One Man's Notes

A beautiful example of clickbait that immediately owns up to being clickbait in the first par…

Y’know, if you’re trying to persuade someone to give you something, arguing with and attempting to patronise them seems like a poor tactic to me. I do wonder how much success they’re having with that approach…

Sticks are fine things. You can dabble in ponds with them. You can throw them for dogs to fetch. And if they’re of the right build - stout, with a hand-snug end - you can stride through the woods using one as an aid, not just for the walking but for the general quality of the experience.

— From Light Rains Sometimes Fall by Lev Parikian 📚

Don’t you hate it when an old friend starts dating someone you can’t stand?

That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about Apple getting into bed with Taboola, for “native advertising” in Apple News.

What about reader experience, Apple?

Negative positivity — or why even scanned negatives are worth hanging on to…

📷🎞️

Why being in nature is so good for your mental health:

We have evolved in nature for thousands of years, and so it’s just intuitive that we are healthiest and the most balanced when we are in nature.

Surfers Against Sewage:

Ofwat have championed that water company plans will cut discharges from storm overflows by 44% by 2030. But, this will still allow discharges to occur a massive 200,000 times a year. What really takes this piss is that Ofwat had already told companies to reduce spills by 21% by next year anyway. So when you break it down between 2025-2030 they are only requiring a 23% reduction.

Disgusting, both figuratively and literally.

Jodie Whittaker returns to Doctor Who for Big Finish.

Oh, brilliant!

Zak Asgard:

By January this year, videos about Stanley cups had been viewed a soul-destroying 201.4 million times. Think about that. Videos of people sucking on what is essentially an adult training cup have been viewed more times than Nasa’s YouTube upload of the Apollo 11 mission.

Apparently BT have decided that providing us with broadband is a pretty optional thing, so today will be powered by mobile broadband.

Let’s hope it’s up to a Zoom judging session…

If you’re a journalist, everyone’s a critic. @manton’s turn:

It used to be that opinion sections and letters to the editor were great places to hear a diverse set of perspectives. Now the whole web is that. Journalists are straining their credibility when we most need the facts.

[Link]

It’s time to stop caring what journalists think.

— @dave, not beating about the bush…

Does a new government open up the chance to refresh the transparency agenda?

A discussion from #ODCamp in Manchester…

Uploading the first of my photos from #ODCamp to Flickr.

The last #ODCamp session liveblog from Matt and I today: with the Microsoft AI CEO saying all web content is “freeware” and usable for training, how do the Open Data community feel about that?

Here’s the pitches from the #ODcamp 9 unconference in Manchester today.