Speak before thinking

Very interesting site from Medecins Sans Frontieres where you can tour 5 slums they're working in. Nicely designed but dissapointingly they've made the whole thing in Flash rather than HTML 5 so don't expect to play with it on your iPad...

It's the little touches I like most - the Facebook places style check-in button that's actually a share button, styled nicely with bespoke titles, description text and map images; and the 'embed minisite' option - which you can see just below. Have a look round at http://www.urbansurvivors.org

 

Walking through spaces such as Highgate Cemetery it's easy to get sucked into the splendour and romance of the massive marble structures. Mausoleums, catacombs, and avenues of fashionable-at-the-time vaults.

 

If you still think reality TV is, well, real, have a listen from about half-way of this. Manufacturing love lives, and keeping cameras on for all kinds of footage. A little fascinating insight - though of course you may want your reality TV illusions unshattered. In which case I believe loads of them are on the telly about now.

(This American Life is always worth a listen. If you're not subscribing yet, you should. The episode above is here)

 

A week in Edinburgh is always a good way to spend the time (unless it's February). A festival week, even better, although with the amount on I think a festival week lasts about 3 days. It certainly feels like I've been here for far longer than 9 days.

In between working (including my first ever football match) I've seen some great comedy. So here, in no particular order, is my pick of the fringe. Keep your eyes open for this lot...

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This has been doing the rounds today (thanks @skipinder) as an advert for "how to use QR codes well". 

As a big, big QR sceptic I'm impressed by this. The content is nothing new - access to video archives of events around the park and the wealth of film content filmed there, child-friendly quizzes, and so on.

The thing that has caught my eye most is the level of support they've put in to explain what's required to use a QR code. Above the line advertising. Clear, eyecatching signage around the park. Renaming QR codes into something more friendly. And physical helpers at key locations around the park itself.

I think that says a lot about how naturally unusable QR codes are - needing separate apps, an understanding of what you're looking at, possibly someone to show you what to do, and so on. But, if you're willing to put the resources in, you can really engage people with the technology interesting and unique content.

Oh my, I may actually get my application form back out and join the London Cycling Campaign. Usually, I've little time for their pro-cycling campaign strategy of 'safety in numbers', a frankly rediculous optimism that if only more of us cycled in amongst the buses, HGVs and taxis then motorised traffic will suddenly give enough room and consideration that my 80-something year-old gran would feel safe trundling along The Strand. If that's all it took, surely we'd be have beaten Copenhagen on the cycling stakes years ago?

But the LCC have woken up! Biking bloggers have been up in arms at plans for Blackfriar's Bridge since February, when TFL published plans to redevelop the space whilst completely ignoring their own data that showed cyclists outnumber both cars and taxis combined in rush hour. Several London Assembly members have had to wade in to get TfL to properly consult, and although the new design puts a cycle lane back it's still basically a motorway-style layout in the square mile.

And the waking up from the LCC? They've come out fighting, describing the design as a motorway and saying "The choice for cyclists shouldn’t be to navigate through a dangerous junction or take a boat".

They've called for a flashmob protest ride at 8.30am tomorrow morning. So it may be late, but get up early, meet at Dogget's Coat and Badge, and remind TfL who the majority users of Blackfriar's Bridge are.

 

I challenge anyone to not be a little captivated by an old steam train. You don't have to be some kind of chasis-registering nerd to appreciate the romanticism, no doubt fueled by the nostalgia of picture-postcard English villages and 30s advertising.

So at one level, I'm quite surprised I'd forgotten about these pictures from a couple of weeks back on the Watercress Line! Running across Hampshire, it serves a run of picture-postcard villages (handy, that), including Alresford, with its chalk stream, watercress beds, and very good tea rooms! The line also run ale trains, something I'm hoping to return for in the autumn.

More photos on flickr of course...

You can probably guess the way I'm going to vote on the AV referendum (especially with Tom Humberstone's brilliant illustration above). I've lived in both Tory and Labour strongholds, where the only chance of a change of MP is when the incumbent retires. Even then it's only a change of name that really happens - these constituency strongholds would never change hands in the current system. 

And whilst AV isn't going to change the results in many of these 'safe' seats, it does offer an opportunity for more voters to feel that their voice is being heard. And although pollsters are trying to predict how AV will change the make-up of parliament, I suspect that we might be surprised how voters use 2nd and 3rd choices as they get used to the system.

With some friends and acquaintances erring on the No side, and a record-breaking low London turnout predicted, I feel duty-bound to bore you with my thoughts on each of the big 'No' vote reasons to keep the status quo, and why those reasons are rubbish. So here goes.

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My first of what will be many training rides a weekend back saw me explore the Greenway, a 5ish mile walking and cycling route above (of all things) the Northern Outfall Sewer. Just stay away from manhole covers and you'd never know.

The Greenway runs from Hackney Wick, not far from the south-east tip of Victoria Park, to beyond Beckton DLR and if you want to see the progress on the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre and some very strange honeycombed red tower, this is one of the best vantage points available.

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It's been fun to watch the reactions from the Brits and the Grammys to Arcade Fire's wins (especially this) - I do like the idea of thousands of Ken doll Justin Beiber fans all nashing their teeth and wondering who these seven strangely dressed people all are. Even more so when they heard them play...

You could call it a triumph for the little guy, but Arcade Fire are still label-promoted of course, and can afford some pretty astounding live shows. What about the littler guys, the ones yet to get the label to believe in them?

I've been very impressed by Leeds outfit Hope and Social for their approach. Not only are they using pay-what-you-want for their music, but they're brilliantly honest about how they think it's the way forward.

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