tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53251521359717105132011-11-28T00:18:51.371ZWelcome to my blog. There is no theme here, the intent being to entertain and inform you about whatever takes my fancy. In other words, I'm opinionated and love to write.edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-9159180701865864902011-07-05T00:01:00.000+01:002011-07-05T00:01:38.900+01:00

I was walking around London today when I saw this...   It's on the corner of Leicester Square and Wardour St. just opposite the KFC and the McDonalds. On spotting it I sighed, as clearly here was just one more notch for rampant consumerism at a time when it's getting harder for the average man to put bread on the table. 'But that's the way of the world these days' I thought. In these

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-87653456618012383222011-05-17T00:46:00.000+01:002011-05-17T00:46:12.265+01:00

Ok. So I've decided I'm going to do this again. Hello and welcome back for those of you that have missed me in the almost a year I've not posted (where does the time go?). The plan is to try and post a couple of missives a week in order to get me back in front of the computer and writing again. Because I have this terrible habit of thinking I don't have anything important to blog about, I'm not

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-10248197021581339182010-07-27T14:08:00.000+01:002010-07-27T14:08:36.141+01:00

Over at Lib Dem voice there is currently a competition running to source a poster to promote the Alternative Vote campaign, for next years referendum.  Here is my offering: If you came here via the comments page on LDV, please take your time, have a look around the blog, and if you are feeling really adventurous, maybe leave a comment or two. Cheers.

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-51469247652339713682010-07-27T01:02:00.001+01:002010-07-27T10:28:14.848+01:00

I'm not sure any semi-regular experience comes close in the horrible stakes to job-hunting. It's so ridiculously soul destroying and demoralising that it leaves you unconvinced as to your ability to do any job at all. And I say this as someone who has only received one rejection letter to date. Let me start from the top: I found out last week that the company I work for is in severe dire

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-66031177949384234422010-07-16T16:39:00.000+01:002010-07-16T16:39:03.909+01:00

Posted on a forum of which I am a member, about the RIP Moat facebook pages. In reply to a call for them to be banned. As far as I can tell the page that was removed was done so because it breached the T&Cs of facebook (I believe there were comments inciting violence). The problem with banning this sort of group as you seem to suggest, is that you won't actually be stopping people from thinking

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-78063533471882501862010-07-15T17:48:00.000+01:002010-07-15T17:48:47.641+01:00

It has (once again) been quite a while since I blogged. So to remind myself what it's like to use the blogger software and to help achieve my goal aiding potential employers by having all of my writings in one place; here is a review I wrote for the TVUSU magazine about 2 years ago. Enjoy.  You know something is awry with guitar hero – on tour almost as soon as you first switch on the power. A

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-1853659933148676012010-05-13T13:52:00.000+01:002010-05-13T13:52:49.275+01:00

We have a new government. It's not what many people wanted, but the vagaries of First past the post mean that is not irregular. I for one am cautiously optimistic. Yes we effectively have a tory government, and I can't say I trust them as far as I can throw Mount Everest, but that's beside the point. This coalition deal was one of only two realistic options on the table, the progressive '

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-40469505648852292022010-05-10T14:51:00.000+01:002010-05-10T14:51:44.170+01:00

So today @hannahnicklin @davecoveny and others have been discussing the lack of female representation during the coalition negotiations. My argument in short was that if the Parties in question had no strong female negotiators, why should there be Women involved? Let me make something very clear, I am not in anyway suggesting that women cannot be good negotiators or that female negotiators do

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-10794662829588570842010-05-10T09:51:00.001+01:002010-05-10T09:54:17.271+01:00

Don't under any circumstances expect this to be coherent or sensible, I just wanted to get something committed to 'paper' about the uncertainty of the markets, whether that be stream of consciousness or not. I don't remember us electing a bunch of suited everything-phobes to run the country*. Why is it we are being held to ransom by the markets? The thinking behind this seems to be something

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-8420024243087652552010-05-08T17:45:00.000+01:002010-05-08T17:45:22.223+01:00

So, I've been quiet for a fair old while. I didn't have much time to blog during the election campaign, and with my limited amount of followers I thought it unlikely that I would do much of an influential job here, deciding instead to go and campaign on behalf of my local Lib Dems. So here we are, the votes are in and we are in hung parliament territory with one of the trending topics on twiiter

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-34882124497877616152010-03-25T20:44:00.002Z2010-03-26T15:21:48.802Z

In the run up to the much-anticipated-but-ultimately-not-very-groundbreaking budget we got to witness what may be the last Prime Ministers Questions session before the election. During it I saw a striking illustration of the ignorance and hysteria that plagues our parlimentarians regarding drugs. Labour MP for Ayr, Sandra Osbourne stood up and said the following... "...will the prime minister

