The Curious History of the Clothespeg

The Economist investigates.
(tags: technology )

• Thirty things you didn’t know about the EU referendum
  
  Most of this was indeed new to me.
  (tags: eu brexit ukpolitics )
• This is the truth about the Berlin Christmas market terror attack
  
  Wow.
  (tags: germany waronterror tunisia )
• Three party constituency tri-points
  
  This is true anorak stuff. (In Belfast, North South and West meet at the junction of Bridge St and High St, and North South and East on the Queen’s Bridge 500m away; the core of the historical city.)
  (tags: northernireland ukpolitics maps )

Sick of politics: Ten charts that show why Donald Trump and Brexit could happen in Australia

Graphic.
(tags: politics australia )

Four myths about Brexit and financial services

A sobering message to the industry.
(tags: ukpolitics eu brexit )

How We Identified the D.N.C. Hack’s ‘Patient Zero’

Journalism in action.
(tags: media uspolitics )

What role for a European think tank in the age of populism?

Daniel Gros of @CEPS_thinktank thinks there is one. (I had a good chat with him Wednesday morning, until he realised he had lost the key for his bicycle.)
(tags: eu )

EU Court protects Western Sahara from EU-Morocco trade deal

Hah!!!!! A major development!
(tags: eu Westernsahara )

Welcoming the new boy at school

And thinking about the past.
(tags: writing Death )

The Cold War Isn’t Back. So Don’t Think Like It Is.

Ivan Krastev casts cold water on the paradigm.
(tags: eu Russia bulgaria )

Muslim Woman Nominated As Romanian Prime Minister

Yep.
(tags: romania islam politics )

Monopoly hotline launched in U.K. to settle holiday arguments

This may actually be true.
(tags: games )

Third story (depending how you count) in full:

Nicholas Was…

older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die.

The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories.

Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time.

He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher.

Ho.

Ho.

Ho.

This seasonal drabble is one of the pieces I had read before, first collected in 1993 in Angels and Visitations, re-released last year as part of the Gaiman ebook bundle which I got cheap. At that point Gaiman had published half of Sandman, also Black Orchid, the Books of Magic and (with Terry Pratchett) Good Omens, and was obviously a rising star but not quite as stellar as he has since become. So a lot of these pieces are journeyman work, but none the less interesting as we see him work out a few ideas whihc he returned to later and better. The story that lingers most with me is "Looking for the Girl", about an eternally young nude model, originally published in Penthouse. There is also some poetry and a couple of essays (one on Mary Gentle, one on Father Brown). There are some lovely illustrations as well. I am not a Gaiman completist so won't look out for this in hard copy, but am glad to have it in pixel form.

This was both the top book on my shelf bought in 2015 and the top unread sf book recommended by you guys last year. Next on the first of those lists is The Humans, by Matt Haig; next on the second is A Fall of Stardust, again by Neil Gaiman, but that list will get rejigged in my end-of-year survey.

Second paragraph of third story (“The Sale”, by Tendai Huchu):

He entered the tall glass building, formerly the reserve bank building, and told the heavy at the door that he had an appointment. A lift took him up to the top floor with sweeping views of the city. A TV screen in the lobby was tuned to the Voice of Truth. The PA for the Minister for Native Affairs, Anna Kansasian picked up her apparat, spoke into it, and told Mr. Munyuki that the minister was going to be tied up much longer than anticipated. His appointment had been rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

Lots of good stories here, some by writers who I had heard of, many that I hadn’t. One or two fell slightly flat, sticking too close to standard sf tropes without bringing much extra to them. But most of them were very good – there is an early pairing of “Home Affairs” by Sarah Lotz and “The Sale” by Tendai Huchu which both look at bureaucracy; “Azania”, by Nick Woods, looks at colonisation both in the sfnal and geopolitical senses; “Brandy City”, by Mia Arderne, looks at virtual reality and addiction; and the closing novella, “Proposition 23” by Efe Okogu, has a world where citizenship and the right to live are being eroded by technology. I find it immensely reassuring of the future of sf that it speaks as a genre to many writers from the oldest of the continents, and I hope that European and American fandom can start to draw more from this well of talent.

