Images

Both via

House Price Poll

From

You'll note that the ratio is still well above the maximums of the bubbles in the 1970s and the 1990s.

[Poll #1337633]

Now served: 1,000,000,000

The population of the internet is now definitely over 1 billion, and possibly as high as 1.5 billion people.

What I had no idea about was that China now has more people on the internet than the USA...

Top 10 countries, by Internet population:

1. China: 179.7 million
2. United States: 163.3 million
3. Japan: 60.0 million
4. Germany: 37.0 million
5. United Kingdom: 36.7 million
6. France: 34.0 million
7. India: 32.1 million
8. Russia: 29.0 million
9. Brazil: 27.7 million
10. South Korea: 27.3 million

From

Delicious LiveJournal Links for 1-26-2009

• 31 Laws of Fun
  A summary of a long series of articles, highlighting how to design a utopia. (Actual utopia creation is left as an exercise for the reader)
  (tags: writing technology fun TheFuture utopia)
• Google Streetview finds LARPers
  (tags: roleplaying google larp TheFuture)
• How to manage
  Some fantastic advice. I wish more of my managers had read things like this.
  (tags: management work leadership motivation)
• Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
  [It] features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Merytonâ”and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young loversâ”and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C.E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.
  (tags: funny zombies unlikely JaneAusten)
• I am famous
  Very amused to note that more than half of the people filling out the poll have heard of me. Internet win!
  (tags: fame AndrewDucker polls)
• New lingua franca upsets French
  English is dead - long live Globish!
  (tags: language business English world french)
• Preventing the New Dark Ages: Start Here
  Charlie Stross on why he uses Open Source
  (tags: writing microsoft software open_source)

Telecommunications communication

I emailed a bunch of MPs and MEPs about the telecommunication bill a few months back and the replies have dribbled in.  This one is interesting:

The Government appreciates concerns about attempts to remove Amendment 138 from the EU Telecommunications package. The UK has taken a clear line during negotiations that, while we acknowledge the importance of respecting rights online and including Intellectual Property rights within a peer-to-peer file-sharing environment, the Telecommunications Package is not the right place to consider these issues.  The Government has therefore supported a text free of requirements on intermediaries to take action to protect or co-operate with protecting copyright material. 

 

The Government acknowledges that the problem of copyright infringement is a serious one; acting as a real barrier to the development of compelling new business opportunities. The Government has been working with rights holders and ISPs in the UK on ways in which this can be tackled, through a combination of education, promotion of new legitimate offers, the testing of a notification regime and investigation of new methods to address repeat infringers.  The Government hopes that the results of these efforts will be made available in early 2009.

(bold bit highlighted by me)

Wrath of Khan - the Opera

(from Robot Chicken, via theweaselking)

Harsh Language

I am significantly amused  by the names of three support communities - suckitupdyke, whateverfaggot and tranny_please - for lesbian/gay/trans people to give "realistic, helpful, and no bullshit advice" to each other.

I'm not sure why the names work for me so well.  Possibly it's the sense of humour and reclaiming of language, but they tickle me.