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-57808287061859388562010-03-22T23:39:00.000Z2010-03-22T23:39:35.577Z

So, I actually came on here to write a nice informative piece about the deficit, what it means, how it effects us, what it means for the budget and so on. I thought it would be a nice informative and traffic inducing (well ok, getting my hopes up I know) post. In connecting to the interwebs I innocently signed on to twitter, eager to see what the news of the moment was. Any further info on the

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-10035214556220354552010-03-17T17:30:00.000Z2010-03-17T17:30:28.893Z

The top story on the Daily Mail website right now? This is the Mail taking offence at the fact that on measuring young 5 year old Cian's Body mass index, they sent a letter stating that he was defined as obese on the index and the dangers this could cause. This seems reasonable no? I mean, are we not running headlong into an obesity epidemic, that could cost the country billions and it's

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-1076405730728410092010-03-16T00:00:00.001Z2010-03-16T14:30:53.460Z

Ok so it took a while, but here comes the third and final part of the Hippo voting reform series. If you missed parts one and two look here for a discussion on FPTP, it's faults and the reason that we should never use the term 'winner' in an election. Once you are done with that, have a look here for a gander at the rules regarding an AV election, the system that we may get a referendum on as

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-38501545469273332832010-03-12T17:58:00.000Z2010-03-12T17:58:58.624Z

Okay so I guess it took me long enough, but I've finally found xkcd It takes a while to find it's form, but when it does it becomes staggeringly brilliant. Those that know me will know why I love this one in particular Go check it out, but don't worry too much if the science and maths stuff stumps you a little. It does me from time to time, and I actually care about that sort of shit. (by the

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-20331226098803088082010-03-10T14:16:00.000Z2010-03-10T14:16:44.835Z

So over the last two days I have spent two hours of my life watching science documentaries on the BBC iPlayer. The first 'Wonders of the solar system: The sun' aired initially on Sunday night, the second 'Horizon: Is everything we know about the universe wrong?' was on last night at 9pm. Now I really like the BBC, I'm happy to pay the hundred odd pound annual subscription and I watch almost all

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-78829294000925437412010-03-02T19:34:00.000Z2010-03-02T19:34:13.049Z

Much of the blogosphere which I frequent is filled with bile and disgust aimed at the fourth estate. Newspapers in particular (along with their internet bretheren) are often lambasted for being biased, bigoted, ignorant and downright stupid. That is because in general they are. As the title of this post suggests though, this is not always the case. So here I am to offer plaudits to the London

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-61074755484641054052010-02-25T15:28:00.001Z2010-03-25T20:53:02.145Z

I wonder if you'll agree with me on where I find a problem with this introduction. The story is most certainly one that should be told, a poor girl got trapped addicted to heroin. In a brief moment of clarity she wrote a letter declaring herself clean, but sadly died from an overdose a mere 3 weeks later. Read the full article here. The reporting itself is usual metro quality, so too badly

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-55301736818570325222010-02-25T00:11:00.001Z2010-02-25T00:25:27.297Z

Have you heard of Migrationwatch? Most of you will have heard of the name, but for a lot of people it the recognition will cause a vague ringing in the back of the mind. Like when you pass someone on the street who's face looks a little familiar, and you don't want to talk to them because you can't remember their name, and then it's too late because they have already started a conversation that

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-50079971448842464292010-02-24T12:32:00.002Z2010-02-24T12:34:20.585Z

It's all gotten a little bit serious and educational here at Hippoblahblahwhat recently. So I thought I'd cheer myself up and lighten everyone's day with two of my favourite music based youtube vids. The first one is the ludicrous Ronald Mcdonald insanity, perhaps just a little overlong at 5 minutes but if you get bored skip to around 4:20 for some of the best dancing ever! Once you are done

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-8785038674997804392010-02-24T00:34:00.000Z2010-02-24T00:34:29.951Z

I argued in my previous post that First Past The Post (FPTP) is a voting system that should be consigned to the electoral dustbin. Should the Electoral reform bill make it past the lords before parliament is dissolved in the next few months, we may get the chance to boot it out. What will take it's place though? The alternative vote system offers the (near) guarantee that the elected

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-51520088023105452382010-02-20T00:48:00.005Z2010-02-23T17:00:46.747Z

MP's recently voted to allow a referendum on electoral reform. That is to give us the option to finally send the outdated and unrepresentative First Past The Post (FPTP) to the scrapheap. The option on the referendum (if it gets through the House of Lords, no mean feat given that parliament will be dissolved within the next 4 months) will be a straight choice between FPTP and AV. For this, the

