Bruce/space/time

I have a horrible, horrible feeling

2010-05-01T09:32:00.000+01:00

The meme that keeps on giving

2010-01-08T17:33:00.000Z

Somehow I suspect that Lord Mandlekitteh has legs.

What have they done?

2009-11-27T10:32:00.000Z

The day after

2009-10-17T09:23:00.000+01:00

Boys Own

2009-10-16T10:26:00.000+01:00

The chief of the defence staff in the UK is Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup. He once saved the life of his student by piloting a twin-seater jet fighter from behind while the student lay unconscious in the front with one engine blazing with fire and unable to see out of the cockpit due to a "severe bird strike." He is now in a war of words with the former chief of the defence staff, dastardly Dicky Dannet. My money's on Blazing Jock Stirrup.

It really shouldn't be real

2009-09-28T19:42:00.005+01:00

Somehow Windows has never lost this vibe

2009-09-25T09:23:00.000+01:00

The Duke has gone

2009-09-09T20:35:00.001+01:00

Today I waved goodbye to the bike. My life is less red but more green.

Sunday morning

2009-09-06T18:01:00.001+01:00

Homemade tortillas, middle-class coffee and the Observer. It's my perfect Morningside Sunday morning.

Friday is cat blog day

2009-05-15T10:36:00.001+01:00

A narrow escape for one

2009-05-11T10:26:00.000+01:00

BRUCITE in SLAG

2009-04-30T20:32:00.002+01:00

Who would have guessed it? According to Wikipedia, it has perfect cleavage. Personally, I assume that's the slag which is why the Brucite is there.

Let the right one in

2009-04-29T07:40:00.002+01:00

Swedish vampire horror movies are not normally the stuff of legend. This is, however, not a Swedish vampire movie, nor is it a horror movie. What it is is a story about a bullied boy which just happens to contain a vampire. The movie is compelling. Visually it's beautifully grimy; this is not the glitzy 70s Sweden of Abba and bright clothing. The actors are utterly magnetic - the boy in particular is unsettlingly ambiguous. The blood-spattered scenes are well-paced. In the end what made it for me was the realisation, towards the end, of a deeply dark depiction of children, manipulation and the transience of love. Not ideal when you're getting married I suppose...

Baa-rilliant

2009-03-20T08:38:00.001Z

In the Valley of Elah

2009-02-10T08:15:00.003Z

So, last night we watched In the Valley of Elah. It was a Sofa Cinema special - had been hanging around the house almost sent back until we bit the bullet and watched it. Very glad that we did now.

As a study of the impact of war on the young men who fight it and what happens to them afterwards it was good. What was better were the performances of the leads and the fact that this was a very human story. There was a passable detective story with some good detecting and the old trope of grizzled veteran detective changing the life of a young detective before she surrendered to cynicism.

Not quite 5 stars for me. I thought Tommy Lee Jones was brilliant - he is fast becoming a world-weary Morgan Freeman. If TLJ played god in a movie he would be tempted to give up because of the sorrow of it all.

Anyway: Bruce says 4 stars and Elaine says 5 stars. She loved it.

if it's funny enough to make me laugh out loud

2009-02-10T08:14:00.000Z

They never predicted lolcatz

2009-01-30T07:59:00.001Z

Research

2009-01-14T21:45:00.000Z

A late Christmas entry

2009-01-06T16:59:00.001Z

Eating your greens

2008-12-10T08:22:00.000Z

Useful information

2008-11-18T10:53:00.002Z

Almost the perfect pun

2008-11-16T12:10:00.000Z

Chart of Today

2008-10-25T10:32:00.000+01:00

Unlabelled

2008-10-25T10:15:00.000+01:00

Good advice and worth a bob or two.

2008-10-22T10:28:00.001+01:00

Toot! Toot!

