Interestingly, a UK Parliament without Scottish MPs since 1997 would have looked rather more liberal-minded than the one we ended up with in this timeline: https://www.mysociety.org/2014/09/10/parliament- ( Read more... )

This is the best graph ever produced of first-time buyer mortgage affordability in the UK. The only thing lacking would be some indication of how the average first-time buyer mortgage compares to the average house price.

( Read more... )

A year ago yesterday we completed on the purchase of the new house. A year ago tomorrow we moved in. On the day in between, I came down for the day to sort a few things out and receive some deliveries. And I took some photos. Today, at the same time of day with the same lenses on the same camera and in similar weather, I took some more photos from ( Read more... )

I have decided that any day where turning your horse out in the morning ends with you rolling around on the wet grass clutching your groin while the horse runs off into the field on his own is a bad day ( Read more... )

You've probably seen the potato salad Kickstarter already. But he seems to have a bit of a problem, which is an object lesson in why you should pick your crowdfunding rewards carefully. 720 people have now contributed enough to have the right to each pick an additional (appropriate) ingredient for the potato salad, which is thus going to be the ( Read more... )

I've not added any more species for a while, so here goes. Subtracting one, because I see I've counted Green Woodpecker twice ( Read more... )

Been a while since I updated, so here goes (mostly corvids):

36. Swallow (one swallow doesn't make a summer, but we have two)
37. Red Admiral
38. Jackdaw*
39. Rook* (there are two of them on the patio right now, going for the peanuts in the bird feeder)
40. Carrion crow
41. Skylark

Now that lots of people are revoking potentially compromised SSL certificates, it's quite important to check that your web browser is picking up certificate revocations. Try loading this URL: https://www.cloudflarechallenge.com/heartbleedRead more... )

Full Moon tonight, with Mars in opposition just above it. Here they are rising through the treeline on the opposite side of the valley.

( Cut for a big picture )

The "Heartbleed" SSL vunerability released last night (UK time) is a bad one, to the extent that I recommend being careful when accessing sensitive websites (webmail, online banking, etc.) for the next month or so, especially when you're on an untrusted network (e.g. someone else's wifi). If you know how, it's worth checking the SSL certificate ( Read more... )