Mat Bowles

Corruption scandals make good telly (and film)

2015-06-30T14:30:36Z

7 film and TV series set in the exciting world of municipal government::

Gritty political thriller about a corruption scandal in which car companies buy up Los Angeles' streetcar network, purely so they can rip it up, thus forcing the public to buy more cars. Also features a cartoon rabbit.

By that strange bloke jonnelledge.

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Cheering myself up

2011-05-06T20:29:20Z

Today has not been a good day. I spent most of the afternoon and early evening at the count, watching friends lose their seats or not gain them, then watched ballot papers get piled higher and higher in the "No" slot, and then had to clear a big pile of potentially spoilt ballots, which overwhelmingly meant me saying "yup, that person clearly meant to vote No" a lot more than the other way around.

So tonight, I'm watching Victoria Coren on Have I Got News For You (not a single guest I can't stand, this is a step up) and looking for things that make me laugh. This is doing the rounds:

Originally posted by webofevil, reposted by andrewducker and theweaselking. It's apparently very genuine.

Any and all links to funny, irreverent stuff that have nothing to do with politics, especially not the bloody awful AV referendum, very very gratefully received. As long as it's not LOLcats.

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Anyone want a job as a Homeopath?

2010-08-15T21:48:34Z

Picking a paragraph to quote from for this was difficult. My application for a job as a Homeopath

I am a qualified doctor of Neuroscience, so am aware of many long and complex words which I often use to convince people I know what I’m talking about, when in reality I am just exploiting their ignorance for my own amusement. As such, I feel I would be an ideal candidate for the post of doctor of homeopathy.

I was tempted by the bit about Richard Littlejohn, the Desperate Dan fanclub reference was tempting, and the paragraph on the Placebo effect quite good as well. Basically, go and read. It's a genuine job application.

ETA: More posts on the subject: Anomalous Distraction, dcscience.net, Reality Is My Religion, torgwen's posterous

Athough I am comftable wit my knoledge of homepaty, and I liv neaby, I stll feel tht othr aplicants wit medcal quafications stnd a beter chnce thn me. Wit tht in mnd, I’ve dcided to remov caracters frm my words, as yu cn see. As a tru homepath, I flt tht th les caracters I usd in my wrds, th mor efective they woud be.

And this one I really like, from davidnm at his 'proper' blog:

My education so far includes two degrees in real sciences, a BSc in Physics and an MSc in Astrophysics, and I’m currently working toward a PhD in Astronomy. Thus one day, unlike your homeopath, I may actually be a doctor! As I have no actual medical qualifications, any medical knowledge in my brain is diluted to an extreme degree – and thus, from the basic principles of homeopathy, this means that I must be an extremely good doctor.

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H2G2: Daleks

2010-06-25T00:08:33Z

I'm pretty sure Douglas would've approved of this:

I had a tough choice of icons for this entry, had to pick a non-standard one, I have so many Dalek and H2G2 icons, but none of them link up. That may have to change...

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Now it's goodnight from YouTube

2010-03-08T22:15:14Z

This is brilliant:
If you're not chuckling immensely, you didn't grow up in the UK. If you didn't, then, y'know, ask for explanation. (via)

Yes, I know, I don't post enough, I keep meaning to, so I'm just going to try and do it more

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Europe, books, maps and snails—MOAR linkspam

2009-05-26T17:58:03Z

A nice little mix of stuff in this lot, though the politics averse amongst you should be warned that with elections next week there's a fair bit on that, though not much of it is serious.

A quick guide to the British voting system for the EU elections | Nosemonkey's EUtopia

There are elections next week across the UK. In Britain, the votes are counted using the D'Hondt closed list PR system. This is one of the few electoral systems I've encountered I consider to be worse than the one we use for Westminster, when you get critics attacking "PR", they're having a go at this pile of arse, which no one sane suggests for Westminster (and Labour had to force through the Lords after a lot of opposition). If you're not sure who to vote for, and don't want to spend too much time thinking about it, go out and vote either Lib Dem or Green; there's a small chance the BNP could win a seat in the North West. Giving Nick Griffin a tax funded salary and the ability to hire a bunch of staff just doesn't appeal. It's unlikely he'll get in, but it could happen. So just go vote, please? Even if the system is arse, the EU parliament does actually have power these days, even if it's not as much as would be liked.

(tags: elections europe eu BNP electoral+reform d'hondt)
Self destructing product catalogue

Not a bad bit of viral marketing this: what happens when the stuff on the display screen starts falling over. A nicely animated product catalogue as it slowly blows itself up.

(tags: humour funny flash marketing)
Blogging in the 19th Century: The Future of Journalism | The Lay Scientist

I pretty much agree with this. Most of us writing our own personal blogs and journals are copying the old small press pamphleteers and chain letter writers. We're just doing it with better technology. Most of the established newspapers grew out of various small presses—the biggest blogs online now have copied this model, bringing in lots of individuals to create a more coherent whole.

(tags: blogging journalism pampleteering campaigning)
Jon Worth » Some wacky ways to improve the EU

Some of them really are a bit daft, yes, but still worth thinking about. What the antis always seem to miss is that most supporters of EU membership also constantly argue for reform of the system. That it's a bit crap isn't disputed, how to improve it is. Bit like everything else in life really.

(tags: EU europe politics reform)
UKIP's "Britain paying the EU £40 million a day" claim vs the REAL costs of UK EU membership | Nosemonkey's EUtopia

A UKIP campaign slogan that doesn't make sense and is based on unfounded and uncosted hyperbole? really? Never would've guessed.

(tags: UKIP Europe EU elections misinformation)
Spawning A Campaign - diffrentcolours

There are Euro elections due. One of the issues the EU legislates on is software patents, the Free Software Foundation thinks we should ask the candidates their views on this. Makes sense to me, go do it...

(tags: software patents freedom europe EU elections)
Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

The underdog can always win if enough effort is put in. Being able to put that effort in is the main barrier. Does this apply to any walk of life, if at all?

(tags: activism sport inspiration psychology)
The Cute Cat Theory Talk at ETech » My heart's in Accra

Makes sense to me: a successful web technology will have cute cats, porn and activism. If it doesn't have a mix of the three, something isn't working right.

(tags: cats theory internet activism web2.0)
386 - My Kingdom for a Beer? Heineken's Eurotopia « Strange Maps

This, however, is one of the crazier ideas for solving the EU governance issue—when the paranoid fringes talk about 'plots to break up Britain'? This is the sort of thing they're referring to. But, y'know, interesting idea, even if he does make godawful beer.

(tags: europe EU maps)
105 — The Tory Atlas of the World — Strange Maps

Apparently from a Spitting Image annual from the mid 80s. It's really quite funny and rather accurate. Note to those supporting Cameron's modern Conservative party (or even those that can remember Major). Yes, Thatcher's Tories really were like this. Some of them still are. That the majority of MPs after the next General Election will be 'untainted' by this association doesn't mean those of us that can remember will trust them.

(tags: funny maps tories politics Thatcher)
The perils of an identity system - The Web of Evil

If your identity has been used by a fraudster, and you're required to log all your movements, the authorities will keep trying to arrest you. And a national mandatory identity scheme WILL get cracked by a fraudster almost instantaneously. WebOfEvil shares a personal anecdote

(tags: NIR ID+cards identity)
Warner Music to Warner Music: You are pirates! - Boing Boing

Dear Warner. Getting YouTube to remove your subsidiaries officially posted music vids because they infringe your copyright means that people won't see your videos. You know, the ones you paid for to advertise your product? Is there a chance that, at some time soon, the recording industry will grow up and get a clue?

(tags: dmca video youtube warner stupidity)
Would be Bond villain seeks femme fatale - m4w

Paging George! This bloke seems perfect for you girl...

(tags: funny ads personals supervillains)
Kid keeping a lending library of banned books in his her locker - Boing Boing

Heh—banning books from teens makes them more likely to want to read them. So a kid running a library of banned books is encouraging her schoolfriends to read more. Cool

(tags: books subversion censorship)
How Ursula K Le Guin led a generation away from realism | Books | guardian.co.uk

I never did understand the whole "he'll grow out of it" approach to my liking of SF and fantasy when I was a teen, why would I WANT to grow out of it? Just because I like Asimov and Stross doesn't mean I can't appreciate Nabokov (who wrote some SF anyway) or the likes, just as liking Therapy doesn't prevent me also liking Dvorak or Gershwin. Silly elitist snobs. Still, at least we're winning...

(tags: writing culture fantasy sf books)
Hoversnail goes WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRVOOM.

Really. It's a hoversnail. It's cool. Go look.

(tags: funny pictures)

Posted to both LJ and DW with comments open for technical reasons that I can't be arsed to fix, LJ version: Europe, books, maps and snails—MOAR linkspam

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