In the wake of the Brexit referendum (June 2016), there have been various petitions and protest marches. The government's response is always basically the same: "The British people voted to leave the EU and the Government will implement their decision ( Read more... )

This time last year (April 2017), the chain snapped on my touring bike. To be fair, it had lasted 3118 km, and these are essentially consumable items ( Read more... )

I'm having another clearout of old comics. These are all now available in digital format (Marvel Unlimited and/or Comixology) so I no longer need the paper copies, and they're all going free to a good home; leave a comment if you'd like them. If I've marked something as a complete set then I'd prefer to keep those issues together, i.e. give them ( Read more... )

I created my LiveJournal account 15 years ago (in April 2002), and it's a lot quieter now than it used to be. I think that's mainly due to competition from other social networks: I make short posts on Facebook or Twitter, and only use LJ for longer ramblings. Looking at my friends who used to post here, most of them have now moved over to ( Read more... )

A few months ago, I watched a Channel 4 documentary: Life Stripped Bare. It's still available via 4OD, although you have to log in first (which is free of charge). The basic premise was extreme decluttering: three households were completely emptied, with everything put into a storage unit about 1 km away. This included furniture, curtains, ( Read more... )

I'm having another clearout of old comics, mostly from the 1990s. These are all now available in digital format (either on Marvel Unlimited or Comixology) so I no longer need the paper copies, and they're all going free to a good home. If I've marked something as a complete set then I'd like to keep those issues together, i.e. give them all to the ( Read more... )

Disclaimer: As with all my blog posts, I am only representing my own views here. I'm not speaking on behalf of any of my employers (past, present, or future ( Read more... )

I went to Nine Worlds in August, and one of the panels involved wild speculation about the future of Star Trek (particularly the new TV series). One joking suggestion was that we might see the return of the skant, i.e. the mini-dress from early episodes of TNG.


( Read more... )

I don't post much to Twitter, mainly because I find it hard to squeeze anything meaningful into 140 characters. However, I did get involved in a brief discussion yesterday, and I'm now expanding on my thoughts here.

This all involves some PostgreSQL documentation. Here's the code sample in question:

IF demo_row.sex = 'm' THEN ( Read more... )

Tonight I went off to the BFI IMAX to watch the new Ghostbusters film. I'll get to my thoughts (with minor spoilers) below, but first a bit of preamble.

It's fair to say that this film attracted quite a bit of controversy, even before anyone had actually seen it. Looking at the Ghostbusters page on Facebook, each time they posted something about ( Read more... )