.:: Welcome to TweetMinster – the place where real life and politics tweet. :.
http://tweetminster.co.uk/

minister

Follow UK political scene with your twitter feed

the place where real life and politics tweet. :.

Forget the corridors of power... You can take an active role in UK politics right here, right now. How? Follow and Tweet MPs and Parliamentary Candidates, and use the power of Twitter to track UK politics, make your voice heard and conversations more open. You can take a back seat... or you can tweet.

england

The UK Film Council is launching a search engine that will help British movie goers track down their favourite films, from the mainstream to the obscure.

Búsqueda de películas

awesome.

documents interns, fotos...en què s'explica el procés de creació de la sèrie Dr. Who (ara molt popular)

"Explore the origins of a TV legend with this collection of documents and images. It's now the number one family favourite, but 'Doctor Who' had a difficult birth, emerging from the imagination of some of BBC Drama's top minds. Here, we tell the story of the creation of 'Doctor Who' from the very beginning, starting with a report on the possibility of making science fiction for television and leading up to the moment a new drama series is announced in the pages of 'Radio Times'."

from Identity design to websites and exhibition design as well... these guys rock at Communication Design big time

based in sheffield

nice yorkshire creative/comms consultancy

Estudio de diseño gráfico majete

We are an independent graphic design consultancy, based in London, dedicated to producing unique and effective design solutions. Whether working on large corporate projects or for small independent companies, we believe that building strong long-term client relationships is key. Our work includes brand identities, editorial design, exhibitions, corporate literature, signage, packaging and websites. Please contact us if you would like to know more about our work.

@-Replies / DM mit angehängter Werbung kostenfrei aufs Handy

Free Twitter

Get your Twitter Alerts via SMS worldwide for Free. Appends ads to keep it free.

The 1911 census is a record of everyone who lived in England and Wales in 1911. It provides a unique snapshot of the lives of your ancestors. 1911census.co.uk brings this vast resource to you online, so that you can search the census simply and quickly to discover how your family lived in the past.

Welcome to the official 1911 Census website

The 1911 census is a record of everyone who lived in England and Wales in 1911. It provides a unique snapshot of the lives of your ancestors. 1911census.co.uk brings this vast resource to you online, so that you can search the census simply and quickly to discover how your family lived in the past. Search through the census index to find an ancestor, or to find out who lived in your house.

1901 census

mmmmm, what´s this?!

Government outlines plans for UK’s digital transition.

digital britain - interim report Government outlines plans for UK’s digital transition.

Here's the website of the Monarchy in Britain

My fascination with the British Monarchy continues to grow as my stay in the UK lengthens

ah....the noble fourth estate!

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Ask the residents of Titty Ho, North Piddle, Spanker Lane or Penistone.

The rise of digital new mediums comes with the death of old media and in this example, history. This is becoming a major shift in educational approaches. We see the digital age having a great effect on the new generations. We see mobiles and laptops in the school bag, rather than the textbook or the calculator. And in this article we see the average student to have '"fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spell check alongside how to spell...' A revolution has started, and i wonder where it'll live us!

Proposal that children learn familiarity with blogging, podcasting, Wikipedia & Twitter as sources of information and communication

Use of web2.0 in schools

En primaria habrá que saber desemvolverse con las nuevas tecnologías en UK

Primary school curriculum in UK under review. "Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell."

British children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum.

OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day otherwise *sigh*

'...Currently, 17.8% of all Twitter traffic in the United Kingdom consists of status updates from Stephen Fry..'

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian has announced that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter.

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication. The move, described as "epochal" by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter's brief text messages, known as "tweets", which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity "twitterers", such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter's profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones.

April 1- so it begins

The Guardian moves to publish exclusively on Twitter. Fools.

Dramatic footage obtained by the Guardian shows that the man who died at last week's G20 protests in London was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a baton–wielding police officer in riot gear. Moments after the assault on Ian Tomlinson was captured on video, he suffered a heart attack and died. The Guardian has handed a dossier of evidence to the police complaints watchdog.

Extraordinary footage filmed at G20 protests in London of baton-wielding police attacking the man who died.

Preciso ler assim que tiver tempo

Eric Hobsbawm: Whatever ideological logo we adopt, the shift from free market to public action needs to be bigger than politicians grasp

"Impotence therefore faces both those who believe in what amounts to a pure, stateless, market capitalism, a sort of international bourgeois anarchism, and those who believe in a planned socialism uncontaminated by private profit-seeking. Both are bankrupt. The future, like the present and the past, belongs to mixed economies in which public and private are braided together in one way or another. But how? That is the problem for everybody today, but especially for people on the left."

