Thornycroft
Thornycroft, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Restored for Robinson’s brewery. Currently on Albert Square outside the food and drink festival.
Monthly archives: October 2011
Thornycroft, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Daily Blog 10/12/2011
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Warren Ellis » The Broadcast Of Comics
the problem with webcomics, as people said over and over again, was that there was no way to monetise them.
Way back in the day, in fact, people talked about how what the medium needed was an iPod for comics. I, and probably others, countered that what was in fact needed was an iTunes for comics. The delivery system, not the device. Comixology, Graphic.ly, iVerse and all the others are in the business of trying to provide the iTunes for comics. But, of course, with the iPad, we got the iPod for comics, too, the perfect device for reading them.
Daily Blog 10/07/2011
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A civic reception is being planned to honour the people who helped get Manchester back on its feet after the riots.
The 1,000 volunteers who cleaned up the morning after the August 9 disturbances are expected to be invited to join magistrates and businesses for a formal ‘thank-you’ to be hosted by the Lord Mayor at Manchester Town Hall.
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Richard Peppiatt: Journalistic Practice
Richard Peppiatt is a former reporter tabloid reporter, who quit the Daily Star earlier this year in protest at what he regarded as their Islamophobic news agenda. He is now a freelance journalist, writer, broadcaster and campaigner for press reform.
The following is the speech Richard delivered at yesterday’s Leveson inquiry.
Amazon France now has a Kindle store
Amazon have rolled out the Kindle to their French store.
Which means you can now buy my Kindle books from amazon.fr. They’re still in English I’m afraid, translation is some way off.
Daily Blog 10/06/2011
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Servicing Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed Hubs
Servicing Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed Hubs
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Even in the hands of its more deft practitioners, politics is failing, at speed. The corrosion of trust that took root under New Labour and the catastrophic effects of the expenses crisis are obvious; perhaps even more crucially, the economic articles of faith that have so dominated the past 30 years are broken.
Daily Blog 10/05/2011
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JC Militaria | Military Collectables
This site is intended to offer a wide range of military collectables and associated items. We guarantee 100% satisfaction with all the items offered.
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A gun dealer was trapped after police set up a fake shop selling combat clothing.
Undercover cops posed as shop workers who were looking for lethal weapons in the elaborate sting.
The store was set up after police became concerned at the number of firearms on the streets of Manchester.
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UK Pirate Party wants your policy ideas | Liberal Conspiracy
Following on from the Berlin Pirates’ success last month in getting 9% of the vote and electing 15 parliamentarians, Pirate Party UK has launched an open policy consultation.
Anyone can suggest polices and debate the polices that’ve been proposed.
I love Michael but he is strange
I love Michael but he is strange, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Awwww.
As good a reason to love someone as you’ll find.
Daily Blog 10/04/2011
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This column is about the cuts the government has failed to make. It’s about the profligate, pointless spending that has not been slashed, and the money Osborne could have raised but has instead decided to fritter away. For the sake of argument it accepts his estimate of the amount that will need to be saved. But it will show that over half of it could be found with much less pain.
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Habitable zone – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In astronomy, the habitable zone (HZ) is the distance from a star where an Earth-like planet can maintain liquid water on its surface[1] and potentially therefore Earth-like life. The habitable zone is the intersection of two regions that must both be favorable to life: one within a planetary system, and the other within a galaxy. Planets and moons in these regions are the likeliest candidates to be habitable and thus capable in theory of bearing extraterrestrial life similar to our own.
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The Goldilocks Zone – NASA Science
Scientists hunting for alien life can relate to Goldilocks.
For many years they looked around the solar system. Mercury and Venus were too hot. Mars and the outer planets were too cold. Only Earth was just right for life, they thought. Our planet has liquid water, a breathable atmosphere, a suitable amount of sunshine. Perfect.
It didn’t have to be that way. If Earth were a little closer to the sun it might be like hot choking Venus; a little farther, like cold arid Mars. Somehow, though, we ended up in just the right place with just the right ingredients for life to flourish. Researchers of the 1970s scratched their heads and said we were in “the Goldilocks Zone.”
Black Labradors against the cuts and Nukiller Power- shots from outside the Tory conference
This dog was cool. I had to get a shot of it in front of a banner.
Nukiller. I’m sure it’s not new, but it’s the first time I can remember seeing it. Oh well, at least it wasn’t “nucular”.
Neighbourhood Watch
Neighbourhood Watch, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Newton Street.
Maybe the Tories are doing something right
Maybe the Tories are doing something right, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
If they can annoy the unholy self-righteous brigade, that is. Then again, this lot are probably offended by their own reflections.
Daily Blog 10/03/2011
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Since its early days, science fiction has played a unique role in human civilization. It removes the limits of what “is” and shows us a boundless vista of what “might be.” Its fearless heroes, spectacular technologies and wondrous futures have inspired many people to make science, technology and space flight a real part of their lives and in doing so, have often transformed these fictions into reality. The National Space Society and Baen Books applaud the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science and have teamed up to sponsor this short fiction contest in memory of Jim Baen.
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One of the things that appeals to me about science is that, unlike religion, science is not dogmatic. It does not say: “This is the way things are, and it can be no other way.” Instead it says something like: “Based on the evidence we have so far, this is how things probably are; if clear and solid evidence is discovered that shows this is not how things are, then we will need to change our minds.”
