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Account name: Password (OpenID?) (Forgot it?) Remember Me You're viewing ciphergoth 's journal Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More Interest Region Site and Account FAQ Email IM Info Reload page in style: light Paul Crowley Recent Entries inner -- Previous 20 inner -- Joining the Tumblr diaspora Dec . 18th , 2018 06:42 pm I've neglected Dreamwidth, but with the Tumblr diaspora it's emerging as a good place to be - adding it to the rotation of sites I check! *waves* Crossposts: https://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/374648.html Link 13 comments Reply Snoozing TODOs Apr . 26th , 2015 12:15 pm I manage my personal TODO list with Zendone , while at work I use Google Inbox. For the most part, Zendone is the more sophisticated and capable tool, but there's one thing Inbox has that I dearly miss from Zendone: a snooze button. In Inbox I send an email, then I snooze the conversation for a few days. If I don't get a reply, I can decide what to do when the conversation pops back into my inbox. In Zendone, I can set dates on items, but it treats them like deadlines. Snooze is the opposite of a deadline: it's not the latest it needs to be done by, it's the earliest it can be done by. What I need is for them to be invisible until their date comes up. Does anything apart from Inbox support snoozing items? Update: Zendone say the feature is coming in version 2.0 , which has been in the works for a year now . Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/374426.html Link 0 comments Reply Let's start calling it paternalism. Apr . 18th , 2015 05:32 pm I’m not one of those who think that paternalism is always wrong. I’m OK with laws that require the use of seat belts, for example; people aren’t too good at weighing up small unavailable risks, the cost of wearing a seat belt is pretty small for nearly everyone, and the rule saves a large number of lives for a fairly small cost in liberty. But I’d like to start calling it what it is; it’s a statement that we know better what is good for people than they do. Prostitutes prefer it if their clients aren’t arrested. So if you’re going to advocate the “Swedish Model” in the interests of those currently working as prostitutes, please be upfront that what you’re calling for is paternalism. Don’t advocate this model if you’re not prepared to say, in terms, that you think you know what is good for those working as prostitutes better than they do. Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/374172.html Link 6 comments Reply Not on Facebook today Dec . 15th , 2014 08:33 am https://plus.google.com/app/basic/ events/ce4har11bm54cpldl30m7gt83a8 Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/373876.html Link 0 comments Reply Social media choices Oct . 4th , 2014 08:58 am LiveJournal vs Dreamwidth vs Google Plus - go! Link 12 comments Reply Device dilemmas Oct . 1st , 2013 08:28 pm It's time I bought one or more new small glowing rectangles. All of mine are ancient; my contract expires in less than a fortnight and I just got a bonus at work. I'm definitely going to stick with Android devices. But apart from that, I'm totally at sea on what to buy or how many! Your advice gratefully received. I use them to: check Twitter, Facebook and RSS look things up online read books (that rectangle doesn't currently glow) read PDFs of scientific papers, books etc make voice memos look at maps make journey plans check bus arrival times occasionally take photos from time to time even make and receive voice calls. I'd like to use them also to make Skype calls. One thing I can't work out is whether to buy one device or two. What fits comfortably in a pocket is too small for reading PDFs and smaller than I'd like for many of the other jobs. But with my current collection of ageing devices, I've found setting up a WiFi hotspot every time I want to get one of the other devices online on the move is a right pain; it's slow and cumbersome, and you have to remember to turn it off or you're wondering why your Internet is so slow when you get home, or why it's not working on the Tube platform. I don't really want the expense of two SIM cards and contracts to go with them if I can help it either! If such a thing existed, I'd almost be tempted by a 7" phone, but it wouldn't fit in my pocket at all, and though my bag is with me everywhere it's often too far away to have my phone in. I just tried some PDFs on my slightly broken Galaxy Note 1, and the maths PDF is fine but the philosophy one is awful, very hard to read - in part simply due to the double spacing. For the price of, say, the Galaxy Note 3, I could get something like a top-of-the-range Nexus 7 and a smaller but fairly high-spec phone. What should I buy? Thanks! Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/373717.html Link 29 comments Reply Legal templates Jan . 4th , 2013 01:00 pm I'm changing my cryonics life insurance provider, and it seems I need a new "absolute trust" document. My IFA has found a lawyer who will draw me one up for £250. The thing that bugs me is that the last two people who needed them paid £250 each, and the next person who needs one will also pay £250, but the only change is crossing out some names and writing in others. There's nothing in there that tailors it to my personal circumstances or anything like that. But I need their imprimateur if the life insurance company are to accept it, and they charge a lot for that. Is there a way I can pay a once-off fee to get the proper legal stamp of approval on a template document, which I and other people can then fill in the blanks on and use, with no further charges? Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/373454.html Link 0 comments Reply Mounting a TV to the wall Nov . 26th , 2012 05:17 pm I bought this wall bracket for this TV . I want to attach it to a brick wall. I'm a bit disturbed by how close together the top and bottom wall fixings are - it seems like it will work hard to pull the top fixings out of the wall. I find myself wanting to somehow attach vertical strips of metal with holes in to the bracket at either end making an H shape, and use the holes at the top and bottom of each strip to attach to the wall. Is this a crazy idea? Where online can I get such a strip of metal, and how would I go about it? Or should I just rawlplug it into the brick wall and not worry about it? Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/373109.html Link 2 comments Reply Going to the Bay Area in FIVE DAYS - who should I meet? Jul . 14th , 2012 08:33 am I board my flight on Thursday! I'll be at the CfAR minicamp for the first week, then I have a week in the Bay Area, from Sunday 29 July to Sunday 5 August. Do you want to meet up? Do you know someone I should meet? Is there something I should go to in that time? What are your transatlantic travel top tips? Thanks! Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/371967.html Link 0 comments Reply Apology Jul . 11th , 2012 01:57 pm A comment on this post reminds me that I meant to say something about this and never did. I made this post about the Old Testament God a few months ago. It was a copy of a comment from an ongoing discussion between a current believer in the Jewish religion and various former believers. In context, therefore, the focus on problems with Judaism specifically made lots of sense. However, when I yanked it out of context and posted it here, it sounded like something very different, and set lots of people's antisemitism alarms off. It was a mistake for me not to see what a difference taking it out of context would make and I apologise! Crossposts: http://ciphergoth.livejournal.com/371600.html Link 0 comments Reply Pills puzzle Jun . 30th , 2012 10:15 am The following puzzle appears on Futility Closet : My doctor wants to establish a dosage for a new drug, so he gives me a bottle of 48 pills and tells me to take them throughout the month of June. I can take as many or as few as I like on any given day, so long as I take at least 1 pill each day. Show that there’s a sequence...