Doug Clow

This drives me mad and I can't find a way to do it either, short of using specific sleep apps for the alarm. I have it set up for reminders to do key tasks, and I don't want the alarm going off if I've started on the task already, but I don't want to cancel it for tomorrow or the rest of the week.

You can read that from the data. Here are you results, transposed:

Bears 20 - 6 Sharks
Hippos >50 - 14,000 Snails

Convincing home win for the Bears and the Snails have completely smashed the Hippos and remain favourites for the quarter finals.

So what I'm taking from this is that if we want to defeat the mosquitoes we're going to have to team up with the snakes and the dogs at minimum and probably need to recruit a bunch of invertebrates to our side as well. Snake charming and dog training are fine but how do you command snails & bugs?

Very much not. The joy of being a habitual pessimist is having things turn out better than I expected.

*super quiet voice* And I still think the markets may be underpricing the down side

This is correct according to the International System of Units (SI) - but it’s worth noting that centipede and millipede are the older names by several centuries, or even a millennium or two if you count Latin.

Sorry, sorry.

Justice for Nanni against Ea-nāṣir!

Argh, thanks for the heads up! Gets me twice a year every year.

Photo of a bunch of daffodils in a vase on a table

Daffodils! So lovely and so absurdly cheap. One English pound! They’ve been grown and tended, picked from the field, distributed chilled around the country, and then sold at local retail. All for less than five minutes’ work at minimum wage.

Well yes - Donald Knuth is 88 :)

Yeah, good point, the build up of US forces was very visible, and oil prices had turned around from the downward trend since the 2022 peak and have been rising since the start of the year. The Russian supply is an interesting one - notable that sanctions on it have been partially waived for India.

Ok this suggests a short war is more feasible than I thought:

‘Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would call a halt to its attacks on neighbouring Gulf states that have targeted infrastructure and civilian sites.’

bsky.app/profile/iank...

Yeah, must be. I mean we’re all *hoping* for a short war. And I guess we have seen modern supply chains proving pretty resilient.

Fair. But in my defence I’ve had the same complaint since I was a young man and the loft space/industrial style caught on 30+ years ago. I’m kind of hoping Gen Z sensibilities will pull things round but unlikely - not least because they socialise less. Partly because it’s so damn noisy?

Exactly my thoughts. Surely with modern materials we can get some of the benefits with more aesthetic wallpaper and without the disgusting carpets. Bring back sawdust?! (Probably impractically expensive now sawdust is no longer a waste product but used to make particle boards like MDF.)

Yeah, bound to be a factor. And exposed concrete is super cheap compared to anything less acoustically reflective.

While I’m on vague not-quite-predictions, it is surprising to me that interior design for social spaces is still minimalist with hard surfaces, making it very noisy - while people’s sensitivity to overwhelm seems higher than ever. Spaces are more social when you can hear each other talk.

You can add me to the growing list of people who are confused/surprised that the economic fallout from the war with Iran is less severe than we might have expected - so far.

Well done everyone, you've all done really well this week. Blimey, what a week it's been. But despite all of it, you've made it through yet again, by being brilliant, as always. Well done and all the best for the weekend.

Photo of a packet of itsu brand crispy seaweed thins. A finger is pointing at a text box that reads “85% less plastic*”.

I'm pleased there's a lot less plastic in these snacks but to be honest I'd prefer to eat no plastic.

On which this is perhaps my favourite story: it may or may not have been total myth that he did it in the past but he has now verifiably been “present but not voting” at a UCL Council meeting: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2013...

Oh that’s brilliant, top move there by someone. If I didn’t know about the new enclosure I might guess/hope he had popped out to be “present but not voting” at some meeting or other.

Oh here we go, this captures the ones I can remembers:

www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/researc...

“Jeremy Bentham welcomes visitors.”!

Yes I’ve seen him numerous times in the old wooden box, but not yet in the modern version. I also love the myths about the auto-icon’s origins and history.

Data, analytics, research, strategy, making sense of complex situations and empowering people to do their best: that's what I like to do.

If you want some help from me in understanding things and changing them using data - get in touch! Or if you know someone who might, do bring us together.
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I'm wide open to what comes next. I love the charity sector, but I'm open to others. I'd prefer employment, to use my leadership and management skills, but I've freelanced before so may well start there unless I can find the right opportunity.
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I'm looking for new work!

With a heavy heart, I've made the decision to move on from Legacy Futures. Not easy: I'm leaving an excellent team and so many great colleagues. I appreciate the opportunities and support I've had, and particularly working with so many different & wonderful charities.
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Social media clickbait. The truth about fruit pastilles is well documented and easily verified: anyone who’s tried them knows the orange ones are a bit disappointing.

London!

Taxi drivers in many places have a local knowledge test plus a driving skills test (and an age gate)

Trains, of course!

Many regulated professions you have in other threads

Preparing and serving food

Tattooing/piercing, I think, requires a hygiene certificate in ?some local authorities