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links for 2009-01-29

Published on 29 January 2009 in

External search removed from BBC Online – BBC Internet Blog End of an era – the ability to search the web from BBC Online is no more. It’s gone. Kaput. Fineto. Along with Martin Belam and others, I was one of the team who helped launch the original web search back in 2001. But I have to say, I never used it. When you have search as good as Google, why go anywhere else? (tags: BBC bbconline search websearch) Manchester Mayfield Station – Subterranea Britannica In all the years I lived in Manchester (and indeed passed the remains on the train), I never realised that just across the road from Piccadilly station was the remains of another, now unused station that was built and opened in 1910 to provide an overspill station for Piccadilly (then known as London Road) which was running out of room. Mayfield closed in 1960, before being converted into a parcel depot in 1970. It closed again in the late 1980s, although as Piccadilly is again, running out of room, there are suggestions that the station re-opens once more. Lets hope it does. (tags: manchester railways ManchesterMayfield railwaystation abandonedrailwaystation ManchesterPiccadilly) Manchester Mayfield Station – 5156photos This... View Article

links for 2009-01-28

Published on 28 January 2009 in

BBC Management in pay freeze and bonuses – BBC Points of View message board thread "For pity’s sake, they’re doing the right thing! I get so, so tired of the jaundiced cynicism of this board sometimes. I’m waiting for someone to say they’d do it for nothing next." (tags: BBC PointsOfView money pay bonuses salary management) South West Trains to accept pay-as-you-go Oyster cards – Wimbledon Guardian Finally. Now what we really need is to be able to use Oystercards outside London too – wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could go to Southampton or Brighton and not have to worry about getting a ticket because it would all be sorted out for us…. One day… one day… (tags: London trains railways railwaycompanies SouthWestTrains Oystercard) Should we not dress girls in pink? – BBC News Magazine "I try desperately to avoid pink clothes for my 21-month-old daughter. But it’s difficult to buy girls clothes in any other colour. I cringe when I walk through the ‘girls’ section of toy shops because it turns completely pink. When I buy her toys I try to go for gender neutral ones. When I play with her it’s with footballs or on my skateboard.... View Article

links for 2009-01-27

Published on 27 January 2009 in

Beer sales slump in fourth quarter 2008 says UK Quarterly Beer Barometer – British Beer & Pub Association "Overall beer sales down 8.3 per cent. Pub beer sales down 9.9 per cent. Supermarket and off-licence beer sales down 6.5 per cent. Government beer tax revenues down £181 million since March Budget." Bad times to be in the beer business, and really not great if you’re the tax man who really needs the money… (tags: government AlastairDarling tax pubs beer beerduty alcohol) Italian Job conundrum is ‘solved’ – BBC News "Twelve-year-old Thomas Nixon’s homonym solution was for the gang to sing until they all got ‘frogs’ in their throats. The frogs start to jump up and down which rocks the bus. They use the ‘rocks’ to weigh down the end of the bus.Eventually, the gang’s throats become sore from the singing. And with the ‘saw’ they cut the gold bullion in half. Because two halves make a whole – the gang could sneak the gold through the ‘hole’. " Now that’s what I call creative thinking! That kid will go far! (tags: film TheItalianJob RSC RoyalSocietyOfChemistry)

links for 2009-01-26

Published on 26 January 2009 in

CAMRA National Pub of the Year reaches climax CAMRA announces the four finalists in the National Pub of the Year award for 2008 (no, that’s not a typo). I was rather hoping one of my locals – the Traf, CAMRA Greater London Pub of the Year – would make it, but sadly not. (tags: CAMRA TheTrafalgar pubs beer puboftheyear)

links for 2009-01-23

Published on 23 January 2009 in

More powers for the Mayor – MayorWatch® "Is the official LONDON logo really to be the last word on civic branding in the capital? What a depressing thought." Couldn’t agree more. And indeed I already did! (tags: London localgovernment logos GreaterLondonAuthority) What A Council Logo Says, Part 3: Ealing – Bods’s Blog As I said last year… "Of all the logos I’m looking at, the GLA logo is perhaps the one which does absolutely nothing at all to represent history or the area the authority serves. And that seems a real shame." (tags: London logos GreaterLondonAuthority localgovernment) Library advertising to balance Merton Council books? – Wimbledon Guardian Ads in books from the library? Whatever is the world coming too… And such madcap ideas from my own local council too? (As it happens, it’s unlikely to appear in next budget, but that doesn’t stop the Wimbledon Guardian trumpeting about it) (tags: Merton London advertising library libraries librarybooks books) Teletext’s public service remit at risk – guardian.co.uk Ofcom apparently aren’t convinced that there’s going to be a need for a separate Teletext franchise going forward. Indeed, it is a bit of an anachronism – like the fact that the ITV companies don’t... View Article

links for 2009-01-22

Published on 22 January 2009 in

Atheist ads ‘not breaking code’ – BBC News What a surprise. The atheist bus ads are officially deemed non-offensive to people to who follow a religion – especially the ones who have so little faith that they can’t even tolerate others being an atheist because that might cause their own faith to collapse. Frankly if you have the conviction of your faith, why on earth should you be feel so threatened by a few ads? (tags: advertising atheistbus)

links for 2009-01-21

Published on 21 January 2009 in

Sixteen-by-Nine HD Televisions Are So 2008 – Xbox Philips announce a 21:9 TV which "Using highly advanced formatting technology, regular 16:9 content from sources such as TV broadcasts and games consoles is also adapted to fill the 21:9 screen." In other words, it’s stretched to the available space… Would love to see what a hash it would make of 4:3 content… (tags: Television Philips tvaspectratios) ‘Legal’ bid over Scots banknotes – BBC News Bid to make English shops legally bound to accept Scottish bank notes. Although personally I’d rather see an end to this bonkers scenario where two chunks of the nation (Northern Ireland has a similar situation) have different anyway… Rename the Bank of England to the Bank of the United Kingdom, have one set of notes and have done with it! (tags: money scotland banknotes England cash)