Natur und Landschaftsfotos.

wunderschöne fotos, die eher nach computergeneriert aussehen, wobei ich mir da nicht so sicher bin

Amazing nature photogrpahy

great landscape photography with artificial light sources

holyshitness i love this guy's work!

This is AMAZING!!!

EXCELENTE, auto transparente por estudiantes en UK

A design student made a battered old Skoda "disappear" by painting it to merge with the surrounding car park. Sara Watson, who is studying drawing at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan), took three weeks to transform the car's appearance.

車が消えていく・・・

A design student made a battered old Skoda "disappear" by painting it to merge with the surrounding car park.

Olympic posters proposal for London 2012. My thinking behind these posters was to convey the movement and energy of the games, in a simple abstract way.

drooling at the nice 2012 Olympic poster ideas Alan has put forth here ..... homage to 1972 of course, but still....can the London logo disaster be salvaged by improved design in other key aspects of the Olympic design fronts?

some great abstract graphic posters proposed for the Olympics

Impresionante diseñador británico. Con carteles de los juegos olímpicos de Londres que quitan el 'sentío'...

This expensive private report is summarised in this Guardian article which monitors changes in childrens behaviour in terms of reading and the internest

Artikel uit The Guardian over de internetgeneratie en hun ouders

Internet generation leave parents behind • Change in communication creating divide, says study • Children spend six hours a day in front of screens

UK stats anmd trends presentd by the Guardian.

According to research children cram in nearly six hours of screen time per day

The report is based on an annual survey, now into its 15th year, of 1,800 children at 92 schools across the country. "This year has seen a major boost to the intensity and the independence with which children approach online activities," the report says. Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fmedia%2F2009%2Fjan%2F19%2Finternet-generation-parents

Most mobile phone providers in the UK still charge their users for calls to 0800, 0808 and 0500 numbers. 0800Buster lets you call these numbers using your mobile’s inclusive minutes, by providing you with a UK landline number to dial instead.

Call 0800, 0808 & 0500 Numbers Free* From Your Mobile Most mobile phone providers in the UK still charge their users for calls to 0800, 0808 and 0500 numbers. 0800Buster lets you call these numbers using your mobile’s inclusive minutes, by providing you with a UK landline number to dial instead. No registration or set-up is necessary, and the service is completely free*. Just dial 01209 63 0800, enter the full free-phone number you want to call at the prompt, then press #—it’s that simple!

Call 0800, 0808 & 0500 Numbers Free* From Your Mobile

0800 mobile dodge

01250820800p0800123456#

Hellovon / Home_showcase

{Illustrator & graphic designer}

lots of nice prints

vintage design and fashion books - often out of print

Search British Newspapers from 1800-1900. Many with free content

Explore two million pages of 19th century newspapers

Join us in digging through the documents of MPs' expenses to identify individual claims, or documents that you think merit further investigation. You can work through your own MP's expenses, or just hit the button below to start reviewing.

Investigate your MP's expenses Join us in digging through the documents of MPs' expenses to identify individual claims, or documents that you think merit further investigation. You can work through your own MP's expenses, or just hit the button below to start reviewing. (Update, Fri pm: we now have a virtually complete set of expenses documents so you should be able to find your MP's)

We hope that many hands can make light work of the thousands of documents released by Parliament in relation to MPs’ expenses. We, and others - perhaps you? - are using these tools to review each document, decide whether it contains interesting information, and extract the key facts.

Nice crowdsourcing

Guardian crowd sourcing investigative journalism

Join us in digging through the 700,000 documents of MPs' expenses to identify individual claims, or documents that you think merit further investigation. You can work through your own MP's expenses, or just hit the button below to start reviewing. (Update, Thurs evening: More added now and more coming all the time. Check back if you haven't found your MP yet) Already created an account? Log in here.

Brilliant! Help the Guardian find suspicious MP expenses claims that can be flagged to the authorities! Aaaah, the wonders of the internet!

Excellent

Another excellent Big Picture series from Boston.com

Music festival

AG's Fourth Plinth project

Database of soldiers who fought in wars during the Medieval era, including the Hundred Years War. Not sure how to use this just yet...

