27 April 2003

London taxi cabs: The Knowledge and The Blue Book The 320 runs through London that the student needs to learn are known as The Blue Book. 1:41:07 PM     comments

Blue plaques in London 17 Mar 2003: Will Self unveils the newest blue plaque: "in a time of demented moralists we must look to an absurdist like Saki to show us the way out of this darkness, and into still more darkness" 1:40:29 PM     comments

Most significant technological revolution in TV has by far been the remote TV control Ever notice, for example, that network series rarely have theme songs like in the old days? Thank the remote. Notice that there are no commercials between the end of one network show and the beginning of the next one? Thank the remote. Notice (if you're old enough) that the commercials themselves are more sophisticated and less annoying than the ones the TV blared in the '70s? Thank the remote. Notice those endless headlines crawling across the bottom of your screen? Thank the remote. Notice (ladies) that you can tell a lot about a guy's control issues by watching an evening of TV with him? Thank the remote. [...] "For all the whiz-bang predictions of what interactive TV is going to bring ... the most significant technological revolution in TV has by far been the remote TV control," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television. "It made passivity even better." [...] The technology that's let you surf through this war was rooted in another one, World War I, when Germany used radio signals to guide a motorboat packed with explosives. [via gizmodo] 1:37:45 PM     comments