Made from Truth and Lies

The world is slowly getting better

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:01:18 GMT

(US data, via from here)

I am fairly convinced that the current flurry of anti-woman and anti-homosexual drives by the Republicans (and equivalents elsewhere) are because they have realised that they are _losing_ and this is their last ditch attempt to hold on to the America they know and love. More and more of the people that are against marriage equality are old, more and more of the people that are in favour are young, and the switchover is happening as older people die off, because their culture is just not being passed on*.

So, while the current backlash is frustrating and annoying, it doesn't worry me in the long-term**. Twenty years from now people will look at this last-ditch attempt to stop gay rights the same way as we look at the riots over integration in schools in 1960s USA**.

*The same is true in the UK - church attendance in children and teenagers is down by 90% over the last two decades.
**Which isn't to say that the anger and work that's being done isn't vitally necessary - just that the weight is now on the side of the people doing that work.

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Interesting Links for 27-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:15:32 GMT

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Interesting Links for 26-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:16:52 GMT

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Late-breaking thoughts about The Avengers (no spoilers)

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:15:10 GMT

Summary: I liked it. It was exciting. I don't think it was as good as some of the reviews were making out, and I think it's lucky they got Joss Whedon in, because he papered over the cracks very well.

Basically, Marvel's head of movies (Kevin Feige) came to Joss with the structure of the movie, and Joss then worked within that*, and it really, really shows. The basic story is dull beyond belief, repeated from millions of cookie-cutter comics. "Bad guys shows up, good guys fight amongst themselves, things get bad, good guys pull together, epic fight, good guys win." A plot so tired that it can fall asleep itself, probably joined by half of the audience.

What Joss does brilliantly is give character moments through the movie. The interaction of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, Captain America's observations, Black Widow being generally awesome, and numerous things that I shan't specifically mention, but added up to a sheen of fun and depth placed over the overall structure of nothingness.

None of which makes it a bad movie. For an action movie with a non-existent plot it's great fun, and more deserving of cash than most other examples of that type. It just felt like it could have been more, and it's a shame it wasn't.

My favourite two reviews are this one over on Angry Flower, which points out many of the good things the script does, and Abigail Nussbaum's review at Strange Horizons, which also looks at the good and bad bits of the structure.

*It started out basically with Kevin (Feige) and Jeremy telling me “We know the basic structure of how they come together, what works, what doesn’t work, and how we see the climax,” which was nice, because he gave me a basic skeleton of three acts that I knew I had to hang on and then it was just a question of “How do I get there? How do I earn that? What moments would cause these people to be in that situation?” - from here

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Random politics

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:52:13 GMT

View Poll: #1842741

Those two options being the main comments in this thread.

More on my psychopath fiancee

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:04:15 GMT

It's not the way she rampages across the globe destroying her enemies utterly that worries me.

It's the way she patronises them afterwards, when they appear on the "My empire is vanquished" screen.

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Cat+Toast=WIN!

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:52:29 GMT

via skreidle

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Interesting Links for 25-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:01:28 GMT

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Have the delightfully odd new Hot Chip video (I didn't know Peter Serafinowicz was now directing)

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:19:46 GMT

As recommended by Neil-Gaiman

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Interesting Links for 24-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:03:28 GMT