A team led by Dr. Adrian Bell and Prof. Anne Curry, with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, have put up a stunning new database of military service records of medieval soldiers serving from 1369 and 1453: While the database’s primary purpose seems to be exploring the lives of individual soldiers of note, There are great many potential applications for large observation (large-n) quantitative studies of conflict and health. Variables in the database include: First Name, Last Name, Status, Rank, Captain’s Name, Commander’s Name, Year of Service, Nature of Activity, Reference Number, and Membrane. Read the project details for more information.

Twitter guide written by UK Government

Government's Twitter guidelines in 20 pages (oh the irony)

Director of Digital Engagement

New government guidance has been published urging civil servants to use the micro-blogging site Twitter. Launched on the Cabinet Office website, the 20-page document is calling on departments to "tweet" on "issues of relevance or upcoming events". The website is already used by Downing Street, the Foreign Office and many individual MPs.

/.../Finally, some of the benefits I've found of having this document in my armoury are: -To get buy-in, explain Twitter's importance to non-believers and the uninitiated, and face down accusations of bandwagon-jumping -To set clear objectives and metrics to make sure there's a return on the investment of staff time (and if there isn’t, we’ll stop doing it) -To make sure the channel is used consistently and carefully, to protect corporate reputation from silly mistakes or inappropriate use -To plan varied and interesting content, and enthuse those who will provide it into actively wanting to do so. -As a briefing tool for new starters in the team who will be involved in the management of the channel

navigation flash (on dessine des formes pour voir des rubriques)

Guía para utilizar Twitter en las comunicaciones entre gobierno y ciudadanía

• Human: He warns that Twitter users can be hostile to the "over-use of automation" - such as RSS feeds – and to the regurgitation of press release headlines: "While corporate in message, the tone of our Twitter channel must therefore be informal spoken English, human-edited and for the most part written/paraphrased for the channel." • Frequent: a minimum of two and maximum of 10 tweets per working day, with a minimum gap of 30 minutes between tweets to avoid flooding followers' Twitter streams. (Not counting @replies or live coverage of a crisis/event.) Downing Street spends 20 minutes on its Twitter stream with two-three tweets a day plus a few replies, five-six tweets a day in total. • Timely: in keeping with the "zeitgeist" feel of Twitter, official tweets should be about issues of relevance today or events coming soon. • Credible: while tweets may occasionally be "fun", their relationship to departmental objectives must be defensible.

Fascinating breakdown of how a bureaucracy tries to fit itself within 140 characters. Some aspects are right on, others are only fascinating. At least they're looking at what government "digital engagement" might look like.

Guidelines suggest tweets should be frequent, timely and credible

Even its author (Neil Williams) admits that a 20-page strategy paper for government departments on how to use Twitter might be regarded as "a bit of over the top" for a microblogging tool with a limit of 140 characters a message. (...) He suggests that nothing too onerous is involved. Each department's "digital media team" should only need to spend less than an hour a day running their Twitter streams. A quick discussion of potential tweets at the morning press cuttings meetings should be followed by emails to minister's private offices to gather more material, and any incoming messages should be replied to. However, the idea of official government use of a tool that provides a confidential and confessional glimpse into somebody's personal life and views appears at first sight to be something of an oxymoron.

portfolio site madyBySix

"One consequence of Twitter rapid rise up the rankings is that the micro-blogging service has now overtaken most of the UK newspapers online."

Hitwise UK hat ein wenig in den Statistiken gegraben. Ergebnis: Fast zehn Prozent allen ausgehenden Traffics bei Twitter landet bei Nachrichtenseiten, davon wieder 41 Prozent bei den Homepages von Zeitungen.

Last week (w/e 14/03/09) Twitter.com was the 54th most visited website in the UK, up from 66th the week before. One consequence of Twitter rapid rise up the rankings is that the micro-blogging service has now overtaken most of the UK newspapers online. As the chart below illustrates, last week Twitter received more UK Internet visits than the homepages of the Guardian, Times, Sun and Telegraph. It also over took Google News UK. Of the main newspaper homepages, only the Daily Mail received more UK Internet visits than Twitter last week.

Estudo da Hitwise Intelligence afirma que audiência do Twitter já é maior que a de homepages de jornais no Reino Unido

Of the newspaper brands, only the Mail's site has more traffic than Twitter

"While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly."