This was the top book by a non-white author(s) on my pile. Since then I’ve acquired A Suitable Boy which will be next on that list.

Dreamed that I had got the Australian nomination for a top UN job (the British candidate being a C Stross, though I did not find out if it was the same one). But when I got to the interview in Geneva, I had forgotten which job I had applied for and had to spoof my knowledge of future energy technologies. I did not get the job due to being woefully underprepared.

Historical note: I did once turn up to a job interview at a place where I had applied for two different jobs, having prepared for the wrong interview. I actually got the job as well. Don’t do this yourself.

Varieties of Brexit

@jonworth’s taxonomy.
(tags: ukpolitics brexit )

Second paragraph of third chapter:

Raef stood up in the prow, his face wet with spray. He had not sailed these seas in fifteen years. He had tasted the salt tang on his lips now the first time he left the shore, at the far side of this ocean. The harsh edge in the wind made his blood race.

I had expected this to be a non-genre historical novel; in fact although it’s based fairly closely on the historical events of the 1014-1016 period in and near England, the central character, Raef, has magical powers and is contending also with dark forces attempting to seize control of whoever is on the throne that month. I have to say I did not enjoy it much. It is the third book in a trilogy, and I think it may work much better as a climax to the other two; I found it difficult to remember which feuding dynast was which (George R.R. Martin has done that much better) or indeed to care particularly which of them would win (spoiler: Knut). I was struggling with other unengaging books at the time and it really cut into my reading rate.

This was one of the remaining books recommended to me by you guys at the end of last year, and I’m afraid you did not guide me well on this occasion. Next on that particular list is The Habit of Loving, by Doris Lessing, but the whole list is likely to be rejigged by my end-of-year survey.

Second paragraph of third story ("The Feast", by Stewart Sheargold):

Ben Jackson brushed a cold snowflake from his face, wrapped the large coat tight around himself, and stepped from the TARDIS. Stepping out into the unknown was like testing his land legs after time spent at sea. He gazed about. They had landed in a cramped alley, the crooked, dilapidated houses arching inwards to meet one another. Coopers' barrels lined the wall near a stout wooden door. Must be a pub, Ben thought cheerfully. He could do with a drink. It was the simple things he missed, travelling with the Doctor. Oddly, this didn't feel like London; too quiet, too calm, despite the dark hour of the night. But the Doctor had assured them it was, even if he'd been vague about the year.

A lot of the Short Trips anthologies are Christmas-themed, and this is probably the only one I will read at the appropriate time of year if I keep on going through them at one a month. Christmas is a fairly narrow theme, but here it is taken pretty broadly: of this parish looks at Roman-era astrology (not the only author to go for that time period), and there are a number of good short tales here – 25 in 231 pages, so about 9 pages each – and for once no real stinkers. I guess the ones that stick in my mind most are “Christmas on the Moon” by Simon Guerrier, “She Won’t Be Home” by Joseph Lidster, and “Saint Nicholas’s Bones” by Xanna Eve Chown. But in general it is a good seasonal entertainment.

Next in this sequence is Short Trips: Farewells, edited by Jacqueline Rayner.

I Regret to Inform You That My Wedding to Captain Von Trapp Has Been Canceled

The Baroness reports.
(tags: internet funny )

This is the shortest scientific paper ever published

Zero words.
(tags: writing )

Tales from the Coffeeshop: Keeping the negativity in the family

Latest Cyprus commentary.
(tags: Cyprus )

Barbican – Into the Unknown

SF exhibition in London next saummer
(tags: Sf london )

The sow’s ear, Britain’s approach to Brexit’s negotiations

Brief but pithy. #fb
(tags: ukpolitics brexit eu )

Current
Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat
Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past, by Paul Cartledge
Twilight of the Gods, by Mark Clapham

