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2013-04-13 13:13:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

An unusual train trip!

2013-03-27 00:12:22 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Liftoff! The OLD SKOOL panel show is running again at the British Juggling Convention. This year our panellists are Steven Ragatz (ex Cirque du Soleil), Charlie Holland (ex Circus Space), Andre Vincent (ex street performer, now a standup comedian), and H Gregg (founder of Beard Juggling). I can't wait.

2013-03-24 19:39:41 (21 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Hello there!

2013-01-17 22:14:32 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Silly Signs

2012-12-23 22:46:19 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Fully functional drone for under two hundred quid!
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/ardupilot-mega-home-page

2012-09-01 12:36:58 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Overheard in the gym, some guy watching me squat about 65kg: "Wow I can't even do that!" - well maybe if you ever trained it you might have a shot...

2012-08-29 23:46:38 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Bought a shiny new motor so my Yaris is now for sale: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271046679035&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123

2012-08-17 09:29:21 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

HOLY CRAP! This made me squeal. (via +Beau Ryan)

2012-07-16 08:23:32 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

On Saturday, at a friend's wedding, I ran the sound desk for a cabaret show, and DJ'ed the party afterwards. 

For the first time, I ran the whole cabaret from my laptop using Mixxx instead of from twin CD decks.

Pluses:
As I intended, I managed to have the whole show on my laptop before we started, instead of ending up with three people's phones and ipods sitting on my desk because they didn't bring CDs as requested. Major plus for peace of mind.

It's very useful to have visual confirmation that the correct track is cued up. With the CD player I can't tell without opening the tray and checking the label on the CD.

Less boxes to heave around. Less crap taking up space in my car.

Minuses:

Turns out I really hate running a show with a trackpad. It's fiddly. I want a touchscreen. In particular, I want to move the... more »

2012-05-21 23:31:24 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Would anyone like to buy a genuine Olympic torch? Oh hang on, it's only a photo of a genuine Olympic torch? Hasn't stopped any of these bidders! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/London-2012-Olympic-Torch-/230794563652?pt=UK_SportingGoods_OtherSports&hash=item35bc6d9044#ht_500wt_1287

2012-04-29 15:59:15 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

RIP, Sheffield Ski Village!
Thoughts are with those who find themselves unexpectedly jobless.
I hope something better can rise from the ashes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-17887316

2012-04-15 19:00:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

BJC 2012

2012-04-06 15:23:25 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

What I'm up to next week: Trying to help keep this lot on schedule! http://www.bjc2012.co.uk/timetable.php
Could be a challenge.

2012-04-04 07:58:57 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Backsplash in place!

2012-03-31 19:34:32 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

I have just come back from DevWeek.

Only a year ago I had a good old rant at the ACCU conference - http://www.emilywinch.co.uk/Software_for_Women.pdf - about making software that fits users (including female ones), rather than software that fits software engineers (largely not female, in case you hadn't noticed).

It seems that Microsoft have been listening to quite a lot of what I was saying and are attempting to produce what I was asking for in the form of Windows Metro.

Will this be successful or will it be a second rate iPad competitor? Hopefully the former!

2012-03-11 17:08:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-03-08 09:57:36 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A first cut of the workshop list for the British Juggling Convention 2012:
http://www.bjc2012.co.uk/workshops.php

2012-03-07 11:17:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Telling a juggler to "break a leg" instead of wishing them good luck is considered entirely normal and sensible and polite.

For some reason, telling this to ski instructors before their assessments is less well received.

2012-03-02 14:10:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Rationality is a thin skin of make-believe. We use it to justify our illogical, contradictory, intuitive, awkward and wonderful selves, but it's an illusion. Underneath, we are much closer to the animals than we like to think.

If you want to explain something to me, why not surprise me, delight me, enthuse me, tell me a story, or paint me a picture!

Kindly knock it off with the tedious Powerpoint bullets and the half an hour of terribly carefully thought through logical reasoning. Half of your audience is asleep and almost none of them are learning anything.

Thank you.

2012-02-18 18:09:08 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I taught a small boy today who struggles to ski because he leans so far back.

We played at being rabbits and digging big holes in the ski slope with our front paws as we ski down. Who can dig the biggest rabbit hole? Oh look, I am hopping like a rabbit too!

Now his parents think I am some kind of genius and can we have you again next week? Yes you can! The only problem will be stopping him playing at rabbits for the whole lesson.

2012-01-02 18:24:56 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2011-12-23 10:12:40 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Tear gas, batons and riot shields versus the internet, the ubiquitous cameras and the FUCKING SPY DRONE.

This is what you get from the democratisation of technology. What will happen next? I can't even imagine.

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/poland-warsaw-protester-launches-drone-to-spy-on-police.96570/

2011-12-21 10:18:02 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Good use of tilt-shift processing.

