Entries from July 2008 ↓

Just arrived late to my West Brom office. Researchers will not be happy.

Make democracy work better and win £15k using the show us a better way approach.

Extract from the book “Who speaks for Islam” from Gallup.

Some interesting insights over at Carl’s Notepad. The answer to the question is ‘yes’ of course. The real challenge is how do councils engage young people using social media without patronising their audience.

Off road unicycling. If you’re looking for a new bike….

Here’s a nice use of OS data that does what it says on the tin. It uses the OS OpenSpace API. Pembrokeshire beaches.

The Seaton Canoe two is video splashed by the Telegraph at 8.16pm. Is it a first for a mainstream paper to video splash a story like this? It’s certainly an example of how the Telegraph is beginning to leave their competitors behind when it comes to the digtital world (thanks Andy)

I like the new design of Mirror.co.uk. Nice and crisp.

Is this the first time an international fugitive has started a web site. Is it authentic for that matter? (thanks to TS for the link).

The showusabetterway competition has gained the support of the the Royal Mail. And I’m grateful. They’ve made the postal address file  available for the purposes of the competition. Details of how to access the data for the competition are on the showusabetterway site.

Michael White with a Prescott punch counterfactual.

‘The intriguing point Lanchester raises, the one which I missed in the Times Literary Supplement, is a good one. “If 16-stone Prescott had hit the egg-thrower with his right, he would have knocked him out and quite likely have broken his jaw.” At which point public sympathy, which went Prezza’s way at the time, might well have swung the other way. A voter in hospital might have required him to resign.’

The other point though, that Prescott had almost no idea how big the guy he punched was, should be explored. His response was instinctive. The egg hit him, his left are flew through space at lightening speed. What if the egg thrower to his left had not, in fact, been a burly Welsh young farmer but a militant yet small old granny?

Simon’s showusabetterway entry: The Widget Factory. I love the idea.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a resource in government that did this? A small team whose job it was to craft widgets that government departments could release into the wild of the world wide web.