Next books
Apostata, by Ken Broeders
Last Exit to Babylon – Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny

Books acquired in last week
Representatives of the People?, by Vernon Bogdanor
Drawing Boundaries: Legislature, Court and Electoral Values, eds. John C. Courtney, Peter MacKinnon, David E. Smith

My President Was Black

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Obama’s presidency.
(tags: Uspolitics race )

The 10 laws of Brexit

@jonworth cocks a snook.
(tags: ukpolitics brexit eu )

UK’s first major Moomin exhibition set to open in London

Hooray!
(tags: finland sf )

the elf advises

Estonia makes you adapt.
(tags: Christmas estonia )

EU Law Analysis: Brexit and the Future of Human Rights Law in the UK

Not pretty.
(tags: brexit eu ukpolitics humanrights )

The EU’s Brexit negotiators prepare for disaster

The Economist reports.
(tags: ukpolitics eu brexit )

Learning Avar

It’s not easy. (Difficult language, few materials.)
(tags: languages )

Most Mammals Take 21 Seconds to Pee

Aren’t you glad you know that now?
(tags: biology )

Russia Today and the post-truth virus

That “Canadian journalist” and Syria.
(tags: russia syria internet )

EU defence, Brexit and Trump: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Great title, also serious analysis from @CER_London.
(tags: eu )

A Note From Chris O’Neill about Evernote’s Privacy Policy

The CEO responds.
(tags: evernote internet privacy )

UK exports have boomed since the Brexit referendum, but mostly to the EU

The UK is enjoying an increase in exports to the EU, driven in the main by a fall in the pound caused by a fear that it will not be freely trade with the EU in the future. This is a cake that cannot continue to be both had and eaten forever.
(tags: ukpolitics brexit eu economics )

Transport Minister Grayling sent cyclist flying with his car door, video shows

Charming.
(tags: cycling ukpolitics )

…was a doubly significant day in cinema history.

In Caifornia, Walt Disney died, ten days past his 65th birthday, still working on The Jungle Book, The Happiest Millionaire, and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

And in Italy, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, better known to many by its English title The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, was released for the first time. (It wasn't released elsewhere until 1967). It's the only Western that I could watch again and again.

Enjoy.

99 Reasons Why 2016 Was a Good Year

I saw a number of other people posting this and thought, huh, grasping at straws here. But actually these are all really good developments which did help cheers me up.
(tags: economics politics news )

How to Build a Relationship With Influencers, Not Just a One-Night Stand

Networking for effect, featuring my colleague @LisaRossDC.
(tags: work networking )

So, @Evernote Allows Employees To Read Your Notes

This is terrible, @evernote. Fix it NOW.
(tags: internet privacy )

How to Jump Ship From @Evernote and Take Your Data With You

Very useful!
(tags: privacy internet )

How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the election

Another post-mortem.
(tags: uspolitics )

Northern Ireland must not be ‘collateral damage’ of Brexit, report says

House of Lords at its best.
(tags: ireland ukpolitics northernireland brexit houseoflords eu )

The American Dream, Quantified at Last

More on the growth of inequality in the USA.
(tags: uspolitics economics )

10 Crucial Decisions That Reshaped America

Yet another in depth campaign post mortem.
(tags: uspolitics )

A Possible Break in One of Evolution’s Biggest Mysteries

Where did whales come from?
(tags: fossils biology )

How to See a Meteor Shower During the Last Supermoon of 2016

For tonight (13 December).
(tags: )

English Pronunciation

A poem.
(tags: english )

Inequality Is Killing The American Dream

Would be interested to see this methodology applied elsewhere.
(tags: uspolitics economics )

How to Force Cortana to Use Chrome & Google in Windows 10

Avoiding the tyranny of Edge and Bing.
(tags: Internet computers microsoft )

Theresa May’s bunker: only the meekest courtiers are allowed in

Court politics and delusion.
(tags: brexit ukpolitics )

Wear and Lathing in Northfields: Why the Piccadilly is Struggling

Wrong kind of leaf-fall.
(tags: travel london )

List the places where you spent a night away from home this year, marking places where you spent two or more non-consecutive nights with an asterisk.

