I’m digging this subversive little sticker I spotted on a wall in Upper St, Islington last night
Makes me want to go and look up the facts about the information that TFL gathers about my movements. That’s TFL plus any government/council busybody or their mates. And, no doubt, the police.
If you can’t make out the URL on the sticker, it’s:
http://www.neoexternalism.co.uk
Intriguing!
Trying to think green for international travel, I can’t wait to fly like this across the ocean. But, until then, you can drop £360 for a one-hour tour of London on an Airship. You can see a beautiful photo gallery over at the Guardian.
Photo by Graeme Robertson taken from the Guardian Website (Is that legal? I will take it down if asked to cease and desist.)
This via greenlaunches.com, London’s first eco-club will open in Kings Cross on July 10th. Some bright young spark has figured out a way to turn dancing feet into electricity. Now that’s a thought. Instead of shooting each other for energy, we can shake our booties.
Diagrams stolen straight from greenlaunches:
The world’s first cash point was installed in a Barclays in Enfield, 40 years ago this week.
Big whoop, but you must read the charming story that the BBC has written about it. It’s like some kind of Carry On Cash Point; a simpler time that you can hardly imagine really existed.
“Reg Varney, from the television series On the Buses, was the first to withdraw cash.”
This is like those stories, so beloved by the North American press, of pensioners flighting off cougars with pen knives. It re-enforces a lovely, deeply held believe in who we are — or were.
“Inspiration had struck [inventor] Mr Shepherd-Barron, now 82, while he was in the bath.”
Ah, the bath — mental stimulant for so many great ideas. Viz Archemedes and J-Lo.
“Barclays was convinced immediately. Over a pink gin, the then chief executive signed a hurried contract with Mr Shepherd-Barron.”
Read the whole, life-affirming article here. Inventors, all it takes is a bath, a pink gin, the ear of the CEO of Barclays Bank, and a dream.
Photo from the BBC article
As part of trying to make sense of the virtual world beyond my role in it, I’ve decided to hook up with some folks at Chinwag who organise events and get togethers in London for folks to learn about New Media and how to work in the digital age. I’ve also met up with FreeRange who also get up to some pretty cool stuff. Then there’s the never ending flow of agencies and social networking sites that want to meet me or get me to sign up to some other site or another. Where do people get time for all this? I can’t even seem to make the time to see my best mates more than once every 3 months or so.
Has anyone else notices the funky new lamposts they are putting up around town?
I first noticed them about two weeks ago when I was walking home and saw a huge grey pole sticking up in the air wrapped in what looked like blankets and popper plastic. Our first thoughts were that they were for the cameras and signs that will inevitably be introduced soon for the West London extension of the Congestion Charge….
However they are not. I spotted the completed version above in Ladbroke Grove on the weekend and they ae just very weird looking lights - not sure if I like them or not yet, but we will see.
I love to fly–I will give up any carbon-producing activity, except breathing to keep air travel.
I’m hoping that the fuel efficiency, and pure masses of people moving power, of this beast could slightly reduce the impact of getting me off the ground.
Plus, big stuff is cool.
A mate of mine has come up with an ingenious way to carry all of your online stuff around. Check out Protopage. I hop around on different computers, and I was having trouble keeping track of my bookmarks, newsfeeds, etc. I can’t be bothered with the personal space that Yahoo or Google offer. It’s too rigid. With Protopage, you can drag and drop stuff around, add your own backgrounds and pictures and have numerous pages. You can make pages private or public, so those who can’t be bothered to create their own websites can use it for that as wall. Creating the page takes seconds. Then you just add to it as you go about your daily online business. My mate Andre says it’s also taking off in Japan where kids use it to track their digital pets. That’s a bit over my head.
All of my friends and their grannies are trying to set up businesses. It seems like a royal pain to me, but they insist it’s the way to go…Limited Liability Partnerships or some such whatever. No doubt everyone has heard of Companies House wot set up companies for people. Friends swear by Business Link, also a government-run website. Now, ya’ll know how I feel about government-run websites (see earlier post regarding taxes not having to be taxing), but this one is easy enough for even me to use. The person or small country running the site should be given an award. They are running it as if their lives depended on it. Ship shape! After surfing around on it, I am seriously thinking about starting my own company. Now, I just need a product or service….hmmm.
I love saying that.
Mark Lamb’s ‘Farperoo’ is another of those well-illustrated children’s fantasy epics, this one supposedly being more epic and, er, more illustrated, than most others. With the free A5 print being given out at signings, this book could be an eBay success story…
Next signing on Saturday, 26th November, at Foyles. 12 - 2 pm.