2008-10-15T13:44:00.000+01:00

Also for Elaine

2008-10-10T23:28:00.001+01:00

For Elaine

2008-10-10T23:00:00.000+01:00

#100

2008-10-07T22:44:00.001+01:00

Very early robots

2008-10-06T10:48:00.003+01:00

Fascinating history of a Victorian-era robot. Sad that, as with so many things, it was originally used for military purposes.

What would Elvis eat?

2008-10-03T13:41:00.003+01:00

It's a burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as its bun. I think there's a healthy slice of tomato in there somewhere.

In-jokes within in-jokes

2008-09-30T10:11:00.001+01:00

This is genius

2008-09-29T10:19:00.001+01:00

The world's first satnav. More about it on Strange Maps.

Fifty ways to lose your lover: Edinburgh's street names

2008-09-26T11:53:00.002+01:00

Rather cute entry on Language Log.

There are actually way over fifty ways to lose your lover in this city's streets. We get the first fifty from the fact that a cursory glance through a street index reveals that all of the following words to be quite common as street classnames in Edinburgh:

Read on, Macduff

Luckily I have a boat to get hitched on and a ship to drink in afterwards so I'm not worried about losing my lover.

Don't. Even. BLINK!!!!

2008-09-17T07:23:00.001+01:00

I'm sure I must have linked to this before...

2008-09-02T14:53:00.000+01:00

more animals

Narrow escape

2008-09-02T08:28:00.003+01:00

Got Indy back from the Royal Dick Vet yesterday and he is in far better shape than I expected. They did an amazing job given that he wouldn't have hung on much longer. Now he's bouncing around like a kitten - albeit a mute one - and even Ash is happy again.
Right now we can only thank the vets at the Royal Dick, the SSPCA for ensuring all rehomed cats go home with pet insurance and Mr Hunter at the West End Veterinarian partnership. We're less impressed with the other vet we saw and have learned a lesson there and even less impressed with Felix, the local bully cat who started the problem.

Getting down and dirty

2008-09-02T08:03:00.000+01:00

Connect 2008

Does what it says on the tin

2008-08-26T09:28:00.003+01:00

Now that's what I call science fiction

2008-07-25T14:08:00.002+01:00

You'll have had your tea then.

2008-07-13T16:06:00.001+01:00

It's Friday and therefore

2008-05-09T14:03:00.001+01:00

Brave noo worldz

2008-04-25T11:35:00.001+01:00

In which the author works

2008-04-25T11:07:00.000+01:00

| View | Upload your own

Semiologically interesting

2008-04-21T10:13:00.001+01:00

I can has happyness?

2008-04-16T11:56:00.000+01:00

Tommy Tickle - world's sweariest clown

2008-04-08T15:09:00.001+01:00

Sleepless in Asfordby

2008-04-04T10:21:00.003+01:00

The breath of life

2008-04-01T10:09:00.002+01:00

Sculptures in New York City that are animated by the train passing below.

Formation Fish

2008-03-28T19:04:00.000Z

New form of transport discovered

2008-03-25T12:48:00.001Z

Tebay suffers a literacy failure.

Must ask about May

2008-02-27T16:21:00.000Z

It's probably a metaphor

2008-02-16T13:42:00.000Z

moar humorous pics

Gulp!

2008-02-13T14:00:00.002Z

The Future in cardboard and pixels

2008-01-29T15:24:00.001Z

The future's beige

2008-01-23T15:17:00.000Z

Shiny

2008-01-12T09:32:00.000Z

From Last Night

2008-01-06T11:23:00.001Z

Caught bonny

2007-12-21T10:12:00.000Z

moar funny pictures

First Monday publishes first article on Transliteracy

2007-12-20T08:12:00.000Z

The highly-respected journal First Monday has published an article by the PART team at De Montfort University. Transliteracy: crossing divides lays out our current thinking about the concept and invites response and comment. Notable as the first peer-reviewed article on the concept, it was written collectively by Sue Thomas, Chris Joseph, Jess Laccetti, Bruce Mason, Simon Mills, Simon Perril, and Kate Pullinger - a supreme effort of collaboration!

