Interesting Links for 07-02-2013

[andrewducker]

• 20 reasons why it can take 20 years to build a railway (HS2 in this case)
  (tags: uk railways construction )
• Is The Avenging Unicorn the best toy ever?
  (tags: toys unicorns )
• What specs are the next generation of games consoles going to have?
  (tags: games consoles technology )
• An explanation of why Plate Mail armour in breasts is such a stupid idea

Comments

[momentsmusicaux]

Urgh, Stardust is a terrible film! It ruined one of the key (and for me, most satisfying) twists in the plot.

LA Confidential is a pretty good book, but an even better film.

[andrewducker]

I agree with you about Stardust. I vastly preferred the book.

I don't remember the twist. Care to post the specifics using ROT13?

[momentsmusicaux]

Er... I'm not sure I entirely remember.

It's one of the baddies who is scuppered towards the end by her own (evil) actions much earlier.

Oh yes, I remember: she casts a spell on someone else, 'you won't see the star', which has consequences later. (I think that's reasonably un-spoilery.)

[momentsmusicaux]

Gur znva jvgpu rapbhagref gur zvabe jvgpu, jub vf nyfb nsgre gur fgne, naq phefrf ure gb or hanoyr gb frr vg (naq orarsvg sebz vg, naq fb ba, nyy snapl, yvxr).

Zhpu yngre, Gevfgna vf pnhtug naq ghearq vagb n oveq (be zbhfr?) ol gur zvabe jvgpu, ohg vtaberf Linvar. Linvar ernyvfrf gung gur zvabe jvgpu pna'g frr ure, naq fb whfg evqrf nybat va gur jvgpu'f pnenina nf fur'f tbvat gb Jnyy.

Gur zvabe jvgpu rapbhagref Ovt Jvgpu ba gur ebnq, Ovt Jvgpu orvat abj engure unttneq, ohg cbjreshy rabhtu gb sbepr zvabe jvgpu gb gryy gur gehgu nobhg jung'f va ure pnenina... juvpu vf gur gehgu nf fur xabjf vg (whfg n obl V'ir rapunagrq, naq nyfb Han jub'f n oveq, fb znlor Gevfgena vf fbzrguvat ryfr), naq pbzcyrgryl bzvgf Linvar, bs pbhefr.

Fb gur vavgvny fcryy gur Ovt Jvgpu pnfgf raqf hc fperjvat ure bire naq fnivat Gevfgena naq Linvar. UHeenu!

[nancylebov]

I liked Who Framed Roger Rabbit? a lot more than Who Censored Roger Rabbit?.

[momentsmusicaux]

I've not read the book but I doubt any book could top that film!

[nancylebov]

I'd say the book was noir/drab, but I'm not fond of noir.

[bart_calendar]

I don't understand your link about long links and misspelled words.

I do know, however, that when we split test Google AdWords ads, we often get a better response rate with words that are spelled wrong.

For example "warant check" gets more clicks than "warrant check" and "need laywer" gets more clicks than "need lawyer."

Also, not surprisingly, "durnk driving laywer" gets more clicks than "drunk driving lawyer."

[andrewducker]

Dammit, that was test data from yesterday that I meant to remove! Ignore it.

[bart_calendar]

Ok.

[steer]

That link appears to link to your github repos?

[danieldwilliam]

I think it’s way too early to tell if marriage has collapsed and society has been destroyed.

I was watching detective programmes with MLW last night and you know, I felt we could survive it, could hang on in there. For the kids.

[steer]

Now to be fair, it's not clear whether marriage should collapse now, after the close line-by-line third reading or after it goes through the upper house. I'm staying single to be safe.

[danieldwilliam]

I agree. I think we’re likely to see a staged decline in the quality of marriages as the bill goes through Parliament leading to a steady but inexorable decline in society. It won’t happen over night but sometime in the near future we’ll be driving souped up Holdens, totting shotguns full of used condoms and eating dead dog testicles just to stay alive.

I think staying single if you can is the best plan.

I wish I’d known, on that drunken, sunny early autumn day nearly 8 years ago when I proposed to My Lovely Wife that this nightmare was coming.

I think I might move to France. They know about the sanctity of marriage there.

[skington]

Less than you might think.

And that's before mentioning e.g. François Mitterrand, twice elected President, who had a daughter out of wedlock during his terms in office.

[innerbrat]

I feel that comparing RED The Movie to Red the book is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. It has different characters; it has a different; it has a completely different tone. I like them both, but to say one is better is a matter of personal preference in genre.

(See also The Losers, which at least keeps the main cast and some important character moments in translation.)