A bright yellow slime mould that can grow to several metres in diameter has been put in charge of a scrabbling, six-legged robot. The Physarum polycephalum slime, which naturally shies away from light, controls the robot’s movement so that it too keeps out of light and seeks out dark places in which to hide itself.… Continue reading Robot Moved by a Slime Mould’s Fears
Author: Dave Cross
Overstating the Case
The Guardian rather overstates the case on the smoking ban. Parliament, so often maligned and so often ignorantly, has done itself and the nation proud by banning smoking in England. “Banning smoking in England”? Smoking won’t become illegal everywhere in England. Just in public. Which puts it, I suppose, about on a par with masturbation.… Continue reading Overstating the Case
Smoking and Drinking
People who own pubs often complain that a ban on smoking like the one that was passed last night will have a detrimental effect on their business. They say that smoking and drinking are inextricably linked and that if people can’t smoke in pubs then they won’t drink there either. I don’t think that’s true.… Continue reading Smoking and Drinking
Time Flies
Is it really three years since a million people took to the streets of London trying to prevent the Iraq war. Credit where it’s due – this is what reminded me.
Disappointing MP
I’m very disappointed in my MP this morning. Not only did he support the government in all of the ID card votes last night, but he also spoke at some length in favour of the scheme. In fact he spoke for longer than I have ever heard him speak in Parliament. His speeches are here,… Continue reading Disappointing MP
BlogCode
You can never have too many blogs to read. BlogCode is a good way to find new blogs that are similar in tone to blogs that you already read. More details from Tim Ireland. There goes the rest of my spare time.
The Education of Shelby Knox
Two years ago I wrote about watching the documentary Texas Teenage Virgins. One of the comments on that post recommended The Education of Shelby Knox as another good documentary on the same topic. Last night it was shown on ITV4 so I watched it. It’s set in Lubbock, the same Texas town as the previous… Continue reading The Education of Shelby Knox
NHS Waste
I haven’t written anything about my health recently, so let’s combine that with a little rant about NHS wastage. The consultant is very happy with the way that the sarcoidosis is going and wants to slowly cut out my steroids. We’re doing this by taking 3mg a day for four weeks then 2mg a day… Continue reading NHS Waste
SIDStore are Spammers
(This is me using what limited Googlejuice this site has to get personal revenge) Last June I bought a t-shirt from SIDStore. It was a nice t-shirt. It had a dalek on it. Here’s a picture of me wearing the t-shirt. I was happy with my purchase. All was well with the world. Of course,… Continue reading SIDStore are Spammers
The IT Crowd
Channel Four have launched a new comedy show called The IT Crowd. It is about the IT support group in a large company and is therefore of interest to geeks everywhere. The most interesting thing about it is that the episodes are available for download from the web site before they are broadcast. Unfortunately Channel… Continue reading The IT Crowd