*London, England
Munich, Germany
Skopje, Macedonia
Dubrovnik, Croatia
*Belgrade, Serbia
*Barcelona, Spain
Manchester, England
Cluny, France
*Belfast, Northern Ireland
Leiden, Netherlands
Den Bosch, Netherlands
Tbilisi, Georgia
The Hague, Netherlands
*Loughbrickland, Northern Ireland
Brussels, Belgium (referendum night)
Birmingham, England
Washington DC, USA
Portland OR, USA
*Kidderminster, England
*Dublin, Ireland
Morchard Bishop, England
*Frankfurt, Germany
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tirana, Albania
Cambridge, England
Markbeech, England
Helsinki, Finland
Chicago IL, USA

That's 28, the same as last year's record high, in 14 different countries.

However I have also changed planes in Vienna, Istanbul, Warsaw, Rome, Ljubljana, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and driven through Luxembourg, so my total number of countries visited for the year is a record 22 (last year was 21).

Edited to add: Of course, the day after I posted this, I was sent to Strasbourg for three days and two nights. So my total for 2016 was 29, making 2016 a record year both for different overnight stays and for countries visited.

Previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

That's all the places where I have checked in with Swarm so far in 2016. Most of my travel has been in the northwestern corner of Europe.

Ways to Actually Help Autistic People

A rebuttal to @normanlamb by @HickeyWriter.
(tags: autism ukpolitics )

Murderers and Meths Drinkers: A strange, grim tour of ‘The London Nobody Knows’

James Mason’s 1967 exploration.
(tags: films london )

The lakes of the world are disappearing

*gulp*
(tags: climatechange )

Current
Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat
Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past, by Paul Cartledge

Last books finished
Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany, by Neil Gaiman
Bullet Time, by David A. McIntee

Next books
De Mexicaan met twee hoofden, by Joann Sfar
Last Exit to Babylon – Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
Twilight of the Gods, by Mark Clapham

Books acquired in last week
Political, Electoral and Spatial Systems, by R. J. Johnston
Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective, eds. Lawrence LeDuc, Richard G. Niemi and Pippa Norris

How To Win A Referendum

Vote Leave’s story.
(tags: eu ukpolitics brexit )

Don’t Cry Over Dead Trade Agreements

A different view.
(tags: economics ttip )

The End of the Anglo-American order

Ian Buruma – long but well worth reading.
(tags: Uspolitics brexit )

A hard Brexit is the last thing Japan wants

@Karel_Lannoo looks east.
(tags: brexit eu japan ukpolitics )

Blogger reveals mystery websites’ ties to Russia

AstroTurf in Latvia.
(tags: internet russia latvia )

Strangford ferry tied up as ramps will not allow cars to disembark

Dear God!
(tags: northernireland )

Tetrapod Triumph! Solving Mystery Of First Land Vertebrates

Filling Romer’s Gap.
(tags: fossils )

If You’ve Ever Been Fired, I Won’t Hire You

Rebutted.
(tags: work )

At MeCon 9 in Belfast in August 2006, taken by Catie “C.E.” Murphy

In Helsinki in November 2016, taken on my phone by a friend

I had more hair then. I weigh more now.

Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for Donald Trump – NYTimes.com

A Republican elector writes.
(tags: uspolitics )

Russia’s Top 5 Myths about NATO (PDF)

Just in case you weren’t aware.
(tags: Russia nato politics )

Share of households owning at least one cat in the EU in 2014, by country

Romania top, Slovakia bottom.
(tags: cats statistics eu )

Hamildolph (An American Christmas Story)

Hilarious!
(tags: christmas hamilton videos )

UK will have under 18 months to reach deal, says EU Brexit broker

Barnier’s timetable.
(tags: ukpolitics eu brexit )

The European Regions Where Women Earn More Than Men

Eastern Poland, and the South and Islands Regions of Italy.
(tags: eu italy poland sexandgenderandsexuality )

Why Russia is using the internet to undermine Western democracy.

