a new lie

Another day, another cold call from some scammer.  But with a new (to me) wrinkle.

Phone rings, is answered.
Them: “We have money for you from PPI insurance.”
Us: “Have you heard of the Telephone Preference Service?”
Them: carried on with their script.
Us: “Who are you?”
Them: unintelligible mumble.
Us: “Please give me the name of your company, and their registered address.”
Them: “I can’t do that, it’s against the Data Protection Act.”

I bet you never knew the Data Protection Act said that!  (Hint: it doesn’t.)  Honestly, it just beggars belief.

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autumn colour

We've had a few days of glorious sunshine, and the garden is displaying gorgeous autumnal colours, even before the leaves start to turn.

Unidentified fungus.  Not as spectacular as the one in Taormina, but still lovely.

Sedum in sunlight and in shadow

Jasmine and vine scrambling together up the garage wall

elderberries

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chartjunk lives!

After an excellent talk on visualising data yesterday, a colleague and I were chatting about Tufte, and bemoaning the chartjunk infesting many publications nowadays.  Being academics, we of course discussed giving some lectures on data visualisation.

Later, she sent me the two examples below, in order that I could share her exasperation. (Exasperation is not the word I would have chosen, though.)

I merely cringed at the first, but literally lol’d at the second, in stunned disbelief.

WTF!?  (And what do you mean “normalized”? to 360°?)

Really?  What were you thinking?

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sequestering carbon, several books at a time IX

Two different sets of orders arrived this week, so a big catch:

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one space or two?

One space or two after a full stop?  Many would have us believe two spaces is WRONG, and was introduced due to eeeevil typewriters, and we should return to the One Right Way. Heraclitean River delves into the history: it always was two spaces, until the eeeevil publishers and their Linotype machines demanded something simpler, and rewrote history!

Use one, use two, as you see fit – but do be consistent!

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sequestering carbon, several books at a time VIII

I’ve been away, so three weeks’ worth in one go.

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October the First is Too Late

It’s turned chilly all of a sudden.  With maximum temperatures of 14°C today, and forecast for the next few days, I cracked, and the central heating is now on.  Goodbye summer.

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