Abstract Transliteracy might provide a unifying perspective on what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century. It is not a new behavior but has only been identified as a working concept since the Internet generated new ways of thinking about human communication. This article defines transliteracy as "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks" and opens the debate with examples from history, orality, philosophy, literature, and ethnography.

The little Honda that could

2007-12-18T18:41:00.000Z

Must be that time of year again

2007-12-18T18:23:00.000Z

Who's that man?

2007-11-13T20:23:00.000Z

My illusions

shattered!

Saturday is the new Friday

2007-11-03T10:21:00.000Z

It's life Jim , but not as we know it

2007-10-30T20:52:00.000Z

Don't

2007-10-26T08:33:00.001+01:00

News at 11!

2007-10-25T00:14:00.000+01:00

A strange map of Britain seen from the north

2007-10-19T20:25:00.000+01:00

Off to Montreal

2007-10-19T12:29:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

Separated at birth?

2007-10-14T19:04:00.001+01:00

It's Friday...

2007-10-12T19:11:00.000+01:00

The dee-arr bit still feels rather odd

2007-10-11T13:04:00.001+01:00

Not quite Davros

2007-10-10T08:26:00.000+01:00

It appears that, according to Facebook, I'm only 5 degrees of separation from the Red Dalek.

Thespian Brilliance

2007-10-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

Always on

2007-09-30T22:48:00.000+01:00

Well, that's another interpretation altogether

2007-09-30T22:01:00.000+01:00

Looking east

2007-09-30T12:33:00.000+01:00

It's just an allusion

2007-09-28T20:43:00.001+01:00

Car of tomorrow

2007-09-27T11:20:00.001+01:00

Canada eh

2007-09-25T23:41:00.000+01:00

Mapping the way

2007-09-24T14:44:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

Heading this way

2007-09-24T13:38:00.000+01:00

...

2007-09-23T19:23:00.001+01:00

An equation for internet success

2007-09-21T13:42:00.000+01:00

PostSecret+LolCat=Genius

Friday +1

2007-09-15T20:49:00.000+01:00

Hitting the big screen

2007-08-23T13:19:00.000+01:00

Prepare to Believe!

2007-08-10T10:13:00.001+01:00

In the year 2035

2007-08-06T14:40:00.000+01:00

Friday cat blog

2007-08-03T17:01:00.000+01:00

Been updating the story of Oscar the death cat over on Blog of the Damned.

Meanwhile, try figuring out which lolcat you are. I ended up as ceiling cat. Would have much enjoyed being Jesus Christ it's a Lion Cat...

I can has soulz?

2007-07-27T09:14:00.000+01:00

It's Friday so it's cats on blogs. Meet Oscar, the cat who knows when you will die.

Just in case my reader doesn't know

2007-07-26T11:38:00.001+01:00

Folksonomy lecture - Thomas Vander Wal

Folksonomy: A look at hated word but loved resource

A lecture by Thomas Vander Wal at De Montfort University, 2-3:30PM, Sepember 18, 2007.

Folksonomy was recently voted one of the new terms most likely to make you "wince, shudder or want to bang your head on the keyboard." The inventor of the term – Thomas Vander Wal – will give a talk that will offer you a chance to make your own judgment. Thomas will present an overview of the concept in a lecture followed by a question-and-answer session....

Wicked wikipedia?

2007-06-28T10:56:00.000+01:00

Danah Boyd, writing on Many to Many has made a couple of really good points about wikipedia and knowledge elites.

Don’t get me wrong - Wikipedia is not perfect. But why do purported experts spend so much time arguing against it rather than helping make it a better resource? It is free! It is accessible! Is it really worth that much prestige to write an encyclopedia article instead of writing a Wikipedia entry? While there are certainly errors there, imagine what would happen if all of those who view themselves as experts took the time to make certain that the greatest and most broad-reaching resource was as accurate as possible.