The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the “appalling” way he was treated for being gay.

finally

"We’re sorry, you deserved so much better."

did everyone read this: The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the "appalling" way he was treated for being gay. > http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571

A new campaign for photographers rights. Mapping, reporting and fighting back against restrictions on photography in the UK

pay close attention to the breakdown of services; note the money, resources, and suffering

In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system. The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.

They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life.

An extraordinary report from Guy Adams in Los Angeles at the music arena that has been turned into a makeshift medical centre

Helpful summary of consumer protections in the UK. Plenty more to know, but this bare-bones summary is a great start.

Campaign to cut 10% of emissions in 2010, individual people but also companies can sign up.

campaign to sign up people and organisations to sign up to reduce their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010

The official site of the 10:10 campaign

By committing to cut your emissions by 10% in 2010, you will join thousands of individuals, schools, hospitals, businesses and organisations all actively helping to combat climate change by making simple changes to their lifestyles, homes and workplaces. More importantly, your voice will help to put pressure on the politicians to cut Britain’s emissions as quickly as the science demands.

4zine

nice website

Hat tip Michael. "Record £1.75bn online spend makes UK first major economy to spend more on web ads than TV, says IAB"

Record £1.75bn online spend makes UK first major economy to spend more on web ads than TV

Record £1.75bn online spend makes UK first major economy to spend more on web ads than TV, says IAB

sistema che ti permette di scegliere le parole e poi il politico le pronuncia. componi la frase e lui la dice.

UK Prime Ministerial candidates say (almost) anything

Free, open postcode to location API

Post codes are really useful, but the powers that be keep them closed unless you have loads of money to pay for them. Which makes it hard to build useful websites. So we are setting them free. We're doing the same as everyone's being doing for years, but just being open about it.

opening times for businesses in UK (open source, open data)

Find your local shops and their opening times...

Enter a UK town or postcode to find out when nearby shops are open

Opening times for UK shops in a given area

When are local shops open ? (simply enter postcode)

Hi-Res photo version: Watch human bodies twirl and flail down a steep hill chasing after a near-70 mph bouncing cheese wheel.

These photos are just so surreal!

Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling

As an ex-Brit, I’m well aware of the authorities’ love of surveillance and snooping, but even I, a pessimistic cynic, am amazed by the governments latest plan: to install Orwell’s telescreens in 20,000 homes.

£400 million ($668 million) will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens.

bus route maps - updates automatically

@WardourWill: "RT @KazP View London bus routes on Google Maps http://is.gd/3Nfl4 - Superb!!" (from http://twitter.com/WardourWill/status/4490335029)

graphic design.

欧米式の住所の書き方を説明しているページ * http://music.cocolog-nifty.com/001/2004/06/imp_address.html

amazonの海外版かー、ポンドも円高なんだろうか。ちょっと気づくの遅かったなー

McDonalds color guidelines

photo of work

A new folding plug design plus an adaptor that is a big improvement. A great example of how people take the ordinary for granted

Improving the UK 3-pin plug, so it isn't such a big cumbersome thing.

A touch of genius...

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8398451.stm

Open GeoScience | British Geological Survey (BGS)

A free service where you can view maps, download photographs and other information. Use OpenGeoscience material free-of-charge for non-commercial private study, research and educational activities. Explore OpenGeoscience Explore the six OpenGeoscience sections: Data, Education, Maps, Pictures, Reports and Software. via @madgestar

Free data : British Geological Survey (BGS)

Open Geoscience is a free service from the British Geological Survey where you can view maps (up to 1:50,000), download photographs and other information. Use OpenGeoscience material free-of-charge for non-commercial private study, research and educational activities.

A free service where you can view maps, download photographs and other information.

"A free service where you can view maps, download photographs and other information. Use OpenGeoscience material free-of-charge for non-commercial private study, research and educational activities"

Science for parents of primary kids - UK government website.

European Parliament speech of 26/03/09.Daniel Hannan is a Conservative MEP for the South East of England and author of The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Brita...

The YouTube hit.

this still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling...

"you can not spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt"

hannan pillors gordon brown

Excellent visualisation of UK government spending volume

Link referenced in #4change chat, 23 July 2009. Interesting blog post on 'why the Internet isn’t like electrification or shipping containers'.

Written in the run-in to the release of the Digital Britain report from a website with a mission to expand the UK's democracy.

Article about how the Government should improve its application of the Internet.

