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Below are the 30 most recent journal entries recorded in the "A zero-width positive lookahead assertion" journal:

April 13th, 2012
12:38 pm [Link]	I'd like to try some stop-motion filming of plants germinating. To this end I'd like to borrow for a month or two a camera (with better resolution than my crappy webcam and preferably with a flash) that I can control from a Linux computer. Does anyone have such a beast? Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
April 5th, 2012
04:49 pm [Link]	Another day, another stupid idea. Today: Think Of The Children! What is it with politicians (or possibly civil servants) and the Internet? Hot on the heels of the craziness of the proposed surveillance of web, email, and social media, comes the perennial "let's make the Internet child-safe" proposal. http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2012/april/automatic-porn-censorship-legislation-proposed/ Yet another idea that neatly combines illiberal with unworkable. At least one might hope the "unworkable" element should hopefully do the job of making sure it doesn't get beyond a draft (though ISTR that didn't deter Australia from trying something similar), but still. headdesk Should this draft be unfortunate enough not to be strangled at this stage, expect endless wrangling over who decides what porn is, shock as people realise that educational, political, and scientific materials have been included, confusion as the powers that be discover HTTPS decades after the rest of the Internet, and bewilderment as people point out that this has been tried lots of times and it Never Bloody Works. ETA: apparently the proposal is a Lords Private Member's Bill, so a near-zero chance of actually getting anywhere. But still, I remain surprised at what some people think would be a good idea. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Tags: political, ranty
March 28th, 2012
05:17 pm [Link]	DWCycle Does anyone want a plastic tenor recorder that's got a missing return-spring on one of its keys? Free to good home, or frankly to a bad home. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
March 6th, 2012
11:40 am [Link]	Dear Person-campaigning-against-legalising-same-sex-marriage: I would assume that, for consistency, if we lived in a country where divorce was illegal you would be campaigning against making it legal, including against the rights of e.g. Jews and Muslims (whose tenets permit divorce) to dissolve their own marriages. Perhaps you would insist on a union between Jews being denoted as a “soluble partnership” so as not to sully the word “marriage”? Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Current Mood: cross
February 28th, 2012
10:31 pm [Link]	Crunchy tasty kale stuff. Take kale, rinse, chop roughly, spread on baking tray, and bake for about 10 min at 180°C: tasty crispy green stuff. It might take a tiny pinch of salt, but not very much, cos it's quite strongly flavoured when it's dried out. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Tags: tasty
February 4th, 2012
03:54 pm [Link]	Another postcard. This one for a friend in Brussels: Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
December 29th, 2011
03:24 pm [Link]	Wishes for a relaxed new year. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Tags: ostentatious, zoölogical
December 18th, 2011
10:46 am [Link]	A couple of videos. The ArseStore (SFW) "Devil Comes Back to Georgia" - Mark O'Connor with Charles Daniels, Johnny Cash, Travis Tritt & Marty Stuart. Delightful, though you might want to focus on the music rather than the video. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Tags: video
December 14th, 2011
09:07 pm [Link]	It's mid-december, I think I can get away with this icon now :) Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
November 16th, 2011
11:59 am [Link]	Seen in Stoke-on-Trent Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
October 27th, 2011
05:58 pm [Link]	PSA: Livejournal security bug There seems to be a privacy breach on LJ whereby people have been given access to other people's private/locked entries: http://boundbooks.dreamwidth.org/100381.html It appears from the stuff linked there that it's ongoing, but I don't know how widespread it is. I also don't know if an attacker could somehow exploit this to gain access to an account they wish to spy on or if it's just (as seems at the moment) random people getting logged into random wrong journals. You can see when anyone (hopefully you or an application you've authorised!) logged into your account at http://www.livejournal.com/manage/logins.bml - I don't know for sure that these mis-logins will be shown there, but people seem to be suggesting it might be useful. ETA: pne* says that this is unlikely to be the case* I haven't seen any workrounds to protect locked entries from this bug; I know some people have temporarily deleted their LJ accounts. I'm not doing that unless it becomes clear that it can be deliberately exploited (and that anyone who gains access can't just hit the undelete button), but then I don't have much in my locked entries that'd be disastrous if it became public. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here.
