Interesting Links for 09-02-2012

• 'The Hobbit': A Speculative Look At Where Film One Might End
  (tags: movies TheHobbit )
• Mapping the Road Ahead for Autonomous Cars
  (tags: driving ai Technology cars )
• The high-level reports from Afghanistan do not match the view on the ground
  (tags: military usa war afghanistan )
• Antisocial Personality Disorder is made of two separate components - Agressive-Disregard and Disinhibition
  (tags: genetics psychology apd )
• How to tell you're underworked #33 - You rickroll your professor with an acrostic in your report
  (tags: funny academia rickroll )
• We Are Not The Dead: soldiers' faces before, during and after serving in Afghanistan
  (tags: uk afghanistan military photos )
• Canada perfectly happy to outsource its torture needs to other countries.
  (tags: canada torture )
• Apple seeks change to 'essential' patent licence rules. Good start - might get the ball rolling on changing all of them!
  (tags: patents apple )
• Nudge theory trials get higher responses by up to 15%
  (tags: psychology politics uk )
• How do you fancy having your driving monitored by your GPS device (in exchange for lower premiums, of course)
  I really can't see this taking off with anyone who ever goes on a motorway.
  (tags: driving insurance technology )
• USA moving to new system where airplanes will take off and land with GPS, using continuous descent.
  (tags: airplanes GPS technology )
• UK trade gap falls is the smallest since 2003, industrial production rises (a tiny amount)
  (tags: industry money uk )
• Laser-tag gun+smartphone = recreating "Aliens". I want to be 16 again!
  (tags: guns toys mobile_phones fun )

What do you think about earnings?

[Poll #1817753]

The day we bought a new washing machine

Our washing machine broke last Friday, but we were going away on Monday to Northern Ireland, so we planned to just get it fixed when we got back.

Only, when I phoned up today I was told it was going to cost me about £100 to get it fixed (£60-odd pounds in labour, £30 for a new seal) and as we were planning on getting rid of it when we get a new kitchen (hopefully in April) it didn't seem worth spending £100 for a couple of months when we could spend £300 and get a new decent one.

So I wombled off to Facebook and asked for advice, with the hivemind advice being "Get a Bosch from John Lewis" (well, numerous people recommended Bosch, and numerous people recommended John Lewis), so we spent some time looking at the options, and then stuck it on the credit card. I don't like using the credit card, but having spent all of our actual living money for this month on flights to my cousin's wedding in April and booking a holiday for the two of us in March we didn't have much option.

It said there was an option for Express Delivery, but it totally failed to appear on the actual checkout, so I'm going to phone tomorrow and see if I can expedite things. If not, I shall be depending on my brother's washing machine, and possibly the laundrette half a mile up the road.