These services are reducing traditional institutions ability to charge for information, seize big consumer surpluses, limit speech or fix marriages. It has, in other words, become harder to be a big business, newspaper, repressive institution or religion. Nor is this traditional ‘creative destruction’ going on in a normal capitalist economy: this isn’t about one widget manufacturer replacing another, this is about a newspaper business dying and being replaced by no one single thing, and certainly nothing recognisable as a newspaper business. This common pattern of more powerful tools for citizens making life harder for traditional institutions is, for me, a cause for celebration. However, I am not celebrating as a libertarian (which I am not) I celebrate it because it marks a historic increase in the freedom of people and groups of people, and a step-change in their ability to determine the direction of their own lives.

うそ…。

CR Blog - news and views on visual communications from the writers of creative review

i had no clue

UK design review site

After 23 years of brain-aided communication, the much-admired, much copied studio, The Designers Republic closed for business on Tuesday. But, as its founder Ian Anderson tells CR, it will rise again.

After 23 years of brain-aided communication, the much-admired, much copied studio, The Designers Republic closed for business on Tuesday. But, as its founder Ian Anderson tells CR, it will rise again All week, rumours have been flying around the internet that DR had gone out of business. CR can confirm that it is true. On Tuesday this week, the business was closed with nine staff being made redundant. According to its founder, Ian Anderson, the studio became insolvent due to a combination of factors: “We’d lost a couple of clients, didn’t win a couple of pitches, got a tax bill which should have been sorted out and wasn’t and a major client who didn’t pay the money they owed us – in themselves any of those things would have been fine but when they come all at once there’s not much you can do.”

Ah, sad to hear this news of an influence, a co-conspirator and client of old. Good luck to all of them in whatever they do next.

Graphic Designer ! from UK !

graphic, design, student, typography, falmouth, graduate, minimalism, print, editrorial, branding, jamie, conkleton, congleton, art, direction jamie, conkleton, graphic, design jamie, conkleton.co.uk

Nice bicycle mag - nice typography

final report Digital Britain: The Final Report - 16 June 2009

The Digital Britain Report is the Government's strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy. It is an example of industrial activism in a crucial growth sector. The report contains actions and recommendations to ensure first rate digital and communications infrastructure to promote and protect talent and innovation in our creative industries, to modernize TV and radio frameworks, and support local news, and it introduces policies to maximize the social and economic benefits from digital technologies.

Department for Culture Media and Sport - final report

The 100 companies below have been picked for their innovation and creativity over the past year in areas as diverse as mobile applications, racing games and music recognition. We list the top 10 and then&

A consultancy dedicated to helping clients create a clear sense of their own identity through strong, simple and meaningful communication.

Weird Book Room

i own one of these!

Google Map mashup - pulls tweets containing postcode and #uksnow and places them on the map

realtime twitter to weathermap app - works using postcodes and ratings out of 10 - SIMPLE!

"How television tried to predict the future of science"

How television tried to predict the future of science. I can't believe this has not been promoted more.

From a time before we started dumbing down science for the masses...

Classic UK TV

UK government stats online

UK government opens up its data - using Drupal!

"Advised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt and others, government are opening up data for reuse. This site seeks to give a way into the wealth of government data and is under constant development. We want to work with you to make it better. We’re very aware that there are more people like you outside of government who have the skills and abilities to make wonderful things out of public data. These are our first steps in building a collaborative relationship with you.[...]"

ça y est ! le site open data UK est public !

Advised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt and others, government are opening up data for reuse. This site seeks to give a way into the wealth of government data and is under constant development. We want to work with you to make it better. We’re very aware that there are more people like you outside of government who have the skills and abilities to make wonderful things out of public data. These are our first steps in building a collaborative relationship with you.

A possibly useful resource flagged up on the LRUG list.

Excellent article on using a merchant / gateway combination. Can be cheaper than paypal al told

DANIEL BAER | ART DIRECTION & DESIGN - Multi-disciplinary design practice based in London for contemporary editorial, book, advertising and packaging design.

photograph work.. style?

TV On Demand - Apprentice, Bleak House, Mitchell and Webb, etc

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts & Culture | Banksy in secret exhibition stunt http://ow.ly/1E0z0

Banksy in secret exhibition stunt

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

“‘I say, “It’s spelled ‘crap,’ as in crap,”’ said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.”

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Ask the residents of Titty Ho, North Piddle, Spanker Lane or Penistone.

Penistone...Tumbledown Dick Road in Oxfordshire...Crapstone. You gotta love the brits.

Via Ed Mitchell

strangely similar to the ongiong crisis in membership organisations...?

