Monthly archives: August 2008

I prefer the Lib Dem’s green energy policy

This entry was posted in energy policy Lib Dem politics on by

I’m with Nick Clegg when he talks about how wrong-headed the government is in its championing of nuclear power.

“The thing that I think has gone wrong in this debate is that the government has spooked everyone into thinking that we need nuclear by saying there’s going to be a terrible energy gap – the lights are going to go out in the middle of the next decade.

“There’s actually no evidence that’s the case at all. They’ve raised the wrong problem in order to push the wrong solution.

“The real problem is that our energy mix is not green enough and we’re over dependent on oil and gas from parts of the world that aren’t very reliable.”

This continued support of nuclear is typical of government. No matter what they may say, they don’t want to devolve too much power to their electorate. Everything has to be solved by big, centralised projects that the general population has no say over and which will ultimately come in late and fail to deliver everything they promise. The answer isn’t Uranium but a wide spread of projects at the local, and even household, level that will get the public enthused and involved in problems that effect us all.

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Greenbird- wind powered record attempt

This entry was posted in transport Wind power on by

Wind cars are the future, according to the team behind Greenbird, a land yacht which is due to attempt to break the world record for a wind powered land vehicle. Greenbird uses a rigid wing rather than the traditional sail in its effort to exceed 116mph.

I can see wind vehicles as a a viable transport method for the great expanses of Australia, Africa and even the US midwest. Rigid sails and some sort of computer control would cut down on the need for tacking, but there’d still need to be a bit of room given to the vehicles, so they couldn’t cope with crowded roads. Throw in some photovoltaic panelling and combined dynamos/motors in the wheels for electric drive at either end of the journey and it might work.

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Tweets today

This entry was posted in Spinneyhead Twitter on by

22:26 Blog: Tweets today tinyurl.com/5559m8 #

02:31 Just spent hours reading the archives of Questionable Content and I’m not even halfway through. Damn you Wired for linking to it! #

16:32 Blog: Questionable Content tinyurl.com/67h5b8 #

17:02 The Pie Party is planned for October 4th, if I haven’t mentioned the date yet. #

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Questionable Content

This entry was posted in Comics Deadline webcomic Wired on by

I’ve spent over twelve of the last twenty four hours trawling through the archives of webcomic Questionable Content, working my way from the very first episode right up to date. Such total immersion is probably akin to brainwashing, so I love the strip.

QC is about indie kid Marten, his anthropomorphic PC Pintsize and flatmate Faye and their complicated and ever evolving relationships with each other and a growing cast. (I don’t want to tell you the current status of those relationships, because I don’t want to spoil it for you if you start from the beginning. Though even if you go into it knowing some of the details, as I did, finding out how everyone got there is still fun.) It blends romantic drama and comedy with geeky humour and philosophical silliness and has had some excellent slow burning storylines. For example, some key revelations that were seeded very early on weren’t fully explained until the strips were into the 500s and are still affecting things now it’s in the 1200s. Whilst the writing has always been sharp, the art started out quite simple but has improved steadily until it’s now gorgeous and reminds me a lot of Philip Bond‘s Wired World from Deadline.

I found Questionable Content through an article on Wired 10 Great Webcomics You Should Not Share With Your Kids. Of their list I already read xkcd and Sinfest regularly and I’ve never really taken to Penny Arcade, so I opened the others and gave them their 5 most recent strips to impress me. 20 or so back through the QC archives I figured I was doing it all wrong and skipped all the way back to number 1 to start working forwards. I may not have got much else done since then, but I’m happy about it.

Tweets today

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22:25 Blog: Tweets today tinyurl.com/5tss5n #

10:23 AMC’s website is down, so this week’s Wednesday film shall be at the odeon (printworks). By popular demand- The Mummy @ 6.30 #

10:25 Blog: Dorset Naga anyone? tinyurl.com/5bk5sh #

10:25 Blog: Our garden needs a mini cow to keep it mown tinyurl.com/5jbg2y #

10:41 Watching the Madison online. Slightly mad. Would like to know how the Keirin works too. #

11:30 Britain only came 8th. Wiggins was knackered and the other teams ganged up on them. The oldest team (Argentina) won. #

11:47 Gary Glitter is looking a bit Ming the Merciless in the bbc website’s pictures. #

14:46 Third, tighter edit of episode 2 done. I need my editing monkeys to come along and go "Ook" and throw poo at it. #

16:27 Blog: Build your own Mad Max Interceptor tinyurl.com/5mtl54 #

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Our garden needs a mini cow to keep it mown

This entry was posted in Cow gardening on by

Smaller breeds of cattle are the next big thing, allowing people to keep a few cows if their back garden is big enough. The Times writes about Dexters, miniature “cottagers’ Cows” from Ireland, which are about the size of an Alsation and produce up to 16 pints of milk a day.

In truth the garden is probably too small, even for a mini moo, and the fences to flimsy. But the lawn’s not flat enough to run a mower over it effectively and we have to cut the gras somehow.

Tweets today

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22:24 Blog: Bring on the laser gunships tinyurl.com/6awfvo #

23:26 Blog: Tweets today tinyurl.com/6zxd5c #

00:25 Blog: I want to take nude photos like Richard Kerns tinyurl.com/6y5axw #

17:28 Blog: I’ve got ginger beer brewing tinyurl.com/5h5pu4 #

18:05 Save the World: Wouldn’t you like a solar powered car? tinyurl.com/5s4npy #

18:21 Scale: Jalopnik’s guide to classic hot rod parts tinyurl.com/6g33ga #

18:21 Scale: Working 1:6th scale Corvette V8 engine tinyurl.com/6jkrxe #

20:26 Blog: Si tu es majeur, touche ma carotte! tinyurl.com/6nrsr7 #

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I’ve got ginger beer brewing

This entry was posted in flickr food photo on by

Hopefully neither of these bottles will explode. They’re in the kitchen so I can notice and respond sooner if they do.

Tweets today

This entry was posted in Spinneyhead Twitter on by

01:25 Blog: Tweets today tinyurl.com/6n5zt5 #

11:23 Less rough edit of episode 2 done. Now I need my editing monkeys to take a look, then it’s on to frame trimming and transitions. #

12:25 Blog: EMusic tinyurl.com/5p7fgz #

14:16 Off into town with a pannier full of Transformers and models. #

14:44 It’s the caribbean carnival. I don’t know when, but the parade should be on Claremont road soon judging by the crowd. #

16:26 Blog: BOT060 tinyurl.com/6kbvzw #

18:35 In the rain without waterproofs. You’d think I’d have learned after 19 years in Manchester. #

20:08 Hot new jewellery ideas- plastinated body parts. #

20:33 We’re planning a pie party! #

21:01 We want a repeating rocket propelled exploding kitten launcher! #

21:28 Blog: The Marble Arch tinyurl.com/6e4weg #

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The Marble Arch

This entry was posted in flickr photo on by

The Marble Arch, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

I ended up in here after work most Fridays for a few years either side of the millennium. It’s certainly improved by the lack of my former colleagues.