December 1897, Paris. Edmond Rostand is not yet thirty but already two children and a lot of anxieties. He has not written anything for two years. In desperation, he offers the great Constant Coquelin a new play, a heroic comedy, in verse, for the holidays. Only concern: it is not written yet. Ignoring the whims of actresses, the demands of his Corsican producers, the jealousy of his wife, the stories of his best friend's heart and the lack of enthusiasm of all those around him, Edmond…
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A decade ago, I was invited to the UK launch of Windows Phone 7. It was Microsoft's attempt to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. Sure, Microsoft could make a brilliant OS and had excellent hardware partners - but could they convince developers to use yet another system? At the time, I wrote: The revenue share is 70/30. I really think MS have missed a trick here. It’s an “industry standard” price point because no one wants to get in to a price war. Increasing the share th…
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Lud-in-the-Mist - a prosperous country town situated where two rivers meet: the Dawl and the Dapple. The latter, which has its source in the land of Faerie, is a great trial to Lud, which had long rejected anything 'other', preferring to believe only in what is known, what is solid. Nathaniel Chanticleer is a somewhat dreamy, slightly melancholy man, not one for making waves, who is deliberately ignoring a vital part of his own past; a secret he refuses even to acknowledge. But with the…
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A young autistic woman runs away from her caregiver in an attempt to submit her 500-page manuscript to a "Star Trek" writing competition in Hollywood. How do we navigate confusing and unfamiliar spaces? What is it like to know that you're out of place and cannot understand the world around you? These thoughts haunt me. In my nightmares, I am confused because I can't make sense of what's going on. I sometimes feel that way when I'm awake. Please Stand By isn't a horror film - it's a gentle …
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Short domains are useful for security testing. If you only have a limited number of characters, you need to be able to reference code on a remote server in as few characters as possible. A few years ago, I tried to find a Minimum Viable XSS. The conclusion that I (and others) came to is that 20 characters is the bare minimum. But it requires you have a 2 character domain name on a 2-character TLD. Something like xy.uk I don't think any 1- or 2-character domain names are available. If they're…
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You’re British. Your parents are British. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British. So why do people keep asking where you’re from? We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch’s personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be – and an urgent call for change. Yes! This is the book I've been longing to read. The American experience of race and identity seems to dominate both lit…
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Many text based conversations threads can be visualised as a tree. This is a follow-up to yesterday's blog post about Twitter conversation trees. Mailing list archives often use nested <ul> to show a conversation. That's fine, but has the major drawback of not being interactive. There's no way to collapse a branch of a tree if you're not interested in that strand of the conversation. Older readers may be familiar with how USENET displayed threads: Younger readers are probably familiar…
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One of the most requested Twitter API features is now available - the ability to get replies to a Tweet as a thread. Long time readers know that I've long been a fan of Visualising Twitter Conversations in 2D Space. But up until now you had to use horrible hacks to get the data. As trailed in their recent blogpost - conversation threading is now part of the official API! This allows you to understand a Twitter conversation as a Tree: 1291422339075313664 ├── 1291425742908207107 │ ├── 129142…
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Lauren Fraser is easing into a comfortable retirement when her historian friend Ro reveals a shocking secret. Ro’s research has uncovered the attempted poisoning of a New Zealand prime minister. Despite herself, Lauren is drawn into the mystery. Who was the would-be murderer and can they be brought to justice after thirty years? Who has been involved in covering up the plot and why? As they get closer to the truth, Lauren and Ro find themselves in danger. One death follows another, and it …
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The greatest wisdom comes from the smallest creatures There is so much we can learn from birds. Through twenty-two little lessons of wisdom inspired by how birds live, this charming French book will help you spread your wings and soar. We often need the help from those smaller than us. Having spent a lifetime watching birds, Philippe and Élise – a French ornithologist and a philosopher – draw out the secret lessons that birds can teach us about how to live, and the wisdom of the natural …
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Two generations after the nuclear holocaust, rumours persisted about a secret desert hideaway where scientists worked with dangerous machines and where men plotted to revive the cities. Almost a continent away, Len Coulter heard whisperings that fired his imagination. Then one day he found a strange wooden box ... The fifth novel from the Queen of Space Opera - it was nominated to the Hugo Award. I picked this up because it is mentioned in The Relentless Moon. And it is a cracking bit…
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It's quite popular to see high street shops names "Somesuch and Sons". Indeed, my grandparents ran "Eden & Sons" for many year. Much rarer is seeing "... & daughters". But, of course, the plural of anecdote is not data! The UK register of businesses - Companies House - has a pretty good search engine. Doing a search for AND SON returns 220,000 results. We use the singular because that should also match the plural. Instinctively, how many "AND DAUGHTER" businesses do you think they are? …
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