LJ only allows paid users to directory search, it's worth putting where you live in as interests if you want people to find you.
Germany
My first overseas holiday organised by myself, the reason I first applied for a full passport. Some of the best beer in the world, very friendly (and funny) people, some great events and a huge pile of history. I'm a history buff (I still think of becoming a history teacher on occasions), and one of my biggest areas of interest is the Thirty Years War. So my favourite place to go on holiday remains Muenster, not just because Arne lives there (it was a tournament he organised that prompted the first visit), but also because that's where they signed the peace treaty. I've been to Berlin, Koeln, Frankfurt and a few other places, and I've always been impressed and enjoyed the stay. I was also emplyed by a Muenchen based company for 5 years, and got on ery well with the staff. At one point, I seriously considered emigrating, even bought some 'learn the language' tapes. Never actually listened to them though...
Single Transferable Vote
Ah yeah. I'm a politics geek and an electoral systems geek. I'm also a democrat, and believe in giving voters as many valid choices as possible. I've written about this extensively elsewhere, but in my opinion, the STV system as used in Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Australia and now Scottish local elections is the best and most democratic method for electing representatives - an opinion I share with, amongst others, the Electoral Reform Society and nhw who says: this is the Best Electoral System in the World. Voters get to rank the candidates in order of increasing dislike, and then votes are transferred until the right number of candidates have been chosen
I have yet to see an argument against STV that I couldn't knock down or respond with a similar argument against all voting systems, and I remain committed to campaigning for its implementation for the House of Commons.
Well, Doctor Who is now at 70% complete on the download, in the meantime, anyone else want to ask me about my interests, or want me to ask about theirs?