Delicious LiveJournal Links for 8-27-2010

[andrewducker]

• Vacuum lab to grow space crystals may be added to ISS
  (tags: manufacturing space technology future iss)
• Letter from a kamikaze pilot: Be an unbeatable person and avenge my death
  (tags: japan letter war)
• TV viewers want to influence plots. Personally, I really don't.
  (tags: tv stories media technology)
• UK economy grew more than first thought in Q1
  (tags: economics uk)
• Wheat genome decoded. Should make it easier to produce strains with better yields.
  (tags: genetics wheat food)
• How the Mac task switcher was created.
  (tags: macintosh apple software history)
• Ed Balls great speech about cuts
  (tags: uk politics economics)
• Fantastic interview with James Cameron
  (tags: JamesCameron avatar aliens oil)
• First impressions suck
  (tags: emotion relationships people)
• The Last Acceptable Prejudice - Up-to-the-minute coverage of who it's okay to make fun of
  (tags: prejudice society funny)
• LGBT Labour Try To Rewrite History
  (tags: lgbt labour politics uk)
• "Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?": America's misguided culture of overwork
  (tags: politics business germany work culture usa economics capitalism)
• Climate Camp is restricting free speech
  (tags: climate protests scotland)
• Howfuckedismydatabase.com
  (tags: database funny programming)
• Edinburgh finally bags its first Primark store - opening Winter 2011
  (tags: edinburgh primark)

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I can't think of anything worse for entertainment than viewer influenced tv.

TV influenced by the lowest common denominator will mean... Well, we already have it. X-Factor and the like.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's not so much I worry about me influencing plots - it's all the rest of you idiots :-)

[andrewducker]

I don't want to do it myself either.

I want someone else to go away, spend a lot of time coming up with a story, themes, dialogue, plot, etc. work it together into something I will enjoy, and then feed it to me in chunks that maximise my enjoyment.

I have no wish to be involved in this process - which would then turn watching TV into a game.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Mind you, certain tv programs it could be hilarious.

Hollyoaks, for example, would rapidly turn into the Orgy Show.

... oh who am I kidding, of viewers had the power to influence tv shows, everything would turn into The Orgy Show.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

hmmm... when you put it like that

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

If they confine it to soaps and the like I don't think I will care.

They have tried this already to some extent with the "live drama" shows, which are essentially dramas performed live, but they are awful to watch. There's a reason TV shows are recorded. It's so all the mistakes can be re-shot.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly certain soaps already operate this way, with viewer focus groups to test out what popular storylines will be, which in turn feed back into developing the direction the show goes in.

And I can think of a few times when dramas have responded to fan pressures. Like the godawful storyline in Alias when Vaughn was brought back from the dead.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

One more last acceptable prejudice: children/teenagers.

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG OMG (link 1)

*quickly changes research field*

[andrewducker]

Well, the ISS is certainly more exotic than Cyprus.

I hear the view is nice too :->

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

Actually Cyprus is pretty exotic!! I'm having a 'real' summer. I'm mainly interested in crystal growth and the possibility of improved solar cells (which is big in Cyprus BTW).

[captainlucy.livejournal.com]

The letter from the kamikaze pilot to his family is at once incredibly horrifying and incredibly touching (even if, as some of the commenters have said, the translation isn't great). It's an insight into the minds of combatants in the dying days of the Pacific war. Sadly, a lot of the comments on the article are an insight into the minds of people nowadays, and in many cases it's not an edifying sight.