Exactly a decade ago, I wrote about how Shakespeare invented the emoticon. Nestled deep in "Winter's Tale" is the first recorded use of the typographic smilie :) As I discussed, Sir Smile's smile appears in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th folios. One hundred years after the 4th folio was printed, the smile vanished. The 1786 edition simply omits it. At the time, I didn't have access to any other…
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The Guardian launched its online adventures back in 1999. At some point, they started using the name "Guardian Unlimited". Hey, the dot com boom made us all do crazy things! As part of that branding, they proudly used the domain GU.com Over time, the branding faded and GU.com became a URL shortening service. Tiny URls like gu.com/abc could be printed in papers, sent via SMS, or posted on…
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I'm back with some more exclusive Doctor Who goodies! A collector has recently acquired a load of old Who prop phones - and I'm working with them to identify which episodes they're from. You might remember Series 8's "In the Forest of the Night. It's the kid-heavy episode with lots of unidentified phones. At the time, I wasn't able to get a clear enough view of the phones to work out what…
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There are many improvisational games which are great for improving creativity, helping a team bond, or simply having a lot of fun. But there's one which is perfect for demonstrating how things like ChatGPT work. The "Once. Upon. A. Time." game requires two or more people with a basic grasp of English. Even a small child can play. The way it works is very simple. The first person says "Once..." …
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There are movies before Being John Malkovich, and there are movies after Being John Malkovich. It sets the standard for celebrities playing heightened versions of themselves. Once of those post-Malkocivh movies is the criminally underrated JCVD. In JCVD, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Jean-Claude Van Damme. He's an ageing movie star, dealing with a fading career, money problems, and divorce.…
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My OnePlus 5T is beginning to show its age. After replacing the battery a few years ago, I felt it was time to upgrade its software to Lineage 20. Everything went smoothly - but there are a few niggles you should be aware of. Some of these are Google's fault - they truly have contempt for their users - and some could be fixed by Lineage if there were sufficient demand. I've mostly posted this…
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In 1818, Mary Shelley published Frankenstein - setting the stage for modern science fiction. A mere 9 years later, Jane Loudon published "The Mummy!" which, to my mind, becomes one of the earliest works of speculative science fiction. Set in a 22nd Century England which is ruled over by a wise queen, a pair of scientists fly their personal hot-air balloon to Egypt where they use their galvanic…
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I hated art class at school. I could see so clearly in my head what I wanted my drawing to look like - but my hands just wouldn't obey me. Despite endless tutoring from sympathetic teachers, I left school with an unhealthy distaste for creating my own art. I simply didn't have the physical skills, knowledge of technique, or the temperament to continue. These days, I enjoy playing with…
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I always find it depressing when I reach the limits of my abilities. I have a new Thermal Imaging camera. It automatically saves photos in two formats. The first is a standard JPEG with false colours and metadata superimposed. The second is a .irg file which can only be opened by the Windows-only software which comes with the camera. Judging from what that software shows, the .irg contains a …
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Computing is a comparatively young industry. We don't have hundreds of years of history, or secret societies jealously guarding our knowledge, or much love for hierarchy. This makes it difficult to progress in a world which values strict demarcations between people. There's an obvious and well documented path from Army Private to Sergeant. If you're an architect (the kind that designs…
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If you're a Doctor Who fan - I promise that this post is going to please you greatly! The Internet is a weird and delightful place. For years now, I've been running a blog series about the Mobile Phones of Doctor Who. I went through every episode and painstakingly identified every mobile the cast used. People chipped in with their suggestions if I wasn't able to definitively state which phone…
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I don't think I've ever spent £400 on a meal for two before...! Let's get that out of the way first. We decided to go out to celebrate our wedding anniversary, the completion of my MSc, Liz being appointed to a committee, and... you know what? Fuck you! It has been a bastard of a pandemic and we wanted a night of ridiculously extravagant luxury dining - and boy did we get it! Gauthier is a …
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