Activity from greycap

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This has destroyed my productivity, now it can destroy yours...

Steem is an Atari ST emulator for Windows and Linux that is very simple and user-friendly. More details on installing are in a helpful beginner's guide, but you're probably most interested in the games, of which there are lots [more inside].
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 3:47 AM on April 1, 2007 (22 comments)

A short story, told in Flickr, of books, Cambridge...

ex libris Brian Wormald A short story, told in Flickr, of books, Cambridge dons, and coincidence.
posted to Projects by greycap at 11:31 PM on February 4, 2007

Whooooooooooo-Tube

Ghosts of the London Underground - a documentary. More here.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 3:03 PM on January 31, 2007 (8 comments)

"And now on BBC 2 - the Open University".

The Open University was founded in 1971 in the "white heat" of the communications revolution. Late-night lectures delivered over the television would revolutionise education - but they quickly became a much-loved/much-mocked UK icon, ideal for insomniacs (it was all that was on telly at that time of night), and replete with kipper ties, beards and Periodic tables. They also helped to inspire some affectionate piss takes and spoofs. This weekend the OU will broadcast its last ever TV documentary - from now on they will be sticking to DVDs and the internet. Last link goes to embedded BBC News video.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 3:32 PM on December 15, 2006 (10 comments)

Are vols 1 and 2 of S.R. Gardiner's "History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate" available online?

Seventeenth-century history-Filter: where can I find a copy of the first and second volumes of S.R. Gardiner's History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate online?
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 2:44 AM on December 9, 2006 (4 comments)

"I'm sick of god awful tinny rap music. You are not from the hood - you are from Esher ffs."

Fed up with their bus journeys being blighted by loud music blaring from phones or MP3 players, Londoners strike back - er, by putting up posters at bus stops. Tales of woe and disaster to be found here.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 11:25 PM on October 30, 2006 (50 comments)

Dot-comservative party?

Webcameron. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party in the UK, reaches out to the Youtube generation.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 1:33 AM on September 30, 2006 (53 comments)

Any fule kno that this is jolly good

St Custard's is an English preparatory school set in bracing downland country. Find out more about its teachers, the headmaster and his predecessors, the discipline, and its star pupil Nigel Molesworth. As a bonus you can find out more about how Kennedy captured the gerund and led it into captivity. If you're still confused, click here, here and here for the background to Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle's satire on a certain part of 1950s England.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 6:01 AM on September 16, 2006 (17 comments)

"Do you mind if I write down that website?"

"The thing is, we're in Central London and we have to be really careful these days. I like your shots though... very nice." Dave Gorman's ever-so-slightly surreal Flickr adventure.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 1:57 PM on September 12, 2006 (61 comments)

Where's a good place to buy a dinner jacket in London?

Good places to buy a dinner jacket in London.
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 11:20 AM on August 29, 2006 (6 comments)

Middle Eastern troops at Hadrian's Wall in the early fifth century

Iraqi peacekeepers sent to the Scottish border... 1600 years ago. The Notitia Dignitatum, the Roman equivalent of an organisation chart for the imperial bureaucracy in the fifth century, contains a reference to soldiers from the Tigris stationed at Hadrian's Wall. More on the Notitia here; more on Hadrian's Wall here, including a 3D tour of a fort near the Wall, and tablets discovered at another fort (including a request by a commanding officer for "more beer").
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 6:05 AM on August 19, 2006 (8 comments)

I have a rendezvous with Death, at some disputed barricade

90 years ago today, whistles blew around the river Somme in France as British troops prepared for an attack on German trenches. By the end of the day they had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the battle's end in November, there were over 600,000 Allied casualties, with perhaps the same number of German casualties. The Imperial War Museum has launched an online exhibition, where you can find out more about how the battle was planned, personal stories of those involved, and myths about the attack. Elsewhere you can find copies of Army reports on the first day, look at film of the attack, diaries and letters home from the troops, go on tours of the trenches, listen to contemporary songs and music inspired by the battle, and see some more modern responses.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 12:54 AM on July 1, 2006 (39 comments)

That's 2 shillings and sixpence in old money

Ever wondered what old amounts of money would be worth today? Or what you could buy with your current salary if you went back 200, 400, or 600 years? Now you can find out with a tool that converts English currency from 1270 onwards into today's prices. Based on Treasury records, it tells you that Mr Darcy's £10,000 a year would now be worth nearly £350,000, or that your house would only have to be worth the equivalent of £500 now to qualify for the vote after 1832.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 11:56 AM on June 28, 2006 (22 comments)

David's last summer - or, music that deals with the transition from adolescence into a different world

Looking for songs that have a wistful, bittersweet feel to them that captures the move from adolescence into "adult" life - eg the moments before leaving school, or before getting your first job.
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 12:22 PM on May 11, 2006 (97 comments)

Holy haircuts, Batman

The worst haircuts on MySpace, and the superheroes they resemble - round one, and round two.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 1:57 PM on April 28, 2006 (67 comments)

Under the covers

Germano Facetti - who died recently - was art director at Penguin Books during the 1960s. He was responsible for some of the most striking book cover designs of the period. More here.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 12:18 PM on April 19, 2006 (37 comments)

What is the meaning of a certain bit of a book's copyright page?

Publishing Filter - what does a particular part of a book's copyright page mean?
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 11:14 AM on April 16, 2006 (7 comments)

Children's book about two RAF pilots who discover another world underground

BookFilter - I'm trying to remember the title of a book involving two RAF pilots who bail out and end up exploring an underground world.
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 12:37 AM on March 6, 2006 (6 comments)

Identify this alien-related mid-eighties children's TV show

Help me figure out the name of an alien-related mid-eighties children's TV show...
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 7:01 AM on January 29, 2006 (3 comments)

Mozart's diary

Mozart's musical diary - kept between 1784 and 1791 - goes online today courtesy of the British Library. There is a helpful audio commentary if you can't decipher his handwriting, plus excerpts from some of his music. The same site also has works by artists and authors such as Jane Austen, Leonardo da Vinci and Lewis Carroll.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 1:36 AM on January 12, 2006 (5 comments)

Hey Ricky you're so fine...

The first episode of a new podcast by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (of Extras and The Office fame). If you need a bigger fix, try the archive of their radio shows from the last few years.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 11:46 AM on December 5, 2005 (30 comments)

What are good plants to put in a window box?

Help me pick some plants to go in a window box.
posted to Ask Metafilter by greycap at 10:54 AM on October 29, 2005 (8 comments)

Dizzy - I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning...

Dizzy was looking forward to the round-the-world cruise. When he told the other yolkfolk about the good deal he found, they wondered just what lay ahead of him... A standalone PC emulation of the Commodore 64 version of Treasure Island Dizzy, by Eighties programming prodigies the Oliver Twins.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 12:11 PM on October 7, 2005 (14 comments)

Don't believe the hype?

"I bet you look good on the dancefloor" is the new single by a hitherto unknown Sheffield band called the Arctic Monkeys. [warning direct QT link] Media hype has meant demand for their London gig is so high they have moved from playing a pub to playing the London Astoria. Their observations on northern culture have drawn comparisons with Oasis and Kaiser Chiefs - or will they go the way of other bands picked up then dumped by the media? (anyone remember Gay Dad?) Whether or not they last, you will probably be hearing them quite a lot in the next few months.
posted to MetaFilter by greycap at 1:25 AM on October 1, 2005 (46 comments)