No geek
is an island

My goodness, has it been over two months? You must be chomping at the bit for more Dewey Decimal updates. A bumper selection is only fair recompense. These numbers come from various sets of subject mappings.

• “Ample size” says the estate agent: Advertising–Dollhouses - 659.197455923
• For Peter Jackson: King Kong films - 791.4375
• For Dario Argento: Blood in motion pictures - 791.436561
• For Peter Jackson: Hobbits (Fictitious characters)/Baggins, Bilbo (Fictitious character) - 791.4375
• For sheer unrealism: Scientists in motion pictures - 791.4366
• For John Boorman: Banjo music (Bluegrass) - 787.881642
• For the sake of it: Accountants in motion pictures - 791.43656
• The Line of Beautyest number: Gay bathhouses - 306.77086642
• What you get reading this blog: Excited delirium syndrome - 616.8
• Making offensive crop circles: Agroterrorism - 363.3259632
• Good way to get singed: Fire twirling - 791.6
• They teach on the catwalk: Stochastic models - 003.76
• I think this is me: Generation Y - 305.2
• In the news: Roadside memorials - 363.125
• Most self-referential number: Dewey (Fictitious character: Disney) - 741.5973
• Most confused number: Internalized homophobia in lesbians - 306.7663
• Erm, sheds made of netting?: Net sheds - 639.2
• You should’ve seen the one that got away: Nymph fishing - 799.124
• Not Melvyn’s style but important physicsy stuff: Bragg gratings - 621.38275
• No, not the probe!: Human-alien encounters in literature - 808.8037
• For counting oysters: Oyster surveys - 333.9554111
• X-Men 3est number: Phoenix (Mythical bird) in art - 704.947
• Longish number: Rose Bowl Stadium (Pasadena, Calif.) - 796.33206879493
• Another longish number: Gay youths’ writings - 808.89928308664
• An even longer number: Liquid crystal display industry - 338.476213815422
• A very long number: London Terrorist Bombings, London,
  England, 2005 - 363.3259388409421209051
• A very, very long number: Fire Fighters’ Dispute, Great Britain, 2002-2004 - 331.89281363370941090511

Bromley LibDems have selected local councillor Ben Abbotts as their candidate for the pending Bromley & Chis by-election. I recall delivering leaflets with Ben in Orpington prior to the general election and he seemed a thoroughly nice chap - best of luck to him. He was our PPC in Sevenoaks at the last election and succeeded in overtaking Labour to move into second place in that seat.

The LibDem by-election HQ is now open on Bromley High Street.

Something I’ve learnt today, having never previously felt the need to read Matthew Taylor’s official profile. Turns out the LibDem MP’s dad is Ken Taylor, who wrote, among other things, the excellent BBC adaptation of Sleeping Murder. It’s one of my favourite Joan Hickson Miss Marples (yes, ITV, Miss Marple), with a particularly nightmare-inducing climax.

On Sunday night I was in a club in Blackpool which had a free internet café. I hope I gain a little street cred for not logging on and posting a blog entry despite the temptation. I was down for a stags do - my sixth trip to the town but my first not attending NUS conference, having skipped party conference last September.

Yesterday morning I went to the Doctor Who Museum on Blackpool seafront. It’s much more focussed on the “classic” series than the Brighton exhibition (now in Cardiff) with only one room and a few props for the new series. It was nevertheless good fun and full of classic costumes and props. Original Hartnell walking canes were very cool, as were the Melkur and Bessie (I realise this sounds slightly sad). Certainly worth a visit if you’re in the area and a fanboy.

Here are a couple of cameraphone photos from the bit where photography was allowed.

It’s that time of year when the blog needs a bit of a spruce up. It’ll carry on changing a bit over the next few days, but first off I’ve switched to a fresher-looking two column theme. I hope it will make posts a bit easier on the eye.

As mentioned earlier, I listened to James Graham on Resonance FM last night. As well as talking politics generally, he was promoting Hands Off Our Future, his new website (and forum) promoting the issue of generational equity. With pensions - erroneously often not considered a young persons’ issue - in the news today, it’s well-timed. With older people much more likely to vote, there is a danger of the country providing more and more benefits to well-off retired people at the expense (literally) of debt-saddled younglings who can’t get on the housing ladder. With plenty of pressure groups speaking for older people, it’s almost a taboo to suggest that - for example - free TV licences for the over-74s are a gratuitous subsidy for many comfortable septagenarians.

Of course, the issues aren’t as straightforward as that and stripping away all non-means-tested benefits for older people isn’t the answer, but there’s an important debate to be had about the legacy - environmental and economic - that future generations will be left with.

The highlight of the radio show for me, incidentally, was James’s conjuring up of a media-hungry Mark Oaten sitting at home working his way through a pile of KitKats in the hope of finding a golden ticket…