October 21st, 2011
03:52 pm [Link]	The latest from Sacha Baron-Cohen (via nanaya) Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: video
October 16th, 2011
04:16 pm [Link]	The eleph-ant. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: ostentatious
October 14th, 2011
10:09 pm [Link]	Dragon cuisine Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) - Kake's guide to commenting is here. Tags: ostentatious, tasty
October 11th, 2011
02:38 pm [Link]	Mudskippers! I was going to paint a snotmonster for a besnotted friend, but then realised that they'd just look exactly like this: Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: video
October 1st, 2011
03:08 pm [Link]	Junkmail follow-up Junk mail has now dropped to next-to-nothing since I opted out of Royal Mail's "door-to-door" crap: http://www.stopjunkmail.org.uk/guide/door_to_door_opt_out.php - I emailed optout@royalmail.com with my name and address and asked them to send me a paper copy which I signed and posted back to their freepost address. Has anyone tried the automated form at http://www.junkbuster.org.uk/ ? Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
September 23rd, 2011
12:46 pm [Link]	Feeds I follow Some of the feeds I follow on DW: andrew_hickey_feed: Andrew Hickey's blog - politics, music, and fiction. andrew_rilstone_feed: Andrew Rilstone's blog - thoughtful political essays (some of the best I've found on the 'net), religious musings and enthusiasm about folk music. complicity_blog_feed: Zoe O'Connell's blog - "A blog about Liberty, Equality and the Internet" doonesbury_arcamax_feed: Syndication of the long-running American political comic strip by Gary Trudeau. gerv_blog_feed: Gerv is a friend from university days and a Mozilla developer. His tech-y posts are interesting. got_medieval_feed: A blog about the mediaeval world, with copious pretty/whimsical examples of texts, and snark about the representation of the Middle Ages in the modern world. guardian_cryptics_feed: Guardian Cryptic Crosswords, daily. jesus_and_mo_feed: Somewhat gratuitous theism-bashing. Variable quality between crass and insightful. julian_huppert_twfy_feed: What the MP for Cambridge says in Parliament. I expect that most UK readers will want to follow their own MP rather than my MP. (I can make DW feeds from RSS feeds on request) kamikaze_cookery_feed: Bunch of crazy and innovative cooks from Edinburgh. languagelog_feed: Excellent blog written by a set of professional academic linguists. Accessible and light-hearted but informative. newstechnica_feed: Satirical news site. not_rocket_science_feed Ed Yong's write-ups of new advances in science. Biology-focussed, and way way way better than any summaries you'll find in the mainstream press. Accessible to non-biologists. oots_feed: Order of the Stick cartoon strip - RPG-based comic. I recommend reading from the beginning. phd_comics_feed: Postgraduate satire. stickerscentralline_feed: Stickers on the Central Line. Far too silly. textsfromwestminster_feed: Texts From Last Night meets pictures of parliamentarians. tim_harford_feed: Interesting economics blog by Tim Harford, whom I mainly know as the presenter of Radio 4's More or Less and the author of The Undercover Economist. uk_polling_report_feed: All the polls on UK politics, with helpful non-sensationalist commentaries. It's nice to get summaries with "this is probably just statistical noise" rather than the headlines the newspapers put on polls. vintagecookbooktrial_feed: Recipes from dated cookery books, cooked, photographed, and commented on. xkcd_feed: You all follow XKCD anyway, I know. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
September 8th, 2011
11:31 am [Link]	This is a very boring post How do you get old aluminium-salts-based antiperspirant deposits off clothing? I can find hundreds of suggestions via web-searching, most of which sound very unlikely. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
September 6th, 2011
03:10 pm [Link]	Sourdough: notes. I've been going on about sourdough for a bit. I've been using this method, with starter got from kht. I find this less time-consuming than traditional bread-making - the flexibility of being able to leave the dough for almost-arbitrary periods means I can knead it and bake it whenever I have a spare few minutes rather than when the protocol demands. It produces a tasty bread, rather more flavourful than bread made with yeast alone. Notes: One rising seems to work, though I'm still experimenting with that. I often make the bread now in silicone loaf tins, which work well; putting too much dough in tins inhibits the rising as it collapses under its own weight, so making shallower loaves is often easier. Covering with clingfilm stops drying well, but also inhibits rising if the film is in contact with the dough. The bread goes very well with home-pickled eggs. If anyone (who's going to see me soon) wants some starter, let me know. (This post follows andrewducker's plea to Just Post More Stuff. Now it's your turn!) Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: tasty