...

Why are we telling our students not to use Wikipedia rather than educating them about how Wikipedia works? Sitting in front of us is an ideal opportunity to talk about how knowledge is produced, how information is disseminated, how ideas are shared. Imagine if we taught the “history” feature so that students would have the ability to track how a Wikipedia entry is produced and assess for themselves what the authority of the author is. You can’t do this with an encyclopedia. Imagine if we taught students how to fact check claims in Wikipedia and, better yet, to add valuable sources to a Wikipedia entry so that their work becomes part of the public good.

Happiness is a warm pun

2007-06-27T07:35:00.001+01:00

Because it's Friday

2007-06-22T10:06:00.000+01:00

FELINE LAWS OF PHYSICS

Cats have their own rules of physics. Here are some of them.

Newton’s First Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of a can or the sight of a prey.

Newton’s First Law of Cat Motion
A cat will move in a straight line, unless there is a really good reason to change direction.

Newton’s Law of Feline Acceleration
A cat continues to accelerate at a constant speed until he needs to stop.

Newton’s First Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.

Newton’s Second Law of Pill Rejection
Any cat restrained for the purposes of administering a pill has the potential to reach escape velocity.

Newton’s Law of Concentration of Mass
A cat’s mass increases in direct proportion to the comfort of the lap she occupies.

Newton’s Law of Feline Gravity Manipulation
Cats have the ability manipulate gravity, forming localised areas of strong gravitational attraction. This gives the impression of a cat growing heavier as it occupies a lap or bed. This is a linear effect with gravity increasing at a steady rate over time.

First Law of Energy Conservation (Feline Thermodynamics Law 1)
Cats know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and will therefore use as little energy as possible.

Second Law of Energy Conservation (Feline Thermodynamics Law 2)
Cats know that energy can only be stored by a lot of napping.

Third Law of Energy Conservation (Feline Thermodynamics Law 3)
If the rate of energy uptake exceeds the maximum rate of energy storage, the difference will be emitted in the form of purring.

Boyle’s Law of Cat Thermodynamics
Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler body, except in the case of a cat, in which case all heat flows to the cat.

Kirk’s Law of Cat Magnetism
Dark coloured clothing attracts light coloured cat hair in direct proportion to the darkness of the fabric. The converse is also true.

Fanner’s First Law of Cat Stretching (Nap-Associated Stretching)
A cat will stretch to a distance proportional to the length of the nap just taken.

Fanner’s Second Law of Cat Stretching (Non-Nap-Associated Stretching)
The length of the stretch is directly proportional to temperature. Nose in tail (unstretched) is ‘cold’ while fully stretched is ‘hot’. There are infinite gradations on this stretch/temperature scale.

Young’s Law of Cat Sleeping
All cats must sleep with people whenever possible.

Kent’s Corollary Young’s Law of Cat Sleeping
The cat must select a position which causes maximum discomfort to people involved.

Holmes’ Law of Vertical Feline Elongation
A cat can make its body long enough to reach the top of any surface which has anything remotely interesting on it.

Burt’s Corollary to Holmes’ Law of Vertical Feline Elongation
The cat can exceed its normal elongation if the item of interest is edible.

Burt’s Law of Dinner Table Attendance
Cats will attend all family meals when anything good is served.

Burt’s Law of Selective Listening
A cat can hear a can of tuna being opened (or the word ‘vet’) a mile away, but can’t hear a simple command three feet away.

Euler’s Law of Rug Configuration
When a cat is present, no rug may remain in its naturally flat state for long.

Ohm’s Law of Obedience Resistance
A cat’s resistance varies in inverse proportion to a humans desire for her to do something.

Henry’s Law of Refrigerator Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

Revised Henry’s Law of Kitchen Appliance Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator, a stove, a kitchen cupboard or a microwave oven long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

Partington’s Addition to Revised Henry’s Laws of Kitchen Appliance Observation
If a cat stands directly behind a human in the kitchen, its tail will be trodden on; the human will then offer the cat something good to eat by way of apology.

Einstein’s Law of Electric Blanket Attraction
Turn on an electric blanket and a cat will jump into bed at the speed of light.

Einstein’s Law of Space-Time Continuum as Applicable to Felines
Given enough time, a cat will land in just about any space.

Einstein’s Law of Cat Composition
A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn’t Matter.

Cheung’s Law of Random Comfort Seeking
A cat will always seek, and usually take over, the most comfortable spot in any given room.

Colling’s Law of Cat Disinterest
A cat’s interest level will vary in inverse proportion to the amount of effort a human expends in trying to interest him.

Collings’ Law of Cat Embarrassment
A cat’s irritation rises in direct proportion to its embarrassment multiplied by the amount of human laughter. (Amount of human laughter = volume x duration2)

Collings’ Law of Feline Vomiting
The frequency that a cat vomits on a given surface is directly proportional to the difficulty of cleaning the given surface and also proportional the likelihood of the given surface to acquire permanent stains.

Cheung’s Modification to Collings’ Law of Feline Vomiting
The frequency that a cat vomits, pees or has diarrhoea on a given surface is directly proportional to the difficulty of cleaning the given surface and also proportional the likelihood of the given surface to acquire permanent stains and odours.

Cheung’s Law of Furniture Replacement
A cats desire to scratch furniture is directly proportional to the cost of the furniture.

Cheung’s Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land in the softest place possible.

Cheung’s Second Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land on its feet unless you are unpacking groceries, in which case it will land on your feet.

Schrodinger’s Law of Cat Invisibility
Cats think that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them.

Schrodinger’s Accidentally Discovered Law of Object Occupancy
All bags and boxes in a given room must contain a cat within the earliest possible nanosecond.

Heisenberg’s Law of Cat Probability (Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle as Applied to Cats)
It is not possible to predict where a cat actually is, only the probability of where it “might” be. As soon as you know where it is, it will move.

Pythagoras’ Theorem of Feline Equidistant Separation
All cats in a given room will be located at points equidistant from each other, and equidistant from the centre of the room. The time taken to achieve equidistant spacing is proportional to the number of cats present.

Pratchett’s Rule of Cat Chess
Where multiple cats are present in a large finite space, each cat must attempt to see at least two other cats but remain hidden from view itself.

Protagoras’ Rule of Cat Obedience
As a rule, cats aren’t obedient.

Aristotle’s Law of Fluid Displacement
A cat immersed in milk will displace her own volume, minus the amount of milk consumed.

Law of Milk Consumption (Feline Capacitance)
A cat will drink his weight in milk, squared, just to show you he can. After a suitable delay

I want one of those

2007-06-20T23:08:00.000+01:00

Busy day on the blog

2007-06-19T20:01:00.000+01:00

This article from Wired amused me but is also quite interesting from a research perspective.

Recently I logged into World of Warcraft and I wound up questing alongside a mage and two dwarf warriors. I was the lowest-level newbie in the group, and the mage was the de-facto leader. He coached me on the details of each new quest, took the point position in dangerous fights and suggested tactics. He seemed like your classic virtual-world group leader: Confident, bold and streetsmart.
But after a few hours he said he was getting tired of using text chat -- and asked me to switch over to Ventrilo, an app that lets gamers chat using microphones and voice. I downloaded Ventrilo, logged in, dialed him up and ...
... realized he was an 11-year-old boy... read on

Cover art

2007-06-19T19:51:00.000+01:00

Wise advice

2007-06-18T20:49:00.000+01:00

Look at me, I'm beautiful

2007-06-18T17:31:00.001+01:00

Look at me, I'm beautiful, originally uploaded by Bruce Mason.

This is me testing Flickr embedding and cluster tagging

Friday

2007-06-15T11:12:00.000+01:00

Traditionally, on a Friday, on the Internet, you blog about cats. So, without further ado: