Parsing the Russian translation of the map in The Hobbit.

Election Essay 1: Will Martin McGuinness be returned as First Minister in the new Assembly?

The Transnistrian Infundibulator (nothing to do with the fact taht I am currently in Moldova).

"Melissa Kite in the Daily Telegraph has been doing that other thing the No side have been engaged in for weeks now, deliberately shutting down their brain functions and going on about how complicated it all is... By her own words, it took Melissa an hour to count eight votes. I’ll say no more on the subject."

But the 2011 protesters are different not because just Facebook and Twitter replaced sms. They are different in a deeper sense. The current protest movements are not stricto sensu youth movements, but a blend of young urban middle-class facebookers, mild and not so mild conservative islamists, and (sometimes radical) leftists. Compared to the 2000…

Life in modern Ireland

I must say I am favourably impressed by the positive and supportive attitude taken by Dreamwidth's team to LJ's recent problems.

35-year-old policewoman becomes president!

Russian President hits out at hackers who mounted DDoS attack on Livejournal.

"Americans, I have some bad news for you: You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin. If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean ta…

Roundup of DWJ tributes.

The former American president knows about nuclear clean-ups

"A controversial fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and Morocco has provided very poor returns to the European tax payer, and failed to bring about tangible benefits in the north African country, according to a report sponsored by the European Commission."

“I can’t believe it lasted this long,” said “US Ambassador to the UN” Susan Rice laughing, “who would really believe that there is this magical agency that would, like, be responsible for solving all the problems in the whole world?"

Mr and Dr Altariel continue their rewatch with the Sixth Doctor's first full season.

Trial of a Time Lord.

The Seventh Doctor's first season.

I've nearly finished listening to there and this review by Andrew Hickey has only minor spoilers. As he rightly says, "You already know if this is the kind of thing you like or not (in fact you probably either ordered it in advance or are never going to hear it), but for the kind of thing it is, it’s well done."

This is fanfic for the Moffat/Gatiss version.

Farah Mendlesohn's tribute to DWJ.

(;,;)

"A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today. I am one of those people who changed their minds."

Is this a discussion?

Researcher writing book about Doctor Who and autism.

"I recently bought a cheap e-reader from Waterstone’s, and am very happy with it so far. I’ve been using it to read books from Project Gutenberg, papers from the Arxiv, ebooks from Baen, books by Charles Stross and so on.One thing I will be doing very little of, unfortunately, is buying new books to read on it."