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-26682476096619993172010-02-19T10:24:00.000Z2010-02-19T10:24:57.973Z

Ok so who uses twitter? You have probably heard a lot about it in recent months, and I have just recently offered my soul up to the beast to see just how much of it is engulfed. Strangely for something that is just the status bar from facebook, it's really quite compelling. Because people are forced to sum up their thoughts in text message format, you never have reams and reams to read through,

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-21145785202743142122010-02-17T17:41:00.000Z2010-02-17T17:41:36.647Z

Really quite a short note to highlight some great work that is being done to try and inject some public enthusiasm into politics. http://power2010.org.uk/homeThe aim is very simple, to get people to vote on what sort of reforms they would like to see in the political system. Once this procedure has been completed the aim is to lobby political parties to include those reforms in their manifestos.

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-16626842661324577182010-02-16T00:35:00.000Z2010-02-16T00:35:45.969Z

But in the meantime, here's some stuff that I wrote for this issue of the Thames Valley Student mag. As a little aside, I actually quite like the idea of collecting all my writings from other sources to go here. As well as padding out the blog for the one or two visitors that might want to read something by me, it also becomes a nice one stop shope for me to look back over in years to come.

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-36804048851217345492010-02-10T16:09:00.000Z2010-02-10T16:09:56.896Z

Feeling really unmotivated today, so what else to do but type 'unmotivated' into a search engine and see what happens? http://unmotivated.com/ That really cheered me up :)

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-34295095116614745762010-02-08T21:56:00.001Z2010-02-10T16:07:59.450Z

In a further case of blatantly padding out my blog with writings done form elsewhere (see piece on tax breaks for the games industry) I decided to share a long reply to someone on a forum discussing the existance of God. Mainly because in a couple of months, that discussion will be culled from the forum, and I spent a lot of time writing it. I have removed the user name of the person I was

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-50438658955372893842010-02-03T11:46:00.002Z2010-02-17T17:42:16.476Z

You may or may not be aware that Pope Benedict the something or other is coming to the UK soon to place his hand (I said his hand) on children's heads. Well OK he's an intolerant old bastard, he's against equal rights, and was once a member of the Hitler youth (we all make mistakes eh?), but I'm a liberal and believe in free speech so sure. It'll make some people happy. Go for it. One thing I'm

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-89421683961645836822010-01-27T22:15:00.000Z2010-01-27T22:15:37.122Z

A heads up to everyone that Newswipe (with Charlie Brooker) is back on the oft ignored BBC4. Its regular slot is 10:30pm on a Tuesday, but of course the iplayer should enable you to ignore such things as schedules. Move quick for the first episode though, as it falls off the iplayer's database sometime on Friday. So what is Newswipe, and why am I bothering to tell you about it? Basically the

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-89607108807723061802010-01-25T20:53:00.001Z2010-02-03T15:17:05.778Z

In a format rather heavily inspired (read ripped off) by football365* I thought I'd provide a few thoughts that came out of the weekend's FA cup fixture. I am an armchair spurs fan (too poor and not determined enough to fight for a ticket to games) but am trying to look at the game as neutrally as possible (mostly). For the first 20 minutes it seemed that the Leeds goal was haunted by the ghost

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-8952715132848922322010-01-19T13:13:00.001Z2010-01-19T13:13:32.244Z

So, I've kind of neglected this space of mine so far this year, but am determined to not give up. I like writing, but the problem is that I'm not the fastest at constructing my thoughts so need quite a lot of time to provide the sort of post I feel is sufficient. As a result there may be a few more stream of consciousness posts on here in the near future as I try and train myself to take the time

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-15559391167152966682009-12-24T13:13:00.000Z2009-12-24T13:13:01.293Z

This Tuesday I visited the majestic Royal Albert Hall to partake in their classical Christmas concert. The event was a sell out, though the number of empty seats was a telling sign of the snow in the home counties. Obviously some had felt that the journey wouldn't be worth it! The concert itself varied between being awesome and awful, with many of the rearrangements sounding a little bit like

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-66446104706114603702009-12-18T16:58:00.003Z2009-12-18T17:04:11.198Z

This is breathtakingly, mindboggolingly beautiful. The American Museum of Natural History take you on a journey to the outer edges of the known universe. If you fail to be staggered by this then you are simply unstaggerable. This video has inspired me to do a short series of blogs based on this journey. I'm not sure if it should be a part of the basics of series or not. I shall see where my