The truth isn’t enough for some people 1
When you wonder what would happen if a conspiracy theorist were to come across a genuine conspiracy (or, at least, a crime committed by more than one person, which I think qualifies as a conspiracy), you know the result isn’t going to be anything like a Mel Gibson movie. You know it’s going to be more like this-
I have a go-to blog to keep track of conspiracy theories. Luckily for me the guy who runs it is also a Christian fundamentalist, creationist homophobe. So this one blog keeps me up to date on what’s incensing the intolerant and uninformed without having to follow any others.
Late last week he ran a story he’d picked up from another paranoia site called infowars, which I believe is considered some sort of nexus for this stuff. The story- well, the basic story- is that a British outfit called New Forests Company is working with the Ugandan government to evict farmers from land so it can be planted with trees which will be traded as carbon offsets by large polluters. The Ugandan Police or military, possibly with NFC’s knowledge and approval, were violent in their eviction tactics, leading to at least one death. To compound the heavy handed evictions, the farmers received little or no recompense and have been moved to land they can’t get as good a yield from.
This much of the story, at least, is backed up by Oxfam, who have started their own investigation.
This is unpleasant, another example of representatives of a developed nation corrupting, or taking advantage of the corruption of, a less developed nation for profit. It’s been the way throughout history, from the first explorers up to BP in Iran and Shell in the Ogoniland area of Nigeria. We should do something to draw attention to them, punish the perpetrators and get the dispossessed back their land.
Did the conspiracy theorists say any of this? Or suggest signing up to Oxfam’s Grow campaign to find out what you can do about it.
Of course they didn’t.
They layered a confection of a conspiracy theory onto it, inventing connections which aren’t there and obscuring the truth beneath their fantasies. This isn’t another example of corporate misbehaviour, they say. Instead it’s all about “mainstream media silence, climate change and humanitarian scams, neo-colonialism under the guise of protecting against climate change, land grabs, and UN and Big Pharma eugenicists working towards population reduction as part of a global regime”. This sewage of talking points they regurgitate, trying to force their pet hates into holes that aren’t even there, hides the real crime.
If these people who like to think of themselves as brave seekers of truth and revealers of corruption really were then they wouldn’t belittle genuine problems by including them in their fantasies. If they truly cared about the victims of this Ugandan land grab they’d stick to reporting the unpleasant truth rather than discarding it so they can repeat their unbelievable fantasies.
Ultimately, as I’ve said before, the rantings of conspiracy theorists distract from crimes that really have been committed and help no-one but the criminals whose escape they help to cover.
Update A commenter across the way found this article from the Guardian and this one from the BBC which suggest the land grab is bigger than just NFC’s actions.
And now, the end is near…..
Does anyone else get the feeling we’re building towards something? It’s turning into an odd year. From the Arab Spring through riots in Britain and civil war in Libya and more. The tension’s been building all year, with the occasional release being scary and occasionally surreal.
Right now, thousands of people are occupying Wall Street, and parts of various other US cities. As Kryten re-tweeted, it’s beginning to look like the American Autumn*. As the Conservative Party are holding their conference in the city** there was an Occupy Manchester on Albert Square after yesterday’s big demo. I’m going into town tomorrow to see if it’s still there, take photos and see if I can get inspiration for a quick topical novelette.
It all feels like it’s building up to something, a grand finale I can’t begin to guess. Trying to guess has got me a little twitchy, and finding it hard to concentrate on the work I was supposed to be doing today. Most likely whatever happens next will be an anti-climax, but can it please disappoint me soon so I can get over this anxiety I’m feeling.
*Autumn is more appropriate than Fall because a. we’re British and Fall is an annoying Americanism (don’t get me started on the lazy and arrogant way that US studios don’t bother replacing Fall with Autumn in trailers which show over here.) and b. American Fall sounds a bit more sinister than I think the demonstrators’ aims really are.
**Irony may be an organisation with so many climate change deniers in its ranks starting their conference the day after Britain’s hottest recorded October day.
Manchester Model Railway Show 2011
Photos from the show on Saturday. What you may notice is that, although it was a model railway show, there are not that many photos of trains in the gallery. I’m more interested in the scenery, architecture and vignettes which appear away from the railway lines than in the rolling stock itself. However, I did get to put a tiny video camera on a few of the larger gauge trains and run them through layouts. When I make the time, I shall edit the footage together.
Daily Blog 10/02/2011
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Rarely do bands get the opportunity to experiment with what might have been, Inspiral Carpets find themselves in that unique position.
2011 sees the band re-group with their original singer Stephen Holt taking over lead vocal duties from Tom Hingley.
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New Statesman – This is a coalition without courage
Neeyow! Stick two fingers up to the so-called speed cameras brigade daring to stop ‘otherwise-law-abiding’ motorists and put your foot down hard on the gas pedal. Here comes freedom! You might not have a job, but if you did have a job, you’d be able to drive a bit faster, if you could afford a car, which you can’t, because there aren’t any jobs. But suppose you did have a car: you could go more quickly in it. Doesn’t that make you feel better about things?
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30,000 march against Conservatives in Manchester — MULE
Around 30,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Manchester today to protest against the Conservative Party Conference. The demonstration, named ‘Manchester for the Alternative’, was organised by the Trades Union Congress and the Right to Work campaign, drew in unionists and anti-cuts protestors from around the UK, with some coming from as far away as the West Country and Wales.
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Banger racing: the crashes and the controversy – Telegraph
This is not the late Sixties or early Seventies, but 2011 at Arlington Stadium, near Hailsham, in East Sussex, where perhaps more than 100 classic Westminsters will be ground into scrap metal before the night is over in the most controversial banger race to be staged in England.
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“The X-Men Guide to Puberty” by Caldwell Tanner and Owen Parsons – CollegeHumor Article