Interesting Links for 10-11-2011

[andrewducker]

• It's actually pretty safe to pay by waving your card at things.
  (tags: payment nfc money ecash )



• Couple driven to suicide by appalling benefits system.
  (tags: benefits disability welfare uk EpicFail )



• The Constitution of the Mexican Mafia (with attached academic paper)
  (tags: mexico mafia crime sociology )



• Recursive hair. It's what the internet was invented for.
  (tags: hair moustache awesome )



• Computer trained to evaluate breast cancer - does it significantly better than humans.
  (tags: cancer computers ai )



• A Low-Salt Diet is probably not good for you.
  (tags: salt diet health )



• Why I've left 38Degrees
  (tags: 38degrees politics uk )



• Malaria: The beginning of the end?
  (tags: Malaria health disease )

Comments

[pseudomonas]

Since I think you're asking for feedback, there's a load of whitespace at the bottom of this post.

[flick]

And too much (imo) between the individual items!

[andrewducker]

So, spaces between the links - good, or bad? I've got two spaces, which is possibly too many.

khbrown suggests using css:after, but I'm loath to put CSS into entries if that would affect other people's own CSS - would that be a problem?

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

When there are only half a dozen links it's not too bad (although I'd still go with one space rather than two if you're going to put in spaces). When there are 20 or so though, it would make a post that, were it any other content, would be crying out for an <lj-cut>.

Personally I prefer it without the spaces.

[andrewducker]

I think the two spaces is just wasteful, I've made it a single one for tomorrow, and I'll see how that looks :->

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I liked it better without the spaces.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I also prefer it without spaces.

[andrewducker]

Tomorrow will, at the least, have less spaces.

[zz]

what about just margin-bottom: 1em or the like on the li tags? em's should scale with people's font sizes. can't remember if %s do too.

personally i'd prefer just a few extra pixels, or half a lineheight, or something. just enough to stop them running on, but taking up as little extra space as possible.

[andrewducker]

Putting "margin-bottom=1em" on the li tags doesn't seem to actually do anything. Any chance you could make the HTML look right and then tell me what you changed to do it?

[zz]

E.g.
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">...

you could use fractions of em's like 0.5em, or pixels like 10px, etc.
http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_units.asp

[andrewducker]

Thank you, that worked perfectly!

I might make it 0.5em, but now I know the syntax I'm happy to play further!

[kmusser]

I prefer without the spaces.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

Wow, the recursive hair post reminds me really disturbingly of that parasite you posted yesterday.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'm interested by this comment on that article:
http://thepotterblogger.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-ive-left-38degrees.html?showComment=1320508332890#c4971838896792148676

Although I'm still pretty horrified by the poll story, if it's true. For my own part I tend to take all pressure groups with a pinch of salt but that is pretty appalling.

[andrewducker]

To be honest, I haven't seen a decent breakdown of what is and isn't in the current proposals that wasn't horribly partial. I'm waiting for the BBC to analyse whatever we get left with.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I don't quite understand the push towards making payments from phones, as opposed to contactless cards. You frequently hear people on the street or on public transport saying on the phone that their battery is low. If you use your phone as your travel ticket, or wallet for small purchases, surely it'll mean that if you're remotely unsure of the battery life or plans for the day, you'll have to take cash with you just in case anyway.

[andrewducker]

I don't think they're supposed to replace cash, but be a supplement. Certainly, I can get my phone out of my pocket faster than getting out my wallet, unzipping the cash pouch and finding the right change, so there's convenience, but it's not massive.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

They're like Cyriak faces.