I'm going through that periodic "who can I bring myself to vote for?" dilemma and this just makes it worse. Just one good party would be enough. (via Lee)

Charlie Brooker gets serious.

Klaus Matzka and his teenage son Loris took several photographs of some of the city's sights, including the famous red double-decker buses… But the tourists have said they had to return home to Vienna without their holiday pictures after two policemen forced them to delete the photographs from their cameras in the name of preventing terrorism.

Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says 'nasty incident' has put him off returning to London. By Matthew Weaver and Vikram Dodd, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 April 2009 12.53 BST

Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says 'nasty incident' has put him off returning to London

Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and a Green party member of the London assembly, said she would raise the incident with the Met chief, Sir Paul Stephenson, as part of discussions on the policing of the G20 protests. "This is another example of the police completely overreaching the anti-terrorism powers," she said. "They are using it in a totally inappropriate way. "I will be raising it with the commissioner. I have already written to him about the police taking away cameras and stopping people taking photographs and made the point that if it was not for people taking photos, we would not know about the death of Ian Tomlinson or the woman who was hit by a police officer." More out of control policing.

"Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says 'nasty incident' has put him off returning to London." Sigh.

To prevent tourism?

Built with support from Channel 4’s 4IP programme, Mapumental is the culmination of an ambition mySociety has had for some time – to take the nation’s bus, train, tram, tube and boat timetables and turn them into a service that does vastly more than imagined by traditional journey planners. In its first iteration it’s specially tuned to help you work out where else you might live if you want an easy commute to work.

Map of everything with lots of data being included to make an uber-useful househunting guide

Licences for the use of open source software are generally free of charge and embrace open standards, and the code that powers the programs can be modified without fear of trampling on intellectual property or copyright.

The UK government says it will accelerate the use of open source software in public services.

The UK government has said it will accelerate the use of open source software in public services. The shift from proprietary standards could save the government £600m a year.

An interesting article highlighting the need to spark student interest in maths through the use of magic numbers, links to music and the creative arts and through an emphasis that, “A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas,” (cited du Sautoy, 2009). The article is a brilliant read for math teachers in the diverse classroom who need to understand that for some students, “the subject comes alive when they learn how mathematics is not an isolated subject, but runs seductively below the surface of many other subjects in the curriculum,” (du Sautoy, 2009). The article may be beneficial for those teachers aiming to engage the disengaged and may provide teachers with ideas for extension activities for gifted and talented students. Well worth a read for any teacher wanting to spice up their mathematics curriculum.

Guardian article written by Marcus du Sautoy 23/06/09 on livening up the maths curriculum with big, creative mathematical adventures. Links to gallery of useful archietectural photos. Recommended by CH. Links to other useful Guardian articles on maths by same author.

"I've never understood why education is so compartmentalised" - "... the maths we were doing in the classroom wasn't really what maths was about. It was something much more exciting, creative, imaginative. Those books provided me with a key to the secret garden of mathematics" - "In that garden I discovered that mathematics also has great stories. Unsolved mysteries like the enigma of prime numbers. Magical mathematical machines that could help you see in four dimensions. Mathematicians who had journeyed to infinity and beyond..." - lighting the fire, relating to the abstract

How do you spark off an interest in maths when the curriculum seems dreary? It's all about mystery, big stories and journeys to infinity and beyond, says Marcus du Sautoy

I've never understood why education is so compartmentalised. My son looks at his timetable: maths first lesson, history second lesson, music before lunch. The curriculum gives no hint at how integrated all these subjects are. To look at the historical evolution of mathematical ideas provides an invaluable perspective on why the mathematics was created in the first place.

great essay on encouraging a passion for math

"The growing expectation placed on schools and parents to boost pupils' self-esteem is breeding a generation of narcissists, an expert has warned."

We've been telling children they are unique and special for over a decade.

Architecture image

arquitectura teórica

#train alerts through Twitter - http://uktrains.pbwiki.com - just signed up for #firstcapitalconnect [from http://twitter.com/holmestm/statuses/1575629163]

Wiki page that lists Twitter feeds for service disruptions to UK rail services

Disruption alerts for UK train services by Twitter

awesome use of wiki and twitter to provide live updates of train disruptions in the UK. Web 2.0 FTW!

