By @edent · ActivityPub BlueSky mastodon Social Media twitter · 2 comments · 750 words · read ~259 times.
What does it mean to block someone on a social media site? Way back in the mists of time, we dealt with trolls on Usenet with the almighty PLONK - PLaced On Newsgroup Killfile. It meant your newsreader never downloaded their posts. They could rant at you all day long, and you'd never hear from […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI money · 2 comments · 700 words · read ~888 times.
This is a bit niche! A few months ago, I received a mysterious £25 from National Savings and Investments. A prize from the Premium Bonds! Not enough to make me rich, but enough for a takeaway. Oddly, after checking their app and website, I could find no record of the win. Curious. A few days […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Doctor Who Doctor Who Phones · 3 comments · 550 words
The Mirror has a rather wonderful image gallery of behind the scenes photos from Doctor Who. Lots of lovely black-and-white photos of classic stories. And then, right at the end, this: Cor! Four classic Doctors each with a mobile! This photoshoot was, apparently, done at the Hammersmith Ark which was holding an exhibition to celebrate […]
Continue reading →By @edent · internet · 16 comments · 500 words · read ~14,607 times.
I went for a spelunk0 through an ancient codebase a few weeks ago which contained a curious regex that I just couldn't grok1. {<((https?|ftp|dict|tel):[^\'">\s]+)>}i I'm familiar with HTTP and FTP. I worked in the mobile industry, so knew that tel:+44... could be used to launch a dialer. But DICT?!?!?! It turns out that, lurking on […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Doctor Who review theatre · 3 comments · 450 words
Big Finish have been pumping out Doctor Who audio dramas for quarter of a century. But this, apparently, is the first time they've recorded one live and in front of an audience. It was glorious! Big Finish could have cheaped out - even with a bare set and a cast of newbies, the fans would […]
Continue reading →By @edent · accessibility · 2 comments · 450 words · read ~518 times.
It may be hard for you to understand this; reading is a skill. Unless you have recently started learning a new language with an unfamiliar writing system, you probably do not remember the tedious and agonising process of having to train your brain to recognise printed characters. Extracting meaning from the words you are reading […]
Continue reading →By @edent · economics · 4 comments · 350 words · read ~291 times.
Much hullabaloo about Oasis using "Dynamic Pricing" for their concerts. There are far more fans than there are tickets, so prices rise. There are all sorts of complicated economic theories around how efficient markets can be, and whether "reverse Dutch auctions" are sensible. But the end result is always the same - the richest fans […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 200 words
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series - Her Majesty's Royal Coven. The basic premise is that there is a secretive cabal of witches which run a shadow government organisation. There's skulduggery, slattern-ish behaviour, and sexy scandals. And lots of violence and death. And a big dollop of modern-misogyny to make it particularly […]
Continue reading →By @edent · ActivityPub fediverse mastodon privacy · 3 comments · 500 words
Several years ago, I posted this poll on Twitter. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentIf the recent Twitter hack had exposed they way you voted on every Twitter poll, how would you feel?(There is no suggestion that this has happened, I'm just curious about people's relationships to voting and privacy.)Meh. So what?: (167)167Hmph. That's annoying.: (68)68Umm… […]
Continue reading →By @edent · autobiography Book Review · 250 words
What is our life? Is it the days we live or the way others perceive us? The comedian Adrian Edmondson steps us through his life. But, as he points out, what we remember and what we're interested in isn't necessarily the most significant part of the subject's life. In 2016 I adapted William Leith’s book […]
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