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Happy birthday Kevin Kelly

Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.

The Week in Pictures

This week has me confused by the exchanges on Medium between David Spiegelhalter and Michael Levitt not least because they’re both geniuses who can’t bloody well figure out how to use the comment system on Medium ...

In our story,

Trump Lies People Die

So this is trending on Twitter #trumpliespeopledie

I can't smoke but I could buy myself a silly hat

Yes, I really want one of these.

Photoshoot from pre-history

With all this stay-at-home coronavirus thing going on I’ve started cleaning the loft with Nicki. Recent batch of old pics included these shots in an envelope…

In Dug's really old stuff,

Are you better off than you were four years ago?

What sucks about this is Ronnie delivered more debt and more inequality than anyone had managed before. With his invitée Margaret (Thatcher) really moved neoliberal ‘trickle-down’ thinking into the conservative ma...

When the Free™ really aren't

There will come a time when I no longer find myself getting depressed about the behaviour and beliefs of the American People every. single. day. and I can write and think about other things for a change.

Happy Birthday Brenda...

So #QueenElizabeth, my Dad was a scout at your coronation and his family has felt you close to them over the years, starting with your broadcasts during the blitz (he was in Golders Green then) and continuing over...

Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford Uni stringency index

The UK Government’s response stringency does not change during the time between under 10 to 100 cases.

Are home-sewn cloth masks becoming a thing?

The United States Center for Disease Control is publishing instructions with sewing patterns to produce homemade cloth masks

In our story,

Something soothing and pleasant for a Friday afternoon...

So I saw this on twitter and had to grab it. Nice picture:-)

Image files that start with 'M'

rediscovering an /images/ directory on a backup drive with almost 20 years of internet stuff continues to give me a bit of wonder. Continuing my random selection, here are images whose first letter is “M”…

In our story,

Pointers for the next White House presser...

Mr. President, are you saying Nancy Pelosi or indeed the Editor of the New York Times carries the primary responsibility for the safety and security of the American People?

Dear fucking lunatic

So this thing popped up on Twitter. The letter was attributed to Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee but the scan has a Craig Alan Wilkins as the author. Either way, I thought it would be better as text so crawlers could hold...

My first job in digital.

At the time, my job title was “Web Designer”. I guess things have evolved a bit since then:-)

In Dug's really old stuff,

The Week in Pictures

Another tough week. Some good news for some people but numbers of dead still climbing inexorably and the vacuum at the top still making a coordinated global response almost impossible.

In our story,

Travis Downs - Adding Staticman Comments...

Debugging Staticman using this fantastic write-up how-to

Take, don't give. A short conversation about fighting a killer virus...

This thing by Luke Andreski just popped up on Twitter. In the spirit of remembering things in a slightly longer form, I’m keeping the link here.

IFoughtTheLaw369... IS BACK!!!

Back in 2009 I linked to a fantastic cover of Police Truck by a young woman posting Youtube videos of her playing guitar with Dead Kennedys playing in the background.

Larry Brilliant 2006 TED talk on epidemics and how we stop them

The TED embed code doesn’t seem to be working for some reason so here’s the video on TED.com

Cathy O'Neil comments on COVID-19

I’ve been running numbers in my head and trying to keep up with the WHO data files on Github but everytime I start mocking-up a visualisation I stop and wonder how true all of these numbers are?

New York Times, 27 March 2020

This cover of the New York Times really jumped out at me, the bar on the right is the number of applications for unemployment.

Old pictures

Still digging through the old Donkey images folder. I’m guessing half of these ancient pics don’t have a post associated with them anymore seeing as I’ve broken the canonical URL at least twice in the Twenty years...

In our story,

Stevie the wonderpup and her friends

Having just been prompted to share pics of Stevie on Linkedin I thought I’d better pop a few on here.

In our story,

Balenciaga Fall Winter collection at Paris Fashion Week

Just wow. This show just popped up on France24. The collection was presented in a post climate disaster scene, broken stormy skies, floods in the arena and the first few rows of seats inaccessible to the usual a-l...

Mashup joy, this is NHS meets a DKs classic

Just came across this bit of amazing on Twitter. washyourlyrics.com is just such an amazing idea:-)

My first digital camera, the Canon Digital Ixus. (184-162)

The template running Donkey doesn’t have a gallery template as such so I’ve fixed the links to the older Ixus pics.

In early pictures with the Ixus,

Generation Why

Just came across this interesting point/counterpoint post by Patrick Di Justo on the values of generation Y as applied to organisational structure

Happy birthday Mum

So today is Ruth’s birthday.

In our story,

Margaret Calvert

So have just noticed Chi Onwurah’s tweet about #InternationalWomensDay2020 where she brings up the contributions of Ada Lovelace and Katherine Johnson and am struck by how empty the house is:-(

In things Dug cares about,

IR35 Part Deux, The Hunger

So have just received my first ‘mock-paye’ payslip (aka inside-IR35). My first question is down to the wording; what is an “applicable company deduction”. I ask because I thought you were saying my company wasn’t ...

In running a consulting business,

Just said good-bye to you and Mum

Mom called to say you were struggling so I left work early this week to see how I could help back up in Scotland.

In our story,

Referencing references

Just walked past an optician in Soho with a poster for Michel Henau glasses in the window. Love these mashups of 60s and 70s French celebs with Japanese names (Deneuve = Namaste? not sure how that works but I smil...

Saying "No"

I spoke on a topic that’s become very near and dear to my heart in the past few years: saying “no”. It might be saying no to a project or job, or even something that you think you can’t say no to, but finding th...

First week of riding Brakeboard - video review

So I hacked a short video review of the Brakeboard truck and wheel kit (version 3.5) together last night. Quality’s a bit rubbish but perfect being the enemy of done etc. so I’ve just uploaded it. Key product deta...

In the joy of rediscovered longboarding,

The Amen Break and happy Hogmanay

Checking your phone on Hogmanay eh? This piece from 2013 on the amen break just popped up in my twitter feed via openculture.com and got me thinking of challenges ahead (I also love the fact that the talk is a dis...

In things Dug cares about,

Alliance Francaise

Grandad Jed sent me a photocopy of an old Art Directors annual showing an award for a pro-bono TV ad Y&R did for the Alliance Francaise back in (I think) 1970.

In our story,

Goodbye Michael Bland

Mesothelioma is an evil fucking thing. It just cut a notch for Air Vice Marshall Rear Admiral Sir Michael Bland and leaves Charlotte, Natalie and Christine without father and husband:-(

In friends & family,