asides Blog

One line thoughts of the day.

Now they’ve discovered four new elements and filled the seventh row of the Periodic Table, two of them ought to be called Iommium and Lemmium. Because they are all both heavy and metal.

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

In a lacerating blog post, Troy Hunt asks how are websites still screwing up these user experiences?!. Almost all these horrors are related to monetising the sites; examples of how websites are locked into a zero-sum game with each other and end up in a race to the bottom.

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

“A fight between the childish politics of the 1970s and the equally childish politics of the 1950s” – The best description of the culture wars in science fiction fandom I’ve yet seen.

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

It’s galling to see Lemmy being eulogised by publications that would never have given Motörhead the time of day during their prime. The irony is that Lemmy always represented everything they kept telling us rock’n'roll was supposed to be about.

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

The good thing about reading individual’s end-of-year lists like Scott’s or Skin Back Alley’s is the way they highlight things you may have missed over the course of the year. It’s also why the aggregated lists by mainsteam publications are useless; all the quirky individual choices get squeezed out by the predictable consensus choices.

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

Wisdom is knowing when to walk away from a conversation that has no chance of going anywhere good before it gets ugly.

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Tim Hall | 2 Comments

In 2012 it was The Enid. Last year it was Half Man Half Biscuit. Who will it be this year? Which cult band will succeed in mobilising their loyal fanbase and storm The Guardian’s readers’ choice of best album of 2015? Because it will be boring unless someone does.

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

I think this is a first. The Guardian’s best albums of 2015, and my own end-of-year list have one record in common. Can you guess what it is without looking at the two lists?

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Tim Hall | 3 Comments

Now we’re into Panto season in Britain, I’m tempted to close off bug reports for bugs that have been fixed and successfully re-tested with the words “Oh no it doesn’t”.

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Tim Hall | 3 Comments

I have no idea which option out of inaction, or bombing ISIS in Syria will prove to be the lesser of two evils. But be honest, do you know? Or are you just standing with your political tribe? Supporting or opposing anything on the basis of taking the opposite position to those people over there you don’t like is not a stance of moral courage.

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments