Posting these nice and early today, to maximise your time-wasting potential:
Happy invoicing!
- With ratlike cunning and a plausible manner, I intruded into private grief - "It is almost embarrassing to have to admit that, when I entered newspaper journalism at the age of 16, I imagined it would be a way of satisfying my urge to write... Fortunately, it took no time at all to be disabused of this quaint notion." Kenneth Roy, editor of the Scottish Review, explains what is done by journalists to satisfy us, their customers.
- Omnes Viae: Itinerarium Romanum - "A route planner with all main roads and cities of the Roman Empire. Based on an ancient Roman map of which a copy survived that is now known as the 'Tabula Peutingeriana'. This site mostly extends on research by Richard Talbert." Ideal for when you need to get your legion from Roma to Lutetia Parisorum - the route even tells you which rivers you'll have to cross
- The Epic Saga of The Well - "The World's Most Influential Online Community (And It's Not AOL)." Excellent 1997 Wired article about the evolution of The Well, one of the first true online communities.
- Tim Langdell Loses In Future “Edge” Trial - "Not a lot has been heard from trademark champion Tim Langdell in a while. The lawyer-happy supreme owner of the word 'edge' was the palm-faced talk of the town in 2009 and 2010 (never better covered than by the excellent Chaos Edge), but his antics have been a little more quiet of late. This is likely to do with his not doing particularly well in his increasingly ludicrous attempts to claim ownership of a noun." John Walker examines the skullduggery surrounding one man's attempts to claim that he owns exclusive trademark rights to use the word "edge" in product names.
- Floppy Disks: It's Too Late - "Someone has to break it to you, and that person is me. It’s over. You waited too long. You procrastinated or made excuses or otherwise didn’t think about it or care. You didn’t do anything and it’s too late now. I’m talking about Floppy Disks. And I mean the five-and-a-quarter (5 1/4″) floppy disks that actually are somewhat floppy and which are long and flat and which were the mainstay of home computing for well up and over a decade, back then." Jason Scott (of textfiles.com and archive.org) wants your floppies, in the hope that any remaining data can be salvaged.
- British Pathe - "The world's finest news and entertainment video film archive." Wonderful collection of newsreel and documentary footage.
- Stewart Lee: What I really think about Michael McIntyre - "On Sunday, at 2.26 in the afternoon, a man claiming to be the transport correspondent of the Daily Telegraph rang me up asking me why I had described Michael McIntyre as ‘spoon-feeding his audience warm diarrhoea’. I hung up, assuming it was some weird prank call, like the people who ring me at 3am asking when I am going to play Leamington Spa, and wake up the baby. I mean, why would the transport editor of the Telegraph be asking me about a line from a routine I did in 2009?" Stuff about how the Press work is centre stage at the moment, so here's another interesting bit about it
- Nazi code-breaking hardware: photos - "CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman visited Bletchley Park, which is showcased in this gallery, as well as some items from a previous trip to Fort Meade that complement what's on display at Bletchley Park." Nice gallery of WWII code-breaking kit at BP.
- Mothman: An Exposé - "A bizarre creature terrorized a town in West Virginia in 1966 and 1967, leering at locals with glowing red eyes, flying over their cars and causing radiation burns and even the collapse of a major bridge over the Ohio River. Half man, half moth? Ultradimensional being? Alien from another planet? What was Mothman?" Textbook case of mass hysteria, and an example of how these things become even more complicated when a major motion picture contract enters the equation...
- epic4chan - "The funniest memes from 4chan.org and other sites, without the horrors." Now you don't have to endure the notorious 4chan trolls to keep up with the latest odd trends on the internet:
Happy invoicing!
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