I have been ludicrously busy over the past month or so. In lieu of anything original, have a scattering of links:
- The UKIP is going to the supreme court in an attempt to avoid relinquishing illegally donated money. (As a fan of unfortunate consequences, I am now wondering if it is possible to get this case referred to Strasbourg? That would be marvellous…)
- Mapping the Demographics of American English with Twitter (LanguageLog)
- The Speaker’s plans to reform Commons procedure (the Guardian)
- The “zero rupee note” – an interesting psychological anti-corruption technique.
- The first recorded air raid? Venice, 1849.
- Deaccessioning by copyright – conceptualising the ways that museums (etc) use copyright and quasi-copyright limitations as, effectively, a method of removing things from their accessible collection.
- Five boys: the story of a photograph – the history of a particularly recognisable photograph.
- Linguists Marvel at Audacity of Yugoslav Swear Words. (…yeah, it’s old.)
- Diseased, demented, depressed: serious illness in Heads of State – David Owen applies his medical training to political contexts. (The second part – should it be possible to make a head of state step down due to illness? – is an interesting debate; the first part, Diseases Of World Leaders I Have Known, feels like an exam topic. “Is this paper ethical, and why?”)
Actual content hopefully to follow sometime this week. Aha. Yeah, I’ve been an optomist for years.