andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2011-07-13 12:00 pm
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Interesting Links for 13-7-2011

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supergee: (coy2)

[personal profile] supergee 2011-07-13 11:59 am (UTC)(link)
I keep a check in my wallet and hope to use it before it falls apart. I used to do that with condoms.

[identity profile] artkouros.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
The lost continent is fascinating.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe a new rule for all new Brian Cox DVDs should be that they should always include footage of John Prescott dancing to "Things Can Only Get Better".

[identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
I do use checks, but only when making payments to student societies, and receiving christmas presents from relatives. I am indeed always constantly surprised that a bit of paper with no authentication still lives in the modern banking system. But then it seems like the rest of the system isn't particularly any more consistent either.

I'd be fairly happy to see cheques go -- provided we made sure the alternatives worked first. That just seems common sense, but apparently not in politics[1].

[1] I have the same feeling about other things. Like, encouraging communities to support each other is a good thing, but throwing people out on the street to starve and hoping someone will take charity on them isn't exactly "encouraging" community...

[identity profile] spacelem.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I may not write many cheques these days (I used to write them to my flatmates a lot for bills), but I certainly like receiving cheques (!). I flatly refuse to send cash via post, considering the number of times it's gone missing in the past, and I'd hate to see the cheque to disappear as an alternative.

[identity profile] channelpenguin.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, since school is (in my cynincal opinion) for training up the next generation of minions ready for the offices of the minion-herders then why not keep them in all day every day without big holidays - that's what work is like - it'd be better training for their future.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I bet Johann Hari was really celebrating the News of the World / Daily Mirror story. "Hah! They'll forget about my dodgy interviews now, because it's nothing compared to hacking into a murder victim's voicemail."

Unlucky...


Although I have seen it pointed out that if the vast majority of non-name journalists did what he did, they'd be sacked*, not given a short suspension.

* And rightly so in my opinion.

[identity profile] cheekbones3.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Last I heard about cheques, they were talking about a paper-based replacement for those who found them essential.

I still use the cheque book relatively often, it has its place!

[identity profile] undeadbydawn.livejournal.com 2011-07-13 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
a brief note on DVDs:

I've been in my flat just over a year [noticed this yesterday when looking at my lease - had planned to have an anniversary party] and still can't get broadband. I use a tethered iPhone.
As such, streaming and downloading anything is impossible.

I routinely buy or borrow DVDs. Just yesterday I got 24 series 5 from Edinburgh library. HUZZAH FOR THE LIBRARY!!!
I never, ever, unless it is absolutely unavoidable, watch anything directly from the DVD. I stopped doing so roughy three years ago when I discovered DVD ripping software for my iMac. I do not own a TV and will likely never do so again.
That's not because I dislike DVD as a technology but because of the sheer quantity of obtrusive bullshit Media giants insist on shoving in front of the feature I've just paid to watch. If the only way to avoid sitting through two minutes of legal warnings for a product I fucking own is to illegally rip it, I will do so.

I do not care that the legal warnings take less time to wade through than the ripping process.

but oh, the irony:
I first looked into DVD ripping technology because
A: the warnings made me aware it could be done
B: some DVDs I had bought at full price from HMV came with PC-playback disabling measures, meaning I had to rip them to enable playback.

way to stab your customers in the face, guys. Well done. Your policies forced me to commit crimes.

I now rip DVDs out of sheer habit. I don't sell them on, rarely lend them. Because I will watch media on my own terms, not theirs. The freedom to do so is absolutely priceless.
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