Russia and Japan aim to build moonbases
(tags: )
Phthalates in PVC floors taken up by the body in infants - suspected to cause asthma and disrupt hormones
(tags: asthma pthalates hormones pvc children )
No, Facebook did not make Bono world's richest musician
(tags: investment u2 facebook )
Where all the money goes when you pay for something on Kickstarter
And you can easily see how if you haven't thought it through you could take in a million dollars and then end up taking a loss on it.
(tags: business music kickstarter AmandaPalmer )
Greg Rucka: Why I Write Strong Female Characters
(tags: GregRucka comics women writing )
5 Internet Annoyances That Are Way Older Than the Internet
(tags: spam internet )
Gay marriage: Conservative MPs to get free vote
Not unexpected. I am hoping that sufficient Labour support is there to carry the motion.
(tags: lgbt uk politics Conservatives )
Free banking in the UK is a dangerous myth
(tags: uk free banking )
Caesarean section delivery may double risk of childhood obesity: May be due to different gut bacteria
(tags: bacteria obesity caesarians )
Elephant mourns the dog she loved for eight years. Warning: Video will make you cry.
(tags: viaSkreidle viask friendship video elephants dog )
A Rant: Enough Of Single-Player MMOs
(tags: gaming rpg mmorpg )
Peace talks between Apple and Samsung fail - the final line made my drink come out of my nose.
(tags: apple samsung technology patents )
The behaviour around the Olympics seems to be turning Britain into something out of 1984.
(tags: britain cornwall olympics )
Mad Men Style: a nice analysis of what the clothing in the most recent episode of Mad Men was being used to show.
(tags: MadMen clothing design )
The average medical device has a clock running 24 minutes out.
(tags: medicine technology time EpicFail viaFanf )

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How to use a paper towel (and save the planet)

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:44:03 GMT

Thanks to macadamia.

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Interesting Links for 23-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:04:51 GMT

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Miscellaneous questions to moisten the mind and enliven your day.

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:00:24 GMT

View Poll: #1842142

Context for question three

Thoughts almost too depressing to post.

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:06:06 GMT

View Poll: #1841902

Interesting Links for 22-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:04:30 GMT

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Interesting Links for 21-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:03:41 GMT

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A few more things I liked from around the internet

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:55:47 GMT

100 years of dance in 100 seconds. Very nicely put together.

Terrifying Mass Cosplay:

via octopoid_horror

And something I have noticed repeatedly with people:

via drjon

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Here is why I am in favour of gay marriage

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:08:45 GMT

via

You filled in the consultation, didn't you?

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Houston, we have a gift problem

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:14:00 GMT

One of the things remaining on our slowly diminishing wedding to-do list is "Make a gift list."

The problem being that there's very little we actually want. It's not like in ye olden days when a wedding was the point where children moved out from their parents and set up their own home, needing sheets, plates, etc. to get them started. We've been living together for two years, we've both been living away from home for many years, and we have pretty much everything you need to run a home.

Julie's currently clicking through the John Lewis website, looking at crockery and trying to decide if these are things we actually want people to spend money on. I've stared blankly at the numerous other tabs, thinking "Well, yes, a 93" TV would be lovely, but I'd feel actively guilty if people spent cash on a new TV for me when the current one is great."

The things we do want feel like normal household improvements. We'd like to replace all the curtains, because they suck. We need a new kitchen, because it's godawful. I suspect we're going to say "Please give us vouchers, and we will use them to replace our curtains and kitchen appliances." But we can't even say "Please give us a new dishwasher", because the whole kitchen needs to be ripped out, and that's not happening until the PhD is finished (a month-ish after the wedding), and we don't have anywhere to put a dishwasher for a month.

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Interesting Links for 20-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:13:03 GMT

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The funniest thing I have seen all day

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:35:57 GMT

I'm not a fan of either Ricky Gervais or Elmo, but the out-takes from Elmo interviewing Ricky made me laugh until I literally cried:

via ami_bender

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Some pictures I found on the internet

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:19:11 GMT

And Inception in 60 seconds, told in animation from the 1900s:

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My weekend began awesomely

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:42:42 GMT

Went to laserquest for tisme's birthday with Ed, Padmini, Brian and two of her drumming pals, won by a huge amount (750 points, next best of our group was 350), followed by mexican food with margaritas, staggered home at 11pm, slept in until 11am with the world's most odd dreams*, woke up slowly with an episode of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and am now off for tasting for our wedding menu.

And on top of that, I'm on call for a production deployment going on from 6am today and haven't received a phone call! Could life get any more awesome?

*Who has dreams where they're on drugs and their visuals and sound don't match up?

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Interesting Links for 19-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:00:08 GMT

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Interesting Links for 18-05-2012

andrew@ducker.org.uk — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:26:27 GMT

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