2011-12-19 12:36:46 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Yesterday I had a small boy of about 8 on a ski lesson. He was just good enough to graduate from the "nursery slope"; just too big for me to take him up the button lift with me on the main slope, and just small enough to make it difficult to use the lift on his own.

I put him on the lift anyway; a few feet up the hill he fell off with a CRASH and gave himself a bad scare. OH WOW he said, this is HARD (sad face) and I really don't like it and I don't want to do THAT again. Can we go up the other way (where we have to walk up the hill) ?

I looked him in the eye and said, you're right, this is really difficult to learn. But once you've learned it, it's a much easier way to get up the hill. What would you like to do?

Small child stands there for a minute or two, I can see the cogs going round in his head as he thinks about it. He visibly pulls... more »

2011-12-16 14:19:56 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Serene Vannoy turned me on to Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and I'm very grateful. I especially like this post.

2011-11-10 11:35:30 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

"Are we really going to accept an Interface Of The Future that is less expressive than a sandwich?"
http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ (Via Metafilter)

2011-11-08 16:55:10 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Best editorial fix EVER.

http://acceptableparity.blogspot.com/2011/10/four-ways-men-stunt-womens-careers.html

2011-10-29 18:48:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

+Luke Burrage on skepticism, atheism, context and privilege http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog/archives/1433

2011-10-24 12:51:12 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Sheffield, UK

2011-10-21 08:53:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Digital photography is basically still photography. With a good dSLR you get better resolution, and you don't have to pay for film, and you can store more pictures on a single "roll", and you can use a computer instead of a darkroom, but in most ways it's just not that different than a 35mm film SLR.

A few companies, though, are starting to do really radical things with digital cameras. Here's one of them. It may not be the future of photography, but it's a reminder that the future of photography probably won't look like the first 170 years.

2011-10-09 21:09:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Best thing I've read in weeks -- No Reservations: Narnia. http://archiveofourown.org/works/137185

2011-09-30 16:26:50 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Skiving off work...

2011-09-20 09:28:50 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I just started learning to snowboard.

As a qualified ski instructor it's fascinating to watch my own learning processes, since I've taken so many beginning skiers through the same stages. Now I'm in their shoes! - or, should I say, in their boots. So far I have spent slightly less than two hours on a board, in two sessions. Unlike most beginners, I already have an academic understanding of the set of movements required to make a basic turn on a snowboard on a shallow slope, and I know roughly the posture required to make it work.
What I learned last night was the difference tiredness makes to my ability to learn.

When I was not tired (during the first lesson)
- I could reproduce the movements in order, although I still had to think about it
- I could retain the appropriate posture throughout the turn.
- I could do this without an instructor right... more »

2011-08-30 10:23:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Heads up -- security alert!

2011-08-23 12:02:18 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I'm on the lookout for workshop ideas for a performance skills track at BJC 2012 (http://bjc2012.co.uk).

I'd love to cover everything from dance and movement, to starting out in business, to working as a street performer.

I foresee a lot of phone calls in my future!

2011-08-15 21:31:57 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

for uk people: Channel 4. Now. That is all.

2011-08-15 20:36:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Just swapped a free personal training session for free marketing advice. I spent an hour re-imagining a website from "I'm a personal trainer! Here are my qualifications!" to a website that engages its target audience, sells specific training "products" and allays customers' concerns about going to the park to meet a strange man from the internet.

As soon as my training partner gets over her sprained ankle, we're off to the gym for some lifting tips.

2011-08-10 09:20:00 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

This is the people of Clapham forming a Broom Army to clean up the mess.
Now that's British. Keep Calm and Tidy Up!

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/262404_10150339499322254_739052253_10095748_5331015_n.jpg

2011-07-22 14:36:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A slightly creepy peek into the minds of the vendors of imaginary farm animals on Facebook: http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/07/20/wooga-building-a-successful-social-game-by-combining-metrics-with-emotion

2011-07-20 13:47:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

"Hermione is not Chosen. That’s the best thing about her. Hermione is a hero because she decides to be a hero; she’s brave, she’s principled, she works hard, and she never apologizes for the fact that her goal is to be very, extremely good at this whole “wizard” deal. Just as Hermione’s origins are nothing special, we’re left with the impression that her much-vaunted intelligence might not be anything special, on its own. But Hermione is never comfortable with relying on her “gifts” to get by. There’s no prophecy assuring her importance; the only way for Hermione to have the life she wants is to work for it. "

2011-07-19 13:11:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2011-07-18 12:41:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A bookshop that chugs around the canal network: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/13/bookshop-book-barge

2011-07-17 17:01:50 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2011-07-16 15:24:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Google Maps updates your search results as you pan the map around. Now how about updating local search results automatically as you sail around?

Search for "fuel", leave the window open, chug up the coast all day and see if you can spot a good price on the way past.

Cunning or annoying? Don't know yet.