Inspired by this tweet from MP Tom Watson and enabled by the excellent BBC Backstage's travel feeds, this prototype service tweets disruption alerts for 25 UK train operators. The original data is processed and shortened to less than 140 characters (in most cases) by Yahoo Pipes and tweeted via Twitterfeed which also adds a short-link back to the original BBC report. Tweetlater provides the automated welcome DM.

Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest. If the BNP really were the greatest British party, they'd have the greatest British designer working for them - Jonathan Ive, perhaps, the man who designed the iPod. But they don't. They've got someone who tries to stab your eyes out with primary colours.

Charlie Brooker: For the BNP to claim to be more British than the other British parties is as nonsensical as your dad suddenly claiming to have invented the beard

"Don't vote for those nasty slick parties. Vote for a shoddy one! Never mind the extremism, feel the ineptitude"

The BNP represents Britain's workers? They don't even represent basic British craftsmanship

Charlie Brooker skewers the BNP

For the BNP to claim to be more British than the other British parties is as nonsensical as your dad suddenly claiming to have invented the beard.

Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest.

RT @eliza: Charlie Brooker on the BNP http://bit.ly/4fKf2O Bunch of wankers. [from http://twitter.com/standardman/statuses/1835238421]

Lovely piece

An interesting post about Twitter traffic growth in the UK. But, the most interesting part is the chart showing sources of traffic for various vertical categories of websites. Notably that over 40% of traffic to sites in the 'Entertainment' category is coming from either Twitter or Facebook. This reinforces my hypothesis that social media is a particularly powerful marketing channel for content.

Interesting article about how Twitter is becoming a powerful director of web traffic:

Twitter downstream traffic stats June 2009 from Hitwise

Significant growth in 2009

A British physicist has revealed his plan to launch a new internet search engine so powerful that one expert has suggested it "could be as important as Google". London-born scientist Stephen Wolfram says that his company, Wolfram Research, is preparing to unveil the system in two months' time. Known as Wolfram Alpha, the site is an attempt to address some of the deficiencies of current web search by understanding people's questions and answering them directly. According to its creator, the system understands questions that users input and then calculates the answers based on its extensive mathematical and scientific engine.

SHARED USING: http://www.tagle.it

cool new search engine

A semantic search (Web 3.0) tool being pioneered in Britain. Good background information on personalities in this industry.

A British physicist has revealed his plan to launch a new internet search engine so powerful that one expert has suggested it

Freedom of Information

"The only reason we know anything about all those claims for light bulbs and moat cleaning is that campaigning journalist Heather Brooke has spent the last five years fighting tooth and nail for MPs to come clean about their expenses ..."

"The only reason we know anything about all those claims for light bulbs and moat cleaning is that campaigning journalist Heather Brooke has spent the last five years fighting tooth and nail for MPs to come clean about their expenses."

The only reason we know anything about all those claims for light bulbs and moat cleaning is that campaigning journalist Heather Brooke has spent the last five years fighting tooth and nail for MPs to come clean about their expenses ...

(BBC)

Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still. It sounds like a bad joke, but a study has revealed that there really are unfortunate people with those names in the UK. Joining them on the list are Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Mary Christmas and Anna Sasin. And just imagine having to introduce yourself to a crowd as Doug Hole or Hazel Nutt.

Stan Still,

comedy names

Interesting post from the founder of Shiny Media

An interesting rant about the UK-media-blogs and an entrepreneur who wasn't successful.

Article on why blogging "failed" in the UK

Using social media to create debate - sometimes it backfires... Just ask Pocket-Lint editor Stuart Miles. Ouch!

[T]he BBC’s reluctance to link to British blogs and smaller independent media organisations, while at the same time endlessly plugging established media groups (Five Live is one long plug for mainstream media brands) makes life even more difficult.

The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well.

Bendy-buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could soon be running on the streets of London.

The complete bus slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could be running on the streets of London.

Bendy-buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could soon be running on the streets of London. (BBC)

mega menus

Interesting governmental site dealing with freedom (of the use of music potentially)

Web para eliminar leyes innecesarias

^CK HMG using an off the shelf crowd-sourcing package.

This site gives you the chance to tell us which laws and regulations you think we should get rid of.

@nick_clegg et al really cracking down on new/duplicate websites http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/ http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

Interesting governmental site dealing with freedom (of the use of music potentially)

Web para eliminar leyes innecesarias

^CK HMG using an off the shelf crowd-sourcing package.

This site gives you the chance to tell us which laws and regulations you think we should get rid of.

@nick_clegg et al really cracking down on new/duplicate websites http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/ http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/