Brilliant by @mariafarrell.
(tags: internet politics russia )

[this is specifically UK oriented, but most of it will apply in any country where end-of-year greeting cards and gifts are a big deal]

Okay, now that the Christmas card season is underway, allow me to offer some first-hand tips aimed at stopping your cards getting lost or damaged in the massive crush the Royal Mail endures at this time of year. Every day I see the stack of damaged cards in the mail centre, and I try not to think about the wasted effort, and possibly even heartbreak that it represents. It’s easily avoided.

The less expensive cards have awful gum on the envelopes. Make sure the card is correctly sealed, and don’t be afraid to use tape if you have to.

Never, and I mean NEVER send cash money through the post. We have all sorts of casuals in during the festive season, and they can’t all be thoroughly vetted. It’s easy to spot a letter with a banknote in it. Really.

Identify your letter simply and easily with your surname and postcode on the back. That’s enough to track you down if something bad happens. That’s a good tip for all mail anyway.

Try and post all of your cards at once, and stick a rubber band around them. Everyone concerned in the handling process will bless you, and it makes them easy to handle and process, and prevents random damage occurring to them in the early stages of handling. If you have no rubber bands, accost your postman. I guarantee he will have access to thousands.

ALWAYS take them to a post office if you can. The rubbish in mailboxes is dreadful during the party season. Just today I pulled a half-drunk can of Red Bull from a box full of mail, and of course, some of it was soaked. You see worse things too. Ghastly.

If you HAVE to use a post box, bear the following in mind: Don’t post mail in the rain or snow. I have scooped many tragic handfuls of mail from boxes, posted by people who should really have known better. Post boxes are not waterproof. The older ones are better. The boxes in supermarkets are great too, as the mail goes straight into a bag, avoiding much scraping and pulling.

Here’s one you might not have been able to work out for yourself: If you are using a post box at this time of year, leave it as close to the collection time as you can. REALLY don’t post too early in the day. Why? Well, imagine a big metal tube full of letters, with the removal window at the bottom. Imagine all the weight on top of the bottom cards, the ones which have to be removed first. Perhaps ones with a “budget” flimsy envelope. The ones which have to be pulled through the opening guarded by a rusty, fifty year old wire frame. Do I have to complete the picture? The ones posted late are usually OK, because they don’t have so many on top.

Despite this, please keep sending cards. This is a great time of year for us. I’m working 12 hour days at the moment, but everyone I meet is smiling, and chatting, and wishing me a happy Christmas. I’d love to think that folks were doing all they can to make sure all of their cards arrive at their correct destinations, and everyone has as happy a festive season as possible.

On behalf of all my colleagues at Royal Mail, have a very Merry Christmas, and, of course, a Happy New Year.

Six maps that show the anatomy of America’s vast infrastructure

What will Trump build?
(tags: maps uspolitics )

Trump’s Presidency: It’s Been this Bad Before – Medium

A Harding retrospective.
(tags: history uspolitics )

I was in Chicago this weekend for SMOFcon (currently between planes in Copenhagen), and @YesTHATColette managed to get tickets for the matinée performance of Hamilton yesterday. As you may remember, I’ve been addicted to this show since January, so I was really glad to be able to go even though the cast is of course different to the original Broadway line-up.

In general, I loved the stage show, of course. The soundtrack cannot capture any of the visuals, let alone the superb choreography – perhaps the best bit is the rewinding of time between “Helpless” and “Satisfied”, but there are many wonderful moments of using human bodies to fill the performance space. The audience is explicitly invited to participate twice, at the end of King George’s first song (“All together now!”) and at the beginning of the first Cabinet Battle, when George Washington invites us to cheer the contest. Some other visuals that are hinted at in the lyrics, but enhanced on stage – Peggy Schuyler irritated with her sisters dragging her out for subversive activities; the coughing and quieter Madison as Jefferson’s right-hand man in every scene they do together; Burr’s isolation in “The Room Where It Happens”.