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-13795165540548967932009-11-30T21:13:00.002Z2010-01-25T21:12:11.148Z

I intended to start this piece with a definition, but than had a look online and found it needlessly verbose for those trying to understand the basics. There is a very simple way of thinking about algebra, and it is to simply do with letters what you would do with numbers. This sounds patently absurd and I can imagine the cries "But I know 2 + 2 = 4, what on earth could x + x equal?" Of course

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-73940712277203890472009-11-19T14:03:00.000Z2009-11-19T14:03:40.724Z

I'm going to save you the trouble of scrolling to the bottom of this review and urge you to buy this book. Go now, it's absolutely fantastic in every way and should be read by everyone. Once you've come back, you can read this review in full in anticipation of what to expect when you open it up. Done? Good. Ben Goldacre is a doctor probably best known for his 'bad science' column in the guardian

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-57018233845191321422009-11-13T11:21:00.000Z2009-11-13T11:21:31.954Z

Below is a little article I wrote as part of a job application to show off my writing ability (stop sniggering). I'm posting it here for its relevance to Tom Watson's column today on comment is free... In 2008 the UK was the third largest games development territory in the world, with a turnover of £4.02bn. Ed Vaisey, Shadow minister for Culture has described the UK games industry as an "unsung

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-70999324750840535842009-10-27T23:38:00.000Z2009-10-27T23:38:25.389Z

Further to the fact that this is just hilariously false, it is also an apt demonstration that creationists must be lying to us, that is not passionately representing the wrong belief, but actually deliberately misinforming people to try and gain followers. The simple fact is that anyone who has even been in the same room as a book on evolution knows two things. Darwins theory of evolution does

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-51706129719173061412009-10-27T17:17:00.000Z2009-10-27T17:17:18.800Z

But then I found out that Anton Vowl was doing it so much better than I ever could. Go and check out The enemies of reason. It's frequently brilliant, and I could currently only hope to emulate

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-88808196847224416822009-10-26T23:41:00.001Z2009-10-27T17:17:45.822Z

This week's flash game is a charming yet extremely pointless way to waste 15 minutes of so. Welcome achievement unlocked! The premise is extremely simple and a nod to the achievement and trophy collectors of the Xbox 360 and PS3. You play a small blue elephant who has to run around the level collecting all the achievements that there are to offer. Incredibly simple, but the circus music and 8

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-71236268318644835282009-10-14T16:59:00.003+01:002009-10-14T17:00:13.495+01:00

This little video clip has just been brought to my attention I just had to share it with you all

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-9232876249037910922009-10-12T23:36:00.000+01:002009-10-12T23:36:29.043+01:00

Happy Monday everyone! I thought I'd start a little item (not included in my previous labels post) called flash game of the week, bringing you the best casual games that I can find to while away your time. First up is a classic in the flash gaming world, that I've only just found out has been updated and improved. Ladies and gentlemen, Desktop tower defense. The premise for the game is very

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-31120982269237424022009-10-08T11:25:00.062+01:002009-10-10T00:17:26.978+01:00

Welcome to the first in this 'the basics of' series that I am planning to run as the informative side of this blog. In this post I am going to try and inform about evolution. The ideas behind evolution, on the face of it, seem so implausible as to be ridiculous. Indeed only 51% of the UK population think that evidence for evolution exists (see this survey from the British Council/Ipsos-Mori).

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-13088398613619702682009-10-06T20:56:00.001+01:002009-10-07T17:22:46.530+01:00

While working on that promised evolution post. I got to thinking, with a blog that aims to have as wide a scope as I hope, how will people be able to work out what they would like to read? Well I imagine that this was the very thing that Blogger's labelling system was devised for! So here is a brief outline of the labels that I intend to use, and a description of what they mean. 'The basics of:'

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-86253865499324600122009-10-05T22:22:00.002+01:002009-10-06T12:10:12.993+01:00

Despite the fact that I probably have absolutely no readers yet for this blog. I feel it appropriate to make an apology. I did say last week that I would try to make two posts a week initially and see what happened. Well it's nearly the end of the first week and there is still only the one post. In fairness I have not been slacking. I am currently working on an introduction to evolution in (

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325152135971710513.post-56935832050417122782009-10-01T00:15:00.002+01:002009-10-06T12:09:49.371+01:00

Welcome to hippomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, the name for my blog comes from the rather hilarious name for the fear of long words. I don't suffer from it, and may even occasionally become sesquipedalian myself! As the title bar suggests, this blog is one without a theme. Instead I'll just relay any thoughts that I feel are worthy of my typing time. These will include (but are not limited to)

edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870386629446143494noreply@blogger.com0