September 4th, 2011
09:23 pm [Link]	Snakes and graphs Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
September 1st, 2011
06:22 pm [Link]	Phone scammers part 2 View poll: more scammerage Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: polllike
05:44 pm [Link]	Annoyances How often do you get phone scammers calling you? I don't mean people just selling things, I mean people trying to get your financial details from you under false pretences ("We can wipe out the debt on your credit card"), or get you to install malware on your computer ("We're from Microsoft and we think you may have a virus"). View poll: Bloody scammers Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: polllike
August 30th, 2011
05:17 pm [Link]	From the pages of the pseudomonas notebook: Barded battle frog Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Tags: ostentatious, zoölogical
August 28th, 2011
02:16 pm [Link]	For your edification, a video. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
August 24th, 2011
10:01 am [Link]	Door-to-Door Royal Junk Mail opt-out I am cross, partly at myself. It seems that many of the pizza companies, supermarkets, charities depositing plastic bags, and the like through my letterbox in defiance of the "No junk mail, no free newspapers" sticker were not employing annoying casual deliverers but were instead using the Royal Mail, whose employees are under strict orders to ignore such signs. They have an opt-out procedure, which is somewhat tedious. Basically, you email them, they email you a form, you print it, sign it, send it back. After two years, they start sending you junk again without giving you a reminder. I'd like to know if they'll respect forms sent in by people that haven't sent emails requesting forms explicitly. I've put the form here, if you'd be willing to try this and let me know if it works! (it's Freepost) The email you're certifying that you've read and understood is the tedious:( Small print ) I'd also be interested if anyone has any ideas how to make this process more streamlined. Ideally the sort of enter-your-address-and-click-OK thing that the MPS has would be nice. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Current Mood: annoyed
August 23rd, 2011
10:00 pm [Link]	De-junking. Not had any junk mail from Virgin for a couple of months - I surmise that my opting-out email has had some effect. I've shoved the details here in the hope it might save a tree or two. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
August 18th, 2011
10:41 pm [Link]	checking I'm at home and online Just for my own reference, and in case anyone else wants to do this: I have jobs on my laptop that I want to run at home, but not automatically on someone else's network (might be bandwidth intensive, for instance). I also wanted the script to notify me that it's started running. I have them in a bash script that I can run manually with `./script.bash` or in a cron job as `/path/to/script.bash cron` Within the scripts, the relevant lines are: test "$1" != "cron" \|\| (/sbin/iwconfig wlan1 \| grep 'ESSID:"PSEUDOMONAS_ESSID"') \|\| exit DISPLAY=:0.0 XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority notify-send "Notification" "Starting jobs" I had to fiddle and web-search a bit to work out how to get things working. /sbin/ not being in path for cron jobs was a bit of a gotcha. I run Xubuntu 11.04 FWIW. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Current Mood: geeky
August 1st, 2011
12:34 pm [Link]	Tech customer service done well BE broadband had an outage this morning for a few hours. I was very pleased that rather than gambling that I'd be out the house and not notice it -- and hence leaving me to do the is-this-at-your-end-or-mine diagnosis and work out who to phone -- they sent both an email and a text message notifying me about the outage while it was still happening and reassuring me that they were working on fixing it. (It's now fixed) Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.
July 31st, 2011
12:08 pm [Link]	( Today's Doonesbury ) Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here. Current Music: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
July 11th, 2011
09:56 am [Link]	Stone carving and lettering Yesterday was an open day at Histon Road Cemetery, and Harry Gray and family were demonstrating stone-carving. I got a chance to carve out some letters - rather badly, but it was extremely enjoyable. He recommended I seek out a course in this sort of thing. I notice that on 23-25 September there's a workshop on "drawn lettering & lettercarving in stone with Tom Perkins & Eric Marland, in Cambridge" (though the dates on this page differ slightly). Fairly expensive but might be worth a go. Comments ( so far) at Dreamwidth here. You can log in with OpenID (e.g. `yourusername.livejournal.com`) here.

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