Of the actual performers, Hamilton and Angelica were being played by understudies, and while Angelica was still very good (Emmy Raver-Lampman also understudied the part on Broadway) I felt Joseph Morales was a bit low-key in the lead role – and this maybe affected Ari Afsar as Eliza also, as if she was more used to playing opposite the usual leading man; the father-son chemistry between Morales’ Hamilton and Jonathan Kirkland’s Washington was much stronger than the romantic spark between the leading couple. Kirkland’s mike seemed to have been set too loud as well.

But those are my only complaints. The two outright scene-stealers were Alexander Gemignani as King George and Chris De’Sean Lee as Lafayette/Jefferson – both utterly captivating and hilarious. Gemignani (who did the pre-show “turn off your phones” announcement in character, and then asked for donations to BCEFA at the curtain call) at 37 already has a substantial career behind him; Lee is only 22 and clearly has a long career ahead of him.

The other lead role to note was Joshua Henry’s Aaron Burr. He has a striking physical resemblance to Carl Anderson’s Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and I felt I recognised some elements of his performance directly borrowed from a film made over a decade before he was born. (I see that his first professional acting role was as Judas in Godspell.) Henry seemed to me to start a little tense but really got into it in the second half. I’ve mentioned “The Room Where It Happens” already as the key moment of the second half, where Burr is physically excluded from the Jefferson/Madison/Hamilton dinner; in “The Election of 1800”, Jefferson is backed up by Madison in his corner, and Burr on his own in the other corner; Hamilton declares his choice from the balcony, to Burr’s consternation. And during the actual duel scene, both Burr and Hamilton become magnetic.

(Of the non-speaking parts, my eye was caught by Amber Arbolino, one of the dancers who seemed to be giving well over 100% to the show.)

Anyway, those are my brief impressions and I wish I had been taking systematic notes. Can’t wait until London tickets go on sale at the end of next month…

Over the last month or so, I've become steadily more addicted to Duolingo, a language-learning app for smartphones. It's a nice little routine: on the bus or the train on the way to work in the morning,or lazing in bed at the weekends, I just fire it up and do a couple of minutes of language practice. There is a progression of 60-70 modules of 2-8 exercises each – I'm a third of the way through courses of the two languages I have chosen, 50 days in, doing two or sometimes three exercises a day.

The exercises come in a small number of tightly constrained variations. Which of these pictures matches the word? Translate this sentence into English from the English words provided. Translate this sentence into English with no cues. Which of these sentences in the target language is the correct translation of this English sentence? Match pairs of English/target language words from this set. Translate this sentence from English into the target language. And when you go back and revise modules you have already finished, there is the tricky one of transcribing a phrase or sentence from the target language and getting the spelling right.

And on the one hand, I know perfectly well that it's no substitute for conversing with real speakers of the real language. On the other hand, it comes in nice doable bursts, and frequent repetition is very important too.

As an experiment, I've been doing Duolingo with Dutch, which is probably the language I am most comfortable in other than English (I am fairly fluent in German and French as well); and Irish, which I've tried in the past and found very difficult to retain. For Dutch, I've found it very helpful in freshening me up on the gender of nouns, what happens to adjectives, and some of the odder prepositional phrases. For Irish, I'm not so sure; no structure is provided, just the translation exercises, so I'm still a bit wobbly on the circumstances of eclipsis and lenition – though at the same time it's interesting to be presented with a set of examples and try to work back; why does cuisneoir become chuisneoir here, for instance?

Anyway, all this to say that if you have regular gaps in your day of the 5-10 minute range, this is not a bad way of filling them. Other languages available include Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Hebrew, Welsh, and a few more that are in development. I have tourist level Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian, and I can see myself brushing them up and trying to crack some of the others, once I have finished the current two courses.