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Real Age vs. Virtual Age
I did one of these on-line age calculation things today. I don’t really hold much stock in these sort of things normally as there as simply too many variable, hell I might get hit by a bus tomorrow.
In this case though it goes through all the usual medical, hereditary and lifestyle questions that are idicators to eventual possible lifespan, so I was pleasantly surprised by my results.
Yes I know this means nothing really but when you’re told you’re 13 years younger than you real age and you could live till almost 90 it’s a bit of a boost.
Politicians break the law they made
In August 2005 it became illegal to demonstrate in and around Parliament Square without prior police permission under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). So far Maya Evans has been prosecuted and a number of others have been threatened with legal action. The law states that it only takes one person to constitute a demonstration, so the question arises , if every time a politician (including the PM) gives an interview in Parliament Square are the breaking the law? Mark Thomson the political comedian thinks so and has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions calling for an urgent investigation. Mark has also written an article in the Guardian (13th Dec) explaining.
This is an absolutely crazy law which was used to get rid of Brian Haw, Maya Evans was prosecuted for reading the names of British and Iraqi dead at the cenotaph and people have been threatened with prosecution for displaying a cake with the word PEACE on it. Mark Thomas even had to get permission to where a red nose on Red Nose Day.
If you want to help, you can. If you live, work or are visiting London and
walk past College Green (opposite the House of Lords entrance) and you see an MP giving an interview then:
- Photo them with your phone (make sure we can identify them)
- Send it to Mark with details of time and date
- If you hear any of the interview then send the details as well.
Some of Googles ‘hidden’ functions
Here are some other useful things you can do with Google that may not be immediately obvious.
- A Calculator: if you type a calculation in the search box, say (6*8)+5 and hit search Goggle will give you the answer.
- Exact Phrase: if you want to search an exact phrase then write it between quotes e.g. “css tutorials” or “css tutorials” for beginners.
- Conversion Tool: need to convert metres into feet then type 12 metre in ft or 12m in ft
- Currency: need to know the exchange rate for Australian dollars type 100 gbp in aud or currency of Australia in UK pounds
- Weather: type weather Edinburgh or weather Adelaide etc.
- Site Specific: e.g. type photography site:wordpress.com will search for photography only on WordPress.com.
- Document Types: to find only MS Word documents for example type photography filetype:doc
- World Time: to find the local time in say Adelaide type local time in Adelaide
Red Dear Close-up
On a recent trip over to the Isle of Skye we stopped off at a car park on the A82 where we often stop to take in the view and stretch our legs, only this time there were a couple of red dear quietly grazing right on the edge of the car park. I’ve walked and cycled all over Scotland but this is definitely the closest I’ve ever got to these beautiful creatures.
Essential Tools, Software and Resources
I’ve been bookmarking sites with lists of essential resources for some time now, some are lists of open source software, others to resources with hosts of information for web designers etc. All of them are useful and help you find resources and software you may not have previously known about. So this is a series of links to many of the lists I’ve found useful recently.
- 85+ Free Killer Resources Every Designer Should Know. From Mauricio Duque, a Colombian wed designer who has quite a few other lists worth a look.
- 15 must have web developer tools for beginners. From Andrew Sellick
- 45 Best Freeware Design Programs. More from Mauricio Duque.
- A huge collection of links to free (some open source) software.
- 101 Essential Freelancing Resources. Actually 126 at the last count nicely categorised with something for every freelancer out there.
- More than 100 Web 2.0 Online Generators
- A huge list of on-line generators from Smashing magazine.